Bookman Dead Style

by Paige Shelton

  Jodie took it from her but not without raising an eyebrow. Even I knew a master key shouldn’t be on something so big and obvious.

  “Thanks,” she said as she took the key. She’d save her admonishment for the owners.

  We hurried up the stairs. At the top of the landing, I sent a fleeting glance toward the plant I’d hidden behind. It was hard to believe that Nell hadn’t seen me there. The hallway didn’t appear to have been part of a murder. The room where Cassie had been killed might currently be empty of hotel guests, but the door wasn’t blocked off. The light behind an old-fashioned sconce flickered just like the one I’d seen on the first floor.

  Jodie didn’t rush to get to the window. She put her hand on my arm.

  “We’re just taking a cursory look,” she said. “I need the crime scene techs here to do a thorough job. Not that it matters much at this point, but don’t touch anything. Just let me.”

  “Got it,” I said.

  Jodie pulled a pen from her pocket and we closed the distance between us and the window. With the pen, she lifted back one curtain panel and leaned over to look out the window and at the sill. I stayed back a half step, but I raised myself up to my toes and looked where she looked.

  The back of the building wasn’t far from the side of a mountain. There wasn’t a lot of space back there. Nothing that could ever serve as parking for anything bigger than a bicycle or two. There had never been and would never be a patio. Nevertheless, the fire escape landing, stairs, and ladder all led to a space where someone could escape from the building if there was a fire. Of course, after that, the person’s options would be to climb the mountain or try to forge a path along one of the tight side spaces.

  “Are there regulations that would deem this building unsafe?” I said.

  “Probably. But the title of ‘historic’ goes a long way,” Jodie said. “It snowed after the murder, right?”

  I thought a minute. “Yes, for sure.”

  “The snow down there could have a footprint or two, but it’s hard to tell.”

  I craned my neck. There was snow there. Dirty snow. And she was correct—it would be hard to tell if there were any footprints. Nothing was set on an even plane.

  “The ladder’s down,” I said. The rusty extension ladder was, indeed, extended to the ground.

  “Saw that, but we don’t know how long it’s been that way. How else could someone have escaped from up here?”

  I looked around. “Out a room window, but the spaces on each side of the building are not easy to maneuver.”

  “Then there’s only one other way,” Jodie said. I looked at her as she pointed. “Up.”

  “How?” I asked. I didn’t see a panel that led to an attic or the roof.

  “Again, through a window. Maybe.” She turned back to the window and moved the other curtain panel open with her pen. “Yep, there’s another ladder attached to the side of the building, going up. There’s a possibility someone hid up there, maybe leaving through the hotel later. Not sure.”

  “Should we go up there?” I asked.

  “As much as I would like to do that, I’d better call this in now. Sorry to spoil your fun.”

  “What else can we do while we’re here? Can we shove our way into a room or something?” Even caught up in the investigation, I was momentarily excited that I might finally get to see the inside of a room.

  “I could, yes, but I don’t really have probable cause at this point and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize this mess any more than we already have.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “You have to get to work, don’t you?”

  “I suppose.”

  “I’ll come see you right after.”

  I looked at her a long moment. It suddenly seemed important to confess. “I overheard you yesterday.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “When you were mad at Creighton at the courthouse. I overheard you both.”

  “Oh. Well, you shouldn’t have. No one should have.”

  “Wanna tell me what it was about?”

  “Nope, but thanks for asking.”

  “Jodie.”

  “Clare. There are certain things I can’t tell even you. At least not yet. Maybe later.”

  “Like today later?”

  “Clare.”

  “Got it.”

  “Go to work. I’ll come talk to you.”

  “Okay,” I said with an exaggerated sigh.

  Reluctantly I left the hotel. As I stepped outside and accidentally into the middle of a passing crowd, I excused myself and moved to the edge of the sidewalk. I turned and faced the hotel, wondering if Howie had been in his room and if Jodie was going to knock on doors and ask more questions.

  And where was Nell? And Adele?

  Was I just putting those people and Matt in a group together because I’d come to meet them all on the same day or were they really a package deal? Did they have a connection other than just the romantic and business relationships? I suddenly thought I understood why Matt wanted me to observe them at the party. Perhaps the murder was something they or at least a couple of them had in common.

  I’d have to find out later. For now, I had to get to work.

  18

  There were five of them and except for the one I could communicate with, they were old men, as old as Chester maybe but in much worse shape—hunched, bony shouldered—even under their shabby jackets and sweaters I could see their shoulder bones—and all four of them walked with canes that weren’t just for show.

  The younger one was probably close to my age, but he already had gray hair at his temples. I’d known people from Germany, but they’d never seemed as if they’d aged long before their time like these men did. Two men in the group wore sweaters with patches over their elbows; the other three seemed just as ragged with an array of frayed collars and shiny knees on their pants. I couldn’t help but wonder how they’d afforded their journey across the ocean.

  I didn’t have to wonder long about their reason for coming to Star City, though. Chester greeted me when I came through the front door and told me where they were from and about their small publishing house, which was more than a hundred years old, in Berlin. They wanted to learn how to restore books. Some books their company had published years ago were suddenly seeing a resurgence and becoming desired items throughout Europe. Along with their publishing skills, they wanted to learn restoration so they could bring the books back to pristine condition before selling them.

  “There are no book restorers in Germany? Or perhaps France?” I said to Chester.

  “They don’t want to go to their competition, and they were coming to Star City anyway.”

  “Not to ski, I take it?”

  “No, one of their brothers . . . Did I mention that all the elderly gentlemen are brothers?” I shook my head. “They are. Anyway, one of the brothers who isn’t here with them is a producer on one of the films up for an award at the festival. He’s out and about doing festival things.”

  “Which film?”

  “Statisch. It means ‘Static.’”

  “Don’t know that one. How did they hear about us?”

  Chester shrugged. “We’re a worldwide company, Clare.”

  “I suppose.”

  I introduced myself and shook all their hands, and didn’t catch even one name. I was still trying to process the news regarding why they were here.

  “Will you show us what to do?” the younger one asked with a slight German accent after I’d made the rounds.

  “I’d be happy to, but it’s not a quick or easy lesson. It will take time,” I said, not wanting to add that perhaps the older men didn’t have the time available to them. The younger one did. “I’m sorry, I was trying hard to listen, but I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Adalwulf. Please ca
ll me Adal.”

  “Adalwulf. That’s a wonderful name. Well, we can come up with some sort of schedule, maybe Skype. How long are you in Star City?”

  “I’m here until the task is done. My uncles will set me up a place to live.”

  I blinked.

  “Would you like an apprentice, Clare?” Chester said as he moved next to me.

  “Adal, will you excuse us a minute?” I said. Of course he knew what Chester and I were going to discuss, but I felt I had no choice but to have the conversation.

  “Of course.” He smiled at me and then at Chester as we turned to walk toward the workshop. We’d leave the door open in case any other customers came in.

  “See? Fate, destiny,” Chester said when we were in the back and beside my desk.

  “Shouldn’t an apprentice be younger, someone to take over the duties someday?”

  “You’re far too young to worry about that. Plenty of time. For now, you could teach our new German friend and spread some international goodwill. There are more apprentices in your future.”

  I inspected Chester. “What’s going on?”

  “I think this was your idea, Clare.”

  “No. There’s more.”

  He shrugged again and frowned under his bushy mustache. “When you mentioned hiring someone, you got me thinking, and I might want to take a vacation or two. I’m not saying I planned and plotted for a group of German men to come in wanting to acquire our skills, but perhaps I’m making the addition of an apprentice too convenient. Nevertheless, some time away might not be terrible for me.”

  “Oh, I see. Perhaps there is a girlfriend involved? Does Ramona want to do some traveling?”

  Chester sighed. “We’re old, Clare. There are a few places we want to see before we die. And I bet he’ll work for free!”

  “We can’t do that. We’ll need to pay him something.”

  “You’re teaching him some valuable skills. They have money.”

  “They don’t look like they have money.”

  “They do. I talked to one of the guys earlier.”

  “You speak German?”

  “No, they speak English, but the older guys just don’t want to. The young guy will be great to work with.”

  “He seems nice enough,” I said. “But . . . Chester, we don’t know these people. And we will pay him.”

  “Work with him today and decide. You’re the one who told me that Marion will not have one thing to do with this shop when she becomes famous.”

  “I think she’ll come back eventually.”

  “I would not count on it. She’s going to be a star. I wish we could put it off, but soon it will just be you and me and an employee or two. Or an interesting young man from Germany with ‘wulf’ in his name. How could this be wrong?”

  He made a good case.

  “Um, well, I guess it should be okay. Wait—let me get some references and make some calls just to make sure.”

  “Fine.” He turned to go back to the front of the shop. “And remember that old Groma you fixed?”

  It had been a Groma Bakelite, a portable typewriter made in Germany back in the 1940s. I’d fallen in love with its Art Deco styling and was sad to send it back, but that wasn’t unusual; I became attached to most of the typewriters I worked on.

  “Of course.”

  “That was Adalwulf’s. He and his family were so impressed with your typewriter-fixing skills that they researched us and found all our other offerings too. When they decided to come to the festival, they put us at the top of their list to visit. They planned to ask if Adal could learn from you, but they didn’t want to prepare us, give us a chance to say no to them, because they were so far away.”

  I remembered packing up the Groma to send to Germany. The shipping costs had been ridiculous. “Why in the world is this so important to them?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. There are other ways to go about what they want to accomplish, but it seems they’ve latched on to us. I think it’s a good thing. Maybe they’re believers in fate and destiny too.”

  I blinked. “Did you know about this before?”

  “Nope. Cross my heart, I didn’t. I could feel something in the air, though.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “Really, Clare, how could anyone dislike someone who owns a Groma and is named Adalwulf?”

  “I don’t know, but I want to make sure, that’s all.”

  “Of course. I’ll go ask Adal for a list of references. Wait here.”

  I took a seat at my desk after Chester left the room. I had a stack of work that had been neglected for a few days, but fortunately nothing that needed immediate attention. Nevertheless, I was anxious to get back to it. Fixing an old typewriter didn’t sound like much on the surface, but it was a real task with a satisfactory ending. I also still needed to research Mr. Muir’s book, as well as whatever other smaller tasks I could fit in.

  But what did I truly think about hiring an apprentice? I hadn’t taken the time to think about it much at all. It was just recently that Jodie had planted the seed in my mind.

  It wouldn’t hurt. If he was a hard worker and a good learner, it couldn’t possibly hurt to have him around.

  I scooted away from the desk and rejoined everyone out front. Adal was writing something on a piece of paper with one of the shamrock pens. I looked at the worn-thin sweaters and the elbow patches and wondered if they’d really been able to easily afford the trip. I hoped so.

  “Adal, if your references check out, we’d love to have you aboard. It won’t all be fun work—you need to know that.”

  “I understand,” Adal said.

  His uncles had smiles as big as he did. They said things too, but I couldn’t understand them, even though I figured they understood me.

  Chester smiled the biggest of all.

  19

  I opened the door with a dramatic flourish. I was dressed to the nines. Drama was necessary.

  “Holy moley,” Seth said. “I’ve never . . . You look . . . wow!”

  I laughed. “That was the right response.”

  “Seriously, you are stunning.”

  “Thank you. So are you actually.”

  Seth wore a black tuxedo with a crisp white shirt and a dapper black bow tie. He swung his hand from behind his back and flipped a fedora up and around before it landed on his head with a sideways tilt. He didn’t look the least bit nerdy.

  I clapped. “Nice.”

  “I’ve been practicing for an hour.”

  “It was worth the effort.”

  He brought his other hand around and handed me a single red rose.

  “Oh, that’s perfect.”

  “It might die soon. It’s cold out here and the walk from my car up to your doorway might have killed it.”

  “I’ll put it in some water. We’ll leave it here. Come in.”

  I admired the perfect rose as I carried it back to the kitchen. I filled a glass with water, because I had no idea where any vases were, settled the rose into it, and took a picture on my phone. I wasn’t one to post much of anything anywhere, but I wanted a picture before it did die. It was the first rose Seth had ever given me, and though I wished taking it with me were a viable option, and though I might not show my sentimental side very often, I would be glad I had the picture to look back on.

  “I think we’ll make a fine-looking couple,” Seth said as I came back around and into the front room. He had that look in his eyes that made me smile goofily. Oh, the blush of a new romance.

  “Me too. I guess we’re ready. I’d ask you to sit down for a social minute or two, but I can’t sit in this dress, so we’d just have to stand and look at each other. We might as well do that at the party. I have no idea how I’m going to sit in the car. You might have to strap me on the top.”

  My long, light blue
, shimmery dress fit snugly everywhere. It had to be tight. It didn’t have straps and would fall down if it wasn’t molded to me. It made me more hourglass shaped than I actually was, and the side slit from the hem up to directly above my knee gave me no choice but to wear heels to keep the glamour going.

  I threw on a faux-fur shawl that didn’t go with the dress, but it was better than my ski jacket and it was too cold outside to go without anything. I hoped for a coat check before we made our way into the main party. And something I could lean against if I got tired or if my feet started protesting the heels.

  Once in Seth’s car, seated, but in a strange stretched-out, ironing-board-ish pose, I recited an address that was located high up a mountain slope, if I knew my hidden mountain roads well. If it were snowing, I would think it might be unsafe, but I suspected the route had been well cleared and the place we were going would be impressive. It was all too secretive and mysterious not to be.

  I relayed my conversation and the events that had occurred with Jodie—who had not stopped by the shop as she’d promised she’d do. I would wait until the morning to call her. It was not my business anyway, but I couldn’t help but wish she’d followed through with the promise to come talk to me, and I’d been vacillating between being hurt and a little angry that she hadn’t. I didn’t tell Seth about that part.

  When I told him about Adal and the other German tourists, he said, “That can’t be a real story. It couldn’t have happened that way. It sounds too . . . scripted, I guess.”

  “According to Chester, that was the sequence of events that led to my having a real-life apprentice. I wondered if he’d somehow intervened with fate and destiny, but he promises he didn’t.”

  “It sounds great, really. You could use the help, and someone from Germany? It will be fun to get to know him.”

  “I know. I was thrown by the whole idea at first, but it’s starting to sound more appealing. I’ve never shown anyone how to do what I do. Well, I’ve tried with Marion, but she’s been too busy to do much more than just pretend to care and pick up a few of the basics.”