Gangster Walk

by Melissa Bowersock

  “That’s weird,” she said.

  “Yeah, it is.” He pulled one boot off. “I’m gonna hop in the shower. Wanna come with me?”

  “Mmm, that’s tempting, but...” She fell back into the enveloping softness of the pillow. “I think I’ll just rest my eyes for a bit.”

  Sam laughed soundlessly and patted her on the butt. “I’ll wake you up when I get out.”

  “Mmph,” she said.

  ~~~

  FIVE

  At five minutes before eight, they made their way down the sweeping curved stairs and retraced their steps to the front sitting room. Glenn stood at the window, looking outside.

  “Oh, good,” he said when they entered. He’d changed into dark brown slacks and a dress shirt, although no jacket or tie. Lacey had a feeling things were pretty casual in Dreyfus Hall—except for uniformed staff—but was glad she’d put on black slacks and a semi-dressy sweater. Sam wore his familiar black jeans and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled back.

  “How’s your room?” Glenn asked. “Have everything you need?”

  “I might steal one of your pillows,” Lacey said quietly.

  Glenn chuckled. “I’m sure Mr. Gregory would be glad for you to have it.” He moved to a sideboard where a silver tray sat with a bottle and small fluted glasses. “Aperitif?” he asked.

  “Not for me,” Lacey said. Sam shook his head. Through the doorway into the dining room, Lacey could see the long table was set with four place settings all at one end. Each setting gleamed with china, silverware and an array of crystal stemware. Dante was silently filling water glasses from a silver pitcher.

  “Mr. Gregory should be here shortly,” Glenn said. “He arrived not long after we did.”

  “So this is not his primary residence?” Lacey asked, remembering what Sam had said.

  “No. He tends to divide most of his time between New York City and LA, although lately he’s been spending more time in Houston and Seattle. It just depends on what project he’s working on and where the best people are. He likes to have the top minds to bounce ideas off of.”

  The top minds to bounce ideas off of, Lacey thought. Must be nice to have the smartest people on the planet at your beck and call. Having geniuses on her speed calling list would certainly come in handy when she was researching a case. But she and Sam did okay. She glanced over at her dark, silent husband. Yeah; they did okay.

  “Ah,” Glenn said. “Here’s the man, now.”

  Cameron Gregory swept into the room with a wide smile and open arms. He went immediately to Sam and shook one hand, clapped him on the shoulder with the other.

  “Sam Firecloud! I am so pleased to meet you, I can’t even tell you. I’m a huge fan. Huge. I am so jealous of your psychic abilities and the good work you do. It’s just wonderful.”

  Sam had little chance to respond before the millionaire moved on to Lacey. He took her hand in both of his, raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it.

  “And Lacey Fitzpatrick, the loveliest crime-fighter I’ve ever seen. It is a pure pleasure to meet you. I have to say, the TV cameras don’t do you justice. They can’t capture the true green of your eyes. I’m so pleased you’re here.”

  The onslaught of rapid-fire compliments sent Lacey’s brain into vapor lock. She smiled and nodded, but no intelligent words formed in her mind.

  Cameron Gregory was a slender man several years younger than she; twenty-eight if she remembered correctly. He had sparkling blue eyes and straight, dark hair that flopped down over his high forehead. He looked like he should be more concerned with next semester’s class load instead of saving the world, but his boyish charm and exuberance created instant rapport. It was easy to see how he drew people to him.

  “And my man,” he said, crossing to Glenn. He shook his assistant’s hand with as much enthusiasm as he did everything else. “Good trip? No problems?”

  “Smooth as glass,” Glenn said.

  “Terrific. All right.” He turned to take in everyone. “So what are we doing? Did you want a before-dinner drink?” He waved a hand toward the sideboard but got only heads shaking no. “Okay, then. Are we hungry? Can you eat?”

  “I’m thinking we can eat,” Glenn said. “We had a bite of lunch on the plane, but that was quite a few hours ago.”

  Cameron turned to Sam and Lacey. “Yeah? You hungry?”

  “I can eat,” Sam said. Lacey nodded.

  “All right. Let’s do it.” He led the way to the dining room and stood behind a chair next to the end. “Lacey, why don’t you sit here.” He held the chair for her. “Sam,” he said, patting the chair next to her, “you’re here.” He took the chair at the head of the table and Glenn settled in across from Lacey.

  “Well, I can’t tell you how I’ve looked forward to this,” he said. He steepled his fingers below his chin as Paloma came silently from the kitchen with a bottle of red wine. She poured a finger height in Cameron’s glass and waited for him to taste it. He sipped, then held the glass up in approval. “Yes, good.” Paloma then made her way around to the others.

  “You know when I bought this place, I wondered if it might be haunted,” he continued. “It’s had its share of notorious people—gangsters and movie stars and such. I mean a place with this much history is bound to have a ghost or two, right?”

  “Actually, Mr. Gregory, Sam and I were talking about that just a bit ago,” Lacey said.

  “Lacey, please,” he said. “Call me Cam. You were talking about…?”

  “The house feels clear,” Sam said. “As Glenn was showing us around, I was surprised that I got no impressions of spirits at all.”

  Cameron had been in the process of bringing his wine glass to his lips, but stopped midway to stare at Sam in surprise.

  Uh oh, Lacey thought. Was Cameron mistaken in his belief? Was their trip here for nothing?

  But instead of looking dismayed, Cameron chuckled and turned to Glenn with a pleased grin. “Did I tell you they’re the best?” He sipped his wine and set the glass down.

  Glenn nodded, smiling as well.

  Lacey was confused. “I don’t get it.”

  Now Cameron laughed out loud and laid his hand over Lacey’s on the table. He patted it gently.

  “None of my staff have reported seeing anything in the house. But if you were a fake”—he lifted his wine glass again and used it to point to Sam—“you wouldn’t know that. You might have told me all kinds of stories about basement ghosts or bedroom ghosts.”

  Sam regarded the millionaire silently, the suggestion of fakery not altering his expression at all.

  “The ghost, apparently, is in an outbuilding at the far end of the property,” Cam said. “Now I know you don’t want to know too much before you walk, which I’m assuming we can do in the morning. So do you… want me to say more?”

  “No, that’s fine,” Sam said. “We’ll leave it for tomorrow.”

  Cam grinned. “Okay, great.”

  As they’d been talking, Dante had moved silently among them, depositing a decorative shrimp cocktail on each plate. Lacey smiled her thanks to him, and he blushed.

  “So you’ve seen the house,” Cam said, waving a shrimp before he bit into it. “What do you think?”

  “It’s beautiful,” Lacey said. “I’m surprised how open the layout is, how big the rooms are. I would have thought a house of this age would have many more smaller rooms.”

  “And you would be absolutely right,” Cam said. “I like open space. It feels better. I can think better. I actually removed three or four…?” He looked to Glenn.

  “Five,” the assistant supplied.

  “…Five inner walls, non-loadbearing, of course, to open things up. I’m keeping the exterior as close to period as possible, but I can’t stand small rooms. They just feel… cramped. This room was one I didn’t change, since it was big enough. What’s now the solarium used to be a ballroom. Not much call for those anymore, right?”

  “Right,” Lacey agreed. “And how
big are the grounds?”

  “A hundred and sixty acres. Not all of it cultivated. There’s a pool and tennis courts and a little three-par golf course—only nine holes—but beyond that is a section of woods. I was adamant about keeping that. We need the trees, you know? Lungs of the planet.”

  “Absolutely,” Lacey said. “I love the fact that you’re using your fortune to improve conditions on the planet. If you don’t mind my asking, what projects are you working on now?”

  He didn’t mind at all. Between several courses of succulent, artful dishes, he expounded on the ideas that were currently burning a hole in his brain: electricity from the motion of the ocean; energy from algae; developing eco-friendly industries for indigenous people that paid better than poaching or slash-and-burn farming.

  “I’ve been meeting with the top guys at all the oil companies,” he said, “trying to convince them that they should be spearheading the push for sustainable fuels. After all, it’s their companies that are going to fail when all the oil runs out, but of course that’s a ways out, not in our lifetime, for sure. But they refuse to look that far ahead. Trying to get these guys to loosen their grip on fossil fuels is almost impossible. I’m going to keep working on them, though. They’re going to get sick of seeing me. And plastics… trashing our planet. Did you know we have a worm that eats plastic?”

  Lacey did a double-take. “You have a worm…?”

  “Yes. I mean, I don’t have it; the earth has it. It’s called a wax worm, and it actually eats plastic. Do you know what that could do for our trash problem? I’m thinking of starting an initiative, a prize, for the best idea to gather up all the trash and plastic in the ocean. Like the X Prize, you know?”

  He was also studying education and healthcare. “We used to be number one in all those areas,” he said, “but not anymore. Other countries are doing a much better job, so we just have to find out how and do something similar. I know there’s this whole thing about American ingenuity, but if someone else has already worked out a better system, do we really want to ignore that and flounder around? Why reinvent the wheel when it’s already working in other places? I’ll take a good idea anywhere I can get it.”

  Lacey agreed wholeheartedly, albeit silently. Cameron needed no encouragement to expound on his multitude of ideas, so all Lacey did was smile and nod. Sam was silent as well, although Glenn would chime in from time to time. By the time Paloma served the fluffy chocolate mousse with raspberry drizzles, Lacey was worn out and yet Cameron hardly flagged at all. The man was a dynamo, she thought.

  When the last dishes were cleared away, Lacey sagged with relief. She was already thinking about that wonderful pillow in their suite.

  Not so Cameron.

  “So what do you feel like?” he asked with obvious enthusiasm. “Want to shoot a few games of pool? Watch a movie?”

  Lacey tried to keep the dismay from showing on her face. “Actually,” she said, “I’m fading. This has already been a long day.”

  “Oh?” Cameron was patently surprised. “Sam? What about you?”

  “I could shoot a game or two of pool,” Sam said.

  “All right!” Cam turned to Glenn. “You in?”

  “Sure.”

  “That’s what I like to hear.” As they all pushed their chairs back and got to their feet, Cameron claimed Lacey’s hand and kissed it again. “Sleep well, fair lady.”

  “Um, thanks,” she murmured.

  “I’ll be up soon,” Sam said.

  “Okay. I’ll probably be asleep.” She waved to the others. “Good night.”

  Their “goodnights” followed her as she left the room and climbed the stairs. Inside their suite, she had only enough energy to pull off her clothes and climb into bed. The pillow welcomed her into its soft embrace.

  ~~~

  SIX

  She awoke to gray light stealing around the edges of the drapes, and glanced at the clock radio beside the bed. Six-thirty. What was that in LA time? Three-thirty. She groaned and burrowed into her pillow.

  She had no idea what time Sam had come to bed. He’d only undressed and slid under the covers beside her, kissing her quickly before letting her go back to sleep. He hadn’t said who won the pool game.

  Lacey rolled onto her back. She had no idea what time she’d gone to bed, either, but she must have gotten enough because she couldn’t go back to sleep.

  She let her gaze wander the room. The posh furnishings, the best of everything. She wondered idly if rich people bought the best because they liked it, or just because it was the best. If she had more money than God, would she have a house like this?

  Not hardly.

  She realized it would be nice someday if she and Sam bought a house. Maybe some place with a shop in the back for his ceramic work. They wouldn’t want to give up his studio, though, not with Theodora still there. Well, this was all idle fantasy anyway.

  She looked at the clock: almost seven. Groaning inwardly, she got up and padded quietly to the bathroom to shower.

  It was quiet downstairs. She heard murmured conversation from the kitchen, but saw no one in the front rooms. When she poked her head in the kitchen, she saw Paloma and Jennifer standing around the island sipping coffee.

  “Good morning, ma’am,” Paloma said. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Oh, yeah, great,” Lacey said.

  “Coffee?”

  “Please.”

  “Cream and sugar?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Paloma poured a cup and got the cream and sugar and a spoon. “Would you like some breakfast?”

  “Not just yet,” Lacey said, stirring her doctored coffee to the correct color. “I think I’ll go outside for a few minutes.”

  “Very well. Let us know whenever you’re ready.”

  “Thanks. I will.”

  Lacey took her coffee to the rumpus room and slipped out the sliding glass door to the patio. She settled at a table with a good view beyond the pool to the huge swathe of lawn that carpeted the gradual slope behind the house. She couldn’t imagine how long it took to mow several acres of lawn, but was confident Cameron had an army of riding mowers for his groundskeepers.

  Beyond the grass, she could see the beginnings of the forests that Cameron had mentioned. Tightly packed deciduous trees sported their fall colors, yellow, orange and red. As she watched, the multicolored canopy turned from muted shadow to brilliant sunlit hues as the sun cleared the eastern horizon.

  Behind her, the sliding glass door rumbled open and Glenn stepped out, coffee cup in hand.

  “Do you mind a little company?” he asked.

  “Not at all. Good morning.”

  “Good morning. Did you sleep okay?”

  “Yeah, great. It’d be hard not to, in that bed.”

  “I know what you mean.” He took a chair across from her. “Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day.”

  She nodded, sipping her coffee. “Nice time of year.”

  For a few moments, they sat in silence, enjoying the peaceful beginnings of the day. Lacey was grateful it was Glenn sitting at the table with her and not Cameron; she had a feeling the millionaire wouldn’t be quite so appreciative of the silence.

  “Just so you know,” Glenn said, “Sam and Mr. Gregory agreed on ten this morning for the walk. I wasn’t sure if Sam told you.”

  “No. I was dead to the world when he came in, and he was still asleep when I left.”

  “It sounds like both of them are night owls,” Glenn noted.

  She nodded. “Sam is for sure. And the way Cameron was last night…” She glanced at Glenn. “I got the feeling he was just getting started.”

  Glenn chuckled. “I think he does his best work between two and three a.m. But he doesn’t need a lot of sleep. Four or five hours is usually enough for him.”

  “I’d be a zombie,” Lacey said.

  “Me, too, probably. I’m just glad he doesn’t need an audience when he’s working out an idea.”

  Lacey
could only imagine how exhausting it would be to try to keep up with Cameron all the time. He was only five years younger than she, but he made her feel ancient.

  “So how long have you and Sam been together?” Glenn asked.

  She thought back. “Almost two and a half years. We got married six months ago.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “It’s great that you can combine home and work. That’s not easy to do.”

  “Well, we’ve had our ups and downs, our bumps in the road, but all in all we’ve worked out a pretty good system. We each bring different things to the relationship and we’ve learned to combine them in a way that works.”

  “Yeah, I see that. It’s nice.”

  Lacey glanced over. “What about you? You married?” For the first time she looked at his hands; no rings at all.

  “Nah.” He smiled crookedly. “I don’t really have much time for social things.”

  Lacey watched him more closely. He had to be her age, early thirties. “Is that by choice?”

  “Oh, yeah, totally. This job, you know? It’s not like any other job I could ever dream of so, for now, yeah, it’s okay. In a couple of years, who knows? I might opt out for something more normal.”

  “Normal,” Lacey repeated with a small smile. “That’s all relative, isn’t it? I never thought normal for me would be ghost-hunting.”

  Just then the glass door rolled open and Sam stepped out. Blinking against the bright sunlight, he brought his coffee cup to the chair next to Lacey and sat down.

  “Good morning,” Glenn said cheerfully.

  “Mmumpf,” Sam mumbled.

  Lacey laughed and patted his hand. “He’ll start making full sentences after he’s had some of that coffee.”

  Leaving Sam to his infusion of wakefulness, Lacey returned her attention to the now sunlit yard. The sky was a perfect azure blue, a fitting backdrop to the colorful trees on the hill. Nice day, indeed. She’d be glad when they did the walk and actually got started on the case. This lounging around was okay for a while, but she was itching to get to work.