Mayhem at the Orient Express Read Online Free PDF Page A

much
     the offer was for, I agreed to it on the spot.
    Ater all, I had a guest settled in upstairs in Suite #1, it was lunchtime, and I was
     starving. I was not inclinded to dicker.
    Finished with Jason, I raced up the stairs to tell my guest, Amanda Gallagher, that
     I was going out to pick up some lunch, asked her if she wanted anything (she didn’t),
     and headed out of the house.
    For about fifteen seconds.
    It was downright chilly out, considerably colder than it had been earlier in the week,
     and I whirled back inside and grabbed my heavy jacket. If what the weather forecasters
     said was true, we had snow heading our way, and the nip in the air told me they just
     might be right. Yes, it was officially spring, but according to the people I’d talked
     to at the grocery store the day before, snow in April isn’t all that unusual in Ohio.
     It would pass in a day or two, they assured me, and added that the daffodils just
     peeking out of the beds around the house were as hardy as the rest of the island’s
     residents; they wouldn’t mind a bit.
    I fished in my left pocket for my gloves, and in my right pocket for my knitted hat,
     and thus attired and as cozy as I was likely to be with a brisk wind racing south
     over the lake from Canada, I stayed with my original plan, which was to walk into
     town. South Bass is only a little more than four miles long and about a mile and a
     half wide, and smack dab at its narrow center from north coast to south is the town
     of Put-in-Bay. I’d been smart enough to buy property not far from downtown. The location
     was convenient for me, and for all those guests I hoped to host over the summer, and
     the chance to get out and walk in the brisk air without seven million other people
     milling around me was more of a treat than I can say.
    Content and with the kind of spring in my step that I had only dreamed about back
     when I was still in New York and desperate to get out, I paused in front of Chandra’s,
     listening to the not-so-melodic clang of her windchimes while I took a good long look
     back at Bea & Bees.
    As much as I hated to admit it, Kate was right when she said the house was a monstrosity.
     Turret, wraparound porch, six suites for guests that each included its own bathroom,
     and the common rooms: parlor, dining room, kitchen. There was also a full basement,
     an attic I hoped I would someday need to convert into more guest rooms, and my own
     private first-floor suite, which included my bedroom, a bath, a sitting room, and
     a back porch I had yet to have the leisure to enjoy.
    The place had been for sale for a couple years before I discovered it, and from what
     I’d heard, plenty of people had looked at it before me. It intimidated the hell out
     of every single one of them. Honestly, I could see why. My little piece of real estate
     was directly across the road from a postage-stamp-sized area of green space that included
     a picnic table, a park bench, and a few battered trees that leaned away from the wind.
     There was a three-foot drop to the lake just beyond the little park, and most days,
     Lake Erie slapped gently against the narrow, rocky strip of shore. Today, the waves
     were more of the crashing variety. Even twenty feet away, I felt the cold sting of
     spray.
    As all the architectural magazines say, homes near water are plenty desirable, and
     romantic, too. But what most people don’t realize is that they also require more maintenance
     than most normal human beings are willing to commit to. Add to that the fact that
     island real estate is scarce, and thus expensive, and it was easy to see how folks
     had been scared away. Sticker shock plus endless upkeep and the cost of the renovations
     the place sorely needed when I stumbled on it? Yeah, even the bravest speculators
     and the smartest investors had run off screaming into the night.
    Fortunately for me, I’d never been accused of being especially brave or exceptionally
     smart.
    I looked