“That’s right, you did,” Des said, wondering whether Hannah was telling her the truth or not. Maybe she and Aaron were playing in the dirt together last night. Maybe they were doing a whole lot more than that together.
Des didn’t know. Not yet. She thanked Hannah Lane and went back out in the hall and tapped on the door to room nine.
Jory Hearn called out for her to come in. Jory was seated on the bed, propped up against the headboard, wearing the quilt like a poncho. Her arms were folded tightly in front of her chest, her chin stuck out.
Des stood there in the doorway watching her. The grim-faced young redhead wasn’t looking back at Des. She was busy gazing around at the room, as if she were trying to memorize every last detail of it while she still had the chance. She reminded Des of a high school girl taking stock of her old bedroom the night before she was to leave for college. Des had certainly done this in her own little bedroom in Kensington the night before she went off to West Point, one part excited, two parts scared to death.
“I understand that Norma was up and down a lot in the night,” Des said for starters. “That she didn’t sleep well as a rule.”
“Yeah, she almost always got up.” Jory’s voice sounded hollow and rather small. “When I’d come in to start breakfast, I’d often find a list of chores on the kitchen table that she’d left for me at like four in the morning. ‘Norma’s Little Reminders,’ I called them.”
“Did she leave you one this morning?”
Jory shook her head.
“Did she leave anything out for you this morning?”
Jory frowned, glancing at Des curiously. “Like what?”
“Like something to indicate that she’d been up in the night. A saucepan, maybe a mug. I’m told she liked to make herself a cup of cocoa.”
“It’s true, she did.”
“Did she make herself any last night?”
“I didn’t notice anything. But I’m not positive, in all honesty.”
“Let’s go down and take a look, okay?”
They took the narrow service stairs down to the mudroom, where the smell of bacon and coffee still lingered in the air. The stove was cluttered with the dirty pots and pans from their uneaten breakfast. The bacon fat had congealed to a waxy consistency in the skillet.
“Can you remember how this kitchen looked when you came in, Jory?”
Jory looked around, considering her answer carefully. “Well, the dishes from last night were all in the dishwasher, and the sink was clear. The counter was clear, too.”
“Was there a pot on the stove?”
Jory shook her head.
Des’s eyes fell on the box of kitchen matches that they’d used to light the burners for breakfast. “How about spent matches?”
“I don’t remember seeing any.”
“When Norma made herself cocoa, did she usually clean up afterward?”
“She was an innkeeper. She never left a mess behind. Not in her nature.”
“She would have put her dishes in the dishwasher?”
“Most likely.”
Des opened it up and looked around inside. There were lots of plates and glasses, the serving dishes from dinner, a roasting pan, several Astrid’s Castle mugs. “There’s no saucepan in here,” she said.
“Actually, this is the one she usually used,” Jory said, indicating a one-quart no-stick pan that was hanging from a rack over the stove, clean and dry.
“Did she have a favorite mug?”
“Not really, no.”
Des pulled the roll of yellow crime scene tape from her coat pocket and stretched a length of it over the dishwasher door. “I’ll need for you to steer clear of this, okay?” We’ll want to examine the contents.”
“Sure, whatever,” Jory said, sighing despondently. It seemed as if the weight of the future had fallen on her like an anvil.
Des glanced out the kitchen windows at the snow that was coming down out in the courtyard. The footpath from the kitchen door across to Jory and Jase’s cottage was buried so deep under the fresh snowfall that it was impossible to tell where it even was. “How about you, Jory? Did you get up in the night?”
“I woke up a lot, that’s for sure.” A strand of red hair had come loose from Jory’s topknot. She twirled it around her finger distractedly. “Every time that damned wind brought down another tree, I mean, it sounded like the end of the world, you know? But I didn’t get up.”
“You can see right in here from your front windows,” Des observed.
“Yes, we can.”
“You didn’t notice a light in here last night, did you? A candle, a flashlight-any sign that Norma or someone else might have been up?”
“Someone else?” Jory peered at her, confused. “Like who?”
“Like Ada.”
“No, I didn’t see anything.”
“Do you have any idea whether Jase was up?”
“I’m not sure. You’d have to ask him.”
“Is Jase generally a sound sleeper?”
“Very. He works long, hard days.”
“He didn’t have any issues with Norma, did he?”
“None. Jase loved her dearly. We both did.”
“And both of you were in here when we heard Hannah scream, am I right?”
“Pretty much. I’d just brought out the oatmeal, and I was on my way back in here for a fresh coffeepot. Jase was over there in the mudroom,” she said, glancing at the open doorway. ’Td given him some Handi Wipes so he could tidy up, since Carly was being such a-” Jory broke off, curling her lip. “She was not being very kind.”
“I forget, was Les in here with you, too?”
“Do you mean when Hannah screamed? No, Les was still out in the dining room with you folks. He was bringing out the eggs, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right.” This jibed with Des’s own recollection. Which, by the way, happened to be perfect. “So in the moments just prior to Hannah’s scream, you, Jase and Les were all in here together?”
“Yes.”
“Was there any point when Les wasn’t in here with you?”
“Not really. He did go down to the laundry room for a few seconds.”
“Why did he do that?”
“To fetch a pile of fresh napkins. We were running low.”
“How many seconds was he down there?”
Jory shrugged her shoulders helplessly. “Twenty, maybe thirty?”
“And Jase?”
“Jase never left the mudroom.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“I’m positive. Des, do you mind if I ask you something now?”
“Not at all. Go right ahead.”
“I sort of heard you guys talking before in the taproom, but I wanted to make sure I heard it right.” Jory hesitated, clearing her throat uneasily. “Aaron’s the new boss of us, isn’t he?”
“That’s something you ought to talk to Les about,” Des replied, since the details of Norma ’s last will and testament were not for public consumption. Then again, she reflected, the future of Astrid’s Castle did matter a great deal to this woman. Jory deserved to know the truth sooner rather than later. So the hell with it. “Apparently, Norma and Les signed a pre-nuptual agreement, whereby Les has no ownership rights to this place. Aaron gets it.”
Jory nodded her head glumly. “I guess that means all three of us are out. Aaron and Les can barely tolerate
