Gypsies, Traps & Missing Thieves

by Rachael Stapleton

  “She didn’t say how it was tampered with. How did you know someone removed a brick?” Eve accused.

  Vee sat up straight. Mallory noted that her aura hummed with guilt. “I may have seen it too.”

  “Maybe someone think’s the mother-in-law’s diary is hidden in there,” Lana pointed out.

  Harley made a face. “No way. No one is dumb enough to destroy this place looking for a planted prop diary. Come on, I think everyone here understands this is just a game.”

  “Then how do you explain it?” Eve asked.

  Harley fell silent.

  “Bronson,” Joelle called out imperiously, “fetch the diary. We’ll take care of this right now.”

  Nodding, Bronson walked out of the room. He returned no more than a minute later, carrying a book on poisons.

  “Where was it?” Michèle asked.

  “In the study, next to some gardening books.” Bronson opened the book to show that a rectangular hole had been hollowed out of its pages, and inside the hole lay a small, cloth-bound book. He dropped the diary on top of the table and snapped the hollowed-out book shut.

  “I was going to search there next,” Michèle said in disgust. Her hand shot out, snatching the diary before anyone else could.

  “You now have the next piece of the puzzle, so I hope that will end this nonsense.” Joelle glanced at the watch on her wrist. “It’s two o’clock. We’ll all gather back here at seven for dinner, where you all will give your theories on where the coin is hidden, and who murdered Jili and Madam Murter along with their reasons for doing so. Good luck.” Her chin held high, she glided from the room.

  Eve whispered in Mallory’s ear. “I don’t believe the vandals were searching for the diary.”

  Daemon, who was seated on the other side of Mallory, leaned forward. “Neither do I.”

  “But what could they have been looking for?” Mallory asked.

  “Maybe they were looking for a secret passageway,” Harley said.

  “Or treasure,” Vee said with a small smirk.

  “Vee’s got a point,” Daemon agreed.

  Nana chuckled in amusement. “Why in the world would someone think there was treasure here? We’re not pirates. The game is about a fake diary that leads to a fake coin involving fake murders.”

  “Yes, but it’s not a fake coin, is it?”

  “That’s absurd. Why would I agree to give a real coin away in a game of make-believe? This is a business, Mr. Wraith, not a charity.”

  Daemon pointed to a portrait of Jillian Vianu. “I believe the coin she’s holding in that portrait is the fabled, century-old rare U.S. nickel. There are only five known, genuine 1913-dated Liberty Head design nickels.”

  The Vianus knew all about the 1913 Liberty Head nickel but Mallory wasn’t about to share that information with him.

  “What makes you think my mother’s coin is the 1913 Liberty Head nickel?” Mallory asked.

  “Come on, don’t play. I read the story in the magazine.” Daemon smiled slightly. “Coin collecting is one of my passions, so I looked into it.”

  So, that’s why he wanted to play again.

  “What makes you think it’s still here? The treasure was found, remember? It was buried.” Mallory asked.

  Daemon shook his head. “Yes, there was a treasure load of goods buried with that dead guy but they never found the coin in there. Besides, it would have turned up on the market by now. It’s still here,” he said confidently.

  “People,” Eve said, “there’s no treasure here. We already went through this once in the summer. There was a huge contest and the coin never turned up. If it had, it would belong to the Vianu’s anyway.”

  “I know,” Daemon said, “I was hoping they would sell it to me. I have a buyer interested in it.”

  Danior rolled her eyes. “I promise you that there’s nothing here.”

  “Listen, I’m not trying to be—” Daemon started to argue.

  “What, do you need to hear it in a poem? Okay: there is no coin worth money here. Not at the bottom of a lake, not in a snowflake, not if you roam, not in our home. Not in a trunk, there’s simply junk. There, do you believe me, now?”

  “My belongings are not junk, thank you very much.” Nana said irritably to Danior while Eve laughed.

  “Even if we had it, we’re not interested in selling,” Mallory snapped.

  “Well,” Harley said, changing the subject, “an actual hidden treasure. That sort of changes things.”

  Michèle nodded. “It’s probably long gone.”

  “Right.” Harley agreed.

  Michèle’s eyes shifted around the dining room. “I guess it’s time to get back to the game.” She rose to her feet.

  Harley followed her example. “Yeah,” he said enthusiastically. “Back to the game, Dr. Whare.”

  “Right.” They both stood staring at each other for a few seconds before rushing out of the room at the same time.

  Lana pocketed her phone. With a great deal more dignity and poise, but with just as much enthusiasm, she stood up and walked determinately out of the room.

  “The coin,” Danior repeated softly, looking over at the portrait of Jili.

  “Dan?” Mallory felt like snapping her fingers in front of her face but refrained. “Dan, look at me.”

  Her eyes briefly flicked toward Mallory. The room had now cleared out except for Rebel and Eve. “I have an idea! We should search through your mom’s things.” Danior blurted.

  “What makes you think we’d find that coin now?” Eve asked.

  Danior turned toward her quickly. “Why wouldn’t we?”

  Mallory cleared her throat, “No, I’m betting Geneviève found the coin. She just hasn’t been able to get rid of it yet.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  Mallory looked over her shoulder at the dining room door. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Why would Daemon be here if she couldn’t get it? He’s obviously not telling us everything. I can see that in his aura. Maybe that’s what she was doing sneaking around the other night. What if she hid it outside in the shed, knowing that no one was allowed near the fake corpse?” She drummed her fingers across the table.

  “Yeah, but if she has it then why wouldn’t she just hot tail it over here, already?” Danior asked.

  “Oh, I’m sure that was the plan, but she and Daemon got snowed in with the rest of us.” Mallory tapped her fingers against the side of her temple and chewed on her lip.

  Danior cleared her throat. “I know that look, Mal. What hairbrained plan have you come up with?”

  Mallory smiled. “I guess you could call it a plan. Don’t try to talk me out of it, okay?”

  “That would be pointless,” Danior replied.

  “I was just thinking that we should confront Geneviève or at the very least, search her room.”

  Danior stood up. “Good idea. I’ll go check the computer and see which room hers is,” she said as she left.

  27

  A s expected, Geneviève’s room was in the empty wing, which explained why no one had seen her. When Mallory and Danior reached her room, however, they found a DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from the doorknob.

  “The sign is on,” Mallory muttered. She glanced up and down the hall, making sure there were no other guests around before putting her ear to the door. Not a sound came from within.

  Stepping back a pace, Mallory stared at the sign. She was conflicted. They needed to speak with Geneviève, but they had been taught to abide by a strict code when it came to the Manor’s guests. It was so ingrained that Mallory never questioned it.

  “What are you waiting for?” Dani leaned forward and banged several times. When no one answered Dani grabbed the key from Mallory’s hand. “You realize we have to go in.”

  Mallory bit her lip, “I know. It’s just, you know, the rules. Guests are to be treated with courtesy at all times, even when they’re behaving badly.”

  “Yeah, but Geneviève is attempting to ste
al from us, I think that gives us permission. Besides, this was your plan.”

  Mallory nodded. Apparently, Dani wasn’t weighted down with the same principals. “I know. You’re right. We need to do this.”

  After knocking once more, Danior slipped the key in the lock and opened the door. Unexpectedly, Geneviève wasn’t in her room.

  Taking advantage of Genevieve’s absence, Danior immediately tore through the suitcase until she found Geneviève’s smart phone. She handed it to Mallory with a grin. “Should I do the honors?”

  “No. I will. I’m gonna tidy up first though in case she comes back. I’d rather have the element of surprise.” She said to Danior, feeling a little more emboldened. “Why don’t you go grab Kaden and Pen?”

  “You want me to wake them up?” Danior asked.

  Mallory’s head snapped up from the suitcase. “You mean to tell me they’re still sleeping? It’s been like eighteen hours.” Mallory thought about how they’d been missing from the dining room earlier. “Joelle said they were being killed off, so I just assumed that was revealed at breakfast while I was sleeping.”

  “It was announced this morning that they died from carbon monoxide poisoning. They killed Rebel off too so she could look after them, but I overheard her talking to Eve. She’s getting increasingly paranoid over the fact that they’re still so groggy. Especially, considering that Emilion is awake. He’s not tip top yet, but it’s weird that he’s doing better than Kaden and Pen when he was in the basement closest to the generator for the longest amount of time.”

  “That is worrisome. Go make a pot of coffee and come back. I’ll head down there now and check on both of them.”

  Mallory folded the last item, an oversized brown knit cardigan which had been half hidden under the bed. As she was about to place it back into the suitcase, she heard something crinkle from within the pocket. Curious, she took it out and scanned it. Anger formed in the pit of her stomach as it confirmed her suspicions. “If you think you’re getting out of here alive with our coin, there girly, you’re mistaken.” Mallory grumbled as she folded the note back up and tucked it into her own pocket.

  She closed the door with an angry thud and locked it behind her. That girl had some nerve. Turning on Geneviève’s phone as she walked from one wing to the other, she was happy to discover that Geneviève had not password protected it. She passed a window and noticed the snowstorm had let up. Good. She hoped to have reception back soon.

  Rebel was just coming out of her and Penny’s room as Mallory neared.

  “Mal,” she said with forced cheer. “I was just coming to find you.”

  Mallory nodded, still slightly distracted from her discoveries. “I heard. Can you do me a favor? Wake Pen up and bring her in here.” She motioned to Kaden’s door. “Danior’s gone to fetch coffee. I’m going to attempt to get Kaden up. We need to pow-wow.”

  “Good Luck. I haven’t had any luck waking either of them up for longer than two minutes today.” Rebel nodded and went back inside her and Penny’s room.

  Mallory raised her fist and wrapped softly on the thick, polished wood. She waited. Listened. And lightly knocked again. There was no answer. Taking a deep breath, she knocked with more force. “Please don’t let him be indisposed,” she whispered as she let herself in. The lights were on, the window was open and Kaden was snoring.

  Pausing at his bedside, Mallory noticed an empty glass with what looked to be a trace of residue at the bottom. She nudged him a few times. He moaned and went back to sleep.

  So, instead she went through Geneviève’s recent calls while she waited for reinforcements to arrive.

  There were over fifty received and sent calls from the day before, with the majority to or from Ellie. Mallory noted that the last call Geneviève had made, thirty minutes before she disappeared was to Ellie. There were also a few missed calls before and after that. From the names assigned to those numbers, all but one appeared to be work related, and to that one number, Geneviève had assigned the name Richie Rich. Too bad she didn’t have service, otherwise she could call the numbers and find out who they belonged to.

  Deciding to save what was left of the phone’s battery, she powered it down and stuffed it in her pocket before trying once again to rouse the detective. She’d bugged him enough that he’d pulled himself to a semi-sitting position, leaning against the headboard.

  28

  “W ake up!” Penny heard the words in her ear.

  A moment later, or so it felt, someone was shaking her shoulder. She slogged through the quicksand of sleep until she could identify Rebel as her assailant.

  She cursed her bestie away and rolled onto her side. “Remind me why we’re friends?”

  She recognized Rebel’s voice saying, “Penelope Trubble. Get your tight little behind out of that bed. You need to deal with Eve before I murder her and make it look like a part of this game.”

  “Murder?” Penny couldn’t seem to lift her head. “Did someone kill Eve?”

  “Unfortunately, no.” Rebel pulled Penny’s shoulders to make her sit up. “But you know I have the skills, so don’t tempt me.”

  Penny lifted her head and winced. “What happened to my neck? And why is it so cold in here?”

  “Well,” Rebel said, “I have the window open because you need the carbon monoxide flushed from your body. Since I don’t have a pressurized oxygen chamber, I’m working with mother nature. Truthfully, I would have thought you would have been feeling better by now but this is not my area of expertise so what do I know.”

  “And my neck, is this from the carbon monoxide too?”

  “I’d say it has something to do with you being dead to the world for the last eighteen hours. Here, let me fix it.” She wrapped one arm around Penny’s head and pushed down on her left shoulder with the other.

  “Ow!” Penny heard a crack and half expected her head to fall into her lap as Rebel let go, but low and behold her neck was back to normal, more or less. “Hey, that worked!”

  “Yeah, so the folks at the retirement center keep telling me. Those people creak more than this old manor. I’m like their personal masseuse, chiropractor and maid all rolled into one. It’s a fun job. Anyway, I digress. So, listen, Pen, we need to go to Kaden’s room to talk to Mallory. Eve’s insisting something sinister is going on here. I know you probably feel lethargic but this is getting a little ridiculous. It’s time to wake up. Eve thinks Geneviève is after that million-dollar coin that went missing here in ’62 and we need your help.”

  Penny dragged herself to the sink and splashed cold water on her face. As she blotted the water with a towel, it occurred to her that she and Kaden had been in the middle of a murder investigation. “What is with that stupid coin? It is a magnet for trouble. Wait a minute, did you say I’ve been sleeping for the last day?”

  “Yes, and let me tell you, it has been very hard not to strangle Eve without you here to stop me.”

  Penny nodded. The desire to strangle Eve Banter was an everyday urge for her. “Has Cody made it here yet?” Penny asked between brushing her teeth and her hair.

  “No, the storm has finally just let up now, so hopefully soon.”

  “Good, we need to get that corpse out of here.”

  “What Corpse? Are you even listening to me? Forget about the game. Eve thinks Geneviève is after the coin.” Rebel said.

  “Geneviève is dead.”

  “You’re serious.”

  “Of course I’m serious. Her corpse is out in the shed.”

  29

  H olding out a tray with two cups, Danior appeared at last in Kaden’s room along with Nana, Rebel, and a very unsteady Penny Trubble. “Come on, you two. Some nice, hot coffee to wake you up.”

  “I’ll take the largest, strongest cup you got,” Penny said blinking heavily. Rebel and Nana stood on either side of her, holding her steady.

  Kaden came out of the bathroom and grabbed the other cup.

  “Bring Kaden and Pen downstairs if you can. I�
��m going to check the landline and see if we can get some help out here.” Mallory said, ready to head for the door.

  “Wait, Mal!” Rebel called.

  Mallory turned around to listen.

  “Pen needs to tell you something and you’re not going to like it.”

  Mallory walked back in the room where everyone was listening with rapt attention.

  “Turns out, that Geneviève girl really was murdered.”

  Mallory practically fell onto the bed.

  “That’s not possible,” Nana said. “It’s a game. Mallory even saw her run out the door later that night.”

  “Well, unless she’s a vampire, that girl was very much dead Friday night.” Kaden uttered, rubbing his eyes.

  “I knew it!” hollered Eve. “They tried to tell me it was all part of the game and you as the detectives were in on it but I knew they were lying.”

  “Well, if you knew they were lying, why didn’t you try to wake me up?” Penny asked.

  “I did. I tried everything. You were out cold thanks to that stupid generator Emilion left on.”

  Kaden crossed to the bed and took a seat, almost tripping as he went.

  “You okay?” Mallory asked.

  “Yeah, I’m just a little dizzy. Carry on. We need to get this figured out.”

  Mallory nodded. “Well, there’s one way to know for sure if Geneviève died from that fall,” Mallory said.

  When Danior nodded, Mallory straightened her shoulders and grinned. “Let’s check the shed.”

  “Hold up there, ladies, don’t go loading your pepper spray yet.” Kaden cleared his throat and paused to take another sip of his coffee, “Geneviève didn’t just fall down those stairs. There was bruising around her neck and petechial hemorrhaging.”

  “What’s that?”

  Penny looked over at Danior, “her eyes were bloodshot when we found her.”

  “Pen and I were working on a theory that she was strangled right after Mallory spoke with her and then tossed down those stairs during the hunt to throw us off the time of death.”

  “Why?”

  “To provide an alibi for whoever did it.”