She sighed and stood, shoving the crate under the table. Maybe she should be writing mystery stories. She had the imagination for it.
She turned the covers back, blew out the lamp and crawled into bed without undressing. Tomorrow she would take a bath and try to do something with her hair. She couldn't afford new clothes, but maybe she could do something different with the ones she had. It was a start.
Barrett lay on his back with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling; the television forgotten. A few over-the-counter pain pills had chased his headache away. He had been resting comfortably in his hotel room for several hours. How did a person get along without plumbing or electricity? Of course, people had done it years ago, but how did they do it now…the same way? Since he had returned to civilization, everything he did prompted that question. He had taken a nice warm shower and ordered supper over the telephone. He knew how her mother cooked - over a wood stove, but how did they take a bath? How did they keep their food from spoiling? Of course, eggs didn't have to be refrigerated and things like flour…did they eat a lot of canned goods?
That was something he could do. He could take her out to dinner - and a movie. That would certainly be different for her. Did she have anything to wear? Would she know how to act? He wasn't concerned about being embarrassed by her, but neither did he want to embarrass her. If he took her to a nice restaurant, she might feel uncomfortable, and if he took her someplace where it didn't matter what she wore, she might think he was cheap - or worse, think he didn't think she was good enough. He was doing too much thinking. Let her name the place. He could imagine the look on her face when he gave her that opportunity.
Ever since he had talked to Logan, he had been thinking about her. Logan said that his client was her father. The man had used all his savings to hire a private investigator. Barrett could certainly understand a father wanting to find out what happened to his son, but that money could be put to better use on his living wife and children. Logan said there was a developmentally delayed son. Barrett hadn't seen him, but then, he had arrived late and left early. For all he knew, the boy could have done a jig in the room while he lay asleep.
After hearing about the family, Logan had been ready to tell the father to keep his money. Barrett couldn't blame him for that. It didn't feel right taking money from Logan knowing the situation. He had an idea how they could accomplish everything and help the family at the same time. The family had 80 acres of prime lumber on the place. Mary Jo didn't want anyone going in there and cutting it all down, but what if they went in the way it used to be done years ago? That method had been abandoned because it was labor intensive. With modern equipment, they could cut and process trees faster than a team of lumberjacks. Time was money, but if Barrett was going to help Logan, what he needed was more time.