Page 27 of Silver Linings

During dinner, Ben had wondered if he should ask whether Sidney had voted for the guy, then decided such a question would be far too intrusive. For all he knew, she hadn’t participated in the last election at all, since she would have been away at school. True, she could have voted absentee or come home to cast her vote, but mayoral elections generally didn’t tend to be at the top of the priorities list for college students.

The last few rows of seats were now filled, so it seemed the mayor had decided it was time to get things started.

“Welcome, everyone,” he said in a voice somewhat at odds with his appearance, smooth and mellow as a radio announcer’s. For all Ben knew, that voice was part of the reason why he’d gotten elected in the first place. “I’m Mayor Tillman…but you already knew that, of course.”

A low rumble of laughter filled the hall. Although Ben had already been disposed to distrust the guy, based on what Sidney had told him about the mayor’s pro-big-business bent, he had to admit that the man knew how to handle a crowd.

“With me is Victor Maplehurst, CEO of development at Northwest Pacific Lumber. I thought it better to let him talk about his company’s plans, since he’s the expert on the subject. Victor?”

The mayor stepped away from the podium to give the other man space. Victor moved up to the microphone, looking utterly assured. No doubt he’d given plenty of these same speeches at various town halls around the region, although Ben assumed the man probably tailored each one at least a little to adapt it for his current audience.

“Hi, everyone,” he said. He must have read the room in advance, because he wore jeans and a plaid button-up shirt, although they’d probably come from Ralph Lauren rather than Carhartt. “I thought we’d have a little chat so I could address some of your understandable worries about Northwest Pacific starting up clear-cutting in your forests again.”

People murmured around them, but it seemed as if they were willing to hear him out, because no one spoke up. Next to Ben, Sidney was sitting upright in her folding chair, gaze fixed on the man at the podium. It was obvious that she was tense, although she also remained silent, fingers wrapped around the strap of the backpack-style brown purse in her lap.

“Let me talk first about where we plan to cut,” Victor continued. “It’s an area of the forest not visible from town, and we’re pretty sure that you won’t be able to hear us, either. We won’t be cutting more than five thousand acres. This is a strategic clearing, one that will actually help the overall health of the forest by clearing a section that’s become far too overgrown. Cutting it back will aid in fire prevention and will also help with removing some invasive undergrowth.”

Again, the people in the watching crowd murmured among themselves. However, it seemed as if so far Victor Maplehurst hadn’t said anything to upset them too much, because again, no one spoke up to ask questions.

On the surface, everything that Victor had said so far sounded pretty good. Certainly, nobody wanted to argue against a practice that might help to prevent forest fires, and invasive species could also be an issue. From what Ben had been able to tell from his admittedly limited explorations of the woods outside Silver Hollow, it didn’t seem as if they’d been affected by fire any time in recent memory, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen despite the area’s normally damp climate. Terrible fires had swept through northern California in the past, so there was no reason to believe this particular area would be spared forever.

Someone near the front raised their hand. Maybe the faintest of frowns creased Victor Maplehurst’s brows, but he sounded pleasant enough as he responded, “Yes? What’s your question?”

“Where exactly are you planning to cut?”

The person asking the question was a man, although Ben couldn’t see the guy because of how far back in the audience he and Sidney were sitting.

“Near a spot called Welling Glen,” Victor replied.

Next to Ben, Sidney went stiff, and her fingers tightened so much around the strap of her purse that the knuckles stood out white against her lightly tanned skin.

Her lips moved, and although no sound emerged, Ben thought he could still make out what she was saying.

Oh, no.

What was so important about that particular location?

Whatever it was, the rest of Silver Hollow’s population didn’t seem to have much of a problem with it. Another murmur moved through the crowd, but no one asked any follow-up questions.

The rest of the meeting didn’t take very long, with a few people inquiring as to how much traffic would increase in the area, and others wondering where all the workers would be housed.

Victor Maplehurst assured everyone that, since this was a fairly small operation, they would have the logging crew stay in mobile housing for the time while they were there, which sounded as if it wouldn’t be much more than a month or two. While the operation was going on, there might be a slight increase in traffic, and the local restaurants and shops might be a bit more crowded, but overall, there shouldn’t be much impact on the community.

The listening crowd seemed satisfied with that description of the operation, and the gathering broke up soon afterward. Ben followed Sidney outside, noting the tight set of her lips and the way she’d practically stalked out of the hall, as if she vibrated with an inner rage she couldn’t allow herself to express.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked once they were outside and well away from most of the other people who’d attended the meeting.

She stared at him blankly for a moment. Whatever had upset her, it seemed to be crowding her thoughts to the point where she wasn’t paying very much attention to her surroundings.

But then she blinked. For just a moment, he thought she was going to assure him everything was fine…even when it clearly wasn’t.

Then she said, “Yeah, I actually do want to talk.”

Chapter Nine

It must have been sheer panic that had made me think it was a good idea to bring Ben back to the house. But after hearing that Northwest Pacific intended to cut down the very spot where my great-to-the-nth-degree grandmother had first encountered a unicorn, I didn’t know how in the world I could stop them.

If nothing else, Ben Sanders would be a sympathetic ear. I could tell him about the family history of the place…carefully edited to remove any mention of the unicorn, of course…and explain that I hated the idea of that part of the forest being cut down, even though I knew it didn’t have any immediate significance to anyone except me.

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