The Inn at Holiday Bay Books 10 - 12

by Kathi Daley

  “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “So, do any of the three really stand out?” Jeremy asked.

  “Not really. Colt is working on trying to whittle things down a bit more. Sometimes these things take time. More often than not, the real killer does something to provide the tip Colt needs to get the case closed.”

  Jeremy stood up straight and pushed his hands into his lower back, assumedly to work out a kink. “I, for one, hope Colt gets this case closed sooner rather than later. It would be nice to have a quiet murder free holiday, and Thanksgiving is next week.”

  “I know.” I stood up too. “I can’t believe that we’ll be well into the Christmas season two weeks from today. Time seems to have flown by ever since October came around.”

  “There has been a lot going on,” Jeremy agreed. “As long as we’re talking about Thanksgiving, I wanted to remind you that Annabelle is out of school all week. She knows the inn will be busy, and I’ll be needed, but she really wants me to take her and some friends to the movie theater in Portland one day during her break. I spoke to Georgia, and she seemed to think that would be fine.”

  “If it’s fine with Georgia, it’s fine with me. We do have a full inn, but Georgia doesn’t have a taping or prep for her show next week, and I’ll be around. I’m sure we can handle whatever comes up.”

  After Jeremy left to pick Annabelle up from school, I decided to take Ramos and Molly for a walk. The dogs had been lying on the patio watching us work, and even though I’d been engaged in physical labor all afternoon, I felt the need to get out and stretch my legs a bit. My cat, Rufus, had been sleeping peacefully in the cottage when I’d come outside to join Jeremy, so I’d left him there, but realizing that he might enjoy a short walk along the bluff, I stopped by the cottage to pick him up as well.

  I loved many things about my life in Maine, but a leisurely stroll in the fresh air as I enjoyed the natural beauty of the isolated shoreline was one of my favorites. It was so peaceful most of the time. This part of the coastline was pretty deserted, with the exception of the residents and guests at the inn, and the trainers and residents who lived with and worked for Tanner. It was rare to run into someone from Tanner’s place, but it did occasionally occur. Most of the time, however, it was just me and the animals and the rumbling symphony of the rolling sea.

  I’d just made the turn and was heading back toward the cottage when it occurred to me that perhaps whatever Hollander had stopped at home to retrieve from his safe hadn’t been brought into the theater with him. I’d assumed that he’d had it on him when he’d arrived and that since nothing was found on his body, whoever killed him must have taken it, but if he’d simply grabbed something he knew he’d need later, maybe the item in question was still in his car. I wondered about his car. I hadn’t noticed it in the theater’s parking lot when I’d driven by this week, so someone had obviously moved it. But where had it been moved to? I pulled out my phone and called Colt to ask that question.

  Colt admitted that Hollander’s car hadn’t been part of the official investigation since the murder had occurred inside the theater, and the car hadn’t seemed to have been involved. He hadn’t wanted to leave the car in the lot where the potential of vandalism would have been great given the fact that Hollander had driven a very expensive vehicle, so he’d had the car towed to Hollander’s home. Once I brought up the item that Hollander had stopped at home to pick up, he agreed that looking inside the car was probably a good idea. He was out of the office when I called him, but he promised to stop by Hollander’s home and search through the vehicle before he quit for the day.

  Georgia had gone to Tanner’s after she’d come home from her taping, and since Colt had worked late, he decided to stay in town, so it was just the animals and me. Jeremy had prepared and served dinner. It seemed like he was on top of things. I had meant to grab the reservation book in order to get an overview of who’d be checking in and out over the next few days. It was dark, but not all that late, and I knew that Jeremy hadn’t performed his final lock up for the evening, so I grabbed my jacket and headed down the well-worn path between the cottage and the inn. When I arrived, I found Sierra sitting in front of the fire, looking through a leather-bound volume of some sort. “That’s a great place to read,” I commented as I headed toward the check-in counter.

  She held up the book. “It’s a photo album.”

  “It is?” I crossed the room to get a better view of what it was she was looking at.

  “I found it at the house today when we went to work on our project.” She ran a finger over the cover. “This particular album has photos of Christmases past.”

  “Whose past?” I wondered.

  “Actually, the house’s past.” She opened the cover and settled on a page. “The photos in this section go all the way back to the first Christmases ever held at the house. There are photos that span decades, including quite a few photos of Henri as a child, as well as a handful of photos of our father when he was a little boy.”

  I sat down next to Sierra and looked at the page she was studying. “The place really is beautiful. And look at those decorations. I bet they’d be really valuable in the antique market if they still exist.”

  “There are boxes and boxes of stuff in the attic that someone will need to go through. I suppose they might be up there. Sage wants to sell the house, complete with furnishings and contents, but I don’t want to sell the house without looking through everything.”

  “So, have you decided to sell the house?” I wondered.

  “No. Nothing has changed since this morning. Sage is dead set on selling the house, and Shelby is dead set on keeping it. I know I said that I wasn’t really the tiebreaker since we all had to agree, and a two-to-one vote would only end with no one getting what they want, but the reality is that I am the tiebreaker. I hate having that sort of pressure put on me, but I can’t deny it. Deep inside, I know that whichever sister I side with will probably get her way. Sage won’t risk some random relative getting the house, and I’m sure Shelby won’t either.”

  “That’s a lot of pressure,” I acknowledged. “Do you have any idea what you might do?”

  She turned a page in the album and studied the photos on the next page. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Even though we check out Friday morning, our final appointment with the attorney is scheduled for Thursday morning. We’re supposed to have completed all tasks and made all our decisions by then. Tomorrow is the last day we have to work out a solution. Initially, I hoped the two of them would work it out, and I’d just go along with whatever they decided, but I’m beginning to realize that isn’t going to happen.”

  “They do seem to want different things.”

  She nodded. “Sage has big dreams. She is envisioning warehouses, staff, and a presence in the garment industry on a global scale. That will take both time and capital. To her, the house is an albatross that will simply demand part of her time, whereas the cash she would get from the house will go a long way toward making her dream come true. Shelby, however, has much simpler goals. No matter what happens with the house, she’s going to walk away from this a multi-millionaire, and so far, the only thing she’s mentioned to me is that when she gets home, she might look for a nicer apartment.”

  I smiled. “I suppose that the enormity of how much her life has really changed hasn’t sunk in yet.”

  Sierra smiled back. “Yeah, I guess not. Shelby really seems to want us to be a family. She wants to keep the house, so the three of us have a place to get together for regular visits. She wants us to be sisters. Real sisters. Sage isn’t necessarily against the idea of us maintaining a relationship of some sort, but I can tell that she won’t be the one to initiate anything. She’s really busy, and she has a full life. She also has a mother, a stepfather, and a half-brother she’s close to. She has a family, whereas Shelby and I really don’t.”

  I decided to wait quietly while she gathered her thoughts.

  “While I love
the idea of sisters, my plan is global in nature. I already have plans to live in Belgium for four years, and after that, I’d love to live in Ireland for a while. In terms of proximity, I really can’t see how I would be able to use the house even if we kept it. Although, after looking through these albums, I’ve realized that any university I work for or study at would be out for holidays, so it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility for me to come home each year for a real family Christmas, which by the way, I haven’t had in years and years.”

  “It is beautiful in Maine at Christmas.”

  “I’ve enjoyed my time here, and I imagine it is lovely once all the decorations are up.”

  “So, have you decided to side with Shelby?”

  She frowned. “That’s the thing. No matter what I decide, it’s going to seem as if I am siding with one sister over the other. I really don’t want to do that. My mother is dead, and I have no siblings. I’ve traveled a lot and don’t even have any close friendships. After being part of a group for even just a few days, I find that I’ve really missed that, and I know that I value my potential relationship with both my sisters more than I value either the house or the money that might be gained from the sale of the house.”

  “I guess you are in a tough spot.”

  She took a breath and then continued. “I really am, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I’ve been thinking things over, and I may have a compromise. I’m not sure if either sister will go for the compromise, but it seems like it might be worth it to at least put it out there.”

  “And what sort of compromise did you have in mind?” I asked.

  She turned another page. “When I look at the photos in this album, I realize that there was a time when the people who lived in that house were happy. Henri didn’t seem to have had a happy marriage, and Denver was a bit of a mess, so I doubt mother and son had a satisfying relationship, but there are a lot of photos in this book of people celebrating together in the past. My idea is to ask my sisters to spend one Christmas in the house before deciding what to do with it. I feel like we really need more time to decide. Shelby thinks she wants to do the family thing, but we really haven’t spent enough time together for us to know exactly how that would go. Sage wants to sell the house and be done with it, but she likewise really hasn’t had the opportunity to find out what a family holiday might be like. The house is just sitting there vacant, so I’m going to propose we all stay and spend Christmas in the house. There are a ton of bedrooms if my sisters want to invite someone to come and stay with us. Shelby mentioned a boyfriend, and Sage does have a mother and stepfamily she might want to include. Personally, I’m on my own, so I don’t have anyone to invite to join us, but I’m happy to share the house with whoever the other two see fit to invite.”

  “I thought you said that you had to decide by Thursday,” I pointed out.

  “I did say that. In order to settle the estate, we have to tell the attorney that we decided to keep the house. If, after spending the holiday together, we decide to sell, we’ll have to list it and pay the expenses ourselves, whereas if we give the attorney permission to sell now, we can avoid that. I know Sage will use that as an argument not to wait, but I’ve been thinking about things, and figure if I volunteer to pay any fees and expenses incurred out of my share should we eventually decide to sell, she really won’t have a reason not to try my idea. At least I hope she won’t.”

  I placed my hand over Sierra’s. “I think your idea is a good one. It’ll give the three of you more time to really think things through.”

  “And it gives me a chance to go through the items in the attic, as well as the books in the library. There are first editions in that library, and if Sage has her way, she’ll just sell everything with the house. Can you imagine?”

  “Actually, I can’t imagine. It sounds like Sage just wants to take the money and run. I really hope she’ll go along with your plan to spend the holiday in the house before making a final decision. It’s a big decision and one that shouldn’t be entered into lightly.”

  “I agree. I think Shelby will go along with the idea, so all I really need to do is get Sage to go along with things.”

  I stood up. “Well, good luck to you. It sounds like you’re going to need it.”

  Chapter 13

  Lacy called the following morning to let me know that the police tape had been removed from the theater, and she planned to stop by after dropping her kids off at school and daycare so she could pick up some personal items she’d left there. She’d borrowed a set of the new keys and had arranged to return them later that day, so she was on a bit of a timeline and wondered if I’d be willing to help her gather everything up. I agreed to meet her in front of the theater at nine-thirty. I knew that with everything that had happened with the play this year, it was probably a good thing to be able to close this particular chapter of her life.

  “Thanks for meeting me,” she said when I pulled up. “I really can use the help, but I mostly think I just didn’t want to wander around in the deserted theater by myself.”

  “I don’t blame you. There was a body in the trap-room the last time we were here, and that’s not an image that’s easy to forget.”

  “Tell me about it. You told me not to look, but I had to look, and now I can’t get it out of my head.”

  After Lacy unlocked the front door, the two of us headed inside. “Where do you want to start?” I asked.

  “The cast room. Most everything I brought from home, tape, scissors, sewing kit, and markers, amongst other things, should be in there. I figured I’d start there, box everything up, and then do a walkthrough of every room just to be sure that the kids didn’t leave my personal items in other rooms. I want to make sure I retrieve my sewing machine and those large buckets I used to ice down the beverages I donated.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. Just show me what’s yours, and I’ll work on boxing it up while you work on getting more things together.”

  I had to admit it felt just a tiny bit freaky to be walking around in the deserted building. Lacy turned the lights on as we made our way from the lobby down the hallway to the cast room, but I still couldn’t quite fight the feeling that someone was watching us. Of course, the place had been locked up tight, so I was equally certain that feeling existed solely in my imagination.

  “Okay,” Lacy said after we arrived at our destination. “Grab those boxes along the back wall, and let’s start loading things up.”

  I did as she asked.

  “Everything on that long table belongs to me, so you can start with that while I begin looking through the cabinets.”

  As we worked, the eeriness of being inside the building where someone had been murdered began to dissipate, but I still couldn’t quite shake the feeling of not being alone. “Do you hear something?” I asked Lacy.

  She paused and listened. “No. Do you?”

  “No,” I admitted. “I guess I’m just a little freaked out.”

  “Freaked out, how?”

  “I just can’t quite shake this feeling that someone else is in the building.”

  She began folding costumes. “That seems doubtful. There weren’t any cars in the lot, and Colt just removed the police tape this morning. I’m sure we’re alone.”

  “Yeah.” I returned to my boxing. “I guess.”

  “Once you finish boxing the stuff on that table, we’ll start on the craft closet,” Lacy said.

  “I had no idea that you brought so many things from home.”

  “I didn’t intend to at first, but then I realized it would be nice to provide cold drinks, so I brought the buckets. And not long after that, one of the pilgrim girls ripped her costume, and I realized it would be nice to have a sewing kit. The theater hadn’t provided one, so I brought mine from home. And then one of the boys tore an entire sleeve from his pilgrim boy costume, and I realized that it would be nice if my sewing machine was here. And then we started on the signs and the sets, and the next thing I k
new, I was bringing in paint, glitter, and glue. The whole thing just sort of blossomed from there.”

  “It’s too bad the sets will go to waste. I know you’ve been working really hard on them.”

  She sighed. “Yeah.”

  I paused and looked toward the door. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  “I think someone came in.”

  She frowned. “I didn’t hear anything.”

  I walked over to the closed door, opened it, and poked my head out into the hallway. “Can I help you?” I asked the man who was walking straight toward me.

  Lacy poked her head around from behind me.

  “Sorry to startle you both,” a man, who, based on his clothes, was a maintenance person of some sort said.

  I glanced at Lacy.

  “You’re the plumber,” she said.

  “Yes, ma’am. I was driving by and noticed cars in the lot, so I tried the door to see if it was unlocked. I’ve been trying to get in to pick some stuff up I left behind when I was here last. A plumber isn’t much good without his tools, but the place has been all locked up since the murder, so I’ve been making do.”

  “I’m sure Colt could have helped you out,” I said.

  He shrugged. “Maybe. I didn’t think to ask. But I’m here now, so I’ll just grab what I need and be out of your way.”

  “Okay,” Lacy said as we returned to the room, and he continued down the hallway.

  “I take it that you know that guy,” I said.

  “I don’t really know him, but I do remember him. He came by on that last Monday that we were here. I’d stopped in to work on the sets after I dropped all the kids off at school and daycare, and he came in with a toolbox, saying he needed to fix a leak. I thanked him for letting me know, and then I went back to work. A short time later, he came back by and told me that he needed to get some parts. He wasn’t sure exactly what time he’d be back. I told him that I needed to pick my kids up from school and couldn’t wait around past two-thirty, and he suggested I just leave him with a key and the alarm code.”