AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let’s go to the hotel,” Birgit urged, heading toward Chris and his truck. “It’s time to celebrate.”
ChapterEight
One month later
Fifty-four-year-old Leavenworth businesswoman Anita J. Holstead and her forty-nine-year-old partner James H. Gall, former Mayor of Leavenworth, have pleaded guilty to over thirty counts of felony harassment and vandalism at their arraignment last Friday, January 23. Holstead and Gall are facing these charges after a month-long string of domestic terrorist attacks they inflicted on another local hotel,The Mystic Refuge (TMR).
TMR is owned by local sisters Birgit, Frieda, and Heidi Strauss. While none of the Strauss sisters offered to comment, police reports indicate that…
“Anything good in there?”
Frieda looked up from the front page ofThe Leavenworth Journal, smiling as she heard Regan’s voice. She folded the paper and tossed it on the coffee table, sitting in front of her in the lobby, and then leaned back into the plush couch.
“Nothing we don’t already know,” Frieda replied.
Regan chuckled as he took a seat beside her, his eyes glancing down at the paper before returning to her.
“So, how does it feel to be done with all of that?” he asked. “Stress-free, I hope.”
Frieda rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“I wish.” She sighed. “But after the story broke out, we’ve been busier than ever. Resort investors have come out from all over in hopes of owning stock in the hotel, and our booking system has been swamped with reservations even though the pools haven’t been fixed yet.”
“I heard there was even talk of a movie script being passed around?” Regan asked, nudging Frieda’s knee with his own.
“Yeah.” Frieda laughed, rolling her eyes. “Could you imagine? But Birgit, Heidi, and I quickly shut that down. We just want to get back to normal, you know? We barely got this place up and running before the drama started, and we just want the opportunity to figure out where to go from here.”
“Well, personally, I think that’s a wise decision,” Regan replied. “Besides, I have no idea who I would pick to play me in a movie. What do you think? Liam Neeson?”
Frieda giggled, happy that Regan didn’t just disappear back into the woods after Anita and Jimmy were arrested. Instead, after he was released from police custody, he began visiting a few times a week. He’d always say hi to Birgit, Heidi, Lorrie, and Cynthia, but then he would come to wherever Frieda was working−usually in the kitchen−and visit with her for a few hours.
“Definitely Liam Neeson,” she agreed. “What about me?”
Regan made a show of looking at Frieda’s face this way and that, moving his fingers up to make a square around her face.
“I’m thinking a young Elizabeth Taylor,” he replied.
“Well, great,” she joked. “All we need is a time machine and then maybe we can give this movie thing a go.”
“Darn, mine broke,” Regan replied, slapping his knee.
Frieda sighed and shook her head, going along with the bit.
“That’s a shame. The movie really could have been something,” she replied, grinning.
“Hey, you two,” Pierce greeted, joining them in the lobby. “What’s the word?”
Frieda picked up the paper and tossed it into Pierce’s lap as he sat down.
“Oh, yeah.” He chuckled, picking it up. “I saw this. It was weird seeing my name in the paper, but I thought they described my valiant efforts quite well.”
“Yes, they really made you out to be the hero you are,” Frieda replied sarcastically.
“Hey, I think all of us deserve that title, don’t you, babe?” Davis asked, walking up with Heidi.
“Well, especially Pierce,” she teased. “He’s the one that got the bear out of here.”
Davis suddenly pressed his hand to his chest, looking hurt. “But I’m the one that called him.”
