The Inn at Holiday Bay: Letters in the Library

by Kathi Daley

  I picked up my cell and dialed Kate’s number in New York at exactly five.

  “Abby,” Kate greeted. “I see you are right on time.”

  “I know how valuable your time is and didn’t want to keep you waiting. How is New York?”

  “Cold. I assume Maine is much the same.”

  “Maine is cold all wrapped up with breathtakingly beautiful, which, in my opinion, is the best sort of cold.”

  Kate laughed. “You can keep your awesome views. I’m sure they are spectacular, but I still wouldn’t trade them for my nightlife. How is the novel coming along?”

  “Good. Better than good. Great, even. I am more than halfway done and I know exactly where I am going with it. I should have it to you in a month or so, along with a rough outline for the next two books in the series.”

  Kate paused before answering. “That is such good news, Abby. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you back.”

  “And I’m happy to be back. Were you able to read the pages I sent you last week?”

  “I did and I loved them.”

  I slowly let out the breath I’d been holding in anticipation of her answer. I couldn’t believe how nervous I’d been about sending in new pages for the first time in a very long time.

  “I’m going to send them back with a few suggestions, which are really nothing more than ideas to consider as you work.”

  “Thanks. I’ll look over your notes as soon as I get them. I’m hoping to get back on the book release schedule with my old publisher.”

  “If the book as a whole is as good as the sample pages you sent, we shouldn’t have any problem selling the series to them. It’s really good, Abby. Well done.”

  “That’s great news. Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

  I chatted with Kate for a while longer and then hung up and hugged my arms around my body. “We’re back,” I whispered to myself. Rufus must have realized it was time to celebrate because he got up off the bed and jumped into my lap.

  A year ago I hadn’t wanted to go on living and now I couldn’t wait to see what the future would hold. It really was amazing, I thought to myself, how much difference a year and a change in scenery could make.

  Chapter 3

  I guess turning four was a big deal in the Parker household because it looked as if half the residents of Holiday Bay had turned out to celebrate Meghan and Mary’s birthday. It was much too cold to hold the event outdoors, and the Parker house was not quite large enough to comfortably accommodate so many guests, so Lonnie and Lacy had decided to rent out the local arcade and pizza joint. It was loud, and crowded, and actually kind of perfect.

  “I’m so glad you both could come.” Lacy hugged both Georgia and me. “It means the world to us that you can share this day with the girls.”

  I looked around the room, which had been decorated with balloons and streamers. “Did you rent out the building for the entire day?”

  “No, just for three hours. I’m giving everyone tokens to play the games, and the pizzas will be served in a few minutes and will keep coming out until everyone has had their fill.” Lacy looked over her shoulder. “If you aren’t into video games or four-year-olds, a group of adults have gathered in the bar. I’m fine with that as long as everyone gathers together for the cake and presents.”

  “I see Nikki in the arcade, so I think I’ll join her,” Georgia said, setting the gifts she had brought on a table that was already overflowing with presents.

  “And I think I’ll head back to the bar,” I added after setting my own gifts on the table.

  Lacy handed Georgia a cup full of tokens, which she happily accepted as I turned and went down the short hallway that housed a bathroom and a small office and separated the main eating area and arcade from the bar. When I arrived, I glanced around, eventually deciding to sit in the empty chair at the table occupied by Chief of Police Colt Wilder, who was casually dressed and so looked to be off duty, Lonnie, and Tanner Peyton.

  “Mind if I join you?” I asked the men.

  “Have a seat.” Lonnie got up and pulled out my chair.

  “Is Georgia with you?” Tanner asked.

  I nodded at the man I suspected was quite smitten with my bubbly roommate. “She’s in the front, playing video games with Nikki and the kids.”

  “Can I get you a beer?” Lonnie asked.

  I nodded. “I could go for a beer.” I turned to Colt as Lonnie got up to fetch my beverage. “Are you off duty today?”

  Colt nodded. “I have coverage for the weekend. I can’t believe that Meghan and Mary are already four. It seems like yesterday I was helping Lonnie deliver them in a snowstorm.”

  I raised a brow. “You delivered the twins?”

  Colt nodded. “Lonnie and I did. It was snowing, and not just a little; we are talking a full-on blizzard. Lacy had gone into labor almost a month early, so Lonnie dropped the triplets off with his mother and headed to the hospital in Portland. He hadn’t even made it to the main highway when he slipped on some ice and ended up in a ditch. Their cell service was out, but by the grace of God, I happened to be on my way back into town after responding to an accident on the highway. Lacy was ready to give birth by the time I got there, and poor Lonnie was frantic, especially because the twins were early. I used the radio in my car to call for an ambulance, but by the time it showed up, Lonnie and I had helped Lacy to deliver two perfect baby girls.”

  “Wow,” I said, smiling at Lonnie as he set a mug of beer in front of me. “That’s really some story.”

  “What it was, was terrifying,” Lonnie said. “There is so much that can go wrong when twins are born, and delivering premature twins is even riskier. But it all worked out. By the time Mary was born, the ambulance had shown up, and it whisked Lacy and both babies to the hospital. They stayed there a couple of nights for observation, but they were healthy despite their tiny size.” Lonnie glanced at Colt. “When Colt pulled up just as Meghan’s head was crowning and basically took over, I felt like a man on death row who had been given an eleventh-hour reprieve.”

  “Were Meghan and Mary the first babies you ever delivered?” I asked Colt.

  “No. Before I went into law enforcement, I was a field medic in the Army. You would think that delivering babies would fall outside my job description, but, surprisingly, it did not.”

  “And I for one am grateful for that,” Lonnie offered up his glass in a toast to Colt.

  I glanced up as Lacy walked into the bar. “Lonnie honey, can you help me get the kids settled in with slices of the first batch of pizzas? I started with cheese so we could feed the kids first.”

  “Sure thing.” Lonnie stood up. He glanced back at the rest of us still sitting at the table. “Finish your beers. You’ll want to eat after the kids have finished.”

  I took a sip of my beer and glanced at Tanner as he stood up as well.

  “I think I’ll join Nikki and Georgia until it is time to eat,” Tanner said.

  “Is there something going on between Tanner and Georgia?” Colt asked after he left the bar.

  “Yes and no. It seems obvious to me that Tanner is interested in my perky roommate, but it has only been a year since she lost her husband. I don’t think she is ready for a romantic relationship with anyone yet. She does enjoy spending time with both Nikki and Tanner, and I suspect that a romance is in their future, when Georgia is ready. I guess only time will tell if things will work out for them.”

  “Tanner is a great guy, but I understand Georgia’s hesitancy. I heard her husband committed suicide.”

  I nodded. “Yes. He was convicted of embezzling money from his clients, and rather than facing time in prison, he decided to end his life. Poor Georgia lost everything: her husband, her business, her home, and her savings. It must have been very difficult to deal with such a complete annihilation of her life, and she sort of lost herself for a while, but somehow she found her way back to the lively and energetic blond-haired pixie we know and
love today.”

  “Tanner is a good guy. If she needs time, he will give it to her. How about you? Any romance on your horizon?”

  I laughed. “Absolutely not. I am hanging on most of the time and even enjoying life on occasion, but I am not in any way ready to go there.” I paused and then continued. “If I am out of line for asking, just say so, but while we are on the subject of personal tragedies, I have to say that I am curious about yours. I remember you saying that at the time Carrie Long went missing, you were so tied up in a personal crisis that you didn’t follow up the way you should have.”

  Colt’s face hardened just a bit. “My sister and her husband were killed in a car accident at around the time Carrie went missing.”

  “Oh, no. I’m so very sorry. That must have been devastating. Did they have children?”

  Colt nodded. “A boy and a girl. The kids lived with me immediately after the accident, but I live in a small, one-bedroom apartment, and I just wasn’t equipped to raise two young children, so we decided that they would live with my parents. I think that situation is really best for everyone, although I do wonder at times if I’m letting my sister down by not stepping up.”

  “Your parents want to raise the children?”

  “They do. They are retired and live on a nice piece of property north of here. The kids are happy living with them, and I make time to visit when I can.”

  “It sounds like you all made the best decision.”

  Colt sighed. “I hope so.” He took a sip of his beer. “I have been thinking of finding a house. Three bedrooms at least. Something close to town, with a yard. That way the kids can have their own space when they come to visit.”

  “Do they visit often?” I asked.

  Colt shrugged. “Not really. I go up to my parents to see them as often as I can, but I’d like to have them with me here more often. My parents had definite plans for their retirement before my sister died, many of which have been put on hold, but I’m going to make a point of trying to take vacation time that corresponds with trips they’d like to take. Last October I stayed at their place while they went on a Caribbean cruise. My mom really would like to tour Italy in the spring, so I am going to work it out to stay with the kids for three weeks while they are away. It would be easier to have them here. I could find someone to watch them during the day, and I wouldn’t have to take as much time off work.”

  “I think a house sounds like a wonderful idea.”

  Colt shared with me some of the homes he had looked at to date. We talked about what he’d liked about each property and what he hadn’t. He mentioned that he wanted to take his time and find the perfect place, and I assured him that I agreed with that decision because he would probably need to live with whatever he chose for quite some time. We were just starting on the second round of beers when Colt’s phone dinged. I could see that he’d received a text, but I didn’t want to be rude enough to attempt to see what it said. His frown deepened as he read what was written.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked.

  Colt looked around the bar. The second round of pizzas had been announced, and everyone other than Colt and me and a group of four men I didn’t know who were sitting at a table across the room had left. “It’s a friend of mine who works as a medical examiner in another state. After everything that went on last month, I asked him if he would be willing to take a look at Karen Stinson’s autopsy report.”

  “And…?” I asked. Karen had gone hiking alone the previous July and had apparently slipped and fallen from the top of some falls to a river below. She’d drowned, and while it was ruled an accident, new information had come to light during the murder investigation of another local girl, this past December, that had led some of us, including me, to suspect that Karen’s death might not have been an accident at all. I hadn’t realized that Colt planned to look into it further, but I was glad that he had.

  “Karen’s right ulna was broken. When the coroner did the autopsy, she attributed the broken arm to the fall, but my friend thinks the break was the result of a defensive wound that could have occurred if she held her right arm in front of her face or body to ward off a blow.”

  “So someone might have pushed her or hit her with something such as a log that sent her tumbling to her death.”

  Colt hadn’t looked up from his phone, but he did nod to me. “It looks like that could be a possibility. The official cause of death is drowning. Both the coroner and my friend agree on that. The coroner did find a bump on Karen’s head that she attributed to the fall and said may or may not have caused her to black out. My friend agrees that Karen was most likely unconscious when she drowned.”

  “So are you going to reopen the case?” I wondered.

  “I don’t have enough to do that based on what I have at this point, but I think I will do some unofficial digging.” Colt looked at me. “I’d like to keep this between us right now, at least until I have a chance to follow up with some ideas. If it looks like there is a real possibility that Karen was murdered, I will, of course, formally reopen the case, but I just don’t feel I can justify the uproar that will result if it is suspected that Karen was murdered with only what I currently have.”

  I nodded. “I totally understand. I won’t say anything to anyone. But you have piqued my interest, so in exchange for my silence, would it be possible to keep me in the loop as you continue your search?”

  Colt hesitated. “I suppose that would be acceptable. Give me a few days and we’ll talk about it again.”

  “Yes, that will be fine, and don’t worry, I won’t say a word.” I glanced toward the main room, where everyone else seemed to have gathered. “Should we brave the crowd and grab some pizza?”

  “I would suggest we grab a burger down the street instead, but Lacy would skin me alive if I left early, so yes, I would love some pizza.”

  After Colt and I each grabbed a couple of pieces, we sat down near Lonnie and Lacy, who were chatting with an older woman I’d met before but whose name I couldn’t remember.

  “Abby, have you met Willa Baker?” Lacy asked.

  “I think we have. At the candy shop during the Christmas Festival,” I answered.

  “Of course. You are the writer who bought the old mansion on the bluff.”

  “That’s right. My business partner, Georgia Carter, and I spoke to you about our plan to open an inn.”

  Willa smiled. “I do remember the conversation. You know the place used to be run as a resort?”

  “Yes,” I answered. “I had heard that. I bet it was really something special.”

  She nodded. “When I was a little girl, I remember sneaking over the fence late at night and swimming in their pool. Of course, using the pool if you weren’t a guest of the resort was forbidden, and I suppose I would have gotten into a whole lot of trouble had I been caught, but the allure of the dark, cool water on a hot summer night was more than I could resist.”

  I knew the pool had been destroyed in a storm more than sixty years ago, so I supposed Willa must be in her seventies now at the very least, although from her looks, I would have guessed the eighties.

  “I don’t suppose you plan to install a pool?” Willa asked.

  “No,” I answered. “A pool is not part of the plan. Although I’m not against the concept. The house needs a lot of work, so that is where I am focusing my time and resources at the moment.”

  “Totally understandable. I’ve heard that you plan to have theme weekends once you open.”

  I nodded. “Yes, theme weekends and holiday events are a couple of the things we’ve discussed.”

  “I’m not sure if you know this, but I’ve heard stories that when Jasper and Joslyn Jones first opened the resort back in the thirties, they held gangster weekends.”

  I lifted a brow. “Gangster weekends?”

  “Folks would choose roles such as gangster, barmaid, sheriff, or whatever, and then dress for the part. Men who chose to be gangsters would wear three-piece suits, fedoras, a
nd trench coats, and the women who accompanied them would wear fancy dresses, feather boas, and long gloves. Of course, the barmaids would dress in skimpy costumes with garters and lacy tights, and those who chose to dress as townsfolk would dress appropriately. Everyone would be given a fictitious name and a back story, which would read a lot like the plot of Bonnie and Clyde. It was just a fun way for guests to live out any fantasies they might have. From what I understand, they had a lot of fun, and the weekends pulled in a lot of people from out of the area.”

  “I like the idea of a gangster weekend where everyone dresses and acts the part. We have considered murder mystery weekends, but other themes from the past really hadn’t occurred to me. Thanks for sharing your story.”

  Willa grinned. “Happy to. Been around longer than most, so I have a whole lot of stories to tell. If you need some ideas or want to know more about the history of the resort, you look me up. We’ll have tea and get acquainted.”

  “I’d like that very much, and I definitely will call.”

  Chapter 4

  Four days after the twins’ birthday, I was sitting at the kitchen table working on my computer when Georgia walked in with Ramos. She had a fistful of mail, so I assumed she had walked down to the box at the end of the long drive. Given the distance from the house to the mailbox, I had considered getting a post office box in town, but so far I hadn’t gotten around to it, so either Georgia or I made the trek to the road every weekday.

  “How was the walk?” I asked as Georgia tossed the pile of mail on the kitchen counter.

  “Absolutely divine. The air is crisp, the sky sunny, and the sea calm. It may feel like a winter day, but it looks like summer. Well, with the exception of all the snow on the ground.” Georgia took off her jacket and hung it on the rack.

  “It looks like we have a lot of mail today,” I said, nodding toward the pile on the counter.

  Georgia pulled off her knit cap and stuffed it into her jacket pocket. “Mostly ads and bills, but there is one envelope made out to the Inn at Holiday Bay that I am dying to open.”