Alexis and the Lake Tahoe Tumult - Erica Rodgers [37]
It was red.
“Bailey, I’ll be right back!” Alexis said. “Do me a favor and start filming now, will you?”
“But it doesn’t look like anything’s happening yet.”
“I know, but trust me! Just start taping!” Alexis took off across the front of the room to the stairs at the side of the stage. The boy in charge of opening the curtain was bobbing his head to whatever song was playing on his iPod. He didn’t even see her pass by.
At the bottom of the stairs, Alexis almost took off her heels, but she decided not to. Instead she tiptoed up the staircase as quietly as possible. She could hear the conversation in her earpiece before she saw Jake. Whoever was talking to him sounded angry, but Jake was furious. Alexis poked her head around a pillar and saw the two men nose to nose between the eagle cages.
“This is it, Bruce! I mean it!” Jake whispered.
“What do you mean, this is it?” said Bruce calmly. “You don’t think I’ll really just let you walk away from this idea, do you?”
“Are you threatening me?” asked Jake.
“That’s up to you, Jake.” Bruce was growling now. “Take this deal. I want your land, and I’m going to get it one way or another. This is your last chance to sell it. You can announce it here!”
“And if I don’t?”
“Well, as you’ve learned, accidents happen,” Bruce said. “Even accidents with kerosene spilled over from heaters in the barn and fires erupting. I wouldn’t want to be you and hear the cries of injured animals….”
Alexis gasped! Sydney had been right! Bruce Benton was the man who’d been trying to make Jake abandon the animal reserve.
And now he was going to burn down the reserve if Alexis didn’t act quickly!
Surprise, Surprise
Jake pulled a piece of paper out of his front pocket.
“You sent this, didn’t you?” Jake asked, waving the paper in Bruce’s face. Alexis recognized it as the latest threat letter. Bruce didn’t answer, but a large smile spread across his wide jaw.
“You did all of this! You painted my barn? You poisoned my coyotes and woke up a hibernating bear? You shot a kid with a BB gun? Bruce—you hit me in the face!”
Jake was furious now. If it hadn’t been for the music outside, Alexis was sure that everyone would be able to hear this.
That was it! Everyone needed to hear this! It was all the evidence they needed to stop Bruce Benton. The music stopped, and Misty’s voice drifted over the ballroom. Alexis had an idea.
She ran back into the ballroom, finally tossing off her heels as she leaped down the stairs. Alexis made straight for the DJ’s booth in the back. The young man running it looked at her bare feet and raised his eyebrows. Alexis ignored him.
“Jake needs another microphone,” she said. She was shocked when he simply nodded and handed her a cordless microphone.
“It’s on,” he said. “You just have to push that button to unmute it.”
“Thanks!” Alexis said.
In a matter of moments, she was sliding through the curtains again.
“You’re being stupid, Jake! We’re talking about millions of dollars!” Bruce Benton nearly shouted.
Alexis took the earpiece out of her ear and put it up to the microphone. She propped it there with one hand. Then she took a deep breath, pushed the mute button, and tucked the microphone a little behind her body, where her skirt would partially hide it.
“So you admit you’re the one who’s been hurting the animals and trying to ruin the reserve?” Alex called out evenly from several yards away.
Bruce Benton turned on his heels with alarm … until he saw it was only a young girl standing there. He didn’t even notice the mic she held.
“So what if I did?” Bruce Benton said with a sneer. “It’s my word against old Jakey-boy’s here. And I have more money…. Are the police going to believe an animal nut or a fine, upstanding businessman?
“Yeah,” he said, looking at Jake. “That’s a great angle. We’ll tell ‘em this animal nut has gone nuts and is causing his own attempts at sabotage. Going crazy. Trying to get insurance