The Innkeeper on the Edge of Paris by J. Schlenker

Author:J. Schlenker [Schlenker, J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780999427835
Google: 8YmFygEACAAJ
Amazon: B07YX7VN55
Goodreads: 48509030
Publisher: Binka Publishing
Published: 2019-10-09T04:00:00+00:00

That night Kate, Daniel, and Isa ate with Claire and Albert in the kitchen. After all that had happened, they had a common bond and acted more like an extended family than people who had only met weeks ago. So much had happened in such a short period. Isa had imagined nothing like this when planning her trip.

Albert uncorked the wine and poured. “Claire, your sister-in-law requests the honor of a visit.”

“Albert, no one knows better than her how busy this place keeps me. Why can’t she come here?”

Busy? To Isa’s knowledge, she, Daniel, and Kate were the only ones staying at the inn. Was she referring to her garden work or the baking, perhaps?

“You know she won’t set foot in this place anymore. For the same reason you won’t leave,” Albert huffed.

Isa wanted to know what Albert meant but feared she might be intruding to ask.

Daniel held no such qualms. “What would that reason be?”

“Erma, even though she would never admit it, is interested in the ghost, but at the same time fears it, while Claire is afraid if she were to leave, she might miss an opportunity of seeing it,” Albert said.

Daniel reached for Isa’s hand under the table and gave her a look that said it was okay. She looked at Albert, who gave her a nod.

“I’ve seen the ghost.”

They stopped eating, their forks mid-air, all eyes on Isa, especially Claire’s.

“It was on the first night the cyclists came. I heard something in my room. At first, I thought it might be one of the cyclists coming into my room by mistake, but my door was locked. I saw a woman dressed in old garments poking the fire. Of course, there was no fire. It was where the fire would have been. Her poker went right through the now closed-up grate. She turned and looked at me. She appeared to be as scared at seeing me as I was at seeing her. Then her figure evaporated into the air.

“I must have sat upright in bed for an hour, afraid to go to sleep. All was so quiet—like you said, Madame Claire.” Isa looked at Claire. “All the bicyclists were sound asleep, dead to the world.”

“You saw her face?” Claire asked.

“Yes, and she looked like me.”

“I knew it.”

“I now know why you stared at me like you did when I arrived.”

Claire’s smile was one of both relief and affirmation.

Daniel’s grip on Isa’s hand remained firm while using his other hand to raise his wine glass. “Here’s to solving our mystery.”

“To solving the mystery,” was repeated by all as they clanked glasses.

“When I saw Dora—that is what I call her—I was scared at first. I had never seen a ghost before. I can’t say for certain, but I think if I were to see her again, I wouldn’t be so frightened. I don’t understand Madame Girard’s fear of her. She doesn’t seem the type to be frightened of anything,” Isa said.

“No, she isn’t,” Claire said, looking over at Albert

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