With Baited Breath (14 page)

“Nice to have met you,” Kathy said before she, too, turned to follow Anissa. She didn’t speak until they were well out of Taylor’s earshot. “Wow, you handled that well.”

“I was scared half to death,” Anissa admitted.

Kathy laughed. “That wasn’t my impression.”

“I wasn’t in the drama club in high school for nothing,” Anissa bragged. “I’m just glad that guy was more bluff than menace. But I don’t doubt he took some of my daddy’s worms. Now we just have to figure out who this guy with the crew-cut is.”

“You know, I saw somebody like that in The Bay Bar the other night. He was a loner—didn’t seem to fit in with the usual biker crowd.”

“And you did?” Anissa asked wryly.

‘Like you, I can hold my own.”

Anissa smiled. “I don’t doubt it. They approached the fishermen they’d spoken to earlier.

“You girls okay?” one of them asked.

“Of course,” Anissa said. “Excuse us. We have a picnic to go to.”

They waved good-bye.

“It’s egg salad again,” Kathy said with a sigh.

“But we didn’t have to make it,” Anissa pointed out.

“That’s true. I promised Tori I’d make something decadent for dessert tonight, but now there won’t be time.” She slowed her pace. They were now parallel to the weather- and time-worn house. Kathy felt a pout tug at her lips. “What if I don’t get this place?”

“If you don’t, it wasn’t meant to be. There are other houses, Kath. This is a depressed area. I’m sure there are loads of houses in need of some TLC.”

“But so close to the water? Right across the street from where Tori will be living?”

“If her grandpa ups and sells, she won’t be here. Will you want to live out here in the sticks on your own come winter?”

Kathy sighed. “I think so. And I’m not giving up on Tori. She’s as determined as I am. If she really wants to stay here on Lotus Bay, she’ll figure out a way.”

Anissa nodded. “I don’t doubt it. Now come on. Confronting a bully makes me hungry enough to eat my left foot.”

“Well, we can’t have that. Egg salad, here we come.”

#

Thanks to a lull in yard sale customers, Tori was able to haul out a metal bistro set from the boathouse and wash it off before Kathy and Anissa returned from their trip across the bay bridge. It was drying in the sun outside the Lotus Lodge when they came back. Tori thought it looked cute and decided to leave it in front of the motel. It made the derelict building look a tiny bit more inviting. She really needed to get in those other rooms and decide what to do with the junk that had accumulated. Especially if any of it could be sold to help Gramps’s bottom line.

“So, what happened?” Tori asked.

“Let’s eat and then talk,” Kathy suggested. She and Anissa helped Tori gather the sandwiches, glasses, and iced tea, and carry them outside to the nearly dry table. Tori used an old towel to wipe up the last of the water while Kathy retrieved the container of homemade cookies from her car. They sat down at the table.

“So, sounds like you had Biggie Taylor wrapped around your little finger,” Tori said, topping up her glass.

“You should have seen Anissa in action,” Kathy said, grinning.

“Big guys don’t always have big balls,” Anissa explained. “I had a feeling he just needed to be put in his place. He certainly won’t give
this
Jackson any trouble in the future.”

“But what about the guy with the crew-cut?” Tori asked.

“I’ve seen him in the bar twice, so I’m sure Noreen will know who he is,” Kathy said.

“But will she protect one of her regulars?” Tori asked.

“That we don’t know. But it sure can’t hurt to ask. Besides, he didn’t seem to fit in.”

“Did you have any more yard sale customers while we were gone?”

Tori shook her head. “I think I’m going to close up for the day, and I don’t think I’ll bother to set up for tomorrow. Instead, I want to concentrate on clearing out the rest of the house and then the other three rooms in the Lotus Lodge. Monday, Anissa and I are going to Rochester to get the rest of my stuff.”

“Do you think you can cram it all in her truck?”

“If we all three drove in our own vehicles, I’m sure we could move everything at once.”

“What are you going to do if you don’t get that house?” Anissa asked.

“I guess I’ll have to find another job. Just something to hold me until I get my inheritance. But as Anissa pointed out to me, there are lots of houses in the area that might be bed and breakfast material. I might spend a week just looking at everything. Now that I’ve been bitten by the bug, I’m eager to start planning that part of my future. Still, I’m keeping my eye on the house across the street. But in the meantime, I’m at your service.”

“I’m dying to know what’s left in the Lotus Lodge,” Tori said, then realized just what she’d said and how it might have affected Anissa.

She shook her head and sighed. “Don’t worry; I’m not going to jump all over you for saying that. The fact is my daddy didn’t die in your lodge. I don’t know where he did die, but he was stuffed in that room after someone killed him. I haven’t got anything better to do, so I’d be glad to help you clear the place out.”

“Thanks. I’ll take you up on it.”

“You guys get started and I’ll take the dishes inside and put them in the dishwasher,” Kathy offered.

Tori pulled a set of keys from her jeans pocket. “Ready when you are,” she told Anissa.

Tori chose to open unit two, believing it would be better not to push Anissa to confront the place where her father had been found. As she suspected, the room was filled with boxes, but unlike the first unit, in which the boxes were empty, these were filled with more of her grandmother’s treasures. Stained embroidered doilies, vintage hand towels, mixed-and-matched bone china plates; tarnished silverware; old vinyl records from the 1950s and 60s. A huge box was filled with old oil paintings in chipped gold frames. It was like pawing through a warehouse.

“Some of this is pretty good stuff,” Anissa said as they rummaged through the boxes.

“I wonder if Kathy could use some of it for her B and B.”

“Give her first pick and sell the rest.”

Kathy stuck her head inside the door. “Find anything good?”

“I think so. Take a look.”

Kathy’s eyes widened with pleasure as she rummaged through some of the boxes. “I love it.”

“I thought you might say that. We’re going to have to take some of this into the first unit just so we can sort it.”

“I’ll give you a hand,” Kathy said, but I need to keep watching to see if Jerry shows up at the house.”

So they began a kind of bucket brigade of boxes. When they had cleared out about ten boxes, they paused so that they could start sorting. “We’ll do four piles,” Tori said. “Sell, trash, donate, and Kathy’s B and B.”

“You can’t just give me the stuff,” Kathy said. “It belongs to your grandfather.”

“As far as he’s concerned, we can throw away everything. But don’t worry, I’ll take care of him. And you don’t have to worry about paying us, either. I intend to work your butt off,” she said and smiled.

Kathy looked over her shoulder, trying to take in her rear end. “It could stand to lose a few inches.”

Soon the piles began to grow. They filled a big box with trash and Anissa hefted it out to the dumpster. The sell and donate piles were about equal, and Kathy’s pile was the largest.”

“I just hope I get the house so I have somewhere to use all this great stuff,” she said wistfully.

Anissa came back to stand in front of the unit’s open doorway. “Hey, Kath, I think your real estate agent just pulled up at the house.”

“Oh! Where did I put the binoculars?” Kathy cried, tossing a chenille bedspread into a box and hurrying outside.

“They’re on the bistro table.”

Kathy grabbed them and ran for the boathouse, with Tori and Anissa right behind her.

The three of them clambered up the ladder and rushed for the windows like something out of an old Keystone Cops movie. Tori and Anissa crowded around Kathy just as another car pulled into the parking lot. “Uh-oh,” she murmured.

“What’s wrong?” Tori asked, angling to get a better view.

Kathy shoved her head outside the window to get the best view possible. Tori moved to another one of the windows. An overgrown willow partially blocked her view of the house, but she could still see the back end of the second car parked in the yard.

“Oh, no!” Kathy wailed and seemed to tip forward. Thank goodness, Anissa was standing close by and grabbed her by the shirt before she could tumble out the window.

“Kathy!” Tori shouted.

“I’m ruined, I’m ruined!” Kathy wailed.

“You nearly got yourself killed!” Tori managed to say, her heart pounding.

“Look, look!” Kathy implored and handed Tori the binoculars.

Tori looked out the window and her stomach did another flip-flop. Standing beside Jerry, the real estate agent, was none other than Lucinda Bloomfield.

CHAPTER 12

“What is
she
doing at
m
y house?” Kathy demanded.

“It’s not your house,” Anissa said reasonably. Kathy turned a murderous glare on her. “Yet!” Anissa quickly amended.

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation,” Tori said.

“Like what?” Kathy demanded.

Tori couldn’t immediately come up with an answer.

“That guy at the bait shop across the bridge said Lucinda didn’t like trade, and yet she extracts rent from a lot of people. Maybe she decided to make that house one of her crappy rentals,” Anissa reminded Tori.

“Do you think she knew I was planning to open a B and B?” Kathy asked.

“Jerry could have told her.”

“I don’t think so. Not the way he acted on Thursday. When he first showed me the house—he acted like he thought I was wasting his time. Why would he ever contact her about it?” She handed the binoculars back to Tori.

“To get a higher commission? If she owns so much property, she might well be his best customer.”

“I’m going over there to find out,” Kathy declared.

“Oh, no you’re not,” Tori said, handing the binoculars to Anissa. “Not when you’re so upset. I’ll go.”

“Tori’s right,” Anissa chimed in. “She’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Oh, all right,” Kathy agreed.

“Will you look out for more yard sale customers?” Tori asked.

“Sure thing,” Anissa agreed.

“I’m staying up here with the binoculars,” Kathy said.

“I’ll keep her company until someone shows up to look at your stuff,” Anissa said.

Tori nodded and headed for the ladder. What on earth was she going to say to Lucinda
? You can’t buy this house; Kathy wants it and she quit her job and staked her future to get it.
That wasn’t liable to generate sympathy, either. And she couldn’t come across as angry or even annoyed. Curiosity. Yeah, that’s how she’d handle it.

Tori looked both ways before crossing the road and walked along the shoulder to the house. At the foot of the driveway, she turned. She couldn’t see Kathy in the boathouse window, but she did see a flash of sunlight reflect off the binocular lenses.

Jerry and Lucinda were nowhere to be seen, but the front door to the ramshackle house was wide open. Tori climbed the steps. “Hello! Anybody here?”

“In the kitchen,” Jerry called. Tori traveled down the hall, but when Jerry saw her, his smile faded. “Oh, it’s you.”

Lucinda stood in the center of the room, her arms pinned to her side, clutching her purse as though expecting to be mugged at any moment. Standing nearby was a tall lanky man wearing a Lotus Bay Yacht Club ball cap. Could he be Lucinda’s property manager, Avery Simon? Lucinda looked in Tori’s direction. “Hello.”

“Hi,” Tori said.

The four of them looked at each other for long awkward seconds. Tori took in the litter on the counter and floor that Lucinda had carefully avoided. Finally, Jerry spoke. “What do you want?”

“I saw your car in the driveway and decided to come over to see the house again.”

“You weren’t planning on making an offer, were you?” Jerry asked.

“Well, no, but—”

“Then I’d appreciate it if you’d leave. Ms. Bloomfield has an appointment. You can call my office to make one, too.”

“I don’t have a problem with her being here,” Lucinda said.

“Thank you,” Tori said politely, but her mind was racing. Now what was she supposed to say?

Jerry turned his back on Tori. “What did you have in mind for the property?” he asked Lucinda.

“I wanted to see what condition it was in.” She looked at the holes in the plaster and the general destruction all around her.

“It would take a huge investment just to make it habitable,” Simon said.

“It’s a prime location. Since there’s already commercial property next door and across the street, I’m sure there’d be no problem with the zoning board should you want to develop it commercially. It’s currently zoned as residential if you’d like to go in that direction, too.”

“I haven’t decided,” Lucinda said coolly.

“I’m surprised you’d be interested in it at all,” Tori said.

“And why’s that?” Lucinda asked rather bluntly.

“You’ve got the best house in the entire county.”

“But no water access as you well know,” Lucinda countered.

“It’s pretty much a swamp out back. Probably protected. And you’d never get a boat in here. About all you can do is paddle a canoe under the bay bridge.”

“There’s a rumor that Cannon’s might be for sale in the near future,” Lucinda said.

Tori felt her stomach tighten. “Who says?”

Lucinda shrugged. “I hear things.”

Had her Gramps already been talking to customers about it? Lucinda could buy the compound with the spare change in her purse, knock down the house, boathouse and Lotus Lodge in a day and build another mansion with more than one hundred feet of prime waterfront. But could she stand living across the street from The Bay Bar, and across the way from Bayside Live Bait & Marina and the transients that came to fish on a daily basis during three seasons of the year?

Tori decided to push her. “Like what?”

“That someone is thinking of opening an upscale bed and breakfast in this location.”

Tori swallowed. How could she possibly know that? Then again, she, Kathy and Anissa had spoken about it in the bar. Could someone there have told Lucinda about it? The Bay Bar claimed mostly bikers as clientele, and Lucinda certainly didn’t fit that demographic. Had Simon been in the bar and they hadn’t noticed?

“Would you object to that?” she asked.

“On the contrary, I’d welcome it.”

“So, you’re not here to put a bid on the property?”

“Not at this time.”

“Oh,” Jerry said, his voice falling.

“But I also heard that something belonging to the late Mr. Jackson was found on the premises,” Lucinda said.

“What’s that got to do with why you wanted to see the house?” Jerry asked curtly. By the immediate change in his expression, he seemed to realize he might have just annoyed the richest woman in the county. “I mean, why trouble yourself with such information?”

“Mr. Jackson was my next-door neighbor. I don’t like the idea that there’s a murderer anywhere near my home.”

“It was a wallet,” Tori volunteered. “There was a picture of his children in it. His daughter identified it for the police.”

“So I understand,” Lucinda said. She turned to Jerry. “I think I’ve seen enough. Thank you for your time, Mr. Peterson. Avery and I can see ourselves out.” She gave Tori a nod and hurried out of the house, with Simon following.

“What did
you
have to show up for?” Jerry accused.

“She said she wasn’t interested in buying the place. Why do you think she really came to see the house?”

“I don’t care, but my clients sure do.”

“Did you present Kathy’s offer?”

“I spoke to them on the phone. When they heard Lucinda Bloomfield wanted to see it, they said they wanted to wait and see if she would put in a better offer. They’re going to be very disappointed.”

“When the police were here the other day, did they find anything else concerning Mr. Jackson’s death?”

“If they did, they didn’t tell me.”

“Did they just take anything they wanted without giving you a receipt?”

“I didn’t think the owners would care. They just want to sell. Now, come on. I want to lock up and get out of here.” He held out a hand, pointing to the door.

Tori turned and slowly walked through the trash-filled home. As she passed the parlor, she wrinkled her nose at an unpleasant odor, but it wasn’t something she’d noticed when in the house two days before.”

“Come on, hurry up,” Jerry said. Impatiently.

“Are you the only agent showing the house?” she asked Jerry.

“It’s a multiple listing, but so far nobody else has asked to show it. It’s getting on to my dinner time,” he said, becoming more and more annoyed.

“Oh, all right.” Tori hurried out the door.

Jerry locked the house and went to his car. Without saying another word, he got inside, started the engine, and backed out into the highway, nearly clipping a motorcycle that was heading east. The driver threw him a one-finger salute, and slowed even more, before pulling into The Bay Bar’s parking lot. Jerry’s wheels spun and he took off across the bay bridge.

Tori watched his car until it crossed the bridge and disappeared up the bend on the hill, then she crossed the highway, heading back to the Cannon compound.

Kathy and Anissa were waiting for her.

“Well?” Kathy demanded.

“Lucinda’s not interested in buying the house, at least right now. Her property manager said it would be a huge investment, but she didn’t seem to have a good reason for being there, either.”

“I don’t like that woman,” Anissa said. “For all I know it was her who had my daddy killed so she could get his property.”

“But she hasn’t asked you again if you want to sell. You haven’t had any trouble, have you?”

Anissa shook her head. “I don’t think she’ll be so blatant to come after me so soon after daddy’s death.”

“She said having a murderer in the neighborhood had her worried, but it was odd. She
had
to be there for a reason. I think my showing up may have scared her off.”

“Good,” Kathy said.

“But something funny is going on at the house. I asked Jerry if he’d shown it to anyone other than us and Lucinda, and he said no. But I swear there were empty cans and fast-food papers in the kitchen that hadn’t been there the other day. And worse, the front parlor smelled like pee. There was a fresh stain on the wall, too.”

“Do you think someone’s squatting in the house?” Kathy asked.

“If they are, they must only be there at night.”

Anissa looked thoughtful. “My daddy said he’d seen lights out on the bay.”

“But what do the two things have in common?” Kathy asked.

“I don’t know,” Tori said. “But maybe we should try to find out.”

“How would we do that?” Kathy asked.

“Hold a stake-out.”

“Oh, sure. Who do you think we are? Nancy Drew and Company?” Kathy asked flippantly.

“Hey,” Tori continued, “you were the one who told me I should keep an eye out for suspicious stuff. And it worked for us when we caught the person stealing my panties from the laundry room.”

“Say what?” Anissa asked.

Kathy sighed. “Yes, I guess I did. But where are we going to hide so that whoever is getting into the house doesn’t see us?”

Tori looked in the direction of the boathouse. “We’ve got the perfect vantage point. Now all we need to do is find a few more pairs of binoculars.”

Kathy shook her head. “It’ll be too dark. We might see movement, but moonbeams won’t give enough light to actually see anything in that yard or close to the house.”

“How do you know?”

“I peeked at night.”

“Well, where do you suggest we hide? The shrubs are out of control next to The Bay Bar, and the other side of the house is all marsh. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be hanging around outside in the cold and damp while being eaten alive by mosquitoes.”

“Me, either,” Anissa said.

“It’s okay,” Kathy said. “This is my project and I’ll figure out how to do this.”

“Why can’t we just sit in a car like cops do?” Anissa asked.

“We can’t park on the highway,” Tori said.

“No, but you’ve got big patch of grass under that big old willow. Why can’t you park there?”

“The branches,” Kathy said.

“You ever hear of clippers?” Anissa offered.

“The tree does look rather unkempt,” Kathy agreed.

“Have you forgotten we’re in the middle of the sorting project?” Tori asked.

“We can finish that tomorrow,” Kathy said. “Meanwhile, we might be able to figure out who’s squatting in
my
house and why.”

“Okay, okay,” Tori agreed.

“Come on,” Kathy said. Let’s get the clippers and the loppers out. We can toss everything into the Dumpster.” She looked over at Anissa. “Are you game?”

She shrugged. “I may as well be. But there’s nothing to eat in my house, so someone is going to have to feed me. Just one request: no more egg salad, please.”

#

The tree pruning was a great success. They cut the branches at about a six foot level, which would make it a lot easier to cut the grass, and it gave them plenty of room to park Kathy’s and Tori’s cars. They decided parking one would look suspicious, parking two only slightly less so.

Afterward, Tori and Kathy headed into the village to get some groceries. Anissa went home saying she’d return in time for supper and their stake-out duty.