Cedar Lane Properties—The Wallace Brothers

Chapter 2

The sight of Crystal cowering on the floor under his pillows tugged on Mike’s heart strings. He wanted to kill that piece of s**t, Allen, for whatever he had put this beautiful woman through.

Take a deep breath. Don’t frighten her further. Mike found last night’s jeans and t-shirt and tugged them on.

“Crystal?” He said softly. “He’s being taken to county jail. He can’t hurt you now.”

When she didn’t respond, he said her name again. As gently as he could in a little louder voice.

“Is he really gone?” She asked from under the pillows.

“Yes.”

She nearly bowled him over when she let go of the pillows and launched herself at him.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she cried and hugged him. Later, she would be surprised Mike had hugged her back. For now, the adrenaline from the shock had her on auto pilot. She was exhausted. Mentally and physically.

Not wanting to break the contact, partly because he knew she needed comfort and partly because he found her attractive, he held her for what he deemed a respectable amount of time then stepped back.

“The deputies need to speak with you when you’re ready.” He took in the dark circles under her eyes. “You can use my bathroom first if you need to. Would you like to wash your face?”

She nodded yes and he pointed the way. “Help yourself to whatever you need from the cabinets. There’s towels, mini soaps and such. Do you drink coffee?”

“Oh god, yes. That would be great,” she answered and finally met his gaze.

“Ok. I’ll get some started. There’s a hallway off the dining room that says Staff Only. You may have noticed it?” At her nod, he instructed her to follow it to the employee break room when she was ready and left her to collect herself.

**

“She’s freshening up,” Mike informed his brother when he reached the break room, “and will join us shortly.” He noticed coffee was already brewing and started pulling cups from the cabinet.

“I’ve already spoken to dispatch in Bakersfield. We should be getting a fax soon.” Mike heard the fax machine in his office pick up as soon as the words were out of Mark’s mouth.

“I’ll go make sure there’s paper in it,” Mike offered. He knew there was, but he wanted to see what was being sent. He had a funny feeling Crystal had nowhere to go now. He wondered if that information might be confirmed in the fax.

He’d already relayed his suspicions and strong dislike for Allen Ames before going to let Crystal know she was safe now. He was good at reading people and really wasn’t surprised the piece of s**t was a murder suspect.

Ames must have thought himself untouchable. Everything had been in his name from the reservation to the credit card.

As the fax machine began to churn out the 10 pages and he saw that Crystal and her brother had been bounced around the foster system, he suddenly felt like a snoop and decided against his initial thought to make a copy for himself before delivering the pages to Mark.

“Your shirt is wrong side out, brother,” Mark pointed out when Mike returned.

“Oh hell,” Mike muttered. “I was in a bit of a hurry,” he said as he stripped his shirt off.

“Understandable,” Mark told him, not teasing for once. “Ahhh, there she is. Hi. You must be Crystal,” he said, stepping forward to shake her hand. “I’m Deputy Wallace. This is Deputy Smith and,” gesturing towards Mike, “I believe you’ve met my brother.”

**

Would you look at that? Crystal thought to herself when she found the break room and a shirtless B&B owner. Damn!

Forcing herself not to stare at the owner’s finely sculpted body, she shook the deputy’s extended hand.

Allen’s gone, Crystal continued thinking. You could look... No! That would be rude. She had noticed a Help Wanted sign in the reception area on her way to the break room. She could use a job.

“How do you like your coffee, Crystal?” Mike asked her once his shirt was, disappointingly, back on.

“Two cream, two sugars, please.” She wondered if there was anything to eat. She knew breakfast started at 7, but she’d lost track of time. She didn’t have the nerve to ask.

You won’t starve. You’ve got enough extra fat, she scolded herself. She was still hungry. After she thought she recognized Caleb’s jacket from the corner of her eye while Allen searched for a clean shirt, she dared to confirm while he was in the bathroom. Not knowing what to do next, she had feigned a migraine so she could go to bed and figure out what to do. She’d missed supper.

“Thanks,” she said when her coffee was handed to her. “It’s Michael, right?”

“Yes. Or just Mike.”

Magic Mike, she thought and took a sip to avoid looking like a fool.

“Let’s head into my office. Edna will be in soon to get breakfast started. We’ll have plenty of privacy there.”

The office was very masculine in cherry stained wood furniture and trim. The 9 foot pocket doors were amazing. Crystal wasn’t a decor expert by any means, but she recognized the Victorian style converted gasolier suspended from a plaster medallion. The reflection in the lacquered hardwood floors had caught her attention and drew her eyes up to admire the beautiful piece.

The entire house, a six bedroom, if she remembered the advertisement correctly, was beautifully decorated in the same period appropriate manner throughout.

Mike indicated she and the deputies could sit at the table and laid out coasters for their coffee mugs. Mark had a stack of papers she knew had been faxed from Bakersfield. She wondered what was in the pages when she walked into the break room as Mike handed them over to his brother, the deputy, and how much the owner knew about her now.

The phone rang.

“Cedar Lane B&B. Owner Mike speaking.” The gorgeous man answered promptly. “Good morning, detective. Yes, she’s here. I can give her the receiver or put you on speaker.”

Mike turned to Crystal. “Would you like a private moment or is speaker ok?”

Having been through interrogation before, Crystal opted for speaker to save herself from repeating her answers. She knew she’d probably repeat them at least a few more times; detectives always repeated questions to see if a story changed. She knew the routine and after introductions, she prepared herself to answer as truthfully as possible.