Chapter 3 #2
“Ah, because we thought it would be fun.” He glanced helplessly at Trina who shrugged as if to say she had no idea how to approach this either. He racked his brain for a moment, then remembered the Elk Lodge had an indoor pool. “We’ll see if we can stay at a place with a pool. Do you like to swim?”
Trina looked surprised by that, but Ben instantly responded, “Yay! A pool! I wanna swim. Can we, Aunt Trina?”
“Of course. Give me a minute to grab your swimming suit.” She hurried from the room, returning a few minutes later with the garment.
“Goody.” Ben’s eyes glowed with anticipation. “Does Royal know how to swim?”
“He does,” Joel said. “He’s a black lab, and labs generally like the water.”
“Aunt Trina, can we get a lab like Royal?” Ben asked. “I wanna take him swimming with me.”
“We’ll see.” Trina had shoved the swimming trunks into the suitcase, then gestured toward the bedrooms. “I need a minute to grab my laptop.”
He took the rolling suitcase to the door. “Ben, I need you to stay here with Royal.”
“Okay.” Ben grinned. “I’m glad Royal is going with us.”
Joel took the suitcase out to his SUV that he’d left parked at the curb.
As he tucked the luggage into the back seat, he glanced around.
The hour was still early enough that there weren’t many people out and about.
There were houses on either side of Trina’s, but they weren’t so close as to infringe on her privacy.
A fact that worked against her now that she’d been targeted by a gunman.
He closed the door and headed back up to the house. Leaving for a few days was the right thing to do. Yet he couldn’t deny the sense of unease that dogged his footsteps.
Should he ask his DEA brother-in-law, Doug Bridges, for help? Or his sister’s new fiancé, FBI Agent Griffin Flannery?
He’d give the local cops some time to see what they came up with. If they couldn’t make headway on the case, he’d call his family. While both Doug and Griff were decent guys, they were still federal agents. Calling them for help now would be akin to spitting in the local cops faces.
Entering the kitchen, he found Trina stuffing snacks into her laptop case. She shrugged when she saw him. “Kids are always hungry,” she explained.
“Totally get that.” He reached for the case. “We’ll take my car; it has a crate area for Royal, along with extra supplies.”
She nodded and turned to Ben. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah.” Ben jumped up from the floor. “I wanna sit in the back with Royal.”
“Royal has to stay in his crate area.” Joel held the door open for them, again sweeping his gaze over the area. The police cruisers were parked in the street, so he felt certain the gunman wouldn’t try again.
“Why?” Ben asked.
“It’s safer for Royal to be back there. Besides, he likes it.” Joel’s experience with kids was limited to Chase’s recently turned five-year-old son, Elijah, who was not talkative at all. The family had to constantly remind Eli to use his words to express what he wanted.
In contrast, Ben talked nonstop, and his favorite word appeared to be why .
“Enough, Ben,” Trina said when it looked as if the kid would argue. “We’re not going far, so be patient. You’ll have time with Royal soon enough.”
Ben heaved a sigh but, thankfully, let it go.
Once they were settled in the SUV, Joel put the vehicle in gear and headed to the Elk Lodge.
It was the nicest hotel in the city, which didn’t make it a five-star establishment by any stretch of the imagination, but it would work well for their needs.
His siblings had used the place on occasion, and he knew they had suites available.
The indoor pool was a bonus.
“I hope the police find the person responsible soon.” Trina kept her voice down as if hoping Ben wouldn’t hear.
A glance in his rearview mirror confirmed Ben was wiggling his fingers through the wires of the crate area. Royal licked them, making the boy laugh.
“I’m sure they will. And if not, I can call my family for help.” He flashed a reassuring smile. “My brother-in-law Doug Bridges is a federal agent, and my sister Alexis is engaged to Griffin Flannery who works for the FBI.”
“Wow.” She looked impressed. “I had no idea.”
He shrugged. “Some people don’t like the federal government, but they’re good at their jobs and have helped solve more than one crime in recent months.”
“Like what?”
“Alexis and Griff recently arrested a serial killer.” He looked at her in surprise. “You didn’t hear about that?”
“Oh yeah, I sort of remember that.” Her cheeks went pink. “I was moving a bunch of Ben’s stuff from Laramie to my house at the time. Things have been chaotic since my sister’s passing.”
“That’s understandable.” No doubt settling things in Laramie and moving Ben to his new home had been a monumental task. “I’m just saying, if the police can’t help, we’ll call in the big guns.”
A reluctant smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Sounds good to me.”
Joel tried not to notice how pretty Trina was, especially when she smiled. Rather than heading straight to the Elk Lodge, he made several turns just to make sure they weren’t being followed.
Seeing nothing suspicious, he drove to the hotel.
“Will having Royal stay in the room with us be a problem?” Trina asked when he pulled into the parking lot.
“Nope.” He grinned. “Everyone here knows our K9s are well trained.”
“Probably better than some kids,” she joked, reaching for her laptop case. “I hope they’ll let us in early.”
He did too. Nine thirty in the morning wasn’t the usual check-in time, but he didn’t mind paying extra if needed. He opened the back hatch for Royal, then reached into the back seat for the rolling suitcase.
Ben bent to pet Royal the moment the dog jumped out of the back.
The three of them together, along with his K9, walked into the hotel lobby.
A large stone fireplace lined one wall, and a sofa and two stuffed chairs faced it.
Being August, there wasn’t a fire. There were a couple of people sitting there, looking at them curiously as they walked past. Joel was conscious of the fact that they looked like a family but quickly shoved that image aside.
“We’d like a suite please,” he said to the clerk. “I know it’s early, but I’m happy to pay for an early check-in.”
“Let’s see what we have.” The young man tapped on the computer. “You’re in luck. Looks like there’s a two-bedroom suite available.”
“We’ll take it.” He reached for his wallet, but Trina was faster.
“I’ve got this.” She pushed her credit card across the counter.
“Trina, I’m more than willing to pay,” he began.
“No thank you.” Her tone was firm. “I’m the reason we’re here, remember?”
Since that was true, he felt forced to let it go. It didn’t sit well with him to have her pay, but at the same time, he found Trina’s stubborn independence attractive.
He didn’t mind paying for dinner, movies, or other social outings when he was dating a woman.
In fact, he insisted on it. Yet Bethany had acted as if she were doing him a favor by going out with him, as if men in general should bow to her every wish.
He’d suspected Lisa was the same way, which was why he’d kept his distance.
He assumed their attitude was in part because they were strikingly beautiful and believed they could have any man they wanted.
Yet conversely, when he’d broken things off with Bethany, she’d gotten upset with him. And when he’d declined to date Lisa, she’d been the same way. He thought their behavior was odd. It wasn’t as if there were a shortage of men in the area, but they’d still been upset with him.
And that was why he was out of the dating scene.
He stood back, watching Ben talk to Royal as Trina finished the registration process. Ben backed into the suitcase. Joel grabbed it before it could fall to the floor.
“I wanna play outside with Royal,” Ben whined.
“I thought you wanted to swim?” Joel accepted the room key Trina handed him.
“Come on, Ben.” Trina leveled the boy with a stern look. “You’ll have plenty of time to play with Royal. How about we check out the pool, okay?”
Ben brightened. “Okay.”
Crisis averted , Joel thought as he pulled the suitcase and Trina’s computer bag down the hallway toward the suite. He knew from previous visits that the suites had first-floor access to the outside, which was helpful in taking care of a dog.
The suite was nice. Trina headed to the bedroom on the right, which housed two queen beds. “This is our room, Ben.” She smiled gratefully when he hoisted the suitcase onto the bed. “Let’s find your swimming trunks.”
“I need to get stuff out of the SUV for Royal,” he told her. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Leaving her to Ben, he took Royal outside with him.
“Get busy,” he told the K9. That was the term they used for encouraging the dogs to relieve themselves.
Maya had started the phrase when she’d worked on the Cheyenne police force with a K9 partner.
Her dog had been killed in the line of duty shortly before their parents had died.
Maya had brought in a world-renowned dog trainer so they could begin their search and rescue services.
And they’d all named their K9s after national parks.
“Good boy,” he praised, cleaning up after his K9. “You’re a good boy.”
His black lab wiggled with excitement. Joel grabbed a pail of dog food and his duffel containing a clean pair of clothes. He and his siblings always packed for an emergency.
“Let’s go, Royal.” He led the way inside.
When he reached the suite, though, he was surprised to see Ben was crying.
“What happened?” He’d have thought the idea of swimming would have been enough of a distraction.
“He left his favorite video game in his backpack.” Trina looked frazzled. “He took it with him this morning, and I forgot about it when I packed our stuff.”
“I want my game,” Ben whined, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Please, Auntie Trina, can we go back to get it?”
She sighed. “Let’s wait until after we swim.”
The boy wore swim trunks and a T-shirt, but that wasn’t good enough. “No! Now. I want my game now.”
“Stop it, Ben.” Trina’s tone was sharp. “That’s not how you ask for a favor.”
Ben threw himself onto the sofa. Royal trotted over to lick him in the face.
After a moment, Ben sat up, rubbing his face. “Aunt Trina, can we please go back to get my game?”
“That’s better.” She glanced wearily at Joel. “Do you mind?”
“No problem.” He would have offered to run the errand himself, but he didn’t like the idea of leaving them there alone. “Let’s go. It won’t take long.”
Ben scrambled to his feet, shoving his feet into his shoes. Joel eyed him. “What do you say?”
Ben looked confused for a moment, then said, “Thank you.”
Joel nodded and led the way back outside. Moments later, they were back in the SUV heading west.
“I should have double-checked before leaving the house,” Trina said. “I knew he’d taken his favorite video game with him this morning.”
“Hey, it’s fine. Kids, you know?” He brushed it off. “At least he didn’t notice this at bedtime.”
“Right?” Trina laughed, the tension easing from her expression.
He frowned when he noticed a plume of black smoke in the distance. Most people didn’t use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves in August. And it was too early for burning leaves or other debris.
When they reached the next intersection, he heard sirens. Could the smoke be from a house fire?
He increased his speed, battling a sense of dread. When he turned into the subdivision where Trina’s house was located, his eyes widened in horror when he saw Trina’s front door was engulfed in flames.
“Joel! My house is on fire!”
He pulled over to the side of the road and threw the gearshift into park. “Stay here.” He bolted out from the SUV and ran to where he’d seen a garden hose earlier that day.
Praying the rest of the fire department would get there in time to save Trina’s home.