Free The Dead Season by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

and said, "Mr. Gaines? It's Joe Hardy. Can I come in?"
    From inside he heard feet shuffling, then the door finally flew open. "Welcome, my boy. Welcome," the old man said. "Come in, come in. You're my first visitor in my new home."
    Joe entered the small cottage and tried to find a place to sit or even stand. Boxes were stacked in every conceivable place, and most of the stacks reached to the ceiling.
    The only things that Gaines seemed to have unpacked were his art supplies. A blank canvas was already resting on an easel in the only vacant corner in the room.
    Apparently Joe had arrived just as the old man was about to begin a new painting.
    "Sit anywhere," said Gaines as he himself took the only seat, a small stool that was set up in front of the canvas.
    "Thanks," said Joe, standing in place by the door. "I'm fine right here."
    "Suit yourself," said Gaines. The old man picked up a brush and began to dip it into the splotches of paint on a nearby palette. It seemed as if Gaines was going to ignore Joe's presence.
    "Mind if I ask you a few questions?" asked Joe.
    "Of course not, my boy," answered Gaines cheerfully. "I enjoy our little chats." He made a stroke with blue paint on the empty canvas and paused to consider it.
    "Why did you check out of Runner's Harbor?" asked Joe.
    "That's a fair question. Fair question." Gaines stared at the blue paint.
    "And?"
    "And what, my boy?"
    "What's the answer?"
    "Oh, of course, of course. You want answers. I'm being rude." He put down his paintbrush and looked Joe in the eye. "You want to know why I left Runner's Harbor. It's very simple really. Millicent asked me to."
    Joe was too stunned to say anything, but Gaines didn't appear to notice Joe's reaction.
    "She was very nice about it," Gaines continued. "Said that they needed the rooms and couldn't afford to keep giving me the special rate I had always had. Actually, she found me this room here and was able to work out a special deal with the owners. I'm paying less now than before."
    Unsure how to respond to this, Joe simply held out the gold cufflink for Gaines to see.
    "My cufflink, thank you. Where did you find it?"
    "In the tunnels beneath the hotel."
    "How strange," said the old man, fitting the gold G into place on his cuff. "That was where I had the conversation with Millicent when she asked me to leave."
    "When was that?" asked Joe.
    "Oh, two or three weeks ago. She said I could finish out the month and I did."
    "You saw Millicent in the tunnels?" asked Joe.
    "Yes."
    "Millicent. Not Heather," Joe continued.
    Gaines paused a few seconds before responding. "May I confess something to you?"
    "Of course," said Joe.
    "You know that I am the one who painted the portrait of Millicent that hangs in the lobby at Runner's Harbor." Joe nodded his head yes. "Well, my boy, I have been in love with Millicent Reed for more than sixty years. Believe me. It was she."
    ***
    Frank and Callie spent most of the day in the library. Frank's research added a few more pieces to the puzzle, but try as she might, Callie couldn't get him to tell her what he had discovered.
    "I want to have proof before I tell you or anyone anything," said Frank.
    "Even me?" asked Callie.
    "Even you."
    At the dinner table that evening Callie and the Hardys discovered that Gary and Janet had been busy during the day, too.
    Despite the fact that they could lose Runner's Harbor, both of them seemed upbeat and cheerful.
    "We decided," said Janet, "that if we had to leave here, we'd at least leave with a bang."
    "So we're having a party tonight," said Gary.
    "A party?" asked Callie.
    "Yes," said Janet. "A big dance in the pavilion."
    "And we invited everyone in town," Gary said.
    ***
    By eight o'clock that night it seemed that everybody on the island had accepted the invitation.
    The pavilion was cool as a mild breeze blew in off the ocean. The decorations that Janet and Callie had hung swayed gently in the wind. They had arranged several tables around the edges of the floor