The Alpine Yeoman Read Free Page A

muttered. “See you later, Emma.”
    I smiled as I watched him stride through the newsroom. I was both happy and content. Yet I still regretted that it had taken me fifteen years to reach that state, when all along Milo Dodge had been right in front of me—and he’d always had my back.
Emma Lord, bat-blind when it came to love
. At least I woke up in time to become Emma Dodge.
    I’d managed to produce three so-so paragraphs by the time Janie Engelman Borg Engelman showed up in my office looking for Vida.
    “I think,” I said, “she’s at the retirement home. Can I help you?”
    “Well …” Janie shifted from one foot to the other. “Notsure. I got a wedding picture for her. Of Fred and me. Even if it’s the second time.”
    I was used to Janie’s choppy speech. “I think it’s fine. Congratulations. I’m glad you and Fred got back together.”
    “Me and Fred, too. He got out of rehab. Before we married. Again.”
    “I’m happy for both of you,” I said. I didn’t add that I was also happy for Milo. The Engelmans’ first union had broken up because of Fred’s weekend binges. He’d tried to cure himself by checking into the jail Friday nights and staying put until Monday mornings. The sheriff and his staff felt like babysitters. Janie’s rebound marriage to Mickey Borg had been rocky from the start. “Say,” I went on, “Ron Bjornson quit his handyman’s job at headquarters. Would Fred like to take it on when he’s not working at Blackwell Timber?”
    Janie’s gamine face brightened. “He might. We could use the money. Mickey cleaned me out. Of my small savings. And TV.”
    “I’ll mention it to Milo,” I said. “I heard Mickey left town.”
    Janie’s brown eyes darted from side to side as if she expected her ex to come through my walls. “Hard to say. About Mickey.”
    Hard to listen to Janie
, I thought. But I smiled. “You can forget Mickey now. Didn’t he sell the Icicle Creek Gas ’N Go to a Gustavson?”
    Janie nodded. “He kept the money. For himself.”
    “I suppose he would, if the divorce was final.”
    “It wasn’t.” She scowled. “Typical Mickey. Selfish. I asked him to give the TV back. Fred likes to watch baseball. Mickey said no, Fred can listen to the Mariners on the radio. At noon our time. In Chicago. I told him Fred wants to see it. Not just hear it. Mickey didn’t care. Fred still wants a TV. Maybe we can. With extra money.”
    “The main thing,” I pointed out, “is you’re back with Fred and rid of Mickey. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
    Janie smiled faintly. “I hope not. Maybe he’s gone by now. For good.” She wandered out of my office.
    But we hadn’t heard the end of Mickey for good—or for bad.

TWO
    I WAS DELETING ALL THREE PARAGRAPHS OF MY FEEBLE EDITORIAL when Amanda poked her head in. “Have you heard anything about the hatchery yet? I saw Dodge come in, but I was in the back shop when he left. Walt hasn’t called again.”
    I shook my head. “Milo sent his deputies to check it out. He didn’t seem very excited about it.”
    Amanda looked bemused. “I’ve never seen the sheriff get excited about anything.” She winced. “I mean, he seems … ah …”
    I laughed. “Never mind. On the job, he’s usually unflappable. Excitability doesn’t become a law enforcement officer. I’ll call him when I think he’s heard back from Gould and Jamison. He did mention that it had something to do with the wetlands.”
    Amanda frowned. “The wetlands? What could happen unless they dried up? But it’s raining.”
    “It could be vandalism, I suppose. Mitch told me the Big Toy at Old Mill Park had gotten trashed over the weekend. The schools are on spring break, and that always means trouble.”
    “You’re right. That didn’t occur to me.” She put a hand on her bulging abdomen. “After so many years of thinking we’dnever have our own baby, it still seems like a miracle. It’s hard to believe that keeping track of