by Sara Robbins
Still her thoughts went first to the fact that Wyatt was here as soon as her cell alarm woke her. It was six am and she dressed quickly taking a moment to apply some light make up.
Then she hurried downstairs. She got coffee going and then began preparations for breakfast.
She had decided on a simple frittata. She would add fresh herbs and chopped spinach to the grated potatoes in the cast iron skillet. She cooked these ingredients until just tender then turned off the burner. Next, she added the milk and egg mixture. She topped the pan generously with cheddar cheese. She would pop the skillet under the broiler for just a few minutes to set everything right before serving. She then raided the refrigerator and fruit bowl to create a lovely fresh fruit salad. She whisked together a light poppy seed dressing. She was placing this bowl back into the refrigerator to chill when she felt strong arms wrap around her waist.
She turned into Wyatt’s arms and smiled warmly up at him.
He kissed her lightly on the lips and then murmured close to her ear, “Hmmmm what a fantasy, seeing this beautiful woman, my woman in the kitchen cooking breakfast for me.”
She swatted at his chest and said, “It’s for everyone buddy, don’t get too excited.”
His eyes glinted and he growled, “Oh, but I am.”
Flustered she busied herself gathering plates and utensils to carry into the dining room.
Just as she finished setting the long table, he came in carrying two steaming mugs of coffee. She gratefully accepted the mug he held out and they settled themselves at the small table near the huge window. For a moment they looked out at the new day fully arrived in the light blue sky.
He told her that the medical examiner had called very early this morning. He set his mug down and began telling her about the preliminary results of the autopsy on Heather Mason. Her death was suspicious. It was difficult to determine anything for sure on a body that had tumbled hundreds of feet down a rocky hillside. The medical examiner had made the determination based on what appeared to be defensive wounds and two prominent bruises on the victims back. When someone violently pushes a victim to their death these were the kinds of injuries seen on autopsy. She felt these injuries indicated that Heather had grabbed frantically at someone or something trying to avoid going over the edge.
Lacey drew in a sharp breath; she had convinced herself that Heather’s death was a suicide over the guilt of killing her husband. She thought that would put the completely horrible ordeal to rest. This information however, created many more questions. Who else could be involved? Sensing there was more she looked expectantly at Wyatt.
He continued in a quiet voice, “There were two DNA samples found under Heather’s fingernails. One was a match to Adam Mason and the other is unknown. There were also a few hairs and fibers that are still being analyzed.”
He took her hand in his, “I’m telling you this Lacey because it means you and everyone else in this scenario is not out of danger. I need you to be careful.”
His hand tightened on hers as fear was visible on her features.
She let herself show her vulnerability for just a moment and then her features tightened and she pulled her hand out of his, straightened her shoulders, and said firmly, “I’m not afraid. I want to help you solve this. Tell me what I can do.”
He spoke more firmly, “No. You need to stay out of this and be safe.”
She quickly replied, “Well it’s too late for that, I’m right in the middle of this.”
He sighed, she was right; the best thing they could do was to solve these crimes and remove whoever was responsible from the scene. They were both quiet as they thought about the newest developments.
They looked up as Miranda and John Braverman entered the dining room.
Lacey jumped up to go finish breakfast.
When she came back in with piping hot wedges of frittata arranged, attractively on three plates with the bright colorful fruit salad side dish she felt significant tension in the room.
Apparently, Wyatt had been asking the Braverman’s if they could possibly stay for a day or two more in case there were more questions for the couple. John Braverman was angry and his wife’s beautiful blonde countenance was marred with irritation.
Wyatt spoke in a low conciliatory tone but John pushed back his chair and said, “You can’t keep us here! We are leaving tomorrow morning and there is nothing you can do about it.”
He took Miranda by the hand and they abruptly left the room.
Joan and Suzy breezed in a moment later, unaware of the previous conversation.
“I’m starving! What smells so good?” asked Suzy.
They saw the two plates on the table and assuming they were for them sat down and began hungrily attacking the food.
Lacey hurried back into the kitchen to get coffee and juice for her guests.
Wyatt followed her in and said, “Sorry about that.”
She studied his serious face and reminded him that it was true they could not make anyone stay here at the Inn.
She wanted to ask if he really thought the couple had anything to do with the murders but knew he probably wouldn’t be able to answer that.
For that matter, Joan and Suzy were supposed to check out this morning. Would he want to keep them here too? She could tell by his evasive expression when she asked that he did indeed want to keep everyone in place. Unless he was willing to arrest them all, they would most likely be leaving.
In addition, until their departure she was supposed to be providing a wonderful experience. Ha- that would only be true if this was one of those haunted Halloween events! Hmmm… she thought that was a good idea, she would file that away as an option for a future theme weekend.
She was sure that once the horror of a real life murder scenario passed she would be ready for a pretend murder mystery gathering.
Chapter 19
The morning passed uneventfully. Charlotte had arrived and Wyatt had left for work right after breakfast.
Lacey tended to the usual daily housekeeping duties.
Charlotte caught up the laundry. They both worked on a thank you packet for their first guests. They added a free weekend stay at the Inn along with the usual discount coupons for tourist attractions and a nicely framed photo of the guests smiling gaily with the beautiful sunset behind them in the sanctuary. Lacey felt that they had to provide a future murder free stay in an effort to make up for the drama this week had brought.
They split up the list of opening night guests and began calling each to thank them for attending. Lacey tried not to smile when Charlotte made sure Cody Westerfield was on her list.
Lacey spoke at length with both Lucinda Wright and Mandy Grainger. She wanted to offer tours of Lucy’s Llama’s to her guests and she profusely thanked Mandy for the delicious meal she had delivered. Someday when the Inn was on its feet, she would like to hire the woman to provide special occasion meals for her guests.
If the grand opening week was all people had to judge she had a lot of making up to do to ensure positive reviews would entice future Inn guests. Right now word of mouth advertising would probably not be shouting that the Inn was a wonderful place to stay.
Handy Man Dan came in around noon to install the security system. Lacey had never thought she would need such an elaborate system at her quiet, country Inn, but that had sure changed. Dan did his best to flirt equally with both her and Charlotte. He was cute in an endearing puppy kind of way but neither of them could be seriously interested.
Joan and Suzy came downstairs with their backpacks ready to check out. Lacey apologized for the disruption and horror of their stay but they brushed her apology aside.
“Think of the great stories we have to tell when we get back to school,” Suzy said cheerfully.
Joan added that they would definitely be back.
Lacey thought to herself how wonderful it was to be that young and able to put a positive spin on the worst of life, even murder
. She walked them to the front door. As she closed the door on the two of them, they waved happily. Then they got into the shuttle she had ordered for their departure. Suzy called out, “We left you something, check the sanctuary!”
Lacey called Charlotte and they went out to the sanctuary together. They looked around but failed to see anything out of place. They went back inside wondering what the girls had been referring to in the sanctuary.
As they entered the reception hall, they were surprised to see Miranda and John standing at the foot of the stairs with their luggage at their feet.
John spoke brusquely, “We’re sorry, but we are ready to get back to Omaha. That discussion with the cop was the final touch. We don’t blame you, but frankly, the honeymoon is over.”
Lacey did her best to talk them out of leaving, even offering several complimentary tours to tempt them to stay.
“No, thank you. We really want to go home. Will you call a shuttle for us please? And John, let’s at least go do that rock thing the girls told us about before we leave,” said the beautiful Miranda.
Lacey went to the phone and called another shuttle. Her curiosity got the better of her and gesturing to Charlotte, they followed the couple out to the sanctuary.
John looked around and then led Miranda over to the border area just inside the wall. Dan had laid river rock of different shapes and sizes all along the inside wall. He pointed to one that had writing on it.
Lacey hurried over and took the rock from the pile. She turned it to enable everyone to read the words written in bold magic marker.
“We had a killer time~ the date and Joan and Suzy” with a saucy smiley face was inscribed on the smooth oval rock.
She laughed aloud at the unique monument the girls had made to mark their stay.
John asked for a marker as Miranda picked out another smooth oval stone.
Charlotte ran inside and came back with a black marker.
After huddling together for a moment, Miranda scrawled a message on the rock and handed it to Lacey.
“True love never dies” and a heart containing their initials on the grey stone was the message the newlyweds chose.
She placed it carefully into the pile of stones that rimmed the wall.
As they went back inside they heard the beep beep of the horn of the shuttle vehicle waiting in the driveway. They shook hands and then they were off.
Charlotte and Lacey stood at the doorway.
Dan joined them and said, “Hey, that rock thing was cool, wasn’t it?”
Charlotte and Lacey laughed together.
Yes, thought Lacey, if they had gained nothing else during this disastrous week then at least they had begun a wonderful tradition for the future guests of the Inn.
Charlotte patted her on the back as if to say Amen.
Chapter 20
They spent the rest of the day cleaning the guest rooms and tidying up the common areas of the Inn.
Lacey went to check the Inn’s website and was surprised to see several inquiries about reservation availability.
She called Charlotte over to look at a particularly interesting request. A Wiccan group wanted to book all the guests rooms next month for a four-day Moon Goddess celebration. Charlotte was confused.
Lacey explained to her that Wicca was an earthy witchcraft type religion that was gaining popularity after years in obscurity. She thought they were harmless but hoped that their interest wasn’t only because of the two deaths that had probably been reported in the news.
There was a family reunion requesting dates for July and another honeymoon couple requesting a week in August. All in all these requests seemed a positive omen to Lacey.
As she confirmed each of the requests, she felt more normal than she had for the last three days.
The bell rang on the front deck. Tricia Moore stood there peering into the glass oval in the front door.
Lacey let her in and Tricia looked around brightly.
“So all of your guests have gone?” she asked bluntly.
Lacey wondered how this news could have already spread but such was the nature of small town gossip mills.
Charlotte offered to bring them tea out in the sanctuary.
Lacey led her guest out to a wrought iron table. The stucco walls did a great job of blocking the wind and that together with the mild June temperature made it quite pleasant.
Charlotte brought out tall glasses of iced tea and joined them at the table.
Tricia did not even try to hide her interest in the goings on at the Inn. She asked more questions about the deaths of both Adam and Heather and seemed almost too interested in Wyatt’s opinion about the investigation.
Lacey put her off with vague murmurings that she really didn’t know anything. Lacey supposed she wanted to find out as much as she could to take back to the others. Charlotte turned the conversation to Tricia and her background.
Tricia said she was pretty much a nomad and named some places she had lived, Omaha, Fort Morgan and just a few months ago, Denver. She really enjoyed the welcome of a small community after the coldness of a large city. She had worked as a day care provider in Omaha but found that she really enjoyed her work at the Elkville café.
Her face clouded when asked about husband or children and Charlotte decided to leave that subject alone. Everyone had a right to keep his or her own story and pain private.
Charlotte, more than anyone, could attest to that.
Tricia glanced at her watch, exclaimed that she would be late for the dinner shift at the café, and hurried out to her car.
As Charlotte and Lacey waved from the front deck, a pickup truck pulled into the driveway.
Cody Westerfield jumped down from the cab carrying a large white box. While he only had eyes for Charlotte, Lacey greeted him and asked him to come in and have some tea.
“I can’t stay,” he said. “I just wanted to bring this by as a welcome to the neighborhood gift.”
He looked at both of them for a moment, handed the box to Charlotte and then with a wave headed back to the still running pickup truck.
Charlotte carried the box into the Inn and they opened it to inspect the contents. A card on top explained that the box contained eight of the finest free-range bison sirloin steaks that in the world. The animals were grass fed and raised nearby at the C bar W ranch. Wow, Lacey thought this was interesting.
This would make a very special meal, a meal that surely needed two couples. Lacey, Wyatt and perhaps she could talk Charlotte into sharing the meal with Cody. She would do her best to get out of it but Lacey would emphasize that it wasn’t a date, just a thank you to the neighbor.
She placed the box into the large freezer with a promise to herself to get that dinner arranged soon.
The next visitor was Wyatt.
Lacey hurried to greet him at the door.
“Do you know anything?” she asked.
She had called him when all of her guests had departed. He had not been happy about it.
He followed her into the kitchen. Charlotte sat across from the two of them at the big worktable.
He told them that his department had been in contact with both the Boulder police department and the Omaha homicide division. Her former guests would be welcomed by their local police and given firm instructions that they were not to leave the area.
They were all persons of interest and needed to make themselves available for further questioning.
Wyatt voiced his relief that these potential suspects were no longer staying with her at the Inn.
He frowned as he told them that the Topeka police department had been more than happy to reopen the Adam Mason case. They even had a list of people that Adam had owed a great deal of money. They were checking out the list and really felt that a couple of them were very capable of finishing him off if they discovered that he had not died years ago.
“Are there any answers about Heather?” Lacey asked.
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br /> Wyatt explained that while there was nothing that undeniably pointed to homicide, Heather’s death did have some very suspicious elements. There may not be enough evidence to prove exactly what happened up on the mountain trail. Maybe she had killed the husband she grieved for all these years and then filled with remorse jumped off the mountainside.
Either way he expected to have some final determinations by next week. He stood up intending to get back to work.
Lacey walked him to the door.
They hugged and she had to ask, “Does this mean you won’t be staying here tonight?”
With a devilish glint, he leaned closer, “Well, I was going to catch up on some work and check on my house but I could easily be talked into coming over here.”
Embarrassed Lacey quickly assured him that she would be fine and pushed him towards the door.
As he stepped out on the deck, he grew serious.
“Give me a few days to tie up the investigation and then I will take you on a real date. I promise,” he said.
Lacey smiled and nodded and thought to herself as she went back to the kitchen, they really were moving excessively fast. She guessed murder had that effect. She rather liked the idea of a courtship with someone in whom she was already very interested.
She also liked the idea that maybe none of her guests had been a killer.
Lacey went to her sister and placed her arm around her shoulders, “Hey, Sis, how about a trip into the big city of Colorado Springs for a nice dinner?”
Charlotte gladly accepted but only with the stipulation that margaritas would be included with the meal.
Dan overhead their plans and asked Lacey if she could take a moment to set a pass code for the new alarm system before she left.
She thought quickly and then chose a four-digit number.
She could tell that Dan would like to accompany the two of them into town but she didn’t think it was a good idea to start something that blurred the lines around their relationship. She still needed him to focus on the work she had for him at the Inn.
After Dan proudly gave Lacey and Charlotte a brief tutorial on the workings of the security system they left in Charlotte’s car laughing together happily.
Dan looked after them wistfully and then began packing up his tools to head home for the day. He wondered if he should actually set the alarm.
