by Nan Sampson
Chapter Three
The Birches Bed & Breakfast was a nearly 150-year-old home, built by one of the founding families of the county, the Humboldts. Jasper Humboldt had owned many of the lead mines that dotted this part of Wisconsin and had made a fortune at the expense of the men who worked them. He’d built a grand house about five miles west of town at the advent of his engagement to a young, startlingly beautiful Madison socialite, Eleanora Fletcher, then brought her here to raise a brood of seven children, only one of whom lived past twenty. Eleanora quickly became his raison d’etre, but as fate would have it, she died understandably young, worn thin from childbirth and crushed by the grief of her many losses. After Eleanora’s death, Humboldt had turned mean and bitter, spending the rest of his long years as a virtual recluse until his death at the ripe old age of 92.
When the Kemps arrived in the area in the late sixties, they were just two of the young college students that radical sociology professor, Artie Cullen had rounded up to started a progressive commune on Earl Mough’s family land. At its zenith, the commune housed nearly twenty people, including children. However, when the ‘back to the land’ movement petered out in the mid-seventies, the only ones left at the commune were the Moughs, the Kemps, the Cullens, and Per Gustafson. Always on the cutting-edge, the Kemps made the best of their situation. Leaving Earl and Patti to return to what Earl’s family had done for generations – raise dairy cows, although this time with a twist — Seth and Arabella took Arabella’s inheritance and bought the old Humboldt place, by then a falling down wreck, and turned it into another kind of cash-cow — a Bed & Breakfast.
Between them, the two couples had transformed a dead mining community into a thriving town. Well, if not thriving, then at least on the come-back.
In the years since they began, the Kemps had turned the old Victorian mansion into a show place the whole county could be proud of, painstakingly restoring the stately home into one of the most coveted properties in South Central Wisconsin.
Tonight, the place was done up in rich reds and flirty pinks for the Hallmark holiday of the month – Valentine’s Day. Under less talented hands, it might have looked garish, but Arabella had made it look sumptuous and decadent. Red velvet draperies hung in the doorway separating the reception area from the bar, and red candles created mood lighting in every room. She hoped they had good fire insurance — one careless guest, she thought, and the whole place would go up like a matchbox.
Tonight, at least for Arabella, business was hopping. There were ten guest rooms on the mansions second and third floors and Ellie figured that at least four of them were taken that night, considering Josh’s friends, plus the Odious Margaret. Arabella had to be thrilled although insanely busy.
Having been forced to relinquish Ellie’s hand to drive, Charlie was now following Ellie and Marg, looking more subdued than Ellie had ever seen him. He looked nervous, an emotion Ellie would never have ascribed to him. Pushing back the gold-tasseled velvet draperies, she entered the dimly lit bar. A handful of dark, cherry tables and chairs crowded into the small room, and on the wall to her right was an enormous cherry bar that Seth had rescued from some ghost town out west. It had been gorgeously refinished, glowing the way only rich wood can in the atmospheric lighting, and the mirror and shelves behind it gleamed with brass fittings and sparkling bottles, all reflected in a gigantic mirror that backed the whole shebang.
It was stunning, and for a moment held her attention. That quickly changed, however.
A whoop sounded from the end of the bar, and Josh literally leaped over a chair and practically bounced over to her. “Ellie! I was sure you’d bail on me! I’m so glad you came!” He gave her a huge hug, then grabbed Marg and danced her around.
“Margot Kemp! You look divine. Angora! Makes me want to grope you in the dark. Shame on you!”
Josh’s sherry brown eyes glittered in the candlelight and his pupils were enormous. He didn’t yet smell of beer, but Ellie could tell he’d already had more than he should have.
After giving Marg a tender peck on the cheek, he turned to Charlie, who was standing behind Ellie, grinning.
Josh gave him and obvious once over, then stuck out his hand. “You must be Charlie. My mom has been talking about you since I walked in the door last night.”
Charlie shook Josh’s hand. “It’s good to meet you too. Your mom sings your praises every time I see her! She’s very proud of you, and rightly so.”
Josh ran a finger under his collar, looking more than a little uncomfortable at the praise. “Here, come on over. I want you guys to meet my friends.” He took Marg by the elbow and led them all down to the end of the bar.
The three individuals who sat lined up at the bar were about as dissimilar to one another as three humans could be. All three looked up as Josh came back to them.
“Sierra, Matt, Link, these are some of my dearest friends here in town.” He waved a hand in Ellie’s direction. “This is Ellie Gooden, she runs the local coffee shop, The Sacred Caff. Marg here is Seth’s sister and all around lovely lady and good egg, and finally, this is Charlie McCallum, recently voted the bravest man in the county.”
Before any of the out-of-towners could reply, Josh turned the tables. “Okay, so now for the reverse. Let’s start at the far end. The chain-smoking guy with red hair – and by the way, Matt, you’d better put that out before Arabella spots you – is Matt Pace, the newest addition to our team. He’s doing an internship while working on his masters in Ecological Studies from Northwestern University. Next to him, we have the lovely and talented Sierra Thorsen, our publicity specialist and top notch legal beagle.” Josh gave Sierra a fond smile, then turned slightly to gesture with a flourish at the final member of the team. When he spoke next, his tone had hardened and the look in his eyes was openly hostile. “And finally, he who needs no introduction, now that he’s been on the cover of Time magazine, Lincoln Fairweather, the unforgettably handsome face of The Whole Earth Society, and without whom we would all be nothing.”
There was a moment of silence, broken, thankfully, by Marg, goddess bless her, who stepped up to Link and beamed at him. She grabbed his hand, although he hadn’t offered it, and pumped it up and down, while gushing, “Oh, Mr. Fairweather. It’s such an honor to meet you. You’re quite the celebrity here in town, and of course everywhere else. But, since Josh is from here and you two are so close, naturally, we feel your sort of our native son as well!”
Fairweather looked exactly like all the pictures Ellie had seen of him. Thick, wavy chestnut hair, green eyes the color of the sea, a full, expressive mouth, with dimples that punctuated his cheeks when he smiled. He was almost too pretty for her taste, but she could see how women, and certain men, would be easily enthralled by him. He was a photographer’s dream.
He stood and squeezed Marg’s hand. “Ms. Kemp, it is my pleasure. You can’t know how much it means to me to be so highly regarded here, in Josh’s home town. He speaks so highly of all of you, and of this place. When we,” and he gestured at the others, “found out we’d have the chance to stop over here for a few days on our way to Chicago, we were all excited.” He gave Josh a piercing, almost pitying look. “Naturally, we also want to do everything we can to help Josh’s family out during this difficult time.”
Josh turned to face Ellie and rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. He hadn’t had a little too much, he’d had a lot too much.
Sierra Thorsen hopped down off her barstool and moved to stand between Josh and Link. She was a tiny thing, barely five foot two in her work boots and jeans, with dish water blond hair pulled back in a braid that hung all the way down to her petite but shapely back side. She wore thick, but stylish glasses in a dark, rectangular frame, but her face was so pixie-like and small, that the frames were constantly in danger of sliding off her face entirely. If she wore any make-up at all, it was applied so expertly, you couldn’t tell, and her fair skin was speckled with a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was
not what Hollywood would have called pretty, with ordinary, plain features, and a sallow complexion. But Ellie could sense a rumbling, frustrated energy in her, simmering just below the seemingly placid surface. She was, Ellie thought, not someone she’d want to cross.
“Josh, come on over to a table and sit down. Maybe we should order something to eat. You’ve been running all day and I, for one, am starved.” She glanced over at Ellie, almost imploringly. “Do they serve food in here, do you know?”
Marg jumped on the opening. “I’ll just go find Arabella, find out what’s on the dinner menu tonight. You folks sit tight.”
Sierra smiled, and in that moment, her plain features lit up and she looked almost pretty. “Thank you! That would be great. Josh is always forgetting to eat. He hardly touched his lunch.”
She placed a hand on his arm and Josh placed an arm awkwardly around the girl’s waist. It was weird and made Ellie feel as though she were missing a page of the script. Even if Josh was still securely in the closet about his sexuality, it seemed disingenuous of him to play up to a girl who clearly liked him. To make matters even stranger, Link, with whom Josh had been having a heavy-duty affair, came up behind them and hugged them together, as though emphasizing their relationship.
To complicate things even further, the third man, the young man named Matt, was now staring daggers at Josh’s back. Ellie watched him as he pulled a pack of cigarettes, and ignoring the posted signage, lit one up and took a fierce angry drag on it.
This was exactly the kind of gathering that made Ellie practically hyperventilate. She’d come out of respect for Josh, but personal drama of this nature made her feel jumpy in her own skin and want to run for the nearest exit.
Josh extricated himself from Sierra and grabbed the chair he’d jumped over when Ellie, Marg and Charlie had arrived, gesturing across the table. “Please, Ellie, Charlie, sit down. Join me in a beer. We’re celebrating tonight.”
Glancing over at Charlie, whose normally high wattage grin was even looking strained, she forced a smile and took her seat, pulling Charlie with her by the sleeve of his jacket. “What are you celebrating?”
“Our old pal Link, here, has just been nominated for the Schumaker Award.”
Ellie tried but could not place the name. Before she was forced to look stupid, Charlie came to her rescue. “Wow. I thought the Schumaker award was for lifetime achievements in environmental activism. No offense, Link, but you just haven’t been around that long. What are you, thirty?”
Link’s face momentarily colored, visible even in the dim lighting of the bar and Ellie didn’t think it was embarrassment. Then he cleared his throat. “I think I must need a better hair colorist – not quite thirty, Charlie, old boy. Twenty-six.”
Josh sucked down half a beer from the bottle then rocked back in his chair. “Well, Link is special, you know. Responsible for saving 400 square miles of virgin forest with one hand tied behind his back and no access to his stock broker.”
Link gave a hearty laugh. “I gotta tell ya, it was that last part that nearly killed me. I can go without food, but being cut off from day trading nearly sent me over the edge.”
Charlie leaned forward and moved Josh’s beer bottle aside, before Josh knocked it off the table. “So, Josh, how are Maggie and Faye? I haven’t had a chance to talk to your dad today, but he was pretty worried yesterday.”
Josh stared morosely down at the table top. “Not good.”
“Don’t worry, Joshua.” Sierra’s voice seemed unnaturally cheerful. “I’m sure they’ll be okay. Maybe they just need a few days for the treatments to work.”
“Or maybe,” Link chimed in, “they just wanted a couple of days off. I don’t know, do cows play hooky?” He chuckled at his own joke and Sierra gave a forced little laugh as well. She was standing pressed against Josh now, her hands resting on the nape of Josh’s neck, his fingers massaging the muscles there in an idle sort of way. If Josh’s face was any indication, it didn’t appear he was enjoying it.
Marg reappeared through the doorway, carrying a large tray.
“Here we go, folks.” Marg set her tray on the bar. “Homemade chips and the best salsa this side of the Mississippi, plus some cheese and sausage, so you can sample some of the things that make this corner of Wisconsin so great. The cheese is made right here, at the Mough’s. Doesn’t get any better than this.” Marg took a step back. “Oh, and just so you know, Sierra, the cheese is made without animal rennet.”
Sierra managed to disentangle herself from Josh and gave Marg a grateful smile. “Thank you! It all looks terrific.” She reached for a chip, dipped it into the salsa, then rolled her eyes in pleasure. “Oh, this is wonderful! Is this Arabella’s recipe? Will she share it?”
Marg stood with her hands on her hips, beaming. “Actually, it’s mine. I’d be happy to copy it down for you.”
Sierra grabbed one of the small plates and filled it up with food – omitting the sausage – and placed it in front of Josh. “Here. Eat something. You’ll feel better.”
Josh gave her a wan smile and picked up a chip. “Thanks.”
He didn’t, Ellie noticed, put it anywhere near his mouth.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the group, and Ellie wished again she hadn’t come. She was no good at making small talk even under the most pleasant of circumstances.
Sierra sat down in the chair next to Josh and ate another chip before saying, “So, Charlie. Rumor has it your some kind of cop.”
Ellie glanced over at Charlie’s face – she knew he wasn’t found of talking about his experiences in law enforcement. In fact, she’d never even been able to get out of him why he’d left the force – or even why he’d joined. He chuckled before responding. “Yeah, I’m some kind. The ex kind.”
Sierra looked confused. “But I thought—”
“I’m no longer on the Force. I do private investigations now. Sometimes for the DA, sometimes for corporations.”
Matt spoke for the first time. “You mean like corporate espionage? Cool!”
Charlie shook his head. “Nothing so exotic, I’m afraid. More like background checks, employment verification, stuff like that.”
Matt’s face fell. “No offense, man, but that sounds bo-ring.”
“A great deal of it is, but the occasional interesting case makes up for it. The big advantage is that I can work for myself.”
Link was nodding. “Amen to that, brother. I am absolutely no good at working for other people. That’s one of the great things about what we’ve got going on here – our team. We still ultimately report to the head office, but basically, we’re pretty autonomous. We research what project we’re going to tackle next, and we work out the strategy ourselves, without a lot of high-level, out of touch corporate muckety-mucks telling us what the shareholders want.” He sat down on the other side of Josh, leaned back and rested his arms on the chairs on either side of him. That his hand came to rest on Josh’s shoulder made Ellie squirm. Just what exactly was going on here? “Hey, Matt, could you grab me a plate and some grub?”
Matt jumped off his bar stool like he’d been shot from a cannon. “Sure, Link!” He walked down the long bar and started piling chips and cheese and sausage onto a plate for Link.
“While you’re up, be a good lad and get me another beer, okay?”
If Matt had had a tail, he would have wagged it madly. “You betcha, boss.”
Link continued as if he’d never paused. “It helps that we have a great team, don’t we, Josh? Each of us has their area of expertise. Josh has all the political connections and the science stuff, Sierra here is a whiz bang attorney, and Matt is great with all the computer stuff.”
Ellie opened her mouth to ask Link just what it was that he brought to the equation other than a healthy dose of self-importance, but Charlie beat her to the punch. “What’s your area of expertise, then, Link?”
Link took the plate and the beer from Matt. “Well, the media has unfortunately cast me in the role of
spokesperson, but behind the scenes, I help with most of the planning and strategizing.”
Josh finally looked up from contemplating the grain in the table top. “Yeah, Link is much more than just a pretty face. Heck, he’s the brains of the whole outfit.”
Matt jumped in. “Absolutely. Link is great at figuring out the best way of getting to the bad guys. He’s positively Machiavellian.”
Josh was smiling, but his eyes showed a completely different emotion. “Oh, you got that right, Matty. Good thing he’s on our side.” Josh slammed back the rest of his beer.
Link gave Josh a very brief, but very intense look, then tousled Josh’s hair like Josh was a kid. “Buddy, you are way over your limit. Maybe I should drive you home. You’ve been up since the crack of dawn working on that presentation of yours for Dubuque. A good night’s sleep will do you good.”
“I don’t—”
Ellie laid a hand on his arm. “Link may be right, Josh, you do look pretty done in. Why don’t Charlie and I drop you off, you’re right on our way home.” She made a point of glancing at her watch. “I hate to run, but I have to be at the shop at 5:00 every morning, so we should probably head on home now.”
Marg frowned. “But Ellie, you—”
Ellie raised a hand. “Marg, you don’t mind staying a bit and keeping Link company, do you? You can pump him for all the gory details about the hunger strike.”
An interesting mix of emotions flitted rapidly across Link’s face. “Well, if you must go, then we won’t keep you.” He gave Marg a brilliant smile. “Marg, I would be delighted to give you the unredacted version of events. I know how stingy Josh is with details.” He patted the chair next to him. “Here, gorgeous, join me. Can I buy you a beer? Matt, get the lovely lady a beer.” He gave Josh another piercing look. “Joshua, get some rest. I’d hate to see you still out of sorts tomorrow.”
Charlie stood up, ready to catch Josh as he lurched to his feet. “I’m not ready to go. Matty, bring me another beer.”
Matt looked torn, glanced at Link, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
