by Неизвестный
“Well, that’s our plan then,” Miranda said, stifling a yawn behind her hand. “In the meantime, I’m going to get some sleep.”
She got up off the couch, ready to make her way to her bedroom. It had been a very long day.
“And do we sleep?” Alice asked a little helplessly.
“Not as such, Alice,” Kyle chuckled, “but come with me and I’ll show you how to get through the night without going nuts.”
Miranda left Alice in Kyle’s capable hands. At least he’d had months now to become used to being what he was. He could explain that part of things far better than she knew she could. In the bedroom, she yawned again, and was just about to change into her pajamas when the phone on the nightstand began to ring. With a sigh, she answered it.
“Hello,” she said, a little shortly.
“Hi Miranda, it’s just me, Sapphire.”
As always, Miranda’s friend spoke in a slow and dreamy way, as if she had all the time in the world to speak a single thought. “I just wanted to check if you were all right. I just woke up from a dream where you were standing over a dead person. Did that happen to you, or should I lay off the late-night burritos?”
Miranda laughed. “Sapphire, you’re always having weird dreams. But this time, I’ve got to tell you that you were right.”
Miranda gave Sapphire every detail of what had happened that evening and was vaguely amused at Sapphire’s extremely uncharacteristic silence. Their close friendship was something of a godsend as she didn’t have very many people she could be totally open with about her life.
“Oh, that’s so sad,” Sapphire finally said when Miranda had finished the tale. “And the poor dog. But he needs a different name. Something more mystical if he can see ghosts. I know, Gypsy!”
“That would be too confusing for him!” Miranda chuckled. “But, dog names aside, I really do need to help Alice Gill by solving this case. She needs to move on.”
Sapphire Moon-Flower—real name Jenny Smith—and Miranda had become friends the very minute Miranda moved to Moonlight Bay. Sapphire owned an occult shop on the edge of town, and Miranda had gone in to get herself a new piece of clear quartz crystal. Her old one had soaked up enough ghostly energies that it was murky and hard to work with. Sapphire had told Miranda that she could tell she had psychic abilities, and Miranda had laughed. However, as the two women had talked, Miranda found herself telling Sapphire everything. It was a great relief to have found a friend who was an actual believer.
“Well, thanks for checking up on me,” Miranda said. “But I’m exhausted. Try dreaming of really buff men instead of me for the rest of the night, okay?”
“Oh, honey, you know that’s a deal! Sweet dreams, Miranda.”
Chapter 4
As they made their way over to the home of the deceased Terence Crenshaw in Miranda’s car the next morning, she could not help but think that there was a little bit more to Moonlight Bay than she had ever realized. Miranda had never come this far north and hadn’t imagined that the Crenshaw family estate would be anywhere near as big as it turned out to be.
The wrought iron gates at the front of the estate were enormous and beautifully intricate even if the shiny black paintwork seemed to be chipping in places, lending the place an air of crumbling splendor.
“Humph,” Kyle remarked. “Looks like the place needs a touchup.”
“It’s still a lovely place,” Miranda said, wistfully.
She drove slowly, looking at everything all around them. The grounds were sprawling, neatly trimmed and bordered by perfectly spaced shrubs set along the northern cliffs of Moonlight Bay. The vista was a wide-open one, and the sea seemed to stretch out before them for miles, flat and gloriously blue. The crushed stone of the meandering drive made a monotonous sound under her tires.
There was a silence all around them broken only by the occasional birdcall. That was something that had taken a little getting used to when she moved here from the city; quiet, quiet everywhere. Now, Miranda enjoyed the fact that she lived in a place that was so peaceful and remote that birdsong was a part of everyday life. She could hardly remember ever listening to birdsong when she had lived in the city.
In fact, everything about Moonlight Bay was so different from the life she had known before. It was such a remote little community, with no obvious industry and no reason for anyone to rush anywhere. Idly, Miranda wondered if there were any other authors living in Moonlight Bay.
“Okay, if there are any family members here and we do get to speak to anybody, I’m going to need you both to concentrate hard and pay attention for clues,” Miranda said to her ghostly passengers. “I won’t mind if you wander around to listen in on things… as long as you don’t follow anyone into the bathroom.”
She glared at Kyle in the rearview mirror as she added that last part.
“Spoilsport,” Kyle grumbled. “So, do we have a hunch of any kind as to who the killer is?”
“Kyle, making guesses is a real good way to let a killer get away with their crime. We really need to wait until we have a firm motive of some kind before we start playing that game.”
“I can’t help but think that it has something to do with the inheritance,” Alice insisted. “I think someone might been taking vengeance out on me. It’s the only possible answer.”
“Ah, but what about the missing kidney?” Once again, Kyle was as subtle as a brick.
None of them had a good answer for that. Miranda had asked Alice what her blood type was but she either couldn’t remember, or she’d never known it. Miranda supposed she could just ask everyone to show her their back to check for a recent surgery scar…
“This is kind of a sad-looking place,” Kyle said, changing the subject altogether. “It just looks like it needs a little bit of work done on just about everything. Look at the statues. Even they could do with a good clean.”
Miranda looked over to a rather beautiful looking angel statue, which seemed to be suffering from a moss problem. Kyle was right, it did look kind of sad. The whole place needed a large dose of TLC.
“Somebody is coming,” Miranda warned them. She parked the car up close to the main house and stepped out like she belonged here. She’d dressed in a pantsuit and heels, hoping to at least look the part of a woman here on business.
“Can I help you?” A tall and statuesque woman of around sixty, with ash blonde hair and strident tones, marched towards Miranda as she got out of the car. Without a word, Miranda clicked her fingers and Butter came jumping down out of the car to join her. The older woman wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Oh dear Lord, that dreadful woman’s mutt. Why is it here? Get rid of it.”
“Dreadful woman?” Miranda could hear Kyle talking to Alice. “Why is she so cross with you?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, ma’am, but my name is Miranda Wylder and I live just down the coast. Butter here made his way to my home last night, and I followed him down to the beach where I found the body of his owner.”
“Body? His owner?” The woman seemed entirely surprised. “You mean Alice Gill?”
“Yes, I take it the police have yet to inform you?” Miranda felt suddenly very awkward. “Oh dear, I really am terribly sorry.”
Miranda supposed that made sense. The Crenshaw’s weren’t Alice’s family. If she was having some sort of relationship with Terence Crenshaw that was all well and good, but with him dead as well, Detective Jack Travis may not have even known to come and inform these people about Alice’s death.
“You mean she’s dead?” The woman seemed more surprised than upset, and Miranda’s initial awkwardness was replaced by her customary sense of inquisitiveness.
“I’m afraid she is dead,” Miranda confirmed.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Alice float in closer.
On the older woman’s face, a little smile came and went that spoke of a perverse sort of pleasure at Miranda’s news. It was an odd sort of reaction.
“Well,” the woman preened. “I’m Elea
nor Crenshaw. Terence’s second wife. We don’t want that dog here but it was just so nice of you to make the effort. Won’t you come in, and have some tea?”
Second wife? Miranda tried to catch Alice’s reaction but she couldn’t turn that way without being obvious. “Well, how kind, Mrs. Crenshaw. I certainly would like a cup of tea. Please, accept my condolences for your loss.”
She was digging, for sure, but she figured it couldn’t hurt to push things a bit.
Eleanor sniffed. “That woman was really no loss to me, I’m afraid. She was nothing more than a ridiculous infatuation of my husband’s.”
“Oh, you’re still married?” Miranda said, realizing that her questioning had become almost as blunt as Kyle’s.
“Married yes, but separated,” Eleanor explained, seemingly untroubled by Miranda’s intrusion. “Leave that mutt in the car for now, please. We’ll have some tea and get to know each other before you leave.”
Apologizing to Butter as she shut the car door on him with the windows open enough for fresh air, she hurried after Eleanor. The house was immense. Two stories of sprawling rooms that seemed to grow organically from the large foyer inside the double front doors. The marble floors echoed with their footsteps. Somewhere a clock loudly ticked away the seconds. Natural sunlight fell inside through floor-to-ceiling windows.
“And you live here?” Miranda asked, looking around her. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”
“I used to live here, but I moved away when Terence and I split. Only Terence lived here, although I’m fairly certain that Alice Gill was a regular visitor,” Eleanor snorted.
“So, you were just down for the funeral, I take it?”
“The funeral, yes. That was three days ago, and then the reading of the will was yesterday afternoon. The attorney came out here to read it, and it seemed a little late in the evening to be setting off for home afterwards. Still, I shall be on my way at some point today with any luck as will, I’m sure, everybody else.”
“Was Alice here too, then?”
“Not sure how that’s your concern, Miss Wylder.”
Miranda knew she’d pushed too far, and quickly tried to think of a way to redeem the conversation. “Well, I suppose it’s not… but I’m curious what sort of a hussy this Alice Gill was.”
“Hey!” Alice snapped immediately. Miranda gave her a look that she hoped would convey that she was just trying to play on Eleanor’s emotions, and didn’t mean what she was saying.
She could see by the gleam in Eleanor’s eye that she had, indeed, struck the right cord. “Oh yes,” Eleanor said, moving off down a hallway and expecting Miranda to follow. “Alice Gill stayed for the entire three days. That little minx wasn’t going to go anywhere until she’d heard exactly how much money she’d managed to shoehorn out of my husband. When she didn’t come back last night, I thought she’d skipped town with her inheritance in her back pocket.”
“So, she inherited, did she?” Miranda said, keen to find out exactly how much.
“Yes, my husband’s twenty-something lover seduced him into changing his will so that she might inherit almost all of his money. She will even get something from the sale of the house. At least, she would have if she were still alive.” Eleanor almost spat the words in her anger. “Anyway, I hope they’re happy wherever they are. Wherever it is that sinners end up.”
“Well, she must have been working on your husband for a long time, then.”
Again, Miranda saw Alice’s reaction. She stomped her foot in a huff and crossed her arms over her chest.
Kyle leaned in to her and whispered. “Don’t worry. It might not look it, but Miranda knows what she’s doing.
“Long?” Eleanor echoed. “No, she hadn’t been here long at all. Six months. That’s all it took for her to use her nubile body to sucker my poor husband in.”
Miranda winced at the direct way Eleanor talked about it. “Is that when you moved out of town?”
“No, no,” Eleanor said, shaking her head. “I moved out years ago. Terence really was a waste of space. There were so many investments he could have made, and so much more money he could have thrown into this place, if only he would have listened. He was going nowhere, and I’d had enough of it.”
“Oh dear,” Miranda said, a little lost for words. “Had you been married for very long?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Eleanor said, leading them into the kitchen. “I married Terence when his granddaughter Olivia was three. She’s twenty-three now, so I suppose it was twenty years ago.”
Miranda was reeling; how could a person not remember when it was they got married? She was certainly not warming to Eleanor Crenshaw and began to silently congratulate Terence for finding himself a little love and happiness in his last few months, whatever the age gap.
“Well, I’m very sorry to hear of your troubles,” Miranda said, as sweetly as she could. It paid dividends since Eleanor Crenshaw seemed to thaw visibly. She obviously liked people who sympathized with her.
And, Miranda was willing to bet, she didn’t like people who crossed her.
“Do come in and take a seat.” She said to Miranda before she walked through the door on the opposite side of the kitchen into a living room. “I’ll just be one moment to fetch the tea.”
Miranda took this moment to admire the room around her. A huge landscape painting hung on the wall opposite the floor to ceiling window and dozens of ornamental trinkets sat above the fireplace which was currently unlit. She suspected there was more wealth in this one room than she had ever owned in her life.
A moment later, Eleanor returned with a silver tray of tea clinking in her hands. “Please do forgive me for being quite so terse with you.” She said as she placed the tea tray onto the ornately carved coffee table. “I’m afraid I never liked Alice, especially after she broke her promise. I’m sorry, I just don’t seem to be able to hide it. But, I shouldn’t have been quite so short with you.”
“Oh, please don’t worry about that, Mrs. Crenshaw. I understand entirely.” Miranda took the opportunity to sneak a look over at Alice while Eleanor was busy pouring tea. She raised her eyebrows, and Alice simply shrugged, clearly unable to remember the promise she had broken.
Looking back toward Eleanor, Miranda noticed a rather large safe embedded in the wall in the corner. It was uncovered, and Miranda could see no hook or nail above to indicate that a picture or painting might have been hung in front of it at any time.
“Oh, that’s unusual,” Miranda said, nodding in the direction of the safe. “Shouldn’t that be covered up with a painting or something?”
“See, I thought the same,” Eleanor beamed. “We’ve been trying to find a way to open it since we arrived. I feel sure that it will contain something important. Or at least important to Terence, at any rate.”
“We?” Miranda said, keen to know who else had wanted the safe opened.
“Oh, just Joel, Olivia and I. Olivia, as I think I’ve already said, is Terence’s granddaughter.”
“And Joel?” Miranda said, hoping that she did not sound like the nosiest woman on the planet.
“Joel Stephens. He was Terence’s attorney, and he’s been gathering up the paperwork to determine who is owed what in all of this. He read the will, in fact.” As Eleanor explained, Miranda heard footsteps in the corridor outside. “Oh, that’s probably Joel now, would you excuse me for a few minutes?”
“Of course,” Miranda said.
When she was gone, Alice floated about the room, looking at the photographs and the furniture and everything else. “I think I might have lived here for a little while, but I’m not sure.”
Suddenly, the door flew open again, and Miranda fully expected to see Eleanor and the attorney. Instead two very pretty young women strode in. They looked nearly identical. Long brown hair fell over their shoulders. They were wearing matching blue dresses that showed off flawless physiques. They were both in their early twenties, Miranda guessed.
Both of them stopped short whe
n they saw Miranda. “Who are you?” one of them asked. Miranda could see now that the likeness between them was only superficial. The woman who had spoken wore a scowl that marred the perfection of her face.
Miranda smiled at them. “Hello. My name is Miranda Wylder. I’m the person who found… well…” She did not want to say any more. Eleanor had been unaware of the death of Alice Gill, and Miranda did not want to make the same mistake twice.
“Oh, you’re the one who found Alice,” the same young woman said, without any hint of being upset.
Miranda added two and two. “You must be Olivia.”
“Yes, I am. How did you know that?” Olivia asked. The young woman with her simply stood at her side, silently.
“Your grandmother was just telling me about—”
“Eleanor Crenshaw? She is not my grandmother. She was my grandfather’s second wife,” Olivia said with that sort of clipped politeness that was designed to be surreptitiously rude. Already Miranda did not like the young woman. “Do forgive me, but if you are Eleanor’s guest, why don’t you go find her and join her? I need a few moments with my friend to speak in private.”
There’s a huge house all around us, Miranda thought to herself, and she can’t find another empty room somewhere? “I don’t mind at all,” she said out loud. Then she gave Kyle a very purposeful glance.
He caught on immediately. “Go ahead, Miranda. Alice and I can listen in on these two.”
Miranda made her way out of the room, relieved to be away from the piercing gaze of such a thoroughly unpleasant young lady.
Once she was in the corridor outside, Miranda had no idea which way to turn. She remembered her way back to the kitchen, and all alone like this she had a very good opportunity to have a little snoop.
Despite the age of the building, it was clean and the antique furniture all looked very sturdy and functional. The floors throughout the corridors were highly polished wood, and huge vases and urns were strategically placed for decoration.
She passed rooms that were either locked or empty. Aside from a few paintings on the walls that she was certain were original works by painters she had actually heard of, she didn’t find anything of interest. Finally, Miranda thought she could hear voices in the distance. Slowing down to carefully place each step noiselessly on the wooden flooring, she crept along to a partially open door. She peered in as far as she dared. The only view she had was of the great fireplace, but there was an enormous mirror hanging above the mantel shelf, and in the reflection she could see Eleanor standing on the other side of the room.