Last Resort (8 page)

THIRTEEN

Jake crawled back into bed after Chuck and Jaw ran off, begging for another hour of sleep. After surveying the deck and finding nothing amiss, I mocked him, but let him go. We were on vacation and his opportunities to sleep in at home were slim to none.

But it was more than me just being amiable. Sure, I wanted him to enjoy the vacation we were on, especially since we'd gotten off to such a rocky start. I wasn't going to kid myself, though. I wanted him to go back to sleep so I could do my own poking around.

I changed my clothes, brushed my hair, found my sandals and headed for the entrance to the resort.  I wanted to talk to Delilah. I kept my eyes open as I walked, but I didn't see Chuck or Jaw or any other shady characters lurking behind the trees. All I saw were people out for their morning walks, some of them leading dogs or herding kids, and others sitting on their decks or around their campfire rings, sipping coffee. Most offered waves and “good morning” comments but a few people eyed me strangely and I wondered if it had to do with being associated with finding dead Harvey or if it was because of Jake's altercation with Hackerman the night before.

It was probably both.

As I crested the hill, I could just make out the shape of a figure through the main office window. I got closer and was certain it was Delilah, seated at a desk of some kind. I wondered if she'd sobered up from the night before or if she was nursing a nasty hangover. Either way, I was hoping she might be able to help explain a few things to me in order to satisfy my curiosity.

I knocked on the screen door. She looked up and waved me in. I stepped in and the first thing I noticed was that the air temperature inside was the same as the outside. A wall unit AC was crammed into a side window but the cord hung loose and unplugged. The walls were lined with dark paneling and a few framed photos served as decoration. The frames were metal with gold finish, the kind you could pick up at a dollar store, and the glass was spotted and dusty, like they'd been on the wall for years. There were photos of the pool and the club house and photos of lots under construction.

“Good morning,” Delilah said. Her eyes were a little red and she looked tired, but other than that, she wasn't showing any ill-effects from the night before. I was impressed.

“Morning,” I said. “How are you today?”

Her smiled flickered. “I assume you mean how am I doing after tying one on for the ages last night?”

“I was trying to be discreet.”

She clipped a slip of paper to her clipboard. “No need. I know what a fool I must've looked like. But I'm fine today. A few aspirin and a lot of water.” She sighed. “Physically, I'm alright. In other ways?” She shrugged. “Who knows?”

I nodded sympathetically. I might not have known the extent of her relationship with Harvey, but, either way, she'd still lost someone close to her.

She waved a hand in the air. “Anyway. How is your husband?”

“Oh, he's fine. Decided to sleep in.”

“I don't recall much of what went on last night, but I got an earful about it from several folks,” she said. “Sounds like he and Wayne really went at it.”

“No blood was shed, so there's that.”

She frowned. “Wayne can be a little prickly. Keep telling him if he wants to act like he owns the place, he should give me some more money so he can have the title for real.”

She'd unwittingly given me the opening I was looking for. “I wanted to ask you about that. And I hope I'm not prying. I mean, I'm sure I am. But you've been very kind to us and it worried me when I heard it.”

She picked up a pencil and tapped it on the clipboard. “What did you hear?”

“That Windy Vista is...struggling. For money.”

She pursed her lips and her eyes zeroed in on the pencil. “That would be true, unfortunately.”

“Badly?”

She hesitated, then nodded.

“I'm sorry,” I said. I hated hearing that she had financial woes to deal with on top of losing her business partner. Or lover. Because I still wasn't sure exactly what Harvey was to her.

She took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. “We probably have six months left at best. I'm tapped out and our revenues are down. And now, when word gets out about Harvey's death, I don't think this will be a real popular place for people looking to park their campers.” She forced a smile on her face. “So yes. We are struggling.”

I suddenly felt out of place. I knew I had no help to offer, no words of financial wisdom to give her, and I certainly didn't have a fat bank account I could write her a check from. Not that I would have if we did. But my heart went out to her because, even as her resort was struggling, she'd given us a free stay. And yes, it had been done as a marketing tool and she'd deceived us with what she was offering, but she'd still gone the extra mile to ensure our stay would be pleasant. That took a kind heart and I thought that no matter what Delilah's troubles were, she didn't deserve to be teetering on the edge of financial ruin.

“Harvey was trying to come up with things,” she explained. “Things to get us on the right side of the ledger. But I don't think he was really having any luck.”

“You mean the website and the resort on the lake?”

She shook her head. “No, no. If we're being honest, those were pipe dreams. They would've taken money I don't have. I appreciated Harvey's grand visions for this place, but unless one of us won the lottery, those things weren't going to happen.” She tapped the pencil again. “He was just trying to secure some financing. I'd invested all my savings into improvements: paving the roads, hooking us up to city sewer instead of asking people to maintain their own septic systems. I just had the pool resurfaced and had to replace the whole filtration system. Harvey wouldn't actually tell me what he was doing because he didn't want to get my hopes up. He was vague about it. I'm not sure if he was working on a loan or what he was doing.” She paused. “But I know he was trying. He was always trying.”

A fly buzzed in the air between us and I waved it away. “Could he have gotten a loan? I mean, was he part owner here or something like that?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing like that.”

“So he was just doing it to help you out?”

She set down the pencil and folded her arms across her chest. “You mean was he doing it because he was my boyfriend?”

Blood rushed to my face. “No, no. I just—”

She held up a hand. “It's fine. I understand. The way people talk around here, I understand. Who knows what you've been told in the short time you've been here. But let me assure you.” She leveled her eyes with mine. “Harvey and I were not a couple. Not ever.”

I was embarrassed that I'd compelled her to even explain it. If anyone knew about how gossip could get carried away, it was me. Living in Moose River, I'd been subjected to more than my share of rumors. Most of them were harmless, but after awhile, it became tiresome and there were times that I'd wanted to scream at people to mind their own business.

“I understand why people jumped to that conclusion,” Delilah said, the tension slowly seeping out of her shoulders. “He was always here. We spent a lot of time together. Hell, we went drinking together  more than a few times. But he and I laughed about it, the notion of us being a couple.” She smiled ruefully. “I just wished more people believed us when we told them that we were simply friends.” She paused. “And maybe friends is the wrong word. I think I was more like a second mother to Harvey.”

“You mentioned his mother yesterday,” I said. “That she'd be devastated at the news. Was he close to her?”

She shifted in her chair and an uncomfortable look crossed her face. Her lower lip trembled. “He was at one time. I was, too. Kat was my best friend.”

I wasn't sure whether she wanted me to ask more questions or not, so I stayed quiet.

“We grew up together around here, Kat and me,” she said, turning her gaze toward the window. “When she had Harvey, his father left. He was a no-good loser but she thought he'd turn over a new leaf when the baby was born. She came home from the hospital and he was gone. She never heard from him again. So I helped her raise Harvey. He was like my son.”

I nodded, listening. It dawned on me briefly that it was weird how she was just pouring out her life story to me. But then again, she'd just lost someone important to her and seemed desperate to talk about him. If that was what she needed me to do, I was more than willing to listen.

“Kat was a good mom but she wanted him to get out of here when he graduated, to go see the world. She wouldn't let him work during high school—she didn't want him to get trapped into some dead-end job that would make him feel like he couldn't leave.” Her top lip tucked into her bottom lip and she tilted her head to the side, like she was trying to get a better look at something outside the window. “But then he asked me for a summer job.”

A truck honked outside the office and Delilah punched the remote. The gate arm outside rose and the truck crawled past the building, hauling a shiny blue and white speed boat behind it.

“He wanted to stay here,” she continued, her fingers resting on the remote. “He wasn't interested in going to college. This...this was his home. They argued about it and she basically kicked him out, thinking that would force him to go somewhere else.” She sighed. “But he came to me and asked for a job and a place to stay. I tried to get him to go back to Kat, to try and work it out, but he wouldn't. He said he'd tried a hundred times.” Her fingers traced the remote. “I wasn't going to leave him homeless. So I let him use one of the campsites and I hired him to do some maintenance work.”

I leaned against the wall. “And she wasn't happy about that?”

She smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. “No, she was not. She found out three days later and she marched right in here, asking if it was true. I told her it was. Tried to get her to calm down, told her that it wasn't forever, that if he made some money then maybe he'd reconsider and pack up and head out for wherever she wanted him to go.” She shook her head. “But she wasn't having it. She went and found him. He was working on the laundry room, I think. She screamed at him, told him to leave. He dug in and refused. She stormed back here and demanded that I fire him.” She squirmed in the chair. “I couldn't fire him. He was like my own son.” She pulled her fingers away from the remote. “She hasn't spoken to me since.”

Based on her body language, it seemed like she hadn't gotten over losing her best friend and that she still felt badly about it. But she'd been put in a tough situation. I wasn't sure what I would've done, but I tended to think my reaction would have been the same as Delilah's.

“And he just decided to stay?” I asked. “He never left?”

She shook her head. “No. He got a studio in town to live in during the winter. He loved this place,” she told me. “That's what Kat never understood. Harvey loved this place. It's why he took such an interest in running things around here. He wanted it to grow and get on solid footing so it would be here forever. He'd talked about taking it over from me whenever I decided to retire. I used to blow him off because I couldn't even think of the idea of retirement—couldn't afford it, if I'm being honest—but there was no doubt.” She looked at me. “I wrote it into my will that this place was all Harvey's if anything ever happened to me. He loved it more than I do.”

Her eyes drifted to the window again and my heart hurt for her. She'd lost a friend in Kat, a friend in Harvey and, the way she was talking about it, the future of Windy Vista had gone with Harvey, too. Jake and I had mocked the place when we'd gotten there, but now there was nothing funny about it. It meant a lot to plenty of people and it was in jeopardy of disappearing.

“Anyway,” Delilah said, snapping out of her reverie. She lay her hands on the desk. “I didn't mean to bend your ear like that. I'm sure you came down here for some reason other than to have some old woman cry on your shoulder.”

I smiled at her. “I didn't hear an old woman crying on my shoulder. And even if I did, she'd be welcome to do that anytime.”

Her eyelids fluttered and she took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

I nodded. “I did have a question for you, though. When I woke up this morning, there were...visitors on our deck.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Squirrels?” Her expression clouded. “Or bears? We don't usually see them this time of year...”

I swallowed. I hadn't thought about bears. “No,” I said. “Guys.” I told her about our confrontation with Chuck and Jaw.

She frowned when I was finished. “I know those two boneheads. Annoying, but harmless. Nonetheless, they shouldn't have been there. You see them again, feel free to call me or the police. Wouldn't be the first time they've been called to pick those two up.”

“They hang out here?”

“No, not here,” she said, shaking her head. “Harvey would chase them away. But we'd see them in town, just hanging around, doing nothing. Pretty sure the local police are on a first name basis with them.” Her eyes fluttered again. “No, Harvey wouldn't let them stick around here. He took care of that kind of stuff.”

Her gaze moved back to the window and she let out another sigh. This one sounded more like a sob. “All that kind of stuff.”

FOURTEEN

Wayne Hackerman was staring me down.

I'd said goodbye to Delilah and started back up the hill toward the cabin. I had my head down, lost in thought, thinking about my conversation with her. I heard footsteps at the top of the hill and looked up. Hackerman was there, shuffling his way directly toward me.

“Delilah down there?” he growled as he reached me.

I hadn't intended to say anything to him, just hoped to pass by him in silence. “Yes. She's in her office.”

“Good,” he said. He adjusted his sunglasses. “Need to file a formal complaint with her about your husband assaulting me.”

“You know she's not the police, right?”

“Oh, I'll be talking to them, too, little lady,” he told me emphatically. “I got plenty to say to them. Don't you worry.”

I brushed past him. “Well, make sure you let them know that there are lots of people who saw you grab Jake first. Don't forget that part.”

He grunted and halted to a stop. “I think a lotta people need to get their eyes fixed, little lady.”

Every time he said little lady, it was like nails on a chalkboard to my ears. I knew Jake had been forced into the altercation with Hackerman, but I wouldn't have blamed him if he'd swung first. Because Hackerman's big mouth was pretty impossible to ignore.

“I also plan to tell them that his little wife would do just about anything to win the medallion hunt,” he said.

I stopped and turned to face him. “What?”

His mouth twisted into a smug smile. “You heard me.”

“Yeah, but it didn't make any sense.”

“Yeah, it did,” he said. His grin widened, his coffee-stained teeth yellow in contrast to his semi-tanned skin. “Made sense to me.”

“Explain it to me then.”

He pulled a roll of mints from his pocket and popped one in his mouth. He sucked on it. “You wanted that medallion.”

I shrugged. “So?”

“So I think you would've done anything to get it,” he said. He leaned closer to me. “Anything.”

“I just followed the clues,” I said, leaning back from his breath, which smelled like mint and cheap beer. I wondered if he'd knocked back one already that morning or if he simply sucked on mints instead of brushing his teeth. “It actually wasn't that hard. I was kind of surprised you hadn't found it sooner. I mean, being the defending champion and all. For the last two years or whatever.”

“Six!” he snapped. “Last six years!”

I knew that. I'd just wanted to see him freak out a little. And it was a pleasure to watch.

He crunched the mint between his teeth. “Yeah, well, I don't know. I'm having a hard believing you just followed the clues to find it. I smell something rotten.”

I sniffed. “Maybe you need a shower.”

“Ha. Pretty funny, little lady. But I think you know what I mean. I think you took matters into your own hands.”

My head was starting to hurt. “What exactly are you talking about?”

“You found the medallion,” he said. “And you found Harvey. Seems a bit too coincidental to me.”

“The medallion was
on
Harvey. It was sort of hard to not find both.”

He smiled. “Huh. Maybe you tried to blackmail Harvey into telling you where it was and things went awry.”

“Things went awry?” I asked, hardly believing what he was suggesting. “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah. Awry,” he repeated.  Askew. Wrong.”

“I know what the word means,” I said, irritated. “But we never even met Harvey.”

“So you say.”

“Because it's the truth.”

“So you say,” he repeated, staring down at me through his sunglasses.

I hated that he was getting to me, but he was. It was like his insanity was contagious and he was spreading it all over me. It was making me ill. And angry.

“The only reason I wanted that medallion was to beat you,” I said, pointing at him. “Because you're an obnoxious pig. We never met Harvey and we certainly wouldn't have hurt him over a stupid camp medallion.”

He grinned again, like an ugly fox. “Didn't seem like a stupid medallion yesterday.”

I started to scream something at him, but caught myself. I wasn't going to let him upset me any more than he already had. No way was I going to let a guy like Wayne Hackerman get the better of me. Call it competitive instincts or call it human pride, but I was going to do my best to be the bigger person in this situation.

“I think the only person who really cared about that medallion was you,” I said calmly. “What with your winning streak and all. So if anyone had a reason to blackmail Harvey for the location—because they couldn't figure out the simple clues—it was you.” I frowned. “Maybe I need to share
that
with the sheriff.”

His grin dissolved and his mouth dropped open.

“And maybe you attacked my husband last night because you were afraid he knew something,” I continued, just trying to think of the most inane things I could say to him. “Maybe you panicked and thought the gig was up and that's why you went after him.” I paused. “Gosh, I need to get back to my cabin so I can call the sheriff and share my thoughts with him.”

His fat cheeks glowed pink. “That's absurd! And your husband didn't see nothing. There was nothing to see.” His confidence was completely shattered. “You weren't even here the last time I saw Harvey!”

“Whatever,” I said, satisfied I had the upper hand. “I think I'll still share my thoughts with the sheriff.” I waved a hand at him. “See you later.”

I started walking away, then stopped. “And Wayne?”

“What?” he growled.

“Tell your wife and her boobs to stay away from my husband,” I said. “She ogles him one more time and I'll tear her tube top off and shove it down her throat.”

So much for being the bigger person.