“I’ll take good care of you,” Ruth said. “When I leave here, I’ll get everything together for you for when you file the police reports.”
“I…” She paused. “I’m not sure about filing…”
Ruth stood up suddenly and turned towards her.
“Miss Brooks, I understand that it’s your uncle. I get why you might not want to turn him in. Remember this, it’s not just you they stole from. Think of all the people that went without jobs. All the employees and guests they stole from. This place.” She motioned around them. “Everything they took from here.”
Raven swallowed and knew that Ruth was right. It hadn’t been just her they’d stolen from. Even though her parents were gone, her uncle had stolen from them as well. They were the ones who had worked so hard to build this place, only to have him walk—no, slither—away with over three million dollars’ worth of profits. All while letting the place slowly rot around him.
“All right.” She nodded. “I’ll call the police once you have the information together.”
Ruth nodded. “I’ll email you later today. I just had a few things to finish up so our case is rock solid.”
“Thank you.” She shook the woman’s hand. “Both of you.” She hugged Joe.
“It’s good to have you back,” he said as he hugged her.
Shortly after they left, her cousin Cal found her still sitting in her office, staring at the blank screen of her laptop.
“Hey, girl.” Cal sat on the edge of her desk, looking at her with worry. “You okay?”
She had to blink a few times in order for her eyes to focus.
“Yeah.” She took a couple deep breaths. “You?”
“Fabulous,” he said easily. “I’m here with good news.”
“Oh?” She shifted. “I could use some right about now.”
Cal smiled. “I figured, which is why I came the moment I knew.”
“Knew?”
“It’s official. I’m moving in with Tim.” Cal’s smile grew.
“You…” She jumped up and hugged her cousin. “That’s wonderful.” She held onto him. “That is good news.”
Cal laughed. “We figured that after my father… That it was time.” He shook his head. “Besides, Tim thinks that he’ll be able to keep his job if you don’t see me as a burden like my father was.”
“You are no burden,” she countered. “And Tim will keep his job as long as he continues to be the outstanding employee that he is.”
“You know it. He loves his job. He wants to go to culinary school. He’s taking a bunch of online classes now.” Cal’s eyes ran over her. “You know, out of the three of us, you could have absolutely made it in the big leagues as a model.” He reached up and ran a finger down her braid. “Flawless skin, perfect hair, and those eyes.” He shook his head. “Liza’s always been jealous of those eyes.”
“Thank you,” she answered with a smile.
“Now, I’m off to pack.” He stepped away. “Oh, and officially come out of the closet with my mother.” He rolled his eyes.
“Good luck,” she called after him.
“Thanks.” He waved as he left.
Cal’s visit put her in a better mood for the rest of the day. Paperwork didn’t seem so dauting and, after looking over the initial budgets that Ruth had given her, she was happily surprised to find that she was underbudget with the repairs.
Which meant she could afford a few more items on her list of things that she wanted to get done before the season—new carpet in the elevators, new paintings in the lobby, and new computer systems in the guest computer lab. She’d had to use them the other day when she’d forgotten her laptop upstairs, and they were at least ten years outdated.
Not to mention they were still using dial-up. She’d already scheduled the internet services to be updated in the entire resort and planned on offering free Wi-Fi in all the guest rooms, something that should have been done a long time ago.
She worked through lunch and only stopped in the afternoon when her stomach growled loudly, and she realized she was out of water as well.
Taking her refillable water bottle, she locked her computer and her office door and headed downstairs, hopefully to get some leftovers.
Seeing that everyone in the kitchen was busy, she logged into the nearest wait station and put in an order to be delivered up to her room. She filled up her water bottle and headed upstairs. She took the time to stop off in the lobby and once again check on the day’s progress.
Since she’d worked late, she wasn’t surprised to see that all the workers had gone for the day. They’d left behind them new floors, new ceiling tiles in the bar, and a freshly painted wall that she had plans to cover with local artwork that Cal had talked her into purchasing.
Everything was coming together nicely. Since they had been trying to finish the bar area first, the dining area was still cut off from the lobby by a wall of plastic sheeting. Since there weren’t any guests, shutting down the main dining area hadn’t been a big problem. Hotel employees enjoyed their meals in the makeshift dining area they’d set up in the front lobby area.
She doubted they’d been able to do anything in there but still wanted a look. The fountain had been drained in order to prepare it for a fresh coat of paint and some pipe updates.
Stepping through the plastic, she instantly noticed that nothing had changed in the area yet. The old flooring hadn’t even been ripped up yet.
She’d been assured by David that the bar would be finished in a few days. Once done, the dining area in the lobby would be shut down and eating would be limited to the bar area.
Just as long as they finished the two dining areas before the season started, she figured it wouldn’t disrupt guests too much.
Not that they had a lot of guests scheduled to come through their doors. Yet. She’d looked at the reservation log herself. But she had a few ideas about getting more guests once all the work was done. She knew that the season always brought a steady flow through the resort, but with her plans, she was determined to be just as busy in the off-season as well.
Standing facing the fountain, she glanced around and imagined how it would all look. How it would feel crowded with families, people enjoying themselves like they used to, back when her parents were in charge.
Her phone chimed, and she glanced down at it. She was walking by the elevators and had started reading the email from Ruth when she slipped on the wet floor. She reached out to catch herself before she fell completely and got a handful of the plastic as she went down hard.
She landed on her hip and winced as pain shot through her upper thigh and her hands, which she’d put out to stop her fall.
Taking a moment, she closed her eyes and tried to breathe through the pain. When she opened her eyes again, she glanced around for her cell phone, which she’d dropped.
It had slid across the floor back towards the fountain. From here, she could see that the screen was cracked and groaned at the thought of replacing it.
When she moved to stand up, she frowned down at her hands. They were covered in blood. Had she cut herself? She figured that she wouldn’t walk away without any scrapes, since she’d gone down hard, but there was so much blood covering her fingers that she instantly worried she’d sliced herself deeper.