Chapter Twenty-Five

“Let’s not,” Walt said when he appeared in the library.

Curious, Danielle studied Heather’s reaction, waiting to see if she could see Walt. Heather didn’t appear to have an inkling his spirit lingered just a few feet from her.

“But I’ll have to get the oils out when I come back,” Heather said.

“Come back? Are you going somewhere?”

“I got a call this morning from Police Chief MacDonald; he wants me to come down to the police station again, for more questioning. I’m afraid if I don’t go now, he’ll come here, and frankly, I would rather talk to him down there.”

“Are you going to have breakfast first? I know Joanne is making it now.”

Heather shook her head. “No. Would you mind telling her I won’t be here for breakfast?” Heather glanced at the cellphone in her hand, checking the time. “I need to go.”

“She reminds me a little like someone from the Adam’s family,” Brian told MacDonald. The two men stood together in the room adjacent to the interrogation room, watching Heather Donovan through the two-way mirror. She sat alone at the table, absently surfing the Internet on her cellphone while waiting for someone to come in and interview her.

“She does, doesn’t she?” MacDonald chuckled.

“What grown woman goes around wearing her hair in two ponytails?”

MacDonald studied Heather for a moment, noting her coal black hair, pulled into low pigtails and the severe bangs cut straight across her forehead. He shrugged. “It rather suits her.”

“Might as well get this over with,” Brian said before leaving the room.

A few minutes later, Officer Brian Henderson sat across the table from Heather Donovan in the Frederickport Police Department’s interrogation room.

“Thanks for coming down this morning,” Brian said as he opened his folder and shuffled through its papers.

Heather turned off her phone and set it on the table. She looked across at Brian. “I figured it would be easier to do this down here, instead of at Marlow House.”

“It does make it easier on me.” Brian smiled.

“What did you want to ask me?”

Brian looked up from his papers to Heather. “Do you know a man by the name of Logan Mitcham?”

Heather closed her eyes and let out a groan, slumping down in her chair. “I suppose he called you about me, right?”

“Why would Mr. Mitcham contact us about you?”

Heather sat back up straight in her chair and glared at Brian. “I imagine because I said that if I could strangle Peter Morris, I would! But that doesn’t mean I stabbed the SOB, does it? Damn!” Heather angrily folded her arms across her chest and slumped back down in her chair. “What ever happened to client confidentiality? I sure won’t recommend Mitcham to anyone!”

“Why don’t you back up a moment, Heather. Tell me how you happen to know Mr. Mitcham—and then you can explain why you told him you wanted to kill Peter Morris.”

Sitting up straighter, she continued to glare at Brian. “Just because I said I wanted to strangle him, doesn’t mean I wanted to kill him. It’s a figure of speech, for goodness sake!”

“Once again Heather—how do you happen to know Mr. Mitcham?”

Heather let out a sigh and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “I don’t know why you’re making me say everything you obviously already know. But fine—I hired Mitcham to investigate Peter Morris.”

“Why would you do that?”

Heather studied Brian for a moment. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Go on.”

Heather shrugged. “I hired him to look into Peter Morris and Earthbound Spirits in regards to Presley House; well, the property, anyway.”

“What did Morris have to do with the property?”

“I found out my mother hadn’t been paying the taxes on the property. After the house burned down, I assumed I still owned at least the lot, but I found out it had been sold for back taxes, and the new owner was Earthbound Spirits. I spoke to someone over at the assessors’ office, and she told me on the QT that something looked a little hinky about it, and she promised to look into it. I decided to hire someone to look into it for me; so I hired Logan Mitcham.”

“What did he find out?”

“After charging me more than I could afford, he told me Earthbound Spirits hadn’t done anything wrong. That when someone doesn’t pay property taxes, that’s what can happen. He told me it was nothing personal, that Earthbound Spirits acquires a lot of land this way.”

“How did you happen to tell Mitcham you wanted to strangle Morris?”

“After he told me what he found, I got…well, I suppose I was upset. I really thought I would find out something that would help me get my property back. But according to Mitcham, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. He told me I needed to simply move on. I suppose I didn’t appreciate his advice. Told him I was pissed, and that I didn’t care if Morris took my land legally...that I still would like to strangle him.”

“How did Mitcham react to your outburst?”

“Sort of got the feeling he was used to clients getting upset when he told them something they didn’t want to hear. I don’t know why he had to run to you the minute he finds out someone killed Morris. I don’t even see how that’s ethical.”

“After you got upset with the news, then what happened?”

Heather shrugged. “I left his office. Told him thank you for his help. Although I suppose, I probably said that a little snarky. But I was pissed at the time!”

“How did you happen to hire Mitcham?”

“Someone recommended him. Claimed he was the best one for my situation.”

“Someone? Who?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You don’t know who recommended Mitcham?”

“Well, I don’t know them personally.”

“So what are you telling me, you walked up to some stranger on the street, asked them for a name of a good PI and they gave you Mitcham’s?”

“Of course not,” Heather scoffed. “It was online.”

“You mean one of those referral sites, like Angie’s list?”

Absently picking up her cellphone, she fidgeted with it as she explained. “No. When I found out who’d ended up with my land, I went online to see what I could find out about the cult. And it is a cult, you know. There had already been so much in the paper, what with Morris’ right hand man killing himself and confessing to a murder and other crimes. It didn’t take long to find out I wasn’t the only one with a gripe with Earthbound Spirits.”

“How so?”

“I came across a forum on cults, and there was an active thread all about Earthbound Spirits. I joined the forum, started talking to other people there, exchanging experiences. That’s when I met CultCurious.”

“CultCurious?” Brian asked.

“Yeah. That’s his handle. Or her. Not really sure. He sent me a private message. Told me if I was really serious about going after Morris, I needed to hire Logan Mitcham. Said he was a PI who was already looking into the group, wanted to bring them down, and he’d probably appreciate any new ammunition that would help do that. Said he probably wouldn’t even charge me. Of course, he was wrong there.”

“Wrong?”

“It wasn’t free. But I really wasn’t looking for a free private detective, just one who’d be best for my case. I’d hoped Mitcham would be it.”

“Do you think he did a poor job?”

Heather shrugged in defeat. “Probably not. It just wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted him to tell me Morris had done something illegal and that he could prove it, and I could get my property back. But that’s not what he told me. And since he’s not a fan of Earthbound Spirits, I have to assume had he found anything I could’ve used against the group, he would have told me. But still, to tell you about me is really jerky.”

Brian was about to ask another question when Heather angrily tossed her phone aside and looked across the table at Brian. “Did he give you all his client’s names?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did Mitcham hand over his client list, all those poor people who have a legitimate grudge against Earthbound Spirits? While I didn’t kill the man, I’m not crying over his death. He hurt many people. I don’t think any of those people deserve to be harassed by you!”

“Heather, I’ve no intention of harassing anyone.”

“Boy, I’m going to give Mitcham a piece of my mind, and when I go online again, I’m going to let everyone know what a betrayer he is!”

“First of all, Mitcham did not say anything about you. In fact, we haven’t even talked to him.”

Heather frowned. “I don’t understand. You knew I’d hired him.”

“He’s a person of interest. We’re trying to locate him. We came across an invoice he made out to you, which is how we knew of the connection.”

She stared dumbly across the table a moment before asking, “Are you saying Mitcham never said anything to you about me threatening to strangle Morris?”

Brian nodded. “Like I said, we haven’t spoken to him. But, we’re trying to contact him. Do you know where we might be able to find him?”

Heather shrugged. “I met him at his office. Do you have that address?”

“Yes. Did he ever mention any other place he likes to go? Maybe a favorite restaurant where he meets with clients? A hobby he mentioned in passing? Something?”

“No. Sorry. I just met with him twice. Once when I hired him and the second time, when he told me what he’d found. Or should I say, hadn’t found.”

“The night of the murder, when Chris stepped out of the parlor, when he was with Morris, you told Chris Danielle was looking for him.”

“I thought she was.”

“But you admitted you didn’t actually talk to her. That you heard her call out from the kitchen.”

Heather shifted in her chair. “Yeah, what about it?”

“Danielle wasn’t in the kitchen. But Chris left to find her…leaving you alone with Morris.”

Heather shook her head in frantic denial. “No…I didn’t tell Chris that to be alone with Morris! I honestly believed I heard her cry out from the kitchen. Sometimes….well, sometimes I hear things…well…and see things…that other people don’t.”

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

Heather leaned forward and whispered, “I think Marlow House is haunted.”

“Haunted?”

“I’ve seen Walt Marlow on a few occasions.”

“Umm….have you shared this with anyone?” Brian asked.

“Actually, I told Danielle this morning. Of course, she doesn’t believe me. I could tell.”

“Let’s forget about…ghosts…for a moment. Why don’t you tell me again what happened between you and Morris after Chris left him with you.”

“Nothing happened between us. Maybe he didn’t do anything illegal to get my property, but I still didn’t want anything to do with him. I didn’t want to talk to him. But I certainly didn’t kill him.”

“What did you do, exactly?”

“After I told Chris about Danielle looking for him and how she might be in the kitchen, I admit I expected it to speed up the goodbye.”

“Speed up what goodbye?”

“Between Chris and Morris, of course. Haven’t you ever noticed when you walk someone out to leave, they linger on and on, with inane conversation, until you want to just shove them out the door? I figured with Chris knowing Danielle was looking for him, Morris would just leave.”

“But it didn’t work out that way, did it?”