Love Under Two Outfitters by Cara Covington (best novels for teenagers .TXT) 📕

community, and the prospects business-wise had been good. Also listed as an incidental asset was the current inventory. They had suppliers they dealt with for Edgers, Denver that they’d likely deal with in Waco. They’d look for local manufactures as well. So the inventory on hand, though it would be theirs once the building was ready to open, was not germane to their business. Cameron Drake, their contractor, had arranged for the building to be inspected prior to construction. Ken checked the email he’d received from Cam the day before they’d left Lusty for Cyprus Valley. The appointment was to have been this morning.

Ken’s mind wandered just long enough to wonder if it had been Cam and the inspector, arriving on the site, who’d discovered the fire. Then Ken reined his thoughts back in.

Based on the results of that inspection, if they chose to renovate, then the building would have been insured, so that there was protection in place during the construction. He, himself, had arranged the details with the Texas insurance company their Colorado insurer had suggested. The main purpose of that coverage would be liability, not loss of asset.

Ken’s documents—copies of the sales contract as well as all the emails concerning every decision with regard to the purchase and the pending insurance coverage—all lined up so neatly and ready to send would be damn good circumstantial evidence against any claims of illegality on their part.

He didn’t take this need to be defensive, to ensure they had all their ducks in a row, personally. If a crime had been committed, then the authorities had to investigate. Personally, he’d be mad as hell if they didn’t look at every quarter and overturn every stone. Of course, he and Ian would be the first “suspects.” It was their job to ensure they could offer sufficient evidence that the police would eliminate them and then look for the real perpetrator.

Ken took a moment to review the latest inventory list for the place. Travis had kept his insurance in place on the inventory. That coverage was due to end at the end of the month. That was why they wanted to get a move on the assessment and begin the work. They wanted the building cleared out and the inventory stored in advance of the beginning of the renovations.

He sat back and considered the sum total of the documents he had ready to forward to the police when—not if—he was asked to submit them.

“Ken?”

He looked up and met Ian’s gaze in the mirror. “We’re good, Ian. I’ve got every document I need ready to send.”

“I’m thinking that we may be better than good. Jake’s there with Jordan, and that one little thing that he asked us to do, the day we signed that contract, we did immediately. So maybe there’ll be a clue.”

“What did Jake ask you to do?”

He could see Alice’s face reflected in her visor mirror. He read the worry there, and he could have kicked himself. She was seriously worried about this development, and that was their fault.

“He asked us to have security cameras set up, both inside the store and outside, as one part of a full security package that would include coverage of doors and windows, once work started in earnest. We’re really all right, sweetheart. The police will, of course, look at us first. One of the oldest scams in the world is to buy a new business, allegedly for renovation purposes, and then torch the place for the insurance money.”

“But since the building wasn’t insured, they can’t look at us as suspects.”

Alice’s eyes widened, and her lips formed a perfect “O.” “Not insured? Oh, my God!”

“Easy, tiger.” Ian reached over to her. He picked up her hand and kissed it. Ken smiled. His cousin was as smitten with Alice as he was himself.

“We bought the business, not the building,” Ian explained. “It was the business history and client list as well as its position in the marketplace that were the most important assets to us. The rest we considered incidental. It would have been insured somewhat once construction began. And in this case, as Ken can tell you, no coverage really is a bonus for us.”

“If there’s no insurance coverage, there can’t be any insurance fraud. We’d have no motive to torch the place.”

Alice tilted her head to the side, a sign he’d already learned meant she was thinking about what she’d just heard.

One damn fine quality our woman possesses is her ability to think.

“Well, that all just makes perfect sense. Edgers is a different sort of company than Travis Sporting Goods. What you bought, then, essentially, is the position in the Texas market, as an opening.”

“Essentially, yes,” Ken said. “Tourists who head to Colorado are not necessarily also going to vacation in Texas.”

“So the building itself didn’t matter. The land, possibly. But the building, no.”

“That’s right. And before you ask, the inventory was insured—but not by us. Travis still has that covered, and owns the inventory, until the end of the month.”

“Fair enough. But if the Waco cops get nasty, I’m still going to be pissed. They’ll have to deal with me.”

Ken met her gaze in the mirror. “That’s two triggers for me. Your going all anal and your offering to defend us.”

“Well, that’s only fair, because the way you both took care of me every time we crossed that bridge to and from the treehouse sure as hell triggered me.”

Her smile back at him was sexy as hell. He looked down at the work he had left to do—not much more than a few minutes’ worth.

He met Ian’s gaze in the mirror. “Are we stopping to grab a coffee or driving straight through?”

“We’ll stop in about ten minutes. Think you can finish in time?”

Alice looked over at Ian and then back at Ken.

He held her gaze. “Ian knows I need to hold you. I’d better get this work done so that when he pulls off the highway, you can join me back here and