Tuesday is just as hot as – if not hotter than – Monday was.
Somehow, Bella got a solid night’s sleep despite everything. Rising at her usual time, she quickly showers, pulls her damp hair back into a ponytail, and throws on cut-offs, a tank top, and flip-flops. No fussing for Drew’s sake now that he’s seen her at her worst and is still hanging around.
Downstairs, she finds that he’s already made the coffee, and he and Max are out in the yard playing with the puppies. Good. She’d prefer not to start the day rehashing last night’s conversation about Sam, and Drew will never bring it up in front of Max.
She steps outside with a mug of coffee. ‘Good morning!’
Drew smiles. ‘Good morning.’
Crouched on the ground with his arms wrapped around the big dog, Max says, ‘Hey, Mom, guess what? This guy has your T-shirt.’
‘Again?’ She laughs.
Drew shakes his head. ‘Sorry, Bella. We couldn’t get it away from him.’
‘It’s fine. I don’t know why he’s so attached to it.’
‘Dr Drew says he’s in love with you, Mom.’
For a crazy moment, she misinterprets Max’s comment.
Then the light dawns: Drew had said the dog is in love with Bella. Not that Drew himself is.
Of course he wouldn’t say that.
Hoping he can’t tell what she’s thinking, or that her chuckle is forced, she says, ‘Well, I guess it’s nice to have a not-so-secret admirer.’
‘Maybe that’s a good name for him!’ Max says.
‘Not-So-Secret-Admirer? It does have a nice ring to it,’ Drew says, and Max giggles.
‘Mom, me and Doctor Drew are thinking up a name for this big guy, and Doctor Drew can only think up silly, crazy names like Spaghetti or Meatball.’
‘What’s wrong with those names?’ Drew asks, with a wink at Bella. ‘You said you love spaghetti and meatballs, Max.’
‘You asked me what’s my favorite thing to eat! And this guy doesn’t look like a Spaghetti, or a Meatball! Or a Kitty Cat – that’s another crazy name Doctor Drew thought up, Mom.’
‘Sounds like Doctor Drew could use some help from you, Max.’
‘I’m thinking really hard.’ Max pets the dog’s head. ‘I think Not-So-Secret-Admirer is too much to say. And he needs a super-special name because he’s super-special. I love him so much. I wish I could keep him.’
‘I know you do.’
‘Can I?’
Even the dog seems to be pleading, his big sad eyes fixed on Bella.
She shakes her head. ‘Let’s just enjoy his visit, Max.’
‘But Doctor Drew said all the dogs have to leave now and go back to the Animal Hospital because you’re too busy to have them here today.’
She looks at Drew. ‘I’m really not. Let them stay. Max and I will take care of them together.’
‘And Jiffy, too!’ Max adds.
‘Bella, you don’t have to—’
‘But I want to,’ she says, and means it. ‘It’s a welcome distraction, Drew. Trust me.’
He nods. He gets it. Before they’d parted at her bedroom door last night, he’d encouraged her to reach out to Odelia first thing this morning.
‘Maybe she can shed more light on what you and Max experienced.’
‘She’ll just say it had to be Sam’s spirit.’
‘Occam’s razor, Bella.’
Ah, but if there’s one place Occam’s razor tends not to apply, it’s Lily Dale. How many times, since Bella’s arrival, has she found herself caught up in the least likely scenario imaginable? She’s grappled with murderers, swindlers, grifters, thieves – an inordinate number of criminals for such a small town.
Then again, when you consider the Dale’s geographical isolation, and the fact that it’s relatively deserted nine months of the year, you can see why it might appeal to anyone who has something to hide. Since it’s a tourist destination, nobody gives outsiders a second thought, and since Bella’s job entails hosting total strangers here at Valley View, it makes sense that she finds herself involved in criminal cases – to her, anyway. Perhaps not so much to Lieutenant John Grange.
Reminded of Misty’s request, she realizes she’d left her phone upstairs on the nightstand without checking to see if Luther had gotten back to her overnight. He wouldn’t have called her back in the wee hours, but he might have texted when he got her message about the robbery.
After Drew leaves, Bella heads back inside, telling Max he can stay in the fenced yard and play with the dogs awhile longer. The area is still in the shade, but things are going to heat up quickly out there as the sun climbs higher in the sky.
She keeps an eye on them through the breakfast room windows as she gets everything ready. It’s still too hot to bake fresh scones, but she’d bought some from the supermarket bakery yesterday, along with muffins and tarts. She arranges the baked goods in a wicker basket lined with a blue-and-white cloth napkin that matches the gingham tablecloths. She cuts berries, melon and mango into a fruit salad, puts it into a white china serving bowl, and garnishes it with some sprigs of mint from the herb garden.
Once everything is ready for her guests, she wrangles Max and his canine posse back into the house, settling the dogs in the mudroom and Max at the kitchen table as she opens the cabinet to find some cereal.
‘Hey! I thought you were going to make bacon for my breakfast today,’ he says.
‘Oh – I forgot. How about tomorrow?’
Max is agreeable. ‘OK. I have to eat speedy-quick anyway because Jiffy said he’s coming over bright and early.’
‘I’m sure Jiffy’s still fast asleep at this hour. He was up late last night.’
‘Jiffy’s never still fast asleep. He doesn’t like to miss stuff.’
Bella smiles. ‘How about some Shredded Wheat?’
‘Is it the kind with the frosting?’
‘No, the plain, healthy kind.’
‘I’ll just have Chocolatey Oaty-Os. Jiffy said they’re super-healthy and I saw a lot more boxes in the breakfast room. I’ll go get one.’
‘OK, but today you have to have it in a bowl with milk and sliced banana.’
He dashes from the room and returns with five boxes of the cereal before she finishes peeling the banana.
‘Max! You can only have one.’
‘Well, I want to hide the rest in here so that if the robber comes he won’t see them and steal them.’
‘Why would a robber steal cereal?’ Bella asks, slicing the banana into a bowl.
‘Because I think he’s the kind of robber who likes Chocolatey Oaty-Os.’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘I don’t know.’ He avoids her gaze as she pours cereal into the bowl, topping it with milk.
‘OK, kiddo, eat your breakfast and I’ll be right back. I have to run upstairs and find my phone.’
‘Did you lose it? Maybe the robber stole it.’
‘No, I didn’t lose it, and nobody stole it, Max, but …’
She hesitates, aware that she only has a few minutes to herself before the guests start trickling down for breakfast. Now isn’t the time to ask him what he knows about the robbery at the Ardens’.
Still, his mention reminds her to detour to the study to get Millicent’s college fund check, just in case. She’s relieved to see that the envelope is still right where she’d left it, on her desk under the paperweight, edges fluttering in the breeze from the fan.
That had seemed like a safe enough place before she’d heard about the break-in at the Slaytons’ and possibly at Misty’s place. Now, Bella decides to tuck it away upstairs in her jewelry box until she can get to the bank.
‘Hello?’ someone calls in the front of the house. ‘Hello? Anyone here?’
She folds the envelope in half, shoves it in her back pocket, and hurries into the parlor.
‘Grant!’
‘Hi, Bella.’
With flashing black eyes, chiseled features, and broad shoulders, Valley View’s owner always looks like a leading man who’s just stepped off a film set. Sometimes, he might appear to have been cast as an action hero; others, as a global billionaire or the romantic guy next door. His devil-may-care charisma is palpable, whether he’s wearing a khaki utility jacket, bespoke suit, or – today – a chambray button-down with rolled-up sleeves.
He greets her with a quick hug, then gestures at his female companion. ‘This is Eve. Eve, Bella Jordan. She’s been managing the place for me.’
‘Yep, I have,’ Bella agrees in a voice slightly higher – and squeakier – than her own, as she thinks of Polly Green, ensconced in the Gable Room that was supposed to be reserved for Grant.
Bella never expected him to show up at this hour. What if he wants to go right upstairs to rest?
Then he should have told me when to expect him.
Right. That’s only reasonable. Grant is a businessman – a rich one who intends to get richer and wants Valley View to make money. He’ll understand why Bella decided to allow a paying guest to stay in his empty room last night.
What he might not understand is why she’d given the Jungle Room to Drew Bailey free of charge.
Is that something she needs to share?
It is not. Not yet anyway. She’ll just hope that Polly is up and out of here soon, and then she’ll prepare the Gable Room for Grant and his …
Companion.
His prior visits have always been solo, and it had somehow never occurred to her that he might not be single.
Eve is as striking as Grant is, and well over a decade younger. More likely two, appearing to be in her early twenties. Her raven hair is cropped short in a cut that would probably only look good on a young boy or a supermodel. She might very well be one – tall and thin, wearing platform wedges and a clingy black skirt and top that reveal a flat belly, pierced navel, and long, tanned limbs.
‘Nice to meet you, Bella,’ she says, with a mouth that appears to have been injected with whatever it is you inject to get lips that appear swollen in a beguiling way.
‘You, too.’ Bella smiles with a mouth that’s still swollen from where her own teeth had drawn blood yesterday in her effort to keep from blurting to the medium next door that her dead husband’s message had been generic.
Eve doesn’t strike her as a woman who’d bite her own lip to keep from hurting a friend’s feelings – perhaps not a fair assessment. But Bella’s Mean Girl radar had been honed back in middle school – probably not so long after Eve had been born – and she still knows one when she sees one.
She turns back to Grant. He’s looking around the parlor that just yesterday she’d admired for its cozy charm.
Now, seeing it through his critical eye, she notes that one of the three bay windows is propped open with a strip of scrap wood because the sash is broken. Sunlight falls through it in precisely the right spot to highlight the threadbare spots on the vintage rug. The bouquet of pink hollyhocks she’d cut yesterday is already drooping in the heat. The crystal vase, with a crack she hadn’t noticed until now, is surrounded by a litter of fallen petals on a mahogany table marred by circular white water stains from coasterless cups.
She pivots to Eve with a belated, ‘Welcome to Valley View. Is this your first time in the Dale?’
‘In …’
‘Lily Dale?’
‘Oh! Yes. It’s my first time in this part of New York. I live in the city.’
‘That’s where I grew up.’
‘No, I mean … New York City,’ she clarifies, as if Bella’s a country bumpkin claiming to be the long-lost royal heir.
‘Oh, I know,’ Bella says. ‘New York’s the best city in the world, as far as I’m concerned.’
Eve rewards that with a smile and touches Grant’s arm. ‘See? I told you.’
He just shakes his head, looking annoyed in the most good-natured way imaginable.
‘Um … you told him I grew up in New York City?’ Bella asks.
‘No! To be honest, I didn’t even know you existed until we got here.’
Ditto.
‘What I told him was that you can’t compare a city like Toronto to New York, which is what he was doing.’
Grant turns to Bella. ‘That’s where we flew from Shanghai yesterday. Have you ever been there?’
‘Shanghai? No.’
‘Toronto.’
‘I’ve never been there, either, but it’s only a three-hour drive from here, so maybe I’ll get there one of these days. I’ve heard great things.’
‘From Grant?’ Eve asks. ‘He kept talking about all the cool stuff I’d be able to post about.’
‘She’s an influencer,’ he informs Bella.
‘You mean … on social media?’
‘Um … yee-aaah,’ Eve says, in a tone you’d use on someone very young and naïve. Or, in this case, old and naïve. ‘I’m All About Eve.’
‘That’s your website?’
‘My website? No! It’s my handle.’
‘Oh! Your username!’
There’s an awkward pause. Eve shakes her head and turns back to Grant. ‘Anyway, I was saying, we should have just come straight here yesterday instead.’
‘There’s plenty to see and do in Lily Dale,’ Bella assures her.
She looks amused. ‘I mean, we should have gotten Lily Dale over with so we could have been back in Manhattan for Kylie’s event last night.’
‘Kylie’s event?’ Bella asks – not out of naivete, nor even curiosity, but because if she’s been cast in the role of bumpkin, she might as well embrace it.
Eve nods. ‘She’s a good friend of mine. She had a birthday dinner at Clovis.’
‘Clovis?’
‘Um … the restaurant?’
Bella shrugs. ‘I haven’t been to the city in a while.’
‘It’s been open for-ev-er. Well, the one down in Meatpacking has. Since last fall, at least. Maybe even longer.’
Ah, the Meatpacking District. Bella considers telling Eve that her late father had worked in that neighborhood in his youth— ‘Before the drug dealers and sex workers took over,’ he liked to say, lest anyone mistake the portly, upstanding Frank Angelo for either of those things.
But Eve probably isn’t big on familial anecdotes, so Bella offers coffee instead. ‘There’s a pot in the kitchen, or you can make decaf by the cup in the breakfast room – though I’m guessing you need the caf. You two couldn’t have gotten much sleep if you spent the night in Toronto and drove all the way here already.’
‘Drive! We didn’t drive. We flew.’
‘From Toronto? To Buffalo?’
‘Buffalo?’ Eve echoes. ‘God, no. To … what was that place called, Grant? Something about dinky …’
‘Not dinky,’ he says with a chuckle. ‘Dunkirk.’
‘There are flights to Dunkirk from Toronto?’ Bella asks.
‘Not commercial flights,’ is Eve’s reply.
To which Bella the Bumpkin says, ‘So … how about that coffee?’
From Grant: ‘Sounds good.’
From Eve: ‘You’ve got to be kidding. It’s way too hot for coffee.’
‘I know, but unfortunately, there’s no air conditioning here at Valley View. That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, Grant.’
‘Hmm.’ Not an intrigued hmm, but almost a disinterested hmm.
‘I can make iced coffee, if you’d rather have that?’
‘Actually, that would be perfect.’
‘I’ll just have water,’ Eve tells Bella.
‘Got it. One iced coffee and one iced water, coming right up.’
‘Ice?’ Eve echoes. ‘No ice. Just tepid is good.’
‘You want tepid tap water?’
‘Tap water?’ Eve gapes at Bella. ‘Wait … don’t tell me you don’t serve bottled water here?’
‘We have plenty, but it’s all in the fridge in the breakfast room. You can help yourself, or I can give you a glass to fill from the faucet.’
‘No, thanks,’ Eve says. ‘I’ll skip the water. Is there someplace where I can have some privacy to work on some new posts?’
Uh-oh. She turns to Grant.
‘Actually, I had the Gable Room all made up for you’ – had being the operative word – ‘but there’s only a full-sized bed in there, so it might be a little cramped for two people. I didn’t realize you were bringing a … date.’
‘A date! You are just too adorable!’ Eve all but ruffles Bella’s hair.
And you are just too … much.
Bella goes on, ‘The Jungle Room is also on the third floor, and it has more space. It was just vacated this morning, so I can get it ready now.’
‘Wait – does she think we’re staying here?’ Eve asks Grant, as if Bella isn’t right here.
‘Well, I usually do.’
‘You do? Here?’
‘Here,’ Bella confirms. ‘After all, he owns the place.’
Eve looks amused. ‘Right. About that—’
‘Maybe Eve can use the Jungle Room while you and I chat?’ Grant cuts in.
‘Uh … Sure. There’s a desk, but the bed isn’t made or anything.’
Though maybe it is. Drew is probably the kind of man who makes it every day, as soon as he gets out of bed. Funny that you can know someone as well as she feels she knows him, and yet certain details only come with a different kind of relationship.
‘I don’t care about the bed,’ Eve says. ‘How do I get to the third floor?’
‘Most people prefer to take the stairs.’
She looks perplexed.
‘It was a joke,’ Bella explains.
‘Oh! Funny.’ She doesn’t crack a smile. ‘What I meant was, I don’t know my way around this creepy haunted house, and I don’t want to go alone. You’ll walk me up, won’t you, Grant?’
Of course he will. This woman seems to have Grant wrapped around her finger.
The two of them head upstairs, Eve clinging to Grant’s hand as if something is going to leap out from the shadows.
Where’s Nadine when you need her?
Grateful for the reprieve, Bella returns to the kitchen.
Max is still at the table with his cereal bowl, but he’s no longer alone. Jiffy is sitting across from him, wearing his stained T-shirt from yesterday. His upper lip still bears the traces of grape mustache.
‘Good morning, Jiffy.’
‘Hi, Bella. I came over to tell Max some stuff. Private stuff,’ he adds pointedly.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll leave you two alone. Did you eat breakfast?’
‘Yep. I had a lot of spoons of peanut butter, but I could eat another breakfast if you want. As long as it’s Chocolatey Oaty-Os. Do you have any more?’
‘They’re in the cupboard,’ Max says. ‘I hid them in case the guests eat them all up.’
‘I thought it was because the robber might steal them because he likes that kind of cereal.’
‘Oh, yeah. That, too.’
‘What do you think, Jiffy? Do you think the robber likes Chocolatey Oaty-Os, too?’
‘Probably, because he’s a grown-up and he knows that Chocolatey Oaty-Os are fortified with ten vitamins and minerals.’
‘How do you know that?’ Max asks.
‘It says so on the box, see?’
‘I don’t know those words.’
No, because Max, while intelligent, is reading on an appropriate level for a kid his age, while Jiffy has a genius IQ.
Bella takes out a bowl for him. ‘Does your mom know you’re here?’
‘Yep.’
Bella peers at him. ‘Really?’
‘Well, she probably does because she’s a psychic and she always knows stuff. But she was sleeping when I left, and I didn’t want to wake her up because she was up really late painting the ceiling to cover up all the purple from the blender.’
Ah … now it makes sense. Sort of.
‘Why don’t you give your mom a call and tell her where you are?’ she suggests.
‘Because she doesn’t like it when people wake her up.’
Max nods. ‘Yeah, and because you don’t have your—’
‘Max!’ Jiffy gives him a warning look.
‘Jiffy? What don’t you have? Your phone?’
‘Why’d you tell her that?’ Jiffy asks Max. ‘It’s private, remember?’
‘I didn’t tell her. She’s a good psychic, too.’
‘She is not.’
‘She is so. Psychics know stuff and she does.’
‘But she’s not a psychic. She’s just a mom. She doesn’t have a shingle and do readings like my mom. Right, Bella?’
‘Right.’ Bella pours cereal and milk into the bowl and sets it in front of him.
‘Thanks, Bella. I’ll have a banana, too, please. And extra milk, because the box says that it magically turns into chocolate milk, and I can drink that when I run out of cereal.’
She obliges. Then she asks, again, ‘Where’s your phone, Jiffy?’
He glares at Max.
Bella tries a different tactic. ‘Did you lose it?’
‘Nope.’
‘So you know where it is?’
‘Yep.’
‘Really?’
‘I swear, Bella. I’m not lying. I know ’xactly where it is.’
‘OK, well … that’s good. Eat your cereal, boys. I’ll be right back.’
She heads for the stairs, intending to text Misty so she won’t worry if she wakes up and Jiffy’s not there.
Candace and Tommy are on their way down.
‘Good morning!’ Bella steps back to let them descend. ‘You two are up bright and early.’
‘We’re doing a presentation,’ Candace says. ‘You should come. We’re doing an equipment demo.’
‘Equipment?’
Tommy ticks off on his fingers, ‘Magnetic field detectors, EVP recorders, EMF readers …’
‘Ah, ghost-hunting equipment.’
‘Exactly. There’s a lot of activity in this house.’
‘Yes, well, we’re at full capacity,’ Bella says.
‘He means paranormal activity,’ Candace tells her.
‘Oh, right,’ Bella says, as if she didn’t already know that.
‘Our sensors were going crazy on the third floor last night,’ Tommy says. ‘Something’s definitely going on up there.’
‘If you want, we can come back and do a full investigation,’ Candace offers. ‘Valley View would be a great place to film an episode. We met your friend Odelia last night. She said she has some good stories about this place. I’ll bet you do, too.’
‘Maybe not as colorful as Odelia’s. I’ve only been living here since last summer.’
‘What’s it like in the off-season?’
‘Quiet and peaceful,’ Bella says. ‘Well, most of the time.’
When she’s not solving murders and chasing down kidnappers.
‘Listen, everything’s all set up in the breakfast room, so help yourselves, and I’ll be back down in a few minutes if you need anything.’
‘Take your time,’ Tommy calls after her as she hurries up the stairs. ‘We don’t need a thing.’
In the Rose Room, Bella checks her cell phone. Millicent has yet to return her call, but her home screen shows that she’d missed one from Luther just minutes ago.
She returns it immediately.
He answers on the first ring. ‘Bella! Are you OK? You had a robbery at Valley View?’
‘No, not here. At Misty’s. But maybe not.’
She quickly explains the situation, including her theory that Jiffy staged the robbery to cover up the fact that he’d lost his scooter.
‘Misty believed him when he denied it, but I’m not so sure I do. He’s here right now with Max, and he seems like he’s up to something.’
‘He usually is,’ Luther remarks.
‘I know, and he says he doesn’t have his phone. I’m wondering if he lost it, and he’s trying to cover it up with this robbery story.’
‘Didn’t Misty say the scooter and vase were the only things that were missing?’
‘And the puzzle. The only things that she knew of so far,’ Bella says. ‘But you’ve seen her house.’
‘I have. It always looks as if it’s just been ransacked. Still, if the phone was missing, either because it had been stolen or because Jiffy lost it, wouldn’t he have told Misty that it disappeared during the “robbery”?’
‘Probably. And he just looked me in the eye and swore that it isn’t lost, and that he knows exactly where it is. I feel like he was telling the truth. But I did hear that there was a break-in at the Slayton house.’
‘Odelia told you?’
‘Pandora. She said she’d heard it through the grapevine.’
Luther sighs on the other end of the line. ‘I guess there are no secrets in Lily Dale.’
‘It was a secret?’
‘Well, the house has been sitting empty all summer, and it’s not a good idea to publicize that.’
‘What happened?’
‘I don’t know all the facts, but the caretaker who keeps an eye on the place found a broken basement window – something like that.’
‘Was anything stolen?’
‘Not much. Grange and his team are still investigating, and David Slayton doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to get here, but it sounds like all that’s missing is a diamond necklace.’
‘The one with the sapphires?’
‘You know about it?’
‘Calla mentioned it when she was here one day. She said that Blue’s mother took off when he was a baby and was never heard from again. The housekeeper, Mrs Remington, always suspected foul play because she’d left behind that valuable necklace. According to her, it was a red flag.’
‘I don’t know if that says more about Blue’s mother or the housekeeper,’ Luther comments. ‘You’d think most women would consider a child more valuable than a piece of jewelry.’
‘You’d think,’ Bella agrees. ‘Anyway, Calla said that Blue wanted to give her the necklace when they were dating, but David wouldn’t part with it. I guess he thought she might come back some day.’
‘Interesting. I wonder how many people knew it was in that house?’
‘You’ll have to ask Calla. I haven’t told anyone.’
She thinks back to that day, wondering whether their conversation might have been overheard. They hadn’t even been out in public, though; just chatting on the Adirondack chairs in the yard as Max and Jiffy dug for buried treasure.
‘Why don’t I stop by the Ardens’ and talk to Misty?’ Luther suggests.
‘Now? Aren’t you exhausted? You’ve been up all night.’
‘I’m wide awake. I’ve had enough coffee to keep me up till next week. I can’t stay long – I have to get home to feed my dogs – but I’ll see if I can get to the bottom of this.’
‘Thanks. Have you spoken to Odelia yet today?’
‘Not yet. I’m sure she’s still asleep. You know Odelia.’
‘I do.’
And Odelia knows me.
She knows, perhaps better than anyone, how badly Bella misses Sam, and that she’s been longing for some sign from him on the other side.
She hangs up with Luther and opens the text app to let Misty know that Jiffy’s here and Luther’s on his way.
There’s a new message from Unknown.
Bella clicks to open it, and her stomach turns over.
Bella, it’s me. Sam.