Chapter 15

Half an hour later I heard chatter and laughter out front. Ricardo and Mia arrived, followed by Jack and Gillian. The minute they entered, the aroma of garlicky, tomatoey spaghetti sauce hit me with its delicious, tangy richness.

“I’m hungry just smelling it.” My mouth watered as I followed them into the kitchen.

Mia laughed, and it made me feel good that her life had gotten so much better. “It is delicious. Mom still misses Dad, but she’s enjoying cooking for me now that I’m living with her. Her idea of portion size is a bit skewed, though.”

Ricardo carried a bag into the kitchen. “My mother’s the same. She’s old school. Food is love.”

I’d set the table while waiting for them, so we only had to heat up the food and add blood orange olive oil and white balsamic vinegar dressing to the salad.

“I checked out the latest iteration of Samantha’s web site. I like that you’ve deemphasized her videos and emphasized her jewelry. That’ll draw more business to her site. Is she okay with that?”

Ricardo nodded. “Oh, yeah. She’s discovered other sites where she can display some of her ghost photography. She’s dragging Brendan kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century now that they will both have web sites through us.” He laughed.

“Finding these other spirit photographers has given Samantha new purpose and a lot less loneliness.” Mia abruptly raised her hand to her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Loneliness. I thought about Professor Stone.” She swallowed hard.

“How’s he doing?” Gillian stuck serving spoons in the spaghetti and carried it to the table.

“He’s still a suspect, but at least they haven’t arrested him.” Ricardo set the garlic bread on the table.

“We’re worried about Dave and Niles. The police had a warrant to search Dave’s place.” I stirred the iced tea.

Jack hefted a couple of beers and the pitcher of iced tea. “Gillian and I have to leave in a couple of days. Is there anything we can do to help?”

Ricardo shook his head. “Not really. We’re trying to be sympathetic, and I’m still putting in hours at Crystalline for Samantha as well as creating her web site.”

“I’m trying to get him to quit working for Bobbo,” Mia added. “It’s too much.”

Ricardo sat next to her. “Not yet. When he signs a contract for a web site…maybe.”

“Okay then,” I said. “This is your deal, Ricardo. Do you want to do the presentation for Samantha?”

“Yes, and I want her to feel as though she’s a special client.” He helped himself to the spaghetti and passed the bowl to Gillian who sat down at the end of the table.

“I’m good with that. Now, I’m assuming that her séance will be here in my loft.”

“That’s what we were thinking.” Mia smiled.

“We need to decide first what kind of séance this will be: real or staged,” I said.

“I think it has to be real,” Mia said. “Otherwise, we’re not playing fair.”

“Besides,” Ricardo said, “don’t you want to know what might be out there? Pass the garlic bread.”

“I already know that ghosts exist.” I gestured toward Doris, who was sitting on the back of the couch, watching us. “If we fake it, Samantha will experience something; if we don’t, we have no idea if anyone or anything will appear. I’m also a little leery of calling something weird up.”

Mia buttered a piece of bread. “Have you ever asked Mina if anything strange occurred during a séance here?”

“From what she’s told me, I think Doris’ appearance was the strangest thing they experienced.”

“The story goes that they wanted to conjure up a permanent resident ghost as a muse for their writing group,” Ricardo said. “We won’t be trying for a roommate for Doris. We only want to contact Samantha’s fiancé and ask his permission for her to be involved with Brendan.”

“What if he says no?” I asked as Doris wandered off.

“Good question.” Ricardo tore a piece off his garlic bread. “Speaking of questions.” He looked at Mia. “We’ve been wondering about the treasure.”

I groaned. “You, too?”

Mia laughed. “You have to admit it’s intriguing. The idea that there might be some fabulous treasure hidden in your house.”

Gillian said, “The only problem with that theory is that I’ve been through every cupboard, drawer, and box, looking for things Cass can sell online to make a little money to tide her over. Trust me, I haven’t found any treasure worth speaking about. Some lovely old costume jewelry, but that’s about it. Why does everyone think there’s a treasure here?”

“My dad worked on a book about this house before he died. One of the things that intrigued him was the story that Doris’ father had smuggled and hidden a treasure trove of jewels here that was never found.” She gazed at Ricardo. “People are talking about it again with the latest murder.”

“You think the murders on my beach are linked to the treasure?” That was an unsettling thought, but it explained the tips to the police.

Ricardo said, “I doubt it. Amelia was killed on the beach, right? I seriously doubt that there’s a treasure chest buried there. So let’s get back to the séance. I’m thinking me, Mia, you, Jack, Gillian, Doris, Samantha, Brendan.”

“Should Brendan be there?” I asked, happy to change the subject. “And we invited Niles and Dave. I thought they could use the distraction.”

“That’ll be interesting,” Ricardo said. “What about Mina and Professor Stone?”

“Don’t you think we’d be playing with fire if we invited Darius? And I’m not sure Mina would come,” I said. “I planned to start with the script I used last time but build in more time for any responses we get. Doris should be able to sense if anything supernatural is around. One ghost to another.”

And the lights flickered and died, casting the room into overcast mid-day gloom. Hazy light seeped in through the windows, casting more of a pall than illumination.

“Jack, can you light the candles?” Two red pillar candles decorated the table. I could get the LED lanterns out, but it wasn’t really that dark and the lights would come back on anytime.

Gillian laughed. “Ah, the perks of living in an old house with trees that shade the windows.”

“Let’s finish this delicious meal. We won’t be able to reheat anything without power.” I helped myself to another piece of garlic bread.

“There’s a light on down the street.” Jack looked out the window. “Just your power, sis.”

Mia’s phone screen lit up as she made a call. When someone answered, she put it on speakerphone. A familiar voice said, “Hello?”

“Hey, George, it’s Mia. You’re on speaker. I’m at Cass’ with Ricardo, Jack, and Gillian. Power’s out to the cottage, but neighbors have lights. I know it’s not your job, but are there any power outages you know of? It’s getting dark soon, and we’d like to figure out the problem before we leave.”

“I’ll be right there.” The phone disconnected.

My mouth fell open. I wouldn’t have called George that fast nor would I have expected him to come right over. “What the heck?”

Mia smiled. “Just promoting a little romance.”

“Does everyone know?” I was shocked that so many people were getting involved in my non-existent love life.

Then she got serious. “You have neighbors, but you’re somewhat isolated right here on the beach. The murder hasn’t been solved. Suppose the cops are way off, and the killer is some maniac stalking you? I think we should close and lock doors and windows until George gets here.”

Jack glanced around. “She has a point. We should figure out what we can arm ourselves with.”

I understood Mia’s reaction. She’d had a rough life with little stability. But Jack?

“Kitchen knives?” I said sarcastically. “No baseball bats, I’m afraid. Brooms.”

“Pepper spray,” Mia said, pulling her keys out of her backpack. A small pink container dangled from them.

I might feel safe here, but I needed to be more sensitive to her feelings. “I have black pepper in a can. Won’t hurt him, but it would be unpleasant.”

“Any Tabasco?” Ricardo asked. “Vinegar? Alcohol? You have a gas stove. Boil some water.”

Gillian put the kettle on. “There’s a hammer in the junk drawer.”

“Good. Get it. We’ll close and lock up together.” Jack checked the kitchen windows.

Although I thought everyone was overreacting, I gave up, and we moved around the first floor together, locking up. Then we collected various weapons and armed ourselves.

“Notice how we’ve all assumed the power outage was intentional and not a transformer blowing somewhere in the vicinity.” I jumped at the sound of the doorbell. We all moved over to the door together and held our weapons up as I opened it.

George raised an eyebrow and took a step back. “Oh, good. Five amateurs armed to the teeth with…vinegar? What could go wrong?”

I did feel foolish as we stepped aside so he could enter. “I thought I’d be happy to see you.” I closed the door behind him.

George made a face “Did you call the electric company to see if there’s an outage?”

“Did you notice the other lights on in the neighborhood?” I countered.

“Point taken. Yes.”

“The security light and porch lights were out before the house lights went,” Jack said.

“Hello, I’d like to know if there are any outages at 22 Blue Heron Court? No?”

We all whipped around at the sound of Mia’s voice.

“Our house lights and the exterior safety lights went out. The neighbors seem to be unaffected… An hour? That would be great. Thanks.” She pocketed her phone. “What? Somebody had to do it.”

“Ever practical,” Ricardo said. “Will they seriously be here in an hour? That never happens.”

“Don’t count on it happening,” George said. “I’m calling this in and treating it with caution, given recent events in the area, until the cause of the outage is determined. All of you,” he pointed, “Stay inside.”

As he went out the back door, we moved into the living room. Maybe it was my imagination, but the shadows in the room seemed to be getting longer.

“Anyone want anything to drink before it gets warm?” Jack asked.

“Another beer,” Ricardo said. “Mia?”

“Someone has to stay sober.” She softened her comment with a smile.

“I’ll finish putting the food away,” I said as I stacked plates.

“Cass, George told us to stay together. I think we should all move into the kitchen,” Mia said.

The kitchen with its window facing the beach was much cheerier. Now that we were nearer the back door, I could hear voices outside. I lifted the corner of the curtain a bit until I could see George. He was talking to Niles as Bill Daniels walked up.

We huddled near the back door, listening.

“What’s the situation?” Bill said.

George pointed toward Dave’s house. “They have power. Cass’ house doesn’t. Two safety light bulbs are smashed. Power to the house is down.”

A truck pulled up in front. Niles, Bill, and George hurried around to meet it.

“Let’s go,” I said and started out the front door.

Ricardo grabbed my upper arm. “Not without looking first.” He opened the blinds.

The truck out in front was marked as the electric company. The police and Niles approached the burly repair guy.

“ID?” George said.

“Sure.” He pulled a lanyard with a plastic badge from under his jacket.

I opened the door and stepped out onto the porch.

George scowled at me.

I ignored him. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve never gotten service this fast anywhere I’ve ever lived.”

The repair guy laughed and tucked his identification away. “I wanted to see your place. It’s the end of my shift. I was leaving work and volunteered.”

“Seriously?”

He shrugged. “Sure. I was hoping you’d give me a tour. We were all jealous of Bart when he got to come out to enhance your service. Your house is haunted, you know.” He winked at me.

“So all I need to do to get great service is to mention that I have ghosts?”

George’s head snapped around and he stared at me.

Rats. Screwed that one up. Then I thought about it. This couldn’t be the first time George was hearing about my place being weird. Doris said the cops teased him about it. I narrowed my eyes. Did George think that I didn’t know?

Niles watched George thoughtfully. I wondered why he’d come over here without Dave.

“Yeah, that’ll work until we’ve all been out here.” He grinned. “Now let’s take a look.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Niles asked.

“I think we’re good. Thanks for your help.” George smiled, dismissing Niles.

Niles nodded and headed off to Dave’s place.

Bill and George caught up with the repairman as he checked connections. Ricardo, Mia, Jack, Gillian, and I returned to the kitchen where I finished putting the food away and loaded the dishwasher by the light from the window.

“The atmosphere’s right to finish discussing the séance,” I said. “But I think we need to keep it down. Did you see George react?”

“I noticed that,” Jack said. “But didn’t he know that séances had been held in your house?”

I nodded. “He did, and Doris said he’d been teased by the other cops. But I haven’t introduced him to her, so he’s only aware of the rumors. He’s very,” I looked around to make sure he was out of earshot, “superstitious.”

Ricardo grimaced. “But you have to tell him sometime.”

“Maybe,” I said, but I knew he was right.

“Come on,” he said. “You can’t lie to the guy.”

“No, I don’t want to lie to him.” Funny how having someone tell you to do something made you want to resist.

“Not a good thing to do in a relationship. Breaks trust.”

“I know, Ricardo.” I sighed. “But, hey, letting him know about Doris might drive him away.”

At that, Doris appeared dressed in a gray and white seersucker shirtwaist dress with a matching fitted jacket. The hat perched on her dark bob bore a Navy insignia on the front.

“Where’ve you been and what are you wearing?” I looked her up and down.

Mia walked around her for a closer look. “Nice. Vintage. What? WAVES?”

Doris twirled to give us a better look. “It’s the best of the women’s uniforms, in my opinion. It’s designer fashion. I’m ready for action.” She squinted in what I assumed was supposed to be a steely-eyed look of readiness. “I’ve been keeping an eye on things to make sure you were a-okay. No stranger entered our house.” And she saluted.

“I’ve always wondered,” Gillian said. “What does WAVES stand for? I know WAC is Women’s Army Corp.”

“They had difficulty coming up with something nautical sounding,” Doris said. “It stands for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.”

“That’s a stretch!” Ricardo said.

I laughed. “Thanks, Doris. Don’t salute me. I should have known you’d be watching out for us. All this makes me realize that I need some indoor battery-operated lights in case the power goes out at night. Maybe a camera or two.”

“That might be going too far,” Ricardo said.

The lights came on.

“Yay!” I said.

Ricardo expelled a breath. “Okay, back to our purpose.”

Doris faded. “Don’t forget, I’m always here. If you want me to appear, call out.”

“Thanks, Doris,” I said.

“Before you go, are Bill and George still here?”

Doris’ disembodied voice said, “They’re still looking around. You should tell him about me.”

I closed the dishwasher, wiped my hands, and put the towel down.

Gillian made a cup of tea. “I’ve been dying for this ever since the lights went out. Not to belabor the point, but you should make up your mind now. If we do the séance tomorrow night before we leave… George might not be happy if he finds out afterwards.”

“If George finds out what afterwards?”