A Fright to the Death (23 page)

Thirty long minutes later, Vi groggily sipped the hot tea with brandy that René had prepared. She made a face and pushed it away.

“What’s in that tea? Is it that healthy green stuff?” she said. “It’s horrible!”

I grinned at Mom. Vi would be okay.

Heather had done a quick check of Vi’s extremities to be sure frostbite hadn’t set in. I was worried about Vi’s left hand since she’d lost her mitten and I had no idea how long she’d been outside.

Heather gave a thumbs-up and said it looked like Vi would be just fine. She quietly told me it would be better if we could get her to a hospital just to be safe.

I was mulling this over and wondering if it was worth trying to get the hospital helicopter to fly in and take her, when we heard boots stomping in the front reception area. Wally’s eyes got big and he scurried off to take up his post.

I thought it might be Mac and Kirk finally returning. My spirits lifted and I followed Wally out of the room.

I rushed to the front entrance and stopped short when I saw police uniforms. Even though I had called them, my gut clenched as I thought they might come bearing horrible news about Mac.

As the sky began to turn deep purple, I knew the wind would pick up again and the temperatures would plummet. Were they stuck in the woods? Did they crash into a tree? Did Emmett have a weapon? I crossed my arms to keep my hands from shaking and stepped forward to meet the police.

“I’m Detective Harris.” The plainclothes officer with salt-and-pepper hair and the weather-beaten face of an outdoorsman addressed Wally. “Someone called emergency dispatch and said there was a suspect in custody?”

“I’m Wallace Prescott.” Wally stepped forward and shook hands with the officers. “We have her . . . detained in the office.”

Wally saw the officers’ attention had shifted to me, and he turned to see who had come into the room.

“Detective Harris, this is Clyde Fortune,” Wally said. “She’s the one who caught our suspect. She and Detective McKenzie have been trying to identify the murderer.”

I was amused at Wally’s use of the word “our.” I supposed he deserved it after coming to my rescue.

Detective Harris stuck out his hand and we shook.

“I’ve known Mac for a long time. He told me you were here as well when we spoke on the phone. From Ann Arbor, right?”

“Formerly Ann Arbor. I live in Crystal Haven now.” I felt a calm settle over me as I said it. It felt right.

“We finally cleared the road down below,” he said. “It sounds like we got here just in time to miss all the
excitement.” He turned to Wally. “Maybe you should show me where you’re keeping our suspect.”

The three officers trooped after Wally and me. We briefly filled them in on the afternoon’s events as we made our way to the small supply closet where Wally had incarcerated Linda. I summarized the situation for Detective Harris and he asked for a few minutes to talk to Linda.

I returned to the lounge to check on Vi.

She sat with a bright afghan over her lap and sipped a different cup of tea. René had provided a tray of sandwiches and cookies, which Seth eyed carefully. I saw the wheels turning in his brain, trying to figure out how to get some of Vi’s food without appearing insensitive.

Vi wasn’t paying any attention to the food; she was too busy telling her tale.

“I just
knew
there was something going on with her,” Vi said.

I bit my lip to keep from interrupting and reminding her that her main suspect had been Kirk.

“But she was a tricky one,” Vi continued. “She invited me to her room for coffee and cookies.” Vi looked around to be sure she had everyone’s attention. “I wanted to see their apartment and thought I could pump her for information about . . . her staff.”

Vi glanced at me and I smiled. I wasn’t going to ruin her story by telling the young swooning knitters that Vi had suspected their yarn-bombing beefcake.

“She must have put something in the coffee,” Vi said. “I started to feel funny, but she insisted she’d just seen someone sneaking around out near the shed where Clarissa’s body was.” Vi adjusted her afghan, and Tina stepped forward to assist.

I finally remembered what was missing from Clarissa’s
medicine cabinet—Valium. Linda must have used that on Vi to relax her enough that she would pass out in the snow.

“She hustled me outside after I grabbed my coat and we walked through the snowbanks to the far side of the shed.”

Vi stopped and took another sip of tea.

“I don’t remember a whole lot after that. I felt really dizzy and she told me to sit down. The next thing I knew, I was freezing and I heard Clyde calling me.”

Everyone turned to look at me and I filled them in on my side of the story. By the time I finished, the police had found us again and said they’d take Linda with them. They asked me to show them where Clarissa’s body was stored.

I put Seth’s coat on again and prepared to venture back outside. Wally produced the key and handed it to me. He evidently didn’t want to join us for this part of the process.

It had gotten even colder in just the last hour or so since we’d come in. More worried than ever, my ears strained to hear the sound of snowmobiles but, except for the wind, all was silent.

I showed the officers the shed and gave them the key. I agreed with Wally’s sentiments—I had no desire to look at Clarissa again. I watched as they carried her plastic-wrapped body out of the small building and up to the crime-scene van.

I followed them back to the inn. Each step crunching through two feet of snow, I began to spin more and more dire scenarios in my mind. Where could Mac and Kirk be?

“I’m going to check on something here in the cottage,” I said and gestured at the cottage door as we passed by.

Pete Harris nodded and followed his officers as the men with Clarissa’s body veered off to the parking lot and opened the back of the van. I still hadn’t heard snowmobiles and dejectedly opened the cottage door to go inside.

I needed a moment to myself, but was greeted
exuberantly by Baxter. He calmed down quickly when he sensed my mood. He sat and leaned into my leg. Tuffy’s ears drooped and he also sat and regarded me carefully. I leaned against the wall and then sank to the floor.

Baxter put his head on my knees and sighed. The tears came then and I didn’t try to stop them. I had been so worried about Vi, it was partly in relief that I cried. But Mac had been gone far too long and I was very worried. I didn’t know what I would do if anything happened to him. Tuffy walked over to me and put his head under my hand. His way of providing comfort was to demand some petting.

I resolved to be more forthcoming with Mac about my plans for the future. I knew that I wanted him in it and we wouldn’t make it if I kept trying to hide who I was.

I allowed myself five minutes. I knew I would be missed if I stayed any longer and didn’t want to be found with a red nose and swollen eyes. I went into the bathroom to splash water on my face. The dogs trailed after me and watched quietly.

“Okay, guys,” I said at the door. “I’ll be back soon—you be good.” Both dogs wore the forlorn expression of being left behind.

A loud swell of voices greeted me as I walked in. I was only able to distinguish two sounds: Mac’s deep rumble and Vi’s “I knew it!”

I rushed to the lounge and straight toward Mac. I had to touch him to be sure he was really there; my imagination had run so wild. His face was bleeding and he was developing a black eye, but he was safe. My vision became blurry and I turned away from the watching crowd to hug Mac and get control of myself. Mac seemed surprised at my tearful greeting but held me close until I was ready to face the rest of the gang.

Kirk stood to the side, clutching Emmett’s arm and glowering. He also looked like he’d been in a brawl, with scrapes on his face and a split lip.

Emmett appeared worst of all. His nose was bent at an odd angle and dripped blood onto his coat. He held his right arm carefully cradled in his left and kept his eyes on the ground.

Officer Harris had followed me into the room and quickly took control of Emmett. He handed him off to one of the other officers and went out into the hallway with Kirk and Mac.

“What are they talking about out there?” Vi said. She sat up and stretched her neck to see over her admirers. “Mac was just getting to the good part, where Emmett crashed into a tree and they had to chase him through the woods.”

“That must be why I didn’t hear them return,” I said.

Mom nodded. “They had to walk back through all that snow and Emmett tried to get away twice!”

“Emmett was the one stashing the cell phones,” Seth mumbled through a mouthful of cookie. He sat with Vi’s plate on his lap.

“I can’t believe we’ve been staying here right under the nose of a thief and a murderer!” Mavis said. She sat down next to Selma, who nodded and patted Mavis on the back.

Holly rushed into the room. “I heard they’re back, where are they?”

“They’re talking to the police in the front room,” Isabel said.

“Is he all right?” Holly said.

“Who? Emmett?” Mom said.

“No, Kirk!” she said.

Heather and Tina narrowed their eyes at her.

“He’s fine,” Dad said. “A little beat up, but Emmett looks worse.”

Wally stepped forward and talked quietly to Holly. She sat in a chair by the door and mangled her apron in her lap.

She jumped up as Mac and Kirk came back into the room. She gasped when she saw his cuts and bruises and he quietly reassured her that he was fine.

He put his arm around her and they stepped out into the hallway.

Vi waved Mac over to the couch and imperiously patted the spot next to her. He glanced at me and sheepishly sat with her.

“Now tell us the story,” Vi demanded.

Mom nodded, and the rest of the crowd murmured agreement.

Mac wasn’t used to reporting to civilians on his cases, but he did an admirable job of reassuring them that everything was wrapped up without giving away too much.

“Emmett and Linda were involved in a stolen cell phone ring,” Mac began.

“Linda?” Mom asked.

“Rose! Let the man tell his story,” Vi said.

“Yes, Linda. She needed money to keep the inn going,” Mac said. “Apparently there were a lot of necessary repairs and they don’t have the kind of steady business to support costly renovations.”

I remembered how proud Linda was of the antiques and artwork. She must have been desperate to save it all.

“When Clarissa moved here after her father died, it became clear that she had the majority stake in ownership and that her vision for the future of the castle was very different from Linda’s.”

Isabel shook her head and her mouth pulled down into a frown.

“Her father, David, had loaned some money to Linda
back when they first opened and that gave him the majority ownership. He had promised to keep it as a handshake deal, but Clarissa got wind of it and made him formalize the agreement.”

Mac nodded thanks to Wally, who handed him a mug of hot coffee.

“Emmett told us he thought Linda may have killed Clarissa because that fight they had on Wednesday was about selling off some of the art work and antiques to fund Clarissa’s spa project.” Mac turned to where I stood next to Mom and Dad. “He didn’t tell us the whole story—he knew what the meeting was about because Linda told him they would have to get a good price for the cell phones so she could buy Clarissa off.”

“Linda found me in the turret room with Duchess.” Vi interrupted Mac’s story. “She thought I was trying to get information from the cat, but I wasn’t. Duchess had just come in the room and I was petting her, but not trying to interview her.”

Vi made sure we were all listening.

“I think she tried to kill me because she thought I knew she had killed Clarissa. The cat must have been in the room at the time.” Vi turned to Mac. “She did tell me she was shocked when she came downstairs and found a police officer staying for the weekend. She didn’t tell me she was shocked in a bad way. But she must have seen the whole thing unraveling when you and Clyde identified yourselves as police.”

The next couple of hours were filled with activity. The snowplow arrived and cleared the road and the parking lot. The police van took Clarissa’s body away. Mac and I spent an hour with Pete Harris sharing all of our evidence and he took Linda into custody.

By early evening, the inn had cleared out. The knitters couldn’t wait to load up their bags of yarn and knitting goodies. Lucille had won the yarn-bombing award for her piano cozy. She and Seth had spent well over an hour that afternoon covering the baby grand piano in a neon-colored knitted monstrosity. Lucille said she had called ahead to get the measurements and the piece fit the piano perfectly. I secretly thought the woman needed to get out more and resolved to be sure Mom and Vi invited her over more often. Tiny scarves for chess pieces were one thing, but this was truly impressive.

We had decided to stay one more night to give Vi a little
more rest before packing and driving back home. Of course, we all had to pretend that it had nothing to do with her near-death experience.

The big surprise of the afternoon was Tina. She finally admitted to being in Clarissa’s room the night she died—the presence of actual police and a suspect in custody must have convinced her to tell her story. No one was more shocked than Jessica to learn that Tina was Clarissa’s half-sister. David Carlisle, Clarissa’s father, had had a relationship after his divorce but never claimed the child until he found out he had terminal cancer. He located Tina and promised he would leave her half his estate in his will. When he died, the will left everything to Clarissa. Tina suspected Clarissa had managed to destroy the new will. Tina had joined the knitter’s workshop to continue to put pressure on Clarissa to do the right thing and to get closer to Linda and Jessica in case she needed their help in obtaining her inheritance.

René and Jessica had gone to the police station to help Linda procure a lawyer. Unfortunately for her lawyer, she’d admitted that Clarissa taunted her about selling her favorite paintings to pay for the spa, and Linda hit her over the head with the Maglite. A good attorney might be able to get her a reduced sentence for that, arguing temporary insanity. But the calculated strangling and then the attempted murder of Vi would be harder to talk her way through.

Mac had warned René that he needed to tell Jessica the truth about his past, but agreed that maybe he should wait until Jessica felt less blindsided by her mother’s criminal activities and the news of a new cousin. Wally had taken over management duties until Jessica was ready to return to work.

“I don’t understand how the cable needle ended up in Clarissa’s room,” Mom said.

I shrugged. “Linda may have put it there to cast suspicion on the knitters, or even specifically Isabel, knowing that Isabel and Clarissa hated each other.”

Putting all the reports together, it sounded like Clarissa had had a busy evening before Linda hit her in the head. René had been there, Tina had been there, and I suspected Emmett had also paid a visit. Probably only Duchess knew how many visitors Clarissa had received. It was up to the Kalamazoo Police Department to sort out all the stories.

I had just rested my head on Mac’s shoulder and closed my eyes for a moment when I heard
thump, thump, rattle, thump
down the stairs. I sat forward, as did everyone else, and we watched the door.

“It’s the ghost,” Vi breathed.

“Good grief, Vi,” Dad said. “There’s no ghost.”

We heard
rattle
,
smack
, and
shhh
-ing noises. Mac stood up and took a step toward the door. A small box rolled into view. Duchess followed right behind and batted it into the room like a kitty hockey player. It didn’t slide as well on the carpet as it must have on the wood floor of the hallway. She turned her golden eyes toward Seth. Abandoning her toy, she prowled toward him, leaped into his lap, and settled in, purring.

Mac’s eyes had gotten big and he strode to the box, picked it up, and stuffed it into his jeans pocket.

Lucille cleared her throat and gave Mac a little nod. Mac humphed, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the hallway. He held a finger to his lips as he led me toward the back of the hotel and the now vacant library.

“Mac, what are you doing?”

I thought I heard footsteps behind us.

He dragged me into the library and softly shut the door. He pulled out the little box. My palms broke out in a sweat
and the roar in my ears made me dizzy. I wasn’t ready for a proposal. Mac took my hand and dropped the box into it.

“What’s this?” I said.

“Open it.” Mac stepped back to watch.

I eased the ribbon off the box and peered inside. My whole body relaxed when I saw what it contained. A beautiful pair of knitted seashell earrings nestled on blue tissue paper. There was a little pearl bead right in the center of each one.

“They’re gorgeous,” I breathed. “Where did you get them?”

“I had some help from Isabel. Apparently, she knits jewelry and I asked her for something with a beach theme.”

“Beach . . .”

I looked up, and Mac now held a printed airline ticket.

“Oh, Mac, you didn’t,” I said.

“I did.”

“You got another flight? How—cell service has been down for days. And the Wi-Fi is still not working.”

“I know it’s a shock, but some things can still be done without the Internet.” His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. “Also, I had some help from Pete.”

“When do we leave?” I asked.

He checked his watch. “In about an hour if you want to make the flight.”

I threw my arms around him and thanked him enthusiastically.

“You missed something,” he said. “There’s still something in the box.”

I pulled the tissue paper out of the box and saw a key sitting in the bottom. I met Mac’s eyes. “Is this to your house?”

“Clytemnestra Fortune,” he said, “I love you.”

“Wait! Stop,” I said. I remembered the look his mother
had given him and the grumpy way he snatched the ring box off the floor.

“What?”

“Did your mother put you up to this?”

He pulled me closer. “Of course not.”

“It’s just, I know you’ve been arguing about something. And I saw her nod at you when you picked up the box . . .”

“Clyde.” He put his hand on my chin and tilted my head up so I had to look in his eyes. “I’ve been waiting for months to go away with you. And I want to spend as much time as possible with you when we get back. Nothing has changed.”

“Even if I don’t go back to the police force? Even if I use my psychic abilities?”

“What? Of course. The only reason I was arguing with my mother was because I wanted to wait to ask you to move in with me until I could do it the way I had planned.” He turned away from me. “I wanted it to be romantic. On the beach, with the moon shining on the ocean, in a place far away from here.”

“That sounds nice,” I said.

“But, we aren’t there. We’re here and it doesn’t matter because we’re together.”

“Well, then, yes. But I think I’ll need to give you a key to my place instead.”

He smiled and kissed me and from the other side of the door I heard, “I knew
it!”