Snowed Inn

by Heather Horrocks

  “Books are what started all of this. When Bobbi Jo started to write her romances.” Kevin inhaled a ragged breath. “I never even heard from Bobbi Jo since she ran out on me eight months ago. I didn’t know where she was. I didn’t know if she was dead or kidnapped or what. I called the police, but they didn’t do nothing.”

  The wind picked up, rattling the windows, and sending a chill down my neck with its strange moaning. The sounds from the dining room— conversation, clinking of china and silverware, Beethoven— faded in and out with the wind’s force.

  Garrett said, “Take off your coat, man, and get comfortable. You’re going to be here awhile.”

  “No, thanks. I’m cold.” Kevin shook his head. “But not as cold as Bobbi Jo’s heart. I shoulda let well enough alone. But I love her. I tried to find her, but couldn’t. I thought I’d never hear from her again. And then, a couple of weeks ago, I got a letter saying she wasn’t coming back. Divorce papers were mailed from someplace in New York.”

  “So how’d you find her here?” Garrett asked, his inquiring writer’s mind obviously wanting to know. “P.I.?”

  Kevin looked at Garrett and sighed deeply. “No. Internet. I found out she was staying at Calabria’s and, when I called, the housekeeper gave me the name of this place. I didn’t know what to tell my little girl. It was bad enough to break my heart, but our little girl ain’t never gonna recover from this.” A tear rolled down his cheek. “It wasn’t right, what Bobbi Jo done. I treated her good. I brought home my paycheck and didn’t drink it or gamble it or spend it on other women. I was faithful.”

  “I’m sure you were,” I said.

  “And what did she do, but run out and find the first rich man she could?” He looked up pitifully. “I suppose if I don’t sign those papers she sent me, she can get the divorce anyway.”

  “Better believe it. Had it happen to me a couple of years ago,” Garrett spat out. “Can you say interrogatory?”

  His next words were masked by another noisy gust of wind.

  The lights flickered, but stayed on. Thank heavens my dad installed a good, industrial grade generator, in case the electricity ever did go out.

  “I got disconnected.” Lonny shook his head in disgust as he clicked the button a few times, then put it up to his ear. “Scrud! Now your grandma’s on the phone.”

  Hardly seeming to notice either the storm or the lights, Kevin drew in a deep breath and brushed the moisture from his cheek. “She didn’t even bother to say a word to our girl, or ask about her, neither. Just ‘I need you to sign these divorce papers. I want them quick.’ But I didn’t want to believe she was gonna get married again.”

  My gosh. Is this the same guy who wouldn’t say a word earlier? Who flipped the switch?

  “’Course I known who BJ was because she started wanting me to call her BJ ‘stead of Bobbi Jo before she left, though I don’t know why. I mean, Bobbi Jo’s a good name. Bobbi Jo’s a woman who’s true to her man and loves her child enough to stay.”

  He drew in another deep breath and pulled his gaze around to me. “BJ’s the name of a cheatin’ woman.”

  And I could only imagine what kind of woman “Fluffi” was.

  The man was obviously broken-hearted at being left behind, and I could certainly identify with that. What I didn’t understand was why he’d want her back.

  “I’m sorry I brought you problems tonight, ma’am. I have to talk with Bobbi Jo, though. I can’t go with the police without talking to my wife and telling her to call Cece, even if she can’t find it in her heart to come home.”

  I couldn’t understand what would make a mother leave her child. What was BJ thinking?

  During a brief lull in the wind, Grandma’s voice came clearly through the open library door. “We don’t provide room service. You’ll have to come into the dining room.”

  Was Grandma fighting with BJ about room service?

  “I don’t care if you’re the President of the United States. We don’t have room service.” I could hear the receiver being slammed down. What the heck was Grandma so upset about? Usually, you had to steal candy from the dime store to get a reaction that harsh. I should know. I let Liz talk me into it when we were six.

  I looked over at Garrett, who cocked an eyebrow at me. I smiled faintly. “Well, actually, if the President of the United States was staying here, we would provide room service.”

  Wind tore at the house. The lights flickered off. Back on.

  Lonny picked up the phone again, and swore, more than his usual, “Scrud!” as he

  slammed down the receiver.

  I turned from Lonny just in time to see Kevin hurling Garrett into the bookshelf and racing out. Lonny followed.

  A woman screamed, but Kevin was in the hallway and out the front door before the sound faded. So much for his passive I-don’t-want-to-cause-trouble horse hooey. What a joke.

  Garrett ran after them. I followed them to find the front door open to the storm, and the men gone. A draft of frigid air swept in. Kevin had made his escape. I shut the door, still stunned and shivering.

  The rest of the group must have still been in the dining room, from the sounds of things. The only person nearby was a very pale Alexis, clutching the banister with one hand, and squinting her eyes. Oh, yeah, her headache, and it looked bad. “Are you all right?”

  “I have a migraine. I was going upstairs,” she said, so low it was almost a whisper. “Kevin ran into me.”

  She was nearly slurring her words, which let me know how badly my guest must be hurting. Grandma had some pretty bad migraines occasionally, so I knew how debilitating they could be.

  Thinking I’d better take care of Alexis and let the men take care of catching our crazy attacker, I asked, “Can I get you anything for the headache?”

  Alexis shook her head. “I need to lie down.” Keeping her eyes mostly closed, shielding them from the light, she held one hand to her chest and clung tightly to the banister with the other, as she climbed the stairs slowly. Halfway up, she stopped and leaned on the banister and I thought I heard a whimper.

  I was ready to help her to her room when Stephanie joined me by the front door and asked, “What’s up?”

  “You’re never gonna believe it. Kevin busted out of here.”

  “In this storm?” She parted the curtain and I looked. “You can’t see two feet ahead of you. He’s crazy.”

  “Is that the sound of a vehicle?” I asked.

  Sure enough, lights swept around and careened away.

  “He’s crazier than I thought,” Stephanie said. “He’ll get killed going down Porter Mountain in this blizzard.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s crazy with jealousy, that’s for sure.”

  A few moments later, Lonny and Garrett entered, stomping their feet free of snow. Lonny carried Kevin’s fake wool-lined denim coat. “I grabbed it, but he shrugged out of it.”

  Garrett looked disgusted. “He got away.”

  Lonny nodded. “He’s gonna die on that road.”

  “Wait a minute.” Garrett stopped abruptly and pointed to the library table. “Where’s his knife?”

  My stomach bottomed out. Kevin’s knife was missing from the table. The bad news? He was loose with his knife. Any good news? Apparently, he only wanted to kill one of my guests.

  Alexis’s faint voice came from the landing, where she stood clinging to the banister. “Kevin had his knife when he ran into me. He cut me when he ran past.”

  “You’re kidding?” I said, racing up the steps. “Where?”

  The others followed me up.

  Kevin cut a three-inch-long line across the palm of her hand, the hand she clutched to her chest, but thank goodness, the knife barely grazed the skin. The cut was seeping blood, though. She must have been in shock.

  “Oh, my gosh,” I said. “Stephanie, would you please walk Alexis up to her room and make sure she’s okay? Lonny, will you please go find Dr. Ray and ask him to come quickly?”

  “Thank you.�
� Alexis looked even more pale now.

  So, not only was Kevin loose with his knife and intending to kill my guest, but he was also willing to cut anyone who got in his way. The danger level just rose. Good thing he drove away. But I suspected he’d be back.

  I looked at the others in the library— Stephanie, Garrett, and Lonny— and asked, “Any suggestions as to our next move?”

  “Check with the cops,” said Garrett. “But I’d start by securing the windows and doors. How do you trigger your security system?”

  “Our security system is door locks.”

  “O-kay.” Garrett shook his head in disbelief. “I suggest you install a better system. In the meantime, if Kevin returns, we don’t want to make it easy for him. Lock everything.”

  “Hey, wait a minute,” I objected. “What if he does come back? He’ll freeze.”

  “He won’t be back,” Lonny said. “He’s in his heated truck and going to die on the mountain. If he’s stupid enough to come back, we’ll let him back in, but on our terms. Like watching as he throws his knife far away into the snow.”

  Garrett nodded. “Of course. We don’t want to kill the man, simply ensure he doesn’t hurt us.”

  Stephanie said, “He wanted away from here as badly as we wanted him gone.”

  I shook my head. “He’ll be back. He said he had to talk with his wife. He was very insistent.”

  Lonny put his hand on my shoulder. “Vicki, he’s not going to live long enough to talk with anyone. He’s driving down Porter Mountain in a blizzard.”

  I sighed. “It wasn’t a very bright thing to do.”

  Garrett folded his arms. “The point is, we don’t know what he’ll do. If he’ll go far. If he plans to get away. Or, if he really wants to talk with BJ, maybe he just faked leaving, and plans on coming back.”

  “Yeah,” said Lonny sarcastically, “after he drives off the edge, he’ll be doing his talking with her on Judgment Day. She’s safe where she is.”

  But did we know that for sure? She was outside in the carriage house suite. Alone.

  “Regardless,” Garrett said, and I could tell he was amused at Lonny, “it would be prudent to lock the doors and windows and to move Gregorio and BJ inside the main house. That way, we’re safe, no matter what Kevin chooses to do.” Garrett turned his amused eyes on me. “I had a grandmother, too. She said it was better to be safe than sorry. Kevin has a knife. And he has already attacked Gregorio once, as well as cutting Lonny.”

  I said, “I think we’d better have Dr. Ray look at that. And at Alexis’s hand, too.”

  Lonny shrugged me off.

  Garrett said, “I don’t like the looks of that bandage.”

  “After we secure the house.” Lonny looked him straight in the eyes and Garrett shrugged.

  I didn’t like any of this. My head was beginning to ache. My successful first weekend was turning into a total disaster. “We’ve got to bring BJ inside.”

  Garrett touched my arm. “Don’t worry. Your friend and I will secure the house. After we’re done, we’ll meet you back in the dining room. And we’ll go retrieve BJ.”

  Stephanie asked, “Better get your grandma’s gun.”

  “Perhaps we ought to put it in steadier hands,” Lonny said.

  “Ha!” I said. “Which one of you is going to take it from her?”

  “I thought Mrs. Ross’s hands were plenty steady. I wouldn’t have messed with her.” Garrett actually chuckled as he slipped his hands into his pockets. Melted snow made the shoulders of his black, long-sleeved turtleneck obviously wet. “Odds are good that nothing else will happen. I don’t think we’ll need a gun.”

  “What if Kevin tries to hurt Mr. Calabria again?” I asked.

  “That’s why we need to talk Gregorio into moving his stuff inside.”

  “Good luck,” Bonnie said from behind us. “He’s gone outside to check on BJ.”

  I wouldn’t want to be BJ. As upset as she was when Martha arrived, I’d hate to see what happened when her fiancé informed her he’d just been attacked by her husband.

  “By himself?” Garrett shook his head, whether in amazement or disgust, I couldn’t tell. “I’ll go make sure they’re all right. Lonny, you check the doors and windows.”

  “And I,” I announced to no one in particular, “am going to check on my son.”

  Chapter Eight

  Zach and Grandma were fine. Zach was watching the latest Disney animated film and Grandma had replaced her gun with knitting needles— which, in her liver-spotted hands, could probably be just as deadly to any would-be troublemakers. When Stephanie volunteered to stay downstairs for awhile and “watch the movie with Zach” (I knew she was really offering to keep an eye on my family, but couldn’t say that in front of feisty, independent Grandma), I gratefully accepted.

  Grandma tried to come upstairs, but I convinced her that she was needed more down there.

  I had two extra bedrooms downstairs. Grandma claimed the biggest one with the double bed. Stephanie said she wanted to sleep downstairs with us too, even if she had to be on the couch.

  Stephanie lit the fireplace and sat on the floor by Zach while I went upstairs to face the mess of my opening weekend. I carried Zach’s baseball bat with me, positioning it by the dining room door. Now I was ready for troublemakers, too.

  I couldn’t believe it wasn’t midnight, because that’s what it felt like. Had the guests really only arrived a few hours ago?

  After the commotion, only Bonnie, Dr. Ray, and Martha still sat at the dining room table. Since dessert plates of mostly eaten Death by Chocolate sat in front of them, Liz must still have been manning the kitchen.

  Manning? Since when did men man a kitchen, anyway? This mansion’s kitchen, especially. Womaning? Girling? Even my thoughts were rambling; one way I could tell I was stressed. But I now knew why no one came to check on the commotion when Kevin escaped from the library. The wind was too loud.

  Martha pointed her fork at her plate. “This dessert is fantastic.”

  I repressed the impulse to wave to Liz through the one-way mirror. “I’ll tell my grandmother.”

  “So will I,” Dr. Ray said quietly, savoring another bite.

  I studied the good doctor. He was a hunk. An older hunk, but still younger than Grandma. What would happen if she really hit it off with someone like Dr. Ray? What if it got serious?

  Dr. Ray must have sensed me staring, for he looked up and smiled. “Your grandmother is a remarkable woman.”

  Apparently, more remarkable than I realized. I smiled back. “She does make one heck of a dessert, doesn’t she?”

  He smiled. “This could literally be my death by chocolate, if I had more than one piece.”

  Liz shook her head. “Forget the coronary arteries, this is going straight to my hips.”

  Martha changed the subject. “Gregorio went outside to check on his lady love.”

  “Garrett went out to make sure they’re okay,” I said.

  “I should have gone with him,” Dr. Ray said between bites. “It might not be safe.”

  “The man is not after Garrett, Nicholas. He obviously has it in for Gregorio.” Martha laughed. “I’m not surprised that his catting around finally got him into trouble.”

  “The fellow did not seem in his right mind,” said Dr. Ray.

  When Lonny returned to report the house secured, I handed him a plate with a large piece of Death By Chocolate. I figured he earned a double dose.

  “Thanks.” He sat with the other three at the table.

  Next came Liz and Xavier. Liz said, “It was getting lonely in the kitchen. Mind if we join you?”

  “Of course not.” Martha patted the seat beside her.

  Lonny laid down his fork. “Have you called Paul yet?”

  With everything happening at once, we never actually connected with Paul. Even though I didn’t think Kevin would be back, I needed to report the attack, and let Paul know so he could watch for a possible wreck involving a pickup.


  I reached up and lifted the receiver from the wall dock, but there was no dial tone. “Hmmm.”

  “What hmmm?” asked Bonnie.

  I told her.

  Dr. Ray said, “The phone line’s been cut.”

  Martha laughed. “You’re being overdramatic, Nicholas.”

  “Kevin took his knife when he ran off,” Bonnie said. “He could have done it.”

  Made sense to me.

  “Yes,” Lonny said, “and he jumped in his truck and raced off down the mountain. He didn’t have time to cut the phone line.”

  “The storm could have interrupted service,” I said.

  “Use my cell phone,” Martha offered as she reached into her purse. She pushed the buttons, then shook her head. I must have mentioned it to everyone else, except her.

  I said, “The cell phone tower is down for repairs. No cells work this weekend.”

  How long could the storm last? Surely, it would die down by morning, and we could call Paul then. I saw the others glance at each other, and quickly reassured them. “The phone company is usually very good about restoring service quickly.”

  Bonnie pushed back from the table. “I realize this evening has not gone as you planned,” she said to me, “but I hope we can still play a game of Clue in the parlor.”

  “Of course.” With the mystery postponed, playing Clue in the parlor was better than standing around being scared.

  “Anyone care to join me?” asked Bonnie.

  “Not me,” Martha said. “I don’t think I could stand the excitement.” Her lipstick had faded and she looked tired. “I think I’ll go and visit my roommate, the hard-boiled Sam Spade.”

  “I’ll play.” Dr. Ray shrugged. “Let’s see if I still have the old deductive power.”

  Liz said, “I’d love to play Clue.”

  So I led the way into the Mayor’s Parlor, now Sherlock Holmes’s study, pulled the Clue game from the oak cabinet, and set the board on the antique chest between the armchairs.

  After that, I joined Xavier and Lonny at the window, staring out at the storm. “It looks like you’ll be staying the night. Most of the third floor rooms are free. Just choose one that’s not already taken, and let me know which one.”