Cooking Spirits: An Angie Amalfi Mystery (Angie Amalfi Mysteries) (14 page)

Perhaps the saddest thing in this case, to
Yosh
, was that Gaia was so alone in the world that no one
claimed her body. In fact, her boss, Julio Sanchez, was the only person they
could find to go to the morgue to identify her. She had made no provisions for
burial, which meant she would most likely be cremated by the state. It was a
dismal end to what had appeared to be a lonely life until Bedford entered it.
And now he was gone…perhaps by her hand.

Yosh
wanted to think that
Larina
Bedford had killed both of them—she had motive, and
she was distinctly unlikable. But if she had murdered them, she may have
committed the perfect crime because they couldn’t find one shred of evidence
against her.

Paavo read over the M.E.’s preliminary report. “You know,
Yosh
,” he said, “the time of death for Gaia is all over the
map, but we know she was still alive after Bedford’s murder.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, too,”
Yosh
said. “When I talked to the bartender, he said something had upset Bedford
about his relationship with the mystery woman. What if something happened
between
them,
and that something split them apart?
Maybe Gaia, who never had anyone at all in her life, couldn’t stand to lose
him.”

“So you’re leaning towards her killing him and then
committing suicide?” Paavo asked.

“Stranger things have happened.”

“We’ve got to figure out if there really is a twin sister,”
Paavo said. “That’ll be the key.”

“There’s no evidence of it,”
Yosh
insisted.

“Except for one neighbor and one old man who believed there
really were two different women.”

“Or one sad woman who finally found somebody who made her
happy,”
Yosh
said.

Paavo couldn’t let the idea of a twin go. He talked to her
neighbors again, asking if they ever saw her on weekends. None could remember
with certainly, except that they rarely saw her at any time. She had a car but
she always had it in the garage when she in or out.

Then an idea struck. He knew Gaia’s date and place of birth,
and drove to each hospital in Oakland, California until he found the one with a
hospital record of her birth. Looking at the record, he learned that Shirley
Wyndom
had, in fact, given birth to twin girls forty-four
years earlier. The girls were named Gaia Ann and
Urda
Lee.

With this starting point, back in homicide, he tracked the
girls to Marin County where their parents moved when they were eight years old.
He followed their schooling through graduation from Drake High in San Anselmo.

Both parents were killed five days after the girls’
twenty-first birthday when their car ran off the road on Highway 1 just south
of Jenner. Their assets went to their two daughters.

After that, he found no further mention of
Urda
. He could find no Social Security number for her, no
California Driver’s License number or any other normal part of life. He could
find no evidence that she paid taxes or died. It was most peculiar.

The Jenner house was in Gaia’s name only.

So what had happened to her sister? Was she, or was Gaia,
the woman called Marilee?

Paavo expanded his search to extended family members.
Surely, someone existed who remembered those girls.

 
o0o

“Maria wants an exorcism, but she can’t get one,” Angie said
to Connie over shrimp salads at a Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant. Since Paavo was
working on his murder investigation that evening, Angie decided it would be a
good time to talk to her best friend.

Connie choked on a shrimp. “You’re joking.”

“You’ve met Maria,” Angie said. “She never jokes. I no
sooner let her into the house than she went all ‘woo-woo’ on me, and said I
could become possessed if we buy it.”

“Good God!” Connie gasped. “Why in heaven’s name did you
take her there?”

“She wanted to see it. I thought it’d be harmless. No such
luck.”

“So now she’s trying to get an exorcism for you?”

“None of the priests she knows—and she knows a lot of
them—will go to the Bishop about providing an exorcist unless there’s some
outward sign of a person being possessed. They can’t do an exorcism on a house
just because someone ‘thinks’ a ghost might live there. They told Maria she’s
jumping the gun.”

“Or jumping the shark,” Connie said.
“Maybe
the whole fish tank.”

“If only another house would come up, I’d forget this one,”
Angie said, eating as if the food were cardboard. “But none of the affordable
ones are half so nice.”

“Look, honey, Maria is ridiculous! Ignore her.”

“But even you said it felt odd.” Angie took her napkin off
her lap and put it on the table. She had no more appetite. “I don’t know what
to do.”

“It felt odd because it stood empty for so long, that’s
all.” Connie stabbed one of Angie’s crouton’s with her fork. Her appetite was
fine.

“But now that I’ve got Maria thinking the place is haunted,
she’ll tell Mamma, and my mother will be afraid to come visit me!”

“Would your mother believe the house is haunted?” Connie
asked.

“In a heartbeat.”

Connie thought a moment. “So the only problem now is your
sister’s involvement.”

“No. My problem is that bargain-hunter’s House of Dark
Shadows,” Angie cried.

Connie remembered her conversation with Stan, how he worried
that Angie had not only become obsessed with the house, but it caused her to
possibly believe in ghosts. Stan thought it best if she forgot about that house
and stayed in her apartment. Connie hated to admit that Stan could be right,
but he was.

With that, inspiration struck. Even Connie was amazed that
such a crazy and frankly devious idea had come to her. Angie usually came up
with ideas like that.

Connie cleared her throat to get Angie’s full attention.
“Well, it’s not Catholic at all, but it might work on Maria,” she began. “I
know a woman who’s dabbled in the occult and performs séances.”

“A séance?”
Angie interrupted.
“Maria won’t believe in a séance!”

“This woman has acted on stage, and she’s quite good. Her
séances feel very real, trust me on that!”

Angie shook her head. “I don’t think—”

“Just listen. We’ll invite Maria to the house and hold a
séance. My friend will tell Maria the ghosts have gone. That way, you’ll have
Maria off your back, and you can think about buying the house with a clear
head.”

Angie thought a moment. “If your friend can pull it off,
that actually is a good idea.”

Connie smiled slyly.

 
o0o

The next day, Paavo tracked down a second cousin of the twin
girls’ father, Henry
Wyndom
. She was eighty years
old, living in Los Angeles. After a conversation by phone that convinced him
she had information, he went to Lt. Eastwood and got approval to catch the next
commuter plane to L.A.

Helen Atherton was a bright, well-turned out woman. She
invited Paavo into her pleasant but cluttered home.

“I really can’t tell you much about Gaia. I’m sorry to hear
she’s dead, but I haven’t seen her or her sister in years,” she said even before
Paavo sat down in the living room. She offered him coffee or tea, and put out
some vanilla wafers. He gladly accepted a cup of coffee. She soon sat down
across from him, ready to answer questions.

“You mentioned Gaia’s sister,” Paavo began. “Was there only
one? No brothers?”

“One sister, a twin.
That was all;
and that was enough if you ask me.” She gave a firm nod. “I had nothing to do
with the girls after their parents died, I’m sorry to admit. I just never cared
for them.”

“What can you tell me about their parents’ deaths?”

“Not much except that their car apparently went out of
control on Highway 1 on the way home from their cabin in Jenner. It ran off the
road and rolled down a cliff along the Pacific.”

Her wording struck him. Also, being face-to-face with her
convinced him her mind was sharp and her words honest. “You said it
‘apparently’ went out of control?”

“That’s right. That road twists like the Dickens, but my
cousin knew it well. I’m not saying accidents don’t happen, but Henry was a
very careful driver. If anything, he drove too
slow
!
And Henry always maintained his cars. I see no reason for it to have gone off
the highway, unless someone helped it along.”

Interesting speculation, Paavo thought. “Were you and Henry
close?”

“As children we were. But I didn’t care for his wife,
Shirley, so I saw less and less of them as time went on.”

“The twins were age twenty-one when their parents died, so I
take it they inherited everything?” Paavo asked.

“They certainly did, including a house in Kentfield. It was
pricey when Henry and Shirley bought it in the 1970’s, but worth a small
fortune when the girls finally decided to sell it a few years back. They must
have made a tidy sum off the place, even splitting it between them.”

“What do you think really happened to their parents?”

“I have no idea. It was called ‘driver error.’ The car
caught fire, so there wasn’t really much left to investigate, I suppose.
And no reason to suspect anything.
No real reason, in any
case.”

“Meaning?”

She pursed her lips,
then
sat up a
little straighter. “Meaning I always found it suspicious that their parents
died shortly after, as adults, those two could take charge of their
inheritance. To me, those girls had ice water in their veins. They didn’t even
hold a funeral service or anything for their parents. I doubt they ever shed a
tear for them. They were little demons when they were growing up, and I doubt
they were any better as adults.” She raised her head. “I wouldn’t put anything
past either one of them
And
I’d never turn my back on
them, either.”

Paavo turned the conversation to the missing twin. “Gaia
lived in San Francisco and worked in South San Francisco before she died. But I
can find nothing about
Urda
. As far as you know, is
she still alive?
Any idea where she might be living?”

“I know
Urda
is alive because I
see her books in stores. A new one comes out every six months or so.”

He was surprised. “She’s a writer?”

“Yes. Paranormal romances—werewolves and vampires, that sort
of thing. She makes a fortune at it, too, I understand.”

“She doesn’t use the name
Urda
Wyndom
, does she?”

“My gracious, no.
She uses a
pseudonym, Marilee Wisdom.”

“I see,” Paavo said. “Do you have any idea where she lives?”

“
Urda
was always a free spirit
compared to Gaia. She didn’t like to be tied down by many possessions. I
wouldn’t be surprised to learn she lived out in the woods somewhere. She used
to live in Marin County, or maybe Sonoma. I doubt she’d go much farther than
that. The two sisters didn’t get along, but they always kept an eye on each
other—a close eye. If Gaia lived in San Francisco,
Urda
wasn’t far away.”

“How well did they get along?” Paavo asked.

Helen snorted. “Like oil and water. Each always tried to get
the upper hand on the other.”

“Were their personalities the same or different?”

“Exactly the same.
Both pretended
to be nice, but they weren’t. I already said they were demons as children. As
adults, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they were monsters.”

Paavo found the words chilling, but the more he learned
about this case, the more he believed she was right.

He handed her his card, thanked her for her time, and left.

Chapter 16

ANGIE OPENED THE apartment door to
find two women making tiny waving gestures and smiling at her.

“Hello, we’re from Bride’s Little Helpers.” They spoke at
the same time, and it was like listening in stereo. After not liking the pushy,
opinionated wedding planners she met, Angie decided to move in a completely
different direction and contacted a firm that described their services as
providing assistance in the planning of a wedding, and fulfilling the bride’s
every dream. She contacted them that morning and, to her amazement, they said
they would be there in an hour. And they were.

The two looked nothing
alike
beyond their blond hair, blue eyes, and too much red lipstick. Angie showed
them to her living room as they oohed and
aahed
over
her lovely apartment and view that stretched from the Golden Gate Bridge across
the
north bay
and Alcatraz all the way to the Bay
Bridge. Angie cringed as they headed towards her Cezanne but they either didn’t
know the artist or didn’t care about the lithograph because they continued past
it without a word.

They sat on the sofa and Angie took the yellow
Hepplewhite
chair.

“I’m Lara,” the one on the right said.

“And I’m Kara,” said the one on the left.

“We do everything you don’t want to bother with. You simply
tell us what you want and we’ll do it, just like magic!” Lara said, brimming
with enthusiasm.

“And we’re always Johnny-on-the-spot,” Kara said, her little
fist punching the air.

“That’s why we came here so soon after you called,” Lara
added.

“It shows our dedication,” said Kara.

“And consideration of you…” Lara waited for Kara to join in,
as both added, “and your time.”

Angie blinked a moment. “You see, I’m not sure what I want
or need.” She looked from one to the other. “That’s why I’m hiring a wedding
assistant. I mean, I know the basics, but it’s the details I worry about.”