Chapter 17
The following morning, Sophie was at the front desk of the Eco-Lodge by six thirty, watching as a collection of sleepy-eyed guests popped down the staircase, eager for their pre-hike breakfasts.
Sophie practiced her best and brightest smiles on them, her fingers poised on the keyboard before her, hungry for information.
She remembered what Ruth had told her. Ruth needed information they could use to pit against the Caldweck family.
Surely, given Sophie’s past and research capabilities, she could find something.
It was clear that the Caldwecks had never let their children make very many mistakes. More than that, Sophie guessed that Ruth had been one of the so-called “mistakes” that the Caldwecks had had to clean up.
The factories owned by the Caldwecks performed a variety of functions.
They built parts for everything from automobiles to hot tubs to toys to appliances.
In the easy days of Caldweck fortune, Quentin’s great-grandfather employed entire towns, boosting the economy for everyone.
So many years later, the Caldwecks turned to whatever machinery or artificial intelligence they could, to the point that many of the towns they once employed were now desolate, their people without money or any prospects for future work.
Sophie knew this kind of thing happened everywhere. It wasn’t illegal.
It was nothing she could pin on the Caldwecks. It wasn’t the kind of thing Ruth could use.
The only odd detail she'd found was a Bluebell Cove community forum post from a few months back.
Someone had asked, anonymously, whether anyone knew how to break a nanny contract with a local family.
The responses were sparse and unhelpful, and the post had since been deleted. Sophie screenshotted it anyway.
By eight thirty, Celia and Juliet were at the Eco-Lodge. Celia peered over Sophie’s shoulder and muttered, “Anything yet?”
“Nothing,” Sophie groaned.
Juliet eyed them both nervously. Sophie guessed that Celia had given Juliet a small understanding of what was going on and who they were hiding from.
But before Juliet could say a thing, the front door to the Eco-Lodge opened, and in marched Quentin Caldweck and a man Sophie didn’t recognize.
They were both wearing suits that made them look overly formal and ridiculous, especially in this space.
“Good morning.” Quentin grinned at Sophie. “Good to see you again.”
Sophie fixed her smile. It was better to be agreeable until she figured out what on earth he wanted. “Good to see you, too,” she said. “What can I help you with?”
Quentin put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I want to introduce you to my friend Alex Garnett. He’s a lawyer a few towns over. We went to Yale together.”
“Wow. Yale,” Sophie said. She couldn’t quite shake all the sarcasm from her voice.
Alex and Quentin seemed not to notice.
“We have unfortunate news for the Harpers and the Eco-Lodge,” Alex the lawyer said, his voice echoing through the lobby. “It seems that the updates you made to the space last year are not in accordance with Maine state law.” He slapped a big folder on the front desk.
Sophie blinked down at it. Her thought was, This is above my pay grade. Her second thought was, The Caldwecks will stop at nothing to smoke Ruth out.
Luckily, Celia and Aunt Juliet appeared beside her a moment later.
“What seems to be the trouble?” Celia asked sweetly.
Alex, the lawyer, explained that the remodeling Celia and her sisters had done on the Eco-Lodge hadn’t been in accordance with Maine state law, nor with the laws meant to control Bluebell Cove’s historical architecture and “heartbeat,” whatever that meant.
Celia’s smile never ceased. “I can assure you, everything we did to this inn was in accordance with every kind of law. I don’t know where you got your information.”
“If everything’s in accordance, as you say, then you won’t mind us walking through to check on everything,” Alex said seedily.
“Actually, I do mind. This is private property,” Celia said. “Our guests are eating breakfast or still resting upstairs. I can’t very well have you…”
But Alex and Quentin had already stormed through the lobby and headed for the stairs. Sophie’s heart pounded in her neck. She mouthed the words to her mother, “They’re after Ruth.”
Celia nodded, sucking in her cheeks. They were both thinking the same thing. Ruth was securely in Celia and Landon’s place and safe from the Caldwecks for now.
“I’m going to call the police!” Juliet cried, chasing them with her cell phone raised.
“Don’t,” Celia whispered, drawing Juliet back around.
Juliet gaped at her. Together, the three Harper women listened as Alex and Quentin stormed upstairs, searching for, as they said, “proof that the redesign” hadn’t been up to code.
Juliet’s whisper barely reached Sophie’s ear. “Was it not? Up to code?”
Celia raised her shoulders to her ears. “Maybe there were a few things that…”
“Celia!” Juliet cried.
“Honestly, almost everything is perfect! A portrait of legality!” Celia rasped back. “But we wanted to put environmentalism before anything else. That doesn’t always mean you can play by the state’s rules! Come on. We talked about this.”
Juliet gestured vaguely toward the staircase. “What if they put us out of business?”
Then they heard a terrible knock from upstairs, followed by Quentin’s voice. “If anyone’s in there, you need to come out. Now.” He sounded like an authoritative father.
Sophie’s stomach sloshed. A moment later, Quentin returned downstairs and told them he needed the iron key for the small room upstairs, room thirteen.
Because Ruth’s room had been completely vacated and cleaned for another guest, Sophie handed over the key and told him to investigate himself.
“But don’t mess anything up!” she said. “That room is for a guest who’s arriving later today. ”
Quentin stalled at the staircase. Confusion marred his face. “Where is the guest coming from?”
“Out west,” Sophie answered truthfully, because she’d seen the file earlier that morning.
Quentin looked deflated. He stormed back upstairs to investigate the room himself. But within ten minutes, he and his lawyer were storming out of the lobby and into the glittering June sunlight, annoyed, their cheeks blotchy.
Sophie, Juliet, and Celia waited a good ten minutes before they said anything. They wanted to ensure that Alex and Quentin were far down the road before they gave anything away.
“I don’t understand it,” Juliet breathed. “That poor woman.”
“She hasn’t told you what’s going on?” Celia asked Sophie.
Sophie shook her head, then pulled up another round of online documents meant to illustrate the past decades of Caldweck factory profits. There had to be something there, something to squash Quentin and force him to back off. But what?
It was then, as Celia and Juliet muttered to one another, speculating about Ruth and about Ruth and Quentin’s shared past, that Ruth called Sophie. In hearing Ruth’s voice, Sophie felt a jolt of tenderness that surprised her.
“He came here today,” she whispered, her eyes widening.
“He’s gone?” Ruth asked.
“Yes. He has no idea what’s going on,” Sophie assured her.
“I know better than to underestimate a Caldweck,” Ruth murmured. “Oh, but I’m not calling about that.”
Ruth explained that she’d called her lawyer friend in Manhattan, a woman named Dina. “She wants to take your case,” Ruth said.
Sophie’s stomach throbbed. Why wouldn’t this all go away?
“I can’t pay her,” Sophie said, barely loud enough for Ruth to hear and certainly not loud enough for her mother and Juliet.
“We can talk about that,” Ruth said. “But my friend’s had a wonderful career in Manhattan. She takes on the occasional pro bono project, especially when it comes highly recommended.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Sophie offered. “I’m grateful. Really. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Ruth said. “You’ve been more than welcoming to me. I’m sure I don’t deserve it.”
Sophie couldn’t understand why Ruth didn’t think she deserved anything, not love nor goodness nor comfort nor safety.
Sophie prayed that she’d never get so low in life as to believe that about herself, too.
She told Ruth she’d see her later and bring food back to the house to make Ruth’s hideout a little cozier.
Ruth thanked her. She said, “I can’t hide out here forever.
But it’s given me a sense of peace I forgot was possible. ”