Dezi glanced around at the dining room. “This place has always had a special place in my heart. I’m glad Molly and Parker decided to bring her back to life.”
“I remember when we had a sleepover at your house,” Gabbie said. “Your mother brought us with her to work the next day here at the lodge. We helped her change bedsheets.”
Molly laughed. “I’d forgotten about that.” She tilted her head, staring into the far corner of the room. “We sock-skated down the hallways, played hide and seek on the grounds and ducked in and out of every nook and cranny.”
“Penny was always the one to have the longest sock-skate.”
“And she found the best hiding places. We never could find her. And that holds true to this day…”
Grimm’s brow dipped. “You still play hide and seek?”
“Not for years.” Dezi shook her head and lowered her voice. “God, I hope her disappearance is all some elaborate joke on us.”
“Penny’s the young woman who was abducted?” Murdock asked.
“We still haven’t learned much about her.” Dezi’s eyes filled. “I think we had the whole state looking for her.”
“And we found nothing,” Molly said, her lips pressing together.
“How long ago was this?” Murdock asked.
Cassie sighed. “Four and a half months ago. I’ve been looking through case files, hoping to find a suspect recently freed who might have taken her.”
Grimm kept his comments to himself. In most cases, abducted women were found dead not long afterward. The odds of finding their friend alive were slim to none.
“I haven’t given up,” Cassie, the sheriff’s deputy, said. “And I won’t. I know Penny is out there somewhere.”
“Besides me, Dezi, Cassie and Gabbie, there’s Liza and Bella,” Molly said. “They come around every so often. You’ll meet them soon. We were inseparable as adolescents and into our teens. It wasn’t until some of us went off to college that our little group fractured.”
“We all went in different directions,” Gabbie said.
“That’s right,” Molly said. “Gabbie, our favorite tomboy, studied her ass off, made near-perfect scores and went on to become the area’s first mobile veterinarian.”
Gabbie tipped her head toward Molly. “Our own Princess Molly stepped up to the role of badass daughter of one of the wealthiest ranch owners around. All her brothers went off to join a branch of military service, leaving their younger sister and father to run the massive ranch on their own. Molly proved she can do anything, including reviving a mistreated landmark.”
It was Molly’s turn to blush. “Thanks, Gabbie. With Dezi as our chef and a revamp of our staff, we can’t help but succeed.”
Molly nodded toward Drake’s woman. “Cassie chose law enforcement, helping to keep our town and the surrounding county safe. She’s pretty badass herself.”
Cassie dipped her head, her lips twisting into a crooked smile. “Just doing my part.”
“Bella works as a bartender at the Blue Moose Tavern,” Gabbie said. “She has some stories to tell.”
“Last but not least is our Liza. She got her teaching certificate and teaches at the Eagle Rock Elementary school,” Molly said.
“To me,” Gabbie shook her head, “she’s the bravest of us all. I don’t know how she puts up with twenty or so second-graders all day long. I’d shoot myself.”
“We meet at least once a month, if not more,” Molly said. “Usually for margarita and poker night. As a matter of fact, we’re past due.”
“I like the concept,” Drake said. “Am I invited?”
Molly gave him a playful grin. “Sorry. It’s a girls’ night out. You don’t qualify.”
Drake looked around at the members of his team.
Grimm knew that look. “If it’s poker, you know I’m in.”
“Me, too,” Murdock seconded.