‘Right, someone would have to have carpentry skills for that,’ Mom added.
‘Either that or maybe they thought an elderly small-town sheriff wouldn’t be able to figure out the scene was tampered with. I remember Ron made a comment about small-town police forces not doing a thorough job. Maybe he was banking on that,’ I said.
Millie and Mom’s brows drew sharply together.
‘Did you say elderly? Seth is our age,’ Mom said.
‘Err… I meant senior.’
‘Right, well anyway,’ Millie picked up the serving bowls. ‘It’s time to serve the breakfast. Meanwhile we need to figure out exactly what the Weatherbys have been up to.’
‘How do we do that?’ Mom picked up the plate with the ricotta pie on it, eyeing the pieces as if she was counting them to make sure she’d get leftovers.
‘We ask who saw them around and what exactly they were doing. Were they watching the gulls or doing something more? That sort of thing,’ Millie said.
‘What about Barbara Littlefield?’ Mom asked. ‘She’s always up on the cliff mothering that lousewort. If the Weatherbys have been up to some shenanigans, chances are she’s seen them. I’d say someone should talk to her.’
I grabbed the pitcher of juice from the fridge and follow Millie to the dining room. Mom had a point about Barbara. Maybe the crotchety building inspector would have her uses after all.
Sixteen
Millie and Mom had cast suspicious glances at the Weatherbys all during breakfast. It was a wonder they didn’t catch on to the fact that we suspected them. I couldn’t help but study them myself for suspicious activity, but they acted normal. Tina on the other hand kept staring at me, then averting her eyes, then dropping things on the floor. Clearly she was nervous that I’d tell everyone about her affair with Tony. I wouldn’t. That was the least of my worries.
Ava seemed oblivious to all of it and enjoyed two slices of ricotta pie while sipping tea from her dainty china teacup and chatting with Millie and Mom.
After breakfast, Mom and Millie helped me clean up and I drew the short straw so it was determined I would talk to Barbara. That’s how I found myself standing outside Barbara’s office in the town hall with the last piece of ricotta pie in a handy reusable plastic container.
The door to Barbara’s office was a giant imposing oak door. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had a humongous metal doorknocker and squeaky iron hinges, but it was just a regular oak four panel door.
‘Go ahead and knock, she’s not busy,’ the receptionist prompted because I was hesitating. ‘She doesn’t bite.’
I sucked in a breath wondering how badly I wanted to find out if she knew about the Weatherbys doing anything strange on the cliff. I reminded myself that Sheriff Chamberlain still thought I could be involved and tapped the door.
‘What do you want?’ Her voice bellowed through the door and it didn’t sound friendly.
‘Umm… It’s Josie Waters. I brought you some pie.’
‘Oh good. Come on in, I can serve you this fine in person.’
Great. I opened the door anyway. I figured she’d give me the fine no matter what, but maybe the pie would butter her up a bit. At the very least I still needed to ask about the Weatherbys.
I don’t know what I had expected her office to look like. Probably sparse and unwelcoming and filled with stainless steel furniture, bland indoor-outdoor carpet and uncomfortable plastic chairs. But what was inside was something else entirely. It looked like a tropical paradise.
Lush green plants lined the windowsills, crowded the tables and obscured the desk. There were plants of every size. Tall palm-like plants that stood in giant pots in the corner, to tiny seedlings under a fluorescent lamp. The heat was turned up to sweltering.
‘Well, well, well. I didn’t expect or want to see you, but I guess it is convenient.’ Barbara’s voice came from somewhere in front of me, but all I could see was plants. Then, two claw-like hands reached out to part the leaves of a gaggle of giant philodendrons that sat on the desk, and Barbara’s face peeked through, her eyes narrowed, mouth twisted in a sour puss.
‘Hi Barb— I mean Mrs. Littlefield!’ I tried to act cheery and shoved the pie out in front of me. ‘I had this leftover from breakfast and Millie thought it would be nice to bring it down.’
I heard a chair push back and I assumed she had stood. I couldn’t tell because the plants were so tall. She appeared around the corner of the desk (yes, it was dull gray metal just as I’d envisioned).
‘Millie Sullivan you say?’ She eyed the pie with suspicion and I hoped she wouldn’t recognize it as Tony’s. Was it bad etiquette to re-gift pie?
I nodded and handed it over. Barbara grabbed it and found some space on the desk for it, then folded her arms across her chest.‘That wouldn’t be a bribe now would it?’
‘What? No, of course not.’
‘I don’t take bribes.’ She shoved a piece of paper in my hand. ‘This here’s your fine for having a corpse on the premises during breakfast.’
‘That’s a real thing you can get fined for?’ I stared at the paper, my palms starting to sweat. I wasn’t sure if the sweating was because of the two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar price tag or the fact that the room was sweltering. Two hundred and fifty dollars? I could barely come up with that, but I knew it was no use to argue with her. Better not to anger her either, I still had a lot of renovations I had to get her approval for.
Barbara didn’t seem affected by the heat. ‘Yes it’s a real thing and payable within thirty days. You better get your act together over there or you might find yourself without a guesthouse to run.’
I swallowed hard, sweat beaded on my forehead. I felt like a chastised schoolgirl.‘Yes ma’am.’
‘Okay, now get lost.’
Shoot. I had to ask her about the cliffs. I wiped sweat out of my eyes and glanced at the plants. Inspiration struck. The best way to get people to like you was to talk about something they were interested in. Barbara was certainly interested in plants.‘I see you have some nice plants here. They look so healthy.’
She turned and frowned at me.‘What’s it to you?’
‘Nothing. Just um… they look nice.’
‘Thanks.’ She blinked and I thought I saw her eyes soften, but then they grew cold and hard just as quick.
This wasn’t working out the way I’d hoped. Okay, be more specific and get her talking. I walked over to the plants that were growing under the lights and made a pretense of admiring them while sweat rolled down my back. There were some dead plants on the lower shelf and I purposely didn’t mention, those focusing on the live ones instead. ‘Take these for example, they’re very green even though they are so young.’ I bent closer to them and reached out my hand to touch one.
‘Watch out!’ Barbara rushed over and practically slapped my hand away. ‘Those are
endangered lousewort. Be careful.’
Bingo! The perfect opening for me to ask about the cliff.‘Speaking of that. I’ve heard some of my guests talking about that and was wondering if you’ve seen them on the cliffs?’
‘Your guests? No. That area is off limits.’
‘I know, but it has a nice view.’
‘View, schmoo. The endangered plants are up there and no one is allowed.’
‘But the Weatherbys are avid birdwatchers and the gulls’ nests are near there and they eat the berries. Surely you must have seen them up there?’
She just glared at me and repeated,‘No one goes up there.’
Darn. She hadn’t seen anything. She’d probably have made big scene about it if she had seen them anyway. Was it possible that I was on the wrong track, that Charles and the Weatherbys weren’t up there? ‘Not even Charles Prescott?’
‘You mean the man who died?’
I nodded.
‘Nope. Never even met the man, much less saw him in a protected area. I would have written him up if I did. Now if you’re done asking me inane questions and trying to bribe me, I have work to do.’ She practically shoved me out the door.