Last Pen Standing

by Vivian Conroy

  Delta felt a rush of relief. “So, Finn can’t have a criminal record, right?”

  “I don’t think so. To ensure the safety of the guests and their possessions, Rosalyn has background checks done on everyone applying at the hotel, even if it’s a cook or a gardener, so I can’t imagine her having taken on Finn without ensuring he didn’t have a criminal record.”

  Delta was relieved, and at the same time, she wondered what such a background check might not have turned up. Maybe a former policeman like Jonas could dig deeper? It wasn’t nice to consider enlisting Jonas to look into her best friend’s brother, but now that Hazel was caught up in a crime she knew nothing about, Delta wanted to do anything to save her.

  Delta’s phone dinged. She picked it up and looked at the screen. She had been added to the Paper Posse group, and a new message popped up from Wild Bunch.

  Mrs. Cassidy was also looking at her phone, so Delta supposed she had gotten the message as well.

  “The grocer says Vera White was in town the other day. She collected an envelope at the post office. She seemed very happy about whatever was in it. She crossed the street in such a rush that she almost got hit by a truck delivering apples. The driver grumbled to the grocer about people not paying any heed when they cross the streets these days. I wonder what was in that envelope?” Countless head-scratching emojis followed the latter remark.

  Delta looked up at Mrs. Cassidy. “Could the contents of that envelope have to do with the secret Vera was keeping?”

  Mrs. Cassidy pursed her lips. “Where is the envelope now? Do the police have it?”

  “I have no idea if they searched her room at the hotel. Wait. That reminds me. Last night Finn asked about a box with valuables belonging to Vera White. The clerk told him it was being stored in the hotel safe. Mr. Taylor Sr. had placed it there himself. Finn seemed tense at the idea that it might have been Ray who handled it. But the clerk said only Mr. Taylor Sr. and Rosalyn had the combination of the safe. Why would Finn be interested in Mrs. White’s box of valuables?”

  She wet her lips. “Of course, if we assume that he had financial trouble in the past, which is why Hazel asked him to come live here…”

  Mrs. Cassidy held her gaze and added, “And if we accept that, despite Hazel’s precautions, he might have such trouble again, then we might also wonder if he…took a little something a rich woman might not immediately miss to pay his most urgent debts, fully intending to return it later on.”

  “Finn, a thief? I don’t want to believe that. It would put him in a hopeless position.” Delta kneaded her hands, wincing as her nails cut into her palms. If the sheriff found out Finn had indeed appropriated something belonging to a hotel guest who was now dead, he would never let him go.

  Mrs. Cassidy said, “I never said it was true, just that it’s an option we should keep open. An unpleasant option, I admit, not just because it implicates Finn in theft, but also because Mrs. White’s discovery of the theft and her threat to report it to the police might make a very good motive for murder.”

  Delta’s stomach felt like it was filled with ice. The photo taken during the party. Mrs. White’s expression, Finn’s pleading looks. The despair in his posture.

  Had she accused him of theft? Had he denied it, then reconsidered and thrown himself on her mercy?

  If Vera White had coldly refused to listen to Finn, to help him save his reputation, his job at the hotel, his relationship with Isabel, would that not have made him angry enough to lash out at her and kill her?

  “I need to go to the Lodge,” Delta said. Her voice was hoarse, and she had to clear her throat to be able to speak normally. “I need to talk to Ray and others there. I need to know more than I do now. Last night at the police station, Ralph White claimed Ray had an affair with Vera, before they came to stay here. That during that period, he also borrowed money from her and never repaid it. Isn’t it possible that when they met again, at the Lodge, she asked for her money? In any case, I feel like Ray knows more about Vera than he let on. He acted to me like he barely knew her.”

  Mrs. Cassidy looked her over. “If he was really involved with this woman earlier, why would he tell you anything about her or about their relationship? We have no idea how it ended, who ended it, if there was tension when they met again here in Tundish. If Ray is involved in her death, he’s not going to help you to clear Finn. In fact, he might do anything to ensure the suspicions against Finn stay alive and well.”

  Chapter Six

  After Mrs. Cassidy had assured Delta she could mind the shop until she returned, Delta drove out to the Lodge. The parking lot looked very different from the night before. Most of the cars were gone, and just a few vehicles stood here and there, probably from staff who came in to work or from guests who were holed up in their rooms, not needing their car.

  Delta thought back on the fishermen she had seen on the lake and wished she could bob about in a boat like that, enjoying the magnificent landscape. But she had to tackle the murder case first. If only she had some confidence that she could handle it.

  As she got out of her car, the invigorating scent of pine filled her nostrils, and she inhaled a few times, steadying her nerves. She took her time crossing the parking lot, picking up a small, colorful stone and feeling the fresh air on her face. She reminded herself of the many times she had tackled something new: the first day at college, her start at the agency, going to a meeting with important clients, or traveling abroad, all on her own. The first night on a business trip to Stockholm, she remembered feeling particularly lost. But the next day she had discovered some cute little shops where they sold handmade products and spent some time sketching the colorful house fronts and talking to the passersby, who halted to admire her work.

  It had all worked out fine.

  This was just another something new. She would help Hazel and Finn, she just needed a little confidence in her own common sense and the help of her newfound allies. Dropping the pebble back in the gravel, she walked up to the entrance with her head held high.

  Stepping into the lobby, she spied Ray Taylor at once, standing near the elevators with Isabel, who wore cream riding pants and gleaming black boots, suggesting she had already been out with one of the Taylor horses. Ray was casually dressed in a buttoned-down blue shirt and light gray pants. He had sunglasses in one hand and a full water bottle in the other, as if he were about to go out.

  They were too far away from the desk to be overheard, and besides, the clerk was on the phone, using one hand to push the phone against his ear while he used the other to type up something. A reservation probably. It was a different man than the one from last night, so Delta needn’t be afraid he would recognize her as having been with Hazel when the dead body had been found in the bar.

  So far so good.

  Delta kept her eyes on Ray and Isabel, who stood close together, both with serious expressions on their faces. Isabel’s eyes were wide and her skin pale as she listened to Ray, whose hand on the water bottle tensed and relaxed, tensed and relaxed as he spoke, as if he were squeezing a stress ball.

  Curious what they were talking about, Delta sneaked up to them, moving slowly so she didn’t attract attention. She heard Ray say, “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure the police won’t ask about it.”

  Delta’s heart skipped a beat. Ask about what? Something Isabel knew? Something about Finn? Had he shared things about his past with Isabel? Was Isabel now worried she might incriminate him further if she told the police what she knew?

  Last night she had seemed to be on Finn’s side. Could Delta use that?

  “Excuse me, where are you going?” The clerk had put down the phone and was eyeing her. Delta flushed.

  Ray had spotted her and came over with a forced smile, waving his sunglasses. Isabel quickly backed away, going up the stairs, but halting a few steps up to look back at Delta and Ray with a worried frown.

&n
bsp; “Welcome, welcome,” Ray said, his gaze roaming her expression as if wanting to see something there, a clue perhaps that she had overheard some of their conversation? Past Delta, he said to the clerk, “It’s all right, Norman. Just a friend from town.”

  The clerk nodded and returned to his duties.

  Ray said, “So what are you doing here? Any news from Hazel?”

  Delta noticed he didn’t ask about Finn.

  “I’m afraid she’s still at the station.”

  Ray lowered his head. “Sorry to hear that. She must be upset.” He squeezed the water bottle again. The plastic creaked under the pressure.

  “Do you know anything that might help her?” Delta pushed. Full frontal attack was something an ex-football player like Ray would understand.

  But Ray shook his head. “If I did, I’d have come to the station last night.”

  Delta studied his expression. “Really?”

  It wasn’t hard to put an edge of disbelief in her voice. After all, if Ralph White was to be believed, Ray had known something very important and hadn’t come to the station with it.

  Ray lifted his head to look at her. His dark eyes scanned her expression, as if trying to gauge what she was thinking. “Yes, really.”

  Delta made a clicking sound with her tongue. She let her gaze wander to the clerk and back, to suggest she wasn’t sure whether she could speak in front of hotel staff.

  Ray seemed to get the message at once as he took her arm. “Come with me. I want to show you the garden.” He glanced at the stairs where Isabel was still hovering and nodded at her. Delta felt almost like it was a signal, saying, “I’ll take care of it.” She was sorry for a moment she hadn’t pounced on Isabel to see if she could get anything from her. Ray, who had led a high-profile life, seemed too experienced to give something away.

  At the back of the hotel, he led her down a gravel path. The sun was shining brightly, and Ray slipped on his sunglasses. “These grounds used to be quite wild. But when Rosalyn took over as manager, she decided it had to be a cultivated garden. She hired some kind of landscape architect, who had a look and then charged us an insane fee for a few changes. An extra path, some plants, and a sun dial.” He scoffed. “Not my idea of running a business.”

  “Do you intend to be part of the hotel’s day-to-day operation now that you’re back?”

  Ray shrugged. “I don’t know yet.” He grinned. “But it sure is funny to see Rosalyn freak out over the idea that I might.”

  “You don’t get along,” Delta concluded.

  “If you have brothers and sisters, you know how it is.” He studied her from aside. “Or don’t you?”

  “I was born fourteen and twelve years after my two older brothers. While they were going to high school, I was learning to walk. Let’s just say we’ve never been very close.”

  Ray nodded. “I see. Well, Rosalyn and me, our relationship is complicated. She used to support me and my dream of playing football professionally. She talked Dad into letting me try, she came to matches, and she was my biggest fan. Or at least I thought so. Then all of a sudden I could do nothing right anymore. She didn’t come to games, she made me look bad in front of Dad…”

  He stared ahead with a frown, as if trying to work out what had caused that change. “And ever since I’m back here, she’s been as cold as ice to me. Dad isn’t much better. After all, my career failed.”

  “Failed?” Delta repeated. “I thought you did very well for yourself.”

  “I never reached the highest level. And they blame me for all the nonsense the tabloids made up. You know, of all the things they write about you, only 10 percent is true.”

  Delta wasn’t about to ask which 10 percent and betray that, in preparation for the workshop at the hotel, she had looked at pictures of Ray online. She had wanted to know what kind of guy he was, just in case she’d run into him again. There had been quite a lot of pictures of him with tall, blond models, accompanied by speculations concerning his relationships. But then again, it was possible Ray had just been talking to someone at a party or having lunch and it had been made into a big thing.

  Ray said, “Oh well, why talk about me when we can also talk about you. What did you do before you came here?”

  “More importantly, what am I going to do now that I am here and my business partner is behind bars?” Delta stopped and looked Ray in the face. “Help me get Hazel out again.”

  “If I knew how, I’d do it.” His tone was sincere, but the sunglasses shaded his eyes, making it impossible to read what he was really thinking.

  “You know more about Vera White than you let on last night. Tell the police what you know.”

  “Why would you think I know more about her? She was a guest here. The police can get the details from our registry. The staff can testify as to where she liked to go and with whom she had dinner at night. I know the Whites shared a table with another couple one night. But I don’t see how that might be relevant.”

  “That’s not what I mean. You knew Mrs. White even before she came here.”

  Ray’s posture tensed. “How would you know that?”

  “You even had an affair with her.” Delta decided to put it bluntly. She didn’t have time to beat around the bush, and besides, Ralph White wouldn’t have lied about this. It had been painful to mention something like that, but he had because he believed it could help the case.

  Ray burst into a short laugh. “Really? Again, I ask, how would you know?”

  Delta didn’t flinch. “Because someone close to Vera told me. And that someone was at the police station last night. So I’m sure the police also know by now. They could be here any moment to question you about it.”

  “That would just be a waste of time. My statement would be like…two sentences? And perfectly irrelevant for the case.” Ray looked tense but more indignant than anything else. “Yes, I did meet the woman once before on a dolphin-spotting trip, but that was all there was to it.”

  “You booked a trip with the White brothers?”

  “Yes. Vera saw me there and…” Ray raked a hand through his hair. “She wanted to have lunch with me. It happens all the time when you’re famous. I don’t mind, so I had lunch with her. That was all there was to it.”

  “Just one lunch?” Delta tilted her head. “And you think the police will buy that? That you agreed to have lunch with a woman who asked you to, just out of the kindness of your heart?”

  “OK, so maybe it was more than one lunch. Dinner, visiting an art gallery. But I never overstepped any boundaries. It wasn’t an affair. I don’t start relationships with married women.”

  Before Delta could protest, Ray said, “Have the tabloids ever exposed an affair I had with a married woman? Or even someone who was in a relationship when our contact started? No. Because it was never like that. I’d never do that to people.” He pulled off his sunglasses and faced her squarely. “My lifestyle may seem shallow to you, but I do have some rules. And you don’t touch what belongs to somebody else.”

  Delta exhaled. “And when Vera and you met up again, here?”

  “Nothing. We said hi, we talked a bit when we ran into each other, here in the garden…”

  “And the notebook?” Delta kept her gaze on his face, trying to read every little change in his features as she confronted him with the conclusion that had played in her mind when Ralph White had mentioned Ray and Vera’s affair to Jonas and her. “The notebook you bought at Wanted. The one with the peacocks, it was for her, right?”

  The twitch at his eye gave him away. “Why would…”

  “She loves notebooks. She gushed over them when she wandered into our workshop last night. And why else would you buy one but for a lady friend?”

  “It might have been for Isabel. She loves peacocks.”

  “I can go ask Isabel if you gave it to her.”

 
Ray held up his hands. “Why the animosity? I just bought a notebook in your shop. I don’t owe you an explanation of whom I intend to give it to.”

  “My best friend is involved in a murder investigation.” Delta said it slowly and insistently to drive it home. “She’s probably desperate and unsure about what her future is now looking like. And you’re playing some kind of game, dodging the truth and acting like it didn’t matter you knew this woman a lot better than you pretend to. Well, it wouldn’t matter if she weren’t dead.”

  Ray swallowed hard. “OK, so I bought Vera a notebook. She loves them, and why not?”

  “She’s a married woman, and you’re giving her presents. No wonder her brother-in-law thinks—”

  “Oh, it was Ralphy who talked.” Ray laughed soft and disparagingly.

  Delta narrowed her eyes. “Ralphy? That sounds like you know him better than the average hotel guest.”

  “Not at all. He’s just a pathetic little man, Vera told me. She didn’t like him at all, but she pretended they were the best of friends.”

  To spite her sister-in-law, Amanda? Delta wondered. She was building an image of Vera in her head: an outgoing personality with an opinion on everything and everyone, not caring much for what people thought of her in return. Refocusing on Ray, she asked, “How about the money?”

  “What money?”

  “The money Vera lent you and you put into some business enterprise. You promised to repay her, but the enterprise tanked and you didn’t keep your word.”

  “What?” Ray jerked back his shoulders, as if wanting to make himself physically broader under these accusations.

  “Ralph White told that to me at the police station right after he had revealed your affair.”

  “That’s a blatant lie,” Ray fumed. “Slander. I never took any money from that woman.”

  “But…” Delta fell silent. According to Ralph, Vera had borrowed money from him, claiming she was in a tight spot because her own money had been taken by Ray and never repaid. But what if she had been lying? Making up a reason for her financial troubles so Ralph would feel sorry for her and give her what she wanted?