by Linnea West
"I haven't been staring at you," Dawn said, her eyes going wide. Something about her expression seemed to be put on, like she was acting surprised for show. "I've just been trying to figure out who did it, just like everyone else here."
"Well you can stop staring at us," Claudia said. "I'm tired of it."
Before Dawn could speak up again, my father rose to his feet. He commanded the attention of the room as he got up and walked to a spot in front of the fireplace.
"I think we all need to take it down a notch," he said. "We are all here together until this storm ends, so we may as well make the most of it. We need to prioritize staying warm and not driving each other nuts. If we actually knew who did it, that person wouldn't be here in this room. At this point, it will be up to the police when they are able to make it here."
The room quietly muttered along in agreement. My father slowly walked back, sat down in his chair and picked up the magazine about birds that he had been reading.
Everyone seemed to be getting more and more suspicious. It made me wonder if they just were curious to solve the crime or if they thought the killer may kill someone else and they wanted to be prepared. But, I had put that in the back of my mind.
Honestly, I was done and over it. Whoever had killed Jake wasn't someone who was going to kill anyone else. There was no reason to kill anyone else. So far, they had gotten away with it and somehow left clues that pointed to multiple different people. I had to tip my hat to whoever it was because they had either purposely planted clues or they had extraordinary luck during this entire fiasco.
Either way, no one else was in danger and my curiosity had reached the end. Until then, I would have to occupy myself with people-watching and magazine reading. I guess being stuck here in a blizzard wasn't so bad, unless you happened to be Jake.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I continued my mostly surreptitious people watching for a little while as the tension in the room slowly mounted. This time, it wasn't because there was a killer in our midst. Rather, everyone was just starting to get sick of everyone else.
Here we all were, a bunch of relative strangers stuck in a bed and breakfast together during a blizzard and not only were we stuck in the same room simply for heating purposes, but someone here had already killed a guest. It was a recipe for disaster.
As time wore on, the bickering got worse and worse and the snide comments got louder and louder. Finally I felt like I was at a middle school hang out instead of stuck in a B&B during Valentine's Day weekend. If this blizzard lasted much longer, the police may find a mass murder after we all get sick of each other and bludgeon each other to death. I shook my head because I didn't think my black humor was appropriate in light of the situation with poor Jake. But being stuck like this made me turn to some morbid humor.
Thinking of the police made me think of Max and it was like he knew that because just then, Mandy walked over with her phone.
"I just got another message from Max for you," she said, handing me her phone.
Hey Mandy, just a message for Tessa. Tessa, can you let me know how things are going please? I haven't heard from you in a while.
I took the phone and started to type a message before I was interrupted by my mother.
"Okay everyone, I've had quite enough of all of the bickering," my mother said, clapping her hands together. "I haven't heard this many arguments since I had six children living here. So I have decided that we are putting together a board game tournament."
The inevitable groans and protests were quickly cut off by a wave of my mother's hand.
"None of that," she said. "I don't want to hear any complaining. I've given you all long enough to figure out a way to occupy your time and for a while it was okay. But now I'm sick of hearing all of the squabbles. So we are going to set up some tables and pick out a few board games and we are going to round robin a competition and come up with an ultimate winner."
My mother stood in the doorway to the entryway as she announced her idea, looking both formidable enough that no one would refute her idea and also like a sweet old lady who just had a great idea. I had to admit that it was a good idea because we were all stuck together anyways. We may as well make the most of it.
My childhood had been filled with these sorts of ideas. My mother was great at coming up with creative ways to occupy our time if we didn't have our own ideas. The board game competition idea was a well tested idea that was used throughout our childhood whenever the weather was too terrible to go out. I was actually sort of excited that my mother had thought it could apply to this situation also.
"Great idea," I said, standing up. I wanted to make sure to throw support behind her right away so that the idea would gain more traction. "I think we are all thrilled to finally have an idea that will keep us busy through what is hopefully the last bit of this blizzard."
"I think that sounds great," Dave said from the table in the corner. "I think my eyesight is starting to go bad after squinting at all of these tiny puzzle pieces in the last two days. I'd much rather play board games."
He ceremoniously grabbed a large chunk of the partially-done puzzle and started breaking it back up into small piece in the box. I expected the rest of the puzzle crew to protest, but instead they laughed along and started to break up the rest of along with Dave.
Already, the idea of something new and fun was really helping to dissipate the tension in the room. Smiles were appearing on everyone's faces as they put down their books and magazines and started to talk with excitement.
I typed out a quick message for Max with a question that had been nagging at the back of my mind before handing the phone back to Mandy.
Everything is fine. We are back to square one, not knowing who killed Jake. I've decided not to keep investigating. We are having a board game competition instead. There is something I've been wondering about though. Dawn said she didn't sign the divorce papers, so she and Jake were still legally married and she will get everything in his estate. Is that really how it works?
Max sent back a quick reply that answered my question.
No, that is definitely not how it works. It only takes one signature.
That was kind of what I had thought, so I sent a quick message back.
I thought so. She is not going to be happy about that.
As I wondered who was going to break the news to Dawn that her debts would not be taken care of, Anna spoke up.
"What do we need to do to set everything up?" Anna said quietly.
She looked hopeful and I knew that she was hoping this competition could take her mind off of things. For her sake, I hoped that it would too.
But there I was, identifying with her once again. I just couldn't help but put myself into her shoes because I knew what it was like to be a young widow. I needed to stop because for all I know, she was the one who made herself a widow. My mind whirled around and around that idea.
I closed my eyes for a moment and reminded myself that I needed to stop thinking about the murder and anything having to do with it, especially Anna and her newly acquired widow status. Every time I thought about it, I could feel that idea dragging me closer and closer to the deep dark hole of grief. I managed to pull myself out of it this far but if I allowed myself to be continually dragged into grief, it would be harder and harder to get out each time.
Once, I heard an analogy for grief that I really enjoyed. It basically said that when a death first happens, carrying around the grief is like carrying around a huge camping style backpack of grief. But as time marches on, the luggage gets smaller and smaller until you are still carrying it around, but it is now the size of a small pocketbook with a shoulder strap. It is still always there with you, but much more manageable and small enough that you are able to forget you have it with you.
But since I've been trapped in this house with a new widow, every time I think of her or her grief, my grief has gotten larger and larger. I've been up-sizing my grief luggage each time and right now, it
is noticeably larger than my usual pocketbook of grief. I needed to stop before I was dragging around a trunk of grief, allowing myself to live in the dark place instead of honoring Peter by going on to live my life as a still vibrant young woman.
After taking a few more deep breaths, I opened my eyes to find the living room bustling with activity. Mandy was watching me with some interest, her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what I was doing. I could see the concern playing in her eyes as she determined if she should come over to me or not. I shook my head just a tiny bit and gave her a small smile to let her know that I was okay. She smiled back and continued folding up blankets and putting them away.
I was going to throw myself whole-heartedly into this board game competition. I was going to push my grief back and focus on winning the whole darn thing.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
When we did board game competitions in our childhood, it was mostly a loosely set up way to make us spend a few hours without beating up on each other. We still managed to squabble and occasionally someone got angry enough to flip the board over, but mostly we kept busy and out of our mother's hair.
Now though, we had to come up with a better system because some of the more competitive adults were demanding a fair competition. So my mother and I put our heads together and came up with an entire afternoon's worth of gaming for everyone to enjoy.
We had four different board games that four different people at a time would play, rotating so that everyone played each game once plus one round of a break. The winner each time would receive five points, second place would get three points and third place would get one point with the loser receiving a big fat zero. At the very end, whoever had the most points would win the entire competition.
The setup was such that the same people would not play each game with the same people. Everyone would rotate around and play with different people each game. We also chose an assortment of games that involved both skill and luck, so that it really was anyone's game.
The games were Chinese Checkers, Crazy Eights, Snakes and Ladders, and a trivia game. Everyone would play each game once. There was a mix of skill and luck and all of the games were pretty quick, so it wasn't like we were playing chess with a grand master or making everyone play a certain real estate buying board game for hours on end.
I scrounged up a piece of poster board from the area by the front desk that was supposed to be used for something else a few weeks from now, but we would have to buy another one because I made a giant grid on this one with everyone's names and the games where we could record how many points each person got each time.
The next thing we had to do was set up four different tables with the games. As a bed and breakfast, we had plenty of folding tables and chairs for the various events we hosted here. The only problem was that they were down in the basement, so I'd have to conquer my fears and head down there to get them.
I had one of my beloved flashlights and I roped Dawn and Mandy into going downstairs with me to collect everything. As we set off to haul up three more tables and countless more chairs, Clark hurried after us.
"Please let me help you, ladies," he said. He scurried around us and was the first to rush down the dark steps.
I turned around and saw a confused Candy looking around, obviously looking for Clark. I laughed and hurried through the kitchen door, making sure Candy didn't see Clark's back disappearing down the basement stairs.
The normally dark basement was now like a dark crypt without the light from the single hanging light bulb that we normally could switch on down there. I shivered as I showed everyone where the old folding tables and chairs were leaning up against one dank wall. At least when the light bulb was on, I could see into the corners of the basement. But with only flashlights to light the way, most of the concrete basement was swathed in darkness that couldn't be parted by the powerful beams.
Together, we hoisted the plastic and metal seating up the stairs and into the living room. Between the four of us, we were able to carry enough to only take one trip. I was grateful Clark had come along with us so that we didn't have to go back down into the darkness anymore.
The house was getting colder and colder the longer that the power was out, so we wanted to keep everyone in the living room so that the fire could warm everyone. We shoved the couch back against one of the bookcases and set up the three folding tables around the living room. Each table had four chairs around it. Along with the table that always sat in the corner by the windows, there would be enough space for everyone to play their games. Anyone who was on the one round where they weren't playing could sit on the couch and watch everyone else.
While we had been gathering up tables and chairs, my mother had been busy in the kitchen throwing together anything she could find for a strange dinner. At this point, it felt like we had eaten the same thing for all of our lunches and dinner since the blizzard started, but it was all that we had.
Trays of lunch meat and sliced cheese sat next to basket of bread and crackers. A bowl of guacamole was alongside a bag of tortilla chips and there was still a half-eaten vegetable tray with dip. There was also a tray of cookies along with carafes of hot water for tea or hot chocolate.
It wasn't much, but it would make a good dinner for everyone and hopefully by the time we got to lunch tomorrow at the latest, the storm will have died down enough for us to have the power back on so we could stop eating all of the food that the fridge had to offer.
The stove worked, since it was a gas stove, but we had eaten a lot of the other "simple" foods towards the beginning of the blizzard to make sure they didn't go bad with the fridge not staying cold enough. Thankfully my father had thought far enough ahead to put some of the lunch meat on the front porch over night so that it froze and brought it inside around lunchtime for it to thaw enough to eat. It wasn't great, but this would be the last meal we would eat the lunch meat.
Before we settled down to play the games, we all grabbed plates of food to occupy us while we gamed. I checked the game schedule and saw that my break wasn't until the last round, so I brought my food with me to the Chinese Checkers table where I would start my game.
The first round of gaming started and I played a mean game of Chinese Checkers against Anna, Clark, and Dave. I was winning for most of it but I ended up falling behind and I came in third place which was disappointing, but I guess it was better than last place. At least I got a point up on the board.
The loser at our table had been Anna and at first I felt terrible that not only had she lost her husband, but also the game of Chinese Checkers. But then I realized that she seemed to be happy just playing the game and chatting with all of us as she did it.
It was funny, though, that as soon as we started this game competition, the entire mood of the house changed. Before it had felt like we were all descending slowly into madness. But even though the storm still raged outside, the mood inside had lightened considerably. The living room was once again filled with sounds of laughter and fun. And if I could continue to push the murder out of my mind, I think I'd be just fine riding out the rest of the storm here.
Chapter Thirty
For the next two hours, we rotated through the next two rounds of gaming. I played and completely lost a trivia game, but I managed to win my game of Snakes and Ladders. With a total of six points, I was solidly in the middle of the leader board going into the fourth round.
By that time, I had moved on from cheese and crackers to cookies and hot chocolate. The nice, hot mug of hot chocolate warmed my hands nicely as I sipped up the sweet drink. I had, of course, first overloaded it with marshmallows that I had eaten with a spoon as soon as they were halfway melty before I moved on to the semi-boring, but still wanted hot chocolate.
Looking around the room as we waited for the last game of the third round to finish up. The trivia game was taking an awfully long time as there was a very heated tie for first between Joe and my father, so I sat and observed while sipping my drink.
/> Considering all of the tension earlier, things were quite pleasant now at the B&B. Everyone looked happy, especially Anna. She was sitting at the Snakes and Ladders table with the biggest smile she had worn since before Jake died, having just won second place.
Even Candy was having fun. Right now she was chatting and laughing with Mandy on the couch as they munched on crackers and discussed the different games that had just ended. I knew that if my mother's idea was good enough to keep my siblings and I at bay when we were younger, it was enough to keep Candy happy too.
The fourth round was my last round to play and this time I was playing Crazy Eights with my father, Dawn, and Claudia. I swallowed the last dregs of my hot chocolate and went about shuffling the cards for the game. Claudia joined me and I gave her half of the deck to shuffle. We laughed together at the competition so far. Just like me, Claudia was stuck at the middle of the pack but she didn't seem to mind.
Dawn was standing by the leader board, staring at the numbers intently. She was towards the top of the leader board and I assumed she was figuring out what was the worst she could do to still win the entire competition. Really, she could lose one of her games and still have a chance to win.
Suddenly, a cheer went up at the trivia table and I turned to see my father triumphantly pumping his arms in the air with a giant smile on his face. I couldn't help but feel proud of him. My father hadn't gone to college, but he was smart as a whip. Whenever he was able to showcase his intelligence, I couldn't help but feel proud of him.
Claudia and I swapped some cards and shuffled them a little bit more as my mother wrote the new points total up on the board. My father was at the top of the leader board along with Joe. The last two rounds were anyone's game, though, so it would be interesting to see how it would play out.
My mother started a five minute timer so that people could take a bathroom break and refill their snack plates before we started the fourth round of gaming. I stood up and decided I could use a few more pieces of cheese and some crackers.
