“
Ugh, what's this?” he demanded. “My suit. We have to get out of here!”
“
Don't worry, Barry, come this way,” Ida suggested and pulled him out through the back door of the kitchen. Henry took his opportunity to escape the questioning and went out through the interior entrance of the kitchen into the hallway. Vicky waited until she was sure that Barry, Ida, and Henry were out of the kitchen, then she made her way down the slippery rungs of the ladder. She nearly lost her footing on the last rung, but managed to keep her balance long enough to fall backwards on a large sack of flour. The sack was open and some of the white powder plumed upwards, coating Vicky's damp shirt and pants. She hurried out of the pantry and out into the hallway outside the kitchen. Henry was nowhere in sight, but Sarah was quickly approaching down the hallway.
“
Vicky, are you okay?” she asked quickly.
“
I am,” Vicky whispered back. “Just make sure that Barry talks to you before he talks to Henry again, okay?”
“
Okay,” Sarah nodded and hurried back to the front desk. Vicky wanted to find Henry and tell him to remain quiet, but first she needed to change out of her damp, flour-covered clothes. The only problem was in order to get to her apartment she had to walk through the lobby, or risk going outside and around the pool, where Barry might see her. She opted for the outside option so that she wouldn't track flour through the lobby. As soon as she stepped outside she regretted it. Ida and Barry were standing in the garden where there was plenty of afternoon sun to dry off his clothing.
Vi
cky tried to duck back inside, but Barry was a keen observer and he heard the door open before she could close it again.
“
Vicky?” he called out as he saw her soaked clothing. “You weren't in the kitchen,” he pointed out suspiciously and began walking towards her. “Did you have something to do with all of this?”
“
What?” Vicky shot back with frustration. “Of course not. I went to the kitchen to check on the three of you, but you were already gone.”
“
What is this you're covered in?” Barry asked as he touched her shoulder and stared down at his fingertip covered in white powder.
“
Oh, Vicky, did you slip?” Ida asked quickly when she saw Vicky's blank look. “Are you hurt?”
“
I slipped,” Vicky nodded with a smile of relief. “But I'm okay. I landed on the bag of flour, luckily,” she added.
“
How very lucky,” Barry replied through gritted teeth. Vicky could tell that he wasn't buying any of it. But there was no way he could prove what she had done, especially since the entire kitchen had been thoroughly washed by the sprinklers. Unfortunately, that also meant that any clues Vicky might have been able to find about who really killed Sandy Holstead were washed away as well.
“
Where is your sister?” Barry asked as he settled his gaze on her.
“
She's at the front desk,” Vicky replied with a mild shrug. “I'm sure she's waiting to talk with you.”
“
I'm sure you've already told her I'm here,” Barry replied with a grim smile. Vicky allowed Barry to get a few steps ahead of her. Then she decided to follow after him. She wanted to see how Sarah reacted to his presence. Vicky followed close behind Barry but did her best to keep her footsteps muffled. She heard him as he walked up to the front desk.
“
Hello, I need to speak with Sarah,” he said calmly as he stood in front of the desk.
“
I'm Sarah,” she replied and Vicky could hear the smile in her voice.
“
Is there somewhere we could speak in private?” he suggested after introducing himself.
“
Sure,” Sarah agreed. Vicky knew she would lead Barry into her office which was just behind the front desk. As much as she wanted to hear what Barry asked, she knew that Sarah could handle the questions. She also wanted to change, but she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get to Sandy’s room. This was her best chance to get up to Sandy's room and have another look around before Barry began his investigation. The police still considered Sandy's death to be accidental, now that Vicky was certain it had been intentional, she was hoping there would be some clues in her room.
When Vicky reached the Holsteads' room she found it in disarray. It looked as if someone had tossed every piece of clothing from their suitcases around the room. The bedding was stripped and tossed on the floor. She wondered if she was too late and if Barry had already been inside. As she picked through the clothing in an attempt to find some clues, she found a fork on the floor. It was a fork from the kitchen. Vicky used one of the pillow cases that had been tossed on the floor to pick it up. She looked at i
t closely. She could see a sheen of oil on it.
Not far from the fork was the bottle of wine that Sandy had asked
to be sent up to her. When Vicky picked it up she found something stuck underneath it. It was a receipt stuck to the bottom by the condensation on the bottle. It was a receipt from the local diner. It showed a total of just over ten dollars and it appeared to be for a meal for only one person. Why would there be a receipt from the local diner if on their first meal at the inn they had room service for lunch? She tucked it into her pocket and started to turn around to leave the room, when a shadow fell across the carpet. She looked up slowly to discover Henry standing just outside the door.
“
Vicky, I just, I had to see the room…” he said quietly, his words cut off by a strangled gasp.
“
Henry,” Vicky said his name sharply in an attempt to snap him out of the dazed state he was in. “This was not your fault,” she said with determination as she looked into his eyes. “Whoever is responsible for Sandy's death did it intentionally, this was no accident.”
“
But the bottle…” he began to say.
“
Henry, I'm telling you right now, say nothing more until we can figure out exactly what has happened, understand?” she searched his gaze hoping that her words had reached him through the shock that he was obviously experiencing.
“
I want nothing more to do with this,” he stated flatly and shook his head. “I won't deny my mistake. If I did this, then I should be punished!”
“
But you didn't!” Vicky said impatiently as she narrowed her eyes. “You know you didn't, and so do I, Henry, why would you risk your future when you were not involved?”
“
No matter what, I must have been the one to put the oil on her food,” he said in a whisper with tears in his eyes.
“
That's not necessarily the case,” Vicky argued the point and steered him away from the Holsteads’ room. “I want you to go to your room. Stay in it, don't answer your phone, don't answer your door. Only come out if it's me or Sarah, understand?” she locked eyes with him.
“
Yes, I understand,” he nodded but his eyes were still clouded with tears. Vicky left the room as quickly as she entered it. She didn't want to be there if Barry Baker decided to look it over. She headed back to her own apartment to change her wet, flour-covered clothes. When she reached the door of her apartment she found a man standing in front of it. He didn't look like an average guest at the inn, he was very tall and very wide. His hair was gray and curly. It hung several inches past his shoulders against a brown leather jacket.
“
Can I help you?” Vicky asked hesitantly as she stepped up behind him. The man turned to look at her, and his brown eyes widened when he saw the state of her clothing.
“
Wow, looks like you're having a bad day,” his voice was raspy and full of humor.
“
Not the best, that's for sure,” Vicky replied, a little more at ease because of his cheerful attitude.
“
I'm looking for Ida,” he explained as he shoved his thick hands into the pockets of his jeans. “She said that she lived here but…”
“
Why are you looking for her?” Vicky asked suspiciously. With the strange situations her aunt could get herself into she wasn't sure how much she should tell the man.
“
Oh, I wanted to invite her to dinner,” he explained shyly and Vicky detected a blush in his cheeks. Despite everything unfolding around her, Vicky found his bashfulness to be endearing, and the fact that he was looking for Aunt Ida did not surprise her in the least.
“
Well, she's probably in her room, let me give her a call,” Vicky suggested and started to reach for her cell phone until she realized it was in her sopping wet pocket.
“
That's all right, I'll call her,” he chuckled and shook his head. “I'm Rex by the way, if you see her before I do, just tell her I'll be by her beauty in the parking lot.”
“
I will,” Vicky grinned as she watched him walk away. Of all the men that she had seen Aunt Ida flirt with, he was the first biker. She had to wonder what came first, Rex or the motorcycle.
***
Once Vicky had changed she headed back to the lobby hoping to catch up with Aunt Ida to ask her about Rex. Instead she came across Sarah and Barry standing by the door of the inn talking in tense voices.
“
Something happened here,” he was saying sharply. “It doesn't matter what you claim, what it comes down to is that there must have been peanuts on Sandy Holstead's food, prepared and served at this inn, after she informed you of her allergy.”
“
As I said, we took every precaution to prevent any peanuts getting into her food…” Sarah began to argue in return.
“
Obviously not,” Barry snapped back as Vicky walked over to the two.
“
Have you considered the possibility that Gerald was the one to add peanuts to his wife's food?” Vicky asked in an attempt to take the pressure off her sister for a moment. “Just because the peanuts might be found on Mrs. Holstead's food that doesn't mean that it wasn't added after the meals were delivered to the room.”
Barry spun around so fast to face Vicky that she gasped in reaction to the movement.
“Are you accusing a grieving widower of poisoning his wife?” he demanded and took a step towards Vicky.
“
No, of course not,” Sarah said quickly and stepped between them. “What Vicky is trying to say is that there are many possibilities. We don't know exactly what happened just yet. A thorough investigation should and will be conducted.”
“
Yes,” Barry replied in a seething tone as he looked at Vicky. “It will.”
He pushed past
both of them and stepped out the door of the inn.
“
Doesn't sound like that went too well,” Vicky said grimly as she watched Barry stalk off to his car.
“
He certainly is determined,” Sarah said with a sigh as she walked around behind the desk.
“
Well, I'm not going to leave your side anymore,” Vicky said as she shook her head. She would have to postpone her meeting with Melissa, the waitress who was having her bridal shower at the inn on the weekend. “I don't like the way that he was talking to you.”
Sarah offered a fond smile but shook her head as she spoke.
“Listen Vicky, the best way to keep our reputation intact is to continue to operate as normal. If you don't show up for the meeting with Melissa, then everyone in town will think that we're circling the wagons and trying to avoid taking responsibility for Sandy's death,” she pointed out and shuffled the papers on her desk. “Barry Baker means business, and if we're not very careful he's going to make sure this inn is shut down,” Sarah warned.
“
But how can I plan a bridal shower with all of this happening?” Vicky asked as she leaned against the desk and studied her sister. “Do you really think I can pick out colors and suggest cakes?”
“
Of course you can,” Sarah said with a smile of confidence. “You can do anything you put your mind to.”
“
If you think it's what's best,” Vicky said quietly as she recalled the receipt she had found on the floor in the Holsteads’ room. It was for the diner where Melissa was a waitress. Maybe she could find out some information about who had eaten there.
“
I think it's what we need to do for now,” Sarah pursed her lips as she looked over the list of new guests that would be arriving the next day. “We need the inn to run as smoothly as possible. If we have any more incidents while Barry is here, we're just going to look more and more incapable of providing a safe environment.”
“
All right,” Vicky reluctantly agreed. She hesitated for a moment before adding in a whisper. “Just to let you know there's a burly biker wandering around here looking for Aunt Ida.”
“
You're kidding me!” Sarah burst out laughing and covered her mouth quickly. Vicky smiled at the light that filled her sister's eyes. It was good to hear her laugh, even if it did draw a few looks from some of the staff members within earshot.
“
He wants to ask her out to dinner,” Vicky added with a gleam in her eye. “I think Aunt Ida has him wrapped around her little finger.”