Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

in her eyes gave Sam a very bad feeling.
“It didn’t seem that bad at the time,” Lex said. “It only seemed problematic in hindsight. Sandra had already been working here for over a year when we hired Anne. When Anne found out Sandra’s a lesbian, she called Sandra a dyke and expressed the fear that Sandra would hit on her if they had to room together. We reminded her that we had very limited space to house our staff, and told her if those arrangements weren’t satisfactory to her we’d have to let her go. We also informed her that we didn’t tolerate our workers being disrespectful to anyone, not guests and not fellow employees, and she never did it again as far as I know.”
Bo leaned forward in the chair, elbows on knees and hands clasped together. “Lex, I think you and Carl should tell Detective Parsons what you just told me.”
Carl’s eyebrows went up. “Why?”
Sam thought he knew. Catching Dean’s eye, he saw the same fear, and the same ugly suspicion.
“Because Anne has a history of not simply being homophobic, but acting on that phobia,” Bo explained, his voice calm and quiet. “She came to the conclusion that Harry was gay—based on purely circumstantial evidence, I might add—then stalked him and attempted to have him fired for it. Most likely her behavior has nothing to do with Harry’s disappearance, since no one’s found any sign of foul play so far. But it is kind of an interesting juxtaposition, and I think the detectives would like to know.”
Lex and Carl looked at each other, identical expressions of guilty realization on their faces. “You’re right,” Carl said. “I didn’t think of that before, but it makes sense.”
“We’ll tell them as soon as they finish talking with the staff.” Moving around behind the desk, Lex dropped into the chair with a deep sigh. “I swear, if the Lodge survives this whole thing still financially solvent, it’ll be a miracle.”
Carl perched on top of the desk, reached across and took his wife’s hand. “We’ll make it, honey. We always do.”
She gave him a wan smile, but didn’t answer. Sam read her worry in the crease between her eyes and the tension in her shoulders. He wished he could reassure her, but he couldn’t think of anything comforting to say that wouldn’t be a lie.
“Is that all you had to tell us?” Sam asked, his hand still toying with Bo’s braid.
Lex nodded. “Yes. We’ve already reprimanded her and warned her that if any such thing happens again we’ll be forced to let her go.”
Rising to his feet, Dean crossed his arms and frowned. “Do you think that’s enough? I mean I know y’all know her better than I do, but she said some pretty hair-raising things to me earlier.”
Lex shot him a sharp look. “What do you mean? What things?”
“Well for one thing she said it was inexcusable that y’all hire gay people. She also said gays are, and I quote, ‘an abomination’ and the government should get rid of all of them.” A visible shudder ran through Dean’s body. “She came and ranted to me right after she saw Sam and Bo kissing, before she told y’all. It gave me the creeps. I didn’t tell her this, but I’m bisexual. I’m sure she’d have a field day with that.”
Carl hunched his shoulders. “Damn. Lex?”
A weary groan escaped Lex’s lips. “We need to fire her, before she causes us real trouble with a guest or another employee. And we need to let the detectives know about the incident with Harry.”
“And you need to tell them those inflammatory things she said to you,” Bo added, pointing at Dean. “You didn’t tell us before exactly what she’d said to you. I don’t like it at all.”
“Neither do I.” Scrunching his face up, Dean sat on the arm of Bo’s chair again. “So what do we do now?”
Lex rose from her chair and skirted the desk. “Carl and I will go wait for the detectives to finish questioning the staff, then we’ll tell them all about Anne and her behavior. I can either send them to your cabin after we’re finished, or send someone to get you so you can talk to them in the dining hall or our office. What would you prefer?”
Sam and Bo glanced at each other. One corner of Bo’s mouth hitched up in an unexpected half-smile. His eyes glittered with a dark fire. Sam knew that look. Twice a day wasn’t the norm for them, but it wasn’t unheard of either. He bit his lip.
“I’m sure the police will have other questions for us,” Bo said, his voice