Death in Room 7 (Pine Lake Inn Cozy Mystery Book 1) (15 page)

Just my luck.  The man has a job that lets him work from home.

“Heya, Dell.  I was just filing my story by e-mail,” he said to me after answering the door with a tired smile.  “Give me five minutes and I’ll have it submitted.  Unless ya have something I can add to it?”

Cutter’s a thief, I almost said.  Senior Sergeant Cutter’s a full on lowlife who might be a murderer and the whole town should ride him out on a rail.  That sounded better in my head than I knew it would look in print.  Best to keep my mouth closed.

Until I had proof.

“No,” I said with an empty smile.  “Nothing to add.”

“Not sure I believe ya, Dell.”  He studied me for a moment and then shrugged.  "Guess a woman needs to keep some of her secrets.  Come on in.  Keep me company while I put this one to bed.”

I followed him into the living room, where he had a steaming cup of coffee on the end table and his laptop open to a word document.  He asked me if I’d like a coffee but I just wanted to get his over so I declined the offer. He sat down immediately and began typing.  I sat in one of the two easy chairs and waited, my hands on my knees to keep them from fidgeting.

I watched him as he typed.  It was interesting, to see him working.  There was something about seeing him that way, so intense, so focused.  Made him seem more like himself, somehow.  It was attractive on him.

With a flourish and a few more taps, he shut the laptop and set it beside him on the couch.  “So.  You’ve had an interesting morning.”

“Interesting week,” I corrected him.  How many days had it been since Jess had arrived in Lakeshore?  I wasn’t even sure any more.  “I, uh, wanted to have a little talk with you.”

He sipped at his coffee and raised one eyebrow at me.  “Oh?  What about?”

Not going to make this easy on me, now was he?  “I was thinking some awful things about you.  Terrible things.  None of them were true, and I feel terrible about it.”

Putting the mug aside, he shrugs.  “This the bit about thinking I tipped off Antonio Ferarro?  Like Kevin and you was asking before?”

I rolled my eyes to the side and nodded as I bit at my lower lip.  “I’m sorry.”

“Heh, is that all?”

He made it sound like all I did was accuse him of taking the last cookie.  “Isn’t that enough?”

With a smile and a little shake of his head he took my hand and stood me up again.  “The way I figure it,” he said, “ya had every reason to be jumpy.  A good friend wouldn’t hold that against ya.”

Before all this started, I had barely known James.  Now I couldn’t imagine going back to not knowing him like I do.  “Is that what we are?” I asked him.  “Good friends?”

For a long moment he didn’t speak, didn’t move, and for all I know he didn’t breathe.

Then he leaned in very close to me, and gently kissed my lips.

“I hope maybe more than friends,” he said, in a smoky voice.

In that moment, my voice failed me altogether.  I think I said something, I’m sure I said something, I just can’t remember for the life of me what it was.  Something witty, I hope.  Something full of half-spoken promises.  Or maybe I just mumbled thanks before I turned and beat a path out of his door.

I really hadn’t expected that.  It was good to know that my instincts had been right about him after all.  He was a good man.  An honest man.  No matter what I’d suspected him of.

A man I could trust to be my friend.

I just hadn’t expected…that.

On my way home my fingers strayed to my lips.  I could still feel the way his mouth had pressed against mine.  So warm.  So comfortable.  Like a first kiss should be.

I might not have expected it, but I certainly enjoyed it.  After all, time moves on.  It had been a while since I’d let a man into my life.

Maybe it was time for me to move on, too.
 

It was two days later when George was back to work.

And the first thing he did was figure out how to put that painting up in our lobby.

Now, I don’t know what George’s fascination is with Lieutenant Governor David Collins, but I have to admit his solution was almost elegant in its simplicity.

“There,” he said to me when it was done.  “How d’ya like it, Dell?”

The man just got back from a stay in the hospital for a concussion and a fractured skull, understand, so at this point I would have let him hang the painting with duct tape if he really wanted to.

Thankfully it didn’t come to that. 

From the registration desk I looked over at the painting, set up on the floor on its tripod easel, and gave a tip of my head to old David Collins, and George the handyman.  “Looks right fine to me.  Don’t know what you plan on doing with your time now that you’ve got that squared away.”

“Heh.  Place like this?  Always something needs doing.”

He stepped away, whistling to himself, and I found myself agreeing with him.  There was always something going on at the Pine Lake Inn.

In a lot of ways.

Things are almost back to normal here now, with a few exceptions.

Jess’s room has a new rug in it, and a new chair to boot.  The walls have been scrubbed, the bedding changed out.  There’s no evidence to be found that a good friend died there.  I’ll still never be able to call it room seven again.  It will always be Jess’s room to me.

I’ve had people call up specifically requesting to stay in that room.  Part of me is disgusted every time someone asks.  Another part of me thinks it’s a pretty fair tribute to her.  So in the end, I make the reservations.  It’s more popular now than my honeymoon suite.

Wait until Jess gets a load of that.

I see her still, sometimes, out of the corner of my eye.  A slim ghostly figure with long blonde hair, wearing ripped jeans and a t-shirt and laughing over some little thing that someone has said.  She’ll always be a part of the Inn, now, and a part of my life.

The thing is, I don’t think she’s the only one.

Now that I’ve accepted Jess’s spirit as a real thing, I kind of get the feeling there are other ghosts in this building.  I’ve felt things, seen things, long before Jess came to Lakeshore.  The way nothing stays on that wall, whether it’s a painting of David Collins or a clock or a hand-drawn notice on a piece of paper.  The way the phone will ring and then crackle with static when no one’s there, and then the way you can almost make out words in all that white noise.

The way my skin will creep with cold prickles when I think someone’s watching me but all I can see are shadows.

If this Inn really is haunted from events in its past, before me and Rosie took it over, maybe Jess has opened my eyes to see it.  Maybe there’s always been more to life than what I knew.  Who knows?  Maybe the next time the phone rings—

I nearly jump out of my skin when the phone on the desk does exactly that, the little red light letting me know it’s an outside call coming in.

Laughing at myself I pick up the receiver to answer.  “G’day, Pine Lake Inn.”

“Why, hello my dear.  Would Dell Powers be available to speak to?”

The man’s voice on the line is smooth as silk.  Or, oily as butter, I suppose.  There’s an accent, too, one I can’t quite place.  “This is Dell Powers.  Can I help you?”

“I certainly hope so.  It would seem we have a lot in common.”

Yeah, I don’t like the way he said that.  “I’m sorry, who am I speaking to?”

“Manners, yes, of course.  First, let me tell you why I’m calling.  An associate of mine is sitting in jail.  Because of you.”

Because of…oh.  “You mean Antonio Ferarro.”

“The very same, my dear.”

Oh, snap.  “Which makes you, what?  Part of the ‘Ndrangheta crime family?”

When he chuckles it’s like nails on a chalkboard.  It makes my skin crawl.  “You could say that about me, yes.  I’m more of a family patriarch, I suppose you could say.  My name is Joseph Catalaggi.  I was most upset to hear what befell Antonio.”

I finally have enough presence of mind to check the caller ID for the number this Catalaggi fellow is calling from.  The little screen just reads, unknown caller.  “Mister Catalaggi, your business associate Antonio killed a good friend of mine.  He tried to kill me, and other people too.  What do you want from me?”

“Want?  Why, my dear, I want nothing from you.”  That soft laugh again.  “I only wanted you to know that we are aware of you.  Oh, and your son as well.  The amazing policeman, Kevin Powers.  Took down Roy Fittimer.  Arrested Antonio.  Busy man, your son.  At any rate, I simply wanted to introduce myself, and let you know that we will be in touch.  Goodbye, Miss Powers.”

Then he hung up. 

I held the phone in my hand for a moment, staring at it.  Was that a threat?  Or an introduction?  I felt for the unicorn necklace and held the little pendant tightly.

I had the feeling I’d be hearing from Joseph Catalaggi again.

As I went to replace the receiver, to hang up on that weird call, the phone rang again.  The red light didn’t blink.  It just rang.

It couldn’t possibly be ringing.  I hadn’t put it down yet.

Ring, ring.

I put the phone back to my ear, wondering what was wrong with the thing.  “Hello?”

A burst of static filled the line.

I thought I heard something, faint and indistinct.

I’m here.

It wasn’t Jess’s voice.

But then, who?

Carefully, I hung up the receiver, and stepped away from the desk.

The phone rang again almost immediately.

I was halfway to picking it up again when I decided I needed to check on what Rosie was doing in the kitchen.

There would be time enough for another good mystery tomorrow.

-The End-

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Jumbuck Stew

TOTAL TIME:
15 min
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 1hr 30min
YIELD:
4 servings
LEVEL:
Easy

INGREDIENTS

• 1 kg chops (lamb)
  
• 2 tbs plain flour
  
• 1 pinch seasoning *to taste
  
• 2 tsp curry powder
  
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  
• 2 tbs butter
  
• 1 onion large sliced
  
• 2 tbs white vinegar
  
• 4 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  
• 4 tbs tomato sauce
  
• 2 tbs brown sugar
  
• 1 cup beef stock (liquid)
  
• 500 g pumpkin peeled chopped
  

DIRECTIONS

STEP 1 Trim chops of any fat.

STEP 2 Mix flour with salt and pepper, curry powder and ginger and coat chops.

STEP 3 Heat half the butter in a heavy based pan and brown lamb chops on both sides. Remove to a plate.

STEP 4 Add remaining butter to pan and cook onion gently until soft. Return lamb to pan.

STEP 5 Mix vinegar, sauces, sugar and stock and pour over lamb. Cover and bring to simmer, reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 1 hour.

STEP 6 Skim any fat off surface and add pumpkin.

STEP 7 Cover and cook for a further 30 minutes or until lamb chops and pumpkin are tender.

NOTES

Can be cooked in a slow cooker as well.