“We should probably go sit in the car now,” Tori advised.
“I’m not sitting in the back,” Anissa said firmly. “I get car sick.”
“The car won’t be moving,” Kathy pointed out.
“Are you sure you want to risk it?” Anissa asked.
Tori tried to stifle a smile.
They climbed down the ladder and Tori did a little reconnaissance. The drapes were drawn in the living room, but she could see flickering light from the television. Herb was probably snoring in his recliner. Still, they crept around the darkened Lotus Lodge and walked in the shadows near Resort Road to reach the highway, then tread on the sandy shoulders of the highway so as not to get their shoes wet from the heavy dew. Kathy unlocked the car and they climbed in, with Tori in the back. “We’re going to have to share the binoculars,” she said.
“Say someone does come along to squat in your house overnight; where do you think they’re going to come from? The bar?” Anissa asked.
“I don’t think it’s one of their customers,” Kathy said. “They’ve got bathrooms for both sexes.”
“I want to know how they’re getting in without smashing a window or kicking in the door,” Tori said.
“A key, of course,” Kathy said matter-of-factly.
“Yes, but who’s supplying it? Presumably, the owner doesn’t want someone messing with his property if he hopes to sell it—especially people who are going to use it as their personal toilet. It’s definitely detrimental to making a sale,” Tori pointed out.
“What if,” Anissa began, “whoever is using the house is also the one riding on the bay in the middle of the night?”
“The lights your daddy saw?” Tori asked.
“Why not?”
“Like the rum runners?” Kathy asked.
“Yeah. Think about it, this is rural New York, hundreds of thousands of acres of nothing but fruit trees to be picked. Some farmers might hire illegal immigrants.”
“I haven’t seen any Homeland Security vehicles patrolling the area,” Tori said.
“But they do around the port of Rochester. I’ve seen them parked,” Kathy said.
“I’ve seen them, too,” Anissa said.
“What if it’s worse than illegal aliens?”
“You mean terrorists?” Kathy asked.
Tori shrugged. “We don’t have secure borders.”
“You think we should be worried about an invasion from Canada? They seem like pretty friendly people to me,” Anissa said.
“Could be drug runners,” Kathy suggested.
“Maybe,” Tori said. “And what about that guy we heard about with the crew-cut? He’s been hanging around here lately, but nobody seems to know anything about him.”
“He’s usually at the bar in the evenings. We could go talk to him.”
“And say what? ‘Hi, guy, are you smuggling illegal aliens, or dope, or terrorists?’ Yeah, I’m sure he’d spill the beans to two little white gals like you,” Anissa said.
“Would he spill to you?”
“You think I’m going to walk into that biker bar at night without a bodyguard? No-sir-ee,” Anissa declared.
“The bikers aren’t that bad,” Kathy said.
“Yeah, they’re usually old guys reminiscing about their glory days,” Tori agreed. “I mean, I hardly ever see a young person on a bike, and when I do, they’re stupid not to be wearing leathers.”
“I wonder what time your daddy saw those lights on the bay,” Kathy said.
“I got the impression it was late,” Anissa said.
“How late is late?” Tori asked.
“Middle of the night. I wish those pages hadn’t been missing from his diary. I’ll bet they would have told us all about his suspicions,” Tori said.
“His house wasn’t broken into. How would someone know he wrote that down in a diary?” Kathy asked.
“Yeah, how?” Tori agreed. “Those missing pages could just be a coincidence. I mean, were there pages missing from any of the other journals?”
Anissa hesitated. “I couldn’t say for sure. I haven’t read them yet. It’s still too soon after he passed for me to face them.”
Tori could understand that. Her grandmother had recorded the message for the business’s voice mail greeting. She was sure she’d cry the next time she heard it, but she hoped Herb wouldn’t suggest they change it any time soon, either.
“What are we going to do if we catch somebody breaking into the house?” Anissa asked.
“Call 911,” Kathy said emphatically. “There’s no way we should put ourselves in harm’s way.”
“And how fast do you think they’re going to come out here in the sticks?” Anissa said.
“The State Police have a barracks just outside of Worton. They could probably be here in ten or fifteen minutes,” Tori said.
“And if the bad guys saw us watching, they might be long gone before the cops could ever get here,” Anissa pointed out.
“Then at least whoever was trespassing would stop peeing in my house,” Kathy said.
“It’s not your house!” Anissa cried.
“Yet,” Kathy remarked.
Tori sighed. “We don’t even know if anyone is going to show up at the house tonight—or tomorrow. How long should we keep up a stakeout? Days? A week?”
“Yeah, and why would a bunch of bad guys draw attention to themselves on a weekend?” Anissa asked. “I mean, this place is pretty dead now, but I’ve got to think there’s less risk of being caught on a weeknight.”
“So, you think we’re wasting our time?” Kathy asked.
“If we’d brought the bottle of wine with us I might have had a different opinion.”
“I could go get it,” Tori suggested.
Anissa shook her head.
“But think about it. Friday and Saturday are the busiest nights of the week, and yet someone was in that house last night and left their calling card on the wall,” Tori pointed out.
“Yeah,” Kathy agreed. “They’re either very brave or very stupid.”
“I’ll go with stupid,” Anissa said. She sighed. “Do you guys mind if I bow out of this little stakeout? I don’t know if I have a taste for this kind of adventure.”
“That’s okay,” Kathy assured her. “You’re probably right about us wasting our time. But I’m willing to sit here for another few hours just to make sure.”
“I’ll keep you company. It’s either that or listen to Gramps snore. He doesn’t give up the remote—even when he’s fast asleep.”
“I’ll catch up with you tomorrow and we’ll finalize plans about going to Rochester to get more of your stuff,” Anissa told Tori.
“Sounds good.”
“Good night,” Anissa said, and got out of the car.
Tori got out, too, taking her place in the front seat. She and Kathy sat in silence and in less than a minute, they heard the engine on the big blue pickup rumble to life. They listened until it faded into the distance.
“I wish her daddy’s diary hadn’t been tampered with,” Kathy commented. “Maybe he was killed because he figured out whatever was going on around here.”
“What if he just pissed someone off?” Tori asked.
“You mean someone like Biggie Taylor?”
“Maybe. What if he just messed up a page or two of his journal by spilling coffee on it and ripped them out? It could be that you and I have just watched too many crime shows during our lives and have vivid imaginations, which is why the worst appeals to us.”
“I like to think I have an active imagination, especially when it comes to problem solving,” Kathy said. “You can’t be successful if you don’t think outside the box.”
Tori retrieved her phone and checked the time. It was only 10:30. Maybe what they should have done was take turns on watch, with one of them spelling the other after three or four hours, but then where was the fun in that? Not that they’d actually had any fun so far—but it was probably good that Anissa had gone home, be
cause now she and Kathy could talk candidly.
“I was angry that you brought up the subject of me running Gramps’s business.”
“I know,” Kathy said, “but I knew you’d forgive me. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
“Yeah, I do, and now it’s out in the open. But his mind is made up.”
“Oh, he says that now, but we will change the way he feels,” Kathy said with authority.
“I wish I had your faith. How do you think that will happen?”
“I’ll have to think about it.” Kathy moved the binoculars up to her eyes and stared at the house bathed in shadow.
“Jerry never called back with an answer about your offer, did he?”
“Technically, it expired about five hours ago.”
“Will you submit another one?”
Kathy lowered the binoculars and sighed. “Yes, but I’m annoyed to have to do so.”
“You offered full price. Do you think they wanted to jack up the price after Lucinda Bloomfield looked at the house?”
“Maybe. If she said she wasn’t interested in buying, I can’t see why they’d reject my offer. If I have to, I’ll offer a cash deal.”
“But isn’t that everything you’ve got in the bank? How will you live until your inheritance comes through?”
Kathy bit her lip. “I’ll figure something out.”
Tori reached for the binoculars, and looked at the house. “Unless you’ve got eyes like a cat, you probably can’t see much more with these things than I can.”
“No,” Kathy admitted.
“Let’s walk out on the bridge and see if we can see boats on the bay.”
“We may as well. We’re not accomplishing anything here.”
They got out of the car, quietly closing the doors so as not to arouse suspicion from Herb in the house, then they started for the bridge. The sound of music and laughter from the bar across the street drifted over them, along with the smell of cigarette smoke. The sky was completely black with only a few scattered clouds on the horizon. The stars were out in full force, and Tori easily picked out Polaris. They walked to the middle of the bridge and looked out over the water.
“If we were standing on higher ground, we’d be better able to see boats out there,” Tori said.
“I wonder if the view would be better from Anissa’s place. The house has to be at least ten or fifteen feet higher than here.”
“Maybe, but she’s facing west. The islands at the north end of the bay might block out some boat activity.”
“Should we go back to the boat house?” Kathy asked.
“It faces west, too. We’d only see a small part of the bay. “
“Sounds like we’re wasting our time,” Kathy said, sounding depressed. “Maybe we should think things through.”
“If we were spies, we’d have infrared goggles. Then we could see everything that’s going on in the shadows around the house,” Tori said.
“And where would we get a pair? Military surplus?”
“I’ll bet we could buy a pair online—at Amazon or maybe eBay.”
“You think?” Kathy asked.
“You can get just about anything online these days.”
“Yeah, but we don’t have the money or the time.”
“Then we’ll just have to go back to the car and hope we see something.”
Kathy slapped her cheek. “Good, because I feel like I’m being eaten alive.”
They headed back to the car.
Kathy took command of the binoculars once again and trained her eyes on the house across the road.
“Let’s think about this logically. If someone was coming across the lake, and then squatting at your house, they’d have to tie their boat up somewhere.”
“Yeah,” Kathy agreed.
“And the closest place to dock is right in our back yard—or front, depending on your point of view.”
“You think someone’s using your dock?”
“The lights have been broken for years. It’s pitch black out there. Gramps and Grandma slept like logs. I doubt they would have heard anyone cut through the yard. “
“We could go move your car and watch the path from the dock.”
“Yeah,” Tori agreed. “But whoever is using the dock probably wouldn’t sneak around the compound as long as there’re lights on in the house.”
“What time does your Gramps usually go to bed?”
“Eleven-thirty, after the news.”
“So why don’t we go inside, make a pot of coffee, eat some cookies, and when he goes to bed, we’ll tell him we’ll lock up for the night.”
“I’ll bet nobody will make a move for at least an hour after the lights are out. The guest room window overlooks the yard,” Tori said.
“Yeah, but what if they cut through behind the back of the house instead of circling around?”
“Good point.”
“I still think sitting in your car would be the best vantage point. We could go back outside once the lights are out.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Tori said, but didn’t make a move.
“What else?” Kathy asked.
“Well, whoever is squatting seems to leave before daylight, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So that means someone is picking them up.”
“I wonder what the timing is. There has to be a time lag between when they get in and when they’re picked up. Otherwise, there’d be no need for anyone to squat in the house. It may be a period of several hours.”
“I saw fast food wrappers on the counter that weren’t there the other day. I wonder if whoever picks up the squatters also feeds them.”
“Where would they get fast food around here?”
“There’s a McDonalds at the far side of the village up on the main highway. I’m pretty sure they’re open twenty-four/seven.”
“What happens when you get your dock light fixed?”
“That’s a good question. And it will be fixed by Tuesday at the latest.”
“But the bad guys don’t know that.”
“That’s right.”
Kathy shook her head. “This all sounds like a great movie plot, but it’s all supposition on our part.”
“Yeah. If nothing else, we’ve had fun speculating.”
“You’ve had fun thinking about it. Someone’s peeing in my potential house and I want it to stop. I’m the one who’s going to have to clean it!”
Tori allowed herself a smile. “Come on, let’s go inside. We might as well be comfortable while we wait.”
CHAPTER 14
Tori moved her car back to the compound’s main parking area. When they reentered the house, they heard a voice coming from the living room, and it wasn’t the TV. “Sounds like your Gramps is on the phone,” Kathy whispered. “Who could he be talking to at this hour?”
Tori shrugged, and the women crept closer to the arch that separated the rooms for better eavesdropping purposes.
“Yeah, I know,” Herb was saying, “she wants to run the place. Have you heard of anything more insane?” He laughed, but then he was quiet for at least a minute.
“I hope you’re kidding. You know how hard Josie worked to keep this place afloat—goodness knows, she told you everything.”
Must be Irene, Tori mouthed. Kathy nodded.
“Yeah, she and her friend have been working hard to spruce the place up, but—”
They leaned in closer. Too bad he wasn’t using a speaker phone; then they could have heard both sides of the conversation.
“No. I’d never hear the end of it from her parents if I let her—”
Tori clenched her hands and shook them, obviously frustrated.
“Yeah, but—” Herb said. He was quiet for a few seconds. “Yeah, but—”
Was Irene on Tori’s side?
“Okay, okay. I’ll think about it.”
Was he being honest or did he just want to shut Irene up?
Tori motioned to Kathy and they t
iptoed back to the door. She opened, then slammed it. “Gramps, we’re back!” she called. She turned back to Kathy. “Should I make a pot of coffee?”
“May as well,” Kathy said. “It could be a long night.”
Tori filled the pot, measured the coffee, and hit the switch, then she got out a couple of cups. She looked up to see Herb standing in the doorway from the living room. “Do you want a cup of coffee, Gramps?”
“I’ll never get to sleep if I do.” He leaned against the wall.
“We’re gonna have cookies, too,” Kathy said, reaching for the plastic container that sat on the top of the fridge. “We’d love to have you join us.”
Herb shook his head. “Nah, I’m going to go to bed early tonight. I have a lot to think about.”
Tori pursed her lips to keep a smile from forming. She put her hands behind her back and crossed her fingers, too. “Sleep well, Gramps.”
Herb nodded and turned back for the living room.
They waited until they heard his bedroom door close before they spoke.
“Maybe things are going to turn around,” Kathy said.
“I’m not counting on anything just yet, but I’m going to allow myself just a teensy bit of hope.”
Kathy went into the living room and turned off the lights. By the time she returned, Tori had poured the coffee into a Thermos. She checked the time: just after eleven. Grabbing the mugs by their handles with one hand, she scooped up the thermos with the other. Kathy grabbed the cookie container and the binoculars before they turned off the kitchen lights and snuck out the back door.
They walked through the darkened lot and got into Tori’s car, then quietly closed the doors. “Now we wait,” Tori said.
“And talk,” Kathy said. “I wonder why Irene thinks you should take over the business?”
“I don’t care what her motives are as long as she’s successful.”
Tori pushed her seat back until she had enough room to play waitress and pour the coffee, and Kathy opened the cookie container. It didn’t matter what Kathy baked, it all tasted good.
The first hour went by pretty fast. Kathy wanted to brainstorm changes she needed to make to the house across the way to make it habitable. She was already thinking about how she’d decorate it, too, and incorporate what they’d found stored in the Lotus Lodge. Tori restrained herself from yet again pointing out she didn’t yet have the house and just listened, while her own mind wandered as to what her first steps might be should she ever be able to refurbish the shabby little motel. And was Anissa right? Could she one day tackle the boathouse and make it into a stunning rental as well? They were pipe dreams, but they appealed to her anyway.
With Baited Breath Page 17