Room with a Clue: A Park Hotel Mystery (The Park Hotel Mysteries Book 3)

by Diane Capri

  Room with a Clue

  BY

  DIANE CAPRI

  Presented By:

  AugustBooks

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  Praise for

  New York Times and USA Today

  Bestselling Author

  Diane Capri

  “Full of thrills and tension, but smart and human, too. Kim Otto is a great, great character. I love her.”

  Lee Child, #1 World Wide Bestselling Author of Jack Reacher Thrillers

  “[A] welcome surprise… [W]orks from the first page to ‘The End’.”

  Larry King

  “Swift pacing and ongoing suspense are always present… [L]ikable protagonist who uses her political connections for a good cause…Readers should eagerly anticipate the next [book].”

  Top Pick, Romantic Times

  “…offers tense legal drama with courtroom overtones, twisty plot, and loads of Florida atmosphere. Recommended.”

  Library Journal

  “[A] fast-paced legal thriller…energetic prose…an appealing heroine…clever and capable supporting cast…[that will] keep readers waiting for the next [book].”

  Publishers Weekly

  “Expertise shines on every page.”

  Margaret Maron

  Edgar, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Award-Winning MWA Grand Master

  Copyright © 2019 Diane Capri, LLC

  All Rights Reserved

  Published by: AugustBooks

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  Room With A Clue is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  eISBN: 978-1-942633-28-0

  Original cover design by: Dar Albert

  Digital formatting by: Author E.M.S.

  Table of Contents

  Reviews

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  More from Diane Capri

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Dear Miss Charlotte,

  I was very pleased to have received your last letter and elated to hear that you are doing well, despite your arthritis, and that the nieces and nephews aren’t driving you too crazy. I’m sure you have no problem keeping them in line. You kept me in line for many years.

  As you guessed, I haven’t been staying out of trouble. I honestly can’t believe you heard about Mrs. Walker’s death way down there in Texas—and the subsequent investigation and arrest. I suspect you’re keeping tabs on me. But believe me, I’m not out looking for trouble. I just happen to stumble onto it. Frequently.

  As for your questions about Daniel, I’m going to keep mum for now. I’m not too sure how I feel about him. He’s definitely a catch, as you would say, but I’m just taking it slow. I don’t want to get hurt again. I don’t want to jump in with both feet. That didn’t work out for me last time. And no, there really isn’t anything going on between me and the sheriff. I don’t know where you would ever get that idea. He doesn’t even like me. Not even a little bit.

  Yes, I’ve been talking to Mom and Dad. They’re always busy, and the time difference makes communicating with them a challenge, but we’ve managed to talk a couple of times. They still want me to come to Hong Kong. Apparently, they feel since I’m working in a hotel anyway, I might as well be helping out in the family business. I know you think I should go to Hong Kong, too. Family comes first, as you always say, so it’s a tough choice. But I love Ginny’s family, too, and my job here, and everything about living on Frontenac Island. Which is exactly what I’ve told them, too. Maybe someday I’ll move to Hong Kong—though, of course I’d go if they really needed me to be there.

  Frontenac Island life is still great. I will never get tired of the view and the people. The job is…well, it’s still a work in progress. I’m still not sure if Samuel Park is going to keep me on. Asking him for a straight answer is like pulling teeth from a tiger. But, you know me, I won’t give up until I get the answer I want to hear.

  So, that’s it for now. I miss you. I hope I can fly down there and see you soon. Or maybe you can fly up here. I know you would love it.

  All my love,

  Andi

  Chapter 2

  I read the letter over once more, slid it into the envelope, and rummaged around in my purse until I found the book of forever stamps with the flowers on them. Miss Charlotte loved flowers. She was quite a gardener. So I pulled the letter out of the envelope again and added a quick post script.

  P.S. The Frontenac Island Flower Festival is this week, and I’m really excited about it. The hotel is involved in a lot of the festivities. Some of the events are even held on the hotel grounds. I’ll take lots of photos and send them to you if they turn out okay. And I’ll even include a picture of Daniel!

  I glanced at the clock and realized I was running late. I had a dozen tasks to do for the Flower Festival, and I certainly didn’t want to give Samuel any more reasons to be annoyed with me. He found plenty of shortcomings as it was. Time to get moving. I stuffed the letter in the envelope, placed a stamp on it, and dashed out the door of my suite.

  Of course, if I’d known this day was going to unfold with me finding another dead body,
I’d have stayed in my suite for sure.

  The Flower Festival was the biggest event of the year on Frontenac Island. For ten days, the islanders and mainlanders came together to sell products, display wares, and promote their individual businesses or organizations. This was my first festival. Despite all the frenetic preparation and long hours to make it come together smoothly, I was excited to participate. It was the sense of community that I loved, and something I missed about my days at the law firm. We would frequently have events that brought everyone together in a more relaxed atmosphere. From company picnics to big Christmas parties. And Jeremy had ruined that for me, too. Jerk.

  As I strolled through the flower gardens of the Park Hotel to get to the pavilion where the tents were set up, I thought about the cryptic message Jeremy Rucker, thieving swine and my old boss, had written on the card accompanying the beautiful bouquet he’d sent to my suite weeks ago.

  See you soon.

  An innocuous statement, to be sure, but it left me with a sense of discomfort. In fact, I’d been filled with dread ever since receiving the flowers. Why was he sending me flowers? It made no sense. The act itself felt almost threatening in a way, especially because I suspected he’d been calling me on the phone, too. Did he think I had somehow been responsible for his arrest? That I had known about his embezzlement and turned him in?

  If that’s what he thought, too bad he was wrong. Because if I had known what he was doing, I absolutely would’ve turned him in. Miss Charlotte would have been horrified otherwise, and so would I.

  But the fact was, I hadn’t known about his criminal activities. I’d been blindsided by the news, which had resulted in my suspension from the firm while the matter was investigated. Under a cloud of suspicion, I was unable to find another job in California. Thankfully, my good friend and college roommate, Ginny Park, had come to my rescue.

  Months later, and I was still in limbo, working as a concierge at the Park Hotel on Frontenac Island in Michigan and hoping to get back to practicing law one day. Even though I was coming to love my new job and all the friends I’d made here, too.

  On my way to the festival area, Lois Park, proprietor of the hotel and my boss, cut me off with her arms full of flowers—daffodils to be exact. “Take these.”

  She shoved them at me. I had to think fast and embrace them before they all ended up on the ground.

  “June needs these at her booth.”

  Before I could ask her for more information, she marched off. Perhaps to grab more flowers.

  I made my way to the pavilion, only once nearly bumping into another person and knocking her over, and found where June had been set up. It was one of the showcase booths with a big banner advertising her store—June’s Blooms. We expected she’d get a lot of traffic since this was the Flower Festival. Every year, June won the contest for the best floral arrangement. I sure hoped she would win it again. She was one of those people that just brightened up a room. She was also the genius behind all of the amazing bouquets and arrangements at the Park Hotel. If June won, we all won. That’s how we looked at it, anyway.

  She grinned when she saw me coming, daffodils nearly spilling out of my arms.

  “Andi! Thank you for bringing these. I made the last-minute decision to change my arrangement to lilies and daffodils instead of lilies and roses.”

  I laid the flowers down on her main table. “Why the change?”

  She leaned over the table, her red hair getting tangled in the leaves, to whisper secretively into my ear. “Because I heard my competition was using roses, and I didn’t want to do the same thing.”

  “Gotcha.”

  I glanced over at June’s competitor’s booth and the woman who owned it. Brittany Gervais of Gervais Flower Boutique. I’d met her a couple months back when I had to deliver a business contract to her on the mainland on behalf of the Park Hotel. She seemed like a nice enough woman, though she paid more attention to my companion, Frontenac City Mayor Daniel Evans, than she did to me. I didn’t blame her, though. Daniel was wonderful to look at and flirt with, even if she was a couple of decades too old for him.

  The word around the island, though, was that Brittany wasn’t really a very nice person. Someone even told me that she’d kicked a puppy once. I figured the gossip was no more than rumors spread by those on the island who wanted June to win the Flower Festival’s grand prize again this year. Sour grapes, I hoped, because kicking puppies was definitely not okay with me.

  “Hey, June,” Brittany called across the pavilion. “Nice daffodils.”

  June looked over at her with a strained smile plastered on her pale, freckled face.

  “Good choice,” Brittany said. “Your roses were looking a bit wilted.”

  “Thank you.” June replied with a small wave of her hot-pink-gloved hand. When Brittany turned away to talk to someone who had approached her table, June’s smile dropped instantly.

  She glanced at me. “I despise that woman.” Then she was hustling behind her table, preparing to get things ready to open the booth for customers.

  I turned to go and came face-to-face with a killer smile and dimples. My return grin was instant. “Hey there, you.”

  “Hey, yourself.” Daniel was dressed in a lime-green t-shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals. Even in his casualwear, he could’ve just walked off the pages of a style magazine.

  “You’re looking pretty relaxed,” I said.

  “These are my football clothes.” I must’ve given him a confused frown, because he explained, “You don’t know about the annual touch football game? We have it every year to kick off the Flower Festival. Islanders against mainlanders.”

  “Oh, fun.”

  “I know you’re an islander, but you’re going to cheer for me, right?”

  “Maybe. What’s in it for me?” I teased.

  His eyebrows shot up. “Dinner later tonight?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Chapter 3

  An hour later, I was standing on the sidelines with a hundred other people waiting for the big football match to begin. Each team had six players. The islander team was composed of people I knew. Eric Park was the CFO of the Park Hotel and brother of my best friend Ginny. Lane ran the Park Hotel’s front desk and was a sort of rival for my job. Nancy was a member of the hotel’s top-notch cleaning staff. Then there was Daisy, who owned the pet hotel and took care of my two cats, Scout and Jem. She loved them almost as much as I did, for which I was grateful. Karl was the eccentric leader of the Frontenac Island Historical Society. Rounding out the team was the sheriff, Luke Jackson.

  The only player I knew on the mainlander team was Daniel, who was the mayor of the town across the straits from Frontenac Island.

  Ginny came up and handed me a drink in a red plastic cup. She wriggled her eyebrows at me. “Wow, Daniel’s looking mighty fine out there.”

  I took a sip of the beer and tried not to watch Daniel as he did some stretches on the makeshift football field. Who was I kidding? I totally stared right at him. His head came up, and he smiled and gave me a little wave.

  “Lord have mercy,” said a woman’s voice.

  I turned around to see a group of women behind Ginny and me. I recognized a couple of them from businesses in town. They were all looking at something on the other side of the field.

  Shannon from Blossom Boutique was fanning her face with her hand. “I could wash my clothes on those abs.”

  My gaze drifted over and landed firmly on Sheriff Jackson. He’d stripped off his buttoned-up shirt he always wore and was about to put on a red t-shirt, like the shirts the rest of the islander team was wearing. My mouth nearly fell open. The man was built. I had no idea those rippling muscles were under the loose shirts he always wore.

  After he pulled on the t-shirt, his gaze met mine. I jolted and spilled beer all over my shoes. When I looked back, there was a smirk on his face. It was slightly cocky, completely male, and kind of made my face flush. Surprised by my reaction, I pulled my attention ba
ck to Daniel and the game that had just started.

  At first, the match was light and fun. Both teams easily scored touchdowns. Then the second half seemed to get a little more serious. It started when Nancy tackled one of their players—a male who was quite a bit bigger than she was. He didn’t seem to appreciate that too much and gave her some trash talk, which was a huge mistake.

  Nancy was not one to back down from anything, and she got right up in his face. Both the sheriff and Daniel, since they were the team captains, ran over to break it up. Then the two of them had words.

  Ginny elbowed me in the side. “Looks like they’re fighting over you.”

  I made a face. “Don’t be stupid.”

  “Hey, I’m just saying what I see.” She grinned.

  “I’m going to go get another drink.” I left the field and headed back to the pavilion tents and the drink cart.

  I shook my head, annoyed that everyone seemed to want to push the sheriff on me. There was absolutely nothing between us but a very shaky friendship. I wasn’t even sure if that much was true. It was totally unclear to me whether Sheriff Jackson considered me a friend or not. Since I arrived on the island, we’d definitely seen a lot of each other. In a purely professional context, though. I’d helped him with a few cases, but that was all. He let it be known that he didn’t appreciate my help much, either.