Read Online The View From Here by Cindy Myers - Free Book Online

was apparently the only one who’d known about her.
    â€œThe fact that he got so upset when I called him a liar proves I was on to something, too,” Bob continued.
    â€œMaybe he just didn’t like being accused that way,” she said. “You said he had a hot temper.”
    â€œHe hit me so hard he broke my jaw.” Bob rubbed the side of his face, as if he still felt the blow. “I fought back, but Murph was bigger and younger. If some others hadn’t pulled us apart, he would have killed me for sure.”
    â€œWhere did this fight take place?” Maggie asked, trying to picture it.
    â€œThe Dirty Sally.” Bob grinned, an unexpected response considering the grave nature of his charges. “We’d both had a few at the time, but I stand by what I said then—Murph lied about the gold.”
    Right. And the moon was made of green cheese and her ex-husband would spend the rest of his life regretting leaving her. Nice fantasies all, but without a snowball’s chance in hell of being true.
    â€œWhat about him saving your life?” she asked, not sure if she really wanted to hear the story, but sure Bob wouldn’t leave until he’d told it.
    â€œThat was me being stupid,” Bob said. “I wasn’t paying attention to the weather and got caught out in a blizzard. I was already half froze to death when Murph found me and hauled me in. I reckon there were other men who would have left me there to die, considering the circumstances.”
    â€œWhat circumstances?” He wanted her to ask, though she figured he’d tell her anyway.
    â€œHe found me at the mouth of the French Mistress mine. I’d snuck up there to do a little prospecting of my own.”
    Maggie blinked. “You were going to steal from him?”
    Bob shrugged. “I figured he owed me for breaking my jaw.”
    â€œSo after he saved your life, you two became best friends,” Maggie said. She could practically hear violins playing.
    â€œHell, no. He threatened to whoop my ass if he ever caught me on his property again.” Bob shook his head. “Then he put a big iron gate over the mine entrance so nobody else could get in.”
    â€œAnd you know this how?”
    Bob chuckled. “I had to check, don’t you know.”
    She’d have to find that entrance and have a look for herself, Maggie decided. Though what would she be looking for, exactly? She remembered the rocks she’d found in the Jeep and reached for her purse. “I have something I’d like you to take a look at.” She pulled out the rock and pushed it across the table.
    Bob picked up the misshapen yellowish lump, then pulled a pair of wire-rimmed glasses from his shirt pocket and examined it closer. “Nice ammonite,” he said, and handed it back to her.
    â€œWhat’s an ammonite?”
    â€œFossil.” His gnarled finger traced a faint outline in the stone—an oblong creature that looked like a cross between a giant pill bug and a centipede.
    â€œThen it’s not gold,” she said.
    Bob laughed. “You might get a few dollars for it at a tourist shop, but people find them all the time up here. It’d make a nice paperweight.”
    â€œThanks.” She dropped it into her purse and looked around, ready to make her escape.
    Janelle glided over. “Would you like some more coffee?” she asked.
    â€œNo, thank you. I’d better get going. I need to find a bank and a grocery store.” Was Eureka even big enough to have these things? “And is there somewhere I can buy some drapes, or the fabric to make them?”
    â€œThe bank is at the end of this street,” Janelle said. “The grocery is on Pickax, one street over. There’s a hardware store, too. They sell curtain rods and things like that, but I don’t know where you’d find drapes or fabric.” She wrinkled her brow, then brightened. “You should try