by K. J. Emrick
Myles nodded emphatically. “Yes. Definitely okay. Hard for a dead, or for that matter a badly injured man to give ya the bum’s rush out of his house.”
“What about the jars in the closet?”
He shook his head. “Never went in his closet, Dell.”
“Did you talk about anything else while you were there?’
He shrugged. “The weather. Politics. Just small talk to get him buttered up for the deal. Fat lot of good it did me. Sitting there, drinking his coffee, discussing whether or not Her Excellency Professor the Honorable Governor of Tasmania was going to raise taxes or not.”
That snagged a memory from the back of my mind. Not the bit about the government raising our taxes. The other stuff. Arthur’s house, and the way it looked when me and Kevin were there. Something... yes.
“You had coffee with Arthur Loren yesterday morning?”
“Sure. Always accept a coffee when it’s offered. Just good business sense. Even in a pigsty like Arthur Loren’s place. Couldn’t bring myself to drink much of it. I think he’s been boiling the same grounds for a week. Took a few sips and left the cup on the table.”
The full cup on Arthur’s table.
Wait...
“Myles, how many coffee cups were on the table when you were there?”
“What?” He screwed his face up, trying to tell if I was serious. Apparently, he decided I was. “How’m I supposed to remember... I don’t know, Dell. The place was a mess. We sat down, Arthur shoved aside a bunch of newspapers and junk, and he put the cups on the table...just ours. Two.”
Then the third cup, the one with the lipstick, came after Myles had left Arthur’s house.
His daughter.
I got up, looking down at Myles from my five-foot-six height. “Not saying I trust you,” I told him. Then, after another breath, I added, “But I believe what you said.”
“All I can ask, Dell.” He seemed to breathe easier, like he’d gotten what he wanted from me. “See? That’s why I asked to talk to you.”
“Sure. Look, I’ll tell Bruce Kay what you said. Um. Sit tight.”
He laughed softly, winking at me as he rattled his handcuffs. “Funny girl.”
My hand was on the door, when I turned back to him. “Myles. Why didn’t you tell me about the deaths at my Inn when you were selling it to me?”
“Would ya have bought the place if I’d told ya?”
“Yes.” Which was true. I’d wanted the Pine lake Inn that badly. He could’ve told me that Dracula had a permanent residency there and I’d still have signed my name on the bottom line.
“Well,” he said with a shrug. “My mistake. Live and learn, right?”
“Anything else I should know about the place?”
Now he looked at his bare wrist, imitating me looking at my watch. “Sorry, Dell. Our time’s up.”
Then he winked at me.
I sighed. He was still a slime.
True, but... slime with a bunch of information.
Outside, I made sure to close the door tight. Kevin and Bruce were both waiting for me. Bruce was a little less patient about it than Kevin was.
“Well?” he snapped.
“He didn’t do it.” I looked at Kevin, and he read my expression. Sometimes we don’t even have to talk, me and him. We just know each other that well.
Bruce, on the other hand... not so much. Fists on his hips, he jutted out his jaw. “What d’ya mean, he didn’t do it?”
I told them everything Myles had told me. About Arthur, anyway. I left out the last bit, about the deaths at my Inn. And all the stuff about the ‘Ndrangheta and what circles me and Myles might be walking in. I told them about the land deal, and about Arthur Loren having a daughter, and about the cups of coffee.
“Oh, well, that’s just great!” Kay thundered, turning in a circle, waving his hand in the air. “The great Dell Powers thinks he’s innocent. Must be true!”
“Calm down, Bruce,” Kevin said to him. “What she says makes sense. We saw the three cups of coffee. Myles here didn’t leave that third one with the lipstick, and I doubt Arthur’s in the habit of wearing makeup. We’ve got another player in this.”
“Could be Myles had a partner,” Kay blurted out. “Think of that, did ya?”
“It’s possible,” Kevin admitted, using that amazing wellspring of patience he has. “But Myles ran away from the house by himself. Wasn’t any woman with him. I think we need to track down whoever this daughter of Arthur’s is.”
“Fine. You go check into the daughter, Kev. I’m gonna put our suspect in a holding cell.”
“Why?” I asked him, disbelief welling up in me. “You’ve got nothing to hold him with, Kay. Not a crime to have a cup of coffee with someone.”
“Don’t mean we should let him run free,” was the snarky answer. “He said himself he was involved. Got that land deal he wanted so bad and Lord alone knows what else. Smart money’s on him.”
As he opened the door to stride back into the interview room, I caught the gleeful smile on his face. “And I’ve got smarts.”
The door closed behind him. “But, listen to me—”
Kevin caught my arm. “Mom. Let it go. Bruce is in charge, and he’s just like Cutter in a lot of ways. He wants to hold onto his suspect just in case he needs to arrest him later. He’s like a kid who wants to keep all his toys under his bed. Ya won’t talk him outta this. Not this way.”
“This is Lakeshore, Kevin. Where does he expect Myles to disappear to?”
“Doubt he thought it through that far.”
I knew he was right. Didn’t make me like it any better. Not that I didn’t think Myles wouldn’t benefit from a day or two in a six-by-six cell. Might improve his state quite a bit. I just didn’t want to see an innocent man locked up when somewhere out there, the person who really did this was getting away with it.
“You’re going to look into Arthur’s family?” I asked Kevin. “His daughter?”
“Yes. I am. No sense leaving it for Bruce to do. He’s just gonna make me do it anyway.”
“Do you think his daughter could be this Denice Aldrich? The one who checked into my Inn?”
“I think it’s a good chance, yes.” He led me back up the hallway, away from the interview room and whatever daft thing Kay was doing now. “The timing is too much of a coincidence.”
“Coincidences happen, you know.”
“If you say so. I started looking into Denice Aldrich last night but I didn’t get very far, and then this morning Bruce goes and does this...” His eyes drifted to the service window over by the front desk, and to the lobby on the other side of it, and to James Callahan sitting out there waiting for me.
“So. James and you...”
Awkward. “It’s not polite to ask a woman who she spends her time with, you know. If it makes you feel any better I slept on his couch.”
“Where did he sleep?”
Like I said, he knows all the tricky questions to ask. I felt my cheeks heating. He slept on the couch too, technically, but I’m not about to tell Kevin that and make it sound like... yeah.
When I don’t say anything, he just smiled and gave me a hug. “As long as you’re happy, Mom. Been a long time since Dad. You deserve to move on. If that’s what ya want.”
Was that what I wanted? I think so. Time does move on.
If you let it.
Chapter Seven
I had James bring me home, to the Inn, dodging his questions the whole way. I gave him as much as I thought I could, because James really is a good guy, and he’s not looking to railroad anyone, and besides it would be all over town in a few hours that Myles Sinclair had been arrested for attacking Arthur Loren. No need to keep that part a secret. Or how Bruce Kay was holding him without any evidence.
The rest of it I kept to myself.
Arthur Loren had a daughter. He owned a strategic bit of land around Gallipoli Lake. He had something in jars that was important enough for someone to break in and steal.
Oh. And people had died at my Inn.
Well. Other than Jess, I mean. Of course, James already knew that part.
That got me to thinking, though. If Jess died at my Inn, and her spirit was still hanging around, what about the other poor blokes who got themselves dead there? Were they ghosts, too?
Was that what was going on with Lachlan Halliburton? The, uh, vision I’d seen... was it really his ghost I saw?
“You all right?” James asked. His car had stopped. We were back at the Inn.
The sun was up above the trees now. On the dash of James’s car, the clock read seven-fifty-three. Still early. I stretched and tried to hide a yawn behind my hand. “Guess I’m tired.”
Leaning across, he cupped my cheek in his hand and pulled me closer to kiss my lips. “You were asleep by eleven,” he teased.
“Maybe I’m getting old,” I suggested.
He shook his head, the tip of his nose brushing against mine. “You? Old? Never happen, Dell Powers.”
That was exactly the right answer.
After a few more little kisses I beg off, knowing that I really just want to spend the day with him but also knowing that I needed to give my Inn some personal attention before Rosie got to thinking I was dumping my responsibilities.
Not that I would. There’s just so much going on right now.
I must’ve spoke that last thought out loud, because suddenly James wrapped his arm around me and held me tight to him. “Come find me tonight, and maybe I can make things a bit better.”
“Yes, please.”
Now there’s something to look forward to.
The Inn is just coming alive inside. Rosie and her kitchen staff and the other employees are rushing about in the dining room, serving breakfast to the early risers. A few locals are filtering in also, but most of the guests will probably be asleep for another hour or two. That’s the fun bit about being a tourist, I suppose. Sleep in as late as you want.
In behind the registration desk, I find a few notes from the staff. Little things that need attention. Reorder toilet paper seems to be top of the list. Heh. Sure can understand that one. No one had checked out since yesterday, no one had checked in, except of course for—
“Excuse me.”
Denice Aldrich. She was just coming down the last of the stairs when she called over to me, and I looked up to see her in a pair of black lycra jogging pants and a matching zip up top over a pink t-shirt. Seemed a bit warm for the top, in my opinion. Her short hair with its brownish-red highlights bounced around her face.
Keep your cool, I told myself. No way Denice could know I suspect her of anything. Like assaulting an old man who might just be her father.
“G’day,” I greeted her, wearing a smile that hopefully looked more sincere than it felt. “Sleep well?”
“I did indeed,” she said, answering my smile with one of her own. “I was hoping to catch you this morning.”
“Oh?” I asked, keeping my expression frozen and pleasant. “Something you needed?”
“Yes, actually. I wanted to extend my stay another two days. Would that be possible? My business is taking a bit longer than I’d hoped.”
Kevin was still looking into her background and who knew how long that would take. Well, if she wanted to stay in town for two more days so that we knew where to find her, then I was certainly going to do my best to accommodate her.
“I think we can manage that,” I said, opening up to the right screens on the registration computer. Luckily, I could fit her into our schedule easily enough. Kelli and her family were due to check out tomorrow, as well as some of the others, and Mondays were always slow for check-ins anyway, so I had her set up in the same room for two more nights in a matter of seconds.
Still, I stood at the computer, typing away like it was a very complicated process.
“Denice Aldrich, right?” I asked her. “Is that your maiden name?”
“No,” she said, her tone guarded. “It’s not.”
Hmm. “Ever been to Lakeshore before?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
That didn’t mean she hadn’t been. Just that she couldn’t say that she had. Or, wouldn’t say she had, maybe?
Denice began to tap her hand against her thigh, obviously in a hurry and probably wondering why I was asking so many questions.
“Sorry, don’t mean to pry,” I offered, finishing whatever I hadn’t been doing with a flourish of key strokes. “I just like to get to know our guests.”
“Is that all it is,” Denice asked flatly.
“Um,” I stammered. “Well. Your reservation is all set. We’ll go ahead and charge it to the same card.”
“Thank you.”
I opened my mouth to ask her something else but she was already gone out the front door and down the steps.
Our handyman George came up the steps right after she left, and he nearly tripped over his own two feet looking over his shoulder to watch Denice stretching before her run. When he caught me looking at him he smiled sheepishly and tipped the brim of his worn baseball cap at me.
“Morning, Dell. Heard ya had a list of chores for me today.”
“It’s Sunday, George.” I do have a list of things that need fixing, and the notes I’d looked through before had added a few more. Still. “This is a day of rest, remember? All you should be doing today is going down to Pastor Albright’s services.”
George is a slight man with prematurely gray hair, not much taller than I am really. His arms have these whipcord tight muscles from the hard labor the Inn requires. Been my handyman for years, and I can’t imagine doing it without him. He came dressed for work to be sure, in his overalls and his ripped blue t-shirt, not for a church service.
He pulled a face. “You planning on going to church this morning, are ya?”
“Honestly?” As much as I’d love to say yes, because I like Pastor Albright and all, I just haven’t gotten myself to that point yet. “No, I’m not. Rosie will duck out around nine-thirty to head over there, if you want to join her.”
“Rather do my work, if that’s all right with you, Dell.”
“Fine with me. Plenty enough to do around here to keep my Inn running smooth.”
“Hoo. You know it. Got a few complaints of a noise inside the walls up on the second floor. Might be the pipes. Hope it’s not mice.”
A noise. On the second floor...
“What kind of a noise?”
George shrugged. “Some sort of knocking noise, up in room seven. I’ll take care of it.”
“Uh, actually, George I’ve got a list right here for you to start on. Why not let me go look around room seven and see what can be seen?”
I could see a lot of things being left unsaid in his eyes. Everyone knew room seven was where Jess had been killed. It had been a while before I could even rent it out to anyone again. He wouldn’t think anything of me acting funny about it now.
“Sure, Dell,” he said to me, taking the piece of paper I offered him from the desk. “Like you say, long list to get through. See? This is why I’m not goin’ to church. Got too much of the Lord’s own work to do right here.”
“Not sure about that, George, but you’ve sure got enough of my work to do.” I sent him off to look at the stuck window in the commons room, holding my smile until he was out of sight.
Then I went behind the desk and took the master key from its hook, and made my way up the stairs towards room seven.
The room is about halfway down the hall, on the left. I knew it well. For a while, after Jess’s murder, I used to come up here and sit in this room and talk with her. Oh, I didn’t usually see her spirit in here, but I could feel her. I got the feeling that she could hear me, and it made me feel better.
A knocking in the walls could be the pipes, sure enough. The plumbing has all been modernized but it’s still an old building. Old buildings have noises.
But at the same time, it could have a less grounded explanation, too. My Jess doesn�
�t normally knock on walls to bother folks, but then I’d just found out something pretty disturbing.
My Jess isn’t the only ghost in my Inn.
A gentleman thief, buried down by the lakeshore a hundred years ago, was making himself known.
I knocked on the door to the room, and waited, listening. Nothing. No sound from inside. The couple who were renting this room had gone off camping yesterday. They might be gone the whole weekend. They might be back any minute.
Knocking one more time with the same result, I used the master key to open the door, and went inside.
The room was messy but I try not to judge my guests. As long as they clean up before they check out I don’t mind how they keep their things while they’re here.
The bed hadn’t been made, and the blankets were hanging off the side of the mattress. A few clothes were tossed carelessly up near the pillows. Empty suitcases were stacked in a corner. The bathroom had towels on the floor and shampoo bottles on the sink and take-out containers from the Thirsty Roo bar in the trash. They do good chicken wings there.
Standing in the middle of the room, I closed my eyes, and listened. No banging. No knocking from the walls or floors or even from the bloody afterlife, for that matter. Should I call out, maybe? Ask if anyone’s here, ask them to give me a sign, like they do in the movies?
Sure. Then I can get out my Ouija board.
When I opened my eyes, Jess was standing right there.
She had her arms crossed over her chest and her leg stuck out to the side. Her hair was black this time, tossed up over her shoulder, and her smile was the same sarcastic grin that I remembered so well. Seeing her was painful, like always.
But knowing she was still hanging around made it better.
“Hey Jess.” I didn’t treat her any differently now than before her death. Not because I’m so very open-minded. Just because I have no idea how to treat a ghost. So I treat Jess like she’s still people. “I need to ask you a question.”
I watch her tap a finger to her mouth, and raise an eyebrow, waiting for me to go on.
“There’s another ghost in my Inn? Right?”