Waltz Macabre Page 15

  “Why on earth would you want to know that?” She seemed amused rather than offended, and she went ahead and told me. “Cary Jessop. My grandfather’s best friend, ironically enough. He went to her after Grandfather left and commiserated with her. He told her he felt betrayed too. They actually became close, for a while. But in the end, it was the same old story. He managed to get her confidence, then he cheated her blind. After she realized he was a swindler, she fired him and got what she could out of the plantation, and brought my father into town to raise him.”

  “How long was that after your grandfather left?” Wanda asked.

  “Only a couple of years. Jessop managed to work fast. My grandmother had never been trained for business, but she wasn’t stupid. She figured out what Jessop was doing in time to save enough for her to live out her life in town and give my father a good upbringing. She was proud of herself for that. But you can see how all of that would have made her bitter.”

  “I never met her,” Wanda said. “She had already passed on by the time my husband and I moved here.”

  “Yes, she’d been dead for a while by then. But she’s still here, somehow. I feel her presence in the house. When I look in the mirror at night, sometimes I see her face superimposed over mine. Sometimes,” she added quietly, “I feel her inside me; I hear her voice talking to me. I look exactly like her, you know. There were times when I was caring for her those last few months, when she was bedridden, that I would look down into her face and see myself at the end of my own life. Old and wrinkled. Unlucky in love. Alone in the world, after my father dies.” She turned dull eyes onto Wanda. “Maybe things can still change for me, now that I’m not a caregiver anymore and I’m finally free to live my own life. Maybe there’s still time. I suppose that’s why I wanted to reach out. I’d like to think that I’ve at least had friends. Can I come and visit you sometimes, after I move to the apartment?”

  “Of course you can!” Wanda cried, nearly in tears. “Oh, you poor thing. All the years we’ve wasted. All the little gossips across the back fence we could’ve had. All the help we could’ve given one another.”

  “All that time wasted,” Ginny said.

  At this moment of exquisite poignancy, Teddy and Porter came rollicking in.

  * * * * *

  Teddy came to the table uninvited while Porter did his best to trip him. Secure in the belief that every woman in the world was just dying to meet him, he presented himself to Ginny. Sort of doing her a favor.

  “And this is Porter,” he added coyly. “You’ve seen him on TV, right? When we’re not on a shoot, we like to treat him like just any ordinary pet, but he’s the first animal I’ve come across that has genuine psychic abilities. He’s unique, aren’t you, big fella? Did you see the episode on the haunted bed-and-breakfast here in town? Without Porter, I’m not sure we could’ve figured that one out.”

  I remembered the episode well. Porter had been more productive than Teddy in that investigation, but without giving myself too much credit, I was the one that figured it out, and I could’ve done it without either one of them. Still, one doesn’t brag. I maintained a dignified silence.

  “Ginny, you might want to see if Teddy can help you out with you-know-what,” Wanda said. “After all, you are about to sell your house, and you don’t want anything to make it harder to sell.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” Ginny said.

  “You know. Your grandmother! Perhaps a séance, to cleanse the house?” She turned to Teddy. “Ginny’s grandmother, rest her soul, is still present in the house next-door. Ginny even hears her talking, isn’t that right, Ginny?”

  Well it was a beautiful thing while it lasted, I thought, but there goes the reconciliation. The one good way to convince people they don’t want to get to know you better after all is to convince them you’re a complete nut job.

  But Ginny played along, which I thought was nice.

  “Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”

  Full of enthusiasm, Wanda turned to Teddy. “Do you think we’ll need Ginny’s father? He’s in assisted living now, but I’m sure if Ginny explained it to the doctors, they’d understand and let him out.”

  “Oh, I can sign him out any time I want,” Ginny said. “He’s not a prisoner. And I don’t think we need to explain it to the staff. But do we really want to involve him? He’s . . . a little confused.” She glanced at me and popped her eyes a little, and I gave her a smile, thinking how nice she was being about it all.

  “Did your father and your grandmother get along?” Teddy asked.

  “My grandmother,” Ginny said stiffly, “didn’t get along with anybody.”

  “I see, I see,” Teddy said. “Then perhaps we’ll leave your father out of it.”

  “Ed objects to three-cornered séances,” I said. Silly me.

  “I’m including you, of course,” Teddy said. “After all, you are a natural medium, even if you haven’t bothered to train yourself.”

  Ginny shot me a quick look, but said nothing.

  “What’s your professional opinion, Taylor?” Teddy asked. “Often, spirits will respond to those who were close to them in life. Would it be helpful having another family member present when we’ve already got Ginny, here?”

  “I’m not a professional,” I said flatly.

  He waved it off. “Just tell us what you think.”

  “I think we should leave Mr. Carteret alone. As you know, Teddy, séances don’t always go as planned. We don’t want to upset him.”

  “What a shame,” Wanda said. “I was hoping to see him again. I always thought we’d get along, if only we all weren’t getting along, if you know what I mean. And it would’ve been nice to get him out of that place, if only for a few hours. He’s sure to have been interested in the séance. Who wouldn’t be? And it is his mother, after all.”

  “Mr. Carteret is in a very nice place,” I said, defending Ginny. “It’s really the best thing for him right now.”

  But it wasn’t enough to assuage Ginny’s guilt, however unwarranted. “He hasn’t settled in very well. He’s lonely. And confused.”

  “Maybe it would help if I went over and visited him sometimes,” Wanda said. “Would that be all right?”

  “It would be very nice of you,” Ginny said.

  “Now,” Teddy said, looking at me, “when would you be available for the séance? If the house is up for sale, I agree with Wanda, it should be cleansed as quickly as possible. I know of real estate deals that were quietly rescinded, even after closing, because of a haunting. I’m sure Ginny doesn’t want to take a risk that’ll happen. How about tonight?”

  “Are you all right with this, Ginny?” I said. “You haven’t exactly agreed to it yet. Maybe we should give you some time to think it over.”

  Suddenly, from looking a little lost, she shrugged and smiled. “Oh, what the heck. Maybe it will help. I have to admit, I’ve always wanted to be part of a séance. Here’s my big chance. And maybe you’re right, Wanda. The house seems to have its own vibrations now. It’s changed. It even creeps me out sometimes, especially now that I’m alone in it. I thought I’d miss the place, but lately . . . well, I can’t wait to sell it and get out. Tonight is fine with me.”

  “Excellent,” Teddy said briskly. “When does darkness fall this time of year?”

  “It’s usually full-dark by six,” I told him.

  “I prefer to let the night deepen before I enter that other world. Nine. Can you make it at nine o’clock?”

  Wanda agreed eagerly. If I’d been staying out at Cadbury House I would’ve objected. I hate going out at night, then trying to negotiate the dirt road home when it’s dark out. But Michael and I were staying in town, just a few blocks away. I could’ve suggested Ed as a forth, but I was beginning to sense the inevitable.

  “Nine o’clock it is,” I said. “Now I’ve got to go. I have a few things to do. It was nice meeting you, Ginny.”

  I left Wanda’s house with my head full of ideas.


  Chapter 21

  “The body isn’t Jessop’s,” I said into my cell phone as soon as I got back into my car. “Jessop was the cheating estate agent, alive and well and ripping people off long after the murdering Garrison Carteret took off for New York.”

  I had called Michael to catch him up on things.

  “We don’t know when the body was buried,” Michael countered. “It might have been years after Garrison left.”

  “Then who killed him?”

  “He was a swindler. It might have anybody he cheated. And I still don’t think the body is Garrison’s. I’ll be shocked if the DNA matches. This leaves us with no other choices, I guess, so we may never know who he was. Anyway, what was your impression of Ginny Carteret?”

  “Spooky. She’s given to maudlin reveries, feels very sorry for herself, and she’s got this idea that she’s her grandmother’s doppelganger, or something. Wanda backed her into agreeing to a séance, but I’m not sure she wasn’t angling for it in the first place. She knew darn well when she came over to get friendly that Teddy the ghost guy was staying in the house. She must be just as lonely and bored as Wanda, only she’s much more depressing to be around, talking about being trapped in a life where everybody keeps her down and she hasn’t got real choices. Like her grandmother, but without the men. Which might actually make her the luckier of the two, come to think of it.”

  “Oh, come on,” Michael said. “Your life has been better since you got a man, hasn’t it?”

  “I don’t pick ‘em like Phoebe did. Listen, I’ve got an idea. Something Ginny said sent me off in another direction, but I’m not quite sure where I’m going yet. Just a hint of an idea, a little tickle behind my ears, for the moment. I’m going over to the nursing home to visit Robin Carteret.”

  There was a pause. “Well, that’s out of left field. What do you hope to find out from a confused old man you’ve never met before?”

  “I’m not sure. But Ginny told us he’s lonely, and would enjoy visitors. She was talking to Wanda at the time, but I was there, so I’m going to include myself in the invitation.”

  “Are you investigating what went on in 1929 or the present-day murder of Wanda’s daughter?”

  “Both, maybe. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s a thread running through all of this. And the music is getting louder.”

  “Music? What music?”

  “The music that started it all. Listen, I’m at the nursing home now. Gotta go. I’ll check in with you later.”

  * * * * *

  I haven’t been in a lot of nursing homes, and I wondered about procedure. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked right in the front door and told the pretty girl at the front desk Robin Carteret’s name, and she smiled and waved me on without even asking my own name. I guess people don’t go into assisted living facilities unless they really have to.

  It was a nice place. There was a nice big chapel off the main foyer, and a counter with free coffee and cookies, and even an old-fashioned popcorn cart with free popcorn. Going down the hall a ways, I found another, more official-looking desk outside an office, and surrounding the lady at that desk were TV screens looking down every hall in the place. I said I’d come to visit Robin Carteret and she directed me to the solarium. “He’s looking at the birds,” she told me.

  I thought the birds would be outside. They were inside. Against one whole wall of the solarium was a large glass cabinet full of pretty little birds, hopping around and fluttering up and down, or sitting on branches looking asleep.

  An elderly man was sitting on a sofa, and when I came in, he smiled at me.

  “Are you Robin Carteret?” I asked.

  He was a little surprised, but pleased at the same time.

  “Yes, I am. Are you the new nurse?”

  “Oh, no. I’m just here to visit you.” I mentioned that I knew his daughter, and I’d just been talking to her. He didn’t seem to care much who I was. He was happy to have somebody to talk to. When I told him who I was, he recognized me by reputation, as “that lady who takes care of the animals.” He invited me to sit down, and I took a chair at right angles to him.

  “That other nurse will be back in a minute. She always gets me coffee, once she’s got me settled in here,” he said.

  I nodded, realizing he still thought I was a nurse. I didn’t bother to correct him.

  “It looks like Ginny and Wanda are going to be friends. I left them together, having tea at Wanda’s house.”

  “That’s nice. Did they ever find her daughter?”

  I hesitated. Technically they had found her. I didn’t need to mention that they’d found her dead. So I told him yes, and he nodded and smiled.

  “Oh, here she is,” he said, looking beyond me to the hall I’d come in by.

  I turned and saw Rita Garnett coming towards us with two cups of coffee. She recognized me and stopped in her tracks.

  “Hello, nurse Rita,” I said.

  She quirked a smile. “Are you a nurse, too?”

  “I’m not telling anybody any lies today. How about you?”

  She came forward and handed one of the cups to Robin, then sat down beside him, looking at me. “I’ve never lied to him.”

  “My memory isn’t what it was,” he said gallantly. “But it’s nice to have pretty ladies coming to see me, no matter the reason. And she takes good care of me, don’t you, Rita?” He was proud of himself for remembering her name. He turned back to me and offered me his coffee, and I said no thanks.

  “So what’s new?” I asked Rita.

  “I suppose I may as well tell you, since I’m sure you’ve been thinking the same thing the Sheriff was. It’s not a match.”

  I blinked, trying to work it out. A spat had broken out in the bird’s cabinet over who was going to sit on a particular perch, and Robin sipped his coffee and watched them.

  When I didn’t catch on, Rita said, “The DNA. It doesn’t match. The skeleton they found. It’s not his father.”

  “I know that. Hey, wait. How did you know?”

  “The Sheriff is a friend of mine. We help one another out sometimes.”

  “Oh? And how have you been able to help him lately?”

  “I was able to provide the sample he needed, without getting anybody upset.” She lowered her voice, angled her head at Robin and said, “DNA.”

  “That was nice of you.”

  She shrugged. “He likes coffee. I just took the cup and said I’d throw it away for him.”

  “When was this?”

  “She’s been coming to see me since the day I first got here,” Robin said, suddenly with us again. It almost startled us. “And she always brings me coffee. She’s a friend of my neighbor, Clay. He comes to see me, too.”

  “Oh, yes,” I said. “I’ve met Clay. He’s a good neighbor. He’s been watching over Wanda.”

  “I’m glad you made up with Clay,” he said.

  Confused, I stopped.

  Robin went on. “He’s always been a good neighbor, and I was always sad that you didn’t like him. Seemed like you moved into that house in the first place because his family was there. You always liked that family before.”

  I gave Rita a quick, nervous look, then it hit me. Robin thought I was his mother, Phoebe. Ginny had said she was the living image of her mother, and Ginny was a tall blond, like me.

  “Yes,” I said cautiously. “You mean Clay’s family. They were always good friends to us.”

  Robin widened blue eyes and said, “Good enough for you, anyway. You almost married one of them.”

  “Oh, yes, the Lodge family. Barclay Lodge.”

  “Rest his soul,” Robin said quietly. “Things would’ve been a whole lot different for us if you’d married him, wouldn’t they?”

  “Indeed they would,” I said.

  Rita seemed to be holding her breath.

  “That’s what you and Papa were talking about that day, wasn’t it?” he asked me. “The day Papa left.”

  “You
remember that day?” I said, startled.

  “I’ll never forget it. I was only five at the time, but some things are carved into your mind like somebody took a knife to it.” He was staring at me in a way that suddenly made me uneasy. Accusing and hateful. He whispered, “You deceived me.”

  “I – what?”

  “That’s what I heard,” he said, starting to drift. “‘You deceived me.’ Then you fought and screamed, and didn’t care if anybody heard. You didn’t care if I heard. And after that . . . he left. It took me many years to realize that he didn’t leave me. He left you. And I never saw him again. ‘You deceived me.’”

  “Well,” I said, trying to play it on, “he did.”

  “’You deceived me.’ I can still hear it. The shock. The hate. It would’ve all been different, but after that there was no going on. And the way you were looking at me, I knew. I knew that right there and then, our world had fallen to pieces, though I was too young to understand why. Still, it wasn’t right, to say those things in front of a child my age.”

  A friendly voice spoke up behind me, breaking the spell.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time for Robin’s supper. Shall we go to the dining room?” she asked him brightly. The nursing assistant helped him stand and escorted him out, leaving Rita and me facing one another.

  “How nice of you to visit folks in the nursing home,” I said. When she didn’t respond, I added, “And just why is Clay visiting Robin all of a sudden, when they didn’t get along back in the neighborhood?”

  “Clay never had a problem with Robin. It’s Ginny he tries to avoid.”

  “Ginny seems perfectly nice to me.”

  “You just met her, and you aren’t trying to live on the same block as her. It’s different, when you’re neighbors. Clay tells me she’s a lot like her grandmother, Phoebe. Phoebe,” she added, “was not easy to get along with.”

  “Is that what he hired you for? Something to do with Ginny?”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t go into what I was hired to do initially.”

  “Initially. What do you mean, initially? You mean even before Alison Wickert disappeared? You weren’t hired to find her at all, were you?”