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There was a mantle clock on the shelf behind the counter, and I frowned as the minutes ticked away with no sign of Bryant’s return. Their private conversation moved into a full hour, then two, and I was just about to head upstairs to have a word of my own when Alice headed downstairs into the store.
“Henry, fill this list,” she said, handing him a slip of paper, then turned to me. “Miss McEwan, come up to the kitchen with me.”
“You can call me Callista,” I offered as I followed her up the narrow staircase.
“Fine then, Callista. I’ve a kettle boiling and had Michael drag up the washtub from the storeroom. He said that you’d appreciate a hot bath.”
“I would! Thank you so much. Uh, where is he, by the way?” I asked when walking into the empty kitchen.
“Out doing business at Hodges Trading Post. Here, let’s get you out of those things. Ugh, they need a good scrubbing by the look and smell of them. I’ll get something else of Emily’s out for you to change in the meantime.”
I washed my hair and body as best as could be done in a hipbath with harsh lye soap, but cleaned and changed into fresh clothing, I felt gratefully renewed afterwards.
Alice’s help was calculated, though. Every few minutes, she strategically prodded me with questions as to my origins, and where my mysterious friends were since no one seems to have seen or heard from them, and what purpose did I have for still living with Bryant up in the mountains all alone when by all rights and proper sensibilities I should be with said unknown missing friends.
“How long do you intend to stay here in Silver Falls then, Callista?” Alice arched a brow as she combed and braided back my damp hair, adding, “Or with Michael himself at his cabin, for that matter?”
I grimaced, hoping Bryant had already broached the subject about me staying there at the store. Apparently not.
“As soon as my friends arrive in Silver Falls,” I said. “They were delayed.”
By a full century, in fact.
“Yes, so you keep saying.”
“Bryant’s been very kind to put me up until they come,” I added.
“He’s a good man,” Alice agreed, tying off my braid with a blue ribbon. I turned to check my appearance in the mirror, noting her tightening expression behind me. “Some would say too good.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“You say that you’re only visiting here in Silver Falls for a short time, are you not?”
“I did. I am.”
“Make it shorter,” Alice added with arched brow.
Her reflection staring at me communicated something very important, something she wasn’t going to voice aloud.
A warning?
One thing I knew certainly, this woman was not going to let me stay in her own home four long months. It sounded like she didn’t want me to stay four more minutes.
“Michael said for you to pick out some clothes for yourself from the store that he’ll pay for.”
She opened the armoire door, displaying several skirts, blouses and dresses.
“I don’t have much downstairs that would fit a slim woman such as yourself, but you can take anything you like of Emily’s. She’s gone now and has no need for them.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll be sure to thank Bryant as well. It’s generous of both of you to help me out like this. I know that I’m still a stranger to everyone. And a burden.”
She didn’t disagree.
“I’ll pack up what can be carried and have everything ready when you leave this evening.” Then Alice turned a gimlet eye to me adding, “Although I do find it interesting that you have traveled so far without so much as decent clothes to cover your body.”
Before I could respond to that unspoken accusation, Alice bustled away, leaving me alone in the guest bedroom.
No fool, Alice Bautista. She would make an excellent intelligence officer in the FBI.
