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“Ooh, Cassie! What treasures have you brought me?”
I laugh at the enthusiasm with which Annabelle receives the first of many boxes I have packed and ready to bring to her store. It’s been a quiet few days, at least as far as I’m concerned, but I haven’t wasted my time. I’ve been busily tidying, decluttering, and downsizing the current contents of my house to just a few things I will have space for at Serenity Suites. I’m not a clutter bug by any means, but it hasn’t always been easy deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. This box was the first one I filled, and I heave it onto the counter for Annabelle to pick through.
“I don’t think you’ll find much to treasure in here, I’m afraid! It’s mostly just old crockery and kitchen supplies, but they’ll make someone very happy, I’m sure.” I wipe my hands on my jeans and glance back towards the door. “I’ve got a few more boxes to bring after this one if you’re happy to take them?”
“Of course, dear.” Annabelle is bent over my box, counting and pricing things in her head as she reaches inside. “I’m here all afternoon, so you can drop them off any time.”
“Thanks.” I check my phone, but Louise still hasn’t returned my call. I bite my lip, wondering if I can fit in a quick visit in person to Serenity Suites. I’ve scarcely spoken to her since her interview with Sheriff Cooper, and I want to reassure myself that she’s doing ok. It’s not like I think she’s a real suspect, at least Bob didn’t seem to think so. But an ongoing murder investigation isn’t the only problem Louise is juggling right now. I wonder if she’s made any progress with sourcing some more funding. Because if not, then all of this is for nothing. I shake my head. One crisis at a time, Cassie. The date for my eviction is looming large in my mind and at least I have somewhere to move to until I hear otherwise. A new house and a new job. That’s a lot more than some of my neighbors have right now.
“Do you need anything else, dear?”
Annabelle seems to have noticed I’m standing around, and she looks up from curating my box of kitchen supplies with a gentle smile.
“It’s hard to let go sometimes, isn’t it?” She reaches into the box and pulls out a rainbow-colored ceramic mug. “Here. Why don’t you keep this one?”
I take the mug, and just looking at it makes me smile. This was a gift from one of my favorite nieces. Meredith had bought it for me just because and drinking my morning coffee from it does make me feel a little less alone. Maybe it will go just as well in my new home as it has done in my old one.
“Thanks, Annabelle.” I head towards the street, pausing in the doorway to wave. “And you’re sure you don’t mind me dropping off a few other boxes? It might not be right away. I have some jobs to do first.”
“Not at all, dear!” Annabelle’s smile drops into the tiniest frown and when I hear a tentative throat clearing I notice why. I’m blocking the doorway for someone who wants to get inside.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” I jump aside and let a short, stout, bottle-blonde woman inside. She’s clutching a box of her own and I can’t help but peek inside as she passes me. “Looks like it’s the season for decluttering!” I say, with a smile.
“Huh?” She glares at me, clutching her box a little more tightly as if she worried I was going to take something from it.
“Nothing,” I say, waving my rescued mug at Annabelle and leaving her and her new customer to it. I guess not everyone has the time to stand around all afternoon making small talk. And neither do I, I remind myself, setting an alarm on my phone that will go off half an hour before the antiques store closes. I’ve got plenty of time to swing by Serenity Suites and check up on Louise without eating too much into my decluttering time. I can drop off my first item in my new apartment, I think, swinging my arms jauntily as I walk down the street. It’s a small start, but it’s something that will help the new place feel like home. I wince, wondering if there’s been much progress on the walls-and-floor front, but decide that’s another good reason to call in today. I can get a timeframe for my move from Louise and start to organize my bigger items of furniture.
To my surprise, Serenity Suites is looking less like a building site than it did the last time I was there. Or perhaps I’m just getting used to it. I wave and offer a cheery good morning to the workmen who are repainting the sign over the front door and take care to slip inside without any risk of brushing against wet paint this time.
I see Joe deep in conversation with a tall figure whose back is to me, and I hurry on past them, grateful to escape being drawn into another conversation with Serenity Suites’ primary resident. I wonder how Joe copes with being the only person to live on-site at the moment, then realize that within a matter of a few days, I’ll be joining him. I pick up my pace, taking the route I committed to memory the first time Louise showed me to my room. I’m trusting my memory and not my instincts because just about everything in this corridor looks different - newer, shinier, and much more inviting. There’s a little flutter of excitement as I push the door to my apartment but it doesn’t yield and I slam against it. I rear back and try again before I’m finally forced to acknowledge the truth: the door is locked. I hesitate for a moment, glancing back over my shoulder to check Joe is still deep in conversation with his new friend, and then I decide to take a circuitous route to Louise’s office, hoping she is in and can give me the keys to my soon-to-be home. I haven’t got a start date for working here yet or for moving in, but I’m eager to get started and this, at least, is a problem I’ll be able to solve. My mind races back to the other problem I’ve been mulling over whenever I have a spare minute, but I’m making even less progress on solving the murder of Jessica Patterson.
I think back over my last proper interaction with Jessica - the way she had unceremoniously thrown Louise and me out of her room. Leave me alone, I was in the middle of something when you barged in here. What had she been in the middle of? Or was it not a what but a who? Her last words come to mind again. Someone help me! And I wonder if there had been time for another bad-tempered interview after we left Jessica, but before she was left dangling from her balcony. Of course there was! Plenty of time. And plenty of suspects. I’m still turning over the matter in my mind as I reach Louise’s office, but I see her emerge from inside a little ahead of my arrival and pick up my pace, letting all concerns about Jessica Patterson drop in my eagerness to catch up with my friend.
“Louise!”
She hasn’t heard me: she’s distracted, and I watch in frustration as she disappears around the corner too fast for me to catch her. I hesitate for a moment, debating whether to follow her or not, but then I see the door to her office is still open. I slip inside, certain I’ll be able to easily lay my hand on the keys I’m looking for. I’m sure she meant to give me my own set before now, anyway.
Louise’s office is just as chaotic as it’s always been, and I quickly survey the chaos of papers that cover the surface of the desk. I don’t mean to read them, but one page leaps out to me when I see my name, and I skim over it quickly, seeing it’s a contract of employment. There’s a space above my name indicating the need for a signature and I grab a pen and hurriedly scribble my name, before checking Louise has already done the same. Simone Louise Hamilton. I frown. Simone? I always thought Louise was her first name, but she opts to use her middle name. That’s not so very unusual, I think. I can’t remember the last person to call me Cassandra, after all. I slide the signed contract to the very top of the pile, making sure Louise will see it when she comes back to the office, then return to my original task, pulling open her drawers and fumbling in amongst her office supplies. My hand closes around something, but it’s not a key. It’s a small, framed photograph. I squint at it, taking in the dated lighting, and recognize the face of a much younger Edward Patterson. My mind goes back to the letter I found in the drawer at Annabelle’s. My child doesn’t need to know who their father is and neither does anybody else...
The child in the photograph is just a baby, dressed all in white and impossible to identify, beyond the stilted smile on Edward’s face. I run a fingertip over the baby, trying to discern any familiarity in their features but the photo is impossible to read. And where did Louise get it, anyway? Unless...
I stare at it in shock until I hear footsteps, and I instinctively return the treasure, sliding the drawer closed and straightening just in time for the door to the office to swing open and a figure I recognize to stroll in.
“You aren’t Louise.” The tall, dark-haired man I’ve seen several times now but still haven’t managed to identify comes to a halt and then tilts his head to one side. “You must be Cassie, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Oh?” I don’t even bother to hide the note of challenge in my voice. “And you are?”
He smiles, and there’s something familiar about the crookedness of his lips that almost makes me do a double-take. I can’t quite work out how to form my next question when Louise’s arrival saves me from trying.
“David! Are you looking for me?” She sails into the office, stopping at the sight of me. “Cassie! I didn’t realize you were here too. What perfect timing! I’ve been wanting to get the two of you together for a meeting ever since...well...for a while now.” She’s pink-cheeked and cheerful, and I forget the questions I had wanted to ask her. They’ll keep. This won’t.
“I was hoping to pick up the keys to my room,” I say, with a cold look at the stranger who now, at least, has a name. David.
“Of course!” Louise reaches into her pocket, pulling out a heavy ring of keys she sorts through before pulling a couple off and handing them to me. “This is for your room, and this is the master for the whole building.” Her eyes twinkle with mischief. “Don’t go losing that, now, will you? You know Serenity Suites prides itself on the security of our residents.”
I nod primly and fold my hands around the keys, eager to carry on with my tasks but even more eager to find out what David is doing here, and why Louise seems so content to spend time with a man I’ve been getting a bad feeling about since I first clapped eyes on him. A guy who looks just a bit too familiar...
“Well, David. I suppose you won’t mind if I share the news with Cassie, as we’re all going to be working together.” Louise lays a warm hand on David’s arm and I zero in on the familiarity of the gesture. I just have time to arrange my features into something vaguely indifferent before Louise turns back to me. “David is our new partner.”
“Silent partner,” David puts in, with a wary look.
“Right.” Louise beams. “He just promised to invest all the money we need to make Serenity Suites the success I know it can be.”
“That’s very generous,” I allow, wondering just what this slick businessman thinks he can gain from assisting a place like this.
“It’s the very least I could do. I know if my father was still here he’d have supported this project. It’s only right I carry on his legacy.”
“Your father?” I frown, and slowly the pieces sift into place in my mind. The unshakeable familiarity about the man in front of me, his knowledge about the mansion and its belongings. The photograph in Louise’s desk drawer. “You’re Edward Patterson’s son.”
“I am,” David says, reaching forward and offering me his hand, along with a smile that makes him look more like his father than ever. “But don’t hold that against me. It’s only since his death that I’ve come to learn very much about him. It’s not every day you inherit an empire.”
My smile sours. If this is the man who inherited the bulk of Ed Patterson’s fortune it means he inherited something else along with it. This is my new landlord. Or he would be if he wasn’t determined to sell my house out from under me.