“You want Chris to pay off Pearl?” Heather teased. “I’m sure he has another million he’s dying to give away.”
Danielle chuckled. “No, that’s okay. For one thing, I don’t imagine Pearl would change her mind, even for her favorite charity.”
“I doubt she has a favorite charity,” Heather grumbled.
“Are you going to try fighting it?” Chris asked.
Danielle shook her head. “Ironically, when we were in Hawaii, Walt and I discussed closing the B and B.”
“I thought you loved it?” Heather asked.
“I did.” Danielle went on to repeat all that she had told Lily as to why they had come to that decision.
“I understand,” Chris said when she finished her telling. “What do you want to do? You mentioned you and Walt had decided on something else with Marlow House.”
“We’d like to use it to help raise money for charities. It could be a place where I can host charity luncheons—dinners—barbecues. Maybe provide free housing for charity benefits—work with you.”
Chris grinned. “I love that idea.”
“Oh! What about the high school’s fundraiser?” Heather said excitedly. “They could sell raffle tickets for spring break!”
“High school fundraiser?” Danielle frowned.
“Do you remember Elizabeth Sparks?” Chris asked.
“Isn’t she the art teacher the police department uses sometimes to make police sketches?” Danielle asked.
“Yes. She’s trying to raise money for the high school’s art department. Funding for the arts has been drastically cut,” Chris began. “She remembered the foundation had purchased the portraits and had them on loan at the museum. She wondered if the foundation might consider a donation to the art department.”
“Are you donating?” Danielle asked.
“I’ve come to believe it’s best when communities take an active role in fundraising, without one corporation or benefactor always stepping up. So I told her if she put together a fundraiser, I would match whatever they raised. I think it’s important to get the students involved. If they want to save their art department, I think they should fight for it,” Chris explained.
“They haven’t come up with an idea yet,” Heather told Danielle. “They want something original. This would be original. The students could sell raffle tickets—and the winners could spend Easter week at Marlow House.”
“I like that idea.” Danielle smiled. “We have four rooms to offer. People might be more inclined to buy tickets if there was more than one winner.”
“That’s, of course, if you can do something like that without a business license?” Heather said.
“I think so, since I’m not renting out the rooms. But I’ll stop by the city office on my way over to see the chief and find out for sure.”
“I hated sending you that notice. I wanted to call you personally, but I heard you were gone on your honeymoon, and I didn’t want to call your cellphone and disrupt your holiday,” the woman at the city clerk’s office explained to Danielle. “But I had to get the notice out immediately.”
“That’s alright,” Danielle assured her. “I understand. The reason I’m here, I was wondering…” Danielle went on to explain what she wanted to do with Marlow House.
“That is so nice of you!” the woman said after Danielle finished explaining.
“Do I need any kind of license?” she asked.
The woman shook her head. “No, you don’t.”
“Are you sure? I’d hate to get this going and find out I can’t do it.”
“I’m positive. A few years ago one of our residents, who normally does not rent her house out, had a raffle to raise money for her church. The winner got the beach house for a week that summer. It was perfectly legal. I remember double-checking the codes back then, and nothing has changed.”
“Wonderful.” Danielle grinned.
“And if the high school takes you up on your offer, make sure you have one of the students stop by here to sell some tickets. I have family coming then, and I would love the chance to put them up at Marlow House. In fact, before I discovered there was a problem with your business license, I intended to see if I could make reservations with you for spring break.”
“I hope you understand I had no idea Mr. Renton had taken any shortcuts. He was supposed to handle everything for me before I arrived in town.”
“Oh, I do. To be honest, I never cared much for Mr. Renton. But he finally had to deal with karma.”
“I suppose it was karma,” Danielle agreed.
“Anyway, remember to have the students bring me some tickets if you go through with the fundraiser.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks for the information.” Danielle started to turn away when the woman called her back.
“I noticed you never got around to putting up a sign in front of Marlow House.”
“I kept meaning to do it, but something always came up and I got sidetracked.”
“Since you’ll be working with Elizabeth Sparks, I thought you might ask her about her boyfriend making you a sign.”
“Sign?” Danielle frowned.
“Elizabeth’s boyfriend makes signs for people all over the country. He does much of it over the internet. Some of them are quite beautiful. I always thought one of his signs in front of Marlow House would be fitting. It could say Marlow House and the year it was established. Of course, if it were still a bed and breakfast, it would say Marlow House Bed and Breakfast, but you couldn’t do that now.”
“I wouldn’t need a permit for a sign like that?”
“No. According to the city ordinance, it would be considered a historical marker, which doesn’t require a permit and is encouraged. They do require approval, but I know you wouldn’t have a problem getting one of his signs approved. And it would be great publicity for you if you want to continue offering Marlow House for charity functions.”
“I think I would like that. Thanks for the suggestion. Do you know what his name is or how I can contact him?”
The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t recall his name offhand. But if you’re going to be talking to Elizabeth anyway, she can give you his name and number.”
Danielle entered the police department fifteen minutes later carrying a stack of cellophane-sealed boxes of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. As she walked by the dispatcher, she dropped off a box, said hello, and chatted for a moment before heading for the chief’s office.
“Welcome home!” MacDonald greeted her when Danielle walked into the office. He stood up from his desk and looked to the boxes of candy and asked, “Are those all for me?”
“Ha ha,” Danielle said with a grin. “Three are. Well, one is for you and the other two are for your boys.” She set the candy on the desk. “I have a box for Joe and Kelly, and one for Brian. Are they here?”
“No.”
Danielle took a seat in one of the chairs facing the chief. He sat back down behind his desk.
“The boys are going to be thrilled, each getting their own box of candy. I just need to make sure they don’t eat it all at once.”
Danielle grinned. “The joys of parenthood!”
“Now you’re reminding me of his grandparents. Give them a noisy toy that I have to deal with. But in this case, an entire box of chocolate.”
Danielle shrugged. “What can I say? I like to stir up things. Would you mind giving Joe and Brian the candy when they get back?”
“Sure. If I don’t eat them first.” He grinned.
“And here you are acting like it’s the boys who would eat all the candy,” Danielle snickered.
The chief flashed Danielle a smile. “It was sweet of you to think of us while you were on your honeymoon.”
“I’ll admit I sort of took the easy gift route. I figured who doesn’t love chocolate-covered macadamia nuts?”
“You didn’t have to get us anything. But I do appreciate it.” He leaned back in his chair. “Where is Walt? Tired of hanging out with each other?”
“I had some errands to run, and he had some work to do at home. Plus, I called Bill to stop by and look at the fence between our house and Pearl’s. It needs to be repaired. Walt stayed home so he could talk to him about it.”
“How is your new neighbor? What did you decide to do about the B and B?” MacDonald asked.
Danielle spent the next ten minutes updating the chief on all that had happened since she and Walt had arrived back in Frederickport.
“I’m glad it’s working out for you. This will make Joe happy.” He chuckled.
Danielle shook her head. “He never could understand why I kept it open. Especially after the inheritances.”
“I’ll admit I did wonder myself when you might start questioning keeping it open—especially now that you and Walt are married and after some of your recent experiences.”
“You mean like our guests trying to blackmail us or kill us?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” The chief nodded.
Danielle let out a sigh and leaned back in the chair. Her hand absently went up to the locket hanging from the gold chain around her neck, fiddling with it. Until that moment, it had been hidden under the cowl neckline of her sweater.
“You’re wearing the locket.” The chief beamed. “You do like it.”
She glanced down at the locket, rubbing one thumb over it. “I love it. And…well…there is something about the locket you don’t know. I didn’t have time to tell you when you gave it to me, what with getting married and then leaving on our honeymoon.”
“Tell me what?”
Letting go of the golden heart locket, she looked at the chief. “First, I need to ask you something. When you gave it to me, you mentioned you purchased it at an antique shop. How did you happen to be there?”
“Remember when I went to Vancouver with the boys? When Claudia Dane was claiming to be married to Clint.”
“Yeah. It was some family gathering, right?”
The chief nodded. “One day we took some of the kids down to get ice cream, and there was an antique shop next door. One of the cousin’s wives wanted to look in the shop while the kids picked out their ice cream. At the last minute I decided to go into the shop with her. It was fate, I think. The minute I walked in, I almost felt like something made me look at the jewelry in the glass case. I don’t know why. I don’t normally check out women’s jewelry—I’m not even dating anyone right now.” He laughed.
“It was fate, Chief.” Danielle smiled softly.
Cocking his head to one side, he studied her curious expression. “So what did you want to tell me about the locket?”
“The night before my wedding I had a dream. My parents were there. Mom was helping me into my wedding dress. My father came into the room and he gave me a present—a gold heart locket. One that looks exactly like this one.” She touched the locket again. “It even had an engraved M. Exactly like this one.”
The chief stared blankly at Danielle. He blinked his eyes. “Are you saying your father’s spirit guided me to buy that locket? That it was his wedding gift to you?”
Danielle nodded. She then grinned and said, “But I don’t think Dad’s going to pay you back for it.”