Read Online Up in Flames by Starr Ambrose - Free Book Online Page A

crunch of her footsteps, but heard nothing. Maybe she watched in dismay. More likely, she flipped him off. Either way, he was glad she was no longer part of what looked to be a long, messy tangle with the Barringer’s Pass police and the local rumor mill.

    Zane’s office was still taped off the next morning, but that didn’t stop Carl Reznick from calling his cell phone to find out if he would have a crew back at work on his property today. Zane assured him he would. Sitting in a borrowed truck, surveying the vacant parking lot of Natural Designs, he hoped he wasn’t lying.
    He’d barely hung up when the phone rang again. He glanced at the caller ID with a sinking feeling. “Hello, Annie.”
    “Hi, Zane.” He could already hear the regret in her voice. “I, uh, can’t make it in today.”
    “That’s okay, they still aren’t letting us get in the office.”
    “Oh. That’s good. I mean, it’s not, but, um . . . Zane, Paul doesn’t want me to go back to work.”
    “I see.”
    “I would, but . . .”
    “Maybe when things get back to normal.”
    “Yes.” It came out on a relieved breath. “It’s just that with a killer around, he’s worried about my safety.”
    Worried about her working for a killer, more like it. “I understand.”
    “Thanks. I’ll be in touch.”
    “You do that.”
    “Zane, you, uh, you take care, okay?”
    “I will. Thanks, Annie.” He ended the call, swore, and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. How many more call-offs would he get today?
    He had an answer fifteen minutes later. Hooter arrived, polished off his breakfast McMuffin, and started loading supplies into the pickup. Cory and Manny were no-shows. Zane considered calling them, but figured there was no point. If they weren’t here by now, they weren’t coming. And if they were trying to avoid being part of a police investigation, it wouldn’t work. They’d had access to the yard, and the police would check them out anyway. For their sake, he hoped they had nothing to hide.
    He bit back more swear words and grabbed a pair of work gloves. “Looks like it’s just you and me today, Hooter.”
    “You sure about that?”
    Zane looked up, following Hooter’s nod toward the parking lot in time to see Sophie’s red Wrangler pull up. He watched as she slammed the driver’s door and strolled toward the yard, tugging her ponytail through the back of the pink John Deere cap as she walked.
    Damn it, didn’t she understand the meaning of no ?
    She stopped in front of him, pulling on her ridiculous pink gloves as she took a pointed look around the quiet yard. “Sorry I’m late, boss. Where do you want me to start?”
    Her determination might have softened him if she was truly being supportive, but her reasons for wanting to work were purely selfish. “Sophie, I’m not changing my mind.” Even though he was tempted to. She didn’t seem to have an agenda like she’d had ten years ago, and she wasn’t using him for anything other than what she’d said—a way to make money. He couldn’t blame her for that.
    But he also couldn’t take advantage of her naiveté. “This could get uglier than anything you’ve seen before.”
    Her hands stilled with only one glove on. Her chin came up and something glittered, diamond sharp, in her eyes. “You wanna bet?”
    He remembered then. The scandal that had nearly destroyed her sister Maggie’s life two years ago. He wasn’t sure of the details, but remembered that Sophie had been dragged into it somehow, her schoolwork threatened by the same rumors that had trashed Maggie’s reputation. She and Zoe had stood by Maggie, unflinching in the face of scathing tabloid lies and local gossip. She might have been sheltered when he first knew her, but not after that summer two years ago. She’d had personal experience with vicious rumors.
    Still. “This will be worse, Sophie. I’m not talking about people whispering behind your back, or laughing at you. I’m talking