Calvin was a big African American man. He stood tall and proud in front of Grandma’s Inn as Jeanie pulled up in her rental SUV and parked at the curb. Dressed in tailored dark grey pants and a jacket he looked out of place in this world of jeans and flannel.
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you for over thirty minutes,” Calvin said opening the passenger door and slipping into the car.
“Sorry,” Jeanie said not feeling sorry at all. “I was out at Sun Valley, doing my job and there’s no service out there.” Thank goodness. It would have been really awkward on the drive to pick up her rental if Calvin had been calling her all the time. As it was she and Ryan were kind of hitting it off and Jeanie was eager to see where it went, even though he was a bear some of the time.
Calvin turned his oddly pale eyes on her. He had always made Jeanie uncomfortable and they had worked on at least six projects together now. His eyes weren’t blue, or grey, they were so light as to be almost colorless. She wondered, not for the first time, if they were natural or contact lenses.
“No signal? Is that a fact?” he asked. “Is there a place to get a good cup of coffee here at least?”
“There’s the Lemon Drop Café. It’s close by,” Jeanie said. “We could walk.”
Calvin looked out of the window at the greying sky. The wind had come up blowing errant leaves and trash across the street. “Drive. I may be in the sticks but I am not going to get anything on me.”
Jeanie rolled her eyes and sighed. Then she put the car into gear, checked the street for traffic, and pulled off a perfect U-turn into a parking on the other side of the street.
“We’re here,” she said getting out of the car.
Calvin eyed her but said nothing as he slipped out of the passenger seat. They went inside the quaint little coffee shop. All the tables were delicate little things. The décor spoke to a decidedly feminine feel that made Calvin look out of place. Jeanie loved seeing him perch uncomfortably on the little chair.
A waitress in a frilly uniform came and took their order. Calvin had a black coffee while Jeanie poured over the tea menu. If she drank any more coffee she would probably not be able to sit still at the table. In the end she went for an apple, kiwi, honeybush mixture that sounded nice. She was hungry so she ordered a grilled chicken mayo while Calvin ordered the house salad, “But hold the croutons, tomatoes and onion, and add olives, avocado and feta cheese. Oh, and bring the dressing on the side.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” the waitress said looking at him as though he was a strange insect.
Jeanie could imagine what the kitchen staff were saying about Calvin at the moment. She would bet it wasn’t complimentary.
“So what have you discovered so far?” Calvin asked her.
Jeanie shrugged. “Not much. I had a little accident yesterday in the woods. I dislocated my wrist.”
“Your own personal shit is none of my concern,” he told her sternly.
“Right,” Jeanie retorted. “But I had to spend the better part of the afternoon in the doctor’s waiting room so he could fix it.” She held her wrist up to display the bandage. “So what I’m trying to tell you is that I haven’t managed to do much. That’s why I went out there this morning.”
She decided to leave out all mention of Ryan and the rest.
Calvin looked unhappy. He snorted. “You know that Mr. Petersen is taking a personal interest in this acquisition?”
“Is he?” she asked. “I didn’t think this little town was worth his time.”
“Well it is. He wants this to go without a hitch. So make it happen and he will reward you.”
“I don’t take bribes,” Jeanie said smiling sweetly.
“Indeed,” Calvin retorted, raising an eyebrow.
Their drinks arrived and while Calvin sipped his bitter black liquid, Jeanie took great pleasure in pouring golden honey into her tea. It was actually very tasty.
“So what is Mr. Petersen’s interest here? Is it the gold deposit?” Jeanie asked. “I pulled the mineral survey from the seventies. Do you have a more recent one?”
“Yes I do.”
“Can I see it?”
“It has no bearing on this case.”
“Okay, it’s just if that’s all it is, then Petersen-Snow could actually run a mine here without really disturbing things too much. I mean if properly set up there would be minimal…”
“The mining possibilities are not the only aspect of the land that is of interest.” Calvin interrupted her.
“So what else is there?”
“Nothing that need concern you. I need you to refute the claim that Sun Valley has unusual bears that need protecting.”
“Oh.” Jeanie nodded. “So that’s it is it? You just want them all gone?”
“I couldn’t care less about the smelly beasts,” Calvin said. “But my employers are most adamant. So what do we have to do to make this all happen quickly?”
Just then the food arrived.
As her sandwich was placed in front of her, Jeanie looked up into those unsettling eyes. “This takes time Calvin.”
“Does it now?” he asked and looked at his salad. “They smothered it in dressing. Honestly!”
Jeanie took a bite of her sandwich. It was really good.
“I have a meeting at City Hall this afternoon. You will do your job speedily and then submit your findings to me.”
“I’ll do my job sure, but I submit my findings to my superior.”
“You will find that that will be me,” Calvin said. He picked at his food.
They ate in silence and then Jeanie paid the bill and they left. As they emerged into the dull sunshine, the wind chilled Jeanie’s face. She was feeling flushed and not confident at all that she could stall this whole process long enough for the Bear Clan to find the money to buy their land.
Calvin turned to her as she began to walk across the street.
“Make no mistake Jeanie. If you give me any trouble, I can have you replaced,” Calvin said.
“No, you can’t,” Jeanie said. “Not without holding up the works for months. See you round.”
She walked across the road.