Brad felt his dad would want him to keep an eye on the male attention paid his mother, though Joanna Bukowski Hudson was capable of handling herself. She was indeed a fine-looking woman, still young and…well, nubile, he guessed was the word, and that might give some of the men in town the idea that she missed a man in her bed. He had to be on the lookout for favors men extended her that might not be out of simple kindness to an impoverished widow. Mr. Shreve slipping in extra slices of meat, for example, the automotive garage owner replacing a truck valve for free, the plumber repairing a leaky pipe at no charge. So far their motives had appeared aboveboard, but if his boss held a hope of making time with Joanna Bukowski Hudson, it would be in vain, Brad thought. His mother blamed Jared’s father for the faulty equipment that had caused his fatal accident. Brad had tried to get her to see that the son was not responsible for the mistakes of the father. Jared Cramer came onboard only after old man Cramer had died, leaving the business to his son, who lived and worked in California. In his late forties, childless, a widower, Jared had taken a leave of absence from his administrative position with the Southern Pacific and Union Railroad to come back to Meeker and get the lumber company in shape to sell. After a year, he found he couldn’t leave the invalid company he’d nurtured back to health and decided to stay.

Bobby asked, “Did you do wrong asking your boss to Beata’s birthday dinner?”

“We’ll just have to see. I think I’ll dress the goose first, then lay the news on my mother.”

“You might want to make a telephone call before that. A man called you from Washington, D.C., today and left a number for you. I took the call. He said to call him back no matter the time and said you were to reverse the charges. He sounded…important. I think he wants to hire you.”

“Somebody from Washington, D.C., wants to hire me?”

Bobby lifted his shoulders. “It’s just a guess. Number and name’s by the phone.”