The following week…
“Technically,” Ethan Knowles said, “technically, it was the police who solved the crime, but I believe you.”
“That’s good to hear,” I replied. “Though, I don’t know if I can accept your payment, given that one of the main suspects in the case offered up her phone to the police without the need for a warrant.”
Ethan didn’t laugh at the thought. He looked as if he’d never laugh again. “Give me a second to transfer the funds through to you.” He tapped away on his cellphone screen, standing beside his black BMW in the parking area in front of the Gossip Inn,
It was a sunny fall afternoon, and Quinton wandered through the grounds, accompanied by his husky dog, Charleston, carrying a rake. The guests for the Childless-Knowles wedding had checked out after having given their testimony to the police.
Sanity was about to return to the Gossip Inn, relatively speaking. Lauren still believed in ghosts, the cats were… well cats who needed herding, and the dust had literally settled. Which meant, of course, that it was time for me to whip out my favorite feather duster and get to work.
My cell phone buzzed with a notification. The money had hit my bank account. “Thank you. I got it.”
“Good. Have a nice day. I’m glad this was taken care of swiftly. Now, I just have to deal with… everything else.”
“Can we go already?” Grant, the best man, peeked from inside the car. “I want to get back home before Christmas.”
“Safe trip,” I said.
Ethan nodded and got into the BMW. The car tore out of the driveaway, leaving behind a plume of smoke and dust.
I couldn’t help smiling. This was the first time I’d been truly relieved to see the back of a guest, and another murder case. This had been a real head scratcher of a case.
And delaying Detective Goode while the two killers had slowly regained consciousness had been a challenge. Thankfully, my grandmother had timed it perfectly.
By the time the police had gotten upstairs to the Green Room, both Bella and Timothy had been awake and trying to get out of the inn. They’d been caught redhanded and arrested.
Apparently, they’d scraped the phone for deleted text messages and recovered several incriminating details about their plan to get rid of Julia.
“Charlotte,” Gamma called from the porch. “Are you going to stare into space all afternoon? Lauren asked for help with the butterscotch pudding.”
“Coming!” I walked up the front steps, but stopped before entering.
Snowy, Mr. Knowles' cat, had found a new home at the inn. She lay on the porch banister, sunning herself, while Sunlight sat just ahead of her, licking his paw and wetting the backs of his ears. Cocoa had decided to take his place on the porch swing. The kitties liked Snowy, probably because they were used to being surrounded by other cats and kittens.
I walked over and stroked each of them, enjoying the brief purrs from each, before entering the inn and following my grandmother down the hall.
“Georgina,” I said, catching up to her. “I have news.”
“Oh?”
I showed her the bank notification. “I have plenty. If you’d like to revamp a part of the inn or pay for—”
Gamma gave my arm a gentle squeeze. “Please, Charlotte, save your money. It’s yours, and I couldn’t possibly take it. Besides, you need to figure out what you want out of your life. Maybe you’ll need that money when you decide what it’s going to be.”
She left me standing there, speechless.
Of course, she’d cut right to the marrow of the issue.
I loved Gossip, and I adored the inn and even the guests who often drove me crazy, but I was still… not sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I’d gone from being a high-level spy to a maid and assistant at the inn. From one extreme to another.
I had to find the middleground.
“But not today,” I murmured, and tucked my phone into the front pocket of my apron.
“Talking to yourself, Miss Smith?” Detective Goode’s voice came from directly behind me.
I managed not to jump out of my skin.
“Do you have to do that?” I asked, turning toward him and trying not to notice how handsome he looked in his buttoned shirt. “Do you get a kick out of sneaking up on me?”
“Not at all. Today, I came to thank you rather than to fight.”
That took me by surprise. “Thank me?”
“For not getting involved in my investigation.”
If only you knew. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“That’s the official party line and you’re sticking to it?”
“Is this going to be a common theme? You sneaking up on me at the inn then taunting me for a while before retreating to wherever it is you came from?”
He flashed me a white-toothed, entirely too attractive grin. “I take it you’re enjoying our little run-ins as much as I am?”
I glared at him. “I’ve made it clear how I feel about you.”
“Have you?” he asked. “I was hoping you were kidding around about your unerring hatred for me.” Goode sounded all too serious, and it kind of weirded me out.
“What does it matter what I think of you?”
“Because I want to take you out,” he said, “for coffee. Sometime next week. What do you say?”
My brain short-circuited. “You… me?”
“Yeah.” Goode’s grin expanded. “That something you’d be interested in?”
Yes. But the words wouldn’t come out.
“Tell you what,” he said, “I’ll give you time to think about it. You know which number to call.” Goode winked then swaggered off down the hall and out onto the porch.
I stared long after he’d left, my jaw dropped.
“Charlotte!” My grandmother poked her head out of the kitchen. “What on earth are you doing? We’re enduring a butterscotch catastrophe here.”
“Coming!” I skedaddled, trying not to think too much about Goode’s proposition.
If I was going to live in Gossip permanently, well, at least it would be interesting. And I’d always have Detective Goode to war with. Or date. The jury was out on which.
All I could hope was that the rest of the year would go smoothly. But as I entered the kitchen and found Lauren covered in butterscotch pudding while Gamma tried desperately to scoop it off her with a cake spatula, the realization hit me.
Life in Gossip was about as smooth as rocky road ice cream. And I wasn’t mad about that.
Charlie and Gamma’s adventures continue in The Case of the Butterscotch Burglars! You can get it by clicking here.