Digging for Dirt (Heavenly Highland Inn Cozy Mystery Book 9) (4 page)

A
s Vicky started walking
towards the banquet hall she hoped it would be fine as she had promised Sarah it would be. As if the thought of her had summoned her, Sarah walked through the front door of the lobby.

“Did I just see Aunt Ida?” Sarah asked. “I was going to find out how the tour went with Roman.”

“They’re upstairs.” Vicky pointed to the elevator.

“How is the banquet hall?” Sarah asked.

“I honestly haven’t checked yet.” Vicky grimaced. “I got distracted.” Again she decided not to reveal the whole truth to Sarah. She didn’t want her sister to be worried that Freida was upset with Vicky or the inn.

“That’s all right, let’s take a look together.” Sarah’s face grew tense as she walked towards the banquet hall. Vicky kept an even pace beside her. She kept telling herself that everything would be fine. The carpet would be dry, or at least dry enough that people wouldn’t notice it.

Through the glass panes in the double doors that led into the banquet hall the carpets looked great.

“You see, Sarah, there was never anything to worry about.” Vicky smiled as she opened the doors to the banquet hall. The carpet was spotless, and the tables were ready to go. The room looked great. But there was another problem.

“Oh, what is that?” Sarah grimaced and covered her nose.

“I don’t know.” Vicky pinched her nose as well. The smell that wafted out of the banquet hall was so overpowering that it made Vicky’s stomach churn. She noticed that the windows she had made sure were all open to help diffuse any lingering smell, were all closed.

“We certainly can’t host dinner in there!” Sarah’s voice grew higher as she became more agitated. “Now, what are we going to do?”

“Well, we still have the patio set up from lunch. It is chilly outside, but it’s not too cold and it doesn’t look like it’s going to rain after all. The guests can either sit on the patio or have room service.” Vicky frowned. “We’re going to have to move fast to get room service set up. It looks like it’s going to be a busy night.”

Sarah looked dismayed, but she snapped into action. “All right, let Chef Henry know, and make sure that everyone is available to help.”

“I’m sorry, Sarah, I should have checked on the banquet hall earlier. I know I left those windows open!” Vicky felt her heart pound with anger. She wondered who would have closed the windows. Then she realized that someone had to have set up the tables. Some well-meaning staff member had probably thought it was best to close the windows to keep the chilly air out.

“No time for that now, Vicky.” Sarah did look a little annoyed as she turned to face her sister. “What we need to do is get on top of this before it gets out of hand.”

“You’re right.”

Vicky ran off towards the kitchen. Chef Henry was already preparing some food for the evening meal.

“We have a problem.” Vicky stood in the middle of the kitchen.

“No banquet hall?” Henry looked up at her. Vicky nodded.

“We’ve got outside ready and we are probably going to be doing a lot of room service.” Vicky cringed.

“Okay, all right, let’s get to it!” Chef Henry clapped his hands. He began lining up trays for room service. Sarah arranged for notices to be dropped off at each room announcing that the banquet hall would be closed for dinner service and that the patio was set up for dinner, but all guests were welcome to use their room service menu at no extra charge. Not long after that she joined the others in the kitchen. The phone hanging on the wall of the kitchen began ringing.

Although some guests were happy to sit outside in the cool weather, the orders for room service were coming in so fast that Henry could barely keep up. His staff were working as hard as they could, but they didn’t have much experience with having to cook so quickly. Normally, the dinner service was spread out over a few hours, but because Sarah had just let the guests know they seemed to all want dinner at once. When a big pot hit the floor due to slippery hands, Vicky nearly jumped out of her skin. Everyone in the kitchen went silent for a moment.

“It’s going to be okay, everyone is doing great.” Vicky snatched the empty pot up from the floor and put it back on the stove. “The waiters are busy with serving the guests on the patio, but I’m going to get some of the other staff to help the bellboys with delivering room service.”

After asking Monica to help with the food delivery and helping herself, they managed to get through food service without any drama. Although Vicky was worn-out, she decided to go check on the banquet hall before helping to tidy up for the day.

“Oh, Vicky, you look exhausted.” Sarah frowned as she walked into the kitchen just as Vicky was exiting. “I can finish up here, go get some rest.”

Vicky was tired. She didn’t want to admit it, but she had worked harder in one night than she had in months. She nodded at Sarah.

“If you’re sure,” Vicky said.

“I am.”

“I’m just going to check on the fans one more time and make sure that the night staff know not to close the windows.”

“I’ll do that, you go to bed.” She smiled at Vicky. “You really came through tonight, Vicky. We managed to avoid a disaster.”

Vicky offered a weak smile in return. Though she agreed that they had pleased the guests with room service and alfresco dining, she also knew that she had upset Freida. Freida might even be working on an article right at that moment. An article that could tear apart the inn’s reputation. But there was nothing that Vicky could do about that, and it wouldn’t help matters for Sarah to be worried about it as well.

“Good night, Sarah.” Vicky gave her a quick hug and then headed to her apartment. As she walked through the lobby she saw Trevor and Roman heading towards the elevator.

“Why don’t you come to my room and we can have a drink,” Roman said.

“Not tonight, I’m tired.”

“Oh come on, I’ll have a drink and you can have a tea. And we can talk about that scientific stuff you love, flowers and vegetables.”

“Not tonight.”

“Okay you win, we can even work if you really want.” Roman laughed slightly. “You’ve never been one to turn down work.”

“In the morning,” Trevor said.

“Wow, you must be tired.” Vicky watched them as they stepped into the elevator. “The morning it is.” The doors slid shut.

It sounded like Roman wanted some company. She imagined that it could get quite lonely on the campaign trail.

Vicky continued walking towards her apartment. It was not a long walk from the lobby to her apartment door. She knew it would be a bit longer when the new house was built. It also meant she would have a little more privacy.

Vicky opened the door to her apartment with the turn of her sore wrist. She could barely lift her arms. After all of the lifting and moving, she was exhausted. She stepped inside to the smell of dinner cooking. The aroma brought a smile to her lips. Her mind drifted dreamily to her amazing husband. She hadn’t expected him to be home as he usually worked later into the evening. It was a special treat to be greeted by him and a hot meal.

“Hey, sweetheart.” Mitchell stepped out of the small kitchen. “How are you doing?”

“Great, now that I’m home.” Vicky hugged him warmly, though it made her arms ache to do so. “One flooded banquet hall, and a full on dinner service, I’m still breathing.”

“I’m sorry you had such a rough day. Dinner still has about twenty minutes to go. Can I interest you in a massage?” His gaze was warm as he settled it on her.

“Oh yes, absolutely you can.” Vicky smiled at him. “How did I get this lucky?”

“Just remember that when I have to live and breathe a case for a week or two.” Mitchell tugged her down onto the couch beside him.

“I will, I promise.” She sighed as he began massaging her shoulders.

“So, how did the hall get flooded?” He continued to work his way down along her shoulder blades. Vicky felt as if she was drifting right into paradise.

“Someone broke one of the sprinklers. The plumber said that it looked like it was done on purpose,” Vicky said. “I have no idea who would have done something like that.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. Maybe I should take a look tomorrow?” Mitchell ran his hands back up to the top of her shoulders and then began to massage her upper arms. Vicky felt herself melt as the pain in her arms faded under his touch.

“I’m not too worried. I’m more concerned about the politician and the gossip columnist staying at the inn.” She leaned back against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“That is bad, but wait until you hear what happened to me today.” He grinned as he kissed the top of her head.

“It couldn’t possibly have been worse,” she murmured and closed her eyes.

“I think maybe it was.” He laughed. “We got a call about a dead body.”

“What? Why is that funny?” Vicky was genuinely confused. She opened her eyes and looked up at him with shock.

“Just wait, you’ll understand soon. Now relax.” Vicky closed her eyes again. “So we responded to this call. We didn’t know what to expect, as it was in the woods. We thought perhaps a jogger had a medical event, or worst case scenario foul play. When we got there, there wasn’t a body that we could find. We got the hiker who called it in to show us where he had seen the body. He pointed out what looked like tiny fingers sticking out of the leaves. So, of course we were horrified. I brushed the leaves back, and instead of a dead body, I found a possum.”

“A possum?” Vicky laughed. “That had to be pretty surprising.”

“Not as surprising as discovering that he wasn’t dead at all! When I moved the leaves the thing sprang into action and ran right across my shoes. I have to admit I screamed.” He lowered his voice and hung his head slightly. “It was a very high-pitched scream.”

“Oh Mitchell, that is pretty bad.” Vicky couldn’t help but chuckle at what he had described.

“So, I’d say we both had rough days.” Mitchell helped her to her feet. “Let’s forget about them, and lose ourselves in a delicious meal. Sound good?”

“Oh yes, very.” Vicky followed him into the kitchen. As she helped him get the food onto plates, she did try to push the events of the day out of her mind. It was hard not to bring work home with her when she lived inside the inn. Maybe when their house was built she would be able to close the door, and truly have a life away from the inn.

E
arly the next
morning Vicky woke up to the sound of Mitchell closing and locking the door. She realized he must have had an early call. She pulled herself out of bed. She wanted to get to the banquet hall and inspect it. Her mind was still troubled by who might have caused the damage to the sprinkler. She also wanted to be sure that the banquet hall was ready for breakfast service. She dressed quickly and headed out into the lobby. Trevor was coming out of the lift.

“Good morning, Trevor,” Vicky said. “How are you this morning?”

“Good, thank you,” Trevor said as he continued towards the door. “I’m just going to look at the beautiful flowers you have in your gardens here, enjoy the morning sun and do a little reading,” he said as he tapped a large book in his hand. Vicky looked at it, but she couldn’t see the front. It looked like a textbook.

“Sounds wonderful,” Vicky said. “Enjoy.”

When she reached the front desk Sarah was already there with two cups of coffee.

“Great minds think alike.” Sarah smiled as she handed Vicky a coffee. “I already checked on the banquet hall. It’s just fine. I think that breakfast service will go smoothly. I also sent Monica upstairs to collect the dinner trays.”

“Did she look okay to you?” Vicky asked. “I might have been a little harsh on her yesterday.” She took a sip from her mug of coffee.

“Harsh, why?” Sarah blinked. Vicky suddenly remembered that she hadn’t told Sarah anything about the encounter between her and Freida, or the fact that it was Monica who had innocently spilled the information to Freida. It was too early in the morning for her to keep up with everything.

“Oh uh, no reason really. She was just moving rather slow.” Vicky frowned.

“That’s because her baby’s teething.” Sarah smiled a little. “I remember those days. I’m sure she’s not getting much sleep, she looked like she was struggling to stay awake today. Take it easy on her, okay?”

“Okay…” Vicky stopped talking as a piercing scream carried through the inn. Vicky nearly dropped her coffee mug as her entire body jolted at the sound. Sarah’s eyes flew wide open with alarm. It was not the type of scream that could be explained away. It was the type of scream that made hot blood run cold.

Vicky and Sarah rushed up the stairs to the third floor. Neither wanted to take the time to wait for the elevator. Vicky raced ahead of Sarah and headed in the direction of the scream. When she found the right room Vicky barreled through the door and nearly tripped over Monica who was frozen where she stood.

“Freida.” Monica pointed a trembling finger towards the dinette table that was set up near the balcony. Vicky saw Freida who appeared to have fallen asleep with her head on the table. But when she looked closer she could see that Freida’s eyes were wide open, and staring emptily at the wall across from her. Vicky realized that the woman was not sick or sleeping, she was dead.

“She was like this when I came in. I just found her this way. I was just going to collect her dinner tray,” Monica rambled, repeating the same statements again and again as Vicky looked at Freida. Vicky knew she was in shock. Vicky was in shock, too. Sarah stepped in behind them. When she saw Freida’s body she gasped.

“It’s okay, Monica.” Sarah wrapped an arm around the woman’s shaking shoulders. “It’s going to be okay.” She nodded to Vicky over Monica’s shoulder.

“Sarah, you call 911 and I’ll call Mitchell,” Vicky suggested. Sarah nodded in agreement as she pulled out her cell phone.

Vicky’s finger shook as she selected Mitchell’s name on her cell phone. She still didn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

“Hello?”

“Mitchell, one of our guests is dead.” Vicky grimaced at the admission. She was greeted by a moment of silence as Mitchell grappled with his own shock.

“What? Are you sure?” Mitchell’s voice rose with urgency.

“I’m very sure, Sarah is calling 911.” Vicky tried to keep her tone from biting, but she was impatient. “But I need your help, Mitchell.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I am waiting to give evidence at court, but I’ll send someone out now. Do you know who the person is?” Vicky could hear him cover the mouthpiece of the phone. She heard muffled commands. She knew that he was dispatching help.

“Yes. It’s Freida Frans.” Vicky gulped as she realized the impact of what she had just said. It was bad enough to have someone die at the inn, but this wasn’t just anyone. Freida was practically a celebrity. When the media found out, there was going to be quite a lot of curious press to deal with. Vicky didn’t want to think about the hassle when she was still standing next to the woman’s dead body. She might have been a troublemaker, but she was also a person who had a family, and now she was gone. Vicky felt a little guilty for the way she and Freida had interacted. Much to her shame, she also felt a little relieved. At least she didn’t have to worry about a fiercely negative article popping up. There would be plenty of negative media attention surrounding Freida’s death, however.

“Sarah, we better make sure that the doors are locked downstairs. Let the staff know not to answer any reporter’s questions,” Vicky rattled off the instructions while her stomach churned uneasily.

“What about Freida?” Sarah asked. Monica still wept quietly on Sarah’s shoulder.

“I’ll stay with her.” Vicky nodded towards the door. “Make sure that no one finds out about this just yet. We have to treat the situation with respect, and we don’t want the press blowing this up before we have the chance to contact Freida’s family.”

“Good point.” Sarah looked at Monica. “Do you think you can walk on your own?”

Monica nodded. She sniffled as she stood to her full height. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Monica.” Vicky met her eyes with sympathy. “She must have been in poor health.”

“Maybe. But she wasn’t sick yesterday. When I was putting flowers in her room, she seemed just fine. I don’t know how someone can go from being just fine to dead in such a short period of time.”

“It is shocking. It’s possible that she had some underlying illness. Something that she didn’t even know about.” Vicky shook her head. She crouched down beside Freida’s body. It was such a strange position to die in. It looked as if she had just taken a bite of her food when she simply slumped over into her dinner. Vicky was unsettled by the woman’s empty stare. The fruit basket that Vicky had asked Monica to deliver the day before was sitting on the table next to her.

“Come with me, Monica.” Sarah steered her out the door.

Once Vicky was alone with Freida, she felt her heart sink. She remembered the phone call that she had overheard. To think that she had been so concerned about Roman Blade without ever knowing that her life was nearing an end. There was nothing to indicate how she had died. Her face was pale, her skin was cold. Otherwise, she appeared to be perfectly fine. There wasn’t a trace of blood or a hint of a fight. Vicky looked up when she heard someone walk in the door.

She expected it to be the paramedics, but instead it was Blake, the new bellboy. He stood frozen in the doorway of the room. His eyes widened with horror at the sight of the dead body. Vicky was sure it was the first time he had ever seen one.

“Blake, you shouldn’t be here.” Vicky frowned. “Please go downstairs and see if Sarah needs any help.”

Blake only continued to stare, as if in a trance, at Freida’s body.

“Blake!” Vicky raised her voice slightly to try to break him out of the dazed state that he was in. “Please, go see if Sarah needs help with Monica.”

“Is she really dead?” Blake was finally able to speak.

“Yes, Blake. But we need to keep that under wraps for now. If it gets out, then her family won’t be notified of her death before it ends up on the news. Understand?” She narrowed her eyes.

“Her family,” Blake repeated. “Wow.” He shook his head. Vicky could see that he was not processing the situation very well. She cleared her throat and stood up. As she walked towards the door she placed a hand on Blake’s shoulder. She turned him around towards the hallway.

“You’re not helping me here, Blake. I need you to do what you can to help Sarah.”

Blake nodded slowly. “Of course. Anything I can do.” As he began going down the hallway Vicky caught sight of the paramedics approaching. Vicky gestured to them.

“In here,” she kept her voice soft. She didn’t want to alert the other guests to what was happening. It was nearly impossible to keep the kind of secret that she was trying to, but she was putting in her best effort. The paramedics eased Freida’s body out of the chair and onto the floor. They checked her vitals. Vicky wasn’t surprised when they declared the woman dead on arrival. She assumed that Freida had been dead since the night before. As the paramedics prepared her body for the coroner, some officers arrived. After they had spoken to the paramedics one of them swept the plate of food into one zip lock bag and the basket of fruit into another. Vicky was surprised by this.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

The officer looked up at her. “In a case where there is an unknown cause of death, we keep whatever food or drink is nearby. The death appears to be natural, but they’re considered potential toxins until the cause of death is determined.”

Vicky raised an eyebrow. She had never heard of that before. She saw no reason to protest. “Anything you need to find out what happened,” she said. She doubted that the food had anything to do with Freida’s death, but she wanted to cooperate. She stepped out of the room to wait for the coroner’s van to arrive. Sarah met her in the hallway.

“We’re going to have to say something to the guests.” Sarah frowned. “They are going to see the gurney and the van.”

“Yes, we better be prepared.”

“What are you thinking?” Sarah asked.

Vicky rubbed her hands slowly along the smooth surface of her pants. She was trying to get her palms to stop sweating. The more she wiped them, the more they seemed to sweat.

“We’ll just stick to what we know. Some of the guests won’t see what’s happening. For the ones that ask we’ll let them know that someone has passed away.” Vicky lowered her voice slightly. “We don’t know anything else at this point, do we? For all we know she could have overdosed on some drugs.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Sarah agreed.

“Okay, so if you can man the front desk to field questions, I’ll wait here by Freida’s room in case anyone needs anything.” Vicky tilted her head towards the end of the hallway. “Trevor is out walking, but you might want to stop by Roman’s room and let him know what is happening. He will want a heads up if any media shows up about this.”

“You don’t think he’d try to spin it into some kind of campaign promotion do you?” Sarah scrunched up her nose with disgust at the idea.

“I don’t know, but I think it’s best we warn him.” Vicky looked towards the closed door of the room that she knew Roman was staying in. She was surprised that all of the commotion hadn’t drawn him out of his room already. Thinking of that, made her wonder where Ida was. She was always the first to show up when there was drama. Hadn’t she heard the scream?

“Can you handle it, Vicky?” Sarah asked.

“Sure, of course.” Vicky nodded. Sarah headed off down the hallway. Vicky nervously walked up to the door. She hadn’t really spoken directly to Roman Blade since he had arrived. She was used to dealing with the wealthy, and even some celebrities, but this was the man who, if elected, would be making decisions for their entire state. She walked up to the door and knocked lightly, twice.

As she waited for an answer, she caught sight of something fluorescent yellow out of the corner of her eye. She turned her attention fully to it and discovered that it was Ida dressed in the brightest jogging outfit that Vicky had ever seen. Right by her side was Roman Blade, dressed in a much more conservative, navy blue jogging suit.

“Aunt Ida.” Vicky hurried to her side. “Were you two out jogging this morning?”

“Yes.” Ida looked at her with concern. “I saw the coroner’s van pull up. What’s happened?”

Vicky looked from her aunt, to the man standing beside her. She didn’t think about it, she just blurted out the truth.

“Freida Frans is dead.” She stared at Roman. “We found her this morning.”

“Oh no!” Ida clasped a hand over her mouth in shock. Roman returned Vicky’s steady stare.

“How did she die?” he asked.

Vicky was a little startled by the question. It wasn’t what she was expecting from him.

“We’re not sure. But most likely from natural causes.” Vicky continued to study Roman intently. “I thought you should know, in case there is any media attention.”

“Good thinking.” He nodded. He flashed her a brief presidential smile. “I’d better call Trevor and let him know.”

“Let him know what?” Trevor asked as he walked down the hallway towards them.

“Oh Trevor, just who I wanted to see.” Trevor looked at Roman with a puzzled expression. “Freida Frans is dead.”

“What?” Trevor grew pale. He moved out of the way as the fruit basket and food were carried past them. He looked at them with wide eyes.

“Come to my room so we can discuss this.” As they walked away from Ida, Vicky watched them enter Roman’s room. When she turned back Ida was peering into Freida’s room.

“How awful,” she sighed.

“It is.” Vicky frowned. “Sarah is not taking it well.”

“Of course not.” Ida swept her hand back through her hair and pulled off her bright yellow headband. “Poor Freida. It’s so shocking when someone in the prime of their life suddenly passes.”

“It is.” Vicky nodded.

Vicky stepped aside as Freida’s body was wheeled out of her room. She was relieved that there were no guests out in the hall to see it. The officers followed behind her.

“Just a precaution in case this wasn’t a natural death,” one of the officers said as he put police tape across the door.

“We’d better take a quick look at the room, make sure everything is in order,” Ida spoke casually once the officers were out of earshot. Vicky couldn’t help but smile a little. She knew that her aunt wanted to get into the room and snoop around a bit. She didn’t see anything wrong with it either. She had been too shocked to take a good look. Although, it was very likely that Freida had passed from natural causes, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look. You never know what you might find.