No more drops of oil came up, and I felt sure I had solved it. As for that already spread out over the water, there was nothing I could do about it. I decided against trying to spread and disperse it by running though it, on the theory that it would do more harm than good. It would look more like an accidental spillage if it were all in one place. I started the motor and headed back to the boat landing. After tying up at the float, I finished the job I had started before, filling the gasoline tank, and looked at my watch. It was three-fifteen. I went up the trail through the trees and out into the hot sunlight of the clearing. The old hound was nowhere in sight. When I went into the house, nothing had changed at all. It was all exactly as I had left it, except that the spot on the floor that I had scrubbed was dry now. I walked out into the kitchen and looked around there, finding nothing out of place. There wasn’t a chance anyone had been here. Going back into the front room, I stood there for a moment before the dresser, remembering the day she had taken out the hook for me and how beautiful she had been even in that terrible dress and with the roughly cut hair uncombed.
