Just Deserts in Las Vegas Read online

  “Bridget, no.” I pushed myself up in the bed. “You can’t go out there.”

  “What is it?” Nanna said, slowly coming around.

  Bridget barked three more times in response.

  “Bridget heard something outside.”

  “Don’t let her out!” Nanna said in alarm.

  “I’m not going to. I—”

  “It’s coyotes! Remember what Abner said? It’s coyotes and they’ll eat her up if you let her out. She’s got to stay in here with us.”

  “I know. Please tell that to Bridget.”

  Nanna climbed out of her bed and went to the door where Bridget was now growling and whining.

  “Come on, girl. Come with Nanna. It’s okay. You stay away from those nasty coyotes.”

  Bridget gave another plaintive whine toward the door.

  “Come on. You can sleep on Nanna’s bed.”

  Nanna gently led Bridget by the collar and encouraged her to jump up onto the end of the bed. She lay down, head still pointing in the direction of the door, quieting down but still letting out occasional little whines.

  “Good night again, Nanna, Bridget.” I lay back down again, hoping Bridget would be able to control herself until the morning.

  I lay there for some time, ears pricked, listening to see if I could hear the coyotes that were supposedly out there.

  But I couldn’t. My ears clearly weren’t as sensitive as Bridget’s. All I could hear was the whistling of the wind passing through the quiet old town.

  Eventually, Bridget’s whines turned to snores, and before long I joined her and Nanna in slumber.

  Chapter Seven

  The next time I was woken up, it wasn’t Bridget who was urgently trying to get my attention. It was Ian.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  “Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany!”

  Knock, knock, knock.

  “Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany…”

  “All right, all right, I’m coming.”

  “What does he want at this time of the morning?” Nanna called. I saw she was sitting on the edge of the bed, already dressed for the day, and a book open in her lap. There was no sign that she had put away several glasses of whiskey the night before.

  “Guess we’ll find out.”

  “Quick! It’s an emergency.”

  I rushed to the door and pulled it open. Ian was standing there with an awkward smile on his face. This was not unusual for him; he kind of excelled at awkward smiles. And awkward poses. And awkward dancing. And just about everything else that could be made awkward.

  When I pulled open the door, it was still dark outside, but the air was beginning to take on the first tinges of morning-gray in the moments before the sun truly began to rise above the horizon.

  “What is it? What’s so urgent?”

  “You’ve got to come quick. Pepper wants us all doing yoga in the main street with the sun rising behind us. We’ve got to get there quick. Put some exercise clothes on!”

  I didn’t think this was as much of an emergency as Ian was making it out to be. But I guess he was trying to impress his girlfriend by supporting her friends, and that friend was our hostess.

  “Just give me two seconds.”

  Ian spent the entire time it took me to tie my hair into a ponytail and sling on a T-shirt and sweatpants hopping from foot to foot, as he was still doing it when I returned to the door, Nanna in tow.

  “Did you sleep well?” I asked him as the three of us walked toward Main Street, where I could see at least some of the other guests in the distance standing around in a group.

  “Nope,” Ian said with far too much brightness for that answer to the question.

  “Coyotes bother you?”

  “Coyotes? No there was no sign of coyotes. No, I didn’t sleep much because Sally and I were up all night talking. We talked and talked and talked and talked. It was amazing, Tiffany. You wouldn’t believe it.”

  “No?”

  “Nope. I don’t think anyone’s ever talked the way we did. All night long. We’ve decided we don’t need any more couples counseling or therapists, or any of that nonsense. I’ve fixed everything, Tiffany. Our relationship is perfect now.”

  “Perfect?” Nanna sounded suspicious. “No such thing as perfect. Except for me and Wes, and we’re old. No such thing as perfect at your age.”

  “We must be old souls then, Nanna, because I’m telling you our relationship is now as solid as a rock.”

  “But a relationship isn’t a solid, unmoving object. It’s like an ocean you sail together. And rocks don’t sail too good.”

  Ian stopped and stared at Nanna, his head tilted in confusion at the metaphor. “What?”

  “Never mind that,” I said. “Let’s go and do this morning yoga.”

  By the time the rest of my sleepiness had cleared away, Pepper had us all lined up, some more sullen than others, except for Hunter, who she decided had to film us all. Hunter was dressed in business-casual attire and had already washed and blow-dried his air. I guessed he looked too staid for the image Pepper liked to portray, so she’d forced him behind the camera. She wasn’t the kind of influencer who hung with suits.

  Pepper had her face just inches from the phone Hunter was recording on. “I just love sunrises, and there’s no better way to greet a sunrise than with a sun salutation. And my best friends here all think the same. Right, guys?”

  She turned around and stepped back from the view of the camera.

  “Sunrises are s’cool,” we declared with all the enthusiasm she’d ordered us to use.

  “Now, come on! Let’s greet Mother Sun with all the love she deserves.”

  Under Pepper’s stern direction she had us move through a series of postures in the dusty main street while the sun rose behind us. Everyone was there, except Pepper’s grandmother. I suspected even Pepper was wary of hammering on her Nanna’s door and trying to get her up before sunrise to pose for her influencer videos.

  When I had my arms stretched over my head for the eight hundredth time, I heard the now-familiar sound of hooves on the dusty main road. They didn’t so much make a clip-clop sound, due to the lack of a paved surface, but more of a solid thumpy-thumpy-thump.

  “Abner! Stay there! Park your horse just behind us! Look toward the camera!”

  “What in tarnation…”

  Abner’s horse blew out a snort of agreement. I glanced behind my shoulder—against express instructions—and saw that Abner had done as requested. With the sun rising behind him, atop his chestnut horse on the dusty main street of this Old West ghost town, he looked like a character from a movie.

  “Tiffany!”

  I turned back to face the front and finish saluting the sun. Which we were actually facing away from, since the shot looked better with the sun rising behind us.

  “Now, everyone, turn around. Hunter, get some of us from behind. Abner, stay right there.”

  We turned around and began to do our final sets of sun salutations facing the sun this time. Abner agreeably maintained his position on his horse for the duration of our final two movements.

  “Thanks, everyone! You were awesome!”

  “Is that it?” Nanna asked. “In my yoga class, we do all kinds of poses. The sun salutations are just a warmup.”

  “I think we were doing it more for the photo op than for actual exercise,” I said quietly.

  “Oh.”

  “What time’s breakfast?” Ian asked loudly, so that both Pepper and Abner could hear.

  “I lit the grill already. I suggest some of you strong young folk go and help Nanna carry over the supplies like last night. Hope y’all like steak, bacon, and sausages for breakfast.”

  My Nanna sure seemed to like the sound of it, stepping right into action. “Ian! Go over to Pepper’s Nanna’s cabin. And take Sally with you. Tiffany, you too. And Brad.”

  “Yes, Nanna,” I answered, amused by her sudden enthusiasm. I guess Abner’s breakfast plan sounded appealing.

 
; “Will there be pancakes?” Sally asked.

  “If y’all want to try and grill up some pancakes you be my guest.”

  Sally frowned. “I think they’ll fall through the spaces in the grill.”

  Abner responded with a laugh before pulling on the reins of his horse, wheeling her around, and cantering off down the street toward the old saloon, from which I could already see a trail of smoke leading up into the sky. The grill was nearly ready for action.

  “Come on,” I said to Ian and Sally. “Let’s get those supplies.”

  “Don’t forget Bongo Brad,” Nanna said, emphasizing the last two words so that the intended recipient could hear. It looked like Brad had been slinking away.

  He turned back with a forced smile on his face.

  “Sure, I’ll help.” He walked over and bumped his shoulder gently into mine. “Come on, Closet Buddy.”

  Sally giggled. She’d heard about me and Brad’s earlier interactions the night before.

  The four of us walked over to Horrible Nanna’s cabin.

  “There’s no smoke coming from her chimney.” Ian pointed at the roof of the cabin. I was pleased that he had noticed. Some of his detective training was finally paying off. Simple observation is one of the most important skills in our business.

  Nanna’s cabin was bigger than the others, and on the narrow porch out front was a wooden rocking chair that looked perfect for sitting on and watching the world go by. Or perhaps not go by in a ghost town.

  “She’s probably too tough to feel the cold,” Sally said after checking over her shoulder to make sure Pepper wasn’t there.

  When we got to the cabin, I somehow found myself thrust to the front of our little group. I’m pretty sure that Brad, Ian, and Sally all stepped back to make sure it was me who was left to knock on the door.

  “Nanna!” I called, following up with three knocks on the door. “We’ve come to help.”

  From inside, there was a very definite sound of nothing.

  Not a hint of furniture scraping on the floor, or footsteps, or a mug being placed down, or a newspaper folded up. Just silence.

  “Nanna!” I called again, a little louder. I knocked three more times and pushed my head up closer to the door to listen.

  Still nothing.

  Behind me, I heard Abner and his horse arrive with a gentle whinny.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice gravelly.

  “I think she must have gone out.”

  “Out?” Abner took the hat off his head and held it by his side, running his other hand through his remaining hair. “Her vehicle’s still here. And I ain’t seen her out. Must still be sleepin’.”

  Abner’s brow was furrowed. I could tell he didn’t think there was much chance she actually was sleeping, but he didn’t have a better explanation.

  “Maybe having all of us here tired her out,” Sally suggested. If she was right, it wouldn’t bode well for her future business plans.

  Balling my hand back into a fist, I hammered on the door much harder. If she was inside, she was going to be annoyed with me, but I was beginning to get an ominous feeling.

  “Nanna!” I called again, yelling right into the crack where the door met the frame.

  Abner climbed down from his horse and walked over to join me by the front door. He placed a leather-gloved hand on the door handle and pushed it down. The door was unlocked.

  “Strange…”

  Abner pulled the door and it easily swung open. As he did so, a heavy wave of sooty, smoky dust blew out from inside. I raised a hand to cover my mouth, too late to avoid the first blast of dust.

  “What the…” Abner covered his face with his hat to block out the dust, muffling the rest of his thoughts on the matter.

  Peering inside, it was hard to make anything out. It was much darker inside than it should have been. There was no artificial lighting, and the natural light that should have been pouring through the windows in the front was dimmed by the filter of thick soot that covered the insides of the windows.

  Abner walked inside and I quickly followed.

  “Oh, no.” Abner crouched down as he spoke.

  Inside, my eyes began to adjust. I crouched down beside him. If I didn’t already have my hand over my mouth to block the soot, I would have covered it in shock.

  We’d found Pepper’s Nanna.

  And she was dead.

  Chapter Eight

  Ian and I were alone in the cabin, our positions as detectives affording us an air of authority that the others listened to. Nanna had taken Abner and Sally outside and was now standing guard to make sure no one else came in to disturb the scene.

  “What do you think happened?” Ian asked.

  Everything inside the room was covered in a layer of soot, and the windows too were similarly coated. Lying on the floor next to Pepper’s grandmother was a notepad and a ring of keys.

  “I’d say she died of smoke inhalation. But she’s on the floor, not in bed. That means she must have woken up before she was overwhelmed by the smoke.” I crouched down. “Let me take a look at this.”

  Carefully as I could, I turned over the notepad that lay next to the corpse so that it was the right way up. There was nothing written on it. If she’d been trying to leave a message, she must have been overwhelmed before she was able to do so.

  “There’s nothing on it. Now, why didn’t she leave the cabin, Ian? Why was she messing around with a notepad instead of hurrying outside?”

  Ian’s face was pulled into a frown. “I don’t know.”

  The pair of us walked back to the entranceway of the cabin and inspected it from the inside. I gently pulled the door toward us until it was nearly closed so we could examine the back of it.

  “It’s covered in handprints!” Ian said in surprise. “It’s like she was trying to get out, but couldn’t.”

  “That’s exactly what it looks like.”

  The door handle itself was cleaner than any other surface, smeared with visible fingerprints.

  “But the door was unlocked when we arrived. And she had her keys. They’re still on the floor next to the body. Why didn’t she just leave?” Ian was shaking his head to himself as he stared at the back of the door and the clear indications that the victim had tried to escape. Like me, he was trying to figure out the series of events that must have occurred.

  “She could have become confused due to the smoke?” Ian offered.

  “Maybe. Carbon monoxide poisoning can make you think some very strange things.”

  “What’s going on?” The loud voice came from just outside the cabin. It was Pepper.

  I nudged the door back open again, noticing how smoothly it swung on its hinges. Although heat can warp wood and metal, the fact that the door was still swinging so easily made me certain that wasn’t what stopped Dead Nanna from leaving.

  Outside, Pepper and Dylan were standing at the bottom of the three steps that led up to the small deck that surrounded the cabin.

  I walked down the stairs, Ian a step behind me.

  “I’m afraid there’s been a terrible accident.” I gestured back toward the cabin. “It looks like something went wrong with the fire. The cabin filled with smoke. I’m so sorry, Pepper. Your Nanna’s passed.”

  “No!” she yelled at me. I stood back and let her.

  I tried to put an arm around her shoulder in support, but she pushed it off with a shake of her head.

  Pepper lifted up her phone, tapped the screen, and then held it in front of her like a talisman, marching up the stairs toward the cabin. Dylan stayed at the bottom of the steps, shuffling from foot to foot.

  “I think you should stay out here,” I called half-heartedly after her. The scene would need to be investigated by the professionals, and I didn’t think the cops and fire crews would appreciate it being disturbed. Ian and I had been careful, but I wasn’t sure Pepper would or could be. But this was Pepper’s grandmother, and I couldn’t very well stop her. I didn’t have any authority h
ere.

  Pepper paused in front of the cabin door and turned the phone around to point at her face. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

  “What’s she doing?” Ian hissed.

  It seemed pretty obvious to me what she was doing. She was filming herself discovering her grandmother’s dead body. It wasn’t the what that confused me, but the why.

  “Everyone deals with grief in different ways.” Sally didn’t sound like she even convinced herself. I was sure she was just as shocked by Pepper’s actions as we were.

  We all stared up at the cabin, unable to see inside but listening intently to find out what Pepper would do next. As it turned out, she wailed. A plaintive shriek fell into loud, dramatic sobs.

  Outside, our silence began to grow awkward. Listening to Pepper crying inside the cabin was making all of us uncomfortable.

  “Ian, will you come with me? I’ve got to call the police.”

  The only landline phone was inside Pepper’s grandmother’s cabin and was now part of the crime scene. As the only one with a working vehicle—excluding Abner’s horse—it was up to me to go and raise the alarm by driving out to somewhere we could get a cell phone signal.

  “Sure thing.”

  By lunchtime, the ghost town was more alive than it had been in eighty years or more. There were ambulances, sheriffs, state police, and firefighters all milling around, poking and prodding at both the scene and the witnesses.

  Officers from the sheriff’s department were taking turns interviewing each and every one of us about what had happened. But as far as I knew, no one had any idea what actually occurred, so all they were getting were recaps of the night before and this morning’s discovery.

  I was more interested in what the fire marshal had to say. He was currently standing on the sloping roof of the cabin. He’d been pointing a flashlight down the chimney, but he put that down and reached inside.

  His hand flew out of the chimney and he held aloft a blackened bundle of something like he’d withdrawn a sword embedded in a rock.