Page 5 of Burke (The Haven #2)

“Oh good.” Burke frowned at him. “Sometimes you think nothing else can be done, and then, all of a sudden, somebody mentions, Oh, have you tried this? So maybe I’ll make a trip into town to see those energy workers.”

“If you want, I can set you up with an appointment with them. I don’t know what their schedule is like, but I’m pretty sure they’re busy.”

“Of course they’re busy.” Burke sighed. “Seems as if anybody who’s any good is busy. That’s the way of it.”

The two of them walked back toward the kitchen, where Dwight was busy cooking.

So far, Burke hadn’t had a bad meal, and that just amazed him because Dwight was cooking on his own.

Surely there were plenty of days where he probably wished somebody else would take over the cooking.

Burke was a fine hand with a steak, but, when it came to so much of the other stuff, it just wasn’t the same.

Toby was a great cook himself, and Burke knew that, between Dwight and Toby, the rest of them would get along just fine.

Even without those two main cooks, these guys would somehow make it just fine, even cooking for themselves.

Yet it was really nice to have Dwight around, taking on the bulk of the cooking, with Big Toby helping when he could, since a lot of guys were here to feed still.

As Burke walked inside the main log cabin, he stopped and took a look outside. “Is that the doe I’ve heard so much about?” he asked, pointing.

Timber peered out the window and smiled. “Yeah, that’s her.… You can see her fawn, just a little bit away from her,” he murmured. “It’s really great seeing them here.”

“It is, but how do you keep them away from Billy Bob?”

“So far, he hasn’t been an issue. I don’t know if a bobcat would attack a deer.

I suppose, if he’s hungry, he might try to get to the fawn, but he never seems to be hungry when he’s here.

” Then Timber laughed. “Plus, Dwight’s got a soft spot for Billy Bob, giving him some choice leftovers.

Then again Dwight has a soft spot for every living being. Toby is another favorite.”

“Yeah? Which one, the man or the dog?” Burke asked, shaking his head. “Little Toby loves to play with Big Toby, and our Toby just thinks it’s a perfect pairing.”

“It’s a great pairing,” Timber declared, with a laugh. “I told Big Toby that we should change his dog’s name, but Toby seems to like the fact that he’s got his own namesake. And Toby likes the dog no matter what we call him.”

“I understand, but it sure makes it a little bit frustrating sometimes when we call for one, and the other shows up. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the one I wanted.”

Timber laughed. “And that’s the way of it sometimes.”

As they walked into the dining area and took a seat, Burke’s phone rang, and everybody looked up. He checked the screen, frowned, and shut off the ringer.

“If you want to take a call, feel free,” Tommy suggested. “We’re not being nosy. We’re just interested in everybody else’s life because we don’t have one of our own.”

Burke snorted. “No, it’s all good. It’s nobody I wanted to talk to.”

“Ooh,… sounds like a divorce.”

He frowned at him and asked, “Divorce? Where would you get that?”

Tommy laughed and explained, “While my wife was busy divorcing me, I used to get phone messages from her and the lawyers all the time, and I hated them. They were always fussing over some of the darndest things that I just couldn’t see were worth even talking about.

I mean, my world was collapsing around me, and she wanted to argue about a couch. ” He shook his head.

The others chipped in a variety of sympathetic comments, along with a few jokes.

Tommy continued. “Really, it just pointed out how very different we were and how much I needed to move on, but still, it wasn’t my choice,” he admitted. “So,… if I make jokes about it, sorry. It’s just my way of dealing with it.”

“It’s all good,” Burke replied. “Sometimes we need to joke away the pain in our lives. Yet the silly thing is, there’s no divorce in my world. There’s no divorce because there’s no marriage.”

“Ouch,” Tommy muttered, “that sounds as if you were hoping there would have been one.”

Burke snorted. “You guys are great at making up stuff, but honestly, no mystery is here, and no girl was on the phone. Just somebody pretty disgruntled in life, and I don’t know what to tell him because I don’t—”

“Have a clue?” Tommy suggested, with a mock smile.

Burke stared at Tommy for a moment, then shook his head, “It’s the strangest thing.

This guy’s been calling and calling, and I keep telling him that I don’t have a clue who he’s after or who he wants me to talk to him about.

He keeps asking for a guy with my name, which is already pretty strange because I’ve never run across another person named Burke Thomas out there.

Then we have this whole conversation about how I ripped him off.

I don’t know who the guy is who’s calling me, and I didn’t rip anybody off.

I’ve told him that repeatedly, but he insists that I’m lying and that somebody out there with my name has been ripping people off. ”

Tommy frowned. “He could be telling the truth. I mean, it’s possible you’ve had your identity stolen,” he suggested, staring at him. “You should probably take a look at that.”

“How the hell would I even do that though?” Burke asked, staring at the man in shock. “That’s hardly something I can just turn around and figure out. Here, let’s go see if somebody has taken over my identity .”

“No, but there are people who can do that for you,” Timber shared.

Big Toby nodded. “Plenty of stories are out there of people making a great living by stealing identities these days,” Big Toby pointed out. “So, it would be rough if it were true, but it would explain things if this guy is irritated and is blaming you for something you know nothing about.”

“What am I supposed to do though?” Burke asked, staring at him. “I haven’t done shit to anyone.”

“No, but, if it’s done under your name, you could still be liable for it,” Tommy noted, turning to look him in the eye.

“That’s not fair.”

“Lots of things in life aren’t fair,” Timber noted, raising one eyebrow.

Tommy agreed. “Life isn’t fair, and all of us gathered here today know that very well.” Tommy grimaced, shook his head, then went back to talking to the other men.

Burke didn’t know Tommy very well, but, since Burke had been at Timber’s, it was definitely easier to get to know these guys, as he worked with them day in and day out.

Yet some of them just weren’t all that forthcoming about what was going on in their world, so Burke was surprised to hear this one talking as much as he was.

Tommy was fairly young, and, in a way, that was good because it also meant he might have a little more experience with the digital world that the rest of them didn’t have.

Burke admitted, “I wouldn’t even know where to start with this.”

“I have a friend who could take a look,” Tommy suggested, “but you may not like the results.”

“No, I might not,” Burke agreed, shaking his head, “but, if somebody really is out there doing shit under my name, I should probably find out.”

“I agree,” Tommy stated. “Okay, I can give him a call.”

After dinner Tommy came and sat down beside Burke. “Hey, I talked to that buddy of mine, and he agreed to take a look for you.”

“Awesome, so what does he need from me?”

“He’ll call you and go over that,” Tommy replied. “He’s a digital PI who searches people’s identities.”

“Didn’t even know there was such a thing,” Burke noted, staring at him.

“He works for some big companies, making sure that things are clean on the internet for their brands and that sort of thing. So, he might be able to help you. It just seems weird that you keep getting phone calls and that this guy is so adamant. At least if you found out something concrete, proving that it wasn’t you, he might leave you alone. ”

“That would be good,” Burke murmured. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, it’s all good.” With that, Tommy got up and moved over to sit with one of the other guys. Burke glanced over at Timber, who was staring at Tommy, then shrugged.

Timber shook his head. “It’s the world we live in now, it seems,” he pointed out. “I’m not as digital savvy as I want to be, and honestly, I keep off the internet a lot just because I think too much of a mess is out there already. Still, if this can help you out,” he noted, “it could be huge.”

“I agree, and I don’t even see it as a problem, except this guy calling me is pretty adamant. The whole identity theft thing hadn’t occurred to me.”

“And, if your caller is adamant and is getting increasingly upset with you about all this, you should nip it in the bud as soon as you can. Just because he’s accusing you of something doesn’t mean it’s for real, but it could mean that somebody out there is taking advantage, and you don’t want that. ”