Dawn in Eclipse Bay

chapter 17

Shortly before noon the next day, Lillian stood in the opening that separated the mudroom from the back hall and watched Gabe and the Willis brothers. The three men huddled around the broken lock with a solemn air. Their expressions were grave, their voices hushed and serious. A guy thing, she thought. You saw it whenever the male of the species was in the presence of a nonfunctioning piece of hardware or machinery.

“Looks like the work of an amateur.” Torrance Willis bent low to make a closer examination of the gouges in the door frame. “A real pro would have slipped right through this old lock without leaving a scratch. What d’ya say, Walt?”

Walter stooped to get a better look. “Yep. An amateur, all right.”

Lillian hid a grin. The Willis brothers were identical twins but in style and appearance they were opposites. With his completely shaved head, precisely pressed work clothes, and neat, mechanical movements, Walter always made her think of an efficient little robot. In contrast, Torrance was a genial slob. His long, straggly hair was cinched in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. His clothes were stained with what looked like several years’ worth of oil, paint, grease, and some orange-red stuff that might have been pizza sauce.

“For what it’s worth, Sean Valentine agrees with you.” Gabe studied the gouges. “Not that it tells us much.”

“If whoever broke in here is the same rat who hit Arizona on the head, I reckon he’s long gone,” Walter said. “Be a damn fool to hang around Eclipse Bay now that the heat is on.”

“I hope you’re right,” Gabe said. “But the important thing is to get something solid on this door. I don’t want Lillian spending another night here with a busted lock.”

“No problem.” Torrance absently scratched the snake tattoo that slithered out from beneath the sleeve of his grimy work shirt. “After you called us this morning, we stopped off at the hardware store. Picked up just what we need. We’ll have this fixed in no time.”

Walter selected some tools from a polished metal box. “Won’t take long. We can fill in those gouge marks and paint ’em out for you, too.”

“That would be great,” Lillian said. “I really appreciate this. I know how busy you are with Dreamscape.”

“Rafe and Hannah would be the first to tell us to take care of this for you,” Walter said. “But I got to admit, they’re keeping us real busy over there at the inn.”

“You got that right,” Torrance agreed. There was a groan of metal and wood as he leaned into the task of removing the broken lock. “Walt and me didn’t even bother to bid on any of the work on the new wing of the institute. Knew we wouldn’t have time.”

“Not that we was invited to bid, mind you.” Walter removed the new lock from its packaging. “Perry Decatur is runnin’ things up there now. Doesn’t like dealin’ with local business if he can avoid it. Made it real clear he wanted to bring in out-of-town contractors. Said they were morecompetitive.”

“Like money’s the most important aspect of a good job,” Torrance scoffed. “No respect for fine craftsmanship these days.”

“So you two didn’t even get a slice of the project?” Gabe asked.

“Nope.” Walter positioned the new lock. “Not to say we don’t get some work on the side from time to time. Lot of the folks employed up there are local. They know us. They call us when they got a plumbing problem or need a hot-water tank replaced. Those fancy out-of-town contractors aren’t interested in the small jobs.”

“Claire Jensen mentioned that she had you take care of a clogged toilet for her,” Lillian said.

“Yep, she did, as a matter of fact.” Walter exchanged a meaningful look with Torrance. Both men smirked.

“What’s the joke?” Gabe asked.

“Nothing much.” Torrance readied a drill. “Just that while Walt and me was in Claire’s bathroom we couldn’t help noticing that she had some birth control pills and a box of condoms under the bathroom sink.”

Lillian frowned. “Don’t you think it’s a little tacky to snoop in people’s bathroom cupboards when they hire you to fix their plumbing?”

Walter had the grace to blush. “You’re right. We shouldn’t have said nothin’ about it.”

“Why not?” Torrance said. “Not like it’s news. That woman always did have what you’d call an active social life, even back in the old days. Remember how she used to sneak around with Larry Fulton?”

“Sure do,” Walter said. “The two of ’em used to crawl into the back of his dad’s delivery van and go at it like a couple of bunnies.”

Lillian straightened in the doorway. “She ran around with Larry Fulton? But he’s married.”

“This was back before he married Sheila Groves and took over his dad’s grocery store,” Walter assured her. “Way back when he was still in college. That sound right to you, Torrance?”

“Yep, sounds about right. Way I hear it, Claire hasn’t changed much over the years.”

“I think that’s enough gossip about Claire,” Gabe said.

He spoke quietly, but Walter and Torrance immediately changed the subject. Lillian smiled to herself. Everyone knew that whatever else you could say about the Madison men, they didn’t kiss and tell. Apparently, they didn’t listen to other masculine gossip about women either. That kind of old-fashioned chivalry was an extremely endearing trait in a man.