Murder and Mayhem (23 page)

“I’ve still got that old bike–wouldn’t part with it
for quids. Seven hundred and fifty pounds of raw power throbbing beneath you on
the wide open road, there’s nothing in the world like it for sheer
exhilaration. With the wind in your face, the thrill of the ride is a truly awesome
thing.”

TWENTY-ONE

I was on my knees scrubbing the
bathtub when I noticed Cody lurking in the doorway behind me. I turned my head
and looked up at him. “Something you wanted?” I asked.

“No,” he said and started to retreat.

“Just a minute!” l reached behind the toilet and
picked up a long-handled brush.

“Here, use this,” I said as I handed him the brush, my
eyes lingering on his mop of unruly hair

“What am I supposed to do with
this?” he asked holding the brush at arm’s length, lest it should contaminate.

“Cody, for someone who’s supposed to be going to
college next fall you’re not particularly bright. What do you think you do with
it?” As I turned back to the bathtub and started scrubbing I heard the brush
clatter to the floor and the sound of Cody’s sneakers racing across the
hardwood floor. When the back door slammed it sent a resonating vibration
through the old wooden house.

Why is it that men have such an
aversion to cleaning toilets–after all they’re the ones who make the most mess!

“Who was that?” Rosie called from the bedroom.

“Cody.”

“Sounded like he was in a hurry?”

“He was.”

“Why, is there a problem?”

 I stood in the bedroom doorway with my sleeves rolled
up; my hands encased in long rubber gloves, and grinned. “I think he thought I
was going to ask him to brush his hair.”

Rosie laughed. “Oh, that’ll do it every time!”

*****

They drove down the two-lane road with the windows
rolled down, the breeze drowsy with the scent of flowers and pine trees, the
air filled with the sweet sound of birdsong as they passed through small towns
and stretches of forested wilderness.

Around mid-afternoon Danny drove up the hill off
Canada Street and found the parking lot of the Lake George Hampton Inn almost
empty.

“What do you think?” he asked as they looked across
the newly laid blacktop to the hotel bathed in a soft golden light.

“Looks good to me.”

“Well, let’s go see what they’ve got by way of
accommodation,” Danny said as he opened the door of the SUV and stepped out.

The gentle tapping of fingers on a computer keyboard
and barely discernible sound of piano notes chained into chords that served as
background music were all that disturbed the hushed quiet of the lobby. There
were no soft footfalls on the shiny new marble floor–and no hushed voices.

A smartly dressed woman, with a perfectly made up face
and dark hair pulled back in a neat roll at the base of her neck looked up and
smiled as they approached the front desk.

In the lounge, an elderly couple sat in comfortable
chairs facing a stone fireplace where orange flames illuminated their faces,
creating a feeling of warmth and intimacy. Nicola noticed the gray-haired man
appeared to be sleeping, his head resting on his chest, while the stylishly
dressed woman, with perfectly coiffured white hair, gazed meditatively into the
flames while she sipped rose colored liquid from a crystal wine glass. Aside
from the receptionist and elderly couple there was no one else in sight.

“Can I help you?” Even though the receptionist spoke
in hushed tones, the elderly woman looked up from the fire to scrutinize Danny
and Nicola. She looked at her sleeping companion, sighed and settled back in
the chair and in no time at all she was lost in nostalgic reminiscences.

Danny smiled. “I hope so. We’re looking for a room for
the night.”

The receptionist smiled back. “What type of room would
you like?”

“Oh, queen, king. Whatever you have available would be
fine,” he said.

“Smoking or non-smoking?”

“Non-smoking, thanks.”

She checked her computer. “I can do a very nice queen
room on the second floor,” she said and quoted the rate.

“Great. That sounds perfect. Thank you,” Danny said as
he handed over his credit card. When the transaction was completed, Danny
checked the room number and handed the key card to Nicola.

“Why don’t you go on up to the room, Nic, while I get
the luggage,” he said then turned to the receptionist, and smiled. “Second
floor, you said.”

“That’s right, Mr. Richards. Second floor, right as
you exit the elevator. The room’s at the end of the hall on the left. Do you
need a hand with your luggage?”

“No thanks, I can manage.”

Nicola hummed along with the muzak as she rode the
elevator to the second floor. As she walked down a brightly lit hallway, she
smelt fresh paint, new carpet, and fresh floral arrangements in tall vases.
When she opened the door and stepped into the room, she let out a gasp of
delight.

Danny walked in the room and saw Nicola standing by
the window, smiling.

“Wow! This is nice.” He dropped the bags on the floor
and flopped onto the bed. “Come over here, Nic and feel the mattress, it’s
really, really soft.” He patted the white damask bedcover filled with
duck-down.

“We’ve got the whole night to try out the bed. Let’s
go and explore the lake before it gets dark,” Nicola said.

* * *

Danny pulled the car into the parking lot of the
restaurant that jutted out over the lake. When he buzzed down the window, a
gentle breeze drifted in off the water. In the fading light they watched boats
cruising past as they listened to the haunting sound of a lone violin drifting
out across the lake. And the gentle shushing of water as it lapped against the
pebbled shore. From the street they could hear the sound of laughter, and the
rise and fall of voices as people walked past.

Nicola carefully placed her sunglasses in their case
and dropped it into her bag, flipped down the sun-visor and checked her
reflection. Once she’d applied a fresh coat of lipstick and fluffed up her
hair, she turned to Danny, and said, “Come on I’m starving.”

“Just waiting for you, kiddo.”

As the hour was still early with only a handful of
diners already seated, when Danny requested a table overlooking the lake they
were seated beside a large window where the soft glow of lights on the opposite
shore reflected on the surface of the water, shimmering in the moonlight.

The restaurant, candlelit and romantic, had polished
wood floors and wood paneled walls where photographs of various shapes and
sizes depicted the lake during different time frames and seasons.

They placed their order with a waiter who had a
knowledgeable acquaintance of the extensive wine list, then sat gazing out the
window as a paddle steamer decked out in bunting and bright lights backed away
from the dock at the end of the lake, sounding its horn.

When the door to the restaurant opened, a man and
woman entered. The hostess offered them the last vacant table by the window but
the man declined requesting the table in the corner.

“More romantic,” he was heard to say to his companion
as he seated himself with his back to the room. The man removed his sunglasses,
clipped them to the neck of his T-shirt and placed his ball cap on one of the
two vacant chairs.

Danny looked at them distractedly, his attention drawn
to the pendant nestled in the soft curve of the woman’s breast that sparkled
and sent out shards of light whenever she moved. Her long auburn hair cascaded
over the low-cut crimson top she wore. Danny watched the man reach across and
brush a stray lock of hair from her face and hook it behind her ear in an
intimate gesture. He said something to the woman that caused her to smile.

There was something about the woman that reminded him
of Sara. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he remembered… she always wore
red.

*****

Rosie kicked me in the ankle to get my attention. “Can
we stop here for a minute?”

“Sure Hon, is there something you want?”

“No. I just want to know if this couple is of any
significance to the story?” She hitched herself up against the back of the bed.
I leaned over and adjusted the pillow behind her. “Or,” she continued, “have
you just added them to the story in case you might need them some time in the
future?”

I beamed her a smile. “Any and all of the above.”

She harrumphed. “You are so infuriating!”

“Look at it this way. It’s better to have too many
characters in a story than not enough along with a bit of intrigue–to keep the
reader interested. Otherwise you’re likely to get to the last chapter and you
find that you’re missing key elements because you hadn’t planned ahead. But, by
then, the reader has lost interest, and tossed the book aside never to see the
light of day again–let alone recommend it to friends!”

“You know, in a strange way that makes sense. I don’t
know how you do it but once again you’ve got me flummoxed!”

I grinned. “Always happy to oblige.”

*****

It was still early when they left the restaurant and
wandered down to the water’s edge. The moon, hanging low, turned the water
opalescent as it undulated around the old wooden pilings, and washed up along
the shore.

Danny crouched down and ran his hands through the
water, feeling the coolness as it washed through his fingers. A small boat
puttered past, and a flock of water birds flew low on their way to their
nightly roost.

Danny looked up when he heard the door to the
restaurant open. The woman in red stepped outside followed by the man whose
face was obscured by the dark stubble of beard and the ball cap pulled low on
his head. With the glow from the overhead lights on her face, she looked even
more like Sara.

Danny watched as the man helped the woman into a dark
blue Ford then look at him over the car hood. He felt their eyes lock for a
brief moment and then look away. The man said something as he climbed in beside
the woman and pulled the door closed. There was something about the way she
laughed that reminded him of Sara.

Nicola reached down and picked up three small round
pebbles. As she looked across the lake at the golden glow of lights in a large
house with a pier jutting out over the water where a sailboat was moored, she
rubbed her fingers over the stones. She raised her arm and threw them one at a
time into the lake and listened for the soft plop as they hit the water and
watched the ripples disappear, then wandered down the beach softly humming.

The light had gone from the trees as a young couple
walked past and offered a greeting. Nicola smiled and offered one back. When
she stopped and turned around to say something to Danny she realized he was not
behind her, but saw him standing near the restaurant, looking down the road.

“Danny?”

Danny raised his hand in acknowledgement as he watched
the blue Ford disappear around a bend in the road, his eyes drifting out of
focus to that place where thinking was done.

He wiped his hands down the side of his jeans and
wandered down to where Nicola was waiting.

* * *

She
was woken by the soft murmur of Danny’s voice as he talked in hushed tones.
Nicola lay on the bed trying to get her bearings while she listened to the soft
drone of his voice in the stillness of the night, and realized he was talking
on the phone. She peered over the top of the sheet and stifled a yawn.

“Danny?”

Danny hastily replaced the handset in the cradle and
rubbed his hand across his face as he sorted through the information he had
been given.

“Danny, is something wrong?”

Danny raked his fingers through his hair took a deep
breath and fixed a smile on his face. “Sorry, Nic. I didn’t mean to wake you,”
he whispered.

Nicola squinted at the illuminated hands on clock
beside the bed and tried to bring the figures into focus. “It’s after one in
the morning. Is something the matter?” When she turned on the lamp, Danny put
his hands up to shade his eyes from the glare.

“Sorry,” she said and flicked off the light.  In the
soft light that filtered in through the partially opened drapes, she saw Danny
go into the bathroom and shut the door. She heard the toilet flush and the
sound of running water. Nicola waited for him to come out. A short time later
the bathroom door opened.