Page 63 of Heating Up (Nugget)
A waitress came, and he ordered them each a coffee.
Owen pounded on his chest. “Right here. I’ve got a feeling.”
“Unfortunately, I need more than a feeling. You see anything suspicious?” The barbershop was kitty-corner to the sporting goods store.
“Nah. But I tell you, those kids are trouble. Their father ain’t no saint either, and you know what they say: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“I’ll tell you a good way you could be very helpful to this investigation,” Aidan said, and he could see Owen’s ears perk up. “From your vantage point, you see the entire square. I need a spy.”
“I could do that.” Owen sat a little taller in his chair.
From what Aidan had heard, the man was better than the CIA and a twenty-four-hour security camera put together. “Great. That would be very helpful.” Aidan wrote his cell phone number on the back of his business card and slid it across the table. “Call me if you see anything odd.”
Owen pocketed the card. “That might be difficult. Ninety-nine percent of the people who live here are odd. You meet Portia Cane, the woman who owns the tour-guide company? Crazy as a loon.”
Aidan stifled a grin; the guy was a real character. “Just keep your eye out for someone who strikes you as up to no good. I’ve got a feeling you’ll be good at this.”
Owen fixed Aidan with a look that saiddon’t patronize me, boy. “So you’re blondie’s brother, huh?”
“Sloane?” Aidan laughed. “Yep.”
The server came with their coffees, Aidan gave her his order and she rushed off to get it to the kitchen.
“I hear she and Brady are getting hitched.”
“You hear correctly. They’re thinking of having it at Sierra Heights.”
“That’s what Griffin tells me. So you’re dating that little real estate agent who used to go with Griff?”
“We’re not dating . . . still dancing around it. What happened between Griffin and Dana?”
“He’s always been hot for Lina Shepard. But the girl’s jailbait. She just turned twenty. They had a big shindig for her at the Lumber Baron. The boy practically proposed to her.”
Aidan was pretty sure that was in February, the first time he’d come to Nugget to visit Sloane. She and Brady had been all dressed up, returning home from the party with enough firepower to take down SEAL Team Six. They’d been running from some trouble back then. Thank God it was over now.
“Dana isn’t into him anymore.” He didn’t know why he felt compelled to say that. Besides the fact that it made him sound like a high school girl, he didn’t even know if it was true.
“From what I hear, you two are making cow eyes at each other.”
Aidan laughed. “Where did you hear that?”
“I’ve got my sources.” He got up and grabbed his mug. “I’ll keep my eyes open and give you a full report.”
“Sounds good,” Aidan said and watched Owen walk through the entrance to the bowling alley.
The server returned with his steak and eggs and a side of pancakes. He’d just started digging in when Rhys pulled up a chair.
“Any leads?”
“I’ve got nothing,” Aidan said. “How about you?”
“Nothing.” Rhys eyed his mountain of food.
“You want some?” It seemed rude not to offer.
“I’m good.” Rhys lowered his voice. “No way to know where the gas came from, huh?”
Whoever lit up the sporting goods store had used gas as an accelerant. Usually the sign of a beginner. A truly experienced “torch” would’ve used solid fuels found at the scene to make the fire look accidental. Stuff like garbage ignited with a little bit of flammable liquid that would have dissipated in the fire.
