RAY
EIGHT
The bar wasn’t nearly as lively tonight as it had been last night, which was actually a good thing.
It gave me more time to watch people—two people in particular: Corey and Donald.
My discussion with Tammy earlier in the day made it clear that she found both of them harmless, but this was why an objective person like myself was good. I didn’t have the familiarity aspect blurring my opinions.
I’d specifically asked about Corey during our breakfast to not only get his backstory, but also her thoughts.
“The bartender who closed the night the Watering Hole was broken into was Corey, yes?” I asked as we sipped our coffee. “What are your thoughts on him?”
“I’ve known Corey for years. I actually met him at the gym down the street.
I used to teach a few martial arts classes there, and he had just joined as a personal trainer.
Not a lot of clients when you first get started in that kind of thing, so I told him to come work a few shifts at the bar.
It would help us both out. He could make some money on the side and also maybe try to pick up some clients who come into the bar.
For us, it gave us another bartender, and he was good-lookin’ so the women liked to come in and buy a bunch of drinks from him. ”
“I didn’t know you taught martial arts classes.” This woman was a beautiful fascination.
“I used to. I don’t really anymore unless they get into a real pinch and need someone to teach,” she explained.
“Once Wade stepped back from managing the bar and moved over to the Ranger Shield business full-time, he handed over the reins of the pub to me, and it took up too much of my time—in a good way.”
She held up her hands as if to make it clear she wasn’t complaining.
“Look, Corey has never given off any bad vibes to me,” she said. “I feel like I’m a good judge of people. That man definitely has secrets, but being a burglar isn’t one of them.”
“Fair.” I nodded before digging for more information. “For what it’s worth, I’m not convinced it’s Corey or someone who works at the bar. Too much to risk, and too obvious.”
She nodded and then sipped her coffee, content that we both agreed on that.
“What about the man you set up the camera for?” I asked. “The one you suspect is taking your liquor.”
“Ahhh, Donald. His wife Brenda kicks him out of the house at least once a week, sometimes more, mostly for being a dumbass—which he is. He’s not violent.
He just doesn’t think before he speaks, so she makes him leave, and he usually comes to the bar.
” She sighed and then fully turned to me.
“There were times when I would see his drink was low, and I’d remind myself to fill it up after I’d put in an order or something, and the next thing I knew, his drink would be topped off. ”
I nodded. That was definitely not a good sign.
“It would also explain why sometimes I would serve him three drinks, but he would slur his words or act like he’d had two or three more.”
“So, you set the camera up to catch him.” It was more of a statement rather than a question, but she still nodded in reply.
Having that knowledge from earlier in the back of my mind, I swiftly moved my attention to the new man who had just taken a seat at the bar.
“Hey there, Donald,” Tammy greeted him. “You want your usual?”
“Yes, ma’am, and make it a double,” he said, grumbling.
That wasn’t a great start, and it definitely made him my number one target tonight, but he wasn’t my only one.
I’d met Corey about thirty minutes ago when he came in for his shift. He was closing tonight, so he came in to bump Claire home.
Claire was a new addition and had just started last week.
Tammy still had her working mostly day shifts since they were slower and easy to start with.
Claire was a local college student and worked part time whenever she could.
She seemed nice, but I’d only just met her, so there was only so much I could say for sure.
As Tammy moved back and forth between her clients at the bar, grabbing food from the kitchen and making drinks for the servers out on the main part of the restaurant, I noticed I wasn’t the only one following her every move.
Every time Tammy had her back turned to the bar, Donald’s gaze shifted from her to the bottles in rapid succession. It wasn’t subtle. It wasn’t careful. If anything, it was impatient.
This was also exactly why Tammy had put the hidden camera up and why I was happy we’d added the other one this morning.
We’d installed the second one on the other side of the bar—still in the back of the bar area, hidden between the high-dollar bottles of liquor, but higher up and about six feet to the left.
It gave us a wider angle, one that would catch not just the bar-top area, but the path behind it too.
If Donald—or anyone else for that matter—decided to take the five-finger discount on alcohol, we’d see it.
And if someone got bold enough to go for the register and slip back through the kitchen like the burglar had done, we’d catch that too.
Still, I wasn’t about to give away our new camera so soon.
So instead, I positioned my cell phone against my drink, angling it just right so that the camera faced Donald. To anyone nearby, it looked like I was half-watching a game or show on my phone while I ate. Nothing out of the ordinary or worth noticing.
But… if Donald reached over the counter to grab something, my camera would catch it.
More importantly, we wouldn’t have to reveal that we had the new hidden camera.
I watched him wait.
Nearly ten minutes passed before he saw his opportunity.
Corey had walked to the back to swap out a keg, and Tammy’s back was turned to the bar, facing the mirrored wall lined with shelves of high-end liquor and wine. It was also where one of the computers was, and she was typing in an order, completely focused.
He saw his opportunity.
There were only four other customers at the bar, and none of them were paying attention to him. They were either engaged in conversation or had their gaze fixed on the TVs above them.
Almost in slow motion, Donald slid his hand over the bar. He felt around blindly as he reached for the nearest bottle. He’d been drinking whiskey, which was likely what he was hoping to grab, but instead his hands latched onto a bottle of rum that was next to his target.
There was the briefest pause, like he was considering going back for the right bottle, but he decided against it.
Obviously not wanting to risk getting caught wasting more time, he quickly poured some of the rum into his glass and set the bottle back down, straightened in his seat, and tried to act like nothing was amiss.
It wasn’t my place to call him out, and if I were honest, I didn’t want to—not yet at least. I wanted to wait until Corey came back. If Donald decided to make a scene, and something told me he would, I needed him to grab Donald while I covered Tammy.
Unbeknownst to me, Tammy, however, felt otherwise.
She turned, slowly and deliberately, putting her hands on her hips, and stared at Donald the way a mom stared at her child when she caught him red-handed taking a cookie from the jar after she had said no.
I knew she was about to call him out, and thankfully Corey waltzed right through the kitchen door back to the bar mere seconds before she laid Donald out.
“You really woke up and thought that would be a good idea today, didn’t you?”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried, just enough to pull the attention of the surrounding customers at the bar. Conversations quieted and a few heads turned.
Her tone, though, was unmistakable.
“What?” Donald asked, feigning innocence, but his face was already turning red.
“You know that wall is mirrored, right?” Tammy asked, gesturing behind her. “Which means I can see when someone reaches over the bar and steals liquor.”
“I didn’t do shit,” Donald sputtered, his words tripping over themselves out of nervousness. “Your word against mine.”
“Fair point,” Tammy said easily. “But we also have a camera right here.”
She pointed to the original one near the register she had just been standing by, not the new one we’d just installed. “I put this in last week specifically to catch people like you taking the five-finger discount on liquor.”
Donald let out a sharp, audible gasp.
I moved my gaze to Corey. His expression mirrored Donald’s shock for a split second before it smoothed over and he stepped closer to Tammy, clearly anticipating Donald not being civil about this.
Tammy reached for Donald’s drink, but he grabbed her arm to stop her.
“Take your hands off me, or I’ll have to resort to punching you,” Tammy said, her voice calm, but there was something sharp and dangerous about it too.
Already on my feet, I moved to assist, but Corey was already there, hauling Donald out of his seat with none of the usual patience he carried.
Diego, who had been the designated bouncer and bodyguard for the night, suddenly appeared, ready to assist.
“You want me to call the cops?” Diego asked, his tone low but firm.
Tammy didn’t respond, and instead her gaze was locked onto Donald. “You gonna show up here ever again?” she asked. “Because if you are, the cops will be waiting. If not, you can walk out that door for good.”
Donald didn’t argue or even say a word. His only response was a curt nod. Corey escorted him out, one hand firm on his shoulder.
Diego stayed back, closer to Tammy and the bar, assessing the situation. He wasn’t really a muscular kind of guy. He struck me as more of your tech whiz type, not carrying unruly men out of a bar.
It took a few minutes, but the bar slowly returned to its usual noise, like nothing had happened.
“Do you often threaten to punch people at work?” I asked after things had calmed down.
She shrugged, like the whole thing had barely registered, and answered very nonchalantly. “Only when they touch me without asking.”
The fact that she was so blasé about it did not sit well with me. “Does that happen a lot?”
She turned to face me fully, and then a slow, wicked grin spread across her face. “Not after I punch them.”
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it, and I shook my head. This woman was something else entirely.
Not one to let this opportunity pass, I leaned in close to her, my voice dropping just enough that it was meant for her ears alone. “You seemed to like it when I touched you the other night.”
I pulled back slowly and watched. Her breath hitched—just slightly, but I caught it. The faint flush that crept into her cheeks didn’t go unnoticed either.
She steadied herself quickly, though, and then smiled. Playful but controlled. “Temporary insanity. Obviously.”
Corey lingered nearby, and when I glanced over, he looked…off. Not angry, exactly, but definitely not thrilled, and his mind was calculating, processing.
He finally worked up the courage to say something, though. I watched him move to Tammy and speak low so that only she and I could hear him, though I don’t think I was his intended target.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the camera?”
Tammy sighed. “I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret, but I had only put it up right before the burglary happened and hadn’t had a chance to tell everyone.”
He didn’t look convinced. And something told me this wasn’t just about the camera alone. He still thought they blamed him for the burglary—even if not directly, he was the one to lock up that night.
He didn’t press her, instead going back to his customers and filling their drinks.
An hour later, things had slowed down enough that Corey told her to head home. She was off tomorrow and closing the following two nights, so she didn’t argue.
She was quiet as I walked her out to the parking lot. I wasn’t sure if that was because she was tired or because she was reflecting on the situation with Donald.
“You ever take a few nights off?” I asked.
She snorted, gesturing back to the pub behind her. “And miss all this excitement?”
I grinned and then lowered my voice as we arrived at her car. “Guess I’ll have to give you something else to be excited about.”
I took a step closer to her, slowly leaning down to give her time to pull away. Instead, she defiantly stood there and didn’t move an inch as I bent my head and gently pressed my lips to hers.
God, she tasted just as good as she had the first night.
Tammy’s full lips were soft, lush, and addictive.
I could spend hours kissing this woman and never tire of it.
She opened underneath me, and I slid my tongue inside as I brought my hand up to the side of her neck.
I stroked her cheek with my thumb as I wove my other fingers into her hair.
I begrudgingly pulled back because I knew if I didn’t stop myself, I’d have to drive back to my hotel with a raging hard-on.
“Night, Tammy. Sweet dreams,” I whispered before giving her another short, chaste kiss.
I made it to my car and turned back to see her opening her door with her fingers pressed to her lips.
Yeah, she felt it too.
I wasn’t sure if that was good or dangerous.