station in a few minutes. But first, Bella wanted to make sure Hope was okay. Her cheek was bleeding freely and she appeared to be in shock.
Enoch was holding her, but neither appeared to be in a hurry to move. Walking carefully over the broken decorations, Bella squatted down to their level. “Enoch?” she asked softly, afraid of startling the couple.
He looked at her, his eyes seeming lost and afraid.
““I’m sorry to break this up, but I think Hope needs medical attention on that cheek,” Bella said, keeping her tone calm.
“And the rest of us need an explanation,” Grandma Claire called from the entrance to the room. She sighed loudly. “And I’ll need to speak to the Mendelsons about the damage to their property.”
“I think that’s the least of our worries,” Bella muttered.
“Says the girl who doesn’t have to keep this inn running for the next twenty years,” Grandma snapped. Bella ducked her head, knowing her comment had been in bad taste.
As Grandma and Enoch spoke to each other, Bella watched Emory and Antony show up at the door as well. She almost asked why Antony was at the house, but decided against it. One thing at a time, she reminded herself.
“An ambulance is on the way,” Emory said, her eyes darting everywhere. She was obviously uncomfortable with the situation.
Or embarrassed to be caught with Antony. Bella shook her head. “Enough,” she scolded herself. Instead of speaking up, Bella followed Enoch and Hope down to the grand foyer, where they sat down to wait.
Only minutes later, a knock on the door came and Bella practically leapt across the space. “I got it. You two just sit tight.” She pulled the large door open wide. “Thanks for coming so quickly,” Bella said. “Hope is hurt. She’s over there.” Bella waved them in the right direction.
The paramedics quickly went to work and Bella stood back to watch. Eventually Hope and Enoch left for the hospital so Hope could get some stitches.
Now that her cousin was in good hands, Bella grew restless. Henry would be interrogating the woman, and Bella was being left out!
Hurrying to the sitting room, Bella found her grandmother next to the fire, warming her legs and reading a book. “Grams, I’m heading to the police station.”
Grandma Claire peered over her reading glasses. “Whyever are you going there?”
Bella gave her an exasperated look. “Because I want to be there when they talk to that woman.”
“That woman is Trisha Bingham. She was my housekeeper before I had to shut down.” Grandma’s face was stern.
“Oooh...that explains a lot,” Bella said, tapping her bottom lip, her mind going crazy with ideas. “Do you think she needed the money?”
Grandma shook her head. “From the way she attacked Hope, I think it had more to do with Enoch.”
“Duh!” Bella bounced the palm of her hand off her forehead. “Love. It’s always the problem, isn’t it?”
“Love is a problem?” Grandma began to grumble. “It’s no wonder none of you girls are married yet. Love isn’t a problem, it’s the only thing worth living for.”
Bella laughed, thinking of her grandmother and the sheriff, who obviously liked each other, but hadn’t done anything about it for years. She crossed the large room to give her grandmother a kiss on the cheek. “Give us time,” she teased. “We’re still young. We’ve got plenty of time before we need to get saddled with a family.”
“By your age, I’d been married for years and had two children,” Grandma continued. “You girls are far more worried about your careers nowadays than you are about families.”
Bella shook her head. She had plenty of years left before she needed a family. First, she wanted to see the world and write about it. She wanted to win awards and have fun. And right now, she also wanted to watch the man who had given her a foundation-shaking kiss interrogate a criminal. “Be back soon!”
Ignoring Grandma’s grumblings, she grabbed her keys and headed out. The front desk could wait. Right now, Bella had a mystery to solve.
HANK HAD NO IDEA HOW he’d gone from the best kiss of his life to dragging a screaming woman into a police station, but in his line of work, he shouldn’t really be surprised.
“BILL!” Hank yelled as he got inside. The woman at the front desk stared at him with wide eyes. “Get Sheriff Davidson, please,” Hank asked as kindly as possible as his suspect tried to kick him in the shin again. “You might as well just calm down,