Death Checks Inn (Aspen Valley Inn 1)

by Robbins, Sara

  Joan added that they would definitely be back.

  Lacey thought to herself how wonderful it was to be that young and able to put a positive spin on the worst of life, even murder. She walked them to the front door. As she closed the door on the two of them, they waved happily. Then they got into the shuttle she had called for them.

  Suzy called out, “We left you something, check the sanctuary!”

  Lacey called Charlotte and they went out to the sanctuary together. They looked around and didn’t see anything out of place. Wondering what on earth they were talking about they went back inside.

  As they entered the reception hall, they were surprised by the sight of Miranda and John standing at the foot of the stairs with their luggage at their feet.

  John spoke brusquely, “We’re sorry, but we are ready to get back to Omaha. That discussion with the cop was the final touch. We don’t blame you, but frankly, the honeymoon is over.”

  Lacey did her best to talk them out of leaving, even offering several complimentary tours to tempt them to stay.

  “No, thank you. We really want to just go home. Will you call a shuttle for us please? And John, let’s at least go do that rock thing the girls told us about before we leave,” said the beautiful Miranda.

  Lacey went to the phone and called another shuttle. Her curiosity got the better of her and gesturing to Charlotte, they followed the couple out to the sanctuary.

  John looked around and then led Miranda over to the border area just inside the wall that was filled with river rock of different shapes and sizes. He pointed to one that had writing on it.

  Lacey hurried over and took the rock from the pile. Turning it so all could read the words written in bold magic marker,

  “We had a killer time~ the date and Joan and Suzy” was written on the rock with a saucy smiley face.

  She laughed aloud at the unique monument the girls had made to mark their stay.

  John asked for a marker as Miranda picked out a smooth oval stone.

  Charlotte ran inside and came back with a black marker.

  After huddling together for a moment, Miranda scrawled a message on the rock and handed it to Lacey.

  “True love never dies” was inscribed with a heart containing their initials on the grey stone.

  She placed it carefully into the pile of stones that rimmed the wall.

  As they went back inside they heard the beep beep of the horn of the shuttle vehicle waiting in the driveway. They shook hands and then they were off.

  Charlotte and Lacey stood at the doorway.

  Dan joined them and said, “Hey, that rock thing was cool, wasn’t it?”

  Charlotte and Lacey laughed aloud.

  Yes, thought Lacey, if nothing else had been gained by this disastrous week then at least they had begun a wonderful tradition for the future guests of the Inn.

  Charlotte patted her on the back as if to say Amen.

  Chapter 21

  The rest of the day was spent cleaning the guest rooms and tidying up the common areas of the Inn.

  Lacey went to check the Inn’s website and was surprised to see several inquiries about reservation availability.

  She called Charlotte over to look at a particularly interesting request. A Wiccan group wanted to book all the guests rooms next month for a four-day Moon Goddess celebration. Charlotte was confused.

  Lacey explained to her that Wicca was an earthy witchcraft type religion that was gaining popularity after years in obscurity. She felt they were harmless but hoped that their interest wasn’t solely based on the two deaths that had probably been reported in the news.

  There was a family reunion requesting dates for July and another honeymoon couple requesting a week in August. All in all these requests seemed a positive omen to Lacey.

  As she confirmed each of the requests, she felt more normal than she had for the last three days.

  The bell rang on the front deck. Tricia Moore stood there peering into the glass oval in the front door.

  Lacey let her in and Tricia looked around brightly.

  “So all of your guests have gone?” she asked bluntly.

  Lacey wondered how this news could have already spread but such was the nature of small town gossip mills.

  Charlotte offered to bring them tea out in the sanctuary.

  Lacey led her guest out to a wrought iron table. The stucco walls did a great job of blocking the wind and that together with the mild June temperature made it quite pleasant.

  Charlotte brought out tall glasses of iced tea and joined them at the table.

  Tricia did not even try to hide her interest in the goings on at the Inn. She asked a lot of questions about both Adam and Heather’s death and seemed almost too interested in Wyatt’s opinion about the investigation.

  Lacey put her off with vague murmurings about not really knowing anything. Charlotte turned the conversation to Tricia and her background.

  Tricia said she had lived many places, Omaha, Fort Morgan and just a few months ago, Denver. She really enjoyed the welcome of a small community after the coldness of a large city. She had worked as a day care provider in Omaha but found that she really enjoyed her work at the Elkville café.

  Her face clouded when asked about husband or children and Charlotte decided to leave that subject alone. Everyone had his or her own story and their own pain,

  Charlotte, more than anyone, could attest to that.

  Tricia glanced at her watch, exclaimed that she would be late for the dinner shift at the café, and hurried out to her car.

  As Charlotte and Lacey waved from the front deck, a pickup truck pulled into the driveway.

  Cody Westerfield jumped down from the cab carrying a large white box. While he only had eyes for Charlotte, Lacey greeted him and asked him to come in and have some tea.

  “I can’t stay,” he said, “I just wanted to bring this by as a welcome to the neighborhood gift.”

  He looked at both of them for a moment, handed the box to Charlotte and then with a wave headed back to the still running pickup truck.

  Charlotte carried the box into the Inn and they opened it to inspect the contents. A card on top explained that the box contained eight of the finest free-range bison sirloin steaks that could be bought. Grass fed and raised nearby at the C bar W ranch. Wow. Lacey thought.

  This would make a very special meal, a meal that sure needed two couples. Herself and Wyatt and maybe even though Charlotte would do her best to get out of it, Charlotte and Cody.

  She placed the box into the large freezer with a promise to herself to get that dinner arranged soon.

  The next visitor was Wyatt.

  Lacey hurried to greet him at the door.

  “Do you know anything?” she asked.

  She had called him when all of her guests had departed. He had not been happy about it.

  He followed her into the kitchen. Charlotte sat across from the two of them at the big worktable.

  He told them that his department had been in contact with both the Boulder police department and the Omaha homicide division. Each of her guests would be welcomed by their local police and given firm instructions that they were not to leave the area.

  They were all persons of interest and needed to make themselves available for further questioning.

  Wyatt voiced his relief that these potential suspects were no longer staying with her at the Inn.

  He frowned as he told them that the Topeka police department had been more than happy to reopen the Adam Mason case. They even had a list of people that Adam had owed a lot of money to. They were checking out the list and really felt that a couple of them were very capable of finishing him off if they discovered that he had not died years ago.

  “Are there any answers about Heather?” Lacey asked.

  He reminded her that even though the death was suspicious there was nothing that undeniably pointed to a homicide. Maybe she had killed the husband she grieved for all these years and then filled wi
th remorse jumped off the mountainside.

  Either way he expected to have some real answers by next week. He stood up intending to get back to work.

  Lacey walked him to the door.

  They hugged and she had to ask, “Does this mean you won’t be staying here tonight?”

  With a devilish glint, he leaned closer, “Well, I was going to catch up on some work and check on my house but I could easily be talked into coming over here.”

  Embarrassed Lacey quickly assured him that she would be fine and pushed him towards the door.

  As he stepped out on the deck, he grew serious.

  “Give me a few days to tie up the investigation and then I will take you on a real date. I promise,” he said.

  Lacey smiled and nodded and thought to herself as she went back to the kitchen, they really were moving excessively fast. She guessed murder had that effect. She liked the idea of being courted by someone she was already very interested in.

  She also liked the idea that possibly none of her guests were killers.

  Lacey went to her sister and placed her arm around her shoulders, “Hey, Sis, how about a trip into the big city of Colorado Springs for a nice dinner?”

  Charlotte gladly accepted but only with the stipulation that margaritas would be included with the meal.

  Dan overhead their plans and asked Lacey if she could take a moment to set a pass code for the new alarm system before she left.

  She thought for a moment and then chose a four-digit number.

  She could tell that Dan would like to accompany the two of them into town but she really didn’t want to start something that blurred the lines around their relationship. She still needed to get him to complete the work she had for him at the Inn.

  After a brief tutorial on the workings of the security system given proudly by Dan they left in Charlotte’s car laughing together happily.

  Dan looked after them wistfully and then began packing up his tools to head home for the day. He wondered if he should actually set the alarm.

  He decided not to since that would make it obvious that he had watched Lacey enter the code. Better, that no one knows that it wasn’t really a secret.

  He wasn’t the only one watching Charlotte and Lacey drive away.

  Chapter 22

  It was quite late when Charlotte’s car pulled into the circular driveway of the Inn. They had really enjoyed an evening of no drama good food and lots of laughter.

  Charlotte offered to come in with Lacey but Lacey thought that idea ridiculous.

  “Go on home,” she urged Charlotte, “Remember Wyatt will be calling to check up on me later.”

  Charlotte watched as her sister entered the front door and then flicked the deck lights to let her know she was okay. Charlotte drove away humming to herself.

  Lacey checked her watch; Wyatt was probably still working since he was coordinating all the information being gathered from the other jurisdictions.

  She felt light and carefree for the first time in too many days. She decided to go on up to her apartment and take a long leisurely soak in the giant claw foot tub she had in her private bathroom.

  She quickly checked all the doors and windows on the first floor. After making sure that everything was locked, she went over to her new security system keypad.

  She entered the code she had chosen and with a satisfied smile headed upstairs.

  Pink-cheeked and relaxed after her bath she climbed into her bed and opened her laptop. She wanted keep a log of each guests stay and their preferences ect. She had set up a program to document this. She was happy that she could try the system out with real information.

  She connected her digital camera into the port and began the download. All the photos taken this week would be matched up with the written report of each guests visit. She liked the idea that she could use these photos when she sent thank you cards and invitations to encourage her guests to return. These would remind them of the wonderful time they had while staying at the Inn. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

  As she was waiting for the download her cell phone rang, she quickly answered, excited to talk with Wyatt. They spent at least half an hour talking the usual couple small talk. This included a lot of flirting and giggles. They were both in a hurry to build on the closeness that had engulfed them just a few days ago. After much discussion about where to go on their first official date, they warmly ended the phone call with a promise to meet for coffee tomorrow morning at the Elkville Café.

  After hanging up she smiled as she realized she had not been this into a man since college. Only this time she was sure the man was worthy of her love. Yes, Wyatt was very deserving, such a good and honest man. Even his job involved protecting people and making the world a safer place.

  She wondered if he was afraid of being alone with her, she giggled a little and thought he sure would be if he knew how quickly she wanted to skip the dating and move right into the next stage.

  Probably just as well that one of them was being sensible she thought as she went back to working on her computer.

  She was sorting through the downloaded photos deciding which ones went with each guests file and which were general snapshots of the Inn that she could use for advertising.

  She sighed as she noticed a couple of shots taken of Heather on her first night. She and Charlotte had taken quite a few pictures of the grand opening reception. She didn’t remember Heather staying for long but here she was in two of the photos.

  The first one just showed her standing alone in the center of the room as if she didn’t quite know what to do with herself. The other was taken during the tour of the upstairs. Heather was standing right in front of the mining equipment display and appeared to be seriously studying the contents of that art niche. That niche had contained the murder weapon, the antique railroad spike.

  Lacey enlarged these two photos and looked closer.

  Heather was definitely looking very interested in the spikes on display. Lacey studied the other photo, the angle showed Heather close-up holding her wine glass, but in the background the staircase rising to the second floor was clearly visible.

  Hidden in the shadows at the top of the staircase was John Braverman seeming to stare down with a distorted sneer on his face. His gaze seemed to be directed at Heather Mason.

  The Braverman’s had not joined the celebration that night. Was he irritated at the noise the partygoers were making on what was after all his honeymoon?

  Of course, that was it. It had been a lively group. She minimized those photos and moved on.

  She smiled at one that showed Cody Westerfield looking at Charlotte’s back as she passed through the crowd serving wine. She would save that one for Charlotte and prove to her that that cowboy was definitely interested.

  Her favorite pictures were the ones taken at the barbeque held out in the sanctuary. Everything looked so magical with the fairy lights and cozy nightglow surrounding everyone.

  There was stream rising up from the spa and even the moon was visible in the night sky in a few of them.

  She wanted to save these and use them to entice people to visit the Inn, maybe put these on the website.

  One of the photos had been taken from outside the huge wooden gate. She had wanted to get one from the perspective of looking in at the celebration inside the stucco walled enclosure.

  People were mingling and laughing inside the lighted area inside the gate and yet there was some illumination surrounding the walled area because of the twinkling lights.

  She really liked this one, she thought as she used the magnify function to see how it would look as the screensaver for her webpage. As she looked closer, she saw something at the corner of the shot near the wall but several feet down from the gate.

  There were two people deep in conversation. Even though it was shadowy, she could recognize both.

  Chapter 23

  In this picture, Tricia Moore was grasping John Braverman’s arm in what looke
d like a desperate gesture to make him listen to whatever she was saying with her face very close to his. Lacey moved her curser to the corner of the photo and zoomed in. Yes, it was clear that they were having a very serious discussion. How could that be, she wondered, they didn’t know each other. However, this picture showed that they clearly did know each other and it looked very suspicious to Lacey.

  Her mind was racing, thinking back to the last week’s events. She had had several conversations with Tricia and she had never mentioned knowing any of her guests. Hadn’t the Braverman’s been out for the romantic dinner she had planned for them that night? She didn’t remember them even making an appearance at the barbeque.

  She shrugged no need to be melodramatic; there was probably a simple explanation. She went back to the pictures of Heather Mason. Poor dear, she really wasn’t joining in but that was no crime. She was looking closely at the mining equipment but she had probably looked closely at the other exhibits too.

  Lacey looked again at John Braverman’s expression at the top of the stairs. It was a menacing look but perhaps his night of passion with Miranda was being disturbed, she was sure that would make a man angry.

  Nevertheless, she could not think of an explanation for the pictures of Tricia and John. They seemed to be familiar with each other. They were obviously talking about something important. It just didn’t make any sense.

  She saved the four pictures into a file and then decided to also email them to her smart phone.

  That is what she would do she thought tiredly, she would bring the pictures to show Wyatt when they had coffee in the morning. He would come up with satisfying answers to the questions she had about the pictures.

  She put the computer back on the desk in her little sitting area and climbed wearily back into bed. Her cell phone rang again and she jumped startled at the sound in the quiet bedroom.

  It was Charlotte just checking in. They talked for a moment about the great evening they had enjoyed and then Charlotte asked if Wyatt was there. Lacey told her that he was working but she wished he were at the Inn.