Winter Falls jumps at the chance to make an ‘event’. It’s one of the reasons why the town is popular with tourists. Who doesn’t enjoy attending a parade based around a huge loaf of bread, after all?
Of course, all the ‘interesting’ shops on Main Street help to attract tourists as well. It’s not everywhere you can get a lecture about how to use sex candles from a woman old enough to be your grandmother after all.
“I’ll be in touch,” I say before waving and continuing toward the library. At least I don’t have to worry about the librarian, Gratitude, coming outside to confront me. The woman wouldn’t abandon her post at the checkout desk if there was a stampede of unicorns on Main Street.
The rest of the journey passes without incident… er… bumping into any other residents. Eden is busy with a customer at her flower shop, Eden’s Garden. The owners of the Naked Falls Brewery are new to town and aren’t tuned into the gossip channel, unlike the long-time residents.
I enter The Inn on Main to find Ellery sitting behind the desk pounding on her computer.
“Hey, El,” I greet.
She wrinkles her nose at me. “Are you filling in? I don’t have you on the schedule today.”
One of my gazillion odd jobs is cleaning toilets for Ellery at the inn. It’s not my favorite job, but there’s nothing wrong with good, hard, honest work.
“Actually, I’m here about the Mystery of the Black Hat Bandit’s Missing Loot.”
“I hate to agree with Aspen, but the name is way too long.”
“It is a mouthful,” I agree.
“How can I help?”
“According to Old Man Mercury, this building is older than the town itself. I thought when you renovated you might have found some boxes of old stuff.” I shrug. “We’ve got to start somewhere.”
Old Man Mercury is the town hermit. No one knows – or no one will admit – how old he is. He doesn’t socialize with any residents in town. I’m still surprised he didn’t try running Aspen and Ellery off when they went to meet him after Aspen found the letter addressed to the bank robber.
Ellery taps her chin. “Now that you mention it, I do remember Mercury saying the former owner of the mansion bragged about meeting the Black Hat Bandit.”
“Yes!” I pump my arm in victory. “He did? It’s definite. I need to do some digging around.”
I bounce on my toes. This is awesome. We finally have a clue!
“Come on.” She gestures for me to follow her as she climbs the stairs. “There are some boxes of stuff in the attic I couldn’t bear to throw away when I renovated the mansion.”
Ellery spent years renovating the mansion to make it into The Inn on Main. The mansion was on the verge of falling apart when she bought it. Now, it’s a gorgeous bed and breakfast, which has been featured on the front cover of magazines.
When she opens the door to the attic, dust comes flying out. She waves a hand in front of her face. “No one’s been up here in a while.”
“Ya think?”
The phone rings and she swears under her breath. “I need to answer that.”
Once she’s gone, I hit the light switch and grin when the room is illuminated. At least, I won’t be doing this digging in the dark. I scan the area. Where to begin?
Ellery has obviously stashed any and all broken furniture in here. There are busted bedframes, wobbly chairs missing legs, and all kinds of ruined lampshades. Most of this stuff would have been thrown away anywhere else in the world, but here in Winter Falls, we don’t throw things away. We recycle, re-use, and re-purpose.
I shuffle things around until I can make my way further into the room. I don’t notice any boxes of any interest until my gaze falls upon a shelving system against the back wall. The bottom shelves are empty, but the top two shelves are stuffed full of boxes. Bingo!
I drag the ladder over to the shelves and climb up it until I can reach the boxes. I open the first one. Old linens. No thanks. Next is a box of lightbulbs. I shove it out of my way.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The booming question startles me, and I have to grasp onto the side rails of the ladder to prevent myself from crashing to the ground. I whirl around to glare at the man who should be baking creations of sugary goodness and not yelling at little old me.
“What does it look like I’m doing, Rowan?”
“It looks like you’re being irresponsible.”