by Liz Turner
“I want to ask Wallace Black’s relatives some questions of my own.”
Noah’s eyebrows drew together. “Well, I don’t know…I think Inspector Kelly was handling that today…”
“Then I’ll need a ride to the station.” When Noah said nothing, she added, “You said yourself the snow’s melting more and more. And surely you are prepared with a four-wheel-drive vehicle stowed around here somewhere.”
“Yes, yes, it’s just not advisable…”
“After over seventy years of advising myself, I don’t believe I’ll stop now.” Dana fixed her gaze on his.
“We can have a driver ready in thirty minutes.”
“Thank you, Noah, that’s very kind.”
Shortly, Dana sat at the desk of a reluctant Bob Kelly as they phoned Wallace’s brother. The family had already learned of Wallace’s death and expected the phone call from the police.
“Hello?” came a deep voice.
“Is this Sal Black?” Bob asked.
“Yes…?”
“This is Inspector Bob Kelly. I’m on your brother’s case.”
There was a moment of silence. “Oh,” he said breathily. “Did you… did you catch the guy?”
“Not yet, unfortunately. We were hoping you could help. Did you know the reason that Wallace took a trip up here alone for the holidays?”
“I don’t. And frankly, I didn’t understand it. I had invited him to spend Christmas with me and my family, but he turned me down. Said he had other plans. I tried to convince him to come to my place, but he was pretty stubborn about it. I wish I had pressed him more about why he felt he needed to be alone—but I guess I just assumed he was in the mood for a long vacation. He was like that. Moody.”
“Had Wallace been seeing anyone recently?” Dana piped up.
“Seeing anyone? No, not that I know of. He kind of threw himself into his work after the divorce from Sherry awhile back. Had a couple of inconsequential—some would say inappropriate—flings throughout the past few years. Though, to be honest, I don’t know if he would have told me if he was seeing anyone. We didn’t chat much, except on vacations. Why? Do you think he was there seeing a girlfriend?”
Bob glared at Dana. “Er, I’m sorry Mr. Black. That was a colleague of mine. But no, we don’t. There’s no evidence to suggest he was anything but alone.”
With a baleful glance, Bob began the next phone call, this time to Wallace’s son. Dana settled into her seat comfortably, not the least bit intimidated.
“What is it?” came the hoarse voice on the other end of the line. Just from the sound of his voice, Dana could guess that man hadn’t eaten a good meal in days.
“Is this Marshall Black?” Bob asked.
“Yes,” Marshall said warily. “Can I help you?”
“It’s Inspector Bob Kelly.” There was silence on the other end of the line. “Remember how I sent you an email to schedule this time to talk about your father? I’m the detective on his case.”
“Oh,” Marshall said flatly. “Ask away.”
Bob asked the same questions he had of Sal, mostly about if Marshall knew what his father was doing up here, and if there was any reason someone would want him dead.
“Sure I know why he went up there,” Marshal said, his voice calm, but croaking.
“Oh?”
“He was too embarrassed to show his face around the family gathering.” Marshall scoffed bitterly. “Always did choose himself over… anything else.”
Dana’s ears perked up. “Why would he have been embarrassed?”
“Because we gave him an earful a few Christmas’s ago when he wanted to bring his girlfriend to the family gathering. She was younger than I was! We all knew he was just going through some pathetic personal crisis dating someone who was young enough to be his daughter. But he got all upset, refused to come at all, talking a big talk about how this girl was the one and we’d all see when we were the only ones not invited to their wedding.” Marshall scoffed again. “Then by the next year, they’d broken up, obviously. But dear old Dad refused to talk about it, and then he didn’t show up for the holiday last year. I, for one, wasn’t surprised that he made other plans this year.”
“I see,” Bob said. “But do you know why he chose to come the Wesley Estates Hotel specifically?”
“That I don’t know. Probably just wanted to mope.”
When the call was over, Bob looked around at Christian and Dana and shrugged. “Well, that was a bust. Estranged from the family, so none of them had any clue what he was up to recently.”
But Dana disagreed. To her, the conversations with Wallace’s family had been very revealing indeed. Dana kept her thoughts to herself for the moment and said goodbye to a frustrated Bob Kelly.
Since she was already in town, she decided to take advantage of her time out and do a little exploring. She veered left out the police station and began walking toward Main Street.
The little town was just as she’d imagined. Picturesque brick buildings lined the street which had been closed off to cars but was bustling with pedestrian activity. Twinkling Christmas lights in gold were already lit despite the early hour, twirled around the telephone poles and hung between alleys. The thick snow on the rooftops glistened in the sun. Dana passed a young family with three rosy-cheeked toddlers wobbling in their puffy snowsuits down the street, and a woman being virtually pulled by her large huskies as they eagerly stuck their noses into the snow.
The smell of sugar, vanilla, and ginger wafted through a pair of quaint double doors to Dana’s right. She went in and quickly recognized the place as the same bakery that had been there last time she’d stayed at the Wesley. Yes, indeed. The worn wooden floors were the same. The high countertops, exposed beam ceilings, and the delicate classical music playing through the air were all the same. Dana settled into a cozy booth and ordered a cup of hot cider and the most delicious-looking sugar cookie.
“Ms. Potter?”
Dana looked up to see Christian Foley, the medical examiner, standing beside her booth. “Oh, hello, Christian! You caught me cheating on my diet, you see, don’t you tell a soul.” Dana winked.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Please,” Dana gestured for him to have a seat, and he obliged.
“How is our little town treating you?”
“Perfectly. If it weren’t for the cold and isolation, I think I’d move up here right now.”
Christian laughed. “Ah, yes. Those are the only downsides, but they’re doozies. Where do you live now?”
“Little town of my own, though it’s pretty different from here. Pippin, Georgia. South Georgia.”
Christian’s eyes twinkled. “I’d say that is probably a lot different then, huh?”
“Well, in terms of the weather.” Dana looked around. “But as far as the important things—the people—I’d say we’re all alike, deep down. Living in Georgia or New York doesn’t change that fact. No… you live to be my age you begin to realize these things. That people are, in the end, always the same. No matter how confused things get, it always comes down to human nature, pure and simple.”
Christian looked at her quizzically. “I get the sense that you know what you’re talking about, so I won’t challenge you on that.”
“Can I ask you a question, Christian?” Dana asked seriously.
“By all means. I’m an open book.”
“Has the lab gotten back to you folks with the results of the blood they found outside Mr. Black’s window?”
Christian blinked in surprise. “Well, I did not expect that to be the question you’d ask me. Thought for sure you were going to ask why I wasn’t married yet, with children, like most, er…”
“Like most old ladies do?” Dana laughed heartily. “Truth be told, I hope you do fall in love someday. But as to why you’re not already happily off procreating is none of my business. I’m sure you’ve got other things to do than defend your choices to a strange woman.”
“Like
solve Wallace Black’s murder…?”
“Exactly.” Dana let a question hang at the end of her pause.
He got the hint, clearing his throat. “Well, as a matter of fact, the lab did get back to us with the results. But they weren’t conclusive.”
“Oh?”
He nodded. “The blood was from a mammal. Not human. But they’re not sure what animal exactly. They’re going to have to send it off to a more sophisticated facility to find out. We should know in a few days. However, I’m not sure it will be helpful.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, the blood was outside the room. And since it wasn’t human… It could just be completely unrelated. A squirrel slipped from higher up and smacked into the wall on the way down, or something like that.”
Dana nodded. “Could be.” Inwardly, she had a different opinion. A mammal, huh? That certainly makes things interesting. In her mind’s eye, she conjured up the image of Wallace’s room. The haphazard destruction, the ripped curtains.
Chapter 6
A Slim Metal Object
The next morning, Dana awoke to a room of a more pleasing temperature. The electricity had been fully restored and the central heating was now functioning perfectly. As she padded her way down the hallway to the stairs to go to breakfast in the café, it occurred to her that today was the wedding day of that young woman she’d met in the library.
She had picked up a wedding card while she was in town yesterday and slipped a bit of cash inside for the young couple. Though she wouldn’t be attending the wedding, the woman’s intensity had impressed her. She wanted to congratulate her personally. On a whim, she went back to her room to retrieve the card and then exited the stairwell on the third floor, where Danielle had said she was staying. She found the door to her room slightly ajar and knocked gently. When the door swung open a bit, she could see Danielle sticking her torso out the window.
“Hello, Danielle, it’s Ms. Potter…” she called out.
With a swift, abrupt motion, Danielle pulled herself back in through the window, muttering something in irritation that Dana thought sounded like “Juice!” But then she smiled and straightened her robe. “Oh! What a surprise! Sorry, I was just enjoying the cold wind on my face. This heat’s a bit much for me. Almost preferred the electricity out!” she laughed.
Dana peered out the open window to the front lawn. “Well, I for one, adore the heat! Southern lady, through and through.” She beamed. “I hope this isn’t too early—I just wanted to catch you before all the wedding preparations began.”
“It’s fine by me that you stopped by,” Danielle said. She moved to go sit on her bed.
“Yes, well, I just wanted to congratulate you, and give you this.” Dana handed her the pristine white envelope.
Danielle stared absently for a moment before taking the card and thanking Dana profusely. "You really didn’t have to!”
“I’m always on the side of love,” Dana said gently. “Now, I’ll be off. You forget all your worries and enjoy your day!”
At breakfast, Dana sat with Melissa, who had all but completely forgotten her worries over Wallace’s death, now that the body had been moved and the police taken over. She chattered, instead, about the wedding that was to take place that evening in the big ballroom.
“The first wedding since my grandmother ran the place. Did you ever get to attend one of those? I remember being there, flitting among the tables of hors d'oeuvre…” Melissa smiled dreamily.
“Well, I don’t remember ever having the honor of attending a wedding here at the Wesley, but I sure do remember Eileen getting the same dreamy look in her eye that you have right now!”
Melissa seemed to smile even wider with pleasure at being compared to her grandmother. “I just hope I’ll do it as well as she did. You know, with all that was going on—of course, nobody knows about the, well, the Suite 44 debacle besides us, but there was the issue with the snowstorm as well—I, of course, offered to reschedule the Wood wedding for a later date, free of charge. Would you know that hardly any of their guests could get through these mountain roads? It’ll just be them two, the happy couple. They don’t need anybody else I suppose. But anyway, Danielle—that’s the bride—absolutely would not hear of it. She was dead set on getting married. Said she’d gone to great lengths to be sure the marriage went off without a hitch and wasn’t going to let anybody ruin it.” Melissa chuckled and shook her head. “I can’t blame her. When it was my wedding day, I was a nervous wreck that something was going to ruin it. If it wasn’t for Noah, don’t know if I would have made it through without just completely losing my mind.”
“I’m sure it will be lovely. The future Mrs. Wood seems like a spirited young woman, but in the end, I suspect it’s just a great love that drives her. And I don’t see her letting any small mishap get in the way of that.” Dana patted Melissa on the shoulder affectionately. She worried for the young woman a bit, the way she got so worked up over every little thing. She was different that way from Eileen. Eileen had always been a dreamer, yes, but she’d had a stable spirit. Unflappable, Dana used to say.
***
After breakfast, Dana joined a tour of the exterior grounds. This was a new activity for the Wesley; as far as Dana could remember, Eileen had never organized such tours. But to Dana, it demonstrated Melissa’s genius. She clearly understood that guests had an affinity for the old world charm of the hotel that it was more than a luxury for them—it was the fabled fairy tale air of the place; it was nostalgia that drew them to the Wesley. Today was the first day since Dana arrived that the weather was calm enough to warrant the tour, and she was excited to explore the grounds. Her little search for a murderer could wait just an hour. She donned a pair of weatherproof rubber boots and met the large tour group—some fifteen or so people—in the lobby.
The tour guide was a smiley woman named Miriam who said she worked for the state historic preservation office. She explained briefly about the Wesley’s history, and Dana took a secret pride in having known the previous owner the guide spoke of glowingly. They’d be learning about the native flora and fauna around this area, as well as the interesting architectural elements of the old mansion.
As they exited the warm lobby, Dana stiffened in the frigid wind that combed over them like a swift smack to the face. There were murmurs of the cold throughout the group.
“Chilly a little, huh?” Miriam said. “Well, the worst is over, they’re saying. All that’s left is this wind—though it is, thank goodness, a dry wind. No more snow for us!” She smiled a hearty smile and directed them further away from the mansion toward the woods at the edge of the property.
Dana’s boots made sickening crunching sounds as she traipsed through the shin-high snow. However uncomfortable the cold was, she had to admit that there was an unparalleled, serene beauty of the snow-laden landscape seen up close. Dana felt as though she were entombed in a scene from a storybook, or perhaps a snow globe. Tall, naked oaks stood silent and dark against the snow, while thick, feathery pines weaved around them with dashes of deep evergreen. The sky above was light gray, with wisps of clouds passing continuously over the sun to dim its brightness considerably.
For what felt like a long time, Dana heard nothing but the crash of snow boots in the snow. It seemed everyone else was just as entranced as she was with the woods. Soon, they were truly deep into the thicket on the outskirts of the Wesley property. Dana could no longer make out the imposing stone structure through the pine trees.
It was there they stopped for Miriam to give an impassioned speech about the old pines and oaks—some hundreds of years old—and the different mosses and ferns that survived the winter. She spoke in an urgent-sounding whisper of the transformation a place like the Wesley property underwent every spring. Pink and white milkweed taking the place of the snow, smooth blue asters attracting the bumble bees and colorful butterflies, the clusters of dark purple elderberries breaking up the flowers. Dana tried to imagine the wide fields of
white and gray supplanted by the marvelous colors Miriam gushed about, but she, admittedly, had a hard time. The snow, the cold, seemed to her in that moment so permanent.
Shortly, they hiked their way out of the woods and back to the exterior of the Wesley mansion itself. As they walked slowly down the length of the mansion’s front exterior wall, Miriam walked backward to explain the choices the architect had made. Dana found herself tuning out. She ran her gloved hand down the huge rectangular stone slabs that made up the walls, the bottom ones now covered in moss. She regrets never having paid such close attention to the building itself before.
Presently, a metallic object glinting in the dim sunlight caught Dana’s eye. It lay in the snow, having created a hole a few inches deep for itself. Dana bent gingerly to pick it up. It was a slim, hollow object of a light colored metal. A small metal chain was looped through a small slit in one end. On the other end were two tiny holes. From the feel, Dana could tell it was hollow. She turned it around in her palm curiously, wondering what it could be.
Perhaps more importantly, she wondered where it had come from. They had walked a good distance away from the entrance to the hotel, yet the object had not been buried by the snowfall which meant it had arrived there sometime today or yesterday. Then she made another perplexing observation: there were no footprints this close to the wall besides Dana’s. The rest of the group was walking some six feet out from the wall, and it was clear that no one else had come around the object and disturbed the snow recently.
Dana considered that there was only one possibility, then. The thing had been dropped from above. She craned her neck to see what was above her, then, stepping out from the building, she counted the windows from the ground and from the end of the building. One, two…
With a start, she realized whose window the thing had to have been dropped from. And with that, her mind began whirring anew. The pieces are beginning to come together, she thought, her eyebrows furrowing together sharply. Yes, the answer had occurred to her quite suddenly. Two answers, actually. She believed she now knew the nature of the slim metal object she held in her hand, and if she was right about that, then she also knew who killed Wallace Black.
