“It’s okay,” he murmured, stroking her shoulder until she sat up. He did the same. “Lila, be careful of the ground. It might give,” he yelled.
“I’ll get myself fixed to a tree, I ain’t going nowhere,” Lila Raschamack, one of the longtime denizens of the forest, yelled back.
“Do you have another rope?”
“Yep. Got a good length for you too.”
John stood and found his cane. “How did you know we were down here?”
“Been looking since before dawn. Katie Pierce called me and told me she’d gotten a message you two had fallen into a sinkhole. She contacted the authorities, and she and Rill are with them. They were going to start searching at first light. She knew I didn’t live far from your place, though, and called me to see if I’d noticed anything.”
“Who is Lila?” Jennifer whispered next to him.
“Lila Raschamack. She lives a few miles from my place.”
“Wait . . . the chinchilla lady?”
John started. “Katie told you about her?” he murmured, grinning. John had heard from Sherona Legion that Katie Pierce and Lila had formed an unlikely friendship. Katie, who worked for the county helping the poor and illiterate do their taxes, had assisted the rough-hewn, laconic Lila out of a pinch with the IRS last year. Despite the fact that Lila had held Katie at gunpoint upon Katie’s first visit to her isolated chinchilla farm, Katie was currently the only other person on the planet to whom Lila ever offered one of her prized cigars. Lila hated people as a matter of course, but she’d known John since he was a kid, and tolerated him better than most.
“John? Want me to send down the rope?” Lila called.
“What’s wrong?” Jennifer asked him, clearly sensing his hesitancy.
“I’m worried about the ground giving way beneath the rope once our weight is on it. The ground gets thicker and more secure as you move outward from the sinkhole, but still . . .”
“Maybe we should just wait for the rescue team, then.”
He considered. “The rescue team will need to use rope as well, or a rope ladder. Besides, I don’t mean to alarm you, but a ‘rescue team’ from these parts is likely to consist of the sheriff and one or two volunteer firemen. I tend to trust Lila’s assistance more than Sheriff Mulligan’s,” he mused. “I’m a little worried about Sheriff Mulligan tramping around up there along with Rill and Katie Pierce—nothing against your friends. I hear Rill Pierce is a brilliant writer and director, but I don’t know what kind of an outdoorsman he is.”
“He can hold his own. But I’m up for trying whatever you think, John.”
“Lila?” he called.
“Yep?”
“Is it Sheriff Mulligan who’s coming?”
There was a distinct sound of spitting, an indication of Lila’s disregard for the county’s top lawman. “Yep, for all he’s worth. Him and that sorry-assed Hilbert Hanks. He’s the only volunteer fireman who didn’t get asked on a fishing trip up the Ohio.”
John sighed. It didn’t sound too promising. “Is there a good-sized tree limb hanging horizontally anywhere in the vicinity of the hole?” he bellowed.
“Yep,” Lila called succinctly after a moment.
He frowned, thinking.
“Whatever you want to do, John,” Jennifer said quietly beside him.
“Do you think you can handle the climb without anyone pulling you if you go up first? There’ll be loops and knots on the rope, but it takes a lot of upper body strength to climb a rope.”
He sensed her doubt in the silence.
“I’ll go up first,” he said. “Then I’ll be able to haul you up, and take some pressure off the ground beneath the rope too.”
“Okay.”
“I won’t leave you down here if you don’t want me to. But if I do go up first, it’ll be a matter of minutes before you’re up there with me. I promise.”
“I’ll be fine. I trust whatever you have in mind.”