Snowed Inn

by Heather Horrocks

  Garrett took it all in for a few seconds, and must have realized what happened. “I can’t cover for you again.” That comment earned him an invitation into the dining room.

  DeWayne began the questioning. Liz and I went in as if they weren’t there. We continued to set the table she was setting before all heck broke loose. I sank into a chair, my head throbbing, but not about to miss this interview.

  “What did you mean, Mr. Long, you couldn’t cover for Ms. Cordova?” Paul’s voice was ice cold.

  Garrett sighed deeply. “I wasn’t sure, but I wondered. I knew they had an affair and Gregorio promised to marry her. Then he brought us here and sprang the news of his engagement to BJ. I knew Alexis went to the carriage house to confront him, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d killed him. But when I asked her, she denied it. And I believed her.”

  “Do you know you can be charged with obstructing justice?”

  “For believing a friend?” Garrett shook his head. “I didn’t have any proof. Just a gut hunch. And how much credence would you have paid to that?”

  “Didn’t you care about an innocent man going to jail?”

  “He didn’t seem innocent when he pulled out the knife.”

  “Did you see Ms. Cordova go to the carriage house?” DeWayne asked.

  “No. Just before the lights went out, I talked with Alexis in the library. Argued with her, actually . She insisted on confronting Gregorio. Alone.”

  Aha! It was Alexis and Garrett arguing in the library in the dark. Alexis wanted to implicate BJ, but not Garrett, who was probably the only person who would give her the benefit of the doubt.

  “I told her I had proof of Calabria embezzling money. I couldn’t talk her out of it, and she insisted on going alone, so I told her I’d go out first and light a candle when I left so she’d know he was alone. I never thought she’d kill him. And, most importantly, I never knew for sure. After all, it could have been anyone. Even Kevin.”

  Paul said, “Didn’t you get a clue when she said Calabria and BJ were the ones in the library that night?”

  Garrett frowned and absentmindedly tugged at the neck of his black sweater. He shrugged. “I didn’t hear her say that, or I would have come forward. Besides, I knew she had her reasons for wanting to keep her son’s parentage a secret. It’s better if Martha doesn’t find out.” He shrugged a second time. “I wished I had the guts to do the job myself, but all I did was show him my accountant’s audit and inform him my attorney was going to break the contract.”

  Garrett looked nervous. I hoped he got off light, but apparently, he’d be following Madame Psychopath’s squad car to the police station.

  The door opened and David stuck his head inside. It wasn’t a good sign that my heart lightened to see him. He caught my eye and smiled, and I couldn’t help smiling back. He lifted his arm to reveal bags from Marlene’s Natural Foods as he kept on going toward the kitchen. I figured Mr. Investigative Reporter would turn on the speaker and take notes. I ought to have warned Paul.

  But David didn’t make it to the kitchen. He peered back in and narrowed his eyes at me. That’s when I knew for sure the Inn had yet another scary-looking woman in residence.

  That’s about the last thing I remember before a wave of dizziness swept over me. I was carried to bed, and nearly slept the clock around.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The next morning, Monday, I woke up with a pounding head and an incredibly dry mouth. I could hear laughter from upstairs. In the kitchen, I thought. I raised my head from my pillow.

  My grandmother’s voice floated down the stairs. “Victoria, come up here. You’ve been sleeping all day.” I realized it was her voice before that awakened me.

  I sat up and winced with pain. My shoulder ached, along with my back, arms, and legs. I climbed out of bed, groaning, but smiled when I realized my wedding ring was back on my finger where it belonged.

  A hot shower loosened up my aching muscles. It took me another ten minutes to pull on jeans and my peach-colored sweatshirt before carefully brushing through my hair. I walked slowly up the stairs.

  More laugher erupted from the kitchen. My grandmother. Zach. A man. Paul. Another man. David? Was he still here?

  He was. Never in a million years would I have believed the sight before me. A man standing at Grandma’s stove, wearing her apron, and holding her wooden spoon— and she was smiling.

  I stared from Grandma, to David, Paul, Zach, Martha, Xavier, Lonny, Liz, DeWayne, and back to Grandma, who wagged her index finger at me. “You should have introduced this nice young man to me. Don’t you hide him from me again.”

  David caught my eye and grinned.

  “All right,” I agreed.

  DeWayne studied me. “You look like total crap, Vicki.”

  I cracked a smile. “To think I dated and married Robert when I could have been verbally abused by you.”

  David smiled. “Even with that shiner, you look radiant.”

  I could tell horse-hooey when I heard it. I told him so.

  Lonny pulled up a chair for me and made sure I was comfortable before he took a stool and placed it close to mine; in the process, planting himself neatly between David and me.

  Zach hugged me, carefully. “Lonny and I played Cosmic Warrior Four until we beat the nineteenth level.”

  As I wrapped my arms around my son and savored the feel of him, I glanced at Lonny. “Thanks for keeping him safe.”

  In a quiet, serious voice, he said, “My pleasure.”

  Paul cracked his knuckles. I grimaced. “Stop that.”

  “Just wanted to get everyone’s attention.”

  Liz said, “Wow. I’ll have to try that in court.”

  I looked at Paul. “Are you a new father yet?”

  “Nope. Jennifer’s going for the length-of-pregnancy record in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.” He took my hand. “We talked with Alexis. How would you describe her reaction, DeWayne?”

  “She cracked as though you were Perry Mason.”

  “Yup.” Paul released my hand. “That says it pretty well. She confessed to everything she’d done wrong since second grade.”

  “I’ve been wondering.” I tilted my head and immediately regretted it. “Who put the knife in her pillow?”

  “Hold your horses. I’ll get to that.” Paul was enjoying his moment in the limelight. “Alexis wore BJ’s stolen clothes during the murder. When Alexis found Martha’s lipstick on the counter, she decided to implicate Martha, as well, by writing the taunt we found.”

  We certainly didn’t plan it, but at that point, we all looked at Martha, who seamlessly took up the story. “I left the lip print because I wanted BJ to think I’d done the wild thing with Gregorio. I knew he wouldn’t erase it because he’d be amused to see two women fighting over him. It was childish of us both, I admit.”

  “But what about your statement that you did the wild thing with him?” Paul asked.

  Martha shrugged. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

  Garrett laughed. “We played chess. But don’t tell anyone, because I have a reputation to uphold, too.”

  “And do you lie to the police often?” Paul asked Martha.

  Martha shrugged again and shook her head. “I knew I was innocent.”

  Liz tapped Paul on the hand. “Did you ever find out who Kevin meant by the scary-looking woman?”

  “Oh, yes. It was Alexis, the only person on the second floor that night. She had some sort of sleep cap on and her mascara must’ve run down her cheeks. I don’t think he actually got much of a look at her, though, just a glance.

  “She confessed to seeing him as he tried to break in through the window, and when she knocked on it, he was so startled, he fell off. She also confessed to seeing his knife in the snow when he fled the night of the murder, which was when she saw her chance to kill Calabria and make it look like Kevin was guilty.”

  DeWayne took a turn. “Alexis still had the knife because she considered killing BJ, too.
She stabbed her own pillow after Kevin showed up because she had to get rid of the murder weapon while throwing suspicion off herself.”

  “What did the note say?” Grandma leaned forward eagerly, and I could easily see why Dr. Ray found her so charming. I envied her talent to live life to the fullest.

  “It said,” Paul lowered his voice menacingly, “you’re next!”

  “That’s it?” Liz snorted.

  “It did the trick.” DeWayne looked at her like he had in high school, poor man. “It was meant to make her look like a victim, so we wouldn’t suspect her as the killer.”

  “How come you didn’t catch her alias on the police records like you did mine?” asked Xavier.

  “We did.” Paul shrugged. “But there was no criminal record under her real name.”

  “Like in Clue,” Xavier said. “It was Alexis in the dining room with the candlestick.”

  “And the proverbial smoking gun,” added Grandma.

  Liz said, “And Alexis in the carriage house with the knife.”

  “I always suspected you had a hard head.” Paul grinned at me. “The dent in the candlestick confirmed it.”

  “We had to have hard heads to survive growing up with you,” Liz told Paul, winking at me. “What I really want to know is whether BJ left with Kevin.”

  DeWayne said, “Last I heard, she decided to stand by her man. She’s at his hospital bedside.”

  “I knew she’d cave.” Liz smirked. “Long eyelash power prevailed.”

  “Will he still go to jail for stabbing Lonny?” I asked.

  “Nope.” DeWayne took a sip of water. “Lonny decided not to press charges. Neither is the Attorney General. And, interestingly enough, neither is Alexis, who cut her own arm.”

  “How is your arm?” I asked Lonny.

  He pouted with a smile. “It hurts.”

  I smiled back. “I’m sorry.”

  “How about the radio conversation about the murder weapon?” Liz asked. “Did BJ overhear it?”

  DeWayne played with his empty glass. “She said she didn’t.”

  The phone rang. Liz answered and handed it to me.

  The man on the other end of the line was excited. He read the newspaper article in this morning’s Salt Lake Tribune and wanted to schedule three rooms for next weekend. He gave me his VISA information. Hallelujah! My favorite kind of customer— the kind who pays in advance.

  I glanced at David, who was watching me quietly. He kept his promise to put the Inn in a positive light. I smiled at him, and, because Lonny was sitting directly between us, Lonny thought I was smiling at him and they both smiled back at the same time.

  I could be in real trouble here.

  Liz asked how Calabria ever got the authors, who were all intelligent, to agree to such high-percentage contracts.

  Xavier grinned. “Have you ever heard of Melissa Owens?”

  “Are you kidding?” Grandma asked. “Who hasn’t? Her suspense novels have been on the bestseller list for years.”

  “Well, suppose Melissa Owens put an ad in the paper saying she would present a writing workshop?”

  “Every author in the state would sign up,” Grandma said.

  “And what if she offered to personally mentor only select talented, but unskilled, beginning authors in exchange for taking a high percentage of their royalties as a training fee?”

  Liz said, “They’d sign in a heartbeat.”

  Xavier pointed at Martha. “My mother has been writing for years under the pseudonym, Melissa Owens.”

  As appropriate oohs and ahhs came from all of us, I caught Martha’s eye. “Couldn’t sign in as an author, eh?”

  “I wanted to make my grand entrance; remember?” She grew thoughtful. “I offered to train the authors for two years. If they didn’t hit the bestseller list, they wouldn’t owe me a penny. If they did, they’d pay me a high-percentage training fee for five years. I wanted to help other authors get established, but Gregorio preferred to line his own wallet. He put the contracts in his name, which is why I lost the authors during our divorce. He also neglected to include the five-year cap on the higher rate.”

  “How did you find out he was coming up here?” I asked.

  “Oh, honey, I sent him the brochures anonymously. He was a creature of habit, and this is just the kind of place I knew he’d book. I knew Xavier was planning to work here when it opened, because he and I were still in contact, but I didn’t tell him I was coming, either. I wanted to see if I could get father and son reconciled. But Gregorio was too stubborn.”

  When the phone rang, Grandma said, “Let the machine get it.”

  I did, and was immediately grateful when I recognized Manny Much’s voice. “Vicki, you missed the mineral meeting. I’m giving you good leads here, baby. But you have to take some action. I hope I can count on you next time, you being family and all. Maybe we can do a meeting at your place and invite some of your friends. Female friends would be great, too.”

  “Yeah, that would be so great,” Paul teased.

  The others laughed.

  “Will you see Dr. Ray again, Grandma?” Liz asked gently.

  “Nicholas told me he’s setting his next book in Silver City. He’ll be moving here in two months to begin research.” Grandma flashed a smile. “Did I mention I’m his new research assistant?”

  “Way to go, Grandma,” I said.

  Grandma leaned over so the others couldn’t hear. “Well, it hasn’t escaped my notice that you have two nice young men vying for your attention. Way to go yourself.”

  Martha nodded. “Nicholas is an excellent catch.”

  David leaned against the counter. “I can cook for you for the next few weeks.”

  I thanked him.

  And I suddenly realized I didn’t want to grieve the rest of my life. I loved Robert dearly, but I had a lot of— how did Grandma say it?— kick in my young legs left. It was time for me to open my heart to the possibilities, two of whom were sitting in a line right here.

  I guess Zach figured this was his best bet. You know, go after your Mom when she’s semi-coherent and relaxed. He hugged me again. “Mom, I’d like to do something for you, too.”

  I smiled at him. “Anything, squirt.”

  Zach grinned. “All right! She’s going to let me get her a watchdog to keep her safe from murderers.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” I said.

  Zach got down on his knees before me. “Please, please, please, please, please can we have a dog?”

  “Grovel all you want, but it won’t change my answer.”

  Paul exchanged glances with Lonny. David set down the wooden spoon. And then the three idiots knelt beside Zach and joined in his chant. “Please, please, please can we have a dog?”

  I looked at them all and risked shaking my head.

  “Please?” The four of them continued to beg and ham it up.

  Finally, I started to laugh. “Maybe. Next year.”

  “That means no,” Zach said sadly.

  BJ wasn’t the only one to cave. I laughed. “Definitely, yes. But I get final say on the dog we get. And I do not want a puppy.”

  Zach’s grin was huge. “Thanks, Mom. And, um, Mom?”

  I stared at my son suspiciously. “No, you cannot have a car. It doesn’t matter how many people grovel for you.”

  He hugged me again. “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you, too, squirt. So very much.”

  The phone rang again. This time, I answered and listened carefully to the slightly irrational woman on the other end. When I hung up, I turned to Paul. “You think puppies are good?”

  He grinned and winked at me. “You bet.”

  “Good, because Jennifer said if you’re not home in ten minutes, she’s driving herself to the hospital and you’ll be sleeping in a big puppy house.”

  I bet he made it.

  The Inn’d

  Thank You!

  Thank you very much for taking the time to read my cozy mystery, Snowed I
nn, the first in the Who-Dun-Him Inn series. I love to write these light-hearted, humorous mysteries to allow people to curl up with a good book for an afternoon. I hope you were entertained.

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  Did you see any (gasp!) errors or typos?

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  Author’s Note.

  The Who-Dun-Him Inn in my book is based, both in architecture and some of the great history, on the wonderful Armstrong Mansion located in Salt Lake City, Utah. To enjoy a romantic stay there, go to www.ArmstrongMansion.com.

  Thanks again…

  For your time and interest, and for telling your friends about my books. If you’d like to know more about my other books, that section is just a page or two away.

  Happy tales, Heather Horrocks

  www.BooksByHeatherHorrocks.com

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to Diane Darcy and Kristin Holt, for reading and giving me valuable feedback which, as always, added so much to the finished manuscript.