Buried in Secrets (Carly Moore #4) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,1

the back door of the tavern, changed into my T-shirt, then headed out to the dining room.

Ruth was waiting on a table, but she shot me a quick glance that let me know she wasn’t happy.

I sighed, wondering what was wrong. Ruth was the unofficial manager of Max’s Tavern, mostly because Max, the owner, preferred for someone else to make the tough calls. Although I counted her a friend, there was no denying she was temperamental, and she’d been extra moody lately. No one knew what she was so upset about, and we all knew better than to ask, but when in doubt, it was always safe to presume Molly was to blame.

Max was behind the bar, wiping down the counter where he kept the liquor bottles. They tended to get dusty since most customers kept to the basics in Drum—draft beer and whiskey. It was rare we got an order for a cocktail, and it usually came from a sporadic out-of-towner.

“Need any help?” I asked as I walked behind the bar. There were only two tables with customers and they both belonged to Ruth, leaving me with nothing to do.

“You want to clean?” he asked with a laugh. “You must have caught wind that Ruth’s in a mood.”

“All it took was a glance,” I said. “What happened?”

“One word: Molly.”

I resisted the urge to groan. Molly’s sister, May, had been married to Franklin, aka Tater, who’d left her for Ruth. To say there was bad blood between the two women was an understatement. They were like gasoline and a lit match.

Max never should have hired Molly in the first place, but he often did things he shouldn’t, and he refused to fire either one of them. Of course, he knew better than to try firing Ruth—she’d worked there longer than he had. Besides, he probably knew I’d walk out in solidarity. Moody or not, Ruth was my friend, and she wasn’t two-faced. You always knew where you stood with her, and here in Drum, that stood for something. Molly, on the other hand, had made nice with Ginger, the other lunch waitress, only to paint her (and Ruth and me, of course) in a bad light to Max.

“You need to stop having them work a shift together,” I said under my breath, so Ruth wouldn’t hear. “You know it causes problems.”

“I didn’t. But I guess Molly left Ruth a note telling her she’d left the bathroom dirty last night.”

I sucked in a deep breath, telling myself that I really needed to learn how to meditate. “I cleaned the bathroom before I left at ten last night, and only a handful of guys were left at the bar. So unless some drunk went in and peed or pooped everywhere, I’m sure it was fine.” I gave him a look. “Did you check it?”

“Hell,” he said in exasperation. “I didn’t even know it was an issue until Ruth marched in the dining room an hour ago and shoved the note in my face.”

“You know Molly’s just stirring up trouble,” I said.

“Well, I do now.”

But that wasn’t true. He’d known for a while, and in typical Max fashion, he’d buried his head in the sand and ignored it.

If he wasn’t going to deal with this, then I was. “You have to fire her, Max. You don’t need to wait until you find a replacement. Ruth and I can take on more lunch shifts, and Ginger might be able to pull a dinner shift every now and then if one of us needs a day off.”

He frowned as he wiped down a bottle of brandy. Based on the yellowed label, it had to be a couple of decades old.

“When you find a replacement, the person should be part-time,” I continued. “It’s been hard to get enough hours for three full-time waitresses.”

He should have fired her two months ago. Less than a week into her employment, it had become obvious it wasn’t going to work. But Max hated conflict, and truth be told, he didn’t like change. It was like pulling teeth to get him to do something that wasn’t part of his routine.

“How about I take charge of looking for someone?” I suggested.

“I don’t know,” he said, his mouth twisting to the side. “I doubt Ruth will go for that.”

“We both know something’s going on with Ruth, so I’m not sure we should dump this on her. How about I tell her you’ve given us the green light to hire someone else. Maybe she