Page 60 of What She Saw

“Are you sure she didn’t have an emergency?”

“Hell if I know. I’ll ask her when she shows up at work on Monday. Then I’m going to fire her.”

Taggart’s gaze lingered on the carnage inside the tent. A square shape caught his attention, and he moved toward it. From the muck he pulled out an ID badge. It belonged to Patty Reed. He smoothed the dirt from her smiling face. “You’re not worried about her? She could be hurt.”

“She’s not hurt. She’s a scrapper. She decided she needed a break. I bet she thinks she’s teaching me a lesson.”

“Why would she do that?”

“We had an argument yesterday morning. She wanted a raise, and I said no. I tried to tell her the diner is barely getting by, but she didn’t believe me.”

“You sound pretty sure about her.”

“I know her well, if you know what I mean. She’s been moody. Always going out of her way to pick a fight with me.”

“Why is that?”

“Who knows? Chicks, right?”

“Are you sleeping with her?”

Buddy’s face flushed. “How does that matter?”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“It’s not like that. I asked her to marry me.”

“And you had a fight.”

“I love her, man.”

Taggart knew how thin the line between love and rage could be. “Buddy, tell Patty to give me a call when she shows up.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Taggart surveyed the field littered with beer cans, trash, and discarded clothes. Under the oak tree, two young men were slumped forward. Their eyes were closed and their mouths open. He walked up to the teenagers and nudged each with his muddied boot. When neither responded, he kicked them in the feet. The first was a redhead with a sunburned face. The other was covered in mud.

“Boys, get up. Time to go home. Party is over.”

The young men looked up at him. Each blinked slowly and yawned. The redhead sniffed and stood. He swayed and reached for the tree for balance.

The second kid stood. He looked at his body. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” the redhead said.

“Start moving toward the exit,” Taggart said. “Time to return to the real world.”

Taggart watched them stumble toward the mountain road. He’d made a few dumb moves when he was that age. Shit. He was lucky to be alive.

A loud bang pulled his attention toward the stage. A boom that held the lights had fallen and hit the stage hard. He hurried toward the crash. He didn’t release his breath until he confirmed no one had been crushed. He wanted to think that no one had been hurt all night. But he couldn’t claim that until everyone had left and he’d searched the property and the woods around it.

Colton stood by the stage. He didn’t look upset, stressed, or tired as the crew dismantled the boom. He looked relaxed, given the carnage around him.

Taggart walked up to Colton. “The rest of your security team never arrived.”

Rafe looked shocked. “The company screwed me. I paid for twenty guys. I got three.”

Taggart remembered Kevin. And he’d seen the two other guards from a distance after midnight. “It was chaos last night.”