CHAPTER SEVEN
May was hoping that they could head straight out and confront Bert Reed. But as Owen made call after call, she realized it wasn’t going to be so easy.
“Nobody seems to know where he is,” Owen said, putting down the phone after the third call. “I literally don’t believe this. Not even the hotel manager knows. Or at any rate, she says she doesn’t know.”
“How can they not know where the owner is?” May asked, incredulous. Surely he had to be available and in the area, given that his architect had just been murdered? Why wasn’t he at the Lakeside Heights sorting things out?
“He’s definitely in the state. Everyone agrees on that. But he seems to own a massive amount of property. He owns several other hotels and he often stays in hotels he’s thinking of buying, also, Jolene said.”
“He definitely does seem to be very wealthy,” May said. “Can’t they give you his phone number?”
Owen sighed. “I got a number. I have no idea if it’s his number. But it’s turned off.”
“I would guess if his phone is off at this time, he’s either in an urgent meeting or he’s playing golf,” May decided. For some reason, she thought this man sounded like the type of person who would play golf in a crisis. “Just on a flyer, perhaps it would be worth calling the hotels within, say, a fifty-mile radius of here that are five-star and have golf courses. It might narrow the field.”
“Good idea,” Owen said.
“In the meantime, I’ll—”
At that exact moment May’s phone rang.
To her astonishment, it was her older sister, Kerry. This case had brought Kerry to top of mind. May had been thinking of her and now she was calling, as if the thoughts had summoned her.
But Kerry hardly ever called her. What was happening?
Mystified, she picked up.
“Hello, May.” Her sister’s voice, loud and confident, rang down the line, and May couldn’t prevent a cold shiver at the sound.
This was Kerry. Self-assured. Successful. Knowing that life would fall in with her ideas and that she’d end up on top.
“Hi, Kerry,” May said.
She had not heard from her sister since Kerry had gone to the East Coast when the FBI had been called in to solve a serial crime.
“You won’t believe this,” Kerry said. She sounded as if she was laughing.
That was right, May decided. Whatever her sister was going to say, May probably wouldn’t believe it.
“I’ve arrived at your airport—the local one—and there are no rental cars to be had! None! I mean, I think they had, like, two in total, and both the tourists visiting Tamarack County already using them!” She laughed, as if this was a really funny joke.
“Wait, what?” May spluttered. Her sister? Was here?
This was a bombshell. She’d had no idea she was visiting.
Or was she somehow involved in this investigation? she wondered with a twist of her stomach. Had the FBI stepped in at the hotel’s request?
Surely not, May thought, forcing herself to think logically. She couldn’t possibly be here for work, and this hadn’t sounded like a work-related reason either.
May knew only too well that sharp, brisk, businesslike tone her sister adopted when dealing with work matters. And it wasn’t in her voice now.
“I’ve come to visit the folks,” Kerry clarified. “And I don’t want to ask them to come out and fetch me because it’s a sort of a surprise.”
May saw where this was going.
“You want me to pick you up?”
“If you have time.”
May didn’t have time. She was busy with a murder case.
“Time? To take you to the folks? No, I don’t,” she said, hearing the note of panic in her own voice. “Now? Can’t you call a cab?”
Kerry sighed.
“Okay. There’s a reason why I need you to drive me there. There’s a big surprise. I have news.”
“What news is that?”
“I’ll tell you when I see you. And I want you to be there when I tell them. It won’t take long!”
And the airport drive there and back? That would be still more time. May agonized, feeling torn by the demands of her job versus family loyalty.
“Go,” Owen hissed at her in a stage whisper, waving his arms, clearly picking up on the dilemma she was in. “Don’t stress. I’m busy researching the CEO!”
“I’m on my way,” she snapped to her sister, wondering how Kerry always managed to get her way. Ending the call, she looked gratefully at Owen.
“Who knows what this is about? But I’ll be back in less than an hour,” she said.
She grabbed her keys and purse and was out the door.
As she drove, May wished she could have felt just a little bit more excited at seeing her sister again. But Kerry always had a strange effect on her. She was always so sure of herself and of what she wanted. She was her parents’ favorite, their golden child and their icon of success.