Read The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds Online
Authors: Bobbi Holmes
The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds
Haunting Danielle
Book 2
By Bobbi Holmes &
Anna J. McIntyre
HAUNTING DANIELLE
BOOK 2
By Anna J. McIntyre
& Bobbi Holmes
Cover Design: Elizabeth Mackey
HAUNTING DANIELLE SERIES
PUBLISHED BY:
Robeth Publishing, LLC
Copyright © 2014 Bobbi Holmes
Robeth
Publishing, LLC, All Rights Reserved
Tilting the review
mirror down slightly, Cheryl looked at her reflection. Despite the long car
ride, her makeup required minimal repair. Lipstick tube in hand, she used the
tip of her pinkie finger to wipe away stray mascara from the corners of her
eyes before applying the lipstick.
Cheryl readjusted the
mirror again to get a better view of the young man standing by the side of her
car, filling its gas tank. She wished her home state of California had the same
law as Oregon, which didn’t allow consumers to fill their own gas tanks. It was
a job she loathed. Fortunately, since crossing the border into Oregon, that was
one less thing for her to worry about.
Placing the cap back on
the lipstick, she tossed it in her open purse sitting on the passenger seat and
then removed a neatly folded piece of paper from the handbag’s side pocket.
Unfolding the paper, she re-read the Internet article printed out from her
computer at home. If she had never stumbled across the story, she wouldn’t be
sitting in her car right now, in some little Oregon beach town that she had
never heard of before.
“Dani, Dani,” Cheryl
said aloud, her eyes focused on the article. “Just what are you trying to
pull?”
The gas attendant
stepped up to the driver’s side of the car—its window down—and said, “All
filled up. It took the entire forty bucks.”
Cheryl looked up at the
young man, while she refolded the paper and asked, “Do you know where a place
called Marlow House is?”
“Marlow House? Why
sure. It’s only a couple blocks from here.”
• • • •
“These just arrived,”
Lily announced. Wearing worn denims and a faded blue t-shirt, her red hair
fastened atop her head in a lopsided pony tail, she stood in the kitchen
doorway holding a floral arrangement of red, white and blue roses. Danielle
glanced up from where she stood at the counter, measuring ingredients for a
chocolate cake into a large stainless steel mixing bowl.
“Those are lovely!”
Danielle said. “Who are they from?” She didn’t attempt to see for herself, but
continued on with her task.
“Marie Nichols. Did you
notice the little American flags?” Lily walked into the kitchen, tilting the
vase slightly to give Danielle a better view. “I left the card on the entry
table. Where do you want me to put it?”
“I don’t know, where do
you think? Maybe on the entry table?” Danielle shrugged.
“Okay.” Lily turned
back to the doorway.
“What did the card
say?” Danielle called out.
Lily paused and looked
back at Danielle. “It was just wishing you luck on the grand opening. Said she
was looking forward to it.”
“Did she say anything
about her
lovely
thief—I mean grandson coming with her?”
“No, but I’m sure he’ll
be bringing her.”
“I guess there’s no way
of avoiding that.” She sighed and picked up a wooden spoon from the counter.
Danielle thought of Marie’s grandson, Adam, and how he and Bill Smith had once
broken into Marlow House. She began beating the cake batter with a tad more
zeal than was necessary.
When Lily returned to
the kitchen a few minutes later, she found Danielle preparing to pour the
batter into cake pans.
“So what do we need to
do?” Lily grabbed her vintage apron from the kitchen table. It was a recent
find from a Frederickport yard sale. The apron, with its colorful strawberry
print, appealed to her elementary school teacher sensibilities. She would be
wearing this one in the classroom, when school started in the fall. Her
students would love it. Tying the apron around her waist she watched Danielle,
whose dark hair threatened to slip from its haphazard bun.
“I have a list around
here some place.” Pouring the batter into the cake pans, Danielle attempted to
blow escaped strands of hair from her eyes as she glanced around briefly,
searching for the misplaced list. She didn’t see it.
Lily looked around the
room and spied a piece of paper on the floor under the kitchen table. She
picked it up, and looking over the list she said, “Before we tackle the next
item, why don’t we break for lunch?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Danielle opened the oven and moved the filled cake pans from the counter to the
oven’s middle rack. After closing the oven Danielle took the list from Lily and
looked it over. “What do you think about bringing that croquet set down from
the attic and setting it up in the back yard? It might be fun, give people
something to do? Old fashioned.”
“It might be fun,” Lily
said as she grabbed the loaf of bread from the counter. After making them each
a sandwich and a glass of iced tea, she sat at the table waiting for Danielle
to join her.
“You still picking up
the necklace in the morning?” Lily asked as she sipped her tea.
Danielle glanced up
from the list. “Yep.” She joined Lily at the table.
“I hope you know what
you’re doing. Wearing a piece of jewelry worth more than a million bucks—with
all those strangers in the house—seems a little risky to me.”
“I wouldn’t be getting
the press attention without it.”
“I know. It just makes
me nervous.”
“Don’t worry Lily.
Remember,
Officer
Morelli plans to be here to help keep an eye on
things.”
Not to mention Walt—there is no way he’ll let someone walk out of
Marlow House with the Missing Thorndike
.
“I admit I feel a
little better knowing you aren’t taking any reservations until after the party.
I don’t think I’d like the idea of strangers being here over night when the
necklace is in the house.”
“Well don’t worry. It
goes back into the safety deposit box on Saturday morning, after the open
house. And then on Monday or Tuesday the buyer will be here to take it off my
hands. So you can stop worrying,” Danielle said.
“Are you sure the bank
is going to be open? After all, it is a holiday weekend.”
“I checked. They’re
always open on Saturday mornings, and they told me they’ll be open until noon.”
Lily started to say
something but paused when she heard the doorbell. “I wonder if that’s Ian,”
Lily said as she glanced at the clock on the oven. “He’s not supposed to be
here for another hour.”
“Maybe it’s more
flowers,” Danielle suggested as she stood up.
“I’ll get it. You eat
your lunch.” Lily jumped up and headed for the front door. Danielle sat back
down and took a bite of her sandwich.
When Lily opened the
front door a few moments later, it wasn’t Ian standing on the porch, but a
buxom blonde Lily had never seen before. Escaping cleavage spilled from the
woman’s snuggly fitting white spandex halter top. Speechless, Lily’s eyes
traveled down the woman’s body to skin tight satin slacks in hot pink. The
woman’s stilettos heels were the same shade of pink. Next to her feet on the
porch was a suitcase. Lily’s gaze darted back up to the stranger’s face and she
looked into blue eyes—blue eyes lined in black with purple glitter shadow
covering each lid. Lily thought the woman—who she guessed to be about her own
age—might be quite lovely if she scrubbed off the heavy makeup and toned down
the purplish lipstick.
“I’m afraid we aren’t
open for business yet,” Lily said, glancing again to the suitcase.
“We?” the woman
laughed. “I’m here to see Dani.” Not waiting for an invitation, she picked up
the suitcase and pushed her way past Lily into Marlow House. Once in the entry,
she dropped the suitcase on the wood floor and looked around the dark-paneled
entry hall.
“And who should I say
is here?” Lily asked, clearly annoyed as she shut the front door and faced the
intruder.
“I’m Dani’s cousin,
Cheryl, and who are you? The housekeeper? If so, you really need to improve
your people skills or you’re going to run away the guests,” Cheryl scolded.
Lily stood speechless
for a moment, unable to grasp the fact this was Danielle’s infamous cousin,
Cheryl. From what she understood, Cheryl was Danielle’s only living relative.
Both women had lost their parents in the same airplane accident when Danielle
was still in college. Though Cheryl was Danielle’s only remaining relative, the
two women had never been close.
“Well, what are you
waiting for?” Cheryl asked.
“Excuse me?” Lily
blinked her eyes, coming out of her momentary stupor.
“Go get her! And you
might as well take my bag up to my room. When you’re done with that you can get
me something to eat, I’m
starving.” Cheryl wandered over to the mirror
hanging on the wall behind the roses and looked at her reflection. After
pursing her lips she combed her fingers through her hair.
“Danielle’s not
expecting you,” Lily blurted out. “We don’t have any rooms ready.”
Cheryl turned from the
mirror and faced Lily. “Don’t be silly. Dani will have room for me. I am family
after all.”
“I’ll get Danielle,”
Lily muttered, heading to the kitchen.
“What about my
suitcase?” Cheryl called out.
Lily glanced back
briefly, muttered something under her breath and continued on to the kitchen.
“You’ve got to get out
here,” Lily said the moment she walked into the room.
“What’s wrong?”
Danielle stood up from the table.
“You have a visitor.
One who expects to stay here.”
“I don’t understand. Did
you tell them we aren’t accepting reservations yet?”
“I told her we didn’t
have any rooms ready yet.”
“She?” Danielle
frowned, heading to the doorway.
Cheryl was no longer
standing in the entry. They found her in the parlor, inspecting a porcelain
figurine.
“Cheryl?” Danielle
asked in disbelief. Cheryl looked over at her cousin, smiled and set the
porcelain figurine back on the table. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s a fine
greeting,” Cheryl scolded. “And in front of the help.”
“Help?” Danielle
glanced over at Lily, who just shrugged. “Lily doesn’t work for me. She’s a
friend. I’ll ask again, what are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’ve
come for the open house.” Cheryl plopped down on a chair and kicked off her
shoes. Wiggling her toes, she briefly admired her recent pedicure and the pink
nail polish that perfectly matched her shoes.
“What do we have
here?” Walt asked a second later when he appeared in the room. Of the three
women, only Danielle could see or hear him. Curious, he circled the newcomer as
Danielle watched them both.
“You can’t stay here.
We don’t have any rooms ready,” Danielle told her.
“Don’t be ridiculous.
After all, Aunt Brianna was my aunt too.” Cheryl leaned back in the chair,
crossing her legs over its armrest.
“Who is she?” Walt
asked.
“This is really not a
good time, Cheryl. We’re getting ready for my grand opening.”
“Yes, I know all about
that. Something you obviously failed to tell me about.”
“Why would I? It’s not
like we keep in touch any more.” Danielle said.
“And whose fault is
that?” Cheryl asked.
“Why are you here,
Cheryl?” Danielle asked.
“Obviously to
straighten out Aunt Brianna’s estate.” Cheryl jumped up from the chair.
“I don’t know what
you’re talking about, Cheryl. Aunt Brianna left this house to me, what is there
to straighten out?”
“She was my aunt too,”
Cheryl circled the room, inspecting and touching the parlor furnishings. “My
attorney thinks I have a solid claim on the estate. Aunt Brianna was old,
forgetful. Leaving me out of her will was obviously an oversight.” Cheryl
turned and faced Danielle and Lily.
“From what I remember,
you barely knew Aunt Brianna,” Danielle said.
“So? It doesn’t change
my relationship to her—which is identical to yours.”
“Not exactly. I
actually had a relationship with her. You were simply the great niece of her
husband.”
“Oh blah blah blah…that
is not going to hold up in court, Boo.”
“Don’t call me that,”
Danielle snapped.
“Dani Boo, Dani Boo,
Dani Boo,” Cheryl chuckled.
“I take it that’s some
childhood nickname?” Walt asked. “She’s the cousin you mentioned?” Walt sat on
the back of the couch and watched Cheryl. Lifting his hand with a flourish, a
lit cigar appeared between two of his fingers. He took a puff and continued to
watch the unfolding drama.
“You can’t stay here,”
Danielle insisted. “None of the rooms are ready for guests.”
“
She’s
staying
here.” Cheryl nodded to Lily, who stood mute listening.
“Lily is my friend;
she’s helping me get Marlow House open for business.”
“And I’m your cousin.”
Cheryl paused and sniffed the air. “I smell cigar smoke! You lied! You’re
already open for business. You have a man staying here!”
“No Cheryl, it’s just
Lily and me.”
And Walt
, Danielle silently added.