Chapter 17 #2
Meredith and Bronwyn stared at each other in delight and then talked over each other in a swirl of wonder.
“These floors—”
“Could be gorgeous.”
“We have to pull up all the carpet—”
“We need Cal . . .”
“Mo will help us.” That last came from Meredith, and it was those words that finally forced Mo to spin around in the chair he’d commandeered.
He leaned back, laced his fingers across his chest, and tapped his thumbs together. “What’s in it for me?”
“The delight of knowing you’ve brought beauty to Bronwyn’s office.”
“What if the floors were covered up for a reason? They might be ugly. Stained. Beyond redemption.”
“What if they just need a little TLC to be glorious?” Meredith countered.
Mo rose from the chair. “Show me.”
“We need to move this bookcase to get a good pull on the carpet.” Meredith patted the sturdy piece of furniture like it was a pet.
“This right here is gorgeous. I hate to move him out of his home, but he will have to go for us to get to the floors. He will come back.” She pointed to a small table that held a barely alive plant.
“That, however, is gone. Forever. And good riddance.”
Bronwyn coughed a little. “Um, my grandmother . . .”
“Your grandmother would be horrified that you’ve kept such a gaudy piece here. You’re the CEO of The Haven, Bronwyn. Your office should reflect that. I can’t believe I haven’t thought of this sooner. But now that I have, consider it done. Your space will be your own private haven at The Haven.”
She grinned at them, gave a small bow, and patted herself on the back. “Thank you. Thank you.”
Bronwyn made the briefest eye contact with Mo before she offered up a pitiful golf clap. Mo joined in.
Meredith lifted her nose into the air. “Mock me if you will. I’m not wrong. That actress who was in here earlier? She was probably horrified by the condition of this room.”
Mo ignored Meredith’s dramatics and pulled books off the shelf. “We need to empty this before we try to move it or none of us will be doing anything for the next month after we throw out our backs.”
Bronwyn didn’t respond but joined Mo in the effort while Meredith, now in full character, continued to discuss the horrors of the office.
She’d loved drama in school, while Bronwyn had avoided anything theater related.
She’d always said that was a world she had no interest in becoming part of—until she left town for Hollywood. Supposedly to learn the ins and outs of the business and become a producer.
Mo had never bought it. Still didn’t. But he’d lost the right to ask her about it years ago.
“Mo?” Meredith’s question pulled him out of the dark hole he’d fallen into.
“Yeah?”
“You okay?”
“Fine.” He smiled. Or tried to, anyway. Based on her reaction and Bronwyn’s grimace, he must not have pulled it off. “Let’s empty this thing so we can move it out of the way.”
Bronwyn and Meredith were whispering about him, but he ignored them. He took a few moments to focus his mind on the present. To take in the beauty of the furniture, the texture of the books in his hands, and the smell of paper mixed with a faint trace of lemon polish.
“How often is this room cleaned?”
Meredith snorted. “Are you implying Bronwyn’s office is dirty?”
“Not at all. I can smell the furniture polish and there’s almost no dust. Bookshelves are hard to clean.”
Bronwyn took a stack of books and moved them to her desk. “Our housekeeping staff is exceptional, and the standards for my office are the same as those for each cabin. This space is cleaned three times a week.”
Mo tucked that tidbit away. The “exceptional” housekeepers had access to Bronwyn’s office in a way few others did. He needed to get their names and check the security footage. They could have been bribed to set the bugs. Or leave the room long enough for someone else to do it.
Or they could be completely innocent of everything except an overuse of lemon oil.
Once the shelf was empty, he took one end, Meredith took the other, and Bronwyn took the middle.
“Good grief,” Meredith grunted as they slid it across the carpet. “Are the shelves lined with lead?”
Despite her grousing, with the three of them working, moving the shelf to the opposite wall took only a minute.
Then all three of them hit their knees and pulled the carpet back.
Once they got it started, it came up with relative ease. Bronwyn’s small cry stopped Mo from his efforts.
A dark stain covered a space the size of a laptop. Splatters of a similar shade flecked the area around it.
It probably wasn’t blood. But . . . it sure looked like it.
Bronwyn could feel Meredith and Mo standing close to her, staring at the stained floor.
“Do you think it’s blood?” Meredith asked.
“It could be.” Mo’s answer was thoughtful.
“But it could also be from wine or water. Look at the floor around it. There’s almost no finish or protection on the wood.
Any liquid could have left that stain. And let’s think this through.
If it was a bloodstain, covering it up with carpet isn’t a solid way to hide your sins.
The stain is still there. If I were trying to hide a stain, I’d sand it or cut it out if necessary. ”
“Which leads back to the theory that there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this.” Meredith leaned closer. “Who in your family might know?”
Bronwyn reached down and grabbed the edge of the carpet.
“My dad might.” She tugged. “Or my grandmother.” Mo and Meredith both returned to their spots and pulled as well.
“I’ll ask. This carpet isn’t new, but it was when I returned to town.
When I moved into the office, I saw no reason to replace it. ”
Meredith tsked. “Well, it’s time now.”
They continued pulling the carpet up, sliding furniture, desks, and chairs off the carpet and onto the now-revealed hardwood floor. They ended up removing the bookshelf from the room entirely.
Except for that dark stain, the floor had real potential. “I’ll call Cal.” Mo had his phone in his hand. “If you’re going to redo the floor, that will alter the plans for the paint. These floors need work.” He tapped the screen and held the phone out. “Cal, you’ve got me, Meredith, and Bronwyn.”
Bronwyn fought the little zing at the sound of her name. She’d always rather liked her name. But no one had ever said it quite the way Mo did.
She turned away and took a deep breath. She was well and truly losing it. Pull it together, Beep.
Behind her, Mo filled Cal in on their discovery. Cal’s groan filled the space. “Seriously? It was a paint job, Meredith. A paint job. Now we’re sanding and refinishing floors?”
“But they’re gorgeous. Or, they will be. I think. Maybe you should look at them first and tell us.”
“Send me a picture. You do realize if we’re doing the floors, we’ll have to take everything out of the space, and no one will be able to go in for several days?”
“Yes.”
“But does Bronwyn?”
Bronwyn turned then and walked to where Mo stood with his phone.
“I know, Cal. But now that Meredith’s caught the scent, she’s gotten me excited about the possibilities.
I’ll have to work from home more. Or from the conference room.
It will be worth it. Besides, we’ve already removed a lot of things while pulling up the carpet. There isn’t too much left.”
Cal’s sigh was loud and long. “Send me a picture of the floor and a close-up of the stain. I’ll have to see it in person, but a picture will give me a clue about what we’re dealing with. And send the picture to Gray. He might be able to tell you if it’s blood or not. He’s seen some . . . stuff.”
Meredith’s eyes were wide, and she nodded in agreement. “True enough.”
“And, Beep?”
“Yeah, Cal?”
“This also means you’ll have to pick out a wood stain. I have samples at my office. Come by anytime. I’m in the office this week.”
“I can do that.”
“Okay. Later.”
The call disconnected, and Mo slid the phone into his pocket.
“I guess the best thing for me to do is hightail it out of here before you put me to work on the rest of this ‘not too much’ that needs to go.” He gazed around the office, lingering on the small sofa, the table, the chairs, the desk, and a few other cabinets that they’d moved around but hadn’t taken out of the room.
Bronwyn couldn’t help but laugh. But instead of talking to Mo, she focused on Meredith.
“I’ll talk to Emory. He’s still busy with the electrical stuff, but we can probably have a crew here tomorrow to haul everything out.
We’ll store some of it in the conference room.
Whatever won’t fit we can put in a storage building. ”
“I’m proud of you.” Meredith slid her arm through Bronwyn’s. “It’s not like you to be so spontaneous. I promise we’ll make it awesome.”
Bronwyn met Mo’s eyes. He reached into his opposite pocket and handed her something black and heavy for its size. The cloned hard drive. She took it and slid it into her purse.
While her back was turned, Mo spoke. “I’m out. Be careful. Be good. I’ll be back later. Don’t spend all of Bronwyn’s money on a new office chair.”
Meredith swatted her brother’s arm as he walked out the door laughing. “You love that chair!” she called after him. “You said it was worth every penny.”
Mo’s laughter was his only response.
“He does love it.” Meredith flopped into Bronwyn’s chair as she spoke, then jumped to her feet. “And you are totally getting one just like it. How do you sit in this? It’s awful.”
Bronwyn looked around the office. The place was trashed. There was still one active bug. Meredith’s drama had gotten rid of the one on the bookshelf. Or moved it anyway. And the one under her desk would be gone by tomorrow.
The next time she used this office, it would be clean of whatever filth had infiltrated her space.
And that stain. Which she really, really hoped wasn’t blood.
But for now she caught Meredith’s eye and nodded for her to follow. She grabbed her purse and they walked out together. When they were in the parking lot, she said, “I can’t have Mo stay with me tonight.”
She’d been thinking about it since Meredith called her in between patients this morning. And while there was a lot to be said for having Mo all to herself and being able to talk things out, she wasn’t ready.
“I’m a chicken, I admit it. But—”
“It’s okay. I talked to Cal. We have a plan that will work.”
“Then let’s hear it.”
“For tonight and tomorrow, I’ll spend the night. We’ll say we need to discuss the renovation. Gray’s working—he has people out of town doing some training, so he’s pulling doubles.”
“Mer—”
“No arguing. All of us, including Mo, will be going to bed early tonight. He can’t work on no sleep, despite what he thinks.
Tomorrow, you and I are going out with Landry.
Cal says she needs a girls’ night. We’ll leave Mo at your house to work.
That gets us through two nights. After that? We’ll see how it’s going.”
“I don’t like this.”
Meredith cocked her head. “Do you think any of us do? We don’t have to like it, but we all have to deal with it.” Before Bronwyn could respond, Meredith kept going. “Let’s go see Cassie and you can tell me what that starlet in your office wanted.”
Bronwyn had little choice but to follow along. All the while, Meredith’s words rang in her soul. Her actions. Mo’s actions. They hadn’t happened in a vacuum, and their impact reached everyone they knew and loved.