Murder on Waverly Place (30 page)

“Of course he wasn’t,” Sarah said. “I’m so sorry you lost him. Was he your only family?”

“He was all I had left. My father . . . I never knew him at all. He ran off before I was born, and my mother died when I was twelve. Grandpap, he always took care of both of us.”

“I’m sure he did. Was that when you came to the Mission, after he died?” Sarah had first met Maeve when she was living at the Prodigal Son Mission, a refuge for young girls with no place to go.

“Yes, and I was so grateful. Grandpap had some money put away, but it wouldn’t have lasted forever, and a girl alone . . . Well, people will do terrible things if you don’t have somebody to look out for you.”

Sarah nodded, understanding only too well the terrible things that could have happened to her. “You did the right thing, going to the Mission, even though that wasn’t such a safe place after all.”

“It was always safe for me,” she reminded Sarah. “And I met you there, and Catherine.”

“I’m very glad you did. And I’m also glad you trusted me enough to tell me about your family.”

“You really don’t mind?” Maeve asked, still uncertain.

“Not at all. I only care about the person you are today, and you are a good person, Maeve.”

“I am, aren’t I?” she asked in surprise.

“Yes, you are. And I want you to be very careful tomorrow. Catherine needs you and I need you.”

Maeve’s eyes misted a bit. “Don’t worry about me. Nothing’s going to happen. And maybe I’ll get to talk to Grandpap,” she added with a grin.

Sarah grinned back. “I’m sure if you mention it to Serafina, she’ll manage to contact him.”

“Oh, I’m not going to make it easy for her. She’s already been asking me about my family and if there’s someone I want to ask a question.”

“What did you tell her?” Sarah asked in surprise.

“Nothing true,” Maeve replied with another grin. “She’ll just have to find out from the spirits.”

15

T
HE NEXT MORNING, AS SOON AS BREAKFAST WAS OVER, Mrs. Ellsworth came to take Catherine. The two of them were going to the market and then were going to bake something very special at Mrs. Ellsworth’s house while everyone else attended the séance on Waverly Place.

Mrs. Decker’s carriage arrived soon after Mrs. Ellsworth and Catherine had left, and Sarah followed Maeve and Serafina out and climbed in behind them. Serafina was once again dressed in her flowing black gown, but her expression was more determined than Sarah had ever seen it.

“Maeve,” Mrs. Decker said when they were settling themselves. “You look lovely.”

Maeve blushed prettily at the compliment. Sarah had searched her closet to make sure Maeve’s outfit marked her as someone Mrs. Felix Decker would know. They had decided she would be Mrs. Decker’s niece, and she looked every bit the part in a suit Sarah hadn’t worn in a while and a hat her mother had given her but which Sarah had judged too fancy for her life as a midwife. Maeve touched the hat self-consciously and Mrs. Decker nodded her approval.

Serafina distracted them from their approval of Maeve’s clothes. “What did Mrs. Burke say when she read my note?”

Mrs. Decker smiled. “She got very flustered and kept saying she couldn’t, she just couldn’t, but then I mentioned that you said you wouldn’t charge her anything, and she finally decided she would try.”

“Good. I have been thinking what we should do,” she told them as the carriage lurched away from the curb. “Mrs. Brandt, I think you should not come inside with us. I do not want everyone else to know you are there.”

“I’m not going to wait in the carriage until the séance is over,” Sarah declared.

“Oh, no, that is not what you will do,” Serafina assured her. “I will unlock the back door, and you will come inside that way when we are all in the séance room.”

“How will I know when that happens?”

Serafina thought for a moment. “I will go to the front window and move the curtain just before I take everyone into the room.”

“I could do that for you,” Mrs. Decker said. “No one would think it peculiar if I looked out to check on my driver.”

“Yes, thank you,” Serafina said. “That would be better.”

“What about Mr. Malloy?” Maeve asked. “He’ll probably be there when we arrive.”

“I will speak with him and ask him to pretend to leave,” Serafina said. “I do not want the killer to be frightened by the police. But Mr. Malloy can return with you, Mrs. Brandt.”

Sarah nodded her approval. “You said you’d show me where I could listen to what’s happening in the séance,” Sarah reminded her.

“I won’t be able to show you, but it is easy to find. A picture is hanging on the wall in the kitchen. An ugly picture of a cow. If you lift it down, you will see two small holes stuffed with cotton wool. You can look through them into the séance room, but you will see nothing once the room is dark. They are really for listening. And you must stand in front of them, closely, so no light comes into the séance room once the light is out.”

“Why are they there?” Maeve asked.

“For the Professor. He usually listens in case something happens. I call for him and he comes.”

“Or when you fainted at that séance I attended, the others called him,” Sarah recalled.

Serafina smiled. “Yes, that is right. The Professor will be in the kitchen when you come in, so Mr. Malloy will tell him he must stand aside so you can listen. He will be angry, but do not let him interrupt us.”

“I’m sure Mr. Malloy can handle the Professor,” Mrs. Decker said with a small smile.

Sarah was sure of it, too.

“Whose spirit will you call for today?” Maeve asked.

“I will call for Mrs. Gittings,” Serafina said grimly.

“What if she doesn’t know who killed her, though?” Maeve pressed. “What about Nicola?”

Serafina’s eyes grew bleak. “I will not call for him. It is too soon. But Yellow Feather will know if she does not. He was there when it happened.”

The other three had no answer for that, although Sarah couldn’t help wishing she believed in Yellow Feather. If he really existed, he could be very helpful.

They spent the rest of the trip answering Maeve’s questions about what would happen at the séance. When the carriage rattled to a stop, Serafina sat up straighter, as if bracing herself.

“I know this must be difficult for you, my dear,” Mrs. Decker said.

“I will not be afraid,” Serafina told her, although she sounded as if she were trying to convince herself. “I am doing this for Nicola.”

The driver opened the door, and the three of them climbed out.

“Mrs. Brandt is going to wait here for a while,” Mrs. Decker said to the driver. “Please do whatever she tells you.”

He nodded his understanding and closed the carriage door. When the others had gone inside, he climbed back up to the seat and moved the carriage about halfway down the block. Sarah positioned herself so she had a good view of the front window and settled back to wait.

 

 

 

M
ALLOY HADN’T BEEN THERE LONG WHEN HE HEARD someone coming in the front door. He and the Professor had been staring at each other across the kitchen table for far too long, and the Professor jumped to his feet at the first sound. “She’s here,” he said and hurried out of the kitchen.

Malloy followed him into the hallway and saw Serafina coming through the front door. Mrs. Decker and Maeve were behind her. Where was Sarah?

“Madame Serafina,” the Professor said, obviously pleased to see her. “How are you?”

“I am very well,” she assured him. “I am happy to be home again.”

“I’m happy to welcome you here,” he assured her. “Mrs. Decker, how nice to see you back again. And you’ve brought a friend.” He eyed Maeve critically, as if trying to judge her potential as a paying customer.

“Miss Decker,” Serafina said, “may I present my assistant, Professor Rogers. Professor, Miss Decker is Mrs. Decker’s niece. She has always been curious about the spirit world, so she is going to learn more about it today.”

“We’re very happy to have you here,” the Professor assured her, although Frank thought his enthusiasm sounded forced. He gave her a small bow, and then he caught her studying him with more than casual interest. He straightened, probably wondering why this young lady would be so interested in him, and then he said. “Have we met before, Miss Decker?”

“I don’t think so, Professor,” she said. “What makes you ask?”

“It’s just . . . You reminded me of someone there for a moment.”

Frank had been watching from the end of the hallway, unnoticed. The Professor’s back was to him, so he couldn’t see his expression, but Maeve gave the other man an innocent smile designed to disarm him.

Frank didn’t wait to see if it worked. He stepped forward. “Good morning, Madame,” he said to Serafina.

All the women looked up in surprise, and he was glad to see none of them looked more pleased to see him than was appropriate.

“Mr. Malloy, why have you come?” Serafina asked, as if she really didn’t know.

“I thought you might like me to be close by, in case something happened today.”

Serafina gave him one of her disapproving frowns. “May I speak with you privately, Mr. Malloy?” She turned back to the Professor. “Will you serve tea to Mrs. Decker and her niece?”

The Professor looked as if he would refuse, eyeing Frank the way he’d look at a rattlesnake from whom he expected the worst. He couldn’t think of any reason not to do her bidding, however, so he said, “Yes, Madame.” He took charge of the visitors and ushered them into the parlor while Frank and Serafina went across the hall to the office.

Once inside, Frank closed the door with a click and said, “Where’s Mrs. Brandt?”

“She’s waiting in the carriage. I thought it would be better if the others didn’t know the two of you were in the house during the séance. We don’t want the killer to be on guard, so I will ask you to leave when everyone has arrived, and then you and she will come to the back door, which I will unlock. I told Mrs. Brandt how to find the holes in the kitchen wall where you can listen to what is happening in the room.”

“What about the Professor? Isn’t that where he usually waits during the séance?”

“Mrs. Decker said you could handle him,” she said with a small smile.

“I probably can,” Frank allowed, wondering what he had done to earn Mrs. Decker’s confidence.

“Did you tell the Professor about Nicola?” she asked.

“No, you said you wanted to do it,” he reminded her.

“Good, I—”

She stopped when someone knocked on the door. It opened before either of them could react, and the Professor stepped in and closed the door behind him. “You can’t allow him to stay here for the séance.”

Serafina gave him a withering look. “I am the one who decides who is present for the séance,” she reminded him.

“Don’t get high and mighty with me, missy,” he told her. “I knew you when you were telling fortunes on the street.”

“And now you live off the money that I earn,” she reminded him right back.

He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but he glanced at Frank and changed his mind. He straightened himself again. “Well, perhaps it’s good he’s here after all. He can protect us in case Nicola comes back.”

“Nicola is dead,” Serafina said savagely before Frank could reply.

“Dead?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “How could he be dead?”

“Because someone killed him,” she told him.

The Professor looked at Frank. “Is this true?”

“Yes, someone beat him to death. We found his body not far from here.”

The Professor’s face flooded with color. “The little fool, he probably started flashing the money around and somebody killed him for it. Lucille tried to tell you he was no good, but you wouldn’t listen.”

An excellent theory, Frank thought, but the Professor didn’t know Nicola had no money to flash around. “Who’s Lucille?”

“Mrs. Gittings,” the Professor snapped. “So now he’s gone and the money with him.”

“Don’t worry, you still have me to make money for you,” Serafina told him acidly.

“Mrs. Decker didn’t give me anything when she came in just now,” he informed her just as acidly.

“I told them I would not charge them today.”

“What?”
the Professor asked, outraged.

“After what happened, they would not come back unless I begged them. You should be glad they are here at all.”

“And the others? Are they coming, too?”

“Yes, they are. All of them will be here, just like before.”

“Just like before except for that girl. Why is she here?”

“I told you, she is Mrs. Decker’s niece.”

“No, she isn’t. She’s somebody’s maid, and she’s up to something. I don’t like it.”

“You do not have to like it. She is here because I want her here. Now go answer the door. Someone else has come.”

They could hear the bell, and the Professor gave her another glare before going to answer it.

When he’d closed the door behind him, Frank said, “How did he know about Maeve?”

“What does it matter?” She dismissed the Professor with a wave of her hand. “Do you know what you must do?”

“Do you want me to stay until everybody gets here?”

“Yes, and then I will tell you, in front of everyone, that you are to leave, so they all know you are gone. I do not want the killer to think you are here to find him.”

“Or her,” Frank added.

But she was already on her way out of the room. “I must unlock the back door for you,” she said as she disappeared.

Frank sighed. He had a bad feeling about all of this. Why had he let Sarah talk him into it in the first place? If Nicola was dead, nobody cared who had killed Mrs. Gittings. Nobody but Serafina and Sarah. He sighed again and stepped out into the hall. He could hear voices in the parlor, and he crossed the hall to see who had arrived.