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“It’s okay.” Carmen smiled. “I don’t offend easily.”

The girl leaned in conspiratorially. “The place usually attracts fancy people traveling by themselves.” She held herself back from saying more.

“Have you ever been there?”

“Once in high school.” She shrugged. “A bunch of kids were convinced they were growing shrooms up there.” Her face flushed with color. “I mean, I didn’t, but you run out of things to do here.”

“What did you find?”

“A lot of fences and gates for a place that’s supposed to be some kind of meditation, communing with nature thing.” She turned the tablet around for Carmen to pay. “My friend Katie is pretty convinced it's one of those sex cults. Like where a dude has like a hundred wives, but I don’t know. I just can’t imagine living in an even smaller place with all the same people all the time.”

Carmen was trying to keep an open mind to filter out confirmation bias, but she couldn’t imagine Fortune was part of a sex cult. She picked up on the more important detail. “So people live there? Not just visit?”

“I don’t know. People have to come back through here on their way out for gas and food or whatever. So some just visit, but I think some live there. They don’t really come down here very often. Katie’s grandma was convinced they were pagan witches communing with the devil.” She laughed. “But her grandma also thoughtHarry Potterwas training us to be devil-worshipers and led a protest when the library ordered the books.”

Carmen thanked her, took her intel and shopping bag, and left. She had several hours before Lola arrived, and she planned to use them to prepare for tomorrow. She doubted it was a sex cult, but hopefully they’d find some evidence that would make Fortune drop her ridiculous suit.

CHAPTER35

It was nearlyeleven o’clock at night when a minivan that smelled like pine cleaner and boiled eggs pulled up to the Gilded Horseshoe Hotel in a town that looked more like the set of a movie than real life.

Lola was sure that, in the morning, she’d learn that half of the adjoining buildings were painted plywood, held up by wood frames. Given how dark and empty the street was, she wouldn’t be surprised if the extras paid to be townies clocked out at sundown.

With her leather duffle in one hand and a work bag on her shoulder, she stepped out into the cold, dusty night and questioned the madness of her idea. She tried to think less about spending a few days with Carmen and more about getting the information they needed to get rid of Fortune’s bullshit lawsuit.

Fortune was the point. Carmen was just an unfortunate side-effect. Like the upset stomach that came with antibiotics. As unavoidable as it was unfortunate.

She took a step toward the hotel from Carmen’s text. All the shades on the second-floor windows were drawn, but at least the lights were on. It was the only sign of life in the otherwise dark and silent strip in the middle of nowhere.

Lola got within a foot of the front door — the wooden sign above it reading hotel, restaurant, and saloon — when it swung open. The chime of an actual bell wasn’t nearly as startling as Carmen’s sudden appearance.

In jeans and a flannel shirt, hair in a loose ponytail and wearing glasses, Carmen looked so normal she was nearly unrecognizable.

“Bad news,” Carmen said while Lola’s brain was adjusting to her looking so relaxed and unlike herself outside of her lawyer costume.

“What?” Lola snapped, heart racing and hand gripping the handle of her bag tighter.

Carmen wore an expression Lola couldn’t read. Irritation? Disgust? Whatever it was opened a pit in Lola’s stomach. Something awful had happened, but Lola couldn’t imagine what.

“Apparently, there’s some kind of rodeo in town.” Carmen huffed out a breath. “I don’t know.” She rolled her eyes. “There didn’t seem to be a problem when I booked the rooms, but now he’s telling me that they’ve only got one room left.” She turned her head to where Lola guessed the front desk would be. “The only solution he’s offered me is to comp one of our nights.”

“What are you talking about?” Lola’s skin was molten lava against the cool night.

Carmen crossed her arms. “They only have one room left. A small one with a full-sized bed. And they don’t even have any cots left.”

Lola’s heart rocketed out of her body. Blood rushed to her muscles, pushing her legs to move. There was no way she was going to be forced to share with Carmen. Absolutely not.

She rushed toward the door, ready to push Carmen out of the way and talk to the manager herself. They’d booked separate rooms. It was unconscionable to make them share. Absolutely unacceptable.

The sound of Carmen’s chuckle stopped her from tackling her to get inside the doorway.

Carmen moved back, holding the door open for her so she could step inside. “I’m kidding. It’s a whole hotel. Why would we have to share a room?”

Lola narrowed her gaze and stepped into the claustrophobia-inducing, heavily wood-paneled lobby. Her pulse slowed to a more manageable rhythm, like a car driving straight into a brick wall. “Hilarious.”

Behind the desk in the lobby, a woman who probably played Mrs. Clause during the holidays greeted her with a smile. Lola attempted to return it, but she must have still had too much adrenaline in her body because the lady moved back like she’d growled at her greeting.

While she checked in, Carmen sat on a well-worn couch near a set of wooden stairs. On the table next to her were an empty coffee pot and a tiny ice maker that appeared to be all therestaurantthey had to offer.