“Yeah. We’ll call Kelsey and Jane in a few minutes. I doubt they’ve eaten,” Logan said. “How’s the food?”
“The food here is good,” Liz assured him. “I’ll be right back.”
She returned swiftly with the drinks. As she did, Cy Tyburn came into the bar; he walked up to Valerie where she was singing and stood, hat in hand, sighing. She smoothly switched songs, and he joined her in a sweet duet. The heroine and the hero, singing together. When the song was over, Cy slipped away, coming to their table. “Sheriff. How’s it going?” he asked anxiously.
“Sit down,” Sloan said. Cy glanced at Logan and smiled awkwardly. “Hey.”
“Cy, this is Logan Raintree, an old friend of mine who now runs Jane’s FBI unit. Logan, you’ve seen him perform already. This is our hero in residence, Cy Tyburn.”
Cy and Logan shook hands. “Glad to have you here. Have you learned anything else?” Cy asked, turning nervously from one man to the other.
“We’re working on it. Hey, you need to calm down some,” Sloan said. “How about a beer?”
Cy glanced at his watch. “Yeah, sure, one before the show and I’m actually a better performer. Thanks. That would be great.”
“Your day went well?” Logan asked him.
“Everything was fine. Had so much fun acting out the stories and doing improv with people that I forgot someone might’ve been trying to kill me yesterday,” he said.
Before either could respond, Valerie made her way over to the table. She immediately offered Logan her hand. “Hi. You have to be another officer, right?”
Logan nodded and stood, taking Valerie’s hand, then pulling out a chair for her. She sat, lowering her voice as she spoke. “Have you found out anything? Your friend here—” she nodded at Sloan “—nearly bit my head off today for going to visit people at the hospital.”
“You went to the hospital?” Cy asked her. “Why?”
“Well, I tried to see Zoe and Jimmy—but a muscle-bound suit came after me, and then Sheriff Suspicious here stopped me on the road coming back,” Valerie said indignantly.
Sloan lifted a hand and smiled at Liz. “Can we get two more here?”
“Of course,” she called back.
“Is one for me?” Valerie asked.
“Yes, I’m sorry. Didn’t you want one?”
“Sure. But I would’ve ordered a double Scotch.”
“We do have a show, Valerie,” Cy reminded her.
“Yeah, one that could wind up putting us in a hospital, too,” she muttered.
“If you’re afraid to perform, I can close this place down,” Sloan said.
Valerie sniffed. “If you closed it down, we’d have nowhere to go. And no money to get someplace else, anyway.” She leaned into the table. “I don’t think anywhere in this town is safe, so it doesn’t matter, does it?”
Liz delivered two more glasses of beer. “You could get out of town,” Logan said politely.
“Do you know how hard it is to get acting jobs these days? If I were in L.A., there’d be a million girls like me trying for one role. I have a great character to work with here, and I want to stay with the ensemble for another year. That’ll help my résumé... I can’t leave here now,” Valerie told him.
“I could,” Cy said thoughtfully.
“Stop it, Cy!”
“Hey, you weren’t told that there were live rounds in guns that should have held nothing but blanks!” Cy protested.
“Oh, Lord, Henri’s coming in.” Valerie stood instantly and raised her glass. “Three cheers for the Gilded Lily bartenders and servers!” she called, and moved away from the table, starting another song.
Sloan arched his brows at Logan. There goes our beer glass!
“Well, that girl sure knows how to suck up!” Cy stood, as well, following Valerie around the room, adding his voice to hers in harmony.
“They are good,” Logan commented. “Those two definitely know when and where to pick up on each other’s moves.”
“They do,” Sloan agreed. “I want to keep an eye on those beer glasses, though.”
Henri Coque saw Sloan and Logan and immediately came over to join them. He seemed as eager as anyone else to greet Logan and welcome him, expressing hope that he could help solve whatever was happening to their formerly peaceful town of Lily.
“Sit, Henri, have a drink with us,” Sloan invited.
“Should you be drinking?” Henri asked. “Being on duty and all.”
“I think I’m fine with a beer,” Sloan said, nodding slowly.
“Do you have any information about what’s going on?”
Same question they were all asking, Sloan thought. That made sense, although at least one person—and as yet he didn’t know who—had a private agenda.
“No, but we’re expecting more information back from county anytime now,” he said.