tall. “Heavenly? What’s wrong with Heavenly?”
Diane’s soft laugh filled the night around them. “Oh, my dear, sweet Claire. Do you realize how much you sounded like me just then?”
“Frankly, I consider that a compliment.” Stretching her arm across the back of the swing, Claire rested the side of her head against her upper arm. “But, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you saying that?”
“Because this town has taken hold of your heart the same way it did for me twenty years ago.”
Something in the woman’s tone made Claire’s breath hitch. “Y-you almost sound as if you don’t love this town as much as you once did.”
“No. I love Heavenly every bit as much as I did when I decided to open my inn. In fact, that feeling has only deepened in the years since. But the Heavenly of old didn’t have murders. It just didn’t.”
“Wait a minute. Sixteen years ago, Jakob left the Amish to become a police officer because of a murder that took place right here in Heavenly,” Claire reminded. “Granted,it was solved by the time he made the break official, but bad things happened back then, too.”
Diane glanced over her shoulder at the lights of downtown and the darkened fields beyond, her words taking Claire by surprise. “But that was the town’s first murder in its long history and there weren’t any others until this past summer when Walter Snow’s body showed up in the alley behind your store.”
“And that’s over now.” She lifted her head off her arm and waved her hand toward Lighted Way. “Everything was back to normal in no time.”
“Until the festival yesterday.”
There was nothing Claire could say. Arguing facts was an exercise in futility.
Diane pushed off the railing and wandered over to the far side of the porch, the dark blue color of her sweater difficult to discern in the darkness. “But even forgetting all of that, people these days seem to think they can take things that don’t belong to them. That they can just waltz into someone’s home and help themselves to whatever they want just because they can.”
“Aunt Diane, you can’t really believe what happened to the Karbles’ room yesterday was simply about thievery, can you?”
The fading sound of footsteps stopped and then resumed once again, this time growing louder as they made their way back toward the center of the porch. “What else would you call it?”
“Calculated. Intentional. Planned out. Take your pick.” Claire patted the vacant spot to her left. “Aunt Diane, please come sit. It’s easier to talk to you when you’re not walking all over the place.”
“I’m too keyed up to sit, dear,” Diane said, plopping down onto the swing and continuing the conversation, anyway. “It doesn’t matter what fancy word you give it, Claire. My guests still had their sense of safety violated in
my
inn. They made the choice to spend their vacation here rather than one of the chain hotels in Breeze Point and I let them down.”
“Let them down?”
“Of course.” Diane clasped her hands in her lap only to disengage them and start fiddling with a loose thread midway down her simple dress. “I’ve been so busy trying to create this atmosphere of home and family that I’ve become careless with my guests’ safety.”
Before Claire could muster a protest, Diane continued. “Every week there are multiple newspaper accounts of criminal activity around the county. Yet, somehow, I thought we were immune from such nonsense here in Heavenly. And because of that naiveté, I let my guests down.”
She considered her aunt’s words only to discard them against a reality that was being missed. “So what do you think you could have done differently? Locked the front door? Wired in a few surveillance cameras? Installed a home security system? What?”
“All of those, I guess,” Diane said, shrugging.
“Do you really think any of those would have mattered yesterday?”
Diane drew back. “Of course.
Diane’s soft laugh filled the night around them. “Oh, my dear, sweet Claire. Do you realize how much you sounded like me just then?”
“Frankly, I consider that a compliment.” Stretching her arm across the back of the swing, Claire rested the side of her head against her upper arm. “But, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you saying that?”
“Because this town has taken hold of your heart the same way it did for me twenty years ago.”
Something in the woman’s tone made Claire’s breath hitch. “Y-you almost sound as if you don’t love this town as much as you once did.”
“No. I love Heavenly every bit as much as I did when I decided to open my inn. In fact, that feeling has only deepened in the years since. But the Heavenly of old didn’t have murders. It just didn’t.”
“Wait a minute. Sixteen years ago, Jakob left the Amish to become a police officer because of a murder that took place right here in Heavenly,” Claire reminded. “Granted,it was solved by the time he made the break official, but bad things happened back then, too.”
Diane glanced over her shoulder at the lights of downtown and the darkened fields beyond, her words taking Claire by surprise. “But that was the town’s first murder in its long history and there weren’t any others until this past summer when Walter Snow’s body showed up in the alley behind your store.”
“And that’s over now.” She lifted her head off her arm and waved her hand toward Lighted Way. “Everything was back to normal in no time.”
“Until the festival yesterday.”
There was nothing Claire could say. Arguing facts was an exercise in futility.
Diane pushed off the railing and wandered over to the far side of the porch, the dark blue color of her sweater difficult to discern in the darkness. “But even forgetting all of that, people these days seem to think they can take things that don’t belong to them. That they can just waltz into someone’s home and help themselves to whatever they want just because they can.”
“Aunt Diane, you can’t really believe what happened to the Karbles’ room yesterday was simply about thievery, can you?”
The fading sound of footsteps stopped and then resumed once again, this time growing louder as they made their way back toward the center of the porch. “What else would you call it?”
“Calculated. Intentional. Planned out. Take your pick.” Claire patted the vacant spot to her left. “Aunt Diane, please come sit. It’s easier to talk to you when you’re not walking all over the place.”
“I’m too keyed up to sit, dear,” Diane said, plopping down onto the swing and continuing the conversation, anyway. “It doesn’t matter what fancy word you give it, Claire. My guests still had their sense of safety violated in
my
inn. They made the choice to spend their vacation here rather than one of the chain hotels in Breeze Point and I let them down.”
“Let them down?”
“Of course.” Diane clasped her hands in her lap only to disengage them and start fiddling with a loose thread midway down her simple dress. “I’ve been so busy trying to create this atmosphere of home and family that I’ve become careless with my guests’ safety.”
Before Claire could muster a protest, Diane continued. “Every week there are multiple newspaper accounts of criminal activity around the county. Yet, somehow, I thought we were immune from such nonsense here in Heavenly. And because of that naiveté, I let my guests down.”
She considered her aunt’s words only to discard them against a reality that was being missed. “So what do you think you could have done differently? Locked the front door? Wired in a few surveillance cameras? Installed a home security system? What?”
“All of those, I guess,” Diane said, shrugging.
“Do you really think any of those would have mattered yesterday?”
Diane drew back. “Of course.
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