Page 73 of The Woodcarver's Model
“So, were you up on the mountain?” Maggie asked.
“Yeah. I got a lot of thinking done. Coffee?”
“Love some.”
Mitch was noted for, among many other things, making some of the best coffee on the island.
“So…did you hear anything when you were up there yesterday?” Maggie inquired. “Any…ruckus?”
“I thought I heard a gunshot. Was someone hunting up there?” he answered. He sensed that something was up. Maggie was acting very strange. “Is there something I should know about?”
“Is it too late to change the coffee order to something stronger?” she replied.
“Scotch work for you?”
“If it’s big enough.”
Mitch poured her a double, then poured one for himself. They moved into the living room and Mitch lit a fire.
“This is nice.” Maggie sighed, stretching out her feet towards the fire and wiggling her toes. “Is it just me, or are the nights getting a bit cooler around here?” She sat and looked at the flames for a moment before she said, “Rob came back looking for you.”
Mitch looked at her with confusion. “He did? When?”
“Yesterday.”
“I’m surprised Frances let him onto the ferry.”
“She didn’t. Francis did.”
Mitch was surprised. Why would he do that given the fact that Rob had stabbed them all in the back when he’d chosen Craddock over them?
“It seems he’s been keeping his eye on your Rob—”
“He’s not mine!” Mitch interrupted.
“Well, Francis has been keeping an eye on Rob since he left. It seems he has a blog.”
“Some people like to hear themselves talk.”
“It appears a lot of people like to hear that boy talk,” Maggie continued. “Thousands of people, according to Francis.”
“It’s a free world I guess.”
“His last post was about being scammed by a real estate developer into promoting the destruction of an island habitat. Seems the developer edited the article he wrote, changing it to look like Rob was in support of the plan.”
Mitch got up and adjusted a log on the fire with a poker. “Sure. That’s what he says now.”
“He’s got almost fifty-thousand signatures on a petition protesting the development.”
“Well, we’ll never know what the original article said, will we?”
Maggie looked surprised. “He never showed it to you?”
“I asked and he said it wasn’t ready yet. Then he had the balls to use my computer to type it up.”
“Yeah, I see why you’d feel—wait a minute. He used your computer? Did he delete the file?”
He thought about it. “I don’t know.”
