It wasn’t Alex’s fault that Mac and I had grown apart. He shouldn’t have to bear the burden of our mistakes. At least if Mac and I both purchased new homes in the middle of the village, Alex would have the freedom to come and go as he pleased. When he was young, living out on the farm meant that he and his buddies could run wild. They used to play hide-and-seek amongst the hop vines and flashlight tag in the open fields at night. But now that Alex was grown, living in the village made much more sense. He could walk to the high school. It wasn’t more than a half mile from Nitro. In the spring and summer, he could walk to the river or hike through Enchantment Park. Being in the village would put both of us in the middle of all the activity, and for the first time since Mac and I had broken up, I felt like I had a blurry vision of what the next stage of my life could look like.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
THE NEXT MORNING, I WOKE to an empty house and a nervous stomach. Sally was arriving tonight. She couldn’t get here soon enough. My conversation with Mac and Hans had made it painfully clear that I was going to have to face my future at Der Keller sooner rather than later.
After my late night with April, I’d been too tired to bake, so I padded into the kitchen, made a strong pot of coffee, and gathered ingredients to make a breakfast casserole for the Nitro guests. I started by cracking a dozen eggs in a mixing bowl and whisking them until they were light and fluffy. I added heavy cream, salt, pepper, chopped fresh herbs, sausage, and sharp white cheddar cheese. I layered it into a casserole dish and placed it in the oven to bake for forty-five minutes. We had plenty of fruit left at Nitro, and on my way to work, I could stop at Strudel, the local German bakery, and pick up some pastries.
With the casserole baking, I took a long, steaming shower. My thoughts returned to Liv’s murder as the water doused my skin. I hated to admit it, but Ali seemed to have the most motive and a deep-seated rage from everything she’d been through. I wondered if Chief Meyers had uncovered any new information in her interviews last night. I would have to find time to check in with her today. In the meantime, I intended to keep a close watch on Ali.
Once my skin was sufficiently red and warm from the shower, I got out and layered for the day. With more snow in the forecast, I opted for a pair of thick wool tights, a black knee-length skirt, a maroon cable-knit sweater that brought out the natural olive tones in my skin, and my favorite lace-up fur boots. I kept a few pairs of knee-high brewing boots at Nitro, but we weren’t brewing today so I dressed for work in the kitchen and tasting room instead.
To finish the look, I blew my hair dry and tied my long, dark hair into two braids. I dusted my cheeks with a touch of blush, added lip gloss, mascara, and a hint of cream eyeshadow. I couldn’t wait to share my news with Garrett and Kat. I knew they would be thrilled for me. Not to mention, like Alex, once I moved into the new house, I could walk to work every day. I could even go home for lunch or drop by to meet Alex after school. The more I thought about it, the more excited I became.
My breakfast casserole had baked to a bubbly, cheesy goodness. I wrapped the base with a thick kitchen towel and took it to the car. Then I grabbed my parka and gloves, tugged on a gray hat—yet another that Ursula had knitted for me—and headed for the village.
Sunday mornings in Leavenworth are typically lazy, with tourists venturing out for late brunches. I only saw a handful of people out and about on the snow-covered sidewalks as I left Strudel holding a box of assorted German pastries.
My arms were loaded with Lebkuchen, a gingerbread-like cookie; apple strudel; and Zwetschgenkuchen, a traditional plum cake. If my reaction time had been quicker, I would have ducked back inside the bakery, but instead I froze at the sight of Ursula, who was coming directly toward me. I recognized her gray striped wool shawl and her unsteady gait as she supported herself with a cane in order to step over a six-inch mound of snow pushed up against the curb.
“Sloan! Guten Morgen,” she said, pressing her cane onto the sidewalk when she reached me.
I bent down to greet her with a kiss on each cheek. “Good morning.”
Her hands shook slightly as she returned my greeting. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was still recovering from hip replacement surgery or if she was nervous to see me, too.
“You look well, Sloan.” She appraised me carefully. The lines etched across her forehead might have revealed her age, but her piercing blue eyes were as bright and astute as ever.
“Same to you.” I nodded to the cane. “You’re navigating the snowdrifts like a professional snowboarder.”
Ursula laughed. Then her face shifted. “Sloan, ziz has been ze hardest zing for Otto and me. We miss you so much, my darling daughter, and we want you to know how sorry we are. I have been awake every night, zinking of our last conversation about your mother. I know it wasn’t fair of me to keep what I knew from you, but I had my reasons. I don’t expect you to believe ziz, but I was sure I was helping. I was sure of many zings, and now I don’t know.…” Her voice trailed off.
My back went rigid. I tightened my grip on the pastry box.
“I hope you can forgive me. I hope you will sit down with Otto and me, and we will tell you our side of ze story. It might not be enough, but we owe you zat and much, much more.” She hung her head.
My natural instinct was to try and console her, but I resisted.
“Ursula, I’m just not ready yet.” That was true. As was the fact that I had no intention of meeting with the Krauses until after Sally’s visit.
“Ja, ja, I understand.” She used her free hand to cinch her shawl tighter. “It is cold, ja? Zey say we will have plenty of fresh snow for ze IceFest, so zat is good.”
I was about to respond, but before I could, April’s nasal voice cut through the morning air. “Guten Morgen, ladies, guten Morgen!”
She was hard to miss in her head-to-toe yellow. Her garish outfit made her look like an oversized bumblebee.
April practically danced across Front Street. “The Krause ladies together—awwww, it makes my heart go pitter-patter.” She thumped her chest. “Ursula, you are looking absolutely wunderschön.” As always, April butchered her German pronunciation.
“Thank you.” Ursula offered her a curt nod. “I’m feeling better day by day.”
“No, no. Don’t be so modest. The entire village has been absolutely flummoxed at the thought of our matriarch out of commission. I have been beside myself with worry. I had heard mention that you weren’t going to lead the IceFest parade this year. Now, I assure you, I would have taken on that responsibility willingly to help you, but I’m thrilled to see that you’re up and moving about the village. This is the most wonderful news.” April paused for a moment and looked thoughtful.
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Ursula had been “up and moving about” the village the moment her doctors had given her the okay. She was definitely walking better as she grew stronger, but April made it sound as if Ursula had been on bed rest for months.
“Although,” April continued, holding her index finger to her lips and staring at Ursula’s cane, “if you think it’s too much to navigate the icy street, I completely understand. Perhaps it makes the most sense for me to take over your parade duties, in the name of an abundance of caution for your personal well-being.”
April wasn’t fooling either of us.
“No, not at all.” Ursula shot me a wink. “I am fine for ze parade. Otto and I will be zere bright and early, with bells on, as zey say.”
“Oh, excellent.” April tried to force a smile through clenched teeth. “I’m so happy to hear that. What a relief.” She glanced behind me at the bakery. “Well, duty calls. It’s an early start for me this morning. My stack of paperwork demands some delicious pastries. Sloan, I’ll be in touch later.”
I breathed a sigh of relief that April didn’t mention anything about my offer. Not that Ursula wouldn’t support my decision to move out of the farmhouse, but I wanted to make an escape as quickly as possible.
“We have a word for zat woman in German,” Ursula said once April was safely inside Strudel.
“What is it?”
“Schadenfroh,” she replied in her native tongue.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that.”
“It means taking pleasure at others’ misfortune. Zat is April, ja?”
I chuckled. “Ja.”
Ursula patted my hand. “Sloan, you take care of yourself. We will be waiting for you whenever you are ready to talk.”
The air in my lungs felt like it was evaporating. “Okay, thanks.” I left her with another kiss on the cheek and headed straight for Nitro.
Not surprisingly, there was no sound of movement from Garrett, Kat, or our guests upstairs when I unlocked the front door. I cranked up the heat and went to the kitchen. Maybe the scent of brewing coffee would stir everyone. I turned the oven to low to keep the casserole warm while I put the finishing touches on breakfast. The routine of preparing a meal helped keep my thoughts from drifting too much. Seeing Ursula had thrown me off. I’d been so careful, avoiding Der Keller during times of the day I knew that she and Otto were likely to be there, making sure Mac picked Alex up from their house after Sunday dinners, and sending Garrett to the monthly village business owners meetings. Of course I would have to bump into her at the pastry shop early in the morning. Come to think of it, why was she out this early? Der Keller wouldn’t open for lunch service for another four hours, and Ursula usually arrived an hour or two before the lunch rush.
Was bumping into each other an accident, or had she intentionally tried to track me down?
Hopefully, Sally would have some answers and concrete information for me. I couldn’t go on living like this and trying to avoid the most prominent and beloved couple in town for much longer. What did Ursula want to tell me?
Her words replayed in my head as I went through the motions of making the morning coffee. She had said that she and Otto had more to tell me. Why hadn’t she told me everything the fateful night she’d come clean about knowing my mother?
None of it made sense.
They had intentionally lied to me about my past. No matter how much I loved and cared about them, I wasn’t sure how I was going to forgive them.
What could their reason be?
Ursula made it sound like keeping my identity secret had been an attempt to help me. Help me what? Help me spend decades feeling lost and confused? Help me close myself off to emotions? To learn how to keep everyone at a distance?
No.
It wasn’t fair.
She couldn’t expect me to trust that lying to me for all of these years was absolvable because she was well-intentioned. Trust didn’t come easy for me, and as of late it felt like the universe testing my resilience. First Mac, then his parents. What was next?
The smell of coffee wafting through the kitchen pulled me away from my thoughts.
Sloan, you have to focus. I pressed my fingers and thumbs together and inhaled slowly. There was nothing I could do until Sally arrived, so for the moment the only way I was going to stay sane was to wrap myself in as many sensory tasks as possible—like making breakfast.
Baking and cooking had been a form of self-help since my early years in the foster care system. It was probably one of the reasons I also enjoyed brewing. There was something about working with my hands while completely immersed in the sensory process of brewing coffee, baking bread, or steeping grains.
Once the coffee was ready, I took it upstairs along with clean plates and silverware and began setting our communal breakfast table.
Ali wandered out first. She rubbed sleepy dust from her eyes and tied her plush bathrobe tighter.
“Good morning, would you like coffee?” I asked.
“Yes. Thank you.” She took the cup I poured for her and added cream and sugar. Then she took a seat at the end of the long walnut table. The room was snug yet comfortable, with a collection of vintage ski posters on the walls and bookcases with a multitude of reading options for guests. Alex had helped me stock our mini library. We had hit the annual library sale armed with empty hop boxes that we filled to the brim with a variety of sci-fi, romance, and historical fiction, along with plenty of mysteries, classic literature, and regional hiking guides.
“Are you feeling any better?” I set a tray of the pastries in the middle of the table and turned the teakettle on.
“A little.” She cradled her earthenware coffee mug. “I’m wiped out. Brad and I were up until three in the morning trying to hash things out.”
“Were you able to come to an understanding?”
“He keeps insisting that there was nothing between him and Liv. I don’t know what to think. He sounds like he’s telling the truth, but I just don’t know if I can believe it. What are the chances that she would have picked the same weekend to be in Leavenworth and to stay at the same hotel?”
I placed a dish of tea packets on the table. “I don’t know if this helps. I should have mentioned it yesterday, but I didn’t think about it at the time. Liv wasn’t planning to stay here. She came to the village without a hotel reservation, and once she got here, she tried every hotel in town. We were a last resort. In fact, I was the person who offered it up to her.”
“Really?” Ali’s face brightened.
“Yes, I felt sorry for her. She had nowhere to go. In fact, she even mentioned driving back to Spokane. That’s when I offered her the extra guest room upstairs. We weren’t technically ready to be fully booked with guests, but we didn’t want her stuck without anywhere to sleep.”
“Huh.” Ali stared at her coffee. “I don’t know. It’s still a pretty huge coincidence that she was here in Leavenworth the same time as us.”
“True.” I couldn’t argue with that.
Kevin, Jenny, and their friends emerged from their rooms. I gave them coffee and went to get the casserole and fruit salad.
When I returned to dish up breakfast, I noted that Brad was absent. Had he intentionally stayed in his room to give Ali space?
“That crotchety police officer told us last night that none of us can leave,” Kevin complained, helping himself to three pastries. “What are we supposed to do? Just stick around here? I have a very important meeting tomorrow that I need to be back for.”
Mel and Swagger almost seemed like they were trying to distance themselves from Kevin. They had scooted their chairs to the far end of the table, near Ali. Mel sighed under her breath at Kevin’s outburst.
Jenny gnawed her fingernails. “I know. I already sent my boss a text message, but I’m worried I’m going to be in trouble if I don’t show up tomorrow. I mean, I don’t understand why the police won’t let us go home. They have our contact info.”
Unless Chief Meyers is confident that one of you is the killer, I thought to myself.
“When is she coming by?” Kev asked me.
“I have no idea. What did she tell you last night?”
“Nothing. Not to leave town. That’s total crap. I’m calling my lawyer. I’m not paying for another night here or getting charged late checkout fees because I’m forced to stay here. That’s crap.”
Unless Garrett had said something to the contrary last night, I didn’t think we had any intention of charging late checkout fees. “We don’t have any new guests checking in today,” I said to the group. “You’re welcome to stay past checkout, and if the police determine that you need to stay in the village longer, I’m sure we can work something out.”
“I can’t wait to get out of this stupid small town,” Kevin muttered.
“In that case, ignore what my colleague just said.” Garrett came up behind me. He gave me a knowing look.
I didn’t bother to respond to Kevin’s dismissive comment.
Jenny nudged him. “Kev, don’t be rude.”
He snapped his head and shot her a look that made me flinch. “I’m not being rude. I’m calling things like I see them. You want to be stuck here for a week? This is total crap. They can�
��t hold us like common criminals.”
The way he stared at her with his eyes bulging as if he was about to have a brain hemorrhage sent my thoughts back to Liv. This brief flash of Kevin’s temper highlighted the fact that he had a short fuse. If Liv had ignited Kevin’s fiery streak by embarrassing him in front of his friends, it was plausible that in a moment of rage he had killed her.
I watched as Kevin shot Jenny another look of disgust and then started devouring the casserole. The sooner he checked out, the better.
Garrett and I went downstairs together.
“That guy scares me, Sloan.”
I was surprised to hear Garrett admit as much. It wasn’t as if Garrett had a meek personality. Nor did he have a slight stature. He was tall and trim, thanks to his daily runs through the cross-country trails on Blackbird Island.
“No, I’m not worried about him coming after me.” Garrett answered the question I hadn’t asked. “I don’t like the way he treats women. Did you see how he shot Jenny down? I’m not sure if the chief has any evidence pointing to him, but I’m going to be keeping close watch on him. I don’t trust him at all.”
“My thoughts exactly.” I filled the coffee maker with water and more grounds to make a fresh pot.
“He has no respect for women,” Garrett fumed. “What I don’t understand is why women like Jenny tag along after him like puppy dogs. Can’t she see the way he belittles her?”
“Unfortunately, I think that’s part of the cycle. I’m not sure that Jenny has a lot of self-confidence, and guys like Kevin take advantage of that.”
“It’s hard to watch.” Garrett broke an apple pastry in half. “How bad would it be if I punched him?”
“You’d get a standing ovation from me, but we might have a lawsuit on our hands.” I helped myself to a cup of coffee.
Garrett bit into the flaky pastry. “Let’s hope the chief lets them go soon. I’m not sure how much longer I can play nice with that guy.”
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