by Jan Coffey
She gave a bored shrug. “We’ve been going out together for a while, but he’s more like the photographer, manager, pain-in-my-behind type of guy. He’s no fun at all.” They descended the first set of steps. “So…are you up here alone?”
Ian recognized the ‘I’m interested’ signal. He wasn’t. He was far from impressed with her.
“Yes and no,” he answered as they reached the parlor. “I’m here visiting friends.”
“Really? Who?”
“Kelly and Jade.” He looked down at the child to see the twinkle of approval in her green eyes. “And we’ve got ourselves a heck of a day scheduled. So…enjoy your breakfast.”
It was a kiss-off, but she was too dense or too stubborn or too unfamiliar with rejection to realize it. She stood there for a few seconds looking at him with a peculiar smile on her lips. Ash was definitely not accustomed to getting the brush-off from men.
“You’re not having any breakfast?” she asked finally.
“Not now. Maybe a little later. Enjoy.”
With a polite nod, he let Jade pull him toward the sitting area, where they deposited her puzzles and books on an end table.
“So, is she still standing there?” he asked, not wanting to turn around and look himself.
“I think she’s mad,” Jade whispered, a look of mischief coming into her face. “She just stomped out the front door.”
Ian looked over his shoulder and saw the door close behind the woman.
“I think Mommy’s mad, too,” Jade warned in a hushed tone.
Ian’s gaze drifted to the office. The door was partially closed. Inside, he could see Janice and Dan parked on chairs behind the desk, while Kelly paced back and forth in the little space on the other side of the desk. She was talking nonstop. There was no mistaking it. She was seething.
Ian had no clue what that was all about. But if the time had come for putting the old dragon Janice in her place, then he was all for it.
Shawn Hobart, the disagreeable antique dealer who was missing the biggest estate auction on the east coast—if the boys from Philly were to be believed—was leaving the dining area. He stood in the doorway to the porch exchanging a few private words with Rita. Ian felt Jade edge closer to his side. Her little fingers came up and disappeared inside his hand. He looked down to see what was bothering the child now. She was looking straight at Rita and Hobart.
The alleged antique dealer finished whatever he was saying and stepped into the parlor. Seeing them, he returned Ian’s nod with a surly one of his own. The man’s gaze moved immediately to Jade. The child practically crawled inside Ian’s skin in her attempt to hide.
Propriety be damned, Ian decided, lifting Jade in his arms. She wrapped her hands tightly around his neck and hid her face against his throat. She was shivering.
This was too much. No child should be so nervous in her own home. Ian found himself growing angry, but Hobart crossed the parlor without stopping and went out the front door.
“He’s gone,” Ian whispered.
It took Jade a few seconds to build her courage and lift her head off his shoulder. She looked pale, and she was still trembling. Her green eyes searched the dining room, parlor, and sitting area.
“What was that about?” Ian asked gently.
She was quiet. Her grip around his neck was still tight.
“Come on, Jade,” he persisted, looking into her face. “You don’t have to be afraid of anything, honey. I’m a pretty tough Cookie Monster. I can crush all of the guys you’re scared of with one hand.”
Jade looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time. She glanced down at how far above the ground he was holding her. Her expression was very serious when she finally looked up. “There’s a lot of them.”
He made a fierce face. “I can handle all of them.”
After another look around the room, she leaned closer and whispered into his ear. “He was there, too. That man was at the camp.”
Chapter 11
Janice was staring at her as if she were seeing Kelly for the first time—or as if she were looking at some monster that had suddenly sprung out of the ground. Dan’s expression was blank and unreadable. Kelly wasn’t sure if she gotten through to either of them, at all.
She wanted one of them to take responsibility, to say they’d goofed. But more importantly, she wanted one of these two people to think back and remember Lauren Wells. Janice went through the reservation book front to back, and there was nothing that indicated the missing woman had even called.
Seeing the two of them together in the office, Kelly had another thought. She wouldn’t put it past either of them to mess up the registration just to get the other in hot water.
There had been a peeing contest going on between these two from the moment Kelly had hired Dan for the summer. They just couldn’t seem to get along. Janice made it clear more than once that she thought it was a waste of money to have the college kid at Tranquility Inn. Dan claimed the older woman went out of her way to be difficult, finding fault with whatever he did. And working behind the desk had only provided one small incident. She’d found reason to complain about everything he did or didn’t do.
Well, Kelly was just about fed up with it, and she let them have it both barrels, even though she had a feeling Janice was more at fault than Dan. The young man had much thicker skin, and he wasn’t entirely innocent anyway. It was just the beginning of their summer season. She wasn’t going to go through the next three months like this. Something had to change.
“So what you want us to do?” Dan said finally, sounding bored. “Kiss and make up?”
Janice pushed her seat away from him to show she was revolted by the very idea of it.
“This is not elementary school. I don’t particularly care if you two continue to hate each other’s guts,” Kelly said hotly. “But this is a place of business. I expect professionalism. I expect courtesy. But most importantly, I expect accuracy and accountability for what we do. This thing…this mess up with the reservation of Lauren Wells, is more serious than either of you know.”
“Even if she had a reservation with us, speaking hypothetically, and it was our mistake for overbooking…” Janice sent a meaningful glare at Dan. “This woman never showed up at the inn. It’s really not our problem, Kelly.”
“Janice, a seventy-seven year old woman is missing,” Kelly said angrily. “This could have been you.”
The roll of the eyes was a typical Janice response, and it fired up Kelly’s temper more.
“I’m not joking,” she snapped. “We’re talking about the well-being of a real person. And we compounded the problem at every step.”
“I don’t see how we—”
“How about these missing messages? This woman’s niece told me that Lauren had left a number of messages for me. I never got any of them.”
“I’m not the only one who answers the phone around here,” Janice said, looking over the rim of her pink frames. “Did they say when she called? It could have been off-season. Rita answers the phone all the time when we aren’t too busy. Even Wilson picks up in the kitchen when no one is downstairs. Or Bill. He could have taken the call, and you know how he is about writing anything down.”
“I was standing right here last night when you brushed off the woman’s niece on the phone,” Kelly said tensely. “You didn’t even try to help her.”
“I thought they had the wrong number,” she said defensively, her voice quavering. “I made a mistake. After putting in fourteen hours at that desk, anyone could be a little tired and cranky. So, I’m sorry if I was a little abrupt. I’m sorry that your friend is missing. But she’ll show up. So I think you’re fussing over nothing.”
There were no two ways about it. Kelly no longer trusted Janice, or anything she said or did. She reminded herself this had been coming for a while. But old loyalties had made her ignore it. She took a deep breath now. She wouldn’t do anything rash. But she had to make her plans. The inn would go on sale th
is summer. She had to get out of here before she went crazy.
Dan pulled the brim of his baseball cap around to the side. “I like to stay here and listen to you two chat. But the Stern kids warned me yesterday that they’d be out there after breakfast to take out a couple of boats again.”
Kelly gave Dan a resigned nod. He wasn’t the problem, and they both knew it. She stood back and let the young man leave the office. Janice held on to the handle of her cane and pushed herself to her feet.
“Janice,” she said when they were alone. “Do you know if anyone was in here this morning? Cleaning up maybe?”
The older woman looked at the desk and then back at Kelly.
“Of course. Bill made his rounds and emptied all the trashcans downstairs. Why?”
There was no point in pursuing this, Kelly told herself. There was no way she would get a straight answer to any question that she asked.
“I need a few things changed around here right away,” she told Janice before the woman went on her way. “Calls. There’s a pink pad on your desk. Any calls for me—or for any of the guests here—I want them to go on one of those slips.”
Janice nodded, not seemingly bothered by the request.
“And the mail,” Kelly continued. “From now on, no one goes through the mail before me.”
“No problem,” Janice said in a hurt tone as she headed for the door. “I’ve only been trying to help.”
~~~~
Ian saw Dan leave the office first. The college kid gave Jade a wink and nodded to Ian before turning down the back hallway and leaving the inn. Janice and Kelly stood near the open door, and the older woman looked eager to leave.
“I think we should get your mom to take a little break for breakfast,” he told Jade, putting her back on the floor. “Why don’t you go and get her as soon as Janice is out of the office?” He gave the little girl’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “And don’t take no for an answer.”
She nodded enthusiastically and ran toward the office. The youngest of the Stern boys was leaving the dining room ahead of his family.
“Wait for us at the door, Ryan,” his mother called, exchanging a few words with her husband and older son.
The boy was looking into Kelly’s office as he went by. Ian saw the collision coming, but there was no time to warn either of them. The two children bumped into each other. Jade, being less than half Ryan’s size, landed squarely on her tail. The book Ryan was carrying under one arm fell to the floor, and a couple of papers and what looked to be a black-and-white picture spilled out of the pages.
Ian, going to help Jade up, saw the little girl pounce on the photograph. The boy immediately wrenched the picture out of her hand and stuffed it back into the pages of his book.
“That’s mine!” Jade cried out, clearly upset.
Ryan stood up and took a step back.
“Mine!” Jade shouted louder, on the verge of tears.
She jumped to her feet, looking fiercely at Ryan.
“Give it to me,” she demanded.
Ian saw Ryan’s parents had joined their son. He was half-hidden behind the father. The older brother was just disappearing up the back steps.
Jade tugged on Ian’s hand. “My mommy’s picture,” she cried. “I want it back.”
Ian looked at Rob and Rachel Stern. She had a hand wrapped on her son’s shoulder in a protective gesture. The father stepped in front of them in a more combative stance. Ian eyed him, feeling his own fighting instincts rising to the surface and working to control them. He knew he could subdue Stern in a moment, but he didn’t want to inflame the situation.
“Would you mind letting her see that picture for a second?” Ian said in a reasonable tone to the son. “She thought it was a picture of her mother. If you could let her see it again, she’d realize she made a mistake.”
Ryan said nothing but shrank further behind his father.
“She’d better watch where she’s going,” Rob Stern said, pointing an accusing finger at Jade. “The little…she just ran into him.”
“Relax, pal,” Ian said less patiently, straightening to his full height. “This wasn’t a traffic accident. And these two appear to have survived just fine. She just wants to take a second peek at whoever’s picture that was that your son had tucked in his book.”
“Is everything okay here?” Kelly asked softly, stepping between the two men.
“Mommy! He has your picture in that book.”
Jade ran to her mother and raised her arms. Kelly picked her up.
“She’s my mommy,” she announced loudly to Ryan. “Mine!”
“Whoa! Slow down, kids,” Rachel Stern said in a motherly tone, turning to Kelly. “We had a little collision here and a mix-up about…I don’t know what. But it’s all over now.”
“Okay,” Kelly said, looking up at the two men.
Stern stepped back and turned to his son. “You all right, Ryan?”
“Of course he is,” Mrs. Stern replied. “Well, our older boy is dying to go canoeing. We promised to get some in this morning.”
With a nod to Kelly, she ushered her family ahead of her toward the door leading to the lake.
Ian said nothing but watched them go, noticing that the book Ryan had been carrying was nowhere to be seen.
~~~~
The two gray unmarked cars stopped where the camp driveway made a turn into the small, unpaved parking lot. The state troopers in each car looked down into the tidy camp before getting out of the car. While the two troopers in the second car remained by their vehicle and scanned the center of the camp, Ramathorn and Farva put on their wide-brimmed hats and started down the path toward the lake.
To his left, Ramathorn eyed the array of long cabins that formed a semi-circle around the center of the camp. To his right, the largest building, which was undoubtedly the dining hall, sat up on a small hill overlooking the center. Beyond it, completing the arc of buildings that ended at the lake, he saw a cluster of cabins and two buildings clearly marked as the administration cabin and the infirmary. In front of him, as he and his partner walked down the slight incline toward the lake, rows and rows of benches surrounded a covered stage.
People who looked like normal tourists, separated into groups of children and adults, watched the state troopers from open areas in front of the cabins. Though everyone’s eyes were on them now, the younger groups had obviously been working on a variety of craft projects. Older kids and adults were supervising, and other groups of adults were sitting around in circles on camp chairs.
No one was down at the small sandy beach, and no one was out on the water in any boats. A light mist was rising from the lake, but Ramathorn could see the sun shining on the water beyond. It all looked quite normal, and as they passed, each group was gently steered back to their tasks by their leader.
“Morning,” Ramathorn said as they approached a small group. Farva nodded, standing behind him and saying nothing.
One of the men—white, about fifty, brown eyes, curly black hair, five ten and weighing maybe two-fifty—stepped forward and held out his meaty hand. It was a powerful grip. “I’m Joshua Sharpe, officer. What can we do for the New Hampshire State Police?”
“Well, we’re out on a routine drive through. We like to visit the summer camps in our area when we can, just to make sure everything is going okay, and to let you know we’re here if you need us. Are you the camp director?”
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
“You look familiar to me. Live around here?”
“All my life,” Sharpe said. “My family’s been in this area for five generations. I own the property this camp stands on.”
“I thought so.” Ramathorn looked at the group standing behind him. “So what kind of camp you running here? I seem to remember there were just kids here last summer.”
“Well, that’s right,” Sharpe answered. “But I also happen to be a deacon in a church that decided to take over the camp for the summer. We intend to bring up different
groups of our congregation for a week at a time. These are some of the ministers of the church.” The director turned and introduced each of the men and women.
“Well, it’s always nice to have churchgoing folk in the area. A lot easier on us than the white supremacists and the biker groups we sometimes get.”
Ramathorn nodded at the banner hanging at the rear of the Pavilion.
“What’s the name of your church, Mr. Sharpe, if you don’t mind me asking? That’s not a logo I’ve seen before.”
“We’re a small but growing church called the Ministry of the Divine Blood. We’re a kind of charismatic Christian sect, you might say.”
“So, you’ll be having Bible meetings at night?”
Joshua Sharpe looked at the troopers with concern. “Yes, we will be. There shouldn’t be any problem with that. Is there?”
“Not at all,” Ramathorn watched the relief register on the faces. “I was just thinking this is a great week to get started. The weather looks good till the end of the week, at least.”
One of the younger ministers, a blonde-haired athletic looking kid who’d been introduced as Caleb Smith, stepped forward. “We’re just hoping the temperature warms up a little. The kids are looking forward to doing some swimming during the day.”
“The group would like to make some use of the lake,” Sharpe added.
“I noticed you haven’t got any boats,” the state trooper commented, motioning toward the empty canoe racks.
“They should be arriving in a day or two,” the young man chipped in. “The boat outfitters are a little behind in getting the canoes and kayaks out to us.”
“Well, that should make everyone happy,” Ramathorn said. “Mind if we look around the camp?”
“Not at all,” Sharpe gestured. “I’d be happy to show you around.”
Leading the way, the camp director took the troopers through the grounds. Everything was neat and tidy. The infirmary was staffed by a rather gruff RN, who ushered them through without any ceremony.
In all, the camp looked like any other summer camp. As they came out of the director’s office, where Joshua Sharpe retrieved a business card for the troopers, Ramathorn watched Caleb organizing a bunch of kids into a kickball game.