CHARITY CHECKS IN

  CHARITY FLANIGAN

  BOOK ONE

  NIC SAINT

  CONTENTS

  Charity Checks In

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  About Nic

  CHARITY CHECKS IN

  Sign up for Nic’s no-spam newsletter and get free stories!

  nicsaint.com/news

  When Charity Flanigan’s wealthy husband dies without updating his will, she loses everything overnight—her home, her money, and even her place in polite society. With only her two loyal Pekingese, Sam and Lou, at her side, Charity checks into the shabbiest hotel she can afford and wonders how her life fell apart so quickly.

  Then salvation arrives in the form of her friend Moira, owner of the luxurious Giltmore hotel chain.

  Moira has a problem: complaints are pouring in from her five-star hotels, and she suspects something shady is going on behind the scenes. Her solution? Send Charity undercover as a mystery guest.

  Suddenly Charity is living the high life again—checking into glamorous hotels, dining in fancy restaurants, and quietly keeping an eye on the staff. With her delightfully outspoken dogs helping her sniff out trouble, how hard can the job be?

  But Charity soon discovers that the Giltmore isn’t just hiding bad service.

  There are art scammers, con artists, suspicious guests… and before long, a dead body.

  Now Charity must uncover what’s really going on in the world’s most luxurious hotels—before the killer checks out for good.

  Because at the Giltmore… murder is always on the guest list.

  CHAPTER 1

  “You know, it’s not as bad as it seems,” said Charity.

  I looked at my brother Lou, and I could tell that he didn’t agree with this assessment from our human either.

  “You mean it’s worse than it seems?” Lou suggested.

  “That sounds about right,” I said. “Much, much worse.”

  “What could be worse than being kicked out of your own home, though, Sam?” Lou asked. “And to lose all of your money. And your friends. And your husband?”

  “Um… I guess you could die?” I suggested.

  Lou thought about this for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess dying is worse. Though not by much.”

  He was right. Death wasn’t a whole lot worse than the fate that life seemed to have in store for us.

  Our human, Charity, sighed deeply as she cast a look behind her. And since this was quite possibly the last time that we would lay eyes on the house that had been our home for the past couple of years—in fact, the only home we had ever known—we joined her.

  “It was a great place, wasn’t it, you guys?” said Charity.

  “It certainly was,” I said.

  “Yeah, it really was,” Lou agreed.

  The house had been big and comfortable, and quite luxurious, too. Owing to the fact that Charity’s husband, Johnny Mancini, had been extremely rich, he had supplied his wife with all the possible luxuries she could have wished for, and then some.

  Unfortunately, what the late Mr. Mancini hadn’t done was change his will, thereby leaving his entire estate and all of his possessions to his two daughters, and nothing to Charity.

  As a consequence, when the family lawyer revealed the contents of the will, Charity’s triumphant stepdaughters were over the moon.

  “But… there’s nothing for me?” Charity had asked, quite discombobulated.

  The lawyer had shaken his gray head. “I’m afraid that your husband never got around to drawing up a new will, Mrs. Mancini. And so the old will still stands.”

  “But… how is that possible? I mean, I’m his wife. We were married for eight years.”

  “That’s the law, Mrs. Mancini. And the law stipulates that the most recent will is the one that is in effect.”

  As if that wasn’t bad enough, those evil stepdaughters had decided to grant Charity one week to vacate the premises. The fact that she didn’t have a single penny to her name didn’t bother them in the slightest. They had never liked their stepmother, and now was their chance to get their revenge.

  And so one week later, with most of Charity’s things in storage, we were on our way to an uncertain future, where nothing was guaranteed, except for the fact that we were still together.

  “At least those evil stepdaughters didn’t confiscate us,” said Lou as we turned back to face the front. We had to look forward now, not back to the wonderful past.

  “They wouldn’t have dared,” I said.

  “They could have done it. They could have claimed that we belonged to their daddy, and that we now belonged to them. After all, dogs are like furniture to these people.”

  “If they had done that, we would have eloped,” I said determinedly. “And followed Charity. She is our human.”

  Charity had taken out her phone and was looking up the number for one of her daughters. Even though they would have loved to welcome their mother to live with them, it wasn’t in the cards. One of them lived in Dubai, and the other one lived in Milan, in Italy. So unless Charity wanted to move countries, she had to figure out a way to rebuild her life right here, where she was born and raised. And also, she didn’t want to be a burden on her daughters, who had families of their own and led busy lives.

  “Oh, hey, sweetie,” she said as she got one of her daughters on the phone. “Yeah, the day has finally come. I’ve just moved out. Officially.”

  “Are you sure you’re going to be all right, Mom?” asked Lilly.

  “Oh, I’ll manage,” said Charity. “I’ll manage just fine. I’ve found a hotel to stay in for the next couple of days, and I’m already looking for an apartment. Don’t you worry about me, honey. How are the kids?”

  And as Charity and her daughter discussed the strange situation that we now found ourselves in, in this upside-down version of the world we had inhabited, I glanced out of the window and wondered what was in store for us.

  Even though Charity had casually mentioned that she was looking for an apartment, she neglected to mention that she first needed to find a job so she could pay for it. And since she hadn’t worked in years, that was a tough proposition.

  “If Charity finds a job,” said Lou, “what is she going to do with us, Sam? Do you think she will hand us over to a pet sitter?”

  “She can’t afford one,” I said. “And neither can she afford an apartment right now. She doesn’t have the money for a security deposit.”

  Lou sighed and settled down next to me on the backseat of the Uber.

  The driver, oblivious to our plight, was listening to something on the radio, and I wondered if perhaps Charity couldn’t become an Uber driver. But then she probably needed a car, and that might not be in the cards either.

  No, it looked as if things would be pretty tight for the next little while, and maybe even longer. And all because Johnny Mancini had figured there was no rush in changing his will. That he had plenty of time.

  Which just goes to show that even very clever men like Johnny can make very stupid decisions sometimes.

  Decisions that hurt the ones they love the most.

  CHAPTER 2

  Charity was trying desperately to remain upbeat and positive, but she couldn’t deny that the entire experience had shaken her to the core. Even though she kept a brave face when talking to her daughters, assuring them that she was fine and that she had big plans for the future, the truth of the matter was that she had no plans at all, apart from checking into the cheapest hotel she could find and trying to find a job that would alleviate her financial situation to some extent.

  She had placed one hand on Lou and the other on Sam, and as she stared before her with unseeing eyes, she felt blessed that at least she had been able to save her two beloved Pekingese from the grubby hands of her evil stepdaughters.

  Ashley and Maggie had argued that the dogs had belonged to their father, so by rights they were part of the inheritance, which had been assigned to them under the stipulations of the old will. But in the end Charity had been able to find the receipt for both dogs—a receipt in her name, not Johnny’s.

  She knew that neither of the girls had any interest whatsoever in the dogs, and the only reason they put up such a fight was that they could use this as yet another way to hurt their father’s second wife. So she had fought tooth and claw to keep the dogs. She was even prepared to simply steal th
em and face the consequences.

  What had spurred her on even more was when Ashley had told her straight out that she planned to sell the dogs the moment Charity was out of the picture, or dump them at the nearest pound.

  Evil didn’t even begin to describe those two utterly spoiled brats. They had the house, all of their father’s possessions and his money, and now they wanted Charity’s dogs, too?

  Over her dead body.

  Lou gazed up at her with those soulful brown peepers of his, and so did Sam, and she smiled. “Everything will be all right, you guys,” she murmured, even though she had absolutely no idea what the future held.

  Before marrying Johnny, she had worked as a salesperson in a boutique for a couple of years. In fact, that was where she and Johnny had met, back when Ashley was getting married and looking for a bridal gown. Charity had helped her find the perfect dress, and Johnny had been so grateful that he had invited her to dinner.

  They hit it off, and she and the handsome and wealthy widower had gone on a string of dates that eventually ended in a wedding of their own—much to his daughters’ ire, since they figured this was a betrayal of their mother, who had died a couple of years before.

  And then of course Johnny had died himself. As he did most mornings, he had gone for a bike ride and had ended up being hit by a car and driven off the road. A hundred feet below, he had landed, and it had taken the rescue crew quite a difficult operation to get him out of his predicament.

  He had died on his way to the hospital, and somehow his daughters had blamed it all on her, even though it had been his own decision to go bike riding without a helmet.

  He must have figured that he was indestructible. Which was typical for Johnny.

  The Uber dropped them off in front of what looked like the worst hotel Charity had ever seen. But since she didn’t have a lot of options—unless she wanted to stay out on the street and live in a cardboard box for the time being—she entered the lobby of the Lexington Lodge and booked a room for herself and her two dogs.

  “Pets not allowed,” the man at the reception announced. He gave her a bored look, and she got the impression that he was using Lou and Sam to get her to pay more.

  Case in point: a woman was descending the staircase, holding a tiny dog in her arms that didn’t look much different in size from her own dogs.

  “What about her?” she asked. “Why does she get to stay here with her dog?”

  The guy shrugged, then pointed to a sign hanging behind him. “No pets allowed,” he repeated.

  “Okay, how much?” she asked.

  “Fifty,” he said immediately, which confirmed her suspicion that this was just a way of making more money.

  She paid him the fifty required to bring her sweethearts into the place, and moments later was trudging up the stairs with her suitcase, Lou and Sam tripping behind her.

  They looked both scared and excited, which was pretty much how she felt herself.

  If the worst came to pass, she thought, she could always take one of her daughters up on their offer and go stay with them—either in Italy or in Dubai. But that would mean becoming a burden on their family finances, which was the last thing she wanted.

  The room was as bad as the rest of the hotel promised, and it looked as if no one had ever cleaned it. There was grime on the walls, dust on the floor, and holes in the sheets. The shower was caked with a suspicious brown substance, and the toilet didn’t have a seat and looked soiled.

  She sighed deeply, took a seat on the edge of the bed, and felt her mood plummet.

  This was worse than she thought. Much, much worse.

  She opened her eyes when she felt something wet against her fingers, and saw that both Sam and Lou were licking her hands.

  She smiled and picked her beloved darlings up.

  “Good thing I still have you guys,” she said.

  Then she placed her head on the pillow and hugged them both close. She closed her eyes and was fast asleep in seconds.

  These past couple of weeks of strain and the incessant harassment of her stepdaughters had taken their toll on her, and she was exhausted.

  Every day they would drop by and tell her to get a move on and get out of there, even though the family lawyer had given her a month to pack up and leave.

  In the end she had given in and had left a lot of her personal stuff in the house, since she simply didn’t have it in her to keep on fighting those two horrible girls.

  As she drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep, the last thing she was aware of was her phone buzzing.

  She’d check later. It was probably one of her daughters again. And since she was dead tired, she wouldn’t have the energy to present the kind of cheerful image she had for the past couple of weeks. They’d see right through her and insist she go and live with them. Which meant her life here in New York was effectively over.

  And that’s the last thing she wanted.

  CHAPTER 3

  “Nothing much to see here,” said Lou.

  I joined my brother on the windowsill and had to admit that he was right. The view from our hotel room window was a red-brick wall and not much else. If we strained our necks, we could see a tiny strip of sky above us, but since the building the hotel abutted was pretty tall, it sort of obscured any vistas we might have enjoyed.

  “Do you think there is a nice park nearby?” asked Lou.

  “I sort of doubt it, buddy,” I said. “This neighborhood doesn’t seem big on parks.”

  I did see a clump of grass on the sidewalk when we walked into the hotel, but I didn’t think that meant we lived in a green-leafy part of town. More like the concrete jungle of the big city.

  Lou sighed deeply. “I mean, I knew that things would be different, but had I known they would be this different…”

  I let the words hang in the air for a moment before responding. “Are you actually saying that you would have stayed at the house? With those two evil witches?”

  “They wouldn’t have stayed with us all the time, would they? They probably would have handed us to a pair of pet sitters, the way Johnny always said Charity should do.”

  Credit to her, Charity had always refused such suggestions, as she wanted to take care of us herself rather than hand us over to pet carers, pet sitters, pet walkers and all their ilk. She told Johnny on more than one occasion that there was no point in getting a pet if you’re going to leave all the caring to other people. A notion that Johnny, with all of his money, had trouble grasping.

  “Look, I’m not saying that staying with the evil sisters would have been better than this,” said Lou, gesturing with his paw to the wall in front of us, “but at least we had that nice park where we could go to for our daily walks.”

  He was right, of course. The house where we had grown up had been surrounded by a sizable estate, and since we had never known anything else, I, for one, missed our long walks on the grounds with Charity. In the same way I imagined that she missed them.

  “Look, it can’t be helped,” I said. “We can pine for our old lives all we want, but they’re not coming back. Johnny is gone, and when he died he took our old lifestyle along with him to wherever he is now. So we’d better get used to this, or we’re going to be miserable.”

  “I am feeling pretty miserable,” Lou confessed. “Aren’t you?”

  “I feel a little miserable,” I confessed. “But not as miserable as I would have been if we had to say goodbye to Charity. Now that would have been the real disaster.”

  “Didn’t you know, Sam? Women live longer than men, so statistically speaking there was always a chance that Charity would outlive her husband by a couple of years. And considering the fact that Johnny was older than Charity…”

  “He was only in his early fifties, Lou. Most men don’t die that young.”

  “No, I guess,” said Lou.

  Behind us, our human stirred on the bed, and we trotted up to her to make sure we were there to lend her comfort and support in these trying times. And so we resumed patting her hands and placing well-aimed licks on them.

  She seemed to appreciate our efforts to ensure she was surrounded by love and affection, for she smiled and stretched languorously.

  “How long have I been out?” she asked, then grabbed her phone from the nightstand and winced. “That long, huh? You guys should have woken me up. You must be bursting.”