“She seems like she was a woman far ahead of her time,” Ian said.
“She was. She dared to do things other women only dreamed of doing. She also was responsible for the growth of this town, the lodge creating jobs and bringing people to this area. It began to blossom from what I’ve been told.”
We filled three bags with receipts. The receipts in the bottom boxes couldn’t be saved. They had deteriorated with age and from the other boxes collapsing on top of them. But from a few dates I spied, it wouldn’t matter. They were too far back. We were interested in the ones from the ’80s, around 1986.
Luckily, no spiders showed themselves and I was impressed that Ian hadn’t looked a bit uneasy the whole time in the cellar. It wouldn’t matter if he did. No one is perfect or goes without fault, something my aunt Effie reminded me of when I was young and troubled about some foolish decision I’d made.
Ian closed the cellar doors and secured the lock that could only be opened with a key, me and Ian the only ones having keys. After all had been settled, the lodge finally proven legally mine, the first thing I had done was to have the old wooden cellar doors replaced with steel ones, mostly for safety reasons. I was glad I had since it had made this task much easier.
“My office or your place?” Ian asked.
“Your office is far too nice to work on these dusty, dirty papers. And it’s going to take time to go through them, which means they are going to have to stay out somewhere for a while as we work on them. I can put a plastic cover over my dining room table, and we can go through them there.”
“Sounds good,” Ian said, and he and I put the three bags into the trunk of Ian’s SUV.
I got Mo from the lodge and put him in the back seat, glad the protective dog cover was still there. Ian stopped me when I went to open the passenger side door.
“I have a few more things I need to finish, Pep,” he said and handed me the key fob. I’ll walk over to your place as soon as I’m done. About an hour.”
“I hadn’t expected you to help me,” I said in a way of an apology.
“I know, but I can’t let you have all the fun,” he said and gave me a quick kiss.
I agreed with my aunt that no one was perfect or went without fault, but Ian came pretty close, but then I was in love, and everything was just peachy and rosy to me. I shook my head as I drove home.
Peachy and rosy?
Where did this romancy stuff come from? Was that even a word? Love really did muddle the brain. I shook my head. Enough was enough. I had work to do.
I was surprised to see Beau pacing on my front porch.
“Don’t you read your texts?” he asked, rushing at me when I stepped out of the vehicle.
Mo gave a light growl, halting him.
“Easy, Mo,” I commanded. “Beau is upset.”
Beau raised his hands as if in surrender. “Sorry, Mo, I don’t mean Pepper any harm.”
Mo went to him and gave another warning growl then went and sat on the porch.
“He’s good, but you’re not. What’s the problem?”
“Amy’s dad is back.”
Shock had me losing my voice for a moment. The first thing out of my mouth when it returned was, “Does she know?”
Beau shook his head. “She has a full schedule of clients today and I didn’t want to text her the news and upset her.”
I had to agree with him on that. It wasn’t the kind of news you wanted to read in a text.
“I saw him not long ago, in his car heading into town. I’d just left Amy’s place. I don’t trust the guy. He wears expensive clothes yet drives an old car. He disappears for days like he did when Amy was young. I think he’s hiding something, and I think I know what it is.”
“Tell me,” I urged when he hesitated.
“I think he’s a gambler and he’s here to get money from Amy. He wears the designer clothes to make it appear that he has money so he can gamble with the big guys. I wouldn’t be surprised if he looked into Amy’s worth and saw it as a big score for him.”
I tried to wrap my head around what Beau suggested and seeing Mo impatient to get inside, I said, “Help me with these bags. We can talk inside.”
I put the kettle on once the bags were deposited in the kitchen, and Mo and Roxie were given snacks.
“Amy is far from wealthy,” I said, Beau having made himself comfortable at the kitchen island.
“Amy was and is wise with her money. She has a nice nest egg and owns her home outright. Her father sees dollar signs when he looks at her.”