Read Online Deborah Brown - Madison Westin 07 - Kidnapped in Paradise by Deborah Brown - Free Book Online

though I had personally invited the felons and other assorted riff-raff to occupy the units. The only normal tenant, besides Julie, was Shirl, a registered nurse at the local hospital, who came to stay for a few days and never left. The rest were tourists from the UK and Canada.
    It was a quiet day in general. I cased the block, finding that no one lurked in the alley, and no one slept in the bushes. Everything looked peaceful, but anyone who knew The Cottages knew that could looks be deceiving. 
    Fab and I rounded the corner to the pool to find that best friends Shirl and Mac were in a heated game of ping pong, drinking beer between points. A sane property owner would ask where the worn, but still usable, table came from, but it looked fun, and I knew without a doubt it wasn’t stolen.
    “ You can’t drink on the job.” I pushed open the gate.
    “Then I quit! ” Mac yelled and threw her middle-aged body in a chair, her ample chest bouncing around. She wore a pair of obscene short-shorts. I sighed, happy to see her skirt slung over a chaise. It only took me two days of sitting in the property office all day to know that I didn’t want the job. I never regretted hiring the woman.
    I gave Fab a nudge.
           “It ’ s your job to make sure she doesn’t go anywhere. She leaves, and you can work in the office.”
    Shirl belly laughed, her body poured into an ill-fitting two-piece. “That would end any tenant problems. She ’ d whip her gun out and empty the place.” She threw a raft into the pool and dove in after it.
    Both women were curvy, fun, and always doing something outrageous. They didn’t give a damn what people thought. It was an unwritten rule that Mac wasn’t allowed to quit, and Shirl was the only tenant not allowed to move out. Shirl reminded me of the nurse in elementary school, a calming presence that always knew the right thing to say to convince you that you wouldn’t die of a stomach ache.
    I kicked off my shoes and sat on the edge of the pool, sliding my feet into the warm water.
    Mac dove into the pool after Shirl and made herself comfortable, leaning back against the side, her head resting on the ledge.
    “Let ’ s get a few things straight,” I said. “You go anywhere, and I’ll send Fab to drag you back. And on the off chance you elude her, I’ll send Creole after you.”
    “Creole!” Mac licked her lips, her brown eyes sparkling. “ I won’t ask for a raise if you arrange for a little game of hide and seek.”
    “He ’ s mine, and I don’t share.” I glared at her. “Besides, what would your husband say?”
    “Yeah, him,” she laughed. “Your ex-husband broke into Cottage Seven and spent a couple of nights. Left it clean. He looked a little paranoid when I confronted him.”
    Last time Jax showed up in town, he moved into one of the units. He and his friends overstayed their welcome, ignoring threats of eviction. It surprised me that Jax moved out this time and so quickly, which had me worrying about him again.
    “Did you talk to him?” I asked. He hadn’t called me back, and now he ’ d shut his phone off.
    “I blocked his path when he tried to sneak down the driveway.” Mac played with the ties on her bathing suit top. I fully expected her friends to make an appearance any second. “He looked good, asked me not to tell anyone he ’ d been here. I told him I wouldn’t say a word except to you, and he said you were cool.”
    “You couldn’t call me so I could check the ex out?” Shirl huffed at Mac.
    “Did he leave a forwarding address?” Fab asked.
    Mac shook her head and launched into her version of the news.
    “Miss January and Score were so drunk, they sat on the curb fighting. ‘You ’ re drunk. No, I ’ m not, you are. ’ I told them if they didn’t take it inside, I would turn the hose on them. The sheriff hasn’t been here in a while for nuisance calls, and I want to keep it that way.”
    Miss January looked eighty instead of the forty