Free The Corpse Wore Tartan by Kaitlyn Dunnett

accept.”
    â€œHow soon is Gordon Tandy due back?”
    â€œIn a couple of months.” Trust Pete to go right to the heart of the matter. Dan’s rival for Liss’s affections was currently out of state. A state trooper by profession, Tandy had been sent for special training to some police academy out west. Dan didn’t know the details. He didn’t want to remind Liss of Gordon Tandy by asking.
    â€œBetter get a move on, chum. Time’s a wasting. Speaking of time, shouldn’t the supper be breaking up pretty soon? Sherri wants to talk to all of them.”
    Dan glanced at his watch. He’d lost track of time and was surprised to see that it was nearly ten. “They booked that private dining room until midnight. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to let them know not to call it a night until they’ve seen Sherri. I—”
    The lights went out.
    â€œDamn.”
    After a moment, they flickered and came back on again.
    â€œBetter check the phone,” Pete said.
    Dan lifted the receiver and heard nothing but dead air. “Landlines are out.”
    â€œNot too surprising, I guess.”
    â€œAt least we’ve still got cell phones.”
    â€œDon’t count on it.” Sherri entered the lobby, police band radio in hand. “My portable isn’t working.” She returned it to its holster on her utility belt. “The tower must be down.”
    Dan checked his cell phone. “No service. Just how bad is this storm supposed to get?”
    As if in answer, the lights flickered again.
    â€œWell, hell,” he muttered.
    An outage wasn’t totally unexpected, but neither was it something to take lightly. Like everyone else who’d lived in that part of Maine for a long time, Dan still had vivid memories of the ice storm of ’98. That one had knocked out power for the best part of a week. He still had the T-shirt that commemorated it.
    If the hotel lost power, backup generators would kick in. They’d provide enough juice to pump water in from the well and run the refrigerators and freezers in the kitchen. Fortunately the stoves and ovens ran on gas. The generators would keep lights and heat going, too, but not at full capacity. Faced with the possibility that they might lose electricity for days rather than just hours, especially if the winter storm turned really wild and wooly, the Ruskins had prudently stockpiled emergency supplies. To conserve energy, they had plenty of battery-powered lanterns for light and they could stoke up the fireplaces in the public rooms to augment the heat.
    â€œWe’d best grab a few flashlights and head for the private dining room,” Dan said, suiting action to words. There were three in a drawer behind the counter. “If the power does go out, we may have to do without electric lights for a while. There will be less panic if our guests are prepared. I’d like to get everyone down here to the lobby. Once we gather them all in one place, I can brief them on safety measures and hand out lanterns.”
    â€œ And tell them I’m waiting to talk to them,” Sherri said, taking one of the flashlights and trailing after Dan toward the stairway to the mezzanine.
    â€œTell me where you keep the lanterns,” Pete said, armed with the third flashlight, “and I’ll start bringing them up.”
    â€œI’ll show you,” said Joe Ruskin, coming up behind Pete. He dumped a large cardboard box full of them on top of the check-in desk.
    â€œBetter take the stairs,” Dan called after them as his father and Pete headed back the way Joe had come. The storage room was in the basement, and it wouldn’t help matters any if the two of them ended up trapped between floors in the freight elevator.
    â€œCan you leave the check-in desk unattended?” Sherri asked when they reached the mezzanine.
    â€œIf the power goes out, calls from guest rooms won’t get through anyway. And, trust