by B. T. Alive
“You heard?” I said.
She nodded.
I hesitated. The pitch I’d planned to give her felt suddenly flat.
“Whatever it is, just say it,” she said, without looking up from her stacks.
“Sorry,” I said. “Do you… do you remember last spring? When that guest at the Inn got poisoned, and I had to… you know, ask around…”
“I heard about that,” she said, still counting. “So, what, now you’re a professional detective?”
“No! Not at all. It’s just that, if anything did happen… these first few days, they’re really critical. And the sheriff’s just one guy—”
“First few days?” she said, and she snapped me a quizzical glare. “You expect me to pay you for days?”
“Pay? No!” I said, bewildered. Take a chill pill, Frannie Scrooge. “No, not at all. I just want to make sure that justice is done. Whatever it takes. This is far more important to me than money.”
“I see,” Frannie said, and lowered her look back to her coffers. “I suppose if you’re willing to go unpaid…”
“Absolutely,” I said.
Behind me, a flat voice breathed, “But you will have time for our upsell course. Won’t you?”
I was so startled that I jerked sideways, tumbling a display of Italian leather purses that together would retail for the price of a starter home in Detroit.
Frannie stared daggers, but as I fumbled to get the purses back on their thrones, I managed to greet my stealthy student.
“Elaine!” I cried, with teacherish cheer, wondering whether all these storekeepers liked to sneak in through each other’s back doors. “Nice to see you. You and Frannie go ahead and chat, I was just heading out.”
“Oh, I came for you,” Elaine said, watching my every move through her thick glasses. “I thought I’d find you here. I can’t believe that I didn’t think to get your phone number.”
“Oh, right,” I said. “Ha! I do that with people all the time.”
Elaine blinked. “What is your phone number?”
“Um,” I said. “You know, it’s a pain, I’m actually… between phones.”
“Oh,” Elaine said. “Well. That’s all right. We’ll be seeing each other every day.”
Frannie skewered me with a skeptical glare.
“Actually, Elaine,” I said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard—”
“Wait, please. Before I forget.” Elaine fished around in her frumpy purse, and plucked out a folded check. “Here’s your first payment,” she said, and then the paper was somehow instantly in my fingers, without the faintest brush of skin contact between us. “That is the correct amount, right?”
I looked down at the feather-light slip. It was more money than I’d make at Frannie’s in a week. And this was only the first payment.
“Perfect,” I said.
Frannie snorted.
“But as I was just telling Frannie,” I said, “I am going to be preoccupied for the next few days—”
“I was hoping we could meet this afternoon,” Elaine said. “Three o’clock?”
I hesitated. “Let’s say four.”
“Great,” Elaine said. She gave me a thin-lipped smile, and then she drooped into a look of concern and turned to Frannie. “And I did hear about last night. I am so sorry.”
Frannie tensed, but she said, “Thank you. It is certainly a shock.”
“It’s just horrible,” Elaine said. “Una seemed so happy. I would never have dreamed she would make such a tragic choice.”
Frannie’s eyes narrowed to slits, and she measured Elaine with an even glare.
Elaine wilted a bit.
“I know Una,” Frannie said, in a rock-hard voice that I’d never heard. “There is no way that she committed suicide.”
“Oh?” Elaine said. “But then… it didn’t sound like an accident…”
“I’ve got to get going,” I cut in, talking to Frannie. “Thank you again. It should only be a few days.”
“I should say so,” Frannie snapped. “Make sure you don’t miss any obvious motives.” And she nodded past me toward the storefront window.
I turned. Outside, waiting for me, stood Cade.
A chill prickled down my neck. “Frannie?” I said.
She sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m just upset.” She started stowing her cash back in the register tray. “He’s a nice young man.”
“Very nice,” said Elaine, watching Cade with a dreamy grin.
I walked out the front and headed toward Cade, but then I stopped and gave the storefront a backward glance.
Both women were staring, with no expression at all.
Chapter 12
Cade gave me a crisp nod, and he started walking before I even reached him.
“Hold up,” I said. “Wrong way.” I nodded up the slope of the street, back toward the Inn… and the first suspect I intended to interview.
“Oh?” he said. “Sure, whatever.”
I started up the slope, and he walked beside me in preoccupied silence.
Finally, I said, “Why didn’t you come in?”
“At Frannie’s?” he said. “She’s never liked me.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Who knows? She’s thick as thieves with… I mean… she was.”
His face clinched in a spasm of sorrow, and I told myself all over again how Cade couldn’t possibly have done this. Tentative, I touched my fingertips to the back of his linen shirt.
“Thanks,” he said, but he stepped away. “I’m fine. I’m okay.”
I wasn’t, but it didn’t feel like the time to go there. “Any updates?” I said.
He shook his head. “The medical examiner hasn’t finished her report. But the preliminary finding is exactly what it looks like. The stove was on and she died from the gas.”
“So what happens now?” I said.
“For starters, the whole house is a crime scene,” he said. “Which means I’m booted out.”
“What?” I said. “Where are you staying?”
He shrugged.
“Not your dad?” I said.
“It’s awkward,” he said. “I got out this morning as early as I could.”
“Cade, no!” I said. “You can’t stay with him now. Talk to Grandma; I’m sure she’d let you stay in a spare room.”
“Are you?” he said. “I bet Dad’s already gotten to her, and I’m Suspect Number One.”
“Don’t say that,” I said. “Besides, when has Grandma ever listened to him? She acts like he’s eight years old.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But I can see her making an exception this time.”
“Why?” I said. “Is it that bad?”
“Oh, not so much,” he said. “Except that I’m the prime freaking suspect.”
“Hey,” I said. “None of that. I’ll take care of this.”
“What?” He stopped walking, and he crossed his arms. “Summer! The sheriff is on this—”
“The sheriff who’s also your dad?”
“If you start nosing in, he’ll be furious.”
“Won’t be the first time. And he’s the one with the nose.”
“Summer!” he hissed, with a quick glance around to see if any passerby had heard. “Summer, listen… what if you get hurt? Remember last time?”
“You’re sweet,” I said. “But you’re not going to change my mind.”
We crossed the plaza and entered the Inn, with Cade still tagging along and trying to convince me not to get involved.
In the lobby, the oaken front desk was temporarily vacant, so I nipped behind it and flipped through the ancient, leather-bound guest register.
Cade leaned in over the desk. “Are you looking for a room number?”
“Found it,” I said, and I thumped the book shut and hustled across the lobby toward the spiral staircase that led upstairs. (The Inn does have an antiquated elevator, but I hate using it. Bad memories.)
Cade followed me up the windi
ng wooden stairs, easily keeping pace with his long, steady strides. “Who are you talking to? If you’re going to do this, do you have to go alone? Let me come too.”
“Thanks,” I said. “But I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Why not?”
I hesitated. “I work better alone.”
“You do not. Last time you were running around with Tina.”
“She’s an empath.”
“Summer!” he hissed again, and though by now we were walking down an empty Inn hallway, he still made a quick eavesdropper check, as if a spy might burst from a secret panel in the wainscotting. “Seriously, why do you care if I come?” he said. “Who are you even talking to? Jamie?”
I squirmed.
“For real?” he said, as I stopped at a room door and checked the number I’d gotten from the register. “Is this her?” He knocked.
“Cade!” I said. “I’ve got this!”
“Would you please relax?” he said. “There is nothing going on between me and Jamie!”
The door burst open, revealing a nightgown that revealed most of Jamie Graves. Somehow she had already had time this morning to apply mascara and then cry it into streaks of sorrow.
“Cade!” she cried, and she flung herself onto his chest.
Chapter 13
Cade did extricate himself as soon as he graciously could. By which I mean, when he could gently loosen her clutching fingers enough so that she wouldn’t rip his shirt.
“I’m sorry, I know, I’m a mess,” she said, as she stepped away and led him into her lush room. All the rooms in the Inn are gorgeous, but I should have known she’d pick a particular stunner; the high ceiling featured a mosaic of some regal coat of arms, and the enormous antique four-poster looked fit for an aristocratic honeymoon.
Then Jamie perched on the edge of her bed, and I instantly regretted my analogy.
“Please, sit,” she said, with imploring eyes, and she patted the mattress. “I’m so glad you’ve come.”
Cade stayed standing and cleared his throat. “Yes, ah… we’re so sorry for your loss.”
“Cade!” she cried. “Don’t go all formal. Not now.”
“I’m not trying to be formal,” he said. “But we are here to ask you some questions.”
I stifled a groan. He was even worse at this than I would’ve guessed.
Jamie frowned, and her whole posture stiffened into that of a woman who was not, in fact, welcoming her lover. “We?” she said, and then she finally deigned to look at me.
I still don’t know whether she actually hadn’t seen me until now. It doesn’t seem possible, but on the other hand, this was Cade.
“Oh,” she said. “I do remember you. From last night. What was your name? Autumn?”
“Summer,” I said, through grit teeth.
“Right! I’m sorry. Your hair, it’s so… autumnal. And you and Cade are…?” She raised her eyebrows.
Cade flushed. “We’re seeing each other,” he said.
Ugh. Be still my heart.
“Are you?” Jamie said. “That’s cute.”
“Jamie!” he snapped. “Can we focus on Una? This is serious.”
“Yes it is, Cade,” she snapped right back. “And I would have expected a bit more loyalty.”
Cade scowled. Was that… guilt?
Had this messed-up family gotten their hooks into him even deeper than I’d feared?
“Jamie, please,” I cut in, straining every sales muscle I had to try to stay courteous. “I think you may have misunderstood. Cade is concerned. We both are. After all, your aunt was a wealthy woman. And there is, however unwarranted, some official suspicion that—”
Jamie Graves burst out laughing.
I was so stunned that I literally gaped.
“Oh, Cade,” she gasped, when she could finally breathe again. “Wow. She’s a keeper.”
“Excuse me?” I said. “Let me try this again: the cops think you killed your aunt to get her money.”
I guess my sales muscles were out of shape.
“Do they?” she said, still giggling. “Or is that just you?”
“I… I’m just looking for facts,” I said.
“Oh really?” she said. “How about the fact that I was sitting right next to you… both of you… for that entire revolting movie?”
Oh, crud. I’d forgotten about that.
“Of course, I don’t know the exact time that my only aunt was dying in a drunken stupor because someone had left her alone with a bottle—”
“Jamie!” Cade cut in. His voice was awful.
“—but when your celebrated sheriff called me this morning, he made it sound like you two were the ones to find her,” Jamie said. “So I can’t imagine there was too much of a time window outside your little movie night. I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but I do have an alibi, and it’s you.”
“Looks like it,” I said. “That worked out well.”
“Oh, please,” she said. “What else was I going to do in Wonder Springs on a weeknight? I have been here before, you know. Many times. Over rather a lot of years. As opposed to, well, you.”
“Summer has family here,” Cade said. “She’s a Meredith.”
“Ohhhh,” Jamie said. “I see. Well, let me tell you about our family, Summer, since you’re so enthusiastically inquisitive. It won’t seem like much compared to your vast and illustrious clan, but I take what I can get since both my parents are dead.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, stiffly.
“It really wasn’t your fault,” said Jamie, with a cloying smile. “But now that Aunt Una is gone, my only ‘family’ is my other aunt, Paris. Which makes Paris and I an extended family of two. Three if you count Paris’ husband, but I can’t imagine even you thinking he’d kill anyone for money.”
“Why not?” I said.
“Because he already makes so much,” she said. “Manuel could make money in his sleep. And Paris spends it all.”
“So the only next of kin who’ll inherit,” I said, “are your spendy Aunt Paris and you.”
“Inherit?” she said, perking up with exaggerated confusion. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“You don’t need to be rude,” I said, though at this point she’d need a time machine to pull that off. “She’s your aunt, there’s two of you. You’re going to get half of everything she owned.”
“Oh! Did he not tell you?” Jamie said. She fired Cade a sizzling, mocking glare, and he clenched his fists, but he didn’t reply.
“Cade?” I said. “What is she—”
“The will, sweetheart,” Jamie said. “We won’t know for sure until they read it, of course. But my aunt wasn’t one to put family before… friends. Last I heard…” She spread her lips in a smile like ice, but her hard eyes flickered with a hint of pain. “…Cade was going to get it all.”
Chapter 14
I managed to get out of there without losing it. Not in front of that woman. But as I hurtled down the hall, only the vision of Grandma’s ire if I dared to disturb the other guests kept me from screeching out my thoughts at full volume.
“Summer, wait,” Cade said, panting up behind me.
“I would not talk to me right now,” I said, as I clattered down the stairs. “I’m not even talking to me right now.”
“Jamie didn’t mean all that,” Cade said. “She’s upset, she’s in shock—”
“Oh my gosh, do you think I care whether Jamie likes me? Whether we’ll ever be besties?” I snapped. “What I care about is you getting a freaking fortune from a dead Una.”
“I didn’t know it would be everything,” he said.
I stopped, hard.
We were standing in a ground floor hallway, with random guests winding nervously around us en route to the dining room. Cade eyed them anxiously, then gave me a pleading look.
“Una said a lot of things, okay?” he said, his voice low. “It was never… nothing was ever definite.”
“I don’t believe this,” I
said. “You moved in with her. Because you might get an orchard for free.”
“It’s not like I could ever afford it!” he snapped.
“Oh, you were clearly paying for it,” I said.
“Would you stop?” he said. “Nothing ever happened.”
“No, nothing!” I said. “Because sharing a home, and sharing every meal, and making a private forest paradise together, side by side, that’s all nothing, if you’re a dude, as long as everyone keeps their clothes on.”
Cade stared.
“Summer… Una and I were friends. She never said anything like that.”
“Holy crud, Cade! Are you blind?”
Maybe he was. As I searched his stupefied face, he gave every indication that he was only realizing right now that he could have been breaking her heart.
On the other hand… it was still very true that I’d only known this man for weeks.
“Summer, really,” he said. “I didn’t… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” I snapped.
But he winced like I’d slapped him, and I instantly regretted it.
“Sorry,” I said. “That’s not fair. I didn’t really understand Una’s deal myself until last night, sitting on her swing. When people are so much older, it’s hard to believe that they really feel… everything. Just as much as we do, or more.”
“Yeah,” he said. “We’ll be there too someday.”
We? I thought. As in, growing old together? I considered probing the implications of this remark, but the dining room door was propped open, and I saw someone in there who made me forget our whole discussion. Almost.
“David Sky!” I said. “That guy eating breakfast! I totally forgot about him.”
And there he sat, the “silver fox” whom I’d accosted in the orchard. He was still wearing the same country club outfit, but his gray hair was sporting a fresh coat of gel. He was just tucking into an impressive stack of pancakes, dripping with syrup and topped with blueberries.
“The guy with the pancakes?” Cade said. “Mmmm…. those pancakes look good….”
“Focus up!” I hissed, partly to cover my own stomach’s rumble. Skipping breakfast was never a good idea, especially on a murder investigation. “I caught him sneaking around the orchard. And then Harriet said he was pestering Una. He’s a developer, Cade. He wanted to buy the land.”