Read Online The Pig Goes to Hog Heaven by Joseph Caldwell - Free Book Online Page A

couldn’t help wondering what might lie beneath the soil he was stepping on now. The castle had a dungeon. Was it into this ground that its occupants had been released? The fact that he and Lolly had put a ring through the delivered pig’s snout would at least prevent it from unearthing yet another heap of bones, thereby repeating the havoc Declan Tovey had brought with him from the grave more than a year ago.
    As he stood at the far end of the garden near a mound of uprooted weeds, Aaron looked back at his wife, his aunt, and the pig. To his surprise, things seemed somewhat under control. The pig was off the truck and sticking its snout through the rail of the handsomely crafted pen Kieran had built for it during its previous stay. If Aaron interpreted the action rightly, the pig was asking to be put back where it had lived for that brief time before it was the be the star attraction at the castle feast. That it wanted to be penned up was further proof of its derangement. Should they consider having the sow tested for Mad Pig Disease? The animal was now in the custody of Kitty and Kieran. She was their problem.
    Now that the pig was quiescent, Aaron made his way back to his waiting wife. He stopped when he saw entering the courtyard a small, rattletrap truck, nearly on the verge of falling apart completely. It was obviously having a fit—one that might prove fatal if the motor wasn’t cut off within seconds. The motor was cut. A man got out. Aaron saw his wife take two steps back at the sight of him. His aunt took one step forward. The man hadn’t moved away from the truck, suggesting this was not meant to be a prolonged encounter. He had even kept his hand on the door, possibly to expedite a quick getaway should that prove advisable. With the other hand he was holding a book.
    The man’s pants, coat, and cap replicated almost exactly the clothing worn by the aforementioned unearthed skeleton—before it had been given improved attire more worthy of the laying out, including Aaron’s last good shirt. Could this be the man Lolly had seen in Caherciveen and mistaken for Declan Tovey? Aaron snorted with pleased relief. The mystery was solved. It was the similar clothing that had caused the mistaken identity.
    Lolly turned and went quickly to the cab of their own truck, opened the door, reached in, and pulled out what he knew to be a fresh ham wrapped in yesterday’s Irish Times , brought to thank (that is, to bribe) Kitty and Kieran for relieving them of the impossible pig.
    â€œHere’s the ham I promised,” she called out, a needless explanation. The man’s arrival had obviously unsettled her—which was understandable. Even Aaron, who had never seen Declan Tovey, could agree to a resemblance to what had been described. Wielding the ham in her hand like a primitive club, Lolly continued to explain herself. “I’ll put it in your kitch—I mean your scullery.” She ran to the door leading into the great hall, entered, and neglected to close the door behind her.
    At first, Aaron thought his first responsibility was to check on his wife. He would explain, patiently, what was happening. He was certain that Lolly would be grateful for the correction of her misidentification. Curiosity, however, got the better of him. Before going to his wife, he would accumulate more information, enough to settle the issue once and for all. This must be a Tovey relation newly come into these parts. Or, more likely, someone from the same gene pool as the departed—a possibility he’d already suggested. Lolly would be uncharacteristically shamed to have thought they were being visited by the risen dead, a spirit too impatient to wait for the final trump.
    With a step firm and purposeful, Aaron approached. The man had handed Kitty the book. She was staring down at it, then up at the man, then again at the book. She lowered it to her side. She obviously knew the man, and the man