Kira Sinclair – Rescue Me (страница 7)

For the moment, he decided to operate under the belief she was unaware. Which, if it was true, only made him angrier. This was not going to be a picnic and there was a part of him that raged on her behalf for being dragged into this mess.

But there was nothing he could do about that. The Kentucky Rose was smack in the middle of it all, and if he had his way the inconvenience was going to get bigger before it got better. The best he could do was try to protect her.

Even if she wasn’t going to like his methods.

* * *

THE NEXT AFTERNOON Tucker stood in the middle of the Rose and tipped her head back. Closing her eyes, she let the silence and scents of the place soak into her. This was her favorite time of day. Before they opened. Before any of the staff arrived. When it was just her and the place she’d built.

Some people didn’t like bars when they were empty. With the lights glaring, you could pick out all the scars on the bar and the rough edges of the walls. The tables were stark instead of inviting. Pretty colors didn’t twirl across the dance floor, beckoning you to take risks and try moves you possibly shouldn’t.

Monique, one of her oldest friends, often said the place was a little creepy when it was empty. Too big and...bare.

Tucker liked it because it was all hers.

An ugly purple and yellow bruise had bloomed over her cheek, but she’d managed to cover up the worst of it with makeup. Not that she particularly cared. She just didn’t want to deal with the questioning looks and raised eyebrows it seemed to cause.

Her ankle was a little more troublesome. She’d bought a thin bandage brace, which was helping, downed several ibuprofen and forsaken her fancy heels—she really missed those extra few inches—for a pair of brown and teal cowboy boots that offered a little more support.

She’d try and take it easy tonight. Last night had been long and crazy. It had felt like everything that could go wrong did, capped off with the realization that the drugs Finn had found were apparently the same ones she’d discovered in the bathroom. The bag must have fallen out of her pocket when she got knocked on her rear in the fight.

Which was both good and bad.

Maybe the problem wasn’t as bad as Finn seemed to think. Either way, he’d taken the drugs and hopefully disposed of them as he’d said he would. At the moment her best option was to view the situation as one less thing on her to-do list. And, with any luck, tonight would be less insane. Although it was a Saturday, so she wasn’t holding her breath.

For right now, she needed to get the place ready. Tucker walked behind the bar and began taking inventory of what she needed to replenish from the back stock room. They’d gone through a ton of whiskey and vodka last night. She also needed several cases of beer.

She was lost in her own world and the familiar minutia when a loud knock echoed through the place.

Tucker frowned. The last thing she wanted to deal with was some idiot who thought she should be open merely because he was ready to start drinking.

Grabbing the stun gun she kept tucked behind the bar, she headed for the front door.

It was made of old, solid wood she’d found at a flea market, and she’d commissioned a local artist to carve it into a door, adding the bar’s logo to the scarred surface. She loved that door. It was one of the first things she’d had made when she decided to open the place.

The only downside was that she couldn’t see who was waiting on the other side. And since it was possibly one of her staff instead of an idiot customer who couldn’t read signs or tell time, she flipped the locks and pulled the door open several inches.

She should have let them pound away.

Standing on the other side, were two officers, their badges already out, ready to flash in her face. And behind them stood Finn McAllister, Duchess sitting prettily at his side.

“Hi, Tucker. Can we come in?”

She should have known he’d come back to haunt her.

“Considering your friends, I’m going to guess I don’t have much choice in the way I answer that question.”

“No, ma’am,” one of the officers said, his voice apologetic. “I’m Officer Dade and this is my partner, Officer Simmons. We have a few questions for you.”

With a sigh, Tucker swept the door open, gesturing them inside with the business end of her stun gun.

“Please put the weapon down, ma’am,” Simmons said, his hand already sitting on the butt of his own gun.

“Don’t worry. I’ll put it away behind the bar. I might not be thrilled to see you standing at my front door, but I’m not about to shock you. A girl can’t be too careful, though.”

“No, ma’am.”

Tucker turned and started walking through the bar, doing everything she could to hide her limp. For some reason, she didn’t want Finn to know her ankle was still bothering her.

“Finn, make yourself useful and lock the door behind you, would you?”

One of the men snorted, but she wasn’t sure which one and didn’t particularly care to find out.

Slipping the stun gun back into its hiding place, she spread her arms wide along the business side of the bar. “Can I offer you gentlemen a drink?”

“We’re on the clock, but appreciate the offer.” Dade declined with a subdued smile.

She hadn’t expected them to accept, but she was wise enough to make the offer anyway. “Then let’s skip straight to why you’re here. I’m sure Mr. McAllister notified you his dog discovered some drugs here last night. It won’t surprise you to hear that happens sometimes in this business, despite my best efforts to eliminate it. I don’t condone drug use. And, unlike other bars, neither I nor my security team look the other way when it happens.”

Officer Dade nodded his head. “That’s good to hear. But this isn’t simply a case of someone partying too much.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

Officer Simmons chimed in. “The bag Duchess discovered contained enough crystal meth to qualify as possession with the intent to distribute.”

A heavy pit opened up in her belly. “You’re telling me this isn’t just college kids looking to have a good time. Someone was dealing inside my bar.”

It wasn’t really a question, but Simmons answered anyway. “We think so, yes.”

Crap, she really hadn’t wanted to hear that. This was a bigger problem than she’d realized.

“We have reason to believe someone has been using the Kentucky Rose to distribute. Any thoughts on who might be doing that? Suspicious regulars? Anyone who’s been hanging out over the last few months, giving you an uncomfortable vibe?”

Maybe they didn’t need a drink, but she did. Scooting down the bar, Tucker grabbed a glass, scooped some ice then filled it with water. The cool liquid eased her suddenly dry throat, but did nothing to soothe the sick churning in her belly.

“No. As I pointed out to Finn last night, I have the right to refuse service to anyone. My guys are trained to spot troublemakers and we bounce them as soon as we identify a problem. Anyone who might’ve raised a red flag wouldn’t have been hanging around for long.”

Finn finally chimed in, “What about your staff?”

For the first time since they’d walked in, Tucker looked at him. And then regretted it. Which was why she’d been avoiding him in the first place.

The stubble covering his chiseled face, the divot right in the center of his chin she wanted to run her tongue over. The way his watchful green eyes skimmed across her face, eliciting a tempting hum of awareness... Yep, pure trouble.

Her body’s reaction was irritating. And unsettling.

Which was probably why she barked out her answer when she really hadn’t meant to. “None of my staff would be that stupid.”

Finn quirked a single eyebrow, calling her statement into question with nothing more than the gesture.

That didn’t help settle her. “They’re loyal, Finn. We’re tight. We look out for each other and they understand how important the Rose is to me. They’d never do anything to jeopardize my business.”

“You hope,” he muttered under his breath.

“I know,” she said, her words ringing with finality. Because even the thought of someone close to her doing this hurt. It couldn’t be her staff.

Tying the Rose to drugs and dealing could have disastrous consequences for her business. The last thing she needed was to headline the six o’clock news with a story about a drug bust at her bar. Contrary to popular belief, not all publicity was good publicity. That kind of story could sink the good reputation she’d built this place on. Marketing was everything in this business, setting her apart from the numerous other bars in the city. With so many options, one bad story would easily send her customers elsewhere.

Not to mention the potential for her to lose her business and liquor licenses.

“Gentlemen, are you sure you’re not jumping to conclusions? The bar was busy last night, as it is most Fridays. We were wall-to-wall people by the time Duchess found the drugs. Not to mention there’d been a fight. I suppose they could have belonged to one of the guys involved, but of course, I can’t say for certain. And I’m not willing to assign blame to someone just because they were acting like a drunken idiot.”