Gypsies, Traps & Missing Thieves

by Rachael Stapleton

  “I don’t know, but you better hurry, just in case. She’ll be back down any minute and I’d rather she didn’t have the chance to stop you.”

  Kaden and Danior pulled on their coats and boots in record time and Mallory opened the front door. The wind picked up in intensity and blew Danior’s hair into her face. She looked up at the sky in concern. The sun was going down and clouds were blotting out most of the light. Mallory wrapped her arms around herself tightly as she shivered in the bitter cold. “Maybe this is a mistake. Maybe Penny should go instead”

  “No, I’m going. Penny’s not back to herself yet,” Danior retorted.

  “Yeah, but Penny on her worst day is probably better than any of us on our best days.” Rebel replied.

  Penny smiled. “I’m happy to go.”

  “No, you need to stay and protect Mallory and Nana, and Rebel.” Danior pulled Mallory in for a big hug.

  “And Eve?” Mallory inquired.

  “No one can protect Eve. She’s self-destructive. So is that sister of hers,” Penny retorted, and they all laughed.

  Mallory glanced back at the staircase. She could hear voices coming down the second-floor hall. “You better hurry; Joelle’s on her way back.”

  “Are you sure you can make it through the snow?” Penny asked nervously.

  “Pen, we’ll be fine,” Kaden said, “I’ll call Cody as soon as I can get to a phone and he’ll move heaven and earth to see you safe. Just go back to the library and lock yourself in. Danior and I’ll be back with the cavalry before you know it.”

  34

  V ee leaned over the painting of Mallory’s grandfather, someone had taken down and placed on the dining room table. “I’m worried about Daemon.”

  “Daemon’s got a battery-operated heater out there and a dozen blankets. He’ll be fine.” Michèle replied.

  Nana set her teacup down. “I wouldn’t worry, Vee, we’ll keep checking on him to make sure he’s okay. He looked snug as a bug last time we were out there.”

  “It’s Bronson that I’m worried about,” Joelle said. “It’s just not right to keep a human being locked up like that.” Catching the look Mallory was giving her, she quickly added, “Of course, it’s also quiet and very clean. Perfectly safe.” She frowned. “I just don’t understand why we have to keep him locked up when we know Daemon is the killer.”

  “We don’t know that for certain,” Vee said as she stuck her fingernail under the painting’s ornate frame.

  Joelle swung on Vee, “Well, no one actually saw Bronson shoot anyone. He doesn’t even have a gun, for heaven’s sake.”

  Wearily, Mallory sat down next to Vee. “That’s why we’ll keep them both tied up until the authorities get here.”

  ***

  For the last hour, Mallory had been watching the other woman closely, barely resisting the urge to grab the painting of her Grandfather Mikhail from the table. “Vee, that painting was done long before this game was planned. There is no prize inside it.”

  “Of course,” Vee smiled. She ran her hand over the front of the painting while she spoke. “I’m just trying to keep my mind busy. I wish we could bring Daemon in here.”

  “He’s a murderer,” Michèle replied softly. “And please, will you stop touching that painting? Mallory’s already warned you away. The oils in your finger will damage the canvas.”

  Mallory hid her grin. Instead, she walked to the window. “What time is it?”

  “Ten minutes since the last time you asked,” Michèle said.

  Mallory bit her lip. “Dan and Kaden have been gone for an hour and a half. The police should be here by now.”

  “Maybe they got lost,” Vee said cheerfully. “I don’t understand why they left like that without telling anyone.”

  “I still don’t understand how they plan to get through all that snow. I thought the road was impassible,” Joelle protested. “I agree with Vee, they should have stayed here with the rest of us.”

  “They had to go; Harley is wounded,” Mallory said.

  Eve snorted. “It’s a flesh wound. I’ve seen worse at our annual senior’s paintball tournament.”

  Joelle clucked her tongue in disapproval.

  “How can you be so callous?”

  “I’m not being callous,” Eve said. “I’m just speaking the truth. Some of those old geezers think their back in Vietnam. They take no prisoners.”

  Rebel, who worked at the Boho Retirement Village snorted. “They are a tough old bunch. Anyway, the bullet went right through Harley’s arm. I doubt it even hit the bone. I’m sure he’ll be fine but we still need to get him checked out.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he’ll be his old annoying self by morning,” Michèle added.

  “You seem to be forgetting about Lana,” Joelle said. “He was pretty devastated.” She glanced toward the foyer. “I’m worried he might do something stupid.”

  Vee nodded. “So am I. You don’t think he’d hurt Daemon, do you?”

  Michèle spared a second to look up. “If someone killed your spouse, wouldn’t you?”

  “We don’t know for certain that Daemon killed Lana,” Mallory pointed out.

  “I told you what I saw,” Michèle said.

  “Yeah, I know,” Mallory said. “You saw him digging through the snow around her body, but that doesn’t mean he killed her.”

  They all fell quiet. Mallory began to pace the length of the dining room. “Something’s wrong. This is taking too long.” She glanced toward the foyer. They all looked to the window as a loud bang rang out. Mallory walked out into the foyer and straight to the coat closet.

  Nana followed her. “You aren’t intending to go out, are you?”

  Mallory reached into the coat closet and pulled out her coat and boots. “I most certainly am.”

  “You can’t,” Nana said breathlessly, “You’ll get shot or you’ll freeze to death.”

  “I’m going to go find Danior. What if someone’s shooting at her?”

  “So, you’ll help her by getting shot too?”

  “You’re the one always telling me to trust my intuition, Nana. My gut is telling me to go look for her.”

  Seeing Mallory’s determined expression, Nana sighed. “Wear my fur coat, then.”

  Another bang rang out suddenly.

  Joelle squeezed Nana’s arm, “With all of these secret corridors, don’t you have a panic room, somewhere?”

  Nana’s aura darkened to a murky color as she answered, “No.” She cleared her throat and tugged the bottom of her sweater down. “I wish we did.”

  Mallory eyed her closely but said nothing. Just how many secrets did Nana have? She pushed her hair back away from her face. “Michèle.” She turned to face the woman. “Can I borrow your phone?”

  “What do you mean? It got tossed in the fire.”

  Mallory frowned. “I can see your aura. Also, I saw you pocket it earlier.”

  Michèle eyed Mallory up and down.

  “I promise no harm will come to it.”

  “Fine,” she said, at last and handed it over. “But you better not break it. Do you know how hard it is to get those, now?”

  Mallory pressed the phone to her heart before turning it on. Ignoring the warning message flashing low battery, she called the police. As soon as the operator answered, Mallory poured out the whole story in a rush.

  Noticing the others watching her, she walked out of the library and over to the study. She shut and locked the door behind her and waited. As soon as the policeman answered, Mallory blurted out, “Has Detective Kaden Bones showed up yet?”

  “Kaden? I haven’t spoken to him since Friday.”

  Mallory felt her knees begin to give way. She leaned against the desk.

  “Who am I speaking to?” the man asked.

  Mallory quickly identified herself.

  “You know he’s off-duty, right? Wait a minute, is this part of that game? You know this is illegal, right? To call in a false emergency.”

  “Detecti
ve, this is not part of the game. Kaden was supposed to drive Penny Trubble to meet Cody Lumos at the airport but the flight was cancelled and Detective Bones and Penny have been trapped at the manor with us. One of the guests has been shot, another one murdered, and we believe the person who killed her is here with us at the house. Danior left over an hour ago with Kaden to get help. They should have made it there by now.”

  The detective didn’t answer.

  “Can you please send help?”

  “Actually, Detective Lumos headed out there about half an hour ago. I think he said he was taking the—”

  She was just about to interrupt when the phone suddenly powered down. Groaning in frustration, she stuck the phone in her pocket and reached for the study door, as an unexpected scream pierced the silence. She wrenched the door open just as Michèle raced up the stairs. Vee stood in the center of the foyer alone.

  “What happened?” Mallory asked, as she walked determinedly to the front door. She pulled her knit hat out of her pocket and placed it on her head.

  “Daemon’s escaped,” Vee said matter-of-factly. “Nana saw him standing on the stairs.”

  “So, he’s down here now?”

  “No. He ran back upstairs. Nana’s locked herself and the others away.”

  Mallory added a quiet, “Good, hopefully he stays up there,” as she reached for the door and walked out into the freezing cold.

  “Wait for me,” Penny and Vee both cried after her.

  35

  P enny rubbed her hands together and blew on them as they pulled the manor’s door closed behind them. “The snows slowed, but the temperature is definitely dropping.”

  Vee pulled her scarf up to cover her chin. “We should go back in for a flashlight.”

  Mallory and Penny both hustled Vee away from the manor, “We’ll be fine. Once we get to the lot, we can take one of the vehicles and hope that the road is now passable.”

  The manor’s wide driveway was dark and empty; the glow from the lamps that lined the drive were blunted by light snowfall. Trees lined the property, casting weak, skeletal shadows. Mallory led the way through the massive iron gates, which were frozen open. Pausing every so often, she glanced over her shoulder. She heard the sound of boots, stomping through the snow behind them, but couldn’t see their owner.

  Hurrying her footsteps, she pulled Penny and Vee into the trees.

  “What’s up?” Penny asked. “You seem extra nervous all of a sudden. You don’t think Daemon got out of the shed, and chased down Danior and Kaden before coming back to the manor, do you?”

  “Why would he? He’s obviously hunting for that coin. Besides, how would he even know Danior and Kaden left? I think Bronson’s the killer.” Vee blurted.

  “I just think we should move through the trees. We’re too open on the driveway, and Bronson’s not the killer,” Mallory said.

  Vee looked at her in surprise. “But what about the note? Ron could be short for Bronson.”

  “He’s still not the killer.”

  Vee grabbed Mallory’s elbow, bringing her to a full stop. “Why do you think that?”

  “Because I think I know who the killer is. I think the killer followed Geneviève upstairs in the manor and overheard her on the phone in her room agreeing to meet with Daemon to sell him the coin, but that wasn’t supposed to be the arrangement, and so he killed her when she entered the secret passage.”

  She glanced over her shoulder nervously before continuing on her way.

  Vee stared down at the snow. “And what about Elizabeth or Ellie or whatever her name is? When did he kill her?”

  “That’s the thing, Ellie didn’t actually know she could no longer trust Ron until a few hours ago, when I read the letter out loud.”

  Vee stopped.

  “I didn’t figure it out until just a few hours ago. Earlier today, I called Ellie’s phone from Geneviève’s and when someone answered, I just assumed it was the killer, but then, when I saw those two notes side by side . . . that’s when I realized that she was still alive. She left that note for Daemon, and she was the one who answered her own phone when I called. So, that meant she had to have been pretending to be someone else and since I know most everyone here, she had to have been either Lana, Joelle, or you. And if Ellie was here, then I was pretty certain Ron was, as well.”

  “So, both of them were here pretending to be someone else,” Vee said, resuming her walk through the garden.

  Mallory nodded.

  Vee pointed toward a cluster of trees. “The parking lot is right around the next bend.” She sighed. “Do you know who they were pretending to be?”

  Mallory nodded. “There were only two couples playing the game: Joelle and Bronson, Harley and Lana, and—”

  Mallory took a step forward but stopped. “I thought there were three until I realized you and Daemon were not really a couple.” She could hear the sound of his boots crunching through the snow. A motion sensor light kicked on and lit up the area as they neared the manor’s parking lot, enough for her to identify three people running toward them.

  Suddenly, the ladies were thrown to the ground, just as a shot rang through the air. Mallory felt someone tugging her to the side. Once they reached the relative safety of the trees, Mallory opened her eyes. “What are you still doing here?”

  “Playing a good old-fashioned game of manhunt. We’re the targets, but so far only Daemon’s been hit.”

  Daemon, wincing in pain, held his arm tightly.

  Vee kneeled over him. “Who shot you? Are you okay?”

  Danior opened Daemon’s coat. Red was already staining the front of his shirt. “How bad is it?”

  Daemon grimaced. “I think it just grazed my shoulder. Hurts though.” He reached up and grabbed Danior’s coat, pulling himself into a sitting position. He looked around. “Where did the last shot come from?”

  “Behind the caravan.” Kaden responded.

  They all crouched down behind various trees and waited. Mallory looked over at Danior sitting next to her. “You scared me half to death. Are you okay?”

  “Never better. Harley’s been hunting Kaden and me ever since we left.” She shook her head.

  “Damn! As soon as Joelle left him, he must have run down the stairs off his balcony and took off after us.” Mallory snapped her fingers. “The balcony stairs, of course. That’s how they were able to trick me,” Mallory said ruefully, remembering that Lana’s room was the one next to the large balcony over the foyer. The one she pretended to be so worried about. “Lana must have been the one who dressed up in the blue wig to fool me into thinking Geneviève was still alive.”

  “But why?”

  “To make sure we kept playing the game so they could find the coin. I heard a bang outside my window. They must have been trying to attract my attention.” Mallory said.

  Danior sighed. “Either that or they were looking for the coin and thought Geneviève had it on her person when she fell.”

  “Then why wear the wig?” Mallory asked.

  “In case anyone saw them. They’d blame Geneviève just like you did,” Penny clarified.

  Mallory nodded, “Anyway, Harley must have been awake when we were talking in the library. I didn’t realize until only moments ago that Harley was actually Ron.”

  They flinched as a bullet struck the tree behind them. Vee let out a little scream as she threw her hands over her head.

  Daemon inched closer to Vee. He drew her toward his chest and held her close. He looked over her head at Mallory. “If Harley is Ron, then . . .”

  “Lana was Ellie,” Mallory confirmed. “I had no idea when I was reading that letter out loud that I was signing her death warrant.” She shook her head in disgust. “Harley, or rather Ron, was standing right there watching her as she listened to every word. The three of them were in on this scheme and, up until then, she must have really thought Geneviève’s death was an accident, since she didn’t know at that point that she could no longer trust Ron. No wonder
she took off at the first chance she got.”

  Vee smiled at Daemon. “I’m just so happy you aren’t the killer. I have to admit, I was pretty worried there. For a few seconds, I began to doubt you were even a professor.”

  “Really?” Daemon asked.

  “Come on,” Danior said with a groan, “I don’t know who you are, but you are not a professor.” Danior made a face. “Until I reached the gate and suddenly realized the killer had to be Harley, you were my top suspect.”

  Daemon raised an eyebrow. “Just because I don’t act like a professor?”

  Mallory nodded. “I started to suspect you after speaking to Lana. She really painted a target on your back. For a while there, I thought you might have killed all three of them: Geneviève, Ellie and Ron.” She turned to Daemon. “Lana or rather Ellie did a good job pretending to be afraid of you.”

  Daemon shook his head. “She knew why I was here. She was trying to make me look guilty with the whole generator incident.”

  “You didn’t need her help with that,” Danior said peering around the tree. “Just who are you, by the way?”

  “Exactly who I said I was.” Daemon ducked as another bullet struck the tree he was hiding behind.

  “Okay,” Penny said with a frown. “I don’t understand something. If Ron killed Ellie, then who shot him?”

  “Ellie,” Mallory said. “We heard two different shots in rapid succession. He must have caught her with the bust, thinking she had found the coin. They shot each other. She died, but he lived.”

  “But if he’s been shot, how can he be out here shooting at us?” Vee asked.

  “What else can he do? He’s backed himself into a corner,” Mallory guessed with a shrug. “He must not be hurt that badly.”

  Another shot rang out and Mallory pulled Danior back down.

  “He must be just outside those trees.” Mallory peeked around the side of the trunk. “I called the station and spoke to an officer. My phone died but before it did, he said Cody left half an hour ago. He should be here by now. I guess we just have to wait and hope he sends more backup.”