“No need. I’m sure when Vera is caught, she’ll explode. Mom won’t need to turn on her gas burners. She can just use Vera’s rage to heat the pots.”

Adam laughed. “I’ve missed—” He didn’t finish. “Okay, then I’ll see you in church on Sunday.”

She left his house and drove away quickly. As soon as she got home, she called Dr. Carl and said she wouldn’t be at work until noon the next day.

“If you and Miguel want to spend all Saturday together, that’s okay,” he said.

“Uh, no, we don’t need to.” Kelly figured that, by noon, Vera would be in such a fury that Kelly didn’t want to be around it. As for Miguel, she had no idea what he was doing and she didn’t really care. She’d heard there was a fair three counties over. He’d probably want to go there. Anything rather than being alone with Kelly.

At nine the next morning Kelly was doing her best to walk silently through the forest. It was an impossible task. Just as she’d thought he would be, Adam was stretched out on his stomach on the little rise, the same place she’d been when she first saw Vera’s hideout.

“Did you learn stealth from an elephant?” He didn’t look up but kept his eyes on where the door was.

“A buffalo taught me. Nice guy. Too bad about what I had to do to him.” She stretched out near him. “So what’s going on?”

“I shouldn’t tell you.”

“And I should knock on the door and tell my sister she’s being spied on. Family loyalty, that sort of thing.”

Adam rolled to his side to face her. “Last night I went down into the place.”

She turned toward him. “What did you see?”

He grimaced. “This wasn’t an overnight deal. Vera had the roof that used to be the floor of a house replaced. I can’t imagine how she did that in secret.”

Kelly shrugged. “You know Vera.”

“I’m beginning to think I don’t. Why did she feel she had to keep this secret from me? There were things in there from when we were kids. I think she’s been using this place for years but she left me out of it. She—”

Kelly cut him off. “Did you see any signs of what she’s doing?”

Adam turned onto his back. “Oh, yeah. I was right. The place looks like it’s set up for underground rebels fighting a war. She has a big table where she paints posters. Anti-war slogans are everywhere.” He shook his head. “She’s done a lot to the place. She stole electricity from my fences. There’s a big old couch. It’s comfortable for her to spend the weekends there.”