Page 39 of Backwater Justice

“I was thinking the same thing.” Myra stroked her pearls.

The two women entered the private suite, where Milton was sitting up in his bed. “Hello, ladies.” He smiled. “Is it still alright to call you ‘ladies’?”

Myra and Annie gave each other a quizzical look. “Yes, it’s fine.”

“Well, you never know these days. People are very touchy. You can’t even tell a woman she looks pretty without getting yourself into trouble,” Milton replied.

“You can tell us we’re pretty any time. In fact, you can call us gals, too!” Annie laughed.

“Or girls.” Myra grinned.

Myra turned and closed the door. Milton tilted his head. “What are the two of you up to?”

“You need to call a meeting with Benjamin and Oliver.”

“I tried that two nights ago, and look where it got me.” He lifted the arm that was attached to an I.V. drip.

“Exactly,” Annie said. “You had a reason to meet with them, correct?”

Myra placed her hand on Annie’s forearm. “Be careful. We don’t want him to get riled up.” She looked at his heart monitor. It was steady.

Milton took a big inhale and let it out slowly. “If you must know, there have been some strange purchases lately. Our business manager brought it to my attention. They were charged to the Cascade Inn account. It had something to do with the renovations. I wanted to see if Oliver or Benjamin were aware of them.”

“Did Oliver know that’s what you were going to discuss?”

“I told the boys I wanted to go over the costs for the renovations, but I didn’t mention the specific charges.”

Annie thought about the brandy tumbler. Charles and Fergus had to find a lab quickly before anything that could be of use degraded.

“Milton, did you see the news last night?”

“No. Why?”

“A young woman from Eugene is missing,” Annie said cautiously.

“A woman? Another one?” He struggled to rearrange his position.

“Yes, unfortunately.” Myra was fussing with her pearls again.

“Wait a minute.” Milton winced. “Oliver told me one of our employees walked off the job. In Eugene.”

“Not exactly, Milton.” Myra was going at a careful pace. “It was a young woman. Lori George. She punched in, but no one saw her.”

Milton furrowed his brow. “What do you mean no one saw her? Oliver told me she punched her timecard and then walked out.”

“Not according to her parents.” Myra waited for a reaction.

“So the woman showed up at the inn in Eugene, but then left without telling anyone?” Milton was having difficulty reconciling what his son had told him with what Myra was telling him. “But Oliver said . . .”

“Maybe he didn’t want to upset you,” Myra added.

“This is terrible news. Two missing girls that are associated with our company.” He shook his head. “Are you sure?”

“We saw her parents on TV last night. You know the police won’t let you file a missing persons report until the person has been gone for over twenty-four hours. So her parents took to social media, and the local television station picked up the story. Her parents insisted Lori would never vanish into thin air. She’s of Kalapuya heritage. They think it could be a cultural incident. They may call in the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”

“Oh, dear. We can’t let that happen.” Milton’s monitor bleeped.

“What if you have Benjamin meet with her family and let them know you are doing everything in your power to help find her?”