The Love of a Stranger

by Jeffrey, Anna

  “Hunh. How’d that happen? Why?”

  She heaved a breath, seeing that answering his questions was going to be like removing her finger from a dam. “Charlie was drunk. I’d like to believe he didn’t know what he was doing, but I’d probably be deluding myself.”

  “Idaho’s a community property state. He had to have had your cooperation to sell it.”

  She might have known that as smart as this stranger was, he would zero in on the point of which she didn’t want to be reminded. Her own complicity in creating this problem with no solution assaulted her often. “That might be what I hate the most.”

  She released the brake and eased forward. “We fought over it for weeks and I thought we’d settled it. I thought I’d won. Then I had to go to Honolulu. I was representing some L.A. investors in a hotel deal. Charlie hounded me by phone and fax, lied to me by telling me bugs threatened the old-growth timber and something had to be done about it.”

  A bitter laugh escaped before she could stop it. “A little greed can be a dangerous thing. I’d spent a year putting the hotel deal together. The commission was...well, enviable. Charlie knew I wouldn’t jeopardize the hotel deal by rushing back stateside to argue with him. I’m sure he deliberately waited until I was tied up in Hawaii before re-opening the argument with me and making the deal with Kenny.”

  “Nice guy. So how did it turn into a crisis with Miller?”

  “Soldier Meadows itself has no frontage on a public road. Kenny can’t get to it without crossing my property. And there’s the dilemma. He claims he paid Charlie extra money in cash for a right-of-way that traverses Old Ridge Road and the upper end of my acreage, but I think he’s lying. He’s never produced a deed or any kind of documentation showing the legal access.”

  “You’re right. He probably is lying. If he could show a piece of paper and settle the disagreement, why wouldn’t he do it?”

  “My thought exactly. Furthermore, I believe he’s too shrewd to give cash to someone as irresponsible as Charlie was. But Charlie died before—”

  She stopped herself, suddenly overwhelmed and exhausted by re-hashing the details of a battle she had single-handedly fought since before divorcing her ex-husband. The enormity of the impasse made her feel small and ineffectual. It was bigger than she was, Kenny was bigger than she was. She had never felt so alone. She wanted to cry, but how could she shed tears in front of a stranger? Besides that, salty tears would hurt her sore eye.

  She shifted down to crawl over a large stone. Trying to explain the situation to a city dweller was too difficult. Past the stone, she shifted up. “It’s a boring story for someone who has no knowledge of timber or logging.”

  Doug’s hand covered hers on top of the gear shift knob. “Wait a minute. I’m not bored. I want to hear the rest. I’m interested.”

  She stopped again, holding back the Jeep with the foot brake. “Didn’t you hear what I told him in the bar? I refuse to allow him drive logging trucks on Old Ridge Road or to ford Swede Creek. More than a dozen heavy truck trips a day crossing the creek would destroy it and Granite Pond both. I simply won’t let him do that.”

  The stranger looked thoughtful. “I get it. The traffic would stir up the creek bottom and dirt and debris would travel downstream, right?

  “Yes. And settle the only place it could. In Granite Pond.”

  “Wow. Didn’t your ex-husband know that would happen? Why did he want to sell so bad in the first place?”

  They reached the tunnel of trees. She steered to the right, dropping the right wheels into the drainage ditch and inched forward through the shade. “I’ve never known for sure. I suspected for a long time Charlie was in over his head with something. He was always out of money. He gambled. Ballgames, boxing matches, horses. If he was on a losing streak, that could explain his erratic finances. I knew the restaurants were in trouble. I just learned how much while I was in California. He’d raided them of cash. As half owner, I should’ve stepped in and found out what was going on.”

  “So if you sold over three thousand acres, I’m guessing we’re talking a nice chunk of change.”

  “Yes, and Charlie got all of it. It was a cash deal. My part was I would let Charlie have my half the money. In return I got a deed with just my name on it to my house and the remaining sixteen-hundred acres. I guess I’ll never know what he did with all that cash.”

  “Might not. Cash has a way of disappearing.”

  Say something I didn’t know, Alex thought glumly.

  She lifted her foot off the brake and they moved forward at a quicker pace. “This place is my future. My escape from the madness in Los Angeles and from the stress and tension of the business I'm in. I’ve spent a lot of money remodeling and furnishing my house. If something happens to devalue it, my investment as well as all my plans are down the drain. I wouldn’t be able to live here with a peaceful heart if the pond and creek are ruined.”

  They arrived at the smooth surface of the county road and were soon at his pickup in Fielder’s Grocery parking lot. She had told him the story, answered his questions. Now all she wanted to do was go home and nurse her wounds. She wouldn’t even put in an appearance in Carlton’s this week. She would leave the place up to Estelle. She slid the transmission into neutral and tilted her head to look across the console at him. “I hope you understand I didn’t mean to suck you into my problems.”

  He turned toward her and smiled, but didn’t hurry out of the Jeep. “Hey, my shoulders are broad,” he said softly.

  “I’m sure they are. I don’t usually discuss my business here in Callister, especially with strangers. I hope you respect that. The people here gossip about me enough as it is.”

  “We’re hardly strangers any more, do you think?” His hand covered hers on top of the gearshift knob and the sincerity of the gesture made her feel awkward and speechless.“I must not have made myself clear,” he said. “I’m a good listener and I don’t gossip.”

  Everyone gossips, she thought, but she managed a painful smile. “Okay.”

  He hesitated, as if waiting for her to tell him more, but she had nothing else to tell. Finally he scooted out, saying, “Thanks for breakfast.”

  She forced another smile, then grimaced from the pain. “Thanks again for helping me and thanks for holding my head all night.”

  He stood just inside the Jeep’s door looking back at her, his hands hanging on the roof. “Alex, would you like to go out for dinner some evening? I hear they have good food up at Indian Mountain Lodge. Or maybe we could drive to another town and catch a movie. Your pick this time.”

  Good Lord, he was asking for a date, like they were sixteen. “I seldom go out.”

  His mouth tipped into a smile, probably one he hoped was charming. To her chagrin, she thought it succeeded. “Couldn’t you make an exception for a new friend who thinks you’re a damned attractive woman and sexy as hell?”

  She had no intention of playing dangerous boy-girl games, especially with him. Best to clear the air right now. “I’m not interested in sleeping with you, Mr. Hawkins.”

  He stepped back. His narrow-eyed glare came at her. “Who the hell asked you to?”

  “I know how it works with men like you. You think you can do me a few favors, take me to dinner and maneuver yourself into my bed.”

  “Is that so? What, you think you’re too damn irresistible to live without?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I think. Shut! The door!”

  “You got it!” He slammed the door with a loud whack!

  She yanked the Jeep into first gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

  She fumed all the way from town to the county road. Why was he always so insulting? Every time she thought she might be able to like him, he said something smart-aleck. She should never have confided in him, was sure she would live to regret it.

  By the time she reached her driveway, her thoughts had switched to the ongoing conflict with Kenny Miller. The papers he had bandied about in the bar worri
ed her. She should have made an effort to see what they were. Could he have learned about the old military right of way she had stumbled across last summer? Surely not. She had discovered it herself only by accident.

  She jogged up the steps and entered the utility room. Perhaps she should call Bob Culpepper. She touched her swollen face. Better yet, she would go see him at home, then go to a Boise doctor on Monday.

  She tidied the kitchen, went to the bedroom and threw some things in a bag, called and left a message with Gretchen asking Ted to feed her cats, then she left for Boise.

  ****

  I’m not interested in sleeping with you, Mr. Hawkin.…I know how it works with men like you. You think you can do me a few favors, take me to dinner and maneuver yourself into my bed.

  What was wrong with wanting to bed a good-looking woman? The question didn’t warrant debate. Sex hadn’t been the reason he had gone to her house last night. He went in friendship, because he had been concerned. Because, dammit, she had become important to him.

  He made a left turn off the highway into his driveway. He had stewed all the way from town and continued to be frustrated and angry. He strode to his back door, jerked it open, tramped in and let the screen door slam behind him. His house was quiet and bright and clean with a cool musty smell of freshly taped sheetrock. He mellowed.

  As it always seemed to do, reality lit up again. For her, he had been nothing more than a convenience. You’re a damn fool, Hawkins, he told himself. If you don't watch it, she'll be using you just like she uses Ted.

  In the bedroom, he pulled off his boots and jeans and replaced them with running shoes and shorts. Out the door and down the lane to the county road and back. A couple of miles, another shower. He felt better. The Mickey Mouse clock showed noon. Maybe he could catch Ted for lunch. He reached for the portable phone and punched in Ted's number.

  He met Ted at Betty’s. Ted barely waited until Lorraine Jones had left their table with their order for hamburgers. “Pete and Mike told me what happened,” he said with a grave expression. “And I’ve heard three versions of the story from other people who were in Carlton’s.”

  Doug added his own version. In a tacit conspiracy with Alex, he omitted the footnote that he had slept all night at her house. No sense making trouble where none existed.

  He didn’t believe for a minute that Ted was in the dark about Alex’s relationship with Miller or any other Callister citizen. “What do you know about this feud that you haven’t told me?”

  Ted pressed against the chair back, rubbed his palms on the tops of his thighs and stared past Doug.

  “Don’t bullshit me, Ted. I’ve stepped in this up to my knees without knowing what the hell’s going on. And now I want to know about it. That Miller dude impresses me as being one mean sonofabitch. Money’s got to be what it’s all about. Just humor me and tell me how much.”

  Ted shrugged. “A few million. Kenny’s profit from logging the timber on the property that butts up to Alex’s. I don’t know an exact number myself, but I guarantee you Kenny knows.”

  Doug should have guessed that Alex McGregor wouldn’t be so protective of a sum that was insignificant. Money was right up there with passion as a motive for assorted crimes. And a few million was enough. Hell, he had investigated incidents where a hundred dollars was enough. He shook his head.“Christ,” he muttered.

  Ted shrugged. “Welcome to the Pacific Northwest. Trees translate to dollars, especially if it’s virgin timber that can be logged. It’s premium stuff. Damn little of it left that anybody’s allowed to cut. Since most of what they’re fighting over is old growth, I’m surprised some environmental group hasn’t stepped in and tried to stop it. They might yet.”

  Doug’s mind spun backward…. And I warn you, Kenny, the Sierra Club or Friends of the Earth would like nothing better than to adopt Granite Pond. If I let that happen, you won’t log Soldier Meadows in this lifetime, even if someone builds a freeway to it….

  Doug was certain that if some environmental group claimed Granite Pond, even if Alex didn’t instigate it, Miller would blame her for it. “Alex made that threat. That’s when he slugged her.”

  “I heard,” Ted said. “I’m not surprised it pissed him off.” He sighed. “Truthfully, I don’t think Alex would do that. She knows as well as anybody if those folks got in the middle of it, it wouldn’t be only Kenny left sucking wind. The whole place, including her sixteen hundred acres, would end up tied up in the courts until we’re all dead.”

  Lorraine returned with their baskets of hamburgers and fries. Ted buried his fries in ketchup. “Even if it wasn’t virgin timber, a logger couldn’t ask for a sweeter deal. Close to the sawmill, close to town. The transportation costs will be nothing compared to what they might be if he was a hundred hard miles from the sawmill. Back when Kenny bought that ground, I’m sure he wanted it real bad even though he must have known it’s landlocked.

  “I don’t know for sure,” Ted went on around a mouthful of burger, “but my guess is that mixed up with the booze and drugs and Cindy Evans thrown into the pot, Kenny somehow conned ol’ Charlie into selling.”

  Landlocked. Alex hadn’t used the word, but Doug grasped the meaning. He was adding new words to his vocabulary every day in this little town. He compared Ted’s comments to the story Alex had told him. “You mean Miller can’t get to it without crossing Alex’s property.”

  “Right,” Ted replied. “That mountainside’s steeper than a cow’s face. Unless you’re a wild animal, the only value it has is in the timber. If Kenny can't get it out, not only can he not make any money, he’s stuck with a worthless piece of real estate to pay taxes on from now on. He couldn’t even give it away, much less sell it.”

  “Last night in the bar, she told him he’d have to go around. Why can’t he do that?”

  “He’d have to travel miles farther and cross national forest. And that ain’t gonna happen. Only other option is helicopter logging, but I doubt if there’s enough stumpage to warrant the expense.”

  Stumpage. Another word Doug didn’t recognize, but he had heard enough to know it related to trees and their value. “Lemme guess. He figured if he could get his hands on the land, he could push and shove his way across the McGregor’s property when he got ready to cut down the trees?”

  “That’s about the size of it. And if Charlie had stayed alive, he could have kept Charlie out front distracting Alex with one fight after another while he did what he wanted to in the background. You have to understand the kind of man he is, Doug. He probably dropped out of school in the eighth grade, but that doesn’t keep him from being smart and hard. He’s got a personality like a pit bull. Got that instinct to go for the jugular.”

  “Yeah, I can see he’s more bite than bark,” Doug said.

  “He’s kind of a local legend. He started with nothing. Less than nothing. Somehow he scraped together enough money to buy an old truck and some worn-out equipment. He worked all day in the woods, then worked on that junk equipment at night to keep it going. He took on jobs nobody else would do. Now, he’s one of the richest men in the state. And his reputation as a logger is as good as anybody's. In a way, I admire the guy.”

  “Sounds like you don’t have any trouble with him.”

  “Hey, man.” Ted held a ketchup-covered french fry suspended. “I’ve got the U.S. Government behind me. Even Kenny ain’t gonna bully the Forest Service.”

  “What’s the law? What’ll a judge say if Alex gets in front of him with this?” Doug stuffed the last bite of his burger into his mouth and pushed the basket away.

  Ted did the same, shaking his head. “She doesn’t have a prayer of winning. A judge will make her compromise.”

  “She must know that, so what does she hope to accomplish?”

  “Wait him out? Hope for a break in her favor?”

  “She must know better than that, too. For a smart woman, she does some dumb stuff. Like keeping a pistol in the bar. Did you know she does that?”
r />   Ted sat back and sighed.

  “It’s a snub-nosed .357,” Doug said. “A cannon. Did you help her buy it?”

  “Lord, Alex doesn’t need me to help her buy a gun. She might know more about firearms than I do.”

  “Pointing a gun at somebody, particularly if it’s in a bar, could get her ass locked up. If I still carried a badge, I’d haul her in.”

  Ted shook his head. “What can I say? You can’t tell her. She won’t listen.”

  “I suppose the sheriff will be—”

  “Nah, she doesn’t have to worry about Jim Higgins. He won’t do anything unless Kenny pushes him and I can't see that happening. Kenny’s a big dumb turd, but I don’t think he’d sic the sheriff on Alex. Hell, he’s in love with her.”

  Confused, Doug squinted. “The sheriff?”

  “Kenny.”

  Doug shut his mouth to keep his jaw from dropping. “I knew she fucked around with somebody. I’ve never seen women who look like her leading lives of celibacy.”

  “Alex? Lord, no. It’s not like that. But Kenny didn’t even try to hide that he wanted to. Him and Charlie used to get drunk and he’d tell Charlie right out he was gonna take Alex away from him. Charlie would just laugh. That’s one time where Charlie was smarter than Kenny. Alex told Kenny to leave her alone, but he didn’t pay any attention to her.”

  “She had his attention last night when she whipped out that revolver. He was white as a ghost, as well he should’ve been. If she’d pulled the trigger, they’d still be cleaning up the mess.”

  “Kenny’s not a guy to back up, but it probably did scare him when he saw her with a gun.”

  “This is the loosest place I ever saw,” Doug said. “Dodge City. Doesn’t anybody care about enforcing the law?”

  Ted chuckled. “Only if it’s not too much trouble. Or doesn’t get in the way of the wrong people.”

  Doug stood and picked up the check. “I can’t believe all this. I came here to lead a life free from bullshit. I’m going home and study my map, find a new place to live.”