“Got a town up ahead,” the man said to her suddenly. “Twilight Ridge. Nice enough place. Good folks. Got a number of places that sell those antiques you’re looking for, too.”
“Sounds nice.” Katie figured it was a place to start, anyway. Riley could take care of himself until she found a phone to call him. He was a big boy. “How far down the road is it?”
“Not far.” The gas pump clicked off. The tank was full. “You’ll see a road sign if you’re looking for it. Probably got everything you need there.”
Katie thanked him and handed him her debit card to cover the cost of the gas. He took it, looking at it a little funny as he scratched his head. Then he trundled back to the store and through the door.
Katie checked her phone again. Still no service.
After a long moment she looked over at the store. Where was this guy? She went over and opened the creaky screen door, poking her head inside.
He wasn’t here. On the counter just inside the door was her card, just lying there. He must have already run it, she supposed. If he hadn’t, she wasn’t going to stand here waiting for him forever. “Hello?” she called out.
No one answered. She thought about it, and then swiped her card up off the counter. She couldn’t just stand here all day trying to figure out where the guy had gone.
She would have left a note if there had been a pen and a pad of paper here, but there wasn’t. In fact, there wasn’t much of anything in here. The shelves seemed oddly empty. The lights weren’t even on, now that she was looking.
Weird.
Stepping outside again she closed the door and looked over the front of the store. The sign in the door was turned to say “closed.”
Now that was odd.
Oh well. She had the gas she needed and the guy must have run her card before he disappeared to wherever he’d gone. Time for her to get back on the road.
This time the radio was playing Sia, and on the next station was that song by Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber. Katie liked that one well enough to leave it there while she kept her eyes out for the road sign the guy had promised her for that town.
She nearly missed it when it came. It was hand painted on brown wood, swinging in the breeze on its chains, and it more or less blended into the trees all around. She stopped the car with a squeal of tires, glad she was the only one on the road, and backed up until she was at the intersection. Then she read the sign again.
Twilight Ridge.
An arrow pointed down the road, and under that was more writing. The town slogan, apparently.
“Come to Visit, Stay Forever.”
Kind of a pretentious motto for a place in the middle of nowhere in a state the size of a postage stamp, but the more she thought about it the more Katie liked the way that sounded. Her kind of place.
She turned down the narrow stretch of two-lane road. It was ten minutes before she saw anything other than more trees, and several squirrels that seemed to enjoy dashing out in front of her car in crazy zig-zags.
The trees finally opened up, and there was a town right where the road became Main Street. There were tiny, picturesque houses nestled side by side, and a church with a steeple, and she was pretty sure that was a working grist mill over on the river, just visible through the tangled branches of the forest all around them.
Some of the houses looked really old. Possibly even a couple of centuries, based on the construction and design. She had an eye for that sort of thing because of the work she did, and it was easy to see that with a little work, some of these places could be worth mid to high six figures. Even in New Hampshire.
“Calm down, Katie,” she told herself. “You’re not here to work. You’re here to relax. Let’s just see what Twilight Ridge has to offer. Not much, by the looks of it.”
She stopped at the four-way stop sign in the middle of Main Street. There was a sign on the corner, pointing to the right. “Harper Inn. Accommodations.”
This place might be just what she needed after all. A room for the night in a quaint New England town, and a hot bath, and a phone to talk to her boyfriend on, all night long. Nice. Now if there was a restaurant in this town it would be perfect.
She took the turn toward the Inn, and there was a little blue building with white trim and a sign that read “Good Eats Diner.”
That wasn’t so much quaint as it was tacky, but as long as they had a good cheeseburger she didn’t care what they wanted to call themselves.
Parking her rental car at the curb, Katie got out with a smile on her face. Maybe this little town had more to offer than she thought.
Chapter 3
Inside the diner, soft music played from a speaker in the corner of the ceiling. The tables were small, and everything was cramped, but she found exactly what she was looking for on the menu. A mushroom cheeseburger. The waitress took her order and brought her drink, and promised the food would be out in “just a sec.”
When it came, it looked perfect on the plate, but the cheeseburger was only okay. Nothing to write home about, to be sure, and the fries were cold. Katie hoped the quality of the meal didn’t set the tone for the rest of the night. But for a glorious half hour, she forgot she was anybody other than just a tourist in a foreign land.
It didn’t stop her from checking her cellphone every ten minutes. Still no service.
The waitress came back over a few times while she ate, maybe sensing that Katie wasn’t loving her meal and worried that it would be reflected in her tip.
Katie was just draining the last swallow out of her glass of pop when the waitress came the third time. This time Katie read the name on her tag. Emily.
“Get you a refill, hon?” Emily asked her.
“Yes, please,” Katie said. At least she wouldn’t go thirsty. “Some ketchup too, when you have a moment.”
“Will do.” With a smile and a flip of her ponytail over her shoulder, Emily picked up Katie’s glass from the table. “You passing through or are you staying with us for a while?”
“I thought I might stay for a night.” Katie didn’t mind a little small talk, but she felt weird talking to a stranger this far from home. “Um. My cellphone isn’t working, and it was getting late anyway. It seemed like a good time to find a bed for the night.”
Emily’s eyes got a little wider. “Oh, you’re planning on staying...at the Harper Inn.”
That little hesitation seemed odd, Katie thought. “Um. Yes, I was. Why, is there something wrong with the place? Do they overcharge, or something? No mints on the pillow?”
“What? Oh, no.” Emily laughed. It sounded fake. “Lots of people come through here and stay at the Harper Inn every year. Lots of people. Yes, they do. Lots and lots.”
Katie was well aware of how small towns worked. She’d grown up in one, after all, and when she got right down to it Twilight Ridge really wasn’t all that different from her own hometown. It was smaller, sure, but that wouldn’t change one fundamental truth. When you grew up in a fishbowl, it warped your view of the world. You thought everything important was right here with you, and anything from the other side of the glass was suspicious. Maybe even dangerous.
So she smiled at Emily and tried not to take offence at the woman’s sudden change in attitude. She was a stranger, and so she was suspicious.
“I won’t be in town for long,” she promised. “Like I said. I’m just passing through. I really just want a place I can sleep and make a phone call. You guys have really bad reception up here.”
Emily laughed that laugh again. “We sure do. Most of us don’t even own cellphones. You know on those service maps the cellphone companies have, where there’s all this red showing great coverage over most of the country and then just two or three spots where there’s nothing? Well, we’re one of those blank spots.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll have a phone for me to use at the Inn. Is it a nice place?”
Emily opened her mouth to say something, but then she closed it again. After clearing her throat, she
held Katie’s empty glass up in her hands as if she’d only just remembered she was still holding onto it.
“I’ll get you that refill.”
She turned away, and then stopped, and looked back over her shoulder. In a low voice that wouldn’t carry to the rest of the room, she whispered, “The Harper Inn is a real nice place to stay. Enjoy your meal.”
Katie watched her go around behind the counter to where the pop machine was waiting. People in small towns were odd, she thought to herself. That was why she had moved to the big city in the first place. It was only when she grew up that she could appreciate the life she’d had back in her home town.
A tall, muscular man stepped out of the kitchen. He went over to where Emily was filling Katie’s glass and caught the waitress by the wrist. Katie couldn’t hear what they said to each other, but the look on the man’s face was pretty serious, and it was very obvious that he was not looking at Katie on purpose.
When they were done speaking he let Emily’s wrist go. Then he picked up the refilled glass and brought it over to Katie himself. He set it down hard on the table in front of her.
“Refill,” he announced, as if Katie wouldn’t know what it was otherwise. “Somebody will be by with your bill.”
He didn’t wait for her to say thank you. He didn’t ask if she wanted anything else. He was as good as saying he wanted her to leave, without ever saying it.
Behind the counter, Emily watched Katie for a moment before stepping through the swinging door to the kitchen. Katie didn’t see her again for the rest of the time she was in the diner.
Yes, Katie thought to herself. Life in a small town. It would drive you completely around the bend if you let it.
She finished most of what was on her plate and laid down a twenty dollar bill without waiting for the bill. That would more than cover the price of what she had ordered and give Emily a decent tip as well. Even if she was only going to be in Twilight Ridge for one night, she didn’t need the locals to be mad at her.
Best to make nice with people while she had the chance. She just never knew what tomorrow might bring.
Chapter 4
At the other end of the street was the Harper Inn. It was a three-story building that had maybe seen better days. The paint on the fluted columns out front was peeling. The roofing tiles were starting to come loose in spots. The stonework in the steps leading up to the porch needed to be reset. Little things like that. Stuff that every building eventually had to deal with.
It was rundown, sure, but Katie could recognize the solid construction under the façade. The place had good bones. It was quaint and situated on a lovely acre of property lined with flowering shrubs and pines. It was worthy of a postcard.
Even though she kept telling herself that she was on vacation, she couldn’t help but recognize the potential of a place like this in a town whose major industry was obviously tourism. She wasn’t sure what would draw people to the town of Twilight Ridge, but there had to be something of interest here. Otherwise, the whole place would have dried up and blown away years ago.
There were two other cars in the small parking area. Katie debated getting her suitcases out now, but she figured it would be smarter to see if they had a room available first. This wasn’t the Holiday Inn Express. How big could a place like this really be?
The floorboards creaked as she went inside. The front room had a counter set up at the far end, a framed square of embroidery hanging on the wall behind it, stitched with the words “Welcome Friends.” The walls were white with blue trim, and it just all looked so charming and sweet that Katie could feel her blood sugar rising just looking at it all. She had to admit, however, that it was appealing.
After a moment, when no one came out to greet her, she slapped her hand against the metal bell on the counter and waited.
“Coming,” she heard someone calling from a room off to the right. “Be there in a jiffy!”
An older woman came through the doorway a few seconds later. She had gray, curly hair and a kindly smile that crinkled the skin up at the corners of her eyes. She was wiping her hands on an apron, and now Katie could smell something delicious coming from just beyond that doorway. That must be the kitchen.
“Greetings,” the woman said to her. “I’m Maggie Harper, owner and proprietor of this fine old Inn. Fancy a stay with us, do you?”
“I would, actually. I was just passing through. I almost missed the sign for your town.”
Maggie laughed as she reached under the counter to bring up a sign-in book. An honest-to-God register. She set it down, opened to the most recent page of signatures, and handed Katie a pen.
Her smile slipped away as she did.
Katie wondered what had brought about the sudden change in the woman’s demeanor. She signed her name on the next line, and got out her license and credit card, and handed them both over.
Maggie was frowning at her now.
“Is something wrong?” Katie asked her. If this was the kind of reception she was going to get here then maybe she would just keep driving.
“Oh. Oh, dear I’m sorry.” Maggie looked completely flustered even as she brought her smile out for Katie again. “It’s just that you look so much like someone else. It’s simply uncanny, the resemblance.”
“Oh, is that all? I must have one of those faces.”
“It’s more than that.” Maggie seemed at a loss over how to explain herself. Finally, she held up a finger in the air as an idea occurred to her. “Hold on. Let me show you.”
Bending down behind the counter again, she came up with a different book this time. It was heavier than the register, and its cover was worn and old. When she opened it Katie saw that it was a book of photographs. The old kind of photographs that used to be taken with film. Maggie flipped page after page and as she did, the pictures got older and older. It wasn’t long before the photos were all black and white, yellowed with age, held in place with those little black corner tabs that Katie remembered her grandmother using years and years ago.
At a page near the far back of the book, Maggie stopped. She turned the page to face Katie.
“See?” she said. “Right here.”
Katie looked closer. The photo was of a group of women, four of them, all wearing long black dresses of a style that hadn’t been in vogue since the early 1800s. With somber expressions, they all faced the camera.
They were standing in a cemetery, to either side of a gravestone.
Maggie was pointing to one of the women in particular. She was average height, and her long black hair was done up in a bun, and her eyes...
Katie gasped. The woman looked exactly like her. Not sort of like her, not just a passing resemblance, but exactly like her.
“See what I mean?” Maggie said with a little chuckle. “I didn’t mean to stare but it’s just such an odd coincidence, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” Katie agreed, not knowing what else to say. “It’s really strange.”
Unless you lived in her world, Katie thought to herself. Then you just started to expect weird stuff like this.
What was she in for this time?
As if Maggie had heard the unspoken question, she leaned her elbows on the registration desk and tapped the photo on the page. “These women are the wives of the town’s founding fathers. The original settlers of Twilight Ridge. They were in some sort of social club, if I remember correctly. It’s ancient history and I’m afraid I’m not all that up on the story. Oh. We have a really nice library here in town. You could always ask there for books on the town history, I suppose.”
“Well, I didn’t really come here for the history...”
She was about to explain how she’d only come out to New England to do some antique shopping, and find items she could use to dress the houses she put on the market for sale, but then the gravestone in the picture caught her eye.
Florence Anderson was the name on the grave. It didn’t mean anything to Katie, but if these were the wives of the found
ing fathers, then they would have been women who had some major social standing. Whose grave would have gathered them all together like that?
“Who’s this?” Katie asked, pointing to the headstone.
“Hmm? Oh, Florence was one of the other founding wives. She died, um, unexpectedly.”
Katie heard the hesitation in Maggie’s voice, and she knew there was some colorful local story behind it. The photograph, with its blurry black and white image, held her in a sort of trance. A woman from long ago with the same exact face. A secret group of powerful women. A grave.
No, Katie said to herself. She was not going to get drawn into another ghost story. Not this time.
Let the dead fend for themselves. She was on vacation.
“Well, that’s all very interesting,” she told Maggie, pushing the book back across the counter. “I think I’ll go up to my room now. Oh, are there phones in the rooms?”
Maggie seemed almost disappointed that Katie didn’t want to talk about the picture anymore, but she picked it up and put it away without another word about it. “Well, yes, there’s a phone in each of our four rooms but I do charge extra for out of state calls.”
“That’s fine. I understand.” She could put a couple of calls to Riley on her credit card. It would be worth it to have his smooth voice lull her to sleep. Maybe, they could even get in some sexy flirting that would carry over into her dreams.
Maggie handed her a key attached to a plastic diamond. “Number three is yours, just up the stairs and to the end of the hall. My room is at the other end. Feel free to go anywhere in the place you like but I do ask that you stay out of the kitchen, and out of the basement, for insurance purposes. Breakfast is at nine, lunch is at one, and you’re on your own for dinner. There’s a nice restaurant in town.”
“I had lunch there, actually.” She didn’t bother to say that the food was only so-so. “That all sounds great, Maggie. Thank you. I think I’ll take a walk around town. Anything I should see?”
Sight Unseen Complete Series Box Set Page 37
