The Maverick (5 page)

“Where are my clothes?” Cass asked. “I’ve got to go home pronto.”

“I sent them to the laundry,” Griff said. “They should be back in a couple of hours. Is there a problem with Sunny?”

“Yes, and it must be serious. She’s usually pretty unflappable. I can’t go traipsing through the lobby in your shirt and underwear, and I have to leave. Where’s my bathing suit?”

“The laundry.”

“You sent a
bathing suit
to the laundry?” She rolled her eyes. “Have you ever heard of tossing such things over a shower rod? What am I going to wear home?” She eyed the draperies, but decided against the Scarlett O’Hara solution. “Oh, hell’s bells!” She located her sneakers in the bedroom and was tying them on when Griff came in the room.

“I’m sorry, Cass. I thought we were going to spend the day here. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll run downstairs to the gift shops and find something suitable.”

“Forget it. At those prices, I’d rather endure a little embarrassment. If Leslie can run around town in a sequined bikini, I can wear your shirt and underwear.”

“Who’s Leslie?”

“He’s a local character.” She rolled up her sleeves and grabbed her purse. “Have you got a hat?”

He handed her a golf cap, and she crammed it on her head, put on her sunglasses and pecked him on the cheek as she flew toward the door.

“Call me later,” he yelled after her as she went out.

Nobody looked at her strangely as she walked through the lobby—or if they did she didn’t notice. Folks probably thought she was one of the Hollywood types who frequently came to town for some event or the other.

Cass retrieved her car and sped toward home. The café was surrounded by police cars, utility trucks and even a fire truck. She screeched to a stop down the block and bolted for the back lot, where she saw Sunny talking to a uniformed cop.

“What’s going on?” Cass asked.

“Everything is flooded,” her sister said, “and the place is a mess.”

“Oh my gawd! What happened?”

“We don’t know yet,” Sunny told her. “Did you notice anything strange going on last night?”

“I—uh—wasn’t here last night.”

“Hmm.” Sunny looked her up and down. “Interesting outfit.”

Cass refused to blush. “Let me go upstairs and change, and we’ll get this sorted out.”

She hurried up to her apartment. Except for her water and electricity being off, everything seemed normal. After quickly changing into jeans and a tee, she rejoined her sister in the back lot.

“Did Hank notice anything unusual?” Cass asked. Hank was a cop friend of Sunny’s who lived in the other upstairs apartment, the one where Sunny had lived until she bought her house.

Her twin shook her head. “He spent the night with his fiancée.”

“Well, damn.”

“Exactly.”

“Why are all these people here?” Cass asked.

“Because when I got here a few minutes ago, the alarm was turned off, and water was ankle-deep inside. I didn’t want to electrocute myself. Are you sure you set the alarm Saturday night?”

“Of course I’m sure! Do you think I left a faucet running, too?”

“Don’t get your panties in a wad, Cass. I was just asking to be sure. I’m hoping this was an accident.”

Cass’s brows went up. “You mean you think it wasn’t? Is anything missing?”

“I don’t know yet. People are checking everything out. It might have been a break-in. It might have been a burst pipe and a short in the electrical system. I don’t even know how bad the damage is.”

“Well, hell,” Cass said.

“That, too. We’ll just have to wait until all these people have time to investigate and assess the situation.”

Sid and Foster, the middle-aged owners of Hooks, the seafood restaurant next door, walked up. “Have they found the source of the problem yet?” Sid asked.

“Not that I’ve heard,” Cass said. “Do you have any damage?”

“Only a few damp spots in the kitchen,” Foster, who was the restaurant chef, told them. “I didn’t think anything about it when I first noticed. We have a good drainage system.”

“So do we,” Sunny said. “Or at least I thought so. I can’t imagine what happened. We have everybody from the water department and plumbers to the security company, firemen
and cops trying to assess the situation. I’m sending our employees home for the day. No way can we serve customers.”

“Why don’t you girls come next door for a cup of coffee,” Sid said.

“Thanks, Sid,” Sunny replied, “but I really don’t want to leave right now.”

“We’ll send you out something,” Foster said. “I need to get back to the kitchen.”

A few minutes later a waiter and a busboy from Hooks brought out a table and set up a coffee and water station in the parking lot. One of their neighbors, who had stopped by to see what the fuss was about, brought over a plastic tub of cookies for the table. Everything was soon scarfed up by the various people on site, including the media reporters who stopped by for the story.

After what seem like forever, the consensus seemed to be that the back door lock had been jimmied and either someone forgot to set the alarm or someone knew the code. In an act of malicious mischief, the someone or someones had deliberately stopped up the drains and turned on every water faucet in the kitchen and bathrooms. Nothing seemed to be missing.

“Who would do such a thing?” Cass asked.

“Beats me,” Sunny said, “and the chances of ever catching them are somewhere between slim and none. I don’t think I’ve pissed off anybody lately. Have you?”

“Not that I can think of. Our problem now is cleaning up the mess. Have you called the insurance adjuster?”

“He’s on his way, and as soon as he takes a look at things, we need to start cleaning and assessing damage,” Sunny said.

“I vote for calling in the professionals,” Cass said. “There
are companies that specialize in stuff like this. What are we going to do about all the food in the cooler and freezer?”

“Oh, Lord. What a mess.”

T
HE FOOD
,
WHICH WAS
deemed safe, they gave to various homeless shelters and kitchens, and decided to leave the cleanup to professionals, as Cass had suggested. While she was packing a bag to move to Sunny’s house for a couple of days, Griff phoned.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“No. Everything has been chaos here. I’m sorry I forgot to call you.” She told him about the break-in and damages to Chili Witches.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“In my apartment.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Before she could say more, he was gone. She locked up, went downstairs and stowed her bag in her car. There were a million and one details to tend to, not the least of which were calling their mom and Aunt Min and telling them about the incident.

“I’ve been thinking,” Sunny said as they stood watching the water being pumped out. “Maybe it would be a good idea to wait a few days before calling Mom and Aunt Min. By next week, everything ought to be back to normal.”

“That’s a brilliant idea. I’m for it.” They grinned at each other. “They’re such worriers.”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Cass’s cell rang. She glanced at the ID screen and frowned. “Who else do we know in France?”

Sunny groaned. “We never have been able to get away with anything.”

“Hi, Mom,” Cass said.

“Cassidy,” her mother stated. “What’s going on there? Min and I have been worried all day, and nobody is answering the phone at Chili Witches. I know something is wrong. Is Sunny sick?”

“No, Mom. Nothing like that. She’s fine. In fact, she’s standing right here beside me. You want to talk to her?”

Sunny held up her hands and began shaking her head. “You tell her,” she whispered.

“Uh, Mom, we’ve just had a little plumbing problem here, and we’re having to close down a couple of days to get it fixed.”

“What kind of problem?” her mother asked. “Now, don’t beat around the bush, Cassidy. Tell me all of it.”

Cass rolled her eyes and told her the whole story.

“Oh, my stars and garters! I was afraid something like this would happen. Min and I will be home on the first plane.”

“No, no, Mom. Don’t cut your stay short. Everything is under control here. Sunny and I can handle things just fine.”

Griff arrived while she was trying to placate her mother, and she could only wave to him and mouth,
“My mom. Just a minute.”

He nodded and went to investigate the situation in the café—as if
he
could do anything that wasn’t already being done. By the time she got off the phone and related the conversation to Sunny, Griff was back.

“Looks like they have everything under control. Any idea who would do such a thing?” he asked.

Cass shook her head. “Probably the same kind of goofball who set fire to the governor’s mansion a while back. The police seem to think it’s malicious mischief, since nothing was stolen. Any available cash—and there wasn’t much—is in a big wall safe that would take a stick of dynamite or a blowtorch to open.”

“Have you ladies had lunch?”

“No,” Sunny said. “I haven’t even thought about lunch.”

Cass glanced at her watch and was surprised to find it was after two o’clock. “For once I haven’t even thought of food.”

“How’s the restaurant next door?” Griff asked. “Is it open?”

“Hooks is great, but I think we should hang around here for a while,” Cass said.

“You two go ahead,” Sunny told them, “and I’ll stay here.”

“Let’s all go,” Griff said. “I’ll tell the crew where we’ll be in case you’re needed.”

Cass wasn’t sure if she was grateful or irritated with Griff’s taking charge, but her stomach was beginning to rumble, so she let it go.

F
OSTER OUTDID HIMSELF
on their late lunch, and it was delicious. When Griff tried to pay the bill, Sid refused his card.

“These girls are like our nieces,” he said. “We’re devastated about what happened. How long do you think you’ll be closed?”

“We’re hoping to be open by the weekend,” Sunny said. “It depends on how long things take to dry out and how much damage there is to the floor. The company we’ve called in to restore the place got right on it, so we’re hoping the quick response helps.”

“Let us know if there’s anything we can do,” Sid told her.

“Will do. Thanks for the lunch.”

“Our pleasure.”

After they left, Griff said to Cass, “You obviously can’t stay in your apartment yet. I’d like you to stay at my hotel.”

“Thanks, Griff, but I’m staying with Sunny—at least for a couple of days. We have a ton of details to attend to, but I appreciate the offer.”

He grinned. “It wasn’t totally selfless. How can I help you?”

“There’s really not anything you can do at the moment.”

“Did you have insurance?”

“Yes, and the rep has already been here. Everything’s covered—or at least the majority of the damage. Mostly the whole thing is a big pain in the tokus. Thanks for coming by, Griff.” She gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Am I being given my hat?” he asked.

She chuckled. “Not exactly, but Sunny and I have a lot to do. We have to talk to our suppliers and put an ad in the paper and…”

“I got it. Call me if there’s anything I can do. I’ll talk to you tonight.”

“Tomorrow might be better.”

He nodded and left.

G
RIFF GRIPPED THE WHEEL
of his rental car a little too tightly as he drove back to his hotel. Ever since he learned about the damage to Chili Witches, he’d had a niggling feeling about it. This smelled of Walt, one of Griff’s partners. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe this was a coincidence, but he wouldn’t put it past the guy. Walt was a brilliant businessman, but he was impatient and impulsive. And a master of dirty tricks. His partners wanted that property yesterday. Griff had asked them repeatedly to be patient and let him handle things his way.

As soon as he got to his hotel, he whipped out his phone and punched the speed dial. Walt answered immediately.

“Walt, did you have anything to do with Chili Witches flooding?”

He chuckled. “Me? Now would I do something so appalling?”

“Hell, yes. In a heartbeat. Back off, Walt.”

Cass was bone tired when she drove to Sunny’s house that evening; she literally ached and her head felt as if dirt daubers were building nests inside. She pulled into the driveway behind her sister, who trudged toward the door as if she could barely put one foot in front of the other. With the stress and the mess and the mountain of things to do, it had been a killer of a day. Cass hauled her bag from the trunk and trudged inside in the same manner.

They both headed straight for the couch, plopped down and rested heir heads against the cushioned back. Leo, Sunny’s German shepherd, joined them, nuzzling against Sunny’s leg.

“I may die,” Cass said.

“Please don’t,” Sunny said, absently stroking Leo’s head. “I’m too tired to plan your funeral.”

Cass laughed, then they both got the giggles. The giggles turned into tears. They held each other and wept from exhaustion and despair.

After they had a good cry, Sunny wiped her nose and said, “Do you ever wonder exactly why we do this?”

“What? Cry? I think it’s supposed to release some sort of
chemicals to make you feel better.” Cass fished a tissue from her purse and blew her nose.

“No, I mean why are we working so hard to keep Chili Witches going? Sometimes I feel the café has become the center of my life. How did Mom and Aunt Min do it for all those years?”

“Beats me. I suppose because they loved the place. I never figured I’d end up running it, but let me tell you, it’s better than being a lawyer in New York. Do you hate managing the café?”

“No, I don’t hate it. In fact, most of the time I enjoy it, but the hours are hard—and will be harder after Ben and I get married. There’s Jay to think of, and I’d like to have children someday. I don’t want to raise them in a playpen in the office or put them in day care and only see them half the week.”

“We were lucky to have Aunt Min and Mom when we were growing up. It was like having two mothers,” Cass said, “but don’t count on me to babysit. Aunt Min I ain’t.”

“You don’t want children?” Sunny asked.

“Do you see me as the domestic type?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. We’re a lot alike, and I can feel the ticking biological clock everybody’s always talking about.”

Cass rolled her eyes. “The only clock I feel ticking is the one signaling dinnertime, but I’m too tired to eat, much less cook.”

“I hear that.”

The doorbell rang.

“I wonder who that could be?” Sunny glanced over her shoulder. “Want to get the door?”

“
Moi?
Surely you jest. Nobody knows I’m here, and I wouldn’t get up and go to the door for the Publisher’s Clearing House prize van.”

Sunny groaned and heaved herself from the couch. “Whoever it is better not be selling magazines.”

It was Ben McKee with food his sister had sent over. “I’m not staying,” Cass heard him say. “I know you must be tired, and Jay’s waiting in the car. I’ll call later. Or better, you call me when it’s convenient.”

Sunny came back with a big bag, which she deposited on the coffee table. “I’ll get plates and forks while I’m up. Check out the contents.”

Cass was just opening the sack when the doorbell rang again.

“Your turn,” Sunny called from the kitchen.

Cass muttered a few choice words and plodded to the door. A deliveryman stood on the porch, a large bag stamped with the logo of her favorite Italian restaurant in each hand.

“Cassidy Outlaw?” he asked.

“That’s me.”

“These are for you from Mr. Mitchell.” He handed her the fancy, handled bags. “No tip necessary. Have a good evening.”

She closed the door with her butt as Sunny asked, “Who was that?”

“Another care package. This one from Griff.”

“Did you invite him in?”

“The deliveryman? Nope. Not my type. He had a nose ring.”

“Oh, well, add it to the bounty on the coffee table, and we’ll have a buffet. What do you want to drink?”

“I think there’s a bottle of wine in one of these bags,” Cass said. “Bring glasses and a corkscrew.”

Her cell phone rang as she was unloading all the sacks of food. Griff.

“Hi,” she said. “Thanks for the food. It just arrived.”

“Good. I wanted to check. I would have delivered it myself, but I doubted you were up to company tonight. I hope you enjoy it. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Not that I can think of, but I appreciate the offer.”

“I’ll drop by the café tomorrow to see if you need anything. Eat and get a good night’s sleep.”

“Well, bless his sweet heart,” Cass whispered as she continued laying out the King Ranch chicken casserole and shrimp Portofino and salads and decadent desserts. “How thoughtful. Maybe there are a few decent New York lawyers, after all.”

A
S IT TURNED OUT
, the tile floors in the bathrooms and kitchen were fine, but those in the serving area and office were a lost cause. Cass and Sunny shopped around and selected a laminate wood floor that looked like old planks and promised to wear like iron. The installers arrived on Thursday to lay down the new surface.

Their mother and Aunt Min were arriving on the same day. The twins had only a few hours notice to air out the town house their mom and aunt shared a few blocks from the café. They called a maid service to clean and change linens. Sunny stocked the pantry while Cass bought flowers and a couple of plants to brighten up the place, which had been closed for months.

Cass placed a vase of irises on the hall table and stepped back to admire them. “I wish we could have talked them out of coming,” she said to Sunny. “They were having a wonderful time in France and could have stayed another few weeks at least.”

“When have we ever been able to talk those two out of anything? They still think of us as their babies.”

Cass sighed. “I know. They worry. What time is their plane due?”

“Three o’clock. We’d better get going. They’ll be exhausted, and the time difference is going to be hard on them. I hope they slept some on the plane.”

“Fat chance.”

They locked up and headed for the airport.

“We got another one of those letters today,” Sunny said as they drove.

“What letters?”

“The one from the guy in New York offering us an obscene amount of money for Chili Witches and the surrounding property. He upped his offer by ten percent.”

“You’re kidding. After my reply to his last offer, I certainly didn’t expect to hear from him again. Let’s just ignore this one.”

“Don’t you think we should mention it to Mom and Aunt Min? After all, they’re the majority stockholders of the company.”

“I suppose so,” Cass said, “but you know their answer. They’d sooner sell a kidney than part with Chili Witches. The guy probably wants to raze the buildings and put up offices or, God forbid, another condo high-rise.”

“I thought the high-rise craze had passed.”

“Nope. Rumor is it’s coming back with a vengeance. POAC is a watchdog for irresponsible destruction and building, and we keep our ear to the ground. If we hadn’t been on our toes last month, some idiot would have leveled an entire grove of pecan trees and put in a car wash.”

“Cass, a car wash is a legitimate business.”

“Of course it is, but we worked with the guy to reconfigure his layout and be able to save most of the trees. It not only made for a more attractive place, but now he can also bill his business as eco-friendly, and eco-friendly is in.”

“Well, good for POAC,” Sunny said. “And good for you, tiger. Sic ’em.”

C
ASS THOUGHT HER MOTHER
and aunt had never looked so lovely—even after a grueling overseas flight. Gloria and
Minerva O’Connor weren’t twins—Aunt Min was older by a year and a half—but they looked very much alike. Both were still trim and a couple of inches shorter than Sunny and Cass. The streaks of gray in their strawberry-blond hair had disappeared in the months they had been gone, and they both had new short and fashionable haircuts instead of their old styles, which was usually some sort of convenient twist. They both looked ten years younger than their sixty plus.

“You look fantastic,” Cass said, hugging her mother, then Aunt Min. “What have you done to yourselves?”

Gloria beamed. “I highly recommend retirement. And the new French makeovers helped.” She fluffed her hair. “Like it?”

“I love it. Aunt Min, are you sure you haven’t had a face-lift?”

Min chuckled. “Absolutely not, but we went to this lovely salon for skin treatments.” She rubbed her cheek. “Soft as a baby’s butt. Feel.”

“You’re right, and you both look so rested. Were you able to sleep on the plane?”

“We were,” Gloria said. “You two, on the other hand, look like you’ve been dragged through a knothole backward. But not to worry, we’re here to help handle things.”

“There’s nothing to handle,” Sunny said. “Everything has been dried out and checked out and approved. The new floors are going in today and the contractors are coming tomorrow for some minor repair work.”

“What about…?”

“Supplies have been ordered for the kitchen,” Cass said, kissing her mother’s cheek, “and the cooks and kitchen help are coming in over the weekend to see that everything will be ready for business on Monday.”

Gloria looked at Min. “See, I told you our girls could handle the situation.”

“Ha!” Min said. “You were chomping at the bit to get here. Same as me. We have Sunny’s wedding to plan, anyhow. We just came back a little early.”

Sunny sighed. “I’ve told you. There’s nothing to plan. We’re going to have a simple wedding with only family and a few friends.”

“We’ll discuss that later,” her mother said, clearly intimating her preference for a more elaborate do. “Even small weddings take preparation. We’re eager to meet Ben.”

“He’s eager to meet you, too,” Sunny told her. “He’ll probably be over for dinner tonight.”

“Good, good,” Min said. “Come on. Let’s get our bags and stretch our legs. We love Europe, but it’s wonderful to be home. I’ve been dying for a big plate of barbecued ribs. Did you know you can’t get a decent barbecued rib in France? For all their culinary expertise, they’ve never managed to make a good old Texas barbecue sauce.”

“Or a good bowl of chili,” Gloria said as they walked toward the baggage carousels. “And forget enchiladas. Of course, we could make our own chili and enchiladas, but we didn’t have a proper barbecue pit.”

Cass laughed. “I’m surprised you didn’t build one and open a barbecue joint and a chili parlor.”

Gloria and Min glanced at each other. “We’ve considered it,” Min admitted.

“Don’t you dare!” Cass said. “You’re retired.”

Gloria sighed. “I know. And I love having time to paint.”

“Tell you what,” Sunny said. “Let’s get you settled, and you can come over and see my new house tonight and have a big barbecue dinner.”

“I’ll vote for that,” Min said. “That’s one of my bags. The one with the red tassel.”

After the bags were collected and loaded, the two older women insisted on stopping by the café before they went home. Cass and Sunny were eager to check out things, too, so they made a swing by the place. The assistant manager and two of their waiters were moving chairs and tables back inside from where they’d been stored in Cass’s apartment. What wouldn’t fit there were in Sunny’s garage, courtesy of friends with pickups.

“Oh, I like the new floor,” Gloria said.

“So do I,” Min added. “The old one had seen better days, anyhow. Was the wiring damaged?”

“Luckily, no,” Cass said. “At least nothing major. Everything has been checked out and is working fine. We hired a restoration company who got right on it. They had the water pumped out and the fans going almost immediately. The registers and computer equipment are stashed upstairs in Hank’s living room, and Griff hired a moving company to move the office furniture and file cabinets to Sunny’s storage unit.”

“Who’s Griff?” Gloria asked.

Trust her mother’s antennae to go up.

“He’s a guy I’ve been dating.”

“And why haven’t we heard about him before? Is he local?”

“No, Mom, he’s not local, and I’ve only been seeing him for a couple of weeks. It’s nothing serious.”

Gloria’s eyebrow rose, and she glanced at her sister. “What does he do?”

“He’s a lawyer.”

Gloria’s eyebrow went even higher.

G
RIFF
,
THE SWEETHEART
, insisted on providing the barbecue dinner. Cass was surprised he didn’t suggest having it catered. He’d been überhelpful and attentive during their crisis at Chili
Witches, certainly more solicitous of her than Daniel had ever been—and they’d been engaged. Maybe all New York lawyers weren’t tarred with the same brush.

Sunny had invited Ben and Jay over, as well. Their mom and aunt were itching to meet the groom. Cass was sure there wouldn’t be any objections to him; Ben McKee was a dear. And she couldn’t imagine them not liking Griff as well. He was a first-class charmer.