When I arrived, I parked the Jeep far out in the parking lot so I could leave the closer spaces for guests. The same handymen were out on the lawn setting up cones and wooden parking barrier things like they’d done Friday night. I’d have to remember to come out and move my truck when they were done.
On the other side of the lawn, caters were setting up sundae stations, and men from a local dairy were unloading tons of ice cream from a truck. I actually got a little giddy at sight. It had been a long time since I’d had premium ice cream right from a local dairy. Aunt Kara had gone all out for this little event of hers.
Inside there was a bustle of activity as well. Evette was cleaning furiously, but it looked like she had a few high school age kids helping her. They were sweeping floors, polishing wood, cleaning all of the glass until it had a high shine. It looked like everyone was getting ready for opening day or a photo shoot.
“I’ve got a photographer coming.” Aunt Kara said from behind me.
“Oh, you startled me,” I said, and I did jump a little. “A photographer?”
“Yeah, some lady’s magazine wants to feature a story about bed and breakfast in their next issue. They saw your write up and decided we were perfect. They even agreed to let you have some of the photos for the newspaper.”
I didn’t get to meet the photographer before the party started, but I did occasionally catch glimpses of him taking photographs during the social. Aunt Kara assured me that he had my email address and could send me pictures if I didn’t get the chance to talk to him before he left.
“He’s kind of a strange bird if you know what I mean.” She said with an impish smile.
The party was supposed to last a couple of hours, and then Aunt Kara would announce the contest winner. Brad showed up before Nathan and Esme, and he looked like he had something on his mind.
“I wanted to have a moment to talk to you.” He said with a slight blush. “I haven’t heard anything from Esme. I wanted to check that she is alright.”
“Awe, that’s cute. You miss her.”
“Shut up.” He sounded like a petulant teenager.
“Brad, she’s been at work. That’s why she hasn’t been running around town naked trying to get your attention. I’m sure she’ll do something that’ll land her in the back of your cruiser just as soon as she has a day off.”
“It’s not that. It’s been what? Like a day.” He said and rubbed his chin. “I gave her my phone number the other night. I thought she might be acting out because she needed someone to talk to, so I gave her my number and told her to call me if she needed a friend.”
It took all of my strength not to roll my eyes at him. “Brad, dude. Come on. That is so lame. What she wants is for you to stop playing games and ask her out properly.”
“That’s not it..” He started to say, but I had to cut him off.
“Wait. I’m not done. It is what she wants even if she won’t admit it. If you want to talk to Esme on the phone, you need to be the one who calls her. You know, like real men do.” I said and jabbed him playfully in the chest.
“That’s not going to happen.” He grumbled and started to wander off.
“Brad, hold on. Sorry. She’s fine, and I promise I won’t tell her you asked about her. I’d hate for her to get the idea that you cared. But, anyway. I need to know when the next time you’re off work. Nate wants to do a guy’s night or something ridiculous like that.” I hate lying, but I was going to go through with Nathan and I’s plan for a surprise double date.
“I’ll look at my calendar and get back to you.” He said and stalked off.
Nathan finally showed up a little late. He had an adorable story about an emergency baby deer rescue, and I immediately forgave him.
We made sundaes that resembled mountains. I chose chocolate, pistachio, and blueberry ice cream, and I covered the three scoops with nuts and chocolate shavings. Instead of one cherry, I placed three on my finished masterpiece. There was one for each mini mound of ice cream.
When things were starting to wind down and the ice cream supplies were beginning to get low, Aunt Kara gathered everyone on the lawn of the bed and breakfast for the drawing. There was a huge crowd, and I was amazed to see that most of the town had shown up. It was a good thing that Aunt Kara had ordered so much ice cream.
There was a tiny stage that musicians had been using, but they cleared out, and Aunt Kara positioned herself behind the microphone. She had an enormous top hat in her hands, and I swear it looked like she was about to pull a rabbit out of it while she reached in a swished her hand around.
To some, it probably looked like she was getting ready to grab a random slip with a name on it, but I knew she was looking for the one she’d paperclipped. It sent a chill down my spine because I still hadn’t had a chance to look into who the Russian submitter was, and I was afraid I was going to have to confront the man who’d tried to intimidate me in the forest at my Aunt’s ice cream social.
I could actually see the moment when Aunt Kara removed the paperclip from the paper and flicked it to the bottom of the hat, although I doubted anyone in the audience could tell. She pulled it out, and read the new name of the bed and breakfast with a huge smile on her face. I wished I could be as happy about the whole thing as she was.
“Arbor Oasis Hideaway submitted by Viktor Popov.” She said, and the crowd erupted in applause.
I noticed right away that people were looking around in confusion. No one was walking up to claim the gift certificates that Aunt Kara held for the winner.
“Okay, folks. Maybe he’s in the little boy’s room. Let’s give him a couple of minutes.”
The next three minutes crept by slowly as everyone at the ice cream social waited for the winner to appear. After about five minutes, people started to wander off. Most of them headed back over to the ice cream stations to pick over the rest of what was left. A few went inside to poke around. Aunt Kara looked stricken, so I went up to meet her as she came down off the stage.
“I don’t understand.” She said sadly. “It’s my favorite name of the entries. I thought it would give the inn an exotic feel. I thought the prizes were excellent too. Why would somebody skip out on getting their reward?”
“I don’t know, Aunt Kara. Maybe…” I started to say.
The piercing scream made every head that was focused on ice cream outside turn towards the inn. Aunt Kara turned ghostly white and swayed a little like she was going to fall over.
“Not again.” She whispered.
Brad, Nathan, and I raced inside while Esme stayed behind to help Aunt Kara up. I felt sorry for leaving her, but Esme told me to go.
“It’s better if you find out what’s going on. She doesn’t need to see it again.” Esme said.
When we got inside, what we found made me laugh so hard that I got a stomach ache. Apparently, Jezebel had found a bowl of ice cream unattended and had decided to help herself. The woman screaming was the one who left her bowl of ice cream, topped with tiny bits of glazed donut, unattended for what Jezzy decided was a minute too long.
The woman, who I’d never met and would probably never be on friendly terms with, couldn’t decide who she wanted to glare at more. Her head kept snapping back and forth between my cat and me.
“Come on, Ma’am. Let’s go get you a fresh ice cream.” Brad said soothingly and started to lead her towards the door.
“That animal ought to be put down.” She hissed as she walked by me.
“Now, Mrs. Crenshaw, there’s no reason for all of that. We’ll get you another ice cream.” This time Brad sounded like he was trying to keep a small child from having a tantrum.
She straightened her back, took a huge sniffle, and then let him lead her outside to the ice cream. Jezebel looked up and winked at me. I was worried that someone might have seen her, but as soon as Mrs. Crenshaw was out the door, the rest of the people gathered around the breakfast room started to laugh.
I went back outside to let Aunt Kara know what wa
s going on, but word had already reached her. She was chuckling too, and I got the feeling that Mrs. Crenshaw had a reputation for overreaction.
“Serves her right. The snooty old coot is probably just mad that her horrible name didn’t win.” Aunt Kara said.
“Aunt Kara, I’ve never heard you talk about someone that way before.”
“Well, it’s true. She’s a nosey snot that thinks the sun rises and sets on her skinny little behind.” Aunt Kara said loudly enough to turn Mrs. Crenshaw’s head. “Do you want to hear her awful entry. I don’t remember them all, but hers was one of the worst.” This time her voice was hushed.
“Okay,” I said with a smile.
“Big Wood Bed and Breakfast.” Aunt Kara said and then started to laugh hysterically.
“Holy carp,” I said and joined her in laughing.
People turned to look at us, but we didn’t care. The two of us were bent over laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe.
“Big Wood. Oh, my gosh.” I sputtered and tried to get myself back under control. “Do you think it ever crossed her mind that it sounded like a male strip club themed inn?”
“I don’t know, but it’s hilarious.” Aunt Kara said when she finally stopped laughing. “Hey, can you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Can you and Nathan take Viktor his gift certificates?”
Chapter Nine
Nathan and I pulled up in front of Viktor’s tailor shop a short while later. He came around and opened my door for me before planting a kiss on the top of my head.
The tailor shop looked dark, but the neon open sign hanging in the front window was turned on. I got a bad feeling as we walked up towards the front door.
I stayed behind Nathan and half jumped out of my skin when the little bell over the door rang as he opened it so we would go inside. The air inside of the shop was very still, but there was a heaviness to it that couldn’t be explained by atmospheric conditions. It was a feeling that made me think of one thing.
Death.
“Nate, we should go back outside. Something isn’t right here.” I whispered even though there didn’t appear to be anyone around.
“Okay, babe. You go back out and wait by the car. I’m going to take a look around.”
“Heck no I’m not leaving you alone in here,” I said feeling the dread infesting the shop seep into my skin.
We made our way into the back room of the store, and that’s when my fears were confirmed. I realized right away that the scream back at the inn was an omen. The air felt thick and dark out in the main part of the shop, but in the back room, it was suffocating.
Nate flicked on the light, and I had to bite down on my bottom lip hard to keep from crying out. The man who had harassed us and threatened me the other night was hanging by his belt from the light fixture in his office.
“Lenny, go outside and call Brad,” Nate said calmly.
“What are you going to do?” I stammered.
“I’m pretty sure he’s dead, but I’m going to make sure. Now go so I can check his pulse.”
I walked outside and dialed Brad’s number. Nathan came out a few moments later shaking his head no, and I knew the man was dead. Brad arrived on the scene first, but a few more cars that belonged to both county officers and state police showed up within minutes. An ambulance from the hospital roared onto the street seconds before them.
Nathan had told Brad that the man was already dead, and Brad tried to stop the paramedics from going in. He wanted to preserve the scene even though it looked like a suicide. The paramedics weren’t having it, and the state police just laughed at Brad when he asked for help.
Everyone wanted to write the man, who was, in fact, Viktor Popov, off as a suicide so they could go about their day. But, I could see that Brad didn’t entirely buy it. I wasn’t sure I believed it either given the circumstances under which I’d met Mr. Popov.
Esme had ridden to the tailor shop with Brad, but now that people were here watching, he couldn’t give her a lift back. She’d also been called into work which meant she needed to get to her car soon so she could go to the hospital. Nate and I agreed to drive her.
In the end, we just took her to work and dropped her off. I agreed to bring her car to the hospital later. I’d be spending one more night at her place anyway, so I could just get her at the end of her shift.
“Is that okay with you, Loverboy?” She teased Nate.
“Hey, Lenny makes up her own mind about what kind of miscreants she wants to hang around.” He said with a laugh.
It was good to see them getting along.
Nathan and I went back to the bed and breakfast to break the news to Aunt Kara. Needless to say, she was shocked. At least I didn’t have to give her too many details.
“I’m not sure what I should do.” She mumbled.
“You don’t have to figure it out today,” I told her.
“I’m really, tired, Lenny. Do you think it would be okay for me to go take a nap?”
“I think that’s a good idea, Aunt Kara. You can figure out what to do about the name later.” I said.
“I feel so bad worrying about that when a man is dead. Again.” Aunt Kara looked like she was going to cry.
“Go take a nap,” I said and hugged her. “We’ll figure it out later.”
I watched her walk up the steps and turned my attention to the front desk. Tammy looked up from her book at Nate and me.
“I guess I should stay until the evening help gets here?” Tammy asked and didn’t try to hide her annoyance.
I thought that was strange because usually, Tammy was eager to help out around the inn.
“I can stay. I’m not that good with the computer system, but I’ll do my best if you’ve got somewhere you need to be.”
“It’s fine. I’ll stay.” She said curtly and went back to reading her book.
Nathan and I took that as our cue to leave. I thought Tammy’s behavior was strange, but I wasn’t in the mood to dissect it. That was particularly true if she was going to ignore me. Perhaps she was just having a bad day too.
“You want to go get some pie?” Nathan asked.
“We already ate our weight in ice cream. Should we really go eat more dessert?” I asked.
“Okay, well, do you want to go get a salad and some kale juice at that new place the hippies opened?” He said with an impish smile.
“Pie it is.”
I had to ditch Nate early because Esme texted me and asked if I could pick her up early. She said something about going in early meant she could leave a couple of hours before her shift was over, and she’d only been there to fill in anyway.
I arrived at the hospital with her car and texted her to let her know I’d arrived.
Come inside and wait in the ER waiting area. I’ll meet you in five minutes.
I thought it was weird, but I decided to just go with it. If I didn’t go in, I guessed that Esme would come out and drag me in. I went in through the Emergency Room’s automatic doors and was immediately hit with the cold, antiseptic smell that I hated so much.
The waiting room was practically abandoned, so I sat down in a chair near the door. I didn’t want to be in the hospital, but I got the feeling that whatever Esme wanted was important. I pulled my phone out of my bag and checked my email as a way to ignore the occasional ghosts that drifted in and out of the room. None of them seemed to notice me, so I figured I’d just let them go about their business. In addition to the smell and sorrow, I used to sense whenever I walked into a hospital, I could now see that the place was crawling with sad, lost souls. I hoped that Esme would hurry.
“Come on, let’s go,” Esme whispered from behind me.
I jerked out of my chair with a start, but I followed her quietly down the hall. The security guard behind the desk barely looked up from his book when we walked by him, but I guess there wasn’t any reason to pay attention to a nurse walking through a hospital. Still, I knew Esme was dragging me into something nefa
rious. I could just tell.
We walked into a service elevator, and Esme slid a key into a slot below all of the floor buttons. Her hand was obscuring the label next to the key hole, and I didn’t see where we were going until the doors were already closed.
Morgue
I could feel the air sucked out of my lungs, by my panic. I didn’t want to go to the morgue, and I wanted to slug her for dragging me along on whatever shenanigans she had planned without filling me in first.
“I don’t want to go to the morgue, Esme.”
“I know, Lenny. Nobody wants to go to the morgue.” She said and then thought about it for a moment. “Okay, I’ve met a few people who would want to go to the morgue, but I would rather be in the morgue than stuck in an elevator with those weirdos.”
“Esme, I don’t know who you think you’re fooling, but I can tell that you’re at least a little bit one of those weirdos. You’re trying not to smile, and I can see that you’re at least a little bit giddy about this. How did you get the key to the morgue? I wouldn’t think an ER nurse would have access.”
“I told Bob, the janitor, that I’d show him my boobs if he swiped it from the security office for me.” She said matter-of-factly. “He’ll put it back too.”
“Esmerelda!” I said right as the doors opened.
“What?”
“You can’t show your boobs to your co-workers to get them to steal things for you,” I said in shock, but I was glad to have the distraction because the morgue was every bit as creepy as you’d expect.
“I said that I promised to show them to him, I didn’t say I had shown them to him. I’m totally not going to show Bob the janitor my boobs. Come on, Lenny. Give me a little credit.” She said and rolled her eyes at me.
“What if he threatens to turn you in?”
“Then I’ll turn him in for stealing keys from the security office to get a female employee to show him her boobs. Duh, Lenny. That’s totally harassment. If he takes me down, I’m dragging him with me.” She says and pushes the swinging door that led into the body storage room open.
Brewing Trouble: A Witchy Mystery (Tree's Hollow Witches Book 2) Page 7
