Seance on a Summer's Night

  “Time of death?” Seamus asked.

  Dr. Tighe grimaced. “You know better than to ask. If I had to guess, I’d say somewhere around three, four in the morning.”

  Seamus glanced at me. I knew what he was thinking. Betty had died right about the time we had headed over to his place. God. Hopefully, it wasn’t hearing us fumbling our way outside that had triggered her fatal attack.

  “Where’s Tarrant?” Dr. Tighe asked suddenly, glancing around the gloomy kitchen as if only then noticing we were alone. “He’s going to take this very badly.”

  “We don’t know,” I said. “I thought maybe he’d gone for help, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

  “Gone for help? Why wouldn’t he just use the phone?”

  Seamus shot me a warning look.

  “No idea,” I replied. “If you’re done down here, will you come upstairs and examine Liana? I think she may have broken her arm. Although frankly, that’s the least of it.”

  “So Hallie mentioned. What exactly went on here last night?” He snapped shut his leather bag and looked from me to Seamus. He did not appear to be in any hurry to get upstairs.

  Now that I thought about it, Dr. Tighe was one of the only doctors I knew who still carried an old-fashioned doctor’s bag. But then he was one of the only doctors I knew who still made house calls. Granted, these days his bag held his iPad and a host of other gadgets as well as some of the more traditional tools of the trade.

  I offered my version of events to Dr. Tighe and Seamus—leaving out my reason for being outside the house before dawn. Seamus already knew my reason.

  “Let me make sure I understand you. Liana told you Ogden instructed her to kill herself?” Dr. Tighe questioned.

  I tried to recall Liana’s exact words. “She said he had sent the light for her.”

  “The light?” Seamus and Dr. Tighe repeated in unison—and with the same inflection.

  I started to answer, then rethought. I had to make a choice, and considering everything, I decided Liana was expendable. “Yes,” I said. “She kept babbling about seeing a light. I think she believed she was pursuing that light through the garden and to the pool.”

  “And she believed the light was Ogden?” Dr. Tighe asked.

  “That’s how it sounded to me.”

  “I see.” He was frowning. “Maybe her case is more serious than I realized.”

  I wasn’t lying when I said, “I think so. I believe she’d have thrown herself off the diving board if I hadn’t been there.”

  He said a little wearily, “Very well. I’ll have a look at her.”

  When Dr. Tighe left the kitchen, Seamus asked, “Was there a light?”

  “Yes.”

  Seamus continued to study me. “Could it have been a flashlight?”

  “I thought so at first, but it didn’t look exactly like a flashlight beam. It was larger than that.”

  “It could have been a high-powered flashlight.”

  “Maybe.”

  “No?”

  I said reluctantly, “I think it was too high in the air for a flashlight beam. And the way it moved was odd. It sort of floated and drifted and bounced its way through the trees.”

  “What do you think it was?” Seamus sounded curious rather than skeptical, which was a relief to my, frankly, overstrained nerves.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. The light didn’t leave the maze, though.”

  “Which means…what?”

  “No idea.” I glanced down once more at Betty’s shrouded form. “Do you mind if we get out of here?”

  His face changed. “Yeah, of course. I’m sorry, Artemus. I realize this has to be upsetting for you.” To my surprise, Seamus wrapped his arms around me. “I know you were fond of her.”

  Greg had not been much for hugging, so for a second I just stood there straight and awkward, but then I realized I was upset. I had been fond of Betty. And it felt very nice to be hugged by Seamus.

  I hugged him back. Hard. “Thanks. She was kind to me when I was a kid.” I turned my face to his, offering a twisted smile. “She was always hopeful I’d outgrow this being-gay thing.”

  Seamus snorted. “God, I hope not.” And he kissed me.

  It was a quick kiss. This wasn’t the time or place for romance, but it was wonderfully comforting.

  We went outside to find the coroner’s van had arrived. Seamus directed the attendants to the kitchen door, and we walked a little way down the drive. The sun was shining cheerfully. The air smelled fresh and sweet. If felt like any ordinary summer day—which made the events of the night and morning seem all the weirder.

  “Maybe Tarrant got into an accident?” I suggested after a moment or two.

  “Anything’s possible, I guess.” Seamus sounded unconvinced. He gave me a sideways look. “You know, Tarrant’s disappearance means I’m going to have to interview your aunt as soon as possible.”

  I sighed. “I know. I’d like to be there when you do.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t do that. I’m already hanging out a mile.”

  “Then her lawyer should be there.”

  “No. That’s not a good idea.”

  Up until then I’d been feeling close to Seamus, but all that vanished. “I’m not going to allow you to interrogate her like she’s a common criminal—”

  “Artemus—” Seamus stopped walking, catching me by the arm so that I had to stop too. “You’ve— I’m asking you to trust me. I’m not out to trick or trap your aunt. I’d think you would know that by now, but since you don’t…okay.” He expelled a long breath, as if he had to gather himself. “If she’s truly innocent of all wrongdoing, she’s got nothing to fear. If she is involved…I’ll do my best to help her navigate the legal waters. In which case, we might want to keep a few things off the record. Do you get what I’m saying? I have a vested interest in things working out for her.”

  He gazed with unmistakable meaning into my eyes, and I felt my face warm.

  Seamus didn’t wait for my answer. “So there’s that. But I’m also an officer of the law, and I have a responsibility and a duty to fulfill the trust placed in me. I’m walking a very fine line here. Please don’t put me in a worse position than I’m already in.”

  I’d been with Greg nearly four years, and I don’t think in all that time I’d ever seen him that honest, that open. Seamus had a mix of strength and vulnerability like few men I’d known—myself included.

  He waited for my answer, his face solemn as life or death.

  That kind of honesty demanded reciprocity, however awkward and unfamiliar. I said, “I haven’t known you that long, so this isn’t easy for me.”

  “I know.”

  Probably not. Then again, maybe he did.

  “My instinct is to trust you, but my instinct has been wrong before. If it was just me… But Aunt H. has been there for me my whole life. She’s my entire family. I don’t have anybody else.”

  Seamus didn’t say a word, just continued to gaze at me with those grave, searching blue eyes, and I could read the message there as clearly as if he’d said it aloud.

  Once again I felt my face heat—so strange because I’ve never been given to blushing—and I said gruffly, “But you don’t really know me. Memorizing a dossier isn’t the same as trying to live with someone who squeezes the toothpaste from the middle of the tube, eats the last of the ice cream without telling you, or borrows your favorite shirt and never gives it back.”

  Seamus looked alarmed. “You always eat the last of the ice cream?”

  “No. Greg did. You know what I’m saying.”

  “I do know what you’re saying,” he replied, smiling but serious once more. “And I’m looking forward to getting to really know you. The you that forgets birthdays and anniversaries—”

  “I’m good at birthdays and anniversaries.”

  “—the you that fudges his tax returns—”

  “Nope. Never.”

  “—the you that squeezes the too
thpaste from the middle of the tube—”

  “Okay. Yes. Guilty as charged.”

  “And I hope you feel the same. But even if you don’t, I’m going to try to help your aunt out of this. Although that’s partly up to her. Fair enough?”

  Sometimes there are no guarantees. No safety nets. Sometimes you just have to take a chance.

  I nodded. “Fair enough.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  I could tell by Dr. Tighe’s face that the news was not good.

  “What’s the verdict?” I asked when he came downstairs after nearly an hour spent examining Liana. I’d been hovering outside the dining room, waiting for him while Seamus used the phone in Ogden’s study to contact local hospitals and the police station.

  “The good news is her arm isn’t broken. Her shoulder is dislocated.”

  “What’s the bad news?”

  “She says the reason she was running through the garden last night is you frightened her.”

  “What?”

  He nodded grimly. “She said her room was hot and stuffy, so she stepped outside for some fresh air. You came rushing out of the dark, and being topped to the gills with cold medication, she became frightened and disoriented and ran into the garden.”

  “That’s… That’s absurd.”

  “It sounds absurd to me,” Dr. Tighe agreed. “But it’s going to be hard to disprove it. She’s perfectly lucid. In fact, she’s more perked up and energetic than she has been in months. Most of that temper is aimed at you, but it’s still a change for the better.”

  “She didn’t say anything about the glowing light or Ogden telling her he needed her with him?”

  “Nope. She says that sounds like something you made up to cover for having nearly knocked her off the diving board and causing her to injure her shoulder.”

  I floundered. “Something I… Of all the… How the hell does she explain climbing up the diving board in the first place?”

  “Panic and cold meds.”

  I gave a laugh of disbelief.

  Dr. Tighe was sympathetic but regretful. “I did what I could to suggest she might like to get away from Green Lanterns for a while, but she’s not having any of it.”

  “I’m telling you, she would have killed herself last night if I hadn’t been there. I don’t care how good an actress she is, she’s a danger to herself and others. Especially my aunt.”

  “Well, Hallie’s no fool,” Dr. Tighe said in bracing tones. “She listened to everything I had to say and everything Liana had to say. Forewarned is forearmed.”

  I said grimly, “Yeah, but she doesn’t know who and what she’s dealing with.”

  Dr. Tighe studied me curiously. “Who and what is she dealing with?”

  I remembered Seamus’s words of warning and shook my head. I said instead, “Could we bring in a private nurse? Someone who could keep an eye on her without seeming to keep an eye on her?”

  “I thought of that too. She shot the idea down.”

  “So there’s nothing you can do?”

  Dr. Tighe grimaced. “Well, I’ve given her some pretty strong pain medication for the shoulder. That ought to keep her quiet for a few days.”

  “Thanks,” I said glumly. “Let’s hope she bothers to take it.” And let’s hope she didn’t spike Aunt H.’s tea with those pain pills. I put nothing past her at this point.

  “Any news of Tarrant?” Dr. Tighe interrupted my scowling reflection.

  “Nothing so far. Seamus—er, Cassidy—is phoning around the local hospitals in case he had an accident.”

  “Good. Cassidy seems like a capable fellow.”

  “Yes.” And why I felt like I’d received the compliment, I had no idea. And less idea why the doctor was giving me that particular look of approval.

  “Odd about Tarrant,” Dr. Tighe said as I escorted him to the front door. “Very odd.”

  Odd didn’t begin to cover it, but I agreed, promised to phone immediately if Liana’s condition deteriorated (one could always hope), and saw Dr. Tighe off. I went to find Seamus.

  He must have finished his phone calls because he was sitting at Ogden’s desk, gazing thoughtfully at the bookshelves. His eyes lit when he saw me.

  I felt myself brighten in answer. It was a long time since I’d felt like this about anyone—or anyone had felt like that about me. It was nice.

  “Any news?” I asked.

  “Hm? No. Nothing. No accidents reported involving a green 1990s Chevy Caprice wagon. No patients matching Tarrant’s description admitted to any hospitals.” He absently rubbed the underside of his chin. “Do you know if the blueprints for this house still exist?”

  “I don’t know. You’re still thinking there might be a hidden room somewhere?”

  “I guess it’s moot if Tarrant found the money and is on the run.”

  “True.” I sighed. “I just saw the doctor off.”

  “With Liana in tow?”

  “Hardly.” I recounted Liana’s version of events as recounted by Dr. Tighe.

  At the end of my recital, Seamus looked thoughtful. “Is there any chance Liana might have deliberately lured you out to the garden?”

  “Why would she?”

  “You’re your aunt’s sole beneficiary. Correct?”

  “Well, yes. There are probably a couple of bequeathals to the Tarrants—” I remembered there was only one Tarrant now and fell silent.

  “But the bulk of her estate goes to you?” Seamus prompted.

  “Right. Yes. Maybe something of sentimental value will be earmarked for Liana. Anyway, according to you, Aunt H. is broke.”

  “Her liquid assets are gone. She still has this house and everything in it. The land alone has to be worth several million dollars.”

  “True.”

  “What’s the likelihood that, with you out of the way, your aunt might change her will in favor of Liana?”

  “Not strong.” I said it with confidence, but on reflection, I wasn’t all that sure. Aunt H. did consider Liana family. That would probably change once Seamus had his little chat with her, but as of this moment, it was feasible that if I ceased to exist, Aunt H. might leave Green Lanterns to Liana. There was literally no one else left. And with no money or family of her own, Liana would probably strike Aunt H. as a worthy candidate. After all, she’d been supporting her sister-in-law for half a decade already.

  Seamus said, “There’s no reason to believe Liana—or rather, Lacey—is someone with a strong moral compass. In fact, for all we know, she may have pushed Foxworth into embezzling from his companies. The assumption has always been that she went along with Foxworth’s schemes, but maybe she was the mastermind all along.”

  I tried to reconcile that theory with what I knew of Liana. Even the Liana I’d known pre-Ogden’s demise didn’t strike me as a convincing Lady Macbeth. And post-Ogden, she was pretty much a basket case.

  Then again, Liana was in actuality Lacey the actress, willing to run off with her embezzler pornographer boyfriend and able to successfully pretend to be his sister for years while living under the roof of his new wife.

  I said, “Maybe. But last night she couldn’t have known at what point I’d be walking up from the carriage house—or that I’d chase after her.”

  “I know.”

  “Besides, I would swear she planned on throwing herself off that diving board.”

  “I wasn’t there, so I can’t argue. But I think you should be extra vigilant from now on.”

  If I were you, I would leave Green Lanterns at once…

  I recalled Roma Loveridge’s warning, and shivered as though an invisible hand ran an icy fingertip down my spine.

  I opened my mouth, but my aunt spoke from the doorway behind me.

  “Artie—” She paused at what was clearly my visible jump of guilt. “I’m sor—oh. And Mr. Cassidy. I didn’t realize…”

  She was puzzled, and I didn’t blame her.

  “Hey, Auntie H.!” I sounded as nervous as I had when I was ten year
s old and she’d caught me in this very room, flipping through Edwin’s full-color anatomy books. “How’s Liana?”

  Aunt H. sighed and pushed her hair wearily back from her forehead. “She’s sleeping, thank heavens. She was in such pain, but the pills Dr. Tighe gave her put her right under.”

  She looked like she could have used one of those magic pills herself. Wan with fatigue and stress. Her eyes were dark, her mouth colorless. She had changed into slacks, and despite the heat of the day, a pullover sweater.

  “Good,” I said vaguely. “That’s good.” I could feel Seamus’s gaze. I knew what he wanted. I also knew that once he spoke to her, everything was going to change. Maybe some of the change would ultimately be for the better. Maybe not. It was the maybe not I feared.

  It wasn’t that I believed for one instant that Aunt H. had known anything about Ogden’s criminal past—let alone been complicit in it—but she was going to be stricken by what Seamus was about to tell her. And thanks to Liana, she was not in the best head space to start with. That was the only bright spot in all this. Surely after Aunt H. heard what Seamus had to say, she would send Liana and her pals in the spirit world packing.

  “Has something happened?” Aunt H. inquired, looking uncertainly from me to Seamus.

  “Yes, I’m afraid so,” I said.

  Her face clouded over. “Is it to do with Tarrant? I’ve been very worried about him. This isn’t like him. He would never knowingly have left Ulyanna.”

  “Tarrant? No. It’s nothing to do with Tarrant.” I threw Seamus a pleading look, though I wasn’t sure what I was pleading for. Go easy on her? Break it gently? Can we do this later? In any case, he wasn’t looking at me. He was sizing Aunt H. up with a cool, appraising stare I didn’t like.

  I said, “Aunt H., it turns out Mr. Cassidy is a police officer. He wants to ask you a few questions.”

  “A police officer?” Aunt H. looked blank. Then her expression changed to one of genuine terror. She recovered at once, but I couldn’t unsee that expression. Surprise, yes. Confusion, yes. Either of those emotions would be expected. But terror? Why should she look terrified at the idea of talking to the police?