Maid in Teaberry Read online

  Maid in Teaberry

  A Teaberry Farm Bed & Breakfast Cozy Mystery

  R. A. Wallace

  2018

  Author’s Note

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, dialogue, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Material in this book is not intended as a substitute for legal or medical advice from qualified professionals. The author has no connection to any software or website mentioned.

  © 2018 R. A. Wallace. All rights reserved.

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter One

  The sun was just beginning to rise on a late summer day. The first hints of light silently seeped into the room under the window blind. Ava Prescott remained in bed enjoying the last restful moment of her day. She could hear the birds singing their morning songs. She kept her eyes closed for just a moment longer trying to recapture the complete peace she had felt upon awakening when she was in that blissful in-between state of sleep and awareness. But thoughts of the day ahead were overtaking the peace and demanding her attention.

  Ava couldn’t deny them any longer. She opened her eyes and planned out her day. After making sure her daughter, Bella, would be okay, Ava needed to begin her typical work routine. She had five houses to clean during the day today but would be able to stop at home to check on Bella at lunchtime before heading out to more cleaning jobs in the afternoon. After that, she would be able to have dinner with Bella before going out in the evening to clean some businesses. Those businesses included the one job she had been most dreading.

  Rolling out of bed quickly, Ava headed to the bathroom to take a shower. They only had the one bathroom. Ava always tried to get in and out as quickly as possible so that the bathroom would be free when Bella woke.

  After the shower, Ava quickly towel dried her shoulder length dark blonde hair then ran a comb through it. She would pull it back into a tail before heading out for the day. Leaving her face make-up free, she examined herself in the mirror. She thought she looked a little older than her thirty years, but she was in fairly good shape otherwise. She knew it was from a routine of constant physical work since her daughter, Isabella, had been born twelve years ago when Ava was eighteen.

  Ava had tried working multiple part-time jobs at different times when Bella was little, but it hadn’t worked out well. There always seemed to be some illness, or difficulty finding or paying for a sitter, that had made it impossible. Finally, Ava had come up with the idea of cleaning houses and businesses and that had been much more manageable. When emergencies rose, she could sometimes bring Bella to work with her. Now that Bella was twelve, she could stay at home on her own for longer lengths of time.

  The old house that they lived in was converted into two apartments. Ava and Bella shared the second floor. The elderly couple on the first floor owned the house. Mr. and Mrs. Givens were also early risers. Ava knew that they would be starting their day around the time she was ready to leave for work.

  Although Mr. Ham and Mrs. Joni Givens didn’t offer to keep Bella with them during the day, Ava knew that they often checked on her when she was home alone. She suspected that her ever thoughtful daughter often checked up on the elderly couple as well.

  This was the first summer that Bella had spent on her own. Ava had a lot of misgivings at the beginning of the summer. So far, things had been working out. The extra money they were saving by not paying a sitter was all going toward Bella’s college fund. It was a fund Ava had been adding to since Bella was in grade school, but even now that sum was pitifully low.

  Ava went out to the kitchen and found Bella already awake and at the stove. Bella was cooking them both a breakfast of egg sandwiches. Ava stopped in the doorway for a moment and watched her daughter working at the stove. Although only twelve, Bella was already five five, the same height as Ava. But that was where the similarities ended. While Ava had always thought she leaned toward plain looking, Bella was beautiful with long chestnut brown hair, high cheekbones, and brown eyes with impossibly long lashes. While Ava had barely made it through school, Bella scored at the highest levels on every assessment she had ever taken.

  Ava moved into the room and opened the refrigerator. She pulled out a carton of juice and poured them both a glass. “What are you planning to do today?” Keeping Bella entertained had never been a problem. She enjoyed reading anything, including encyclopedias. But now that she was getting older, Mr. and Mrs. Givens had come to rely on Bella’s assistance more during the day.

  “Mrs. Givens wants to wash sheets today. I told her I’d help hang them. And Mr. Givens wants to mow the yard, but he’s been having trouble with the lawn mower lately. He’s started letting me do it instead.”

  “That’s very nice of you to help them,” Ava said with a warm smile. She was proud of her daughter.

  “I was looking into those classes that you told me about. There are several I would love to take,” Bella said as she slid an egg onto a bun.

  She set the plate on the table in front of her mother and then turned and made another sandwich for herself. After double checking the controls to make sure she’d turned off the electric element, Bella took the other seat at the table and smiled at her mom. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to take some summer classes at a camp next week. I’ve dreamed of being able to do that for as long as I can remember.”

  Ava took a deep breath then smiled. “Great. That’s great. I’m glad it’s going to work out.”

  ***

  Ross McMann took one last look around his new house. He had been lucky to find a rental house in the same neighborhood as Susan. Susan was both the woman he had begun seeing and the mother of a young man Ross had worked with in Seattle. Jax had come to be the son that Ross had always wanted.

  The problem with having a house, however, was cleaning it. Housekeeping had never been one of Ross’s strengths. Luckily, he had found an ad for a cleaner. After checking with Susan and some of their friends, he’d learned that the cleaner, Ava, had excellent references. Ross was expecting her for the first time this afternoon.

  While he waited, he decided to work on his new business venture. He had begun the process to open a business incubator in Teaberry. He planned to set the new incubator up in a vacant shop in a building he had just purchased on Main Street. The new location would be directly next door to Susan’s florist shop, now run by her daughter, Caitlyn.

  Ross hoped that his business incubator would be able to foster new businesses in Teaberry by providing guidance on developing business plans and, perhaps, helping them with business management skills. The mayor, Barbara Reynolds, had been thrilled to hear his idea. Now that Ross had placed the winning bid for the purchase of the building, it was time for him to put his ideas into work. He’d already hired Megan to develop the web site for his new incubator. Now he needed to find someone interested in developing a new business.

  Ross was going over some financial info
rmation when he heard his doorbell. It took him a moment to remember that it was the new cleaner. He opened his front door to find a young woman dressed in cargo pants and a tee. She was carrying some cleaning equipment and had more sitting on the porch next to her. Ross immediately reached out to help her.

  “I can take some of that,” Ross said as he reached for a large plastic bin full of cleaners.

  “Oh.” Ava looked somewhat surprised as she reluctantly relinquished the bin. “Thanks. I’m used to carrying it all though.” She picked up the rest of her stuff and followed Ross into the house.

  Ross led her to the kitchen, set the bin down, then turned to face his new cleaner. She looked pleasant enough. She was dressed for work, her clothes clean but well-worn. Ross realized that she was studying him also. He smiled. “I confess, I don’t know the first thing about housecleaning. What do you need me to do?”

  Ava smiled back and appeared to be less tense. “Nothing. I shouldn’t get in your way. I might make some noise when I run the vacuum, but other than that, you shouldn’t really notice me much.”

  “Have you been cleaning houses for long?” Ross asked. He’d already checked out her references. He was just interested in learning more about her and thought it was an easy question that might help to put her at ease.

  Ava nodded. “Several years now. I also do businesses in addition to houses.” A tiny frown passed her face.

  Ross noticed the frown. “Something wrong?”

  Ava’s smile almost looked real. “No, I was just thinking of a new job for tonight. I just picked up the old elementary school.”

  “I’m not from here,” Ross said. “But an elementary school sounds big. How are you going to clean that all by yourself?”

  “Oh, it’ll work out. It’s a good job,” Ava said, more to herself, before looking around the room. “I should get started.”

  Ross asked Ava to let him know if she needed anything or had any questions, then he returned to his own work in the room he had taken over as an office.

  ***

  After dinner with Bella, Ava headed back out to work. It was a short drive to the old elementary building. Although Ava had been able to keep up a conversation with Bella during dinner, her mind had been here at the school. While Bella had relayed her day to Ava, spinning funny stories about her adventures with Mr. and Mrs. Givens, Ava had responded automatically while picking at the dinner Bella had prepared for them.

  Since Ava had first approached the mayor and offered to clean the old elementary school, her stomach had been in knots. The irony didn’t escape her. While Bella loved learning and would spend every moment of every day in school if she could, Ava had always hated school. She had barely graduated from high school and had never looked back once she’d left it.

  Ava sat in her car in the lot outside of the old elementary and stared at it. It hadn’t been used for years, but after many starts and stops, it was finally going to be used again. The mayor had come up with some ideas, and some funding, to put it to new uses. Although Barbara Reynolds had several ideas, the summer plans were the ones most important to Ava. The idea was to use the building as a summer learning camp for kids focusing on STEM subjects, those in science, technology, engineering, and math.

  All of them were Bella’s favorite. But, unfortunately, they would not be free. Ava knew that any learning opportunities she could provide for Bella were important and she couldn’t pass up this opportunity. She’d immediately offered to clean the building in exchange for Bella’s classes. There were only two problems, Ava thought as she got out of her car.

  For her entire life, going to school had always made her physically ill. Her stomach was churning now at the thought of having to enter the building, just as it had each morning when she’d dragged herself to school. Ava pulled her cleaning supplies from the car and turned back to the building. One step at a time, she walked toward it, her stomach roiling in protest with each step. She’d hated school, hated the cliques that she’d never fit into, hated never being as good at learning as she wanted to be, as good as she knew the other kids were. She hadn’t gotten the best grades in the class but had worked hard for the grades she did get.

  The second problem with cleaning the old elementary, Ava thought as she let herself into the building with the keys she’d been given, was that it was haunted. Everyone in town knew it. They’d all heard the stories. Many had talked about seeing the lights on in the middle of the night, sometimes inside a room or, at others, moving through the building.

  And the voices. Many had heard the voices. The stories about them were legend. No one knew where the voices came from, but many had heard them and said how frightening they were. Ava took a deep breath as she looked around the hallway where she stood. The building was shaped in the form of an H. The main entrance was in the middle of the first long line forming the letter.

  As Ava stood at the entrance, she could look down the left and see a long hallway, then turn to her right and see another long hallway. There was a short hallway directly in front of her, leading from the main entrance to the other long leg of the H. She knew that if she crossed over to the end of the short hallway, she could either turn left or right to go down the other long leg of the H. The other option was to exit the building in the rear to access the old playground.

  There were stairs leading to another level above her. The second story was designed exactly the same. There were also large basement rooms below her where the furnace and other equipment were housed. Although this building had been closed by the time Ava had gone to school, its design was fairly simple to understand.

  Ava would need to clean each of the classrooms in the evenings whenever there were events in session. The initial cleanings would probably be more intensive than those needed long term. The building hadn’t been used much in years. The mayor had scheduled some renovations before they could use it and those were now completed.

  Ava had already considered her plan of attack. She assumed it would take her several nights during the week of deep cleaning to get the building ready for classes the following week. After that, it would be a matter of routine maintenance while the classes were in session.

  She offered to clean the building for free in exchange for classes each summer for Bella. The mayor countered with her own offer. She’d pay Ava and Bella would still get her classes. Ava was extremely grateful for the offer. It was one she did not refuse. And now it was time to get to work. She planned to spend three hours at the school this evening.

  She fell into the routine of cleaning automatically as she worked from room to room. She sighed in relief when she was nearly done with the rooms that she had planned to clean on her first night. She picked up her cleaning supplies and moved to the final room. She opened the door, set down her supplies, and flipped on the switch as she entered the room.

  She froze when she heard the voices. She had no idea where they were coming from. Frantically, she tried to figure out an exit route from her current location. She was in the far rear side on the second floor, she thought, her heart racing. The only way out was down the stairs at the end of the hall. She was in the middle of the hall now. She’d have to make it to the end, go down the stairs, and halfway down the hall on the first floor. Then, because the rear access door to the playground was locked and chained, she’d have to sprint down the short hall connecting the two long hallways.

  Ava grabbed her cleaning supplies, afraid to leave them behind when she’d need them for work the following day. Then she crept out into the hall. The voices seemed a little louder there. Ava still couldn’t make out the words, but she thought that was because the pounding in her head was too loud. She was more scared than she could ever remember.

  She moved through the building as quickly as possible, frantically looking around her as she went. Finally, she exited the front of the building. She pulled out her phone and quickly dialed nine one one. The operator was polite but made her repeat her story twice before agreeing to send a pol
ice unit out to check on it.

  Ava sat in her car trying to calm the pounding of her heart while she waited. It didn’t take long before the police cruiser pulled into the lot and parked near Ava’s car. The man getting out looked to be her age. He had strawberry blond hair worn military short. He was tall, around six feet. He walked toward her car with a serious look on his face. Ava didn’t recognize him.

  “Ma’am, can you tell me why you called nine one one?” Rhys asked as she got out of her car.

  Ava drew her brows together and wrapped her arms around herself. “I heard voices.”

  Rhys glanced over at the building and then back at Ava. He’d heard some of the rumors since he’d moved to Teaberry. People seeing lights on at odd hours and hearing voices. He assumed they were just stories that kids told other kids while sitting around a campfire.

  “From here, ma’am?”

  “No,” Ava said impatiently, then pointed at the building. “From in there.”

  “What were you doing over there?” Rhys asked.

  Ava sighed. This conversation was going nowhere. “I was cleaning inside the building,” Ava explained, emphasizing the word inside. “I was on the second floor and was on my last classroom for the night. That’s when the voices started.” Ava looked defiantly at Rhys, her head held high, challenging him to argue with what she’d heard.

  Rhys looked at the stubborn set of her jaw. “Stay here.”

  Ava watched him walk into the building, talking on the comm unit attached to his shoulder relaying his position back to dispatch as he did. He was gone for many minutes. He finally exited the building and approached Ava.

  “Everything looks clear to me, ma’am,” Rhys said without emotion.

  Ava didn’t even notice when he called her ma’am again. She knew he was patronizing her. He didn’t believe what she told him.

  “Well, I heard them. I heard the voices.” She heard the frustration in her own voice.

  “I’m not disagreeing, ma’am. I’m just saying, I can’t find anything now,” Rhys said noncommittally. “Will you need to return to the building?”