“Why were they being secretive?”
“Howard was your aunt’s only son and she absolutely doted on him. She also constantly referred to him as ‘the man of the house.’ He must have been dreading her reaction to the announcement of such a big change.”
Miranda rubbed the back of her neck. “I can see where that might be a problem, but Jennifer appears to be a lovely, compassionate woman. Why wouldn’t she have told my aunt about their relationship? I mean, did they even know each other?”
“It’s funny that everybody thinks we know everyone else. We might know of someone. Like you for instance. Everyone knows you as Dorothy’s daughter—the one that spent her summers on the Buchanan farm. But not everyone knows you to speak to. That’s a good question for sure.” Doris Ann turned back to her computer. “You should look into that. It might lead to something.”
Miranda smiled. “Thanks, Doris Ann.” Miranda went back to her van and thought about that during her drive back to the farmhouse.
Instead of taking the turnoff down to her farmhouse, she drove on to her aunt’s place. When she pulled into the driveway, one of her cousins held open the screen door to the back porch. Anna Belle was a pale, thinner shadow of her mother. She wore light denim jeans and a white T-shirt with one of her mother’s old-fashioned aprons wrapped and tied in the front. She looked like a little girl playing house.
“Hi, Miranda. I haven’t seen you since you left for New York City. Anna Sue’s at Doc Watson’s clinic to get more nerve pills for Mom. I hope they come up with a type that actually gives her some rest instead of hives. Mom can be quite a handful, and her sensitivity to new medications is not helping.”
Miranda stepped through to the screened-in back porch. She was hit by memories of earlier times when she and her mother would help Aunt Ora with the fall canning. There was a large enamel sink; a sturdy wooden table with a two-burner gas cooktop was placed on the left-hand side. It was used for boiling huge vats of water for sterilizing all the canning jars, bands, lids, and rubber gaskets. Everything was still in its place although it hadn’t been used in donkey’s years.
“I have a couple of questions for your mom. Is she here?”
Anna Belle put her finger up to her lips. “She’s down for a nap. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t disturb her. Her sleep has been fitful.”
“Okay, maybe you can help me.”
“Sure, if I can. We’ll stay out here if you don’t mind. If we keep our voices low, I don’t think she can hear us from the other side of the house.”
“Fine.” Miranda looked around, but there was nowhere to sit. She folded her arms and leaned against the canning table. “Did you know that Howard was about to ask Jennifer O’Rourke to marry him?”
“What! Mom didn’t tell us that.” Anna Belle glanced at the room where her mother was napping. “Why didn’t she say something after he went missing? Are you sure?”
“Yes, we found your mom’s silver promise bracelet that was made by our grandfather near Howard’s remains. Do you know if he had spoken to anyone in the family about it?”
“I’ll ask Mom when she wakes up. This may put her back into a horrible state.”
“I know. It’s probably best that you ask her rather than Sheriff Larson. She’ll feel more comfortable.”
Anna Belle folded her bony arms in front of her chest. “Our grandfather made that bracelet?”
“Your mom says it looks just like her missing bracelet. It has his silver mark struck into the clasp.” Miranda stood straight and pulled the van keys from her front pocket. “Call me if she remembers something else. In fact, call me if she didn’t know anything about it. That’s information, too.”
Miranda left the house, then started the van.
“Wait.” Anna Belle hunched her shoulders and clasped both hands over her mouth. She walked over to the driver’s side. “If he took his mother’s bracelet without her knowing, perhaps he wasn’t sure that she would say yes.”
“So he expected to tell her afterwards? Strange.”
* * *
Miranda pulled into her farmhouse driveway wondering what calamity Ron would spring on her. It was getting a bit ridiculous, but she wasn’t sure how she would behave if her only source of cash was for day labor.
Her mom opened the door, and Sandy bolted down the steps and met Miranda with whimpers and a windmilling tail that wiggled his entire body. She picked him up for puppy licks and gave him a thorough scratching behind his ears.
She unlocked the back door of the panel van and took inventory of her art supplies. For once, everything was in good supply. Although it was another story for Sunday’s tour. She needed the supplies that she had ordered. She automatically pulled out her phone to check for a tracking notification from the post office.
Duh! My cell doesn’t work here. I’ll have to log in to my desktop for that.
“Ron said he wanted to talk to you as soon as you got back.” Dorothy ducked back into the house like a turtle retreating into its shell.
This can’t be good.
Miranda walked down the double-track path to the barn. She stood in the center of the open barn door and looked up at the roof. It was completely repaired. She stepped farther into the barn and looked into the stall where her ingredients had been ruined by the leak. The space was immaculate. The floor swept and—miracle of miracles—Ron had built some racks out of her scrap woodpile. They were the right height and the right depth for the ingredients she needed on hand.
She put her hands on her hips. “I am stunned. Ron,” she hollered. “Where are you, Ron?”
Ron poked his head around the rear barn door. “Do you like that?”
Miranda smiled. “This is wonderful.” Then she frowned. “But I didn’t ask you to do this. I can’t pay you for work I haven’t agreed to.”
“Come on out and look at the roof.” Ron waved her out to the back of the barn. He walked out into the back field and pointed to the repairs. “There’s a little difference in color, but that doesn’t hurt at all.”
Miranda let her eyes drift over the expanse of the roof. It was perfectly repaired. Ron was right: if there wasn’t that tiny color difference, you couldn’t tell that anything had happened at all. She turned her head and smiled up at him. “This is wonderful. What a great job.”
“I’m glad you’re happy because I want to make a trade.”
“Trade?” Miranda thought about what he could have to trade. He was homeless, jobless, and hardly ever sober. “Trade what?”
“I would like to trade my skills for letting me live up in the barn loft.”
“What? It’s a hayloft. It’s all right for camping out up there for a few days, but it’s not a permanent lodging. There’s no water, no bathroom. Heck, there aren’t any walls. I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
Ron put his hands out palms up. “Let me explain. Once you get this distillery up and running, you’re gonna need some on-site security. I can build out the loft to be a studio apartment with a full bathroom. I won’t charge you a cent. I need a permanent place to live.”
Miranda just blinked. Was this a true offer that she needed to consider?
“There’s a couple of things that are concerning me, Ron. I’m not going to answer you right now, so I’ll think about my concerns and we’ll talk about them tomorrow.”
“Whatever they are, I can fix them.”
“Maybe not. I certainly can’t have someone as on-site security who is a confirmed alcoholic. That just doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Ron began to wring his hands at a rapid pace. So fast that Miranda was sure that his hands must be getting warm. “I’ve fixed that. I joined the local AA group and my sponsor takes me to a meeting every day. He’s going to help me stay sober.”
Miranda looked at Ron closely. He did seem a little less scruffy after he had gotten a bath. “Let me think about this.”
He didn’t say anything, just nodded and disappeared.
As soon a
s Miranda walked back into the house, the phone rang and it was Anna Belle. “Hi, Miranda. I talked to Mom and it appears that she wasn’t sure about when Howard was going to propose to Jennifer, if at all. It was still such a fragile relationship. She didn’t think she should complicate matters for Howard by telling me and my sister. Mom is also wondering why Jennifer didn’t confide in her that they were getting closer to an engagement. It makes no sense. I’m not sure if she’s remembering it as it happened or as she thought it should happen.”
“Makes no sense to me, either. Thanks for getting back to me.”
Miranda’s mom was standing there not even pretending that she hadn’t been listening in. “What’s that about? Why has Anna Belle called?”
“It’s something that I found out from Doris Ann up at Hemlock Lodge. She says that she was sure that Howard and Jennifer O’Rourke were about to announce their engagement. That’s why he had that bracelet on him.”
“So, my sister didn’t know?”
“That’s what she says.”
Dorothy pursed her lips. “Your aunt sometimes misremembers.”
“Argh,” Miranda groaned. “Not helping!”
Her mother opened her arms and Miranda walked into a warm hug, “You know it’s going to be difficult to untangle Howard’s life. He was a strange duck.”
“Yeah, but there are so many secrets.” Miranda pressed her hands over her eyes and swung her head from side to side. “I’ve got to stop thinking about this for right now and get ready for tomorrow’s tour. Austin is coming back to do some more research on our motley gang of suspects. He’s invited himself over for supper. He’s beginning to look forward to your cooking.”
“Smart young man.”
“Yeah, I think he is. Oh, by the way . . .” Miranda hesitated. “Could you make up a plate for Ron? He’s going to be doing some odd jobs over the next few days.”
“Really? I thought you couldn’t wait to get rid of him.”
“I thought so, too, but things change.”
Miranda thought about that for a second. That phrase seemed to tickle something in the back of her head. When she concentrated—it disappeared.
“I need to take another plate of treats up to Doris Ann tomorrow. Any ideas?”
“There’s loads of dried apples up in the other end of the attic. They need to be used up before the next batch is stored away over the winter. What about a dried-apple pie?”
“Perfect! She’ll love that. After bringing her treats to loosen her tongue, I’ve figured out that the more snacks I bring, the more she shares them out with the guests, and the more they inquire about my tours.”
Chapter 29
Sunday Morning, Hemlock Lodge
Miranda had baked her dried-apple pie in a cooking tray with a lip so that she could cut it into squares and wrap them individually. In line with her marketing goals, she put a Paint & Shine sticker on the bottom of each snack. Doris Ann loved giving the treats to the guests.
“What have you brought me today?” Doris Ann eyed the platter.
“These are square pieces of pie made from last year’s dried apples. They’re from Uncle Gene’s crop last fall. I forgot about them until I cleared out the attic for my mom’s visit.”
“It’s nice to have her back. We’re going to meet for lunch next week and catch up on old times.” Doris Ann grabbed a snack, unwrapped it, then took a bite almost before the platter hit the top of her desk. “Mmm. You’re getting to be quite a good old-fashioned cook.”
Miranda smiled at how much that comment pleased her. She was determined to keep these old-timey cultural dishes alive. “Have you seen my clients?”
“They’re still having breakfast. They’re a pokey bunch, so they’ll be late. Nice and polite for such a large family.”
Miranda’s clients today consisted of a single family with eight children. It had taken quite a lot of serious convincing for the mother to guarantee Miranda that they would be well-behaved and attentive to her tour. She was filled with doubt. She didn’t think the odds were good with only three adults to supervise eight children.
“The mother told me that if I didn’t approve of their behavior within the first ten minutes, we could turn back and she wouldn’t ask for a refund.”
“That’s mighty fair.”
Miranda looked down the corridor to watch for the family. Kevin Burkart was standing in the entryway to the dining room with a pudgy man in shorts and a T-shirt. They shook hands and Kevin walked up to Miranda and Doris Ann. He was wearing expensive loafers, with khaki trousers and a white button-down oxford shirt. He carried a slim leather laptop case over his shoulder. He leaned over and gave Doris Ann a smooch on the cheek.
“How’s my prettiest client?”
Doris Ann’s face flushed to a light rose. “Stop that, Kevin. People will talk.”
“I hope so.” He sat on the corner of Doris Ann’s desk and took a snack. “You’ve been helping me get clients up here. That was another new one. I appreciate it.”
Doris Ann flushed to a deep rose. “That’s not true.”
Kevin turned to Miranda. “Good morning. Are you running another tour?”
“Every day but Monday. It looks like you’ve been benefiting from Doris Ann’s influence as well.”
“Oh, sure. Doris Ann is a client, of course, and people trust her. I think I’ve gotten, what, maybe eight or ten new customers directly from her recommendation?”
“My pleasure.” Doris Ann was practically purring.
He smiled brightly. “I also keep a giant ad in the Wolfe County newspaper. I like to support the local businesses.” He dipped a hand into his pocket, pulled out a business card case, then gave Miranda one of his embossed cards. “Here, just in case you need some financial advice after your launch.” He leaned over to give Doris Ann another smooch. “Sorry, I’ve got another appointment over in Stanton.”
Miranda watched him stride through the front doors like a man in charge of the world. She turned back to Doris Ann. “He’s your financial adviser?”
“Oh, yes. He has a few local customers so he can travel up here on expenses. My uncle left me a nice little inheritance, and Kevin is helping me make it grow. I need something set aside for my retirement.”
“Oh.” Miranda was a little hesitant to put Doris Ann on the spot with more questions but knew that there was no way Doris Ann would say something she wasn’t comfortable telling. In fact, you couldn’t force her.
“How long has he been working for you?”
“Only about three years, but in that time, my nest egg has more than doubled. He’s a real comfort to me. Being all alone in your elder years is not for the weak of heart.”
Miranda spied her family coming out of the dining room, filling the hallway with happy chatter. “I’ve got to go now, but one last question. Do you trust him?”
“Absolutely, he’s the salt of the earth, a good old country boy.”
* * *
The Wilson family were indeed as well-behaved as their mother had promised. The oldest child was sixteen and the youngest one was seven. Each older child paired up with a younger one as a buddy, and they hiked up to Lover’s Leap hand in hand without so much as a single incident.
The setup for the paintings started off well.
“No, no, no!” yelled the mother, and she grabbed the hand of the youngest child before he put the paintbrush in his mouth. “That’s not ketchup, sweetie.” She picked up his palette and handed it to Miranda. “Can you give him another one with no red? It’s one of the things that we have to watch. He is obsessed with ketchup. It drives us all crazy.” The mother smiled. “I’m sorry, but otherwise, his autism is very well managed.”
“Can I use a deep orange instead?” Miranda asked. The mother hesitated. “It’s so he can paint the fall colors, and we have so many red maples this year.”
“Oh, yes, that will work just fine.”
Miranda quickly mixed up a reddish orange and set up another palette. She h
anded it to Mrs. Wilson, who knelt down before her son and, at eye level, carefully explained that paint was not food.
Austin met the group and delivered his ranger talk about the history of Lover’s Leap. The younger one hung on every word as Austin explained the multiple legends that surrounded the formation.
Miranda and Austin moved back to stand behind the family while they completed their paintings.
“I talked to Doris Ann this morning,” said Miranda in a low voice. “Kevin Burkart is her financial adviser. Can you believe that?”
“That is a surprise. I knew she received an unexpected inheritance, but I didn’t know it was enough to need a financial adviser.”
“Well, she’s very pleased with his efforts and recommends his services whenever she gets the chance.”
“Well, there really couldn’t be a better character recommendation.” They agreed to eliminate Kevin as a suspect and continue their online research on the remaining Risky Business Adventurers.
Chapter 30
Sunday, Big Rock Cabin
Miranda called the number she had gotten from Doris Ann for the Risky Business Adventurers’ cabin and then convinced her mother to tag along. Her mom would lend a feeling of comfort and safety while she spoke to Jennifer O’Rourke. They pulled up, and Jennifer was waiting for them on the long porch, furnished with about a dozen traditional rocking chairs.
Jennifer had an earthenware pitcher of hot cider and a stack of mugs on a serving table. “Please help yourself. I find the breeze a little chilly this time of year.” She pulled her denim jacket closed and snapped it up.
Dorothy poured two mugs and handed one over to Miranda. They sat in the rockers on either side of Jennifer.
Miranda cleared her throat. “Thanks for seeing us. I understand that Howard’s discovery has been rather shocking for you.”
“It’s a shock for us all.”
“Right,” agreed Miranda. “But one of the things we’re curious about is why you were keeping your relationship with Howard a secret. Now that he’s no longer missing, can you tell me?”
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