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

by Susan C. Daffron

  “Hi-ho, hi-ho,” Alec said. “Sorry, but the dwarfs had better tools. Mining anything with this shovel isn’t going to work.”

  Robin giggled and held the handle of the hoe up off her shoulder. “All I have is a stick.”

  They turned toward the path and Darrell said, “You two need to shut up.”

  Robin put her fingers to her lips and Alec smiled at her. They walked as quietly as they could toward the clearing. Robin lightly tapped Darrell’s shoulder and pointed up the path. He nodded knowingly, and Robin could tell by the expression on his face that he’d been there before.

  They hid behind the large tree Robin had used as camouflage and watched as the man sat in his folding chair, methodically picking at his teeth with a toothpick. His legs were crossed at the ankles and he looked relaxed, not threatening.

  Darrell stepped into the clearing, startling the man, who waved his arms, flinging the toothpick away and tipping over the chair. He landed on the ground with a thud and Darrell pointed the gun at him. “Don’t move. Who are you and why are you on my property?”

  Robin and Alec stepped out from behind the tree to get a closer look at the man, who was trying to sit up, still waving his hands at Darrell. The poor guy looked like he might cry or vomit and he sputtered, “I’m just camping!”

  Darrell said, “This is private property. What is your name?”

  “Henry Wallace.”

  “Wallace?” Robin said. “Are you related to Moira Wallace?” Having spent hours doodling retreat attendee names, Robin was up on every person who had been in the vicinity lately.

  Henry looked surprised, but said, “Yes. Moira is my wife.”

  Alec picked up the CD player. “What’s this?”

  “Just music. I like to fall asleep to classical.”

  Alec pressed the play button and the animal cry burst through the clearing, causing everyone to jump and Robin to drop her stick. Alec pressed the stop button, but the sound seemed to continue to echo off the trees.

  Robin picked up the hoe handle again and waved it threateningly at Henry. “What are you doing, you horrid little man? Scaring people like that! We should call the police. Did you smear blood on the lodge building? How could you? What is wrong with you?”

  Henry waved his hands back and forth in an effort to silence her tirade. “I didn’t hurt anyone.”

  Darrell said, “You didn’t answer me. Why are you here?”

  The defiant expression on Henry’s face devolved into despair. “Moira is going to kill me.”

  Darrell lowered the rifle. “Wait, Moira? Was her name Moira Laude before she got married?”

  Henry nodded. “Yes. Her cousins had a place south of here and she went to the haunted house when she was a little kid.”

  Darrell said, “Myrtle laughed about the ‘sticky kid’ for years.”

  “The sticky kid?” Alec said.

  “Yeah, Moira ate a caramel apple too fast and started crying when her fingers got sticky. She got to the point that she was completely hysterical and screaming—it was a serious temper tantrum with her lying on the floor and kicking her arms and legs. My aunt had to take her inside, clean her up, and calm her down because she was upsetting all the other kids.”

  Henry shrugged. “Moira is a little high-strung.”

  Darrell gestured toward the tent with the gun. “That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”

  “I thought Moira went home.” Robin said. “Is she here somewhere too?”

  Henry shook his head. “The idea of her spending time in a tent is preposterous.”

  Robin made a wry face. “Yeah, I can’t quite imagine her camping.”

  Alec said, “You never answered Robin’s question. Are you trying to scare people away?”

  “It was Moira’s idea.” Henry sighed. “I just sold an apartment building we owned in Portland. After Moira got here, she wanted me to use the money to buy the lodge. The land is a gold mine and having those crummy old buildings on it is a waste. We want to tear it down and subdivide. She thinks condos here would sell like crazy. I’m not so sure. I think high-end homes would be more profitable.”

  Darrell said, “It’s not for sale. Even if it were for sale, I’d never sell it to you.”

  Henry looked defiant again. “The place isn’t yours to sell. Your uncle owns it. And I happen to know that he’s mortgaged it to the hilt. The whole thing is about to go into bankruptcy auction.”

  “There are quite a few things you don’t know,” Darrell said. “But you can be sure that you are never going to own this property if I have anything to do with it, which I do.”

  Robin said, “So wait—Moira wasn’t talking to her kids all that time, was she? She was talking to you. I bet you don’t even have kids. No one would really name a child Mickey. You’re bringing on a lifetime of mouse jokes.”

  “No, we don’t have kids.” Henry waved toward the lodge. “Did you know you can’t get a cell signal anywhere in this stupid place? I had to walk up to the road and there’s only one spot where you can sort of hear.”

  Darrell said, “Where’s that?”

  “On the road, up to the left near the mailboxes.” Henry leaned back on his hands. “I’m exhausted from all that walking.”

  Alec said, “Darrell, do you want to press charges against this guy? Should we call the police? I don’t know if you can bust someone for scaring people. But he is trespassing. And smearing blood all over the wall of the lodge is vandalism.”

  Robin said, “Where did you get the blood? And that huge bone? Did you kill something?”

  Henry looked appalled. “No. I went to the grocery store. I told the butcher the bone was for my dog and I was making blood sausage.”

  “Gross.” Robin turned to Darrell. “Let’s call the police. You need to bust him for this!”

  Darrell shook his head. “It’s not worth it for this weasel.” He brandished the gun at Henry again. “Get your car keys. You’re leaving this stuff here. All of it. We are going to walk you to your car and Alec is going to follow you and make sure you leave town. If you ever, ever come back here, I’m calling everyone—the sheriff, police, and any other law enforcement I can find around here. I’ll also call every developer I know in the western half of the United States to make sure you never buy another piece of property anywhere within 2000 miles of this lodge.”

  Henry nodded.

  “And by the way, Moira is fired.” Darrell smiled. “I’m pretty sure she’s not going to get a good reference either.”

  Chapter 15

  Inquiry

  After escorting Henry off the North Fork property, Robin, Alec, and Darrel returned to the lodge and sat in the dining room waiting for dinner to be served. Darrell was flying back to Portland the next morning, and since no one else was around, he explained what Robin’s new job would entail. Because so many Eagle River customers lived on the East Coast, they had determined it would be more cost-effective to ship from West Virginia instead of Oregon.

  They planned to build a huge new warehouse in West Virginia that would employ hundreds of people. The old warehouse space in Portland would be converted into more call-center cubicles.

  The people who worked in the warehouse were either going to have to move to West Virginia or get new jobs. They hadn’t been told yet, and it was likely to be quite an unwelcome surprise. Robin had never been to West Virginia and had no idea what it was like.

  Later, Robin was curled up with Alec in the Pine Cone cabin. He was reading marketing materials and she was sort of reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance again, in-between bouts of sleeping. When she opened her eyes again, the narrator was talking about climbing a mountain and adjusting the motorcycle’s speed. It took a moment for her brain to reengage with the text, then a random and disturbing thought popped into her mind. What if the job in West Virginia turned out to be a more stressful version of what she was doing now at Eagle River? In many ways, what Darrell had described made it sound as if it would b
e. She sat up and nudged Alec’s shoulder. “Hey.”

  He opened his eyes and picked up the binder that had slid off his lap. “What?”

  “Have you ever been to West Virginia?”

  “No. I’ve been to the East Coast, but not that area.”

  “After class tomorrow, do you want to go to the library and learn more about it? There must be a library somewhere nearby.”

  “Sure. That’s a good idea.”

  The next morning, class went much more smoothly, probably because everyone had slept a lot better without the dying-animal noises. Alec and Darrell had collected all of Henry’s stuff and gone through it. He’d used quite an elaborate collection of odds and ends to scare people. Everything from fishing line to fake spiders. The guy had certainly been creative.

  After lunch, Alec and Robin went to the Alpine Grove library. It was an old two-story brick building with cast-concrete decorations around the arched doorways and windows. Two sets of concrete steps went up to the huge wooden doors. At the top of the steps, Robin pointed at a brick that had the year 1927 chiseled into it. “What a cool building for a library.”

  Alec smiled. “Alpine Grove takes its reading seriously, I guess.”

  They walked up to the front desk, where a woman with curly reddish-blonde hair was sitting surrounded by piles of books. She looked up and smiled. “May I help you?”

  Robin said, “Yes. I need to learn more about West Virginia.”

  “What would you like to know?” The woman stood up and walked around the desk. “Are you doing a report? Research?”

  “I might have to move there, but I’ve never been out East.” Robin gestured toward the stacks of books. “Maybe there’s something that explains what it’s like.”

  Alec said, “All I know is that there are coal mines. Or there were.”

  The librarian said, “Yes. Fifteen percent of the nation’s coal production comes from West Virginia, although tourism is now the major industry.”

  Robin raised her eyebrows. “Holy schnitzel, you sure know your state facts.”

  The woman smiled and gestured for them to follow her. “I’m Jan, by the way, and I’m one of the librarians here. I tend to remember trivia. It’s an occupational hazard, I suppose.” She pointed at a shelf. “This section has lots of state information. If there’s something specific you need, I also can do some online searches for you.”

  Robin crouched down to look at the books. “Okay, thank you.”

  The librarian walked away and Alec crouched down next to Robin. He pulled out a book and stood up. “Hey, West Virginia was the first place to enact state taxes. Back in 1921.”

  “That’s not a drawing card.”

  “Well, the first spa open to the public was located in Berkeley Springs in 1756.”

  “That’s better.”

  “This is interesting. Approximately seventy-five percent of West Virginia is covered by forests. I bet it’s nice in the fall when all the leaves turn.”

  Robin opened a book. “Famous West Virginians include author Pearl Buck and actor Don Knotts.”

  “That’s Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show, right?”

  “Yes. I’m not sure that’s a drawing card, though.”

  They quietly flipped through pages for a while, whispering stats at each other. Finally, Robin closed her book. “I know many more facts about the great state of West Virginia now. But I can’t tell if I would like living there or not. Particularly that part of West Virginia. It seems to be far away from everything.”

  “Except Ohio.”

  Robin shook her head. “I don’t know. This whole thing feels so sudden. I can’t decide if I’m anxious because I’m afraid I can’t do the job or because I don’t want to leave everything that’s familiar. Or something else. I mean, this a huge opportunity. Why am I not more excited about it? Maybe I’m just a big fat chicken.”

  “We could fly out and visit.” Alec wrapped his arm around her. “I know what you mean about it feeling kind of…funny, or wrong, somehow. Let’s go back to the lodge and talk about it some more.”

  “I think I need to stare at the lake for a while. That seems to help.”

  Alec gave her a quick kiss. “Yes. It definitely does.”

  The next afternoon after class, Alec and Robin drove out to a hiking trail that the librarian had suggested. Robin said, “After all this time here, I’m finally going to get to enjoy some actual recreation.”

  “The waterfall sounds like it will be worth the hike.”

  “It’s kind of cool that it was named after that pioneer lady, Lilly what’s-her-name. That librarian, Jan, sure knows her local history. Even for a librarian, she’s kind of scary smart.”

  Alec laughed. “I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought so.”

  At the trailhead, Alec parked and they got out of the Jeep. He looked around the empty area. “It’s a beautiful day. Where is everybody?”

  “This is a little different than the Multnomah Falls trail. No people noises. Just birds and squirrels and whatever else is living in those trees.”

  “Lions, and tigers, and bears?”

  “Oh my. I’ll take them over rabid werewolves anyway. I’ve had enough fright nights to last me a lifetime.”

  They began walking up the sun-dappled path through the trees. Spring growth was bursting forth everywhere. Ferns, shrubs and countless other forest plants were producing lush new foliage, so it was as if they were viewing the entire trail through a green lens filter. The sweet earthy scent of leafy trees and pine needles surrounded them, and the only sounds were birds calling to one another occasionally.

  They walked in silence for a while until they reached the overlook for the waterfall. Standing next to the railing, they gazed down into the stone canyon far below. Rushing water shot over a cliff into a deep blue pool. The roar of the water seemed to echo off the massive granite rocks.

  Robin wiped some moisture from her cheek. “That is an impressive amount of water.

  “Spring runoff, I guess.” Alec took her hand. “Let’s go over here. I can barely hear you.”

  They moved back, away from the overlook, to a mossy cleared area. Robin sat down and sighed as she leaned back against an enormous cedar tree. “This is amazing.”

  Alec sat next to her, leaned back, and closed his eyes. “I know. I wish I never had to leave here.”

  “What if we didn’t?”

  Alec opened his eyes and looked at her. “What?”

  “Well, we’ve been talking about West Virginia and what it would be like. I’m sort of worried about what I’d have to do and your job would be pretty much exactly the same, except you’d have to spend more time on airplanes flying back to Portland.”

  “I know. I can’t say I’m excited about that.”

  “What if we found jobs here? Or somewhere else we like. Just chuck Eagle River entirely. I don’t have much to chuck and you have tons of money, so you could call it an extended vacation or a sabbatical or something.”

  He laughed. “You’re really pushing that vacation idea pretty hard, aren’t you?”

  “Maybe. It’s probably silly, but reading about traveling all over the country on a motorcycle makes me think about doing something different, I guess.” She picked up a leaf and examined it. “When you talked to Darrell, did he say how Ernie is doing?”

  “Yes, I guess he’s improving. Part of his problem was a massive nutritional deficiency. Did you know that if you don’t get enough vitamin B-1, it can affect your memory?”

  “No. I’ve never heard of that.”

  “They aren’t sure if he’ll ever really completely recover, but I guess it’s possible. Well, assuming he doesn’t go back to eating junk again.”

  “Maybe that whole health-nut thing you have going isn’t such a bad idea, after all.”

  He tickled her ribs. “My body is a temple.”

  “I know I like it.” She grabbed his hand. “Do you think Ernie will ever be able to run the lodge again
?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure anyone knows. It sounds like he’s going to be in the assisted-living place for the foreseeable future. Darrell is distracted with the whole divorce mess, the new warehouse, and lingering merger issues you don’t even want to know about.” He slumped down against the tree. “I wish I didn’t know. Returning to work is going to be a shock to my system.”

  “So are they just going to board up the North Fork? That’s so sad. I can’t bear the idea.”

  “I know.” Alec sat up straight and looked into her eyes. “Unless I bought it.”

  “What? You want to buy a run-down lodge in Alpine Grove?”

  “Why not? The location is beautiful. If we can successfully do retreats in a dilapidated haunted lodge, imagine if the place were actually fixed up!”

  Robin grinned. “Are you serious? You might have to convince Julia Lambert to share it with you.”

  “Yes, I’m serious. As long you manage the place. We already know you’re incredibly good at it, even under adverse circumstances.”

  “Adverse is a nice way to put it.”

  “You’d have to tell Darrell you aren’t going to West Virginia though.”

  “That’s fine with me! Do you think he’d really sell it to you?”

  “I think he might. In addition to cash, I have an enormous amount of Eagle River stock I can negotiate with. If he were going to sell it to anyone, I think he’d sell it to me, since he’s known me forever.”

  “Jumpin’ Jiminy, with your advertising background, you’d be able to promote it. And unlike Ernie, you fix things. You’d be a fantastic owner!”

  “There are a lot of details to work out, but I like the idea of doing something else with my life. Creating something that’s actually mine, instead of making money for someone else, has a lot of appeal. No meetings and no one whining about stupid things like value propositions and bold type.”

  “This is so exciting!” Robin held out her hand. “Look, I’m shaking.”

  Alec wrapped her in a hug. “Let’s go back and I’ll call Darrell.”

  “I know he’ll say yes. He has to!”