Murder in the Grand Manor

by Tom Hoke

  Without a word Jim led them into his room.

  He looked under the bed. Jerry Duprey was among those missing.

  "I thought you were looking for Jerry Duprey?"

  Janet offered.

  "I still am." Jim rose. "Ladies, shall we go?"

  If Jerry went of his own free will or was forcibly removed, there was only one place to find him. Jim stalked down the dreary hall to the back stairs. They followed him up to Mrs.

  Benning's rooms. He opened the door softly.

  From Mrs. Benning's inner bedroom a weak light showed. Jim switched off the flashlight, put one of Aunt Annie's hands in Janet's and took the other. Walking quietly through the middle of the room they reached the half open door of Mrs. Benning's bedroom.

  Chapter 15

  The candlelight from Mrs. Benning's boudoir flickered on a gruesome scene. Lying on the bare mattress with each hand and foot tied to the four posters of the bed with heavy rope cutting into his flesh was Beau Mitchell.

  Or what was left of Beau Mitchell.

  Jerry Duprey stood over Mitchell, holding a bloody knife in his hand. Sweat ran down his face. He was completely unaware of their presence.

  Beau Mitchell wasn't dead yet, but he was going to be very soon. He had been cut up good, crossways and up and down, and the bed was saturated with his blood. Even though he must have known his number was up, he was ferociously contemptuous of death.

  His eyes were focused on Jerry Duprey. He struggled to get words out. Blood came with them.

  "You double-crossed me on that candy shipment, Duprey. How many others came here?" he whispered. He tried to laugh, but his mouth was a grimace of blood. Then the guy was dead.

  Looking through the open doorway at his ex-employer, Mitchell wasn't anymore appealing dead than alive. But nobody should have cut up Beau Mitchell like that. It wasn't sane!

  Aunt Annie and Janet were rooted to the doorway barely breathing, their eyes wide with horror. Jim let go of Janet's hand and slid silently into the room with his gun in hand and groped his way into the closet, never taking his eyes from Jerry's back. He could see Aunt Annie and Janet through the opening and Jerry through the crack between the hinges of the door.

  Jerry dropped the knife when he realized Mitchell was dead, and he stared at the blood on his palm. Then he turned and became aware of the women who were transfixed in the doorway. Jim didn't have time to concern himself with their feelings. He was dealing with insanity wherever it was. Both women took their eyes from Beau Mitchell and stared at Jerry Duprey.

  The wind was gone. There was only the rain from Bertha's outer bands. Jerry's voice was a scream, "I didn't do it. I didn't do it!" he kept mouthing. "I had the shipment sent here…," he pointed to the candy box on the dresser, but his eyes were on the door. "Someone took it."

  He looked dazed with shock. "I didn't kill him!" he kept on burbling. Then suddenly he backed against the wall. "I didn't tell him. I

  didn't tell Mitchell." His voice had changed to stark terror.

  Janet's head started to turn. Then she went rigid. Aunt Annie leaned weakly against the sill, but her head was up and turned toward Jim. Her eyes were trying to tell him something and her mouth worked in her white face. Then all hell broke loose!

  Behind the two women in the doorway was Lena, her hat awry, her eyes wild. But the pistol in her hand meant business. Beside her was the bristly watchdog. She spoke to him in French, but her tone was to that of a dog. She pushed the two women ahead of her into the room. The watchdog's hand held a knife, a twin to the one Jerry had dropped. Apparently he had used them both on Beau Mitchell.

  Lena had her eyes on Jerry Duprey, the insane, crafty opaque black eyes of a fanatic lunatic.

  Annie and Janet were out of sight.

  Sweat streamed down Jim’s face. He could have shot Lena then, but he had to listen to her words to complete the puzzle.

  "You are a fool Jerome Duprey!" She spat at him. "But you are not a brave fool like Edith Benning." Her voice rose. "Tell me where the shipment is, or I'll have Emile cut you to pieces like he did your friend on the bed!"

  Jerry groveled against the wall. "Don't kill me.

  I don't know! I don't know!" His voice matched her scream.

  "Tell me where it is," she commanded, ignoring his words. "I know Edith found it and hid it.

  She almost told me. But in the end she wouldn't tell that one on the bed either. She said she would rather die first. She did."

  Aunt Annie interrupted her. Now there was a woman with true guts. "I have known you for years, Lena. Put that gun down. You need to rest." Aunt Annie's voice was quavering. What a way to run a bluff!

  Lena didn't turn her head. She said without emotion, "I tried to get you to leave. It's too late now. You are a fool too. You have never known me!"

  Lena drew herself up. "I am a Corsican. I have used up my patience. You will all die. I killed the fat bellboy and the man on the bed. What is one more body?" Then she suggested,

  "Perhaps this will be best. If I shoot the two women, Duprey, you will know I intend to have the shipment NOW! I will have Emile slash you as I had him slash Edith Benning's portrait of Napoleon. Then you will tell me!"

  Jim knew she was completely insane as she looked suspiciously around the room. "Where is he Annie? Where is your nephew. Where is he?" She had finally gotten around to missing him.

  Janet answered before Aunt Annie could.

  "He's dead. A hot wire dangled from the power lines in back!" She put her all into that speech, but it was a waste of time. Lena was too far gone. Lena and her cohort were standing inside the doorway.

  Duprey was whining, "I don't know where it is.

  I don't know! It's someplace in the hotel. I'll help you find it!"

  Lena turned her gun to the left. Now she was laughing hysterically. She couldn't be aiming for anyone but Janet. Jim was counting on her making a mistake. She did. She took a step forward, stumbled over one of Edith Benning's doorstops, and trying to regain her footing, she fell. He opened the door fast and saw her head hit the solid wood of the bed. The gun she held flew out of her hand to the left. Jim let her bristly friend have one round in the leg.

  Dropping the knife, he pitched forward and withered on the floor screaming in agony. Jim dove on Lena's prostrate form, but it wasn’t necessary. Janet had quickly picked up Lena's gun, and Lena was out cold.

  He put Lena's hands behind her and Aunt Annie knelt over her and calmly roped her hands with the purple cord from her pince-nez glasses.

  Duprey didn't seem to clue in on all that had happened. His hysterical voice filled the room.

  "I don't know where they hid the shipment. I thought my Aunt had it in the cemetery. She said something about markers."

  All the bells in Jim’s head went off at once. He had thought the letter from Mrs. Benning had said markets because her handwriting was so poor. It actually had said markers. The funny thing was, she was not even talking about the shipment of dope!

  He stood. "Shut up, Duprey," he yelled.

  "Maybe you don't know where the shipment is, but I do!" Duprey's mouth stayed open as he stared at Jim. "Janet and I found it in the shed when the storm tore away a piece of the wall.

  It looks like Mrs. Benning and the bellboy did a good job of hiding it from everyone."

  The hurricane was over outside and inside the Grand Manor. He noticed out one of the windows the Numismatist, Mr. Reese, had jumped into his rental car and sped off. He must have found out about the bellboy's corpse in the freezer downstairs and decided it was time to depart, especially since all the hotel records had disappeared in the storm.

  Apparently other guests had the same idea, and the hotel emptied quickly.

  Jim pulled a clear out-to-lunch Lena to her feet.

  "Let's get out of here. I need to parlay with the law. You go first, Duprey."

  Janet spotted the little red coin book Edith Benning had checked out of the library several days before she died. She slip
ped it into her purse.

  Jerry Duprey walked with a shudder past the dead man, followed by a silent Aunt Annie.

  Jim pushed Lena ahead, along with her wounded companion, and he put one arm around Janet's waist, and left the room without turning around.

  Chapter 16

  After the Bay St. Louis police finished their questioning and carted away Jerry Duprey, Lena, her friend, assorted bodies, and the remainder of the shipment of heroin, Jim was alone at last with Janet.

  "Well toots," that was kind of wild but fun, don't you think?"

  She held up a twenty dollar gold piece for him to admire. "This was in the coin book. This was the marker Edith Benning was referring to in her letter to the coin dealer. She was talking about two markers, and this was one of them.

  The other must have been at the grave site you visited." She paused and let him examine the stunning gold coin dated 1861. He noticed the entire date was full and clear, not like the coins Mr. Reese said were in existence today with a flaw at the bottom of the 8 and 6. This had apparently been minted in January, 1861 and was one of the original 5,000 which were exchanged for British sovereigns before they disappeared.

  "I'll bet the other marker is the gravestone that was twisted downward. It looked like someone sat on it," he suggested.

  "Are you thinking what I am?" Janet looked at him with a broadening smile on her sweet face.

  "Edith Benning located the treasure and she never told anyone even though she tried to tell Duprey." He looked at Janet in astonishment.

  "If that's true, then the rest of the treasure must be buried beneath the grave marker. Let's go!"

  Janet ran for his car with Jim giving chase.

  Three weeks later in Chicago, a black Chevrolet Camaro pulled up to a parking meter one block before Coin World's numismatic headquarters. A little old lady in a bright yellow dress stepped out and made her way up the street to the entrance. She was buzzed through the dimly lit door by someone on the inside.

  "Hello! Can you help me? I have some coins that have been in my family for generations, and I would like to sell them if they have any value." She looked at the fat man with a beard who approached her.

  "Maybe you can tell me what these coins are worth," she announced hesitantly, as she unceremoniously dumped a small faded bag onto the counter for the owner to examine. "I hope you won't cheat me," she admonished him softly with a wink.

  "We are registered coin dealers, madam. We don't cheat anybody."

  After examining the coins, with one hand over his heart he offered: "Honestly, these coins are in beautiful condition, but they will be hard to sell. I'll give you $7,000 for the 1861-O $20 gold pieces, and I'll give you $500 for each of the 1861-O silver half dollars. That's the best I can do." With practiced patience he watched her squirm.

  "I have a coin book here", she replied with a firm set to her voice. The dealer easily noticed the red book she held in her hand was printed four years earlier. Also, he noticed it said:

  "Property of the Bay St. Louis Library" in bold black letters stamped on the inside front cover.

  "And what does your coin book show?" asked the salesman.

  "It indicates right here the gold coins I have are worth $10,000 each, and the silver half dollars are worth $1,000 each. Now what do you say to that?" She glared at him.

  "O.K., I'll give you $9,000 for each of the gold coins and $900 for the silver half dollars. The best thing is I will give you cash right now.

  You won't even have to register your social security number, pay taxes, or anything." The coin man had her now.

  "Well, young man, I want you to know I will take the cash, but I always pay taxes, and I want to give you a social security number just for the records so I won't get in any trouble later."

  With that she gave him the social security number, signed the receipt, picked up the cash, and left. Walking quickly back to the Camaro, she eagerly entered the wide-open back door.

  "How did it go Aunt Annie?" Janet Wharton and Jim Smith asked in unison.

  "Well, I'm getting better at selling because this time I got a higher price, but I have a lot to learn, don't I?" She laughed as she added the money to the almost full box in the back seat.

  "O.K. gang, now we have four more coin dealers to see today, so let's get cracking!"

  Aunt Annie smiled as she filled her little bag again, then added, "Once they discover Lena's social security number leads them to a Mississippi prison they may want their money back!"

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