LITMIR.BIZ

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I pulled the door to my room shut, two male voices filtered from the first floor.

      “…and you knew how it would make me feel. Do you have to adhere to every one of that old bat’s ridiculous wishes?” The masculine voice echoed through the halls.

      “This is no time to start showing your insubordination,” Thomas said. “You know just as well as I that if her lawyer finds one thing out of line, it could mean the end of our stay here.”

      “I’m sure if you’d explained to her that the room was permanently unusable or something, she would have agreed to any one of the other rooms. She is used to the accommodation level of a trailer park. You could have put her in the broom closet, and she’d have probably been ecstatic.”

      Trailer park. Oh, this guy and I were so not going to get along.

      “I understand the sort of toll this must be taking on you, but at some point, you have to let go of this obsession.” That was Thomas.

      “Obsession?” the opposing voice seethed. “How dare you?”

      “You’ve got to stop letting everything that involves her do this to you. Maybe it would be best if you spent some time away from here. I have things to tend to, so we’ll take up where this conversation left off after I give her the grounds tour.”

      I stepped five banister rails down.

      Under the second floor, Thomas became visible in a doorway.

      I didn’t make it a habit to eavesdrop, but I didn’t know how to proceed. If I went back into my room, Thomas might hear the door shut, and I couldn’t just unhear what I’d heard.

      “So, what? You’re firing me now?”

      “No, just offering suggestions to make things easier for you.”

      “There’s only one thing that will make this easier, and she may as well be dead.”

      At the bottom of the staircase, I cleared my throat to announce my arrival.

      Thomas glanced up and jerked the door shut on the other voice. The bones in his knuckles protruded as he gripped the doorknob. “Ah, Miss Knowles. Are you ready to get the grounds tour under way?”

      “We are not done discussing this,” a man behind the door said.

      Thomas smiled. “Ahem. I hope you found everything you needed.”

      “Yes, the amenities were beyond my expectations.” The trailer park statement still ate at me.

      “Good. Then if you will, follow me.” He relaxed.

      “You can call me Allie.” From the trailer park, I wanted to add, but Thomas didn’t deserve my sarcasm. My blood boiled.

      The man behind the door knew nothing about me.

      “Then Allie it is. Right this way.” He reached for the rear door at the end of a long hallway of paintings and held it open for me to pass through.

      I was too mad to care about any of the painted faces.

      A long covered patio spread off the back of the house. It could have held forty people shoulder to shoulder. Surrounding its boundaries was a black wrought iron fence twisted into various flowers and leaves. We zigzagged between tables set a few feet apart.

      Thomas told me about Ava’s love for hosting parties in her early years as I stewed in my anger. When we reached the end of the patio, Thomas hushed as I took in the grand view.

      Staring out at the tranquil scene, I relaxed. A little. The mean guy’s words ate at me.

      The break in the middle of the patio led down three semicircular steps. Straight ahead, a fountain sprayed water as high as the trees. A flowerbed dense with yellow blooms surrounded it. A long green wall of roses speckled with red and pink stretched between the pool area and a gravel walkway leading farther back on the property. Along the rose wall, a singular entrance allowed people into a maze.

      “To pass time, you can read the plaque and study the map. Trust me. If you venture in, it’ll take hours to find your way out.” Thomas chuckled. He wiped his face with a white cloth and took deep breaths as we walked by tall walls of fragrant roses, but his time-crinkled mouth turned up into a smile. “Amazingly enough, one of the original owner’s farmhands designed it. He was quite an intelligent prodigy, they say. It’s one of the property’s most awe-inspiring features. No other maze within miles is as large or complicated. I’d take you inside, but even I don’t have it memorized.”

      Lampposts rose at intervals inside the maze, lighting the twilight sky. Walkways lined with marigolds and pompous grass took us around the backside toward darkened grounds. Floral scented air began to mix with that of animal droppings. A tranquil breeze caressed my face.

      It was the country.

      “These are the barns, stables, and storage sheds.” Thomas pointed at each one, considering me thoughtfully. “What do you think so far?”

      We’d stepped just out of the protection of the lamplight, but the structures were still visible in the distance.

      “I think you are building up my hopes for nothing.” I hadn’t seen the weed eater guy again yet either.

      “Ava poured her time and finances into everything you see around you. And she paid well to maintain it.” The house, the maze, the pool, the large farm had to have been pruned by obsessive-compulsive elves. “She inherited it just before my nephew and I moved here. She almost sold it due to its dilapidated conditions, but after my nephew’s love of the place became more apparent to her, she poured more and more of her time into restoring it to its original grandeur. And I’m sure she wouldn’t have left it to someone unworthy.”

      So Thomas had a nephew. Maybe he’d be nicer than the mean guy in the parlor.

      “What exactly did she do? I mean, how did she come about her fortune?”

      “Cosmetics. Some herbal type of tincture that reverses the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.” He smiled, his quote obviously a commercial or advertisement. “The orchards used to be just one source of her wealth. Who knew that an apple had some sort of magical ingredient?”

      “Apple orchards?”

      “Yes, but they’re no longer in use. They’re fields of dead grass now.”

      “Who has overseen her business since she passed?”

      “Cole. He will continue to do so till you get the hang of things, of course,” Thomas said with a lift of his brow.

      “Cole? Is that your nephew?”

      “Yes. He keeps to himself. The loner type. Probably why he was Ava’s favorite person. They were just alike.” Thomas clutched his hands primly at the hem of his suit coat. “I guess he was the closest thing she had to a son or grandson, given her age.”

      “In that case, why didn’t she leave everything to him?”

      “He refused.” Thomas pressed his lips together.

      “Oh.” That was crazy.

      “Don’t worry about him. It’s Ava you have to make happy. Despite the fact she’s not exactly with us, believe me she’s left direct orders involving you.” Thomas labored forward.

      “Now you’ve raised the bar. Impress a dead lady.” My insides chilled. “If this whole thing isn’t a mistake, and she truly has chosen me, then I think she’s setting me up to fail miserably.”

      “Oh, don’t worry. All she’s asked is that we keep you here.” His voice waivered on the last three words.

      “So, to make her happy, all I have to do is stay? And what if I don’t want to?”

      “Oh, you wouldn’t be held against your will, but you would forfeit everything she’s left you. Then it’d just go to the next in line.”

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