Travis(13)

“Great,” I said. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, but in that moment, the promise of a lake view buoyed my mood just a tad. Even this rental I lived in didn’t have a lake view. Then I packed some clothes, my work gear, and a few accessories into a duffel bag, all of which thankfully hadn’t been rained upon by upstairs plumbing, grabbed a dry pair of shoes, and headed to my car.

***

The room definitely didn’t have a lake view.

“Right there,” the woman named Betty with the frizzy halo of blond hair said, pressing her face against the glass and angling it to the side. “If you crane your head just so, you can see the edge of the lake.” She turned and smiled brightly as if having to meld yourself with the window to see an inch of water made it the finest room in the house.

What I could see—clearly and directly outside my window—was what appeared to be a headstone. “Is that a grave?” I asked.

“Oh that.” She waved her hand, dismissing it. “That’s where an old barn cat that used to roam the property is buried.”

I peered out the window again. The headstone seemed sizable for a barn cat. Not to mention there was no barn in sight.

Batty Betty. Yet she seemed mostly normal.

I gave her one more suspicious glance before looking around the room. It wasn’t terrible. It was actually what I’d call somewhat…charming. Or at least on the verge of charming. Within range of charming. More importantly, it had a bed and a bathroom, so I wasn’t going to complain about not having a view of the lake but instead a cat’s tombstone. I’d been looking at that particular lake since I was born.

As far as the tombstone…I’d keep the shade closed.

“Well,” she said, clapping her hands together, “you’ve…” She frowned, blinking rapidly, finally using her fingertips to tap her forehead somewhat violently, her head snapping up, “Arrived!” she declared.

“Yes. I…have…arrived?” What was that about?

She shook her head. “No, you arrived just in time for the social hour downstairs.”

“Social hour?”

“Right. It’s in the room at the back of the house, where guests are welcome to mingle and such. We serve my sister Cricket’s homemade hooch.”

My brows flew up. “Prison wine?”

“That’s right. She perfected it in the toilet inside her cell during her time away, and now it’s a family favorite and all the rave at social hour.”

I stared. Speechless.

“Of course, we don’t make it in a toilet, seeing as we have other options.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“That would be unhygienic,” she clarified needlessly.

“Among other things.”

She laughed faintly.

“Anyway,” I went on, shaking myself, as though I’d stepped outside reality for a moment. “Sounds…interesting. I’m pretty tired though so I’m going to skip social hour for tonight.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll just get out of your way then.”

After the door had closed behind her, I stripped off my clothes and made my way to the shower and then, clad in my boxers, fell back on the bed, the springs making a loud creaking sound. Despite the obvious age of the mattress, the bed was comfortable. I lie there for a few minutes, expecting to fall asleep immediately. Instead I stared up at the ceiling, wide-awake. There was a tall potted plant next to the bed and I turned to it. Living things feed off energy. “How’s it going?” I asked the plant, hitting a new life low.

The soft sound of laughter drifted to me from below.

Social hour.

Complete with hooch.

And here I was, alone and talking to a plant.

“Why the fuck not?” I muttered after a minute, pulling myself from the bed and dressing in jeans and a T-shirt. If any day called for some hooch, it was this day.

I followed the sound of voices to the large screened-in room, coming to an immediate halt in the doorway, my surprised gaze bouncing between Haven Torres and—my eyes narrowed—Easton Torres.

Well. This was unexpected. And either more bad luck or an amazing opportunity.

Haven was in the midst of a conversation with the woman next to her, but Easton spotted me, his shocked eyes widening. I gave him my best evil smile and he blanched.

“Chief Hale?” Haven had noticed me.

I turned away from Easton, approaching the place where Haven sat. She was wearing a pair of leggings and a long T-shirt that fell off one shoulder. Her chestnut hair was pulled back the way it’d been both times I’d seen her, escaped curls haphazardly framing her face, somewhat reminiscent of Medusa. If Medusa had had a heart-shaped face, big expressive eyes, and lips the color of the wild pink roses that grew along the fence on my property. My heart did a strange, unfamiliar something. Sort of twisty. Sort of squeezy. Maybe I was about to have a heart attack. It would be the perfect way to end a perfect week, spread out on the floor of the Yellow Trellis Inn, my life in the hands of my nemesis and a group of strangers drunk on hooch.

The woman Haven had been talking to had turned and was now engaged in conversation with an older woman with long, blond hair liberally woven with white and sporting a pair of overalls. “Haven from California,” I said.

“Are you following me, Chief Hale? This level of stakeout seems overkill for the minor crime of reckless driving.”