“Spectacular,” Wy said. “Is this the judge’s house?”

“Yeah. Long commute.”

“Worth it.”

There was a turnout before the judge’s driveway and Liam pulled around and headed back up the dirt road. The weenie wagger had disappeared, lucky for them.

“You can see why she’s annoyed.”

“I checked,” Liam said. “There are no covenants in this subdivision. They can do what they want on their own property. The road, however, is maintained by the borough, and by ordinance they can’t impede the right of way.”

Wy chuckled. “I can hear you getting your ticket book out.”

They pulled up at the stop sign. “Heavenly View Drive,” Liam said.

“Trite but true,” Wy said. “And we live right on it.” She leaned over to kiss him. “This might just work out, Campbell.”

He grinned all the way home.

Fifteen

Thursday, September 5

THE BLEWESTOWN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE opened at nine and Liam walked in the door at nine-oh-one and was still late to the party. Someone was giving a speech in front of a crowd of about fifty people. Liam remained beside the door to watch over everyone’s heads. It was a large room with a desk in front of a door leading to offices in the back. The floor had a tiled representation of Chungasqak Bay on it with a Disney orca frolicking in the water. As appeared to be chronic with Blewestown construction, a wall of windows overlooked the Bay, with an adjacent wall covered in acrylic holders filled with brochures advertising halibut fishing, flightseeing, hotels and B&Bs, restaurants, art galleries and gift shops. Beneath it a newspaper dispenser made out of shellacked plywood held a stack of that year’s Visitor’s Guide.

The speaker was a man, early fifties, brown/brown, medium height, thickening around the middle. His scalp gleamed through a thin combover in the overhead lights. He wore a sports jacket that was one size too small over a button-down and jeans. Like at least half of the people in the room he wore Xtratufs. They appeared to be part of the civic uniform.

He was speaking with enthusiasm, so much so that an already high voice threatened to reach Mickey Mouse territory, but most of the time he managed to rein it in to a level audible to the human ear. “So, ladies and gentlemen, join me in thanking our very own Blue Jay Jefferson for making this incredible donation of $50,000 to the Blewestown Chamber of Commerce!”

There was a round of applause, although the man in front of Liam said to the woman standing next to him, “Blue Jay didn’t even let Berglund get cold in his grave.”

“He’s going to piss off everyone on the south side of the Bay for sure.”

“Been doing that for years.”

“Why has he got such a hard-on for drilling in the Bay, anyway?”

“Who the hell knows? Maybe he owns stock in RPetCo.”

Liam wondered why a big donation to the Blewestown Chamber of Commerce should piss off everyone on the Bay who didn’t live in Blewestown.