Aspen Allegations - A Sutton Massachusetts Mystery

Chapter 20

We pulled down the narrow driveway of the Publick House Inn and Restaurant in Sturbridge, Massachusetts at one-thirty on the dot. Jason dropped me off by the back entrance, then headed off to park the car while I pressed my way through the crowds to the door. It was only worse inside. Elderly women in thick fur coats, young girls in fluffy fuchsia dresses, and everything in between blocked the way in.

The Publick House could be an absolute maze, but I had been here enough times to have learned its floor-plan. First I wended my way up the stairs, then down the long corridor toward the front of the building. A jog right to move along the time-warped floorboards, passing the large, open reception area often used by weddings. Then a left-hand turn into a narrow alley which seemed to be a covered-over passageway connecting the old building to the slightly-less-old annex. Finally, a right into the inn proper with its reception desk and main dining area.

I spotted my father and his girlfriend, Zelda, sitting on a dense, stuffed couch in the crowded waiting area. I wriggled my way through and gave them each a hug.

My father smiled at me. "It's good to see you." He was in his mid-sixties, his tall, lean frame still retaining much of the tone it'd had during his volleyball years. His once dense curls had become sparser over the years, and had shaded from dark brown into a soft grey. "They wouldn't check us in until everyone had arrived."

I looked around at the mob. "No wonder," I agreed. I turned to his girlfriend. "How are you doing?"

"We're retired, so every day is much like the last," she teased. Her grey hair was cut close in a short style and her frame held a comfortable weight on it.

"I'll go get us set," I offered, and after a few minutes of working my way through the crowd I got into line for the maître d' stand.

The woman took my ticket and glanced at her register book. "Table 804," she noted, and waved at a young man standing nearby. "Go check on 804," she called out. He headed into a room behind him and was back in a few minutes.

"They're still eating dessert," he reported.

I stepped away from the area. Apparently it was going to be a little while before we were able to get seated. There was a pat on my shoulder and Jason was there.

He smiled at me. "I heard. That gives us time to talk a bit, then."

"Yes, indeed," I agreed, giving his hand a squeeze. We worked our way through the crowd, finally returning to my father.

I was never sure which way introductions were supposed to be made, so I took my best shot. "Dad, I would like you to meet Jason," I stated. The two men shook hands. I indicated Zelda. "And this is dad's girlfriend, Zelda," I continued. Another set of hands shaking.

My father looked Jason over. "So I hear you work for the forest service," he said, intrigued. "Does that make you sort of a warden, watching for people shooting out of season?"

Jason nodded. "Certainly that's part of it, but mostly it's about helping injured hikers or people who have wandered off the trail. We also do regular trail maintenance – chopping away trees which have fallen across the path, trimming back bushes, and that sort of thing. Sometimes we run educational programs."

My dad smiled. "When I was younger I used to take Morgan on long hikes along the Nipmuc trail in Connecticut. We would look for old homesteads and foundations. Sometimes we'd find a graveyard deep in the woods and make rubbings from the stones."

"It's amazing what you can find in the woods," Jason agreed. "This land has been used by our ancestors for almost four hundred years, and of course by its native inhabitants for much longer than that. We come across old graves, remnants of ancient foundations, arrowheads, buckles, and much more."