August was just days away. Lily and Ian had attended their first Lamaze class, but the next day Ian had been called back to California for another meeting with the producer on his current project. Unhappy with her husband’s unexpected business trip, Lily sat glumly in the passenger seat of Danielle’s car as the two headed to Adam’s office.
“My folks are going to be here next week. What if Adam can’t recommend anyone?” Lily asked Danielle. Ian had planned to paint the nursery this week, but his trip to California made that impossible. Lily’s original plan was to have the nursery freshly painted and ready for her parents’ arrival, when they would be bringing the gifts from Lily’s first baby shower, which included the crib and dresser Lily’s parents had given them.
“Then I’ll paint it for you,” Danielle suggested.
“No, you won’t. No offense, but you’re kind of a crappy painter.”
“Well, that’s not very nice,” Danielle grumbled. “But true.”
“I do appreciate the offer,” Lily said. “I guess in the big scheme of things, this is not a big deal.” She didn’t sound convinced.
“Just as long as you don’t do something stupid, like try painting it yourself. You know what your doctor said.”
“I know. And while I don’t always do what my doctor tells me to, I won’t do anything to risk the health of my baby.” Lily looked down at her protruding belly and gave it a gentle pat.
Ten minutes later they entered Adam’s office. Unbeknownst to Lily—and Adam—he was not alone. Marie hovered overhead in an invisible chair.
“Danielle, Lily, hello!” Marie called out, waving down to the pair.
Danielle glanced up at Marie and flashed her a smile.
Adam stood up from the desk, his eyes on Lily’s belly. “Wow. You really are pregnant.”
“Well, gee thanks, I think,” Lily said dryly as she plopped down ungracefully in a chair.
“I just meant—” Adam stammered.
“I know what you meant. I’m as big as a house.”
Marie frowned down at her grandson. “Adam, sometimes you just don’t think before you talk.” She pinched his right ear.
Adam’s right hand flew to his ear. “Ouch!”
“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.
Adam rubbed his earlobe. “Did something bite me?”
Danielle looked at Adam’s ear and shook her head. “It’s a little red, but I don’t see any bite marks, and there isn’t any bug crawling on you.”
“It felt like someone pinched me.” Adam frowned and stopped rubbing his ear. “Kind of déjà vu. Reminded me of Grandma. She would do that when she was annoyed with me.”
Danielle arched a brow at Marie.
Lily glanced around the office wondering, Is Marie here?
Marie shrugged down at Danielle. “I love the boy, but sometimes he says the most oafish things. Lily dear is pregnant; she needs to be pampered.”
“We’re here to see if you can recommend a painter…someone who might be available, like, now?” Danielle told Adam as she took a seat next to Lily.
Adam sat back down in his desk chair. “A painter for what?”
“Ian was supposed to paint the nursery this week, but he had to go to California again. My folks are going to be here next week, and I really wanted to have the room painted by then.”
“Are your parents staying in the room?” Adam asked. “I know your other bedroom is Ian’s office now.”
“No. They’re staying with us, in the downstairs bedroom,” Danielle explained. “They don’t really have a guest room anymore, not with the spare room being turned into a nursery. Plus, the downstairs bedroom at Marlow House is comfortable; it has its own private bathroom.”
“Just as long as you don’t charge her parents,” Adam teased. “Or I’m telling your neighbor you’re running a B and B again.”
Danielle rolled her eyes. “Har, har. Anyway, who said I’m feeding them breakfast?”
Adam chuckled. “True.”
“So do you know anyone?” Lily asked.
“I’m having one of our rentals painted, and the painter I use can’t get to it for three weeks. He’s really backed up.”
Lily groaned. “It is just one room.”
Adam looked at Danielle. “Why don’t you paint it?”
“She offered,” Lily said.
Danielle shrugged. “She won’t let me.”
“Why not?” Adam asked.
“Because I’m not a terrific housepainter. To be honest, I kinda suck at it.”
“You know who was a good housepainter?” Adam asked.
“No. But do you think they can do it?” Lily asked.
“I seriously doubt it. It was my grandma,” Adam said.
“Oh, Adam, how sweet you remember,” Marie cooed.
“Marie?” Danielle asked.
“Yes. When she was younger, she always did her own painting. At least, the interior. She told me once that before Grandpa, she dated a guy who was a housepainter, and he taught her some tricks.”
“He certainly did,” Marie snickered. “And it wasn’t just about painting.”
Danielle’s eyes widened; she looked up at Marie.
Marie shrugged again. “I was young once.”
“But you know who might be able to do it, Bill. If it’s just one room, he should be able to whip it out in a day,” Adam suggested.
Lily wrinkled her nose. “Bill? Is he any good?”
“I imagine he’s better than Danielle.” Adam flashed Danielle a grin then looked back at Lily. “You want me to have him stop by your house?”
“Yeah. I guess. I already have the paint, brushes and rollers. It’s all sitting in the room. Ian and Walt moved all the furniture out of the nursery before Ian left.” The truth was, Walt did most of the moving—without actually touching anything, while Ian watched in fascination. Of course, she couldn’t tell Adam that.
“Bill’s in Portland for the next couple of days,” Adam began.
Lily groaned. “Then no way he can get it done before my folks get back.”
“Sure he can. When he returns, he had some things he was going to do for me, but I can push that back, and he can do your nursery instead. One room should only take him a day.”
“You would let him put off the work you need?” Lily perked up.
“Sure. When he returns from Portland, I’ll have him stop by and look at the room so he can give you a bid and see if he needs to get anything,” Adam told her.
“Hmmm…okay. That could work. Have him call me before he wants to come over. I’m staying at Marlow House until Ian gets back from California.”
“When’s he coming back?” Adam asked.
“We’re babysitting,” Danielle said with a grin.
Lily glanced at Danielle. “Funny.” She looked back to Adam and said, “Not until next week. The day before my parents get here.”
“Was Marie in Adam’s office?” Lily asked Danielle as they drove down the street to the museum.
“Yes. How did you know?” Danielle asked.
“I just figured. His ear looked red, like it really was pinched.” Lily chuckled.
“Marie was annoyed with his crack, wow, you are pregnant.”
“That’s sort of what I figured. I do love Marie.”
“Me too.” Danielle pulled the car into the parking lot of the museum.
“You are a sport,” Lily said.
Danielle parked the car and turned off the ignition. She looked at Lily and asked, “Why do you say that?”
“Considering all that nonsense the historical society pulled a while back, for you to agree to help with this exhibit.”
“They’ve all apologized. Sort of. And Ben did leave me the Packard, so holding a grudge would seem petty. But mostly, it’s for the community, not them.” Danielle started to open the car door but paused a moment and looked back at Lily. “By the way, while we’re at the museum, would you mind if we stop at the newspaper exhibit?”
“I don’t care. What do you want to look up?” Lily asked.
“I know the chief and his people have searched through the records, looking for who those remains might have belonged to. I’d just like to look through the newspapers and see if I can find anything.”
“Danielle, that’s a lot of newspapers to look through.”
“I just want to look around the time Mr. Morton died, up until Pearl’s grandmother bought the house.”
“What are you hoping to find?”
“I don’t know. But I can’t help but wonder if whatever happened to those poor people might have something to do with Mr. Morton’s death.”
“Why would you think that?” Lily asked.
“I don’t know. It’s something that keeps nagging at me. But if you don’t want to hang around at the museum while I look, I can do it another time.”
“Nah, I don’t have a problem sticking around. I enjoy looking through those old newspapers.”
A few minutes later Danielle walked with Lily into the museum and was greeted by Millie Samson.
“Oh, Lily, you look radiant,” Millie told her. “How are you feeling?”
“Other than the heartburn, pretty good, I suppose.”
“When is the baby due?” Millie asked.
“September 25,” Lily told her.
“Really?” Millie looked Lily up and down. “By the looks of you, I would have thought that baby was about to come any time now. Are you sure you aren’t having twins?”
“Where is Marie when you need her?” Lily muttered under her breath.
“What did you say?” Millie frowned.
Lily smiled sweetly. “Nothing.”
“I’m here to pick up the list of businesses you want me to visit,” Danielle interrupted.
Millie turned her attention to Danielle. “Oh yes. I do thank you for doing this for us.”
“What exactly is this new exhibit?” Lily asked.
“It’s on the local businesses, the ones who have been in the same family for a couple of generations,” Millie explained. “I’ll go get you that list.”
The telephone in the gift shop rang. “I need to answer that first,” Millie told them.
“No problem. Lily and I are going to go look at the newspaper exhibit. We’ll be in there,” Danielle told her.
Danielle and Lily sat together at the newspaper exhibit table, each looking at a large book containing back issues of the local newspaper. They had been silently thumbing through the papers for about fifteen minutes.
“Find anything interesting?” Lily asked, looking up from what she had been reading.
“I found something sad,” Danielle said. “Nothing to do with our mystery bodies. It’s an article on the suicide of Millie’s brother in-law, Lewis.”
Lily glanced to the doorway leading to where Millie was, and then back to Danielle. “The one who killed himself over Daisy marrying another man?”
“Yeah.” Danielle continued to read to herself. “This is kind of interesting,” she muttered, and then looked up at Lily.
“What?”
“I think Leo Bateman was the name of Faye’s husband.”
Lily frowned. “So?”
“According to this article, the witness who saw Lewis drive off Pilgrim’s Point was Leo Bateman, a mortician from Portland. Odd coincidence. He ends up marrying the jilted sister after witnessing the man who was brokenhearted kill himself over the other sister.”
“Are you sure it’s the same person? From what I remember, the man Faye married was already working for her when Daisy and Kenneth took off, months after Mr. Morton died,” Lily reminded her.
Before Danielle could answer, Millie brought her the list of businesses she had been waiting for.
“Here it is,” Millie said, handing her a manila folder. “Everything is in here.”
Danielle accepted the folder and asked, “Millie, I came across an article on your brother-in-law’s death.”
“Such a sad thing. But like I said, I never really knew him. It was before I was even dating my husband.”
“In the article it said the witness who saw him drive off Pilgrim’s Point was Leo Bateman,” Danielle began.
Millie nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Norman’s father, from the funeral home. He’s one of the businesses for you to visit for the exhibit.”
“According to the article, Norman’s father was working in Portland at the time of your brother-in-law’s suicide. But someone said he started working for the Morton Funeral Home right after Mr. Morton’s death. So I would assume he wasn’t working in Portland at the time of the suicide, like the newspaper said.”
Millie shook her head. “No. Leo had worked for Morton Funeral home before Mr. Morton’s death. But he had left to take another job in Portland. The man who had been hired to take his place took over as funeral director after Mr. Morton’s death but he didn’t work out. That’s why Leo happened to be in Frederickport that day. Maisy was interviewing him to replace the director at the time.”