12-Alarm Cowboys (88 page)

Kendra frowned, but didn’t say anything. It was probable neither Adriana nor Kendra had gone to bed yet. Both usually didn’t start work until noon, but Kendra as the owner did whatever needed to be done, when it needed to be done.

Wade greeted them at the front doors then locked them after they entered. “Lacey, check the front desk, safe and computers. Adriana, check the bar and see if anything is missing.” He took Kendra’s hand. “I’ll show you the break-in.”

Adriana headed for the two bar areas and Lacey watched Kendra and Wade stride through the gathering room with the large stone fireplace. She sighed. A tiny bit of her was jealous of their relationship, but mostly she was glad they had moved past their different backgrounds and planned to make a life together.

She checked out the front desk to see if anything was disturbed from the outside first. Seeing nothing, she walked down the hall and entered the back room with the coffeemaker. Flipping the switch, she scanned the area but didn’t see anything amiss.

She checked the petty cash and computers at the front desk. Nothing was disturbed there either. Maybe the prowler didn’t have time to take anything. Comfortable that all was as she left it, she traveled farther down the hallway to Kendra’s office and crouched by the safe. Quickly moving the dial in the correct combination, she opened it and counted the money, twice. It was all there.

She closed the safe and spun the dial before standing. As she headed down the hallway back toward the front, she heard Adriana shout and curse.

Lacey broke into a run and met Kendra and Wade as they, too, ran to the bar. Adriana stood behind the bar scowling. Kendra hopped up onto the ironwood bar top. “What is it?”

“Those motherfuckers took at least a dozen top shelf bottles of booze. Excuse my language, Lacey.”

“No problem. I think it was warranted in this case.”

Kendra hopped over to the inside of the bar and reviewed the missing bottles. “I know liquor is expensive, but who would do this?”

Lacey sat on one of the barstools and peered over. “Probably poor college students stocking up for the coming weekend.”

Kendra’s eyes turned hard. “They have high-end taste for poor college students.”

“Of course.” She thought back to the college parties she’d attended. “Sapphire Blue Gin, Patron Silver Tequila and Jägermeister were the norm, but it’s been a few years so tastes may have changed. Besides, if you couldn’t afford liquor and had the chance to steal some, wouldn’t you steal the stuff you could never afford and buy the stuff you could?”

“She has a point.” Wade leaned against the bar, his stance reminding her of Cole’s.

Did they all go to cowboy school and learn that? She clasped her hands in front of her.

“Shit.” Adriana pushed her disheveled black hair away from her face. “All those you rattled off are missing and then some. I have back-up bottles in the storage room if they didn’t hit that, but we’ll have to order more.”

They all looked at each other then as one turned and headed for the storage room. When they arrived, Kendra opened the door and hit the light switch. They all stepped in. Lacey scanned the shelves and breathed a sigh of relief. “You can double-check with Selma, but I think everything is here.”

Adrianna stalked to the boxes of booze. “Yeah, none of these have been disturbed.”

Kendra threw her hands up. “I guess that’s that. I’ll call Detective Anderson and ask him to come out. Who knows? This could be related to the fire.” She looked at Lacey before brushing by. “Adriana, make a list of everything that was taken. But don’t touch anything until after Detective Anderson has had a look.”

They filed out, Adriana cursing as she closed the door.

Lacey followed. “Look at it this way, Adriana. After you make a list, you can go back to bed.”

The hot Hispanic bartender looked over her shoulder at her. “You mean go to bed in the first place.” She winked and sauntered off toward the bar.

Lacey chuckled. Adriana may not be working in a brothel anymore, but she enjoyed one-night stands even more now that sex was no longer business and all pleasure. She and Adriana were complete opposites, yet they truly enjoyed each other’s company. It was what made Poker Flat so unique. Kendra may have pulled together a family of misfits, but what a great family to be a part of.

She returned to the staff room behind the front desk and started a pot of coffee. She scanned the area again to be sure nothing was missing. She doubted very much the theft of the liquor and the fire the night before were related. Then again, they had dealt with vandals before. Still, it felt good that Kendra expected the fire’s cause to be anything but her.

Lacey’s heart hitched again at Cole’s betrayal. It had been years since she’d felt the hiccups of pain over his quick judgement. Why did he have to come back into her life? And more importantly, would he stay out of it?

“I smell coffee.” Kendra walked in and pulled a coffee mug out of the cabinet. “Looks like I’m destined to go without sleep for another day.” She sat at the small round table waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.

“I’m sorry.” Lacey sat across from her. “I thought our troubles were over once the resort opened.”

Kendra shook her head. “I didn’t. People just can’t stand alternative lifestyles. They are so insecure in what they believe, they must make everyone conform in order to feel safe.”

Lacey pondered Kendra’s opinion. “I never thought of it that way. So basically, some people in this county feel having a hidden resort for nudists means that their own lifestyle may be threatened? How strange.”

Kendra shrugged. “I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind. It’s like politics and religion. A subject that will always have conflict. All I want is for others to leave my guests alone. I want a safe environment for them. This latest incident reinforces the need for me to hire a security guard, maybe two.”

“As long as neither is like Powell.” Lacey smirked. “I think we need someone with a little more backbone.”

“Believe me. This time the interviews will be more like interrogations.” The coffeemaker beeped and Kendra stood. “Why don’t you call Dale and ask him to closely vet a few candidates for me.” She poured coffee into her mug. “Unless I have you start the process, it’ll never happen.”

“Will do. I’ll call him today. I know
I
will feel safer.”

Her boss nodded and headed for the door but stopped and turned. “I would be lost without you, Lacey. Thank you for keeping this place so organized.”

“You’re welcome.” Warmth suffused her cheeks as Kendra disappeared. She rose and pulled a mug out of the cabinet for herself. Praise from her boss didn’t come often and it always took her by surprise. She was paid very well, had her own little casita to live in and loved her work. She couldn’t ask for anything else.

“I almost forgot.” Kendra stuck her head in. “Detective Anderson said he planned to come out today anyway to interview the staff about the fire. If you could spread the word, that would be helpful.”

She swallowed hard. “I will.” When Kendra disappeared, Lacey collapsed into the chair. Living through another fire investigation opened too many old wounds and frazzled her nerves.

Taking a deep breath, she rose, poured herself a cup of coffee and took a much needed sip. Time to make a to-do list for today. She couldn’t call anyone yet as it was far too early. She glanced at the clock. 3:37 a.m. It would be a long day.

*

Lacey watched as
Detective Anderson flipped the page of paper over the top of his pad. “I did find tracks past the barrier on the other side. It looks like whoever was here came down on an ATV. I took fingerprints from the bar. We should know whether there were one or two people even if the prints aren’t perfect.”

“I only saw one.” Lacey looked at Kendra. “Wish I had woken sooner.”

Detective Anderson’s steady gaze turned to her. “And why did you wake up then? Did you hear something?”

She shook her head. “No. I just had a bad dream and decided to have a cup of tea on my patio before going back to sleep.”

He looked at her oddly before scribbling on his pad.

If he had had the same kind of dream she had, he wouldn’t have wanted to go back to sleep right away either.

“Do you think there is a connection between the fire and this theft?” Kendra brought the detective’s gaze back to her.

“It’s too early to tell yet. I found an empty bottle of Tequila at the burn site, as well as a piece of clothing which looks to be a female’s.”

Kendra smirked. “Can’t say many of our female guests wear clothing, but some do bring something to cover their shoulders because of the air-conditioning, though I can’t imagine them hanging out at the construction site unless…”

“Unless what?” The detective’s gaze turned sharp.

“Unless the guest was flirting with one of the construction workers.” She looked over at Lacey and wiggled her brows.

Lacey felt heat rise to her cheeks. The detective studied her, so she explained. “What she is intimating is that sometimes I delivered Selma’s snacks to the construction crew and there is a gentleman there who I conversed with.”

“And had lunch with yesterday.” Kendra nodded approvingly.

She looked at her boss. “I don’t think the detective really cares about my love life.”

“I might.”

She snapped her gaze back to him and quickly checked his left hand. A well-worn gold band was evident on his ring finger. She met his steady gaze with her own. “Why?”

He ignored her question and spoke to Kendra. “I will need to talk to each staff member separately.”

“That’s not a problem.” Kendra laid her hand on Lacey’s shoulder. “Lacey can let you know where everyone is, depending on the time.”

“Good. And I will also need the contact information for the guests who were here the night of the fire.”

Kendra stiffened. “You think a guest could have set it?”

“I don’t know yet, but I need to cover all bases.”

“If you don’t have to contact my guests, I’d prefer you didn’t.” Kendra raised her hand as the detective opened his mouth. “I understand you may need to. All I’m saying is if the trail leads elsewhere, I prefer they not be bothered. Is there any chance the fire wasn’t started by human means?”

Detective Anderson shook his head. “No. It was definitely started by someone. This was no lightning strike or electrical arc.”

Kendra’s shoulders fell and Lacey laid her hand on her boss’s arm. “Don’t worry. None of your current staff would ever do anything to harm Poker Flat.”

“So there has been trouble with staff before?” Detective Anderson’s shrewd blue gaze zeroed in on her.

Darn. Her stupid loose tongue. “There was one person. He was let go. He may have bad feelings, but I believe he’s in jail at the moment.” She pinned Anderson with her own gaze until he backed down. So there. It would be tough to start a fire from jail.

The detective scribbled more in his pad before flipping to a new blank page. “I might as well start with you.” He looked directly at her before turning to Kendra. “I’ll talk to you next and then the bartender.”

Kendra took the hint that Anderson wanted her to leave and she stood. “I’ll check in with Adriana. She may still be asleep. It’s been a long two days for all of us.” She stared hard at the officer, but Lacey doubted he cared what she thought or how much sleep they’d had. He probably figured if they were tired they would slip up and give themselves away.

Her gut twisted as familiar pains roiled through her stomach. She’d hated being accused of something she hadn’t done back in Orson, but now this detective appeared to be accusing everyone on staff. She hoped in the end the fire was caused by anyone but a staff person, just to prove that working at a nudist resort didn’t mean they had no morals.

“Do you own a white shrug?”

She snapped her attention back to Anderson. “Yes, I do. I couldn’t find it this morning. Why?”

He didn’t even write that down on his pad. “Because I found it at the burn site.”

No. No. Not again!

‡

C
ole tamped down
the need to shout like a teenager who just got the girl of his dreams to go to the prom with him. It looked like he’d be selling four good horses to the Poker Flat resort. He led Elsa out of her stall toward Wade, who was inspecting Romeo. “He’s a mellow horse and should work perfectly for new riders.”