Read Devil May Care Online

Authors: Elizabeth Peters

Tags: #American fiction, #Fiction, #Detective, #Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, #Mystery Fiction, #Virginia, #Mystery & Detective, #Romance, #Fiction - Mystery, #Suspense, #Women Sleuths, #Mystery, #Psychological, #Witches, #General

Devil May Care (20 page)

BOOK: Devil May Care
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Roger Mcgrath may not have been the first to comprehend this, but he was the first to speak.

"It's all very well for you," he said shrilly. "Your family has not been traduced--insulted, slandered.

What about me? Don't you realize that this sort of talk could lose the election for me?"

"You exaggerate," the Senator said. His voice was less smooth. The interruption had annoyed him.

DEVIL-MAY-CARE 163

"Oh, no, I don't. I'm being made a laughingstock!

It's hard enough to get any decent legislation through in this county, with all the new people moving in--radical do-gooders, strangers who don't understand our problems--rebels striking at the very fabric of all that has made America great--"

"Time's up," Donald said loudly. He nodded at Marjorie, who had raised a graceful arm and was wriggling her fingers daintily.

"We are rather wasting time, aren't we?" she asked, and twinkled at the audience, each in turn.

"I'd like to know who is responsible for all this." "Have you any ideas?" the doctor asked.

"Well ... I hate to put my little ideas forward, with all these clever men present; but sometimes a woman's intuition ... " The twinkle vanished; the sweet voice hardened. "Ted, of course. Who else could it be?" "My dear," the Senator said reproachfully. "It is rude, if nothing more, to speak ill of--"

"Ted isn't dead," Marjorie said. The girlish charm was gone; she was all hard-voiced, hardheaded business woman, and Ellie had to admit that she was displaying more intelligence than most of the men.

"The tricks are precisely the sort of thing his childish mind would invent. You all know how he loves to dress up and play games--"

"Women's clothes," Mcgrath said. "Disgusting.

People like that should be drummed out of town."

"Never mind that," Marjorie said. "Ted has always been interested in amateur theatricals; he played several roles with that summer-stock group two years ago. You remember, Donald, you were in one of the plays too, weren't you?" "Uh-huh," Donald said.

His voice sounded so peculiar that Ellie gave him a sharp look. He was careful to avoid her eyes.

Marjorie continued. "As for the so-called burglary, that could have been a trick that went wrong. Think

184 Elizabeth Peters about it. Is there any proof that there was a second person in that room?"

A blank silence followed. Marjorie was a skilled speaker; she waited for several seconds, giving them time to assimilate the idea.

"We all know Ted had a weak heart," she continued, more assuredly, as the circle of faces showed a dawning conviction. "Suppose he had entered the house in order to set up some new trick. He broke the window, he tossed the furniture around; then his heart failed, with exertion or excitement. Now admit it, Dr. Gold, could not his injuries have been selfinflicted?"

"He was hit on the back of the head," Ellie said hotly. "You can't say that was--"

Slowly, reluctantly, the doctor shook his head.

"I'm afraid Marjorie is right, Ellie. It's quite probable that Ted hit his head when he fell, on some sharp object in the room. The corner of the mantel, or the desk, perhaps."

"Has anybody bothered to look?" Ellie had never realized how fond she was of Ted. Although she had entertained doubts herself, Marjorie's attack made her rush to his defense. "He's helpless, he can't defend himself; you have no right to accuse--"

"Cool it, Ellie." Donald interrupted. "Ted doesn't need to defend himself. The circumstances do that.

Sorry, Marge. Your theory won't wash. Ted was flat out and unconscious when Ellie and I saw the woman on the stairs. If you can tell me how he could have arranged that, I'll consider your theory."

"If I'm not mistaken, he has an alibi for another of the tricks," the doctor said. "The figures on the lawn, Ellie; didn't you say you saw two, a man and a woman?"

"That's right," Ellie said quickly. "There were two.

And when the third figure appeared--the man in black--I was actually talking to Ted on the phone." Marjorie said a word that made several of them DEVIL-MAY-CARE 166

jump. She was obviously too shaken to maintain her public face.

"That means two people, then," the Senator said.

"I hadn't thought of that. At least two. I suppose Ted could have been one of them--"

Marjorie's face brightened. Before she could speak, Donald said, "Even if that were true, you'd still have to figure out the identity of the second person. Ted is too smart to hire a confederate; can you think of anyone who would assist him in a stunt like that?"

"I can," Mcgrath said.

"Who?" Ellie asked innocently.

Anne's sudden laugh made her jump. She had almost forgotten Anne was present; now she realized that the Senator's wife must have had several drinks before she arrived. When she leaned forward across the table, her eyes were bright and her smile was very broad.

"Oh, Ellie, he means Kate. And I've got to admit--"

"Anne," her husband said sharply.

"Don't be such a damn hypocrite." The face she turned toward him was ugly with anger. "You don't dare say anything for fear of offending some constituent.

You wouldn't say it was Thursday if some old fool toid you it was Sunday. Why can't you be honest for once? These people all know you, you don't have to put on an act for them. Kate would love a stunt like this. She has no respect for sacred cows, she loves to puncture them. And of all the fat, sacred cows in the world, this town has more--"

"Stop it." Miss. Mary did not raise her voice, but it cracked like a whip. "Ted is not the only one who despises this community and the values it represents, I would sooner suspect that person than Kate, who has, despite an occasional display of frivolity which I cannot help but deplore--"

Then they were all shouting; the Senator was red166 Elizabeth Peters faced with anger, his dignity forgotten. The doctor had to pound for order again, and he was some time in obtaining it.

"I think we'd better end this discussion. It isn't getting us anywhere."

"It seems to be airing a lot of private hatreds," Donald said dryly.

Some of the tension in the air was due to the approaching storm. Slowly and ponderously it was coming closer. A flash of lightning whitened the windows, and the thunder that followed rattled objects on the desk.

"I'm not going home in this," Anne muttered. "I'm terrified of storms."

A moan from William, at Ellie's feet, echoed the sentiment.

"I refuse to leave until we have tried my experiment," Miss. Mary said, and as the doctor started to object, she raised a firm hand. "No, Doctor Gold, you shan't deter me. You have all debated--somewhat ineffectively--the possibilities inherent in the assumption that these tricks, as you call them, have been perpetrated by human agency. You are deliberately ignoring the second possibility, despite the fact that, to an unprejudiced mind, the weight of the evidence is on that side. Donald. The visitant on the stairs--Marjorie's grandmother--no, Marjorie, do not interrupt me--can you honestly look me in the face and tell me that you believe it was a stage illusion, a shoddy creation of cheesecloth and luminous paint? Oh, yes," she added dryly. "I know the tricks false mediums use. You must think me totally devoid of intelligence if you believe I have investigated this subject for years without realizing that ninety-eight percent of the phenomena are produced by trickery. But there is that two percent, young man.

It cannot be denied. In all fairness to me, you must allow me to do what should be done."

"But--" Ellie began.

DEVIL-MAY-CARE 167

The hard gray eyes turned to her.

"The simplest way of dealing with a disturbance of this nature, my dear, is to ascertain what has caused it. If I can reach one of the troubled earthbound spirits, I may be able to free it." "I'm in favor," Anne said suddenly. She glared at Miss. Mary. "Maybe one of your damned spooks will speak a good word for me. If the ghosts are real, nobody can accuse me of planning this."

"Mr. Mcgrath?" The librarian turned to him.

Roger Mcgrath's face had never more closely resembled that of his namesake. A kind of guilty, greedy curiosity struggled with dignity.

"Well," he said finally, "I don't see why we shouldn't try--" "That makes three in favor," said the Senator.

"Marjorie, what do you--"

"Just a bloody minute, here," Donald interrupted hotly. "This is not a town meeting. While Kate is away, the house is in Ellie's charge. It's up to her to decide what is to be done."

"Of course the decision must be hers, Marjorie said sweetly. "But I do think, Don, that she should consider the feelings of others. You need not fear spiritual danger; the pure of heart are in God's hands, and in my own small way--"

"All right, all right," Ellie broke in, not because she was convinced, but because she knew she could not stand another word of sanctimonious hypocrisy without spitting or doing something equally vulgar.

"I think it's dumb. Dumb and useless. But I'll go along if Dr. Gold says it's all right."

All eyes turned toward the doctor.

He sat in silence for a while, staring at his hands, which were folded on the tabletop. Then he glanced at his son. Neither spoke, but a silent message of some kind passed between them. Donald, who had been sitting on the edge of his chair, tense with indignation, leaned back and relaxed.

168 Elizabeth Peters

"I agree with Ellie," the doctor said shortly. "It's dumb. But I guess it can't do any harm."

Imperturbable as ever, Miss. Mary rose and began to make the necessary preparations. Now that the decision had been made, the others seemed uneasy; they avoided one another's eyes, and no one spoke.

Ellie was silent too. She was trying to figure out what had made the doctor change his mind. Perhaps he hoped that someone in the group might be sufficiently unnerved by the eerie trappings of a seance to betray some information.

By the time Miss. Mary finished her preparations, Ellie felt that she would be moved to confess, if there had been anything on her mind. The setting could not have been more appropriate if it had been designed by Hitchcock in his heyday--the Gothic gloom of the library, with its high, shadowy ceiling, and the gaping black hole of the great fireplace; the electrical influence of the gathering storm, which lashed at the windows with windblown branches and sounded an occasional kettledrum roll of thunder. Miss. Mary completed the eerie atmosphere by insisting that all the lights be turned out. A single candelabrum, with six branches, gave the only illumination; in its flickering light the faces looked like those of criminals in Madame Tussauds', waxen and dead. The groans of William, under the table, lent the final, uncanny touch. Ellie planted her feet firmly on the warm, furry head, and William wriggled gratefully.

They could not hold hands; the table was too large.

As Miss. Mary pointed out, in response to the doctor's objection, it was not really necessary to resort to this device to protect against trickery. The table was too heavy to be moved by a single pair of hands.

"We will adopt one of the conventional means of communication," she explained. "If we are fortunate enough to make contact, we will ask the spirit to answer questions by tapping out the letters of the alphabet --one rap for A, two for B, and so on. One DEVIL-MAY-CARE 188

rap for yes, two for no. Is that clear? Now I beg you, put aside all frivolous or hostile thoughts. Concentrate.

Do not speak to one another; address the spirits only if you have a question. Do not interrupt. Do not move."

For a long time nothing happened. Time seemed to stretch out, as it always does when the mind is without occupation and the nerves are taut. There was no sound except for the creak of branches outside, the ex'er-nearing sound of thunder, and William's loud, asthmatic panting. He had shifted his head so that it was on Eiiie's feet. He was drooling nervously.

Then Miss. Mary spoke.

"Is there a spirit present? Signify your presence by moving the table, or by rapping, if you please." Ellie suppressed a sudden hysterical desire to laugh. The old woman sounded like a stern schoolmistress.

Any spirit who disregarded that order had a lot of nerve.

Apparently no spirit was present. Another period of silence ensued--silence from the human participants.

Nature was becoming noisy. The first hard spatter of rain hit the windows, and the draperies billowed out in a gust of wind. Ellie remembered that in the confusion of the day she had forgotten to have the French doors fixed. The rain would ruin Kate's draperies. She must get a piece of cardboard or something to cover the hole--

She was slightly distracted by these prosaic domestic worries. Miss. Mary repeated the question.

"Is there a spirit present?"

Three loud, reverberating raps followed.

Ellie felt the hair on the nape of her neck stand straight up. Simultaneously the storm broke in all its fury. Lightning brightened the windows, even through the closed draperies, and was followed by a crash that deafened her. Several hundred pounds of solid oak table shifted like plywood under her hands.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Only once, in the years to come, when he had, uncharacteristically, taken a drop too much, did Donald admit that the moment was almost the worst of the entire affair. For five full seconds he believed in hellfire and brimstone, a devil in red tights, and the powers of the pit.

Ellie was more fortunate. She had felt William move out from under her feet, and even her dazzled brain could make the connection between the movement of the table and that of the terrified dog. When the raps were repeated--half a dozen of them this time--she was the first to regain her senses.

"It's someone at the door," she gasped. "Someone knocking."

Doctor Gold was on his feet; she heard him stumbling across the room, and then she heard the ineffectual click-click as he tried to turn on the lights.

"The lightning must have hit a wire," he said. "Sit still. I'll go--"

"You'd better stay here," Ellie said, as someone's chair fell over and the sound of a shrill voice rose in hysteria. "I'll go."

BOOK: Devil May Care
11.85Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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