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“Maybe everyone knew we were coming,” she quipped, sliding into the bench across from him.
Colton laughed, and Cassie felt most of the interested gazes turn back to their meals, though she was sure that Jessica as well as her father cast more than one sidelong glance in their direction.
A slow smile spread across Colton’s face, and he leaned back casually, his dark hair falling over his forehead, his face a mask of ease.
A tiny waitress with a brunette ponytail swinging behind her and a uniform that matched the upholstery hurried toward their table. “Hi, I’m Penny,” she said a trifle breathlessly as she handed them each a plastic-covered menu. “The specials tonight are stuffed trout and prime rib. I’ll give you a few minutes to look over the menu, then I’ll be back for your order.” With a quick smile she scurried to the next table. She seemed nervous and flustered, as if this were her first night on the job.
Cassie quickly scanned the menu, which she knew by heart. After Vanessa had left, her father had brought her to the Pinewood every Thursday night. Though the restaurant had changed hands and decor several times, the menu hadn’t varied much.
“I’ll have the game hen,” she decided when Penny appeared again. Colton ordered a steak and fries. Penny scribbled furiously, biting on her lower lip as she concentrated.
“Dessert?”
“Not for me,” Cassie replied.
“I’ll wait until after my meal,” Colton put in.
“It’ll just be a few minutes.” Penny walked quickly to the counter, filled their drink orders and returned to set a glass of iced tea in front of Cassie and a chilled glass and bottle of beer on Colton’s side of the table.
“If you need anything else, just let me know,” she said, eager to please. As she dashed through swinging doors leading to the kitchen, Cassie sipped her tea and Colton nursed his beer. The front door swung open again, and a rush of cool night air followed a young man into the pine-paneled room.
Cassie looked casually toward the door, and her fingers tightened over her glass. Ryan Ferguson, his helmet tucked under one arm, strode to a booth near the front window, where a pulsating green-and-yellow neon sign promoted a local brand of beer.
Colton saw her lips part in surprise. “See a ghost?”
“We’re not in the ghost town anymore,” she replied, turning back to him.
But Colton’s eyes narrowed on the man Cassie had watched entering the room. Tall and fit, with unkempt dusty blond hair and small brown eyes, he carried himself with a cocky aloofness that was emphasized by his black leather jacket and pants. Colton guessed his age around twenty-five, give or take a couple of years.
With obvious disdain, the man tossed his motorcycle helmet onto the seat next to him, unzipped his jacket and searched in a pocket for a pack of cigarettes. He didn’t glance around the room at all and seemed in a world of his own as he lit up and blew a stream of smoke toward the ceiling.
“You know him?” Colton asked, wondering if the man had been Cassie’s lover, then immediately discarded the idea. Cassie may have had her share of half-baked love affairs in the past years, but instinctively Colton guessed this guy wasn’t her type.
“Don’t you?”
Colton shook his head. “Should I?”
“He grew up around here. Worked for Denver. And now I guess he’s going to work for Dad. His name is Ryan Ferguson.”
The name sent off warning bells clanging through the back of Colton’s mind. “Isn’t he the guy you thought might have been out to get Denver because Denver fired him a while back?”
“One and the same. He’s back in town.”
“As of when?” Colton’s mind raced to new conclusions. Was Ryan Ferguson the key to the puzzle of Black Magic’s disappearance? Colton’s gaze shifted quickly around the room. Several people had noticed Ryan’s entrance. Bill Simpson’s gray brows rose, then he turned back to his wife. Vince Monroe’s eyes narrowed on the younger man. Colton swung his gaze back to Cassie. He asked again, “When did Ferguson blow back into town?”
Lifting a shoulder, Cassie swirled her straw in her tea. A lemon wedge shifted between the ice cubes. “I don’t really know—a little while.”
“And he’s been working for your dad?”
“No. Dad just hired him this afternoon.”
Colton’s thoughts turned a new corner. Was it possible that Ryan Ferguson and Ivan Aldridge had been in on the horse-napping together? He didn’t want to think so. “He doesn’t look like the type your father would want hanging around.”
“Dad needs help.” She offered a feeble smile. “Because of my job, I’m gone a lot—a lot more than either Dad or I imagined. And I’ll be moving out soon.”
Colton’s head snapped up. This was news. Cassie was actually going to cut the strings that bound her to Ivan? “Where to? When?”
“Probably an apartment here in town, sometime this summer.”
