Before he became too lost in happy thoughts about college, he made himself refocus on the search for information on Primrose Pace. He couldn’t think of anywhere further to look. He would report his findings to Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce, and see whether they had any ideas about next steps. He knew they would find it as interesting as he did that there was so little to be found on the mysterious medium.
Benjy shut down the laptop and sat for a moment, watching the sleeping dog and cat. He enjoyed these quiet times with them. They were still so young, and he hated to think of them getting old and suffering from ailments like arthritis or kidney disease. He had read a lot about such things because of his interest in animal welfare, and he was determined to be prepared for their care in old age.
That made him think of Miss Dickce and Miss An’gel. They were already old, but they appeared to be pretty healthy and spry despite their age. He couldn’t imagine them any other way and dreaded the thought of their becoming infirm or incapacitated in any way. When the time came, he would do his best to take care of them.
“Enough of the old-age stuff.” He hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but he needed to get his mind off the subject. Otherwise he’d get depressed, and that wouldn’t do anybody any good.
Peanut woke up at the sound of his voice and began to stir. That in turn got Endora awake, and Benjy happily began to give them the attention they now demanded.
• • •
“Are you sure about what you overheard?” Dickce asked. “I thought some more about what you told us, and I think there could be a different interpretation for it.”
“What would that be?” An’gel asked.
“Maybe it referred to a business relationship, not a sexual or romantic one,” Dickce replied. “People use similar terminology with business relationships when things go bad, don’t they?”
“I suppose so,” An’gel said. “If it weren’t for the way he was adjusting his clothing, I would agree that your idea is a more likely answer. Of course, what Wilbanks said to Gamble could refer to both a business and a sexual relationship. The two might have been involved in both ways.”
“Double jeopardy, then,” Dickce said.
“If you want to put it that way, yes.” An’gel thought about it for a moment. “That would certainly add to the bitterness if both had gone sour. And Wilbanks definitely sounded bitter.”
“Either way, there is still a strong motive for Wilbanks,” Dickce said. “With the two aspects combined, I’d say it becomes even stronger.”
“I agree,” An’gel said. “I’m beginning to like Wilbanks as the chief suspect myself.”
Dickce wagged a finger at her. “You still don’t know that Nathan Gamble was murdered. We’ve spent so much time dealing with murder recently that I swear you’re starting to see a murder everywhere you go.”
An’gel started to protest but then admitted to herself there was a great deal of truth in what her sister had said. She was being premature in this case, though she had been proven right in the past when she stated that a suspicious death resulted from murder.
“You can’t deny it, can you?” Dickce said.
“No,” An’gel said. “I can’t. But you can’t deny that Nathan Gamble’s death is odd. The first time he ever spent the night in that room he was so desperate to own. The contents, of course, not the room itself, but you know what I mean. I think it’s too great a coincidence myself, and it might have been really convenient for someone.”
“Except that we don’t know for whom and why it is convenient,” Dickce said.
An’gel made a sound of disgust. “We keep going in circles. I wish we knew whether Nathan Gamble was murdered.”
“Let’s look at the situation from a different angle, then,” Dickce said. “Let’s look at the how instead.”
“How he was murdered, if he was murdered, you mean?” An’gel said.
Dickce nodded.
“Mary Turner said he looked frightened,” An’gel said. “Maybe someone went into the room and scared him to death.”
“If he had a weak heart, I suppose that could have happened,” Dickce said. “I wonder if he had locked the door before he retired for the night. I don’t think either Henry Howard or Mary Turner said anything about having to unlock his door, did they?”
An’gel thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t remember. We can ask Henry Howard.”
“It could be important,” Dickce said.
“Yes, depending on the method the killer used,” An’gel said. “Unless the room is somehow rigged to frighten a person. I suppose I might have found out if I had spent the night there.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t,” Dickce said. “You could have been the one frightened to death instead of Nathan Gamble.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not that easily frightened.”
“You don’t know what Nathan Gamble might have seen. It might have terrified the life out of you.”
An’gel rolled her eyes. “I seriously doubt it. My heart is in excellent condition, according to my cardiologist.”
“I’m just glad it wasn’t put to the test,” Dickce said wryly. “You’re annoying, but I’d rather be annoyed by you than by anyone else.”
An’gel grinned. “Same to you, Sister.”
A knock sounded at the door, and An’gel called, “Come in.”
The door opened to reveal Mary Turner. She hesitated in the doorway, and An’gel could see that the young woman was upset about something.
An’gel got up and went to her. “Come in, my dear. Tell us what’s wrong.”
Mary Turner responded with a weak smile. “Thank you, Miss An’gel. I’m sorry to bother you with this, but have you seen my husband recently?”
“The last time I saw him was in the kitchen about an hour ago,” An’gel said.
“Marcelline told me about what she said to him. I got so angry with her,” Mary Turner said. “She means well but sometimes she isn’t fair to him.”
“Henry Howard isn’t in the house?” Dickce asked.
Mary Turner shook her head. “No, he’s not. I’ve texted him, but I’m not getting any response. I’m worried. He’s never gone off like this before without telling me where he was going.”
“Did you look to see if his car is in the garage?” An’gel asked.
“It’s there,” Mary Turner said. “I checked, but when my husband is worried or aggravated about something, he walks. Sometimes for miles, until he’s figured out the answer to a problem or he’s worn off his aggravation.”
“Then that’s probably what he’s doing now,” Dickce said.
“I wouldn’t worry, except that he always tells me when he’s going for one of these walks. This isn’t like him.”
“He may have stopped somewhere for a bite to eat,” An’gel said. “He never did get breakfast this morning, with all that was going on. He simply forgot to tell you he was going for a walk, and he’s too distracted to notice that you’ve texted. I’m sure it’s as simple as that.”
“I hope you’re right,” Mary Turner said.
“Come sit right here by me and stop worrying about Henry Howard for a few minutes.” Dickce patted a spot next to her on the trunk. “We need to talk to you about other things, if you’re up to it.”
“All right.” Mary Turner did as Dickce asked. “What do you want to talk about?”
“First let me say that neither Dickce nor I believe you had anything to do with your cousin’s death,” An’gel said.
“Thank you,” Mary Turner replied. “Your support means a great deal to me. Serenity is being hateful. That’s the way she is.”
“I warned her to be careful about accusing you the way she has,” An’gel said. “The threat of a lawsuit got through to her, I think.”
“Her ex-husband is looking for anything h
e can get on her to keep her from having joint custody of their children,” Mary Turner said. “She really needs to be careful.”
“She seems to be in desperate need of money,” Dickce said. “All to do with this custody battle, from what I’ve heard.”
“I think so,” Mary Turner said.
“She seems to think her brother had plenty of money,” An’gel said. “Do you know whether she would benefit significantly from his death, by any chance?”
“Nathan inherited a lot of money from their parents, I do know that,” Mary Turner said, “but all Serenity got was a trust fund. A pretty hefty one, too, I think. Nathan probably had a will. He was careful about things like that. If it hadn’t been for his obsession over the French room, I think we would have gotten along fine.”
“If Nathan did leave a will,” Dickce said, “whom do you think he left his money and property to?”
Mary Turner shrugged. “My guess would be to either Serenity or to Truss Wilbanks. Nathan and Truss were still a couple, as far as I know.”
CHAPTER 22
“That’s interesting, don’t you think, Dickce?” An’gel shot a pointed glance at her sister. She knew she had been right about the sexual component of the men’s relationship.
Dickce nodded. “How long had your cousin and Mr. Wilbanks been together?”
“Going on ten years, at least,” Mary Turner said. “Mind you, it was a pretty volatile relationship from what I saw of it. Truss lives here in Natchez, and Nathan lived in Vicksburg, although they were always going back and forth, I think.”
“Were Mr. Wilbanks and your cousin in business together?” An’gel asked.
“Yes, Truss handled the legal side of Nathan’s real estate business, but he also has other clients,” Mary Turner said.
“Like Mrs. Foster,” Dickce said.
Mary Turner nodded. “Actually, I think Truss started out as their father’s lawyer. He’s been involved with the family since not long after he finished law school. That was about twenty years ago, I think. He’s ten years older than me.” She paused a moment. “If you don’t mind my asking, why are y’all so interested in this? Is it because you think Nathan’s death wasn’t natural?”
“We think it’s possible that it wasn’t,” An’gel said. “We don’t want to alarm you, but you have to be prepared for that possibility. If it turns out that he didn’t die naturally, then the police will want to know who killed him.”
“And people will think it’s me or Henry Howard,” Mary Turner said. “Serenity will keep pointing the finger at me because she thinks I’ve always hated her and Nathan. All because of the contents of that stupid room.” She shook her head. “Sometimes I wish my father or my grandfather had given the Gambles all that stuff and been done with it.”
“You could have done it yourself after you inherited it,” An’gel said. “Couldn’t you?”
“Yes, I suppose so.” Mary Turner sighed. “Although I know my father wouldn’t like it. He thought it should stay in our family. If Nathan hadn’t been such a gadfly about it, I might have decided to let him have it, despite the loss it would mean for Henry Howard and me. But Nathan was so annoying.”
“What about his sister? Would you give it to her?” Dickce asked.
“Never,” Mary Turner said. “She’s always been hateful and spiteful, and I’ll burn the stuff before I let her get her hands on it.” She laughed, and to An’gel, it was a bitter sound. “I know that sounds terrible, but that’s the way it is. I never hated Nathan, despite how irritating he was. Serenity has never done a good thing for anyone in her life, always acting like she was too good to work for a living like the rest of us.”
“She has certainly not impressed me,” An’gel said. “While I feel sorry for her over her brother’s death, I don’t think I could ever like her or want to spend time around her.”
“I’m glad you told us about Nathan’s relationship with Mr. Wilbanks,” Dickce said. “Frankly, at first I thought he and Serenity were involved.”
Mary Turner appeared amused at the thought. “I think Serenity would like them to be more than friends, but I’m not sure Truss sees it that way. Truss really has put up with a lot for that family.”
“Presumably he’s been well paid for his legal work,” An’gel said.
“Possibly,” Mary Turner said. “Nathan wasn’t known for being generous about anything much, except giving to his church maybe. I know he helped them buy a new organ. But he had trouble keeping employees in his real estate business. They were always leaving because of low pay. A friend of mine from high school whose husband took a job in Vicksburg worked for him for about a year. That was as long as she could stand it. What he paid didn’t cover the cost of child care, according to her.”
“Do you believe Nathan was well off? Did he have a significant estate to leave to someone?” An’gel asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” Mary Turner said. “I would think he was worth a good bit, though. He bought property in other states where the economy was better, particularly in Texas. I heard him mention properties in Dallas and Houston, for example. He went around looking like he could barely afford to buy clothes and he drove a twenty-year-old car, but that was just him.”
“Sounds to me, then, that he might have been worth killing,” Dickce said.
“When you put it like that,” Mary Turner said slowly, “I suppose he was. Serenity and Truss would benefit the most, in that case, unless Nathan didn’t leave them anything.” She thought a moment. “But Nathan was big on family and family history; otherwise he wouldn’t have been so obsessed with the French room. I can’t imagine he would cut his sister off completely.”
“This is putting you on the spot, really,” An’gel said, “but if you had to point the finger at either Serenity or Truss, which one would you point to?”
“That’s a hard question. My first instinct is to say Serenity, but that may be because I loathe her so much.” Mary Turner shrugged. “I actually sort of like Truss. He’s really not so bad, but he does love money. Could be either one of them, or they might have been in it together.”
“That’s an interesting thought,” An’gel said. “They were both angry with him certainly.”
“I didn’t realize Truss was angry with Nathan,” Mary Turner said. “Why do you say that?”
An’gel told her what she had seen, minus the vulgar language. Mary Turner looked stunned. “Miss An’gel, I’m so sorry you had to see that. How nasty.”
“It was unpleasant,” An’gel said, “but I’ve lived a long time, my dear. I’ve seen far worse.”
“Wait till I tell Henry Howard about this.” Mary Turner’s face clouded. “If he ever comes back, that is.” She pulled out her cell phone. “Still no response from him.”
“Don’t let yourself get worked up again, my dear,” An’gel said. “He’ll turn up soon, I’m sure. By now he will have walked off his frustrations and be on his way home.”
“Bound to,” Dickce said.
“I sure hope so.” Mary Turner started to rise. “I really should go talk to Marcelline. I was pretty rough with her.”
An’gel privately thought that a little rough talk would do Marcelline good. The housekeeper had been unpleasant to Henry Howard and shouldn’t be interfering in her employers’ marriage. She had behaved like a mother-in-law instead of a housekeeper.
“Don’t go just yet,” An’gel said. “I have something else I want to ask you about. It won’t take long, I promise.”
Mary Turner resumed her seat promptly, and An’gel guessed she wasn’t eager to confront Marcelline again.
“What is that?” Mary Turner asked.
“It’s about Primrose Pace,” An’gel said. “Did she tell you anything at all about her background? Give you any references?”
“References? No, she didn’t, but then I didn’t ask.” Mary Turner
frowned. “I probably should have, shouldn’t I? I was so excited by the idea of having an experienced medium in the house, I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“About her background,” An’gel said. “Did she tell you anything?”
“I did ask about that,” Mary Turner said. “She told me that she had been involved in solving several missing persons cases. She even pulled out a couple of newspaper clippings to show me. I didn’t take time to read every word, but it was pretty obvious she has some kind of ability with spirits.”
“What did she tell you about those cases?” Dickce asked. “Did she offer you any details besides what was in the clippings?”
“Let me think about that for a moment,” Mary Turner said.
An’gel and Dickce waited semi-patiently while Mary Turner thought. They were both curious about Primrose Pace, although at this point they couldn’t see a connection between her and Nathan Gamble that would give her a motive in his murder.
“She said she was from Louisiana,” Mary Turner said. “I remember that. Oh, and she also said she was in Natchez visiting a friend. She happened to be driving around looking at old houses, and when she drove into the driveway near the house, she started getting a strong feeling about it. She sat in her car for a few minutes and concentrated, and that’s when she realized there was a spirit here that wanted someone it could talk to.”
Given the stories about ghosts and antebellum homes and other places in Natchez, An’gel reckoned, Primrose Pace might have simply taken a chance that she could get a few nights’ stay and some free meals in turn for her so-called services at Cliffwood. If Mary Turner had looked blankly at her and told her there had never been any supernatural activity at Cliffwood, the medium could have made her excuses and been on her way. Instead, Mary Turner had basically welcomed her with open arms.
“This isn’t our business, and you can certainly tell us so without hurting our feelings,” An’gel said. “Did Mrs. Pace mention a fee for her services?”
Mary Turner said, “Heavens, Miss An’gel, I don’t mind you asking about that. I know Granny and Daddy trusted you and Miss Dickce, and I certainly do. Otherwise I wouldn’t have begged you to come and help. In addition to her stay here and her meals, Mrs. Pace asked for five hundred dollars for five days’ stay while she worked with the spirit.”
Fixing to Die Page 15