Fool's Gold (3 page)

She looked around as she passed shelves of books, an expression of distaste on her face.

“Doesn’t seem to be much to shop for in here.”

Mel studied the newcomer. Her breasts were barely concealed by the sheer blouse she wore, but even with the blatant sexuality, Mel didn’t find her attractive. Where Adeline was made up nicely, her acquaintance had used the eyeliner to the point of overkill. Thick black lines circled her blue eyes, giving her a racoonish appearance.

“I haven’t been in here that long,” Adeline murmured. “Just making conversation.”

“Oh, yeah?” The woman stared at Mel with distrust in her eyes. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

Mel watched in disbelief as she lit one up, blowing a puff of grey wisps towards the ceiling. Frowning, Mel jiggled the small
‘no smoking’
sign on the counter. “You can’t smoke that in here.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” The newcomer rolled her eyes, batting the lashes for effect. “I’ll take it outside, then. I assume it’s okay to smoke outside in Cow Village?”

“Cattle Valley,” Adeline corrected in a hushed voice. “Go out, I’ll be right there.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.” She gave Mel another scathing once-over before turning slowly and leaving the store, a trail of smoke above her.

Adeline waved at the grey cloud in front of her face. “Sorry. It’s been a long, tiring trip.”

“That’s okay.” Mel reached under the counter for her purse and dug out a big key ring.

“Here you go. You’ve been to the inn, right?”

“No. Actually, I’ve never seen it. Just pictures.”

“Oh.” Mel raised her eyebrows. Generally not much surprised her, but this woman continued to do just that. “You bought something that expensive sight unseen?”

Adeline shrugged. “The timing didn’t work out to come see it. I really should go. If you could just direct me to the place…”

“Sure. It’s on the corner of Walnut and Bower, near Beauregard Park.” She pointed. “Go up to the stoplight and take a right. It’s just a couple of blocks. You can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.” Adeline snatched the key ring and hurried to the front door. When she got there she muttered, “Uh oh.”

“What’s wrong?” Mel followed her, looking out the window. Ryan Blackfeather was crouched behind the big, green car, examining it.

“Is he a cop?” Adeline asked with a tired sigh.

He wore a uniform shirt, but with his faded jeans and long, black ponytail, Mel agreed it was kind of hard to tell. “Ryan? Well, yeah, he’s the sheriff. But he’s cool. Come on.”

She pushed open the front door and glanced around. There was no other foot traffic on the street. She could leave the store for just a moment. “Hey, Ryan,” she called.

He straightened and glanced at her. “Hey, Mel. How’s the book business today?”

“Pretty good. How’s the sheriffing business?” she tossed back their standard greeting.

“Just got a sight more interesting.” He smiled at Adeline then turned his gaze on the other woman who stood watching him, puffing her cigarette with irritation.

Adeline smiled nervously. “Anything wrong?”

He scratched his head and looked down at the car. “This wasn’t making a horrible noise when you drove in?”

“Well, sort of.” She blushed.

The cutest shade of pink.
Mel tamped down the tingling in her stomach and tried to speak coherently. “It
was
a touch noisy. Ryan, this is Adeline Murphy, the new owner of the Apple Valley Inn. Adeline, Sheriff Ryan Blackfeather.”

“Hey, Sheriff.” She stepped forward and shook hands with the tall Native American.

He was all of six-two, and even with her long legs, he dwarfed her.

Mel smiled. Ryan was strictly gay with not one, but two, partners at home. Yet he charmed women better than any man she knew.

“Pleased to meet you, Adeline.” He nodded at her as they shook.

“It’s Addie. And this is Chloe.” Addie motioned to her companion.

“Chloe,” he acknowledged.

The blonde smoked and glared.

He looked away, tossing Mel an amused glance before turning back to Addie. “Your muffler is shot. Next bump you hit, it’ll be lying in the middle of the road. I’d recommend taking it to Gill’s Garage just down the block. He does a good job at a reasonable price.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind, Sheriff. Right now, I just want to get to the inn.

We’ve had a long trip, and we’re both exhausted.” Addie went to Chloe’s side and shook her arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Yep.” Chloe dropped her cigarette, snuffing out the butt with the toe of her sandal. She walked around to her side of the car and got in.

Addie started the engine and her car roared to life. She nodded to Mel and Ryan then backed out, muffler scraping as she drove off.

The sheriff passed by the cigarette butt slowly and glanced at it before stopping next to Mel. “That muffler will be off before she hits Ash Street.”

“Not sure I’ve ever seen a car quite that old.”

He grinned. “I used to have a fifty-seven Nash Rambler. But it was cherry, not like that piece of shi—”He coughed politely. “Car.”

Mel grinned. “Gill’s a magician. Keeps my little Mazda running perfectly. He can fix her up, I’m sure.”

Ryan watched the old car turn off a few blocks down Main Street. He shook his head.

“The sooner the better.”

Addie followed directions and ended up directly in front of the most beautiful house she’d ever seen, The Apple Valley Inn Bed and Breakfast.
My home
. She pulled into the driveway and stopped, gazing up in awe. “Isn’t that something?”

“It’s big.” Chloe got out of the car.

“It’s beautiful!” Addie followed, grabbing her purse and the new ring of keys. The large front porch was welcoming, with patio chairs and small tables grouped in several spots.

“They left the furniture?” Chloe touched the back of one of the wooden seats.

“Yes, Tia agreed to leave it all. She took her decorations and wall art, but the furniture, including linens and table service, stayed.” Addie fiddled until she found the right key to unlock the front door. It was dark inside, and she fumbled for a light switch. Finally touching one, she flipped it, and a lamp in the corner came on. “Good, the power is on. I called, but you never know. All the drapes and blinds are closed. Let’s get some light in here so we can see what we’ve got.” She went from one window to the next, drawing the curtains and raising the vinyl blinds.

“Oh, my,” Chloe murmured.

At the last set of windows, Addie spun around to see her new home properly for the first time. Her heart sank. Trash, beer cans and food wrappers littered the floor.

“Those last owners were fucking slobs.” Chloe kicked a pile of garbage, and something scurried out from it. “Oh, my God!” she shrieked.

“What the hell was that?” Addie moved closer. “It wasn’t a rat, was it?”

“No, just a fucking big cockroach, I think. This place is disgusting. I can’t believe anyone would leave it like this for the new owner.”

Addie walked over to one of the two sofas in the front reception and sitting area. Their cushions were askew, and she straightened one. Cigarette burns covered the top of the first foam pad. “I don’t think Tia left it in this condition. Look at this.” She held the pillow up.

“One little spot, okay, accidents happen. But nobody would allow
this
to stay on the sofa.

She’d have had it recovered or replaced, whatever. No, I don’t think she left the place like this.”

“Let’s look around some more.” Chloe walked further into the house. She flipped on another light. “Hopefully, the kitchen’s in better shape—”

Addie froze in her footsteps behind Chloe. “Fuck me,” she murmured.

The kitchen was worse than the front room. Food and trash littered every corner.

Insects had obviously taken over. Skirting piles of broken dishes, she went and stood in front of the state-of-the-art appliances. The fridge was open and basically empty. It looked like it
had been
clean at one point. Someone had spilled things all over inside, and it didn’t look like an accident. The once-beautiful chrome stove was no longer silver. Addie’s heart sank.

Someone had created a fire on top. The whole thing was charred black.

“This sucks.” Chloe glanced around.

“The rest of the house!” Addie ran from room to room, racing up the stairs and throwing open every guestroom door. She was crying by the time she saw the last of them.

Pillows had been slit open, their feathers covering every surface. Curse words, carved with a knife, decorated the wooden dressers and headboards, and the mattresses were gutted, their coils and stuffing tossed around the floor. Not one room was untouched.

A faint odour of urine hung in the air. “Did they pee on the mattresses?” Chloe sniffed with distaste.

Addie held her head for a moment, then turned and marched down the stairs. She was shaking by the time she got to the main floor, tears turning to anger. Chloe stayed two steps behind her and thankfully didn’t speak. Addie wasn’t prepared to make small talk. She needed to call someone, but was so angry she had to take a minute and calm down.

There was a telephone at the reception desk. She picked up the receiver, not expecting it to work, but she got a dial tone. Punching in the universal number for information, she asked the operator for the number to
Booklovers
then let the woman automatically connect her for a small fee.
What the hell difference does a small fee make now?
She looked around her inn in utter shock and disbelief.

“
Booklovers
, this is Melissa,” a soft voice answered.

It threw Addie for a moment. Melissa. The brunette with deep brown eyes and a beautiful smile. She’d never expected to find someone who looked like that when she got to Cattle Valley. Addie shook her head, clearing the image from her mind. This wasn’t the time.

She glanced around.
I never expected this, either.
“Melissa, this is Addie Murphy. The inn is messed up.” Her voice cracked with frustration.

“I’m sorry, Addie. I know Tia left in a hurry. She probably could have cleaned it better, but what I saw looked decent enough. Of course, I didn’t dig around or look too closely.”

“Did you camp out in here, maybe have a wild party or three, leave your trash and beer cans everywhere and piss on my mattresses? Oh, and bugs. Now we have bugs, too. But no furniture or pillows, because those have all been ruined.” Anger bubbled just under the surface, and Addie wasn’t sure she could hold it back much longer.

“Addie, what are you talking about?” Mel asked slowly.

“The place has been trashed!” she hollered. “It’s awful! Oh my God, it’s fucking awful.”

Tears choked her voice. She pulled the phone away from her ear.

She heard Mel talking on the other end of the line, but whatever the woman said didn’t matter. She shouldn’t have called her. The amazing, dark-haired woman had nothing to do with the inn, other than holding the keys. Someone had obviously broken in. She needed to call the police.

Addie put the phone back up to her ear.

“Addie, do you hear me? Let me hang up and call the sheriff’s office. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“You don’t have to come,” Addie protested.
I don’t need that distraction.
“I just didn’t know who else to call.”

“I’m on my way. I’ll call Ryan, first. Hang tight, we’ll be right there.” The line went dead.

Addie hung up the receiver. She felt better knowing Melissa was coming, although she wasn’t sure why. The whole thing was just so upsetting, she was reaching out to anyone she could.

“What’s going on?” Chloe sat on one of the few remaining unbroken chairs, nibbling a candy bar.

Blinking at her in disbelief, Addie frowned. “How can you eat after seeing this?”

Chloe shrugged. “I’m hungry. We haven’t had much to eat today. Breakfast and lunch were both quick snacks in the car. I hope we get something better for dinner.”

Holding her stomach, Addie looked around. “I couldn’t eat if I tried. I hope I don’t get sick.”

“Me, too.” Chloe made a disgusted face. “That would be gross.” She finished the candy and lit up a cigarette.

“Would you take that outside, please?” Addie snapped.

“What the hell difference does it make?” Chloe barked back. “This place is toast. A cigarette butt or two isn’t going to make it worse.” She flicked her ashes into a pile of trash.

Addie watched in horror, thinking her head might explode. She strode out to the porch and grabbed the railing to steady herself. If she’d been standing on a bridge right then, her first impulse would have been to jump.

She tried to put herself in Chloe’s place for a moment. The other woman didn’t have every penny she ever had to her name invested in this ramshackle dump. No one could possibly feel as awful as she did. It was her burden to bear.

Two vehicles pulled into the driveway, one beside the other. A black
SUV
with police lights on top was first, but the driver of the little blue Mazda exited before the officer. Melissa didn’t even close her car door, just sprinted to the front porch in a full-out run.

“Addie!” Her voice was breathy. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Addie replied bitterly. “It’s my house that needs life-support.”

Mel peeked inside the open front door. “Oh, my God! Oh, no!”

Addie watched her with surprise. What was she so upset about? Maybe watching the place had been her responsibility. Tia had never said so, but perhaps she’d left Mel in charge of the inn.

“Afternoon, ma’am.” A young, dark-haired officer, dressed in a uniform shirt and jeans, stepped onto the porch.

Mel looked back over her shoulder. “Addie, this is Roy Jenkins, one of our deputies.

Roy, look at this!”

He tipped his hat to Addie and walked past, stopping in the doorway next to Mel.

“Holy shit.” He blushed a faint shade of pink. “Excuse me, ma’am. This is bad.”

Addie moved behind them. “It gets worse. The kitchen is trashed. Dishes are broken, the appliances are ruined. There’s not a piece of furniture that’s usable.” She looked in to where Chloe sat on the single chair, puffing on her smoke. “Well, except that chair.”