Olivia's Mine by Janine McCaw Page A

you need to
go to the house immediately. There is some kind of an
emergency.”
    “Forgive me Sergeant Wolanski,” he said to
the man. “As you’ve heard, I need to head home. Some sort of family
crisis I gather. It’s just up the road, I will be back in a moment.
Mrs. Schwindt, my nanny, has a tendency to over-react. I’m sure it
will turn out to be nothing.”
    “Well not all the time,” Sarah offered.
“Remember once, the house was on fire.”
    McMichael rolled his eyes. “It was a small
fire in the chimney flue. Nothing to write home about, Sarah.”
    “In that case,” Rudy stated, “I’ll go with
you. I’m good at emergencies. It comes with the job.”
    “Thanks a lot,” McMichael said rather
sarcastically, to no one in particular, yet to everyone in the
room.
    “Will you be coming back to the office?”
Sarah asked. “I could put the kettle on.”
    “No, Sarah,” McMichael sighed. “I think the
officer will be a little too busy for socializing today, don’t
you?”
    The two men went outside.
    “She wasn’t asking about me, you know,”
McMichael said. “Funny she never seems to ask me whether I’m coming
back to the office. Are you married, officer Wolanski? Well, she’ll
keep nattering on at me until I find out, so I’d rather be done
with it.”
    Rudy Wolanski smiled for a moment, taking in
his surroundings. McMichael’s secretary was a nice enough woman,
but not his type.
    “No, I’m not,” the officer said matter of
factly, anxious to change the subject. “I gather you’ve had quite
the night.”
    “We lost a lot of men, women and children
last night,” McMichael admitted. “As you probably noticed, a good
portion of the mountaintop came down last night in a landslide. It
happened just after midnight. Dr. Van den Broek will be able to
fill you in on the details as to the number of casualties and
injuries. I’m afraid I lost count somewhere after two a.m. I’ve
arranged a place for you to stay. Sarah will get you the keys. Did
you bring some medical personnel with you? Sarah had mentioned you
might.”
    “Yes, two doctors and three nurses came up
with me. That’s all they could spare on such short notice.”
    “I’ll take them. We’re normally very well
staffed on our own, but the whole town is a bit of a disaster area
at the moment. Did they go over to the hospital?”
    “Yes, a tall redheaded woman led them
over.”
    “That would have been Lucy Bentall. Beautiful
woman. She lost her entire family last night. Quite tragic. They
were in what’s left of that green house, mid-section. Her two
children and her husband lost their lives.”
    “Well, that would explain why she was in a
somewhat catatonic state. She didn’t talk, just pointed out the
direction of the hospital and wandered ahead. She was definitely
still in a state of shock,” the constable noted.
    McMichael was truly sorry to hear that. He
knew that on top of losing her family, she was now also homeless.
He though for a moment about the number of people that were now in
that position. He would have to do something about that. When he
was allowed some time to catch his breath.
    They were close enough to the house now that
he could hear Mrs. Schwindt screaming at the top of her lungs. The
woman did have a loud, shrill voice when she wanted to. He would
have a word with her about that, again. The officer started to
hasten his pace, as he could see where the commotion was coming
from, but McMichael calmly waved his hand from side to side,
indicating to the officer there was no need to panic.
    McMichael and the officer were soon upon his
doorstep where they found the nanny, his youngest daughter Lara,
and Jimmy Yada, engaged in a rather one-sided shouting match.
    “Mrs. Schwindt,” McMichael said calmly, “what
seems to be the problem? There’s no need to shout, the whole
neighbourhood can hear you.”
    Mrs. Schwindt was an older widower he had in
his employ since before his wife died. At times he felt she