Caroline left to check the dinner as Ben passed out the drinks. When he was finished, he found himself next to Cal, while the Bishops, Stantons, and Lisbeth stood in a group by the doorway with Charlie and Bub in the center. The villagers were craned over Charlie, asking him questions and patting his shoulders. Bub stood behind Charlie, somewhat ignored and becoming agitated because of it. Charlie nodded and smiled, but even across the room Ben saw something wild in his eyes.
Looking at his son, he could not imagine a single thought that might be running through his mind. Perhaps this was what it meant for a child to grow up, but Ben didn’t think so. His own mother would have brutalized him at the slightest whiff of deception, but maybe Ben had erred too far in the other direction. As he watched Charlie wield his frozen smile, Ben decided that he’d been passive for too long. Since finding the bloody fingerprint in The Book of Secrets, Ben’s fears and suspicions had not coalesced into anything more than a profound sense of wrongness. There was something wrong with this place, and there was something wrong with his son. Tomorrow he’d find out what the boy knew about what was in the forest. He’d ask about the pit and find out what had happened on the day the shed went up in flames. Maybe he would find out what happened to Hudson. Then they’d all take a break from the Crofts over the holidays.
“I think it’s just about bedtime for the boys,” Ben said. Charlie was still holding the baby’s hand. Ben pulled Bub away from him.
“I can put him to bed,” Charlie said.
“I got him. But it’s getting late for you, too,” Ben said.
“I’m not tired,” Charlie said.
“He had to come home sick from school,” Ben told the villagers.
“Hope you feel better, sugar,” Lisbeth told Charlie.
“Mom’s in the kitchen. Now, go say good night to her,” Ben said. He met Charlie’s stare until the boy did what he was told. “You say good night, too, Bub.” He waved the child’s hand for him while he watched Charlie make his way down the hall.
“Good night, boys,” Mary Stanton said. “You have beautiful sons,” she told Ben.
Bub lay heavily against him as Ben made his way up the stairs to his room.
“They tired you out, didn’t they, buddy?” The baby had his eyes closed before he hit the cushion of his crib. Ben switched on the monitor and clipped the receiver to his pocket. “Would you dream a happy dream for me?”
38
It felt strange to be seated at the head of such a large table. The meal was perfect, and the room glistened with candles and Christmas trees and cascades of poinsettias. It was beautiful in the way a movie set would be. And sitting there smiling, laughing, telling stories, Ben felt it again: an actor. Everyone was gracious and said polite things, but the night felt like a performance.
“Will anyone be able to come to the restaurant, or would you need to be a guest?” Mary Stanton asked. They had peppered Ben and Caroline with dozens of questions about the kind of inn the Crofts would become. Ben could not tell whether these were asked out of interest or simply to prevent the table from falling into silence.
“Eventually we’d like to open it up to everyone,” Caroline said. “We have a space for a professional kitchen. The pipes and wires and gas lines are all there, but we don’t have the equipment yet.”
“Well, I may need to make myself a regular,” Lisbeth said. “These beets are like a dream.”
“You gonna run this place on your own?” Henry Bishop asked. It was clear that none of the guests had explored the full extent of the Crofts in a long time. The house cut an imperial silhouette against the mountains, but they’d forgotten the sprawling massiveness of the place. The tour Caroline gave had been limited to the first two floors, but Ben watched their eyes widen every time they turned a corner to reveal a different section of the mansion.
“At first we’ll need at least a couple of people to clean the rooms,” Caroline said.
“You’ll need some bodies for the kitchen, too,” Lisbeth said. “A cook and a prep, at least, I think. Then someone to run the tables.”
“And eventually we want to grow most of our food,” Caroline said. “Turn the Crofts back into a working farm. Then there are the stables. And we’re talking about restoring one of the outbuildings, making it into a spa.” She glanced at Ben. This was the first he’d heard of it. “Then there’s all the landscaping and grounds maintenance.”
“Thought I had that covered,” Jake said. Jake had barely said a word all night. He’d seemed fine the day before, but Ben wondered if he had whatever was going around. He didn’t look as if he’d been sleeping well.
“You do, but you can’t do it all on your own. You’ll need help,” Caroline said.
“Don’t worry, we’ll give you some fancy title so everyone knows you’re in charge,” Ben said. “Executive Groundskeeper. Living Resource Management Director. Estate Director. Unless that sounds too much like an undertaker.” He regretted the words as they left his mouth. Mrs. White had been the ghost in the room all along.
“Ah, poor Tommy White,” Lisbeth said. She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “God bless the boy.”
“Hard season,” Henry said, nodding.
“And it’s only beginning,” the chief said. He looked to the windows, but they’d been frosted by the storm’s onslaught. “Hope the road stays open.”
“The county road?” Ben asked.
“Enough snow and the south pass gets closed up tight. Probably won’t get enough for that tonight, but the ice on the turn before the pass can be murder, too.”
Ben vaguely remembered Cal saying something about the county road closing for a few days after the fire in 1982. He tried to imagine what they would do if a time came when they needed to leave the valley, and couldn’t.
“Told Simms to keep an eye on it.”
“Ben, you look like someone ran over your cat,” Lisbeth said. “Even if the south pass closes, the north pass almost never does. Isn’t that right, Bill?”
“You’ll get used to it up here,” Henry told them. “The winters are hard, but they make the rest of the year seem that much easier.”
“I look at the calendar and I know we haven’t been here long, but some days it doesn’t feel that way,” Caroline said.