by Lynn Bohart
“So did you arrange to have Ahab stolen?” I asked.
He was wringing his hands nervously. “After Trudy was killed, and it became public knowledge that Dana had actually been the target, my wife reminded me about what Ahab had said at the Christmas party. She had no idea it was me the bird was quoting, or that Dente was trying to blackmail me, but she wondered if it was a clue and if I should mention it to the police. I panicked and contacted Dente and told him we needed to get rid of the bird. He agreed on one condition – that I help him kill Dana.” Roger looked up at me. “I felt trapped, Julia. After all, the only person Ahab pointed to was me. I had to say yes.”
“Are you the one who shot at us?” Dana asked him.
“No. That was Dente.” He took a deep sigh, and I suspected an admission was coming. “But I put a tracking device on your car, Julia, and one on Dana’s. Dente had me follow you all to Renton yesterday. I called Dente when you left the restaurant and headed home. I knew Dana had left her car at the Inn, so you’d have to go back there first. And I could tell right when you’d be passing the Roanoke Inn. He was waiting for you.”
“And after he missed?” I pushed.
He slumped further into the electric chair. “I told him about the upstairs windows,” he said sullenly, dropping his head again. “But that failed, too.” He raised his eyes to me. “I tried to warn you about the windows, Julia,” he said. “I really didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
“You know Dente was found dead last night?” I said to him.
His body jolted as if the electric chair had sent a shock wave through him. “What? No. I didn’t kill him. Oh, God,” he whined, dropping his head into his hand. “This is a nightmare.”
The sound of sirens and a car sliding to a halt on the gravel outside made everyone glance out the sidelight window. A moment later the front door flew open and Detective Abrams and David came in. Two uniformed police officers followed behind them. They stopped mid-stride when they encountered the small crowd blocking the entryway.
We quickly explained the situation and they took over. David read Roger his Miranda rights and took him into custody. Just before they got Roger out the door in handcuffs, he turned to me.
“I didn’t kill anyone, Julia. You have to believe me. It wasn’t me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“Well, that put a damper on the festivities,” Blair lamented after they’d left. “The prospect of seeing a ghost now seems a little anticlimactic.”
“I need to go lie down,” Dana said. She got up and started for the apartment.
“But, Dana, my dogs are loose in there,” I said, moving to catch up with her.
She turned bleary eyes in my direction. “I don’t care.” And with that, she turned and disappeared down the hallway.
“I’ll go with her,” Angela said. “I’ll put your dogs in your bedroom, and then I’ll take Lucy with me. I think I ought to follow the guys down to the regional jail.”
“Okay, sweetheart. Thanks.”
After Angela left, I glanced into the breakfast room and saw April standing next to the kitchen door. She must have come in when she heard the sirens. She gave me a confirming nod and then stepped back through the swinging door.
I turned to the people filling the area by the front door. “The theatrics are over. Why don’t you all go in and enjoy some of April’s hors d’oeuvres? We still have ghosts to hunt.”
People shuffled off. Jason came up to me, his eyes alight with enthusiasm.
“Julia,” he began. “The door,” he said, nodding to the front door. “When that guy tried to run, it…uh…closed by itself.”
“That’s right,” I said without much energy.
“And there was no one there.”
“No.”
“So, it was…uh…”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“But who?”
“Chloe. She likes to do that.”
“Damn!” He stared at the door for a moment and then turned and nearly ran back into the living room yelling, “We have activity!”
Meanwhile, the party continued. As people milled around the food tables, the girls and I huddled up in the kitchen.
“So, now what?” Rudy said.
I plopped into a chair. “All I know is that I’m exhausted, and I wonder which one of those boys in the pictures was Roger.”
“Maybe none of them,” Doe said. “I doubt she kept pictures of all the kids.”
“It’s so sad,” I said with a sigh. “To start out your life like that, abused and humiliated, only to lose your brother and then get drawn into a murder plot.”
“He’s no angel, Julia,” Rudy said. “He could have stuck to his guns and said no.”
“So it’s all over,” Doe said with relief.
“Maybe not,” I said. “Roger said he didn’t kill anyone, and I believe him.”
“Yes, but it might have been Al Dente who killed Trudy and shot at you,” she said.
“True, but someone murdered him,” I replied.
“So there’s a third person out there,” Blair said. “I wonder who.”
“Maybe the ex-husband,” Rudy said. “They need to arrest him.”
“Dana’s not safe until they do,” Doe said. “I think they ought to take Dana into protective custody.”
“Or station an officer here again,” Rudy suggested.
“Hey, maybe David could come and stay,” Blair said.
I grimaced. “There’s no more room in my apartment,” I said.
She smiled wickedly. “Except for your king-sized bed.”
I sighed in exasperation. “You guys do realize that I have an inn full of people right now. This needs to end.”
The wind had kicked up outside and was slapping the branches of the flowering cherry tree against the windowpanes.
“C’mon,” Rudy said. “Let’s think this through logically. Up until now, this third guy has been completely in the shadows. There has to be a reason for that.”
“Right,” Doe agreed. “If it’s the ex-husband, he wants her dead in order to get his money back.”
“But…if he wants to get the money, he can’t be suspected of the crime,” Rudy said. “So he would have to remain invisible. That means he’s also not going to come here after Dana with guns blazing. It will have to be with stealth, like before.”
“So, what are you saying?” I asked her.
“You have Dana safely tucked away in your apartment. Why don’t we see if we can get the police to put a car at your back door and one at the front door? If we can, I’d call it good.”
“And if they won’t?” I asked.
Rudy looked around the table. “Then I guess we’re all moving in until they catch the son-of-a-bitch.”
“Hurray, another slumber party,” Blair said with a grin.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
I slipped into the office and called David. He agreed to have a police car stationed at my back door and offered to come and sleep in the study himself once they had processed Roger’s arrest.
A half hour later, the breakfast room was filled with guests milling about and chatting. Goldie and Ben knocked on the door off the breakfast room, and I let them in.
“Any news on the big case?” Goldie whispered to me as she stepped through the door. “I heard sirens a little bit ago.”
“Uh…, actually, Roger Romero was just arrested.”
“Who’s that?” she said. “I don’t know him.”
“Isn’t he that security expert?” Ben asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “It appears that Roger was involved, although we don’t know to what extent. But he is the one who tampered with our security system, allowing the thief to get in to steal Ahab.”
“Someone should hang him from the rafters,” Goldie said with venom. “That’s a low-down thing to do…steal a bird. I’m just glad you’re okay, Julia, and that Ahab is back.”
“Absolutely,” Ben said. “It’s our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. We’re not going to let the police take that away.”
“Of course not,” I agreed. “But perhaps you should have it checked out. It did seem to go off awfully easily.”
I inadvertently glanced at my wall, where I’d hung an arrangement of collectible plates to cover the pellet holes.
“The plates look nice,” Goldie said. “But if I were you, I’d get that son-of-a-bitch they just arrested to pay to have your ceiling fixed.”
The three of us glanced up. Ben’s eyes opened wide. “Nice shooting, Goldie.”
“Humpf,” she grunted. “So how long do you have to put up with her highness?” she asked, meaning Dana.
I sighed. “Just until tomorrow or the next day. Her husband will be back.”
“Too bad for you,” She glanced around. “Are those good-looking detectives here?” Goldie quickly raised her eyebrows and glanced around.
“They were, but they’re downtown now, booking Roger.”
“You and that older guy…you’re a thing, huh?” she said with a lascivious grin.
“C’mon, Goldie, let’s get something to eat,” Ben said. He took her elbow and guided her away, giving me a sympathetic look.
I smiled and closed and locked the door, just as Rudy came up behind me. “I think they’re ready in the other room,” she said.
I nodded. “Okay.” I clapped my hands to get everyone’s attention around me. “We’re ready to start.”
People started moving slowly into the living room, where we had extra chairs set up around the perimeter. I turned out lights as I moved into the hallway. We purposely left on the night lights plugged in along the hallways, just in case someone had to go down the hall to the restroom. Then I locked the front door, just in case.
In the living room, we left one hurricane lamp on in the corner, giving off a soft glow. Willow was seated at my antique library table, her hands placed flat on the surface in front of her. Frankie was manning two computer screens at the table next to the fireplace, while Jason sat on a stool. Shorty stood next to him with some kind of meter in his hand.
“Welcome, everyone,” Jason said in a deeply melodic voice. “My name is Jason Spears. This is my wife, Willow,” he said gesturing to his right. “That’s Frankie back there on the computers, and Shorty has the EVP recorder, which can record audible ghost phenomena. We are the Salem Paranormal Investigation Team, or S.P.I.T., and we hunt ghosts.” There was a mixture of murmurs and chuckles around the room at the acronym. “My wife is a medium,” Jason said. “She can speak to the dead and entice them to appear. That’s our goal tonight. We ask that you stay calm and relaxed. Afterwards, if you’re interested, I’ll be signing some of my books,” he said, gesturing to another table. The wind smacked a branch against one of the windows, and Jason turned. “Seems we have the perfect night for a haunt,” he said with a smile.
A woman by the window suddenly shrieked. Everyone turned, but she slapped the hand of the man next to her. “Sorry,” she said. “He pinched me.”
“Please,” Jason said. “We need all of you to concentrate. I know many of you are skeptical, but we’ve had some success with this in the past. Let’s give it a try. Now, here’s what I want you to know. Often, if a ghost is nearby, the temperature will drop. Sometimes, batteries in use will drain.”
“Because they draw off the energy?” a young man asked.
“That’s right. And you might see what we call an orb. It’s a little ball of light. Sometimes, we don’t see it with the naked eye, but we’ll see it later on one of the cameras. We also have an infrared camera, which detects heat and turns it into an electronic image. So we can sometimes get an actual image of a ghost that can’t be seen by the naked eye.” He turned to his wife. “Willow will try to contact the spirits known to frequent the Inn. I understand that John St. Claire’s wife, Elizabeth, is still here, along with their daughter, Chloe. Is that right, Mrs. Applegate?”
My cell phone began to play Rock Around the Clock, just as I heard my name. I jerked to attention. “Yes, that’s right. And their dog, Max.” I was forced to sacrifice my opportunity to talk about our ghosts so that I could talk to my own ghost. My mother!
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and clicked it on, turning away from the people closest to me. “What?” I said. “Now’s not a good time, Mother.”
“It’s never a good time with you,” she said. “But there’s a storm coming.”
I glanced out the window to where the trees looked like someone was shaking the life out of them. “What else have you got?”
“Something is about to happen,” she said.
Just then the lights in the living room flickered. Several guests gasped.
“You’re not helping, Mom. I don’t need that right now.”
“Need what?” she said.
“For you to play with the lights.”
“Sorry,” she said. “Not me.”
The lights flickered again. Then they went out and came back on.
“Seriously, Mom, I don’t need your help right now. Stop fooling with the lights. We’re inside and things are fine.”
“Again, not me,” she said. “Be careful. A storm’s coming.”
A huge gust of wind suddenly rattled windows and slammed against the front door. The lights went out and stayed out.
“Damn!” I muttered. “Hold on, everyone,” I called out. “Don’t move. I’ll get some flashlights.”
I used the light from my phone to get to the reception desk where we kept several flashlights for just such occasions. Rudy followed me, so I turned and gave her one and asked her to give one to Jason. April came in from the kitchen carrying a small lantern.
“Can you get some candles?” I asked her.
She nodded and returned to the kitchen. The wind was rattling the upstairs windowpanes and making a whooshing noise that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
And then someone screamed.
I rushed to the living room and elbowed my way through a number of people who had backed into the hallway. I moved up next to Blair. Elizabeth’s hazy outline hovered just in front of Jason, facing me. Elizabeth had her hands to her throat and seemed to be squeezing. She’d done this once before, when she was trying to tell me that Martha had been poisoned.
“She sure is putting on a show tonight,” Blair said, watching her casually.
But there was something about Elizabeth that told me it wasn’t a show. When squeezing her neck didn’t elicit the response she wanted, she turned and walked through the wall into the entryway.
More gasps and screams.
“Are you getting this?” Jason called to Shorty.
“She’s out here!” someone called.
All of a sudden, twenty people herded into the entryway, pushing me back into the breakfast room. Elizabeth was by the front door. I squeezed my way back through the crowd. Once I got to the front of the crowd, she took one look at me and walked through the wall into the library.
“What the heck?” I muttered.
The herd followed her, pushing and shoving their way down the hallway. And there she was in the middle of the library. Once again, as soon as she saw me, she turned and walked through the next wall into my apartment.
“What is she doing?” Blair said behind me.
“I don’t know. But it looks like she wants us to follow her to my apartment.” I inhaled as a thought occurred. “Oh my God. Dana! C’mon!”
I turned and pushed my way through the stunned crowd and ran as fast as I could down the darkened hallway to my apartment. I used my key to open the door and burst inside. A quick check of the apartment revealed what Elizabeth had been trying to tell us.
Dana was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Where the heck did she go?” Blair exclaimed. We were gathered in the hallway
just outside my apartment. Jason had steered everyone else back to the living room. “Wouldn’t we have seen her leave?”
A heavy blast of wind buffeted the back door. I turned that way, and a thought came to mind. “Wait, she could’ve gone out the back. C’mon.”
We hurried down the hallway and out the back door into a small lot. Only Doe’s Mercedes, Blair’s BMW, and Rudy’s sports car were parked there. The rain had stopped, but the wind blew down the driveway like a train howling through a tunnel, bending the trees in a macabre sort of dance. Lights were out everywhere, leaving us in the dark. The beams from our flashlights cut through the inky blackness, illuminating small swaths of ground as we rotated them back and forth.
“There,” Rudy said. She rushed forward to where Dana’s orange scarf was lying next to a deep tire track in the mud. Rudy picked it up and turned to us.
“That’s her scarf all right,” Blair said with a sneer. “But where is she? And where is that cop car?”
“They’re probably still booking Roger,” I said. The dogs had followed us outside and wandered over to the bushes that hugged the side of the building. For the moment, I ignored them. “Someone must have picked Dana up,” I said, glancing around.
“You mean someone took her,” Rudy said, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth.
Minnie suddenly started to bark, startling us and making Rudy swing her flashlight that way.
“Just ignore her,” I said.
“So, what now?” Blair asked, stamping her feet to warm up. “How do we figure out who took her?”
“I don’t know, but we need to let the police know.” I pulled out my phone and clicked it on. “Damn, the cell tower must be down. I can’t get a signal.”
“What is the deal with that dog?” Blaire snapped, looking over to where Minnie continued to yap incessantly at Mickey.
I flashed my light that way, but all I saw was Mickey’s stocky little butt. It was obvious he’d found something under a bush, and Minnie didn’t like it. “He’s found food, I bet. And Minnie is tattling on him.” I marched over to the side of the house. “Come here, you two.” I reached out for Mickey and pulled him back. The beam from the flashlight caught the corner of a cell phone lying underneath a bush. I pushed him away and picked it up. “It’s Dana’s cell phone.”