Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  “It’s a tourist town, remember?” Ash sounded almost distracted. “Do you think anyone looks twice at an out of town license plate or a big huge SUV with tinted windows and so much cargo that the shocks are sagging on the ground? No. They don’t. You could probably drive an entire motor home full of product in here and nobody would take notice.”

  What he was saying sounded awful and yet it made total sense. He was right. They would never think to look twice at a car or a truck or anything that was coming into town with a load. People brought boats and campers and full-sized motor homes through Branson at all hours of the day and night, three hundred sixty-five days a year.

  Mindy almost said something else, but her attention was caught by her brother. He had left his broom and dustpan and was now trotting down to the maintenance shed. He slipped beneath the overhang and knocked on the door.

  “And here we go,” Ash murmured. “You all right?”

  Mindy wasn’t sure whether she should be flattered or insulted that he was worried about her. “I’m fine. I don’t know what he would be doing though. What kind of sense does it make?”

  “I guess we’ll find out.”

  Mindy held her breath. They were less than twenty yards from the maintenance shed doors. The bushes and trees and crazy shadows hid them from sight, that much was obvious when Mindy spotted a man in a dark uniform step out of the building.

  “Caprico,” Mindy whispered in awe. “Why is he here?”

  Ash didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. It was pretty obvious why Caprico was here. He held out a big baggie full of what looked like smaller baggies to Mindy’s brother. When Darren reached for them, Caprico pulled them back at first.

  “No more testing the product,” Caprico growled. “Next time you waste it, I’ll double your cost.”

  “I got it. I promise.” Darren sounded almost desperate. It hurt Mindy to hear her brother when he might as well have been groveling at Caprico’s feet like a naughty puppy. “I won’t try it this time.”

  “Right,” Caprico sneered. “Because your big sissy might get mad and coming looking for you.”

  “That’s not true!” Darren said weakly. “She’s just—she just wanted to know how to get in on the gig.”

  Mindy nearly choked on her own breath. She glanced at Ash Forbes. Did he know her brother was lying? Did he think that she was lying? That wasn’t true. She could not imagine why Darren would say that to Caprico.

  “Well,” Ash finally murmured, “at least it will be that much easier for you to squeeze your way into this gig.”

  Caprico snorted. “Your sister wants in? How? She’s been to the police station today. She was talking to Detective Lowell. That’s not a chick I care to play with. So, why would we let your sister in on this sweet deal?”

  “Because she works at the mirror maze.”

  Mindy frowned. Why was this a mark in her favor? What difference did it make where she worked? But Caprico made a low noise of appreciation as though this were good news for him. “Is that right? She works at the mirror maze, huh? And you think she would be willing to sell out the door there?”

  “I’m sure she would,” Darren continued to lie as though he had no more concept of the truth and didn’t actually know that he was lying. “Mindy is good at following orders.”

  “Great,” Mindy whispered. “I just got thrown under the bus by the little shit who eats everything in my fridge and trashes my apartment.”

  “And yet now we have a second point of entry,” Ash murmured thoughtfully.

  Mindy could not see how this could possibly help anything. She didn’t even see how she could begin to solve this mystery of why anyone cared about drugs at the mirror maze. She had to force herself to stay still for a moment. Every instinct in her body told her to get out of there. To just go home and lay down on her couch bed. She needed to get some rest and then get up in the morning and do the same thing again.

  “Are you hungry?”

  Mindy almost didn’t catch what Ash had asked her. “What? Why?”

  “Because I’m hungry. I was thinking about grabbing a bit of something at the diner down the street. They’re still open and the food is good.” He looked totally calm, as if they hadn’t just heard anything disturbing or discovered important information about this supposed drug ring.

  “Oh. No.” She looked back toward her apartment. “I’ve—uh—I’ve got dinner at home. I just need to go and pop it into the microwave. That’s all.”

  “Come with me. We can talk about this somewhere they can’t hear us.” Ash was still whispering. It was an odd conversation to have in a nearly inaudible whisper. “And don’t lie to me about having food in your apartment either. You need a good meal.”

  Mindy’s cheeks flared red hot and for a moment she would have slapped him if she could. Her expression must have told him that he’d crossed the line because he drew back and just sighed a bit.

  “I’m not trying to be rude,” Ash said quietly. “I’m actually trying to be nice. Can you just accept it? I do need to run a few things by you since Lowell is determined to have your help on this case.”

  Mindy refused to immediately agree even though her stomach was already doing cartwheels at the thought of eating good food at the diner down the street. She knew exactly where he was talking about. Moe’s. It had been there for years, but Mindy rarely had money for a treat like that.

  Finally, she gave a nod. “All right. I suppose it would be helpful to know exactly what Detective Lowell has in mind here. And how I can do it without losing my job.”

  Fortunately, Darren had shoved the big bag of smaller baggies into his sagging jeans and gone back to work with the broom and dustpan. The maintenance shed was clear.

  Mindy did not miss the utter and complete care that Ash used when he extricated the two of them from their hiding spot. The man was obviously experienced at this sort of thing. Mindy could not help but wonder what other kinds of experience he had.

  Chapter Nine

  Moe’s Diner was hopping when Ash opened the front door for Mindy and attempted to usher her inside. Of course, they had to wait for what seemed like a constant stream of post-show late night snack traffic to exit the building before they could actually go inside. It always amused Ash to stand there and watch people just sail on by with a murmured “thanks” or sometimes without saying anything at all as if they were completely oblivious to the fact that he had been holding the door very much not for them. Finally, Mindy was able to walk inside and the two of them slipped into a booth for two in a back corner of the restaurant.

  “Wow.” Mindy looked around with wide blue eyes as though she had never seen it like this before. “This is crazy! Is it always like this? I don’t remember it being quite so busy back when we used to come here.”

  Back when they used to come here. The place was literally within walking distance of her apartment. Did they not come here now? Moe’s was one of those places that actually did it’s best to cater to the local crowd. If you were local, you got a few menu items that weren’t available to the general public. And if you could prove you lived within the Branson city limits, they gave you thirty percent off at the register.

  Ash wasn’t entirely sure what to say. He decided to skip to the obvious and just go with that. “I believe the tourists are just getting done with their evening shows,” he suggested. “That usually seems to be the reason everything is congested and nuts at about ten o’clock at night. Right?”

  “Usually,” Mindy murmured her agreement. Then she gazed at him with such a mischievous look on her face that Ash almost couldn’t keep himself from chuckling out loud. “Don’t you hate it when you open a door and it’s kind of like you accidentally let out a flood of people? If there are two doors, they seem to completely forget about the usual protocol of going out through one door and in through the other. Half of them don’t even notice you’re there and the other half act like you intentionally did them a favor!”

  Ash found himse
lf smiling. “It is an interesting quirk of human nature.”

  “I love that stuff,” Mindy sighed. She picked up a menu and idly began scanning it. “Sometimes I stand at work and watch the way that people interact with each other in the entryway or inside the big hall. Lines, man. It never ceases to amaze me how many people must have flunked out of kindergarten. They act like they have no idea how to get into a line, or stand in a line, or be polite in a line. You have grown men—fathers some of them—who act worse than their kids!”

  “My theory,” Ash said before he could stop himself, “is that their kids are in current practice, because they’re in school, but the parents have been out of school for so long now that they’ve totally forgotten.”

  “Ooh, that’s a good one!” Mindy sat back in the booth and smiled at him. For once she didn’t look exhausted. The lines around her eyes and her mouth had lessened and she looked younger somehow. Ash wondered how old she really was and how long she had been shouldering the load of raising her brother. Then she pursed her lips. “I think I know what I want. Are you ready?”

  Ash realized she was probably really starving. He lifted his hand and signaled for the server.

  At that point, Chuck been there for so long that when he arrived at the table, he was wearing a big smile of welcome on his face. “Hey, Ash!” The slender wannabe performer with the mop of black hair and green eyes held up his order pad and sang his next sentence. “Are you going to order the same thing again?”

  He belted the words out as though they were a big part on a stage musical. Chuck did this mostly because he knew Ash thought it was ridiculous. But Ash could play this game. He filled his lungs and sang back in a bass voice that made the table vibrate.

  “Yes, I’ll have the usual.” Ash really let that last note ring and felt the silverware humming beneath his hand.

  Chuck gave a hard nod and a quick “rock on” symbol with his right hand. Then he looked at Mindy. In a soft, melodic voice, he asked for her order too. “And for you?” he sang, the words lilting up like a sweet question.

  “Uh, I don’t sing.” Mindy spoke in a very deliberate tone of voice. “But I’ll have the fried chicken plate with mashed potatoes and gravy and a big glass of sweet tea.”

  “Sounds great, ma’am.” Chuck spoke in a very pleasant baritone voice. “That will be right up!”

  Mindy waited until Chuck left before she spoke. “It never ceases to amaze me how you can sit here and totally sing like that, and the waiter will sing, and nobody seems to bat an eye. They just sort of look at you like you are an actual part of the entertainment.”

  “It’s Branson,” Ash reminded her. “And Chuck and I go way back. I’ve been coming to Moe’s for years. Ever since he started working here and desperately trying to get bit parts in just about every production he can manage. I think he works out at Silver Dollar City right now when he isn’t waiting tables, but I’m not sure what his job is out there.”

  “I remember when I thought about getting a job like that,” Mindy said distractedly. She picked up her silverware and began to line it up on the table in front of her. Then she reached for the salt and pepper shaker and did the same thing. “I was sure I was the most talented performer out there because I’d been born here. Right? Like I automatically got to be on stage just because I was born at the hospital right here in Branson.”

  “I’m sure you’re not the only one to think that.” Ash felt the urge to reassure her that she hadn’t been silly. That it wasn’t trivial to have dreams. What was wrong with him? She wasn’t his responsibility! Ash cleared his throat. “Look at those television shows about finding America’s next greatest talent. Right? Half of those people really needed a mother or a good friend to sit them down and tell them they really aren’t that talented. At least not at stage performing.”

  “You’re right, of course.” She flashed him a smile. Her table art now included several sugar packets and the hot sauce container. “I’m much happier not being in the performing arts division. Look at some of those women. Look at Kari Jo Mounds! She was on top one day and then bam! She gets pushed off the stage for a troupe of dancing violin players!”

  Ash nearly choked when she mentioned Kari Jo Mounds. Ellie had actually worked a case recently that involved Kari Jo Mounds, a stalker, and some very bad decisions on the part of the young starlet. Ash was pretty confident Kari Jo would bounce back though.

  “I forgot that you work for a security firm,” Mindy said suddenly. She was really eyeballing him now. “I bet you know lots about why Kari Jo Mounds just disappeared.”

  “I know enough to suggest she probably disappeared to somewhere like Nashville,” Ash told her. Then he held up his hands. “But that’s all I can say about that. All right?”

  “Uh huh. Right.” She gave him a droll stare. “I know how these things work.” She stopped talking when she spotted their food coming towards them. Her eyes absolutely lit up at the sight of a plate mounded with enormous pieces of breaded and fried chicken and mashed potatoes drowning in rich gravy. “Oh! Oh my! I think I may actually need to roll home after this. I can see it coming!”

  And she wasn’t kidding. There was absolutely no talking to Mindy while she was eating. She was methodical and thorough, and that was about all Ash had to say about it. She didn’t worry about being ladylike either. There was no sort of sense that she was trying to pretend she wasn’t hungry. No girlie thing where she primly dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. Nothing of the sort. Mindy dug into her food with gusto, picking up each piece of chicken and ripping into it as though she had absolutely no idea there was anyone watching. Everyone else had ceased to exist. There was nothing else for Mindy right now beyond the plate in front of her and Ash could not help but feel this was an illustration of why he needed to do something about her.

  Again. This was not his problem. He’d pay for her meal and that would be his contribution. Right? So, why did he feel so guilty?

  “Are you going to eat?” She had paused when she’d switched to her mashed potatoes. Perhaps it had been the necessity of picking up a spoon.

  Ash looked down at his meatloaf plate with a healthy serving of mashed potatoes, extra barbeque sauce, and green beans. “Yes. I was just making sure you weren’t going to try to reach across here and steal it. I didn’t want to accidentally get in your way and lose a finger.”

  As soon as the words were out, Ash realized how she might take them. He froze. But to his relief, Mindy began to laugh. Her cheeks were fuller now, maybe because they were stuffed with food. But her eyes were bright and her expression was fun loving and open and Ash found himself strangely attracted to her. Not like that. Not sexually. No. That was not what was going on here. But honestly, he was having a hell of a good time just hanging out with her.

  “You might have reason to be worried,” she told him after a moment or two. Her expression had moved toward seriousness. “While I love fried chicken more than anything else in the world, I can totally eat my way through a good serving of meatloaf, too.”

  “You mean you’ve always had the appetite of a horse?” He sliced off a portion of meatloaf and put it into his mouth. Scrumptious as always. He would have to tell Chuck to thank the cook once again.

  Meanwhile, Mindy was nodding at him. “Yes. I’ve always had the appetite of a horse. It’s true. I’ll admit it. And I know that I should probably back it off, because nobody likes a woman who eats like a bull elephant, but there’s just been no reason to care really.”

  She was telling him a lot with that statement. They had no money. They had no food. And unless she found herself in a very unexpected situation just like this one, she didn’t have to worry about overeating. What was Detective Lowell thinking? In the world of undercover work and law enforcement, someone like Mindy was a high risk. They were the informant who was only with you as long as you could pay them more than the other guy. And when you were talking drug deals, that money could amount to a lot. Could they really count on Mindy’s s
ense of right and wrong trumping what was obviously a severe need for extra income?

  She waved at him with her spoon. “You’re thinking about Detective Lowell. I can tell.”

  “Oh?” He wasn’t going to confirm or deny. Better to answer a question with a question. Except she hadn’t asked. She had told. “And what makes you think I’m thinking about Detective Lowell?”

  “You get this weird look on your face,” she informed him. Then she scooped another shovel full of potatoes into her mouth. “It’s sort of like you’re sold on the necessity of doing what has to be done, but not sold on the methodology involved in doing what needs to be done.”

  Her words were shockingly insightful. Ash was pretty sure he knew what his expression was saying now. Something along the lines of wow. He shook his head. “When you do something like that, I might have to revise my opinion.”

  “Do something like what?”

  “Like read my body language as though you had the key to it.” He didn’t mean to, but he grumbled that last bit.

  She giggled like a school girl. It would have been cute if she weren’t basically laughing at him. “I told you. I like to watch people, and you’re a broadcaster. I’m kind of surprised. I bet you can do a poker face though.”

  Ash nodded. He could keep his face expressionless when he needed to. For some reason, being around Mindy Hall made him feel rather unguarded. It was disconcerting. “I apparently don’t feel the need to keep a poker face on when you’re around. And you’re right, I do know what needs to be done and I’m not entirely sure Detective Lowell’s plan is the right one.”

  “Why?”

  He decided to be frank with her. She’d been frank with him. At least as far as he could tell. It seemed prudent just to keep on the same track. Ash took a deep breath and tried to keep his words as kind as possible. “Why? Because I would not be able to fault you for thinking that a few drug deals on the side in order to make extra money were a viable solution to your financial problems. I can see that you have financial issues. It’s not like you’re really trying to hide it. However, we are going to depend on your desire to remain on the straight and narrow when it would be so much easier to step off the side of the path and get rewarded for it.”