Page 9 of Accidentally Kidnapping the Biker

A blue-eyed woman appears on the screen. She looks panicked and has dripping brown hair and streaks of soot across her face. Behind her, wisps of smoke trail out the front door of a single-story building. “Kat, it’s arson.”

“What?”

“Bishop and I came extra early this morning because he wanted to make sure the garbage bin got set in the right area. We saw somebody going into one of the old cabins. Bishop yelled,and all of a sudden there was an explosion, and the place was on fire.”

“Get the fuck out of there and call the fire department, Romy. It’s going to take some time for them to get there,” Kat says. I realize she knows that the closest volunteer fire department is twenty miles away.

“They were my first call. I’ve got a hose. I keep squirting it through the door at anything that’s smoking.”

“Where’s Bishop?”

“He took off after the guy. We weren’t close enough to get a good look. He was thin. Really thin. Jeans and a T-shirt. Funny gloves. Bish chased him into the woods, then came racing back, jumped into his truck, and took off in hot pursuit.”

“I’ll be right there,” Kat says.

“Can you bring me fresh shoes and socks? My feet are soaked and freezing.”

“Done,” she promises as she ends the call. “Sorry to push you out the door…”

I dump my coffee into the sink. I want to be on Bishop’s trail before he gets too far away. I don’t know if it’s the same fucker who went after Kat two days ago, but if it is, he needs back-up. “I know you won’t stay away from the campground, but watch that ass of yours, Kat. I have plans for it later.”

“You know, Wylie, you can’t just assume I’m going to go out with you again without a kidnapping or something as motivation. What kind of girl do you think I am?”

My dick twitches at her attitude. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Chapter 7

Kat

Camp Sunny-Lu looks a lot like the summer camp I went to when I was a kid. I look around and am thrilled all over again at what we have to work with. The arts and crafts building has already been transformed into a salon and spa. The administrative offices will stay the same. We will be converting the kitchen and dining room to a multi-purpose party room and hall, with upgrades for caterers. We have plans to turn the eight camper dorms into luxury two-bedroom cabins with shared bathrooms. It’s going to be fantastic.

Except that we are now down one cabin to seven. The eighth is a smoking husk.

I find a parking spot far from all the excitement, and Wylie pulls in beside me. We make our way to a very bedraggled Romy talking to a man in a firefighter’s uniform. The rest of the volunteer fire crew continues to hose down the building. I’m grateful the fire didn’t spread to any of the neighboring cabins. Violet is also there providing moral support, and I see Rhiannon’s car parked beside the administrative block.

I approach Romy, and she gives me a soggy hug. I hand her a backpack full of dry clothes; we are close enough to the same size that they’ll do for now. “Are you sure that you are okay?”

“I’m fine. Bishop wouldn’t have left if I wasn’t.”

“Which way did he go?” Wylie asks.

Romy points. Wylie nods, gives me a squeeze around the waist, and takes off without a word. “What do you need from me right now?”

The fire chief who has been speaking to one of his men at the burned-out building waves and heads our way. “I’ll arrange for you to come in and sign your statement later, Ms. Turner, but we don’t need anything else from you for now. An arson investigator will be contacting you.”

“What about the other buildings? Is the salon undamaged?” I ask.

“Yeah. Bishop insisted that we upgrade the security there after the last incident. The cabin is on the edge of the property, and we aren’t using any of them yet, so I’d put them at the bottom of the list,” Romy says.

“The salon is the important part. Any news from Bishop?”

Romy checks her phone. “New message! Oh, he lost the guy. He called in a description of the pick-up truck to the police, though,” Romy adds. “He’s heading back here now.”

Romy had been on her own for a long time. It’s nice to see her have somebody to lean on. “Go get changed. I put a towel in the bag too,” I tell her.

I walk around the rest of the grounds. We bought the whole twenty acres. The usable land consists of about five cleared acres, where all the buildings and the beach are. The burned cabin is on the south edge of the campground; the rest of the buildings follow the shoreline north. We haven’t explored beyond the first hundred yards or into the trees. One pine looks pretty much like another. I wonder if there is a building in there that we don’t know about. That could be what Jefferson Cross is after. I know there is an old fire road up that way; I’ve seen it branching off the lake road.

The idea has possibilities, but I don’t have time to investigate this morning. Bishop returns and whisks Romy back to their house. I tell her not to come back until tomorrow, but Rhiannon and I share a look, both of us knowing that Romy will probably return by lunchtime. Then the truck with the dumpster arrives just as the fire trucks are leaving. We get everything arranged, with Violet and Rhiannon tackling the dining hall while I start emptying out the old kitchen.

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