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Lily’s finger hovered over the send button. Should she click it? In her daily article, she’d written nothing about the sabotage at Pinecrest Lodge. The knowledge that someone, likely Carter Pittman, was trying to do ill to Ruby’s enterprise weighed heavily on Lily’s conscience. She wanted to report news stories exactly like this. Why shouldn’t she tell her editor?

Because he only wants fluff for this particular news piece.

True, she’d been sent here to this wilderness campground in the Montana mountains in order to write cheesy articles about camping. But wasn’t the position she was competing to receive one that would report serious news, like the sabotage? Surely Rob would commend her initiative in writing a more serious piece.

You know better.

The truth was, she had tried to take the initiative many times before. Every time, Rob had looked down his nose at the contribution she was trying to make to the newspaper. She was the Dear Abby columnist and that was all he wanted her to be. She’d come to him with numerous other ideas for projects she could work on alongside her daily column. Every time, he had turned her down. Why would she think that this time would be any different?

No, if she wanted that promotion, she had to play the game and write precisely the sort of news piece that Rob wanted her to. Even so, as she clicked the send button, a spike of guilt tore through her. She should be making a difference, not writing this drivel.

What good would running the story in Butte, Montana do anyway?

She was a world away from the city life she knew so well. Here in Greendale, Montana, there was no media that would hold Carter Pittman accountable for the crimes he committed on Ruby’s campground. The only person it seemed that he would answer to, was the town sheriff. Or, perhaps, given his familiarity with the Town Council, they might also be able to hold some sway over him. Lily, unfortunately, knew neither. Her usual array of contacts was meaningless here. In fact, the only person she knew who might be able to help was Ethan, the handyman on the campground. He seemed to think something was wrong, too.

Stifling her doubts, Lily unplugged her laptop from the cable connecting her to the Internet, and shoved her laptop back into its case. Wookie, sensing that Lily was done working, raised her head from her paws where she was standing guard in the middle of the open doorway. The open door displayed the empty kitchen, where Ruby had left her before continuing with the day’s chores. Lily drained her coffee cup as she stepped out of the small room. She deposited it in the sink as she walked past.

As she exited the lodge, Lily kept a close eye on her dog. She didn’t want Wookie running off to see Ethan yet again. The dog was shameless in her bid for attention. Lily was so preoccupied in keeping track of Wookie’s progress that she didn’t notice the branded SUV sitting in front of the lodge at first. When she glanced up, the logo of hills nestled between two pine trees caught her eye and she looked closer. Greendale Town Council. A lump formed in Lily’s throat. Why were they here?

With a whistle to keep Wookie close, Lily turned toward the main entrance of the lodge. When she opened the door, her dog bolted inside, leaving her no choice but to follow. Lily held her breath as she chased the dog down. “I’m so sorry. She’s friendly, I promise.”

Wookie danced at the feet of two people, a man and a woman. Both were dressed in khakis and matching polo shirts, the same logo on the breast. This must be as close to business attire as Greendale got. Averting her gaze, Lily bent to snatch her dog from the floor. The tension in the air stretched tight between her ears in a terse silence. When she straightened, the faces of all three people in the room looked grim.

Lily wouldn’t have been able to pick the two newcomers out of a lineup, so she focused her attention on the one person in the room that she did know. “Ruby, what’s going on? Is there something I can help with?”

The campground owner looked years older with the deeper grooves around her mouth and nose. The cost of stress was apparent in her bleak expression. Although she gave Lily a trembling smile, Lily could easily see through the old woman’s attempt at normalcy. “No, dear, this is a business matter, I’m afraid. It won’t impact your stay.”

“If there’s a problem, I’d like to help in any way I can.” Lily held Ruby’s gaze, hoping that she could convey without words that she already knew part of the trouble that the old woman weathered.

The man, middle-aged with shoulders that bowed inward, said gruffly, “She’s right, Miss. This is a Council matter. We are here to address a serious concern.”

“If it truly is that serious, wouldn’t it impact my stay, after all?” Holding her dog close to her chest, Lily prayed for a negative answer. However, she didn’t hold out much hope that this “serious concern” had nothing to do with the state of the campground. Sensing Lily’s uneasiness, Wookie wiggled around in her arms until she could lick the underside of Lily’s chin.

The woman, tapping her partner on the elbow, exchanged a look with him before she said aloud, “She might be right.” Turning to Ruby, the woman, around thirty years old, straightened her shoulders and announced, “Mrs. Burrows, we’ve received a serious complaint. An anonymous source has told us that your sanitation is not in accordance with the bylaws. Is that true?”

“Of course it isn’t,” Ruby exclaimed.

The two Council members exchanged a look. The man said, “Forgive me, but we’ll have to take a look around for ourselves.”

Lily opened her mouth to refute the claim, but then remembered that very morning when she’d woken up without water. It looked more and more as though Ethan’s suspicions of sabotage were correct. She shut her mouth, holding her dog close as she followed in the footsteps of the two Council members.

They walked toward her cabin as though they had been told precisely where the issue was. Out back, they followed the plumbing line from her cabin to the hole that she and Ethan had found earlier today. They had parted ways when he had decided to go into town to get the proper equipment to fix it. This problem, unlike that of the other cabins, which he had also shown her earlier today, didn’t look man-made. But that, she knew to be deceptive, because she had had running water only yesterday. And she doubted that the pipe had fallen apart overnight. To the untrained eye, it looked as though time had ravaged the pipe until a hole the size of her fist had opened in it, the water pouring out into the forest and creating the seed of a swamp beneath their feet. She didn’t want to contemplate whether sewage mixed with the water. She’d used the toilet at the main lodge.

The moment Ruby saw the problem, she wrung her hands. Her mouth was set in a grim, solemn line. “Lily, have you had any trouble with your water?”

“I had a bit of a hiccup this morning, but it was working yesterday. This could only have happened overnight.” Although Lily stressed her words, from the looks on the Council members faces, they didn’t believe her.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Burrows,” said the man. He looked reluctant, as if he would rather not provide her with yet another violation. “We can’t allow you to operate your campground without proper sanitation. This needs to be fixed, or we will have to evacuate the campground.”

“It will be fixed.” Ethan had come up behind them.

Wookie twisted in her arms and opened her mouth in a doggy grin as she beheld her new favorite playmate.

Ruby pressed a trembling hand against her mouth. “Ethan?” Her voice trembled, a question held in it as he stepped up carrying a toolbox full of the equipment that he would need to fix the pipe.

He set the toolbox at his feet just outside of the marshy puddle that had formed beneath the line. “I was alerted of this issue this morning, and I assure you it will be fixed immediately.”

The woman warned, “You’ll have to replace the entire line. This is too sensitive an issue for you to simply patch over the problem.”

“I assure you, the problem will be fixed correctly.” Ethan held her gaze, his voice steady as he said the words. In that tone, Lily would believe anything that came out of his mouth. Did the councilwoman?

The woman held his gaze for a moment, the corners of her mouth tilting down in uncertainty. At her hesitation, her partner touched her shoulder. In a soft voice, he leaned forward and said, “Pinecrest Lodge has been here for as long as I can remember. Do you really want to shut it down?”

The woman shook her head. “As long as it’s fixed today, I don’t see the harm in letting you off with a warning, Mrs. Burrows.”

Ethan held out his hand, shaking hands with each Council member in turn. “Thank you. I give you my personal assurance that this will be fixed today.”

The man and woman exchanged one more glance before she shrugged. “Then I guess we don’t have any further business here.”

Ruby’s campground was safe—for the moment.