Page 7 of Save Me

Eric leaned forward. “So you confronted her with this?” he asked for confirmation.

Mike nodded. “I called her into the office last night, right after we finished the inspection. I put her on immediate probation while we sorted this out and told her not to talk to any of the staff on the way out.”

“Does she even know she’s fired yet?”

“She has to know it’s coming. The rules are clear. Zero tolerance.”

“Will you at least agree to keep her name out of it when they come to pick up the drugs?”

“No.” Calen’s face could have been carved from stone, but he must have seen the dismay in Eric’s expression because after a moment he softened. “Look, I have a zero tolerance policy for a reason. I don’t need to give the cops a reason to be more interested in me or my business than they already are. The best I can do is tell them there’s a strong possibility the stuff was dumped in Andie’s locker by someone else.”

Of course. Calen’s family ties to the Irish mob made him an automatic suspect in just about every crime the authorities couldn’t solve. His resolve to keep everything above board was the only reason he didn’t have law enforcement riding his ass twenty-four seven.

“That’s good enough for now,” Eric replied, injecting his voice with as much gratitude as he could while still hoping for another concession. “But I still think we need to keep investigating other suspects. You said you wanted to get ahead of this. Finding the stuff in Andie’s locker isn’t an open and shut case. It’s too easy.”

Mike grumbled something that might have been some sort of agreement, but Calen steepled his hands and appeared to be thinking it over.

“What exactly did you tell the police when you called them?” Eric asked, turning to Mike.

“Just that we found some of the stuff they were asking about. Nothing else,” he said.

Eric tried not to appear too hopeful, but Calen rolled his eyes at him anyway. “We say we found it in the bathroom, behind one of the toilet tanks. Meanwhile, we look into it some more. But I can’t give Andie her job back. Not until she’s cleared.” He stopped to point at Mike. “Get on that. I trust you more than the cops to handle this.”

Well, that hardly needed saying. With few exceptions, Calen kept a high wall of lawyers between him and most members of law enforcement.

“Maia and the baby are waiting for me at the Caislean 21,” Calen added, naming the boutique hotel his friends, the Tyler brothers, had opened off the strip. “We’ll be staying there until this is resolved.”

Eric stood up to follow his boss to the door. “I’m there too. And thank you again for keeping an open mind. I’m sure Mike will be able to clear Andie. She is a good person.”

Calen gave him another narrow-eyed glance and gestured for him to follow him to the hallway. “Look I appreciate you watching out for a friend, but I don’t want you here if it’s going to threaten your sobriety,” he said bluntly.

“I haven’t gambled in years,” he protested.

“And you haven’t been back to this town in all that time. You haven’t been tested.” Calen put a hand on his arm. “I don’t want you here if it’s going to set you back. You’re a grown man and I’m not going to tell you what to do. But please think about leaving if you start to feel the itch to place a bet.”

“Trust me, gambling is the furthest thing from my mind.”

“Just promise me you’ll go home if being here starts pushing your buttons. Mike will watch out for Andie. And if he vouches for her and continues to believe she’s innocent, then so will I.”

Eric inhaled and nodded. “I appreciate that, but I really am good right now. I don’t think my being here is going to be a problem. I should have come back sooner.”

If he had, then he’d know where Andie was right now. Maybe none of this would have happened.

Calen nodded before leaving. Eric watched him go, feeling he had done the best he could for Andie so far. As long as Calen was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, then she’d have a real chance of getting out of this.

Turning back to the security office, he offered to help Mike in whatever way he needed.

“Just stock up on your anti-overdose drugs and be here tonight,” Mike said. “I’m assigning some of our off-site security personnel to go over this camera footage and flag whatever is suspicious.”

“I will,” he agreed. “Do you have any idea where Andie might have gone? Her neighbor said she moved out last week before all of this happened.”

Mike pursed his lip, looking at him from under surprisingly thick lashes. “She might have moved in with her boyfriend.”

An actual punch to the gut couldn’t have surprised him more.

“Oh.”

It’s been forever. Of course, she’s moved on.He cleared his throat. “Do you have a name for him? An address maybe?”

---