The Forest Ranger's Rescue

Chapter Three

“Ida, can you get me the rest of the receivables, please?” Jill called to the front-office manager as she closed yet another file of invoices.

Sitting inside the shabby office at Russell Sawmill, Jill glanced up at the rustic accommodations. A main reception room with a front counter built by her father over twenty years earlier partitioned several old, metal flight desks where the clerical staff performed their daily work. Ida and another clerk occupied this domain, with Jill sitting in the far back corner. Alan had moved into Dad’s office. Frank Casewell, the new mill manager Alan had hired shortly after Dad’s death, inhabited the second office. The building also included a large conference room with a long, scarred table for meetings.

Sunlight fought its way through the coating of grime and sawdust on the windows. Jill made a mental note to clean them tomorrow morning. The threadbare carpet needed to be replaced, too. It was a pity Alan hadn’t renovated the office when he’d decided to spend two million dollars buying new technology for the mill.

And that was another problem. Alan had over-extended them in debt.

Ida handed Jill several files of invoices, her brows furrowed with concern. At the age of forty-seven, Ida was a proficient worker who had been at the mill for over fifteen years. She knew the accounts receivable like the back of her hand. The payables, too. And the latest OSHA regulations from the US Department of Labor.

“We’re too far in debt, aren’t we?” the matronly woman whispered low, for Jill’s ears alone. She cast a surreptitious glance over her plump shoulder at Karen, the pretty part-time clerk, who was busy answering phones.

“I’m afraid so.” It did no good to pretend. Not with Ida. She was smart and capable and had long ago proven she could keep a confidence.

Jill released a pensive sigh and pasted a smile on her face. “But we’ve been through rougher times than this.”

At least, Jill thought they had.

“I don’t know when,” Ida said.

Jill’s heart plunged. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear right now. Especially from someone she trusted. Having her fears voiced out loud made her entire body quake.

Ida patted Jill’s shoulder with reassurance. “Don’t worry. We’ll get through this.”

That helped a teensy bit, but Jill hoped Ida was right. Until he’d died of a heart attack, Dad had always shielded his family from the careworn worries of the mill. Jill didn’t want to alarm her mother or the mill employees, for fear more gossip might spread. In this rotten economy, everyone naturally assumed the mill was struggling, but Jill didn’t want to confirm their doubts.

Jill rifled through a packet of overdue invoices. New flexible band saws, conveyors, scanners, lasers and even a bar-coding system to track inventory. Great for output, but very expensive. The mill was bringing in just enough to meet both the payroll and their monthly bills. They sure didn’t need a timber theft accusation to top everything off.

Two huge logging trucks lumbered past the windows. Jill whipped her head around to look. From her vantage point, she saw Alan pop up from his desk and saunter out to the front reception area.

“It’s sure good to have you back, sis.” He leaned against the doorjamb and smiled, a jagged thatch of hair falling across his high forehead.

Jill’s heart squeezed. No matter how old or tall he got, Alan was still her kid brother and she loved him so much. “It’s good to be home.”

And she meant it. It felt good to help in some small way.

“A new load just came in. Guess I better get out there to count it.” Alan gestured toward the door.

“Don’t forget this.” Ida handed him his cell phone.

A reminder that he was on call 24/7. Dad had refused to carry a cell, preferring a clunky black radio they called the brick. He’d resisted new technology like the plague. But even without a cell phone, he’d always been at the right place at the right time, seeming to know instinctively what everyone needed from him. And Jill missed him now more than ever.

“Thanks.” With a quick grin, Alan tucked the phone into his pocket, scooped up his yellow hard hat, and left the office.

Karen’s admiring gaze followed after him like a love-struck schoolgirl and Jill smiled with amusement.

She tried to tell herself everything was going to be fine, but she was worried. The financials didn’t look good and an ugly question kept pounding her brain. Had Alan become desperate enough for money that he’d stooped to stealing timber?

Jill had to find out the truth, and fast.

Forty minutes later, she was waiting for her brother when he returned. She gestured toward his office and he headed that way.

“Ida, we don’t want to be disturbed for a while,” he told the woman.

Ida gave a solemn nod of understanding.

Inside his office, Alan plopped down in his chair and leaned back. Jill closed the door and sat in a chair across from him.

He looked up and released a heavy sigh. “So, what’s the verdict?”

“You already know. We’re heavily in debt. Over the past eight months, you’ve spent almost two million dollars on new technology.”

He blinked and licked his dry lips. “Yeah, but our output has doubled. The mill needed to be modernized, Jill. The new equipment has increased our production like crazy.”

“But it’s barely enough to cover our bills.”

He grinned. “But we are making it. Things will get better. You’ll see. Just give us some more time.”

She didn’t have much choice. “I also can’t account for five hundred thousand dollars. It’s like it just disappeared off the books. Any idea where the money went?”

He shook his head. “I guarantee I didn’t pocket it. Although I might have made some purchases and forgotten to turn in the receipts to Ida.”

Forgetting to turn in five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of receipts was beyond unusual. She didn’t know if Alan had been reckless, careless, or if they had a bigger problem she didn’t understand.

Yet. She’d get to the bottom of it.

“Check again. The money’s got to be there somewhere in the books,” he said. “And I project the new equipment we bought will pay for itself within three years.”

She tossed a financial report on his desk. “I’m not so sure. Look at the balance sheet. All it would take is a minor catastrophe to slow down our production and ruin us.”

Heaven help them if Brent Knowles discovered evidence that linked Alan to the stolen timber. The ranger could shut down their timber harvest. They had an inventory of logs, but their workers would go through them fast. Without logs to process, they’d be out of business. The final straw to break their backs.

Alan stared blankly at the numbers on the report before pushing the papers aside. Jill knew he didn’t get the math. He never had. But he knew trees. Douglas fir, ponderosa pine and larch. He had an inner intuition, understanding the grain and how to saw through a single tree trunk to get the most usable board feet. No one was better at his craft.

“I thought modernizing the mill was the best thing for us to do,” he said.

“It is, but not all at once. Not when we exceed our ability to pay for the new technology.”

“I’m sorry, Jill. I didn’t think it would be this bad. I’ve made some mistakes, but I’m trying to clean them up.” His smile dropped away and he clamped his mouth closed, looking determined and shamed all at once.

She studied him. His uneasy glance. The way he opened his mouth, then closed it again, as if he wanted to say something. The furtive looks at the door, as if he wanted to escape. She sensed he was keeping something from her. Something big. And the odd thing about it was that she’d gotten the same vibes from Brent Knowles.

Taking a shallow breath, she met Alan’s eyes and sought the truth there. “Al, this is just between you and me. I won’t tell a single soul. Not even Mom. But I have to ask once more, and I want the facts. Did you steal that timber to pay the bills?”

“No!” He flew out of his seat and smacked his palms down on the top of the desk so hard that she flinched. His face looked tight and angry, his eyes glaring with outrage. “I told you last night, Jill. I’m not a thief and never agreed to the theft. I wouldn’t do it. Dad wouldn’t approve. And I would never do anything to shame our father like that.”

The mention of their dad’s honor caused tears to burn her eyes. She tilted her head, surprised by Alan’s choice of words. Something about his tone spoke volumes. “Do you know who the thief is?”

His gaze slid away and he sat back down. “I told you. I had no part in it. I’d rather sell off the mill honestly than besmirch Dad’s reputation by stealing timber. Even if we had to sell, we could do that with integrity. It wouldn’t be ideal, but I could live with that.”

Hmm. He hadn’t answered her question. Not really. But all that mattered right now was that he’d claimed he was innocent and she trusted him.

She held up a hand. “Okay, I believe you. But I had to ask. At some point, we may need to hire a lawyer from Boise. But if you say you’re innocent, then I’ll stand beside you all the way, Allie.”

Allie. The childhood nickname she used for him when they were alone.

She meant what she said. Even if she embarrassed herself in the process, she’d defend him. This was her brother, after all. Her family. If nothing else, she was loyal. She’d been pursuing her own goals for long enough. Now Alan and Mom needed her, and she was determined not to let them down.

Alan’s features softened, but his brown eyes showed his anxiety. “Thanks, sis. It’s bad enough that Mom suspects me of theft. The past months since Dad died have been pretty rough at home. I don’t think I can stand it if you believe I’m guilty, too.”

Again, her conscience gave a tight pinch. “Don’t worry about Mom. I’ll speak to her.”

Poor Mom. She was still grieving for Dad. They all were.

“Thanks.” He gave a weak smile, looking so much like the young boy she’d grown up with.

“Do you know what’s inside there?” She pointed at the black twenty-inch safe sitting in one corner of the room. Before his death, this had been Dad’s office. The safe had been here as long as Jill could remember, but she’d only seen inside it once or twice.

Alan shrugged. “Just some old bank records. Dad opened it the day before he died, but I lost the key.”

“And you haven’t opened it since Dad died?”

He shrugged. “Nope. I didn’t think it was important.”

“Hmm. We should get a locksmith to open it for us. There might be something of value inside.”

“I’ve been meaning to call someone, but knew it’d cost us a pretty penny to have a locksmith drive into town from Boise,” he said.

No doubt he was right, but it couldn’t be helped. “I’ll call in the next week or so and ask what it might cost.”

Standing, she went to the door and laid her hand on the knob. She smiled back at him. “I love you, Allie. Don’t let these problems eat you up inside. We’ll work something out. We just need to figure out what that might be.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He bobbed his head in a quick series of nods.

“I’m gonna head out now. I’ll see you back at home later tonight for supper,” she said.

It was time she drove out to Cove Mountain and took a look at the cutblock herself. She needed to know just how bad the theft really was.

“Okay. See you soon.” He waved, looking momentarily like the sweet, naive boy she’d been raised with.

As she stepped into the outer office, she tugged her purse out of the desk drawer where she’d stowed it earlier that morning. A number of possible solutions to their financial woes rumbled through her mind. Solutions that wouldn’t involve laying off any workers.

They could sell off some of the new equipment Alan had recently bought, but they wouldn’t get full price now. They might be able to refinance their loan, or take out a second mortgage on Mom’s house. That meant talking to Larry Cambridge, the bank manager. And Mom would have to sign the papers, which might freak her out in her present state of mind.

Jill took a deep, settling breath. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Mom’s security was important, too. She wouldn’t want to move to Boise to live with Jill.

The mill currently specialized in lumber and plywood. Maybe they could diversify into posts and poles. Definitely not ideal, but it might be enough to keep them in the black. They’d figure something out. She just hoped they didn’t lose the sawmill in the process.

* * *

Brent flipped on the heater in his truck. The damp May weather didn’t bode well for fire season. The heavy rains they’d been having would turn everything to green. Then, as the cheatgrass dried out in June, he could find himself called out on a wildfire. That would mean leaving Evie overnight with Velma Crawford, her sitter. Not an ideal situation, but it couldn’t be helped. At least Evie liked Velma and was willing to stay in her home while Brent went to work every day.

Looking across the seat, he smiled at his sweet little daughter sitting serenely in her booster car seat. He’d wanted to take Evie with him up on Cove Mountain, so he’d left his Forest Service truck parked back at his office. Even though he was still working, some people might create a stink if they saw his child riding around with him in a government truck. They didn’t understand the long hours a forest ranger worked, so he tried to spend time with his family while he checked the cutblock where Russell Sawmill was harvesting timber.

“You doing okay, sweetheart?” he asked.

Evie didn’t smile, but she nodded and gazed out the window as zillions of vibrant green ponderosa pine flashed past their view. A cloud of dust billowed up behind them on the narrow dirt road as they circled the mountain.

He downshifted as they climbed in elevation. Thick forests of Douglas fir, western hemlock and ponderosa pine pierced the azure sky like elegant dancers. A logger’s paradise. You sure couldn’t get views like this living in a city.

Evie glanced at him and he knew what she was thinking.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” he said.

She nodded, a permanent scowl marring her high forehead as she clutched a stuffed toy rabbit in her lap. The way her wary gaze darted between him and the road told him she was excited but nervous. She never quite let down her guard anymore. Never was fully at ease.

A double-trailer logging truck approached from the opposite direction and Brent pulled over on the thin road to give it extra room to pass. Brent returned the driver’s wave as his gaze swept the heavy load of ponderosa pine, which towered over the cab of the truck. A flash of red caught his eye. A ticket stapled to one log on the back of the load. It was habit for Brent to look. To inspect. To make sure the loggers were following the law. He knew his timber assistant was working up here today and must have already checked the load of lumber to determine the number of logs.

Back on the road, he soon approached the landing area of the timber operation, and the sound of heavy engines and chain saws filled the air along with suffocating dust. Evie clapped her hands over her ears and scowled at the deafening noise. Brent chuckled as they passed by the cutblock area. Another fifteen minutes and he pulled over and killed the engine. He didn’t like what he saw. From the disapproving scowl on her face, neither did Evie.

Dozens of naked stumps porcupined the mountainside. Gone were the tall, lush trees that used to blanket this hillside, cut and stolen in the night by thieves.

Evie reached across the seat and tugged on his sleeve. He looked her way and she pointed out the window. A lone figure moved through the ruined forest. A woman, wearing blue jeans and a red sweater.

Jill!

Before he could stop her, Evie clicked off her seat belt, threw open the heavy door and hopped out of the truck.

“Evie, wait,” he called as she raced toward Jill.

Brent hurried to follow after his daughter. Since the theft, an eerie silence filled this forest with nothingness. No birdsong. No animal life. No treetops rustling as the breeze rippled past. This forest had been destroyed.

Violated by greed.

At the sounds of Evie’s running feet and gasping breath, Jill turned and gazed at the child with wide-eyed surprise.

“Evie. What are you doing here?” Jill said.

She lifted her head. Brent was highly aware of the exact moment when she saw him. He felt her gaze like a physical blow. As though an electric current flowed between them, shocking him with its intensity. And he couldn’t ignore a sudden rush of joy. For some inane reason, he liked being near this woman. As though she were his homecoming and they belonged together. An odd notion, but there it was.

“Howdy.” He waved, trying to sound casual. As though this meeting was a regular occurrence. No big deal. And he hoped she didn’t notice the happy zing that seemed to fill his voice.

“Hi.”

Jill’s reply didn’t sound too eager and he couldn’t blame her. His profession and the question of timber theft hung between them like a thick iron curtain.

Without asking permission, Evie tightened her fingers around the woman’s hand. Showing complete trust. Assuming Jill would let her do it. And Jill did, looking completely unruffled by Evie’s forward gesture.

Jill bent her knees so she could stoop down and meet the girl’s eyes. “Have you been doing okay since I saw you last?”

Evie nodded, her long ponytail bouncing. Seeing his daughter so energized pleased Brent enormously. He didn’t understand what it was about Jill that drew both him and Evie like a heat-seeking missile.

Jill smiled. “Good. I was planning to come and visit you later this evening. I have something for you in my car. I picked it up at the store before I drove up on the mountain. Would you like to see what it is?”

Another nod and bright, earnest eyes from the child. Brent hadn’t seen Evie this engaged in a long time, and he marveled that Jill had this effect on his daughter.

Still holding Evie’s hand, Jill walked with the girl toward her car. It was parked on the other side of the draw, hidden by a low-lying hill. No wonder Brent hadn’t seen it when he’d first arrived.

Feeling a bit out of place, he trailed behind, curious to see Jill’s surprise. At her car, she opened the back door and leaned inside. The rustling of a plastic bag sounded as she pulled out a small dry-erase board. It included a miniature eraser with a magnet and a purple marker. Very interesting.

“Since you’re now a big six-year-old, you’re starting to learn to write, aren’t you?” Jill asked.

Evie nodded with uncertainty, her gaze riveted on the erase board like it was Christmas morning.

“You can use this to write what you want to say and show it to your dad and other people. You can talk to him and anyone else that way. You want to try it?” Jill held out the board.

Evie didn’t take it. A small shudder swept her body and she looked down at the ground.

Jill knelt in the dust, seeking Evie’s gaze. When she spoke, her voice sounded infinitely gentle. “Don’t worry if you don’t know how to write well. That will come with time. If you can’t spell a word, just draw a picture instead. Your dad will understand. The important thing is to keep trying. Don’t ever give up. Do you think you can do that?”

Evie lifted her head and gave a tentative nod. Then, she reached out her hand and took the board. Jill showed her how to use the marker and eraser.

“Be sure to put the cap back on the eraser right after you use it, or it’ll dry out. Can you do that?” Jill asked.

Evie nodded. And that’s when Brent noticed Jill always asked his daughter yes or no questions. Nothing complicated. Nothing that would make Evie feel overwhelmed and want to hide. Just simple queries that Evie could nod or shake her head on.

“Shall we try it out?” Jill stood straight.

Evie bobbed her head twice.

“Okay, do you like flowers and butterflies?”

Evie stared at the woman.

Jill pressed the tip of her finger against the board. “Just write yes or no.”

Long seconds ticked by as it took Evie time to write her response, but Jill didn’t rush her. Not one bit. And during that time, Brent held his breath. What if Evie refused to try? He wasn’t sure if she knew how to spell the words. She’d refused to write at school. Her kindergarten teacher didn’t think she knew how. And Brent assumed Evie wasn’t learning a thing. He feared she’d grow up illiterate.

The black marker squeaked as Evie wrote some wobbly letters.

Yes.

Brent blinked his eyes, his throat feeling suddenly thick with emotion. His daughter could write. And if she could write, then that meant she could also read. At least a little. Obviously, Evie knew more than her teachers realized. And he had Jill to thank for revealing that fact.

Jill smiled. “Good. How about big black bears? Do you like them?”

They waited for Evie to write. It took less time for her to write the word no.

“That’s okay. They can be kind of scary sometimes, right?”

Evie nodded.

“But I doubt any bears live in this empty forest.” Jill’s gaze lifted to the graveyard of trees, some of the stumps over three feet across.

Brent stared at her, entranced by the flicker of sunlight against her shiny hair. Thinking how she lit up the ugly forest with her beauty.

“Yeah, it’s pretty sad,” Brent agreed, forcing himself to look away. “But it’ll recover. Clearing the tall trees from overhead opens up the plant life below to lots of sunlight. There won’t be many trees in this area next summer, but the pine grass, currants and forbs will soon cover the ground with lots of vegetation. It’ll take decades for the trees to come back, unless we help it out by replanting.”

Evie stepped a short ways away, drawing a picture on her erase board.

“What do you estimate the dollar price of the theft is at?” Jill asked.

He pursed his lips, making some mental calculations. Grateful to have his attention drawn away from Jill’s creamy complexion and the warm feelings coursing through his chest. “At least two hundred thousand dollars, possibly more.”

Jill nodded. “I concur.”

He wasn’t surprised. She’d grown up in the timber business and knew the value of trees as well as he did.

Just then, she turned and stumbled over a low tree stump. He reached forward and caught her. She fell against him, one hand latching on to his biceps, the other sliding against his chest. She looked up and their eyes locked. He stared at her, mesmerized. For several pounding moments, they stood frozen in time. The world spun away and nothing existed but them. He felt her warmth and breathed in her fragrant scent. Her lips parted in surprise and he felt the overpowering urge to pull her in and kiss her.