Deadly Currents by Beth Groundwater Page B

adding some extra thrills for his passengers. Mandy smiled and waved back. Since his group consisted of young girls and women, all screaming with delight, she decided it must be a Brownie Girl Scout troop or mother-daughter outing.
    After the four-raft pod sailed through, the kayakers returned to their antics. Reluctantly, Mandy got up to return to work. Watching folks have fun on the river had improved her mood, but only slightly. She wished she could join them, rather than have to deal with the aftereffects of the accident.
    Back at her annoying desk, she finally felt up to looking at the complaint Paula King had filed. The woman made outrageous charges that Gonzo must have been drunk or high. Uncle Bill knowingly hired unreliable guides and didn’t train them adequately. The river was running too high for a Numbers run—not! As Mandy read on, the turkey and avocado roiled in her stomach.
    Fed up, she stomped into Steve’s office. “That woman burns me up. I’ve never read so many blatant, outrageous lies. I’m surprised she didn’t claim Uncle Bill snuck into the river and moved the rocks in the middle of the night to make the rapid tougher!”
    Steve leaned back in his chair. “I seem to remember some advice about not going ballistic.”
    “How could I not go ballistic over that pile of … you know what?” Mandy sank into his visitor’s chair.
    “Now that you’ve read it once, the best thing to do is to ignore it until you calm down.” Steve turned to his computer screen. “I reviewed the draft of your report and sent comments back to you. There are a few more pieces of information the park managers will want to know. Why don’t you call your uncle? By the time you revise your report, it’ll be time for the meeting. Leave the complaint for the end of the day.”
    “I don’t know if I’ll be able to look at the complaint calmly even then.”
    Steve smiled. “At least your heart rate will be down.” He waved her out of his office.
    Back in her office, Mandy called Uncle Bill and filled in the holes in her report.
    After they were done, he said, “You sitting down?”
    “Uh-oh. This sounds bad. What’s up?”
    “Mrs. King’s lawyer served me with papers today. From what I can tell with all this legal gobbledy-gook, not only is she suing me for gross negligence, but she wants to close my business.”
    “What!?” Mandy shot to her feet. “How could she close your business? I wish I could go over there and tell her what a bitch she’s being.”
    “Hold on. Rein in that prancing horse of yours. Remember, she’s a brand-new widow. You going over there would be a very bad idea.”
    “I know that! That doesn’t keep me from wanting to wring her neck, though.” Mandy blew out a breath and sat down again. “What’re you going to do?”
    “I’ll have to hire a lawyer of my own.”
    “That’ll be expensive.”
    “Yep, but hopefully we can keep this thing out of the courts.”
    “How? You aren’t going to settle, are you? You haven’t done anything wrong.”
    “No, but paying her off to keep quiet may be the cheapest option in the long run. I’m still losing customers, and publicity about this suit would only make things worse—a lot worse.”
    Mandy rubbed her head. The throbbing behind her brows had returned. “How many customers?”
    “Enough to cut a day off all the guides’ schedules, even Gonzo, my best trip leader. I told him I can’t give him a full week’s work for a while, but he bounced back pretty quickly.”
    “How?”
    “Your friend Rob called, said more people than usual had been calling him to book trips, and he needs more guides. He offered to hire Gonzo for whatever days he’s available.”
    “So Rob’s picking up your customers.”
    “Maybe.”
    “I’m calling him.”
    “Mandy, don’t.” But she was already hanging up.
    When Rob answered, he asked, “How’s your head feeling after last night?”
    “Right now, it’s throbbing, but not because of the