Double Take

by Catherine Coulter

  “In 1988, Wallace took her with him to visit a client in Segovia. She jumped off the Roman aqueduct. It was ruled a suicide even though a witness reported seeing a man with her on the aqueduct. Since no one could find this man, they didn’t rule it the Spanish equivalent of death by misadventure, but rather suicide.”

  “Did Tammerlane have an alibi?”

  “No. He’d already left his client.”

  Cheney shrugged. “Still, it seems suicide is probably exactly what happened. Was there a reason for her to kill herself?”

  “August said she was unstable, that Wallace tried to hide the extent of her illness, that he tried to protect her from talk. I guess she finally broke. So, of course the rumor mill started grinding something fierce. When the Spanish media got up to full steam, even King Juan Carlos’s name was bandied around. The king wasn’t happy about it, needless to say. Wallace left the following week, accompanied his wife’s body back to Ohio.”

  Cheney asked, “Where is August buried?”

  “In Connecticut, outside of Hartford. That’s where he was born and grew up, where his elderly mother still resides. He wanted to be cremated, he even wrote it in his will, and so I had it done here. His mother hasn’t spoken to me since then because she’d wanted to bury him next to his brother and sister, and his father.”

  Cheney fell silent for a moment. Then he reached out and took her hand again. “Julia, let me say this flat out. I know you didn’t kill your husband, so don’t ever wonder about that, all right?”

  There was that surge of gratitude toward him again. She smiled at him, leaned close—“You wanna guess Wallace Tammerlane’s real name?”

  “Bernie Swartz?”

  “Worse.”

  He grinned at her vivid face. “I give.”

  “Actis Hollyrod.”

  “Come on, Julia. Actis? What kind of a name is that?”

  “His parents must have been spaced out on drugs when he was born, don’t you think?”

  “Something for sure. Actis. What a thing to do to a kid.”

  “Another thing, Cheney. Wallace likes young girls.”

  “So do a lot of older men. Wait, don’t tell me he’s a pedophile.”

  “Oh no, certainly not, but he appears very partial to females who haven’t quite yet reached voting age.”

  “Do you know this for certain? Or are these rumors in the psychic world? Or did his colleagues simply read his mind and see visions of what he was doing?”

  She cocked her head to one side, sending her hair falling beside her face. “Do I hear a bit of snark in your tone?”

  “I’m trying to be open about all of it. When did Wallace start preferring younger women?”

  “I’m not sure. I hope it was after his wife died. August found it funny. He’d say that even though I was way over-the-hill for Wallace, he, August, still appreciated me.”

  Cheney noticed her eyes then, maybe because of the way she’d angled her head toward him. Her eyes, a quite nice light green, were bright today. He thought of the woman he’d saved the previous week—pale, hunched down, drawn in on herself. She’d changed, and the change had begun when she’d saved herself. She still looked thin, but not fragile, leached-out thin—she looked sleek and strong. She looked ready to vibrate, she was so solidly in the present, focused and involved. Yes, involved, that was it, no longer a victim, no longer helpless.

  Cheney realized he liked her, realized he really didn’t want her to die by an assassin’s hand.

  She snapped her fingers under his nose. “Earth to Cheney, you there?”

  “Yes. Now, are these all rumors about Wallace’s young groupies?”

  “Nope. Actually I saw one of his girls coming out of his house. He obviously didn’t think anyone was around because he fondled her on the top step. Then he saw me, saw that I’d seen what he was doing, and he looked bilious. When he realized I didn’t condemn him or anything, and never made any smart-mouth cracks, he was as he’d always been toward me, kind and charming. Like I already told you, Wallace asked me out, but before that, he’d call simply to see how I was, to hear the sound of my voice, send me the occasional flowers. I remember telling him once I was far too old for him. He only laughed.

  “I only went to dinner with him occasionally since the police were still looking hard at me, probably even had me followed.”

  “Nah, they don’t have the manpower.”

  “No, really, I just bet they reasoned that since I’d already married one older man, why not another? I could be following a pattern, no?”

  “What did Bevlin think of Wallace’s wooing you?”

  “He’s young, he sees Wallace as old. I don’t think he was worried, or even cared. The psychic community is small and very incestuous. There aren’t many secrets.”

  “Well, naturally not—they read each other’s minds, right?”

  “More snark. To be honest, I don’t hear much about mind reading, but it would be really scary if some of them could do that.”

  Cheney turned on the ignition. “Okay, let’s go see if we can catch Tammerlane fondling another teenager. Filbert, right?”

  “Right, fourth house from the corner on the left.”

  “A mansion like yours?”

  “It’s very different from ours—mine. You’ll see. How odd. I’ve never thought of my house as a mansion. It’s just my house, where I live, where Freddy sometimes visits and sheds all over the sofas.”

  He thought of his condo, how it would fit into a third of her downstairs, thought of that big cat hissing, and smiled.

  There was a lot of traffic that morning under a steel-gray April sky, and the wind blew sharp and chill. An hour of sun would have been nice, Cheney thought. At that moment, the thick clouds parted and a wide shaft of sun speared through in front of the Audi. A good sign, he hoped.

  As Cheney’s Audi muscled its way smoothly up the thirty-degree-angled street, he said, “I’ll never forget the first time I drove up one of these steep hills—I thought I was going to sail right off the top of the earth. It still gives my old heart a leap.”

  “Just try it driving a stick.”

  Cheney said, “A friend of mine, another agent who’d transferred in from Utah, drove a stick, bragged he was the only real man in the office, that it took real skill to do it right, until one day his clutch gave out and he went hurtling backward down into an intersection filled with cars. Thankfully, no one was hurt. No one in our office drives a stick anymore, him included. Do you know your hair looks like my desk?”

  She whipped her head around. “What? I look like your desk?”

  “Your hair—it’s the same mahogany color.”

  “I see. So, do you like your desk? Admire the finish? Polish it every day? Maybe you even like it so much you don’t put your feet on it?”

  He laughed, felt every care roll off his shoulders for a moment. He hadn’t laughed much in too long a time, too much crap at work, too many crooks they couldn’t catch up with, too much frustration. But he felt good right then, really good. He said, “Nah, I never put my feet on my desk unless I’m barefoot. I worship my desk, I even have papers under my computer so it won’t scratch the finish. I plan to be buried with my desk.”

  She laughed, lightly touched her fingertips to his hair. “The color of your hair reminds me of a tan-colored Subaru I once owned. Soft and creamy, sort of like a caramel.”

  He turned onto Filbert Street. “Pay attention. I ain’t no caramel. My hair’s plain old brown.”

  He turned right from Filbert, and in the next minute he turned his Audi onto Wallace Tammerlane’s wide driveway. “Dear God in heaven, a double garage in San Francisco,” Cheney said. “That alone has got to make this place worth big bucks.”

  “Probably.”

  “Julia, I know he’s your friend, that you care about him, but be watchful—you know his body language, his expressions, okay?”

  She gave him a look, then nodded.

  As he walked her to the front do
or of the flamboyant three-story Victorian, he said, “Just jump in when and if you think it’s appropriate.”

  He was including her, really including her. She gave him a blazing smile.

  CHAPTER 26

  Aman dressed entirely in starched black answered the buzzer. He stood squarely in the middle of the doorway. Good grief, a butler?

  "Yes? May I help you?”

  "I’m Agent Cheney Stone, FBI, and this is Mrs. Julia Ransom. We have an appointment to speak with Mr. Tammerlane.”

  “I know who Mrs. Ransom is. You’re looking well, Mrs. Ransom. Let me say I am relieved that you’re looking well. A pleasure to see you. Come in.”

  “Nice to see you, Ogden.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear about all this misery, Mrs. Ransom.”

  They were shown into a Victorian living room, stuffed with hundred-year-old dark Victorian furniture, down to elaborately crocheted antimacassars spread over the backs of the twin sofas and chairs. The walls were covered in dark red silk flocked wallpaper. Doodads, the term Cheney’s father used for all the knickknacks his mother displayed in their living room at home, were everywhere—dozens of little carved wooden animals that looked vaguely African, and scores of tiny teacups and saucers, doubtless at least as old as or older than the furniture, covering the shelves of glass cabinets. Cheney didn’t see a speck of dust.

  Old portraits marched up and down one entire wall, all of them showing nurses and soldiers from what looked to be the Crimean War. There didn’t seem to be any family photos or portraits.

  “Good morning, Julia, Agent Stone.”

  Julia turned, let him hug her. “Hello, Wallace. Thank you for seeing us.”

  Wallace Tammerlane smiled at her. “It’s good to see you, Julia. I couldn’t very well say no, now could I? I’m worried about you, about this maniac trying to kill you. You do know, don’t you, that I had nothing at all to do with these attempts on your life—that I know nothing about them?”

  “Of course, Wallace. Agent Stone is now looking again into August’s murder, and he needs to speak to everyone.”

  Wallace nodded. “I will do what I can to help. Agent Stone, I understand why you wish to speak to everyone again about August’s murder. But let me say, you may be wasting your time. I don’t know anything, nothing at all.”

  “Thank you for agreeing to see me, Mr. Tammerlane,” Cheney said easily. “I’m not here to accuse you of anything.”

  “I should hope not! Sit down. Julia, would you care for anything to drink?”

  She shook her head. They sat. Wallace Tammerlane, however, moved to stand by the ornate fireplace, and leaned against the mantel, his arms crossed over his chest. Cheney couldn’t see a single strand of gray in the inky black hair on his head. He wondered if he dyed it. When he’d met the man yesterday he’d thought he was about fifty, but now, he looked to be about a decade older. He looked tired, but still his dark eyes seemed almost terrifyingly alive and focused. What did those eyes see that he couldn’t see? Ghosts? Dead people? Aunt Marge’s lost wedding ring?

  He was focusing those eyes on Cheney’s face, as if memorizing what he saw, and looking deeper. It was a creepy feeling, Cheney thought, and a bit frightening because the man acted as if he knew about hidden things, things burrowed deep inside Cheney that even he didn’t know about or remember.

  He was dressed all in white this morning, in sharp contrast to his black-clad butler. He had the look of a European aristocrat, lean and long and ineffably bored, except for those eyes.

  “What is it you wish to know, Agent Stone?”

  “What’s your butler’s name?”

  “My what? Oh, Ogden. His name is Ogden Poe, always compares himself to Edgar. He’s always fancied wearing black. I, however, have to pay the cleaning bills.”

  “Seems to me that keeping white clean would cost much more,” Cheney said. “How long has Ogden Poe been in your employ?”

  Wallace Tammerlane shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe fifteen years. I don’t understand that question, Agent Stone. You will appreciate, as Julia already does, that my time isn’t my own. I have a client coming in twelve minutes. What can I do for you?”

  “Tell me what you thought of Dr. August Ransom.”

  “He was a great man, a compassionate man. He helped scores of people throughout his life.”

  “You believe he was a legitimate medium?”

  Wallace Tammerlane didn’t move a muscle. A faint sneer appeared. “This is an outrage, an insult. How can you ask such a thing? Haven’t you assured him of August’s integrity, Julia?”

  “He’s a skeptic, Wallace, as everyone should be. No one should automatically buy what every psychic is selling.”

  “Listen to me, Agent Stone, skeptic or not, August was one of the greatest psychic mediums of our time. Why, I cannot tell you how many grateful people he’s connected to loved ones who’ve passed over. He was revered by thousands. I admired him, respected him, as did everyone else I know.”

  “Well, not exactly everyone, Wallace,” Julia said. “Someone murdered him, after all, and it wasn’t me.”

  “Of course not, Julia, but I’m convinced, I’ve always been convinced, that his killer was an outsider, someone jealous of him, someone who took offense at one of his consultations, and this blighted individual held a grudge, wanted revenge.”

  Cheney said, “Why would a person hold a grudge against him for telling them that their loved one was happy or content, or whatever they are in the ether?”

  “You mock what you don’t understand, Agent Stone. Not unexpected, I suppose, given who and what you are. August also occasionally helped people who called with an illness.”

  “You mean he gave them medical advice?”

  Wallace Tammerlane nodded.

  “I didn’t realize Dr. Ransom had a medical degree.”

  “He didn’t,” Julia said. “August said that sometimes he could hear a person’s voice and visualize what was happening in his body. Then he said he simply knew whether the person was very sick. He’d suggest medicines and treatments, or send the client to a doctor, but he often knew, he said, whether that was right for the patient.”

  Wallace Tammerlane said, “Yes, that’s it exactly. It’s the same with me, sometimes.”

  “So you’re saying, Mr. Tammerlane, that he might have missed a diagnosis and this led to his murder, for revenge?”

  “Perhaps.”

  Cheney said, “Did Dr. Ransom ever connect you to any of your dead relatives, Mr. Tammerlane?”

  “No, I never asked him to. Truth is, they’re a paltry lot, every single one of them except my grandfather. He robbed banks and died in his bed at the age of eighty-three. Why would I want to hear that they’re happy? Actually, I don’t much care if they’re happy or not.”

  Cheney said, “From what I understand, the psychic line always seems to be that all dead loved ones are at peace and happy, no matter what they did in life.”

  “Not necessarily,” Wallace said. “You have nine minutes, Agent Cheney.”

  “Do you think your wife Beatrice is at peace now, and happy?”

  If he’d shot him in the gut, Wallace Tammerlane couldn’t have been more shaken. He lurched forward, nearly falling. “How dare you say anything at all about my wife?”

  Julia rose quickly to go to him. “Agent Stone didn’t mean it to come out that harshly, Wallace. But he’s an FBI agent, and he’s got to question you about your wife’s death. Surely you understand.” Julia touched his arm, to calm him. “I know it came as a shock, but he’s only doing his job. Please tell him about Beatrice.”

  Wallace looked down at her thin white hand. His mouth was tight. “You’re saying, Julia, that August told you about that horrible time in Spain and you repeated it to Agent Stone?”

  “Yes, of course she told me,” Cheney said. “I told her it was critical that she tell me every single thing about all of you. Don’t blame her. Now, did August Ransom find proof you’d shoved your wife off th
at aqueduct in Segovia? Threaten to expose you?”

  Wallace shook off Julia’s hand, shoved away from the mantelpiece. “I won’t listen to this. Julia, how could you?”

  “I’m sorry, Wallace. Agent Stone, surely you’re not being fair.”

  Cheney shrugged, looked down at his fingernails.

  Wallace shouted, “That’s it! I want you to leave now, Agent Stone. Julia, you can stay, but not him. I’m going to call my lawyer, and you can talk to him from now on.”

  Cheney said, “Tell me, Mr. Tammerlane. As a renowned psychic medium, do you ever speak to your dead wife?”

  CHAPTER 27

  Wallace Tammerlane was breathing hard and fast; anger reddened his cheeks, nearly reached his eyes. Cheney waited patiently.

  Finally, Wallace drew in a deep breath. He got himself together. Julia held her breath, watching the man she’d always liked, a man she knew liked her and had honestly admired her husband. She’d never been certain if he was a legitimate psychic or simply a great showman, if he was also a legitimate medium or one of those despicable individuals who claimed to speak to your dead father and tore out your heart. When she’d asked August, he’d evaded her, said only that belief in someone was based on indefinable things, that we each had to decide for ourselves, which meant nothing. She touched his arm again.

  Wallace said finally, calmer now, at least on the surface, “No, I do not speak to my wife. I have never tried to speak to Beatrice. She killed herself, that is all. She was an unstable woman, on medications, which she many times forgot to take. Her suicide was the result. It was a horribly painful time for me, Agent Stone.”

  Cheney nodded. “Your real name is Actis Hollyrod?”

  “Yes. My parents were sadistic and insane to name me that. I had my name legally changed when I turned eighteen. I changed it to something more suited to my actual self.”