by Bobbi Holmes
“Let’s just say, as far as we know, Walt Marlow is the only one we know of who was murdered in the attic.” I guess she didn’t read all the blog entries, Danielle thought.
Closing her bedroom door and locking it, Danielle headed for the attic, Nola following her.
Nola glanced back to the bedroom door for a moment and then asked, “Do you always keep your bedroom door locked? I guess I never really thought of this as a regular motel—more like someone’s home.”
Starting up the stairway leading to the attic, holding onto the handrail, Danielle looked back to Nola, who continue to follow her. “I think it’s always a good idea for all of us, the guests included, to keep our bedroom doors locked.”
Nola continued to follow Danielle. She glanced briefly over her shoulder at the door to her room.
“Why did you bring her up here?” Walt asked when Danielle walked into the attic with Nola. He stood next to the spotting scope by the window.
Nola looked up to the ceiling. “Where did they find him hanging?”
Walt groaned. “Another one with morbid curiosity?”
Danielle flashed Walt a sheepish grin and then looked at Nola. “I’m not sure exactly.”
Walt smiled and then waved his hand, summoning a lit cigar. “Good. Don’t give in to her ghoulish requests.”
Nola turned to Danielle and sniffed. She then looked around the room and sniffed again. “Has someone been smoking up here?”
Danielle shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
“You know, I think I smelled that last night. It smells like someone’s smoking a pipe…or maybe a cigar.” Nola sniffed again.
“This is an old house. They often come with funny smells.” Danielle flashed Walt a smile.
Walt frowned. “Are you calling me a funny smell?”
Nola glanced up to the ceiling for a moment and then stepped closer to Danielle and whispered, “Well, you know, maybe this house is haunted.”
Danielle turned to face Walt. “I seriously doubt it.”
In the next moment, the spotting scope swung around on its tripod. It made three full turns and then stopped abruptly.
Surprised at Walt’s impulsive antics, Danielle found herself staring at him in disbelief, reluctant to face Nola, who was standing behind her.
Walt looked past Danielle to Nola and cringed. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that.”
Danielle glared at Walt.
“You better turn around quick! I think she’s about to faint!”
Nola would have fallen to the floor had Walt not caught her first. She was still unconscious when he floated her to the sofa and laid her down.
“Why did you do that?” Danielle hissed at Walt.
“It seemed somewhat amusing at the time,” he said with a hint of regret.
A moment later Nola opened her eyes and blinked. Danielle sat at her side on the sofa.
“Are you okay?” Danielle asked.
“I…I…” Nola sat up and looked nervously at the spotting scope. “It moved on its own.”
“Oh, that?” Danielle forced a laugh. “The tripod is pretty wobbly. The slightest breeze sends it spinning.”
Nola looked at the closed window.
“Drafts. The walls in here have horrible insulation. Drafty air coming in all the time,” Danielle hastily explained.
Nola sat silently for a moment, her hands folded tightly on her lap as she considered Danielle’s words. Finally, she laughed and shook her head. “That was silly of me. I actually thought for a minute there I was witnessing paranormal activity. Whatever you do, please don’t tell Albert about this. He will never let me live it down.”
Danielle smiled. “No problem. Sometimes being up here, considering what happened, one’s imagination can take off.”
Nola nodded her head in agreement and stood up. She started to take a step and then paused. “How did I get over here?”
“Excuse me?”
Nola pointed across the room. “We were standing over there when I saw the telescope move.”
“It’s not a telescope,” Walt corrected.
“You fainted,” Danielle explained.
“But how did you get me over here? No way could a little thing like you carry me.”
Danielle smiled and said lightly, “You didn’t actually fall when you fainted…more like you got woozy. I helped you walk to the sofa. Don’t you remember?”
Nola frowned and then shook her head. “No. No, I don’t.”
When Danielle and Nola returned to the second floor, Nola excused herself and went to her bedroom to find her husband, who she claimed had been taking a shower when she had stepped out into the hall.
Downstairs, Danielle ran into her other guests, Jeannie and Blake Spicer. She found the couple standing in the library, looking at the life-size portraits of Walt and Angela Marlow.
“I love the way they dressed back then.” Jeannie let out a sigh and continued to gaze at Angela’s painting.
“I think you might have a problem fitting into one of those dresses,” Blake said as he gave his wife a quick slap on the derriere. In return she glared at him and swatted away his hand.
“I imagine she was wearing a corset,” Danielle said. “Made them look unrealistically smaller back then.”
“Wrong,” Walt piped up when he appeared the next moment. “Angela never wore a corset. Most women stopped wearing them during the war.” Walt studied his wife’s portrait for a moment. “The steel used to make corsets was needed more for the war effort. But she did wear a girdle.”
“I’d think a corset was more to hold in the waist and make the hips look larger?” Jeannie asked.
“Umm…I meant girdle, not corset,” Danielle corrected. “Actually, corsets were no longer worn much after World War I because they needed the steel for the war effort.”
“Hmm, I wonder where you got that?” Walt snickered under his breath as he took a puff of his cigar.
“Interesting,” Jeannie murmured, still looking at the portrait.
Turning to Danielle, Blake asked, “Where are you off to this afternoon?”
“Me?”
“I assume you don’t stick around here all day.
“Actually, I’m going to visit a friend this afternoon. What are your plans?”
“I’m a little tired after driving yesterday. I was thinking of maybe taking a nap,” Blake told her. “And later, taking a drive around town, maybe go down to the pier.”
“While he’s napping, I intend to finish my book,” Jeannie added. “Is it okay if I read in here? It looks like the perfect place to snuggle down with a book.”
“I also have a book to finish,” Walt said before he vanished.
“Certainly, none of the rooms are off-limits, aside from the bedrooms, of course.”
“Does that mean I can’t take a nap in our bedroom?” Blake asked with a snicker.
Danielle smiled. “I meant all the bedrooms except the one you’re staying in.”
Blake winked at Danielle. “I was just teasing you.”
“Where is Lily? I haven’t seen her since breakfast?” Jeannie asked.
“She volunteered to docent at the museum this afternoon. They’re having a summer program for kids, and she’s helping out.”
“We should probably check out the museum while we’re here,” Blake said. “I haven’t seen Nola and Albert since breakfast. Did they go out?”
Danielle glanced briefly to the ceiling. “No, I believe they’re upstairs in their bedroom. Nola said something about Albert taking a shower. I have no idea what their plans are.”
“They seem like a nice couple. I was wondering if they might be interested in joining us for dinner tonight,” Blake said.
“If you like seafood, I’d suggest Pearl Cove. They have a wonderful view of the ocean and the best clam chowder.” Danielle glanced at the nearby clock. “If you will both excuse me, I’m going to the parlor. I have a few things to attend to before I take off.”
; It took Walt less than thirty minutes to finish the book he had been reading. He decided to leave it in the attic and put it away later. If one of the guests spied the book floating down over the staircase toward the library, he imagined Danielle would get annoyed with him.
She hadn’t come up to say goodbye yet, so he suspected she was still in the parlor. He knew she had a date with Marie this afternoon. Instead of waiting for Danielle to come upstairs to say goodbye, he headed downstairs.
He found the guests who were staying in the Red Room blocking the staircase leading to the attic. Curious as to what they were whispering about, he lingered behind them as opposed to moving through them to continue on his way.
“Is she ever going to leave?” the woman whispered, glancing toward the staircase leading to the first floor.
“We need them all to leave, not just Danielle. I was really hoping we’d be the only guests, since we made the reservations for mid-week.”
“There has to be some way to get them all out of the house so we can get the privacy we need,” she said.
“Come on, let’s go back to our room. We can have some privacy there.” He sniggered and grabbed her hand, tugging her toward their bedroom door.
“Are you about ready to leave?” Walt asked Danielle when he appeared in the parlor a moment later.
Danielle, who sat at the desk, looked up from the laptop she was working on. She turned it off and closed it. “Yes. I wanted to do a little research before I headed over to Marie’s.”
“Research?”
“I want to see if she knows anything about Sullivan. But before I asked her, I was doing a little search on one of the newspaper archive sites to see if anything popped up on him.”
“Sullivan? Why?” Walt stood by the desk.
“After finding that DNA test and you telling me about Sullivan, I’m curious to see if I can figure out who Aunt Brianna’s father was.”
Walt glanced up to the ceiling. “While you’re off solving ancient mysteries, we have one brewing under our roof.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your guests staying in the Red Room seem awful anxious for you to leave.” He then told Danielle what he had overheard and observed.
Danielle considered the conversation a moment and then made a cringe-like smile. “I hope it isn’t what I think it is.”
“What’s that?” Walt frowned.
“You say they wanted us all gone for privacy—then he suggested they find it in their room for now?”
“So?”
“Think about it, Walt. Ewww, I hope they aren’t going to…I mean…” She cringed again.
“Ahh…you think they intend to take their bedroom activities to other rooms in the house?”
“I suppose it’s not as outrageous as the couple who paid the restaurant maître d’ to dine nude in one of the little alcove rooms off the main dining hall.”
“Where was this?”
Danielle grinned. “A restaurant in Arizona.”
Walt arched his brow. “And you know this how?”
Danielle grinned. “I had a friend—a very conservative friend—who was a server there. She happened by the little alcove room and glanced in. She was quite shocked to find a nude couple sitting at the table, drinking wine. She told me all about it.”
Walt laughed. “I’ll keep an eye on our adventurous couple in case they are up to something else. But if their clothes start coming off, I won’t stick around.”
Eighteen
Colorful flowers dotted the perimeter of the property, peeking out between the slats of the fencing. Beyond the gate, the cheery house, sunny yellow with white trim, stood proudly under the clear blue sky amidst a sea of freshly cut lawn, an example of what many believed an ideal beach cottage should be.
A car was already parked in front of the house when Danielle arrived. It was Adam’s car, and Adam himself was just coming down the walkway when Danielle turned off her ignition.
“Grandma said you were coming over,” Adam greeted Danielle when he reached the sidewalk.
“And you were hoping to slip away before I arrived?” she teased.
He grinned. “Well, I tried.” His expression then grew serious and he asked, “Any word on the gold coins?”
Danielle shook her head and then glanced up at Marie’s house. “Although you probably knew that. If there was any news, I would imagine Marie would be the first to know.”
“True. But she hasn’t heard anything either. I told you, you should have just let me have them.”
Danielle giggled. “You’re probably right.” She shifted her purse from one hand to another and then hung its strap over her right shoulder. “Mel dropped by yesterday.”
“Yeah, I saw her after she left your place.”
“She brought me a box from Renton’s storage.”
“She told me about that.”
“So she’s really moving back?”
“Appears that way. She resigned from her job in New York, plans to practice law in Oregon,” Adam said.
“Yeah, she told me.”
“You know, she’s considering changing her name back to Carmichael.”
“Really? Does that mean the divorce is final? We didn’t discuss her marriage.”
Adam shrugged. “I guess it is.”
“So tell me, you going to finally settle down? Marie would love that.”
“Mel just moved back to town. Aside from seeing her when she came for Jolene’s funeral, Mel and I haven’t seen each other since we were kids.”
“You two seem to hit it off pretty good when she was here the last time. I just figured—”
“So when are you and Chris getting married?” Adam countered.
“Me and Chris?”
“Sure, you two seem to get along great. You even went on a romantic rendezvous—at least you would have if someone hadn’t hijacked the plane.”
Danielle laughed. “Okay, okay. I get your point. And anyway, I wouldn’t call it exactly a romantic rendezvous, considering we went with three other couples.”
“Not to mention one of them was your old boyfriend. What was that about?” Adam teased.
“Oh, shut up. Joe is not an old boyfriend,” Danielle scolded good naturedly.
“Not so much fun when someone is butting into your love life, is it?”
“Are you implying I’m butting into your love life?” Danielle asked with faux outrage.
“Aren’t you?” he smirked.
“First you have to actually have a love life for me to butt into.”
Adam groaned. “Brat. But you do have a point.” He glanced at his watch. “I better run. Enjoy the visit with Grandma, but no plotting with her about me and Mel.”
Danielle let out a sigh. “Okay. I promise.”
Adam started for his driver’s side door. Instead of heading toward the house, Danielle turned to his car and watched him open the car door.
“Adam, can I ask you just one thing?” Danielle asked.
About to climb into the car, Adam paused and looked to Danielle. “What?”
“You and Mel, I mean, you do care about her, don’t you?”
Adam opened his mouth to say something and then paused. Finally, he said, “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“I asked Adam to join us for lunch,” Marie explained when she showed Danielle to the back porch. On the patio table lunch was already laid out, including two place settings and a vase of freshly cut flowers in the center of the table. “But he had an appointment with some client.”
Danielle removed her purse from her shoulder and slipped it over the back of a chair before taking a seat at the table. “He didn’t mention that.”
“I suppose you heard about Melony moving back to town?” Marie asked as she sat down. She lifted the lid from a covered dish and removed a sandwich, its crust already neatly trimmed from the bread, and set it on Danielle’s plate.
“Yes. In fact, she stopped by to see me yesterday on her way into town.” Danielle picked
up the glass of ice water and took a sip. “She brought me a box with some of Aunt Brianna’s things.”
“Really?” Marie set a sandwich on her plate. She then passed a bowl of potato chips to Danielle, silently offering her some.
“She’s been sorting through the boxes that were put in storage after Renton was arrested. I guess after her mother was killed, they became her responsibility.”
“I thought all the boxes holding information pertaining to Brianna were removed from storage already?”
Danielle shrugged. “That’s what Melony thought too. But this box didn’t really hold any legal papers, just personal items.” Danielle then went on to explain what had been in the box, while Marie silently ate her sandwich and listened.
“Very interesting. You know, I’ve thought about taking one of those DNA tests. Adam doesn’t seem to be very interested in genealogy research, but I think his brother might be.”
“I tend to forget Adam has a brother.” Danielle took a bite of her sandwich.
“Adam’s the oldest, you know. When my son and his wife moved to California, Jason was still in high school. He went to Colorado for college and never moved back west. I don’t think he sees his parents any more than he sees Adam and me. Sadly, the boys were never close.”
“I’ve been here over a year and haven’t met Adam’s parents.” Danielle popped a chip in her mouth.
Marie shrugged. “I wouldn’t hold your breath. Adam had a bit of a falling out with his father, and since I took Adam’s side, I haven’t been on the best of terms with my son. To be honest, I was never on terrific terms with my daughter-in-law.”
Danielle set her half-eaten sandwich on its plate. “I’m sorry.”
Marie sighed. “Don’t be, it happens.”
Danielle nodded, picked up her sandwich again, and took a bite.
“Guess who I ran into at church?”
“Who?” Danielle picked up another chip and looked across the table at the elderly woman.
“Beverly Klein. I haven’t seen her much since Steve’s death. But I must say, she looks well. I always thought she was an attractive woman. She’s probably relieved to be free of her cheating husband.”
