need my room for the surplus guests.”
“Wouldn’t it be a comfort to be booked full?” Hannah popped the tray of tarts into the oven. “But this is your vacation, dear. You’re supposed to be resting.”
“And I will,” Cassie assured her. “But lying around doing nothing palls very quickly. I much prefer to have a project percolating in the back of my mind. It keeps me from getting bored.
“Now then,” she went on briskly, “I think our first order of business had better be the taxes. I’ll give you a check, and you can pay them.”
“I just don’t feel right taking money from you,” Hannah said worriedly.
“Think of it as a temporary loan. I do earn an excellent salary.”
“But I’m the adult and—”
Cassie laughed. “Aunt Hannah, it may have slipped your mind, but I’m thirty-four years old.”
Hannah shook her head in disbelief. “It doesn’t seem possible, but I guess you are. But even so...”
“Think of it as allowing me to invest in a piece of the family’s history. Now, what we need is a plan of action.” Cassie changed the subject before her aunt could think of any more objections. “Your business has dropped off because...?” She looked at her expectantly.
“Business has disappeared,” Hannah corrected. “And it’s because of that new resort they built four miles up the coast. I hear it’s the last word in luxury. They have a swimming pool, plus the ocean at their doorstep and a fancy French chef.”
Cassie munched on more raspberries as she considered the situation. “We don’t want to compete with their strengths.”
“We can’t compete with their strengths!”
Cassie ignored the home truth. “They’re offering an anonymous luxury that could be found anywhere. What we need to do is to push the local flavor of China View. This place is the essence of New Hampshire’s whaling past, from the collection of scrimshaw in the living room to the widow’s walk on the roof.
“Which brings us back to a gimmick.” Cassie absently tucked a stray reddish brown curl behind her ear. “We need something to make China View stand out from the resort. Something to make it unique.”
“Unique?” Hannah washed the flour off her hands as she considered the idea. “We could claim that the original owner brought back a treasure from one of his trips to the Orient and buried it on the grounds, and then drowned before he could retrieve it.”
Cassie shook her head. “We’d have guests digging up every flower bed on the place.”
“We could tell them that digging wasn’t allowed?”
Cassie eyed her aunt with affectionate amusement. “That tactic may have been successful in your kindergarten classes, but I guarantee it doesn’t work with adult greed. Anytime there’s money to be had, and free money at that, the rules of civilized society seem to go by the board. No, we need an attraction that appeals to something safer than people’s greed.”
“You mean like their intellectual curiosity? They...” Hannah frowned at what sounded like a pan falling off a shelf in the pantry. “Oh, dear,” she muttered. “I hope I haven’t gotten mice again. I do so hate to kill the poor little things.”
“That’s it!” Cassie exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with sudden excitement. “It’s perfect. It’s even timely.”
Hannah frowned in confusion. “Mice?”
“No, ghosts! Don’t you see, Aunt Hannah? It’s the perfect gimmick. We’ll say that China View is haunted!”
“But that’ll drive people away,” Hannah protested.
“No, it won’t,” Cassie said with absolute conviction. “People love ghosts. I’ll bet we’ll be filled to capacity as soon as the news gets out.”
“But how’s it going to get out?”
“We’re going to help it, of course.” Cassie’s soft pink lips lifted in a mischievous smile. “All we have to do is tell a few people that we saw what looked like a ghost, and the story’ll be all over the coast by week’s end. Maybe I can get Ed Veach at the newspaper to do a feature story on the sighting.” Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“Isn’t that false advertising?” Hannah asked worriedly.
“Only if we actually claim that the inn has a ghost. And all I’m going to do is imply like crazy.”
“But...”
“If you don’t like the idea, Aunt Hannah, then of course I won’t use it. But I really don’t think it’s wrong. It’s not like we’re charging more and promising a ghost.”
“Our customers do get good value for their money,” Hannah said slowly.
“And they’ll have a great time trying to contact our ghost,” Cassie added. “Do you know if there’s ever been a hint of a ghost here at China View?”
“Not a murmur. I think ghosts are supposed to haunt places where violent deeds occurred, and nothing like that ever happened here.”
“What did happen here?” Cassie asked.
“Not much. Jonas Middlebury built China View for his fiancée, Millicent Whitney, and drowned at sea right afterward. He left the house to Millicent, and she lived here until she died, shortly before the First World War. She willed it to her nephew, who was your grandfather, and when he died, he left it to me, since your papa had already moved to Boston. Nobody has ever even died here.”
“Hmm, not much to work with.” Cassie wrinkled her small, straight nose in disappointment. “Too bad we didn’t have a more adventurous set of relatives. Jonas sounds the most interesting of the lot. How about if we claim that he’s our specter?”
Hannah pushed her glasses back on her nose as she considered the idea. “He’s probably our best choice. But what happens when no one ever sees him? People will stop coming, and I’ll be right back where I was.”
“What makes you think that they aren’t going to see him?” The twinkle in Cassie’s eyes deepened perceptively.
Hannah stared at her uncertainly. “Are they?”
“Yes,” Cassie said slowly. “Not indiscriminate sightings, of course. Just an occasional glimpse.”
“Moira Featheringham,” Hannah unexpectedly said.
Cassie blinked. “Who?”
“An old friend of mine, dear. Moira is very active in our local theatrical group. She might know where we could hire someone to play the part of Jonas.”
“Aunt Hannah, that’s perfect!” Cassie beamed approvingly at her.
“Thank you, dear. I’ll call Moira right now. Would you check the pantry for signs of mice and then keep an eye on the front
