Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

word. She didn’t, and he felt better.
“All right. We’ll talk in your office.”
Bo sounded more tired than he had in a long time, and Sam hated it. He left an arm around Bo, keeping him close. Bo didn’t protest, for which Sam was grateful. With Bo held against one side and Dean’s solid, supportive presence on the other, he followed Lex and Carl up the path to the office.
Chapter Ten
    Sam could tell Bo was trying not to show how much his leg bothered him, but it wasn’t working. He clung to Sam much harder than he normally would have as they made their way up the steps, and the crease between his brows announced his discomfort clearly in spite of his carefully neutral expression. Sam couldn’t help giving him a worried look as they entered the office together and Bo sank into a chair with a tiny grunt.
    “I believe we know what Anne said to you,” Bo began before anyone else could speak. “She saw Sam and me in somewhat of a compromising position, right?”
    Lex blushed and looked away. “Well, yes, actually.”
Bo nodded, his face grim. “Thought so. And what do you intend to do about it?”
Carl blinked. “Nothing. Or, well, it doesn’t change anything about our decision to hire your company to investigate the Lodge. She claimed you were acting unprofessionally, but since we have no guests here at the moment and you believed yourselves to be alone, Lex and I feel we have no business making that judgment. I hope you’ll stay and finish the investigation.”
Bo’s expression softened a little. “Thank you, we fully intend to finish. But what I meant was, what do you intend to do about Anne?”
Surprised, Sam stared at Bo’s profile. Bo looked calm, but determined.
Clearly flustered, Lex darted her gaze from Bo to her husband and back again. “Oh. Well, we told her in no uncertain terms that not only do we not consider a person’s sexuality to be an issue, whether it’s a guest or employee we’re talking about, we also couldn’t see that your behavior was in any way unprofessional. She was pretty upset, but she can’t very well do anything about it. If our decision bothers her that much, she’s welcome to quit.”
“She’s a good worker, but this homophobia of hers is getting to be downright disruptive.” Leaning against the desk, Carl rolled his eyes. “After last time, I’m not sure we want to keep her around in any case.”
Sam frowned. “Last time?”
Lex and Carl exchanged meaningful glances, and seemed to come to a silent agreement. “Okay,” Lex said. “I’m telling you this because I believe you need to know, considering the circumstances, but it goes no further than this room. Agreed?”
Sam, Bo and Dean all looked at each other. Sam shrugged. “Fine with me. Whatever it is, I won’t tell a soul.”
“Same here,” Dean chimed in.
“It stays between us,” Bo promised. “What happened?”
Sighing, Lex went to stand beside her husband. “The last time Harry was in town to pick up his medicine—before this time, I mean—Anne happened to be in town as well, on her week’s break. She saw him coming out of the pharmacy with a strange man, and thought they looked, as she put it, ‘a little too friendly’. So she followed them. They went to a motel together and stayed there all night.”
“So she saw them together, assumed they were lovers and followed them, then staked out the hotel to make sure.” Sam’s stomach rolled. “Jesus.”
“Okay, that’s just scary,” Dean declared, rubbing his arms.
Bo sat perfectly still, his eyes glinting with something indefinable. “So this woman basically stalked one of her fellow employees, then came to you and told you all she’d seen, hoping what? You’d fire him?”
Carl cleared his throat and shifted his feet. “I guess so, yes.”
“And yet she’s still working here.”
Bo’s voice was flat and inflectionless, but Sam read his fury in his eyes and in the tension in the shoulder under Sam’s hand. Sam moved his palm up to stroke Bo’s braid. He took comfort in the small touch, and it usually helped soothe Bo’s anger.
“She accepted it without argument when we reprimanded her.” Lex twisted her fingers together. “And she hasn’t done any such thing since.”
“You told us before that she said derogatory things to Sandra when she was first hired.” Dean perched on the arm of Bo’s chair, opposite where Sam stood. “How derogatory, exactly?”
Lex hunched her shoulders. Something about the shrinking look