Borrowing Trouble

by Stacy Finz

  “When’s Owen going to finally retire?” Donna asked.

  “Who knows? It was supposed to happen more than a year ago.” Darla put the last foil in Maddy’s hair. “You’re awfully quiet.”

  “Just making plans in my head,” Maddy said. “We’ve got a full house with the wedding.”

  “How are you setting up for the rehearsal dinner tonight?” Donna asked.

  “Just opening up all the common rooms where folks can mingle and eat. Brady is doing a lot of passed hors d’oeuvres and a buffet in the dining room. We’re putting the bar where the reception desk is.”

  “Are Jake’s kids staying at the inn?” Sloane asked.

  “Yep. He’s putting a few guests up at his cabin. But most everyone else traveling here is staying at the inn. A couple of Lucky’s friends are bunking at his place. We even had to send a few to the Beary Quaint.” Maddy made a face.

  “Those Addisons weren’t invited, were they?” Donna asked. “It would be worth it just to see what they’d wear. Formal attire with goddamn bears.”

  Sloane started to laugh and quickly shut her mouth. Not good for the law to participate in lady snark.

  Sam came in the door and everyone greeted her. Darla had Donna and Maddy switch places under the drier and began taking out Donna’s rollers in front of the mirror.

  “You can still fit me in, right?” Sam asked.

  “Of course.” Darla did appear incredibly organized, moving from one client to the next. “Emily, do me a favor and take that sweater off. I don’t want to get color on it.”

  Emily disappeared behind a screen made of picture frames that displayed various hair styles. Clever, Sloane thought.

  “That the color you’re sticking with for the wedding?” Donna asked Darla while she combed her hair out.

  Today, Darla’s hair was bright fuchsia. The hairstylist was known for her bold accessories and loud colors. In LA it would’ve been nothing. Here it was the talk of the town.

  “Just plain old blond,” she said.

  Emily came back in a smock. “Sloane, anything new on the deceased man?”

  “Not yet. But we’re still sifting through missing persons reports. Harlee’s story got picked up by the wire services, so hopefully that’ll drum up some leads.”

  “I’d like to help,” Emily said, and the room went quiet. “I could put a few hours in on the hotline or drive those fliers to neighboring towns. Whatever you need.”

  “Thank you, Emily.” Sloane had heard that on account of her missing daughter, Emily volunteered for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “At some point we’ll definitely put you to work.”

  “I hear you’ve got Margaret Jones’s girl working over at the police station,” Donna said. Darla styled her hair into a poufy bob. Very flattering.

  “Rose. You know her mother?”

  “Oh sure. Poor woman. Four years ago her husband walked out on her and never came back. She’s so busy trying to earn a living that those two kids of hers have to fend for themselves. I understand Skeeter’s working at Union Pacific now. The extra income should help. So what did Rose do? Word is she got suspended from school and is paying penance at the police station.”

  “Fighting,” Sloane said. “Some girls have been picking on her. Actually, Darla, I was thinking about bringing her in for a haircut and some of those skin products you sell. She could use a self-esteem boost.”

  “That’s so nice of you.” Darla scooted Donna out of her chair and crooked her finger at Emily. “After the wedding I’ve got lots of time.”

  “Hey, Darla, I want to run back to the inn and make sure Brady isn’t slammed.” Sam grabbed her purse. “Just text me when I’m up.”

  “I’ll be right over,” Maddy told her sister-in-law.

  Darla sent Maddy back to the shampoo station while she put on Emily’s color.

  Donna left cash at the register. “I’ll see you ladies tonight. And, Sloane, that is very sweet of you to take Rose under your wing. Poor girl could use a little help in the beauty department.”

  “Donna!” Emily shook her head.

  “The girl is going through an awkward phase. Someone pretty like Sloane can help her with that.”

  After Donna left, Darla shampooed Maddy, then trimmed and blew out her hair. She finished with Emily and by the time she got to Sloane, most of the morning was gone. But it had been worth the wait. Sloane’s hair looked fantastic. She didn’t get this good a haircut even in Los Angeles.

  Because she couldn’t stop herself, she stuck her head inside the police station. “Anything going on?” she asked Connie.

  Connie nudged her head to the back of the room, where Rose and some goth-looking boy wrote names on a dry-erase board.

  Sloane made her way over to them. “Hi.”

  “Hi, Officer McBride.” Rose went back to writing.

  Sloane meaningfully looked at the boy and asked, “Who is this?”

  “Sorry. This is Simpson. He’s helping me with the John Doe. Chief Shepard said it was okay.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Sloane said, and went directly to Rhys’s office. “You got a second?”

  “I thought this was your day off.” Rhys had his feet up on the desk and was eating a Bun Boy burger.

  “It is. I came in just to say hello and met Simpson.”

  “Yeah. That kid is the bane of my existence. Has a thing about smashing people’s mailboxes.”

  “Then why is he here?”

  Rhys sat up. “Rose told him what she did and he wanted to help. I figure it’s better than having him out, running around, vandalizing private property. Consider him part of the pilot program.”

  “Okay. I don’t know if I have enough for them both to do.”

  “We’ll come up with stuff. Hell, they can wash the police rigs.”

  “All right.” She hitched her shoulders. The more the merrier, she supposed. “I better see what they’re up to.”

  “Sloane, have your day off, for God’s sake. It’s bad enough you worked yesterday. And by the way, nice hair.”

  She went and checked on the kids anyway. They spent their time methodically sifting through each missing person’s summary. The ones that fit their John Doe’s description, Rose wrote on the board.

  “You guys are doing great,” she said.

  “You think someone murdered him and then chopped off his arms?” Simpson asked.

  “Probably not.” But she couldn’t say for sure. “We’ll be able to figure out more once we know who he is.”

  “What if we never find out?” he asked.

  “There’s a chance we won’t. That’s where you two come in. This is an important job you’re doing, so don’t screw it up. I’m going now.”

  “Bye, Officer McBride,” Rose said. “See you Monday.”

  “Pilot program,” she muttered to herself as she crossed the square. But she had to admit that she kind of liked the idea of working with at-risk kids, especially in a town like this, where there weren’t a lot of options for them.

  She found Brady in the inn’s kitchen, peeling and deveining more shrimp than Sloane had ever seen. Lina and a couple of people she didn’t know stood over the sink and counter, trying to keep up with Brady. Still, he did six shrimp to everyone else’s one.

  “Pick up the pace, people. We’ve got other stuff to do.” Surprisingly, he came around the counter and laid his lips on her. “Don’t want to touch you . . . shrimp hands.”

  “You need help?”

  “Nah. That’s what I pay these lug-heads for. Your hair looks nice.”

  “Thanks. Darla’s crazy busy.”

  “Yeah, Sam just went over and Maddy just came back. It pays to be a guy.”

  At the moment he had a folded bandana tied around his forehead, keeping his hair out of his face. The sleeves of his chef’s jacket were scrunched up to his elbows. Sloane thought it was a good look. Between the headband and the tattoos he looked a wee bit disreputable.

  �
��I guess I’ll see you tonight then,” she said.

  “I’m not even planning to go home first.” He glanced around the kitchen, which looked like a bomb had gone off. A pile of vegetables, which Sloane assumed was for a crudité platter, sat in a tray of ice. Serving dishes lined one of the counters and sheets of mini toasts had been stacked on vertical cooling racks.

  “Good luck,” she said, flashing him a commiserating smile.

  “See you later.” He went back to peeling shrimp.

  On her way out she bumped into Andy.

  “You coming tonight?” he asked her.

  “I am.”

  “I’m working it,” he said, and bobbed his chin at her. “But maybe you and I can have a drink.”

  The kid was barely legal, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “We’ll see, Andy.”

  “I tried to get Jake to hire my band, but he’s doing a play list from an iPod. Cheesy.”

  “You ever hear Tater’s band? What were they like?”

  “Gold Country was before my time. But Tater’s a legend. He used to sit in with freakin’ Willie Nelson.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah. I’ll probably have him jam with my band one of these days.”

  From everything she’d heard about Andy’s band, Sloane doubted Tater would be interested. “I’ll see you tonight, Andy.”

  She had her hand on the door when he said, “Some guy called here the other day, wanting to know how to get in touch with you. He said he’d heard you were staying here, which I thought was weird ’cause you’d only stayed that one time.”

  Sloane slowly turned around. “Did you get a name?”

  “I can’t remember whether I even asked.”

  “What did you tell him about me?” Sloane had a bad feeling.

  “That he should call the police station. You didn’t want me to tell him where you lived or anything, right? I mean it’s not like he couldn’t figure it out in this town but—”

  “You did good, Andy. Don’t ever tell anyone where I live.”

  Chapter 16

  “That was one hell of a wedding.” Griff in rested his elbows inside Tawny’s truck window while he filled her tank.

  “I’m still recovering,” she said. “The last guests left Sunday after the big breakfast, and we drove Jake and Cecilia to Reno to catch their plane.”

  “Hawaii, huh?” Since coming into his money Griff had gone to the Big Island and spent some time on Maui. Beautiful place.

  “Cecilia had never been and was dying to go.”

  “They’ll have a great time. Ordinarily, it would’ve gotten them out of the snow.” Griffin gazed out over the horizon at the mountains. Usually, the peaks looked like vanilla ice-cream cones. Now, not so much.

  “It’ll still be warmer.” Tawny tugged her coat tighter and Griffin felt guilty for talking her ear off with the window open.

  The gas nozzle clicked. He hung up the hose and screwed on her gas cap. “You’re all set.” He tapped on her roof and waved goodbye.

  It really had been one hell of a wedding. The booze flowed like the Feather River, the food was about as gourmet as it got without being too fussy, and watching Lina work in a tight black skirt and fitted white blouse . . . well, that had been a nice extra.

  All the servers had worn black and white, but none had worn it as well as Lina. For her part she’d pretty much ignored him. To be fair, she’d had a job to do and didn’t have time to hang around, flirting with him all night. It was mystifying how much she’d changed. How responsible she’d gotten and how immune to him she’d become. It was like he was nothing but an old flame.

  He got out of the cold and holed up in his office for a while doing paperwork. When he came back down about an hour later to grab a hot dog from the convenience store, a guy with a Lexus SUV asked him about getting an oil change.

  “You want it done now or can you pick it up tomorrow?” Griffin asked.

  “I put it on craigslist a few hours ago and have a couple of people coming to look at it first thing in the morning. Any way you can do it now?”

  “Let me check.” Griff gave the Lexus a once-over. It was a 2013. Sweet ride. He talked to Rico and motioned for the guy to pull it into the last bay on the right.

  “I’ll handle it, boss.”

  “Nah, I’ve got this one,” Griffin told Rico. He wanted to get his head under the hood.

  The owner climbed out of the driver’s seat. Griffin got in and pulled it onto the ramps while Rico took over a brake job in the bay next to him. “You the original owner?”

  “Yeah. I just bought the NX hybrid, figured I’d save on gas. My wife has an Outback. So what do I need with this?”

  “Out of curiosity, how much you asking for it?” Griff checked the odometer. The guy must just drive it to church and back.

  He rattled off a number that seemed more than fair to Griffin.

  “It drives well?” Griffin flipped on the hydraulic lift, put on a pair of gloves, and slipped a drip pan underneath the vehicle.

  “Drives great, especially in the snow. Be nice to get some, huh?”

  “This drought is killing California.” With a socket wrench Griff loosened the drain plug, then unscrewed it with his hand, letting the oil spill out.

  “Man, don’t I know it. This drought is killing my business. A couple of guys and I own a ski resort in Glory Junction. The place is deader than the off-season.”

  “Why’d you come all the way to Nugget for an oil change?” Hell, it was a thirty-minute drive.

  “The truth. I don’t trust my cars with the mechanic over there. I usually go to Tahoe, but someone told me you guys were fantastic—and cheaper.”

  “Nice to hear. I’m the owner, so I really appreciate that. We also build custom motorcycles.” It sounded like the dude and his friends had money if they owned a ski resort. Good to get the word out.

  “Yeah? What kind of stuff?”

  “Something along the lines of a Ducati. But we can build anything.” He mopped the underside of the Lexus with a rag and replaced the drain plug.

  “Hmm. I don’t ride, but I know a couple of guys who have BMWs and may be looking to trade up. I’ll let ’em know.”

  “I appreciate that.” Griffin moved the pan and started replacing the oil filter.

  “Hey, it’s not easy making a living up here. I used to work in venture capital in Silicon Valley. Jeez, the money that poured through there. Kind of made you sick.”

  Griffin hadn’t exactly earned his from hard labor either. Being half Wigluk Indian he was entitled to a huge draw of the tribe’s profits, including money from one of the largest gaming casinos in the country.

  He sealed everything up and lowered the vehicle, wiping his hands on a towel. While he added the oil, he checked the engine, transmission, and the brake lines. Everything looked clean as a whistle. Even the tires looked brand-new.

  “You take care of this baby, don’t you?”

  “I take care of all my vehicles. They’ll run forever that way. But what the hell am I telling you that for?”

  Griff cracked a grin. “It should drive cleaner now.”

  “I doubt the average Joe will feel the difference, but it’s like leaving the new owner a clean house. Pride of ownership and all that.”

  “You mind if I take it for a quick spin?”

  “Not at all. If you hear or feel something that’s off, let me know. I’m sure whoever is interested in buying it will get it checked out by a mechanic first.”

  “More than likely.” Griffin got inside and backed the SUV out of the bay.

  For the next fifteen minutes he drove it around Nugget, even took it out on the highway, testing the heater, AC, stereo, GPS, windows, and wipers. The first thing to go in these babies was usually the electrical system. But everything worked like a dream. And the ride was smooth—good suspension. Griffin suspected that by the time he returned to the Gas and Go, the Lexus’s owner feared that he’d run off with the truck.

>   Parking it beside the convenience store, Griffin jumped out. “You want cash or a check?”

  The man jerked in surprise. “You want to buy it?”

  “Minus the price of the oil change, I do. If you want cash, we’ll have to go to the bank.”

  “Cash would be good.”

  “You drive.” Griffin tossed him the fob.

  Two hours later, Griff returned in his new Lexus to the Gas and Go. After making the money exchange, signing the pink slip, and registering the paperwork with the DMV, Griffin had taken the former owner home and stopped off to grab a sandwich. He’d never gotten that hot dog.

  Now he desperately needed coffee. Inside the convenience store he filled a cup and leaned against the counter while Rico rung up a woman for a smog check.

  After she left, he cocked his head at the window and said, “What do you think of my new Lexus?”

  “What do you need this car for, boss? You already have a Range Rover, a Ducati, and too many other motorcycles to count.”

  “It was a good deal.”

  Rico rolled his eyes. “It was exactly what the Kelley Blue Book said it was worth.”

  “You don’t find vehicles in mint condition every day.”

  “You’re full of crap, man. I know exactly what you’re planning to do with it. Let Lina get her own car.”

  Griff followed his mechanic into the garage. “What’s your problem with Lina?”

  “I have no problem with her. Love her like a sister. But you’re hot and cold when it comes to the girl. She’s too young,” Rico mimicked. “I love her so much. Make up your mind. But if you think she’s too young, don’t go leading her on by giving her a luxury car. It’s douchey.”

  “She’s got a birthday coming up.” Griffin shrugged. “Besides, you weren’t there when I had to tell her the Scout was dead. She cried.”

  “Dude, you’re pathetic, and Lina’s not a charity case.”

  Griffin pinched the bridge of his nose and walked away. “Do me a favor, Rico? Mind your own business.”

  Darla gave Rose the works. An adorable layered cut that flattered her face and made her look lighter. She even added highlights.