Inside Out: A Heather's Forge Cozy Mystery, Book 5 Page 2

  This case just got weirder and more convoluted the more I thought about it. I copied the map off my wall into my notebook. I lay there staring at the lines etched on my wall for a long time.

  Now that I took a second look, the drawing really did resemble my schematic of the tunnels. Those depictions of buildings or houses could be the places behind all those doors underground.

  I got out my map of Heather’s Forge and laid it over the sketch on my wall. If I could match them up, I could confirm the two were the same, but they weren’t to scale. I couldn’t make them fit each other, and I gave up in disgust. I wasn’t getting anywhere, and I was becoming far too obsessed with the tunnels.

  The two maps did seem to cover the same sort of territory. Some of the contours looked familiar, and one outlet appeared to end high up in the hills. These mountains must be riddled with a warren of doors and openings.

  There must be a way to get through one of the other doors and find out where it went. Once I went through one of them, I would get my bearings for where the tunnels went in town. I could locate each position on the map by where the doors led.

  I grabbed my notebook and pen, but when I came out of my apartment, I found Levi coming through the front door to greet me. He wore his same old jeans and work boots with his tight black t-shirt stretched across his chiseled chest. That guy sure knew how to make an entrance.

  “I’ve been looking for you,” he told me. “Sheriff Mills finally eliminated Laura Lane as a murder suspect and let her go. He says he checked her statement and discovered where she found the Horus amulet.”

  I smiled up at him. I already knew that. “That’s good. She shouldn’t be in jail.”

  He took a look at the notebook in my hand. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me. You’re going down to the basement again.”

  I set the notebook on the front desk. “No, I’m not. I’m talking to you. What else did Sheriff Mills tell you?”

  “He told me to take you for a walk in the moonlight by the lake.”

  I slapped his shoulder. “He did not! Quit lying.”

  “Come on. It’s a nice night. Now that I’m a consultant to the Sheriff’s Office, I’m going to need to do a whole lot more consulting with my auxiliary investigators.”

  I beamed at him. “Is that what I am now?”

  He hooked my hand through his elbow. “Right now, you’re the best company I could hope for. Come on.”

  He was right about it being a nice night. A warm wind ruffled the lake waters and sent a shimmering moon path across to the Calliwell Museum. Levi sat down on the stone bench and pulled me down next to him. “Sheriff Mills says you found the Anubis statue. I bet you’re pretty pleased with yourself.”

  “I didn’t exactly find it. Pixie showed me where it was, if you want to know the truth.”

  “Pixie!” he exclaimed. “That cat strikes again!”

  “Exactly. We wouldn’t be such good detectives if we didn’t have her showing us the clues all the time.”

  “So, where was it?”

  “In the trash can in front of the police station. It must have been there all along.”

  He shook his head and clucked his tongue. “That’s something else!”

  I stole a glance at his face and looked away. The beauty of the night did nothing to allay my confusion.

  “What’s bothering you?” he asked.

  I turned around to face him. “You’re not from around here.”

  He snorted with laughter. “That’s one way of looking at it.”

  “I’m serious. You and I are some of the only people in town who weren’t born and raised here. Heather’s Forge must have all kinds of secrets stashed away no one knows about.”

  “You’re not thinking about those tunnels, are you? You really need to get out more, Allie. I mean it.”

  “I’m not thinking about the tunnels,” I told him. “Laura Lane told me you don’t need a key to get in and out of the jail cells. She’s been in there so many times she’s figured out a way to do it. You just have to know how to lift each door to make the lock snap open. How many people in this town do you think know it? Not even Sheriff Mills knows.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Did you tell him she said that?”

  “I never got a chance. He was on the phone, and I left.”

  “She could be lying about that,” he remarked. “She lied about everything else.”

  I settled back in Levi’s arms. “I don’t think so somehow.”

  “Well, you better tell him. He thinks the killer stole Rufus’ keys and broke in.”

  “The killer would still have had to drug Rufus to avoid detection,” I pointed out. “He wouldn’t have had time to break in otherwise.”

  “You realize what this means,” Levi replied. “It means Laura could be a suspect after all. We assumed she couldn’t be because she was locked in her cell at the time. She could have gotten out, killed Freddy, and locked herself in again.”

  “I don’t like making her a suspect. That’s exactly what she wants. Being accused of Freddy’s murder would be her dream come true.”

  “Maybe that’s why she made it up about the cells opening,” he added. “Maybe she invented the whole thing to make herself into a suspect.”

  “Either way,” I countered, “don’t you think it’s odd that she didn’t see the killer go into Freddy’s cell? Her cell was right next door. She would have heard or seen something.”

  “Not if she was sound asleep,” he replied. “It happened in the middle of the night. Besides, she wouldn’t have hired Freddy to rob the museum and then admitted doing it herself. That would be too farfetched even for her.”

  “Not if she wanted to position herself in the right place to kill him.”

  “She didn’t know he would be caught,” Levi argued. “She turned herself in days before we busted Freddy. She wouldn’t want to spend a week in jail, just on the outside chance he would turn up in the next cell. I don’t believe it.”

  My shoulders slumped. “I don’t believe it, either, actually. I just don’t understand any of this. Without Laura, we don’t have one suspect in Freddy’s murder.”

  He cupped my chin to lift my face to his. “Can we stop talking about murders and tunnels and mysteries and stuff? That’s not why I invited you down here.” His lips touched mine in a soft, butterfly kiss.

  “I don’t want to talk about it anymore, either,” I told him. “I don’t even want to know about it. I want it all to disappear.”

  “You’re the one who wanted to consult for the Sheriff’s Office,” he reminded me. “I wanted to make it all disappear, but you just had to solve that case.”

  I buried my face in his neck. “I know. I should listen to you.”

  He chuckled. “Could you repeat that into the microphone for the record, Ma’am?”

  I couldn’t stop laughing. He was right, of course. He was always right. I should have listened to him more. Then I wouldn’t get mixed up in these crazy cases.

  He pulled me closer for another lingering kiss. I could definitely get used to this. He could make it all disappear. Nothing existed but the two of us and the endless beauty of the lake at night.

  We could have kissed there all night, but the bench started to seep its icy chill into our backsides and the wind blew colder. Levi got up and stretched. “Come on. I’ll walk you back. We’ve got another work day tomorrow.”

  I took one last longing glance over the lake. It wouldn’t disappear if I went inside. I could still see the moon from my apartment window, but I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to let Levi go so soon. As nice as these few moments of closeness were, neither of us ever advanced the relationship further. Why?

  His warm hand closed around my fingers and snapped me out of my reverie. He tugged me back up the path to the inn gardens. The golden windows of my inn shone out into the dark. The glow of people and activity called me back inside, but something made me hesitate.

  Levi stopped in front of the barn w
here he lived in an apartment upstairs. He bent down to kiss me one more time. “I’ll see you in the morning. Don’t stay up too late solving the world’s problems.”

  “Bye.”

  I stood still on the dark lawn until I saw the light come on in his apartment. Then I headed back inside. Voices laughed and called in the dining room, but I didn’t go that way. I snatched up my notebook and flashlight from the front desk and made a beeline for the basement.

  I found the trapdoor and climbed down the ladder to the tunnels. I unlocked the door with my skeleton key and pulled it shut behind me. I stood in the tunnel for one long breathless minute. This place always filled me with quiet foreboding. Something crazy had happened down here, but I couldn’t figure out what.

  I pulled out all my sketches and the map of town. I compared them all and set my course. I’d spent days down here mapping all the labyrinth’s twists and turns. I’d copied the markings on the many doors. I’d even measured exactly how many steps separated one fork and winding curve from the next.

  I had some very detailed maps of the tunnels, but I didn’t know what lay at the very farthest end. I resolved to go there tonight and find out just how far these tunnels went.

  I marked my route on my map in red pen so I could find my way back. Even though I knew most of the maze by now, it still took a long time. I stopped every now and then to get my bearings and make sure I still knew where I was. If all else failed, I still had to find my way back.

  Every time I came near a door, I checked my notes to anticipate the number marking the location. When I found I was right, I moved on to the next one. I double-checked every turn and fork and door. Yes, I was still in familiar territory. I could still retrace my steps without much trouble, but I still wound up walking almost all night long.

  At last, I entered the last stretch of tunnel. It wound far into the mountain without forking. No doors pocked the walls. One long expanse ran away into nothing.

  It ended, not at another door, but at a plain wooden garden gate crossing the passage. A simple metal latch held it closed. I slotted it open, and the gate swung back. I tiptoed through it and entered a tiny chamber. Plank walls surrounded me on all sides, and I could touch them all without extending my arms beyond my sides.

  A single glass window peeked out through the door into black mountain night. The moon shone through the trees, and a small shake cottage sat not far away. Where was I? I’d never seen this place before.

  A few shovels, pitchforks, and garden implements stood in the corners of the shed. It must be a garden shed like so many others, but I had no idea where the cottage might be. I could be miles from Heather’s Forge by now.

  I swept my flashlight around the shed, but I didn’t see anything but cobwebs and garden tools. I almost turned back when the beam flashed on something shiny and metallic. I bent down and found an old Bible resting in a wooden crate on the floor. I squatted down and picked it up. A photo album sat underneath it.

  I flipped the Bible open. The moldy old ribbon bookmark opened the book to the family register in the back. By the dim light of my flashlight, I read the name Beatrice Garrett under marriages. That couldn’t be right. Aunt Bea had never married, and why would she hide it in this shed if she had?

  I rummaged through the photo album, but I didn’t recognize any of the pictures. I saw one that might have been Aunt Bea when she was younger, but the light wasn’t good enough to be sure.

  I went through the rest of the box and found an old wedding veil, a pair of white shoes, and two rings, one a large plain gold band, and the other a slender solitaire. Someone definitely got married, but it couldn’t have been Aunt Bea. She’d never married.

  This shed gave me the willies, and I had a long walk back to the inn—assuming I didn’t get lost in the tunnels. I tucked the Bible and photo album under my arm and set off. I made sure to check every detail of the tunnels on the way back so I didn’t get lost.

  I got back to my apartment and listened to the silence echoing around the inn. No one laughed and called out from the dining room now. No clang of pots and pans came out of the kitchen. Everyone was asleep.

  I checked the clock by my bed. It was three-thirty in the morning. Dang, I’d been down there in the tunnels a long time. I shut my door on the world. Should I really try to get some sleep before dawn? I could just stay up a little longer and skip the trouble.

  I looked over the Bible’s tattered old cover and the photo album. Was it possible Aunt Bea really did get married? Who did she marry and why did she keep it a secret?

  Once I sat down on my bed, exhaustion overwhelmed me. I couldn’t keep my eyes open a second longer. I shoved the Bible and the album under my bed and crashed.

  Chapter 3

  A loud knock startled me awake. I sat upright in bed and heard Abel Richards’ voice outside. “Are you in there, Allie?”

  I dove into my clothes. “I’m here. I’m coming out.” I yanked the door open. “Nothing to worry about.”

  “Sorry to wake you up. Levi’s waiting for you in the dining room,” Abel told me. “He’s been waiting for quite a while, and he started getting worried when you didn’t come out. We wondered if something happened to you.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll come with you.”

  I wound my disheveled hair into a knot behind my head and splashed water on my face. I found Levi sitting at a table in the dining room with almost all his breakfast eaten. He frowned when I sat down across from him. “I told you not to stay up too late.”

  “Sorry. I got distracted. Tell me you didn’t come over here to have breakfast with me.”

  “Would that be so bad if I did?” he asked.

  I blushed. “That’s very thoughtful of you. I thought you would be busy with… something.”

  “I came over here to see you, but I also came over to tell you Sheriff Mills made a new development in the case. He went through Freddy’s room and found a set of keys all printed with the Potters’ Hardware log. One of them matches the museum.”

  “That’s odd. I thought the sheriff determined Freddy came through the window.”

  “It seems he made a mistake—another one. The curators found the window open in the morning and assumed the thief opened it and left it open. He must have unlocked the door with the key and either left the window open as a ruse or he left the building that way.”

  “Or,” I added, “he could have come through the window and not used the key at all.”

  “Either way,” he went on, “it doesn’t tell us anything about who hired him or who killed him. It only means he had an accomplice at the hardware store, and everyone in town should change their locks.”

  “I wonder who makes the keys down at the hardware store?” I mused.

  Levi wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up. “Why don’t you ask your friend Eliza? I’m sure she can tell you everything you want to know about the hardware store since her parents own it and her whole family works there. I gotta go now. I have to go clean out that drainage duct behind the greenhouse. Let me know if you come up with anything.”

  He left for work, and I watched the secret society in session over coffee and cake. They weren’t just whispering in hushed tones now. They had notebooks and laptop computers and tablets laid out on the table in front of them. In between eating and drinking, they worked on their… their plans.

  The wives filled the dining room with their excited laughter. As soon as Levi left, Tanya came up to my table. The others clustered around to hear. “We found that greenhouse you mentioned. We’re ready for our next set of clues to the next murder.”

  I had to laugh. “Unfortunately, I haven’t set up a real scavenger hunt for you. That’s gonna take some organizing, and I only came up with the idea yesterday. You could take a walk down to the lake, or you could visit the museum grounds.”

  Her smile vanished. “Can’t you give us something more concrete than that? What were the other murders that happened?”

  “Well, the
re was Harold Hart, who got shot in the chest with a crossbow while he soaked in his hot tub.”

  “Ooo! That sounds exciting.”

  Her friends exchanged a hum of conversation. The excitement infected me. I couldn’t let them down. “Yes, it was pretty interesting. The killer stood on the other side of the fence and shot him with a crossbow. It was a one-in-a-million shot, and the killer was a champion sharpshooter.”

  Gina seized my hand. “Will you show us the spot? We really want to see it.”

  “I don’t think so,” I replied. “It’s a long hike over National Forest land, and I don’t think the new owners would like us snooping over their fence. Besides, I have things to do around here.”

  “Oh, please!” Rose exclaimed. “We’ll pay you for your time. Maybe we could ask the owner’s permission.”

  “Well, as a matter of fact, they aren’t living there. They live in another state, so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.”

  They all jumped up and down at once. “Oh, please take us there, Miss Garrett.”

  I had to smile. “All right. I’ll go, just as long as you call me Allie and not Miss Garrett. You’ll all need strong hiking shoes and probably a water bottle each. We’ll get Camille to pack us a picnic lunch. The question is how we’re going to drive there.”

  “We’ll take the van,” Tanya replied. “It’s big enough for all eight of us, so you and us four won’t be a problem.”

  Now that I’d roped myself into this, I had no way to get out of it. In half a second, the four women waited for me in the front hall. I got some snacks from Camille, and she laughed when I told her where I was going. “I told you this mystery tourism thing was the way to go. Everybody wants to know how you did it and where you found all the clues.”

  I made a face. “These women are something else. I feel like I’m taking a troop of Girl Scouts on a field trip.”

  “We’re ready!” Gina called.