Crime at Cripple Creek (The Sisters Week Series #1)

by Elizabeth Sherry

  Chapter 13

  Beth was the first one up the next morning. She used the bathroom and brushed her teeth and put a pair of jeans on along with a t-shirt and headed to the kitchen quietly so she would not wake up Tyler. She didn’t have to worry since Tyler was already up and dressed and drunk his first cup of coffee while he looked out the front window.

  “Good morning. I hope you slept well and had sweet dreams,” Tyler said to Beth, although he himself didn’t sleep soundly. He never did. He’s always been a light sleeper.

  Beth didn’t answer until she took her first sip of coffee, “Yes, I think all three of us slept like babies and I did have sweet dreams. Is the sofa comfortable?”

  Tyler laughed out loud, “The sofa is fine. Come here and look out the window. I know how much you enjoy seeing the deer.”

  Tyler was right. Beth always enjoyed drinking her coffee as she watched for wildlife, and sure enough, a large buck stood in the drive and watched them. The buck wasn’t too startled as he found her and Tyler watching him. He went back to eating and roamed around out front.

  “I love Colorado. Part of me wishes I still live here. The air is so clean and the wide open spaces, the elk and deer roaming around. It’s very peaceful. It’s not the fast pace of living in Atlanta. I tell myself every time I visit here that I will move back someday, but I don’t see that happening for a while, if ever,” Beth said sadly.

  “Who knows where any of us will end up five years from now? You might end up living in one of these beautiful cabins and watching the animals every morning with that beautiful smile on your face,” Tyler told her just before he softly kissed her lips, “When your sisters get up I will make all of us some breakfast.”

  Laughing, Beth said, “You’ll cook breakfast?”

  “Of course, I can scramble eggs and cook some bacon and some toast perfectly. I lived off that for quite a while when I was attending college. Be prepared to be amazed,” Tyler had a way of making her smile and he knew she needed that now.

  Tyler’s phone rang and when he looked at the caller ID he said, “It’s Michael.”

  Beth took both their cups into the kitchen and refilled them while Tyler talked to Michael. A few minutes later, Tyler announced, “Michael’s on his way and should be here in ten minutes. I told him I’d meet him at the gate and let him in. Can I have the key again?”

  It wasn’t until Beth reached into her purse again for the gate key, that she remembered she meant to check the contents of her purse. Handing the keys to Tyler and locking the front door after he left, she went back to her purse and dumped it out on the kitchen table.

  “What are you doing? Your purse can’t need cleaning out already,” Joy said as she yawned her way into the kitchen. Lynn was right behind her but looked refreshed. Both her sisters were dressed for the day.

  “Joy had trouble sleeping knowing Michael is coming to stay this morning,” Lynn teased Joy.

  “Michael is here. Tyler went to open the gate, then Tyler is cooking us all breakfast.” Beth informed them.

  Beth looked at everything on the table and saw what puzzled her last night. There was a small red notebook among her things that wasn’t hers. Picking it up, she opened it and noticed three columns written on each page. At the top of each page was a big letter. Each page had a different letter on top. On the left of each page were numbers and the middle column had more numbers and the right column had a check mark or numbers.

  Since nothing in the book made sense to her, Beth knew she needed to give it to Michael and Tyler. Maybe with all their expertise they would figure out what it meant and where it came from. For the life of her she couldn’t figure out how it ended up in her purse.

  Joy opened the front door for Tyler and Michael, and told Tyler, “I understand you have kitchen duty this morning.”

  Tyler laughed, “Yes, you too will be amazed at my scrambled eggs.”

  “Morning all, I hear you all had a fun evening last night. Wish I could’ve joined in. Maybe we can have a repeat tonight,” Michael told the group.

  “Michael, Tyler, please come here for a minute. I need to show you both something,” Beth called from the kitchen table. When the men stood by her she explained about seeing something out of the ordinary in her purse yesterday but forgot it until Tyler asked for the gate key again this morning. She handed Michael the book, “This is in my purse. It’s not mine and I don’t know how it got in my purse.”

  Tyler looked over Michaels shoulder as Michael turned the pages of the book, “Looks like some kind of record keeping. I’ve seen this when we bust people for money laundering or drugs or illegal gambling and betting. It’s possible we can figure this out pretty easily, right Michael?”

  “I’m with you. This looks like book keeping for something that someone doesn’t want anyone else to know about,” Michael said while he turned more pages. “We’ll take a good look at this together later. Because right now, I understand you are fixing breakfast, and I have some groceries to unload from my truck. ”

  All five of them laughed. Beth noticed Michael had a good sense of humor also, and she saw the way Joy enjoyed having Michael here. This might be a wonderful day after all.

  Beth felt Tyler watching her as she ate and knew what he waited for, “O K, you’re right. I am amazed. This is delicious. ”

  Everyone else agreed with Beth. Michael offered to clean up since Tyler cooked. Joy joined him in the clean up and the others went to the living room.

  “Do you really think you can figure out what the notebook is, Tyler?” Lynn asked.

  “There’s a good chance. It doesn’t look to belong to an expert book keeper. It’s just some ones childish record keeping. With luck we will have some answers today,” Tyler said hopefully.

  “Beth, please take a look at this picture and tell me if he looks familiar,” Michael handed Beth a black and white zerox copy of a mug shot as he joined them in the living room. Beth said she hadn’t seen anyone who looked like that since arriving in Colorado, and handed the mug shot back to Michael, “Who is it?”

  “It’s Maggie’s ex. I needed to make sure you didn’t recognize him from the casino. He doesn’t have an alibi for the time of Maggie’s death or for the day of your break-in. He says he was sleeping off a drunk from the night before on each occasion. We have nothing to hold him on but I think he’s a good suspect for both.”

  Beth assured Michael she didn’t recognize the man then turned to Lynn, “Lynn, do you and Joy need some clothes washed? I think I’ll do a load now,” Beth said.

  “I’ll help you,” Lynn answered as she followed Beth to her room.

  They gathered up some of each of their dirty clothes and went downstairs to the laundry room.

  “Beth, I like Tyler, and I like Michael. I hope you give Tyler a chance to get to know you, and I hope Joy gives Michael the same. Tyler makes you laugh and that’s not easy to do after what you’ve been through. He can be good for you,” Lynn said, expecting Beth to argue.

  “I know. You know how I am though. I can’t jump into a relationship fast. I move slow, but don’t worry; I will give him and myself a chance to see where this goes,” Beth smiled at her sister.

  Sitting around for long periods of time was not Beth’s thing, so she suggested Lynn and Joy and her go on the front porch and enjoy the scenery while the men tried to decipher the mysterious notebook.

  “This is nice. We haven’t had a chance to enjoy the outside since we arrived here. Lynn, why don’t you get your camera and take some pictures?” Joy suggested.

  “I’ve got it. I grabbed it on my way out. I’ll stay here in front of the cabin and take some. We don’t want to wander off right now, but maybe later Tyler and Michael might join us exploring some around the cabin and I can take more pictures,” Lynn said.

  “Remember the time we stayed in a cabin and it snowed? I miss days like that. It was so picturesque out and we went walking w
hile the snow fell.” Beth reminded the girls.

  “I remember. We didn’t have anything to cover our heads, but you tied a t-shirt around yours and you resembled a Yugoslavian scrub woman,” Joy reminded them and all three laughed uncontrollably.

  Lynn wiped tears from her face as she tried to speak between bouts of laughter, “I remember too, and when we came back from our walk we all realized we had sweatshirt jackets in our suitcases that had hoods. You looked so funny with your shirt wrapped around your head.”

  “Oh, girls, I needed that. We haven’t laughed like that in a while. That’s what “sisters’ week is all about,” Beth said as she’s still tried to control the giggles.

  Joy, after the giggles died down, told the other two they needed to go in and put the laundry in the dryer, and set something out of the freezer to thaw for dinner tonight.

  It’s going to be a good day after all.