A Wedding at the Orange Blossom Inn (24 page)

But then, as she crossed the threshold, Beverly couldn't refrain from gasping. The main gathering room was in complete disarray. Furniture had been knocked over; her pretty framed prints were off the walls and lying in pieces on the floor. One of her prized hurricane lamps had been shattered.

“Ack! Oh, but this is terrible.” Tears pricked her eyes. “Who would do such a thing?”

Officer Roberts looked just as dismayed as she felt. “I'm sorry, Miss Overholt, but I have no idea.”

“Beverly. Please call me Beverly.”

“Oh, my goodness,” Leona whispered as she came in with Zack. After a brief pause, she reached for Beverly's hand. “Let's sit down.”

Beverly did as Leona suggested and squeezed her friend's hand as Officer Roberts perched on the edge of the chair across from her and fidgeted, as if he was extremely uncomfortable.

“Beverly, I've learned that in cases like this, it's best to be blunt. Two hours ago, we got a call from a neighbor that she'd noticed one of your front windows was broken and that things didn't look right. We drove by to check things out, and saw that the front door was cracked open. We entered, but whoever did this was long gone. Do you have any current guests?”

“
Nee
. I don't have any guests right now.” At Eric's urging, she'd given herself a week's vacation. Why had she done that? If she hadn't left the inn, no one would have dared to come inside.

Or had someone been watching the inn? Had they known it was empty? It was such a disconcerting thought that she couldn't bear to dwell on it.

“Good to know.” He punched something in his phone, then continued. “I'm sorry to tell you that the majority of the inn looks like this room. Whoever was here spent a lot of time causing extensive damage.”

“I wonder why.” The destruction all seemed so unnecessary.

“We'll do our best to find out, ma'am. But in the meantime, when you're ready, we need you to walk through the inn and tell me what you notice missing.” He continued talking about fingerprints and motives, police reports and pawnshops.

But Beverly was done listening. She really couldn't take any more. Someone had ruined her livelihood, stolen her belongings. She felt as betrayed and dismayed as she had when she'd discovered her fiancé had fallen in love with her best friend all those years ago. And angry. She was so angry.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to push those thoughts away. This wasn't the time to examine those painful wounds.

“Are you going to be all right?” Zack asked. “Do you want me to get you a glass of water or something?”

“I'm fine,” she said at last, and tried to mean it.

Because she had no choice.

“Your insurance should cover the damage,” Zack said quickly, as though thinking that not having to worry about financial repercussions would ease her mind. It didn't, though.

Insurance could never replace the most valuable thing the burglar had stolen today—her sense of security.

“Do you want me to call Eric for ya?” Leona offered. “I don't mind.”

She looked at Leona and shook her head. “
Nee
. I'll do it.”

“Who's Eric?” the officer asked.

Beverly said, “He's the owner of the inn.” During the last few months, he'd also somehow become the best friend she'd ever had.

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S
ISTERS OF THE
H
EART SERIES

Hidden
•
Wanted

Forgiven
•
Grace

S
EASONS OF
S
UGARCREEK SERIES

Winter's Awakening
•
Spring's Renewal

Autumn's Promise
•
Christmas in Sugarcreek

F
AMILIES OF
H
ONOR SERIES

The Caregiver
•
The Protector

The Survivor
•
A Christmas for Katie
(novella)

T
HE
S
ECRETS OF
C
RITTENDEN
C
OUNTY SERIES

Missing
•
The Search

Found
•
Peace

T
HE
D
AYS OF
R
EDEMPTION SERIES

Daybreak
•
Ray of Light

Eventide
•
Snowfall

R
ETURN TO
S
UGARCREEK SERIES

Hopeful
•
Thankful
•
Joyful

A
MISH
B
RIDES OF
P
INECRAFT SERIES

The Promise of Palm Grove

The Proposal at Siesta Key

O
THER BOOKS

Redemption

“Cranberry Orange Bread” recipe from
Simply Delicious Amish Cooking
by Sherry Gore (Zondervan, 2012) reprinted with permission.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

A WEDDING AT THE ORANGE BLOSSOM INN
. Copyright © 2015 by Shelley Shepard Gray. Excerpt from
A Christmas Bride in Pinecraft
© 2015 by Shelley Shepard Gray. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Photographs courtesy of Katie Troyer, Sarasota, Florida

EPub Edition SEPTEMBER 2015 ISBN 9780062337757

ISBN 978-0-06-233774-0

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