Page 15 of Dead Calm
“We met the bartender. Her name is Lainie. Do you know her, either in person or through your gift?” Ten asked.
Everly shook her head. “No, I’ve never heard of her.”
That was one weight off Ronan’s mind, at least for the moment.
“While Cope and I had our drink, we asked Lainie if there were any ghosts in the hotel. I couldn’t help myself. The building is over one hundred and seventy years old. It stands to reason there would be one or two ghosts kicking around the place.”
“Did Lainie tell you about Vivienne?” Everly asked.
“She did,” Ten agreed. “Vivienne worked as a chambermaid at the hotel during the summer of 1933. Her boyfriend, Walt, worked here as well. There were rumors that Walt hurt Vivienne while they both worked here.”
“Did he go to jail?” Everly asked.
Ronan shook his head. “No, honey. Unfortunately, a lot of women kept abuse like that a secret back in the old days.” Hell, people kept that kind of abuse a secretnow. “At the end of the summer, a huge hurricane was about to hit the Rhode Island coast. All of the guests packed up and left, but the employees had to stay behind to shore up the hotel to help it survive the storm.” Ronan didn’t want to finish the story.
Ten, apparently sensing Ronan’s reluctance to continue, picked up the story. “Walt and Vivienne were just about to leave the hotel, when she remembered she’d left something in the bar. While she was gone, the water started rising from the ocean and up to the hotel. Walt screamed her name and waited as long as he could, but in the end drove off and left.”
Everly’s mouth hung open. “He left Vivienne here? All alone?” Her eyes started to water.
Ten nodded. “A few days later, after the floodwaters had receded, Vivienne’s body was found in the Taproom. People assumed she drowned in the storm, but there were rumors Walt hurt her.”
Everly swiped angrily at her falling tears. “Did he?”
“We don’t know,” Ronan said. “I wanted to do a little research when we got back from the sailing trip, but I wasn’t feeling so well.”
“It’s okay, Daddy.” Everly hugged Ronan and turned back to Tennyson. “How do we help Vivienne?”
“Well, it’s not quite that simple,” Ten said. “This is where the story gets a bit weird.”
“Weird how, like with vampires?” Everly asked, looking excited by the idea.
“No, honey,notwith vampires, although, I’m sure Daddy and I are going to be talking about them later. Aren’t we, snookums?” Ten asked with a grimace.
Ronan held up a hand. “For once, it wasn’t me showing inappropriate content. RememberHotel Transylvania?” he asked triumphantly. Everly had loved the character of Mavis, especially since her father was a lot like Ronan, not wanting his daughter to grow up.
“Anyway, back to the story,” Ten began. “Like I said, Lainie is the bartender here and her boyfriend, Kurt, also works for the hotel. When we were in the bar last night, we saw him come in and treat her badly. He grabbed her arm and tried to drag her out of the bar. I could tell this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Lainie admitted I was right. She said he’d never been like that back in Boston where they go to college.”
Everly’s eyes widened. “It’s just like Vivienne and Walt.”
“Exactly,” Ronan agreed. “We need to talk to Lainie to get a little more information.”
Ten nodded in agreement. “Vivienne told me that the reason she hadn’t crossed over was so that she could protect other women who were being hurt the same way she’d been.”
“Did she say if Walt killed her?” Everly wore a worried look.
“I didn’t have time to ask, but more than that, the thing that stuck out to me was that she’s been dead for almost ninety years. How many abused women have been here over time? I would have thought there was some kind of window where she would have felt okay with crossing over.”
“What if this happens every year?” Ronan asks. “That there’s some couple who somehow mirror Vivienne and Walt?”
“You mean kind of like a time loop, but with different people?” Ten’s eyes widened. “ That makes sense, like the movieGroundhog Day, but with other couples playing the parts each summer.”
Ronan didn’t like the sound of that at all. He knew Ten and Everly were going to do everything they could to get to the bottom of the situation. “Where do we start?”
Ten grinned at his husband. “I want to speak with Lainie again and then do some research on Walt and other incidents at the hotel.”
“You mean to see if there are police reports of things going wrong here?” Ronan asked. He’d never admit it to Ten, but he missed work. They’d wrapped up a few cases before this vacation and Ronan was anxious to get back at it.
“Right,” Ten agreed. “Once we know more about the bigger picture me and Everly can try to speak with Vivienne and make a plan to stop the loop and get her to crossover and find some peace.”
