Bess nodded. “She offered to give it to me, but I’d like to pay her for it. It’s beautiful.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Mrs. Marvin said.
The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” Mr. Marvin said. He stopped in the kitchen to snatch a tissue on the way to the door.
A moment later Amber bounded into the dining room. “Hi, Casey.”
“Say, ‘Hi, Amber,’ ” Bess told the puppy. She set Casey on the ground, and the puppy jumped up on Amber’s legs.
A man in his forties followed Mr. Marvin into the dining room. “This must be Casey.”
Amber nodded. “Isn’t she beautiful, Daddy?”
“She is cute. Look at the size of those feet. That means she’s going to be a big girl.”
Bess introduced Nancy to Amber and Devon’s father, Larry Marshall. Mr. Marshall shook Nancy’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“May we take Casey for a walk?” Amber asked Bess.
“I would be thrilled if you would take Casey for a walk,” Bess said. She went into the kitchen to get the leash.
After the Marshalls had left with Casey, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin went into their bedroom to finish packing. “I’m going to call Marisa,” Bess told Nancy. “Maybe I can pick up the sewing machine today.”
A few minutes later, it had been arranged that Nancy and Bess would meet Marisa at Candlelight Inn to get the sewing machine while Amber dog-sat Casey at the Marshalls’ house.
Bess set out a handful of treats and gathered Casey’s toys. “Do you think you’ll need anything else?” she asked Amber.
“No. But if we do, my dad has a key to your house,” Amber said. “Casey and I will be fine. Right, Casey?”
Casey licked Amber’s face.
Mr. Marshall frowned. “Amber, is that sanitary? Don’t let your mother see that.”
Amber laughed. “Don’t worry. I know I’d never be allowed to get a puppy if she saw Casey doing that.”
At the inn, Bess and Nancy found Marisa, Misty, and Penny Rosen in the study. Marisa’s fingertips flew across a document in Braille. “There’s no mention of a service contract for the furnace,” she was saying.
Penny flipped through a stack of papers in her lap. “It says here the furnace was manufactured in 1952. Even if there was a service contract, I imagine it has expired by now.”
Bess cleared her throat to announce their arrival. “Hi. The door was unlocked, so we let ourselves in.”
Marisa turned around. “Hi, Bess. Did you bring Casey?”
“No. Mercifully, Amber is watching her,” Bess said.
Penny smiled. “Puppies are a handful, aren’t they?”
“And then some.” Bess walked over to pet Misty. “You’re so nice and calm, Misty. Is Casey ever going to be like you?”
“We hope so,” Penny said.
“How’s it going?” Nancy asked.
“Not so well,” Marisa said. “We knew the inn would need a lot of renovation, but . . .”
“The building’s very old,” Penny explained. “And Marisa’s grandmother never made many of the upgrades we need in a facility that will house people with visual impairments. For example, we’ll need to install an electromagnetic stove in the kitchen that can heat food without a heating element. The bathrooms will need rails—”
“And probably new plumbing,” Marisa said. “The furnace isn’t heating the whole house efficiently. There’s no central air conditioning, and there isn’t adequate lighting for the sighted guests.”
Penny set down her pencil. “I hate to say this, Marisa, but I’m beginning to wonder if this is a mistake.”
“What do you mean?” Marisa asked, concern in her voice.
“These renovations are going to cost much more than we’ve budgeted. Frankly, I don’t know whether the Guiding Eyes can afford it. And I wonder whether your grandmother’s money might be better spent on upkeep of other facilities the Guiding Eyes is already operating.”
“I’m not a lawyer yet,” Marisa said, “so I might be wrong. But it’s my understanding that since Grandmother specifically requested that her money be used to open a school in River Heights, and since you agreed to that condition before she died, you and the Guiding Eyes have to do your best to follow her wishes.”
“We will do our best,” Penny said. “Believe me. It’s just—”
A short woman wearing a hard hat, work boots, and jeans entered the room. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had visitors,” she said.
Penny introduced Nancy and Bess to Joan Bland. “Joan’s a contractor,” she explained. “She’s estimating the cost of the renovations.”
“I’m a little perplexed,” Joan said. “I’ve triple-checked my measurements, and it appears there’s a hidden space in one of the second-floor bedrooms. It must have been walled-over during an earlier remodeling.”
Penny, Marisa, Misty, Nancy, and Bess followed Joan upstairs to the bedroom. “It’s right back here.” Joan tapped the wall, which sounded hollow.
Marisa moved toward the wall and nearly tripped on a loose floorboard. Misty hung her head. “It’s okay, Misty. It’s not your fault I tripped. I guess Devon never finished fixing this,” she said.
