Free Dark Water: A Siren Novel by Tricia Rayburn Page A

the note taped to the garage door. It had been a fluke, a onetime thing. Now that Colin had taken what he’d come for, I’d never again emerge from the water to find him waiting for me. Which meant I’d never again be shocked, instantly drained, and in desperate need of his attention.
    “Vanessa!” Paige waved and jogged toward me as I pulled into the restaurant parking lot. “Thank goodness you’re here!”
    I stopped near the entrance and hopped out.
    “Nice ride.” Paige smiled as she checked out the Jeep. “Beamer in the shop?”
    “Beamer’s with the parents. This is actually—”
    I was cut off by a loud bang. Paige spun around. I looked past her to see one of the construction workers shrug sheepishly as he lifted the wood plank he’d just dropped onto the new porch.
    “They’ve made a lot of progress,” I said. The porch appeared to be complete except for missing railings, and the front of the restaurant had been given another coat of purple paint.
    “Yeah.” Paige nodded. “I think one of the new guys has alittle thing for me. It’s amazing what some old-fashioned flirting can do.”
    I looked at her. She started toward the restaurant.
    “So we had a minor catastrophe first thing this morning,” she called behind her as I hurried to catch up. “Carla came in twenty minutes before her shift started and Louis went ballistic.”
    “Because she was early? Isn’t that a good thing?”
    “Usually.” Reaching the porch, Paige gave the cute, young construction worker a quick smile. He dropped the wood plank again and lunged across the porch to open the door. “Unfortunately, it was pre-caffeine for our favorite chef—and he let everyone know it.”
    The worker held the door open for me, too. I kept my eyes lowered as I thanked him and followed Paige inside.
    “Anyway, Carla had a total meltdown. I tried to do damage control, but I was home when it happened and by the time I got here, it was too late.”
    “Louis fired her?”
    We stopped in the dining room doorway. Paige turned to me and cocked one eyebrow.
    “Right,” I said. “That’s your job.”
    “And I didn’t do it. She was a bit emotional, but I actually thought she had potential.”
    “So what happened?”
    “She quit. Leaving us with zero servers right before the breakfast rush.”
    “There was a rush?” I asked.
    “Well, no. But I was hoping for one.” She held up her phone. “That’s why the emergency meeting and countless texts. I had to rearrange schedules and keep the remaining waitstaff calm. The tips haven’t exactly been rolling in, so they were already on edge. I was afraid they’d all jump ship—some of them did—and that you and I’d have to do double duty.”
    “You know I’d be happy to help however you needed me to.”
    “I do, thank you. But fortunately, that won’t be necessary.”
    She tilted her head back. I leaned to the left and looked past her to the bar … where a pretty blonde was polishing glasses.
    “Natalie?” I said.
    Paige’s eyes lit up. “You know her?”
    “I met her. She came in for lunch the other day.”
    “Well, she came in for breakfast today—just as Carla was tearing off her apron and storming out. There was a family here who’d been seated but hadn’t ordered and a couple still waiting to be seated, and no one was helping them. So Natalie did.”
    “What about Louis?” I asked. “And the other staff? They couldn’t have filled in?”
    “Sure they could’ve. And if Louis hadn’t been so busy howling about how no one quits on him, and if the rest of the staff hadn’t been cowering in the corner of the kitchen, maybe they would’ve.”
    I watched Natalie rearrange wine goblets and shuffle shot glasses. She moved quickly, confidently, like she’d spent quite a bit of time behind a bar counter.
    “She worked at the same restaurant back home in Vermont for five years,” Paige said, as if reading my mind. “She’s here for the summer because her dad