Crowned and Moldering

“With Betsy’s sad story and the discovery of Lily’s bones, I might have to bring in a coven of witches to cleanse the place,” Mac said.

“Not a bad idea,” I replied.

“So, you are the hero of the hour,” he said, holding up his wineglass in a toast. “Despite all the grisly details, I think congratulations are in order. You broke through that wall and found a whole new section of the house. That’s amazing.”

“It’s an uncomfortably small section, but yes. It has a parlor with a fireplace, and there’s a narrow staircase going up to the second floor. It’s a hazard right now and I wouldn’t trust anyone to walk on it, but once it’s been reinforced, you can use it as a back staircase.”

“Cool. Good work, Irish.” He reached over and clinked his glass against mine for a second time. “Cheers.”

“Thanks.” I sipped my wine. “I think Aldous was happy.”

“That’s even better than plain old good work. That’s awesome work.”

I smiled at his accolades. “Thanks, Mac.”

“And now I have even more history and mystery to add to my article. This is amazing.”

And he doesn’t even know the true motive behind Lily’s death, I thought. But he would. The truth about her pregnancy would have to be revealed before long. Otherwise, a murderer would go free.

Chapter Fourteen

I spent the next day at the lighthouse mansion, where I continued to demolish Mac’s kitchen. It felt darn good to be destroying things—in a constructive way, of course.

Carla joined in the fun and together we managed to pull out the heavy cast-iron sink and set it outside the kitchen door. I’d hired a forklift to carry the heaviest stuff over to the Dumpster a few dozen yards up the road. This sink, on the other hand, would be taken directly to my truck. I pla

“Hey, Sha

“Yeah.” I set down the sledgehammer and grabbed my water bottle. “What’s up?”

“I’ve been thinking about the dumbwaiter,” she said, and rapped her knuckles against the old sliding door. “I think we’d be smart to go ahead and refurbish the internal mechanisms, replace the tray, and make sure the trolley system is operating. And then Mac can make his decision about the style of the outer frame any time he wants.”

I stared at the dumbwaiter wall. The shaft itself couldn’t be enlarged without damaging the structural integrity of the wall, so Mac would have to live with the dumbwaiter size as it was. And as far as I knew, the size was fine with him.

“Good idea,” I said, taking a long sip of water. “I’ll stop by the hardware store tonight and order the parts we need.”

After that, I got caught up in the demolition until Carla reminded me that it was quarter to four.

“Oh, shoot. I’ve got to run.” I put my tools away and grabbed my jacket and purse. “See you tomorrow.”

“Have a good one, boss.”

“You, too.” I ran to my truck, drove over to the school, and parked, just as the digital clock on the dashboard hit four o’clock. I jogged over to check out my guys’ work on the parking lot while I waited for Callie.

I waved to Wade. “It’s starting to look better around here.”

“We’ve cleared most of the asphalt, as you can see.” He swiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Tomorrow the geotech team will be back to test the subsurface and make sure the conditions of the soil deep beneath the asphalt are stable and good to go.”

The geotechnical engineers were an important part of the whole picture. They’d already determined there were no soil issues around the perimeter, and now they would decide if the soil under the existing site would play nicely with the aggregate layer the company pla

It was a complicated process and I didn’t pretend to know exactly how they came up with their formulations. I was just glad they were paying attention.

“I’d hate to sink that water tank into the earth,” I said, “and find out later that some corrosive element down there had eaten right through it.”

“Exactly,” Wade said. “The SolarLight people won’t let that happen.”

“They are a really smart bunch,” I said.

“Yeah. I hope we can work with them again.”

I smiled. “If Ms. Barney has her way, the school board will eventually turn all the parking lots solar and probably some of the outside lunch areas.”

“I like it,” he said, gri

My phone buzzed and I excused myself to check it. There was a text from Callie saying that she would be a few minutes late. She was still talking to her homeroom teacher.

I glanced up at Wade. “I think I’ll walk over to the school and meet Callie.”

“I’ll get back to the cleanup, then. See you later, boss.”

I headed for the main building, hoping I’d run into Callie on the way. Then again, if I made it as far as the classroom, I’d be able to say hello to Mr. Jones. I was curious to find out how Denise was doing.

On the way, I thought about Cliff, still clinging to life in the hospital. What would happen when he recovered? Would he go back to being a jerk or would he be chastened? Everyone would know that he’d tried to blackmail Denise, who was a beloved lifelong resident of Lighthouse Cove. How would he be able to face anyone? Never mind; I knew the answer. He would bluster and lie his way through, because that was what he’d been doing since high school.

By the time he’d finished, Cliff would have Denise looking like some chainsaw-wielding serial killer from a B movie.

And thinking of Cliff made me wonder for the umpteenth time why or what, exactly, he’d been trying to blackmail Denise over.

I didn’t run into Callie out on the walkway, so I kept going to Mr. Jones’s homeroom class. The door was closed, so I peeked inside through the reinforced-glass square. Mr. Jones sat at his desk in the front of the room and Callie stood talking to him.

She looked so pretty in a simple blue sweater and jeans, with her long blond hair worn in a single braid down her back. Mr. Jones, as always, was sweet and handsome and interested in whatever she had to say. But I was most struck by the look on Callie’s face. If I had to put a name to it, I’d call it adoration.

Strange, but I was almost afraid to interrupt their conversation. I went ahead, though, and knocked on the door and walked inside. “Hi, you two.”

“Hello, Sha

“Hi, Mr. Jones.” I gazed at Callie. “Are you ready to go, Callie?”

She winced. “Sha

“Not a bit,” I assured her, then turned to Mr. Jones. “I hope Denise is feeling better.”

“She is, and she so appreciates your thoughtfulness.”

“I’m glad.” I smiled, feeling oddly awkward. I wasn’t sure what it was that made this moment feel a little peculiar. It wasn’t just seeing the way Callie was looking at him. It was more than that. But since I couldn’t put my finger on it, I just took a deep breath and let it go. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you both later.”

They waved, and I turned to leave the classroom just in time to see Dismal Dain standing across the hall, staring straight into the classroom at Mr. Jones. Or was he looking at Callie? He wore an ugly glower, and it didn’t matter which of them he was looking at. Either way, it wasn’t a good thing. Dain’s mouth was sullen and his eyes were dulled by bitterness. Maybe it was my imagination, but he looked a lot like one of those rats he was so fond of.