“Absolutely. As you can see, it’s a beautifully built replica of what was originally there. But the point is that we have this process, and Malcolm goes out of his way not to cooperate.” Grubbs looked over at Ray and Sue. “So a lot happened in a few weeks. We had a very dangerous confrontation. A man has died from horrific burns. It was a death of his own making, but still he’s gone and with him a hundred-year-old building with all of its memories and all of its history. The debris has been carefully removed from the site, the earth sanitized, and a new structure erected. That’s a lot of change in a place where change takes place very slowly. It’s something this old historian is having difficulty comprehending. But that’s not why I called you here. There’s another matter that needs attending to. Malcolm said I shouldn’t involve the police, but I think it’s something that should be investigated.”

“What’s going on?”

“We had a robbery of sorts. Actually, I think we’ve had many of them. I can only verify one, and I think that’s a good starting place. This whole thing is rather embarrassing, and I hope we can handle this discreetly.”

“What do you mean?” said Ray.

“We have our traditions. I wouldn’t want to read about this problem in the local paper. Follow me down to Verity Wudbine-Merone’s cottage, and I’ll explain the whole thing.”

“Sounds like trouble in paradise,” said Sue as she followed the slow-moving golf cart past the dozens of cottages that lined the sandy trail, some clinging to hillsides, some—like Ravenswood Cottage—clustered in two or three building cul-de-sacs.

“Yes,” agreed Ray.

Grubbs parked behind one of about a dozen cottages that were built on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.

Ray and Sue joined him, leaving Simone in the Jeep. The door of the cottage opened as they approached the building. A small, wiry woman came out to greet them. Ray guessed her to be in her late 60s or early 70s.

“This is Verity Wudbine-Merone,” said Grubbs, “her ancestors were among the first families to build in the Colony. Sheriff Elkins, Detective Sergeant Lawrence.”

“Come in, please,” she said, after shaking each of their hands.

“I’ve made some coffee, I hope you will have some.” She quickly filled a cup, placed it on a saucer, and handed one to Sue before any of them could respond. “Please, sit.” She directed them toward a table at the front of the cottage. “There’s sugar and cream, please help yourself to the cookies.”

A series of casement windows, each with a latticework of framing holding small panes, provided a panoramic view of the lake.

Once they were seated, Ray asked, “What seems to be the problem?”

“What have you told them?” Verity looked at Grubbs.

“Nothing, Verity.”

Ray and Sue sat and waited, finally Verity said, “I’ve been robbed.”

“What was taken and when did this happen?” asked Sue.

“I can’t say for sure when it happened. I was here in late April just to drop off some supplies and then came back a week ago and noticed things were missing.”

“What kinds of things?” asked Ray.

A long silence followed, Grubbs and Verity looked at each other. Finally Grubbs said, “A large quantity of alcohol.”

“Could you be more specific, please?”

“Well, I always restock the cottage in the spring. On my first trip up here I stop in Chicago and buy enough liquor to last the summer. We have cocktail parties every evening, us old timers. I sort of know what everyone drinks, that’s what I stock up on.”

“So how many bottles were taken?” asked Ray.

Another long silence followed. Then Verity answered, “I’m afraid it was more than bottles. It was cases, five cases. Five cases,” she repeated. “It was all the top notch. All of it. Single malt scotch, Irish whiskey, some bourbon, some very good vodka and gin. I lugged them up here and with Richard’s help got everything discreetly stored away.”

Verity got up from the table and crossed the room and opened the pantry door. “It was all here on the floor. The cases were on their sides so I could get to the bottles without having to do any lifting.”

She returned to the table and looked at Sue and then Ray before continuing. “We do more than just give lip service to the temperance roots of this colony. If you go into the cottages, you won’t see liquor bottles out in the open or any other drink making paraphernalia. And no one consumes alcohol out in the open. With the exception, of course, of Malcolm’s damn clambake, but that’s off the property. Even when I go to someone’s cottage for dinner, I always carry the wine in a basket.”

“What was the value of the stolen property?” asked Sue.

“Well it was a lot, yes indeed. I can’t quite say for sure. You know how it goes, they ring it up and you just give them your card. I’d have to try and find my MasterCard bill. But I’m sure it was $1000 or more. And there was also some wine on that bill, the brands and vintages that are hard to find up here. And the wine is all here. They didn’t touch that. Just the liquor, the hard stuff.”

“And you have no idea when it was stolen?”

“Well, yes. It happened some time during the weeks I wasn’t here.”

Ray looked at Sue, then looked out at the rolling surf.

“How did the thieves gain entrance to your cottage?” asked Sue. “Was there damage to a door or window?”

“No, nothing that I noticed. I’m not even sure the doors were locked. As you can see, there’s nothing really worth stealing here. It’s just old stuff. Old China, old flatware, the furniture is mostly castoffs from other homes. That little flat screen I bring with me at the beginning of the season and take it home in the fall. Electronics don’t make it through the winter here. It’s too moist.

“And the doors and windows hardly fit in the frames anymore. One of my little grandsons takes great delight in the fact that he can jiggle the locks open on either door.” She pointed with her thumbs, one toward the lakeside door, the other toward the inland door.

“So there were no signs of forced entry, but maybe no force would have been necessary, and you can’t pinpoint when the theft may have happened?”

“Correct. That’s why I told Grubby that it wasn’t necessary to call the police.”

“And other than the missing cases of liquor, there is no evidence that a robbery took place,” said Ray.

“True,” she responded.

“We can take a report. It would help if you could get a receipt for the stolen alcohol. I would like to know exactly what was taken by brand and quantity. Also, I’d like to know the exact dollar value of this property. You can probably get all of that information by calling your credit card company. You will need that if you are intending to file a claim with your insurance company.”

“Insurance, I hadn’t thought about that. But I wouldn’t want them to know about this.”

“Like I said, we can take a report, but there’s not much for us to go on. Any chance some of your neighbors might have seen something?”

“No one has said anything, and they certainly would have.”

“Well, we could canvass the neighborhood. Ask if anyone has….”

“I wouldn’t want that. First, almost no one has been around yet. And this would be very upsetting. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s summer.”

Richard Grubbs cut her short. “Sheriff, I asked you to bring your evidence tech because I thought maybe you could find a fingerprint or something.”

“That would be very unlikely given the time that’s passed,” said Sue. “Any chance the thief left something behind like a hat, gloves?”

“Nothing of the sort. And I didn’t even notice that the boxes were gone for several days. Not until Grubby stopped off for a drink, and I went to get a fresh bottle of Scotch.

“I’m really afraid, Sheriff, we’re wasting time,” said Verity. “What’s lost is lost. It’s never happened before, and it will probably never happen again. Let’s just get on with our lives, Grubby. That’s what Malcolm wanted you to do, and it’s probably the first, last, and only time I’ve ever agreed with that SOB.”