North Woods Law (The Great North Woods Pack Book 5) by Underhill Shawn

Author:Underhill, Shawn [Underhill, Shawn]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Kerry entered the station, stamping the snow from her boots. Jones was kneeling before the ancient woodstove in the front corner. He had started a fire with old newspapers and was now feeding it with dry sticks of wood from the pile stacked against the wall at the back of the garage. The room smelled strongly of heating iron and burning dust and cobwebs. It felt nice stepping in out of the wind, but inside still didn’t feel drastically warmer than the outdoors.

“Well, I’ve been calling around,” Dorothy said, as if Kerry had asked. “No one is real excited about coming out to fix that window tonight.”

“No one has the right one lying around,” Jones muttered. “They’re not universal.”

Dorothy nodded and resumed, “Robert figured we’d be better off starting the stove for the time being. We can’t let the place freeze up. If you think we’ve got budget problems now …”

“Isn’t there another emergency heater in the garage?” Kerry asked.

“Yes,” Jones confirmed, staring at the flames. “Several. But those are battery powered, in case of power failure and generator failure. Short term tools. No way can they heat this whole place for the night after the cold setting in like this. And no way can the furnace handle running constantly as it is. If it quits on us, we’ll be operating out of our trucks for days on end.”

“It’s been years since we used this old stove,” Dorothy explained. “I hope that old pipe holds up. Damn, if they’d only give us the money to get things fixed up around here.”

“Money goes to the bigger, more important stations,” Jones said flatly. “We’re not quite close enough to a major park.”

Kerry said nothing and went down the hall to the garage and searched around and returned a few minutes later with a handful of Mylar emergency blankets.

“A few of these over the window can’t hurt.”

“Good thinking,” Jones said, then looked back to the fire.

Kerry made a subtle face at Dorothy and the older woman responded by raising her eyebrows. It was like Jones had been frightened into adopting a whole new and friendlier personality.

“Ron,” said Dorothy, referring to her husband, “will be here shortly. The four of us can keep warm company at least, even if our fingers are cold.”

“Yeah, about that,” Jones said, turning his head from the fire. “I was thinking, I can hold the fort down here. No need for the rest of you to stand around shivering all night.”

Is this real? Kerry asked herself. Has a kind spirit taken control of Robert’s body? Or is it just another test. I take up his offer and go home, and then forevermore I’m the snotty kid who runs home when the going gets tough.

“Nonsense,” Dorothy said. “At some point you’ll need to kick back in your office chair and shut your eyes. Once you nod off, you could be out cold for hours while the stove dies down.”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“For now.”

“Dorothy, please. I’m fine.”

“Well, to be honest, I just wouldn’t feel right,” she said.

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