by Rena Leith
I was already on my feet. “I think that’s a valid concern. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do.” I moved toward the door.
“Stay for a few minutes. If you want to help, maybe you’ll have some suggestions. I want to go after Sara, but I think she needs a little space to process having a child.”
I’d set my glass on the coffee table. Marcy picked it up, poured more wine, and handed it to me.
“Andrea lies. She always has. At first, I didn’t believe her, but she said some things…” Marcy sighed. “I believe what she said this time. Maybe if she’d let me in on these little family secrets,” her voice dripped venom, “things would have turned out differently. I could have advised her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Andrea isolated Sara after her baby died or rather after Andrea faked her death. What a thing to do! It’s not like they didn’t have plenty of money to raise the child. Who does that to their grandchild?”
“Do you have any idea why?” I sipped the wine slowly and set the glass back down.
“The Petermans are used to order and efficiency. That’s Bob Peterman’s area of expertise. He’s a management consultant, and he travels all over the world. Sara was an accident, and they let her know it. They weren’t planning to have any children, and she was an inconvenience. They sent her to boarding school and then on to college where I met her. I’m guessing having to raise a grandchild was another problem, so they disposed of it.”
“Why do they want Sara to come home now if they spent so much time pushing her away?”
“That’s a good point, and one I can use. Thanks.” Marcy turned toward me.
I wasn’t sure how much I should tell Marcy. “I know that Alan had a child that was in the foster care system. I assume the child is Sara’s missing baby, but I could easily be wrong. For all I know, he may have a number of children.”
She snorted. “That would be just like Alan. He deserved what he got for the way he treated Sara. He never understood her. He never made any attempt to understand her. He was after her family’s money.”
“You didn’t like him, did you?” But I thought I already knew, and the chill penetrated to my bones.
She didn’t need my questions to urge her on. I recognized rationalization when I saw it. I’d done it often enough myself. I kept quiet as she justified herself.
“Sara was my roommate at college. I spent Christmas our freshman year with Sara’s family and got to know them pretty well. Alan and Sara slept together freshman year and Sara got pregnant.” She shook her head.
“Could your family have taken Sara in?”
“No.” Her grin was more of a rictus. “I also come from an old, old family that made their money right here in this very town but I’m the black sheep of my family. I was always in trouble. That’s what happens when you give kids money instead of love. My father disinherited me when I dropped out of college and ran off and joined the Navy after Sara left me and married Alan.” She smiled at that memory of her rebellious youth. “I liked the discipline in the Navy. Something I wasn’t used to at home. And I learned skills that have been useful.”
I understood why these two women at odds with their own families would have formed such a close bond. “You told Andrea on the phone that she should have told you about all this. Don’t you think you should give Sara the same opportunity to run her own life?”
“It would be more than she can handle right now.”
“Maybe Sara married Alan because she needed someone to love after the loss of her baby.”
“She had me! Sara could have been anything. I would have helped her.”
This time I could see the tears in her eyes, but they might have been from anger, not grief.
“They wanted to punish Sara. They always were control freaks—just like my father. It pretty much broke Sara. And you, you’re living in a house that should be mine.”
“Excuse me?”
“The man who bought this house was my grandfather but he gave it to his mistress. My mother and I should have inherited your house. Alan got interested in the house because I talked to Sara about it and she told him.”
There was a knock at the door.
Marcy opened it. “Yes?”
“Is Cass here?”
“I’m here, George.” I got up and walked to the door.
“I’m sorry to have to interrupt your plans, but she’s needed at home.” He gestured toward me. “C’mon, Cass, we have to go.”
“No problem. Dinner’s canceled anyway.” I turned to Marcy. “Thanks for inviting me.”I followed him out and paused before getting in my car.
George said, “Follow me to your house.”
I did and pulled up next to his car in front of my house. The lights were all on. George waited for me, and we walked up to the door together.
“Maybe I should leave,” George said.
“No! You’re not getting away from me again that easily. You stay. We have lots to talk about.” I opened the door and immediately smelled pizza. “They may have saved some for us.”
George grinned and stayed, grabbing a slice of pizza. Ricardo and Mia were there as well as Jack and Gillian. That explained the number of pizzas.
“Partying without me, I see.”
“Enjoying my last chance for Clem’s pizza until our next visit,” Jack said.
“How was the dinner?” Gillian asked. “George came by to see you, so we sent him over to get you in case you felt obliged to stay longer than you wanted. How’d it go?”
I glanced at Mia. “It was interesting. Sara and Marcy were college roommates and very close. Marcy didn’t like Alan.” I didn’t want to say too much in front of Mia. “Marcy mentioned that she should have inherited this house.”
Jack handed me a piece of pepperoni and onion pizza. I took a bite. It was delicious.
“So she knows about her grandfather’s mistress,” Gillian said.
Then a thought occurred to me. “Guys, I don’t think we should wait any longer to confirm to Sara that she has a daughter and she’s right here. Sara was pretty torn up.” I looked at Mia again. “That is if Mia is up for it.”
Everyone turned to look at Mia.
Ricardo put an arm around her. “Even if the DNA matches, you don’t have to acknowledge her as your mother if you don’t want to. Blood isn’t everything.”
George said, “That was a line of police inquiry. There is no maternal certainty.”
“We have to get Sara’s permission to run tests on her,” I said. “What if we ask her to come over and tell her what we know. Mia’s results are already on file. Mia?”
Mia nodded slowly. “Alan said she wasn’t my mother, but I’d like to know for sure.”
“Good. Tonight was pretty traumatic for Sara, so I’d suggest that we wait a few days to pursue this.”
George put his arm around my shoulder, and I looked up at him. “I’m going to steal Cass away for a few minutes.” Then he said quietly to me, “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”
“My aerie.”
He smiled. “Your what?”
“It’s the loft where they used to hold the séances.” He blanched. “We could go outside instead.”
“No, that’s okay. Let’s go.” He followed me upstairs.
“I’ve turned it into my bedroom. It has a great view of the ocean. I love waking up here every morning.”
George looked around. “Very nice.”
“What did you want to tell me?” I put my hand on his arm. It was so nice to touch him again.
“What’s your impression of Marcy?”
Not what I was expecting, but okay. “I think she’s driven by very strong feelings for Sara. At one point, I wondered if they’d been lovers.”
George raised an eyebrow at that. “How so?”
I shrugged. “Just the way Marcy held Sara. With tenderness. I’m not sure that Sara reciprocates in the same way. From what I’ve seen, she loved Alan.” I frowned. �
��I got the impression that Marcy might have killed Alan for love of Sara.”
“That’s interesting.” George’s voice lost some of its warmth, and I felt him go all cop on me. “In what way?”
I dropped my hand to my side. “The way she talked about him. She has an angry streak. Thinks he mistreated Sara, cheated on her, wouldn’t let her have pets.” I thought about my conversation with Marcy. “She was in the Navy, so she has training.”
“That came out in her background check.”
“Background check? Did you run one on me?”
“Why? Do you have something to hide?” But he was smiling.
“I’m an open book.” I paused. “Also, Marcy called Sara’s mother, Andrea Peterman, while I was there. I didn’t catch everything, but there’s something else going on, I’m pretty sure. Can you question Marcy?”
“There is no evidence against Marcy, Cass. This is all speculation on your part.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “You shouldn’t encourage Sara to have that blood test just yet.”
His fingertips felt nice on my cheek. “Why not?”
“You should wait until we close the case.”
“Why? Are we in danger?”
His face didn’t give anything away. “It’s possible. You’ve already had a warning scrawled on the side of your house. As Alan’s daughter, Mia might be vulnerable, depending on the killer’s motives.”
“If Marcy’s jealous of Sara and killed Alan,” I said, “then she might want to get rid of Mia. She might see her as competition.”
“I didn’t say Marcy was the killer.”
“You didn’t say she wasn’t. You said you didn’t have any evidence.”
George was silent.
“We need to get evidence.”
“Cass, stay out of this and let us do our jobs.”
“I can help.”
“You could get yourself killed.”
“Would you care?”
He held my gaze for a long moment and then pulled me into a hard embrace. His kiss was hot and deep. His lips were as soft as I remembered. I wrapped my arms around his neck and didn’t want him to stop. When he let me go, I leaned into him and caught my breath. He put both hands on my arms and gently pushed me away.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” His voice was breathy.
“You’re not on duty. You can do that anytime you want.”
“I have to go now.” He walked to the stairs.
“Are you sure?”
He stopped and looked at me, his half-smile letting me know that he’d enjoyed our embrace, too. Then he left.
Chapter 21
When I came downstairs, everyone was looking at me. “What?”
“George just left without a word,” Jack said. “Did you two have a fight?”
“Nothing like that.” I couldn’t stop the smile.
Gillian got it and nodded at me, smiling herself. Jack looked puzzled.
“We need to start up the séance parties again. I think Marcy is guilty, but there is no evidence against her. But we can find out one way or another if Alan confronts her and accuses her of murdering him.”
Mia inhaled sharply.
Ricardo put his arm around her. “Alan’s dead.”
“Which is why we’re having a séance.” I moved closer to Mia and Ricardo. “There’s something you don’t know, but if we’re going to work together, you’d find out eventually. Better I should tell you now so that you won’t be upset by what we’re going to do, Mia. I can leave you out of this if that’s what you want, but I’d like you to know the truth and be able to make your own choice.”
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Gillian said. “If you’re planning what I think you’re planning.”
Mia looked back and forth between the two of us. “I don’t know what the two of you are talking about, but my whole life has been nothing but secrets. I’m tired of not knowing what’s going on. Please don’t try to protect me. Tell me the truth.”
I looked at Gillian. She shrugged.
“Okay, please do not think I’m crazy, and please listen until I finish. Then you can laugh and leave if you want.” I took a deep breath. “First, my house really is haunted.”
Ricardo laughed.
“Seriously, and with her cooperation, I’ll introduce you to Doris tonight. Second, if she’s willing and can do what I think she can, we can hold a séance with her help. Third, I’m hoping that Mia and Ricardo can set up some cameras to record the séance.”
Jack interrupted. “In California, recording someone without their permission is against the law.”
I nodded. “I know. I would have to tell people that we were recording it for fun. If Marcy, Dave, or Sara balks, then we’re left with eyewitness statements. I’d be worried that they wouldn’t be allowed in court.”
“Will a jury believe a video? People are used to seeing special effects,” Jack said.
“I don’t know for sure what we’ll catch on the recording, so it may be a moot point.”
“Who are you planning to invite?” Ricardo asked.
“I thought all of you plus Marcy, Dave, and Sara. Too many and we’re taking a risk that someone will blow it; too few and Marcy might be suspicious. It’s better that you and Mia know the truth ahead of time so that you’ll be prepared. I have no idea what you’ll be able to see on a monitor or what will record. Samantha hasn’t been able to record ghosts on her camera. Only Marcy, Dave, and Sara won’t know anything in advance.”
“You mean Gillian and Jack think there’s a ghost here?” Ricardo asked.
“Oh, they’ve already met her.” I looked around. “Doris?”
Jack stepped toward me, shaking his head and waving his hands. “No, no. Remember what happened when you introduced me to Doris? You can’t do that to Mia. It’s a real shock to the system.”
Gillian said, “Jack dropped his beer.”
“You might be right. Doris, if you’re willing to go along with this, would you shimmer near me?”
Mia and Ricardo both gasped when she did.
“You saw that?” I asked.
They both nodded and didn’t protest. I guess they were as ready as they were going to be.
“Doris, could you fade in gradually?” I expected her to ignore me and pop in, but she didn’t. She phased in slowly.
Mia and Ricardo were holding each other tightly.
“You see her, right?” I asked.
They nodded.
“Are you okay?” Gillian asked.
Ricardo said, “No.” He took a deep breath. “But I will be. How cool is that?” He laughed nervously.
Mia put out a hand tentatively and withdrew it quickly when she felt the clammy cold. She shivered.
“Yeah, I’ve felt that, too,” Jack said.
“I can’t help it,” Doris said.
Both Mia and Ricardo jumped.
“Takes a little getting used to,” I said. “I needed you to meet Doris right away because she’s part of my plan. Will you help us, Doris?”
“You bet your sweet patootie!”
****
When we decided to go ahead with what Jack called my hair-brained scheme, we realized some of our seemingly insurmountable difficulties, such as getting Marcy to come.
As Jack pointed out, “What makes you think Marcy will show up for a séance at your house? Or that she won’t show up with an ax?”
“Hubris,” I said. “She believes she’s right and she’s after justice. Twisted justice, to be sure, but in her mind killing Alan was because he didn’t take care of Sara. I think the logic of this is because Alan never had to follow through on anything, never actually had to work hard, he always took the easy way out, which meant he left Sara in the dark. Because Sara’s parents were used to getting their way, they did what they wanted with their daughter’s and granddaughter’s lives. Because Sara chose to believe the obvious explanations and out of fear chose not to dig any deeper, the truth has taken this long to
uncover.”
“So she’s fixing things? Setting them right?” Gillian asked.
“I think so. To me, it sounded like justification for eliminating the obstacles to her relationship with Sara. And that’s why she’ll come to the séance. She won’t want to be left out of anything I’m doing with Sara.”
“Does Marcy even believe in the supernatural?” Jack asked.
“Now that is a really good question,” I said. “She attended séances here in the past. We need a certain level of belief for this to work.”
Gillian nodded. “If she’s a skeptic, this won’t work. She seems pretty hard-nosed to me.”
“She knows she’s the granddaughter of Mary Ann and she told me that this should have been her house so she must know Doris’ story. That might be the chink in her armor. It’s possible we might get some information about Doris’ murder.”
“Let’s not forget our goal here, Cass,” Jack said.
“You’re right,” I said. “We need to spend some time trying to restore the loft to its previous séance setup. We’ll need Dave for that. Also, maybe if Dave attends, Marcy will feel more comfortable about coming.”
“Even if George weren’t superstitious,” Jack said, “I don’t think it would be a good idea to invite a cop. That would pour cold water over any chances we have of getting a confession.”
Gillian agreed. “This has to be spooky and otherworldly. It has to be effective. We’ll only get one shot at this.”
I thought about George. He couldn’t be part of this because he was a cop but also because of his fear of ghosts. I had no idea how he would react when I finally told him about Doris. Her prize for leaving him alone until I was ready to tell him would be the fun she could have with Marcy at the séance.
“We need Dave, Marcy, Sara, Jack, Gillian, myself, Doris, and Thor in the room. Everyone except Doris and Thor is known even if slightly to Marcy. She should be completely comfortable and feel in control. Nothing will happen unless she’s confident.” I took a deep breath.
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” Gillian clapped her hands.
****
It was nearly midnight. The loft was perfect. The multi-colored, gauzy scarves adorned the lamps in the far corners. Pillar candles sat on the turned wooden stands. Drapes covered my personal belongings that were pushed up against the walls. Pillows, beanbags, and rugs were spread in a circle around the Ouija board that was placed on a low table in the center of the room with a few candles and some incense.