He got up stiffly, with a little wince of pain, and hugged her, more of a reassuring, brotherly hug than anything romantic. “We’ll figure this out. Now, let’s just pitch this fancy tent of yours.”
Twenty-Two
Jo wasn’t in the mood to let Elijah out of her sight, but he’d slipped back through the trees just as the Whittakers arrived at the guesthouse and invited her up for tea. She went with them, Vivian chatting breezily about leaf raking and getting the place ready for the winter, Lowell making the occasional amiable comment as they entered their farmhouse through a side door. Vivian pulled off her barn jacket and hung it on a hook. She had on just a short-sleeved polo shirt underneath but looked warm enough. Lowell stayed bundled up in a zip-front charcoal sweater. Jo removed her fleece but kept it with her-she didn’t plan on staying long.
The interior of their farmhouse wasn’t what she had expected. There was no cozy decor or pictures of cows and fall foliage. The walls were stark white, the wood floors shining, the furnishings bright and modern, the artwork abstract and striking. The Whittakers took her back to a sunroom that looked out on a garden and an open field that stretched down to the river.
Vivian carried in a tray from the kitchen and set it on the glass table. “I know Nora’s a capable young woman but she shouldn’t hike by herself, particularly at this time of year, with or without the shocking news of poor Alex. If Devin Shay is with her…” She hesitated, lifting a white pottery teapot off the tray and placing it on a thick fiery-red pot holder. “He knows the mountains, of course, and he’s an experienced hiker, but I think Nora’s concerned he’s too obsessed with her.”
“She told you this?” Jo asked.
“Not in as many words.”
“What did she say, then? Can you remember her exact words?”
Lowell reached for a white plate of an array of cookies obviously from Three Sisters Café and pushed it more toward Jo’s side of the table. “We’re not trying to get anyone into trouble,” he said. “We certainly don’t believe Devin is stalking Nora.”
“He’s changed,” Vivian said, briskly setting out cups and saucers. “We knew him before Drew Cameron’s death-not well, but enough to see that finding Drew, losing him, affected Devin deeply. Before that he struck us as a happy-go-lucky teenager who didn’t have a clue what he’d do after graduation.” She picked up the teapot and filled Jo’s cup, her expression pained, regretful. “You’re from here, Jo. You must have heard that Devin’s had his struggles.”
Jo helped herself to a chocolate-chip cookie. “He hasn’t been arrested for anything, has he?”
“Oh, heavens, no.” Vivian poured her husband tea, not even the slightest tremble to her hands. She filled her cup next, then sat down. “I shouldn’t have said anything. We like Devin very much, and Nora’s a delight. I remember being very confused at that age myself.”
“What about Kyle Rigby?” Jo asked, taking a bite of her cookie. “Do you know anything about him?”
“No, nothing,” Lowell said. “We only met him this morning.”
Vivian picked up her teacup. “He seems quite competent.” She sipped some of her tea. “He’ll be discreet, too. It’d be best for everyone if he finds Nora quietly, without any fanfare, or she comes back on her own. It’s good that Thomas and Melanie are on their way here.” She held her cup in both hands and stared out the window. “We love this place, but I don’t know. Some days…”
“We’re all worried,” Lowell said, addressing Jo. “And we’re grieving for Alex. He and Nora had their problems, but he cared about her. I think she was coming to see that in recent weeks. He started out with a deficit with her because of his friendship with her father. He was aware that she had to feel betrayed-torn by her love for both parents.”
Vivian set her cup down and reached for an oatmeal cookie. “We thought it would help that Thomas and Melanie found each other and fell in love. Nora just wants both her parents to be happy. Now…I have a hard time believing Alex is dead.” Her eyes shone with sudden tears. She broke off a piece of cookie. “It’s a difficult situation, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Jo said. “Were you here in April when Drew Cameron went missing? I understand that Thomas and Nora stayed at the guesthouse then.”
“We came up for the weekend,” Lowell said. “Drew had just disappeared. The state police had launched a search. We weren’t actually in Black Falls when he was found.”
“It was our first time here in April,” Vivian said. “I couldn’t believe it snowed. Our daffodils got covered. They were just coming up. They bounced right back once the snow melted, but I don’t think Vermont ’s where I want to be in April.”
Lowell set his teacup down with a clatter and smiled awkwardly, obviously embarrassed by his wife’s callous remark. “We didn’t care about the daffodils, of course, but the snow caught us by surprise. We weren’t involved in the search for Drew. There was nothing we could do except stay out of the way.” Lowell got abruptly to his feet. “It’s a tragedy Drew and Alex are both gone now. Jo, we don’t want to keep you, but if you’d care to sit here a while, please feel free to stay as long as you wish. I have some work to do in the yard before dark.”
Jo seized the opening and left, noting when she got outside that it already was dark. All her trekking up and down Cameron Mountain had consumed what little daylight a mid-November Vermont day offered.
When she got back to her cabin, she found Elijah in the doorway with a screwdriver in hand, a Red Sox cap tipped back on his head. He stood back and pointed the end of his screwdriver toward a shiny new dead-bolt lock. “Took two seconds and half the cash in my pocket.” He tucked the screwdriver into his jacket pocket. “You always used to say you wanted a guy who’s handy.”
“It’s a lousy cover for searching my place, Elijah.”
“I’m on a roll. You didn’t bring much up with you from Washington.”
“That’s because I’m an optimist and plan to get back to work soon. Elijah, you can’t just walk into other people’s houses. Not that this is a house, but you know what I mean.”
“Then arrest me.”
She sighed. “Thank you for the new lock. You could have stayed for tea with the Whittakers, and we could have put the lock on together.”
“I don’t like tea. Turns my stomach to even think about it.”
She doubted much turned Elijah’s stomach.
“Get anything out of the Whittakers?” he asked casually.
“They think Thomas is overreacting about Nora’s camping trip on the one hand, but, on the other, that Devin could be obsessed with Nora.”
“Devin’s obsessed with being eighteen.”
Elijah stood back from the door, and Jo went past him inside, feeling the old floor sagging under her. And this was the good cabin. “It’s not worth it to put new locks on the rest of the cabins.” She blew out a breath and spun around. “You know I don’t have the slightest clue what to do with this place, don’t you? The property taxes on the thirty acres alone are a killer.”
“Pop got to you in April, didn’t he?”
“I’m sorry,” Jo said. “I’m being incredibly ungrateful. I’m glad he came to see me.”
Elijah stepped up into the cabin. “He didn’t think things through. What you’d do with thirty acres and a bunch of rundown cabins in Vermont.”
“I don’t know. Maybe he did think things through, and this is what he wanted.” She pictured him among the cherry blossoms, his fear and guilt and regret-and love-palpable. But it wasn’t an image she needed to share with Elijah, and she smiled, looking around at her one-room temporary home. “Remember when he found us here?”
“A good thing he didn’t come armed,” Elijah said dryly.
“If it’d been my father-”
“It wasn’t. It was mine. But it doesn’t matter. What I did after Pop kicked me out of the house was my choice. I didn’t discuss it with him or anyone else.”