Текст книги "A Silver Wolf Christmas"

Автор книги: Spear Terry

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

Chapter 22

At the clinic, Darien, CJ, Laurel, Jake, and Doc Weber gathered around Jacob, who had been treated for minor wolf-bite wounds. But for now, he was strapped to the table so they could question him before he was released.

“You’re wearing hunter’s spray,” Darien accused.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. They came out of nowhere and bit me. They should be up on charges of attempted murder.”

“You lied to Laurel and said I was going to the house when everyone knows I would have gone to protect her.”

“I didn’t want her to think I was out there to harm her. She was frightened enough.”

“How come you broke into her sisters’ home and then mine? Were you looking for something in the false bottoms of the drawers? You knew the furniture your father made for Clarinda had false bottoms and how to get into them, but you couldn’t with Meghan watching. You set up the alarm system in the house, so you knew how to disable it. The same with mine. Peter’s checking the furniture, and when he finds what’s hidden in the drawers, the jig will be up. What were you trying to find?”

“I didn’t break into anyone’s place.”

Unfortunately, they had no proof that he had.

“I tried to find the secret compartments when Meghan was watching me and didn’t find any. Every cabinetmaker has his own way of creating them. I told the MacTire sisters that.”

“And you learned cabinetmaking from your father.”

“Yeah, so? Find one piece of furniture I made with my initials on it that’s constructed in the same way as my father’s furniture and has a false bottom.”

“What happened to my aunt?” Laurel asked, her voice soft, but CJ heard the steel behind it.

“I don’t know what happened to your aunt, and that’s the God’s honest truth. Hell, as soon as she bit me, she took off.”

“What?” Laurel said, suddenly looking so pale, CJ took hold of her arm and made her sit in a chair.

“The white wolf that bit me! Who did you think she was?”

“Charity Wernicke.”

“Where did you come up with that idea?”

“She—Charity—said she was keeping house, and then my aunt came to live with Warren and her.”

He gave a sarcastic laugh. “Hell, if Warren had a sister, she wasn’t living there.”

“She was running the hotel. After her brother vanished,” Laurel managed to get out.

“She might have let on that she was his sister, but she was Clarinda O’Brien.”

CJ rested his hand on Laurel’s shoulder, ready to keep her in her seat if she suddenly passed out, she appeared so pale.

“How do you know this for certain?” she asked.

Jacob narrowed his eyes. “Because my father was seeing her, made her the furniture even. Free, because he loved her. But Warren did too. She was perfect for him, did all his housework and kept the books.”

“Are…are you her son?”

“No. My mother had died two years earlier. My father hadn’t looked at another wolf until he laid eyes on her.”

Laurel swallowed hard. “So she mated Warren?”

“She wouldn’t mate either wolf. She wouldn’t say why.”

“Did your father have something to do with Warren’s death?”

“No. He died of a broken heart. He thought, like I did, that Warren left to set up another hotel somewhere else, somewhere that Clarinda was happier, that she managed this hotel, then took off and joined him.”

“Oh, right,” Laurel said, sounding like she didn’t believe him in the least.

CJ got a call on his phone. “Yeah, Peter, what did you find?”

“It’s not good. I’m emailing you a picture so you don’t have to leave there and end your interrogation.”

CJ waited with dreaded anticipation as the picture uploaded. A damn blackmail note? And it looked suspiciously like his father’s handwriting. He was blackmailing Clarinda? For pretending to be Warren’s sister? But Jacob just said she wasn’t pretending.

Every eye was on CJ. “Darien, Laurel, can I see you in Doc Weber’s office for a moment?”

Doc Weber nodded his okay for them to use it.

CJ took hold of Laurel’s arm. She was so shaky, he was worried that she might be going into shock.

When they were in the doc’s office, Darien shut the door. “What did Peter find?”

CJ helped Laurel onto the couch and sat beside her. “A blackmail note from my father, hidden in one of the drawers.”

“Someone needs to catch Clarinda, Charity…whoever she is,” Laurel said, sounding numb.

Looking sympathetic, Darien nodded. “While you were both questioning Jacob, I sent a text to Ryan to have her taken into custody, not as a murder suspect, but to help clear this matter up.”

“Could Jacob be lying?” she asked.

“Could be. We can’t take what either of them say at face value, it seems.” Darien looked over the blackmail note. “It’s Sheridan’s handwriting, all right.”

“If he was blackmailing her, maybe that’s why she disappeared. But why did he blackmail her?” Laurel asked.

Darien glanced at his phone. “Hell, Ryan says they’re looking for her, but she hasn’t returned to her home or store in Green Valley.”

“What if she runs again?” Laurel asked.

“I’ve already put out an alert for her truck. A third of the pack members are out searching in the vicinity where she ran.” Darien’s phone rang. “Yeah? Okay, so she’s running as a wolf still. Good to know. Keep looking until you find her.”

He ended the call and said, “Mason found her truck, and her clothes are inside. She might be headed for home. We’re confiscating her truck.”

“I want to go to my sisters’ house,” Laurel suddenly said.

“All right. Darien, we’ll keep you posted if we learn anything more. Wait, what happened with the Wernicke brothers?”

“They’re royals as far as we can tell. Stanton’s one pissed-off wolf, but he hasn’t shifted yet.”

“Okay, we’ll talk later.” CJ helped Laurel leave the room. “Are you going to be all right?”

“Yes.”

But her voice was toneless, and he had to know what she was feeling. “Laurel, don’t shut me out.”

“What was going on? I want to go to the pit.”

CJ stopped her as they left the clinic. “Why there?”

“I think she loved Warren. I think she couldn’t mate him for some reason. I think Jacob’s father loved her too. And I think she was pretending to be Warren’s sister because she was afraid of someone.”

“But Jacob said—”

“I think Jacob just learned the truth of who she was. Or his father did before he died. And so Jacob knew who she was, but she was gone, so there was no need to say anything to anyone about it. So why wouldn’t she mate either man?”

“Hell, she probably already had a mate! She couldn’t mate Warren because she had a mate and she was scared. He took her in and kept her hidden at his house where she did the books and the household chores.”

“That’s why she loves her ‘brother’ so much,” Laurel said. “She feels guilty that Warren died for loving her. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah. Sounds to me like a good reason. So who killed Warren?” CJ drove her out to the area closest to where the pit was.

“Her abusive mate? And she took care of the hotel for a short while, still pretending to be Warren’s sister after the threat was past, but she couldn’t manage it on her own and probably hated the hotel because it represented the man she lost.”

“So why do you think she’s at the pit?”

Laurel looked out the window. “She goes there when she needs to be comforted. Maybe she feels his spirit there. I don’t know. Maybe he gave her direction in her life and she loved him for it. I’m just grasping at straws here.”

“Why was Jacob trying to find something in the houses?”

“To protect his father, maybe? Thinking that maybe his father did kill Warren? Or maybe he was trying to locate something that would prove his father didn’t have anything to do with it. You know how bad you felt when you learned your father had committed murder. You left the pack. Jacob doesn’t want to live with the pack knowing his father murdered one of its pack members. And he doesn’t want to leave the pack. Just like you and your brothers didn’t really want to.”

“Yeah, okay. That makes sense. Then he would have opened the secret compartment right away, if he could have gotten away with it. He didn’t know what we would find and was afraid it would condemn the memory of his father.”

“Like with you and your brothers and your father.”

CJ let out his breath. “We’ll deal with it. We have before. And…I hadn’t mentioned it because I didn’t think it was relevant, but my father had been the mastermind of a blackmail scheme before.”

“I’m so sorry,” Laurel said, squeezing his shoulder as he parked.

“As soon as I saw the blackmail note, I realized he’d done it before. Hell, maybe it’s like you said, he murdered before too.”

“He wouldn’t if he was getting money from Warren. Once Clarinda took over the hotel, she lost all the money.”

“And my dad might have threatened to expose who she was to her mate if she didn’t give him more money.”

“Or, she did give him money, and that’s why she was broke, not that someone was doing the books and stole it from her.”

“If that’s the case, in a way, she hadn’t lied, because the blackmailer would have stolen the money from her.”

“No matter that she lied, I think she did so only to protect herself, and maybe even my sisters and me. What if her mate came after us, looking to catch up with her?”

“That’s true. I hadn’t thought of that. Do we go as wolves or humans?”

“I need to talk with her.”

“Okay.” They got out of his truck and trudged along the trails left earlier in the snow. Then CJ got another call. “Yeah, Darien?”

“While searching for the white wolf, Jake saw Vernon and Yolan Wernicke in their wolf forms. He thinks they’re trying to chase her down.”

“Hell, okay. We’re on our way to the pit. Laurel thinks she might be there. We’ll keep you informed. Is Stanton still in jail?”

“Released. We had nothing to hold him on. He didn’t shift and—”

“Crap. I just saw him running as a wolf in the same direction we’re going. I’m giving Laurel my gun. I’m shifting.”

“Wait for backup,” Darien said.

CJ handed Laurel his gun and phone and began ditching his clothes. “I’m going to head Stanton off.”

“I should run as a wolf too. I don’t know how to shoot a gun, but that way I can fight a wolf if I need to.”

“Laurel.” He frowned. “All right. Hurry.”

They quickly buried their clothes and both shifted, then ran full out for the pit.

Laurel’s heart was racing so hard that she thought she was going to have a heart attack. She still didn’t know what to think—Clarinda was Charity, Charity was Clarinda? Why would the Wernicke brothers be after her? Because she could prove they couldn’t lay claim to the hotel, Laurel suspected.

When they reached the cordoned-off area, the yellow tape stating it was a crime scene, Laurel saw flower wreaths circling the pit. From wolf pack members? Her eyes filled with tears at the thoughtfulness. And then she saw the white wolf, nearly blending with the snow, standing among the pines. Laurel approached her cautiously, not wanting the wolf to run off. CJ hung back, letting Laurel attempt to win the wolf over.

Laurel had just reached her, the wolf not leaving, thankfully, and they’d touched noses and licked each other in greeting, when Stanton came loping into view.

CJ immediately raced to intercept him. The two faced off against each other. But Stanton didn’t do what CJ thought he would. Instead of fighting, he lay down on his belly, a modified beta move. To be truly subservient and show no animosity, he would have rolled over and exposed his belly. CJ waited for him to do so.

Stanton wouldn’t.

CJ stayed where he was, eyeing the wolf with suspicion. But when he saw Stanton’s brothers join him, CJ growled at them to do as Stanton was doing. No way could he fight three male wolves. The white wolf and Laurel couldn’t help in the matter.

At first, the brothers stood next to Stanton, staring CJ down, challenging him. Finally, Stanton snapped at one of them, who let out a low growl, then sat down. Stanton turned to his other brother and snapped at him too.

He grumbled back and sat down, then they both lay down on their bellies.

What the hell was going on? CJ stayed alert, though when Laurel lifted her chin to howl, the white wolf joining in, he was glad to have Laurel as his mate.

He didn’t want to lift his own chin to howl. He was keeping his eyes trained on the three male wolves, any of whom could suddenly attack him. If that happened, he’d be dead, along with his mate and the older white wolf.

An answering howl called back. Brett. And then several more. His other brothers and others. Darien must have gotten word to them somehow, though CJ remembered him saying that Brett was chasing after two of the brothers. So his brother must have just followed them here.

And then the wolves from the Silver pack began to gather around the pit. The three Wernicke brothers were still lying on their bellies in a submissive way, though CJ suspected that all three were alert and ready to jump up and fight. The women were standing near the woods, tense, waiting, and watching.

Lelandi walked through the snow to reach them, escorted by Trevor and Peter in their wolf forms for protection. “Darien’s on his way.” She glanced at Laurel and the white wolf. “I need the two of you to come with me.”

Laurel licked the white wolf’s face and then moved a little, watching to see if the white wolf would follow her.

She hesitated.

“Come on,” Lelandi said, half an order, half an entreaty. “I’ve got to get back to my toddlers.”

Laurel began to walk toward Lelandi, and the white wolf joined her. Some of the wolves watched them as they left, but most of them kept their focus on the Wernicke brothers.

CJ and the others waited another half hour until they heard some others crunching through the snow on their way there. Darien and five other men finally appeared. “You’re coming with us. Dead. Or alive. Your choice,” Darien said to the Wernicke brothers. His patience was shot to hell.

CJ smiled a little at his cousin. But he knew the pack leader meant it, and he’d shift right then and there to prove it.

Stanton reluctantly stood. His brothers followed his lead. And then they moved toward Darien, who turned and headed back the way he’d come. The wolves of the Silver pack flanked the Wernicke brothers and a few followed behind. If the brothers did anything that appeared threatening to Darien or anyone in the pack, the rest of the wolves would tear them apart.

CJ didn’t know what Darien planned, but he figured they were back to questioning the brothers. CJ stopped where he’d left his clothes and found Laurel’s were gone but his still there. He quickly shifted, dressed, and ran after the wolves. He thought Darien would haul the brothers to his house in the back of a police car, but instead, he opened the door to CJ’s truck and said, “Stanton, you and your brothers will ride with CJ. He’ll bring you to the house.”

CJ thought Darien was crazy! He sure as hell hoped his cousin knew what he was doing.

Even so, Brett and Eric got in with them as wolf backup. His whole truck smelled like wet wolf.

“Why did you lie to us about who Charity was?” CJ asked, not that anyone could answer him as a wolf.

Stanton shifted. “We’ve been looking for our mother for years.”

Chapter 23

By the time everyone arrived at Darien’s place, a couple of the men had retrieved the Wernicke brothers’ clothes so that they could shift and dress, and then they all met in the outdoor hall reserved for larger pack events.

Maybe thirty wolves were in attendance, the rest going home to their families at Darien’s request. Most everyone had shifted and dressed. Ten were still in wolf form, providing wolf muscle if things got out of hand.

It seemed strange meeting in the Silver Hall when it was all decorated for Christmas. The business at hand seemed too onerous to suit the occasion.

Laurel and the white wolf were in the house, CJ figured when he didn’t see them. “I’m going to check on the women.”

“All right, CJ. We’ll wait while you ask them to join us,” Darien said.

CJ stalked out the door and headed along the path to the house. When he walked inside, calling out to Lelandi to let her know he was there, she replied, “We’re in the sunroom.”

He hadn’t made it two steps before Laurel ran out of the sunroom, raced across the living room, and threw herself into his arms. She was crying tears of joy. The only way he could tell was that she was smiling at him.

He hugged her tight, suspecting the white wolf was her aunt, and Laurel was glad to know Clarinda was alive and well. “She’s my aunt,” Laurel confirmed, choking on the words. “Ellie and Meghan are on the way.”

“Happy, I take it?”

“Ecstatic.”

“I figure she had hidden her identity from an abusive mate.”

“Yeah. John Wernicke.”

CJ’s brows lifted. “Warren’s brother?”

“Yeah. John really was Warren’s brother. They had a sister named Charity, but she died from a fever the year before Clarinda arrived. Charity had never lived with Warren, so no one knew that Clarinda wasn’t his sister. Warren and John had had a falling-out about his treatment of his mate—my aunt. When she managed to run away, she took refuge in Warren’s home, praying he would take her in and that John wouldn’t find her.”

“She left three young sons behind.”

Laurel frowned up at CJ. “What? Oh God, no.”

“She knew her husband would kill her if she took his sons with her, so doing the worst thing she could imagine, she left them behind and pretended to be Charity.”

“Stanton and his brothers…” Laurel looked ill.

CJ didn’t blame her. “Come on. Let’s get your aunt, and we’ll all go to the meeting Darien’s having.”

They headed for the sunroom, and Laurel said, “I don’t want them as my cousins.”

CJ chuckled. “To get into the Christmas spirit, I thought we could have them over for Christmas dinner.”

She scowled at him.

He smiled and kissed her lips. “We’ll do whatever you want to do.”

“I want my aunt to have Christmas dinner with us. My sisters. Your brothers. And your cousins and their mates.”

“Deal. But if your aunt wants her sons to have dinner with us?”

Laurel growled. “Under coercion, I’ll agree. But against my better judgment.”

He smiled at her and tucked her under his arm as they walked together to join her aunt and Lelandi.

When they reached the sunroom, Lelandi was talking about the pack Christmas celebration and New Year’s party they were having and how much they wanted Clarinda to be there.

They grew quiet when Laurel and CJ entered the room. “Lelandi, Aunt Clarinda, Darien wants us to go to the hall to discuss the Wernicke brothers’ situation,” Laurel said. “Are they really your sons?” she asked her aunt, sounding as if she still didn’t believe it.

“I didn’t know they were here looking for me.”

CJ didn’t believe the brothers had been either. They were here to get what they thought was theirs: the title to the hotel. Instead, it had belonged to John’s mate until the pack took it over.

“Why didn’t you tell us who you really were?” Laurel asked.

“I didn’t know John was dead. He was a brutal man. I was certain he wouldn’t have changed how he acted toward me. I couldn’t risk involving you or your sisters, or your mate either. It was just safer that way. Had I known he was dead, I would have told you the truth.”

“I’m so sorry for all that you’ve suffered,” Laurel said.

“It’s in the past. Now I’m reunited with my sons and my nieces, and I don’t want that ever to end.”

“Agreed.”

But CJ didn’t think it would be an entirely happy family reunion.

As soon as Meghan and Ellie arrived, they walked into the hall, where everyone turned to watch them. Darien joined Lelandi and pulled her into a hug, and Laurel loved how affectionate he was with his pack leader mate in front of the pack.

Clarinda took a seat, but everyone else remained standing, tense and alert as Darien said, “Ladies first. Clarinda O’Brien?”

“Wernicke,” Clarinda said. “I was mated to John Wernicke. He beat me so badly the last time, I miscarried our next set of twins. I did the only thing I could do. I abandoned my three four-year-old sons, whom John adored. I knew he’d never hurt them. I found refuge with John’s brother, Warren, knowing they were estranged. I assumed John would never look for me there. Warren loved me and wanted me for his mate, but we couldn’t be, not while John was still alive. Warren had a heart of gold. Elroy Summers was new to the area, and he thought to woo me, believing I was Warren’s sister.

“She had died in another city before I arrived in Silver Town, so I took on the role of his sister, pretending to have just arrived to help Warren by taking care of the household and budget. We made up this far-fetched story about how Clarinda O’Brien had lived there and run off. No one had ever ‘seen’ her, so we figured if John learned someone was living with Warren, he wouldn’t suspect it was me. Just their sister. As long as he didn’t come and see Warren and me. I wanted so badly to get in touch with my sons, but I was afraid John would learn of it and kill me for it.”

“What about Elroy Summers?” Darien asked.

“He made me the furniture—free of charge, which upset Warren since he loved me. He hated to pretend I was his sister. And he hated that I couldn’t mate him. Then Sheridan…” She glanced in CJ’s direction. “He somehow learned I wasn’t who I said I was. He sent me a blackmail note. I showed it to Warren, but I didn’t want him to pay Sheridan. I was certain Sheridan would keep asking for more money to maintain my secret. Then everything fell apart at once. Warren disappeared, and though I went in search of him, I couldn’t find him. I tried to manage the hotel, but then Sheridan sent me another blackmail note. I tucked it into the secret compartment in the highboy and ran.”

“Why would Elroy’s son think something was hidden in your chest that would cause problems for his dad?” Laurel asked.

“I suspect one of the two men—Elroy or John—killed Warren,” Clarinda said.

“Our father didn’t do it,” Stanton said. “You ran off and it had nothing to do with Dad being abusive. He never was abusive.”

“Not with you. But with me, he was,” Clarinda said gently.

“You lie. Dad said—”

“Your father told you what he wanted you to hear. That I was a bad mother. That I abandoned you because I didn’t want children. All lies. I loved you. Leaving you was the hardest thing for me to do. I wanted to die. But I wanted to live too, hopeful that someday I could hold you again in my arms as a mother would. I knew if I had taken you with me, I wouldn’t have gotten far. He would have killed me for sure.

“He adored the three of you. I knew he would raise you well. He poisoned you against me. I never could return to see you. And now he’s dead, but you’ve decided to believe what he said about me. I had hoped it would be otherwise. Despite not wanting to have to let you go, I’ve come to terms with this.”

“By rights, the hotel is still ours,” Stanton said.

“It would go to John’s mate, since he’s deceased, if she had paid the taxes, although we would have made arrangements to resolve the situation to everyone’s satisfaction if the MacTire sisters hadn’t already bought and renovated it,” Darien said. “That means Clarinda Wernicke would have owned it.”

“If I had owned it, I would gladly have given you the hotel, if my nieces hadn’t bought it with their hard-earned money and renovated it so beautifully. Not only that, but they had every intention of learning what had happened to me and bringing my murderer to justice. And so, the hotel is theirs. I didn’t know John had died recently or I would have already revealed who I was to them.”

“Our mother didn’t know what had happened to you,” Laurel said.

“No, dear. I couldn’t even tell my beloved sister or hug my nieces one last time.”

“I don’t believe this. You’re a habitual liar,” Stanton said. “Father told us you’d say anything if we ever saw you again so that you’d look like the innocent in all this. I can’t believe you’d drag his name through the mud. For what? Just so you looked like the sweet, adoring mother who was fighting for her life?”

“Give it up, Stanton,” Vernon said, sounding so angry, Laurel knew it was going to get physical between the brothers. Stanton was their leader, and he wouldn’t take any guff from his brothers.

Stanton turned on his brother and growled. But Vernon’s fist shot out so fast and connected with Stanton’s jaw so hard that he knocked Stanton on his ass before he could react.

Everyone looked as shocked as Laurel felt, not expecting Vernon to win the confrontation. But she was damn glad he had.

Vernon swallowed hard, rubbing his hand that had to hurt like hell after hitting his brother’s iron jaw with so much force, and then he stalked toward Clarinda. Everyone was watching him closely, ensuring he didn’t attack her, but he got on his knees in front of her, laid his head in her lap, and hugged her. “Mom,” he said in a choked sob.

Laurel swore there wasn’t a dry eye among all the wolves gathered. Family meant everything to them. CJ offered his hand to Stanton to help him up, and the hardheaded wolf accepted it, stood, and then waited while Yolan gently pulled his mother to standing and gave her a hug.

Looking like a teen with attitude, Stanton stalked across the floor to join them. Everyone was still tense, just in case, as Yolan stepped back to allow Stanton time with their mother. “I’m sorry.” With tears in his eyes, he kissed his mother’s cheek and pulled her into his arms to give her a hug.

“The fault is not yours,” she said softly to him, but Laurel was close enough that she heard.

“The hotel is my nieces’, your cousins’, but when I die, the candy store, which is very profitable, will be yours.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Stanton said and hugged her again. “We’ll make it up to you—for what our father did to you and to us by forcing you to run.”

Laurel joined CJ. He immediately took her into his arms and held her tight, making her feel warm and well loved.

She whispered, “When we’re done here, I want to get a tree and decorate for Christmas. I want to have a Christmas celebration with your brothers, my sisters, the Silver cousins and their mates, my aunt, and the Wernicke cousins, if they want to join us.”

He smiled. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

“But it’s good work for a good cause.”

* * *

Three days later, Laurel and CJ were enjoying a grand celebration. The Christmas tree was clothed in Victorian style with burgundy velvet garland; gold, silver, green, and burgundy balls; and twinkly lights—and her sisters were helping to prepare the main meal of hickory-smoked ham and potatoes.

Aunt Clarinda had made all the heavenly chocolates that their mother fixed when she was alive, and Laurel realized it was a family tradition that she and her sisters had to carry on. Lelandi helped bake some special bread; Tom’s wife, Elizabeth, was fixing mistletoe margaritas; and Jake’s wife, Alicia, was preparing the greens for the meal.

Laurel hoped the men were getting along. At first, it was quiet, and then they began to talk about guy kinds of things—hunting, fishing, boating, camping.

The women talked about all kinds of things—babies, the hotel and the sisters’ plans for it, like renovating the basement and turning the maids’ quarters into more rooms.

Laurel paused while carving the ham and turned to face her aunt. “Aunt Clarinda, you never told Mom about your mate or that you had three sons.”

Her aunt shook her head. “It was a whirlwind romance and mating. But he was a brutal man. I tried to run away twice, and he caught me and beat me for it. At that point, I was pregnant and afraid I’d lose my babies. So I ‘behaved.’ When I gave him three adorable little boys, I thought he’d be happy with me.” She snorted.

“It didn’t work that way. I learned later, too late, that he’d had an abusive father. Not toward him, but toward his mother. He wouldn’t let me get in touch with your mother. I sent a letter, and then that postcard was the second time I’d been able to send her a note. I was so happy with Warren, but…”

Laurel set down the carving knife and fork and gave her aunt a hug. “We’re so glad you’re alive and well and part of the family again.”

“You don’t know how glad I am.”

Ellie asked, “Do you know anything about the stencil-type letter on the wall in the main lobby area of the hotel?”

“That’s Chrissy’s doing. She was a maid who died from a raging fever, and she still hangs around the place. She created a beautiful quilt with the letter C on it, and I thought her talents were wasted on working as a maid at the hotel.”

“We saw it in one of the pictures,” Meghan said.

“It was beautiful, wasn’t it? Chrissy’s harmless. But sometimes people can see her peering out the attic window after she’s cleaned the room, wishing for a mate and a different life,” Aunt Clarinda said.

“That’s so sad,” Ellie said.

“She seems content,” Aunt Clarinda said. “She just flips the light on and off every once in a while.”

Laurel exchanged glances with her sisters.

Ellie smiled. “So, it’s not an electrical short in the light switch.”

Laurel wondered if Chrissy was the woman that Carol, the psychic, had seen peering out the window during the grand opening, and not a premonition of someone else staying in the attic room.

“The painting was moved from the hotel to the house,” Laurel said.

“No ghost did that. My son Stanton said he moved it.”

“Why?” Laurel asked.

“Trying to scare you into believing the ghosts haunting the hotel had a lot of power. The same thing with painting the X on the ceiling and moving the paint and ladders. They had planned to do a ghost show that showed how terribly haunted the place was if they couldn’t find a way to get the hotel legally. But then you stopped them by denying permission.”

“How do you know all this?” Ellie asked.

“CJ told me all that had been going on, and I asked Stanton. He told me what they had been doing. But he said it was because he really believed the hotel belonged to his family—and at the time, he didn’t know that you were family. The boys never knew my maiden name. John hated my first name, so he called me Claire instead of Clarinda. So I could see why they wouldn’t make the connection. And they had no idea that I was alive.”

“What about Elroy, the cabinetmaker?” Laurel asked.

“I felt so bad about him. He was a good man, but I was already mated and I couldn’t tell him the truth. Elroy thought Warren didn’t think he was good enough for his sister. I just couldn’t let him know. His son was so upset with me, knowing his father loved me, and I really cared for the son, but everyone’s life that I touched would have been in danger if John Wernicke had learned the truth. It was heartbreaking for me, yet I could do nothing about it. After his father died, Jacob learned who I was, but he never said anything because what did it matter at that point? I was gone, and so was everyone else involved in the affair—John, Sheridan, Elroy, and Warren.”