The Precipice Read Free Page A

through in her head. Nana, as Elizabeth referred to her, did not go into a lot of details but was obviously concerned about some things that were happening at the inn that she ran in Pennington Point, Maine. The inn had been in the family for several generations. It was originally built as a private school for girls and run successfully for decades. That is, until the mysterious disappearance and presumed death of a student under questionable circumstances. The case was never solved which forced the permanent closure of Pennington School and still haunts the family to this day. It was later reopened, after extensive renovations, as a charming New England seaside inn.
    Nana seemed to think that one of the handymen for the inn had turned up missing. Elizabeth didn’t take this news too seriously. Girard was a forgetful sort of man who was diligent and hard-working, but could easily misplace tools or supplies and be looking for them for days before they turned up in a most unusual place. Perhaps he had headed out for an errand and forgot why and where he was going. All in all, Girard was a pleasant guy and seemed to be an asset to the inn. His brother, Renard, on the other hand, who also worked around the inn doing odd jobs, was a bit of a nuisance to Elizabeth. He seemed to be infatuated with her and often went out of his way to be near her and speak to her during her occasional visits.
    Elizabeth switched the portfolio she was carrying to her other hand and pulled her taupe trench coat closer to her neckline. Before heading out the door she had grabbed drawing supplies and sketch pads, not knowing how long she would be out of the office. She had deliberately neglected to stop into Vera’s office. No telling how long she would have been delayed if she hadn’t. Vera tended to get a little long winded when she is excited about a new project and this one would certainly be no exception.
    She was on her way to Maine. Her grandmother, Amelia Pennington, had asked if she could come up and spend a little time at the inn. That was all Elizabeth needed to hear. It was a three day holiday weekend and she loved to have an excuse to go help Nana. She loved the city very much, but the rugged, rocky coast of Maine with the salty sea air blowing in her face was in her blood, having grown up in the inn.
    It wasn’t the best of childhoods, but Elizabeth chose to dwell on the positives from it. She was very close to her grandmother; she loved her very much. Her grandmother had raised little Lizzi after her parents died when she was very young. No one ever really talked about what had happened to them and Elizabeth had left it that way as a child. As an adult, however, she struggled with a nagging urge to find out. And the older Amelia gets, there is a very real possibility of her taking the story to her grave.
    Besides Elizabeth and Amelia, the Pennington family also included Cecelia, Amelia’s husband’s younger sister, who had never married. Elizabeth remembered her great aunt as an angry woman who seemed to spend a lot of time in the upper rooms where the family kept house, often erupting in fits of rage toward little Lizzi. A bedroom closet was her refuge when Cecelia was particularly ornery. She felt safe in the small, dark space. When the air had cleared, Elizabeth emerged cautiously and quickly searched out her grandmother. She never spoke of her great aunt to anyone, but often wondered why she contributed so little to the day-to-day operations of the inn.
    Amelia had done the best she could balancing the responsibilities of running the inn with raising her granddaughter. As a young child, Lizzi looked for ways to help out, longing to be at her grandmother’s side. It seemed as though Amelia was always working her fingers to the bone. In spite of her hardship, she was a warm, loving individual who ran the inn as efficiently as a ship captain. Her husband of twenty-nine years had been the captain of a large fishing vessel that had