Page 35 of Backwater Justice

Lori shook her head. “Honestly. I work for Cascade Inns. I was looking for cleaning products.”

“How did you find the door?”

“The door?” she asked.

“Don’t play cute. The door. D-O-O-R. Door.”

“It was open.”

“I doubt that.”

“How else would I have gotten in?”

“That’s what we want to know.”

“I swear, it was slightly open.”

“Well, missy, that’s just not possible.”

Lori strained her brain, trying to remember every little detail. Maybe then he’d believe her. “It looked like another door panel was slid open. Like a closet door. Then there was the door with the lock, but it was open. Open a few inches.”

“And why did you go inside?”

“I told you. I was looking for cleaning products.” She fished in her pocket and pulled out her assignment sheet. It was as crumpled as she was. She held it out.

He snatched it from her hand. “Lori George. So that’s the name you’re using.”

“Thatismy name. Lorraine George. People call me Lori.”

“How long you been working at the Cascade?”

“This was my first week. I was in training for two weeks.” Her voice was even. She knew she had to convince this man that she wasn’t anything other than a college student, working part-time at an inn so she could put it on her résumé when she finished school.

“You always break into locked doors?” he asked.

“It wasn’t locked, I swear!”

“But it had a lock on it, didn’t it?”

“Well, yes.”

“And you thought it was okay to just mosey into the room?”

“Please, mister.Pleasebelieve me. I figured they kept it locked because of the caustic cleaning solutions, and that somebody opened it so we could get what we needed for our shift.”

The man wasn’t convinced, although it was a rather convincing story. But if she was working for a competitor, then she was a pro at her con game. “You sit tight. Don’t go anywhere.” He grunted a snarky laugh and left the room. The sound of the lock engaging was deafening. Or so it seemed.

Several minutes later, another man entered the room. This one was wearing a screaming skeleton mask. He grilled her just as the previous man had. As menacing as he looked, she still had nothing more to tell him and repeated her story. He got up, left, and locked the door. She feared what was going to happen next.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

Back At The Grand Hotel

Myra and Annie went back to the hotel to meet up with Maggie and Izzie. It was a couple of hours before Kathryn would arrive. Annie ordered lunch. A lot of it. She didn’t want to hear Maggie whining. Annie had no idea where that girl put all the food she ate. She was barely a hundred and ten pounds, and much of that was her curly red hair.

Sometime after one o’clock, the two women arrived. The bellman brought Maggie and Izzie’s luggage to their room while Maggie and Izzie went to Annie and Myra’s. Lots of hugs, high fives, and fist bumps—otherwise, it just wouldn’t be “a proper greeting,” as Charles would say.

Maggie flopped herself down on the sofa and grabbed a handful of grapes that were sitting on the coffee table. She held a bunch out in front of her. “See? Healthier.”