Nightingale Way: An Eternity Springs Novel (28 page)

Gabe asked, “Is that a corset my wife is wearing?”

“Look at the shoes on Sarah,” Cam breathed.

Jack didn’t look closely at the do-me pumps on Sarah Reese’s feet. His gaze scanned right over the crown on
Celeste’s head and the corset around Nic Callahan’s waist. It snagged only briefly on the red leather miniskirt that appeared to have been painted onto Ali. What Jack focused on were the black fishnet stockings, stiletto heels, and red satin dress with a cutaway skirt displaying his ex-wife’s wares to perfection. “That outfit Cat is wearing looks familiar,” Gabe said. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it on a showgirl in Vegas.”

Jack had to clear his throat to get words out. “But they’re not in Vegas, are they? It appears that our ladies are in jail.”

In a small town in southern Colorado, Cat gazed around the nineteenth-century jail cell and took a moment to marvel at the changes that had taken place in her life during the last month. “My mother is going to have a fit.”

“About what?” Ali asked.

“This is the first time I’ve been arrested.”

“Me, too.” Ali tugged at her tight red leather skirt. “Your mother isn’t a former federal judge, is she?”

Cat couldn’t exactly come out and say that her mother worked for the CIA. “No.”

“Count yourself lucky. Mac isn’t in office anymore, but this won’t set well with him. I don’t even want to think about what the kids will say when they hear about it.”

The satisfaction in Ali’s smile had Cat doing a double-take. “You don’t look too worried.”

“Honestly, I’m not. You know, nobody was hurt tonight. Our cause was just, and by gosh, before the trouble started, I got propositioned by a man who had to be at least five years younger than me. All in all, I think Sarah’s quest-for-adventure bachelorette party turned out to be a fine old time.”

“We’re in
jail
, Ali.”

“But it’s a quaint jail.”

These Eternity Springs people are all a bunch of lunatics
. Her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Ali laughed. “It was a fun day. Admit it. Even tonight was fun.”

“ ‘Fun’ is not the word I would have chosen.” But when the door to the outer room opened and Nic, Sarah, and Celeste swept in, their spirits high and the scrapes and cuts they’d received at the Wild, Wild West cleaned and bandaged, she couldn’t deny that the day had been one of the most entertaining in recent memory.

Bar fight notwithstanding.

“We caught a break,” Sarah said, smiling her thanks to the potbellied lawman who unlocked the cell door and motioned for the three women to join Cat and Ali. “Zach had a meeting here today and he’s still in town. Sergeant Wallace called him once I told him where we’re from. Zach is going to take care of everything for us.”

Cat had met Zach Turner, Eternity Springs’s sheriff, on Cam Murphy Day. He was a tall, good-looking man around her own age, she guessed. She understood he’d dated Sarah sometime in the past.

“Are you guys all okay?” Ali asked.

“We’re fine and I’m feeling lucky. The doctor promised me the scrapes would heal before the wedding, so the pictures won’t be ruined.”

“Excellent news,” Celeste said, lifting the hems of both her emerald fake-ermine-trimmed queen’s robe and her gold satin gown in order to perch regally at the foot of the cell’s narrow cot. “I know how concerned you are about the photographs.”

“She’s obsessive about the photographs,” Nic said with a snort. “I made them give her a tetanus shot. The fingernails on that chick were scary.”

The women were comparing notes about the incident at the Wild, Wild West when Zach blew into the building twenty minutes later on a wave of frustration and
concern, stopping dead in his tracks at the sight of them. “I think I just swallowed my teeth.”

“We’ll take that as a compliment,” Sarah said.

“Dressed—or should I say, not dressed—like that, it’s no wonder you started a riot!”

“It wasn’t a riot, and we didn’t start it,” Nic protested.

“That’s not what Sergeant Wallace tells me. Why don’t you share your side of the story?”

Sarah lifted her chin and folded her arms. “If it will stop you from being so snotty, I’m glad to share what happened. We arrived at the Wild, Wild West club about seven-thirty with the understanding that it was a venue for a steampunk-themed mystery dinner theater. Attending a mystery dinner is something I always wanted to do, and Cam said he had no interest in going since it involved costumes, so I figured my bachelorette party would be the perfect time for it.”

“That’s why we ordered the costumes we did,” Nic added. “You were supposed to choose a character and her backstory when you made the reservation. I did that just last week. Last week!”

“So what happened?” Zach asked. “Did they change the script?”

“That’s one way to put it. Sometime between last Thursday and last night, the Wild, Wild West went … wild. No dinner, but definitely theater. The theme was still steampunk, but more biker bar steampunk.”

Zach’s lips thinned. “You all must have been hit on the moment you walked inside.”

“We were, but that wasn’t the problem.”

Celeste nodded. “We actually met some very nice people there before the trouble started.”

Zach closed his eyes at that. “Celeste, I can’t believe that you, of all people, got into a bar fight.”

“Well, I didn’t incite it.”

“Why didn’t you turn around and leave when you figured out the place was a bar?”

“We were on an adventure,” Sarah defended.

Zach shook his head. “I feel for Cam Murphy. I truly do. You women are dangerous.”

“We were,” Cat agreed. “Once we saw what this woman was doing to a dog.”

“A dog?” Zach asked.

“Cerberus.”

“The three-headed dog? He’s supposed to guard the gates of Hell, right?”

Nic said, “This poor dog was on the inside of Hell looking out. He was a pretty thing—a whippet. The bitch had a spiked collar on him.”

Cat added, “With spikes on the
inside
of the collar, mind you.”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t know who was going to blow a gasket first,” Sarah said, “Nic or Cat. Turned out that Ali was the one who started the trouble.”

“I went BMFH on her.”

“BMFH?”

“Bitch Mom From Hell. She reminded me so much of one of my daughter’s friends from high school that I just lost it. Her boyfriend took offense, and then the man Celeste had been talking to got involved, and it all just went downhill from there.”

“Cat rescued the dog,” Celeste added. “That’s her specialty.”

“I couldn’t have done it if you hadn’t kept everyone occupied,” Cat replied. “You should have seen Sarah. She took a giant of a guy out with a well-placed kick to the knee.”

Zach rubbed the back of his neck. “So the fight was over animal abuse?”

“Of course!” Nic said. “Do you think we’d just stand
around and let that go on? Just do nothing like the rest of those idiots? That poor dog was terrified and in pain. We had to help him.”

“Right. Okay.” Zach braced his hands on his hips and frowned at them, one after the other. “I do understand. I’m a dog lover myself.”

Cat beamed at him. “Good, because we need your help with him. The deputy who arrested us wouldn’t let us bring him along. He asked someone in the crowd to take him to the vet.”

“I couldn’t do it because I had my hands full with Sarah,” Nic explained. “She had a little bit of a panic attack about scratches and wedding photographs. And then, of course, there was the whole arrest business.”

“Arrest business,” Zach muttered.

“Will you call the vet and ask how he’s doing?” Cat finished.

“Sure. But look, ladies, this wasn’t exactly the way to solve the problem. You should have called—”

Celeste waved a hand. “There wasn’t time.”

“Sage is going to be really sad she missed it,” Nic added. “She’s been bragging about her ninja moves. She could have put them to use.”

Zach shook his head in wonder. “Scary. Just scary. You know your significant others will not be happy about this. Cam especially. After all, look at what the bar fight at the Bear Cave did to his world.”

Sarah winced at the reminder of the incident that had sent a teenaged Cam Murphy off to juvie jail mere weeks after getting Sarah pregnant. “I know, but everything turned out okay in the end. And I have a first-class bachelorette party story.”

“Which reminds me,” Cat said. “I did get out of there with my purse. Would you get my phone and use the camera function to take a few photos of us for the
Times
before you spring us?”

“You want to put this in the newspaper?”

“Absolutely. The
Times
is a small-town human interest publication. Every human in town will be interested in this story.”

“The dogs will be, too,” Nic added, a twinkle in her eyes. “We’ll be heroes of the canine crowd.”

“You and Cat already are heroes of the four-legged crowd, but these events will secure your place in history.” Celeste stepped in front of Nic and Sarah. “Zach, dear, it’s been a long day and I’m afraid I am feeling my age. Can you help us secure rooms for the night? Unfortunately, there was a problem with our reservations at the B&B. The rooms were double booked. Also, my Honda and the girls’ rental bikes are still at the Wild, Wild West, and we’ll have to make arrangements for getting them tomorrow. The establishment is quite a ways from town.”

“I’m happy to help you get a room, Celeste.” A flicker of regret crossed Zach’s face as he added, “But I’m sorry to say that those bikes won’t be going anywhere.”

“Oh, dear. They’ve been impounded as evidence?”

“No. They’ve all been vandalized.”

“Wait,” Ali said. “Our backpacks were on those bikes. Our clothes.”

“You ladies made some people very mad tonight. Your stuff was completely destroyed.”

Sarah folded her arms. “Now that ticks me off. Speaking of which, how come we are the only ones in jail? They didn’t just arrest
us
, did they?”

“Sergeant Wallace is keeping you separated from the others. The newer jail is on the other side of town. It’s bigger.”

“Whatever. Just get us out of here. I’m calling dibs on the claw-foot tub at the B&B. I need a soak.”

“Well, Sarah.” Zach rubbed the back of his neck. “That soak is gonna have to wait. The sergeant is releasing
Celeste to my care in deference to her age, but the rest of you aren’t going anywhere until morning. You were arrested, remember? That’s kind of how this all works.”

“What?” Nic asked. “They’re keeping us overnight? Here? In jail? But … you’re the sheriff. Can’t you fix it for us?”

“I did. You’re going home in the morning, and we’ll do the legal follow-up from there.”

Cat sat on one of the bunks. She’d slept on worse. “That’s fine. Thank you, Zach. Can you get us a jumpsuit or something to sleep in?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“And don’t forget the photo.”

“Your phone is locked away. I’ll use mine.” He directed them to approach the bars and line up. “Good. That’s it. Now, grip the bars. Celeste, move a little to the right. Excellent. Now, everybody ready? Smile.”

He took two quick shots, then Sarah said, “Maybe he should take one where we’re not smiling. That might be fun.”

Nic said, “Good idea. We can show that one to Sage. She’s going to be so sad about missing tonight’s adventure.”

Zach took the smile-less photo and then thumbed through the images. A wicked smile began to flutter around his mouth, which made Cat wary. Ali noticed, too, and she asked, “What are you doing, Zach?”

“Just keeping my constituents informed.”

Suspiciously, Nic asked, “What constituents?”

He looked up from his phone and flashed them a big grin. Cat knew then which constituents, and so did the others. He was sending the photo to the bachelor party. “Oh, Zach, no,” Sarah pleaded. “Please don’t! You can’t.”

“Sure I can. In fact, I’ve earned the right, because I
couldn’t get out of my meeting in order to go with them. I’ve always wanted to play Pebble Beach.”

“It’s not our fault you had to work!”

“No, but it’s your good luck I’m here to help. Legal strings are hard to cut through here in this county.”

The sexy sheriff laughed like a little boy when he sent those photos off to Gabe, Mac Timberlake, Cam Murphy, and, unfortunately, Jack Davenport, too.

He was still chuckling when he escorted Celeste out of the cell and left them to fend for themselves. An hour later, stretched out on the thinly padded cot and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, Sarah spoke into the darkness. “Was this a great party or what?”

The following morning, as the Eternity Springs sheriff’s van transported them to their hometown, she began to have second thoughts. She suggested to Cat that she might want to refrain from writing about their adventure, after all.

“Oh, come on,” Cat declared. “What sort of reporter would I be if I ignored this story?”

“You would be a good friend reporter.”

Nic laughed. “Lighten up, Sarah. It’s a great story. Nobody was hurt, and the laws that were broken were minor. Ali’s not worried, and her husband is a judge.”

“Former judge,” Ali corrected.