Read Passions in the North Country (Siren Publishing Classic) for Free Online

pasture and killed a lamb.” She winced. “Ripped her throat out. That’s the fifth lamb this coyote killed, not to mention a bunch of missing cats and small dogs. It was even seen close to the children’s playground last week.”
    “How dreadful,” Jenny said with a sour expression.
    “Devon’s going to kill him, aren’t you, Devon?”
    “I’m going to try.”
    Miriam nodded. “He’s got his gun. If that coyote sneaks in there again, he’s as good as dead. Hey, Devon.”
    A man in his late fifties came into the hotel with a lunch box and a huge flashlight. “Evening, Devon. Evening, Miriam.”
    Miriam smiled at him.
    “Evening, Henry,” Devon said with a friendly nod. “We were just talking about you. Is the lamb settled in?”
    “Yep. Looks good and healthy.”
    “Henry,” Devon said, growing serious, “if the boys come back tonight, I don’t want you playing the hero. Call the cops and let them take care of it.”
    “Henry,” Miriam said, gesturing at the pretty, auburn-haired stranger. “This is Jenny Lamb. She’s a guest. Room twelve.”
    He shook her hand. “Pleasure to meet you, miss.”
    “Pleasure to meet you.” She looked at Miriam. “What’s going on?”
    “Just half-a-dozen kids acting the fool,” Miriam said. “There’s a group of boys around who’ve got nothing better to do than cause trouble. Me and Henry know who they are. Danny Goodman is the leader, but he’s usually a good kid. Fishing’s slow right now, though. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”
    Henry tapped his flashlight. “I have to catch them in the act to report them.”
    An idea popped into Jenny’s head. “Don’t catch them,” she suggested.
    Devon immediately turned on her. “You wouldn’t say that if they were breaking your windows and carving up your signs.”
    “Yes, I would.”
    He looked mistrustfully at her. “What are you talking about, lady?”
    “Hire them,” Jenny explained, “and you’ll solve the problem. They’ll be with you instead of against you.”
    Devon knitted his brows. The others listened to her pitch.
    “Let’s face it,” Jenny continued, “if you have one of them arrested, it will anger the whole group. More broken windows, more graffiti. But hire them to, say, paint the hotel and you’ll make friends, put some money in their pockets, and stop the problem at the root. They’ll take pride in their work and have an emotional connection to the hotel.”
    Devon seemed suspicious, even slightly overwhelmed. Miriam and Henry were obviously impressed.
    “You’ll improve the look of your hotel—and the facade is the first thing people see—and you can do it all at a reasonable cost,” Jenny noted. “Besides, it’s obvious you’re busy with a million and one things. Time to delegate.”
    Miriam nodded. “That never occurred to me, but what a good idea.”
    “What do you think, Devon?” Henry asked, also taken by the proposal.
    Devon stood sternly with arms crossed. He had been surprised by Jenny’s suggestion, not only because it had never occurred to him either, but for the uncommon good sense of it. He needed the hotel painted. He didn’t have the time to do it himself, but with the opening upon them, it should have been done yesterday.
    “I just want the vandalism to stop,” he said flatly.
    “How much can you pay?” Jenny questioned him.
    He laid out his bottom line. “But I don’t think this will work. Those kids are trouble.”
    “Do you have Mr. Goodwin’s phone number?” Jenny asked Miriam.
    “Let me look it up.”
    No one stopped her, or even questioned her. All three of them were amazed by Jenny’s decisive actions and no one dared stop her, or even question her. “Has the rain stopped, Henry?” she asked with the slick confidence of a professional organizer.
    “Yes, it has.”
    “What’s the weather forecast? Could they scrape and start painting tomorrow?”
    “Rain’s over,” Henry assured her. “It’s clearing now and