A Flicker of Doubt - Tim Myers [65]
“Of course I’m coming,” she said. ‘This is too important to leave in your hands.”
“Gee thanks. Your confidence in me is overwhelming.”
That brought the hint of a smile to her face. “Harrison, you’re a wonderful teacher and a skilled candlemaker, but I’m afraid you’re out of your league on this one. Let’s go.”
“Do you honestly mean at this very moment?”
She said, “The sooner we do this, the better. Let your staff handle the store.”
“My ‘staff’ has been covering for me most of the last week.”
Mrs. Jorgenson said, “And if she hopes to have place to work, she’ll continue to do so.”
I followed her out of the office and called out to Eve, “I’ll be back.”
She managed to nod, but the worried expression her face spoke volumes. I wasn’t too pleased with way things were working out either.
We took her car, and as we approached place, I saw that his red T-shirt signal was out on the bush. I said, “This won’t work, there will be lots of people around.”
“Trust me, Harrison.”
I thought it was a bad move, but then my own ideas hadn’t been all that hot lately, either. I followed Mrs. Jorgenson as if I were on a leash. There was a smattering of customers sitting at their tables, and I wondered how word managed to spread so quickly that Grover was serving barbeque.
He stared holes through me as I approached. Before Mrs. Jorgenson could say a word, Grover snapped, “He’s not welcome here.”
“He’s with me,” Mrs. Jorgenson said.
“You’re not bulletproof yourself, you know that don’t you?”
She frowned. “Why are you being so difficult about this?”
I felt like grabbing her arm and shaking her. If this was Mrs. Jorgenson’s idea of an apology, she could take a lesson or two from me.
“I won’t discuss it. Not in front of him.”
Mrs. Jorgenson turned to me. “Wait for me by the car.”
I nodded, then said to Grover, “I really am sorry.”
He didn’t acknowledge my apology, though I hadn’t expected him to. As I walked back to Mrs. Jorgenson’s car, I noticed that not a soul there was willing to make eye contact with me. I suddenly knew how a pariah felt
Mrs. Jorgenson was track in less than five minutes, and from the expression on her face, she hadn’t had any more luck than I had.
“Of ail the unmitigated nerve, that man actually banished me from coming back. I still can’t believe it”
“I’m sorry I got you into this mess,” I said.
“Never mind, Harrison, this isn’t about you anymore. If Grover Blake thinks he can treat me like that, he’s sadly mistaken. I won’t tolerate it.”
“But what can you do?”
“More than he realizes,” she said tightly, and I was glad I wasn’t in Grover’s position. I wasn’t sure what Mrs. Jorgenson’s next move was going to be, but I knew it would most likely be unpleasant for Grover.
She dropped me back at River’s Edge with barely a nod, and I went inside At Wick’s End, my head hung low. Somehow I’d managed to make things even worse. What else could go wrong?
Unfortunately, I didn’t have long to find out
Chapter 18
Gary Cragg stormed into the candleshop, with Sanora right on his heels. “Harrison, we’ve got a serious problem.”
Sanora added, “They’re getting ready to bulldoze the woods beside us.”
“What? That can’t be.”
“Then how else do you explain four bulldozers unloading next door?” Sanora said. “I’ve seen this before. They won’t wait for a permit. They’ll go ahead and knock all the trees down, then pay the fines. We’ve got to stop them!”
“Hang on a second,” I said. “I want to call Ruth Nash.”
Sanora said, “There’s no time for that. We’ve got to move on this now.”
Then give me a chance to do something,” I said as I grabbed the telephone. I looked up the number for the hospital, and five minutes later I was talking to Ruth.
“Did you know that they’re getting ready to demolish the trees beside River’s Edge?” I asked.
“On Walters land? I don’t think so.”
“I can hear the dozers rumbling from here. Ask Cyrus if he sold that land to Runion, or anybody else for that matter.”
“If he did sell it to that scoundrel, he was under some kind of undue influence. They’ve found drugs in Cyrus’s system designed to