Hattie
And, frankly, just to see her wife. The idea of having a Beloved to come home to had not yet grown old.
So she whisked from room to room, calling, "Hattie? Are you here?"
Jonas had had a rough night's sleep, when he had finally found some that is.
He'd spent the the night at the stables, bunking down in the hay loft, a saddle for a pillow, to keep an eye on Ginger, and had awoken with Digger stretched over his legs. Not the most comfortable of positions to sleep in, he was stiff and sore, and more than a bit worried.
The noise he'd heard last night when he was in the stables hadn't repeated itself, but it had been unnerving as hell. The low noise, which had sounded all the world like steam hissing had gone on for a good twenty minutes before stopping as abruptly as it had started. The animals had kicked up an enormous fuss unsurprisingly, and it'd taken a long while to settle them again. He'd looked around but hadn't been able to locate a source for the noise, and that was somehow worse than the noise itself.
Looking around this morning, he'd still been unable to find anything, but he moved Ginger, and the chickens and ducks to the far side of the field to be on the safe side, making a makeshift fence to keep them there.
By the time he'd finished, he was tired, stressed and fed up. There'd been no eggs laid this morning either unsurprisingly, so he'd had to forgo his normal boiled breakfast egg.
Consequently, he ended up settling for a cup of coffee and a cigar, choices that Mrs. Andrews had been most annoyed about. He'd managed to eventually shoo her away on an errand, persuading her that yes, he would get a decent lunch, honestly.
He took a chair out front of the Sheriff's office onto the porch in order to drink his coffee, and smoke his cigar, respecting Mrs. Andrews' wishes that all smoking must be undertaken outside. 'Sides which, this way he could potentially eavesdrop on useful conversation, whilst looking nonchalent. Digger was sound asleep at his feet, snuffling occasionally, no doubt chasing rabbits in his sleep. Jonas twitched a small grin at the dog's own twitches.
Eventually he saw a figure approaching and called out to them, raising his hat in greeting. Mayhap they might have heard something this past evening that may help to explain things.
"Good mornin' to you, hope you are well?"