Freeing Reese (Tremont Lodge Series Book 3)

by Blesy, Marcy

  “You know?” asks Ted.

  “Yes, Georgia used the key to your safe and found your will.”

  “Your will is quite safe. I can assure you, Ted. You really need some rest,” says Helen.

  “Quit saying I need rest! The next time I rest I may not wake up if you have something to say about it!”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she says. “What is this about?”

  “I made a new will, Helen.”

  “But…but…you promised me, Ted. You promised me that if I kept your secret, you’d give me part of the lodge as payback. You gave me your word. I have two kids who will be in college in a few years. You can’t change the will. I have it right here. I found it in a stack of papers in your desk just the other day. Why, Georgia had a copy in her desk, too. ” Helen reaches into her oversized Prada knock-off bag and pulls out a stack of papers. You signed this will sixteen years ago.”

  “I know I did, Helen, but I never expected to meet my biological daughter and Lawson—you know he’s been like a son to me. The lodge should really stay with family. It’s the way it’s always been. And that includes the financial assets that come with it.”

  “But aren’t I family, too, Mr. Oakley? Didn’t I keep your dirty secret? Didn’t I work day in and day out, sacrificing time with my own family to be at your beck and call?”

  “You did, Helen, and I was grateful. But you grew threatened by my relationship with Lawson and Reese. You’re a smart woman. You knew I’d add them to my will—and sooner than later with my failing health—so you decided to kill me before I had a chance to change the will.”

  “This is ridiculous,” says Helen, stepping toward the elevator.

  “No. What’s ridiculous is that I would still have left you some inheritance in the will, Helen, if you hadn’t grown so paranoid as to try to hurt me.”

  “You can’t prove any of this.”

  “The coffee cup,” I blurt out.

  “What?” asks Helen.

  “The coffee cup on Ted’s nightstand the day we found him on the floor. It’s still there. I remember because it looked so out of place, like a child had made it.”

  “Liam,” Helen says quietly. Then her eyes grow as large as saucers and she runs for the bedroom. I sprint after her and tackle her to the ground before she even gets to the doorway of Ted’s bedroom. Finn is not far behind. Helen is clawing to be free of my grasp, but I’m not letting go.

  Ted stands behind Finn. “I’ll break you, Ted. I’ll tell everyone about the murder sixteen years ago. The reputation of your beloved Tremont Lodge will be tarnished forever,” says Helen, inching her way toward the bedroom.

  “And who’s going to believe a vindictive employee?”

  Helen scrambles out of my reach and pulls something from her back pocket. The shiny blade is long and serrated, and she’s aiming it at me. “Don’t come near me—any of you. Without that cup you have no proof that I poisoned Ted. And you’ll never get your hands on it—or me.” Finn pushes me behind him and out of the closest striking vicinity. Helen grabs hold of the cup, and holding the knife outstretched, she wards us all off. When the elevator bell rings, all of us jump, even Helen, but she seizes the moment as her chance to escape. “That girl! That girl is trying to kill me!” she yells to Officer Kanicki and Officer Folet who are followed by Lawson and Gloria.

  “What the hell is going on?” asks Lawson.

  Helen repeats herself. “Reese Prentice just tried to kill me!” she shouts, running onto the elevator She looks deranged, nothing like the sweet, loving woman who took me under her wing when I started cleaning at the lodge. What is happening?

  “It’s not true! She’s lying! Officers, do something!” I shout.

  “It’s me she tried to poison, and she’s taking the evidence!” yells Ted.

  Finn jumps onto the elevator before the doors close, and I feel my heart leave my chest as the door closes behind them. “You’ve got to do something! She has a knife. She’s crazy.”

  Officer Folet takes charge for once and gives orders to Officer Kanicki who is looking very confused. “Are there stairs?” Officer Folet asks.

  “Yes, there’s a private set of stairs down the hall that opens onto the main floor. It’s locked from the lobby side, but you can get out,” says Lawson.

  “Kanicki, you find those stairs. I’ll take the next elevator down in case she decides to ride back up. Mr. Oakley, I assume you have some sort of evidence to prove your case because Ms. Prentice and Lawson here were looking pretty guilty.”

  “I have proof,” he says faintly, dropping to the couch. “And not just that coffee cup.”

  “Don’t just stand there! Go get Helen before she hurts Finn!” I yell.

  Officer Kanicki and Lawson run down the private stairway. I call Luis to warn him of the impending danger, and to do everything within his power to block Helen from leaving the lodge.

  Just then the elevator dings. At first I think the elevator is empty, but then I see Finn lying on the ground, slumped against the back of the compartment. “Oh my God!” I rush to his side. “Finn, you’re bleeding! Georgia, get me a towel!” Officer Folet pushes hold on the elevator door. When Georgia returns seconds later, she throws me a very nice stack of expensive bath towels. I can’t rip them. They’re too thick. Instead I blot at the wound on his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. Then I take a roll of tape from Ted and wrap it tightly around the towel. I hear Officer Folet calling for back-up and paramedics.

  “Where did you learn to do first-aid?” asks Finn, weakly.

  “You never listen. Typical male. I was a Girl Scout, silly boy. Now don’t talk. Just rest.” Georgia hands me a pillow for Finn’s head. “Help is on the way.”

  “I think we need to get Finn off the elevator so the paramedics can get their supplies up here,” says Georgia.

  “You’re right.” Officer Folet, Georgia, and I get Finn upright enough to move toward the couch.” We pause for only a second, and Ted reads our minds.

  “It’s okay,” he says. “White really is an impractical color for a couch. It’s time I do some updating now that I’m not dying after all.” No one laughs, and we settle Finn back onto the couch.

  I drop to my knees next to Finn’s head. “It’s okay, baby. The paramedics will be here soon. But I’m…I’m…” The tears start to fall, staining Ted’s perfect couch.

  “But what, Reese?” he asks, weakly twirling a strand of my hair around his finger.

  “I’m still mad at you for jumping on that elevator. You could have been killed.”

  “Well, I thought I could take an overweight old lady.” He does his best attempt at making a muscle.

  “But, even so, it’s not quite a fair fight when your opponent is driven by adrenaline and crazed out of her mind.”

  “And is wielding a knife,” says Georgia.

  “Yes, Georgia, thanks for the reminder,” I say.

  I grab hold of Finn’s hand and turn to look at Georgia. “Georgia, why are you here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I thought that when Ted found out—and then when Lawson knew you’d danced with another man—that…”

  “That I’d leave the lodge for good?”

  “Well, yes.”

  “It’s hard to explain love, Reese. I love Ted.” She smiles at him, and he smiles in return. “But I’m in love with Lawson, and no amount of trying to test the waters with others could change my heart.”

  “And that’s okay with you, Ted?” I can’t help but ask.

  “Reese, when you find out you don’t have a debilitating disease after all and that you’re not dying, your perspective on life changes. I’m just happy to be alive, and love isn’t love if it’s not forgiving.”

  I ponder his statement as the elevator opens and the paramedics wheel out the stretcher for Finn. “I’m going with you,” I say.

  “Are you family?” the female paramedic asks.

  “Yes,” says Finn. “She’s my fiancé.” He
winks at me. At least this time I won’t need a disguise to get into the hospital.

  Chapter 17:

  “I can’t believe you couldn’t at least have sent me a text about your engagement,” says Tinley as she paces Finn’s room at the hospital. “I mean, aren’t I your best friend?” She sticks out her bottom lip. It only makes me laugh.

  “I think we had some more urgent business to attend to, Tinley,” I say. I sit on Finn’s bed, careful not to bump his bandaged arm and hold his hand.

  “Well, fine, I’ll give you a pass but know that you better invite me to go dress shopping or you will never hear the end of it. Got it?”

  “Aye, aye, Captain Tinley.” I salute her which brings on the subtlest of smiles. “And don’t worry. I promise not to steal any of your ideas.”

  “As if that would remotely happen,” she says in a fit of giggles.

  “Come on, Tinley. Let’s grab a bite in the cafeteria,” says Murphy, putting his arm around her shoulders and leading her from the room.

  “The cafeteria? A hospital cafeteria?”

  “Fine, fine. We’ll find a deli or something. I’m starving, and Finn needs his rest.”

  “You’re right, sweetie. Every once in a while you can be the sensible one in the relationship.” She kisses him on the cheek and waves goodbye to Finn and me.

  “Hey, Tinley, I know you guys are heading back to California tomorrow. Maybe we can have an early breakfast before you have to leave for the airport. I can’t wait to see the designer sketches you’ve created for your wedding dresses.”

  “Oh, yes. Meet me at 7:00 in the Winter Haven Restaurant, and don’t be late. Our airport shuttle comes at 8:30.”

  When she is gone, Finn tugs on my hand and pulls me closer to his mouth so I can hear him more clearly. “Did she say dresses as in more than one dress?”

  “She sure did.”

  “Please tell me you won’t be following in her footsteps. You know we’ll be paying for this wedding on our own, and I can’t afford…”

  “Stop it.” I kiss Finn’s forehead. “I could wear a dress off the discount prom rack for our wedding, and I wouldn’t care. I just want to be your wife.” This time Finn kisses me back and doesn’t stop until the nurse comes in tsk-tsking to give him his pain medicine.

  We aren’t left alone long as Officer Kanicki and Officer Folet enter the room next. They aren’t playing good cop/bad cop anymore. In fact, the expressions on their faces are nothing but conciliatory. I let them speak first.

  “Ms. Prentice,” says Officer Kanicki. “We would like to offer you both our apologies as well as our gratitude.”

  “I understand the apology. Glad to know I’m freed from your suspicion, but what’s with the gratitude?”

  Officer Folet speaks next. “That brown coffee mug that Helen grabbed off of Mr. Oakley’s nightstand was tested at the lab. Preliminary reports show arsenic. When we told her this news, she confessed to trying to poison Mr. Oakley. And Mr. Oakley gave further evidence that he’d recently found arsenic under the sink in his kitchen with the other cleaning supplies. He’d been collecting his evidence in a bag he kept at his suite. He even had a fingerprint kit he’d purchased to try to connect Helen with what was happening to him physically. This will be an easy case to convict.”

  “But what was the motive?” asks Finn, sitting up in bed.

  “It seems that the young Mr. Oakley’s girlfriend—”

  “Georgia,” I say.

  “Yes, it seems she was directed by Mr. Oakley to contact a lawyer about changing his will, and Helen had been doing some snooping around the office under the ruse of cleaning and found out that Mr. Oakley cut her out of the will, so Helen tried to cover up the new will by stealing it.”

  “But she didn’t know about the will in the safe in Mr. Oakley’s office,” I say.

  “She didn’t consider a lot of things, Ms. Prentice, and, again, you have our apologies for putting you through the ringer,” says Officer Kanicki. “And you wouldn’t believe the crazy things she was making up about your mother, but we know she’s desperate to say anything at this point to try to throw suspicion off of her.”

  I shoot Finn a look. “Yeah, it’s crazy the things people will say.”

  “Plus, it’s kind of hard to back out of a confession—and the remnants of arsenic left in the bottom of her son’s ceramic coffee mug she used to serve Mr. Oakley.”

  “So, Ted’s going to be okay? The arsenic didn’t make his Parkinson’s worse?” I ask.

  “From what the doctors say, Mr. Oakley may not be nearly as sick as once thought. And, no, the doctors don’t think there will be any lasting effects from the poison.”

  “Thank the Lord,” I say.

  “Yes, that’s great news,” says Finn.

  “Yeah, and I am not at all interested in inheriting any part of the lodge right now.”

  “Why’s that?” asks Ted who follows Lawson into the room as the police officers wave goodbye.

  “Uh, well, because I have a date on a cruise ship with my fiancé this spring.” I say.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” says Lawson, slapping Finn a little too hard on his good arm. “It’s one thing to play Superman going after a deranged lady with a knife, but you also managed to do something to make this girl happy? Son-of-a-bitch, you’re good, dude. Congrats.”

  “Thanks, Lawson. I’ll take that as a compliment from you,” says Finn.

  I hold out my ring for everyone to admire, and though it’s not nearly as large as the rock Georgia once wore on her ring finger before settling for Lawson, I’m still proud. Heck, I wouldn’t care if he’d given me a pop tab to wear.

  Ted doesn’t say anything, his brow wrinkling like he’s deep in thought. “Congratulations,” he says quietly.

  I look from Finn to Lawson. “What’s the matter?” I ask. “Aren’t you happy for us?”

  “Yes, you certainly don’t need my blessing. I’ve been absent most of your life. It’s not that you ever need to seek my approval for anything, Reese. It’s just that I’ve grown kind of fond of you, and now…now you’re really leaving.”

  “She’ll be back,” says Finn.

  “What?” I ask.

  “I only signed up for the spring season.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.

  “I know how much Tremont Lodge means to you, Reese, and honestly, we had a blast here last summer. I can’t not sing on that stage in the middle of the chaos on the lawn. It’s kind of in my blood now, too.”

  Ted puts his hand on top of Finn’s. “Finn you helped to save my life by risking your own life holding down Helen until the police got to her. You can keep singing on that stage, but I’d like you to take over the supervision of the maintenance and landscaping department if you’re interested. You’ve done a great job, and Jerry is retiring in May. The timing will be perfect. Oh, and, of course, with that comes a raise. And, Reese, if you want to keep your responsibilities as special events’ coordinator for the ballroom, the job will still be yours upon your return.”

  “I don’t know what to say, Ted,” says Finn.

  “Me, neither,” I say.

  “You are free to make your own decision, and I will understand either way.”

  I turn to Finn. “If you’re serious about staying on the ship for only the spring—if that’s what you really want—”

  “Reese,” he takes my hand in his, “you are going to be my wife. The Tremont Lodge makes us both happy.”

  “But I don’t want you to give up your music dream.”

  “I know we live in the Northwoods of Michigan, but I do have a few friends in other parts of the country who might take a listen, Finn.” He turns to Lawson. “And don’t think you’re getting off the hook. Your partying days are limited. I’m going to need a right-hand man while I get my strength back. It will be a long time before the two of you take over the lodge, God willing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn a few things in the meantime. What do you say
?”

  “Yeah, I mean, yes, Ted. I’d love nothing more. But you’re okay with Georgia and me?”

  “I don’t love it. She’s a very special girl, but I really should concentrate on finding someone my own age, don’t you think?” He winks at Lawson who smiles in return.

  “Why are you smiling, too?” Ted asks me.

  I put my arms through Ted’s and Lawson’s. “Because I like my new dysfunctional family.” Finn clears his throat. “Oh, and my new-husband-to-be.”

  “When you kids are ready, I’d love to host your wedding here at Tremont Lodge—my treat.”

  “Ted, you can’t do that. We couldn’t accept,” I say.

  “Reese, you’re my daughter. I’ve been a crappy father. But I want to do this for you and Finn.”

  I hug him and stay in his arms for a moment before releasing him to hug Finn. Finn kisses away the tears that fall gently down my cheeks.

  The nurse comes back into the room with another round of tsk-tsking for the crowd that continues to grow. “We’d best be taking off now, Lawson,” says Ted. “You two take care of yourselves.”

  When the nurse is done rewrapping Finn’s arm wound and steps out of the room, I curl up on his bed next to his good arm which he uses to pull me closer. “What are you thinking?” he asks, stroking my hair.

  “Just that I’m lucky everything turned out the way that it did.”

  “You mean that I was able to ward off Helen until the cops got there by using my superhero strength and good looks, of course?”

  “Well, there’s that. Ha! And also that as convoluted and twisted as my life story was that brought me to Tremont Lodge—both times—I can’t say that I regret any of it because it brought me to you.”

  “I love you, Reese.”

  “I love you, too, Finn, and I can’t wait to live my future with you by my side.” I curl even closer into Finn’s body before the nurse will come back and separate us, and I close my eyes, letting the exhaustion of the last few days take over because I know that the sweetest of dreams is the reality that holds me now.

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