“You couldn’t convince Ted, so now you’re going to try me? You’re wasting your time. I’m just the hired help. I have no influence whatever.”
O’Hara laughed and Lucy found herself warming to the man despite herself.
“You can’t blame me, can you? After all, this is a project I believe in. Not just because it will make a profit for Mulligan, but because it will improve the town’s economy. You’ve got to admit there’s an awful lot of poverty in your unspoiled rural paradise. I mean, people can’t afford to buy mittens for their kids?”
Lucy thought of Tiffani and her ragged jacket. “I can’t argue with you there.”
“Andy Brown and I would like to go over the plans with you. I think you’ll see that gambling is really just a small part. There will be shops, theaters, even a museum. In fact, it’s been suggested we name it after Curt Nolan as a memorial. It’s a lot more than just a casino. It’s going to employ a lot of people and they’ll be able to make a lot more money than they’re getting from jewelry piecework—that’s for sure. This could mean opportunity for a lot of people.”
Lucy’s first impulse was to refuse, but she hesitated. The man had a point. She hadn’t really considered the benefits the casino could bring; she’d made up her mind against it based on her own prejudices. Thanks to her Protestant upbringing, she had an unshakable conviction that gambling was sinful and the only proper place for money was in a savings bank.
“Okay,” she finally said. “When and where?”
“There’s no time like the present.”
“No can do,” said Lucy. “I have some work I have to finish up before deadline.”
“Say in a couple of hours? At Andy Brown’s place?”
Lucy checked the clock. It was almost one and she had to be at the selectmen’s weekly meeting at four.
“How about three o’clock? But I won’t be able to stay long.”
“Great. See you then. I’ll have Andy warm up some of his famous cider.”
“Sounds good,” said Lucy, suddenly hungry as she hung up the phone. She hadn’t eaten lunch and she was ravenous. She knew she ought to eat something, but she still had pages and pages of listings.
Her stomach growled and she came to a decision. She’d go home and eat something and finish working on the listings there. That way she could check on the dog and she’d be closer to Andy Brown’s farm. She could easily swing by there on her way to the meeting.
Satisfied with her decision, she stood up and stuffed the papers into her bag. She turned the sign in the window to read closed and pulled the door shut behind. As she hurried to the car she debated what to eat: leftover stew or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
CHAPTER 21
Lucy was sitting at the computer in the family room, working on the press releases, when the girls got home from school at a quarter of three.
“Home already? Gee, I didn’t realize it was so late,” said Lucy, ejecting the disk from the machine. “How was school?”
“School sucks,” said Elizabeth. “I can’t wait to go to college.”
Lucy gave her a sharp look. “Don’t swear.”
“My group only got a B on our South America project because Lizzie Snider left Argentina off the map—it’s not fair!” wailed Sara, who wasn’t much of a team player.
“Mrs. Wilson put my picture up on the wall,” said Zoe, beaming proudly.
“Great,” said Lucy, bending down and giving her a peck on her forehead. “Listen, guys, I’ve got to go to a meeting, so I want you to hold the fort. I won’t be home in time for supper so, Elizabeth, you’ll have to cook the franks and beans. Sara, you can make a salad and, Zoe, you set the table. Got it?”
“Got it.” Elizabeth was reaching for the phone, which had begun ringing right on schedule minutes after the girls got home.
Lucy shrugged off the guilt that invariably accompanied her when she left the kids in charge of dinner and headed for the door. Kudo was right at her heels.
“Sorry,” she told him. “I don’t have time for a walk today and believe me, you wouldn’t like the selectmen’s meeting.”
Kudo didn’t seem convinced. He wagged his tail eagerly. Lucy reconsidered. She supposed she could take him along for the ride to the farm and drop him off at the house on her way to the meeting.
“You win, just this once,” she said, opening the door.
A blast of cold air hit her, and she quickly shut the door, almost bumping Kudo’s nose.
“Oops. Just a minute—I’ve got to get my coat zipped.”
She slapped her hat on her head and pulled on her gloves.
“Now we can go,” she told the dog, holding the door for him.
Kudo ran ahead of her to the car and waited by the rear hatch. As soon as she lifted it, he jumped in and stood in the cargo area wagging his tail and smiling.
“We’re just going for a little ride,” she warned him as she started the engine. In the rearview mirror she could see him grinning at her, his big pink tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth.
What a doofus, she thought. Though not quite so much of a fool as Jack O’Hara, who actually thought he could bribe Ted to support the casino. Maybe that sort of thing happened in the world of big business, but it certainly didn’t happen at the Pennysaver.
As she drove along, she wondered if bribes were business as usual at Mulligan Construction. From what Howard White had said at the meeting, it seemed O’Hara was pretty important in the company. Hadn’t he said O’Hara would be the next CEO? She had wanted to ask St. John Barth about him on Thanksgiving, when he’d mentioned he used to work for Mulligan Construction, but the opportunity had slipped by when the conversation took a different turn.
She glanced at the dashboard clock as she pulled into the
