by Lynn Cahoon
“He talked about coming from a little town north of Denver. I guess he was on scholarship, but I think he dropped out and just worked odd jobs. He had a friend who owned the cabin and let him stay there.” Seth glanced over at her.
“Uncle Pete thinks he was beat up by someone Arnold hired after finding out the jewelry was stolen. Do you think that’s what happened to Danielle too? Could this all be just revenge for stealing jewelry?” Cat played with the theory in her mind. In some ways, it had merit. And the place was known for other murders that anyone could copy to make it seem like there was a different motive.
“Why kill Danielle but beat up Keith? And someone called the police so Keith wouldn’t die from his attack. To me, that’s teaching the kid a lesson. He won’t ever steal from anyone again. Danielle’s death feels different.” He pulled the car into the parking lot, but instead of stopping, he drove around the edge to a dirt road with a sign at the edge marked Service Trucks Only. “You’ll get to see the working side of the town.”
They drove through a stand of trees and came up on a large flat building hidden from view from the town sites. On the backs of the old buildings were doors marked with the name of the shops. Photo gallery, souvenir shop, saloon, they all had doors that must have gone into the back of the building for deliveries and employee entrances. On the top of each door was a warning: Do Not Enter Without Changing Into Costume First. Not Even for a Quick Peek.
“I guess they are strict on the rules for their employees.” Cat mused as they pulled up in one of the marked spots.
“Even the cooks and cleaners had to be in costume if the town was open for business. They do a lot of the work on Thursdays, before the weekend starts. Someone’s supposed to be here by two to get my report, so I think you have about thirty minutes to check out the saloon building before you’ll have people wondering what you’re doing.” Seth walked her over to the door and keyed in a code. “I’ll get my work done and be back here in twenty minutes. Don’t make me wait long. Do you have a timer on that phone?”
“Actually, I have one on my new watch.” She set the alarm for twenty minutes. “I’ll be at the door just a few minutes after the alarm rings.”
He kissed her, then held the door open. “Call out if you run into a murderous ghost. I’d hate to lose my girlfriend again.”
“Especially since you’re the one who let me into the building. I bet Uncle Pete would have a hard time explaining that so you wouldn’t go to jail.”
“The ghost won’t take another life for at least ten years, if you believe the stories.” He squeezed her arm. “Just be careful. I don’t believe in ghost stories, but I do believe that some people just like to kill.”
He handed Cat a flashlight and nodded to the larger service building. “I’ll be in there checking out their system. I should be able to hear you if you call out the window.”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” Cat put on a wide grin she didn’t feel and stepped into the darkness. The small windows only let in so much light, and as she walked through the hallway, she heard the door close behind Seth. She was alone in the saloon. Or at least she hoped she was alone.
Moving forward, she saw a glow ahead of her. This room must be the large room where they’d eaten lunch on Sunday. Servers had been coming out of the back area throughout the meal and taking the dishes back that way as well. This must have been the hallway they’d used. She turned the corner, and there was the main room of the saloon. A wooden bar stood at her left. Bottles without labels with what looked like whiskey gleamed in the sunlight from the large windows in this room. She could see Main Street from where she stood, but the dirt road was empty of life.
Except the cat was sitting on the windowsill, looking in at her. She heard the meow through the glass. She walked over to the window and touched her hand to the pane. The cat touched her nose to the other side. “Hey, Angelica, why are you here and where is your owner?” As soon as they got back in town, she’d have Seth stop at the woman’s house and ask if she knew her cat was at Outlaw. The cat looked down the street and took off.
Cat went to the back of the room and found the ornately carved wooden stairway that made its way up to the rooms above. During Sunday’s lunch, the saloon girls had taken turns standing on the stairway, swishing their skirts and calling out suggestions to the men eating lunch below. Cat hadn’t tried to identify Danielle since when the meal first started, Jessi had been among the missing, and then when she did come in, she’d been visibly upset.
Cat wished she’d pulled her aside that day. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if Uncle Pete had known what was happening, but Cat realized even Jessi didn’t know what was going on with her life then. She’d just thought Keith was a bad boyfriend to Danielle.
She was stalling and still on the bottom step, looking up to the second floor. Cat forced herself to go up one step, and then another. With each movement, she wondered when she’d hear a scream.
CHAPTER 13
Cat made her way up the stairs and stood in the hallway. Her heart was pounding so hard, she knew she could be heard a mile away. Here the light was dimmer but she could see exactly where they’d found Danielle’s body. The crime scene tape hung loosely around the door. The room wasn’t sealed anymore, so either Uncle Pete was done with the area, or someone else had been here before Cat.
She started snapping pictures as she made her way to the room. A small window at the end of the hallway kept some light in the dusty walkway. Three doors lined the rest of the hall and a table sat near the window with an old water pitcher and a large matching bowl. Lace curtains hung over the sides of the window, faded from years of sunshine.
Cat paused at the edge of the room, taking in the scene. She took several pictures of the room, not seeing much except the crime scene techs’ dust and footprints. The team had come down from Denver to do the investigation, and her uncle was still waiting on the lab reports. She took a deep breath and stepped inside the room.
She expected to feel a chill come over her or some type of physical reaction to moving inside, but there was nothing. She laughed at herself and muttered, “I guess I was expecting a ghost.”
Walking over to the window, she saw Seth outside the building looking up. She waved at him, letting him know she was fine, and he waved back. He turned and walked toward the service building. He’d been waiting to see if she’d made it upstairs. Turning back to face the room, she tried to imagine the murder scene.
From what Uncle Pete had said, Danielle had been found on the bed, still in her saloon girl outfit. Had she been up here waiting for Max to show up? Or Keith? Had she been stringing both men along? Cat couldn’t tell from the diary entries, but Danielle had been head over heels with Max. Was that because he was unavailable and Jessi’s? The girl seemed to have a need to have what her roommate possessed.
She glanced around the room, then made a circle, taking pictures of all the areas. After making sure she had everything, she glanced at her watch. Ten minutes had already passed. She needed to hurry. This would probably be the last time she was able to actually be in the room, so she needed to get as much seen as possible. There was a small dresser with a mirror and three drawers. All three were empty, and Cat leaned down and looked underneath as well. Nothing seemed out of place. She’d found a secret compartment in Michael’s desk, so she was always looking for another one. She looked under the bed; nothing. Then in the wardrobe that served as a closet for the room. Again, nothing, and nothing out of place.
Frustrated, she glanced at her watch again. She had five minutes or less before someone would be here from the company, questioning her being in the room. She slowly spun around. Was there anything that looked out of place?
The mirror on the dresser was slightly tilted. And from the bed, Danielle would have been able to see it. Cat ran her hand back between the mirror and the wall. Her fingers stopped at a pad of paper taped to the wooden backing. Hoping it wasn’t the original sale invoice, she pulled off the t
aped package and opened the envelope.
Three typed pages had been folded together. Cat read a running list of Jessi’s activities for the last month, ending with a paragraph about the writing retreat she’d been chosen to attend. The address and Cat’s name were highlighted.
Cat considered the pages. Was Danielle reporting everything Jessi had done, bought, drank, to someone? Who would have paid for this information? Or was it just Danielle’s way of keeping track of her friend?
One thing she did know as she tucked the envelope and the pages into her jeans pocket: If Jessi found out that Danielle had been spying on her, she would be devastated. It was hard enough trusting someone, but Danielle had broken that trust over and over again with the person she claimed to be her friend.
When Cat got downstairs, she had just enough time to get into the car and grab her phone before she heard the car come up the road behind her. Her body froze when she realized she’d forgotten about the cat. She couldn’t go looking for it now. She needed to stay in the car so it looked like Seth had brought a passenger to keep him company for the trip, rather than brought someone to snoop around in the buildings. The Range Rover pulled alongside Cat’s door and Joseph John got out of the driver’s side. He glanced her way but quickly dismissed her. She guessed he didn’t recognize her, which was good. If he had, he might have wondered what a journalist was doing sitting in a car in the employees-only section of his ghost town.
Cat didn’t know if she should feel offended or not. She’d just talked to him last night, but maybe he hadn’t looked closely, thinking she was somebody’s wife or girlfriend. Men were funny. She took out her phone and called Uncle Pete. She got voice mail, so she hung up. She’d call him when they were back in town. The crime scene guys were going to get a strong talking-to for not finding the envelope and pages, if she knew her uncle.
Of course, she might get the same lecture, but this one she could kind of blame on Seth. She started playing with her phone and was surprised to see she had internet access, probably due to the staff building they had parked in front of. She started researching Joseph John and after ten minutes found an old college paper from Covington where he’d examined the killings at Outlaw. She looked at the publication date. It had been more than twenty years ago. Joseph John had been part of the Covington Chatter, the college newspaper when he attended. And apparently a big Outlaw history buff.
Big enough to buy the place after he’d made his money as a local developer. Or maybe he had other connections to the town as well. She’d have to ask her uncle.
When Seth came back, she was just finishing the paper. “You get something?” he asked.
Looking up, she grinned. “I got a lot of something. Or at least it feels that way. Probably not enough to do anything with on Uncle Pete’s side, but really, really interesting.”
She started to pull out the envelope she’d found to show him. Seth shook his head. “Let’s drive out of here to the overlook. I don’t want Joseph John to overhear this.”
“Definitely.” She buckled her seat belt, then sat back, waiting to talk until Seth had driven the five miles to the top of the mountain.
When they parked, he turned off the engine and took the envelope. After he finished reading the pages, he whistled. “Man, someone had it in for this girl. Danielle was really digging the dirt on her.”
“There’s notes about who she saw, where she went, and how much money she spent.” Cat shook her head. “Nothing about this makes any sense.”
“It did to someone. Anyway, I think we can take Keith off the list of killers. At least all he wanted from Jessi was her jewelry. Your uncle may keep him on his list just for principle.”
And that was the problem, Cat thought as they made their way down the mountain. Everyone wanted something from the girl. All Jessi wanted was to be a good friend and daughter and to find her way in the adult world. Cat didn’t think that was so much to ask.
As they started into town, she sat up, watching for the first house. “Do you know where Mary Davis lives?”
“I knew where she lived.” Seth pointed to a small white cottage on the right side of the road. The lights were all off and the house looked deserted. “Why, did you know her?”
“The vet says Angelica is her cat. Did she move away? Maybe the cat walked home. You hear about those things all the time.” She turned toward Seth. “Where did she move to?”
“Cat, she passed away a few months ago. From what I heard, she called 911 and said she was having a heart attack. By the time they got her to the hospital, it was too late.” Seth slowed near the house. “She didn’t have any relatives. The house is in probate. I’ve made a bid on doing the renovations to get it up to code. I guess no one thought about the cat.”
“So the cat has been on her own for a couple of months?” She turned back to look at the mountains in the darkening light. “We have to go up and get her.”
“We’ll go back tomorrow. I’ll call Joseph John in the morning and tell him we saw a lost cat on the streets.” Seth patted her leg. “You know we wouldn’t be able to find her in the dark. Angelica has been on her own for a while now. One more day isn’t going to make a difference.”
By the time they got back to the house, the guests had left for dinner. Kelly and Jessi had been included in the group. Cat wondered how much work Kelly was really getting done since she seemed to be around every time the group got themselves into a pickle. Seth went off into the extra lot to work, and Cat, finding the kitchen empty, went to Michael’s study. She wanted to reread Joseph John’s undergraduate article on Outlaw. It might give her a deeper understanding of the guy.
Settling down into her lounger with a tablet, she accessed the article. As she read, it occurred to her she’d done the same thing when Michael was alive. Come into his office and curl up with a book, or, sometimes, a stack of papers to grade. He’d be working on one project or another. She joked that he must be writing his biography, but he’d always laugh and say he was too boring. There were too many great biographies out there, no one wanted to hear about the day-to-day life of an economist.
Shauna opened the door a few hours later. Cat was making notes in a notebook about the things she’d found odd. Like why a teenager had been so fascinated with the grisly history of a ghost town. She wondered if Uncle Pete had questioned him yet. She’d love to be a bug on the wall for that discussion. She put a period on the last sentence and looked up at her friend. “What’s going on?”
“I was wondering if you were hungry. Seth and I waited for a few minutes, but then I decided to come find you. I think he started eating already.” Shauna looked tired. She had bags under her eyes that wouldn’t classify as carry-ons, they were so large. She rubbed her arms, apparently chilled. “So are you coming?”
Cat eyed her. Maybe she was coming down with a cold. She seemed a bit out of breath, and the kitchen wasn’t more than a few steps away. “Let me just bookmark this site and I’ll be there.”
When she got into the kitchen, Seth was telling Shauna about their trip to Outlaw. Cat’s eyes widened. “Crap, did you call Uncle Pete?”
“Call Pete about what? Don’t tell me you guys actually found something.” Shauna sat a plate of spaghetti with two large meatballs in front of Cat.
“No, you said you would. I was outside working until just a few minutes ago.” He took a bite of the spaghetti. “Don’t blame this on me.”
“I wasn’t blaming you.” Cat eyed the food, then sighed and picked up her phone. “Maybe he hasn’t eaten yet.”
After inviting her uncle to dinner, Cat ended the call.
Seth pointed a fork at her. “I didn’t hear you tell him about the pages we found at Outlaw.”
“I thought that conversation might go over better once he has food in his stomach. He gets a little grumpy when he’s hungry. Tell Shauna what we found out about Angelica.” Cat dug into the spaghetti in front of her and didn’t even look up a few minutes later when her uncle came into the hous
e.
“Pete, sit down and eat. What can I get you to drink?” Shauna dished up a bowl of spaghetti and stood, watching him as he walked to the table.
“Iced tea will be fine.” He glanced at Cat as he sat down. “I take it I’m not here just for supper?”
“Of course you’re here for supper.” Shauna sat the bowl and a glass in front of him.
Cat squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. Her uncle could always read her. It really wasn’t fair. “Well, there is this thing I found—”
“We found,” Seth interrupted.
Cat shook her head. “No, I found it. You were outside doing what you were supposed to be doing. I was the one snooping.”
“But you wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t invited you. So partially, this is my fault too.” Seth turned toward Pete. “Don’t be too hard on her. Like I said . . .”
“Believe me, I know, it was your fault too. There’s plenty of blame to go around here.” Uncle Pete set his fork down. “How bad is this? Do I want to try to eat before you tell me? Will I have to take off for some remote spot as soon as you spill whatever you’re holding back?”
Cat glanced at Seth who shook his head. “I don’t think so. But let me tell you while you eat.”
He picked up his fork gingerly and took a small bite. Waving at Cat to continue, Uncle Pete ducked his head down and focused on the plate of food rather than her words.
“I went to Outlaw with Seth this afternoon.”
Now Uncle Pete’s head came up and he stared at her. Finally, he broke eye contact and went back to eating. Cat had gotten the message. The act had been foolhardy and dangerous. Something she wouldn’t have even let her fictional character perform because of the fear of being labeled Too Stupid to Live. Not seeing any other choice, she continued.
“I went upstairs in the saloon, found the room where Danielle had been killed, and since the crime scene tape was off, I entered the room. I looked around for anything that you or your sweepers hadn’t seen.”