“Madame Blue, Billy, the rainbow-haired girl—”
“Blaire,” I provided.
“Right, Blaire, and that older couple who nabbed our room right out from under us.” His expression turned sour. “My money’s on them.”
“The Mackenzies are pretty unpleasant—I’ll give you that—but our culprit could really be anyone here. Blaire’s made it no secret she doesn’t care for me. But it’s Billy and Madame Blue who have the best access to everything. Let’s assume the stairs were an honest-to-goodness accident. Someone still had to purposely lock you in and lace the potatoes with laxatives.”
Charles’s eyes lit with understanding. “Madame Blue is the one who prepared the food, which makes her our most likely suspect.”
“Maybe, but maybe not. When the lights went out during dinner, she called for Billy to help with the candles, but Billy wasn’t there.” I just now realized Charles hadn’t been there with me during that illfated supper. He didn’t have all the same firsthand information I did, and I hadn’t thought to share these details last night, assuming they were simply minor caveats. Now they could be our biggest clues.
“You think Billy’s the one who cut the power?” Charles summed up.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to think at this point. The only thing I know for sure is that we’re not safe here.” A shiver tore through me. I hated to think what might happen next. Poor Charles had already been through the wringer and didn’t deserve even a drop of additional trouble.
“But we’re stuck until we find Charlene’s mother,” he said.
We both gazed lovingly at the snoozing kitten.
“One good thing, we have the key to our room now.” I pulled it out of my pocket with a grin. “If we spend most of the day in the garden searching for mama cat, we can lock our room whenever we’re not in here.”
He took the key from me and studied it for a moment before tucking it into his front pocket.“True, and I can go into town around dinner to pick up some takeout and stock up our food supplies again.”
I frowned at the thought of him leaving yet again. We weren’t supposed to spend even a second apart this week. “I’m sorry our honeymoon has turned into such a downer.”
Charles reached for me and pulled me tight to his side.“Angie, dear, we have the rest of our lives together. We’ll have a million opportunities to do the big romantic vacation thing some other time.”
I forced a smile. I knew he was right, but still, this trip was turning out almost the exact opposite of what I’d anticipated. “Well, at the very least, this trip is becoming quite unforgettable.” And Charles and I weren’t fighting or turning on each other—that was important, too.
He bobbed his head encouragingly.“We’ll laugh about it one day.”
“Provided we both make it out of here alive,” I added gloomily.
“Stop it.” Charles brushed a thumb across my cheek. “We’ll be just fine. We weren’t suspecting any mishaps earlier, but now we’re on high alert. We have a plan.”
Yes, we had a plan.“I just hope it’s the right plan.”
14
We locked the door behind us, and Charles pocketed the key. I carried Charlene out to the garden hidden in the folds of my spare sweater. Thankfully no other guests were lumbering around, leaving me to wonder where they all hung out during the day.
“I think we should start with the bees. I want to ask them if they’ve seen any other worrying occurrences—things that may be related to the series of misfortunes you’ve faced since arriving,” I explained once I was sure nobody else was around.
Charles dug into his pocket and pulled out a bright yellow tube with an orange cap.“Got my EpiPen, although I should probably teach you how to use it, just in case.”
I remained quiet as he talked me through how I could save his life in case of a severe allergic reaction.“I really don’t like this,” I told him. “It’s scary to think of losing you, especially with the kinds ofaccidents that keep happening.”
He placed a kiss on my hairline.“You won’t lose me. I’ll take Charlene to another part of the garden while you speak to the bees. Oh, and while you’re talking maybe you can ask them not to sting me?”
“Good idea.” Charles headed toward the back of the property with Charlene in tow while I tracked my way back to the yellow roses, knowing the hive was hidden nearby. “Aldrin? Lightyear?” I called out. “Hello, bees? I’d like to talk to you again please.”
When nobody responded, I began searching the flowerbeds and trees for any sign of their hive. My search took me farther and farther away from the gorgeous yellow flowers. I finally found a white wooden box hidden in some bushes near the foul-smelling skunk cabbage.“Aldrin? Lightyear?” I tried again with my nose plugged. The cabbage didn’t smell nearly as bad today as it had last night, but I still wasn’t taking any chances.
“Greetings. How may my colony and I help you, human?” I turned to see an enormously plump bumblebee sitting on a black-eyed Susan nearby. Given her size and the fact that she was a female, this had to be the queen.
Not knowing the slightest about bee social etiquette, I curtsied—just in case. “Your majesty.”
“Please just call me by my name. That shall suffice.”
“Yes, your maj—uh, what is your name?”
“I am Bey.”Queen Bey, of course.
“Hello, Bey. I am Angie. What are you doing out of your hive?” Carefully I lowered myself to the ground and hunched over so that I was closer to eye level with Bey.
She rubbed her front legs together as she spoke. I was now close enough to see that.“My worker drones are hunting for a new location to build our hive. We cannot tolerate being so near this wretched plant.”
We both glanced toward the skunk cabbage.“I can’t say I blame you there. Do you need my help moving your apiary?”
“No, we will make our own hive, so that the humans can no longer over-harvest our honey. We’ll be solving both problems in one action.”
I thought of the expression I hated—two birds, one stone—and decided to use a saying I quite liked in its place. “That idea sounds like the bees’ knees,” I announced proudly and overly amused by myself.
Bey looked down at her plump forelegs, confused.“I do not understand.”
I chuckled at her look of bewilderment.“Don’t worry about it. Just a silly human expression.”
She made a sharp buzzing noise that I took to be a sigh—or maybe a scream. “You may be silly, Angie, but lately other humans have become a danger to us.”
“Aldrin and Lightyear told me about the over-harvesting and the new plants,” I offered, recalling the earlier conversation.
Bey circled slowly on the flower before settling down again.“Were it not for tradition, we would leave this place altogether. But this lot is where my mother lived out her rule, and her mother before her.”
“This garden has sentimental value. I can understand that. What can I do to help ensure you can stay?” I really did want to help. I hadn’t spent much time in conversation with bees before now, but I knew from the news that their populations were at risk and that their survival was important to the whole planet. Surely I could do my part to save this one hive while given the chance.
“Keep the other humans away,” Bey commanded, her voice haunting. “I do not wish to sacrifice members of my colony to communicate our displeasure via stings. But I fear we are close to that point.”
“Oh, yes, that reminds me, please don’t sting my husband. He is a good man, and very allergic.”
Bey made a strange shrill buzzing sound again.“Sadly, I cannot tell one human from another. I will not even recognize you, should we meet again.”
I nodded subtly, not wanting to overdo my motions when speaking with such a tiny creature.“While I have you, then, have you noticed any other strange goings-on in this garden or its house?”
“Strange how?” Bey’s voice was growing weak, exhausted. It probably wasn’t good for her to spend so long out of the nest. I would be quick with my questions, but first I needed to take a few minutes to catch her up on all the trouble Charles had faced since our arrival.