Loco Motive: A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery - By Mary Daheim Page 0,2
called Amtrak to ask if the Empire Builder had sleeping car availability Sunday. They did, so I reserved a sleeper for two.”
“Bill doesn’t mind going by train?”
“Uh…he does, actually.” Renie paused again. “Bill sleeps poorly on trains. I don’t know why—I sleep like a baby in a cradle. But he’s giving a speech the first day and has to be well rested. That’s why he booked a Tuesday flight; he insists sleepless nights on the train would ruin him for the entire conference.”
Judith was wary. “So you take the train and he flies.”
“And pay for four round-trips to and from Boston?” Renie started speaking very fast. “It’s foolish to waste all that money. You and Joe could join us. Our husbands can fly while you and I—”
“Whoa!” Judith cried. “You’re asking me to drop everything on short notice and go to Boston? Why would Joe want to tag along with Bill to attend a nutso conference? This is your goofiest idea yet!”
“It’s a not-so-nutso conference,” Renie said. “The focus is helping patients get normal. Or pretend they’re normal. Or…something.” Her voice had grown uncertain, but she rallied. “Boston’s wonderful. You’ve never been there, and neither has Bill or Joe. There’s so much history and the rest of New England is—”
“Stop. Please.” Judith held her head. “I’m sorry you’re in a bind. There’s no way Joe and I can put our lives on hold and take off for…what? At least ten days if I were to travel with you on the train?”
“Twelve,” Renie said, uncharacteristically meek.
“I pass. Find another pigeon.” Judith looked up as Joe came through the back door.
“My husband’s back from lunch with his new client. I have to go.” She broke the connection.
Joe took off his dark green suit jacket. “Was that Willie I saw running the Counterbalance?”
“Yes.” Judith reached for the Excedrin bottle on the windowsill. “He jumped out the second-floor window. You owe him fifty bucks.”
“Take it off his bill.” Joe said.
“I will.” Judith poured a glass of water. “How was your meeting?”
Joe frowned. “If you’ve got a headache, I’d better not tell you.” Judith’s dark eyes widened. “It didn’t go well?”
Joe sat down at the kitchen table. “Too well. Brewster Cartwright’s a golf buddy of a Wirehoser timber biggie. The Wirehoser guy was impressed by my background work in choosing their new CFO, so Brewster asked me to do ditto for SANECO Insurance.”
“That’s great,” Judith said after swallowing the Excedrin.
“Wirehoser paid you big bucks. I assume Cartwright will, too.”
“Oh, yes.” Joe passed a hand over his ruddy forehead. “I’d be an idiot to turn him down. But there’s a problem.”
“What?” Judith asked, sitting down across the table.
He sighed. “In two weeks, the candidate at Bullfinch Life & Casualty is off for a month in China. Brewster wants him checked out ASAP so everything is settled by year’s end.” Joe’s gaze avoided Judith. “I have to leave Tuesday.”
“Leave for where?”
Joe finally looked at his wife. “Boston.”
There’s a crow on the telephone wire outside,” Judith said, standing on her cousin’s doormat. “Can you shoot it and roast it for my dinner?”
Puzzled, Renie ushered her cousin into the entry hall. “Why?”
“I’m eating crow.” Judith flopped into a brocade armchair by the hearth, but avoided looking at Renie. “We’re having a Boston Tea Party after all.”
Renie gaped at her cousin. “You’re kidding!” She shook her head. “No, no, of course you aren’t. Are you that desperate to get away from your mother?”
“I had nothing to do with it.” Judith heaved a big sigh. “I’ll make this quick. I have to go to Falstaff’s Grocery before my new guests check in. Joe came back from his lunch meeting and told me that…”
Renie was grinning by the time Judith finished her explanation. “Coz, that’s great! This could be fun.”
Judith’s expression was wary. “It could? With us? When was the last time we went anywhere and had fun?”
“Might you be referring to your penchant for finding dead bodies?” Renie inquired archly. “If so, I suggest you avoid any potential murder victims. I realize that with your history, you’ll probably come across a couple of corpses somewhere between the Pacific and the Atlantic, but I’d enjoy a trip with you that didn’t involve fleeing from a crazed killer.”
“You think I wouldn’t?” Judith snapped.
Curled up on the green sofa, Renie seemed skeptical. “I don’t know. Only you can answer that. Boston has some intriguing cemeteries. Maybe you could read the tombstones and figure out if the people buried there died from natural causes or