by Mae Fox
Julie nodded. “Both are on a fixed income.”
“And that is suspect how?” Hannah asked.
“Well, it’s a little strange. There are cheaper places to stay in the area than the Quilt Haus Inn. It didn’t have to be their first choice for a simple vacation.”
“But think about it,” Hannah said. “All Sadie has talked about since she got here is quilting. And they get two meals a day included in the weekend’s special price as well as the evening entertainment. Even with a more expensive room rate, it’s a pretty good deal.”
“I suppose. They did mention that a murder mystery was on their bucket list,” Julie conceded. Before she dismissed them from suspicion, she scanned the screen for any information she might have missed. “What about this? Joyce lost all of her money in a Ponzi scheme.”
“All of it?” Hannah’s eyes were wide with surprise.
“She’s a complainant in a lawsuit against an investment company, but there aren’t too many details about it.”
“If she lost all of her money, then how did she pay for this?”
Julie shrugged. “Sadie?”
“Maybe. What about … Alice Peyton?” Hannah hesitated briefly before saying the woman’s name.
Julie couldn’t say she blamed her friend. They’d both seen a lot in their years recovering stolen antiquities, but never anything so morbid this close to home. She typed “Alice Peyton” into the search engine, and several hits came up. Julie chose the one that looked like the Alice that had been staying with them at the inn. “Single, mother of two, worked for a man named Eric Rutherford from Rutherford International.”
“What of kind company is that?”
Julie shrugged. “It doesn’t say.” So why did it sound so familiar? She leaned back in her seat and forked up another bite of the strudel.
“Why are you frowning at my strudel?” Hannah demanded.
“That name. It sounds so familiar.” Julie tapped her fork on the plate as she tried to remember. Then it hit her. “Eric Rutherford is the expert I called to appraise the Civil War journal.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” Julie typed his name into the search engine. “Yep. Same one.” Which meant Alice definitely knew about the journal when she came to the inn. The newspaper section in her suitcase was no fluke. But what would any of that have to do with murder?
“I guess this is too bizarre to be a coincidence,” Hannah said, her brows furrowed.
“And the story gets weirder.”
“How so?”
“Alice’s family came by this morning. They were a strange bunch, to say the least.” Julie recounted the odd trio who had shown up to get Alice’s bags. “And then they told me that they didn’t buy her this weekend trip. They claimed her boyfriend bought it for her—and she wasn’t divorced, but widowed.”
“Why would Alice lie about something like that?” Hannah asked.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. It’s a weird lie to tell. Her son said maybe I misunderstood, but I vividly remember her saying that.”
Hannah nodded and then waited as Julie tapped away at the keyboard.
“Kenneth and Susan Calhoun,” Julie announced the names of the next two guests. “He’s an overworked podiatrist. She’s a housewife and part-time office manager for Kenneth’s practice. Mother of three.”
“Exactly who they claimed to be?” Hannah asked.
“Almost too much so,” Julie muttered.
“Don’t let your imagination get the better of you,” Hannah warned. “Stick to the facts.”
“Well, we have to conjecture a little,” Julie said. “And there’s something not right about those two.”
“Yeah, they’re terrible,” Hannah said, rolling her eyes dramatically. “People who have nothing to hide are the worst.”
Julie shot her an annoyed look and continued. “They have three children—two boys and a girl. All three are in college.”
“And?”
“His website says he extended his hours of operation as of last year. Maybe the doctor is trying to make ends meet. He did say this is the first vacation he’s had in three years.” Which proved absolutely nothing.
“So, that’s it on them?” Hannah asked.
“No,” Julie said, holding up a finger. “Susan’s father was an art collector. Nothing big though.” It was the closest thing to a connection she had. She wondered if Susan Calhoun’s tie to the art world could be relevant.
“And Carrie?” Hannah asked.
“I can’t find Carrie at all.”
“Really?”
Julie shrugged. “Nineteen listings pop up, but only three are in Missouri. And none matched the picture of our Carrie Windsor.”
“Where did she say she was from?” Hannah asked.
“Kansas City.” Julie drummed her fingers on the desk. “But maybe she meant Kansas City, Kansas.” Julie searched, but there were no listings in Kansas. “Huh.”
“Perhaps ‘Carrie’ is short for something. Like ‘Carolina.’”
“Could be,” Julie said. “But it could just as easily be short for something else.”
“That only leaves the handsome Dr. Liam Preston.” “Right.” Julie typed his name into the search engine window and scanned the results list that appeared on her screen. “Do you suppose Liam is short for William?”
Hannah raised her brows. “No idea. Why?”
“Liam Preston lives in New York with his two Yorkies and his very young assistant. He’s eighty-four years old.”
“That doesn’t sound like the Liam Preston staying here. He said he was a professor at a university in Missouri, right?”
Julie was just about to close out the browser window when a name caught her attention. She clicked on the link and then read the screen twice to make sure she truly understood. “Well, that explains why he could never remember to answer when someone called his name.”
“What do you mean?”
“Liam Preston is none other than L.P. Wallis,” Julie said.
Hannah stared at her blankly. “And this is supposed to mean something to me?”
“L.P. Wallis? One of the hottest mystery writers around.”
The statement had no more than passed through Julie’s lips when a scream rang out.
FIVE
In an instant, Julie and Hannah were both on their feet. They raced out of the office as the scream sounded again.
“It sounded like it came from upstairs,” Hannah said.
Despite her very high heels, Julie took the stairs two at a time, leaving the shorter Hannah to scramble behind.
“It’s in there!” Susan screeched at Julie. She stood outside the shared bathroom on the second floor with one hand clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide and fearful. She pointed toward the open door. “Get it!”
Kenneth hovered in the doorway of their room, rubbing his eyes as if he’d just awoken.
“Get what?” Julie asked, inching toward the bathroom door. She wasn’t too keen on going inside until she knew what she was up against.
“The snake!”
Julie shot Hannah a look.
Hannah quickly wrapped one arm around Susan’s waist and led her away from the bathroom door before she could scream again.
Joyce poked her head out of the room she shared with Sadie and asked, “What happened?”
Julie managed a smile. “Nothing. Just a small issue in the bathroom.” That had to be the lamest excuse she’d ever offered.
“Oh,” Joyce said, looking more than a little relieved. “My Alvin used to be a plumber. You want me to take a look?”
“Thank you for offering, but I think I’ll let the experts handle this.”
“Handle what?” Sadie pushed past her friend and joined the growing fray in the hallway.
“Just a little issue.” Julie cautiously peered inside the bathroom. Please let it be a rubber snake. Please let it be a rubber snake. Please let it be a rubber snake.
No such luck. Coiled up inside the bathtub was a thick black snake, its eyes an evil yellow. They seemed to glow in the flat, dark face that stared up at Julie, its tongue flickering and tasting the air around it.
Her heart flip-flopped in her chest. She wasn’t scared of snakes, but she surely didn’t want to mess with them if she didn’t have to.
“Is there really a snake in there?” Kenneth had finally managed to wake up enough to comprehend what was happening. He stood behind Julie and peered over her shoulder.
“There is indeed a snake,” she grimly replied.
“A snake?” Joyce repeated, creeping up behind them. “A venomous one?”
Julie shrugged. She didn’t know a great deal about snakes, and she didn’t really want to find out.
“Kenneth,” she said, unwilling to take her eyes off the snake for more than a couple of seconds, “will you please go downstairs and get the phone off the reception desk? I think we need to call a critter guy.”
Kenneth scratched his head. “Critter guy?” He still sounded a little groggy.
“Wildlife removal service,” she explained.
“Oh.” He looked over his shoulder toward his suite.
“If you’d rather see to your wife, that’s fine. Just send Hannah.”
Kenneth nodded and left the room as Julie continued to face down the snake. Thankfully, the serpent didn’t appear too active or ready to strike. Julie supposed that it was probably cool and comfortable on the porcelain.
Hannah appeared in the hallway and caught Julie’s eye. “I’m on it,” she said before disappearing down the stairs.
Neither Julie nor the snake moved as they waited for the critter guy to arrive. After what seemed like an eternity—but was probably less than ten minutes—Julie heard pounding footsteps on the stairs.
“What’s going on?” Gregory demanded.
Just the person she didn’t need.
“There’s a snake in the bathtub,” Liam said.
Julie wondered when he’d joined the party.
“We don’t know what kind,” Joyce chimed in. “It could be deadly.”
“I don’t suspect it is,” Julie said.
“A snake?” Gregory blustered. “Now see here, the situation in this … this hotel of horrors has gotten way out of hand! What if one of us had been bitten? Can you imagine? Another dead body at the inn! Something has to be done.”
“Something is being done.” Julie struggled to keep her voice civil. “A wildlife removal specialist is on his way here to get rid of the snake.”
Julie had braced herself for more complaints when heavy footsteps on the staircase preempted Gregory’s newest attempt to get out of paying his bill.
“You have a snake up here?” an unfamiliar male voice asked.
Thank heavens! “In here!”
A large, burly man stuck his head in the bathroom.
“Thank you for coming so fast,” Julie said, moving away from the tub to give him room.
The man pointed over his shoulder. “I was down at the end of the block, so I came right over.”
“Is it poisonous?” Sadie asked.
“Nope. Just a black rat snake.”
“Is that bad?” Joyce asked. Her voice held a wistful tone.
“It is if you’re a rat.”
“Oh.” Sadie seemed disappointed.
“If it’s got round pupils, it’s not venomous,” the man said. “Just look at those friendly eyes.”
“Who’s looking at its eyes?” Joyce asked. “I was looking at its flickering tongue.”
“I’ll get out of your way and leave you to it.” Julie stepped out of the room and ushered her guests away from the bathroom door.
Kenneth emerged from his suite and quietly closed the door behind him.
“How’s Susan?” Julie asked him.
He placed one finger over his lips. “Resting.”
“So, what are we going to do about this incompetent innkeeper?” Gregory’s loud voice echoed off the walls in the small space of the hall.
Julie grit her teeth. Either he wasn’t trying to be discreet or he didn’t have a clue how to be. “We’re going to go downstairs to the tearoom,” Julie answered, “where we can talk without disturbing Susan.” She fixed Gregory with a pointed look, fully expecting him to protest. Instead, he gave her a stiff nod and started down the stairs.
Shirley’s eyes widened as everyone made their way into the tearoom. “I thought I heard someone scream,” she whispered to Julie. “Did something happen?”
“You could say that.”
“So.” Gregory crossed his arms over his wide girth and narrowed his eyes at her. “If you and the police are going to force us to stay here, what are you going to do to secure our safety?”
“I am not forcing you to do anything. The police are. And you don’t have to stay here. You just have to stay in town.”
“But if I leave, you’re not giving me a refund, are you?” Gregory challenged.
It was definitely tempting to give in and refund Gregory’s money, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
“It says here that black rat snakes will bite if provoked,” Joyce interjected. She had her tablet in hand and was furiously surfing the Web.
Well, it’s a good thing no one provoked it.
“They aren’t venomous,” Shirley said. “They’re constrictors.”
Julie shot her a look.
Shirley just shrugged. “What? I grew up on a farm.”
“I think somebody put it in the bathtub to scare us,” Joyce said.
“Maybe even bite one of us,” Sadie added.
Shirley rolled her eyes.
“Chances are, it crawled in there on its own.” The Critter Guy was standing in the doorway with a wriggling bag in his hand. “Rat snakes are climbers. I’ve taken them out of drain pipes, off of rooftops; even got one out of a chimney once.”
Comforting, Julie thought.
“So, if the inn has rat snakes, does that mean it has rats?” Gregory asked.
Julie bit back a retort.
“No,” Critter Guy said. “The inn wouldn’t have rats with this baby around.”
With that, Julie jumped up and escorted Critter Guy to the front door while staying as far from the twitching sack as possible.
“What are the real odds that this fellow crawled in here on his own accord?” Julie asked once they were out of earshot of everyone else.
Critter Guy shot her a reassuring smile. “I’d say it’s most likely what happened.”
“So, I wouldn’t necessarily need to contact the police about it?”
He laughed. “Not unless you want ‘em mad at you for wasting their time.”
Everyone, minus Susan, was still gathered in the tearoom when Julie went back inside.
“What do we do now?” Liam asked.
A chorus of concerned murmurs followed his question.
Julie held up her hands to stay the protests. “I’ve been assured that the snake most likely crawled into the tub by itself. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“‘Most likely’?” Gregory snorted. “That’s reassuring.”
“You know, I have to admit this weekend is turning out to be much more exciting than I imagined,” Sadie said, her eyes bright.
Joyce nodded.
Kenneth merely smiled. Julie had the feeling that he would have voiced his agreement if he hadn’t feared word would get back to his wife. Susan probably wouldn’t like the fact that her snake scare was a source of entertainment for her husband.
“Since everyone’s together, let’s get a snack and start quilting. Who’s with me?” Julie asked, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. Not surprisingly, the responses she received were weak at best.
“Oh sure,” Gregory said. “I relish the thought of quilting with a group of murder suspects.”
“Do you think we should do that, dear? What with Susan still asleep upstairs?” Sadie’s forehead was pinched with concern.<
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“We wouldn’t want her to feel left out,” Joyce added.
“She’ll be fine,” Kenneth said. “A little nap and she’ll be right as rain.”
Julie hated to admit it, but that was probably the best thing.
Carrie gave a lukewarm shrug of agreement.
Liam simply whistled and rolled up his sleeves.
A wild pop song suddenly blared from Sadie’s purse.
“Ah!” Carrie nearly jumped out of her seat. She quickly recovered and looked down at her hands.
Sadie peeked at her phone. “Another sales call. Sometimes I answer just to toy with them. Tell them I’m going to buy everything then pretend to have a heart attack and hang up. But this is much more entertaining.” She silenced the ringer. “Not a fan of CeCe’s music, dear?” Sadie looked at Carrie.
“Um, it’s fine,” Carrie said, turning two shades of red. “It just startled me.”
With Shirley’s help, they pushed the tables to the outside edges of the room. Hannah had already explained to Julie how the Amish held their quilting frolics. She’d spent a lot of time living near the Amish in Pennsylvania before she joined Julie in the art retrieval world.
The theory was simple; most of the blocks were pieced in advance. Once everyone got together, they sewed the blocks together to make the quilt top. Then they made a “quilt sandwich” with batting in between the top and a white backing fabric. They placed it in a large frame so they could all sit around the frame to quilt the layers together. According to Hannah, this was the perfect gossip time for the Amish women.
Everyone pulled up a chair and threaded their needles. All except for Kenneth. His wife was the quilter in the family. He’d come along strictly for her.
“What did everyone do today?” Julie asked in an attempt to jump-start the conversation.
“Susan and I went to the winery,” Kenneth said.
“Which one?” Julie asked.
He shrugged. “One with good wine.”
“Sadie and I toured a few historic homes,” Joyce said.
“That sounds like fun,” Julie said automatically. The conversations at the inn were often as vanilla as they came, but at least they weren’t talking about murders and snakes. “What about you, Carrie? What did you do?”
“Walked around town a bit, I guess.” The girl pushed her owl-like glasses a little further up onto the bridge of her nose and squinted at Julie.