“Of course I'm coming back to the inn,” he said, shrugging a shoulder, his anger slipping away too easily to be normal. “for three more dollars an hour,” he added with a small smirk.
“Yes, fine. Done. Thank you.”
Alec nodded. “So who was really stealing?”
Emily shrugged defeated shoulders. Here it went again. The distrust. The sideways glances. “I don't know yet.”
Alec was silent for a minute, watching her. “What the hell is that” he said, gesturing to her mismatched bright green sweatpants and old, ratty orange sweatshirts, her Uggs. “all about?”
Emily snorted. “It's been a rough couple of weeks.” But it was all over. Dane was right. She needed to get herself together. All it had taken was one insinuation that the inn was in trouble to shake her out of her funk. So she did care what happened to it. She didn't want to lose it. Or work at the lodge. She needed to fix things. “But it is all turning around now. I want you back as soon as possible. I want you around for Christmas.”
“I'll be there tomorrow,” he said as if that was already his plan.
“Okay. Great. Thanks, Alec. I'm so...”
“I get it,” Alec said, walking her to the door. “Want me to walk you back?”
She laughed, looking at his naked chest. “Like that? Oh, the scandal.”
Alec smiled. “You've never shied away from a scandal before.”
“I'll be fine,” she said, firmly. She needed the walk alone to clear her head, shake out the cobwebs of not caring. “I'll see you in the morning.”
It was going to snow. There's a certain smell to the air before a good storm. A smell that couldn't properly be described, but there, hanging heavy in the air. Promising sleigh rides and snowball fights. She walked slowly back toward the inn, her hands tucked into the pockets of her sweatpants, bending slightly forward against the cold wind.
Things were going to change first thing in the morning. She was going to pull Meggie and Devon aside and tell them what was really going on. She was going to apologize to the staff. She was going to get to the bottom of the theft. She was going to fire the correct person. And then things were going to go back to normal.
But first, she needed a good night of sleep. She grabbed the front desk phone off the front lawn and put it on the rocker where it belonged, walking down the hall that led to her room.
Then she noticed out of the corner of her eye, that the light was on in the office.
Twenty-Three
It normally wouldn't be all that unusual for the light to be on. She was constantly in and out of that room, checking things, making phone calls, organizing. But thanks to her recent stint into laziness, she hadn't been in the room in days. And the door was kept locked.
She walked down the hall, feeling her heart beating a bit faster. She pushed the door fully open, swinging silently. There inside the office, completely out of place, was one of the maids.
Molly. Molly had worked at the inn for as long as Emily could remember. Molly had been the one to train her when she first started. She was middle aged, plump around the center, with a very round face and small, kind blue eyes. Her mousy blonde hair was always pulled back, leaving her whispy bangs to frame her face.
It couldn't be Molly.
There had to be some kind of good reason she was in the office. Maybe she was looking for Emily. Or a paycheck that had gone missing. Trying to get a look at the cleaning order. Something.
“Molly?” she asked, and Molly jumped, her head jerking up, her hand moving automatically to her heart.
“Emily,” she gasped. “you scared me.”
“Sorry,” Emily said, rubbing her cold hands together. “Can I help you with something?” she asked, moving to lean against the doorjamb. “I know I have been really... checked out lately. And even before that, I was out of town to see the baby. And dealing with the guy from EM Corp. I've been a mess. But I promise that is all turning around now. So you can start coming to me with things again.”
“That's great,” Molly said, sending her a happy smile. “I was really starting to worry about you. You seemed so sad.”
“No, not sad,” she lied. “just... overwhelmed by this whole corporate overtaking thing. But we've worked out the whole power struggle thing,” Yeah. No. Not at all. “so everything is good again. Oh, and Alec will be back tomorrow.”
“Alec?” Molly asked, looking surprised and something else that Emily couldn't place. “Well... that's news.”
“Yeah. I fired him for something he didn't do. So I fixed that situation tonight,” she said, stepping into the room.
“Good,” Molly said, moving toward the side of the desk. “But you're... sure he didn't do it?”
Emily's brows drew together. “Yeah. I mean even if I wasn't sure before I went over there, I was sure once I spoke to him. Listened to him. He was innocent. I overreacted.”
“You're sure?” Molly asked. “I mean... I've been hesitating telling you this because I didn't think it was anything. And he loves them horses so much...”
“Tell me what?” Emily asked, ignoring the sudden cold sensation she was feeling. She was overly tired. And she had just taken a stroll outside in the middle of the winter without a jacket.
“I've been... seeing him.”
“Alec?”
“Yeah,” Molly said, nodding insistently.
“Where? When?”
“At night. Ever since you fired him. I keep seeing him. Going into the barn, sometimes. I figured he couldn't stay away. Had to make sure you're taking good care of his babies. But... I've seen him inside the inn too. Actually,” she said, looking wide-eyed. “tonight... that's why I was in here. I swear. I was coming by your room to check on you and... and I saw him coming out of the office.”
Emily tilted her head to the side, watching the woman. “When? When was this?”
“Oh, just maybe... half an hour ago. So I came in here to make sure nothing was missing or anything like that.”
There was the cold sensation again, stronger, making the hair on her arms stand up on end. Because that wasn't possible.
“Are you sure it was Alec? You didn't just... see someone in shadow?”
“It was Alec,” Molly said, confidently. “I saw him as plainly as I am seeing you.”
“Molly... I literally just got back from Alec's house.”
Emily moved further back into the room, stepping behind the desk to find the computer screen on. She glanced at what was open. Two windows in the explorer: one for the insurance company and one for a bank account. Barely paying attention to Molly, she clicked between the two.
And there was her proof. Once and for all, there it was.
Because there was an unaccounted for extra six hundred dollars taken out of the employee health benefits. And a deposit to an account in Molly's name for six hundred dollars.
She looked up from the computer to find Molly standing there. But this wasn't the Molly she knew. The happy, easy-going maternal figure she had spoken to every day for years. This Molly had her face twisted up in an ugly way with her chin lifted and a sneer playing at her lips.
“Molly...” Emily said, disbelievingly.
Molly snorted. “For all that fuss Marion made about you. Going on and on and on about how you were the best. How you had so much potential. How you paid attention to every detail. Well, you sure missed a big one.”
“So this was to... spite Marion?”
“I was here a long time before you little girl,” Molly seethed. “I should have been the one to move up in the company. I should be in charge.”
“And you try to prove that by stealing?”
Molly rolled her eyes. “I started stealing around the time she put you in charge.”
Emily nodded. “So it was to spite me.” She thought about all the extra hours she had put in when she was a teenager. Hell, every day since the day she showed up. Always going above and beyond. Pitching in and
helping anyone. How she had earned her position. Meanwhile Molly left at three on the dot everyday. It didn't matter if the sheets weren't done washing or the floors weren't swept, she was out the door. “Did you ever think that maybe I got the promotion because I earned it?”
“You got the promotion 'cause Marion thought of you as a daughter,” Molly spat back.
“Alright, whatever,” Emily said, her anger turning from hot to cold quickly. She just wanted this over with. She needed things to calm down. She needed things back to how they used to be. “Look, I'll give you a chance to avoid jail time. I wont call the sheriff in if you leave quietly right now. Your employment is obviously terminated. I don't want to see you within a hundred feet of this inn ever again.”
“No, see... that isn't going to work for me,” Molly said, shaking her head. “I have a reputation to uphold in this town. I clean private residences. I wont be having people thinking I got fired. Nope.”
“Well you can't stay here, Molly,” Emily said, her brows drawing together. Was the woman mental?
“Sure I can,” Molly said, lifting her chin in a haughty way. “For five dollars more an hour. And you keep your mouth shut about all of this.”
“Are you trying to... con me? Seriously? Fine,” Emily said, shaking her head. “I'll call Aiden and let him handle it,” she said, reaching for the phone.
“No,” Molly said, grabbing the old paperweight, a perfect bronze replica of the inn, and swung.
Emily felt the crack to the side of her face, a blinding white pain that made her scream and stumble backward. Her arms went up to her face, trying to protect her from another strike. But the next blow came down hard on the side of her skull, she heard the sick crack, and then nothing else as the world went black.
Twenty-Four
There was a tapping at the side of her face. Insistent and annoying. She struggled against her unconsciousness , trying to break to the surface of the darkness holding her down. “Emily, wake up,” she heard a voice call. Dev. But it wasn't right. He sounded frantic, stressed. Devon never got stressed about anything. “Wake up, wake up, wake up,” he pleaded.
“She'll come around,” she heard another voice say. Aiden. The sheriff. His voice was calm, reassuring. Like he had seen this kind of thing a million times before. “Stop slapping her, Dev. She's stirring.”
The pain came on slowly. A strange throbbing at first, pushing her closer and closer to consciousness. Then the pounding felt sharp and excruciating. On the side of her head, her face. A headache was slamming behind her eyes, nauseating it was so intense. “Please tell me I'm still pretty,” she groaned through the pain.
“Gorgeous,” a third voice said. She struggled to place it, sounding concerned and higher pitched than usual. Dane.
“What are we having a party?” she asked, trying to smile, not wanting to open her eyes yet. “Did I have too many of Maude's drinks again?”
There was a silence for a moment and she could tell they were looking at her, and each other, worriedly. “Emily,” Aiden's voice spoke again. “someone knocked you out.”
The words sounded almost funny for a moment and then the memory came flooding back. Molly in the office. Molly admitting to stealing. Molly wielding the paper weight.
Her eyes flew open, the morning light was beaming in from the window and she cringed away from it. Morning. It was morning. “What time is it?” she asked, reaching up to touch her sore face. Her hand came away red.
“It's six-fifty,” Aiden told her. “We need to get you looked at, okay?” he asked, still calm, but she could see the worry lines between her brows. “Dane is gonna pick you up and carry you to the car.”
Dane came down on his knees next to her, putting an arm around her back and underneath her knees. “It's okay if you swoon,” he said, trying to sound light. Failing miserably. “I'm used to it.”
Meggie was out in the hall, tears clinging to her lashes as she worried a dishrag between her hands. Emily offered her a weak smile before resting the side of her face against Dane's shoulder and letting herself escape the pain and drift back off.
She woke up being shuffled out of the car, looking around her. She had been right the night before, it had snowed. Only a dusting. An inch or so, but pretty and fresh.
When she saw where they were, she laughed. It made the pain spark off in waves inside her head, but she couldn't help it.
Stars Landing didn't have an official doctor. They were taking her to the vet.
Shay was a few years older than Emily, a pretty though somewhat plain blonde with a soft face and dark brown eyes. She had graduated veterinary school and came back to Stars Landing to set up a much needed practice. Since then, it hadn't been unusual for her to have to set the occasional fractured arm or stitch up a farmer who cut himself open while working in the field.
Emily was rushed into an exam room, the walls full of posters about the importance of heartworm medicine and spaying and neutering along with a chart describing fleas and ticks. Dane walked her over to the silver exam table, carefully sitting her down on top of it, but keeping an arm around her waist.
Shay rushed in a few seconds later, grabbing gloves from a box on the counter and slipping them on. “Em, what the heck happened to you?” she asked in the crooning voice she used to soothe scared animals.
“She was hit on the head with a paperweight,” Aiden's voice answered. “On the side of the head and by her eye.”
“I see that,” Shay said, reaching out to probe the spot next to her eye. “You already have a major black eye. Most of this blood is dry,” she said, looking up at Aiden.
“We think it happened early this morning.”
“Late last night,” Emily supplied. “It was late last night. I went to Alec's house to rehire him,” she said, grimacing when Shay probed the spot on the side of her head. She struggled to remember what time that was and then remembered that Alec had growled about the time at her. “It was one in the morning. A little after. Closer to two I guess. I was heading back to my room and I noticed the office light on.”
Aiden had moved to stand behind Shay, watching her. He had a small notebook pulled out and a pen, scribbling as she spoke. “Go on.”
“And so I went to see what was going on and Molly was there. I figured she was looking for me so we started talking. And then I got a view of the computer and I noticed that... ouch,” she said, cringing away from Shay's fingers.
“Sorry.”
Emily shrugged. “I noticed that she had two windows open and that they proved that she has been the one stealing from the inn.”
Aiden's head jerked up at that, his brows shooting upward. “What? Someone has been stealing? Why didn't you tell me about it?”
“I don't know. I thought I could handle it in-house. I thought it was Alec. And I fired him. But... it was Molly all along.”
“She admitted to it?”
“Yeah, she was mad because I was made manager ahead of her. So she started skimming out of the employee benefits. The guy from EM Corp found out and brought it to my attention.”
Aiden nodded. “Okay. So she admitted it and then hit you?”
“She admitted it and then thought she could convince me to keep her there as a maid if I paid her more per hour.”
“Seriously?” Aiden asked, smiling a little.
“Yeah. I think she's lost it,” Emily said. “And then I said I was going to call you... and she picked up the paperweight and hit me here,” she said, touching her eye. “I stumbled back and she hit me on the side of the head. I think I blacked out immediately.”
“You're gonna need stitches. On both sites,” Shay said when she had finished speaking.
“Oh joy,” Emily grumbled.
“Look, Em,” Aiden said. “I need to go and see if Molly is still around. Get her before she skips town and this becomes a big thing. Are you gonna be alright here?”
“Yeah, I'm fine,” she said, giving him a ti
ght smile.
“Okay. Do you mind if I steal Dane? I could use another set of hands just in case.”
“Take him,” she said, winking with her good eye at Dane.
“I'm not fucking leaving you,” Dane said, crossing his arms.
“Go. I'll call Dev or Meggie to come get me. Go get the bad guy.”
Dane snorted. “I'm the bad guy, but fine. I'll come check on you as soon as I'm done,” he said, leaning down and kissing the top of her head.
The door closed, sounding like a bomb going off in her head. Alone, Shay reached for the phone. “No,” Emily said, waving a hand. “I'm not calling anyone.”
“Emily...”
“I'm fine, Shay,” Emily insisted. “I just cant deal with any more talking. I feel like there's a jackhammer in my head right now.”
“Okay,” Shay said, nodding. Understanding. She went into a cabinet, grabbing and arranging a bunch of items onto a rolling tray. “I will numb the spots then clean and stitch them. You'll be good as new in a few weeks. But you might have a concussion so I think you should stay in bed for a few days. Rest up. You've had quite a time of it lately.”
If she only knew.
Emily sat as still as possible, gripping the cold stainless steel in her hands as Shay went about tending to her wounds.
There were a lot of thoughts that popped into her head in that silence. Thoughts about the night before. About Alec and Molly. About how stupid she had been being, slinking around the inn dressed like some homeless person, shirking her responsibilities. Maybe if she had been doing her job, she would have caught her own mistake. Long before he came to bite her in the ass. She thought about the massive thank you she owed to Devon. Who had stepped up and into her shoes, doing so with so much ease that it was clear he had always been capable. Just lacking ambition.
She thought about Dane. Good, bad boy Dane. Weren't those the best kinds of bad boys? The ones with good hearts?
What The Heart Knows Page 19