Stranded (40 page)

With sparkling apple juice, she even managed a toast to them. “To Magnolia and Geoff, new friends of some of us, old friends to others. Come back to us soon.”

“How about you, Mac?” Magnolia said after Kelli sat down. “What are your plans now?”

“I’m thinking.”

Magnolia isn’t easily detoured. “About what?”

“Oh, I might head for warmer country and do a couple of Arizona articles my editors want. I might head for Montana and play with my grandkids in the snow. Or I’m also thinking Hello might not be a bad place to settle down. I could go out and do some gold panning with ol’ Norman.” He gave me a sideways glance. “Like I said, I’m thinking.”

Magnolia turned to me. “And the two of you?”

“Our motor home should have the new engine installed within the next couple of days. I talked to Nick today, and he said he’d gotten the okay to take it out of the wrecked motor home.”

“Actually, Abilene won’t be leaving Hello,” Dr. Sugarman said.

I looked at her. She didn’t say anything, but she was blushing and glowing all at the same time.

“I guess this is as good a time as any to announce our plans. We’re getting married at Mountain Community Church next month.” He smiled. “And I think it’s going to work. She’s finally calling me Mike instead of Dr. Sugarman.”

Then we were all congratulating both of them, and Magnolia was saying maybe they’d be coming back from Missouri about the time of the wedding, but finally the question got back to me. Magnolia asked it. “So, with the motor home engine fixed, what are you going to do now?”

“I need a couple more weeks to finish with the books at the library.”

“And then?”

“I’m trying to talk her into buying the house. Nothing down,” Kelli wheedled. “I might even throw in those carousel horses if she really wants them.”

“Can’t beat a deal like that,” Geoff said.

I nodded. But I knew something none of them did.

The
Hello Telegraph
had published a front-page article about the arrests and my part in them, and, incredibly, some tabloid had picked up the one-line mention of the salami and run with it. I hadn’t seen the headline myself, but I’d heard that it said, “Widow Kills with Salami!” Shortly afterward an inquiry had come to the
Telegraph
from some other publication about my availability for an interview. I had no proof this was the Braxtons, of course, and the inquiry had come from California, not Braxton territory. It could be a legitimate inquiry. But somehow it smelled Braxton to me, and down deep I knew they were still after me.

But maybe it was time to stop running. Maybe it was time to dig in my heels and turn and face the enemy.

But there was a whole clan of Braxtons, people capable of arson, dynamite, and who knew what else.

Yet if Mac decided to stay here in Hello . . . My thought when Charlotte yanked the chains around my neck, and they didn’t break, came back to me. Two chains are stronger than one.

“Well?” Mac prodded.

“I’m thinking.”

Contact the author:

Lorena McCourtney
P.O. Box 773
Merlin, OR 97532
Email: [email protected]

She’s not your
average crime fighter!

D
espite her age, Ivy Malone’s unconventional sleuthing and unmatched determination make her one spunky sleuth that just won’t quit. Don’t miss Ivy’s other hilarious escapades!

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