I had to smile at him. He was a nice man. “I’m Allie Garrett. I’m Beatrice’s niece, and I inherited the inn. I came to ask you some questions about her.”
He peered up at me with his puppy-dog eyes. “Beatrice?”
“Yes. I understand you two were friendly back in the day.”
He hung his head. “Friendly doesn’t cover it.”
“I understand she left you the amethyst broach you gave her.”
His head shot up. “You know about that?”
“It’s in her will. You two must have been pretty serious about each other. What happened?”
He shrugged and looked away. “I only knew Beatrice a short time. We had a fight, and that was the end of it.”
“When did you get with Glenda?”
He pinched his lips together. “About a year afterward. It was the worst thing I could have done. It spoiled everything. None of us could get along after that. It ruined their friendship, and it ruined any possibility I could have had of getting back with Beatrice.”
I gasped. “Did you want to get back with Beatrice?”
“Of course. I never stopped wanting to patch it up with her. Once I started seeing Glenda, though, that possibility went right out the window. Beatrice wouldn’t have anything to do with either of us. That’s when she tried to get the greenhouse back.”
I would have liked to ask more, but at that moment, Deputy Rufus Leonard strutted into the office. He rolled from one leg to the other like an old-time cowboy bellying into a saloon. He jerked his chin at me and cracked a grin. “How about I go help you get some gas for your car? I can drive you out to the Interstate in my squad car, show you my shotgun—would you like that?”
I rolled my eyes to heaven. “Thanks for the offer, but I didn’t run out of gas, and even if I did, I think I could handle it on my own without any help from you. Thanks for talking to me about Beatrice, Sheriff. I better get going.”
He started to stand up. “Anytime. I’m always happy to talk about Beatrice, just as long as Glenda’s not around.”
I headed for the door, and he collapsed back into his chair. I hopped in my car and hit the road, but I couldn’t help turning this case over in my mind. All these puzzle pieces didn’t fit into my idea of a death from natural causes. Beatrice definitely had some people in her life who could have wished her ill.
I wasn’t getting any closer to finding out if one of them actually killed her, though. My conversations with Glenda and the sheriff turned up exactly nothing. So, Beatrice and the sheriff had a falling out, he started dating her best friend, and that turned them all against each other. That didn’t stack up to murder.
I worked myself up to a serious depression by the time I got back to the inn. I couldn’t face running my own business. This couldn’t go on. I had to get some clarity, if only for my own sanity.
It was lunchtime, so I headed to my quarters to take a shower and get a bite to eat before I sallied forth to do battle against the hostile forces of the land. I shook out my hair in front of the mirror. Maybe Eliza was right. Maybe I needed a new cut and a fresh style to start me off in my new life on the right foot. I reminded myself to ask her the next time I saw her. Of course, I could have just gone to her shop in town like any normal person, but right at that moment, I was getting in the shower.
I peeled off my clothes and wrapped a towel around myself while I waited for the water to heat up. I set out my shampoo and my conditioner and everything on the sink counter. Steam rose out of the shower booth. I started to relax. I opened the door to step inside when a deadly rattle echoed through the bathroom.
A flash of brown lashed out of the shower at me. I barely had time to jump back out of the way before a huge rattlesnake lunged through the door. It flopped onto the floor where I’d just stood and coiled itself back to strike. I scrambled against the bathroom door and screamed bloody murder.
The snake whipped and coiled. It rattled its tail so loud I couldn’t hear my own voice shrieking for dear life. I pawed the door handle, but I couldn’t get it open. The snake shivered in tense hostility. One more strike, and I would be dead meat.
Just then, the door banged into me from behind. It slackened once, and a gruff male voice called from the other side before I realized someone was trying to get in. The snake shot forward. I jumped straight up, and my legs landed straddling its slithering body. I just barely darted out of the way of its vicious fangs to yank the door open and get out.
I slammed the bathroom door to lock the snake inside and turned around to see Levi Stokes standing there.
Chapter 6
I shivered in my towel. I held it closed over my naked chest with one hand while I brushed my hair out of my eyes with the other. I couldn’t have come up with a more awkward situation if I tried.
Levi cast one glance down at my body. After that, he pretended I wasn’t standing in front of him half naked. “What’s going on in there? What’s all the noise about?”
I gasped for breath. “Rattlesnake… in the shower… almost got me….”
He frowned. “A rattlesnake in your shower? That’s odd.”
I couldn’t stop passing my hand across my flushed forehead. “I’m not going back in there until that thing is gone. We better call Animal Control.”
He waved his hand. “Forget it. I can handle that. Just wait here a second.”
He ducked out of the room and came back with a burlap sack and a long stick. He pushed me out of the way with his arm and eased the door open. He peeked around the opening. Then he darted inside and shut the door behind him.
No sound emanated from within until he came back out with something tied in the sack. He carried it at arm’s length and took it out of the room. A moment later, he returned and dusted off his hands. “There. That’s done.”
I blinked at him. “What did you do with it?”
“I released it behind the garden shed. It’s an innocent animal. They don’t attack unless they feel threatened. It will go back into the mountains, and we’ll never see it again.”
I shuddered. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.”
He took my hand and drew me down next to him on the couch. “You got a good scare. That’s all. You’ll feel better in a little while, and then you can get on with your shower.”
Now I really felt naked. His fingers wound through mine, and a shiver of warmth squirreled up my arm to spread all over my bare skin. He sat so close I could see the fine grain of skin on his cheeks. His whole presence radiated magnetic attraction. My towel rode farther up my thighs. I couldn’t pull it down without exposing my chest.
I shook myself together. “I really appreciate your help, Levi, but I think I can handle it from here. I better get dressed before I catch cold.”
“You should report that snake,” he told me.
“Report it? Why? You said it was an innocent animal. It probably crawled up through the shower drain or something. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
He shook his head. “I still say you should report it, especially after that threatening note you found by your bed. It seems to me like someone is trying to send you a message.”
I studied him closer. “Do you really think so?”
His clear eyes regarded me from inches beyond my face. “Definitely. You should at least tell the sheriff what’s going on. Even if it turns out to be nothing, you shouldn’t take any chances.”
My eyes widened. “You don’t think….”
“I don’t think anything,” he interrupted. “I’m just saying it’s a little odd. Don’t you think so?”
“Those aren’t the only odd things going on around here,” I muttered.
He eased closer on the couch. “You’re upset. That’s natural, but there’s nothing to worry about now. The snake’s gone.”
I blew out a deep breath. I had to get myself together before I started thinking about him, putting his arms around me to comfort me and make me feel safe. I couldn’t start thinking abou
t him like that. He was my employee.
All of a sudden, he jumped off the couch. He slapped his hands against his thighs. “Okay! You’re all right, so I’ll get back to work. You let me know if you need any help with anything.”
He hustled out of the room. The front door slammed and hard bootheels drummed across the front porch. He disappeared into the distance and left me sitting there in my towel.
My head spun in a million directions. Was he attracted to me? Was that why he sat so close to me on the couch and held my hand, or was he just trying to make me feel better after what happened?
It couldn’t mean anything. He heard screaming and he came to see what was going on. He would have done the same thing for anybody. He would have done the same thing for stout old Mrs. Forester. He was a nice guy, and he was probably the only person on the mountain who could handle that snake. I got lucky he heard me and came around when he did. That was all.
No way was I taking a shower after that incident. I put on some clean, comfortable clothes with a big floppy sweater over the top. I didn’t want anybody seeing one scrap of my skin for the rest of the day, thank you very much.
Levi was right about one thing, though. The snake by itself might be a random fluke. The snake plus a threatening note was not. I had to report it. If this series of dangerous events turned into something more sinister, I had to leave a trail documenting every step of the process.
I got my keys and drove into town, back to the sheriff’s office I just left. He wasn’t around. When I walked in the door, Rufus Leonard sat behind Sheriff Mill’s desk. He propped his feet up on the surface and laced his hands behind his head. He cracked a toothy grin when I walked in. “Did you get your car running?”
I leveled him with my most disdainful glare. “I didn’t come about my car. Someone put a rattlesnake in my shower, and they put a threatening note by my bedside last night. I’m here to make out a report.”
He threw his feet on the floor and swung upright. “A report! Sure thing, little lady. Now let me see. I just need to find the paperwork… around here somewhere.”
He started pulling open desk drawers in search of something. I watched with a sinking feeling in my guts. “Don’t you usually file reports?”
“Me? Oh, not usually. Sheriff Mills usually does that, but I can do it. No problem. Just be patient. Why don’t you have a seat?”
“How about I come back when Sheriff Mills is here instead? That will save us all a lot of trouble.”
“No!” he cried. “I’ll do it. I just can’t seem to put my finger on the right form, so if you just sit down in that chair right over there, I’ll type it out right now. That’s right. Sit down and let me get this computer working.”
He took even longer to get the computer turned on and warmed up than he took looking for the paperwork. I didn’t like this one bit. The longer I sat in the office, the more incompetent he acted. No wonder Sheriff Mills never let him do anything. He was a straw man.
At last, he got a blank document open. Then he took over an hour hunting and pecking to type out the report as I dictated every single solitary word of what happened. I should have told him to step aside so I could type it out myself.
When he finally finished, he put out his hand to touch the power button.
“Aren’t you going to save it?” I asked.
He frowned down at the keyboard. “Oh, right. Save it. Now let’s see….”
I’d had enough. I stood up, reached across the keyboard, and pressed Control-S. He beamed up at me. “Great. Now I’ll just get my notebook, and we can drive out to your place and I’ll survey the scene of the crime.”
My heart sank again. “I really think we should wait for Sheriff Mills.”
He chopped his hand through the air. “No, no. I’m every bit as good an investigator as he is—maybe even better. He just never lets me investigate anything.”
“I wonder why.”
He took a notebook out of the desk and shoved it into his shirt pocket. “We have to survey the scene now. We have to dust for fingerprints and check for clues while they’re still fresh.”
I looked around. “Well, where’s your fingerprinting equipment?”
He glanced around, too. “Oh, yeah. Well, I think it’s in the back of the squad car.”
“Don’t you want to check before you drive all the way out to the inn?”
He hitched his thumbs in his belt and swaggered a step toward me. “Now, little lady, you leave the detective work to the professionals. We’ll have this case stitched up in no time. It’s officers like us who keep this country safe for democracy.”
I turned away. “Oh, great.”
He led the way outside and yanked open his squad car door. He bowed and waved his hand toward it with a flourish. “After you, Ma’am.”
I backed away. “I’ll drive my own car, thank you.”
He scowled a moment. Then he recovered and shrugged. “As you wish. See you out there.”
I got into my car, but I didn’t want to go out to the inn with Deputy Leonard. I didn’t want him sticking his nose into my private residence, much less my shower. Explaining something like this to Levi or even Sheriff Mills would be one thing. This guy couldn’t find his socks behind the bedroom door.
I showed him into the owner’s residence at the inn. He poked around—no fingerprint kit in sight. I just started to get annoyed when the bell rang at the front desk. I went out to find two more guys in dark suits and dark sunglasses standing in the hall. One towered over me by a foot. The other couldn’t have been more than five feet tall. They made a pair.
I couldn’t figure out which to look at first. “Can I help you?”
“We’re checking in,” the tall one replied. “We have a reservation.”
I flipped the pages of the ledger. “You’ll have to forgive me. I just took over managing this place, so if you have a reservation, I don’t have any of the information. Would you mind giving it to me again?”
He showed no sign of annoyance. I handed over a clipboard with a paper copy of the check-in sheet, and he filled it out with a black ballpoint pen. He passed it back with the same impassive look on his face.
I took his payment and entered their names in the ledger. The tall one was Hector Englefink and the short one was Roger Englethorpe. Strange names.
I held out the visitor’s brochure. “Here’s a pamphlet on all the activities we offer for your entertainment and convenience. As you can see, there’s plenty to keep you occupied during your stay. If you need any help making the arrangements, just let me or one of the staff know.”
Hector shook his head. “Thank you, but we won’t be needing that. We have business to attend to.”
He took the key, and he and his companion marched up the stairs without so much as a backward glance. I gazed after them. That was strange. They sure didn’t seem like they came up here to enjoy the scenery. Something was definitely going on around here.
This inn must have been a magnet for all the cranks and crazies in the neighborhood. What would a bunch of shady characters want to do in an isolated mountain inn? They certainly didn’t come up here to enjoy a vacation in a small town. The other guests I could understand with all their foibles and eccentricities.
At least I had these two men of mystery logged in my ledger with their names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and emergency contact details. That reminded me. I still hadn’t gotten the names and details of those other two shady characters lurking around. Maybe all four of them came up here to discuss their illegal activities. I had to find out what they were up to.
While I stood there staring up the stairs, Pixie came tiptoeing down the bannister on her tiny furry black feet. Her tail swished one way and then the other. She peered around the front hall in search of something.
All of a sudden, she missed her footing. She skidded several yards down the bannister before she lost traction. She flipped over the curved wood, tangled her legs around the garland draped
over the railing, and fell to the floor. She landed on her back with the garland entwined around her.
I gasped in shock. “Pixie!” My hand shot out, but I didn’t catch her in time. She pulled the whole garland down.
My arms dropped to my sides. “Oh, Pixie! How could you?”
I picked up the garland and looked up the bannister. This would take me awhile to put back up.
Chapter 7
The first thing I noticed when I woke up the next morning was another folded piece of paper on my bedside table. That wasn’t there the night before. At least this time, I was ready for it. I already knew what it would say before I opened it and read the words.
You won’t get away next time. Get out of town while you still can.
I put it down with a heavy sigh. I wouldn’t take any chances on Deputy Leonard again. If he couldn’t find out what was going on here, then I would just have to get to the bottom of this myself.
I checked the bathroom before I took a shower. I couldn’t go another day without one, but when I saw the coast clear, I enjoyed it as much as ever. I would have to watch my step around here from now on.
After I finished my morning work at the front desk, I set out to interview the employees. They were all so hostile when I showed up, the culprit could have been any of them. I drew up a mental list. I put Levi at the bottom. If he wanted to hurt me, he wouldn’t have saved me from the snake.
Then again, maybe he saved me to cover himself. Maybe that was how he got to the bathroom so fast. Maybe he was hanging around so he could pretend to rescue me if the snake didn’t take me down at the first strike.
I shook those thoughts out of my head. I didn’t want to think about him like that, but everyone was a suspect. Any one of them could have a hidden motive to get rid of me. If somebody did something to Beatrice, they wouldn’t stop when it came to doing me in, too.
I was just about to go to the kitchen to question Camille when the front door blew open. Eliza grinned when she saw me. “Howdy! Still putting one foot in front of the other, I see.”
Green with Envy Page 4
