Chapter 11
“I’m glad you decided to escort us women home. Maybe no one will follow us this time,” Beth told Tyler as she sat in his vehicle on the ride back to the cabin.
Tyler smiled before he commented, “I will do whatever I can to spend time with a beautiful woman.”
Beth laughed at this admittance, “Hopefully when we get back to Atlanta you and I can spend time just getting to know each other, and not running around trying to solve a murder.”
“I know this isn’t how either one of us planned to spend our vacation. Sometimes life just happens. No one can predict how each day in their lives will turn out. We all need to accept what life throws at us and do what we can to work through it. I will say this though, not everyone gets a murder thrown at them. I’m sorry you’re the one who has to deal with finding Maggie and everything that has happened since.”
“I’m dealing with everything in my way. Having you here does help though. If I haven’t thanked you before I’ll say thank you now,” Beth touched Tyler’s arm as she thanked him, then leaned over and lightly kissed his cheek.
“When we both return home, you can thank me properly with dinner and maybe a movie,” Tyler told Beth.
Beth pictured the two of them sitting at a table for two as they held hands across the table. This put a big smile on her lips, “It’s a date but I get to pick the movie. You can choose the restaurant.”
Tyler reached over and took Beth’s hand in his, “I’ll be looking forward to that date.” Tyler released Beth’s hand only when they pulled up to the gate leading to Beth’s cabin. Joy’s car was already at the gate Joy waited for Beth since she had the gate key. After she opened the gate, both vehicles drove through and Beth re-locked the gate and jumped back into Tyler’s SUV.
Beth’s sisters got out of their car as Tyler pulled in behind them. Following the women home turned out to be uneventful.
“Come in for a glass of tea and some no bake cookies, Tyler,” Joy said.
Tyler, who held the car door for Beth, replied, “I think I will and thank you.”
Since Beth was the only one out of the three sisters who hadn’t misplaced any keys in the past, she was the only one with the cabin key. Beth unlocked the front door and stepped inside and let out a gasp, “Nooooooo…..”
The other three pushed inside and stopped in their tracks. The cabin was a mess. It looked as though someone searched through everything.
“Everyone stays right here,” Tyler told them, as he pulled his revolver from the back of his jeans and went into the kitchen.
The girls huddled together as Tyler went from room to room. “Will this nightmare ever end?” Beth said to no one in particular.
In just a short span of time, Tyler returned putting his gun back behind his back, “No one’s here now, but I’ll warn you all, the bedrooms are worse. Seems someone went through all your luggage and personal items and wasn’t very neat in the search.”
“What could they be looking for? We haven’t gotten anything of great value here, only some costume jewelry and clothes and bathroom articles,” Lynn stated.
“I’m sorry, girls. If I didn’t get sick, none of this would’ve happened,” Joy said while tears ran slowly down her face.
Beth stepped over to Joy and wrapped her arms around her sister, “It’s no one’s fault. Maggie didn’t get killed because of anything you or any of us did. We will get through this. We are strong and have gotten through worse things in our lives.”
Lynn joined in on the hugging of Joy, “Yes, we have. We’ll help figure all this out and who knows, maybe we’ll end up being amateur crime investigators,” Lynn said the last to get a giggle from the other two and she wasn’t disappointed.
“We always said we should work in a crime lab. We watch enough crime series on television,” Joy laughingly said as she wiped the tears that were left on her face.
Tyler stood off to the side of the room and observed the three sisters. He knew they were close and cared deeply for each other. He also knew they were all three great people, and had the strength that life gave them to get them through this. He knew that no matter what each of them went through, the other two would be there doing whatever they needed to do to support and help each other. They were a family of three.
Clearing his throat a little, Tyler interrupted the women, “Can you girls check your rooms and bathrooms and see if you are missing anything? I am going to call Michael and let him know what’s happened.”
Tyler pulled out his phone and dialed as the girls went their separate way to do their own search and clean up. Tyler knew they would clean up as they went and he knew he’d let them. Normally he would’ve called in a crime lab to take pictures and look for evidence, but in this small community, he just placed his call to Michael and Michael, being Michael, would arrive in a short time.
“We have more problems, Michael. Someone tore apart the women’s cabin and searched through all their belongings,” Tyler told Michael. “No one was here when we got here. I noticed the person broke the lock on the sliding glass door off of the kitchen area.”
“Damn, I’ll be right there. Give me about twenty minutes. Are the women OK?” Michael asked.
“As you probably already know, they’re strong women but they can’t help but be upset and a little scared,” Tyler answered.
“Tell them we will come up with a plan when I get there. We can’t let anything happen to those sisters,” Michael told Tyler.
When Tyler hung up from his call, he thought of plans of his own to keep these girls safe. He would go over it with them all after Michael arrived.
Crime at Cripple Creek (The Sisters Week Series #1) Page 10