Free All Fudged Up (A Candy-Coated Mystery) by Nancy CoCo Page B

been useless. He needs firing.”
    I stopped and frowned. “His wife died? You didn’t tell me that.”
    “Oh, honey, it happened years ago. I’m surprised your grandfather didn’t fire him when he didn’t straighten up.” Frances pulled a small brush out of her pocketbook and faced the tiny mirror on the side wall and brushed out her hair until there was no sign she’d worn a hat. “If you ask me, he used his wife’s passing as an excuse to drink his life away.”
    Frances patted her hair, fluffing it up. “As handymen go, Colin was good at plumbing but little else. Liam had too big a heart where that man was concerned. Whenever I complained about Colin, Liam’d shrug and tell me that he could do most of the work himself anyway.” She put her brush away and turned to me. “Do you know who you’re going to hire in his place?”
    “I have no idea,” I said through gritted teeth as I yanked on the eight-inch piece of carpet in my hands. This time it gave way, popping and ripping as I went from knees to a power squat to standing. Soon I had a good eight feet of carpet in my hands. My arm muscles shook but a rush of happiness filled me. I could do this.
    “Well, look at that,” Frances stood with her arms akimbo and peered at the floor where the carpet used to be. “Is that blood?”
    “What?!” I moved the carpet out of my line of sight and could see the swatch of lobby floor that I had exposed. There was a large stain that was reddish-brown against the dark varnish of the wood. “Huh.”
    “Maybe you should put that carpet back over it.”
    “What? No.” I shook my head. “Papa never said anything about anyone dying in the hotel.”
    “Hmm.” Frances moved quickly off the carpet and onto the wood floor as I renewed my ripping. Dust flew. The air filled with the scent of decades of old dirt, even older floor varnish, and fresh paint. At least the walls were dry before I started. There wouldn’t be a chance of anything currently floating in the air sticking in the paint, but I may have to wash the walls when the floors were done. Another thing for my to-do list.
    I rolled the carpet as I went. It turns out it was only attached with strong tack strips around the edges. Once I wrenched the staples up, the carpet itself came up with relative ease. Of course it must have weighed one hundred or more pounds. My poor arms shook and my back strained. I had a feeling it was going to take a couple of ice packs and aspirin later tonight if I hoped to get any sleep. I was known for my candy-making skills, not my upper-body strength. But when the budget was limited, it was sweat equity that saved the day. Papa used to say I got my stubborn determination from Grammy. I’d like to think that was the truth anyway.
    “This is definitely blood.” Frances stood over the large spot and several smaller spots that trailed off toward the front door. “Maybe we should contact the police. You might have uncovered a crime scene.”
    I pursed my lips and tried to catch my breath. Sweat tickled the back of my neck. “Will it keep us from opening on time?”
    “Oh, I doubt it. This carpet and padding were laid back in the fifties. It’s not like this is a fresh scene. But reporting this and having it documented and tested is the responsible thing to do. There might be an open case, you know.”
    “Oh, right. Go ahead then.” I waved her toward the desk phone. I looked at the giant roll of carpet and knew there was no way I was going to be able to carry it out to the Dumpster by myself. I eyed Frances. The woman was five foot six when she was young but age had caused her to shrink down to five foot two. While she wasn’t exactly scrawny, it would be too hilarious to picture the two of us trying to muscle the carpet out of the building. I blew out a deep breath and watched the dust dance around in the sunlight.
    There was nothing to do about it. I was going to have to cut the carpet up into smaller pieces. Before I could