Around 3 that afternoon, Trixie arrived with 2 London Fogs and handed one to Bobbie. “So How are all the new hires working out? You pay quite a bit out in salary, now and need some guests to make us some money. I see we have one new guest staying overnight. If we treat them well they might come back.”

“I kind of hope so. His name is Rick Dawson and his Dad was one of my profs; He’s even cuter than his dad.”

Trixie laughed. “Barb told me about that prof way back when, he almost tanked his career over you. It’s good more guests are coming.”

Bobbie shook her head and said. “Oh Trixie, Dawson didn’t almost tank his career; it never went that far and I wasn’t really his student any more. I did hear that later, his wife was really sick and he was having a rough time.”

“That’s no excuse for bad behavior Bobbie.”

Trixie suggested they take a walk up the hill to see how Rick was doing and Bobbie agreed, even though she knew Trixie was just curious and wanted to see him for herself. They went upstairs, Bobbie lent her some hiking boots and they set off. They walked up the rough winding road for about an hour. They saw that the view opened up to the terrace the motel sat on before the land dropped down to the shore.

“It’s so cool to look down and see everything from this vantage. We should take some pictures from up here for the web and mention the trail up the mountain.”

“Maybe I can get Rocco to make a few benches and a look off and this road could use some work too.”

“It’s a good idea but you always manage to spend a little money somehow.”

Before long, they spotted the white truck. Trixie walked around it. “Where is he?”

Bobbie stopped. “Did you hear something?”

Trixie nodded and they began to walk further up the path towards the voice. There they saw Rick, on the ground with his leg at an odd angle and a pained look on his face.

“Dear God! What happened Rick?”

“I think he broke his leg. And he’s white as a ghost. I think he’s in shock. This is bad Bobbie!”

They talked about how they could get him out and Bobbie knew that the sun was going down soon and it would get colder. She found a spot where she could get a signal and called emergency services from her cell and talked a while. She got off the phone and said. “We can’t move him ourselves and we have to keep him warm. They’re sending a chopper; they’re coming right away because the weather changes so fast up here.” Bobbie took off her jacket and then her sweater and tucked them both around Rick.

“Thanks, I couldn’t get a signal.” Whispered Rick.

Sure enough 15 minutes later they saw the helicopter come over the mountain and 2 (search and rescue) SAR tecs were lowered near them. They carried a body basket up to Rick. They got him strapped in with blankets and gave Bobbie and Trixie back their coats. Rick looked up and said. “Can I keep the sweater, it’s so soft?” And passed out.

The helicopter moved to hover directly overhead noisily and Rick and his rescuers were lifted into the bird and carried away.

“Well, that was exciting! Through the grimaces of pain, I can tell he is kind of cute.” Trixie said. They started down the path. When they got to the truck Bobbie suggested they drive it down the hill and peeked in the van seeing the keys on the seat. Trixie, on the passenger side, called out to Bobbie. “Come see this.” The sign on the door was a magnet and it was slipping, revealing another sign that said Peabody’s Mining Inc.

Bobbie was confused. “Mining?” And got into the divers side. Trixie got in too. Paperwork on the dash indicated that Rick was to stake a mining claim on Rook Mountain for Peabody’s Mining Inc. at the local government office after he had checked out the area.

“That’s sneaky Bobbie, anyone can make a mining claim anywhere they want and the old laws on the books say that they can appropriate any land they want to pursue the resource extraction.”

“Oh no! I’ve misjudged another person that is out to get us, thinking of the reporter that worked for the Scandals are us website. How do you know all that mining stuff?”

“Rick lied to get your permission to come up here but actually, he didn’t need it. Nothing about this is your fault. My Uncle Joseph taught me all about it. That’s how much of an advantage these big companies have. Peabody will start up a mine, likely blow the top of this mountain and your access road will be full of noisy, dusty, trucks and you’ll likely have mine slag rolling down the mountain into your pool. And when they’re done they will just pull up stakes and leave and you’ll be left with that mess too.”

“That will wreck the motel. How can I stop it?”

“I have an idea.”

They arrived at the hotel and Bobbie sent Trixie up to her apartment. Bobbie ran down to SPOKES to steal A nice charcuterie board and a bottle of wine and headed back upstairs.

Trixie pretended to roll her eyes. “Now we’re drinking the profits eh Bobbie?”

Bobbie shook her head. “It’s on my tab. We used to call this a plow man’s lunch.”

Bobbie got her computer and logged into the motel system and put a note on Rick’s reservation cancelling it due to him being in the hospital. Everyone would see it and Effie wouldn’t worry about making up his room in the morning.

Over cheese and wine, Trixie explained her plan. “Do you remember meeting my uncle Joseph?”

“Sure, he’s your mom’s brother, an old hippy and married to a Native lady.”

“Aunt Bride, she’s my favourite aunt. Anyway, Uncle Joseph has a mining company so he can do a little gold panning. I helped him set it up back when I was home from college one summer. Mostly it’s an excuse to go fly fishing but he makes a little money from prospecting.”

“Cool, but how does that help me?”

“What if Uncle Joseph’s company makes a claim on the Rook Mountain mine before Rick gets out of the hospital, we have all the paperwork and required maps from His truck, we could scoop the claim right out from under them.”