The Inn at Holiday Bay: Message in the Mantel

by Kathi Daley

  I lifted a brow. “You said he was a mechanic? It seems that a mechanic, even a retired one, would have antifreeze on hand.”

  “Maine is a cold state. Everyone with a car has antifreeze on hand. I don’t think that in and of itself would make anyone a suspect.”

  “I guess that is true.” The conversation paused as the pizza was delivered. Once we had served ourselves, I said, “And the neighbor to the left of Palmer?”

  “Gracie Meadows. She is a widow who has lived in Holiday Bay almost as long as Hollister. Apparently, she and Palmer had a falling out a year or so ago, so they tended to avoid each other. I asked her what the disagreement was about, and she said that Palmer refused to help pay for the fence the two properties shared. It was damaged in a windstorm, and afterward, her dog kept getting out. When she spoke to Palmer about paying for half of the repair he responded that because he didn’t have a dog, he really didn’t care if the fence was damaged or not.”

  “And did she pay for the entire repair on her own?”

  Colt nodded. “She did but is still unhappy about it. I can see that that section of fence has been rebuilt. I mentioned that I was thinking of purchasing Palmer’s house and if I did, I would be happy to work something out with her.”

  “That was nice of you.”

  “It was the right thing to do. I took a look at the entire fence line, and it really needs to be replaced all the way around. The fence I will share with the new family to the right has several loose boards, which can be repaired, but the fence at the back of the property, which is shared with a man named Desmond Green, actually has boards missing. I’ll need to replace those whether I rebuild the entire fence or not.”

  “Have you asked Mr. Green about the fence repair?”

  “He’s a photographer and has been out of town on a shoot, but I plan to speak to him when he returns.”

  “Okay, so the neighbors all seemed to be cooperative and none admitted to having seen anyone coming or going from Palmer’s house other than the meal service guys. Did any of them seem as if they were hiding anything?”

  Colt shook his head. “Not at all. They were all really lovely. I think that if I do buy the house, I’ll get on just fine with everyone in the immediate vicinity.”

  “I can see that would be a real plus.” I held up my beer glass. “Here is hoping it all works out for you.”

  “Thanks, I hope so too. So, how was the trip to Nantucket?”

  “It was really fun. I wish I could have had more time to spend on the island. The shopping alone could have kept me busy for a week.”

  “Did you get any answers about your mantel?”

  I nodded. “Some. It looks as if my mantel may have originally come from a tavern called The Yellow Dog. TJ gave me the phone number of a man who might be able to authenticate it for me.”

  “That is pretty cool. Lonnie gave me a tour of the house when I was there the other day and it is really coming along.”

  “I hope to have it ready for a soft opening by July. I still have a lot to do to furnish and outfit it even when the refurbishment is complete, but Lacy has been looking around on my behalf and I have a feeling if it is up to her, we’ll be ready to open shortly after Lonnie and his crew are done with the heavy work.”

  Colt slid another slice of pizza on my plate and handed it to me, then took one for himself. “The house is going to need a lot of pieces to make your guests feel as if they’re living in a real home. Do you have things from your place in San Francisco that might work for the inn?”

  “I do have a few. Initially, I wasn’t going to bother having all that stuff brought here but have since changed my mind. I think I’ll make a quick trip to the West Coast next week if I can line up a mover. Georgia volunteered to go with me. Everything is already packed and ready to be loaded onto a truck so we are planning a quick turn around like the one we did before. I find I am anxious to cut all remaining ties with my old home. Well, except for my ties with my sister, which I still hope to mend someday.” I took a bite of pizza. “Have you found out anything more about the IA investigation Frank Ribaldie is involved in?”

  Colt shook his head. “No. Not so far. You haven’t had any additional communication from him, have you?”

  I shook my head. “I have not. I can’t imagine that he would bother to contact me again. I’ve already told him more than once that Ben didn’t have any files either with him in the car or in his home office when he died.”

  “If he believes you, then you shouldn’t hear from the man again.”

  “What do you mean, if he believes me? Why wouldn’t he?”

  Colt leaned forward just a bit. “Maybe because he thinks you are lying. I’m not saying that your response to him has not been convincing, but you never know what he might already know about the file he is looking for and the odds that Ben actually did have it.”

  I leaned back in the booth. “I guess I can go over the files I do have again. When I looked through them before, I was looking for something that related to Mark Stinson’s death, so I didn’t pay a lot of attention to anything that didn’t seem to be connected to it.”

  “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to do that, but if I were you, I wouldn’t mention those files to anyone who doesn’t know about them already.”

  “You and Georgia are the only two who know about the files. I’ll tell her not to mention them to anyone else as well.”

  Chapter 10

  I’d called Bronson Holding, the man TJ had suggested might be able to authenticate my mantel, the day after we returned from Nantucket. Unfortunately, the first opportunity he would have to come by to take a look at it was a full week later, Friday of the next week, which at this point happened to be tomorrow. He’d also informed me that he charged a fee for his service, which was understandable, but it seemed worth it to know exactly what I had.

  While I was waiting, other aspects of my life had continued to progress. I’d completed four more chapters in my new manuscript and sent them off, along with the first, to my agent for a first look. Georgia had arranged with the family who wanted to reserve the entire inn for their parents’ fiftieth anniversary party to stop by to take a look at the remodel to date. She was expecting a call back from them later next week. Locally, we’d all gathered at Lonnie and Lacy’s for dinner on Saturday, as planned, which was when Lacy and I made plans to go antiquing today.

  I’d made a list of everything I’d need to buy for the inn, which was becoming more and more real to me. Lonnie had completed the suites on the second story and had begun working on the suites on the third, which made it feel as if the end of work was near. I’d purchased the granite, paint, and cabinets for the third floor and couldn’t wait to see how they’d all come together. Once those suites were finished, along with the seating area on the upper level of the house, all we’d have left was the attic and the outfitting of the housewares and furniture before a grand opening could be scheduled.

  I called and arranged for a team from a moving company willing to make the trip from San Francisco to Maine to meet me at my storage unit on Monday of the following week. The idea of cutting what seemed to be my last tie to my old home left me with conflicting emotions. Part of me wanted desperately to put the pain I’d endured there behind me so that I could get on with my life, while another felt as if that would be some indication I was forgetting the husband and child I’d be leaving behind.

  If I really stopped to think about it, I supposed that technically, the storage unit was not my last link to San Francisco. Annie was. I debated about emailing to let her know I’d be in town. I would love to spend time with her, but deep down, I knew she’d turn me away, and that would leave me feeling worse than if I’d never tried to reach out in the first place. Georgia and I had arranged for Nikki to sit with the animals once again. We were booked on an early morning flight, which, with the time difference, would put us in San Francisco at eight a.m. We’d rent a car and have breakfast, then meet the moving company at eleven.
Once they were loaded and on their way East, we’d return to the airport for our eight p.m. flight home. It would be a very long couple of days, but I was ready to take the step and the waiting was actually making me angsty.

  I’d spoken to Colt on several occasions over the course of the past week. He was no closer to solving Mr. Palmer’s murder than he had been on the day he started. He interviewed all the neighbors one more time, but as they had the first and second time he’d spoken to them, all claimed not to have seen anyone other than the men from the food service coming or going from the house during the two-week period before Palmer’s death. Colt had also interviewed and re-interviewed everyone who had access to Mr. Palmer’s food at any stage along the way, and no one admitted to anything that would point to the killer.

  Palmer’s nephew was happy to receive the bulk of his inheritance, but he claimed he hadn’t been to Holiday Bay since he argued with his uncle weeks before his death. He made a good suspect in terms of motive, but he also seemed to have a solid alibi. Colt had checked with his employer, who verified that he had not missed a single day of work, which was over a thousand miles away. Of course, he’d had days off that he could have used to fly to Maine and poison his uncle, but Colt didn’t think that was what had happened. After speaking to Willard, he seemed to think he was most likely telling him the truth and had nothing to do with Palmer’s death.

  Natalie Norris still hadn’t turned up to claim the safety-deposit box, which wasn’t surprising since she most likely didn’t even know Palmer was dead. Palmer’s attorney insisted he didn’t know how to contact her to notify her of her inheritance, so the likelihood of her showing up at any point was slim.

  The skeleton in the trunk remained a mystery that Colt wasn’t sure he’d ever solve, and Doug Palmer remained oddly detached from the whole situation as far as I was concerned. Yes, he had told Colt he was busy with work, and yes, he lived in Chicago, which might not be considered a quick trip to make, but his father had died. You’d think he would show up in person at some point rather than handling everything by phone or proxy. Velma had said that the two men weren’t close, though, so perhaps the death of his father hadn’t affected him all that much.

  Georgia was sitting at the dining table nibbling on a muffin when I walked in from the bedroom, where I’d been straightening up.

  “Are you writing today?” she asked.

  “Actually, no. I sent the first five chapters to my agent. I’m waiting to get feedback from her before I continue. The book is really different from what I normally write and I want to be sure she feels she can find it a home before I put too much time into it.”

  “I guess that makes sense. It might be good for you to take a break anyway. Is the landscape architect still coming by today?”

  “He is coming tomorrow, as is the authenticator for the mantel. I’m going to go shopping with Lacy today. You are welcome to come, but I know you have the art project on Thursdays.”

  “Yes, I do have that today. We are planning a fund-raiser next month. Holiday Bay does a big spring festival Easter weekend. There is an old-fashioned dime-a-dip dinner in the community center and an egg hunt and egg coloring for the kids in the park.”

  “Dime a dip?” I asked.

  “I first heard the phrase from my mother. When she was a kid, there would be school fund-raisers where everyone would donate a potluck dish and then the school would sell servings of the dishes for a dime a dip. Folks could pick and choose what they wanted a scoop of. Nowadays it is a dollar a dip, but the idea is the same.”

  “Sounds like fun. I hope the weather holds for the egg hunt.”

  Georgia topped off her coffee. “The egg hunt is rain or shine. It would be a lot more fun on a warm and sunny day, however. I was going to donate casseroles for the dinner and eggs for dying. We’ll also need to come up with a theme for our float.”

  “Float?” I asked.

  “For the Easter parade. I thought we’d do a float to advertise the inn.”

  “Won’t we need a truck for that?”

  Georgia nodded. “I have that covered. Lonnie has a buddy with a flatbed. He is going to borrow it, and Lonnie, Lacy, Tanner, Nikki, Colt, and Velma have all volunteered to help us decorate it. I drew a design that I want to discuss with you. We can change it if you have a better idea. Lonnie said he can build whatever we envision.”

  I had to hand it to my partner. She was always one step ahead of me when it came to putting The Inn at Holiday Bay on the map. “Okay. Let’s see your design.”

  Georgia headed into her bedroom and returned with a sketch pad. She tore off a page and handed me a drawing that featured a miniature replica of the house sitting on a beautifully landscaped plot of land.

  “Wow,” I said. “This is amazing.” I looked up. “Do you really think Lonnie can build this?”

  “He said he can. He will build it using chicken wire, which we will stuff with colored crepe paper. The parade isn’t until April 20, so we have time to pull it all together. I’m working on a sign for the front of the house announcing its name, but I wanted to talk to you first. It occurred to me that we will need a real sign for the actual inn, and this might be the time to create something. I have some ideas, but I wanted to check with you to see if you already had something in mind.”

  “I don’t. Let’s take a look at your designs.”

  Georgia flipped the sketch pad to the back and passed it to me. “I like this one.” I pointed to a sign that was simple yet seemed welcoming.

  Georgia grinned. “That is my favorite as well. It is actually Lonnie’s design. I guess he has been picturing this place as an inn for years.”

  “He told me as much when I first hired him.” I glanced down at the sign once again. “Let’s go with this. It feels right.”

  “Great. I’ll let him know. He’ll need to get started on the frame for the house, which is the only structure other than the little gazebo on the float.”

  “I’ll head in and get ready to go shopping, but before I forget I want to let you know that I went ahead and got us the airline tickets for early Monday morning as we discussed.”

  “Were you thinking of spending the night, or doing a there and back like we did last time?”

  “There and back. It seems like there is so much going on right now that I wanted to get the task complete in as efficient a manner as possible.” I glanced at the clock. I really did need to jump in the shower. “If you are back from the art project when I get back from shopping, we’ll take a final look at the landscaper’s plans before the meeting tomorrow.”

  “I’m not busy later, and I can’t wait to get started.”

  ******

  When I arrived at the main, I heard Lonnie chatting with Colt. I couldn’t help but smile when I heard the deep baritone of Colt’s chuckle at something Lonnie had said.

  “Hey, guys, what’s so funny?” I asked when I joined them.

  “Just guy talk,” Lonnie said. “I thought you were going shopping with Lacy today.”

  “I am. In fact, I am on my way to meet her right now. I just wanted to check in with you before I left.”

  “I’m tearing out walls today, which is always one of my favorite parts of a remodel. The electrician and plumber will be here on Monday, and once they are done, we can start putting everything together. We are sailing right along. I anticipate being completely done by the first of June, barring unforeseen complications.”

  “That’s good. We’ve had a lot of people wanting to book events in July and August. At this point we have just been taking names.”

  Lonnie nodded. “That’s a good idea. While I don’t anticipate any huge problems, I’ve been doing this long enough to know that they can pop up where you least expect them.”

  “That’s what I figured.” I glanced at Colt. “How is your investigation coming along?”

  “It isn’t. I’ve pretty much hit a dead end.”

  “I’m happy to meet with you to brainstorm. I should be back fr
om shopping with Lacy by midafternoon. I need to go over the landscaper’s plans with Georgia at some point, but maybe we can grab dinner?”

  Colt lifted a shoulder in a nonchalant manner that seemed to me to be intentional. “If you have time, I wouldn’t mind a second opinion. I can pick you up around six thirty.”

  “Six thirty should work.” I glanced back to Lonnie. “I’ll have my phone with me if you need to contact me.”

  Lonnie waved. “Okay; enjoy yourselves.”

  Lacy was ready and waiting for me when I arrived. She slid into the passenger seat, then gave me directions to the first of three antique stores in the area she had decided to visit today. I knew what I was looking for and Lacy seemed to have a good grip on where I was likely to find those items, so I hoped by the end of the day I’d have a truckload of deliveries coming my way. Lonnie, Georgia, and I had discussed it and decided that it would be all right to start placing furniture on the first two stories of the house. If we found furniture for the third floor or the attic suite, we’d store it in the basement for now.

  “The first place I want to stop is best known for furniture. While they carry some dishware and smaller items, they specialize in large pieces like tables, desks, beds, sofas; that sort of thing. My experience is that they usually weed through the items they offer for sale, so almost everything is good quality. They do tend to price their things on the high end, so because you don’t enjoy bartering, I think it would be best if you let me negotiate any items you decide to purchase.”

  I tilted my head slightly to the side. “Sounds good to me. I think I am going to focus on accent pieces for the first two floors of the mansion. Unless I find something really fabulous, I see no reason to purchase something I will only have to store. I’m planning to look for antique tables and dressers and such, but I think that I am going to look for new hardwood when it comes to beds and sofas. I want to be sure the furniture that will be slept and sat on is comfortable first and foremost.”