A Flicker of Doubt - Tim Myers [68]
“It’s okay now, you can unlock the padlock,” Morton said.
Heather said, “I lost the key ages ago.”
“Then how do we get out of this? Morton, go borrow Kirk’s bolt cutters, would you?”
“No need,” the sheriff said. “I’ve got a set of cutters myself. When Cragg came to get me, I grabbed them, just in case.” He cut a single link from the chain and we were soon free again.
“That was closer than I liked,” I said as I stood inside one of the track marks the dozer had made. If it did that to the ground, I shuddered to think about what it could have done to us. “Thanks for bailing us out.”
Morton nodded to Cragg. “Thank your attorney. I just helped him execute the order.”
I saw Sanora go over to Cragg and watched as had a whispered conversation that ended with her kissing him on the cheek. I swear I thought the attorney was going to faint from the attention.
Heather followed Sanora’s example, and though she and the sheriff had had more than their share of clashes in the past, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek as well. He stepped back and said, “I told you, I was just doing my job.”
I was feeling left out when both women approached me and planted a kiss on each cheek at the same time.
“Thanks for standing up with us,” Sanora said.
Heather added, “We knew we could count on you.”
They wrapped their arms around me briefly, then the three of us walked back to River’s Edge. The woods around us were safe, at least for that day.
Eve was dying to know what had happened when I walked back into the candleshop, but all I said was, “We stopped them.”
She was too proud to ask for more details, though the strain of not knowing was obvious on her face. I about to give in and bring her up-to-date when Pearly walked in.
“I understand I’ve missed the excitement,” he said.
“If you call almost getting run over by a bulldozer while being chained to a tree, yes, I’m sorry you missed it, too. You could have taken my place.”
Pearly laughed. “Come now, Harrison. Our country has a long history of civil disobedience. You’ve just added a paragraph to history.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’m perfectly happy being a candlemaker. It’s what I was meant to do.”
Pearly slapped my shoulder. “One never knows what one can do until called upon in the face of an emergency. I’m proud of you for standing your ground, Harrison.”
I was uncomfortable with the praise. “Heather and Sanora should be the ones you congratulate. I never would have done it without them.”
“An amazing thing, that,” Pearly said. “The two of them are huddled at a table in Millie’s caf6, regaling each other with their past deeds of activism. It appears the women have a common bond undiscovered until today.”
Then at least something good has come of this mess,” I said.
“Perhaps few them, but I’m not so sure about you. As I was leaving, I heard them plotting an attack to protest the overdevelopment of Micah’s Ridge, and unless I’m mistaken, you’ll be playing a key role in the movement.”
I laughed “I’m glad they’re getting along, but they’re going to have to save the town without me. My protesting days are over.”
Eve, who’d dusted the same shelf three times during my talk with Pearly, finally spoke up. “That’s the only firing I wanted to hear.”
“Don’t give me a reason to change my mind,” I said, and surprisingly, Eve went back to her dusting.
“Well, I won’t keep you,” Pearly said. “I just wanted to share in the joy of your achievement.”
“I didn’t do all that much,” I repeated.
“Don’t disparage what you’ve done, my friend. It was a brave act.”
“If you say so. To tell the truth, I was scared to death when that bulldozer got close.”
“Don’t you know that’s the true definition of bravery? It’s courage in the face of fear, Harrison.”
It was good to know I could do something like that if I had to, but I never wanted to be in a position where I felt the need to chain myself to anything ever again.
Chapter 19
Ruth Nash came by the candleshop ten minutes before closing time. I hugged her, and despite a bout of initial reluctance, she ended up returning