The Ghost Dances the Nutcracker

by Kristine Frost

  When Tabitha pushed the off icon, she looked at Courtney. “I really don’t feel up to dealing with her, but I’m curious to see what you think of her. You know she’ll want to talk about her plan to separate London from his fiancée.”

  Courtney chuckled. “That’s okay. I’m interested to see if she agrees with me even though I’m not going to tell her what I think.”

  Tabitha looked at the time on her phone. “We’d better get ready.”

  Thirty minutes later, Tabitha and Courtney were escorted to Lady Brittanie’s table at the Dorcester. “Darlings, I’m so glad you were able to come on such short notice.”

  Tabitha introduced Courtney and they both sat.

  “I hope you don’t mind but I already ordered of all of us. I know you are busy today what with Christmas shopping such.

  Courtney and Tabitha exchanged glances. They’d both been so busy that they hadn’t even thought about it.

  Lady Brittanie chuckled. “Did my dear friend get you the information on those pictures you promised to paint for her children?”

  Tabitha smiled. “She did. Because I am making her into such a wonderful mother, she added 10% to the cost of the pictures.” Tabitha hugged herself. “And best of all, not one of them is a portrait.”

  She looked at Courtney. “Remind me to try to paint another haunted landscape. The daughter, Silvia, I think her name is, wants an original.”

  “Of course, she does.” Lady Brittanie opened her purse and pulled out her compact. “She has marvelous taste.”

  The waiter put their entrees on the table.

  Tabitha’s phone rang. She looked at the name. Smiling at Lady Brittanie, she said, “I’m sorry. I need to take this.”

  She got to her feet, coming face to face with London and his fiancée. She smiled vaguely, murmured hi and moved around him, fighting to stay cool and calm.

  “Sorry about that. I’m in a restaurant.” She said.

  “Tabitha, I’ve made the arrangements. It will be tomorrow at 9:00. At this point no one knows the arrangements except for the manager. I set everything up the way you wanted it.”

  Tabitha felt a load fall from her shoulders. Less than 24 hours and she’d be as free as a bird. Free from watching her back. Free from working on paintings she’d come to hate. Free from constantly being on guard when she was out of her apartment. On guard against shooters, against seeing London and Eugenia, against coming up against Parker. Free!

  When she got back to the table, Courtney was looking at a piece of chocolate cake covered with a dark chocolate ganache, a cherry with spearmint leaves gracing the top.

  “Um-m. That looks good.” Tabitha was a chocoholic.

  Courtney handed Tabitha an extra fork. “Everything alright?” Courtney glanced at Tabitha’s phone.

  “Yes. Cabot is going to pick up his Nutcrackers tomorrow morning. I’ll finally be free of that commission.”

  Chapter 33—Tabitha’s Flat--The ghost book

  Later that night, when they had finished packing their clothes, they began to wrap the Nutcracker paintings.

  Tabitha tossed the wide roll of plastic wrap to Courtney. “Hey, you never finished telling me about the book on the Payne’s you found in the attic.”

  Courtney slapped tape on the end of the plastic encasing the picture. “The attic is huge. I really didn’t want to clean it out but the Fire Marshall was concerned about all the flammable junk.”

  “I can understand that. I peeked up there the last time I was there. It looks like it is almost bulging at the seams.”

  “It is. We got rid of a lot of junk, broken furniture, empty cardboard boxes, a rusted dressmaker’s dummy, stuff like that so there’s a place to work.”

  Tabitha nodded as Courtney helped her roll the painting to the side of the room.

  “I had the handyman build some shelves and I had bins that fit on them. I had been going through a big trunk of really old clothes when I heard a loud noise.”

  She looked over at Tabitha. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t from the seventeen hundreds.”

  Tabitha nearly ground her teeth. Courtney could be so infuriating. After a minute, she asked, “So what was the noise?”

  Courtney shrugged. “I don’t know. I knelt there for a few minutes.”

  “You did not.” Tabitha’s voice was scornful. “I know you. You jumped up and started looking for what caused it. I’ve watched you do it too often.”

  Courtney’s eyes looked scared. “Not this time. Remember I was all alone. Hargraves and Mrs. Mere were out shopping. Debbie had gone to the printers to pick up our stationary and register books and stuff like that.”

  Tabitha tipped her head looking concerned. “I’m surprised you even tackled the attic by yourself. It’s spooky enough with two of us.”

  “I am, too, but I was determined to get started on it. The Fire Marshall told me that he’d hold up the opening if I didn’t get it done. He said it was a horrific fire hazard.”

  “It is.” Tabitha agreed. “I’ll help you work on it when we get there. It will give me something to do where I’m not so visible.”

  “That would be wonderful. I can only spend an hour a day or so. I’ve still got so much to do. Debbie wants to help, but I’ve got her swamped, too.”

  Tabitha began wrapping the painting in plastic wrap. As she handed the roll to Courtney, she said, “Where does the book come in?”

  “That’s what’s so weird. The sound seemed to come from the other end of the attic. There are a lot of liquids stored up there. I don’t know why. They are all old. Anyway, I was afraid that something had broken and that it might drip through the ceiling.”

  Tabitha nodded as she took the roll from Courtney. “Did you find what it was?”

  Courtney shook her head. “I wiggled my way clear to the far side of the attic to that dormer window that overlooks the river. I couldn’t see anything that could have fallen.”

  “That’s odd. What could have caused the noise?”

  “I still don’t know. I even checked the windows just in case the heat and cold had caused one of them to crack. That old house does have loud cracks now and then.”

  “Don’t I know it.” Tabitha remembered a crack from the porch where she was painting. It had been so loud that she jumped, slapping her still wet painting with the dark green from her brush. It took her a week to fix the mess she’d made.

  “Anyway, when I got back to the trunk I was working on, I found the book right in the middle of the floor. I swear it hadn’t been there when I’d gone looking for the noise.”

  “Do you think our little ghost was involved?”

  Courtney gave an exaggerated shrug. “She doesn’t communicate with me.”

  “Well, I can’t say we’ve done much communicating either. It’s a little hard when all she uses is sign language and it’s in a language I don’t understand.”

  “Like I said, I was going to bring it with me, but for some reason I forgot it. I should have put it in your room.”

  “So where did you put it?” Tabitha couldn’t hide her curiosity.

  Courtney’s face flamed red. She hung her head. “I didn’t dare pick it up. I just left it there, locked the attic and fled downstairs.”

  Tabitha grinned picturing Courtney’s expression when she saw the book where no book should be. “It’s probably best you just left it. We can check it out when we get back.”

  When they finished the painting, Tabitha opened the box that had been waiting by the door when they returned. Her hands shook a little as she pulled the open tape.

  Her eyes widened when she pulled out a dark brown uniform, a brown ball cap with the moving company’s logo on it, a pair of brown tennis shoes and brown socks. When she shook out the shirt, a paper fluttered to the floor.

  Courtney grabbed it before it settled on the floor. She handed it to Tabitha.

  “Dear Miss Black, I hope these clothes fit. Be dressed in them by 8:00 in the morning. You will be replacin
g one of the moving people. They will explain how this will be handled when they arrive. I will create a diversion in case anyone is watching. Be sure Courtney leaves before you get dressed in these clothes so you can be seen waving goodbye. It would be best if she was about an hour ahead of you. I will have some of my security officers following her. They will be leave with her. Tell her to make sure the back doors and trunk are open so the watchers can see inside them if they want to.

  See you tomorrow. Good luck. Cabot

  Courtney chuckled. “He definitely has an imagination. I suspect the moving person will be a girl with dark hair and eyes. I wonder how he’s going to substitute you for her?”

  Tabitha shrugged. “I have no idea. I hate the idea of not knowing what’s happening, but I asked for his help so I guess I’ll do what he says.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’m assuming that I need to be ready to leave by 7:00 in the morning. I’m assuming that his security team will be here by then if you are leaving at 8:00.”

  “Sounds like it.” Tabitha looked at her watch. “I guess we’d better get to bed. I just hope I can sleep tonight.”

  She paused, looking thoughtful. “I have a feeling that I’m going to need a couple of good mystery novels, a lunch and some snacks just in case I end up riding in the back of a truck or van.”

  “In that case, I’d take a flashlight and a bunch of batteries. You can’t read in the pitch dark.”

  Tabitha quickly scribbled a list, then grabbed two flashlights and several sets of batteries from the kitchen drawer. She picked up a wrapped package from under the tree. “I splurged and got me a bunch of mystery novels as a reward for finishing the Nutcracker order. I want to take a week’s break from painting.”

  “What about Liu’s portrait?” Courtney began putting granola bars, cookies, and some Christmas candy in a cloth grocery bag. She picked up a can of ribbon candy. “Where in the world did you find this? It’s one of my favorites. Remember my dad used to have this around at Christmas.”

  “I do remember. It’s one of my favorite memories so when I came across it in a catalog I ordered it. I also got licorice records in red and black, cherry chocolates and burnt peanuts.”

  Courtney hurriedly put all the Christmas candy in the bag. “I can’t wait until tomorrow. We can pig out while we clean the attic.”

  As Tabitha put on her red and green Christmas pajamas she thought, will it really be as easy as Courtney is imagining? I don’t think so. She shivered even though the room was warm.

  Chapter 34—The Escape

  The next morning, Tabitha still in her PJ’s waved goodbye as Courtney, Rupert, and a security guard drove away followed by additional security in a large black van.

  Tabitha had a couple of bad moments when she dropped to her knees to hug Rupert goodbye. She had been counting on him keeping her company, but she could understand and agree when the security guard told her he’d give everything away if he stayed with her.

  “See you on December 14th.” Tabitha called as Courtney rolled down her window. “Tell Mrs. Mere I want her famous Candy Cane Hot Chocolate. I’ve been craving it like crazy.”

  “I will.” Courtney told Rupert to lie on the back seat. Then waving to Tabitha she rolled up the window, put the car in gear, driving off.

  Tabitha didn’t have to fake the tears that rolled down her face. As she wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her bathrobe, she saw a big black SUV pull away from the curb. A block later, it was followed by a white van with the logo of an electric company on the sides.

  “Don’t worry about that SUV.” The voice came from down the hall. It was another of Cabot’s security guards watching the street with a fiber optic cable that bent around the corner.

  “The white van with the logo is ours. They’ll be joined by a couple more of our vans, before they take out the SUV. We’ll keep your friend safe.”

  Remembering that no one could see the security guard, she stepped back inside shutting the double doors.

  The security guard waited until she was nearly to the elevator before he left his concealed position.

  “Hold the elevator, please,” he called as if he were a resident.

  Tabitha smiled a friendly but neutral smile as he entered the elevator. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Are you a new move-in?” Her voice was a little louder if there was someone listening.

  “Just moved in. I’m subleasing the Jenson flat while they are in Marseilles.”

  “That’s on the same floor as my flat…” The elevator door closed shutting off their conversation.

  The security guard whose name was Bill Mitchell stepped from the elevator first. He sent his fiber optic cable around the corner. “All clear.” He mouthed.

  Tabitha hurried down the hall, unlocking the door of her flat. Once they were inside, she said, “I’d better get dressed. I don’t want to be late.”

  Without saying anything, he locked the door, then went to stand by the side of the big windows that looked out over the street. He stood to the side, between the two windows. He looked out one window, checking every car, doorway and alley that he could see. Then he turned the other way, checking, checking, checking.

  Tabitha hurriedly changed into the uniform, then following the guard’s instructions, she shoved her hair up into the ball cap, then she grabbed a pair of new sunglasses, ones that she hadn’t worn before.

  “Is this okay?” She asked as he turned to look at her.

  “Looks good.” He looked at the tote in her hand. “What’s that? I thought Courtney took your clothes.”

  “She did. This is snacks and stuff for the trip just in case I end up hiding in the back of a truck.”

  He frowned. “I don’t know how we’re going to get that down with your paintings without arousing suspicion.”

  “That’s easy. I’ll attach it to the paintings. If anyone asks, it’s the colors I used on these paintings in case I have to touch them up before they are hung.”

  He nodded. “Good idea.”

  At that moment, the doorbell rang. Mitchell walked quickly to the door. He looked out through the peephole, paused to listen a moment, then motioned for Tabitha to come stand beside him.

  She listened at the door frowning. Then she looked through the peephole. All she could see was blond hair. Whoever had run the doorbell had blond hair.

  She quickly stepped back as the person turned to look into the peephole from the wrong side. Mitchell stepped back his ear to the door. “Who?”

  She shrugged. She closed her eyes for a moment, then motioned for Mitchel to join her in the hall away from the door.

  “It’s Detective Chief Inspector Parker.” He voice was barely above a whisper.

  He nodded. “Now is not a good time for him to be here.”

  “Never is a good time for him to be here. What are we doing to do?”

  He turned as he heard scrabbling at the lock. Moving quickly, he slid a chair under the doorknob, then he silently slid the deadbolt into its hole.

  Parker worked on the door for a few minutes. Then Mitchell walked into the kitchen, tapped a number on his phone and spoke a few words. A minute later a man in a constable’s uniform exited the elevator.

  While they couldn’t see what was going on, they could hear the constable ask Parker what he was doing. When Parker slipped the lock picks into his pocket the constable asked what they were.

  Parker pulled his identification from his pocket and presented it to the constable. “I’m Detective Chief Inspector Parker. I need to talk to Tabitha Black.”

  They could hear the smile in the constable’s voice. “Miss Black isn’t in. She’s working on her paintings at Leland Cabot’s studio. She won’t be back for several days.”

  “Why are you here, constable.” Parker’s voice sounded strained. Strained and angry.

  “Miss Black asked that we keep an eye on her flat with all the problems she’s been having.”

  “I see.” They could hear Parker and the constab
le walk down the hall to the elevator.

  “Whew.” Tabitha said on an exhaled breath. “I was afraid he’d hang around until the truck came.”

  Mitchell looked at his watch, then made a note in his phone. “You do realize that his coming and pounding on your door before 8:00 in the morning is harassment. I hope you’re keeping track of things like this.”

  “At this point I’m just trying to stay alive. I think other people are keeping track, though.”

  “I can understand your priorities but I’d like to see Parker taken down a few inches. He’s an embarrassment to the force.”

  “I’ll text my Barrister and let him know of this latest problem. I don’t know when he wants to file charges on Parker. I doubt if he’ll do it until the murderer is found.”

  Tabitha jumped as someone rang the doorbell. Mitchell hurried to the door. After listening for a moment, he looked through the peephole. “Just a second.”

  He removed the chair, shoved back the dead bolt and undid the chain to let in two people clad in the same uniform that Tabitha wore. One of the women looked enough like her to be her double.

  “Morning, love.” Her voice held a true cockney inflection. “I’m your replacement. If you’ll show me an outfit that you wear often, I’ll change.”

  Tabitha mouth dropped open. “You’re going to be me. Are you sure? People keep shooting at me.”

  The woman laughed. “I’m Lizzy Stark, a private investigator. I’ve done a number of jobs for Leland Cabot. When he told me about your problem, I jumped at the chance. I love your paintings. It would be a terrible shame if anything happened to you before you can paint more of them.”

  Tabitha almost wilted under this barrage of words with Lizzy’s Cockney twang. “This way. I’ll show you my clothes. I wear most of them all the time.”

  While Lizzy changed, Tabitha showed Mike Janes where her pictures were. He

  quickly loaded them on to a heavy trolley.“I want you to go first. It will be harder to recognize you from behind since you look a lot like Lizzy. When we get to the truck, we’ll wheel the paintings straight inside. Cabot hired guards around the truck.”