“Lucas didn’t warn you about the locks?”
Lucas didn’t warn her about anything. If he had it his way, Grace was sure that he would’ve kept Hamlet an even bigger secret. She couldn’t tell whether he was protecting the small town, or if he was hiding from it, but it was obvious that Lucas hadn’t wanted to send her there. That was all his wife.
But she couldn’t explain any of that without digging herself into a big hole about how she knew the De Angelises. So she shook her head and said simply for the second time, “No.”
“Oh, well. I guess I should explain before you decide if you want to stay here. Ophelia… she is not like other bed and breakfasts. Yes, she has a bed, and breakfast is promptly at eight each morning, but she is—” Maria hesitated, as if searching for the right word. “—more. You have Lucas to thank for most of it, including the locks.
“It’s a simple set-up, but it keeps us secure. Locks automatically engage at nine, then all of the doors open again at seven in the morning. It’s almost impossible to do anything about them once they’re set, so if you need to come and go between those hours, please let me know in advance. I can’t turn them off, but I can delay them a little.”
Wait a second.
Wait a second—
Did this woman just tell her that she’d booked a room in a bed and breakfast with such sophisticated security that it was locked up tight every evening until morning and no one could get around it? Sure, Maria mentioned she could delay the timer, but the most important point Grace heard in her explanation was that there was no way to turn them off.
Which meant that Tommy couldn’t. At least, not on his first try. She had no doubt in her mind that he’d figure out some way around it eventually. To know that it wouldn’t be easy?
She couldn’t help it. She launched herself at Maria, wrapping her in a hug.
No wonder Tessa was convinced that Ophelia would be a perfect place to hide. Even Lucas had reluctantly agreed. The small town could keep her hidden, the lack of cell service was a plus so that Tommy couldn’t use it to detect her location, but Ophelia? At night, when she was her most vulnerable, she could sleep soundly knowing that she wasn’t making it easy for him to get at her.
Grace gave Maria a squeeze before realizing just how weird her reaction might be. She quickly released her, laughing awkwardly as she stepped back. “Sorry about that. I’ve, uh, had some bad experiences staying on the road.”
Maria looked like she wanted to ask her about that. The woman had a very expressive face. Grace could read her curiosity and her concern.
Her mind, tired and hazy and feeling the crash from the two cups of coffee she downed, started to spin as she tried to come up with some plausible excuse for why the idea of being locked in her rented room was a good thing. Should she lie and say she had a tendency to sleepwalk? Maybe blame it on a paranoia that her things had been stolen in the past?
She refused to admit that she was desperate to make sure that a spoiled and ruthless rich man couldn’t sneak into her room. She just met Maria,
and she seemed like a sweet woman. Considering she lived in such a small town, she was probably a touch naive, too.
Maria couldn’t understand.
So what to tell her when she inevitably asked?
To her relief, Maria didn’t ask. For a moment, she watched Grace closely, the curious expression morphing into a knowing look. Almost as if she could understand Grace’s reasons without having to pry.
“Well, I’m glad you understand. Like I said, the locks will engage at nine. If you need to go out tonight—or any night—please let me know. See that box on the wall over there?”
Grace followed Maria’s point. “The white one?”
“That’s it. It’s an intercom. Since you’re new here, I take it you don’t have a radio?”
That was the third time someone mentioned a radio. First the cop, then Sly, now Maria. She wasn’t exactly sure, but she got the idea they weren’t talking about a boombox.
She shook her head.
“I thought so. It’s okay. Instead of buzzing you, I can page you through the intercom. It works both ways, too. You need me for anything, you just press that little button on the side and my radio will start to chime.”
Grace nodded, listening to what Maria said while deciding that she wouldn’t ever need to use the intercom. It might seem that she was an outsider, getting away from her city life, taking a trip into the small town because an acquaintance recommended it to her. In that case, she might bug her hostess if she needed to. As far as she was concerned, this was a room she was renting until she could come up with another plan.
This wasn’t a vacation. This was survival.
Then Maria went on to say, “Settle down, get yourself situated. I’ll let you know when dinner is ready,” and Grace understood that Lucas’s sister was going to play her role of hostess to the fullest.
Oh, no.
“Dinner? No, no, that’s okay. I’m just going to—”