Returning from phone shopping, Emory and Jeff were almost back at Geisterhaus when a patrol car drove up behind them.
Jeff glanced over his shoulder. “I told you you’re driving too slow.”
“I am not.” Emory turned onto the driveway to the house, and the patrol car followed. “It’s got to be Sheriff Flynn. He said he’d be here this afternoon.”
After parking, the PIs greeted the sheriff and Deputy Nunley.
Sheriff Flynn put on his hat and tipped it to them. “You wanna show me what you found?”
“Absolutely.” Emory led them to the front door.
Jeff followed them inside the house but stopped short of the stairs. “Emory, you don’t need me for this. I’m going to find Virginia.”
Jeff walked down the hallway to see if he could find Virginia in the kitchen. Along the way, he heard sounds coming from the library. He cracked open the door to see Eden Geister and the gardener going through the books, pulling them out and looking at the shelves before returning them without even glancing at the covers. He opened the door the rest of the way to make his presence known. “You know, there are better exercises for your lats. There’s actually a gym upstairs.”
Eden’s shoulders jumped, and she dropped a book. “Jeff! You startled me.”
George Henry jumped away from the shelf like a teenage shoplifter caught in the act. “We were looking for some gardening books.”
“That’s right.” Eden picked the book off the floor. “Blair had some nice volumes on Southeast floriculture and indigenous flora, and I thought they might as well go to Mr. Henry instead of sitting here on these dusty shelves.”
Jeff crossed his arms. “Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware Juniper gave you permission to start liquidating your cousin’s assets.”
“I don’t need her permission to give away a couple of books!” She shoved the book back onto the shelf.
George made his way to the door. “Eden, it’s okay. Forget about the books. I don’t want to cause any trouble for you.” He grunted for Jeff to scoot from the doorway and coughed as he left.
Eden glared at the PI. “Isn’t it about time you all packed your bags and got the hell out of here?”
“Oh absolutely. Right after we identify your cousin’s murderer.” Jeff grinned. “Any ideas on who she might be.”
“Get out of my way!” Eden stormed through the door and disappeared down the hall.
Jeff laughed to himself and continued his search for Virginia. He found her a couple of minutes later on her laptop at Blair Geister’s desk. “Did you at least punch the neighbor?”
Virginia kept her attention on the computer. “No, but he definitely sabotaged the boathouse.”
“You didn’t kick him in the nuts? Nothing?”
“The guy’s an ass, but I kind of feel sorry for him.”
Jeff sat on the edge of the desk. “Regardless, I imagine Juniper will press charges when she finds out.”
“I’m going to plead his case. I just feel bad for him. Anyway, I’m glad you’re back. I was just setting up the video call to Dr. Igataki for Emory. Where is he?”
“He’s taking the sheriff through the crime scene, so you might have to interview him yourself.”
“That’s fine. Oh!” Virginia slapped him on the leg. “You’re not going to believe what I found out. Two things actually. One cool and one huge.”
“Start with the cool.”
“I know why Blair Geister gave Zyus Drake 114 hours to find the Pangram Box.”
Virginia ended her statement with a long pause, prompting Jeff to throw open his hands and ask, “Why?”
“I checked out her Wiki page again. I was looking at the list of buildings she owns that are more than twenty stories. The Monolith, forty-four floors. The Somerset, twenty-six floors.”
“The floors add up to 114?”
Virginia smiled. “Exactly!”
“Good job. Now what’s the huge news?”
“It’s about Zyus—” Virginia began before she was interrupted.
Juniper Crane entered the office with Miss Luann at her side.
“Welcome back!” Virginia got up to greet Juniper with a hug.
Juniper waved to her companion. “You both remember Miss Luann.”
“Of course.” Jeff sidled his partner and grinned at the clairvoyant. “I had a feeling you were coming.”
Virginia elbowed him.
“Thank you for your texts,” said Juniper. “I can’t believe Ms. Geister was murdered. Who would do such a thing?”
Virginia replied, “We’re working on that.”
Juniper smiled at them both. “I appreciate everything you three have been doing. Miss Luann is here just to verify Ms. Geister’s spirit is now at rest.”
“About that, we now have an explanation for your ghost.” Jeff enclosed the last word with air quotes and told Miss Luann. “No offense.”
“Jeff, I’ll fill them in on everything. Can you take the video meeting? The laptop’s all set up. All you have to do is join the call…” Virginia glanced at her watch. “…in one minute.”
“I’ll take care of it.” After the others left the office, Jeff hopped behind the desk and opened the video meeting to find a bespectacled, middle-aged man in a white dress shirt and striped bowtie. “Dr. Igataki?”
The man adjusted the angle of his camera. “It’s Saturday. You can call me Arthur. You must be Emory Rome.”
“Actually, Emory is assisting the local sheriff at the moment. I’m his partner, Jeff Woodard.”
“Very well. You wanted to discuss my work with the EARTH Foundation?”
“Yes. I want to ask you about two grant applications. Let’s start with Eden Geister.”
“I assume you would like to know why her grant was declined.”
“Please.”
Dr. Igataki scooted closer to the camera, resting his forearms on his desk. “I found some… errors in her work that… overstated her results.”
“Were they intentional errors?”
“I’m a scientist, Mr. Woodard. I deal in facts. I cannot answer that question without speculation.”
“Understood.” Jeff thought of another way to ask the question. “In your opinion, could those errors could have been unintentional?”
“I’m not comfortable—”
“I’m just asking for your opinion. I understand you don’t have the necessary data to judge with absolute certainty, and I’m not asking you to swear to it. I’m just asking for your professional opinion.”
Dr. Igataki sighed. “In my opinion, a scientist would have to be exceedingly sloppy or just plain inept to have made those errors unintentionally. In any of these scenarios, funding for the researcher would not have been justifiable.”
“Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate your candor. Just out of curiosity, does the foundation support your research?”
Dr. Igataki shook his head. “Oh no. The EARTH Foundation supports scientific endeavors related to environmental matters. I’m a stem cell biologist. My research is focused on tissue regeneration.”
“That sounds very interesting, Dr. Igataki. Do you review all the grant applications for the EARTH Foundation?”
“I don’t know that I’m the exclusive reviewer.”
“Did you review the grant application for Dr. Barry Sharp?”
“I did.”
“What were your findings?”
“I found his research to be sound and promising. His grant was approved.”
“Then why would Blair want to delay the payment?”
Dr. Igataki pushed back into his chair. “I can’t say.”
“What is it, Doctor?”
“I hesitate to bring this up. Rumors are not facts, so I would’ve never mentioned it to Blair if not for the morality clause attached to each of her grants.”
“Doctor, it could be important.”
After some hesitation, Dr. Igataki acquiesced. “Scientific communities, regionally, are very much like small towns where everyone knows everyone’s business. I heard from the director at Oak Ridge of possible sexual misconduct involving a former lab assistant. Ms. Geister likely wanted time to ensure proper investigation of the allegation.”
Jeff fought back a smile. “Thank you, Doctor. I won’t take up any more of your time.”
“You’re welcome.” The doctor waved and signed off.
“I knew there was something off about him!” Jeff closed the laptop and jumped back at what came into view when he did. A woman in a purple polyester skirt suit was sitting on the sofa staring at him. “Miss Luann. You startled me.”
“I’m sorry.” Miss Luann rose to her feet. “I didn’t want to interrupt your meeting. I have to talk to you.”
“What about?”
She sauntered toward him. “You need to get Emory away from this place. He won’t heed my warning to stay out of the woods, and this place is surrounded by woods.”
“I do appreciate your concern, Nostradama, but you should know your prophesies are zero for two. Emory almost fell off the roof, but he survived.”
Miss Luann continued toward him with an unblinking gaze. “Emory’s danger won’t be found on a rooftop.”
“You also predicted there would be three deaths here. Well, if Eden Geister really were in mortal danger the other night, Emory pulled her out of it. Like I said, zero for two.”
“I never said there would be a third death. I said there would be a third spirit, and I never said that spirit would be Eden’s.” The clairvoyant rested her palms on the desk across from Jeff. “And I was right. There is a third spirit here now.”
Jeff could feel the hair on his arms rising. There’s no way. She can’t know about Trevor.
“Miss Luann,” Juniper called as she entered the room with Virginia at her side. “We’ve finished our conversation. Do you want to start on the house now?”
“I already have.” Miss Luann reversed direction, toward the door.
Virginia grinned at Jeff. “Juniper’s agreed to remove the gargoyles and move the Easter Island heads to the woods on the other side of the property.”
Juniper added, “But I’m going to leave Edgar Strand’s fate concerning the boathouse up to you and Emory, since you’re the ones he almost killed with his antics. The sheriff is already here if you want me to report him.”
“At the very least, he should be charged with vandalism and reckless endangerment.” Jeff’s words caught a disapproving look from his partner, causing him to pivot. “But Virginia seems to think he’s suffered enough. I’m sure Emory will agree with her. He usually does. Let him go.”
“Very well.” Juniper turned her attention back to Virginia. “No matter what, he will have to pay to rebuild it, but I’ll consider making the new one unobtrusive.”
Emory entered the office behind them. “Everyone’s here. Ms. Crane, Sheriff Flynn is taking the evidence, including some of the floorboards in Blair Geister’s bedroom. I just don’t want you to think the damage was done in search of the Pangram Box.”
“Thank you for letting me know.”
“Also, now that her death is officially a murder, he wants to interview everyone again, starting with you.”
Juniper put a hand to her chest. “Oh.”
“He’s in the locutorium.”
“Very well. I’ll go talk to him.” Juniper’s hand moved up to her lips as she headed out the door.
“Jeff, how did the meeting go?”
Although Virginia asked the question, his eyes were on Emory as he answered. “Highly informative. Eden didn’t get the grant because she made some presumably intentional errors to pretty up the results of her research.”
Emory closed the office door. “Did she honestly think no one would notice?”
Virginia slipped into one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Maybe she thought her application would just be rubber-stamped since she’s family.”
“Oh, but that’s not all.” Jeff’s green eyes gleamed above a growing grin. “Dr. Barry Sharp is apparently being investigated for sexual misconduct with an intern.”
Emory was about to take the chair next to Virginia, but he froze when he heard the news. “I can’t believe he would do that. He’s too… respectful of people.”
“Well, it’s true. Dr. Igataki told me and that the EARTH Foundation grants come with a morality clause.”
Virginia finished his thought. “That’s why Blair wanted to delay his payment.”
“Exactly!” Jeff swiveled back and forth in his chair. “Hey, what was your other big news? You were going to tell me something before Juniper showed up.”
“You’re not going to believe this.” Virginia paused for a moment, looking at each of her partners. “I know the nature of Zyus and Blair’s relationship, and guys… it’s disturbing.”