Beauty & Bloodshed: A romantic, cozy mystery: Beauty Secrets Mystery Book 5

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Beauty & Bloodshed: A romantic, cozy mystery: Beauty Secrets Mystery Book 5 Page 12

by Stephanie Damore


  “LIAR! You killed me! All I wanted was the truth!” The air around us vibrated from her anger.

  “No, Carmen, we didn’t. But let us help you.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that, but I had to try.

  Carmen’s head turned on her shoulders doing a three-sixty while she searched the room. I made the sign of the cross. Carmen looked hard at us, and then just like that, she disappeared.

  “Sweet sugar,” I said, exhaling.

  “I need a drink,” Finn replied.

  Piper was still mute. Her eyes glassed over and a second later, she crumbled to the floor. I almost didn’t catch her in time. Finn and I helped her up and got the heck out of that shed. Piper just kept mumbling, “G-g-g-g-g-g-ghost,” as we walked around to the front of the hotel. Cop cars and an ambulance were milling around the front. No way were we going to be able to walk back inside with Piper acting this way. The cops would stop us in a heartbeat. That is if Mr. Roberto didn’t stop us first.

  “Let’s go to my aunt’s house. We can regroup there, and I’m sure she has some rum,” I said.

  It was after 10 PM by the time our ride dropped us off in front of my aunt and uncle’s house. Thankfully Finn carried his wallet in his back pocket, or we’d been screwed for cab fare. My aunt had been doing the dishes in her pajamas when the cab dropped us off. I saw her race from the kitchen to greet us at the front door.

  “What in the world is going on?” she asked, taking in the sight of us. I could only imagine how we looked. I self-consciously brushed some dust off my shoulder and Finn picked off a cobweb from his shirt. Piper continued to mumble.

  “Is she alright?” Aunt Lupe asked.

  “Do you have some rum?” I asked.

  “I can do better than that.”

  We followed my aunt to her kitchen, where she got down three tumblers and filled them each with a heavy splash of whisky. My uncle came out to see what was going on.

  “Hate to have company drink alone,” he said with a chuckle. I could tell he was trying to lighten the mood just like my dad would.

  Finn tossed his drink back, and my uncle poured him another. Piper didn’t touch hers. I took a heathy sip and relished the warmness even though it was still eighty degrees out.

  “We found Carmen,” I said a moment later.

  “Oh no,” My aunt replied.

  “In the arcade. Her body was shoved inside Pac-Man.”

  “Well, that’s just wrong,” my uncle said.

  “Tell me about it. I love that game,” Finn replied.

  “Then we found a secret passage inside Mr. Hayden’s room,” I continued.

  “A secret passage? I never heard about it,” Aunt Lupe said.

  “Yep, behind the bookcase. It goes all the way to the basement, with doors to the kitchen, arcade, and even the cellar.”

  “Cellar?” Lupe said.

  “Oh, it gets better,” Finn said. Both of his drinks were now gone.

  I gave him the eye. “Yeah, there’s a cellar underneath the shed. We came out from the passage there, and Finn found the trap door going up.” I pointed to the ceiling. “And that’s where Carmen’s ghost found us.”

  “G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-ghost,” Piper said. I pushed her drink closer to her.

  Aunt Lupe and Uncle José shared a look with each other. “I swear, she was a visible to us as you are. She spoke to us, demanding that we give her back her gold. Then her head did this freaky spinning thing, and poof! She was gone.”

  “G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-ghost,” Piper said.

  “And now we’re here,” Finn said.

  I took a big exhale as I tried to sort through the past twelve hours in my head. It was almost too much.

  “It’s been a long day. Why don’t you guys stay here tonight,” Aunt Lupe said.

  “Our flight’s tomorrow. That won’t give us much time,” I replied even though I had no idea what else to do at that point.

  I looked over at Finn and back to Piper. Finn’s head was already down on the table and Piper swayed in her seat.

  “I guess we will take you up on that,” I said.

  “I’ll pull out the couch,” my uncle said.

  17

  I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep, or worse, I’d be plagued with nightmares, but after tucking Piper in on the couch and crawling into the guest bed with Finn, I was out. Well, mostly. I swear Mariah visited me in my dreams. She was in the mirror again, but I didn’t understand what she was saying. Did she want me to follow her? I didn’t get it. Anyway, it was all so fuzzy now and for all I knew it was just my imagination working in overdrive. I couldn’t blame my subconscious. Yesterday had been ridiculous.

  The smell of coffee brewing the next morning had me coming to. Aunt Lupe was in the kitchen getting the fixings for a big breakfast out on the table. A small TV was on in the corner, which she looked up at when I walked in.

  “Morning,” I said. Aunt Lupe got a mug of hot water out of the microwave and set it down on the kitchen table along with a variety of tea bags.

  “Not sure if I have chai, but help yourself to whatever’s there,” Aunt Lupe said. I eyed the whisky bottle on the table. It looked even lighter than when we had gone to bed. I selected a bag of Earl Grey and dunked it into the mug.

  “His name was Gordon Hunt,” Aunt Lupe said, motioning to the news report. Mr. Roberto might have been able to keep one murder under wraps, but two in twenty-four hours? No network would pass that story up.

  “Was he a guest?”

  “He was the general contractor heading up the remodel.”

  “Contractor? I did not get that vibe at all.” I thought back to the dress shoes. “Any idea what happened?”

  “The reporter said blunt force trauma. However, Mr. Roberto is quoted as saying the death was work-related.”

  I almost spit out my tea. “They do know his body was stuffed in the freezer, don’t they?” I asked.

  “Not yet. It seems that detail was left under wraps.”

  “What about Carmen?” I asked.

  “They’re portraying her as a troubled runaway,” Aunt Lupe said.

  I almost snorted until I remembered the ghost’s vengeance last night. There was nothing funny about Carmen now. “Mr. Roberto is completely ridiculous. He’s done everything he can to throw off this investigation.”

  “I know, I’ve been thinking about that, too. Your uncle asked me not to go back,” Aunt Lupe said.

  I raised my eyebrows. “He did? What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know yet. Despite what your uncle says, I can’t just quit my job. I’m supposed to be there at 11 AM.” Aunt Lupe turned back to the bowl in front of her and started cracking eggs. Finn’s cell phone rang on the table and caught me by surprise even more so when I saw that it was my dad calling.

  “Hey, Dad, what’s up?” I asked.

  “Hi, sweetie. Sorry to call so early, but your mother’s all up in arms wondering when you’re coming home. She skipped sunrise service to stay home and watch the weather forecast.”

  Oh good gravy. “Okay, tell her not to worry. Our flight leaves in…” I looked down at my watch. “…five hours. We’ll be in Tampa by 6 PM.” I was getting ready to click off when I remembered what I had wanted to ask him yesterday. “Hey, does the name Boulet mean anything to you?”

  My aunt stopped whisking the eggs and turned toward me.

  “Boulet? Your Aunt Lupe’s maiden name was Boulet.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “No, why? Did you run into a relative?” my dad asked.

  “You have no idea. I’ll fill you in when we get home, but right now I have to run. Thank you so much and seriously, tell Mom not to worry.”

  My aunt was looking at me to fill in the information.

  “Mariah’s last name was Boulet. I think she might be related,” I said to my aunt. Now it was Aunt Lupe’s turn to look like she’d seen a ghost.

  Aunt Lupe left the eggs on the counter and joined me at the kitchen table. T
he coffee had just finished percolating. I quickly poured her a cup and sat back down across from her. I went on to tell my aunt the story of Mariah the Maid, and how she disappeared the night before her wedding, the dowry or her body never to be found.

  “That’s not the way I know it. It was Mariah who took a man to bed the night before her wedding. When her betrothed found out, he cast her out and refused the dowry. She was never heard from again. My family always assumed she took the money and started a new life elsewhere. Too ashamed to come back home. But the name Roberto was never mentioned. I had no idea.”

  “Is the timing right?”

  “It could be. My family, along with hundreds of others, immigrated from France in the mid-1800s.”

  “Really, they did? I didn’t know that,” I said.

  “Oh yeah, Puerto Rico has a very heavy French population. Back then, as long as you were Roman Catholic and swore allegiance to the Spanish crown, you were given land and opportunity. Of course, we brought our French influence with us, the dowry being one of them. Hang on, I just remembered something.”

  I sipped my tea for a minute and waited for my aunt to go and retrieve whatever it was that she remembered. She came back a moment later with a heavy book in her hands. She laid the Bible on the table with its black leather cover and gold engravings. Opening the cover, she scanned the pages until she found the name she was looking for: Mariah Boulet. Next to it was the only entry, “Born 1840.” All the other names had marriage dates, death dates, and branches off for their children. But not Mariah’s.

  “What’s going on?” Finn asked, joining us in the kitchen. We were peering silently over the Bible as if it held more secrets.

  I sat back. “Mariah the Maid is Aunt Lupe’s great, great, great aunt or something like that,” I said and then turned my attention back to Aunt Lupe. “Think about it. What if your family’s story wasn’t true? What if the Robertos lied and killed her. That would explain why she haunts the hotel today.”

  “And why she keeps trying to talk to me,” Aunt Lupe added.

  “What?! I thought you said it was just a story!” I said, shocked that my aunt hadn’t divulged this last night.

  “I thought I was going crazy. Being overworked and all. But sometimes, when it was real quiet at the front desk, I would hear a woman’s voice. It wasn’t scary or anything. She would just say my name, or something that sounded like, I’m here.”

  I smacked my hand harder on the kitchen table than I intended. My aunt flinched. “She needs our help. We need to solve this so she can rest in peace.”

  “How do we do that though?” Finn asked skeptically.

  That answer was easy. “We find the dowry and return it to Aunt Lupe’s family,” I said.

  “Isn’t that why Carmen was killed?” Finn asked.

  “Okay, we find the dowry, return it to Aunt Lupe’s family, and don’t get killed. Better?” I asked.

  “Better,” Finn said.

  Aunt Lupe didn’t look so sure. “I can’t let anything happen to you guys—” she started to say.

  “Don’t worry. This isn’t our first time. Besides, we only have a handful of hours left before our flight. How much trouble can we get into on a Sunday morning?”

  Those very well could’ve been my famous last words.

  Aunt Lupe continued to share her reservations while she scrambled eggs and fried up some bacon. I, for the most part, ignored her and did a little bit of research instead. We needed to find the dowry, but the more I thought of it, the more that task seemed impossible.

  “How do we even know what we’re looking for?” I said to my plate of eggs.

  “What do you mean?” Finn asked. He was making an egg and bacon sandwich out of his breakfast, and I was wishing I had done the same thing.

  I dropped my daydream and answered his question. “Professor Javier said the dowry was gold, but gold what? Gold coins? Gold bars? It could really be anything.” I touched the gold cross around my necklace. The gift had come from my Nana, my mom’s mom, and I never took if off. I considered it my good luck charm.

  “That has to be recorded somewhere, doesn’t it?” Finn asked.

  “Recorded?” I hadn’t thought of that, but Finn was probably right. I didn’t know anything about nineteenth-century wedding contracts, but I’d bet anything someone wrote it down. It wouldn’t just be a verbal agreement, would it? I seriously doubted it. “That’s a really good point,” I said and looked to see if the Internet had the answer.

  It took me less than a minute to realize that more than the dowry, we needed to find the marriage contract. Marriage contracts detailed everything down to the type of thread and quality of cloth if linens were to be included. But how in the world we would find an almost two-hundred-year-old piece of paper in an even older hotel was beyond me. That is, if it even still existed. If I was the Roberto family, I would’ve destroyed that paper along with Mariah’s body. No contract, no proof. I shared my thoughts with Finn.

  “Maybe, but that’s assuming they had the only copy,” Finn said.

  I stared at my husband, dumbfounded for a minute. He was on his game this morning! Thank goodness one of us was. I obviously knew Aunt Lupe had the family Bible. I wondered if she had copies of any other of the family documents.

  “Marriage contracts? No, I don’t have any of that. I’m sure there’s some official copy in a government building somewhere, but it’s Sunday.”

  I blew out a sigh. And I thought we were finally getting somewhere.

  “But, my sister might have a copy. She kept all that stuff,” Aunt Lupe added.

  “Your sister? Is she home?” I said, perking back up.

  My aunt looked at the clock. “I can give her a call. I don’t know if she’s attending mass today or not.”

  Piper walked into the kitchen at that moment. She was showered and dressed and ready to head out. While my aunt made that phone call, I attempted to fill Piper in on the turn of events. She held up her hands in surrender.

  “I can’t do it,” she said. “It’s commendable, and honorable, and even knowing all that, I still can’t go back to that hotel.”

  I rested my case. I knew the look on Piper’s face. There was no talking her out of it. “I understand. What do you want to do?” I asked her.

  “I’m just going to take a cab to airport.” Piper eyed the front door. I expected one would be pulling up any minute.

  “Are you sure?” Finn asked.

  “What about your stuff?” I asked.

  “It’s all arranged. Don’t worry about it. And I know this probably destroys any chance I had in working for you,” Piper said to me.

  “No, not at all. Seriously. If this didn’t involve my family, I probably wouldn’t be racing back there either.” Okay, that wasn’t true. I didn’t dare look at Finn for fear that he’d call me out on it. We both knew I was committed from the moment I saw that bloody handprint. At least my comment made Piper feel better.

  “Safe travels, then. We’ll touch base next week,” I said.

  “Sounds great. Thanks so much,” Piper said.

  I think my aunt was about to offer Piper a plate, but at that moment her cab did pull up and she was on her way out the door.

  “What did your sister say?” I hoped my voice didn’t sound as desperate as I felt.

  “You might be in luck. She has stacks of old papers, photos, birth certificates, you name it. She said you’re more than welcome to swing by and have a look.”

  I instantly stood up. We did not have a moment to lose.

  “I’ll drive you guys,” Aunt Lupe said.

  “Are you heading in to work?” I asked quietly.

  “Eventually. I have a couple of errands to run first. She looked down the hall to the master bedroom. My uncle was still asleep and I had a feeling my aunt wasn’t going to wake him before we left.

  Aunt Lupe’s sister, Hope, had binders, boxes, and bins full of the Boulet family history. Unfortunately, the organization wasn’t the be
st.

  “I keep saying that someday I’m going to sort through all this stuff, but I never seem to find the time,” she said to us. I looked up at Hope and saw the same dark eyes, short black hair, and round face as my aunt. You couldn’t mistake the family resemblance.

  I understood what she meant. The sheer number of documents made the project daunting. Plus, I knew Hope didn’t have a lot of downtime. She was a manager for a business cleaning service. She oversaw the cleaning crews for several higher-end businesses in San Juan. Her spotless high-rise was a testament to her profession. About the only thing that was cluttered were these boxes and bins.

  I looked out the window while she went to fetch another box. The view wasn’t oceanfront, but I’m thinking with the approaching storm, she was probably grateful to be inland a bit. The weather forecasters couldn’t stop predicting where the eye of the storm would hit. All it needed to do was shift a few miles one way or the other and Puerto Rico would be spared a disaster. That’s what I was praying for.

  I don’t think I could live on a Caribbean island. The wait and see game was brutal.

  “If it’s here, I think it will be in a one of these clear bins. I know I read through a bunch of contracts once. I just can’t remember where I put them.”

  Finn dove in and started taking stacks of paper out, reading part of one as he did. “It’s all in Spanish,” he said a second later.

  This did not surprise me. Puerto Rico may be an American territory, but it was first a Spanish colony, and that culture ran deep. I perused a similar stack of papers and had to confess that I was struggling a bit, too. I may be able to speak Spanish, but reading it is an entirely different matter. I was way out of practice.

  “Maybe part of the contract will be in French,” I thought.

  If so, Finn would be able to help. On the day he proposed to me, he surprised me by taking me to a fancy restaurant and ordering for us from the menu entirely in fluent French. Up until then I had no idea he could speak it. It was a pleasant surprise and made me swoon just a little. Let me tell you, Finn was a man of many talents.

  “French? Whose wedding contract are you looking for? Lupe wasn’t making much sense,” Hope said.

 

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