Page 222 of It Happened on the Lake

“He’s been gone for a couple of days,” Harper admitted, stretching the truth a little. “But you know how he is.”

“Yeah.” But Dawn’s brown eyes swept the area, taking in the beach, the dock, the trees and dense shrubbery on the island. “I bet he loves it here.”

If only.

“This way,” Harper said, to change the subject. As they went inside, Dawn eyed her surroundings and whispered, “I can’t believe you actually lived here when you were growing up.”

“Part-time. When I stayed with Gram.”

“Which was a lot?”

“Yeah.”

‘Well, I think it’s totally rad. I would have loved to have grown up here. Hey, what’s this?” She pointed to the nearby wall covering the elevator shaft.

“The elevator,” Harper said, thinking it was obvious. “It’s not working.”

“No, I see that, but what’s the smaller doorway, er, cupboard? This.” She knocked on the narrow wooden panel next to the elevator’s entrance.

“Oh, that’s the dumbwaiter. It’s not working either.”

“What’s it for?”

“Originally hauling things from one floor to the next. It’s not electric, was run on pulleys and cables, I think. It’s never worked for as long as I can remember.”

“Why would you need it if you had an elevator?”

“I don’t know. I think it was installed first and, like I said, not electric, so servants could move linens or food or firewood or whatever from one floor to the next. It used to run from the basement all the way to the third floor.”

“But no more?”

“No. I think it was dismantled when the elevator was installed. Or wasn’t working or something. I don’t really know.”

Dawn tried the door. It didn’t budge. “So someone nailed the door shut?”

“Right. I guess. Eons ago. It was a safety issue.”

“I think you should get it going again. Along with the elevator.” She inspected the closed door to the elevator shaft as well. “I mean how awesome would that be if it worked?”

“It was,” Harper admitted. She remembered Gram being able to go upstairs after her stroke because of the lift. “I’m pretty sure we can get it working again. Don’t know about the dumbwaiter.”

“But you don’t know until you try,” Dawn reminded her.

“Riiight.”

Satisfied, Dawn headed up the back staircase. “Let’s go to the very top, okay?” she said and didn’t wait for an answer. She just started clomping up the steps.

Once in Gramps’s private room with its 360-degree view, Dawn mouthed, “Wicked.” Spinning slowly, she said, “Holy shit, Mom, this is so damned awesome.” She checked out the bathroom with its high windows and returned. “Retro, but fantabulous. Okay, okay, this is gonna bemyroom.”

“I thought it might be my office. You might notice the computer and typewriter I carried all the way up here.”

“Nah.” Dawn shook her head, her loose bun starting to unravel. “I’m staking my claim. There are like a million rooms you can pick from, but I want this one. And I’ll help move your stuff out of here.”

“I don’t know—”

“Oh wow.” Spying the tripod and telescope near the windows facing the lake, Dawn grinned. She crossed the room in an instant and peered into the eyepiece. “How does this work?” Fiddling with the viewfinder, she said, “Oh. Got it. Oh my God! This is so awesome! You can see . . . wow, you can see everything that’s happening across the lake in those houses over there.”

“I guess.”

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