Part 23 (1/2)
Murmurs buzzed around the table. But all of the expressions proclaimed innocence. No one was giving away anything.
The detective turned his hawklike eyes toward the doctor. ”Kenneth Calhoun.”
Kenneth stood and stretched his legs. Susan looked as if she were going to cry.
”I wonder what that's all about,” Joyce whispered after the two men left the room to talk in the hall.
”That cop.” Gregory shook his head. ”He's trying to intimidate us. Make somebody crack.” He looked at each of them in turn as if watching for a sign of weakness. ”I guess there's no way we can pretend it didn't happen with him here.”
Susan bit her lip, obviously trying to hear what was going on in the hall. Everyone else picked at their key lime pie. After what seemed like an eternity of Gregory glaring at everyone in the room, Kenneth returned.
”I hope you saved a piece for me,” he said as he took his seat.
Susan wilted with relief.
Julie couldn't help but wonder why the woman had been so worried. What did she know?
Detective Frost stopped at the door and looked to tiny Carrie Windsor, also known as CeCe the Pop Star. ”Miss Windsor?”
Carrie looked at Sadie and Joyce as if somehow they could help her. Both of the older women promptly dropped their gazes to their pie.
”Coming.” Carrie pushed to her feet and followed the detective into the hall.
Gregory turned to Kenneth. ”What'd he ask you?”
This time, Liam dropped all pretense of merely paying attention and pulled out a notebook, pen poised and ready to write.
”Nothing he hasn't already asked before,” Kenneth said, but Julie knew he was lying.
She looked to Daniel, who gave a small shrug. Then he pushed a piece of paper toward her with a note scrawled on it.
”What if there really are two?”
Two what? Julie studied his face, and his meaning finally registered. Two people involved in the murder. She hadn't put much stock in the theory before.
But what if there were two criminals under her roof?
It was eight-thirty by the time Detective Frost escorted Carrie back into the room. She looked calm enough, as if she'd just had a talk with a good friend instead of a hardened detective on a mission.
”Time's up,” Frost said, looking around the faces in the room.
”So that's it?” Gregory asked. ”We're free to go?”
The detective nodded. ”For now. But we may need to contact you in the near future as we continue the investigation. I expect you all to answer the phone when we call. I guarantee you it will make things easier for everyone if you do.”
”It's about time.” Gregory stood and stalked out the door, presumably to pack his bags and get out of town. The tension in the room dropped after he was gone, but it didn't go away completely.
”Would it be OK if we stayed until tomorrow?” Sadie asked Julie. ”It'll be dark soon, and I don't like driving in the dark.”
Joyce nodded her head in emphasis to her friend's words.
”Of course,” Julie said. ”We don't have many bookings this week, so you're in luck.”
Liam was already staying as were Susan and Kenneth. Julie felt her hopes about the dreadful weekend drawing to a close soon slip away. Half of her guests weren't leaving when they were supposed to.
”What about you, dear?” Sadie asked Carrie. ”Can you stay one more night with us?”
Suddenly the girl seemed very interested in her own fingernails. ”I have my room booked for the whole week, but I don't think I can stay.”
”You should call your manager,” Joyce said. ”You have people missing you and wondering if you're all right.”
Carrie nodded.
Sadie patted the girl's knee. ”You tell them you have people who are watching out for you. They can come and get you tomorrow, but for now you need one more night of rest.”
Carrie sighed. ”I guess it's about time I went back to my real life.”
Julie smiled rea.s.suringly. ”You can come hide out here anytime you want.”
Carrie's eyes lit up like she'd been given the best gift on the planet. ”You really mean that?”
Julie nodded, surprised the girl would even entertain the thought after the weekend they'd had. ”You'll always have a room here.”
Upon hearing it all, Detective Frost left, shaking his head as he went.
”I know Aston Cooper will be here tomorrow to check out the journal,” Daniel said as Julie unlocked the safe and took out the book. ”But this can't wait until then.” His eyes sparkled, and his hands shook with excitement.
”I can tell,” she replied with a laugh.
Daniel opened the book to the t.i.tle page. ”This is no ordinary book.”
”I thought we covered this,” Julie said. ”It might have belonged to Mark Twain.”
”It's a manual on how to play baseball.”
”Baseball?”
”Yeah.” Daniel grinned.
”Was it even a sport in 1861?” Julie searched her brain for everything she knew about baseball. There wasn't much.
”It was a new game then. People were just starting to play it at the beginning of the Civil War. Some regiments received pocket manuals on all the rules.”
”But the notes in the margins?”
”Pure Mark Twain.”
”And this makes it more valuable?” Julie asked.
”There aren't a whole lot of these left. The game evolves, you know. Rules change, and things like this get destroyed. It's sad, really.”