5 Murder by Syllabub (23 page)

Aunt Mary stared at the open cupboard doorway then back at Cora Lee. “Pretty well fed mice.”

I had been staring at the back of the cupboard along with Aunt Mary but turned to look at the kitchen door directly across the room. It must open to the outside. So, the “ghost” could come in the kitchen, go through the cellar, up to Elizabeth’s house then through the passageway into the main house. So much for ghosts.

It was Elizabeth who walked over and opened the kitchen door. Aunt Mary and Cora Lee
followed right behind, peering around, trying to figure out just where they were.

A grassy slope led down to the river.

“I thought you said we were under the passageway between the main house and the unused wing?”

Aunt Mary edged her way past Elizabeth.

It didn’t look as if we were under anything. No, there, right above the kitchen. That wasn’t a roof, it was bricks. The passageway. Right outside the kitchen door was a couple of wooden steps. A little rickety but usable, they ended on a packed earth path. I stepped past Elizabeth to stand on the top one.

“Look at all these tramped-down weeds.” I
pointed the other way, toward the unused east wing. “There are plenty of weeds down that way. This is the only place there aren’t any.” I went down the two steps to stand on the path and try to get my bearings. The kitchen was on the same level as the basement, so the houses and the passageways that connected them had to be above where I stood. I took a step farther away from the kitchen, careful to keep my eyes on the path. The ground seemed to fall away pretty fast here and the moon wasn’t bright enough to illuminate much. The path continued on, but I couldn’t see where it went. Why hadn’t I brought a flashlight?

“I think there’s a staircase going up here.” My hand brushed up against something that wasn’t part of a wall. I held onto it and felt around for a step. Yep. There was one. I could just make out what had to be the passageway above me, the one between the main house and the unused east wing. This staircase seemed to go right up to it. Of course. The kitchen servants carried all those platters of food up these stairs and down the passageway into the main house. I couldn’t see much of the stairs. Should I go up? Absolutely not. I could barely make out the handrail and that was with the moon shining its brightest. There would be nothing but shadows in that covered passageway. All I’d accomplish would be a broken ankle. Or worse. I fleetingly thought of
William’s first wife Virginia lying on the cellar floor with a broken neck. The prospect didn’t appeal to me. Besides, we had no idea where the person who was prowling around in Elizabeth’s house might be. Gone, most likely, but you never knew. I thought about Mildred and quickly stepped back into the kitchen. At least there was a little light in there. The overhead lights from the basement could just be seen through the open cupboard. I headed inside and closed the door securely.

“I think we’d better go back upstairs
,” Cora Lee said. She had her dressing gown pulled tightly around her and was furtively glancing into dim corners as if she expected something dreadful to appear at any moment.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Aunt Mary walked over to Elizabeth, who was prowling around the kitchen, staring at the fireplace, the shelves, reaching out a hand to touch the iron bar
embedded in the bricks. “We’re going to call Noah first thing in the morning. Right now, let’s go upstairs and lock up everything we can. I’m going to make us each a nice cup of cocoa before we go back to bed.”

“I sure hope you’re planning to put more into our cups than cocoa.” Cora Lee
shivered and headed for the still-open cupboard and the relative safety of the lit basement.

“Elizabeth, come on.” Aunt Mary took her by the arm and pulled gently. “We can’t do any more here tonight. We need more light than we’re getting from the cellar.”

The dog was still growling and scratching at the earth under the table.

“Petal, that means you, too. Let’s go.”

Elizabeth seemed to come slowly back from her mental journey to the eighteenth century. “I don’t understand.”

“You don’t understand what?”
I said. Probably none of this. I didn’t either. At least Elizabeth had finally spoken. Now, if we could just get her back upstairs. That blasted dog as well. “Let’s go upstairs and see if we can make any sense of all this,” I added.

Elizabeth didn’t move. “Mary, why is someone doing this? Creeping through my house. Someone was in the house tonight. Attacking Mildred. Mildred! The nicest person I know. Killing Monty in my dining room. With my
syllabub. Who is this person and what on earth do they want?”

The color gradually returned to
Elizabeth’s face. She was starting to get angry. Good. Scared out of your wits didn’t help you fight back. Elizabeth seemed ready to do just that now. Aunt Mary had said she’d always been a fighter, that she’d never seen her quit, but this time had begun to look like the exception. This outburst was healthy.

“I don’t know what they want, but one thing I’m sure of. Whoever is doing this
believes what he or she wants is in your house. Now, let’s go upstairs and get that cocoa. Petal, that means you, too.”

Ignoring her, t
he little dog just kept digging and growling. Dirt flew.

“There’s no point
in trying to get her away right now.” Elizabeth watched the dog for a second then headed for the cupboard doorway. “We’ll leave this open and the basement door as well. She’ll come up when she’s satisfied there’s no bone there.”

We followed, but not before I paused to watch the dog again. I didn’t care how long she kept on with her useless task, but I did care about not shutting everything back up. I pulled my robe closer around me and retied the rope sash. If the dog hadn’t come up before we finished our cocoa, then she could just stay locked in the basement for what was left of the night. I, for one, had no intention of climbing back into bed without knowing the house was as prowler
-proof as we could make it.

W
e sat around the same square table, sipping hot chocolate liberally laced with a fortifying brandy. The door leading to the basement was open slightly, as Petal had not reappeared. The cellar lights were on, as was every light in the room. It didn’t matter. The sky outside was no longer black. Streaks of pink were scattered across what was now the palest of blue. If I got up to look out the window, the blood red sun would soon be starting its daily progression across the sky. It gave every indication of being a beautiful day.

“It’s five thirty.” Cora Lee sounded personally affronted by that fact.

“Yes.” Elizabeth nodded, took a sip of cocoa and set her mug back down on the table.

Finally I stated the obvious.
“What could you possibly have in this house that would make someone so frantic to find it?”

Elizabeth sighed. “We’ve been through that. Nothing.”

“There has to be something. Whoever is doing this is taking a terrible chance coming back here.”

“Maybe it’s something Monty left here.” Cora Lee yawned broadly.

“Monty hasn’t lived here in years. What could he possibly have left?” Elizabeth’s tone was sharp.

“Monty knew how to get in and out of all these houses.”

Maybe Cora Lee had a point worth considering. “Is it possible he hid something here, maybe while his mother was alive, and wanted it back?”

“What?” Elizabeth stared at me, her face white, her eyes red rimmed. “Why? If he were still alive, I’d suspect him of trying to find William’s will, or deeds or something. But he isn’t.”

“Where is William’s will?” Cora Lee looked into her mug as if she expected an answer to appear.

It took Elizabeth a minute. She seemed to see Cora Lee for the first time. Maybe it was the Rubik
’s Cube thing. Cora Lee showed a different pattern, one Elizabeth hadn’t seen before.

“I have a copy with all my documents, and so does Mr. Glass. The original is at the courthouse. On file. So
is the deed and everything else that pertains to Smithwood.”

“How about your marriage license?”

“Cora Lee, Monty’s dead. No one else is interested in my marriage license.”

“I suppose not.” Cora Lee kept her eyes on the contents of her mug. “I think I know where Monty might have hidden something.”

Elizabeth and Aunt Mary gaped.

I was past that. “What are you talking about?”

Cora Lee smiled, that little “gotcha” smile she was so good at. “Ellen, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Mind what?” What I minded was Cora Lee’s little games and, judging from that smile, Cora Lee hoped I minded a lot. I was tired, worried, hungry and about out of patience with Cora Lee. If she had one more bit of pertinent information, she’d better tell us, and fast.

“I helped Elizabeth decorate this house. I’m sure she told you.”

Aunt Mary nodded.

“I took some of my favorite pieces from next door and moved them over here. That chest of drawers in your room? I took that piece from next door about the time Elizabeth and William came back.”

I waited. There was a punch line coming, but I couldn’t
guess it. Yet.

“That was Monty’s chest of drawers when he lived here.”

A quick gasp of breath. It was me! My chest tightened as I held onto it. I let the air out slowly while I tried to sort out my thoughts. Did Cora Lee think there was something hidden in that chest? Did she think someone was searching the house, both houses, looking for the chest? Had someone come looking for it last night? Someone who might have come into my room if Petal hadn’t barked? My stomach lurched.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Cora Lee leaned over the table and patted my hand. She look
ed genuinely upset. “I don’t think anybody but us knows it’s there.”

“Then why did you bring it up?” Elizabeth was about as exasperated as I’d seen her. “What difference does it make if a chest Monty used years ago ended up in Ellen’s room
? That thing is old. Lots of people have used it.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“What do you mean?”

“Monty could have hidden something
in
it.”

“Didn’t you go through all of the drawers before you had it moved?”

“Yes. The drawers were empty.”

“For God’s sake, Cora Lee. Stop being so obtuse and tell us what you’re talking about.”

“That chest dates back to the mid-eighteenth century. I think there’s a secret compartment in it. Not having safe deposit boxes, they did that a lot.”

“Where?” I tried to think where one could be. I’d opened all the drawers. I’d stored clothes in a few of them.

“Why?” Elizabeth shook her head as if to clear it. “What would he have to hide when he was a kid that is so important someone would risk murder to get it back? It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know why anyone is prowling around here, but I don’t see how that old chest fits in.”

“What if he
had hid it more recently and then wanted it back? We know Monty knew how to get in and out through the old kitchen.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Elizabeth paused. Petal stood in the slightly open door that led to the basement, something in her mouth.

“So you finally dug it up, did you? Well, you can’t have it. I have enough problems without you dragging dirty old bones up here. Give it to me.” Elizabeth got up and walked toward the little dog, her hand outstretched.

The dog took one look at her, charged through the room to the other side and jumped up onto the wing-backed chair.

“Oh, no, you don’t. I’m not having any dirty old bones on my chair.” Elizabeth followed her across the room.

The little dog hunkered down and growled.

“Elizabeth, watch out. She’s going to bite you.” Cora Lee pushed her chair back and took hold of her cane as if to protect Elizabeth.

“No, she’s not. She can’t bite me and hold onto that old thing at the same time. What is that? It looks like a glove. Oh, my God. It can’t be. Come look at this.”

All the color drained out of Elizabeth’s face. She stood, frozen, staring at the softly growling dog. Whatever Petal had, she wasn’t giving it up, and Elizabeth showed no more inclination to take it from her. I pushed back my chair and went over to where Elizabeth stood.

“What is that?” Elizabeth took a step closer, ignoring the warning noises Petal made. She moved a little to the side to get a closer look, stopped short, gasped and once more proclaimed, “It can’t be.”

“It can’t be what?” Cora Lee was right behind me, Aunt Mary next to Elizabeth. “What’s that fool dog got?”

My jaw dropped. I took in a quick breath and snapped it shut. Could those really be? The dog dropped her treasure on the chair, straddled it with both front feet and growled again.

“It’s a glove. An old leather glove.”

“Look at what’s in the glove.”

“It’s a finger.” I tried to work through my shock. It couldn’t possibly be. Only it was. The outline of a finger was clear under the thin fabric “What’s left of a finger.” The dog grabbed the glove and shook it. The badly decayed glove split apart. Bones flew out and landed on the floor. Petal seemed as startled as the rest of us. She stared at the floor instead of jumping down to guard her treasure. I squatted down and picked one up. Not a scrap of flesh remained. What had once been a hand lay on Elizabeth’s floor. That was obvious, even in its scattered condition.

When I could take my eyes off the floor, I stood and spoke to the others. “I think this time we really had better call the police.”