Chapter1
“Welcome to Lake Howling, Oregon.” Branna made the appropriate baying noise as she drove past the sign in acknowledgement of the three years she'd spent here during high school. Howlers, the locals called themselves, but she'd never joined their ranks, having been born in Ireland and way outside the boundaries of the small town. Heading through the corridor of giant redwoods, she came out the other side and saw the lake to her right, glimmering in the late-morning sunlight. The town was stretched along the first body of water. The Roar, a general store that from memory stocked pretty much everything from candles to bait, was positioned first. Then the Howler, where you got a bed, meal and a drink, plus some dancing, if you could work out the moves that the locals had nailed.
Branna had noticed that not much had changed when she’d attended her friend Georgie’s funeral. The main street was still welcoming. The shop fronts were quaint and tidy with flower boxes bright with blooms, and all the windows sparkled. The American flag still flew on top of the library, which was a small white building at the end of the street and was, from memory, the oldest in Howling, and beside that sat the church. It was tourist season; the cabins would be packed with people wanting to hike in the woods, get onto the water, or pull something from it.
The office of Cooper Law, which was where she was headed, sat in the middle of town. Branna swung her van into a parking space, grabbed her purse, and climbed out. The heat settled around her as she stretched her hands above her head. After driving for days with only brief breaks to eat and sleep, all she wanted was to reach her destination.
“Welcome, Branna.”
Lowering her arms, Branna searched the face of the woman now standing before her, but didn’t recognize it, not that she’d come to know many people in her three years here. She was about 5’5”, Branna’s height. She wore crisp white capris with an ironed crease down the fronts of both legs and a collared, short-sleeved shirt, and she had her grey hair neatly tucked into a plain white cap.
“Thank you.”
“I’m Elizabeth Heath, dear. Georgie and I were very close. I’ll be calling on you once you’ve settled in, to make the handover and welcome you to the club.”
“Club?” Branna had no idea what the woman was talking about. “Handover?”
“Book Club. Georgie nominated you.” The woman reached out to pat her hand. “But don’t think about it now; you settle in and I’ll bring all the paperwork along in a few days.”
“Paperwork?”
“Must be off, dear, or I’ll be late for the hike.” The woman then hurried down the street away from her. Branna wondered what the hell all that was about. Shaking her head, she pushed it aside to deal with later.
The Hoot Café had a large front window, through which Branna could see several people seated at tables eating and drinking. To the left of the building, she saw another door, and on that was a plaque telling her that this was the entrance to Cooper Law. Pushing it open, Branna felt the relief of stepping out of the heat into the cool interior as she made her way up the narrow flight of steps, through another door, and then into the reception area.
“Good afternoon, how may I help you?”
The nameplate on the desk said Penny Bilks, and she was a perky brunette with a wide smile and white teeth.
“Hi, my name is Branna O’Donnell, and I would like to see Mr. Cooper, if it’s convenient?”
Penny looked at her closely, blue eyes skimming over Branna in that way one woman did to another, and she smiled.
“You probably don’t remember me, but I was Penny Wilkinson in high school.”
Branna looked closely and drew a blank. “Ah… well, I was only here for a short time.”
“Three years, I remember,” the brunette said, jumping to her feet with what Branna thought was an excessive amount of energy. “Your daddy was my teacher for a year while you were here.”
So, her thoughts of slipping into Howling unnoticed weren’t going quite as planned, Branna thought, eyeing the brunette and wondering what would come out of her fuchsia-painted lips next.
“Okay, sure,” Branna said, because she had no idea what else to say. She wasn’t good with people; in fact, she kept pretty much to herself, which had been quite some feat living in Washington, but still, for the most part, she’d nailed it.
“Good to see you again, Branna,” Penny Bilks held out her hand, which was tipped with long, fuchsia nails.
“You too, Penny.” Branna shook her hand, and then released it as quickly as she could.
Breathing more easily when Penny disappeared through a door behind her, Branna ran her hand through her hair and wondered what she looked like. Compared to the pristine Ms. Bilks, she probably came in second place. Looking down at her worn cutoffs and old gray T-shirt, she thought she should care, but really didn’t. At least her sneakers were clean with no holes.
“Mr. Cooper will see you now.”
Branna shook the hand of the big man who walked toward her as she entered his office. His smile was genuine, and he wore his suit with ease, even for his size.
“Pleased to see you have arrived, Miss O’Donnell. A lot of us admired your daddy and thought he did a lot for the school in his short time here and, of course, now that he’s famous, we love him even more.” His laugh was loud and rumbled up from his stomach.
“Thank you.” Branna wasn’t getting into a conversation about her estranged father with anyone, so she said nothing further.
“As Georgie’s friend and lawyer for close to thirty years, I knew of your relationship with her, and let me say she thought of you like a daughter, just as I’m sure she was special to you.”
