The Stubborn Schoolhouse Spirit (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) (15 page)

Do I believe he really feels bad about the portraits, or was that just an act for my benefit? If Bradley believes him, shouldn’t I?
Penelope tossed a loaf of sandwich bread into her basket.
Sam’s a bad influence on me. Now he’s got me distrusting everyone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Shana woke Penelope from a sound sleep at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning.  “It’s not even blessed light outside,” Penelope snarled into the cell phone.

“I don’t care. Peter’s coming over this morning and bringing a friend with him. A building contractor. He’s going to fix the floor and build a new platform for the boiler. For nothing. Did you hear me? He’s not going to charge one thin dime for his work.”

Penelope’s eyes flew open. “Say that again.”

“Peter called about eleven last night and said he’d been talking to a friend about the school and what we want to do with it. The guy thought it sounded like a great idea and said he wasn’t busy right now and would be glad to do what he could to help.”

“Have you called Mary Lynn?”

“You can do that.”

“Right. Let her flay
me
for waking her up on a Saturday morning.”

“You got all over me, so it’s your turn. Listen, do you want that place fixed up or not?”

“All right, all right. What time should we be there?”

“Peter said around nine-thirty.”

“That’s three hours from now. I’ll call Mary Lynn later. Meanwhile, I’m going back to sleep.”

“Don’t you dare! I’m coming over with some banana bread I baked after midnight when I got off the phone with Peter. Two loaves. We’ll take one loaf and a big thermos of coffee to the school for Peter and his friend.”

Penelope groaned. “I guess I couldn’t go back to sleep anyway. Give me fifteen minutes.”

****

“Don’t wake Daddy,” she stage-whispered to Shana when the younger woman came through the kitchen door.

Shana’s face was a study in excitement and hope. “I can’t believe he’s coming.”

“Is he bringing Tabby?”

“I don’t know.”

“If he does, and she starts talking about Jessie Ruth, what are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know that either. She’s a sharp little kid, Penelope.”

“So you think she really sees Jessie Ruth?”

Shana sig
hed. “My granny used to say children knew more than grown-ups.”

****

Tabby tumbled out of the truck as soon as Peter released the seatbelt on her booster seat. “Miss Shana! Miss Shana!” She wrapped her arms around Shana’s knees.

“Hey, Tabby,” Shana said.

“I missed you, Miss Shana.”

“I missed you, too.”

“Is Jessie Ruth here yet?”

Penelope watched Peter’s face harden, but he just said, “Josh, this is Mrs. Hargrove, the mayor’s wife, and Mrs. Pembroke.”

“Do you want me to take Tabby somewhere?” Shana asked Peter.

Peter shook his head. “Let’s see what happens.”

****

Josh, a solidly-built man who looked slightly older than Peter, walked around the square basement, stamping the dirt floor every few inches. “It’s firm enough,” he said. “Except for that hole, of course. I’ll have to bring in some soil and pack it. Ideally, a concrete base would be the thing, but we can make do.”

“What about the platform?” Mary Lynn asked as she hovered at his elbow.

“That’s no problem. I’ve got some lumber left over from another job, and it’s treated, so it won’t rot in the damp. Although, a good box fan down here would help move the air and keep it drier.” He looked around. “I could
put a vent in here, too, right there by the trap door for the fuel tank. You could run the cord for the fan up to that light socket.”

“We don’t have any money,” Penelope said. “Not a lot anyway.”

“Enough to buy a vent and a fan at the hardware store—assuming you have one of those in town?”

“We have a hardware store,” Penelope snapped.

Josh laughed. “Is it open on Saturday?”

“All day.”

“Well, then, we’ll go uptown, and I’ll show you what we need, and I’ll get that vent in today. Next Saturday, I’ll bring back a load of dirt and what I need to build the platform, and then Peter can hook everything up again.”

“Just like that?” Mary Lynn asked.

“Just like that. This job is peanuts.”

Mary Lynn and Penelope exchanged a triumphant look. “How about some coffee and banana bread before we go uptown?” she asked.

****

Tabby, bundled up against the cold, ran to her father as soon as he came out of the building. “Daddy, Daddy, Jessie Ruth said you shouldn’t be down in the basement.”

Penelope watched Peter control himself with effort. He squatted down in front of his daughter. “Tabby, we talked about the difference between real friends and pretend friends.”

Her cheeks, pink from the crisp morning air, got pinker. “But she said, Daddy. She said it wasn’t a good place.”

“She probably means it’s too cold to stay down there,” Shana said, joining the conversation. “But when everything gets fixed, it’ll be toasty warm.”

Tabby shook her head. “No, Miss Shana, didn’t you hear her? She said it wasn’t a good place for anybody to go. She said her mommy told her never to go down there.”

“Let’s go back to my house,” Penelope said.

“Can I, Daddy?”

Peter stood up. “Might be a good idea.”

“I’ll go, too,” Shana said.

“As soon as Josh finishes here, I’ll take all of you to lunch,” Peter said.

“I’ll fix something,” Penelope said. “Just come on over when you’re done.”

****

Tabby seemed to leave Jessie Ruth behind at the school. At the B&B, divested of several layers of clothes, she scampered around the house, exploring the rooms and making repetitive trips up and down the stairs with Shana hovering on her heels.

“She’s not going to fall,” Penelope called from the kitchen. “Bradley never once took a tumble.”

“Peter would kill us all if something happened to her,” Shana said, coming back briefly to stand in the door.

“You can’t protect your children from every little bump.”

“She’s not mine.”

“Not yet.”

Shana twisted her hands. “Maybe never. Where’s your father?”

“He and the Toney Twins went over to Hot Springs for the day.”

“I hope he drove. I saw one of the
Toneys nearly broadside a delivery truck on Main Street last week.”

“Daddy drove.”

“Do you worry about him driving out of town?”

“Yes, but he’s safe enough on that road, I guess. I can’t take away his independence, not without a better reason than I worry because he’s seventy-five.”

“My granny was still driving when she was eighty-six.”

Penelope shuddered. “Ghost-hunting, no doubt.”

“Occasionally. I better go check on Tabby.”

****

When Mary Lynn arrived at noon with word that the men would be along in another hour, Penelope made Tabby a grilled cheese sandwich. The little girl almost nodded off over warm apple crisp and whipped cream. “How would you like a nap in a big four poster bed that’s a hundred years old?” Penelope asked.

Tabby nodded, her eyelids drooping.

“Front room?” Shana asked, taking Tabby’s hand.

“Right. There’s a clean quilt in the armoire.”

Shana was back in a few minutes. “She was asleep before I could get her shoes off.”

“She’s been a busy little girl this morning,” Penelope said. “And if she takes a long nap, Peter will have to stay a long time.”

Shana grimaced. “I’m not sure why he even brought her.”

“I think he had his reasons. Maybe he’ll tell us what they are.”

****

He did. “I tho
ught I could convince Tabby her imaginary friend was just that—imaginary.”

“My kids had imaginary friends,” Josh said
. “Not a ghost, though.”

“She didn’t say anything
about her over here,” Shana said.

“What she said about the basement being a bad place—that really bothers me,” Peter said.

“Do you suppose Jessie Ruth knew about her father being buried down there?” Shana asked.

Penelope chewed a celery stick. “Well, she knew he was gone.”

“She was about Tabby’s age or a little older when Ives disappeared,” Mary Lynn said.

Shana refilled everyone’s coffee. “She had to have asked questions as she got older.”

“I wonder what Daisy told her,” Mary Lynn said.

“I wonder if Daisy knew where he was.” Penelope took the apple crisp out of the warming oven.

“So who killed him?” Peter asked.

“
Maybe Jeremiah Bowden really was down in that basement, like Daddy said. But not pouting. Maybe he was guarding his guilty secret.”

****

Sam called after midnight. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy hearing from you,” Penelope said, “but couldn’t you call earlier? Shana had me up before daylight.”

“Sorry. I do what I can do when I can do it. What’s going on?”

“You didn’t seem too concerned about the break-in at Pembroke Point. Someone took a million dollars’ worth of local art, and you just wanted to talk about Jessie Ruth Collier. ”

Sam seemed to hesitate.

“You already knew about the break-in, didn’t you?”

“Did you get her will?”

She summarized the contents for him. “So what do you think?”

“I don’t think anything.”

Penelope rolled over and tucked the cell phone under her ear. “Do you have time to hear about what happened today?”

“I have until five o’clock in the morning.”

“Do you ever sleep?”

“Occasionally. So tell me what happened.”

When she’d finished, Sam said, “So you’re going to be back working at the school.”

“Looks that way. If you’d tell me why we shouldn’t be there, it would help.”

“Can’t do that, Nell. I just wish you wouldn’t, that’s all.”

“We’re only there during the day.”

“That’s better than nothing, I guess. Look, just don’t mention the outside trap door to the second basement.”

“I haven’t, and I won’t.”

“Thanks.”

“You know you can trust me.”

“I wish you knew the same about me.”

“I trust you, Sam. Some of the time anyway. I just don’t know anything about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

“You’re not going to tell me anything anyway.”

“Try me.”

“What’s your name?”

“Sam.”

She snorted. “See there.”

“I’m forty-eight, born and raised in the Bronx, majored in English, got a graduate degree in medieval literature, and I like you a lot.”

“All of which I already knew.”

“There you go.”

“Oh, Sam, you’re really infuriating, you know?”

“Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Ah, well, we can’t all be perfect. Seen Marlo Howard lately?”

“No, but as a matter of fact, Mary Lynn mentioned seeing her in the hardware store when she went with Josh and Peter to buy the vents and a box fan.”

“Really?”

“She was buying a shovel and a rake.”

“Starting a garden, is she?”

“Mary Lynn didn’t ask.”

“Any more reports of mysterious lights near the school at night?”

“Not that I know of.”

“When is the next shindig in Amaryllis?”

“Tulip Turnaround kicks off the second weekend in March.”

“I like daffodils better.”

“They’ll be in full bloom by then, too. The ones in my backyard are ready to burst.”

“Okay. Just be careful, Nell. Don’t go out to the school at night. And never alone.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Miss me?”

“No. Yes. Sometimes.”

“I miss you.”

“Oh, Sam.”

“Sweet dreams, Nell.” He hung up.

You
didn’t even ask whether there was anything new on the Bancroft portraits. Either you don’t care, or you already know there isn’t…or maybe you know there is.
Penelope laid her cell phone back on the table beside the bed.
Every time I talk to you, I’m left with more questions. Will I ever get any answers?

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The following Saturday, Peter and Josh showed up at the old school without Tabby. “I left her with Shana at the library,” Peter said.

“Wonder if Jessie Ruth is there, too?” Penelope asked.

“It’s no joke!” Peter snapped.

“Sorry, I know it’s not.”

“Do you really believe Tabby sees her—or do you think my little girl is crazy?”

“Nobody thinks Tabby is crazy,” Penelope soothed him. “I think she sees something, but I’m not sure what it is.”

Peter glared and shook his head. “I’ve got to go help Josh.”

****

The sound of hammering drifted up through the
key-hole as Penelope and Mary Lynn shivered in the main room and tried to inventory a few more papers. When the noise stopped abruptly, they stopped, too, and looked at each other. “They can’t be finished that fast,” Mary Lynn said.

By the time they reached the
key-hole, Peter and Josh, with blood streaming down his face, were emerging. “What blessed happened?” Penelope asked, going into nurse mode. She ushered Josh to a chair and wet some paper towels at the sink.

“Not sure,” he mumbled.

“Are you going to pass out?” Penelope asked.

“Not sure.” When he slumped over in the chair, it took all three of them to lower him to the floor.

“Should I call an ambulance?” Peter asked.

“Wouldn’t hurt,” Penelope said. “He’s probably got a concussion, and he’s going to need some stitches.” She examined the long gash on top of the man’s head.

Mary Lynn whipped out her cell phone and dialed 911. “I’m going to burn this place down,” she said, her

voice
rising hysterically. “I should’ve done it a long time ago!”

Josh moaned and opened his eyes. “What the hell happened?”

“Just hang on,” Penelope said. “You’re going to the ER.”

“I’m not…” He struggled to get up and fell back.

“What happened?” Penelope looked at Peter.

“I don’t know.”

“You were right there,” Penelope said.

“The light went out. I just heard him yell, and…”

“The light.” Penelope glanced at Mary Lynn.

“I’m going to burn it down tonight,” she wailed. “Tonight, do you hear me?”

Bradley showed up with the paramedics. As soon as they’d loaded Josh into the ambulance, he turned to Peter. “What happened?”

“He doesn’t know,” Penelope said, regretting the sarcasm creeping into her voice. “The light went out.”

Bradley took his flashlight from his belt. “I’m going down.”

“I’ll come with you,” Peter said.

“I’m going to burn this place down,” Mary Lynn called after them.

Penelope followed Peter down the wooden steps. Half-way down, the light came on again. A bloodied shovel lay on the dirt floor near the baseball cap Josh had been wearing earlier.

“There wasn’t anyone else down here,” Peter gasped, “and I sure as heck didn’t hit him!”

“What were you doing when the light went out?” Bradley asked.

“Fitting a brace between those two sides of the…” His voice trailed off as he pointed toward the boiler, now surrounded by shattered pieces of wood. “I built those two panels myself,” he whispered. “I swear I did.”

Penelope shivered and looked around the basement.
You’re still here, aren’t you, Jeremiah?

Bradley walked over and tapped on the brick wall. “There’s another part of the basement over there,” he said more to himself than to the others.

“Where the old library was,” Penelope said.

“Yeah, Pawpaw told me. He said this wall only went half-way up then.”

“He didn’t tell me that.”

Bradley shrugged. “Well, they’d need heat in there.”

Penelope opened her mouth to mention the outside door, but something stopped her.

“Did you hear anything?” Bradley asked Peter.

“Just Josh yelling.”

“Okay, I guess that’s it.” Bradley started for the stairs. “Let’s go to the hospital and check on your friend.”

****

“Nine stitches and a slight concussion,” Penelope told Jake over barbecued ribs he’d picked up on his way home from Hot Springs. “I still can’t figure it out, and what’s even stranger is that Bradley came with the paramedics, like he knew it was something besides an accident.”

Jake licked the sauce from his fingers. “Don’t know what to tell you.”

“Peter drove Josh
’s truck back to Little Rock, and Shana followed with Tabby in Peter’s truck. He’ll bring her home tonight. And Mary Lynn says she’s going to burn the school down tonight.”

“You can’t burn spirits.”

“You think a ghost hit Josh over the head with his own shovel?”

Jake met and held Penelope’s eyes. “I think there’s something going on out there. Maybe you know somebody who could tell you what it is.”

“He never tells me anything.”

“Told you to stay away from there, didn’t he?”

“How did you know that?”

Jake picked up another rib. “Maybe you should’ve listened to him.”

“I…maybe so, Daddy.”

When sirens wailed in the dusk, Penelope jumped up, overturning her chair. “She did it! Mary Lynn’s set the school afire!”

Jake came around the table and righted the chair. “She’s got more sense than that. Let’s go see what we can see.”

****

Three police cars and Chief Harley Malone’s personal truck were parked haphazardly in front of the old school. Close to the steps, an empty ambulance idled noisily. When Penelope started up the steps, Parnell Garrett came out the front door and blocked her. “Sorry, Mrs. Pembroke.”

“What’s going on, Parnell?”

He shook his head. “You know I can’t tell you that.”

“It must be something big to get Harley Malone out of his office.”

“Chief Malone does more in his office sometimes than we do on the streets,” Parnell chided her.

“I wasn’t criticizing him, Parnell. You know I respect the way he runs the department.”

The door opened again, and Bradley walked out. “Mother, what in the deuce are you doing here?”

“I heard the sirens, and since Mary Lynn threatened this afternoon to burn the place down tonight…”

He rolled his eyes. “That’s insane.”

“I know it.”

“Go home.” He touched her arm. “Please.”

Mary Lynn waited on the driveway of the B&B. “Harry says something big is going on at the old school.”

“Daddy and I just drove over there. I thought you were sending the place to its fiery doom.”

Mary Lynn flounced through the kitchen door as soon as Penelope unlocked it. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Jake winked at her as he disappeared into his apartment. “’Scuse me, ladies.”

“All I can tell you is that Harley Malone’s truck was there.”

“Then it
is
big.”

“Looks that way.”

Saying it might be a long night, Penelope put on a fresh pot of coffee. Half an hour later, Harry turned up looking, she thought, a little green around the gills. “A body,” he said, settling his bulk in a kitchen chair.

“Dead?” Mary Lynn asked.

“Very dead. It was Marlo Howard.”

Penelope grabbed for the mug that almost slipped from her hands. “
Marlo Howard!”

“Down in the basement. Throat cut from ear to ear.”

Penelope leaned against the cabinet. “I don’t blessed believe it!”

“Believe it,” Harry said, taking out a handkerchief to mop his forehead.

“How do you know?” Penelope pursued.

“You can’t keep a murder quiet. I went out there, and Harley told me. He didn’t have any choice when a television crew from
Little Rock showed up.”

“How did they blessed know about it?”

“Harley didn’t know, but he wasn’t too happy about it. He’ll be on the late news.”

Mary Lynn put her head down on the table. “Why did I ever step foot in that place?”

“Now, peach pie, don’t carry on.”

“Who found her?” Penelope asked.

Harry’s jowls worked overtime. “You’re not going to believe this, but it was that Taliaferro fellow. And Shana Bayliss was with him.”