Murder Runs Deep

by K. J. Emrick

  “Thank you, Jack.” She fell into his arms, and held him tight for a moment, debating whether she should just tell him that she wasn’t finished with her investigation just yet. There was a dinner party she was going to tonight that might yield some further clues.

  In the end she let him go up to the bed and sleep without telling him anything about the Wells family. She wanted to do this on her own, before involving him. She wanted him to sleep without worrying about her.

  Most of all, she didn’t want him to try and talk her out of it.

  Kyle gave her a knowing look after Jack was up the stairs. She pretended to ignore him.

  Chapter 9

  When Miranda drew up outside the Wells home just before eight o’clock that evening, only to see Jack’s car already there, she almost turned right around again. She felt a rush of guilt for not telling Jack about her conversation with Leah and the others last night. When he woke up from his nap, he’d kissed her cheek, and rushed off to the station, and she had thought that would be the last they saw of each other today.

  How wrong she was.

  Now, she would have to tell him everything, and make him understand her reasons for keeping him in the dark when she didn’t really understand them herself. She would have no option now. If Miranda wanted anything more to do with the case, she would have to simply go inside, and face the consequences of her white lies.

  With a resigned sigh, Miranda stepped out of her car and smoothed out the pink blouse and beige trousers she had put on. The Wells family had seemed pretty dressy the night before, just for a get-together among themselves and their one friend, Ashton Perry, so Miranda guessed they were the sort of family who firstly thought dressing for dinner was quite the thing and secondly, had enough time on their hands to even care about such things.

  Miranda had opted to wear something dressy that would still allow her to bolt and run if things got too weird. She wasn’t sure what she would be fleeing from, if it came to it, but there was something about this house that bothered her. There was a negativity that had affected her greatly.

  As she walked up to the door Miranda pursed her lips to keep from frowning. She didn’t know what she was looking forward to least. Spending the evening with the Wells family, or seeing the look on Jack’s face when he saw her there and realized that she had been poking her nose in once again.

  Within seconds of her knocking Natasha Wells opened the door, the same frozen and unconvincing smile pasted on her ageing face that she had given Miranda last night. She had the odd thought that Natasha had been almost hovering by the door, anxiously awaiting her arrival.

  “Good evening, Miss Wylder.” Natasha was immaculately dressed in a pale purple dress and, horror of horrors, a string of ugly pearls. She would have fit in perfectly in a 1950s sitcom, if not for those beige gloves on her hands once again. “Do come in.”

  She held the door wide for Miranda and continued to hold her smile.

  “Um. Thank you,” Miranda said with a brightness that she hoped appeared more genuine than Natasha’s smile did.

  “I must tell you,” Natasha said to her, closing the door again, “dinner might just be a little late. I’m afraid there’s a policeman here at the moment. He’s currently in the dining room asking all sorts of horrendous questions.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it, Mrs. Wells. We knew that might happen, right?” Miranda’s eyes flicked down the long entranceway hall, with all the photos and the signed cricket bat, hoping that she wouldn’t see Jack standing there looking back. “If you want me to wait somewhere else, that would be fine.”

  “That’s really quite kind of you.” Natasha clasped her gloved hands together in appreciation, and her smile warmed just a little. “Well, I could show you to a sitting room but I doubt he’ll be much longer. Goodness me, he’s been in there for over an hour as it is. Would you mind at all just waiting outside the dining room until he leaves?”

  “Not at all,” she answered sincerely.

  After all, she was not keen to see Jack’s reaction to her striding into the dining room if he was mid-interview. No, much better for them to meet when he was on his way out.

  Natasha left her just outside the dining room door, in the hallway, on an uncomfortable mint-green velvet covered chair with a straight back and exactly zero cushioning. Miranda had seen it when she was here before and not paid it much mind. She certainly did now. It wasn’t the least bit comfortable, and did not suit anything else in this part of the house whatsoever. For people who dressed up for any occasion whatsoever, they certainly had terrible taste in furniture.

  As Natasha disappeared into the dining room Miranda arched her neck to see through the gap until the door closed, looking to catch a glimpse of whatever was going on with Jack’s interviews.

  “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

  Miranda’s hand flew up to her mouth to hold in the yelp of surprise that Kyle’s sudden appearance had nearly jolted from her. He was standing beside her, leaning against the wall and examining his fingernails, as if he’d been there all along.

  “Where on Earth have you been?” Miranda hissed at him. “And what do you think you’re doing frightening the life out of me like that?”

  “I had very important spirit guide business to attend to,” Kyle told her, still not looking directly at her. “Something I can’t talk about. It wasn’t until I got back that I realized how late it had gotten. You see, time doesn’t really mean anything on the other side…”

  “Yes, yes, very impressive,” Miranda whispered, cutting him off midsentence. “I need you here, Kyle. You’re no help flitting about the universe, or whatever.”

  Now he looked over at her, with his eyebrows raised. “Sooner or later, Miranda Wylder, you’re going to have to take my position seriously. Besides, I’m here now.”

  “Uh huh. I guess that’s what counts?”

  “Exactly. Now you’re getting it.”

  She wanted to tell him exactly where he could stuff himself, but if that door opened while she was talking to the empty air she’d have a hard time explaining it. Instead, she whispered out of the corner of her mouth. “Jack’s here.”

  “Ooh. Looks like you’re about to get into trouble,” Kyle grinned.

  “I’m sure he’ll understand,” Miranda said, not at all sure she really believed that. “I mean, there just wasn’t time this morning to get into it.”

  “How many seconds do you think it would have taken you to tell Jack the truth?” Kyle said, and continued to grin. “So, why are you still sitting here? Shouldn’t you be listening at the door, or something?”

  “I left my listening devices in my other slacks. Besides, I have a spirit guide to do that sort of thing for me, now don’t I?”

  “Oh, now you take me seriously?” He sniffed, but she could tell he was pleased that she’d asked him to do it. “Fine, then. Off I go, a spirit guide and a mentor and a ninja spy, all rolled into one…”

  He let his voice fade away as he drifted through the dining room doors. Miranda smiled, and rolled her eyes, thinking what a wonderfully over the top actor Kyle Hunter would have made.

  Then he popped his head back out, smiling at her like a buffoon, and startling another ten years off her life.

  “How was that?” he asked with a grin.

  “Just go,” she hissed, but she couldn’t help smiling back.

  He wasn’t gone two minutes before he was coming back through.

  “Kyle,” she complained, “the people you’re supposed to be listening in on are in that room, not out here.”

  “Ha, ha. Yes, Miranda, I know. Here’s the rundown. Paul Wells used to be married to Maisie Fraser. They got divorced and he then married Leah.”

  “We knew that part,” Miranda reminded him. “From last night, remember?”

  “Right, but it’s more than that. Paul is so broken up about Maisie’s death that I’m not entirely certain things were over between the two of them.”

  �
�Are you just guessing now?” Miranda thought about it, though. “That might explain the vitriol we heard coming from Leah last night. She might be possessive of Paul, wanting to claim him for herself and not share him with his ex.”

  “True, true, but there’s more. Leah blames Maisie for ruining Paul’s life. Not sure how. It was just something she said.”

  “Then why aren’t you in there hearing more?” she demanded, standing up in her frustration.

  “Because,” he said simply. “They’re on their way out now.”

  Even as he said it the doors opened and there was the Wells family, along with Jack Travis. They walked through Kyle, not seeing him, although both Natasha and Paul shivered as if they’d caught a sudden chill.

  The doors closed. Everyone stared at her.

  “That,” Kyle said, floating up to be seen over the people in his way, “was the other thing I was coming to tell you.”

  She studiously ignored him as she put on her best smile. “Hello, Jack. Fancy meeting you here.”

  Natasha Wells blinked in surprise. Leah glared. Paul still seemed too wrapped up in his own thoughts about Maisie’s death to even notice Miranda standing there.

  Jack’s emotions flickered across his face and finally settled on something that could have passed for pleasant surprise. At least, if you didn’t know him as well as Miranda did. She recognized the lines of irritation around his eyes.

  “Hi, Miranda. I didn’t expect to see you here.” He stepped over to her, and hugged her briefly, just long enough to whisper, “What on Earth are you doing?”

  “I’m here for dinner,” she answered out loud, still acting like this was just a completely random happenstance. “The Wells’ are my neighbors, after all, and yet I’ve never been over to their place before.”

  He eyed her dubiously when he heard that, and she knew that he was guessing at what she had really been up to in the early morning hours. Not just talking to Deirdre, but coming over here to question the Wells family and get herself hip deep into the investigation yet again.

  Still, he stepped back from her and didn’t try to blow her cover as an amateur sleuth, and she loved him for that.

  Even though she knew she was going to have some explaining to do, and it looked like she was going to have to do it sooner rather than later.

  “Natasha,” Jack said, not quite looking over his shoulder, “would you mind if I had a quick word with Miranda before she joins you for dinner? It won’t take long, I promise.”

  “You two… know each other?” Natasha asked them both, looking like she’d just discovered something unsavory in a corner.

  “Oh, oh, oh,” Kyle trilled, floating up higher so he could see everything. “Busted!”

  “Yes, we do,” Miranda answered Natasha brightly. “We’re friends. I’ve known Jack for a while.”

  That wasn’t a lie, it just wasn’t the whole truth. If Natasha and the rest of her family knew that she was dating a police officer then they might just begin to suspect that she was here as an agent of the police. While that wasn’t quite true—or completely false either—she hoped Jack would keep up the ruse of being just passing friends for now. If not, then she wasn’t likely to get anything at all from them.

  “Well, yes, of course,” Natasha finally said, although she made no move to return to the dining room. “Take all the time you need, although our dinner has been delayed long enough, I think.”

  Seeing that none of the Wells’ were likely to give them the privacy they needed, Jack began walking down the hall with Miranda as if he was just on his way out. Kyle floated with them. “What are you doing here?” he demanded in hushed tones. “I mean, really doing here. Don’t expect me to believe that act about you just coincidentally being invited to dinner the day after a murder on their estate!”

  Miranda winced, knowing she was going to have to tell him all of it. “I meant to tell you Jack, really I did, but then there was the thing with Bates and you were so tired…” He wasn’t buying it. She could see it on his face. With a breath, she tried for the truth. “I’m sorry. Old habits die hard, Jack.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay out of this,” he said with a grin. “I’ll play along for now, as long as you tell me everything when you get home. And I mean, everything.”

  Kyle sighed dramatically. “Here I was hoping for a big blowout between you two. You guys are too cute together, that’s the problem. I’m off to snoop through the house again. Laters.”

  Miranda hugged Jack, grateful that the two men in her life were supporting her when she needed it most. “I promise, Jack. Everything I hear, I’ll tell you. I’ll even try to stay out of trouble.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it.” He hesitated, glancing quickly back down the hall to where the members of the Wells family had finally started to drift into the dining room. “Listen, be careful, okay? Paul told me he was looking out his window last night and saw Maisie in the back yard. I couldn’t get him to admit to talking to her, but that alone is enough to confirm Maisie was here before she died. Somehow, she went over that cliff back there and I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.”

  Miranda took a moment to let that tidbit assimilate with everything she already knew. “And Paul’s the only one who has any remorse that she’s dead. Interesting. Why didn’t he go out there, do you suppose? His ex-wife shows up wandering around the property and he just snuggles in to play cards around the dining table? I don’t buy it.”

  “He’s the only one who said she was here. To tell you the truth, Miranda, I’m of the opinion he may have killed his ex-wife himself. It would explain why he’s so upset.”

  Miranda had to at least admit the possibility. “Maybe. Did they tell you they had a friend over?”

  “What? No, they most certainly did not. Who?”

  “Ashton…” She had to think to remember the name. “Ashton Perry. He was here when I was, and they’d been playing cards together for a while, so he might have been here when it happened.”

  Jack made a mental note of the name, and then hugged her again. “I do have to admit, having you poke about these investigations always works out for the better.”

  “Then don’t worry about me. Kyle’s here, too. Um. Somewhere.”

  Jack laughed softly. “So he’s poking about for you. Well. Between the two of you we should have this case solved in no time. See you later tonight, when you’re done.”

  She promised him that he would and then she went back up the hall to the dining room, even though she wanted to look back and watch him walk away. She liked watching that side of him, and she wished they could have kissed before he left, but if they were going to sell the idea that they were just passing friends… well, the way they kissed was always more than just friendly.

  At the dining room she was met by Natasha before she was two steps into the room. “Everything all right, my dear?”

  Miranda kept herself from jumping out of her pointy dress shoes, but only just barely. “Um, sure. Just saying goodbye to Jack. I had to promise him that we would have dinner together soon, ourselves. I think he was a bit jealous.”

  That seemed to please Natasha to hear. “Well it’s been my experience, dear, that a jealous man has his uses. Come along, your seat is right over here.”

  On her way around the table to the indicated chair, Miranda caught sight of a hazy blue shape waving his arms frantically on the other side of the room. As casually as she could, she looked down that way.

  There was Kyle, standing there and pointing at the person standing next to him.

  Although ‘person’ wasn’t quite the right term. This was another ghost.

  It was a woman in her late thirties or so. She was wearing the same clothes that Miranda had seen on the victim, Maisie Fraser. The same hair as well, except that it wasn’t mussed from the wet sand. This was Maisie Fraser as she’d seen herself in life. This was her ghost.

  She walked through the room without really seeing anything,
her eyes going everywhere, as if she was lost and didn’t know where she was. Then she slipped through a wall and just like that, she was gone. Kyle signaled to Miranda ‘I’ve got this’ and followed Maisie’s ghost.

  Miranda fidgeted in her chair. She needed to talk to that ghost.

  “Forgive me, Mrs. Wells, but would you direct me to the restroom?” she asked, even though she’d just been about to sit down.

  “Yes, of course dear. Take your first right, and it’s the door on your left. Please remember to wash after.”

  There was that hint of 1950s motherhood again. Miranda smiled at her, and hastened out of the room. When she took the corridor to the right, and she was out of sight of everyone, she kept going.

  Where had Kyle and Maisie Fraser gone?

  Chapter 10

  Miranda picked up the pace, keen to stop the ghost in her tracks before she disappeared right out of the house. After all, she needed to find Maisie quickly before someone found her just randomly wandering the halls. She had her excuse ready to go—she got lost—but how well would that be received now that everyone knew about her connection to Jack Travis?

  Then she saw them, two ghosts outlined in transparent blue light, one much more solid than the other. Miranda hadn’t realized just how much more strongly she could see Kyle until now, when he was standing next to another ghost.

  “Hold on a moment,” she heard Kyle saying, laying a hand on Maisie’s arm and pulling her up short. That gave Miranda a chance to catch up, and to see the look of confusion on Maisie’s face.

  “Oh. Hello,” Maisie said, her smile easing the lines of worry around her face. “Sorry, who are you?”

  “Hello, Maisie,” Miranda said gently. “That’s who you are, right? Maisie Fraser?”

  “Of course. Who else would I be?” The ghost flickered a little, like she was about to fade out entirely, but then she set her gaze firmly on Miranda and snapped back into hazy focus. “Now please, answer my question. Who are you people? I wasn’t told there would be any other guests but me tonight. I can’t imagine the family inviting anybody else.”