Chapter 3
Making their way inside, a warm and inviting voice rings out.
"Welcome dears. Are you with the Donaldson party?"
The petit old lady, older than the voice suggested, comes around to the front of the house and gives them a warm and reassuring gesture to come further into the cottage home. Dressed in a flowery red gown and matching house shoes, she takes off a pair of oven mitts and picks up her registry book. All through ought the room, various rabbits and cute bunnies decorate every square inch.
Myka leans forward scanning the room, but doesn't see the artifact anywhere.
"No, actually. We were driving by and felt compelled to stop for the night." She digs out the compass and carefully swings the top open to see the compass arm swing wildly for 10 seconds then point towards kitchen the old woman came from.
The woman smiles at the threesome and opens the book.
"Well you are blessed! We had a last minute cancellation due to a death in a couple's wedding party, and we have 2 cottages available. We normally have wedding couples stay here. We are known all down the west coast to be the place to stay if you want to "get lucky" as you young folks say. We say it's our specialty to make the romance happen here."
Claudia whispers to Myka, "Why am I afraid I might have some nightmare with Peter Cottontail stalking me all night."
Helena suppresses a grin and steps forward.
"Well we just loved the view here, and we'll take what's available."
The old lady sets down the book, and offers the pen to Helena to fill out the registry.
"Like I said, my sister and I are the specialists in romance, so each cottage only has one bed. So who's the lucky couple?"
Without thinking, and from the short time she's worked at the warehouse, Claudia wisely throws her bid forth before anyone can make claim to the only extra room.
"I call the second cottage!"
The old woman smiles knowingly.
"I thought as much. I have an eye for this sort of thing."
Almost in unison Myka and Helena spill out a stream of denials, which seem to glance off the old lady's thick hide of knowledge. She smiles reassuringly and chides them into silence.
"Hey it's okay, love is love here. We have you lesbian couples visit here at least once or twice a month, it's all the same to us."
Smiling broadly, Claudia fills in the second entry for her cottage and shuffles through the last few entries. Not seeing any unique names or addresses, she takes out her camera phone and silently snaps pictures of the pages going back 2 weeks. Perplexed, she can't help but inquire.
"Is there anyone else who have checked in before us with a Russian or European accent?"
The woman seems taken back momentarily by the question.
"Oh dear no! I would have remembered that. The last couple which checked in was yesterday…the Wyatt's, a lovely newlywed couple from California. Normally our rooms are booked months in advance, that's why I said you were blessed to have been able to stay tonight. The next couple to check in isn't due until this weekend. So the most you three can stay are three nights." She ponders noticeably before continuing. "Uh…should there have been? A European couple, I mean?"
Claudia dodges the question by meekly shaking her head no.
"I thought one of the names looked familiar, that's all. Thanks."
Myka casually strolls around the room watching the needle on the compass continue to point directly towards the kitchen area. Frustrated, she remembers the name on the mailbox at the gate, and turns towards the woman.
"Ms. Garrett. It is Ms. Garrett right? Do you have like a safe to store valuables for the guests?"
The woman confirms her name and smiles.
"Why yes we do! Though I haven't had a need for it in ages, but if you want something stored while you stay here, I can lock it up for you. My grandson installed the behemoth decades ago, and I think I've only used it half a dozen times since."
Myka notices she glanced several times towards the kitchen when she was talking about the safe, confirming the location.
"Not yet. If we have to stay more than one night, I think I will. Thank you."
Ms. Garrett turns to Myka and speaks to her in a quiet voice.
"You should really make time for romance, sweetie. You'll never find it penciled in on any schedule book. Our rates are reasonable, and I'm giving you a discount rate. I would have two unfilled rooms if it weren't for you three. So stay a few nights, and let the romance happen."
Myka blushes four different shades of red. Before she can issue a fresh round of denials, Helena hooks her arm and leads her out to their cottage. As the three split to their separate cottages, Myka grabs Claudia's arm and practically squeezes her arm into two.
"If you so much breathe a word of this to Pete or ANYONE else, I swear…"
Claudia is practically fighting from collapsing in laughter. Her constrained smirk, not so much.
"Hey! What happens in Vegas, stay s in Vegas."
Fuming, Myka has little choice but to let her go and join Helena inside. Helena, toting an overnight bag, sets it on the queen-size bed. The cottage was no larger than a two room house with a magnificent bathroom and living room. At the back of the living room, a small bar refrigerator was stocked with a bottle of wine and 4 large bottles of water.
After kicking their shoes off, Myka sits down onto the couch and calls Claudia on the Farnsworth.
Claudia's repressed grin was getting worse.
"Okay, I checked the names on the registry and they all checked out. Everyone staying here now, other than ourselves of course has been here for the last four days. No one has any foreign connections or bank accounts to speak of, and definitely no known Russian connections. Oh! I just found out that there were 7 men murdered today who have Eastern European dissent. Five were local Russian mob enforcers, and two were here in this country with visitor visas. Get this: they were from Moscow. They had flown in yesterday and were scheduled to depart tomorrow. I bet these were our guys."
Helena come up behind Myka and leans into view.
"How do you figure that? If they were after the artifact, how come it's here and not with them?"
Claudia nods.
"Ah my astute lovebird!"
Myka's clenched teeth stops Claudia from pursuing her joke.
"You see, the five were killed at a little Russian café in Seattle, and our two foreign guys were killed at a hotel a few miles away from here. You want to guess how those five were killed?"
Myka and Helena wait impatiently.
"Drumroll please…evisceration! Just like our contact was in the market, and this time no one saw or heard a thing. Oh, and Artie says he can't find anything out about contact because she disappeared from the hospital she was sent to. The thing is, our two guys here were shot to death, but no one remembers hearing any gunfire either."
Myka takes out the compass and see its still pointing directly at the main cottage.
"This doesn't make any sense. The artifact is here, right? So how come it's HERE, and not in some Russian mobster's possession?"
Helena contemplates momentarily.
"Who's to say it isn't? What's the story on our elderly B&B owner?"
Claudia, typing furiously, tries to keep up.
"I thought of that too, and they're clean as a whistle…whatever that is supposed to mean. Ms. Garrett was employed as a House Matron for a number of years before retiring. She came out of retirement 15 years ago to head the business with her sister Francis, and they are ranked quite highly in the local economy. They are listed in many circles as the premiere business to model after, and they have taken the B&B business to a new level in the past 8 years. They're attributed to the city winning the national best hotel and lodging award for the past 7. All the bed and breakfasts around here are part of the city's B&B Advisory Council, which regulates and standardized all the B&Bs within the city."
Myka nods her head.
"Something like a homeowner's association?"
Claudia nods her head as well.
"Yah, it looks like if you want to have a B&B in the city, you have to abide by their rules. Crazy stuff."
Myka is suddenly struck by exhaustion and can't stop yawning.
"Alright Claudia, keep looking into this crazy HOA thing, and we'll begin scouring the area for our artifact in the morning."
Claudia nods simply. Before Myka closes the connection she throws out her last jab for the evening.
"Goodnight you two…don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Before Myka can shoot out a rant, Claudia shuts her Farnsworth off, avoiding the verbal lashing waiting for her.
Helena goes to the bathroom and comes back in a red nightgown, to Myka's surprise. Myka, taken by the beautiful sight, blinks rapidly and pulls away as her face turns a pinker shade.
Smiling, Helena stops in doorway.
"I have an extra nightgown if you want it?"
Almost immediately, Myka stammers out a fast response.
"NO! Uh...no thank you. I'll be fine. I'll just take the couch."
After several awkward exchanges of taking the other's place, Helena relinquishes the couch to Myka and she slips under the sheets of the bed.
Myka's eyes gingerly flutter open. Light floods into the bedroom from the wide-open drapes. As she instinctively starts to curse the light, she's overcome by a strong sense of complete restfulness filling her body, and notices the light doesn't even bother her. For the first time in many months, she actually wakes completely rested and fulfilled. With the weight of her job and years of abuse, she feels it's the first time in ages she's ever woken fully rested and lacks the need for coffee to get energized to leave the bed. Pulling the covers over her bare shoulders, she lays in the bed relishing the feeling coursing through her body. As her senses slowly take in their surroundings, she notices the soft expensive sheets caressing every square inch of her skin, and a queer foreign taste lingers on her lips and in her mouth. Fear suddenly overtakes her as her hand wanders down her side and fails to find any of her clothes she went to sleep in. Her heart skips a beat as she feels another woman's naked body casually nestle up close behind her and wrap a hand over her hip then curl around her waist. With her heart pounding madly, Myka slowly cranes her head around to see Helena fast asleep smiling. Like a bomb suddenly exploding in their room, Helena's eyes shoot open in terror and she locks onto Myka's equally terrified wide-eyed stare.