Death in Room 7 (Pine Lake Inn Cozy Mystery Book 1) Read Online Free PDF
Author: K.J. Emrick
go our separate ways. On my way back to the Inn I start whistling. The sun is high in a blue sky streaked by pure white clouds. Birds are calling to each other on a nice, warm breeze. I can’t imagine a more perfect day.
Back at the Inn I bring the foodstuffs to the kitchen and put them away. Paul offers to help me but I know his shift is long over and he’s only hanging around because he’s a dedicated man. Wish I could give him more hours than I do, but the Inn has a budget, so I send him on his way. Have to agree with Jess. He is nice to watch when he’s walking away.
Ahem. Guess it’s been a while since I had some male companionship of my own. Maybe, I think in passing, it might be time to open myself up to the possibility. Maybe.
Rosie is nowhere to be found. Dinner is in full swing now, and the servers are taking care of everyone just fine, but I can’t imagine Rosie leaving her kitchen at a time like this. One of the other servers, a woman about my age in a white shirt and black vest like the rest of them, tells me that Rosie said she had to run home to her husband and left early for the day. I ponder on that as I leave the kitchen. Maybe Josh was sick. Rosie was a very devoted wife. She was devoted to her kitchen too, and usually that took precedence over anything except Armageddon or an outbreak of smallpox. I doubt that Josh has smallpox.
The mail comes with me back to the registration desk. When I’m gone, Rosie is supposed to do double duty as the face of the Inn, here at the desk. I check the sign-in book and see that no one has registered since I’ve been gone. It really hasn’t been all that long, after all. This is about the right number of guests for this time of year. Just enough to make the place cozy and the dining room full of tourists and local residents alike. Summer in Australia is something everyone should experience once in their life.
I get to do it every year of mine.
The unicorn necklace that Jess gave me catches my eye. Smiling, I lengthen the cord just a bit and then slip it on over my neck, putting the unicorn down inside my shirt. I can feel it there, nestling like a little good luck charm.
A few hours pass like they usually do in Lakeshore. Quiet and peaceful. The phone rang twice, with no one there. Just static. I tend to listen to the static more closely nowadays, ever since I started giving serious thought to whether ghosts can use phones to communicate. I never hear anything but white noise, in case you’re wondering.
At a little past seven-thirty I decide I can’t wait for Jess to wake up. I’m hungry. Laughing softly to myself, I head up the stairs hoping she won’t be too mad if I wake her up just fifteen minutes earlier than we had agreed on. Of course she won’t. What’s fifteen minutes between friends?
I knocked on her door. Then I knocked again, a little louder. She didn’t answer. Ear to the door I knocked again. “Jess?”
Still no answer. Must still be asleep. She had sounded so tired when she came upstairs. Long drive. Sounded like a lot going on in her life, too. Best to let her rest.
We could always catch up tomorrow.
Chapter Three
My telephone rang in my room early the next morning. Like, early enough that the sun was only a thought on the eastern horizon across the lake.
It kept ringing, and I thought about smashing it to bits with the nearest heavy object. I decided against that plan but only because it would cost too much to replace.
“You’re lucky I can’t live without you,” I mumbled to the annoying little contraption. It’s made to look like an antique stand-up style phone even though it has a push-button keypad. There’s one in each of the rooms. Just one of the many touches I use to make the place special.
On the next ring I grabbed the receiver up and angrily growled, “Hello. What?”
“Is this Adelle Powers?” a male
Back at the Inn I bring the foodstuffs to the kitchen and put them away. Paul offers to help me but I know his shift is long over and he’s only hanging around because he’s a dedicated man. Wish I could give him more hours than I do, but the Inn has a budget, so I send him on his way. Have to agree with Jess. He is nice to watch when he’s walking away.
Ahem. Guess it’s been a while since I had some male companionship of my own. Maybe, I think in passing, it might be time to open myself up to the possibility. Maybe.
Rosie is nowhere to be found. Dinner is in full swing now, and the servers are taking care of everyone just fine, but I can’t imagine Rosie leaving her kitchen at a time like this. One of the other servers, a woman about my age in a white shirt and black vest like the rest of them, tells me that Rosie said she had to run home to her husband and left early for the day. I ponder on that as I leave the kitchen. Maybe Josh was sick. Rosie was a very devoted wife. She was devoted to her kitchen too, and usually that took precedence over anything except Armageddon or an outbreak of smallpox. I doubt that Josh has smallpox.
The mail comes with me back to the registration desk. When I’m gone, Rosie is supposed to do double duty as the face of the Inn, here at the desk. I check the sign-in book and see that no one has registered since I’ve been gone. It really hasn’t been all that long, after all. This is about the right number of guests for this time of year. Just enough to make the place cozy and the dining room full of tourists and local residents alike. Summer in Australia is something everyone should experience once in their life.
I get to do it every year of mine.
The unicorn necklace that Jess gave me catches my eye. Smiling, I lengthen the cord just a bit and then slip it on over my neck, putting the unicorn down inside my shirt. I can feel it there, nestling like a little good luck charm.
A few hours pass like they usually do in Lakeshore. Quiet and peaceful. The phone rang twice, with no one there. Just static. I tend to listen to the static more closely nowadays, ever since I started giving serious thought to whether ghosts can use phones to communicate. I never hear anything but white noise, in case you’re wondering.
At a little past seven-thirty I decide I can’t wait for Jess to wake up. I’m hungry. Laughing softly to myself, I head up the stairs hoping she won’t be too mad if I wake her up just fifteen minutes earlier than we had agreed on. Of course she won’t. What’s fifteen minutes between friends?
I knocked on her door. Then I knocked again, a little louder. She didn’t answer. Ear to the door I knocked again. “Jess?”
Still no answer. Must still be asleep. She had sounded so tired when she came upstairs. Long drive. Sounded like a lot going on in her life, too. Best to let her rest.
We could always catch up tomorrow.
Chapter Three
My telephone rang in my room early the next morning. Like, early enough that the sun was only a thought on the eastern horizon across the lake.
It kept ringing, and I thought about smashing it to bits with the nearest heavy object. I decided against that plan but only because it would cost too much to replace.
“You’re lucky I can’t live without you,” I mumbled to the annoying little contraption. It’s made to look like an antique stand-up style phone even though it has a push-button keypad. There’s one in each of the rooms. Just one of the many touches I use to make the place special.
On the next ring I grabbed the receiver up and angrily growled, “Hello. What?”
“Is this Adelle Powers?” a male