Page 74 of The Red-Hot Stakes

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Saturday, I had to open with Wyatt. Liam had a meeting with one of his other restaurants, so I was running the place tonight. I walked up to put my key into the employee entrance, but the door pushed right open.

I frowned, glancing around for any sign of anyone else. No one was in sight, and the parking lot was empty. Tension tangled knots in my stomach.

I poked my head in. “Hello? Wyatt?” But there was no answer, so I didn’t go any further, fumbling for my phone, I called him.

“Hey, G, what’s up?”

I hesitated, feeling stupid. “You’re not here already, are you?”

There was an awkward pause. “At work? No. I’m not late, am I?”

“No.” I sighed, wishing it could’ve been that simple. “The door’s open. I gotta call the police. Can you get here sooner than later?”

“I’ll be right over.”

At least I had good help. I called the police next, who said they’d send an officer out. The dispatcher offered to wait on the line with me until they arrived, but I told her that wasn’t necessary. I gave her my name and description and hung up.

I gritted my teeth, wishing I didn’t have to tell Liam. My first solo as manager, and I was already bugging him. Way to prove my competence.

He answered right away. “Gina? You okay?” He knew I wouldn’t call unless it was important.

“The employee door’s open. No one else is here.” I filled him in on the steps I’d taken.

“Shit.” Frustration and concern warred in his voice. “Okay, stay put, I’ll get over as soon as I can.”

“Liam, no. I got this. I’m just letting you know. Finish your meeting, and I’ll keep you posted, okay? Hopefully someone just forgot to lock up last night.”

But after the shed incident and the food poisoning, I wasn’t taking any chances. My mind raced to that weird phone call, and I wondered if I should mention it, but I dismissed the idea as the police car arrived, with Wyatt right behind it.

The policeman identified himself as Officer Harper, the same one who’d come to investigate the shed. I showed him my ID then went over what I’d found so far.

He glanced at me after checking out the door. “And that’s all? You haven’t gone in?”

I crossed my arms, wondering what he took me for. It was an effort not to coat every word in sarcasm. “I poked my head in, called out to see if any of my employees were here early and, when no one answered, I stayed out here. I’ve seen enough horror movies, thank you very much.”

“Good. Don’t touch anything until I’ve had a chance to go over it. Let me do a walk through, then we’ll need to make sure nothing is missing.”

He disappeared into the building, leaving me to wait some more. At least this time, Wyatt was with me. We stayed put until Officer Harper came out again, a frown on his face.

“What?” Apprehension trickled through me, my mind racing with all the possible scenarios he was about to tell us.

“The only place disturbed is the office.” He hesitated. “But with the recent events, I can’t help wondering how safe it is to let you guys open.”

Panic fluttered in my gut. “Wait, what?”

“You’re just coming off a food poisoning shut down, and you had another break in not long ago. What if they’re related? What if the culprit for all the incidents is the same person? What if they poisoned the food or rubbed raw meat on every surface, just to get everyone sick again?”

It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility at this point. I sighed. “So you’re not letting us open tonight. Are you calling the health department? Do we have to go through a whole other inspection thing? Or just throw out all the stock, clean the surfaces, and try again tomorrow?”

“I’m sorry. I have to make it official.” He grabbed his radio.

The brick wall seemed like an appealing option to beat my head against. “Can I at least go look around? See if anything was taken?”

The officer nodded, distracted by his radio crackling to life.

Wyatt shifted next to me. “You want me to stay?”

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