The Haunting of Silver Creek Lodge Read online

  “You also somehow ended up on top of her,” he whispered. “What the heck, Max?”

  “I thought she was you!” I replied hotly. “I had a nightmare that you were working in the lobby and a beam fell on you. Can you blame me?”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “We feel completely different. For one thing, Lily has boobs.”

  “I didn’t exactly feel up her chest, but if you need confirmation, yes, she has boobs.”

  “This isn’t funny.”

  I set the coffee maker aside and looked at him. “No, it’s embarrassing. For Lily and me. Think about how she feels. I told her she would be safe here, and the next night, I’m practically molesting her.”

  Simon chewed his bottom lip. “You really couldn’t tell it was her instead of me?”

  “I was dead tired,” I answered. “And half-asleep. She could have been a bear and I wouldn’t have noticed.”

  “Thanks,” he grumbled.

  I plugged in the coffee machine. The red light came on to indicate it was working. “Did you rewire the entire lodge yesterday?”

  “Yeah, don’t you remember Keith singing ‘Hallelujah’ when we tested the lights?”

  I wracked my brain, but the memory wouldn’t come. “No. Yesterday was kind of a blur.”

  That was an understatement. I couldn’t remember anything after working on my comic book in the presidential suite. Maybe I’d fallen asleep in that chair—

  “Was I awake?” I asked Simon. “While Keith was singing?”

  He shot me a confused look. “Of course you were. We were all in the lobby together. You harmonized with him.”

  My stomach dropped like I’d swallowed a rock. Why was I blanking?

  “Good morning,” a small voice said.

  Just as quickly, my stomach shot into my throat as Lily shuffled into the kitchen. She was still wearing my sweater from the day before, her hands tucked inside the sleeves to keep them warm.

  “Um, hi,” I said. “The electricity’s on. Would you like a fresh cup of coffee?”

  “No, thank you,” she said.

  Simon eyeballed Lily with poorly hidden animosity. “Did you sleep well?

  Her gaze flickered to me. “I slept extraordinarily well.”

  Simon’s lips tightened. “Mm-hmm.”

  I rested a hand on Simon’s arm. “Can you check the heating units? I smelled something burning this morning. There might be something stuck in there.”

  “It’s probably just dust,” he said and shot Lily another warning look before leaving the kitchen.

  “I am so sorry,” I said to Lily as soon as he was gone.

  She waved off my apology. “It’s fine. I bet he’s always grumpy in the morning.”

  “Not just for Simon,” I went on. “For last night. I’ve never sleepwalked before in my life. I didn’t mean—”

  Lily held up a slender ivory hand. “Please forget about it. You startled me. That’s all. We can pretend it never happened if you want.”

  For whatever reason, a tinge of disappointment settled in my chest. “Right. Totally. That sounds good.” I filled a coffee filter and stuck it in the pot. “Do you need some other clothes to wear? I have a ton in boxes I haven’t unpacked.”

  She leaned against the counter, close enough for her woodsy scent to wash over me. “That would be great if it’s not a complete inconvenience. I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do.”

  “Stay as long as you like,” I heard myself saying. The phrase was sure to incite another bickering match with Simon later. The insurance issue weighed heavily on him. “Well, Simon might—”

  She laid a hand over mine. “Don’t worry about Simon.”

  Automatically reassured, I smiled. “You’re right. We’ll work it out. Let me grab those clothes for you.”

  Upstairs, Lily and I combed through my boxes. When she came across something she liked, she held it up for me to confirm.

  “What about this?” she said, lifting a sequined red dress with a low cut back and a thigh slit out of a box.

  “Do you have somewhere to wear it?” I asked.

  She shrugged and ran her fingers across the sequins. “I like how it feels. Where did you wear it?”

  “To my best friend’s wedding,” I replied. “It was a Monte Carlo theme.”

  “Was she upset you upstaged her?”

  I laughed. “I definitely did not upstage her.”

  Lily’s eyes caught mine. “You certainly did.”

  Simon popped his head into the bedroom, and I dragged my gaze away from Lily’s. “Hey babe, can we get some help out here? Keith and I are tackling some of the downstairs rooms, but it’d go a lot faster with another person.” He noticed the clothes strewn everywhere. “That is, if you’re finished playing dress-up.”

  “She’ll be down in a minute,” Lily said. “We’re almost done.”

  “Uh-huh. Great.” He vanished again.

  Lily giggled. “Is he always so straight-laced? Does he ever smile?”

  “He’s a big goof most of the time,” I said, folding a pair of pants Lily had chosen and adding them to her pile. Most of the clothes I’d agreed to let her borrow were things I didn’t wear anymore. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him today.”

  “And yesterday,” Lily added.

  I handed Lily an empty box to put her new clothes in, then dusted my hands and stood. “I should get downstairs. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Sure. Don’t let your husband get you down.”

  But without Lily around, Simon was his usual happy-go-lucky self. Keith’s optimistic attitude and amazing work ethic also elevated the mood. As we tackled the guest rooms on the first floor, we laughed and joked. Keith, it turned out, had also been a theater kid as well as a baseball player, so he had a musical number at the ready for any occasion. He often burst into song without warning.

  “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down,” he sang, ripping ugly flowery wallpaper off with his bare hands with a ferocity Mary Poppins would balk at. “The medicine go down, the medicine go do-wn!”

  “Pick a different song,” hollered Simon. “If that gets stuck in my head, I’ll kill you.”

  “It’s a small world after all—”

  Simon and I howled in protest, and Keith laughed raucously. The room we were working in was half the size of the other guest rooms, so it was close quarters for three people, especially when one of them was belting show tunes at the top of his lungs. We were all sweating, despite the cold outside, and the boys were starting to smell pretty ripe. I was ready to get the wallpaper off as quickly as possible.

  With a satisfying rip, I tore through a good chunk of the ugly stuff. When I went back for seconds, my hand thumped against the bare wall. A solid thunk resonated through the room. Both Simon and Keith stopped what they were doing and looked over.

  “What was that?” Simon asked.

  I formed a fist and hit the fleshy part of my hand against the wall again. Thunk.

  “Sounds solid,” Keith said. “Maybe a stud?

  Simon rapped his knuckles against the wall, his ear tilted toward the sound. Experimentally, he knocked around the area, establishing how much was solid behind the wallboard. It was much larger than a narrow stud.

  “What do you think is back there?” Keith asked.

  “Only one way to find out.” Simon grabbed the sledgehammer and raised it over his shoulder. “Everyone step back.”

  Keith and I moved away, and Simon swung. The sledgehammer made short work of the drywall. Once Simon loosened it up, Keith and I stepped forward to help rip it off. As we peeled the rest of it off, we revealed—

  “A door,” Keith said.

  “A safe,” Simon corrected.

  To be fair, the only thing visible to us was the huge iron plate with the spinning lock in the middle. Simon grabbed hold of it and pulled. To no one’s surprise, it remained firmly shut.

  “Worth a shot,” Simon said, dusting the rust of
f his hands.

  “Wait here,” said Keith, and he ran out of the room.

  I spun the dial on the lock. “What are the chances there’s a pile of money in there that officially belongs to us now that we’ve bought the place?”

  Simon chuckled. “Slim to none, though it’s good to dream.”

  Keith came back, panting a little. “I checked outside. The exterior of the building juts out there, farther than the other bigger rooms. That safe must be huge. I bet if you got the blueprints, you could figure out the dimensions.”

  “Somehow, I doubt a hidden safe is going to be included on the official blueprints,” I commented. “Whoever built this thing did not want it to be found.”

  “Well, we’re not going to get in there anytime soon,” Simon said. “I don’t know anything about safe cracking. We’ll have to hire someone.”

  “When we can afford it,” I added.

  He sighed. “It’s a mystery for now.”

  We finished demolishing the small guest room. As Keith and Simon carried the debris to the dumpster outside, I examined the safe again. Maybe it was the storyteller in me, but I had to know what was inside. Something pulled me toward the door, like a magnetic force. I placed my palm flat against the metal.

  Energy pulsed through me, real or imagined, and I yanked off my hand. Though the metal was cool to the touch, my palm was angry and red as if I’d laid it on a hot stovetop. What was behind that door?

  Simon came in. “Max? We’ve got visitors.”

  I scrunched my nose and hid my hand behind my back. “Who?”

  “Boyce Driscoll and some other guys from town,” Simon replied. “Keith says they’ve got money and they like to invest. He recommended we give them a tour in case they’re interested in the Lodge.”

  “I’m coming.”

  Boyce stood out front, his hands on his hips as he looked over the Lodge’s exterior and chatted happily with his company. He’d brought the same group of men I’d seen with him in the cafe the previous day. Like before, they all wore expensive clothes and shoes. No normal person would come up to a half-derelict lodge covered with snow in Italian leather loafers, but the businessmen of Silver Creek considered this appropriate attire.

  Keith lingered at Boyce’s side, staring at the older man with sparkling eyes and rapt attention. Whenever there was a slight pause in the conversation, Keith interjected.

  “This place was a real charmer back in the day,” Boyce was saying to his friends. “I’d like to see Silver Creek bring in more tourism revenue from those ski slopes. We’re so close but not reaping any of the benefits.”

  “The Lodge could be ready by next ski season,” Keith proposed hastily. “Earlier even, especially if you invest. If we got a few more workers in here to help out—”

  “Keith,” I called from the porch. “That’s enough, thank you.”

  The younger man had enough decency to look bashful as he stepped away from Boyce. Boyce spread his arms wide.

  “There’s the woman of the house,” he said cheerfully. “We were hoping you would be here. We require the warmth of your hospitality. It’s quite a trek up here!”

  “Hospitality is easier to offer when you know you’re expecting someone,” I replied with equal amounts of snark and teasing. “Surprise visits make for cold rooms, hastily made coffee, and a lack of enjoyable snacks.”

  “Luckily, Silver Creek folk know this about surprise visits.” Boyce returned to his large shiny SUV and reached through the window. “We brought fresh coffee and donuts. Can I offer you a double chocolate? They’re my favorite.”

  “Sure. Come on in, boys.”

  Boyce and his friends stomped out their loafers and filed into the Lodge. Keith brought up the rear, smiling from ear to ear. As they formed a loose circle in the lobby, Boyce handed off the boxes of donuts and coffee to Keith.

  “Why don’t you set those up somewhere, kiddo?” Boyce asked. “And grab some napkins while you’re at it.”

  “Sure thing, Boyce. I mean, Mr. Driscoll. I mean, sir.” Keith, bright-red, hurried off.

  The men gazed around the gutted lobby with prying eyes. Boyce ran his finger across the top of the mantle and pulled away a thick layer of dust.

  “You two don’t waste any time, do you?” he asked. “I was in here less than a week ago. I can’t believe how much you’ve done already.”

  Simon draped his arm around my shoulders and drew me close. “You were here? What for?”

  “Oh, I threw my hat in the ring to buy the place,” Boyce said casually. “The Lodge is vital to Silver Creek’s success as a community. Anyway, we’re not here to talk business! We’ll do that some other time. Let me introduce you to some of my friends. This is Mike Nichols,” he said, gesturing to the man closest to him. “He manages the bank. That’s Henry Paramount—his family’s in the movie business…”

  There was not a chance in hell I’d remember who was who, not when all of Boyce’s friends looked so similar in face and stature. One thing I did notice was that each of them seemed to have a large stake in Silver Creek, one way or another. They were bankers, business owners, small-town political figures, and lawyers.

  “We like to think we’re the town’s caretakers,” Boyce said, once he’d finished introducing everyone. “We put on charity fundraisers and do our best to make sure everyone is comfortable in Silver Creek. That includes you two!”

  “Uh, thanks,” Simon said.

  Boyce clapped Simon on the back and separated him from me. “That’s not all. My buddies and I would like to invite you, Simon, to join us for a meeting.”

  Simon raised an eyebrow. “A meeting?”

  “Yes, for the Gentlemen’s Club of Silver Creek!” he announced grandly. “It’s a way for all of us boys to get together and talk about the community. We go skiing, take trips together, go out for drinks—”

  “I don’t drink,” Simon said shortly.

  “You can order a Coke,” Boyce replied. “We won’t judge you for it as long as you come out with the boys every once in a while. What do you say?”

  Keith, who had finished setting up the donuts and coffee on the sofa like it was a buffet table, stood behind Boyce’s shoulder and nodded emphatically at Simon.

  “I’ll let you know,” Simon said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do here, and I’ve been exhausted in the evenings.”

  Boyce patted Simon’s back. “Of course! The work you’re doing is outstanding. I can’t wait to see this place when it’s finished. Do you mind if we have a look around?”

  “It’s not safe,” I said, reading the look on Simon’s face. I gave Boyce an apologetic grimace. “Too many construction hazards. But I promise to invite you back when it’s not such a demolition zone.”

  Boyce gave me a thumbs-up. “Good looking out, Maxine. You’re always one step ahead. All right, then. Let’s go, boys! Leave this beautiful couple to their work.”

  “See ya, Boyce!” Keith called. “Let me know about the next meeting.”

  Boyce waved above his head without looking back at Keith. Leaving the donuts untouched, the men shuffled out in a single-file line behind their leader. A minute later, they fired up their army of Cadillacs and were gone.

  “Gentlemen’s Club?” I scoffed. “Don’t they know it’s sexist to exclude women?”

  “It’s not sexist,” Keith argued. “The Gentlemen’s Club of Silver Creek is historical. They practically built the town.”

  “Do they allow women to join?”

  “No, but—”

  “Then, it’s sexist.”

  Keith crossed his arms. “Not everyone is invited to join. Only people Boyce thinks would be an asset to Silver Creek. Simon should be over the moon that he got asked to a meeting.” He turned to Simon. “You’re going to go, right?”

  Simon wrinkled his nose. “I’m not sure. Max has a point, and I don’t fit in with Boyce’s boys.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you fit in,” Keith said. “You were invited. You have to
go.”

  Simon playfully pushed Keith. “What’s up with you and Boyce, man? Why do you worship the ground he walks on?”

  Keith blushed. “I don’t! But if you want to be someone in Silver Creek, you get in with the Gentlemen’s Club. That’s how it works. Everyone respects them.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Simon said. “Happy?”

  “For now,” Keith answered.

  Crash!

  I hit the floor, curling into a ball and covering my head with my arms as something shattered overhead. All I could think about was my nightmare, the broken beam splitting Simon in two.

  Simon, however, was perfectly fine. So was Keith. The beams were all in place.

  “Are you okay?” Keith said, helping me up from the floor. “That scared me, too, but not enough to hit the deck.”

  “Sounded like broken glass,” added Simon. “Isn’t Lily up there?”

  “I’ll go check on her,” I volunteered, eager to get out from under the beams. “Be back in a minute.”

  As Simon and Keith got back to work, I went upstairs to investigate the sound. When I reached the presidential suite, I saw the broken lamp first. Then I saw Lily, sprawled across the floor.

  “Lily!” I rushed toward her. When I turned her over, her face had a green tint to it. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m so sorry,” she gasped. “I stood up too quickly. The head rush—I stumbled and knocked the lamp over.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, propping her head onto my knee. “We’re getting rid of all this old stuff anyway. You don’t look good. Are you sure the doctor said nothing was wrong?”

  As she rested against my leg, the ugly green faded a bit from her skin. “He said not to overdo it. I was arranging your things. I guess I shouldn’t have been so keen—” She broke into a coughing fit, her whole body convulsing.

  “There’s fluid in your lungs,” I said. “I can hear it. You must have bronchitis or something. Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

  As I lifted her from the floor, I remembered we’d gutted Lily’s room on the first floor already. There was nowhere for her to sleep except our air mattress.

  “No, I can’t,” she said, as I pulled back the covers. “What about Simon?”