Olivia's Mine (19 page)

Olivia laughed. She could see Lucy doing
that.

“It’s okay Lucy. I’m just being over-dramatic
as usual.”

“Ah, but Olivia, my dear friend. You are not
the dramatic one. You are the very self-confident, smart,
easy-going one whom everyone adores. Have you forgotten who you
are?”

There was a silence between the two
women.

Lucy said no more, leaving with the bags of
clothes in hand.

Olivia sat back down and thought about Lucy’s
last remark. It was true, she knew that. She was becoming someone
else. Someone she didn’t like very much. People change, she
thought. Frank had changed, that was for sure. She had changed. She
had always been an extrovert, but had become rather shy when faced
with the prospect of being the new person in town. Then the
extrovert in her rose again, and she found herself doing more and
seeing more, making friends and fitting in. Now, almost
calculatedly, she was withdrawn again. Perhaps, she thought, she
and Frank would change again and everything would be fine. After
all, she still loved him, she told herself.

Sarah came out from the mine office and stood
on the veranda. She glanced impatiently up and down the street.

“Oh where is Frenchie?” she asked
herself.

Out from the cabin of the Northern Mary came
Frenchie, who looked up towards the mining office.

Sarah waved her arms in a big circle,
ensuring he noticed her. Everyone would notice her, he thought.

He waved back.

Lucy walked up to Sarah and handed her the
bag of clothes.

“Here you go,” she said to her. “Where is
everyone?”

“McMichael is up looking at the concentrator.
It's broken down again. Can you believe it? He is so mad. I swear I
saw steam coming out of his ears. He and Frank will be working on
it for hours. Go! Quickly!”

Lucy ran back to Olivia’s house and this
time, didn’t even bother knocking.

“Olivia! Come quick,” she said, barging
through the door.

Olivia looked at her friend. She had never
seen Lucy out of breath before. Something had to be terribly
wrong.

“What’s happened?”

“It’s Frenchie. He’s out cold. I need your
help.”

“Shouldn’t you get the doctor?”

“No, he’s probably drunk too much. Frenchie.
Not the doctor. He was celebrating something, that’s for sure. I
need your help giving him some smelling salts or something. Last
time I gave him too many and his nose bled for days. Come quick
Olivia, Maggie’s down there and she’s panicking and I don’t know
what to do. You have to help me. Please!”

“Okay, okay,” Olivia said, grabbing her
coat.

Lucy took her hand and the two of them ran
down to the Northern Mary, where indeed, Maggie was waiting on
deck. She didn’t seem too upset though, Olivia thought upon
observation. Sarah was there too.

“He’s in the cabin, starting to come to,”
Maggie said. “He’s a bit groggy though, if you two could check on
him while you’re here, I’d appreciate it. He’s headed down to
Vancouver this afternoon and I don’t know if that’s such a smart
thing. Lordy, I can’t find Dr. Van Den Broek anywhere. It would
probably be best if someone had a look at him, just to be sure.
I’ll stay up here and see if I can see the doctor go by.”

Olivia and Lucy went into the cabin. Frenchie
appeared to be fine. He got up under his own power and went outside
leaving the ladies behind. Olivia noticed him secure the lock on
the outside cabin door. He kissed Maggie before she turned and
headed up the dock. It looked like a goodbye kiss. Olivia also
noticed the two brown paper bags that were full of her clothes, the
clothes Lucy had taken, were on the galley table.

“Lucy, what’s going on?” she asked
hesitantly.

“Your friends have officially kidnapped you.
You are going to Seattle. We are stopping in Vancouver tonight, and
you will be in Seattle in time for the wedding this weekend.”

“But Frank will be furious!”

“Maggie will take care of that. She stayed
ashore.”

“Maggie is in on this too?”

“We’re all in on this. Maggie, Frenchie,
Sarah and me, and one other person who shall remain nameless.”

Olivia ran for the door.

“Oh, it’s locked,” Lucy said. “So you might
as well just sit back and enjoy the scenery. Frenchie will unlock
it when we’re well at sea. We will have a grand time, the four of
us. Yes, Sarah is coming along too. It’s her first trip away from
Britannia ever, and she’s very excited. I am amazed she kept this a
secret. She needed time off too, you see, which is why she told
McMichael about the wedding and that you had invited her along if
Frank couldn’t come. She’s cunning, our Sarah. I’m beginning to see
a whole new side of her.”

“But how will I pay for all this?” Olivia
asked.

“Trust me, everything has been taken care of.
Just don’t cry please,” Lucy said.

Oddly enough, Olivia didn’t feel like
crying.

“What are those in the sink?” she asked.

“Crabs,” Lucy said. “I hope you’re hungry.
I’m getting a little sick of them myself.”

Back at Britannia, McMichael was standing
alone outside the assaying building. He had watched the whole caper
go down, beginning with Sarah waving her arms in the air like a
crazy woman.

“Mind your own business,” he said to himself,
but he was smiling. It was the only smile he had cracked since the
news of the concentrator going down.

Maggie came up the road and approached
him.

“Is Frank around?” she asked.

“He’s trying to get the concentrator up and
running again. Is it an emergency Margaret? The damn thing has been
down half the shift. I’ll never get the ore I need processed on
time if I’m not at full capacity.”

“No,” she said. “Would you just see that he
gets this letter as soon as he’s done, Mr. McMichael?”

She handed it to him.

“So now I’m in on it too?” he asked her.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking
about sir,” Maggie said. “Just give him the letter, hmm?”

“Why must I hand him the letter,
Margaret?”

“Well, you are his boss.”

“I think I’ve been chosen.”

“Well, if one’s wife has suddenly had a
change of plans, wouldn’t you want the husband to know? And if he
weren’t around wouldn’t you give the letter to someone who would
see him and could be trusted to give it to him? And if that person
happened to be his boss, so be it.”

“And if the husband is angry and the boss
knows what is happening between the two of them, then the wife now
has someone to help keep her safe, no?”

“I could give the letter to Sergeant Wolanski
if you’d rather,” said Maggie.

“Not my man Les? I’m sure Les would love to
deliver the news to Frank that his wife has run off. Loves to get
under Frank’s skin making remarks about Olivia, Les does. Delights
in it actually.”

Maggie pulled the letter back.

“Ah, so I’m right then. No, I’ll give Frank
the letter Margaret, no worries.”

“This is a small town, Mr. McMichael.
Everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows everything. You’re right.
I’ve heard that Les likes to continually wind Frank up about
Olivia. But really, everyone knows your man Les delights in
stalking your daughter, although he’s not quite so obvious about it
now. I suppose it was noble for Frank to give Les what he had
coming to him that night in the beer parlour, but two wrongs don’t
make a right as they say. The boys all loved Frank that night, it
was Frankie this and Frankie that, but they’re not so crazy about
Frank now, are they? Everyone knows you’re planning to send
Christina off to that fancy private school in Vancouver. You really
don’t have to you know. What’s that going to solve? We’re all
watching out for her, not just Frank. But you didn’t have to put
the rest of us on your payroll. We watch out for her because we
care about her. She’s a pretty lass, just like her mother was, God
rest her soul. Let her stay here with her family and friends. Don’t
send her away with strangers. Think about it, Mr. McMichael.”

“It’s too late Margaret. My mind is made up.
I’m going to Vancouver to take a look at some of the schools very
soon. The girls will stay with Mrs. Schwindt while I’m away. I’m
surprised you know all this. The grapevine appears to be well
informed but I can assure you it doesn’t know everything.”

“Well, it also knows you fancy Olivia more
than you ever fancied Lucy,” Maggie added with a big grin on her
face, getting back to the task at hand. “We see the way you smile
when you look at her. So you see Mr. McMichael, we know that if
anyone wants to help keep our Olivia safe, you’d be the one. That
is, if we were at all concerned.”

“Everyone knows this, do they, Margaret?
Everyone knows everything?”

“Everyone.”

“Ah, I see,” he said mockingly. “Then there’s
no need to remind everyone that she’s a married lady.”

But he’s not denying it, Maggie thought to
herself, once again placing the letter in McMichael’s hand.

It was almost sunset before Frank came down
to give McMichael the bad news that the concentrator was on its
last legs.

“You’d better keep that concentrator running
Fitzpatrick, or you can kiss that promotion good-bye. If that
concentrator goes down for any length of time, I’ll be laying off
people, starting with you.”

McMichael handed him the letter.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” McMichael said. “Margaret
Wolfe asked me to give it to you.”

“It’s probably an invitation of some sort for
the wife,” Frank said.

“It’s got your name on it,” replied
McMichael.

Frank, not knowing any better, opened the
letter with McMichael standing by.

Frank’s face turned three shades of red, and
McMichael could see beads of sweat forming above his brow.

“Something wrong?” Michael asked, knowing
that Frank was about to lie to him. He watched Frank’s face
carefully, so he would know how to read him the next time he did
so.

“No sir,” Frank said, saying nothing more,
his shifting eyes betraying him.

The letter was from Olivia’s father.

Frank was awoken by the sound of a steel tray
being slipped across the floor. His head was foggy and throbbing
and he could barely see out of one eye. He looked up at the ceiling
and realized he was not at home. He was still wearing the clothes
he had worn the day before. At least he was still fully dressed, he
thought.

“Your breakfast,” a voice said, “if you can
stomach anything.”

“Where am I?” Frank asked.

He sat up on the cot and it suddenly became
painfully aware of his whereabouts. Rudy Wolanski was staring at
him from behind the opposite side of the bars.

“Jail?”

“You don’t remember too much about last
night, do you?” Wolanski asked.

“I remember going down to the bar,” he
admitted.

That had been strange enough. Having read and
re-read William Bower’s letter over and over, getting madder with
each turn, he had decided to go have a beer with the boys. When he
got there, the tables were all full and he remembered no one making
an effort to move over to let him sit with them. He wound up
sitting at the bar in the space normally reserved for Les
Ferguson.

“Well let me fill you in on a few more
details,” Wolanski said. “You were at the bar all right, although
by the time I got there you had been thrown out. What was that all
about?”

Frank held his head in his hands and tried to
think about it some more. Les had come into the bar demanding his
seat. Frank was feeling no pain by that time, he recalled. The seat
next to him had come available and since it was the only vacant one
Frank actually motioned for Les to sit there, but Les was insistent
on getting his usual spot. So Frank had moved.

“I remember talking to Les,” Frank said. “I
must have got into another fight with him. So where is he?
Shouldn’t he be in here too?”

“No,” the sergeant said sternly. “Think some
more.”

Wolanski walked out of the jail leaving Frank
alone.

“Rudy, what are you doing? Let me out,” Frank
said.

It was nightfall before the officer returned,
bringing Frank some more food.

“Are you letting me out now?”

“That would depend on whether or not you
remember what got you here in the first place.”

“I don’t remember much,” Frank admitted. The
night was an alcohol-induced blur.

“Well let me try to help you along,” Wolanski
said. “You were in the middle of the street just before midnight,
yelling out death threats. Does any of that ring a bell?”

“No. I remember sitting with Les. He must
have said something to get me going.”

“See, now that’s the strange part,” Wolanski
said. “I was asking around and it seems that you and Les were
getting along just fine in the bar.”

“Rudy, why were you asking around? You know
I’m not a bad guy. It’s Les who is dangerous.”

“Because right now, I’m not Rudy to you.
You’re in my cell. I’m Sergeant Wolanski. Which means you might be
a bad guy, I don’t know at the moment. What’s going on with you at
home?”

Frank felt his blood rushing to the top of
his head.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“What’s this about your wife being smuggled
off to Seattle and you receiving a letter?”

“How do you know about that?”

“Okay Frank,” Wolanski said, losing patience.
“You can play dumb all you like, and you can sit here in this cell
forever if you want. I heard you threaten the lives of your wife
and your father-in-law. So did half the town. So I’ve been asking
around. I know a lot about your home life. We had this conversation
once before unofficially. Do you remember? When you and Les had the
fight and I asked if it was about the young girl, your wife or
both? We had a discussion about letting things you can’t control
eat away at you. When you’re ready to tell me the whole story, I’ll
tell you the rest of mine. You might want to get that blanket down
off the top shelf. It’ll be a colder night for you tonight, seeing
that you’re conscious and all.”