Howl at the Loon (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 6)

by Susan C. Daffron

  Alec said, “They don’t allow dogs.”

  Brett turned to look at him. “Well, if the dog is well-behaved, she could join in our outdoor team-building exercises. There shouldn’t be any harm in that. The presence of animals often brings people together. A shared love of dogs, for example, can be a great way to break down barriers and initiate the bonding process.”

  Alec balanced his pencil in his palm, peering over the point at Robin. “What’s your dog’s name?”

  “Emma. She is the best little dog. I got her at the animal shelter when I lived in Spokane. She might be a Brittany mix. I’m not sure what she’s mixed with, but she’s super smart. I took her to obedience classes and she did really well.” Robin glanced out the window toward the lodge. “When I talked to him, Ernie was really emphatic about how dogs can’t stay here. But would it be okay with you both if I brought her just for the day?”

  The two men nodded and Alec added, “Sure. I like dogs.”

  Robin jumped out of the chair. “That’s great. Thanks, you guys! I’m going to go call Kat now.”

  Talking to Kat had been reassuring. Apparently, Emma was being a fabulous house guest and everyone loved her. And Kat had said that Robin could pick up Emma for a visit to the North Fork any time.

  Ernie had pulled another disappearing act and hadn’t been seen once during all the cleaning activities. Since he wasn’t around to use the desk in the lobby, Robin took the opportunity to call Chuck again about the food and go through her list of attendees and their room assignments one last time. She looked at the clock. Everyone should be arriving soon. She went outside when two white vans filled with people pulled up in front of the lodge. Because Eagle River was a women’s clothing retailer, almost all of the people who worked in the call center were female. The big employee discount was a major perk for women, but not so much for men.

  Eighteen women and one man filed out of the two vans, talking nonstop as they stood in the parking area looking around. Robin moved toward the back of the vans as the driver started removing luggage. Brett would probably say that the van trip itself was good for bonding. Nothing like hours trapped in a vehicle to help people get to know one another. Maybe he wouldn’t need those ice-breaker exercises after all.

  People gathered around the vans, snatching suitcases as they were removed from the back. Robin waved her arms and said, “Hi everyone. I’m Robin and although I don’t think I’ve met most of you before, I work for Eagle River. Welcome to the North Fork Lodge.”

  After a few mumbled greetings, Robin continued. “Darrell asked me to come here early and act as a coordinator for the retreat. If there’s anything you need related to food or lodging, please ask me. I can act as a liaison to the owner of the lodge.” If only she could ever find him.

  Robin invited everyone inside and it became obvious that the employees had divided into two distinct cliques. The High Country and Eagle River call-center folks obviously did not mingle with one another. All the chatting was among their own “people.” Darrell had a point. The undercurrent of animosity between the two groups was palpable. Robin didn’t envy the task Brett and Alec had ahead of them.

  Part of her was bothered by the fact that two men were going to be teaching almost all women. How patriarchal was this? And it was a women’s clothing catalog, for heaven’s sake. Couldn’t Darrell have found a woman to talk about it? What did Alec know about the discomfort of twisted pantyhose, pinchy underwear, or tortuous pencil skirts? Well, she assumed Alec didn’t know, anyway. It was probably best not to traverse that line of thought.

  Realistically, Darrell’s wife Sue was more qualified to do training on Eagle River merchandise and philosophy than Alec was. But she’d been swamped getting the latest catalog mailing out the door. Darrell probably didn’t want her to be away from home or the business for long either.

  The word around the company was that Sue was the real creative force at Eagle River. The catalog would never have gotten off the ground early on without her lyrical copywriting and design skills. Even though Robin had met Sue only a few times, she really liked the woman. She was certainly a lot nicer than Alec. It would have been interesting to get to know Sue better. Oh well. This was only one week out of Robin’s career, for good or ill. She was so ready to get this retreat over with and return to her regular life again.

  Robin stood behind the desk handing out keys and directing people to their rooms. Chuck had arrived and was working in the kitchen, and dinner was scheduled for later that evening.

  Given the glares and significant pauses in conversation while Robin handed out room assignments, the social interaction among the employees would undoubtedly be tense. She was pretty sure high school cafeteria dynamics would come into play at dinner. Brett would probably have a field day analyzing the pecking order and the never-ending interplay among employees in their quest for dominance, control, and security. One thing was certain: it was going to be a long week.

  Chapter 4

  Stowaway

  After dealing with getting everyone situated in their rooms, Robin went back to her cabin to lie down and decompress. She was too keyed-up to sleep, but lying on her back doing nothing, staring at the ceiling and enjoying the silence was a welcome relief. A howl came from somewhere outside her cabin. Apparently the local coyote population wasn’t sleeping well either.

  Normally, Robin spent a lot of her day doing calculations on her computer and filling out forms. Sometimes she attended a few meetings. It wasn’t like she was some type of recluse or a closet introvert, but she wasn’t used to spending this much time managing people, and it was taxing her ability to remain polite and friendly. Everybody had some little story they wanted to share with her. The van was too cold. The van was too hot. Someone was chewing gum the whole trip. Someone else snored. None of them wanted to be here, and all of them wanted to express their dismay.

  Robin wanted to tell them to go talk to Darrell. This whole freaking retreat was his idea. None of this was her fault. How did anyone manage to be a psychiatrist and not want to kill someone or themselves by the end of the day? What a bunch of whiners.

  A huge crash came from the other side of the duplex, and Robin bolted upright. What the cuss was that? She leaped off the bed, struggled with the door, and ran to the other side. She pounded on Alec’s door. “Are you okay?”

  A number of thumps and weird noises came from within and Alec said something unintelligible in an emphatic whisper. What the heck was he doing over there? She pounded again. “Alec! Are you hurt? Do you need me to get someone?”

  “No. Go away.”

  “What happened?”

  Footsteps stomped toward the door and Alec opened it a crack and glared at Robin. “Everything is fine. I’ll see you at dinner.”

  “What are you doing over here? Did you break something? It sounded like something big fell on the floor. I could feel it on my side of the cabin.”

  “No. It’s fine.” Alec looked down as a large white canine nose pushed through the gap in the door.

  Robin followed his gaze and laughed. “Oh, for the love of Benji, you’re hiding a dog in here. That’s what all this noise is?”

  He opened the door, grabbed Robin’s arm, and pulled her inside. “Yes. So now you know. Don’t tell anyone. According to what Darrell said, Ernie is strict about the whole no-pets policy. He hates dogs because they chase deer. I guess it’s a big deal with him and he’ll shoot at dogs that go after deer. I don’t know if Darrell was serious or just messing with me, but I don’t want to risk it.”

  “Don’t worry. Ernie will never know. Haven’t you noticed? He’s never around.” Robin looked at the room, which was a mirror-image of her cabin. But while her side of the duplex was tidy, Alec’s was a cluttered mess, filled with papers and clothes covering almost every available surface. No wonder Alec had so vehemently declined any help from the church-lady cleaning crew and locked his door. The big dog stood in the middle of the debris, wagging his feathery tail. Although the
dog was probably white, he was so dirty that it was hard to tell. The fuzzy beast walked over to Robin and encouraged her to pet him by pushing his head under her hand. She obliged and looked at Alec. “That is one filthy dog.”

  “I know. He doesn’t smell good either. Underneath all that stink, dirt, and hair, there’s not much dog. He’s the skinniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Robin bent and rubbed her hands along the dog’s sides, which he seemed to enjoy immensely. “Wow, no kidding. He’s just ribs, skin, and fur.” She stroked the dog’s head and looked into the soulful brown eyes. “What happened to you, fella?”

  Alec paced around the room, picking up items and throwing them onto the bed. “I guess he’s a stray. I think he’s been living off garbage for a while, since he seems to want to eat anything and everything.”

  “Why are you keeping him here?”

  “He didn’t want to leave. I kept trying to tell him to go home and that I have a lot of work to do, but he wasn’t buying it. This dog is like my shadow now, following me everywhere. So I gave up and let him sleep in here.” He smiled down at the dog. “That might have been a mistake. Now he’s had a taste of the good life. Along with some of my notes for tomorrow. He’s not exactly a picky eater.”

  Robin stroked the dog’s head. “So I guess all those crashing noises weren’t the ghost of Julia Lambert?”

  “I doubt it. He’s not the most graceful animal.”

  “No kidding. I was starting to think you were on drugs or something.”

  Alec paused in his pacing and looked at her. “What? No. Why would you think that?”

  “You have to be the most jittery person I’ve ever met.” Robin put her hand on her hip. “Don’t you ever sit still?”

  “I have a lot of stuff to do.”

  “Well as your neighbor, I know that you don’t sleep much.” Robin shook her head and scritched the fur behind the dog’s ear. He was leaning on her and seemed to have no plans to move anytime soon. After a long day of dealing with humanity, the canine contact was comforting. She couldn’t wait to see Emma tomorrow. “At least you didn’t have to supervise the cleaning of an entire lodge.”

  “Starting tomorrow, I have to train nineteen people on everything having to do with Eagle River. I haven’t dealt with half this stuff in years. And I…well…never mind.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Don’t you have something you should be doing now?”

  “Well, dinner is in a little while, but I was resting until your illicit canine guest started making so much noise in here.” Robin smiled at the dog. “Although I’m starting to see what you mean. He’s really sweet. What kind of dog do you think he is?”

  Alec dropped some notebooks onto the desk with a thump. “I’m guessing Great Pyrenees. Maybe mixed with some type of retriever?”

  “You should find his owner. Someone is bound to be looking for him.”

  Alec scowled. “I doubt it, unless they starved him on purpose. In which case, I’d like to talk to them. No one should treat an animal like this.”

  “Maybe he just got lost.” She reached around the dog’s neck. No collar. “Someone might be really upset that their dog is missing and we just don’t know it. Tomorrow, I’ll make some calls. Is there an animal shelter here?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “I’ll look in the phone book. I’m picking up Emma at the boarding kennel in the morning. They might know who to call.”

  “Fine. Just don’t let Ernie hear you mention the dog.”

  “Your secret is safe with me. Did you give him a name?”

  “He’s not my dog.”

  “You have to call him something.”

  Alec stopped wandering around the room and gazed at the dog. “Well, he does behave a little like my uncle.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s kind of a goofball.”

  Robin giggled. “Your uncle is a goofball?”

  “Uncle Leroy has always been a little weird.”

  Robin wanted to say, “You take after him, don’t you?” but she refrained, since Alec hadn’t seemed to appreciate it when she called him jittery. Didn’t he know what he was like? Maybe he wasn’t particularly introspective. Instead, she said evenly, “Weird in what way?”

  “He always used to drop by and drink all my dad’s beer. My mother couldn’t really say anything, since Leroy is her brother.”

  “Having your uncle drop by doesn’t seem particularly weird.”

  “Well, he always came in through my bedroom window. I think he thought he was being sneaky or something. It freaked me out at first, but after a while I kind of got used to it.”

  “Apparently, you have a long-standing problem with unannounced visitors.” Robin ruffled the dog’s ears, causing his tail to wag happily. “I think he looks like he could be a Leroy.”

  Alec shoved some catalogs aside and sat down on the end of the bed. Leroy walked over to him. “Yeah, he’s really a nice dog. I’ve got to make an appearance at dinner.” He looked up at Robin. “What do you think I should do with him? Last night I just let him follow me to the lodge. He stayed outside, but he made a lot of noise. I’m afraid Ernie is going to find out I’ve been harboring a fugitive.”

  “I noticed the noise.” Robin sat down next to him. “I could sneak him some food from the kitchen.”

  “Oh, he’s well aware of the kitchen. I’ve done that already. He likes pizza.”

  “See? Great minds.” Robin smiled and got up to leave. “I’ll see you later. You too Leroy.” The dog wagged his tail, obviously pleased to have found a new friend.

  Robin went back to her cabin and changed her clothes, since she was now covered with a lot of extremely dirty white dog hair. She made a point of wearing something from the Eagle River catalog. She’d gotten her outfit from a sample sale, which was another perk of working for the company. Manufacturers sent samples of items for consideration to be included in the catalog. Those items, along with returns, merchandise used in photo shoots, or items that were defective in some way, were sold to employees for absurdly low prices.

  Robin smoothed the luscious fabric of her richly embroidered jacket. It retailed for $120 in the catalog, but she’d paid $3 for it at the sample sale. Success at a sample sale required power-shopping skills. All the employees had to get in line, and when the door was opened it was a free-for-all. Robin had learned that the key to scoring the best stuff was to grab first and ask questions later.

  Robin walked down the pathway from her cabin to the lodge. She needed to talk to Chuck and see how things were going with dinner. At least that aspect of the retreat had gone well. Chuck was amazingly unflappable and told great stories. After catering events for so long, he seemed to know everyone in Alpine Grove.

  As she walked through the large wooden door into the lodge, she mentally congratulated herself that the space seemed markedly less filthy. It still had the odd tarp-trash-can arrangement, but the lobby was substantially cleaner.

  A tall blonde woman was sitting on the willow sofa in front of the fireplace. She was wearing a long flowing black jacket, which Robin knew was from the Eagle River big-and-tall collection. Of course, the catalog never used the word “plus size” or “full-figured,” but some of the clothes were definitely optimized for certain body shapes. An Eagle River selling point was that whether you were four foot ten or six foot four, you could still find clothes that fit.

  The woman had a concerned expression on her face. Robin walked over and stood in front of the coffee table. “You’re Moira, right?”

  “Yes.” She stood up, towering over Robin. “There’s no phone in my room and I came downstairs to see if I could get a signal on my cellular phone, but it’s not working here, either.”

  “You have a cell phone?” Call-center employees made even less than she did and Robin certainly couldn’t afford the exorbitant per-minute charges for both incoming and outgoing calls. Undoubtedly in a place like Alpine Grove, wherever you could ac
tually get a signal, you’d be stuck with roaming charges too. Each call would cost a fortune. Maybe Moira had a rich husband. Must be nice.

  “I love my phone!” Moira held the pink clamshell or “flip phone” in front of her. “Isn’t it cute? I’m worried about my kids.”

  “Is something wrong? Are they okay? There is a phone here in the lobby if you have a family emergency.”

  Moira stuffed the tiny phone in her bag. “Oh, that would be wonderful. Mickey had a soccer game today and I need to find out how it went.” She scuttled over to the desk and settled in for her call.

  Robin shook her head and continued to the kitchen. Ernie hadn’t said they couldn’t use the phone. If he was going to pull this disappearing act all the time, it was his own blasted fault. Maybe after he got his phone bill, he’d realize it might be a good idea to pay a bit more attention to his facility.

  She pushed the swinging door into the kitchen, where Chuck was standing over a huge stainless-steel vat on the stove. The aromas wafting through the kitchen were spicy and rich. Robin grinned at him and her stomach growled loudly. “That smells amazing. According to my list, it’s minestrone, right?”

  Chuck pointed a long wooden spoon at her. “You betcha. This is just the beginning. Today, we’ve got soup for the first course, along with salad and the main event. It’s gonna be good.”

  Robin jumped at a crashing noise from outside. Although she knew it was undoubtedly Leroy hoping for a handout, she said, “Your ghost makes a lot of noise.”

  “Don’t underestimate Julia. If she doesn’t like you, you’ll find out pretty quickly. I think everyone in Alpine Grove has met her at one time or another.”

  “You said that was a Halloween gimmick.”

  He waved the spoon toward the lake. “Well, yeah, the Lamberts played it up. But I told you about the things other people have seen. I know I’ve been here a bunch of times and there’s been everything from hearing footsteps to hearing screams and whispers. Then there’s the strange smells, like smoke from a fire. They say that’s from the fire that killed Julia. And lights turning off and on. I mean, none of it is particularly sinister or scary. It’s just strange. A faucet will be running, even though I know I didn’t turn it on. Or a light is on that I know I turned off. So you gotta wonder.”