Dead to the World (7 page)

APRIL, 1942

Once he started running, he couldn’t really stop. He was now beginning to take the Japanese personally. Talk about loss of creature comforts! The food he’d stashed in his clothing hardly lasted beyond noon. Luckily the forest was impenetrable, and he was pretty sure no one – like the Japanese, or the Marines, for that matter – could see him or hear him. It was also quite noisy, what with all the birds, and got even noisier when he found the spot where he decided to stop at least for the night if not longer. He might have noticed it was a pretty spot, if Edgar had been into such things, but the main reason for stopping was the very noisy waterfall that poured into a pool at the bottom. His thought process was more concerned with fresh water than beauty. He did check out the flora, like the cacti-looking plant with pink bulb-like blooms, wondering if it was edible. This first night he didn’t dare try eating anything. There were beautiful vines hanging off trees with six-petal purple flowers, and a reddish brown flower growing on the bark of a tree, and trumpet-like orange flowers that, when opened, contained fruit, berries and seeds.

He built a small fire as it got dark and huddled next to it, not so much for warmth as for the security of it. He could hear animals rummaging through the forest and wasn’t keen on meeting one in the dark. He slept fitfully that first night, only to wake up the next morning starving.

As the days and weeks moved along, Edgar found his rhythm. Early on he’d caught what looked like a rat and had fed it some of the fruit, berries and seeds he’d found. He kept the rat in a bamboo cage he’d made, and watched him for several hours after each trial. The rat lived. So those became a part of Edgar’s diet, as did a creature he found that looked like a pig, with a crest and mane and a snout closer to that of an anteater than a pig. He roasted him whole on a spit he made of the available bamboo and fed off him for almost a week.

The armaments he’d brought with him had come in handy for killing the pig-like creature, and other creatures of the forest like deer, turkey-like wildfowl, and an animal he shot before realizing he had no idea what it was. It was spotted and striped, with a long nose, teeth like a cat and a bushy tail like a mongoose. He roasted that, too, and other than tasting a little gamy – like everything else he’d shot and cooked – it wasn’t too bad.

He explored his environs, venturing out a little further week by week. At one point he found a pool that appeared to have steam coming off it. Touching the water, he discovered a hot spring. At least once a week after this discovery he would venture out at night with a torch to soak himself in the warm waters.

Edgar had been on his own in the forest for three weeks when he spotted his first human – a young woman, clad in native garb, walking into the hot spring fully clothed.

BACK HOME

B
efore Alicia could dial the phone, it rang. She dropped it like it had just exploded in her hand. Megan picked it up, rolling her eyes at her foster sister. ‘Hello?’ she said.

She listened for a moment, then covered the mouthpiece and half-whispered, ‘It’s Grandma! Are we going to church or what?’

The girls looked at each other. Megan said into the phone, ‘Just a minute, Grandma, I’m trying to find Bess.’ She raised her eyebrows at her sister. ‘Well?’

‘I don’t think we have time for that,’ Bess said.

‘Well, what about lunch?’ Megan said. ‘We were counting on Grandma taking us out—’

‘But we didn’t spend any money last night,’ Alicia said. ‘So we’re OK.’

‘So what excuse do I give?’ Megan asked.

Bess coughed dramatically. ‘I’m sick,’ she said in a weak voice.

Again Megan rolled her eyes. Into the phone she said, ‘Grandma, I found Bess but she’s sick—’ Grandma obviously said something, because Megan’s next line was ‘Oh, no! It’s OK. She’ll be fine. I think it’s just a headache. She just needs to rest. But I don’t want to leave her alone, ya know?’ She listened for a moment, then said: ‘That’s OK, Alicia and I will fix her some lunch, but thanks, Grandma. Really. ’Bye.’ And she hung up the phone and handed it back to Alicia. ‘Now call!’ she said.

Sighing, Alicia dialed the number Logan had given her. A youngish male voice answered the phone and she panicked, immediately hanging up.

‘Gawd, Alicia! What did you go and do that for?’ Megan demanded.

‘It was her brother!’ Alicia said.

‘Yeah, like maybe he lives there?’ Megan said, sarcasm dripping off her tongue.

‘So now what?’ Bess said, throwing herself back on the sofa where she sat next to Logan, her arms tightly crossed over her chest.

‘So now we do it again! Alicia?’ Megan looked at her foster sister, one eyebrow raised.

‘But—’ Alicia started, until Logan interrupted.

‘This isn’t going to work,’ he said, starting to get to his feet.

‘OK, OK!’ Alicia said. She picked up the phone once again, and dialed the number Logan had given her earlier, putting it on speakerphone.

An older woman answered the phone. ‘Hello?’

Alicia took a deep breath and said, ‘May I speak to Harper, please?’

‘May I say who’s calling?’ the woman, presumably Harper’s mother, asked.

‘My name is Alicia. From school?’

‘Codderville High?’ the woman asked.

All four looked at each other. Then Megan waved her hand for Alicia to continue. ‘No, Black Cat Ridge High. We were on the same volleyball team last semester?’

‘Ah, maybe she can call you ba—’ Her voice faded as she said, ‘Harper! No!’

Then the kids could hear Harper’s voice. ‘Who is this?’ she demanded.

‘Ah, hi, Harper,’ Alicia said. ‘It’s Alicia, from volleyball? I just wondered if you needed me to bring you some schoolwork over, but your mom says you’re going to Codderville?’

‘That’s right,’ she said.

‘Gosh, I didn’t realize you’d changed schools. Did y’all move?’

‘No,’ Harper said, the word clipped.

‘Well, OK, then. Well, maybe we could get together—’ Alicia started.

‘Why?’ Harper demanded.

‘Ah, well, no real reason, I guess. I just thought we got along OK as teammates, and, well—’

‘You’re living with the Pughes, right? Like in Megan and Bess?’

‘Ah, yes,’ Alicia said.

‘So they put you up to this, right? Megan’s one of the biggest gossips at BCR and I’m sure she wants to know
everything
, right? Well, tell her to go play with herself!’ Harper said and hung up.

‘Well!’ Megan said, crossing her arms over her ample chest. ‘I am not a gossip! I tell the twins and I can’t help it if they spread it everywhere!’

‘So maybe you should stop telling the twins things?’ Alicia suggested.

‘They’re my best friends!’ Megan said.

Logan rose to his feet. ‘Well, thanks, ladies, but that got us nowhere. And, really, she was pretty rude. Sorry about that, Alicia.’

‘No way was it your fault,’ Alicia said. She looked a little crestfallen. ‘I thought we got along great on the team.’ She shrugged. ‘I guess I was wrong.’

‘Maybe she did recognize us from last night,’ Bess said.

Looking at his watch, Logan said, ‘I need to get to work. We start prep in half an hour for the after church crowd. Both of them,’ he said, and sighed.

‘Yeah, y’all didn’t look all that busy last night, and Saturday night
is
date night! What’s up with that?’ Megan demanded.

Logan shrugged. ‘I think we need to do more advertising, but Cam said he can’t afford it.’

‘Wow, a real
Catch-22
situation, huh?’ Bess said.

‘Huh?’ Logan looked at her, his eyes big.

‘Never mind,’ she said, standing up. ‘Let me get my purse and I’ll drive you.’

Logan smiled at her. ‘That would be great,’ he said.

Alicia jumped up. ‘I’ll go with you!’ she said, a big smile plastered on her face.

Walking past her foster sister to get to her purse, Bess patted Alicia on the arm. ‘That’s OK, I’ve got this covered.’

I slammed the phone down before anyone answered. ‘This is not your fault!’ I said with some heat. ‘And stop taking it on! You haven’t done anything – things are being done
to
you! You’re the victim here, but you need to stop acting like one and start fighting back! Diamond is a complete and total bitch and she had no right to talk to you like that! And – I know I’m going out on a limb here – but it is my semi-professional opinion that none of these things have been done by the ghost of your father! Someone very much alive is doing this and we’re going to find out who it is!’

I finally paused for breath and Willis stepped in. ‘She gets worked up,’ he said, patting Miss Hutchins on the hand. ‘But she’s right. This isn’t your fault. This is the fault of whoever killed Humphrey and whoever killed your mother. I doubt it could be the same person, and I doubt in either case it was your father. Even if you believe in ghosts, from everything I’ve read and seen on TV—’

‘You really need to stop watching those ghost hunter shows,’ I interjected.

‘—they can’t do physical damage. They can’t touch or anything, so how could this be your dad? Unless he’s talking people into killing themselves – and I’m not even sure how one would break one’s own neck,’ he finished up.

Miss Hutchins sighed and wiped a leaky tear from her eye. ‘I suppose you’re right. But, E.J., dear, what are we going to do about Diamond leaving?’

‘I’m going to finish my call, then you and I are going to search the house for any missing treasures. Sound good?’

Miss Hutchins nodded her head and gave me a small smile, and I went back to the phone and called Chief Cotton. When I told him what Diamond had said about leaving, he said, ‘Not on my watch. I’m sending Mary over there now to stop her. I’d say she could move to another B&B or motel or something if she’s uncomfortable there, but that bike ride has got every place in town booked solid.’

So Willis and I cleaned up the breakfast dishes and the three of us waited for Officer Mays to show up. It took less than half an hour for the knock on the door. Luckily we hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Diamond Lovesy. As far as I could tell, she was still upstairs being a bitch.

‘Where is she?’ Officer Mays asked as she entered the foyer.

‘Upstairs,’ I said, as I’d been the one to open the door.

‘Thanks,’ she said and headed for the staircase, one hand resting on her Sam Brown belt while the other worked the banister.

Miss Hutchins, Willis and I ended up at the foot of the staircase, our heads raised toward the second floor. We were rewarded with a bellow of ‘You can’t stop me!’

We heard Officer Mays saying something, but couldn’t make out the words.

‘Yeah? You and what army?’ Diamond demanded loudly.

There was another unintelligible response from the officer, then, ‘You can’t do that! I have rights!’

Then we heard Diamond’s heavy tread on the upper landing. All three of us scooted back into the dining room, still standing and staring at the staircase, but not quite as obvious as being right there in the foyer.

Diamond rounded the landing and we could see her, dressed in the same clothes she’d worn on her first night here and carrying a suitcase. Officer Mary Mays wasn’t far behind. Officer Mays jumped down two steps and caught Diamond by her long-fringed poncho, stopping her in her tracks.

Officer Mays grabbed one of Diamond’s wrists and said, ‘Ma’am, you have the right to remain silent—’

Diamond tugged at her bound wrist but the younger woman seemed to have more upper body strength than one would imagine by her size. She grabbed Diamond’s other wrist and threw on cuffs.

‘If you don’t, anything you say may be used against—’

‘OK, OK!’ Diamond said. ‘I surrender! I’ll go back upstairs! I’ll stay, I’ll stay!’

‘Only if you give me your car keys,’ Officer Mays said.

‘Shit!’ Diamond said, tearing up. ‘I don’t even have them! I don’t know what I was thinking! It’s Humphrey’s car. Maybe they’re in his pocket or something?’ she said, turning her head to see the officer.

Mary Mays pushed Diamond into the dining room and pulled out a chair. ‘Sit!’ she commanded. Diamond sat and Mary went to the telephone, dialed a number and asked, ‘Did you find car keys with the remains?’

A voice answered and she said, ‘OK,’ and hung up. Coming back into the dining room, she moved to Diamond’s back and unfastened the handcuffs. ‘They were with Mr Hammerschultz’s body. I’ll go get them from the funeral home and keep them in custody until the chief decides to let you people go.’ She glared at Willis and me. ‘How about you two?’ she said. ‘Any ideas about skipping town?’

‘No, ma’am,’ Willis said. ‘We’ll be here to help Miss Hutchins in any way we can.’

I smiled up at my man, glad he was taking that attitude – for once.

She looked back down at Diamond Lovesy. ‘You settled, now? No more funny stuff?’

Diamond nodded, her head down, tears falling on her bejeweled and bejangled poncho. ‘Whatever,’ she said.

Mary Mays stood looking at Diamond for a long moment, finally turning to Miss Hutchins. ‘Ma’am, you doing OK with these people?’

‘Yes, they’re fine,’ she said, not able to look anywhere near Diamond.

‘Then I’ll take my leave. You call me, ma’am, if they get up to anything, you hear?’

‘Of course, Mary,’ Miss Hutchins said, getting up and walking the officer to the front door. ‘And please tell your grandmother thank you for the preserves she sent over.’

I could see Mary Mays smile. ‘Yeah, Nana makes some mean peach preserves, huh?’

‘The best!’ Miss Hutchins said, holding the door open while the officer slipped out to her patrol car.

Once she was gone, Diamond Lovesy stood up and headed for the stairs. I stopped her. ‘I think you owe Miss Hutchins an apology,’ I said.

‘No, no,’ Miss Hutchins said. ‘She’s upset. It’s excusable.’

‘It most certainly isn’t!’ I said.

Diamond stiffened. ‘I meant what I said. Every word of it. I’m afraid to eat or drink anything here – afraid I’ll be poisoned. I’m afraid to go to sleep, lest my own neck be broken!’ she said, her voice growing louder and turning into a high falsetto.

‘You are such a bitch!’ I said.

‘Did you just lose your best friend?’ she yelled at me. ‘No? Well, I did! And it’s because of this house, this evil, evil house! If I were you, I’d take my worthless husband and go sleep in the car! One of you may be next!’ With that, she lurched up the stairs to her room.

‘I am
not
worthless!’ Willis said. ‘On paper, I’m worth plenty!’

I patted his arm and kissed his cheek. ‘Yes, you are, honey. Even off paper, you’re worth more than a dozen phony psychics.’

‘Thank you,’ he said, mustering up some dignity. ‘You’re right. She’s a bitch.’

‘All right, you two,’ Miss Hutchins said, heading back into the dining room toward the thermos of hopefully still warm coffee. ‘Like she said, we didn’t just lose our best friend. She’s distraught.’

We all sat at the dining table and poured ourselves the last bit of coffee in the thermos. When we’d consumed that, I said, ‘Well, nothing to it but to do it, Miss Hutchins. You ready to see what’s missing, if anything?’

She sighed and stood up. ‘You’re right. Besides, what else do we have to do?’

Personally, I could think of several things – all the reasons I’d booked this B&B and driven over one hundred miles to this little town for – like going antique shopping, checking out the galleries and boutiques, or just heading upstairs and jumping my husband. Looking out the windows I could see a lovely day beginning. Spring flowers were blooming, the sun was brightening the sky and the land, and I could see people walking to church and children dancing around their parents, all in their Sunday best. It was like a scene painted by Norman Rockwell, except the men wore bolo ties and the little boys had cowboy boots on their feet.

‘So what do you need me to do?’ Willis asked.

‘Nothing, I guess,’ I said.

He looked at Miss Hutchins. ‘Where’s your TV?’ he asked.

‘Oh, dear,’ she said. ‘I don’t have one. It broke back in the late seventies and I just never replaced it. Is that going to be a problem?’ she asked, wringing her hands.

I glared at Willis. He smiled at Miss Hutchins and said, ‘No, of course not. I think I’ll take a walk outside. It’s a lovely morning.’

Miss Hutchins smiled widely. ‘It certainly is!’ She moved closer to Willis and I could hear her semi-whisper in his ear, ‘And there’s a bar about a block down that plays all the football on Sundays.’ She giggled. ‘If you’re interested.’

Willis looked up and smiled at me. ‘See ya,’ he said, and headed out the door.

BACK HOME

Once alone in the minivan, Logan said, ‘I’m so sorry I got y’all mixed up in this.’

‘Don’t be,’ Bess said, touching his arm. She didn’t seem able to help herself. She loved touching him. Loved the way it made her feel. ‘That’s sort of a family tradition – getting mixed up in things that are basically none of our business.’

He sighed. ‘See? That’s what I’m saying. It’s not your business, it’s mine, and I don’t want you to get hurt, Bess. I really, really don’t!’

‘I don’t want you hurt either,’ Bess said, eyes glued to the road. ‘And I’m going to do everything I can to see that doesn’t happen. Me and my sisters, too.’

‘Look, y’all tried, I’ll give you that. But I just don’t see that there’s anything more you can do. I’m in deep shit and I know it. Maybe I should tell my folks what’s going on.’

‘Can you wait?’ Bess asked. ‘Just let me talk to my sisters and see if we can come up with something.’

Logan sighed again. ‘We close at nine on Sundays. Then I’m going home and telling them.’

‘I’ll get back to you before then. Give me your cell phone.’ They punched in each other’s numbers once they’d reached the restaurant, then Logan opened the door of the minivan to get out. He hesitated, then turned and leaned in to Bess, who met him halfway. The kiss was hot and sweet and took her breath away. She wanted to keep on doing exactly that for the next hundred years or so. He broke away and smiled. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said.

‘If not sooner,’ she said, and blushed.

Meanwhile, back at the Pugh home, Megan was working on a plan. ‘So when Bess gets back—’

‘If she gets back,’ Alicia said, despondent.

‘What?’ Megan asked.

‘Nothing,’ Alicia said.

Megan, who was rarely interested in anything that didn’t directly involve her, took Alicia at face value and continued. ‘Anyway, when she gets back, we get in the minivan and head to Harper’s house, park a couple of houses down and wait until we see the mother and brother leave so we can get Harper on her own—’

‘What makes you think they’re gonna leave?’

‘It’s Sunday! They’ll go to church, surely.’

‘We’re not going! And even if they do go,’ Alicia said, ‘wouldn’t Harper go with them?’

‘Not necessarily. She
is
pregnant, and Logan said there was a baby bump, so maybe her mom doesn’t want the people at church to know.’

‘They may not even be religious,’ Alicia said. ‘Lots of people aren’t.’

‘They’ll leave for some reason,’ Megan said.

‘Not necessarily—’

‘Jeez, Alicia! Could you
be
more of a wet blanket? Let’s just go surveil, see what we see.’

Alicia shrugged. ‘I don’t think you can use that as a verb.’

‘What?’ Megan asked, frowning.

‘Surveil.’

‘Of course you can!’

Alicia sighed
.
‘
Anyway,
this sounds like a big old waste of time, but whatever.’

‘You can always stay here!’ Megan said.

Alicia thought about what she might do alone in the house with nothing but her thoughts to occupy her. Maybe she’d call Graham. Maybe that wouldn’t be a very good idea. ‘No, no,’ she said. ‘I’m coming.’ She sighed. Anything was better than being alone right now.

They heard the minivan pull into the driveway and Megan jumped up. ‘Come on then!’ she said, grabbed her imitation Gucci purse and headed for the back door.

‘Jeez, all right already!’ Alicia said, and followed her foster sister out the door.

Bess had just turned the van off when her two sisters piled in, Megan riding shotgun and Alicia relegated to the back seat. ‘What?’ Bess said, frowning at Megan.

‘We have a plan!’ Megan announced.

Bess sighed. ‘I’m almost afraid to ask.’

‘We’re going to surveil Harper’s house and wait for her brother and mother to leave,’ Megan said.

‘Can you use that as a verb?’ Bess asked.

‘Shut up. I have a plan!’ Megan said.

‘And what if they don’t leave?’ Bess asked.

‘Gawd! You and Alicia both! Jeez, have some faith, you two! Drive, woman.’

And so Bess started the van again, backed down the driveway and headed out.

Our search of the house showed there were several things missing that could have been taken the night before by whoever had made the dragging noise: a Wedgwood vase Miss Hutchins’ mother had gotten in England on her honeymoon, which had adorned one of the built-in bookcases in the living room; a small lithograph that had hung on the wall next to the fireplace for several generations; an antique pitcher and basin that had been in the first bedroom upstairs, the one that had been occupied by Humphrey Hammerschultz; and several spoons from Miss Hutchins’ mother’s spoon rack that occupied a place of honor on the ornate hutch in the dining room. We found the missing spoons in one of the drawers of the hutch; she remembered Uncle Herbert bumping into the bookcase during one of his many drunken stupors and knocking over the Wedgwood vase, which fell to the hardwood floor and shattered into a million pieces. The lithograph, she finally remembered, had been sold to pay for some groceries when her mother was still alive. The pitcher and basin were the only things missing that Miss Hutchins couldn’t explain.

‘Was the set worth much?’ I asked her.

She shrugged. ‘I really don’t know. Oh, we could ask Verdeen Babcock,’ she said. ‘She’s always coming over to’ – and here the old lady used air quotes – ‘“visit,” when in reality she’s checking out my antiques. She’s got one of the stores on Main Street, and I think she thinks I’m going to leave her everything in my will! Ha!’ she said. ‘I’d rather leave it to Diamond Lovesy!’

‘Verdeen is pretty obvious about what she’s doing?’ I asked with a grin.

‘I’m afraid obvious isn’t the word. Downright rude would be more accurate.’

‘So you think she’d be able to put a price on the pitcher and basin?’ I asked.

‘More than likely,’ Miss Hutchins said, then sighed. ‘I suppose that means I should call her.’

‘That’s totally up to you, ma’am,’ I said.

She smiled and touched my hand. ‘Aren’t you the sweetest thing? I know you can’t wait to find out, but you’re going to let me think this is all my idea, right?’

‘The decision is totally up to you,’ I said, then grinned.

‘Well, I sorta want to find out, too. Maybe I should have her come over some day and give me an estimate on all of it.’ She sighed. ‘I might be underinsured.’

She walked to the phone by the staircase and punched in a number, waited for a moment then said, ‘Verdeen? It’s Carrie Marie. Yes, dear, I’m fine. How are you?’ Then, ‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear it. Arthritis can be dreadful, can’t it? Your knees? Oh, that
is
a shame!’ She listened for a long moment, then said, ‘Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but why I’m calling is to see whether you recall that rose-patterned pitcher and basin set that I had in the front bedroom?’ Then, ‘Uh huh, that’s right. Can you give me an idea how much it was worth? It’s missing and I’m wondering if I should turn it in to the insurance.’ Then, ‘Uh huh … uh huh, well, thank you, dear, and I do hope you get to feeling better.’ Then, ‘Yes … uh huh … OK … well …’ Miss Hutchins looked up at me with desperation in her eyes.

So I called out, ‘Oh, Miss Hutchins! I need help!’

The old lady favored me with a very bright smile. ‘Oh, dear,’ she said into the phone. ‘One of my guests needs me, Verdeen. I’d better get off the phone. Yes … well … goodbye,’ she said and hung up, although I could still hear a voice coming from the other end of the phone.

‘A real talker, huh?’ I said.

She sighed. ‘
And
a hypochondriac,’ she said. ‘Although these days she may really have some of the problems she’s been complaining about since her twenties.’ She stood up from the seat of the telephone table. ‘Anyway, she knew exactly what item I was talking about – of course. She said anywhere from one hundred to five hundred dollars, depending on the shape it’s in and finding a buyer willing to pay.’

‘Hum,’ I said. ‘Would someone come in just to steal that? I mean, that’s not a lot, not in a house with all these beautiful antiques!’

‘Maybe he was too rushed to take any of the furniture?’ she said.

The
grrrrrrrrrr-plop
from the night before certainly had nothing to do with the pitcher and wash basin – those could have easily been carried out by hand. But a piece of furniture? A large piece of furniture could certainly have made that sound.