Slay in Character

by Lynn Cahoon

  “Or your band of Nancy Drews who brought me that nice present of all the litter they’d found in the room.” He waved a fork filled with pasta at her. “Sorry, go on. I promise not to interrupt again.”

  “Anyway, I didn’t find anything, and I was about to leave when I noticed the mirror was cockeyed. And when I reached behind the glass, I found an envelope.”

  Shauna leaned forward in her chair. “What was in the envelope?”

  “A report of what Jessi had been doing for the last month.” Cat set her fork down and pulled the pages out of her back pocket. She tossed them on the table in front of him. “Uncle Pete, someone was stalking that poor girl and using her best friend to do it. That’s just so not fair.”

  “You’re right. Jessi has had a heck of a week. And if I were her, I’d never trust another human again in my life. But the girl seems resilient.” He took a bite and chewed it thoughtfully. “Well, Keith is out of the picture for this bit of stalking. All he wanted was the jewelry, and once that was done, he had moved on to other marks.”

  “You talked to Keith?” Cat sat her fork down on her plate.

  “A few hours ago at the hospital. He was so scared, he told me everything. He thought those guys were going to kill him.” Uncle Pete met Cat’s eyes. “Arnold has a lot to answer for when I find him.”

  “But I don’t understand why Keith couldn’t have killed Danielle.”

  “Because he was with his new girlfriend at the cabin from Sunday night until Tuesday night when she had to go back to work.” Her uncle took a slice of garlic bread from the basket in the center. “Being out of that house probably saved that girl from being hurt. But all she can think of is that maybe he wouldn’t have been attacked if she’d been there.”

  CHAPTER 14

  After Uncle Pete left, Cat went into the living room to wait for the retreat guests to return from dinner. She couldn’t go to bed knowing that they were out there, maybe in danger. This must be what having children felt like. She was frustrated and wanted to wrap them in bubble wrap and keep them safe in their rooms. She didn’t know if she even wanted kids now.

  She heard the women talking as they came into the lobby and stepped out into the foyer.

  “I am so embarrassed.” Jessi was talking to Cora. “I promise I’m going to the bank first thing in the morning to figure out what’s going on.”

  “It’s no problem. I can buy you one dinner. My last royalty check covers at least that.” Cora patted Jessi on the arm. “I’m sure it was a mistake.”

  “What happened?” Cat wasn’t sure Cora was right. Someone was targeting Jessi, but she didn’t know why or for what end. The girl wasn’t having a good week.

  “My debit card was rejected. I know I have money in the bank. I get an allowance every month and I barely used anything this month. And what, it’s the tenth? I should have more than enough money for a pizza.” Jessi shook her head. “I can’t call Mom because she’ll think I’ve been overspending again.”

  “Now, Jessi, I’m sure she’ll understand. Bank errors happen.” Cora glanced at Cat, and Cat could see she doubted the truth of what she was saying. Cat knew Jessi had shared some of the complex relationship she had with her mother with the other women in the group. That was the magic of the group—it led to strong bonds and the ability to understand each other’s pain. Writers got each other.

  Cat tried to deescalate Jessi’s emotions. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about this issue tonight. Let’s go into the dining room, grab a dessert and coffee or hot chocolate. I feel like we haven’t talked a lot during the retreat. I’d like to touch base on how your writing is going.”

  Cora sent her a grateful look and put an arm around the clearly upset Jessi. “That sounds wonderful. I’ve got a couple of questions I’d like to throw out, if you don’t mind. I’ve been thinking a lot about senses this week. And I’ve been dying for a brownie all day.”

  As they moved into the dining room, Jessi paused and turned back toward Cat. “I’m really thankful that I’m here with you all this week. I don’t know what I would have done by myself after Danielle . . .”

  Cat saw the girl was fighting back tears and she shook her head. “We’re here for you. Good or bad, this is your week too.”

  As they gathered with their treats and drinks, Cat hoped that the feeling of home would help shelter Jessi from the pain she was going through that week. Her house was supposed to be a place of comfort and creativity. Cat relaxed into the discussion of writing and words. That was a place where she felt at home and comforted. She hoped the discussion would ease others’ minds as well, if just for the evening.

  Seth met her in the lobby when the group broke up after ten. “Hey, the back door and the cellar are locked up tight. Your uncle called earlier to make sure I double-checked this evening.”

  “He’s worried about Jessi.” Cat glanced up the stairwell where the women had disappeared a few minutes ago.

  “He’s worried about all of us,” Seth said flatly. “If someone is set on taking her out, locked doors aren’t going to stop them.”

  “You think I haven’t thought of that?” Cat rubbed her face, trying to get the tiredness to stay at bay for at least a few minutes. “Although why someone would be targeting that poor girl is beyond me.”

  “All I know is I’ll be glad when Pete catches this guy.” He walked over and double-checked the locks. “I’m heading upstairs to read, but if you need me, just knock.”

  “I’ll come with you.” She turned off the main lights. “I’m beat.” She wanted to tell him she appreciated him. She wanted to tell him she loved him. But now didn’t seem like the right time.

  They walked upstairs together but with a canyon of feelings separating them. When she lay down on her bed, the exhaustion took over and she fell asleep, but dreams kept her restless. When Seth shook her awake, she thought it was part of the nightmare.

  “Wake up, Cat. Someone is in the house.” He shoved his phone into her hand. “Call your uncle.”

  She sat up and stared at the phone in her hand and Seth’s back as he started to leave the room. “Where are you going?”

  “Downstairs. I want to check the guest rooms.” He turned and repeated, “Call your uncle. Then go wake up Shauna. If you don’t hear anything, come down to the second floor and meet me. I’ll be in the hallway.”

  She followed Seth’s instructions, first calling Uncle Pete, who told her to stay in her room. Ignoring his orders, she went to Shauna’s room and knocked before moving into the room and flipping on the lights.

  “What’s going on?” Shauna was wide-awake. Cat wondered if she had even been asleep. Cat crossed the room and sat next to her.

  “Seth says someone’s in the house.” She glanced at his phone, fear running through her. One a.m. Was this the witching hour, or was it supposed to be midnight?

  “Cat? Are you calling the police?” Shauna’s voice cut through her thoughts.

  Cat watched as she pulled on a robe to cover the long, silky nightgown. “Already did. Uncle Pete’s on his way. We’re supposed to wait and see if Seth finds someone on the second floor.”

  “How will we know?” Shauna pulled Cat to her feet. “Let’s go downstairs now. I’m sure the guests are frightened.”

  Cat followed her, listening for trouble. The last time she’d dealt with a problem in the house, the creep had actually been one of the guests. This time, at least she knew the threat had come from outside the house. Cat wasn’t sure which was better. She felt scared and longed for this whole thing to go away. “Buck up,” she whispered. “Stop being a whiner.”

  Shauna looked back at her. “Are you okay?”

  Cat took a deep breath and pushed the fear away. This was her house. No one was going to make her afraid in her own house. She grabbed a heavy iron statue from the table in the hallway. “I’m fine. Let’s go downstairs.”

  Softly and slowly, they descended one flight to the floor that held the guest rooms. Cora and Connie s
tood in the hallway, and Kelly was with Seth farther down the hall. Lisa appeared in the doorway, and Kelly motioned her toward the other women, a finger on her lips indicating that Lisa should be quiet. The last room was Jessi’s. Kelly knocked quietly, then opened the door. Cat could see Seth’s reaction when he saw the empty room. He rushed inside, then came back out and headed directly to Cat.

  Flashing lights from the police cruisers filled the street-side windows. Seth glanced at Cat before making his way downstairs to let Uncle Pete in. “Jessi’s not in her room. She’s gone.”

  “Stay with the guests,” Cat glanced at Shauna. “I’m going downstairs to check the other rooms.”

  Uncle Pete stood in the lobby, directing officers to check the rooms. When Cat moved toward the study, he called out, “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Cat froze at the edge of the steps. “Jessi’s not in her room. I wanted to check the study.”

  He shook his head and waved her toward him. “Come stand by me. Brenden will go check the study.”

  “But I’m right here.”

  “Cat.” In one word, her uncle stopped her in her tracks. She’d heard that tone before.

  Sighing, she turned away from the hallway and walked toward her uncle. “I’m sure she’s just working. Maybe she’s in the attic writing.”

  As if she’d called her, Jessi came out of the hallway that led to the study. She held a cup in her hand and her eyes widened as she noticed Brenden walking toward her, dressed in his police uniform.

  “Oh my God. What happened? Did someone get hurt?” Jessi hurried toward Cat.

  Cat took a deep breath. At least Jessi was okay. She motioned to the bench. “Sit down there for a minute. I need to talk to my uncle.”

  Cat and Seth gathered around Uncle Pete. He lowered his voice and asked Seth, “Tell me what happened.”

  Seth pointed to the front door. “The sensor went off about twelve forty-five. I woke Cat and told her to call you. We gathered the guests together on the second floor, but Jessi wasn’t there.”

  “It is a writer’s retreat.” Cat turned toward Jessi. “Hey, did you go outside a few minutes ago?”

  Jessi gripped her coffee cup and shook her head. “No. I’ve been writing since about ten thirty. I couldn’t sleep, so I came down and was working in the study. It’s a great desk. The chair is really comfortable. I started to get sleepy, so I thought I’d fill my cup with the last of the coffee. Is this all because I wasn’t in bed?”

  “No. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Cat turned back to her uncle. “So someone at least tried to break into the house. Maybe they didn’t actually get inside?”

  “Take Jessi back upstairs and send the guests back to their rooms. I’ll send Irene up with you to clear each room before they go back in. Then you three wait for me in the kitchen.”

  Cat followed her uncle’s instructions, following Sara upstairs. When Shauna approached her, she waved her off. “Let’s get everyone settled first. Jessi? You’re in the last room, right?”

  Cat worked with Irene as the officer cleared each area and then Cat invited each guest back to their room. Jessi sank onto the bed and Cat gave her an encouraging smile. “Go to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”

  “I’m exhausted.” The girl curled up on the bed. Cat wanted to cross over and cover her with a blanket. Instead, she turned off the lights and closed the door. Connie’s room was next, and Irene had already cleared it.

  “This is so exciting. You really know how to throw a writers’ retreat.” Connie patted Cat’s arm as she walked toward her room. “I may just have to write a contemporary story after this. Maybe even a romantic suspense.”

  Cat couldn’t believe how comfortable the women were with the middle-of-the-night disruption. Writers. You could never tell what was going on in their heads.

  Cora was the last one waiting for Irene to clear her room. She pulled Cat aside. “Now, you don’t worry about this. It’s not your fault and you can’t control what goes on.”

  “I don’t need mothering but thank you.” Cat smiled at Cora. “I just hope your retreat has been worthwhile. I apologize for the distractions.”

  “You are kidding, right? Distractions make the writer’s life.” Before she stepped into her own room, Cora glanced down at Jessi’s door. “That poor girl, someone really wants to mess with her life.”

  By the time Cat got back downstairs, Uncle Pete had cleared the house and was standing talking to Seth. “I think someone tried to get in but didn’t make it past the security on the door. We’re doing a canvass of the neighborhood, but most people were probably asleep when this happened.”

  “Do you think it was just random?” Seth put an arm around Cat as she joined the group.

  “Normally, I’d say yes. A lot of the kids walk this way back from Bernie’s to the dorms. I’ve had reports of them just going into houses and passing out on the first available couch.” He shrugged. “But with what’s going on? Being random seems unlikely. Keep an eye out on that girl, and I’m going to suggest to her family that she go home after the retreat is over. The security at the dorms isn’t going to keep her safe.”

  “She’s not going to like that,” Cat stated, fear gripping her stomach. She had come to care for the kid. “And I’m not sure she’s any safer there.”

  “Maybe I’ll figure out what’s going on before your retreat ends. What, I have all of two days to find out who killed Danielle and why someone is trying to at least mess with Jessi.” He straightened his jacket. “I have to go back to my lists of possible suspects now. I was really betting on Keith for this whole thing. I need some sleep. Let’s button this up and all go to bed.”

  Cat nodded and watched as the police officers who had gone over her entire house in less than thirty minutes started returning to their cars. Her uncle was the last to leave. He paused as he closed the door and then pointed to the lock. Cat smiled. Uncle Pete used to do that when he came over for dinner on nights Michael was out of town. Now instead of just a lock on the door, she had a security system that sent alarms to their phones when something was happening.

  She didn’t feel much safer.

  * * *

  Friday morning, Cat was still lying in bed trying to push the sleep from her eyes when a knock sounded at her door. She sat up and grabbed her robe. Pulling it on, she moved toward the door. “Just a minute.”

  Standing outside her room was a visibly upset Jessi. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I really need to talk to someone. Cora’s nice, but she tries to fix everything. I just need a sounding board, do you mind?”

  Cat opened the door. “Come on in. Or we could go downstairs and grab coffee if you’d rather.”

  Jessi plopped down on the bench on the edge of Cat’s bed. “That’s okay. I couldn’t sleep last night, so I’m a little wired this morning. I’ll probably try to take a nap after the bookseller talks.”

  Cat smoothed the comforter over the bed and sat in the middle watching Jessi. “It’s your retreat.”

  “You always say that. Like we can just come into your life for a week and uproot it with no consequences.” Jessi pulled back her blond hair. “I’m so sorry my life has inconvenienced you this week.”

  Cat glanced at the clock. It wasn’t quite six a.m. Jessi was on a roll already this morning. “Don’t worry about me or Shauna or Seth. We’re here to make your week the best it can be. I’m sorry that life issues have made it hard for you to truly get into the retreat spirit. From money issues, boyfriend problems, and, of course, Danielle’s death, you’ve been a rock through this entire week. I’ll tell you that I wouldn’t have been able to be as calm and levelheaded as you’ve been.”

  Jessi laughed. “I don’t think Max would call our fight me being levelheaded.”

  Cat curled her legs up underneath her. “Relationships are hard. Especially when you’re betrayed. You didn’t grab a hand weight and try to hit him. I’d call that restrained.”

  “The last thing I needed w
as to attack someone. Then Chief Edmond would be inviting me to his jail retreat and really looking at me for Danielle’s death. I know he thinks I’m a spoiled rich kid, but honestly, the money doesn’t mean that much to me. I just want to be comfortable, you know?”

  Nodding, Cat knew exactly what Jessi was saying. Not that she’d ever had the chance to be one of the ultra-rich, but sometimes, that much money made more problems than it solved.

  Jessi continued. “Anyway, after that mess with someone trying to break in last night, I got to thinking that maybe someone was actually trying to kill me instead of Danielle. I haven’t asked your uncle—in fact, I’m kind of scared too—but what do you think? Am I in danger?”

  Cat thought about how to play this. The girl needed to know to protect herself, but she didn’t want to scare her on a maybe scenario. “Honestly? I don’t know. But I would be very careful about going off on your own until Uncle Pete gets this solved. You’re just going to call the bank today, right? Or maybe have the others come with you before lunch to visit the branch?”

  Jessi’s eyes widened. “I’d forgotten about that. Yeah, I guess I better handle that too. So much for a short nap for me.”

  “But you won’t go alone.” Cat watched the girl’s face.

  She held up a hand in some kind of salute. “I promise, on my honor, I will drag someone along with me to find out why the bank messed up my accounts.”

  “If the other women are busy, let me know. I’ll walk with you.” Cat couldn’t hide the yawn, but she covered most of it with her hand.

  “And that’s my clue to get out of here.” Jessi popped up off the bench.

  Cat stood too. “No, don’t go on my behalf. I’m just trying to wake up.”

  “I’m heading to the shower, then down for coffee. I’ve bugged you enough for the morning.” She gave Cat a quick hug. “Thank you for helping me calm down. I feel so much better after talking to you.”

  Cat closed the door and headed into the bathroom to get ready for the day. She wasn’t convinced that Jessi wasn’t in danger, but apparently her words had calmed Jessi. She needed to think about everything and maybe pop into the gym again and talk to Max. If he was just the no-good boyfriend, then he could go off the list, at least as far as Jessi’s safety was concerned.