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BRIDGETTE WOKE COMPLETELY refreshed in the morning. The sun shone bright and there was not a cloud in the sky. She wanted to go and check on the old cabin today. Besides, it was a perfect day for a ride on her four-wheeler.
Bridgette sat on the front porch, her hands wrapped around a cup of coffee, and watched as a blazing pink and purple painted the morning sky. As much as she enjoyed living here, she missed her parents terribly.
Delores drove up the driveway, stepped out of her car, and walked up to the front porch. "Good morning, cher."
"Morning Delores. I hope you had a good night."
"Any day that I wake up and am greeted by the morning sun, I consider it a good day."
"Would you care to join me for a cup of coffee?"
"I don't want to disturb you; you look like you were enjoying the peacefulness of the morning."
"Nonsense, come have a cup of coffee. It's a lovely morning, and we should enjoy it."
After breakfast, she headed to the barn. Trepidation crawled over her when she saw the lock to the shed cut. Now, why would someone want to do that? She opened the shed door, and her heart sank. All four tires on the four-wheeler were slashed. This was the second time someone had destroyed something on her property.
She took out her phone from her jeans pocket and called Officer Richard who had given her his number just in case she had any more trouble.
“Officer Richard this is Bridgette Marquette. I hate to bother you first thing in the morning, but someone broke into the shed out back and slashed all four tires on the four-wheeler.”
“I’ll be out there in a little bit.”
“Thank you so much.”
As she walked back to the house, she tried to shake off the disappointment. She had wanted to go riding and find that old cabin. It had been a long six weeks, but everything was almost ready for her to open Marquette Plantation Bed & Breakfast. Should she hold off opening up the bed & breakfast until they figured out who was doing this? She shook her head in disgust. If she did that, then she was letting whoever did this win. It was more than likely someone trying to scare her off.
It was almost an hour later before Officer Richard arrived.
“I am sorry it took so long. I needed to let Sheriff Anslum know what happened, and then we had a morning meeting that I had to attend.”
Bridgette waved her hands in the air, “You are fine. There is not much that you can do. I thought you should know, since this is the second time something happened here in a few weeks.”
She escorted Officer Richard back to the shed, “This is how I found it this morning. It was easy to open the door with the lock having been cut.”
He inspected the damage before asking, “Can you think of anyone who may want to scare you off?”
She shook her head ruefully, “Not really. There are several people offering to buy the property since my parents' passing, but my parents had the same offers when they were alive. They never mentioned anything about property damage to me.”
“We have had some complaints about Brett Gibson using strong-arm tactics with some people. He’s trying to buy as much property around here as he can.”
Bridgette replied, “He has made several attempts to purchase or lease the property from me, but he hasn’t tried anything unethical. He badgers me a lot, but even Dad complained about his pestering. But he never mentioned any problems he had with the man.”
“Well, if he starts to give you any problems, let me know. As far as the tires, I will let Cliff over at the Mobile station know that you need some new ones. He can send someone out here to take care of this for you.”
“Thanks, Officer Richard. I appreciate all of your help.”
Officer Richard felt the heat crawl up his neck. Someone thanking him for doing his job was not something he often heard. If his wife saw him now, she would laugh at him. “It’s nothing. I am just doing my job.”