I nodded. “He doesn’t usually get so many accolades for his repair work. Now I know why Vi volunteered to stay with the dogs—she probably couldn’t stand it.” I scanned the room. “Where’s your mom?”
“She had some secret knitting project to work on. She’s still upstairs.” He spread mustard on his sandwich from the little pots of condiments. “I’m thinking about taking one of the snowmobiles out to the road and calling the police. I don’t like the idea of Clarissa out there in the shed,” Mac said.
I shivered.
Mom and Seth came to our table, and Mom sat next to Mac.
Seth glanced at Mac’s shorts and blinked. He wisely stayed mute.
“We don’t have another workshop until three. Your father wants to check out the cottage to be sure everything is working before it starts getting dark.” She narrowed her eyes at the fawning knitters. She lowered her voice. “He doesn’t trust that everything will be in working order.”
“I’ll come and help Seth with the dogs,” I said.
“Do you need help with your suitcase, Mrs. Fortune?” Mac asked.
Mom smiled and put her hand on his arm. “I keep telling you, you need to call me Rose. And yes, I could use some help—it’s slippery out there. Thank you.”
After lunch, Mom and Mac went to get the suitcase and we met them in the hall where Vi was waiting with the dogs.
Tuffy began vibrating when he saw Seth walking toward him. Baxter stood and wagged his tail. He pushed his head against my leg when I approached. They sensed that something was happening and Tuffy began a little tap dance on the tile.
Baxter’s ears drooped when he saw Mac walking toward him. Either he was a fashion critic, or he was picking up on Mac’s irritation.
Seth grabbed his backpack from the floor. Tuffy dropped his ears and curled his tail downward. He brightened and hopped straight into the air when Seth pulled out the leash. I grabbed Baxter’s short lead and we all ventured out into the cold. I ruefully noted that now that the heat was back on I seemed to be spending a lot of time outside.
The path had been cleared as promised. Dad opened the door with the key Jessica had given him. Inside we found a cozy living room and small kitchen. Holly had started a fire in the fireplace and the whole room glowed. I sighed.
Wally had some explaining to do. Mac and I could have stayed here all this time and it would have been almost as wonderful as Mexico. Except for the murder.
The dogs ran ahead into the bedrooms, sniffing every inch. Baxter’s deep bark sounded from the bedroom on the right. I went to investigate with Seth close on my heels.
The room was decorated in deep blues and greens. Baxter sat in the middle of the small Persian rug and looked at us expectantly. When we didn’t respond, he barked again, turned a circle and lay down.
“Do you think he likes the room?”
Seth shrugged. “I’m not sure what he’s trying to say.”
Tuffy joined Baxter and curled up next to him.
Seth and I went back out into the living room.
“The dogs seem to have picked that room,” I said. “I guess you two will have to take the other one.”
Dad lugged Mom’s suitcase into the second bedroom. “Wow, fancy.” His voice floated out into the living room.
“This place is great,” Dad said as he came out of the bedroom.
Vi sniffed. “It’s not as castle-y as the hotel. I’ll bet there aren’t any ghosts, either.”
“Most normal people would consider that a good thing, Vi,” Dad said.
“Well, normal people think they have to visit the dentist twice a year,” Vi said. “Doesn’t make them right.”
Vi had as much as declared war with that remark. She must have been really irked that Dad was getting so much attention. Dad was a mostly retired dentist and Vi had floated this theory that dentists were “in cahoots” with an unnamed dental overlord to whip up a frenzy of fear of gum disease. She trotted out the theory whenever she was feeling particularly prickly.
“We’ll let you get settled,” I said. I pulled Vi back outside and Mac followed, pushing her from behind as he swung the door shut before Dad could retaliate.
“Do you have to do that?” I asked.
Vi shrugged and grinned. “Keeps him on his toes.”
Kirk was outside again with his snowblower—we could see the plume of snow in the parking lot.
“I’m going to go talk to Kirk about taking a snowmobile down the road,” Mac said. “Your Dad gave me the keys.”
“We’ll come, too,” Vi said. “I need to talk to him about my yarn bombing. I really want those knitting needles.”
She hooked her arms through ours and dragged us toward the noisy parking lot.
We saw Kirk inside one of those drivable snow throwers slowly working his way along the sidewalk toward the parked cars. Vi waved her arms to attract Kirk’s attention. After a few minutes, Kirk finally noticed us and shut the engine off.
I took a moment to enjoy the silence and then followed Mac and Vi as they crunched through the snow to Kirk.