A Gilded Grave

by Shelley Freydont

  He set the board on the table and a wooden planchette on top of the board.

  Will sat down and they each lightly touched the planchette. It began to move across the two rows of letters, first to one letter, then another.

  “Strange,” Will said. “Are you moving it?”

  “Not intentionally. Okay,” Joe called to Orrin, who had stayed in the other room.

  He looked at Will, who returned his gaze, and the planchette moved.

  P. The planchette moved again. O. It moved again.

  “You’re not doing this?”

  Joe shook his head. “Orrin is. Electricity and magnets. Let’s call in Grandmère. Then we’ll figure out the rest of the evening’s entertainment.”

  Deanna thought the day would never end. She hated being left out of the preparations for the evening’s experiment. She was the one who’d had the idea of calling the spirits of the dead maids. Elspeth had volunteered to act the part, but Joe and Will had nixed that idea. They would find someone on their own.

  Now they were over there making plans, and they’d excluded Deanna and Elspeth from joining in.

  Joe said she had to go back to Seacrest and act normal, that it would be more effective if she and Elspeth didn’t know quite what to expect, but just to be sure to watch everyone’s reactions very carefully.

  Deanna was sure they would catch the culprit; Gran Gwen had invited everyone in their immediate circle and they’d all agreed to come. Including Mrs. Woodruff, who declared that she’d been neglecting her visitors long enough, and since Mr. Woodruff was still abed but not getting worse, she would be pleased to attend.

  The only problem was how to get Elspeth to the party. She refused to sit at Seacrest while all the excitement was at Bonheur. It was finally decided that Deanna would give her the evening off and Orrin would pick her up in the gig outside the gates of Seacrest.

  By the time Deanna came upstairs to dress for the evening, she was a bundle of nerves and anticipation. Elspeth wasn’t much better.

  “Where have you been? I’ve worn a path in the carpet while you’ve been lollygagging about.”

  “Sorry, but Cassie was determined to convince Madeline to stay by dragging us from store to tea room to ice cream parlor. She chatted on about all the soirees and balls, the regatta races, the tennis matches, and the golf tournaments, until I was ready to scream.”

  “Did she convince her?”

  “No, I don’t think she did. I don’t think this is what Lady Madeline expected from the social season in Newport.”

  “Well, nobody did, now, did they?”

  “Well, once Will arrests the killer, I say good riddance. I’m heartily sick of both of the Manchesters.”

  Chapter

  27

  Gran Gwen had gone all out for her fete.

  Authentic Japanese lanterns lined the drive and stood sentry along the front of the house. A silken canopy came to a point above the entrance and floated down to either side. There was a light layer of fog rolling in from the sea, and clouds scudded across the sky hiding and exposing the three-quarter moon like a mise en scène.

  Deanna thought it was a perfect night for conjuring the dead.

  When the Woodruff party arrived, only five people were drinking champagne in the conservatory, where a cool breeze wafted in through the open windows and a string trio played from the far corner. Deanna recognized Quentin Asher, a handsome widower whose name had been linked to Gran Gwen’s in an earlier decade, or so Deanna’s father had said.

  “Oh dear,” Mrs. Woodruff whispered to Charles. “Did we arrive too early?”

  “I don’t think so, Mama. Gwen Ballard is known for her intimate dinners. I think this one is to be extremely intimate.”

  “Well, that’s no fun.” Cassie looked around the room. “Where are Vlady and the others? They said they were coming.”

  Deanna began to wonder that herself. She didn’t really want to suspect any of their friends of killing the maids or Swan, but Vlady Howe and Herbert Stanhope had been together both times they’d discovered the bodies. And Herbert had seen her and Joe after the break-in and had said nothing. Because he also had a secret?

  Gran Gwen came to meet them. She was the embodiment of the exotic in a gown of damson purple encrusted with jet beads. Her hair was pulled back and stuck through with two golden ostrich plumes. Deanna thought she looked magnificent.

  She took both of Mrs. Woodruff’s hands. “Ah, Nell, my dear. I’m so glad you could come. How is Francis?”

  Then she said hello to the others, saving an arch look for Deanna.

  “My goodness,” Lord David said, walking Deanna into the conservatory. “Madeline said she was quite unique, but I’d say she is nothing short of amazing.”

  “She is,” Deanna said.

  Lord David smiled, took her arm. Deanna tried to think about something else.

  A few minutes later, Vlady and Herbert arrived, followed shortly by Cokey Featheringham, his cousin Nathaniel, and several young ladies, including Ivy Bennett and Olivia Merrick.

  “Ugh, it’s Cokey Featheringham.” Cassie said. “What is he doing here? I’d have thought Gran Gwen wouldn’t invite someone who’d been spreading such nasty rumors about Joe.”

  “I haven’t the faintest,” Deanna said. “Just ignore him.”

  Dinner was announced soon after that. Joe was conspicuously absent; Mr. Asher led Gran Gwen in to table.

  Deanna found herself once again on Lord David’s arm. “I’m not sure what to expect,” he said. “Shall we have lamb and couscous and eat with our fingers, or rice and raw fish and eat with chopsticks a la japonaise?”

  “I imagine it will be something closer to home. Her cook is excellent but American.”

  “Ah, I can’t wait.”

  Sixteen people sat down to dinner, which at Gran Gwen’s was never more than five courses. Though lately, people had been moving away from the usual four-hour dinner to much shorter ones, Gran Gwen’s dinners had always been delicious, sparkling with conversation, and never more than two and a half hours anyway.

  Tonight was no exception, though Deanna wished people would eat faster. She for one had no appetite and more than once thought to excuse herself and go search out Joe and Will to see what they were doing.

  After dinner the ladies went back to the conservatory to wait for the gentlemen to finish their port and cigars.

  Deanna was ready to jump out of her skin when at last the gentlemen returned and Gran Gwen stood and went to the door. “For your entertainment I have planned a little game, if you’ll all join me in the music room.”

  They followed her across the hall and behind the curving staircase to the music room. The music room was really that, with a grand piano in one corner, a dais for chamber music, and usually a grouping of chairs for listening. Tonight the chairs had been replaced by a small table with two straight-backed chairs. A green cloth was laid over the surface, concealing something beneath. There was a slight lump in the center.

  “This way.”

  Gran Gwen stopped by one of the chairs. “Last month in the city I spent the most interesting evening playing a game that I’d heard of but had never played before.” She paused, looking over her guests. “I say game, because that’s what it’s supposed to be. But that night, we were witnesses to something profound. Something inexplicable. Something my grandson, Joseph, would say is sheer fakery.”

  A ripple of quiet laughter.

  “So I decided to put it to my friends. And the young people here are much more clever than I.”

  That was a whopper, Deanna thought. Still a thrill zinged through her. It was happening. Tonight they would catch a killer.

  Unless the killer really was one of the servants or a passing lunatic who preyed on maids. Which would make this elaborate affair a waste of time.

  “And so I
’ve asked you here to dine on Cook’s succulent roast duck and now to test the game for ourselves. No pranks, just”—she paused, gave one of those half shrugs that the French were partial to—“scientific inquiry.”

  She took the corner of the cloth between two fingers and whisked it from the table, leaving a wooden game board. The letters of the alphabet lined up in two arches across the top. A through M in the first line and N through Z on the second. Below that was a row of ten numbers, 1–0. In the right corner was the word “No,” and in the left corner, the word “Yes.”

  “Ouija,” Cassie squealed. “I love this game.”

  “I’m so glad.” Gran Gwen sat down on one side of the table. “Who would like to be the first to ask the board a question?”

  “I will,” said Cokey.

  “You will not,” said Herbert. “You’ll cheat and make it say the things you want it to say.”

  “Why don’t we have one of our new friends give it a whirl. Madeline? Lord David?”

  Lord David threw up his hands in mock horror. “Not I. I’m afraid of what it might say.”

  All the men laughed. Gran Gwen gave him an arch smile.

  “How about you, Madeline? Would you care to participate?”

  Madeline shook her head and took a step back.

  “Oh, come on, Maddie,” Cassie urged. “It’s easy and great fun. We’ve all played before.” Cassie nudged her toward the table.

  “I don’t know how.”

  “Why don’t you go first and show her?” Vlady suggested.

  Cassie lifted her shoulder. “I will.” She sat in the chair across from Gran Gwen. “You just let your fingers rest lightly on the planchette and the game will do the rest.” They both put their fingers on the planchette.

  “What shall we ask it?” Cassie asked.

  Vlady leaned close to her ear but said, loud enough for them all to hear, “Ask it to name your boyfriend.” He winked at Cassie.

  Mrs. Woodruff raised her eyebrows.

  Cassie giggled. “See if I don’t. Ready, Gran Gwen?”

  Gwen nodded.

  “Who loves me most?” Cassie asked the board loudly.

  Everyone laughed. “She’s got you there, Vlady.”

  “Hush,” Gwen said. “You must concentrate.”

  Everyone obeyed and leaned closer to the board to watch.

  For a second nothing happened, then slowly the planchette moved across the board, first to the left, then to the right, then it swung all the way to the bottom of the alphabet.

  V.

  Everyone leaned in a little closer. The planchette moved again.

  L.

  The planchette made a slow sweeping circle and ended at the far side of the board.

  A.

  Madeline laughed. “You’re doing that on purpose.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Well, I think you’ve asked it enough, miss,” Mrs. Woodruff said, laughing.

  Cassie stood and gave her mother a saucy look.

  Deanna couldn’t imagine being that close and confidential with her own mother.

  “Now, who’s next?” Cassie looked around the room. “Dee?”

  “Not me.”

  “Then it must be Maddie.”

  Madeline shook her head.

  “Mad-die,” Vlady chanted. “Mad-die,” he repeated, and this time Cokey joined in. Soon everyone was urging Madeline to give it a try.

  “Very well,” Madeline said looking her most charming. “But we won’t be asking it about boyfriends.”

  Everyone laughed except Deanna and, as she saw after a quick glance, Charles Woodruff.

  Madeline sat in the chair across from Gran Gwen.

  “I just put my fingers on that wooden thing?”

  “Yes. Barely touching it.”

  Gran Gwen and Madeline both put their fingers on the planchette.

  “I don’t know what to ask.”

  “Ask if you’ll be staying in Newport.” Cassie suggested.

  Once again, the planchette began to move. Straight to the left corner.

  “Yes!” squealed Cassie. “I knew it. We’ll have such fun.”

  Madeline looked over her shoulder at her brother. He smiled and shrugged.

  “Ask it why,” Deanna suggested.

  “Okay. Why?”

  The planchette began to move, straight to the middle of the board.

  S.

  Then straight to the end.

  W.

  The room became so quiet that Deanna could hear someone’s adenoidal breathing.

  A.

  “Swan!” Herbert exclaimed.

  “But Swan is dead,” Vlady said.

  Madeline started to rise.

  “Put your fingers back, Maddie.” Cassie pressed her back into the chair.

  “Swan is the reason?” Gran Gwen asked.

  The planchette swung to the left again.

  Yes.

  “Why?”

  They all crowded so close to the table that Madeline couldn’t get up if she’d wanted to, and it looked to Deanna like she would love to flee. And why was that?

  The planchette moved.

  P.

  It moved downward and shot upward.

  O.

  I.

  The planchette swung wildly now.

  S.

  “No!” Madeline’s fingers recoiled from the planchette as if it had become hot. Gran’s fingers left the planchette, too, but the little heart-shaped piece of wood continued to move without them.

  O.

  A wild circle, and back to . . .

  N.

  “Poison!” cried Vlady and Herbert at the same time.

  “He took poison,” Vlady said.

  Madeline attempted to put her fingers back on the planchette, but it jerked away.

  M.

  “This isn’t possible,” Herbert said, almost to himself.

  U.

  “Make it stop!” Madeline cried.

  “Yes, do,” said Mrs. Woodruff. “Gwen, you’re scaring the young people.”

  Gwen held up both her hands in a helpless gesture. No one was moving the board.

  Olivia whimpered and clung to Cokey.

  R.

  The last letters came in rapid succession, the planchette sliding across the board of its own accord.

  The guests stood mesmerized. No one moved or stepped back but kept their eyes on the board.

  D.

  E.

  R.

  The lights flickered and went out just as the French doors flew open and fog rolled into the room.

  Cassie screamed and hid her eyes. Vlady pushed her behind him for protection.

  Before anyone recovered, a figure stepped out of the mist. Tall, large, with yellow slashes floating in the air, moving closer.

  Deanna had seen it before, knew what it was, and still it shot chills up her back.

  “No-o-o-o!” Madeline stood so fast that her chair toppled backward.

  Then the turban and the feathers came to view.

  “It’s Swan,” Cassie said feebly, peering around Vlady’s shoulder.

  Mrs. Woodruff sat down abruptly on the nearest chair.

  Gwen’s expression didn’t change; she didn’t turn around or acknowledge the apparition in any way.

  It was unnerving to behold.

  Then from the hall the long clock began to gong. Everyone huddled closer together, as an arm rose from the robe, pointing at the group. First at one, then another, until it stopped on one in particular: Lord David Manchester.

  “Mur-der,” it intoned in such a low voice that the planchette and crystal sconces shook.

  Lord David staggered back.

  “No!” cri
ed Maddie. “You’re dead. Leave us.”

  “Maddie,” Lord David said, “get ahold of yourself. It’s a trick.”

  The apparition’s arm rose. Turned to Lady Madeline. “Murdered. All of us. Murdered.”

  “All of who?” Cokey whispered, and edged toward the door.

  Vlady grasped his sleeve. “Wait.”

  Maddie shook her head. “You’re dead. Do you hear me? Dead.”

  The arm reared back and everyone cowered together, afraid of what it might unleash.

  All but Madeline. “Leave us, I say! I killed you once, and I’ll kill you again if I have to! Go to hell, fiend!”

  Swan stepped forward, larger than life as the mist swirled around him, both arms outstretched as if to strangle her.

  “No!” Madeline flung herself around and pushed Cassie aside.

  An unearthly hiss echoed around them and the entire room as fog engulfed Swan, and he was gone.

  The lights came on, and through the retreating mist, Deanna saw Madeline throw open the door and run, Lord David on her heels.

  “Good Lord,” Vlady cried, and started after them.

  Deanna was just a step behind him.

  But when they reached the hall, there was no sign of Madeline or her brother.

  Vlady turned in a circle. “Where’d they go?”

  They could see Carlisle standing by the front door, hands open. They hadn’t come that way.

  “They must have gone out through the conservatory,” Deanna said just as Herbert, followed by several others, burst into the hallway.

  They ran toward the back of the house to the conservatory. The door to the lawn and ultimately to the cliff walk was slightly ajar.

  “Do you see them? I can’t see anything in this dark.”

  “There!” Herbert yelled and pointed to two figures, fog curling around them as they ran across the lawn to the sea. “They must be heading for Seacrest along the cliff walk.”

  They were being followed by two men, and another figure who was shedding turban and flowing robes as he ran. And behind them followed Elspeth, hiking up her skirts and trying to keep up.

  Deanna stopped to unclasp her shoes. Cassie ran up beside her. “What’s going on?”

  “Come and see,” and Deanna. She kicked off her shoes and sped across the grass.