Second To Nun (A Giulia Driscoll Mystery Book 2) (12 page)

Twenty-Four

“Hey, it’s eight thirty. Wake up. I’m starving.”

Giulia opened her eyes and squeezed them shut a second later against the morning sun. “It’s what?”

Frank’s voice smiled. “It’s eight thirty, breakfast is at nine, and we’re supposed to show up together, right?”

Giulia sat up like a Jack-in-the-box. “It’s eight thirty? I’ve got to shower.” She stripped everything off and ran into the bathroom.

They took the last two available chairs at the dining room table at one minute to nine. Frank got back up half a second later to pour coffee for them both. Giulia sipped and controlled her instinctive grimace; the coffee was still thin and bitter.

Breakfast made up for it, though. Fresh strawberries to start, followed by pancakes covered with sliced bananas and nuts in a spiced rum and brown sugar syrup.

Mac and Lucy served and removed plates, refilled the coffee carafe, and graciously accepted compliments on the food.

Marion set down her fork. “So, Giulia, what did you and Frank think of your first night together at Stone’s Throw?”

“We slept the sleep of the truly relaxed.”

Joel and Roy winked at each other. CeCe and Giulia rolled their eyes in the classic “men” expression.

Giulia bailed on the lighthouse tour, but Frank took his cue and played new guest. He came up to their room after and dragged her away from research with the creaking Wi-Fi.

“Outdoors with you. You want to compare lighthouse notes with me.”

“I do, actually.” She stretched her back as Frank jogged the printouts back into their envelope.

Sunshine enveloped Giulia when she stepped onto the porch. “Another gorgeous day. Let’s go around the lighthouse side of the building. Maybe the beach will be less crowded.”

“Mac gave me the full treatment,” Frank said. “Emphasis on the miniature beer cans and cigarettes in the dollhouse.”

“I got the emphasis on the dramatic and tearful story of the long-ago Stone bride. Look, the cushions are back on the patio furniture. What do you say to—”

A brick shattered at Giulia’s feet. Missile-shaped shards of red clay exploded like a starburst. Giulia blocked her face with her arms. She felt three slice into her forearms before Frank tackled her onto the grass.

“Are you okay?” His voice was breathless.

“Yes.” So was hers.

He climbed off her. “You have hair accessories.” He tugged at her curls and showed her two slivers of brick.

She felt her arms and her hands came away painted with narrow lines of blood. “Look at me.” She inspected his face and neck. “You’re clean.”

“You were half a step ahead of me. Come on. We need to wash that blood off you.”

She stood. “Is there a rectangular hole in the lighthouse?”

They shaded their eyes and looked at the rows of bricks.

“Second row from the top,” they said together.

“The ghost doesn’t want us here,” Giulia said.

“What?”

Giulia smiled. “Watch. Mac will blame it on the family ghost.”

“Not in front of me, I hope.”

They entered from the front porch. The uniformed police officer was at the office door telling Mac she could use it again. They both turned when Giulia said, “Mac, where’s the first-aid kit?”

Lawsuit terror filled Mac’s eyes before she ran for the kitchen. Frank explained about the brick to the police officer. Mac returned with a fishing tackle box stuffed with everything from alcohol wipes to three different kinds of antibiotic ointments.

“Mac,” the officer said, “I’d get your contractor back here to check his work. Looks like the last couple of freeze-and-thaw winters did a number on his mortar.”

“I’ll take care of things in my room,” Giulia said.

“You probably want pictures for insurance before you clean the mess,” Frank said.

“Yes. Yes, of course. I’ll come up and check on you in a minute.” Mac scurried darn well for a seventy-four-year-old woman.

In her room, Giulia set the tackle box on the toilet lid and inspected her forearms. The cuts must have been shallow because the blood was already dry. Nothing else in her hair; nothing on her clothes; nothing on her face, thank God for small favors.

She ripped open an alcohol wipe and applied it to the crusted blood near her left elbow.

“Ow ow ow.” She checked the result. A little seeping blood, but not bad at all. She applied ointment and a long bandage created from two regular ones because of the cut’s dimensions. The other two slices, one long and one short, reacted much the same.

“It’s me.” Frank’s voice.

“In the bathroom.”

He surveyed the debris. “Should I be concerned?”

“About these? No. The worst damage they’ll cause is messing up my tan.”

“I’ll still love you.” He kissed the back of her neck.

She closed the tackle box. “About that brick.”

A knock at their door. “May I come in?”

“Yes, please, Mac.” Giulia stepped into the bedroom and set the tackle box on the dresser. Frank leaned against the bathroom doorway. Mac looked from one to the other, then at Giulia’s bandaged arms.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I have no idea what happened.” Twittery Mac was someone new to Giulia. “Nothing like this has ever happened to the lighthouse since the restoration.”

“Some basic first aid took care of me,” Giulia said. “But if your repair work is sound, then the important question is who wants one of your guests dead?”

“The ghost. It has to be the ghost.” Mac stared at the corner of the room near the windows. “Are you watching us?” she whispered. “What do you want from me?”

“Mac? Are you here?” The call came from downstairs.

Mac’s head swiveled toward the door. “Solana’s here? She isn’t scheduled until seven.” She called at the doorway, “I’ll be right down.”

“Please come back up here when you’re free,” Giulia said.

Mac gave her a still-twittery nod and left.

Giulia waited five seconds and ran on tiptoes to the railing. Her hunch was correct: Solana’s voice carried as well as that of a trained stage actor.

When listening to the YouTube video, Giulia had recognized the diaphragm support.

“Mac, dear, you didn’t tell me a friend of Rowan’s was staying this week.”

“How did you know?”

A touch of condescension instilled itself into the professional voice. “Those few of us with the true gift form a tight cluster. We communicate often.”

Successful Manager Mac replaced lawsuit-fear Mac. “I don’t see the need to discuss my guests.”

Solana’s laugh was the equivalent of head-patting a stubborn child. “You will never need to. We’ll be back at seven to meet everyone in the usual way.”

“Why are you here now?”

“The weather is so beautiful today, it would have been a crime against nature not to spend it on the beach.” The screen door clapped shut.

Giulia made it back to her room and repeated the conversation to Frank before Mac returned. First things first. “Mac, we have no intention of suing you for this, so please stop worrying about that. I want to remind you I haven’t encountered any ghosts in this room.”

Another vigorous headshake. “Rowan has always said that disbelief may cloud your vision, but it doesn’t affect the spirit’s existence.”

So many replies. Giulia chose, “Is the hole from the missing brick visible from the Widow’s Walk?”

“What? Yes, if you get flat on the gallery and stick your head over the edge, but it’s not safe to do that.”

“We’re going up to check. We’ll make sure no one sees us.”

She walked out before Mac could protest.

The beautiful day worked in her favor: All the guests appeared to be away from the inn.

Frank whispered in her ear as they reached the first floor, “Confident women are sexy.”

Giulia just managed to control a spurt of laughter. “Mac respects a take-charge attitude. Earlier today she tried to tell me how to do my job.”

“Like I said.”

“Shush, you, and let’s get up to the Widow’s Walk before someone comes in from the beach.”

Giulia hung over the side with Frank holding her by the legs.

“I can reach the top edge of the hole with the tips of my fingers, but Solana is at least six inches taller than me. She could get to it without a problem.” She explored the ragged mortar. “The outline is chipped away in a pattern, not random like it might be if ice had crept in and expanded it over a few years.” More exploring. “The pattern isn’t completely regular. Someone is clever and ruthless. Okay, help me up, please.”

She sat against the glass and dusted off her hands. “It’s a good thing I’m not afraid of heights.”

“Which is why you’re pushing into the window behind you.”

“You lean out there.”

“My employee agreement doesn’t include hazard pay.” He sat next to her. “I admit to not liking extreme heights. A chisel, you think?”

“Easily. Even a sturdy nail file could have done it over time. Not an emery board, a real metal file.” Giulia tapped her foot on the walkway. “Mac could be responsible for this, you know.”

“Why?”

“Mac knows Rowan, who knows Solana. Mac played up the ghost angle in this puff piece the local paper ran a month ago. I forgot, you haven’t seen that. It should be online. So Mac could be staging the hauntings to boost business. Or Solana could be staging them to boost her own business. Or Rowan and Solana could be in it together against Mac.” She blew out a breath. “I could use the help of a legitimate mind reader. Or a priest who’d be willing to break the seal of the confessional. I wonder if any of these psychics are Catholic.”

Twenty-Five

Giulia paused by the suit of armor. “I forgot to check him for hidden haunting devices. Tonight for that.” She looked toward the house. “I don’t want to meet Mac again just yet.”

Frank took them out through the vestibule door. “It’s time for a romantic walk on the edge of the water.”

Which might have worked if the water’s edge hadn’t been inundated by a few hundred other vacationers with the same idea. Giulia dodged two beach balls and five shrieking children in the first four hundred feet of beach.

“Bad idea on a Sunday,” Frank said. He inhaled. “Hot dogs. No, not today. Where’s that shrimp place that delivers to the B&B?”

They plodded through sand up to the boardwalk.

Giulia looked up and down the street. “Not here. Maybe the next one.” When they walked another block she pointed. “There. Next to the bookstore.”

They landed in the middle of the lunch rush, but technically this was vacation, so Giulia didn’t stress over the minutes in line. So many people sitting at the square tables with shrimp baskets convinced her that Frank’s lunch choice was the correct one. They walked back to Stone’s Throw with shrimp, fries, packets of cocktail sauce and ketchup, and extra-large Cokes.

Joel and Gino were already on the patio eating burgers, chips, and giant pickles.

“Room for two more?” Frank said.

“Sure, drag over a chair.” Joel moved his chair closer to one end of the rectangular glass table, giving Frank and Giulia the opposite end.

“Shrimp,” Gino said. “That’s what’s for lunch tomorrow.”

“Where did you get those pickles?” Giulia said.

“You know that bar with the Jimmy Buffet obsession?”

Giulia squeezed a mound of cocktail sauce next to her shrimp. “Of course. What else would a Jimmy Buffet place serve except burgers, fries, and pickles?” She bit into her first shrimp. “You were right,” she said to Frank around the mouthful.

“The patio looks as good as new,” Joel said. “I heard they caught the guy who did it.”

Giulia nodded.

“Poor Mac,” Gino said. “If the place keeps having accidents it’ll get a rep of being cursed.”

Joel plunged three fries into barbecue sauce and swallowed them. “You really have to come back for Halloween. Mac goes all out.”

“What makes Halloween here so much better than this?” Giulia swept the beach, lake, and hot, sunny sky with one arm. Even with the cacophony of a crowded beach and motorized craft on the water, the patio was far enough up and back to create a natural sound barrier. The noise was muted enough not to assault the ears.

Gino set down his beer. “The lake in summer is great, but you can get that anywhere. The chain hotels around here all have beach areas and breakfast service. Mac’s place is all about the personal touch, which is what makes it better in the summer, but nobody does one-tenth of what Mac does for Halloween.”

Joel gulped the last of his fries. “Every single room is decorated. The tablecloth and napkins change every day. It’s more than her usual prices because she brings in a dessert chef for the evenings.”

“Oh, God, the tiramisu,” Gino said.

“The pot de crème,” Joel said.

“The homemade ice cream.”

“Last year she worked out a deal with a palm reader to come in on Halloween,” Joel said. “Made for an epic party. The younger kids in town come here to trick-or-treat and Mac finds a way to scare them shitless.”

Frank said, “Does she use her family legend on the trick-or-treaters?”

Gino said, “Nah, that’s just for the guests. She won’t let kids climb the lighthouse, either. Think of the liability premiums.”

Joel groaned. “Spoken like an insurance salesman.”

Gino hung his head. “I’m on vacation. I’ll remember.”

“Does Mac ever give a hint whether the ghost legend is real or not?” Giulia said.

“Never,” Gino and Joel said together.

“She has the story letter-perfect and she never cracks her game face,” Joel continued. “I can’t wait until this psychic does her stuff tonight. We’re divided on whether she’s an actor on Mac’s payroll or if she’s the real thing. Her surprise attack on you sure looked genuine.”

“We watched it on YouTube last night,” Gino said. “Have you checked your viewing stats, Giulia?”

Giulia hung her head. “Yes.”

They both laughed. Joel took out his phone. “You don’t have a Twitter hashtag yet. Gotta work on that.”

“I could email my in-laws.”

Frank choked on a shrimp. “Why didn’t I think of that? Pat could use it in a sermon. My brother is a priest,” he said to the other two as the ESPN
da-da-da, da-da-da
signal went off from his phone. He poked it. “Pirates got a grand slam. Eat my dust, Jimmy.” He finished with a mad scientist laugh.

Gino said, “Fantasy baseball?”

“Yep, I just kicked my boss’s butt.”

Giulia happily let the conversation turn into a three-way discussion of fantasy sports statistics. The breeze ruffled her curls. Kids splashed in the lake, squealing and laughing. The sun soaked into her bare arms. She stretched out her legs and leaned her head back to catch more of it.

Her inner work alarm stopped her from falling asleep. What was she thinking, sunbathing on the job? She sat up and all three men jumped.

“Thought you were asleep,” Frank said.

“Just keeping you off-guard.” Giulia gathered their takeout paraphernalia. “See you later.”

She swore she could feel a wave of confusion from all three of them pushing at her back.
Cosmo
would be proud.