The Gallery of the Dead (Tropical Breeze Cozy Mystery Book 3) (13 page)

“I’m sorry. Listen, about your friends, shouldn’t you call them? I hate to leave you like this. You seem pretty depressed.”

“They’re working. Danny said he’d try to come by tonight.”

“Did you say you’d been married? If you parted amicably, maybe she . . . .”

He got a sour look on his face. “Don’t remind me.” He looked away and quietly added, “Mom didn’t like her. She tried to warn me.”

“I’m sure she only wanted what was best for you. Listen, I have to go. We’re heading out to Cadbury House to try to pull together an episode there. I’m not optimistic, obviously.”

“Well, good luck.”

“You too.”

We shook hands and I left him standing in his shabby living room.

Time would tell if the ghosts of the gallery would come to haunt him at night. Apparently he hadn’t given that any thought when he’d decided to move into The Ephraim.

I never had gotten the impression that Paul McBain believed in ghosts.

From the Journal of Edson Darby-Deaver

I was pleased to have the base of operations moved closer to my home, if only by a few miles, and for the first time, I began to wonder what life on the road with Teddy was going to be like. I don’t particularly enjoy travel, and tend to get car sick on long drives. I had taken to chanting aloud the amount of my paycheck in moments of crisis, and I repeated it one more time before getting out of Petronella in front of Cadbury House.

Outwardly, the estate looks much the same as it had the last time I’d seen it, when Taylor had not yet completed her remodeling for the shelter. The house itself, of course, hadn’t been touched. It was still a rambling, dark house brightened by light reflecting off the rows of French doors on both floors, topped by a pitched roof and wrapped in verandas. It had been a Gilded Age trophy house, and needless to say, they don’t build them like that anymore.

The first thing I noticed as I stood in the dirt drive was the barking of dogs coming from the old barn. What fond memories I had of the barn! It was the scene of my first professional triumph. Also, less thrillingly, it was the scene of my first collaboration with Teddy, which had led inexorably to my being under contract to him.

Taylor came out of the house to greet us, looking tanned and fit and as lovely as ever. I immediately noticed that she was wearing her cat pendant, an icon of the Egyptian cat god Bastet.

I hoisted my messenger bag onto my shoulder and offered my hand in greeting. She ignored the hand and hugged me, leaving me awkwardly patting her back and feeling a little elated. We had gone to war together in these estates in days gone by, and she was right: a handshake was just not enough. Still, I was silently grateful she hadn’t hugged me in Girlfriend’s a few days before.

“Edson Darby-Deaver,” she said with a lilt in her voice as the rest of Teddy’s gang got out of their vehicles and stood in the driveway looking around. “So we hunt together again.”

“This time under much more controlled circumstances, I hope.” I lowered my voice and asked, “Is there, in fact, any paranormal activity here?”

“Who cares?” she said gaily. “Ghosts are good for business. Introduce me to your friends, and then come and let me show you what I’ve done with the place.”

“Hello, Michael,” I said as he came out of the house. I wondered if he had seen Taylor throwing her arms around me. Michael and Taylor had been together for over a year now, had been good friends before that, and were living together now. Still, one hopes that a lady will not demonstrate excessive affection for oneself when her lover, however civilized, is present. Especially when one knows that there is a gun in the house.

I greeted Michael and made the introductions as briefly as possible. Michael is a retired lawyer and a Southern gentleman. Even Carmilla didn’t disconcert him.

When the formalities were over, Taylor said, “Michael, will you show them to their rooms? I’m sure they’d like to get settled. I’m going to show Ed around. He hasn’t seen the place since I finished remodeling.”

“Of course, honey. Don’t be too long.”

“Come on, Ed,” she said, steering me away masterfully.

I glanced back over my shoulder and saw Michael watching us from the veranda as he held the door for the houseguests.

What Taylor charmingly calls “The Cattery” was separated from the house by a breezeway, and consisted of a series of cabins that had once been servants’ quarters. Now there were many cats.

Intelligent beings, cats. When they stop suddenly and look into your eyes, you have the feeling that they can hear you thinking. And when they stop suddenly and look at a spot where you see nothing at all, it’s easy to believe that something is really there and you just don’t have the eyes for it.

Dogs, on the other hand, have a scent spectrum that exceeds anything your eyes can see, but they never make you feel inferior. Generous creatures, dogs, able to suffer fools much more gladly than cats.

After inspecting The Cattery, we went out into the yard between the house, the seawall, the barn and the old ice house. I gazed up a verdant hill beyond the barn.

“Would you mind, Taylor? Before we go into the doggery, I’d like to revisit the cemetery.”

She laughed. “It’s not the doggery, it’s the kennel. And of course I don’t mind. I’ll come with you.”

As we walked up the hill we were quiet together, and once we reached the gated arch in the graveyard fence, we paused and looked back over the property.

During the night a fogbank had formed and was still shrouding the coastline. It was early afternoon now, and most of the fog had burned away, but there was still a lemony mist in the air. Below us was the enormous house, and beyond it, an expanse of river that stretched to the coastal highway and out to the foggy sea.

“How is it working out, having the shelter here?” I asked.

“Pretty well. Everybody is so curious about the Cadbury estate that they come in droves, and adoptions have been pretty steady. Your idea for the mystery dinners is working out brilliantly, and it gives Lorenzo something to do so he keeps his hands off the volunteers.”

“He’s a dirty old man? I’m not surprised.”

She shrugged. “He’s a dirty old man with money. I guess that makes a difference. Graeme likes him, and since Graeme is my landlord, I have to put up him. They came together when the property needed repairs – you remember the vandalism we had last year? The cemetery took the hardest hit. After a couple of weeks, Graeme was done with the work he wanted to do, but we found out Teddy was going to be in town, so Lorenzo wanted to stay. That was fine with Graeme; he went down to Miami to visit his own son, and I got stuck with Lorenzo.”

“You always have the sparkling Myrtle to act as chaperone,” I said in a rare flash of humor.

She grinned at me. “Still got a thing going with my housekeeper? I don’t know why she doesn’t like you. She loves Michael, and she’s been downright coquettish around Lorenzo.”

“That’s because they’re lords of the manor. I was a mere employee, one she considered lower in the pecking order than herself. She’s an upstairs-downstairs snob. I shudder to see her being coquettish. The woman is seventy if she’s a day.”

“Well, I’m glad she gets along with Lorenzo. The house would be unlivable if she didn’t. And he’s not so bad. He’s been a big help with the dinners, and when he gets tired of them and Teddy moves on, he’ll go off and find another toy to play with. Then he’ll leave and we’ll carry on without him, but for now he’s having fun.” She turned and faced me. “So what’s the plan for the ghost hunt?”

I shook my head. “I think Teddy just wants to keep his crew together until the police find his stalker, and this is a good place to hide out. My gut tells me we won’t do any filming here at all. But something is very odd about what happened last night, and I want to discuss it with you.”

“All right. Let’s go sit on the bench inside the cemetery and you can tell me all about it.”

“Oh, look,” I said. “One of the cats has escaped from The Cattery.”

“That’s not an escapee. That’s my pet. Her name is Bastet.”

Aha! The black cat. I paid close attention to the animal, since it was central to my little theory (aforementioned).

Bastet was a large black cat with emerald green eyes and that way I mentioned of looking right into your mind. While I told Taylor about my suspicions, the cat sat in front of us, watching and listening. I found myself speaking more to the cat than to Taylor. Its sapient reactions at certain points were uncanny, almost human.

It may sound strange, but it was easier to explain things to Bastet than it was to Taylor, much as I like her. I found myself exploring details of my suspicions that I hadn’t intended to share.

When I was finished, I felt a burden lifted. It was such a relief to talk about my theory, and as I worked through it aloud, I realized that it really did make sense. Teddy would never have listened to me, and the rest of the crew belonged to him, not me. But Taylor and this strange cat listened intelligently, even sympathetically, and when I finished, the cat looked away thoughtfully, stood up and regally left us.

“You know, Taylor, I heard that Misty was seeing a stray black cat around The Royal Palm. A big black cat with green eyes. She was feeding it. In fact, she was hoping to adopt it. I have an idea about that cat –“

Taylor shook her head. “There are a lot of black cats in the world, Ed.”

“I know. I just thought I’d mention it. By the way, Misty has one of Vesta’s Egyptian objects – a golden statuette.”

“Everybody in Tropical Breeze bought something of hers at the resale shop.”

“Yes. Well. What do you think about my theory of Misty’s death?”

“Pretty slick, if what you think is true. Do you think Teddy is still in danger?”

“Oh, yes. Definitely. Until Jane is caught, he’ll always be in danger. We can’t stay here forever and she knows that. Sooner or later, Teddy is going to have to take us on the road, and then I’m not sure what’s going to happen. The fact that she meant to attack him during the course of a shoot has not escaped me. Before Teddy gives up and leaves Cadbury House, I’m going to be spending more time in Tropical Breeze, doing research.”

“How are you going to explain that to Teddy? The Royal Palm project is over.”

“No, it is not over, but I’m not going to tell him that. I’m just going to tell him that I’m going home to research future projects for the team. I would have stayed in town and gotten started, but I wanted to talk to you first, and let you know what was in the wind. You’ve been able to solve these mysteries before. Perhaps we can collaborate. Teddy doesn’t need to know where I am or what I’m doing. Before we can unravel things, we need more information. The fact that the assault on Teddy happened in The Royal Palm is significant. The history of the house ties in with everything.”

She stared at me. “Do you think the B&B is really haunted, and that had something to do with this Jane going off the deep end?”

“I do. And I definitely think Teddy’s presence there brought everything to a head.”

“Well, good luck with that. I’ll help you all I can, but I don’t know what else I can do. We have a mystery dinner tonight, and I’ve got a temperamental chef, a grumpy housekeeper, a dirty old man and the crew of a reality show to deal with.”

“Then you’re going to need even more luck than I am.”

“Don’t I know it!”

I shrugged my shoulders around uneasily and tried to be subtle. “Everything going well between you and Michael?”

“Why?” she asked, with that devilish smile of hers. “You thinking of making a move on me?”

Horrified, I edged away from her. “Of course not! Is that what you think?”

She was laughing heartily, but managed to say, “No, but I love your little ways, Ed. Everything is fine between Michael and me. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. I just happened to notice him watching us from the veranda as he was taking Teddy and the crew into the house. He’s not the jealous type, is he?”

She looked away and twisted her lips together. “He’s not the jealous type, but he was less than pleased with the things you got up to during your investigation of the barn last year. He may just be keeping an eye on you in case you suddenly decide to throw a séance.”

My glasses slipped and I adjusted them. “I was completely professional. How I hate being misunderstood. Most people have had no experience with paranormal investigations, and are so prone to misinterpretation – even condemnation –“

I would have gone on for some time like that, because it is a continuing theme in this life of mine, but Taylor put a hand on my arm to calm me.

“I understood. I understood everything you did, and I appreciated it.” She leaned closer and gave my cheek a tiny kiss.

I feverishly hoped that Michael didn’t have field glasses.

I walked back to the house with Taylor, and happened to see that Teddy was sitting on the seawall by himself.

“You go ahead,” I told her. “I want to talk to Teddy.”

About that time Michael came out of the house and began walking toward us. I quickened my steps toward the seawall.

Teddy turned to see who was coming and when he saw it was me, he turned back to the misty river. I sat down beside him.

“Strange to be back here so soon,” he said dreamily.

“Yes. Listen, Teddy, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. After I left The Royal Palm on Thursday morning, you interviewed Misty in the gallery, and didn’t tell me much about what you found out, other than that she convinced you she wasn’t lying. Did she mention anything else? Anything at all?”

He gave it some thought, then said, “Nothing that would interest you. She was rambling on about some stray cat she’d been feeding.”

I came to attention. “A cat? What kind of a cat? What else did she say about it?”

“Hell, I don’t know. Just some cat. A black cat, she said, with green eyes.”

I stared at him, unable to speak for a moment. Clue after clue was fluttering down around me, and I was like a dog leaping at butterflies: I just couldn’t catch them. “Like Taylor’s cat?” I asked tensely.