by Jan Fields
Annie laughed lightly. “I saw a few movies while clinging to Wayne’s arm,” Annie admitted, “but none of them had so much gore. I wanted to be able to eat my popcorn!”
“Sounds like a sensible approach,” Ian said. “Though I do like to go to the movies now and then. I like action flicks.” He stopped and pointed at a poster that showed Bruce Willis and several other older action stars striding purposefully toward them. “That one I would watch.”
Annie looked it over skeptically. “Do you suppose they cut people up?”
“Not likely,” he said. “But there might be explosions. Lots of explosions.” Then he grinned boyishly. “At least I hope so.”
“I bet you watch that MythBusters show on television,” Annie said.
“How did you know?”
“Because every time I see a commercial for it, something is blowing up.”
Ian chuckled warmly, and they walked the rest of the way to the inn as Ian recited a list of the things he’d seen blown up in the name of science television.
The sidewalk curved around to the front of the inn. The wide porch was still bright with Annie’s donated mums, and she enjoyed the cheery sight of them.
Inside, they were quickly led to a cozy table, spread with a crisp, white cloth. Ian barely glanced at the menu before ordering a bowl of venison stew. Annie chose grilled salmon.
“Not in the mood to eat Bambi?” Ian teased lightly.
“No, I like venison,” Annie said. “Though I have to admit I don’t think I could shoot a deer. I love it when I see deer in the yard at Grey Gables. I don’t even mind that I have to plant my spring flowers over and over. But for eating, I like salmon better.”
The food at the inn was delicious, and Ian’s company soon made the stress of the day and the mystery slip away. Annie was glad she’d left the house and not spent the evening fretting.
“So, will you tell me now what was bothering you before?” Ian asked as they sipped after-dinner coffee.
“Just an unpleasant encounter with someone,” Annie said with a smile. “I guess I’m always surprised when I can’t get along with everyone.”
“That surprises me too,” Ian said, but he didn’t badger to know more.
She appreciated that Ian seemed willing to respect her limits, both in conversation and in their relationship. She wasn’t quite sure what their relationship was. She had to admit that going to the ball and having dinner in the beautifully decorated inn certainly looked like dates. She thought back to the karaoke dinner at Sweet Nell’s when Ian serenaded her. It was no wonder her friends teased her and gave her knowing smiles. But they didn’t really feel like dates. Annie’s heart belonged to Wayne; maybe it always would. But she was certainly glad for Ian’s friendship.
When they finished and walked out into the inn’s entry, Annie was startled to see John MacFarlane striding through the front doors. She froze. Ian looked from Annie to John quizzically. John had also stopped, and he smiled at Annie and Ian, flashing bright white teeth like a dog baring its fangs.
“Good evening, Mr. MacFarlane,” Ian said.
“Good evening, Mr. Mayor,” John responded. “Nice night to be out with a pretty lady. I’m glad to see you enjoying yourself, Mrs. Dawson.”
Annie didn’t respond, and she saw Ian’s gaze shift between them again.
“So, will you be leaving Stony Point soon?” Ian asked.
“I hope so. Though I’m staying until my business here is done, and I get what I need.”
“That sounds ominous,” Ian said. “I hope you know how important this town and all its residents are to me, Mr. MacFarlane.”
John smiled his wolfish smile. “Sometimes you can keep your residents safe best by being sure they aren’t getting involved in things that don’t concern them.”
Ian’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like the sound of that at all.”
“I’m not surprised.” With that, John MacFarlane simply stepped around them and walked on toward the stairs that led up to the rooms.
“Annie, would you care to tell me what all that was about?”
“I’d rather not.”
“If he’s threatened you,” Ian said, “or threatened Alice, I want to know. I can’t help if you keep me locked out.”
Annie continued on out the door, letting the evening air cool her flushed face. “He thinks I’m influencing Alice. He thinks that’s why she told him she doesn’t want anything to do with him.”
“How do you know that?”
“He came by Grey Gables today.”
Ian stiffened, glancing back toward the inn door. Annie was pretty sure that if Ian were a cat, his hair would be standing on end, and he’d be growling. She put a hand on his arm. “I don’t really think I have anything to worry about. He tried to bully me a little, yes, but I would rather you didn’t do anything. Not without talking to Alice. I don’t want to do anything that makes all this worse for her.”
Ian’s scowl softened. “I’ve never met anyone who thinks about others as much as you do, Annie Dawson. But sometimes, it’s all right to think about you some too.”
“I’m not nearly as selfless as you think,” she said. “If I really need you, I promise to scream.”
15
The next morning dawned warm and clear, so Annie carried her morning coffee out on the porch with a pad and pen. She’d decided to try making a list of suspects and the clues she knew about each. Maybe it would turn out to be like one of those puzzles where once you sorted out all the clues, you knew exactly who the culprit was.
After a lot of writing and sipping, Annie ended up with an empty mug and no real idea who had stolen her hair comb.
“You look frustrated!”
Annie looked up, startled. She’d been so deep in thought she hadn’t noticed Alice striding across the lawn with one of her wonderful breakfast treats. “I was trying to look at our mystery like a logic puzzle,” she said.
“Doesn’t look like it’s going well,” Alice said. “But I might have an idea.”
“Great!” Annie stood up. “Bring your idea on inside, and I’ll get us some coffee to go with whatever you have wrapped up there.”
“Pumpkin, applesauce, cream-cheese muffins,” Alice said. “They’re delicious if you try not to think about the calories.”
They were soon seated in their usual spots in the cozy kitchen cradling warm mugs. Annie took a bite of soft, steamy muffin and moaned. “Whatever your idea is, I love it just because of these muffins.”
Alice laughed. “In that case, I’m definitely making some of these for my next Divine Décor party. I am totally open to taking unfair advantage where I can.”
As soon as Annie could talk without her mouth being full, she asked what Alice’s idea was.
“Well, even though I gave up on my primary suspect,” Alice said. “I still want to be part of the investigation, and I thought of the perfect thing to do next. We should go over to the inn tomorrow and find out exactly why the lights went out at the ball. Surely they know by now.”
Annie blinked at her. “That does make sense.” Then she felt a little uneasy shiver creep up her spine. She really did not want to run into Alice’s ex again. Twice in one day was far more than enough.
“What’s wrong?” Alice said immediately.
Annie frowned. “I’m beginning to suspect I’m entirely too easy to read.”
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” Alice said. “And … actually, you are easy to read. That’s why we never could get away with anything.”
“Oh sure, blame me,” Annie said. “It couldn’t be because your crazy ideas made adults suspicious all the time.”
Alice smiled over the top of her coffee cup but merely said, “So what’s wrong?”
Annie sighed and gave in. She told Alice about her two recent encounters with John MacFarlane. By the time she was done, Alice’s face was flushed and her brows were drawn together.
“I probably earned part of that,” she said with
a sigh. “I did become a doormat when I was with John. I don’t know how it happened. A little at a time, I suppose. But I guess he thought I’d just fall back into old habits and let him tell me what to do.”
“If I had any doubts about him being bad for you,” Annie said, “just knowing that relationship made you act like that is proof enough to me.”
Alice nodded. “I really didn’t like myself very much then.” She looked at Annie seriously. “But I’m not going back to being like that.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“I don’t think you need to be scared of John,” Alice said. “He can be a bit of a bully, but even at our worst times he never got physical.”
Annie just nodded.
“Anyway, let’s talk about the plan,” Alice said. “You want to go over to the inn with me on Monday morning? We can ask Linda about the electricity.”
“Linda?”
“Linda Hunter, she owns the inn. You haven’t met?”
“No, but I’m looking forward to it.”
They chatted a few more minutes, and then the two friends parted so they could each get ready for church. Annie invited Alice to come over after the service for dinner, but Alice grinned sheepishly.
“I promised to update Peggy on our plans,” she admitted, “so I’ll be hitting the diner after church. Do you want to come with me?”
Annie shook her head. “I’ve eaten out enough. I think I’ll stay home and work on my crocheting. I might even have it figured out after Kate’s last tutorial.”
The day turned out to be pleasantly mystery-free, but Annie found she was quite eager to get back on the trail of the mystery when Monday morning dawned sunny and cool. The sooner they figured out what was going on, the sooner she’d feel really confident again.
When the phone rang, Annie hurried across the room to grab it, hoping it wasn’t Alice canceling their sleuthing expedition. She smiled when she recognized her daughter’s breathless voice. “John, take that critter outside right this minute!”
“Frog?” Annie asked.
“Maybe—I’m not sure,” LeeAnn responded. “But I definitely saw legs and wiggling. Hi, Mom—do you have any more of that fabric?”
It took Annie a moment to think back to their last conversation and the fabric Annie had sent for Joanna’s trick-or-treat costume. “I don’t think so,” Annie said, “but I could check Gram’s closet. I seem to remember some cloth amongst the stuff dragged out of her closet during the break-in, though I’m not sure if there is any more of that print.”
“Break-in!” LeeAnn yelped. “What happened this time?”
“I don’t know how on earth I let that slip out!” Annie said. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
“Easy for you to say when you’re a billion miles away,” her daughter scolded. “Now tell me everything and don’t leave out a word.”
Annie ran through the short version of the loss of the hair comb and the break-in. “We don’t know that they’re connected,” she said. “And nothing has really happened since. Nothing was stolen. Mostly I just had to do a little cleaning up.”
“I’m more concerned that nothing was stolen,” LeeAnn said. “It sounds like someone was looking for that jewelry. Maybe you should go ahead and sell it to the jeweler. You could make a big deal about it. Then everyone would know not to bother you anymore.”
Annie thought about that and a vague idea seemed to be suggested by LeeAnn’s words. Maybe she wouldn’t do exactly what her daughter said, but she could see how something like that would possibly be a good idea. If the thief thought she was about to sell the pieces, maybe they could use that to force the thief’s hand and lure him or her into a trap.
“Hello? ... Earth calling Mom,” LeeAnn said. “Are you there, Mom?”
Annie realized she’d tuned out her daughter, “Sorry, sweetheart, your idea about selling the jewelry sounds like a good one.”
“Good.” LeeAnn sounded pleased. “Now, back to the fabric. Could you take a quick peek? I am just the tiniest smidge short. If you had just enough for a dress sleeve, I can make Joanna’s outfit match the doll exactly. Otherwise, I’m going to have to do contrast sleeves, and your granddaughter has already informed me that they won’t match properly if I do that.”
“Well, knowing exactly what she wants sounds like a trait she inherited from someone else I know,” Annie said.
LeeAnn laughed. “OK, I can be a little bit that way. But will you check?”
“Sure, I’ll check right now,” Annie carried the handset to Gram’s bedroom and poked around in the closet with one hand while she held the phone in the other. Annie brought the conversation around to Thanksgiving while she searched.
“Herb is weakening,” LeeAnn said. “I still can’t promise, but I think he’s going to cave. I am getting kind of excited about the idea of coming to Stony Point. At the very least, I can keep you from getting involved in a new mystery while I’m there.”
“I don’t know,” Annie said. “I think you would like the mysteries a lot more if you were involved too.”
“You might have a point.”
“Hey, I found some,” Annie said, pulling out a length of fabric sandwiched between two others. “There is definitely enough here for the sleeve.”
“Excellent,” LeeAnn said. “Can you overnight that? I’m a desperate woman.”
Annie promised and carried the fabric to the front room where she stuffed it into her project bag. She’d buy an Express Mail envelope and postage at the post office to mail it out.
“Annie?” Alice called out as she came through the front door, tapping on the door frame lightly.
“Right here,” Annie sent her love to the twins and quickly ended the call with her daughter.
Annie spotted the Divine Décor catalog tucked in Alice’s purse. When Annie raised her eyebrows, Alice said, “What? Linda is a customer. I’ll just be killing two birds with one visit!”
“I didn’t say anything,” Annie said.
“It was all over your face,” Alice answered.
Annie held up her hands. “I’m totally innocent.”
“Sure,” Alice said. “Should we ride together or take separate cars?”
“We can go together if you don’t mind the post office stop,” Annie said. “My car or yours?”
“Let’s take mine. It’s a gorgeous day, and I won’t get to drive with the top down for much longer this year.”
“Sounds good,” Annie said. “Just don’t let me forget to stop at the post office while we’re in town.”
Annie agreed after grabbing a scarf to cover her hair, and they headed out. The normally boisterous breeze was unusually still, and the sun felt deliciously warm as they climbed into Alice’s little convertible. Once they got going though, they had plenty of wind whipping their hair around.
When they pulled up in the half-round circle, they were both laughing from the sheer joy of the ride. After the tension of the last few days, Annie felt refreshed from the laughter, as if the wind had whipped away her worries in addition to mussing her hair.
Inside the inn, Annie felt a flash of nerves, but when she didn’t see Alice’s ex, the flutter settled down quickly. They crossed the dark, well-worn wood floor quickly to reach the front desk. “Is Linda around?” Alice asked.
The wide-eyed girl nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Just a moment.” She ducked through a door behind the desk.
Alice leaned closer to Annie and whispered, “I hate being ma’amed.”
“You’d better never move to Texas. I started getting called ‘ma’am’ when I was twenty-one. It was horrifying.”
Linda Hunter, a slender woman with salt-and-pepper hair cut into a bob, hurried through the door. When she caught sight of Alice, she smiled. “Alice! It’s nice to see you. Rachel thought you were reporters.”
“Reporters?” Alice echoed.
“New England Country Inns magazine is doing a feature on historic buildings, and they’re sending a photographer a
nd writer out. They’re not due until this afternoon so Rachel was panicking a little.”
“Then we’re catching you at a bad time,” Alice said.
“I have a minute.” The woman turned her warm smile toward Annie, and Alice quickly introduced them. “Oh, I’ve heard of you,” the innkeeper said, looking concerned. “Someone took your hair comb at the ball. I’m so sorry about that. Is that why you’re here?”
“Not exactly,” Annie said. “I certainly don’t blame you about the hair comb, and it wasn’t particularly valuable.”
A look of relief passed over the woman’s face.
“We’re actually here to ask you about the lights going out at the ball,” Alice said. “Did you ever find out why they went out?”
Linda sighed. “Someone’s idea of a joke, I suppose. Someone had switched off the main. It shut off power all over the inn. You wouldn’t believe the number of complaints I got over that. There were even a couple of minor injuries. It’s a good thing I’m insured.”
“Oh my,” Annie said. “I didn’t know anyone was hurt.”
“One of the guests ran into a door in her room and received a black eye,” Linda said as she ticked things off on her fingers. “One of our cooks was burned slightly on one hand. And our handyman turned an ankle, apparently someone else went downstairs to check on the main too, and they ran into each other on the stairs.”
“Really?” Alice said. “Who was the other person?”
“I never found out. I figured it was a member of the waitstaff. The person was probably afraid he’d get in trouble, though I certainly don’t blame people for accidents. I try to be very fair with my employees.”
“I know you do,” Alice said. She glanced over at Annie, and Annie knew they were both thinking the same thing— whoever had shut off the lights probably ran into the handyman.
“Could we speak with your handyman?” Alice asked.
“Sure, if you would like to.” The innkeeper lowered her voice. “Is this about one of those mysteries you told me about, Alice?”
Alice nodded, and a grin spread across Linda’s face. “How exciting! Promise you’ll tell me how it turns out?”
