Mary could sense Lola was getting annoyed with her and decided to shut her mouth for the time being.
“Oh, there’s the sign!” Piper said excitedly. “Just one mile to the turnoff.”
A minute later, as Frankie turned onto the road that led to the Miranda Inn, the girls began getting fidgety in their seats. As they drove up the steep, winding road, Frankie held tight onto the steering wheel. She had only driven around their town and a bit on other parts of the island. But everything was mostly flat and straight. The road to the Inn caused her to tense her muscles and drive with a rigid posture. She completely tuned out the chatter of the other girls as she did her best to concentrate on the road before her.
“You know, a creepy old man built the Miranda Inn, like 200 years ago, and lived in it by himself. He murdered everyone that worked there,” Lola told the girls. “The place is haunted by all of his victims.”
“That’s not true,” Piper replied. “Where did you hear that?”
“I read.”
Piper gave her a look. She clearly did not believe any of the crazy story Lola had just told them.
“I know lots of people that have stayed there over the years, including my parents. They said that the man was just a rich old guy that was lonely and died there. I’ve never heard anything about ghosts, and he never killed anyone.” Piper was outwardly challenging Lola. Mary was watching them and chewing on her lower lip.
“Whoa, look at that place.” Frankie was leaning forward in the driver’s seat, looking up at the Inn. Her jaw went slack.
Mary, Piper, and Lola hadn’t even realized that they had arrived and parked while they were talking. Temporarily forgetting their disagreement over the history of the Inn, all four girls gave the beauty of the Miranda Inn their rapt attention. It was one of the most beautiful buildings any of them had ever seen.
As they sat admiring the workmanship, all four of them jumped when a knock on the driver’s side window startled them. As Frankie recovered from the surprise, she rolled down her window when she realized it was the valet.
“Are you staying?” he asked her as he peered into the car and looked at each of the four teenage occupants.
“Oh…well…no…I mean…we are here for lunch,” Frankie stammered out.
“Smooth,” Lola blurted from the backseat.
Frankie glared at her and Lola smiled.
“So, no luggage?” he asked.
“Um, no,” Frankie replied.
“Well, I can park your car for you.”
“Oh, okay.” Frankie had never parked anywhere that required her car to be valeted. Just handing over car keys to a complete stranger, and trusting that they will take care of it, was very odd to her. He did have a uniform on, so she felt it was unlikely he was going to steal their car.
Chapter 25
All four doors of the car opened simultaneously as the girls poured out. Frankie handed the young valet her keys and they headed for the front door of the Inn. She tucked the valet ticket in her back pocket as they walked.
“My name’s Nick,” he called after them. But the girls were too preoccupied with their task to notice.
“Did you see how cute he was?” Mary asked her sister as they walked away. She looked back over her shoulder at him just as he was pulling the car out of the valet area.
“Yeah, I guess.” Piper was preoccupied with their task and hadn’t even glanced at the valet.
“Wow, looks like we’re uptown now,” Lola declared.
Just inside the lobby door, the girls all stopped in their tracks. The lobby of the Miranda Inn was one of the most beautiful rooms any of them had ever seen. Burgundy and gold was the theme. Mary ran over to the stone fireplace and touched the rock that went from the floor to the ceiling. She just couldn't help herself.
“Mary, don’t touch that. Don’t touch anything,” Piper admonished. “We really don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”
“Too late,” Lola muttered quietly, as she motioned, almost imperceptibly with her head, toward the reception desk.
Everyone turned to see several staff members watching them.
“Well, I guess our cover is blown,” Frankie laughed. It took a lot to embarrass her. With her wild red hair and curves, she was used to people looking at her.
Frankie made a beeline for the front desk. “Excuse me. Can you point us in the direction of the cafe?” she asked the important looking man standing at the counter.
“Of course, Miss. It’s right over there, past the coffee counter.” He pointed to a short hallway to the left of the stone fireplace.
“Thank you.”
The girls walked in the direction of the cafe. Once they were seated and their lunch was ordered, Frankie stopped the waitress just as she started to walk away.
“Excuse me," Frankie began. “Can I ask you a couple of questions?”
Their pretty waitress turned back around to acknowledge Frankie.
“Sure. What can I help you with?” Her name tag said ‘Chelsea.’
She wasn’t more than 16 or 17 years old, with beautiful red hair. Frankie hated her immediately.
“Do you know if anyone has been working here for more than 20 years?”
Chelsea narrowed her eyes at Frankie and gave her an odd look, from Frankie’s point of view, anyway.
“Well, I think there is a housekeeper or two that have been here that long.” She paused to mull over the employee roster. “And the owner. I think he’s owned this place for a really long time. Why do you ask?”
Chelsea watched Frankie for a reaction, which didn’t faze her a bit. “No reason. Just curious, I guess.” Frankie shrugged her shoulders.
With that, Chelsea headed to the kitchen to put in their orders.
Once Chelsea was out of earshot, Lola began the discussion about what they were going to do. “I think we should go up to the room that the Jamisons stayed in while they were here.”
“We don’t even know what room that is,” Piper announced. “Do we?”
“Well, let’s find out,” Lola replied.
“How are we going to do that?” Frankie asked Lola.
Lola responded by shrugging her shoulders. Before she had a chance to say anything, Chelsea walked up with a tray full of their drinks. Cola for Piper and Lola. Frankie had orange juice and water for Mary.
“It’s weird that you are drinking orange juice with lunch,” Lola said directly to Frankie.
Frankie refused to respond to Lola’s obvious attempt to engage her in an argument. It worked. Lola didn’t say another word about it. Instead, she turned her attention to the waitress.
“If we wanted to find out what room someone stayed in, like a really long time ago, how would we do that?”
“I don’t really know. I only work at the cafe and don’t have anything to do with how the Inn runs. You should talk to the owner about that. Well, if there isn’t anything else for now, I’ll be back with your lunch shortly.” Chelsea didn’t wait for a response. She walked away before any of them had a chance to ask further questions.
“We need to find the owner,” Piper said.
“Well, it’s your lucky day.”
All four girls turned to see a handsome man, forty something, standing next to the table. He had dark hair and piercing green eyes.
“Hello girls. I’m Heath, owner of this beautiful Miranda Inn. How can I be of service?” He was as charming as he was handsome.
Frankie spoke up first. “Hi. We would like to find out what room someone stayed in a really long time ago. Like 20 years ago. Can you give us that information?” She smiled her cutest smile, hoping it would encourage him to help them out.
“Why in the world would you want to know that?” He seemed genuinely perplexed at her question.
“Some friends of ours stayed here and told us how great it was. Way back then, I mean,” Lola chimed in. “They just talked and talked about the room they stayed in. We would like to see it for ourselves.” She raised her ey
ebrows in anticipation of his answer.
“Friends of yours?” He looked into the face of each of the four teenage girls. “And they stayed here 20 years ago? Are you girls even that old?”
“Well…no,” Lola admitted. “We are friends with their daughter. Can you help?”
He knew they were lying. He could see the lack of eye contact from the girls. Mary began to squirm in her seat and fidget with her long blonde hair.
What harm could there be by giving them a room number? “What are their names? I’ll see what I can do.”
Lola smiled. The twins looked down at their plates, and Frankie looked at Heath directly.
“Steve and Claire Jamison,” Frankie told him.
Heath’s eyes widened at the mention of the names. He knew the names immediately. How could he not? They were the people that his brother, Sam, had gone to prison for killing. Sweat began forming and dripping down his forehead, and Heath wiped it away with the back of his hand. He tried to compose himself as he responded to Frankie’s answer.
“Now I’m really confused,” Heath said to no one in particular. “How can the Jamisons have told you, or anyone, about their weekend here, when they were killed 20 years ago?”
Silence. Dead silence. The girls had no response to his question. It had never occurred to them that he would immediately know about the Jamisons. They clearly didn’t think all of it through. If Heath had owned the Inn for a long time, or even a short time really, of course he would know their names. They were big news on the island. And their disappearance was big news, with the Miranda Inn as the subject of a murder investigation. Of course he would know who they were.
“Oh, didn’t you hear?” Lola jumped in finally. “The Jamisons have returned home. Turns out they weren’t murdered after all.”
Lola said it so nonchalantly that it took a moment for what she said to register to Heath. As realization dawned, the color drained from his face. His beautiful green eyes went dull.
“What? When…when…did this happen?” He was having a hard time getting the words out.
“You really didn’t know?” Frankie asked. “I thought everybody on the island knew by now.”
“Excuse me, I’ve got to go.” Heath shot out of the cafe like he was on fire.
“I wonder what that was all about?” Mary asked the girls.
“Who had the chicken salad?” Their waitress arrived at that moment.
Once Chelsea was done serving them, the girls began chattering away about Heath’s strange behavior.
“Now, how are we going to find out what room they were in?” Piper spoke up.
“I don’t think we can ask him again,” Mary responded. “He seemed really upset when he found out the Jamisons were still alive. It was weird, like he knew them or something. You don’t think he knew them, do you?” she asked no one in particular.
“I doubt it. He would have been really young when they stayed here,” Frankie answered. “Maybe he’s just freaked out because their disappearance was blamed on this Inn and the guy that owned it at the time. I think he was just shocked to hear the news.”
The girls all nodded in agreement.
“Let’s just go upstairs. Maybe someone else will know the answer,” Lola offered.
Once they were done with their lunches, each girl dropped her share of the lunch bill, along with a generous tip, on the table. They all helped waitress at the Wildflower Cafe, and knew what it was like to get a lousy tip after working hard to make their customers happy.
Chapter 26
Lola walked ahead of her cohorts and peered down the hall, toward the stairs, while they waited in the cafe quietly, trying not to draw attention to themselves. She gestured with her hand for them to follow her, without ever taking her eyes off of the employees in the main lobby. There were a few guests and employees milling around, but no one paid a bit of attention to the quartet making a beeline for the stairs. The owner of the Inn, Heath, was nowhere to be seen.
They quietly climbed the stairs, single file, with Lola leading the way, and Frankie bringing up the rear. When they reached the second floor, the only person they saw was a housekeeper. She was at least 70 years old. Her body had softened with age and she didn’t move as quickly as she once had. The woman was working away at her tasks, albeit a bit slowly.
She wore a loose gray dress, trimmed in white. None of the hotel’s staff had worn such a uniform in three decades, but she didn’t care. It was comfortable and she insisted on wearing it daily. The woman also felt that the new girls, who wore denim and t-shirts, looked disrespectful. It was a business, after all, and they should always look their best for the guests.
The woman didn’t even notice the girls 20 feet away. She had long ago learned to tune out the comings and goings of guests. They were only a distraction to her. The girls all looked at each other, and with no words necessary, decided that she might be just the person they needed to speak to.
Frankie spoke up first as they approached the housekeeper. She didn’t notice that Mary had moved around a bit, so that she was mostly hiding behind the other girls. Mary had never been the confrontational type.
“Um, excuse me,” Frankie said quietly. She was afraid that she might startle the woman if she was too abrupt.
The woman turned around slowly, as that was the only way she moved these days. She looked directly at Frankie without saying a word.
“Hi.” Frankie looked at the name tag on the gray dress. “Um, Gladys,” of course that was her name, Frankie thought, “my name’s Frankie. Have you been working here long? We would like to ask you a couple of questions.”
“Yes, I’ve been here almost 40 years. Why do you ask?” The woman continued with her tasks as she spoke. She had a lot to do and little time for idle chatter.
“Do you remember about 20 years ago there was a couple that stayed here and they disappeared?” Frankie asked.
The woman didn’t hesitate. “Of course I remember that. It was big news around here.”
She took a closer look at the girls. “That had to be years before any of you were even born.”
“Yes, we know,” Lola responded. She wondered why that even made a difference. “Do you remember them?”
“Well, no. We get thousands of people through this hotel each year. All the faces blend together after a while, you know?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Lola replied. “Can you tell us what you do remember?”
“Why are you dredging up that old thing after all these years?” Gladys asked them.
“We are just doing a report on it for school. It’s about local mysteries and such,” Mary offered, as she peered around her sister.
The other three girls gave her an approving look for coming up with a plausible explanation right on the spot.
“I see. I guess I can help some, but not much. All I really know is what I heard and saw after they disappeared. Sam, he was one of the owners back then, became upset when no one could find them. When the sheriff investigated, they arrested Sam. He is still in prison, I think.”
“When you say that he was one of the owners, who was the other owner?” Piper asked.
“His brother, Heath. He still owns this place and is probably here today.”
The four girls looked at each other with wide eyes. The fact that Sam and Heath were brothers was news to them.
“Does Heath talk about the Jamisons at all?” Frankie asked the housekeeper.
“Not to me, he doesn’t. In fact, we rarely speak. I come here each day and do my job and that’s all I want to do. I don’t have time to get involved in everyone’s business.”
The woman plucked some small shampoo bottles and toilet paper off of her cart and walked into the room she had been standing in front of.
“Do you remember what room they were in?” Lola followed her into the room.
“Yes, it’s room 333. I clean it all the time, because several of the employees won’t step foot in there. They think that couple was murd
ered in there. Doesn’t bother me none.” She looked up at Lola. “You shouldn’t be in here, Miss.” The woman ushered Lola out the door.
“Has anything weird happened in that room since they disappeared?” Lola asked as she stepped over the threshold and into the hallway with her friends.
“Not that I know of. Now if you girls will excuse me, I have a lot of work to do.”
With a pinched expression, the woman closed the door of the room, effectively cutting off the conversation.
“I guess we should take a hint,” Piper laughed.
“Okay. Thank you for your time!” Lola yelled through the closed door. There was no response.
The four girls once again walked single file up another staircase to the third floor. They quickly found room 333.
“Now what do we do?” Mary asked when they found the room locked.
“We can jimmy the lock. They still have the old ones that need a key. These are much easier to get into than the electronic ones that need a key card,” Lola explained.
“How do you know that?” Frankie asked her, amusingly. She didn’t actually expect Lola to answer the question.
As the girls stood in the hallway, debating the merits of breaking into the room, and possibly getting arrested, a figure moving at the top of the stairs caught Lola’s eye. She was the only one facing the stairway. The other girls noticed that she was looking past them at something behind them, and they all turned in the direction of her stare.
“Oh, hi Nick,” Mary called as he walked toward them.
“You remembered my name.” He spoke directly to Mary.
Mary’s face turned a light shade of pink, as she dropped her eye contact with Nick, and was rendered speechless. Nick smiled at her response.
“What are you doing here?” Lola had never had time for shyness.
Nick turned toward Lola. “I came to see what you were up to. Chelsea told me you all were asking a lot of questions.”
“That waitress needs to keep her big mouth shut,” Lola responded. She didn’t care if Nick and Chelsea were friends or not.
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