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“Cut the crap, Trey. Why'd you fire Mark?”
Trey stepped out onto the porch where I was standing, closing the door behind him. “I made a business decision, Ms. Preston. I don’t recall needing your approval or the approval of any of the other staff here to do that.”
“I see,” I replied, coolly. “So what does that mean for me? Are you going to fire me too?”
“Of course not. Your duties will be reassigned once again. I believe Jenna requires some help over at the plantation house. I think your services could be put to good use over there. You can report to Jenna tomorrow. She can show you the ropes, and get you the proper period costume.”
Oh no way, I thought. He had no intention of firing me. He preferred to make me so miserable that I'd quit.
“By the way, Ms. Preston,” he said, eyeing my tight jean shorts, “I wouldn’t recommend your wearing those ‘Daisy Dukes’ to work. It kind of kills the whole culture we try to sell here at Sinclair’s Le Vie Belle Plantation. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have company waiting.”
He turned and retreated back into the house to Charlotte. I made my own hasty retreat back up the path to the cottages. I went up to my porch, opening the screen door. There was a folded piece of paper between the two doors. I opened the door and quickly entered the cottage, shutting and locking the door behind me. I unfolded the paper.
It was a printout of a digital photo. The picture was of Mark and I kissing on my porch, the porch light illuminated our faces perfectly. Unfortunately, the picture didn’t depict the part where I stopped the kiss. A message was written underneath the picture:
"I’m sure your boyfriend enjoyed this picture. Once a whore, always a whore"
That's it! I’d had enough of Jenna’s cattiness. I’d had enough of Trey’s obnoxiousness. I grabbed my purse, checking my wallet to see how much cash I had. I counted $127 in cash. My bank account had over $1400 in it. That'd be enough to last me for a while. I packed my suitcase with as much as it could hold. I grabbed my cell and called Denise, thankful when she answered.
“Denise, don’t say my name please if Ray's close by. This is Tylar.”
“I know who it is darlin’, why the suspense?”
“Is Ray there right now?”
“No, he won’t be back for another hour, why?”
“Denise, I need you to do me a big favor. It has to be just between you and me though. Do you promise?”
“What is it Tylar? Tell me what you need.”
I glanced at the clock on the microwave. Fifteen minutes had passed since I'd talked to Denise. She should be pulling into the drive any minute now so I shoved my cell phone and charger into my purse, and locked my cottage door behind me. I'd have to collect the rest of my things later. Maybe Denise would do it for me. Just as I turned to walk down the steps of my porch, I spotted Jenna coming down the path.
“Well, well, what have we here? Have you found someone new to shack up with?” she chided, nodding at my suitcase. I set my suitcase down, and calmly approached her.
“You're the biggest and most hateful bitch I've ever had the misfortune to come in contact with,” I hissed at her. I must've presented somewhat of an intimidating front because she backed up a couple of steps. I whipped the folded photo out of my purse and handed it to her.
“I believe this is yours, you skank,” I spat.
Her eyes widened as she opened the paper. “Nice picture,” she commented, “it doesn’t belong to me, though.”
“Yeah, right. And you're not the one who took it and then made copies, leaving this on my door?” I didn’t mention anything about Trey getting a copy. I wanted to see what she had to say about it.
“Sorry, no,” she said.
“Jenna, I saw you in your cottage the evening that Mark walked me back to mine. I saw you peeking out from your window through the mini-blinds. That window right there in your bedroom, you can see my front porch from it.”
“That’s right Nancy Drew, I can and I did. I saw him kiss you, I also saw you break it off. But I didn’t take a picture of it.”
I didn’t know whether to believe her or not. She was close enough, had opportunity, and certainly had a motive for wanting revenge no matter how twisted it was.
“Look at the picture again,” she demanded.
I studied it. It was taken from a distance away, but the distance wasn't off to the side of my cottage; the distance was directly in front of my cottage, over beyond the path and bushes. Someone had taken that picture from a spot hiding in the bushes. I suddenly realized Jenna couldn't have snapped the photo.
“There you go, Sherlock,” she said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve nothing more to say to you.”
I watched as she went up the path then into her cottage. I hadn’t considered that it could have been anyone other than Jenna. Now this was getting creepy. I grabbed my suitcase, scurrying down the darkened path toward the stables. I quickly said goodbye and kissed Derringer. I had no time for tears right now. Those would have to come later.
