Miz Scarlet and the Bewildered Bridegroom (29 page)

“We could call them
them ‘Sweet Weddings’, Mom; instead of a big wedding cake for a
hundred guests, we’d provide a small masterpiece just for the
eloping bride and groom.”

“Tiramisu, crème
br
û
l
é
e...what other romantic desserts for two are there?” Jenny
wanted to know.

“I think we’re on the
right track,” Laurel nodded approvingly. “We put on the ritz and
make every celebration special.”

“We could advertise the
Four Acorns Inn as the place to have elegant weddings for two to
twenty guests,” I decided, pondering the possibilities. “We provide
everything right here at the inn. All the bride and groom have to
do is show up with their wedding clothes.”

“We’ll use Lacey’s
place for larger wedding receptions and when there are extra guests
to put up for the night,” Bur announced, his enthusiasm growing.
“What about offering an exclusive weekend wedding package -- three
days and two nights, with a Friday night welcome reception, the
wedding on Saturday, and a farewell Sunday brunch?”

“Like we’re doing for
the Pinault and Magnusdotter families?” Jenny seemed enthusiastic
about the idea of people flocking to the inn. “That would be
fun.”

“Hmm,” Laurel sighed.
“I like the sound of that.”

Even Kenny thought it
was a good idea. “It’s a weekend to remember for a lifetime. How’s
that for a slogan?”

“It’s better than your
previous suggestion of ‘where nutty is the norm’. Speaking of
weddings, we’ve got a big day tomorrow. Why don’t we call it a
night?” I stood up to clear the table. “I’ve got to
get....”

And then it hit me --
weekend weddings, with everything from meals to marriage vows. I
suddenly knew who was stalking us and why. “Karin
has
to be
the culprit!”

“Maybe,” said a rather
reluctant Kenny. “It makes sense, I suppose.”

“You suppose? You know
I’m right, Captain Peacock!”

“Say what?” Bur looked
at me like I had three heads and was eligible for
The
Guinness Book of World Records
. “Where did that come from?”

“What are you two
talking about?” My mother was suddenly concerned.
“Scarlet?”

“That’s what this
campaign of harassment has been all about from the beginning. Karin
wants to take over the inn so
she
can host three-day
events, complete with guest rooms and fine dining,” I announced.
“We interrupted
her
plan to expand her own
business.”

“Oh, of course!” Jenny
sighed. “She wants the inn for herself.”

“And she can’t have it
if you guys are successful with this wedding, because you’ll want
to expand your business,” Shark Boy pointed out. “She’s trying to
beat you to the punch, as my dad would say.”

Bur poured himself
another cup of coffee. “I’m surprised she didn’t go after Myrtle
and Willow, and try to make it a trifecta. That’s a pretty nice
house they have and it’s right between the two
mansions.”

“Maybe she did,
Colonel, or plans to eventually.” Our eyes met as Kenny said that.
There was real relief on his face. We were coming to the finish
line on the big wedding race, and at the moment, the Four Acorns
Inn was in the lead. “All we need now is the
proof.”

“You think you can get
it?” Suddenly my brother, part owner of the inn, was more than a
little interested in the answer. He had a lot riding on the
outcome.

“I’m certain of it. By
the time Mercer Security wraps this up, Karin and her partners in
crime will be behind bars, trying to make bail, and Lacey will be
able to take possession of Wallace’s mansion once
again.”

“I do hope you’re
right, Kenneth,” my mother told him, backing her wheelchair up and
moving away from the table, “and preferably before the wedding
guests arrive.”

“It’s a promise, Mrs.
W. You can count on me.”

Despite all the
pressure he put on me to trust him, especially with that silly deal
he’d made, I had to admit that I still didn’t quite believe our
effort to get Annalee Pinault and Gunnar Magnusdotter down the
aisle would be glitch-free. But watching him reassure my mother
that she had nothing to worry about vaporized all but a few
niggling doubts. He had committed to providing security for the inn
and he had too much respect for Laurel to disappoint her. This
would all work out in the end. We’d get the happy couple united in
marriage. I just hoped we didn’t have to climb over any bodies to
do it.

After I got the kitchen
cleaned up and the dogs walked, I stopped to say goodnight to my
mother on my way to the third floor.

“Scarlet, I’d like
January to stay with me tonight.”

“Sure,
Mom.”

Laurel patted her bed
and the little Jack Russell terrier hopped up on the foot of the
bed and settled down. This was becoming a habit, but in a good way.
The little yapper would alert her to any danger. For someone stuck
in a wheelchair and vulnerable, that equaled some serious peace of
mind.

“It looks like she’s
content.” I told her, scooping up Huck.

“It does.” My mother
picked up her book from her nightstand. “I just hope it’s a quiet
night. I’ll be glad when Kenny and Max solve this case and life
goes back to normal.”

“Those are my
sentiments too, Mom.” I softly closed her door and climbed the
stairs. I got into my pajamas, brushed my teeth, and washed my
face. Jenny came up a short time later, Mozzie on her
heels.

“See you in the
morning, Miz Scarlet,” she called out on her way to her
room.

“Sweet dreams, Jen.
Sleep tight.”

“Don’t let the bedbugs
bite,” she added.

I settled myself in
bed, glad to have the little Yorkie cuddled up beside me. Picking
up
Little Red Riding Hood and the
Secret Cookie Recipe
, I read a
couple of chapters. When my eyes began to have trouble focusing on
the printed words on the pages, I surrendered to exhaustion and
turned out the light; within a few minutes, I was drifting off to
sleep.

The sound of loud
voices woke me just after two. Groggy, I reached over and turned
the switch on the lamp, flooding the room with light. What was
Jenny doing up at this hour, with the TV volume turned up so high?
An agitated Huck pawed at my door, his whimpering drowned out by
the noise.

“What is wrong with
that girl? She’s going to wake the dead!” As my eyes adjusted to
the light, I flipped back my covers and crawled out of bed, setting
my feet on the floor. “Come on, Huckleberry.”

We made our way down
the short hall to the unlit sitting room. The television was
off.

“That’s
odd.”

Jenny’s door was
closed. I paused a moment, listening. The voices were fainter here.
As I turned to go back to my room, I saw soft blue lights swirling
around the walls of the sitting room in some sort of animated light
show. They blinked on and off. “Oh, my God!”

Hurrying to the window,
I gazed out at the sight below. There were police cruisers in the
driveway and tiny figures running around the
garden.

“What in the blazes is
going on?” I cried. In my haste to find out, I almost got to the
bottom of the stairs before I realized I was still in my pajamas.
“Crap!”

Back upstairs I went,
two steps at a time, and fumbled through my drawers for clothes.
With fingers trembling and lungs tight with fear, I managed to pull
on a respectable pair of jeans and a shirt before I shoved my feet
into my favorite pair of Topsiders. By then, I had
company.

“What’s happening?”
Jenny’s voice caught me off guard as I reached for my cell phone on
the nightstand.

“I don’t know. I’m
going to check now.”

“I’ll come with you,”
she replied.

“No, Jen. You take the
dogs and go down to the other bedrooms. Make sure everyone is awake
and safe. I’ll call you as soon as I know what’s going on.” I
handed Huckleberry over and tried to give her an encouraging smile.
“The police are already here, so whatever happened, they’re
handling it.”

“I hope everyone’s
okay.”

“So do
I.”

I knocked at the door
of the storage room, but got no answer. Peering inside I could see
Max was gone. The monitors showed people coming and going in the
garden, and as I watched, my sense of urgency grew. What was going
on outside?

The house was dark as I
made my way down to the first floor. I flipped on the hall lights
one by one, banishing the shadows as I hurried to the back
door.

All of the party lights
for the Pinault-Magnusdotter wedding were on in the garden, casting
a soft glow over the crime scene. I recognized Officer Burnley as
he passed me.

“What’s happening?” I
hailed him. “Is everything okay?”

“It seems to be. You
had a couple of vandals in your yard, but Mr. Tolliver managed to
contain them. We’re taking them down to the station for
questioning.”

I found Kenny leaning
against a cruiser, having a conversation with Detective Valboa. The
moment his eyes lit on me, he straightened up, unfolded his arms,
and greeted me cheerfully.

“I hope you’ve been
working on that well-deserved apology.”

“What?” I stopped in my
tracks. The Cheswick police investigator standing beside him
stepped in to explain.

“Ken devised a clever
scheme to catch the bad guys and it seems to have done the trick.
They were nabbed in the act.”

“Thanks to the men and
women of the Cheswick Police Department,” said Kenny, giving credit
where credit was due. “They were staking out the
place.”

“You caught Kradic and
Zarelli?”

“We sure did, and it’s
off to the slammer for the bums. They won’t make bail easily, not
with all the hard evidence. So, where’s my apology? I believe you
said you would shout it from the top of White Oak Hill, but I was
thinking you could take out an ad in the
Cheswick Crier
. Nothing too flashy, but it should be enough to let the
public know I did a fine job.”

“Alas, Captain Peacock,
you’re jumping the gun. Did you forget that the wedding has yet to
occur?” I reminded him. “Until Annalee and Gunnar are officially
hitched, you’re on the hook. Better get some rest, handsome,
because you still have at least another thirty six hours to
go.”

“She’s a tough cookie,
Tolliver. It sounds like she means business,” Detective Valboa
laughed. “You can’t really blame her, given all the crazy twists
and turns this case has taken.”

“It’s been an absolute
three-ring circus,” I reminded them. “The Wilkies might have put on
the big cats show in the ring, and Kradic and Zarelli might have
been the clowns, but we still haven’t met the
ringmaster.”

“That’s the thanks I
get for rolling up the suspects with my ingenious
plan?”

“Well, I guess I could
give you a little incentive on account, to keep you going,” I
laughed, planting a warm kiss on his lips.

“That’s more like it,”
he told me, tucking an arm around me as we walked back to the
house.

“Wait a minute.” I
suddenly halted at the back door. “Where is Max? Why isn’t he out
here?”

“Good heavens, woman.
We don’t throw all our cards on the table at once! He is, as we
say, otherwise occupied.”

“Oh, you’re still on
it. What a clever man you are!”

“I am.”

Laurel and Lacey were
in the living room with Jenny, watching the action through the
windows that overlooked the backyard. Kenny reassured everyone that
things were well under control.

“The show’s over,
folks. Let’s get some rest. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day for
Miz Scarlet and the Four Acorns Inn.” I caught the smug glance he
shot me and saw that little smirk form on his lips. He was already
salivating in anticipation of my humble plea for
forgiveness.

We headed back to bed
in the wee small hours of the night, feeling relieved. What could
go wrong with the wedding? Now that Neil Kradic and Bobby Zarelli
had been arrested, it was only a matter of time before they
confessed and rolled over on the mastermind. Karin didn’t know it,
but she was about to join them in jail. Kenny felt confident that
before the day was out, the Cheswick Police would have the evidence
they needed to arrest her. That thought brought me great comfort as
I closed my eyes.