Cade’s mother stepped forward. “Thank you. I know it’s been a tough time, but I hope that I can ease any of your concerns about the work and what is expected of you around here.” Fiona was a pro. As Raven listened to her talk and ease the employee’s minds, she wondered what it would take for her to be that confident.
When Fiona stopped talking, Raven stepped forward again.
“Is it true you fired Max and Kim today?” someone asked.
Raven didn’t see who it was that asked, but when several employees chimed in with other questions, she felt her face flush.
“Does that mean more of us are going to be fired?”
“Why did they get fired?”
While other questions were thrown at her, she felt her pulse spike. Thankfully, Fiona stepped forward and laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Any employment questions can be directed at me. If you’d like to know why Max and Kim were let go, I’d be happy to meet with you. For now, the answer to the other questions is no. At this point, I don’t plan on letting anyone else go. Just as long as you show up to work on time, maintain a professional attitude, and stick to your jobs.” Fiona smiled warmly. “Now, I’m sure Miss Brooks is ready to turn us all loose and let us get back to work.”
“Yes.” Raven stepped forward. “Thank you all for making time this morning. You are released to head back to work.” She turned to leave but stopped when Sean motioned her over.
“Do you have a moment?” the sheriff asked her.
“Sure, we can head back to my office.” She led him down the hallway.
Sitting behind her desk, she started to feel a little more like herself. That fell apart with Sean’s next words.
“We just heard back from the coroner’s office. It appears that Rachelle Braun was poisoned.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
When a heart is on fire, sparks always fly out of the mouth. ~ Traditional Proverb
There was a lot that Cade liked about his hometown. And then there was a lot he didn’t like. Today, he’d found out just how vicious some people in town could be. It had been less than a week since word had officially gotten out that Rachelle had been murdered.
Since then, Raven had made it a habit to stay at his place each night. He figured it was because she was scared to be alone. Whatever the reason, he was happy to have her in his bed each night.
Today, he was at Jay’s Groceries certifying their fire extinguishers when he overheard a young woman, whom he vaguely remembered seeing in town before, talking about Raven.
“Can you believe the bitch fired me? Everyone knows it’s because she was jealous of me. I mean, there’s only so much this town can take of that woman. Am I right?” she asked. The woman she was talking with nodded and looked bored. “We all know she started that fire years ago.”
“What were you? Ten?” the other woman asked.
The first woman looked shocked and annoyed. “Does it really matter? I suffered just the same.” She sounded annoyed. Then her eyes moved around, and he could tell instantly that she’d spotted him. “Speaking of suffering.” Her tone changed. “I hear she’s torturing everyone who works at the resort because she’s crazy. My cousin who lives in San Diego heard that she spent almost ten years in therapy because of guilt from murdering more than thirty people all those years ago. Including her boyfriend, whom it’s widely known that she cheated on.” The girl giggled as her eyes narrowed at him. “With multiple people. Something tells me Raven Brooks is a bigger slut than Heather Craft.”
Just then the sound of a shattering glass bottle echoed throughout the store, a deep voice cried out as in pain and someone immediately said over the loudspeaker. “Clean up on aisle ten.”
The two women glanced in his direction and giggled as they continued down the aisleway. He’d steamed about it the entire time he was working at the store. What was he saying? He was angry about it for the rest of the night. That was until Raven distracted him by rubbing her naked body up against his own.
“You seemed distracted tonight,” she said once they were lying in each other’s arms, their bodies cooling off.
“Me?” He tried to shake the statement off.
“During dinner, you were very quiet.” She leaned up and looked down at him. “Is something wrong?”
He thought about keeping what he overheard from her and then figured she’d handled a lot worse over the years and told her everything.
To his happy surprise, she shrugged and dismissed the conversation.
“It was probably Kim. I fired her earlier this week when I overheard her and Max, a dishwasher I fired as well, gossiping about me in the kitchen.” She shrugged. “I’m the boss. I can hire and fire anyone I want,” she added with a smile.
“Remind me never to work for you.” He chuckled. “Or piss you off.” He kissed her. “How’s my mom doing, by the way?”
“She’s really saving my butt.” She relaxed back down against his chest. “She’s wonderful with the employees. Did you know she has a type A personality? She has everything more organized than Rachelle or I ever did.” She shook her head. “Have you heard anything new from your uncle?”
“Other than the fact that he’s been dating my mother for a few years now?” Cade said a little sarcastically.
“About the murders,” Raven clarified softly.
“No,” he replied after a low sigh that rumbled his chest. For the past few days, he and everyone else in town had been living under the cloud of knowing that there was a murderer walking among them.
Someone they knew, talked to, walked by, or trusted had killed someone. Possibly even two somebodies, if he listened to rumors that were going around town.
Sean believed that the murders were unrelated. Joseph Ramsey had been lured to his death, attacked, and hit over the head with a sharp object that was yet to be determined or found. After he was dead, he’d been half-stuffed into a broken elevator. The moment Raven had hit the button to send the car to the main floor, he’d been sheared in two. Rachelle Braun, on the other hand, had been poisoned with common pesticides in her evening tea. What she’d been doing on the top floor was still a mystery. The woman lived alone in a small rental. Joseph’s death was described by his uncle as a crime of passion because of the apparent last-minute antics, while Rachelle’s had been more carefully planned out. Where had the pesticides come from? It wasn’t as if they were just lying around.
To Cade, the murders were related in only one major area. They’d both happened under Raven’s roof. He couldn’t shake the dread that whoever was behind both murders was out to frame Raven. Either that or they were out to destroy her by taking away the one last thread holding her to this town—the resort.
By causing controversy surrounding the place, they could kick up enough rumors and gossip to keep the rooms empty after the grand reopening. Then again, he could remember staying at a few choice hotels in New Orleans that boasted several murders and even claimed to be haunted.
Besides, this idea was just comical. What was the assailant going to do? Murder enough people to cause guests to fear for their lives? Surely his uncle was a good enough cop to catch the killer before too long.