She rested her head against the wall, this time with a smile. Her gaze wandered past the standoffish cat—she tried not to take it personally—to the box of ornaments. The tree topper, carefully wrapped, was on the top of the bundle now. When she was a kid, Gramps used to lift her to put that tree topper on the tree every year. When she got too big to lift, he’d put out the stepladder for her.
Which reminded her, she needed to find a tree. But first, she needed to check on Bob.
Chapter 11
Julie reached the kitchen just as Bob was testing the hinges on the cabinet door. It swung easily open and shut without that jarring crunching sound she’d noticed, or the way it listed to one side. It was fixed.
“Next I’ll do the spindle and the rail out front,” Bob assured her, “but I wanted to let you know about something I noticed first.”
His tone of voice made her stomach sink.
He opened the cabinet door to reveal the pipes beneath the sink. “You’ve got a leak in there.” With the door open, not muffling the sound, she could hear the intermittentdrip, drip, drip.
She peeked in to see the bottom of the cabinet was wet. She backed out and looked up at Bob. “Can you fix it?”
“I don’t do plumbing, but Ned Wheatly does.” Bob shut the door with care. “It’s a good thing Ida had the water turned off while it was closed up. I’m sorry I didn’t check under the cabinets when I turned it back on. It’s not a huge deal, but you should call Ned to get that fixed as soon as you can. You’ll have mold and who knows what else, otherwise.”
Julie tried to keep her growing dismay out of her voice as she thumbed the name into the notes on her phone. “That wouldn’t be good. I hope Ned can come out soon.”
“Don’t you worry. He knew Ida. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to run on over and fix this as soon as he can.”
After digging around in his pockets, Bob found an old receipt and a pen. He scrawled a number on the back of the receipt and held it out to her.
Julie let out a slow breath. “Thanks, Bob, and thanks for getting the house ready too.” She glanced at the basement door. “You didn’t happen to notice any openings in the basement, did you? A broken window or maybe rot around the door?”
“No. Why?”
“When I arrived, a cat was in there. I was wondering whether something needed fixing so other animals don’t get in.”
Bob frowned and looked at the door. “A cat? Huh. I don’t remember seeing any cats. I’ll double-check if you want.”
“That would be great.”
While Bob checked the basement, she called the number he’d given her for Ned and left a message on the answering machine. Hopefully, the leak wouldn’t cause a problem with the party plans.
By the time she hung up the phone, Bob had come up from the basement. “I didn’t find anything down there.”
Julie frowned. “You sure?” If there was no opening, how did the cat get in? The creature hadn’t been starving either—not that you could tell by the way it kept demanding food in front of the cabinet—but when she’d picked him up to put him in the carrier, she’d noticed he had some fat on him.
“Yep. But you know cats, they can squeeze into little spaces. I wouldn’t worry about it. Come to think of it, it may have run in when I was down there turning the water on, and I didn’t notice.” He picked up his tool chest. “Well, I better be going. Give me a call if you need anything else.”
Bob vacated the kitchen, and the cat trotted in and installed himself in front of the customary cabinet door. That was probably it—the cat had snuck in, and when Bob closed up, it was stuck in the basement. She wondered again whether it belonged to someone, but Myrtle would have called if anyone came in to claim him. Maybe she should double-check again, and also find out if any space had opened up at the animal shelter.
Chapter 12
“What’s this about a party?”
Nolan’s heart pinched at the sound of Gramps’s words. He didn’t want to turn around, as he didn’t want to see the grief on Gramps’s face, so he forced himself to focus on the coffeepot. “Do you want a coffee?”
“I want you to answer the question.”
Nolan did hazard a glance at Gramps’s face, then. It was stone.
With an internal sigh, he replaced the coffeepot into its dock and turned with his cup cradled in one hand. Calmly, evenly, he met his grandfather’s gaze. “Apparently, they’re throwing one last party at the Cozy Holly Inn. Like they used to have on Christmas Eve.”
Gramps made a dismissive noise. When he moved into the kitchen, he showed his age. His gait was stiff, but his shoulders were thrust back, and his chin held high. Nolan pretended not to notice his difficulty. However, Gramps didn’t take a chair. He walked up to Nolan instead.
“That Green girl is throwing a party?”
