GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (17 page)

“I know his father died several years ago
.
The company was slipping into some serious financial trouble until Sam stepped in
.
He combined his company, SST Marketing
,
with the shipping company and the money started pouring in
.
I remember there was
quite
a
media
frenzy
when he
took his father’s place. You know how the media feeds off
rich playboys and their endless string of gorgeous
women
…
”
Gina stopped
abruptly
.
“Oh, Beth, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean
…
”

Beth smiled reassuringly
.
“Don’t worry about it, Gina
.
I’m well aware of Sam’s reputation before we met
.
Go on, tell me more.
”

Gina grimaced.
“Are you sure you want to hear this?”

“I’m sure
.
Besides, it will give me ammunition when he gets out of line.”

Gina settled back in her chair
.
“Well, the gossip magazines had catchy little headlines like,
Travis jumps ship again
, or crude references as to whose port he was pulling into that week
.
Anyway, there was some big scandal about a year later involving Sam,
and
then
suddenly
all the stories just stopped
.
I think he must have
shelled out
some pretty big bucks to keep his name out of the tabloids.”

An ominous sense of foreboding settled in the pit of
Beth’s
stomach
.
“What kind of scandal?”

Gina’s eyes wavered for a moment
.
“I
…
I really don’t recall.
”
She jumped up
.
“I’ve got to run before my cover is blown
.
Look, Beth, considering the source, I doubt there’s even a fraction of truth to the stories.”

She suspected
Gina could relay every detail about the scandal Sam was involved in but didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable
by asking more questions
.
I
f she wanted to
discover what happened
, she
would
just have to look into it herself
.
Beth
sat there for a while after Gina left
.
She couldn’t say it bothered her exactly
;
it was more
like the unsettling feeling
that
his past indiscretions
was something she would have to deal with until she and Sam had been together long enough to dispel all the old gossip and rumors
.

P
eople w
ere going to
look at her as just one in a line of many for quite some time, but that was okay
.
When Evan Drake told her she was nothing to Sam but another notch on his bedpost, the fear that he was right had kicked in hard and strong
.
But the more she’d thought about it, the less worried she’d become
.
Sam loved her
,
and it was quite obvious he’d never given any of those other
women
a second thought, let alone a second date.

Beth
had every reason in the world to be jealous, to suspect their relationship wouldn’t last long based on
Sam’s
history, but somehow she knew it was just as real for him as it was for her
.
In a strange way,
the fact
that
he
ha
d confessed to being every bit as scared as she was actually comforted her
.
If he’d walked into it with the same bold confidence he did everything else, she probably would have been concerned
.

She shrugged it off
.
After all, if the other women meant nothing to him, why should they mean anything to her
?
Sam loved her
.
She knew it, felt it with every breath that she took
.
Beth didn’t know where it was all
leading
. B
ut for now
,
Sam
was hers
,
and she was going to grab every moment
of happiness that
she could
and hold on tight.

Shoving the
conversation with Gina aside, Beth pulled out the file on her new case and started to read
.
Tomorrow she
was
starting a new assignment in Laguna Beach
and was really
looking forward to
it.
Her
cover story
was simple; she was playing the rol
e
of a spoiled heiress who was staying at the exclusive country club’s hotel while her rich
daddy
and
mommy
were off in Europe somewhere
.

It
seemed
one of the
hotel
employees was
slipping
the guest’s rooms
while they were away
and making off with expensive jewelry
,
as well as whatever cash they could find
.
There were never signs of forced entry, so it had to be someone with a pass key.
Because the maids always left the door open when cleaning, not mention being on a
tight schedule, they had been eliminated from the lengthy list of possible suspects. A small consolation, considering there were more than one hundred and fifty other people employed by the hotel.

Whoever was responsible for the thefts not only had a pass key, but was also skilled at cracking the small safes in the
suites.
An
d
he…or she
was
careful
not
to pilfer
the bigger, more valuable pieces of jewelry, probably because it was easier to pawn small pieces that weren’t worth enough to be easily remembered. Even though the losses could have
been much worse,
word was spreading quickly that the Laguna Beach Country Club
hotel
wasn’t
the
place to be if you wanted to keep your jewelry or cash.

Phil Rodchester,
the hotel manager, had given Beth a list detailing employee names,
job titles, and
schedules
.
She spent a great deal of time cross referencing
employee
work schedules with dates and approximate times of the thefts
and
disregarded
anyone hired
after the thefts began
.
Although she couldn’t completely rule out the kitchen staff,
they were moved to the bottom of the list. It was highly unlikely anyone working the kitchen or restaurant could disappear for more than a few minutes without being missed.

Beth also tentatively eliminated shop workers, lifeguards
,
and the staff at the front
desk
.
It wasn’t likely they could leave their posts without someone noticing or complaining the help was missing
.
That left the instructors for tennis, golf
,
and swimming
,
as well
as
groundskeepers, masseuses, and bellhops
. Beth shifted the remaining thirty-three employees into the prime focus category.

She tapped her pen on the pad,
contemplating the necessity of taking
one of her investigators
along
.
Having work schedules helped, but it was physically impossible to keep a close watch on t
hirty-three employees
all by
herself
. Back up was definitely called for.

Beth pressed
the intercom button
.
“Vic, who’s the best person to take with me to the Laguna Beach Country Club?”

“Cute or sexy?”

“I’m playing cute so give me sexy.”

“You want a girlfriend or boyfriend?”

“Make it a cousin
,
and let’s go with male so we can run in different circles.”

There was a short
pause
before
Vic replied
. “We’ll have to use one of our freelance investigators
.”

“Any particular reason why?”

“
Reggie is
the only male investigator available
right now
.
God love him, but he’s
simply
too old to play the
c
ountry
c
lub scene.
”

Beth laughed
.
“Vic, he’s only forty-six.”

“Yes, but that e
xcludes
him from the younger circles
.
If we go a little younger, say thirty
or so
, our man can
target any female
from eighteen to fifty.”

“I hate it when you’re right,” she groaned
.

“You love it when I’m right,” Vic corrected her
.
“
That’s
why you asked me to begin with
.
Let me pull a few files and check availability
.
I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Beth examined
the chart showing the layout of the country club
.
From the elevated deck just outside the pool area, she would have a visual of the tennis courts and instruction area for golf. The bellhops would be difficult to keep tabs on
, which meant she’d need a third person on the job with her and whoever Vic came up with.
Beth was mentally running through the cost of hiring an additional investigator when Vic tapped on her door and waltzed in without waiting for a reply.

“I’ve got three to choose from.
”
He dropped the files
on her desk.

Beth immediately handed on
e
back.
“He’s too good-looking
.
Any woman with an inferiority complex would know something was up if he started keeping company with her.
”
She eyed the other two files
.
“I’ve decided I need two people for this one
.
Let’s use Justin Oliver for the bellhop
.
I’ll call the manager and have him hired on immediately
.
Call
Mark Ramos and tell him he’s playing the part of my sexy cousin.
”
“You got it.”

"
Ask
him
to drop by here at
ten tomorrow morning dressed like a pampered rich man’s kid
.
I’ll also need you to get into the vault and pull out some jewelry
.
I want small, fairly expensive pieces
:
pins, rings, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces for me
.
Grab a nice watch, a few rings
,
and some gold chains for Mark.”
 

“And who will you be morphing into for this one?”

"Pull
the
ID and paperwork for Lizzie Sweet
.
I haven’t used that one for a
while.”
 

“How does your boyfriend feel about you staying at the hotel for a few days?”

“I’m not sure
.
I haven’t told him yet but I will tonight
.
I’ve been thinking it would be fun to have him stay there with me
.
He’s handsome, rich, and it wouldn’t be out of place for him to be there
.
Plus it would add to my bad girl persona to be hanging out with a man who has such a reputation with the ladies.”

“It would also keep away the
letches
that inevitably try to worm their way into your bed.”

She laughed at the deep scowl on Vic’s face
.
“You worry about me too much.”