All Night Long (10 page)

He was smiling but it did little to diminish the tension in the air between the two men.

Luke opened Irene’s door. “Jason, meet Irene Stenson. She’s a guest here at the lodge.”

“Hello, Jason.” She smiled and got down from the high seat.

Jason nodded, interest flickering in his gaze as he gave her a swift head-to-toe once-over. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Stenson.”

The look he was giving her wasn’t personal, she thought, more a combination of curiosity and assessment. He was wondering what her relationship was to Luke.

“It’s complicated,” she said dryly.

Jason blinked, startled. Then he grinned. “It usually is when it involves Luke.”

“What are you two talking about?” Luke growled.

“Nothing important,” Irene said quickly. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you two to discuss whatever it is you have to discuss.”

She gave both men a bright little smile and walked away along the path.

Whatever was going on here, it didn’t involve her. It was a family matter.

J
ason lowered himself into one of the porch chairs and drank some of the coffee that Luke had just poured for him. He grimaced.

“You know,” he said, “if you invested in one of those high-tech Italian espresso machines you might be able to manufacture coffee that was actually drinkable.”

Luke sat down and stacked his heels on the railing. “I don’t drink coffee for the taste. I drink it because it’s hot and because it helps me to focus.”

“Mind if I ask what you’re focusing on at the moment?”

Luke looked toward Cabin Number Five. “Irene Stenson.”

“Thought so. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the feeling that she’s not one of your average guests.”

“You could say that we sort of bonded last night.”

“Boy, howdy, is that what you call it up here in the mountains?”

“Different kind of bond,” Luke said. “What Irene and I have is the type of connection that you form when you find a dead body together.”

“What?”
Jason sputtered on a swallow of coffee.

“Last night Irene went to see an old friend here in
Dunsley. Senator Webb’s daughter. Found her dead from a bad mix of booze and pills.”

“Hang on here.” Jason lowered the mug very slowly. “Are you talking about the Senator Ryland Webb who is getting set to make a bid for the White House?”

“Uh-huh.”

“His daughter’s dead? I didn’t hear anything about that on the news.”

“You will soon. I understand it was the lead story in the
Glaston Cove Beacon
this morning.”

“You know, for some strange reason, I don’t get the
Glaston Cove Beacon.
As a matter of fact, I’ve never even heard of it.”

“Neither have a lot of other folks. But it got an exclusive because Irene works for that paper. The news about Pamela Webb will probably hit all the major media this afternoon or tomorrow morning.”

Jason frowned uneasily. “Booze and pills?”

“That’s what it looked like.”

“Suicide?”

Luke studied the lake. “Or an accidental overdose. Hard to be sure.”

“Hell of a shock, finding someone like that.”

Luke felt his jaw lock. He knew all too well what Jason was really thinking; what everyone else in the family would think when they found out what had happened. For the past six months they had all been growing increasingly worried about him. This business with Pamela Webb’s death was only going to alarm them all the more.

“It was a lot harder on Irene,” he said quietly. “I never met Pamela Webb while she was alive. But Irene was close friends with her for a time back in high school.”

“And you just happened to be with Irene when she found her old friend?”

“Yes.”

“How did that come about, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“I got curious when I saw her leave the lodge late last night, so I followed her,” Luke said.

“Just like that, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“You do that a lot?” Jason asked cautiously.

“Do what?”

“Follow your guests around town?”

“No. Mostly I try to avoid the guests as much as possible. Most of them are a damned nuisance.”

“But not this one?”

“She’s a nuisance, too.” Luke drank some more coffee. “But she’s different.” Time to switch to another topic. “Why did you come up here today, Jase?”

“I told you, just wanted to see how things are going with you.”

“Try again.”

Jason made an impatient sound and swept out a hand to indicate the cabins and lobby of the Sunrise on the Lake Lodge. “Give me a break. The Old Man is right. You don’t belong here. You’re no more cut out to run a third-rate motel than I am.”

“I’m not cut out to work in the family business, either. Tried that, remember? It didn’t go well.”

“But that was because it got all mixed up with what was happening between you and Katy at the time,” Jason said, very earnest now. “Gordon and the Old Man want you to give it another chance.”

“Don’t think that would be a good idea,” Luke said.

“The Old Man is worried. So is everyone else.”

“I know that. There’s nothing I can do except keep telling you that I’m okay.”

“Mom and the Old Man are convinced that you’re sinking into a clinical depression because of what happened when you and Katy went away together.”

“I’m not depressed.”

“You keep saying that, but no one’s buying it.”

Luke raised his brows. “It’s a philosophical conundrum, isn’t it? How do I prove that I’m okay?”

“You could start by making an appointment with Dr. Van Dyke.”

“Forget it. Dr. Van Dyke is a very nice lady and no doubt an excellent shrink, but I don’t want to talk to her.”

“She’s an old friend of the family, Luke. It was perfectly natural that Mom and Dad would ask her for advice when they started to worry about you. She’s just suggesting that the two of you have a little chat, that’s all.”

“If I ever decide that I need that kind of help, I’ll give her a call.”

Jason settled deeper into his chair. “Told the Old Man this was a waste of time.”

“It was his idea for you to pay me a visit?”

“He thought maybe I could get through to you.”

“Had a feeling that might be it,” Luke said. “Consider the message delivered.”

“You’re coming back for his birthday, aren’t you?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Good. That’s important.”

“I know,” Luke said.

“Be prepared for a sales pitch on the wonderfulness of rejoining the company, though.”

“Forewarned is forearmed.” Luke started to take another swallow of coffee. The sound of a familiar car engine stopped him. “Damn.” He took his heels off the railing and got to his feet. “Now, where the hell is she going?”

Jason watched him, baffled. “Who?”

“Irene.” Luke crossed the porch and went down the steps.

“Wait up.” Jason launched himself up out of the chair and hurried after Luke. “Where are we going?”

Luke didn’t answer. He rounded the side of the cabin, walked into the middle of the narrow lane and came to a halt directly in front of the yellow compact.

Irene was forced to stop. He went to stand at the window on the driver’s-side door, braced one hand on the low roof and leaned down to look at her.

She lowered the window and looked at him through the shield of her dark glasses.

“Something wrong?” she asked politely.

“Where are you headed?”

She reached up and removed the glasses with a slow, thoughtful air.

“You know, I’ve stayed in a wide variety of lodging establishments in my life, but this is the first time I’ve had to account for my comings and goings to the proprietor.”

“We do things a little differently here at the Sunrise on the Lake Lodge.”

“I’ve noticed.” She tapped the frames of the glasses against the steering wheel. “Would that be the military way, by any chance?”

“That would be the Marine way, Miss Stenson,” Jason offered helpfully. “My brother just got out of the service a few months ago. You’ll have to make allowances. He’s still adjusting to civilian life.”

She nodded once, very crisply, as though the information confirmed some private conclusion she had already reached.

“That explains a lot.” She smiled at Jason and then gave Luke a considering look. “It crossed my mind that I owe you something for the considerable amount of inconvenience I caused you last night and this morning.”

“That right?” Luke asked.

“I was thinking that maybe I could repay you with an offer of a home-cooked meal this evening.”

That was the last thing he had been expecting.

“Boy, howdy,” Jason said enthusiastically. “Do you cook, Miss Stenson?”

“I’ll have you know that you are looking at the reporter who is single-handedly responsible for selecting every recipe that runs in the Recipe Exchange column of the
Glaston Cove Beacon.
”

Jason grinned. “Should I be impressed?”

“You would be more than impressed, you would be stunned speechless if you saw some of the recipes I’ve rejected. Trust me, you’re better off going through life never
knowing what some people can do with lime-flavored gelatin and red kidney beans.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Jason said.

“By the way, you’re invited to dinner, too, of course, assuming you’re staying overnight?”

“I am now,” Jason assured her.

“Excellent. See you both at five-thirty. We’ll have drinks before dinner.” She turned back to Luke, politely challenging. “If that’s okay with you, of course?”

“One of the things they taught us in the Corps was to take advantage of strategic opportunities when they are presented,” he said. “We’ll be on your doorstep at seventeen-thirty, ma’am.”

“I assume that means five-thirty in real time,” she said. “Now, if that’s settled, I’ve got a few errands to run.”

Luke did not take his hand off the car. “You haven’t answered my question. Where are you headed?”

A glint of amusement danced in her amber eyes. “You know, that attitude might work very well in the military. But you may want to rethink it when you’re dealing with a paying guest.”

“Only two ways to do things, Miss Stenson, the Marine way or the other way.”

“For the record, I choose option number two, the other way,” she said. “However, in deference to the fact that you will be my guest at dinner tonight, I will be gracious and answer your question. I’m going shopping at the Dunsley Market.”

“Shopping?”

“You know, for food and stuff to serve you and your brother?”

“Right. Shopping.”

She smiled a little too sweetly. “Care to see my list?”

“Does it include lime gelatin and red kidney beans?”

“Nope.”

“Guess I don’t have to worry, in that case,” he said.

“There’s always room to worry, Mr. Danner.”

She floored the accelerator. He jerked his fingers off the roof a split second before the compact shot away down the lane.

There was a short silence.

“Boy, howdy,” Jason said. “You know, you could lose a hand that way.”

I
rene stood at the produce counter of the Dunsley Market, examining the limited selection of lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes, and pretended not to notice the curious, covert glances of the other shoppers. It wasn’t the first time she had been in the middle of a news story here, she thought. But this time around she was an adult, not an emotionally shattered teen.

What’s more, after five years of covering the Glaston Cove city council meetings, selecting the Recipe Exchange recipes and profiling local entrepreneurs such as the proprietor of Glaston Cove Seaweed Harvesting, Inc., she was starting to feel like a for-real investigative journalist.

She replayed the conversation she’d conducted with Adeline a short time before.

“Damnit, Irene, you haven’t given me anything I can use beyond the vague hints about an ongoing investigation, which, I might add, doesn’t seem to be happening, anyway.”

“What do you mean? I’m investigating.”

“But if the local cops aren’t doing zip squat—”

“There’s more to this, Addy, I can feel it.”

“I know.” Adeline exhaled heavily on the other end of the line. “This old reporter’s gut is churning, too, and I
don’t think it’s the chili I had at lunch. Too many coincidences here. But promise me you’ll be careful. In my considerable experience, politics, sex and dead people make for a real bad mix.”