Chapter 11: Good News

The kitchen's air of gloom had lifted when I entered the house, Mary and Betty both absent for once. And the minute I entered Daisy rushed to me, Petunia gobbling at the chunks of kibble and cheese in her giant bowl. I winced, knowing I'd suffer the lactose consequences later, but didn't comment, not when my old bestie flung her arms around my neck and hugged me.

"I hope that at least made up for it a bit," she said, shuddering as she pulled back. "He's a creep, but you seemed to want to have a look around." Wait, what? Daisy bit her lower lip, as hang dog as I'd ever seen her. A honey blonde curl escaped from the pretty pink band she used to hold her hair back today, matching her bright blouse perfectly. "Did I do okay?"

I couldn't help the grin that broke over my face and, on impulse, hugged her back. She squeaked in surprise but embraced me with gusto as I giggled in her ear.

"I thought you'd lost your good taste and your mind there for a minute," I said. "Robert, of all people."

She snorted, adorably of course. "Can I just say ew? Like, ew to the ewiest." We laughed together for a moment before she sobered. "I feel so bad, Fee." Daisy sank to a stool, one that Betty usually occupied, the older woman's large backside barely supported though my best friend's tiny one fit it perfectly. "I know I'm a flake a lot of the time and that people think I'm stupid." I chewed on the inside of my cheek in guilt because yeah, I was one of them. "I don't always think before I talk and there are things I don't understand sometimes." She seemed close to tears while the utter genuineness of her made me want to cry with her for being so hard on her. Sure, she'd dumped more than she should have to Crew, but so what? He was going to find out anyway. I was a horrible, horrible person for thinking badly of her. "But I'm really sorry and I promise I'll try harder."

"Daisy, it's honestly okay." I sank against the counter, staring down at Petunia who waddled to my side, squatting on her butt with her back legs sticking straight forward, utterly pleased with her snack and likely looking for more to eat. "I'm so glad you're here." My friend lost her agonized hurt look and perked. "And you did awesome with Robert. I just hope that doesn't come back to bite you later."

She tossed her blonde curls, long lashes closing over one gray eye. "I have it handled," she said. And laughed.

Way smarter than I ever thought she was.

Daisy kicked butt the rest of the day, handling guests like an utter pro-they always loved her regardless of her quirks and occasional mess-ups-not a disaster to be had. I avoided the baleful glares of the Jones sisters lurking as they always did in the background and instead focused on finishing all the big and small tasks that needed to be done every day to keep Petunia's running and legal. Like cleaning, paperwork, more cleaning, more paperwork. By the time the sun was setting and Mary and Betty long gone, I wearily descended to the foyer to find Daisy closing the appointment app on the sideboard computer with a happy sigh, the phone settling in the cradle from a finished call.

"All booked up for the next two months," she said, bright and cheerful, enough to make me smile. "We only have one night open the end of September and thanks to the big push the mayor is making for the ski lodge for the fall, it looks like shoulder season won't be much quieter."

I'd take that as good news regardless of whether I was still Petunia's owner or not. Filling up before or after the main season was over meant bigger revenue. Someone else's revenue? Something to be tackled in the morning. For now, I was grateful for a tired body and mind and the chance, very shortly, to fall into bed and forget this day ever happened.

I sent Daisy home with another hug and my thanks, checking in on the garden as the sun set behind the mountains. A young female deputy nodded to me, her blonde ponytail the only indication of her sex, body tucked into a more official uniform and jacket. I waved and retreated, hesitating before digging out a snack from the fridge and bringing it to her.

"Thank you." She seemed startled by the sandwich and canned soft drink. Didn't hurt to ingratiate myself with at least one person on the sheriff's payroll. A quick glance at the flower bed told me no one had uncovered the box Petunia dug up and I sloppily hid, the impression of my sneaker a red flag banner no one else apparently saw as evidence. It was too dark to see the koi, so I didn't comment about Fat Benny to the deputy, leaving well enough alone for now. If the fish decided to finally swallow the scrap, so be it.

I left her munching on chicken salad and ducked downstairs to my apartment for a quick collapse on the sofa with my feet up on the old coffee table. Petunia grunted her way up next to me, throwing her full weight against me as she collapsed and settled her wide, silly head on my lap. Those giant brown eyes stared up at me, black ears perked while she grumbled a few choice complaints until I rubbed at her cheeks and made her groan.

"What a day, pug." Now that I'd come to a sudden halt, everything crashed down on me again. The overwhelming truth of what had happened paralyzed me and left me breathless. A man died in my back yard after claiming he owned my business. A business that might now belong to his heir while the sheriff was investigating me for murder. Evidence more than likely remained in my yard, at the very least in the jaws of the koi and most probably-if I was willing to admit it-in the metal box buried in the flower bed.

And my dad might have killed Pete Wilkins.

I sat abruptly upright, Petunia muttering her displeasure at this state of not resting affairs. I had to talk to Pete's family, find out about the deed. If in fact Grandmother Iris did sign over Petunia's, why? And could they be talked into some kind of arrangement?

It was too soon after his death to just go barging over there, wasn't it?

Maybe. But a lawyer, yes. First priority. I sank back into the cushions of the old sofa, intending to get up, check the grounds one last time, that my guests were secure and the house locked up. While Petunia's head settled once more in my lap and her eyes closed.

***

I blamed the dog for me waking in an uncomfortably awkward position, half sideways on the paisley fabric with a drool trail wetting the faded velvet nap. Movement in the kitchen over my head told me it was morning, as much as the light beaming in the windows, washing across my face and adding to my confusion.

Petunia abandoned me for upstairs, fine by me. A shower and my own brewed coffee later-stronger than any guest would be willing to drink but just the ticket this morning-and I was feeling up to facing the day. Betty didn't even acknowledge me as I entered the kitchen, but Mary made sure, as she hustled through the swinging door with the first plates of morning dirty dishes in her hands, I saw her frown of unhappiness.

"Just say it." I was done with her attitude, with both of them. "Go on, say it. How Grandmother Iris did such a good job and I'm messing everything up and how could I allow someone to try to take Petunia's like that and how could I have murdered a man in our own yard?" I huffed through that tirade as Mary gaped at me. Even Betty spun in slow motion to stare, her bushy gray eyebrows climbing so high the lines in her forehead met each other in overlapping pink flesh. "Say it so we can just get on with things and have done with it."

Mary's lips moved but nothing came out. And that, I have to say, was the most satisfying sound I'd ever heard.

Instead of waiting for her to gather her wits, I strode past her and into the garden, needing a moment to catch my breath before I came face to face with a guest. The mood I was in this morning? They'd get both barrels even if they asked for extra toilet paper. And let me tell you, being a B&B newbie owner? There was nothing more frustrating than guests and excess toilet paper.

Some things were worth murdering over.

***