“What’s taking so long up here?” boomed the voice of Deputy Franklin.
Klarinda turned away from Neil and said, “He says he’ll be right down. He just needs to get dressed.”
“Good,” said the deputy, nodding.
“You’re not staying up here and snooping around,” she warned the deputy.
“I wasn’t planning to. The coroner just got here. I’ve got plenty of other things to do.”
Chapter 42
The officers were all in the parlor and they’d closed the pocket doors, but Klarinda was hiding in the dining room with her ear pressed to the opening, listening.
“Was this letter from the victim’s wife the first contact you ever received from the Philmans?” she heard Sheriff Carter ask Neil.
“Yes,” said Neil.
“If you didn’t know these people, why would they contact you out of the blue?” the sheriff asked.
“Because I’d bought that piece of land they were interested in using for the lobster trapping scam.”
“And what makes you think it was a scam?”
“You could just tell,” said Neil.
“If you knew that,” asked Deputy Franklin, “then why were you coming out here to meet them?”
“More than anything, because it was an excuse to take a long drive by myself.”
“And why would you want to do that?” asked Deputy Franklin.
Klarinda’s ears perked up. The night before, Neil had divulged that he was divorced, recently retired, had just turned fifty-seven, had lost his son in some tragic way several years prior, and that he had a daughter in her late teens going to art school in New York. That was about all she knew about him. This didn’t feel like the best way to learn more about him, but she needed to find out who he really was before she got in too deep.
“The past few years have been rough. I needed some time away by myself.”
“Are you a married man, Mr. Prescott?”
“Separated,” he said.
Klarinda took a step back from the door, feeling sick to her stomach. Separated and divorced were not the same thing. So. Day one and lie number one. And it was a big one. This was not a good sign.
“And where’s your wife?”
He exhaled, then said something under his breath. Klarinda couldn’t make out what he’d said.
“Could you please repeat that?” asked Deputy Franklin.
“She’s at York Correctional Institution.”
“Is that… a prison?” asked the sheriff.
“Yes. It’s a maximum-security prison for women.”
The room was silent for a long time.
“Kind of a funny coincidence, isn’t it,” Deputy Franklin said.
Neil didn’t answer.
“I asked you a question,” said the deputy.
“I don’t know what you mean by that,” Neil said.
Myrtle came in the dining room then and turned on the lights.
Klarinda made a sweeping, shooing-away gesture and mouthed, “Get out of here! I’m spying!”
Myrtle nodded and left the room, to Klarinda’s relief, turning off the lights after her.
“I’m going to cut to the chase,” said the sheriff. “What was Barney Philman doing here at Mistletoe Manor when he lives hours from here? His vehicle’s out there in the parking lot with chains on the tires. There’s a bridge out between Snake Whisper and Windy Pines. He must have driven eight or ten hours through that blizzard to get here. He was awfully set on seeing you, yet you said you never spoke to him. This place isn’t that big. How could you avoid talking to him?”
“I just avoided it. I didn’t want to see him. He came all this way because I changed my mind and he wanted to try to change it back.”
“Did you take part in the snowball fight that happened last night?” asked another voice. It must be Officer Jacobs, Klarinda decided.
“No,” said Neil.
“Did you eat dinner here last night?” asked Deputy Franklin. “Because if you had, you would have seen our victim. It would have been hard to avoid him.”
“Did I eat dinner here in the dining room, you mean?”
“Where else would I mean?” asked the deputy.
“I slept right through dinner,” said Neil.
“So you were up in your room all night long?”
“I was up there until about eleven or so.”
“And then what?” asked the sheriff.
“I went into town.”
“Alone?” asked the sheriff.
“No, I have an alibi,” said Neil.
At this, Klarinda’s stomach did a sour little flip. Who called his love interest an alibi?
“Spill it, then,” said the deputy.
“Klarinda Snow,” said Neil. “The innkeeper. I was with her all night long, from eleven on. Ask her. She’ll tell you. There’s no way I could have harmed anyone. I was with her all night.”
Chapter 43
Klarinda hurried into the inn’s kitchen and started wiping off a prep table, just so the officers wouldn’t find her hiding out in the dining room, listening.
“What’s going on out there?” asked Pierre, who was dressed in old jeans and a sweatshirt, chopping celery.
“I just found out that the man of my dreams is married to a woman in prison and that he’s probably a murderer who seduced me so he’d have an alibi.”
“I think that happened to me once when I was young. Only, the opposite; a woman did it. Oh, to be young again,” he said, continuing to chop.
“At least we didn’t sleep together.”
“Ehhh,” he said, “and now you may not ever have the chance.”
The door swung open. It was Officer Jacobs.
“Klarinda?” he asked.
“That’s me,” she said.
“Could you please come into the parlor for a second?”
“Sure,” she said, tossing the rag in the sink and following him. Myrtle and Josephine were both up at the front desk, pretending to be enthralled with the appointment book, grim expressions on their faces.
“Guests are going to start coming down to check out soon,” Myrtle said to the officer. “Do you want me to send them in to see you?”
“I’m not sure yet,” he said.
“Can I go home?” asked Josephine, yawning.
“Not just yet,” he said. “Both of you, stay put. If anyone comes downstairs, tell them they need to stay here. It’s police business! Don’t let them talk to each other either.” Then he opened the doors of the parlor, and said, “Come on Klarinda. We’ve got some questions for you.”
She couldn’t even look at Neil. He kept trying to make eye contact with her, but she refused to meet his desperate gaze.
“Neil here just told us that you two were together last night?” Deputy Franklin asked her, glaring at her accusingly.
“It’s true,” she said quietly.
“I had no idea you fraternized with your guests,” said the deputy.
“Interesting,” the sheriff agreed, shaking his head in disapproval.
“Did you stay in Mr. Prescott’s room, or did he stay at your apartment?” asked Deputy Franklin.
“Neither,” said Klarinda. “We took a walk around downtown Windy Pines, then he visited me at my apartment. We cooked some food together, and then we talked. He left around four.”
“Four in the morning?” asked Deputy Franklin, squawking at each syllable.
“Yes,” she said.
“And this visit, was it romantic in nature?” asked the sheriff.
Klarinda shrugged.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Is this pretty typical behavior for you?” asked the sheriff.
“No,” said Klarinda. “It was a one-time thing. A mistake.” Now she allowed her eyes to meet Neil’s. “I thought he was divorced. And a nice person. I made a mistake.”
“I guess you’ll know better than to make careless decisions like that in the future,” said the sheriff. “You can go back out n
ow, Klarinda. Tell Josephine she can go home too, and Pierre might as well go back to his apartment. You and Myrtle just need to make sure you’ve got the contact information for everyone, in case we need to follow up with them. Other than that, we don’t need to talk to everyone. We’ve got what we need.”
Klarinda got up and walked out of the room and closed the parlor doors after her.
Chapter 44
In a matter of minutes, the couples who’d been staying in the orange room, the yellow room, the green room, and the red suite all checked out of Mistletoe Manor. Then Earl Morn came downstairs, requested a map of the town, and went off to find Ralph Sawicki’s house so he could take part in his first caroling practice. Derb Dunlavy had come and gone. So had the coroner with Barney’s frozen body.
That left just Dave Sommerset and his fiancée Tiffinie up in the purple room, and Neil and the officers still behind closed doors in the parlor.
“Are you doing okay?” Myrtle asked Klarinda.
“No! As crazy as it sounds, I was falling in love with that man.”
“You just met him a couple days ago.”
“I know. It’s just that I’ve been waiting so long.” Klarinda’s eyes filled with tears. “Myrtle, I’m exhausted. I hardly slept last night. Do you mind if I go back to my apartment and lie down for a little while?”
Before Myrtle could reply, they heard their remaining guests coming down the stairs. At the same time, the phone began to ring.
“Thank you for calling Mistletoe Manor. Klarinda Snow speaking,” Klarinda said listlessly into the phone, answering it before Myrtle had a chance to. She didn’t have the energy to check Dave Sommerset out.
“Hi. I’m looking for a room for the night of Friday, December sixth,” said the voice on the other end of the line.
“Sure, do you mind holding for a moment while I check our appointment book?” asked Klarinda.
“Sure, I’ll hold.”
As Klarinda reached behind Myrtle for the binder, Dave Sommerset caught her eye. He was smirking at her.
“Naughty, naughty,” he said.
“What?” she asked him.
“Shame, shame,” he said, smirking even more, rubbing one forefinger against the other.
“What are you talking about?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” said his fiancée. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, nothing,” said Dave. “I’ll tell you in the car.”
“Whatever,” said Klarinda.
She grabbed the appointment book and was about to go back to the person who was waiting on hold when Dave said, “Did you get a little hanky panky in last night? That tow truck driver wasn’t the only one pulling an all-nighter.”
“Oh,” she said, realizing he must have seen her and Neil driving away in her truck. “It was nothing. If you mean Neil, he just needed a ride.”
Dave burst out laughing. “I really read you wrong.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Klarinda, feeling her face get hot.
“Here’s your credit card back for that adult movie you rented,” Myrtle told Dave, handing his card back to him. “Twelve dollars! I hope it was worth it.”
“Dirty movie!” Tiffinie exclaimed, hitting Dave on the arm. “When did that happen?”
“Klarinda keeps telling me that we’re not that kind of establishment, but it turns out again and again, we are,” Myrtle said, nodding sympathetically at Tiffinie. “Before you two go, we had a small emergency here last night—that’s why there are a few police cars outside—and the local law enforcement folks are asking for cellphone numbers and email addresses of all guests in case they need to follow up with them.”
“Small emergency?” asked Dave.
“A fight between a couple of guests,” said Myrtle.
“What fight do you mean?” asked Dave, his smirk fading away.
“Oh, it was nothing that interesting. I don’t think they want me to say more than that.”
“Who was involved?” he asked.
“I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say that either,” said Myrtle.
“Sure. You can have our information,” Tiffinie said. “Right, Dave?”
“I guess,” he said. “You’ve probably got most of it anyway on that check-in sheet I filled out.” He yanked off a bright turquoise and green glove so he could write more easily on the notepad Myrtle had set in front of him.
“When did you get your ski gloves out of the car?” Tiffinie asked him.
He ignored her. “And… there you go,” he said, handing the notepad back to Myrtle.
Klarinda noticed the button that blinked when someone was on hold was no longer lit up. Oh well, they’d call back later.
“Thanks again for staying with us at Mistletoe Manor,” Myrtle said, putting her hands on her hips and sighing. Klarinda could tell it was her way of dismissing them, but Dave didn’t budge.
“It wasn’t that old man, was it?” he asked. “The one who smoked the pipe?”
“Maybe,” said Klarinda. “Why do you ask?”
“Just, uhh, a hunch.”
“Can we go now?” Dave’s fiancée asked him, tugging at his sleeve. “I’m starving. Let’s go out for breakfast.”
“Sure,” said Dave. “Thanks for the hospitality!”
A moment later, the little Chevy Spark was flying down the Mistletoe Manor driveway, turning off onto the highway, and then it was gone.
A couple of minutes after that, the parlor doors opened and the police led a handcuffed Neil Prescott outside to a waiting squad car.
Chapter 45
“You said you were exhausted. Why don’t you go back to your apartment and get some rest?” Myrtle asked Klarinda.
“I’m too upset. Walk me through this, Myrtle. Is Neil a murderer?”
“The police will figure it out.”
“Myrtle! Get real! Have you met the Windy Pines police force? Yes, they’ll arrest someone, but that’s not the same as figuring it out.”
“No one else here at the inn knew that old man. He came here to meet Neil, but Neil avoided him. They were hatching some kind of illegal plan together, it seems. But then Neil wanted a way out of it. Right? Have I got all the details right so far?” asked Myrtle.
“I think so,” Klarinda said softly.
“He lied to you about being married. And it sounds like he’s been wrapped up in trouble before in his life. You really don’t know him at all.”
“You’re right,” said Klarinda. “You’re absolutely right. I just wish I hadn’t been so stupid.”
“You weren’t stupid. You were hopeful. There’s no shame in being hopeful.”
“No shame, just disappointment. You know what, though? Dave Sommerset was out here in Idaho to meet someone, too. Someone who Neil knew. I heard them talking about it the first night they got here. It had to be Barney.”
“Then why would Barney have only said he was here to see Neil?”
“I’m not sure,” Klarinda admitted.
“You may have narrowly escaped a really bad situation,” said Myrtle.
“I feel so used,” she said.
“It’s going to be okay,” Myrtle assured her. “Someday, mark my words, you’ll have your very own Rod Showers. Except his name won’t be Rod Showers. But there’s a good man waiting out there for you. I just know it.”
Klarinda nodded and began walking away, but then she spun around. “Myrtle, Dave Sommerset knew Neil and I were together. You could tell he knew. I don’t believe he would have acted so ridiculously if it was just because he saw us driving into town together. I think he saw Neil and me going into my apartment together, or Neil leaving it. But how did he know that? When we got back from downtown, the snowball fight was over. I’m pretty sure Barney was not out there on the ground, either. I sure think I would have noticed that. And when Neil left my place a little after four, everyone was asleep. Although…”
“Although what?” asked Myrtle.
“I think Derb may have bee
n here when Neil left. It’s hard to say, since you can’t see the parking lot from my apartment… But… You know what, Myrtle?”
“What?”
“I know Neil went straight back to his room.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I saw his room light up when he got back to it. He’s in the gray room and I knew that, so I was watching for his light to come on. Because I already missed him. And a couple of minutes after he left me, his light came on, just as expected. Then it went out a few minutes later. Because he went to sleep.”
“Or,” said Myrtle, “because he left again.”
“I didn’t think of that,” said Klarinda. “I assumed he went to sleep, and then I went to sleep.”
“The truth is, Neil had plenty of unaccounted-for time between when he left your apartment and when you found Barney Philman.”
“When you put it that way…” said Klarinda. She didn’t finish her sentence.
“Go back to your apartment and get some sleep,” Myrtle said. “If he didn’t do it, I’m sure they’ll figure out who did.”
Chapter 46
One week later:
Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 28, 2019
“Our first official Thanksgiving together,” said Dave.
“We were together last year,” Tiffinie pouted.
“But it wasn’t official.”
“It was to me. In my heart,” she said.
“Check it out,” he said, holding up his phone to her so she could see the headline on the local news site. Murder Runs in the Family was the headline.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“It’s about Neil Prescott,” he said, handing her his phone.
She began scrolling through it. “Neil Prescott has been arrested for the murder of that lobster guy?!” she exclaimed.
“Weird, right?”
“I guess it’s a good thing we never went to see him at his ranch,” said Tiffinie.
“That’s right. How dressed up do you think we ought to get? If I know Dodd, he and Cindy Lou will both be looking sharp.”
In the Heart of Windy Pines Page 13
