Lori’s cheeks lifted. “Do you think it’s one of his scripts?”
Beau shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s good. Knight good.”
Lori’s eyes caught something behind him and darkened. Beau turned around to find two uniformed police officers coming through the front door.
They pinned him in place with their stare.
Beau blinked.
“Beau Mckay?” asked the larger of the two. He was Hawaiian built and trimmed out.
Beau wondered what protein he used. “Yeah?”
“You’re under arrest for providing alcohol to minors.”
Beau shook his head. “What?”
Another officer came in with a girl who looked as green as the Spanish moss hanging from the trees in his back yard. She was in handcuffs. “Do you know this girl?” demanded the first officer.
Beau leaned down to get a better look at the mouse of a girl. Her black hair was pulled in a messy knot at the top of her head, and she wouldn’t look him in the eye. He could honestly say he’d never seen her before in his life. “Nope.”
“We found her swimming in your fountain, blood alcohol level’s point-one.”
Beau coughed. How was the girl still standing? Of course, she was so small that it wouldn’t take more than one drink to inebriate her.
The cool sting of metal hit Beau’s wrists as the aloha officer cuffed him. “Wait—I didn’t buy this girl a drink.” He twisted his other hand out of the cop’s reach. They locked eyes, two gunslingers ready to go.
Lori stepped forward. “Officer, I can assure you this girl was not on the guest list. If she’s here, she’s trespassing.”
“Tell it to the guys downtown.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Beau turned his cuffed wrist.
“No, sir.” The big guy twisted Beau’s hand behind his back, snagged his free hand, and clicked the cuffs in place.
“Hey now.” Beau struggled against his hold.
The cop lifted Beau’s hands, stretching his shoulders.
“All right. All right.” Beau stopped wiggling and moved with the armed posse towards the door, his gut churning with anger. He had other things to do besides defend himself against false charges. There was the script, but more importantly, there was script girl.
Lori moved to follow him out the door, her lips pressed in a firm line.
“No, you’ve got to talk to Knight. Get that contract.”
She put her hands on her hip. “What are you going to do, rot in a cell?”
“I’ll call Mark—just do it, please. It’s important.”
She threw her hands in the air. “Actors.”
He grinned the whole way to the car, which probably didn’t look all that great in the photos his guests snapped with their cell phones. Beau Mckay being hauled off to jail and smiling about it would make the front page. But he didn’t care. Lady Luck was shining on him tonight. By noon tomorrow, he’d know the name of his mystery woman. That was a victory.
Chapter 4
With a heavy heart, Cindy changed the filter in the Evolved coffee machine and started a nonfat caramel latte. She’d become quite the barista over the last two years, thanks to the industrial brewer that probably cost more than her salary.
Not for the first time, Cindy wondered how Stepmother could afford thesimple pleasures,as she called them, when they couldn’t afford to pay their regular employees. The sense that another round of downsizing was on the way pervaded the office, making the staff walk on eggshells when Patricia or her daughters were in the office.
