Tightrope (Burning Cove #3)(59)

Lorraine’s smile never wavered but her blue eyes were diamond-hard. She swept across the carpeted floor, sank down onto a satin stool, and took a gold compact out of a small bag.

“I wouldn’t have thought the Paradise was your sort of nightclub,” she said. “I pictured you as more of a Carousel Club girl. Rumor has it you were seen there the other night on the arm of a certain visiting mobster. Care to comment?”

Amalie flashed a smile and said nothing.

Lorraine’s eyes narrowed. “You’re with the same man tonight. Tell me, what’s it like dating a guy who probably makes his living as an enforcer for a mob boss?”

“Exciting,” Amalie said.

“Rather hard on a girl’s reputation, though, isn’t it?”

“My reputation will survive.” Amalie dropped the lipstick back into the evening bag and got to her feet. “I assume you are chatting with me because you are desperate for gossip for your column, so allow me to give you a headline, Miss Pierce.”

Lorraine blinked, clearly torn between irritation and caution. “What would that be?”

Amalie crossed the room, dropped a few coins into the tip jar on the attendant’s table, and turned to look back at her breathless, wide-eyed audience.

“The Psychic Curse Mansion has become such a popular attraction in Burning Cove that management will begin conducting guided tours of the house starting tomorrow,” she said. “The tours will begin at two in the afternoon. The price of admission includes tea and homemade shortbread served in the elegant conservatory. For reservations, call the Hidden Beach Inn.”

It was as if she had rolled a verbal grenade into the ladies’ room. Her audience went into shock.

Satisfied, Amalie smiled at the attendant. “All employees of the Paradise Club, as well as the other local restaurants, nightclubs, and hospitality establishments, will be admitted for free. Please spread the word and bring a friend.”

The attendant looked uncertain. “Even the maids and the dishwashers?”

“Everyone,” Amalie said. “But be sure to call ahead for reservations. We wouldn’t want to run out of tea and cookies.”

The attendant glowed. “My boyfriend is going to be thrilled when he hears about this.”

“At the Hidden Beach Inn, we are in the business of delivering thrilling entertainment,” Amalie said.

She opened the door and went out into the shadowed hall before the audience could recover.

Rule Number Five: Know when to make your exit.





Chapter 38


“What the hell just happened back there in the ladies’ room?” Matthias asked. “When Lorraine followed you in, she looked like a shark that had just smelled blood in the water. I figured you were trapped. Next thing I knew, you came out looking like the shark.”

Amalie watched through the windshield as the next curve in Cliff Road came up in the Packard’s headlights. Now that the rush of reckless energy had faded, she was feeling a little unnerved by her own daring.

“You thought I was trapped in the ladies’ lounge?” she said.

Matthias’s mouth kicked up at the corner. “I was pretty sure you could take care of yourself.”

“We’ll see if it works.”

“If what works?”

“I decided to find out if it’s true what they say about publicity,” Amalie said.

“Any publicity is good publicity?”

“I announced that the staff of the Hidden Beach Inn will be conducting tours of the Psychic Curse Mansion starting tomorrow afternoon. All local hotel, nightclub, and restaurant employees will be admitted free of charge.”

“You did what?”

Amalie started to relax. The plan just might work.

“With a little luck, word of Burning Cove’s newest attraction will be all over town by breakfast,” she said. “At the very least, the promise of a scary tour and free cookies should guarantee that I’ve got a line outside my front door at two o’clock.”

Matthias downshifted, slowing the speedster with the smooth, efficient skill that she had come to recognize as one of his signature traits. She was startled when he pulled off onto a side road that led to an empty parking area overlooking the moonstruck ocean.

Shutting down the powerful engine, he turned to face her, his left arm resting on the steering wheel, his right on the back of the seat.

“Are you out of your mind?” he said.

She blinked. “What?”

“I’m trying to run an investigation here, Amalie. I am not playing games. There’s a killer involved in this mess. It’s hard enough to separate the truth from the lies as it is. The last thing I need is to have tour groups traipsing through my crime scene.”

Anger exploded through her. She clenched the tiny evening bag in one hand.

“It’s not your crime scene, Matthias Jones,” she said. “It’s my home and my business. It’s my whole damn future. I am going to do whatever it takes to make a success of the Hidden Beach Inn. It’s all I’ve got. I’m not going to lose it without a fight.”

Her fierce response startled him.

“Look, I understand that the inn is important to you,” he said.

“Do you? Do you really? Do you know what it’s like to lose everything and have to start over? To lose not just a career but a whole world? I grew up in the circus. It was my home. When my parents were killed, I could have wound up in an orphanage, but my circus family took care of me. Hazel became the closest thing I had to a mother and Willa was like a sister. Now it’s my turn to take care of them and I can’t do that unless I keep the Hidden Beach Inn going.”