"Donnie knows but he ain't talking. Maybe I can fish around on the Internet and dig up some poop. There must be a newspaper account of the drowning someplace."
"Good idea." Dean reached for a piece of pie. "You didn't find out anything else, 'cleaning' the rooms?"
"I read Claire Quincy's notes on her great aunt Annie. If she knows the truth about Annie's past, she isn't admitting it. She's buying Mrs. Martin as her kin. All her information is on that woman, all the good deeds she did, with nothing about the real Annie. But Donnie's been transcribing Annie's notebook. I saw the copy Cynthia made for him in his and Edith's room." He put down his spoon. "It was real sad how Annie ended up. I wish I had the date so I could look again to see if I maybe missed it in the paper the first time I checked."
Before Dean could answer, there was a knock on the front door and he rose to answer it. It was Franny. She stood on the front porch, cigarette in hand, huddled in the corner so as not to be seen by Ryland when he returned Dean guessed.
"Sorry. I left my key on my bureau," she said, extinguishing her smoke in the provided ashtray.
"No problem. Lots of people forget them." Dean noticed a marked change in Frannie's demeanor-she looked as if she might have been crying. "We only lock up at night," he said, to make conversation. "We didn't even do that at first but some of the guests were nervous. It gets to be a pain at times."
"I suppose half the people run off with the key," she said, her back toward him but making no move to return inside. The afternoon sun bathed them like summer, and Dean, in spite of being coatless, was embraced by the warmth.
"We lose lots of keys. We were about to run out so I got smart and just changed the front door lock after Christmas. This time our keys say 'Bird Song' on the key fob." When she turned and he looked down at her, he could clearly see her reddened eyes. "What's the problem?" he asked.
She managed a sweet smile. "It shows, huh?" He nodded. "Damned! I don't want that bastard to know." She wiped her eyes vigorously. "I'm just a little up tight."
"You have every right to be," Dean answered. "But my guess is you don't have any reason to doubt Ryland loves you. Edith is a very manipulative woman. She crawled in bed with him while he was asleep. He didn't instigate anything-just the opposite."