Page 68 of Wham Line
“You know what?”I said.“You tell me what you were going to say.”
He got to his feet and started back toward the cabin.
I let him get a head start.
Chapter 19
The Rock On Inn was Hastings Rock’s best-known (and, according to Travelocity, highest-rated) accommodation in the hotel, motel, and bed-and-breakfast category.(I wrote bread-and-butter first, but only because I haven’t eaten in hours.) (Also, if therewasa bread-and-butter category on Travelocity, I would beallabout that.)
In any case.
The inn was located near the town’s touristy area, close to the waterfront and screened by boxwood hedges.The building itself had gone up in stages as the town had grown and the tourist industry had gone fromcharmingtobooming: the original building was pseudo-Victorian, with clapboard siding and decorative gables and a single arched window of stained glass in the tower.(Yes, it has a tower.) Behind that structure, though, a more modern addition turned the inn from quaint to functional, offering the kind of space that families—and, more importantly, families with the money to stay in one of the town’s most desirable locations—were looking for.
I parked the Malibu in the Rock On’s parking lot.This was a novelty for me; the parking lot was full of signs that warned anyone who wasn’t a guest of the inn from trying to use it.(This was a real temptation, believe it or not; Hastings Rock was a small town, and during the tourist season, finding a parking spot was a small miracle—as evidenced by the number of tickets Bobby had given me during my first year.) I gave the VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED sign a second glance and decided that, since this was an emergency—it was practically life-or-death!—Cheri-Ann would understand.
Bobby parked on the street.
Look, I love him.He’s basically the best human being in existence.And I totally get it—rules exist for a reason, law and order, the bedrock of civilization, yada-yada.
But once—justonce—I want him to get a library fine.Something.Anything.
Indira had given us Jethro’s room number, so we headed into the inn and marched past the front desk.(Bobby marched; I trailed along in his wake.) Cheri-Ann, who ran the Rock On Inn, who was an absolute ace at internet gambling, and who was single-handedly the biggest gossip in Hastings Rock, actually fluttered her hands in the air when she saw us and said, “Oh my God!”
It was how people act when they win the jackpot.
“Can’t talk,” I called as I hurried after Bobby.“Good to see you!”
“No, Dash, come back—”
Fortunately, Bobby steamrolled ahead.We hurried up the stairs, our steps muffled by the thick old carpet.A cloud of Old English furniture polish and lavender sachets—anabundanceof lavender sachets—thickened around us the higher we went.It got to the point where Bobby stopped.Looked around.And sneezed.(I, on the other hand, was quickly on my way to a killer headache.)
Jethro had one of the seafront rooms, which told me something; the last time I’d been here on official business—you can call itofficial businessif you’re the town’s resident snoop—thatinvestigation had also involved a wealthy, difficult man and his much younger assistant.In that case, though, the assistant had been put in one of the rooms facing inland.And while Hastings Rock was scenic and cozy and charming and whatever else you wanted to say to describe a town that was basically like a gingerbread house for adults in retirement, it simply wasn’t the same as having a room that looked out over the water.And while the oceanfront rooms weren’t outrageously more expensive (at least, not during the off season), they were still a significant upgrade.The fact that Jethro was staying here meant that either Mal had been more generous with him than other people had expected, or Jethro might have been taking the initiative.
Possibly, in more ways than one.
By the way, I caught Cheri-Ann looking up the stairwell after us.As soon as she saw that I’d noticed her, she darted away, and music swelled from the reception area—Peggy Lee.It took me a couple of bars to recognize “Is That All There Is?”I had the sneaking suspicion the volume was to cover the sound of Cheri-Ann sneaking after us.
Bobby knocked and motioned for me to stand to one side of the door.
Nothing.
He knocked again, and this time, he called, “Jethro, we know you’re in there.”
“What if he’snotin there?”I whispered.
“In theory, it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t know you tried it,” Bobby said.And then, with that same unruffled tone: “It works better if your partner isn’t undermining you.”
Theoutrage.
Fortunately, at that point the sounds of movement filtered out to us from the hotel room.Hurried steps.A door closing.All the unmistakable signs of someone in a hurry to hide something.(I know because I had once been a teenager.More recently, I knew because one time, Fox had been smoking a, uh, certain substance, and Indira had come home unexpectedly, and they’d run into the bathroom and clonked their head on a towel rack.)
“Jethro,” Bobby called.More hammering on the door.Below us, Peggy Lee was carrying on and on.“Open up!”
The lock rattled, and the door opened.
Now that Indira had pointed it out to me, it was easier to see the resemblance between Jethro and Mal.He had his father’s dark hair.And the same troublesome acne that must have driven Mal crazy.The shape of his face was the same.The most obvious features—Mal’s eyes—hehadn’tinherited, which was probably why the similarities hadn’t struck me.Or, I suspected, most people.
Right then, those eyes were wide with fresh panic.
