Peril in Paperback (18 page)

“This house has so many back hallways and odd passages. Sybil probably just found a shortcut back to her room. Maybe she was embarrassed. I would be. I would want to disappear if I’d been the one singing that stupid song.”

Gabriel gazed at me. “Maybe.”

“But you don’t think so.”

“She never ventures far from her husband. If she were going to her room, he would go with her.”

It was interesting that Gabriel had noticed that. Also interesting was the fact that Peter was deep in conversation with Marko and didn’t seem at all fazed by the absence of his wife. So maybe that meant he knew where she was. Maybe she was looking for a bathroom. Or maybe when we weren’t looking, Sybil had whispered to Peter that she had a headache and was going off to bed.

But since it was Gabriel who had brought it up, I began to worry that something might very well be wrong.
Gabriel tended to notice things that I wouldn’t have given a second thought to. And once again Vinnie’s words from the tarot card reading the other night hit me with a dull thud.

“We must keep an eye on Sybil over the next few days. Anything could happen to her, and I don’t mean that in a good way.”

But if Sybil was following Grace, why would anything be wrong?

Suddenly I wondered if the cards had meant that Sybil should be watched not because harm might come to her, but because she meant to do harm to Grace.

Could Sybil be trying to kill Grace?

Because of Bella’s death the day before and Shelly’s near-fatal fall off the balcony earlier, Gabriel’s and my suspicion levels were off the chart. Still, it seemed so silly to worry just because both Grace and Sybil had used the same closet door to escape the rest of the guests.

“You’re right,” I said as I stood. “It might be nothing, but I’m going to worry until I see her again.” I gave Gabriel a brief recap of what Vinnie had said after Sybil received the Tower card.

“Not that it means anything,” I added. “Nobody believes in that tarot stuff, right?”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” I nodded absently. “So it’s probably nothing. She’s probably gone to bed.”

“Yeah. So what’s this?” Gabriel said, as he nudged his chin in the direction of the closet door.

I turned in time to see Madge sneaking through the same door that Grace and Sybil had taken moments ago. What was she up to?

“Now, that spells trouble,” I muttered.

Gabriel took hold of my arm. “Are you staying here or coming with me?”

“I’m coming with you.”

We tried to be casual as we slipped through what I had thought was a closet door. Instead we found a narrow
hall that led from the Gold Salon, where the talent show had been held, to the game room. There we found Madge trapped under the mouse cage, shrieking.

So where was Sybil?

“Damn it,” Madge yelled. “Get me the hell out of this freaking thing.”

She continued shouting expletives and I wasn’t sure what was scarier: seeing Madge trapped by that human-sized mouse cage or hearing her bellow and curse so much.

“Hold on,” Gabriel said, and we both stared at the trap and its interior electronic mechanism, trying to figure out how to raise the cage.

“I won’t hold on,” she groused.

“You don’t have much choice,” I said. “We have to figure out how to raise the cage first.”

“I’m sick to death of this freak house.”

“You should be counting your lucky stars that we found you.”

“Why’d you come looking for me?” she said, instantly guarded. “I didn’t do anything.”

I rolled my eyes. “We weren’t looking for you.”
We were looking for Sybil,
I reminded myself. Where had she disappeared to? As Madge continued to bitch and moan, I thought of my mother’s favorite saying: no good deed goes unpunished.

“I have never been so disgusted or humiliated in my life.” Her voice rose as she got going on a rant. “What kind of deviant moron devises cages for people to get trapped under? What is wrong with that stupid woman?”

I really didn’t like Madge Crawford and that statement pushed me over the edge.

“That ‘stupid’ woman is a genius,” I said. “She’s made it possible for your husband to keep you in designer clothes and diamonds for the last twenty years, so I’d stuff a sock in it if I were you.”

“How dare you speak to me that way?”

I laughed harshly. “I dare because you’re a pain in the
butt who whines and bitches about every little thing in the world and never shuts up. I’m surprised you were even invited to stay here at all.”

“Babe,” Gabriel said under his breath.

I glowered at him, but stopped talking. Guess I’d gotten carried away with my own rant.

Madge’s nostrils flared as she hissed in a breath. She was furious, obviously, and astounded that anyone, especially a nobody like me, would dare speak to her like that.

I was surprised no one had done it before now.

Grace ran into the room. “Madge! Oh, dear. I’m so sorry you got caught. What were you doing in here?”

“None of your damn business. Just shut up and get me out of here before I press charges and have you all arrested for false imprisonment and mental anguish and assault and battery and—”

“Oh, shut up yourself,” I said.

“Oh, dear,” Grace murmured.

Gabriel searched the trompe l’oeil wall painting of a hillside in Burgundy and found a small electronic button disguised as part of a bunch of grapes growing in the sun. He pushed it and the cage rose smoothly, freeing the snarling, foulmouthed woman. She walked straight over to me and raised her hand to slap me across the face.

But I was ready for her. I had gone more than a few rounds with the notorious Minka LaBoeuf, world’s worst bookbinder, and I knew a move or two myself. I grabbed Madge’s arm and shoved her back, out of slapping distance.

She took another step toward me.

“Don’t even think about it,” I said, jabbing my finger at her.

Her face turned red and she gritted her teeth as she got madder and madder. But what could she do?

“I hate it here,” she said loudly. “I hate all of you people.”

“Right back atcha.”

She stomped her foot, then stormed out of the room.

For several long seconds, the silence was deafening. Finally, I let go of the breath I’d been holding. “I’m sorry, Grace, but that woman is a mean, spiteful bully.”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry, Brooklyn,” Grace said. “She really is horrible. But Harrison is my brother and he’s always been wonderful to me. I put up with her for his sake.”

The question on my mind was, Why did Harrison put up with her?

Gabriel wrapped an arm around Grace’s shoulder. “Harrison is lucky to have you for a sister.”

She hugged him back and rested her head on his chest. “It’s probably wrong of me to say it, but I’m glad the police won’t let anyone leave. At this rate I would be all alone by the time my birthday came around.”

“That would never happen,” I said.

“Oh, that’s sweet. I’m so pleased that I’ve gotten to know you, Brooklyn,” she said, pulling me close to her other side. “Suzie’s lucky to have you as a friend.”

“I’m the lucky one,” I insisted. Then, arm in arm, Gabriel and I walked Grace out to the wide main hall and headed back to the party.

I suddenly remembered we hadn’t found Sybil. I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted as a woman’s scream shattered the air.

We all ran toward the sound that came from somewhere near the grand stairway. My throat went dry when I spotted Kiki lying motionless on the marble floor at the bottom of the stairs.

Gabriel swore loudly and tore off down the stairs. I hurried to follow him, but had to be mindful of the slippery soles of my new shoes.

“Is she okay?” I asked when I reached the bottom.

“She’s still breathing,” he murmured, and slipped his hand beneath her neck. He gently lifted her head off the cold, hard marble floor to cushion her with his hands.

“Is she awake?”

“Not yet, but there’s no blood.”

“Thank God for that,” I muttered.

“No, no,” Grace moaned from a few feet above me on the stairs. “My little Kiki.”

“She’ll be okay,” Gabriel said briefly, although he didn’t sound all that confident yet. He ran his hands carefully along her shoulders and down her back, checking for broken bones, I assumed.

I heard the distant sound of tapping heels on the marble hallway floor and looked up. It was Sybil, and she was running toward us.

“What is that?” she cried from twenty feet away, then gasped as she saw Kiki’s inert body on the cold floor. “Oh, my God! What is happening to us?”

Gabriel looked up at her with annoyance shimmering
in his eyes. “Quiet.” Then he ignored her and tended to Kiki.

“Where were you?” I said to Sybil, then grimaced at my suspicious tone. This wasn’t the time for an inquisition.

Sybil blinked at me. “I was using the powder room downstairs. I—I needed a few minutes to myself. To recover from that humiliating performance.”

“It wasn’t so bad,” I mumbled. “All in good fun.”

“It was horrific,” she said flatly.

True,
I thought to myself. I still didn’t know if Sybil was telling the truth about sneaking off to the powder room downstairs, but I would wait to make sure Kiki was okay before jumping into a full-scale investigation of Sybil Brinker’s whereabouts over the past few minutes.

More footsteps pattered down the stairs. I glanced up and saw Suzie and Vinnie, both wearing identical looks of horror.

“Kiki,” Suzie said, her voice trembling as she wrapped her arm around Grace. “Is she…?”

“Gabriel says she’ll be okay,” Grace whispered.

“Praise Lakshmi,” Vinnie murmured, then began to chant softly in her native tongue.

I knelt down next to Gabriel. “Can I help?”

“I want to get her off the cold floor. Is there a room with a couch nearby?”

“The Blue Room,” Grace said immediately, pointing down the hall. “First door on the right.”

Gabriel laid Kiki down on the blue sofa, then knelt on the floor next to her, watching her slightest movements. I knew he was master of a hundred different obscure skills and had played at dozens of different roles throughout his colorful life. I just hoped that one of them was emergency medical technician, because I doubted even an ambulance would make it out here tonight.

Merrilee rushed in with blankets, a pitcher of water, and some hand towels. She spread a warm blanket over
Kiki as Gabriel dipped and wrung out one of the towels and laid it on the unconscious woman’s forehead. He slid another warm, damp towel behind her neck, then leaned back on his heels and waited and watched.

Ruth had joined Grace and the two women sat together on the nearby love seat, gripping each other’s hands. Vinnie and Suzie paced the floor. I chose to sit on the sturdy coffee table close behind Gabriel, in case he needed anything. But essentially, we were all just waiting for Kiki to gain consciousness.

A few minutes had passed when I heard Kiki emit a soft moan. I felt Gabriel tense up as I watched her stir. He leaned close and brushed her hair back from her face.

“What happened?” she whispered, her voice groggy.

“You don’t remember?” Gabriel asked.

“Somebody pushed me, hard. I fell.”

Gabriel cast a quick look at me over his shoulder before turning back to Kiki. “Did you see who did it?”

Her eyes fluttered open. “No.”

An hour later, Gabriel and I, with help from Grace and Suzie, had tucked Kiki into her bed. She was conscious and in pain, but essentially on her way to recovering completely.

Earlier, as Suzie had helped Kiki into her nightgown, I had attempted to ask her a question or two, trying to jog her memory. “Do you remember smelling anything unusual or hearing anything in the seconds before you were pushed?”

She tried to think, but her head hurt too much. I told her we could deal with it all in the morning. She assured us that she would try, because she was stumped as to who would want to hurt her so badly.

Wednesday morning I woke up early and dressed casually. Gabriel and I had planned to check out the conservatory this morning in hopes of finding some clue to Bella’s poisoning. I wasn’t sure he’d be up for exploring
after what had happened to Kiki last night. But on the other hand, I should think he would want to find out who the culprit was, since it was probably the same person who had killed Bella.

I supposed I could go to the conservatory and search on my own, but I really wanted Gabriel there with me.

After the conservatory, I had been looking forward to spending some time with Nathan in the library, sorting through more books and making repairs. I wanted to check out his computer catalog program, too. I was thinking of investing in a new one for my home computer. But all that could wait.

As I slipped into a lightweight jacket, I decided to first hunt down Gabriel and find out how Kiki was doing this morning. Then I would plan the rest of my day accordingly.

I walked out of my bedroom and stopped abruptly.

“That’s weird,” I muttered, staring at the wall opposite my bedroom door. The paneling looked completely different. My first thought was absurd:
I’m in the wrong hall.
But that was downright goofy, not to mention impossible. I had just walked out of the same bedroom I’d been sleeping in for the past three days.

I moved closer and realized the panels of the wall had been painted a new color. There was also an interesting art deco–style sconce in the middle of one of the sections. It was new. I was certain I would’ve noticed if it had been there before.

Glancing down, I saw that a new rug had been laid down over the old Berber carpeting. Or had I just not noticed these rich Oriental designs before? No, it had been wall-to-wall beige Berber yesterday, I was absolutely certain about it. What I didn’t know was why Grace would have changed the carpets in the middle of the night.

I shook my head. I had to be wrong. Staring at the floor for another minute, I wondered if I’d been thinking of the carpeting in the upstairs hall instead of this one.
That was one possibility. The other was that I’d been transported in the night to a parallel universe light-years away. It could happen.