Part 14 (1/2)

”Im sure thats not necessary. Did you look carefully?”

”What am I, an imbecile?” The young woman threw up her hands, turned to the young man, and let loose a stream of French.

He lifted his hands. ”Calm down, Sophie. Ill sort it out. She says her cash and credit card are gone.”

”She must be mistaken. Nothing can have been stolen. Not from my establishment. Why, why, no ones been here today.”

”Lorraine was.” Wendy Wyatt-Yarmouth stood at the door. She pushed Sophie aside. ”She was here wasnt she? This morning, around noon. I wasnt up to skiing today. Just stayed in my room mostly. But I went into town for lunch and some shopping, and I saw her. She was in the kitchen, eating soup.”

”Lorraine was here as my guest,” Ellie said. ”Shes upset about the death of your brother, it seems she was quite fond of him...”

”Fond,” Wendy snorted. ”Fond of his money.”

”I dont know about that, but she came to the door, and she was sad, and I was about to sit down with my lunch. Id made enough for Kathy, but I hadnt seen hide nor hair of her since she did a pretty poor job at her ch.o.r.es. So I gave her soup to Lorraine.”

”Who are we talking about?” Lucky asked, although she could guess. Lorraine LeBlanc. Sixteen years old and already a disaster looking for a place to happen.

”That miserable Lorraine creature. My brother smiled at her sideways, and she seems to think that meant they were about to be married.”

”More than smiled at,” Alan said with an unpleasant chuckle.

”Who the h.e.l.l asked for your opinion?”

”Lest you forget, Wendy, I am the complainant here.”

”Sorry, I thought that was Sophie. And Sophie wants to call the police, dont you Sophie? People cant be allowed to just walk into a private home and poke around looking for anything they want, right?”

”Yes, I said so, didnt I?”

”Hold on,” Lucky said. ”So Lorraine was here, having soup in the kitchen. You were with her the entire time, werent you, Ellie?”

Thoughts raced across the womans face as she struggled to find the right answer.

Lorraine. Poor Lorraine. Left alone in the B&B, the girl might well be tempted to walk up the stairs, to peek into the two hundred dollar a night rooms and see what sort of stuff the rich carried around with them. And even help herself to what she thought no one would miss.

”Ellie,” Lucky said. ”Did you leave Lorraine alone for a length of time?”

”I might have gone to the bathroom. I dont remember.”

”There you have it,” Wendy shouted. ”It takes no length of time to run upstairs, open a drawer, and s.n.a.t.c.h the money.”

”No,” Lucky said. ”But it does to find the right room, and the right location, without turning the place over. Was anything in your room disturbed, Sophie?”

Sophie looked at Alan.

He shook his head. ”Not so as I noticed. Sophie went into her drawer to get money for dinner and noticed it was gone.”

”Lorraine obviously cased the place earlier,” Wendy said. ”That explains it.”

”Explains what?”

The girls eyes s.h.i.+fted to one side. ”Nothing. Just thinking. Are you going to call the cops, Mrs. C?”

Ellie twisted her ap.r.o.n in her hands. She looked perilously close to sheer panic. Lucky touched her friends arm. ”This wont reflect on you.”

”It most certainly will,” Wendy said. Her voice was rising. ”I cant imagine wholl want to stay here after this gets out. In fact, we all should get a sizeable discount, if not our entire stay for free. This place isnt at all the quality its advertised to be.”

”We need to calm down,” Lucky said. ”We have plenty of time to discuss this. It isnt an emergency.” Wendy was over-reacting to a considerable degree, and Lucky suspected it had nothing to do with the loss of Sophies money, or even with Lorraine, but with the young womans own all-encompa.s.sing grief.

Wendy pulled a cell phone out of her pocket. ”If you wont call the cops, Ill have to do it.” She punched in three numbers, and went into the hall to make the call.

”This is dreadful, simply dreadful,” Ellie said. ”I didnt leave Lorraine alone for more than a couple of minutes. Well, perhaps I did, I dont quite remember every detail.”

Wendy came back. ”The police,” she said, very haughty, ”will be here shortly.”

Ellie groaned.

The small procession pulled into town. John Winters turned into the police station, and Molly Smith drove past. Hed heard shed taken the apartment above Alphonses bakery.

He made a quick decision, and turned the van around. There was no traffic on Monroe Street and he caught up to the Focus as it made the next corner.

The Ford climbed over dirty packed snow and ice to reach its parking slot on the other side of the alley. He pulled up behind her, opened the window and waited.

”Everything, okay?” she asked, coming up to the drivers window, ski boots in hand. Shed pulled a knitted red cap over her head.

”I dont know what Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth was doing the day his pal was missing. I need to find out. I know youre not working today, but thought you might want to come with me.”

She grinned. ”Thanks, John, thanks. Do you want me to put on my uniform?”

”Youll do.”

She tossed her ski boots back into her car, locked it, ran around the van and jumped into the pa.s.senger seat. As eager as a puppy at play time.

It was almost six. A good time to find skiers resting between the day on the slopes and heading out to dinner. The Wyatt-Yarmouth family and friends were a p.r.i.c.kly bunch, and hed decided, on the spur of the moment, that it would be a good idea to have someone else on hand. Even if only to observe and pick up on unspoken communication.

He backed the van into the alley. The radio crackled. Reported theft at 1894 Victoria Street. Winters turned to Smith. ”Isnt that the Glacier Chalet?”

”Yeah, it is.”

”What a coincidence.” He grabbed the radio. ”Winters. Ill take that call.”

”You got it, Sarge.”

Molly Smith was not pleased to see her mother, once again, standing in the hallway of the Glacier Chalet B&B. But she knew that Lucky and Ellie Carmine were friends, so her mom did have the right to be here. Although the hotels and B&Bs in town did a lot of mutually-beneficial business with the outfitting and tour companies, Lucky and Ellie hadnt become friends until recently. While Molly was away at University there was something about Ellie having trouble with the police over guests using hard drugs in her B&B. How that would bring her into Lucky Smiths circle, Molly didnt want to know.

”That was quick,” Mrs. Carmine said, opening the door. Looking like Mrs. Claus no longer, her face was set in hard, tight lines.

”Constable Smith and I were pa.s.sing,” Winters explained.