The Inn at Holiday Bay: Clue in the Clam, Kathi Daley [early reader chapter books TXT] 📗

office, although I don’t suppose he spent much time there. I’ll take the files over to the real estate office and make sure someone who knows what to do with them takes custody once I’ve had a chance to look through them.” He closed the closet door. “Nothing in here, and the file cabinets are locked.”

I opened the top left drawer of the desk, where I found a journal-sized book with a black leather cover, which contained handwritten notes. Lots and lots of handwritten notes. “I might have found something,” I said, holding the book up.

“Bring it as well.” He glanced at his watch. “I guess I should get back to the office. Maybe one of the half dozen people I left messages for called the office line. I’ll make plans to head to Stan’s house at another time.”

“Where’s Peach today?”

“She called in sick. Hopefully, she’ll be back tomorrow. I really need her this week.”

“It is a bad week for her to be out.”

When we arrived back at Colt’s office, I asked if he wanted to come by the inn this evening for Georgia’s catch of the day dinner, but he said he wanted to stay in town, close to the phone until this case was wrapped up one way or the other. He especially wanted to be close by, knowing that unless something we’d done had given the killer reason to veer from his plan, it was highly likely there would be a fourth victim by the end of the day tomorrow. Of course, the idea that there would be seven victims was just a hunch. It was just as likely that we were wrong about the whole seven deadly sins thing. I really hoped we were and that the three men who’d died would be the only three men to die.

I hated to bail on Colt, but I felt I should make an appearance at Georgia’s dinner, so I kissed Colt on the cheek and headed home. When I pulled up in front of the cottage, I noticed Annabelle and Haley playing on the lawn. Stepping out of my car and waving, I headed in that direction.

“Hi, girls. Whatcha doing?”

“Cartwheels,” Haley answered.

“We were helping Uncle Jeremy with the pond, but that got boring,” Annabelle added.

I looked around the area and then back at Haley. “Is your mom here?”

“No,” she answered. “She’s with Uncle Rod. I’m going to spend the night with Annabelle.”

Uncle Rod? “I see.” I glanced toward the inn. “I’m going to head inside. You girls have fun.”

I walked back to my car, grabbed my purse from the backseat, and headed inside.

“Oh good, you’re back,” Georgia said. “I have bread in the oven, and Ramos needs to go out. Would you take him for me?”

“Yeah. No problem. In fact, I’ll take both dogs for a short walk.” I set my purse on the counter. “I hear that Christy is out with Rod, and Haley is spending the night with Annabelle.”

Georgia frowned. “Yeah. I heard. I know it’s none of my business, but the whole thing isn’t sitting quite right with me.” She opened the oven and shuffled the bread pans. “I briefly spoke to Christy when she dropped Haley off, and she insists that she and Rodney are just friends, but when I asked if Noah would be going to dinner with them, she shared that he was busy with bible study this evening and would be unavailable.”

I glanced at Ramos, who was prancing around. “I guess it really isn’t any of our business, but I agree. The whole thing is sitting wrong with me as well. I have news about the murder victims. I’ll fill you in when I get back.”

After grabbing two leashes to have just in case they were needed, I called both dogs and set off down the bluff trail. It was a gorgeous day. Sometimes having a dog who needed walking several times a day was a real blessing in that it demanded that you take brief pauses in order to head outdoors and really enjoy all that nature had to offer.

As we neared the bench that overlooked the sea about halfway between our place and Tanner’s, I noticed that Joel and Emma sat side by side, seemingly enjoying the view as I’d been.

“Beautiful day,” I said, pausing as I neared the bench.

“It really is,” Joel agreed. “I think this is one of my new favorite places to sit and share a memory.”

“Or a dream,” Emma added.

“A dream?” I asked, figuring that if it was a private dream, she could just say as much.

“One of the few things my husband and I disagreed on was travel,” Emma shared. “We both loved to get out and about, but Jasper didn’t like to fly, so for him, the ultimate trip was a road trip. We had some good ones, and I have to say I’ve been pretty much everywhere you can drive to, but I always wanted to go to Europe. In my mind, a grand tour involving old buildings, libraries, and museums would have been the ultimate adventure.” She turned and glanced at Joel. “Joel has been pretty much everywhere I’ve ever dreamed of traveling. He’s been generous with his time and has spent hours describing each and every site I’ve dreamed of visiting one day. I doubt I’ll ever get there at this point, but it has been nice to travel the world in my imagination.”

“I suppose that it’s not too late to make the trip,” I said.

“That’s what I’ve been telling her,” Joel seconded. “Trying to fit everything in might be exhausting, but maybe a shorter trip with longer layovers would provide a sample of the real thing.”

“I couldn’t go alone,” she said. “I’ve never been anywhere alone other than here. It would be too much to even consider.”

“Maybe we could go