Free Endangered Species by Nevada Barr Page A

taller than the house, stood sentinel at the front entrance.
    Behind the house was the inland waterway that separated the island from
    the mainland and the town of St.  Marys.
    Ranger Hull followed the graveled drive around to the back of the house
    and switched off the ignition.  He and Anna had not exchanged a single
    word since they'd left the burn site.  The bang of a screen door rattled
    down from the upstairs apartment and they exchanged guilty glances.
    "Waiting isn't going to make it any easier," he said, and pulled the
    handle on his door.  Anna noticed he didn't actually push it open till
    he satisfied himself that she was going to do the same.  Her earlier
    cowardice had not gone unnoticed.  To redeem herself, she stepped
    smartly from the truck and walked around the tailgate.
    Wooden stairs, added in recent years as a fire escape and to provide
    private access to the apartment, led up to the second floor .
    Tabby Belfore had come onto the small landing outside the screen door.
    The sun was behind her, shining through the thin fabric of her summer
    dress and her fine blond hair.  The dress was pale yellow and sheer,
    very much like her hair.  Backlit, the clothing appeared burned away,
    only a halo left surrounding her narrow shoulders and swollen belly.  To
    Anna she was beautiful, reminiscent of a stunning painting she'd once
    seen by Gustay Klimt of a pregnant nude veiled in crimped auburn hair.
    Anna found herself running up the steep steps, suddenly afraid Tabby
    would fall.
    " You're Anna, aren't you?" Tabby began, knowing the answer but feeling
    the need to make hostess noises.
    "Yes.  Fire crew." Anna had reached the top and, standing between Tabby
    and the stairs, felt both relieved and foolish.  Chief Ranger Hull
    pushed up behind her and she was glad to turn the situation over to him.
    "May we step inside, Mrs.  Belfore?" Hull asked courteously.
    All was not well and Tabby sensed it.  Her delicate face closed like a
    poppy at sundown.  Wordlessly she backed into the hallway between the
    stairs and the kitchen.  A gentleman, Norman Hull held the door and Anna
    was forced to enter next.
    Tabby closed both hands on her skirt, crumpling the fabric above her
    knees.  She continued to back away till a kitchen chitir stopped her.
    "Why don't we sit?" Anna said gently.
    Obediently, Tabby lowered herself onto the seat.  She looked for all the
    ",orld like a waif expecting to be beaten.  Her eyes were downcast, her
    fingers clutching convulsively, her shoulders pinched up around her ears
    as if to ward off a blow.
    She didn't ask a single question.
    "We have some rather bad news," Hull said.  Anna willed him to kneel,
    bend down, anything to close the gulf between Tabby Belfore and himself.
    Though the kitchen was small, the space loomed like a gulf and Anna
    could imagine Mrs.  Belfore pitching face forward into it.  Quietly she
    slipped behind the chair, sat on her heels and rested her elbows on her
    knees, forming human arms to the straightbacked chair that held Tabby.
    The girl seemed unaware Anna was not part of the furniture.  Her fingers
    loosed the flimsy dress and closed around Anna's wrist.
    Still she didn't look up and she didn't ask for the news.
    "Todd has been killed in an airplane crash," Hull said evenly .
    "We are terribly sorry for your loss.  If there's-"
    Tabby's head jerked up, her mouth slightly open; a quick look at the
    chief ranger, away, and again the look.  A classic double take so out of
    place, the beginnings of a laugh were startled out of Anna's throat. The
    laughter went on and for an instant Anna thought she'd gone off her
    rocker, but it was Tabby who was laughing.  Anna got ready to grab the
    girl if she had to.
    Abruptly, the laughter stopped ." No.  Not Todd," Tabby said .
    "That's not funny."
    Norman Hull.  slowly turned his Stetson around, running the brim through
    his fingers.  His face was working overtime: the eyebrows up, a sudden
    grimace.