by Bobbi Holmes
“This is a loving family,” Walt said aloud, watching Shane head to the stairs. A few minutes later, after Shane had gone downstairs, the middle brother, Henry, arrived at their grandmother’s side.
“Not exactly like we planned it. But this will do,” Henry said as he looked down at Agatha. When he knelt next to the dead woman, he picked up her hand.
“Don’t tell me you’re testing her pulse too?” Walt said in disgust. Just as he predicted, Henry felt for a pulse. When he couldn’t find one, he didn’t stop with the wrist.
Henry placed his fingers on her throat, and then he leaned closer and pressed an ear against her chest. When he was satisfied, he sat up and smiled down at Agatha.
“This is going to be an awesome summer!” Henry said in a whisper. “A new car first. I bet you’d want me to have a new car, wouldn’t you? After all, I was your favorite.” Henry grinned.
“This is quite touching how your family is reacting to your grandmother’s death,” Walt told Henry—who of course could not hear him.
“You know, Gran, I don’t mean to be greedy, but if it turns out you divided our inheritances equally, I’m going to be pissed. I expect to be repaid for the years of playing the dutiful grandson. Don’t disappoint me, old girl.” Henry turned from his grandmother and headed for the stairs.
Remembering what Shane had said about their sister, Walt decided to go downstairs and see if she and her husband were still in the house. Maybe Walt wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop on whatever Martha might say to her grandmother’s dead body, but she might say something while still at Marlow House that could be of help to the chief.
Walt found Martha and her husband, Dennis, standing together in the library with Joyce.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go up there?” Dennis was asking Martha when Walt arrived.
“I don’t want to see her like that!” Martha cringed. “I can see her one last time at the funeral home.”
“I think it’s ridiculous she’s being buried,” Joyce muttered.
“Mom, that was Gran’s wishes. She already made the arrangements. She wants to be buried near her parents.”
“It’s going to cost a fortune,” Joyce retorted. “I’d rather see if we can sell the plot and have her cremated. After all, I intend to be cremated.”
“Fortunately, Gran’s already paid for everything, so it won’t cost you anything.” Martha reached out and patted her mother’s hand.
TEN
“I thought you were looking forward to taking Lily to the fireworks tonight,” Kelly asked her brother. He sat in his dining room with Joe, having a beer, when she walked into the room. Kelly had just changed her clothes after returning from Marlow House.
“I was,” Ian said before taking a swig of beer. “Murder has a way of screwing up your plans.”
“You think she was murdered?” She sat down at the table. Grabbing Joe’s beer, she helped herself to a sip.
“I don’t know how she could have gotten upstairs by herself. And the grandson who took her up there is missing,” Ian reminded her. “Looks to me like someone got her to climb up the stairs, and then when no one was around, gave her a little shove. With someone that age, even a broken hip could be lethal.”
“Looks like it was her neck, not hip that was broken. But the unofficial word is a tragic accident,” Joe said.
“We know why that is,” Ian scoffed. “The chief is playing it close to the vest, doesn’t want the family to know they’re suspects.”
Joe shrugged. “All I know, Marlow House seems to be cursed. Maybe that blogger is onto something—the Missing Thorndike is cursed.”
Kelly looked at Joe and smiled. “I can’t believe you of all people is saying that. What happened to there is always a logical explanation?”
Joe shrugged again and snatched his beer back from Kelly. Before taking a sip, he said, “I’m beginning to think maybe some things defy logic.”
“One thing, Joyce Pruitt’s fortunes have taken a sudden change of direction,” Ian said.
Kelly stood up from the table. She walked to the nearby kitchen and grabbed herself a beer. As she sat back down, she said, “I heard she was really rich.”
“Her husband invented something. I can’t remember what it was,” Joe said. “But she’s lived with her daughter for as long as I’ve known her. She’s one of those rich people who doesn’t like to spend their own money. Kind of a polar opposite from Danielle.”
“Danielle, you think she’ll get sued?” Kelly asked.
“That’s what she has insurance for,” Ian said. “Although, I’d be surprised if Joyce would press a suit against her, especially considering she took off with Danielle’s coins, and Danielle has made it clear she didn’t want any charges pressed.”
“Of course, there is also the grandchildren. But I imagine they’ll be busy spending grandma’s money—or figuring out how to stay out of jail,” Joe said.
“I just feel horrible for Danielle. She really does have the worst luck!” Kelly looked at her brother. “You sure you don’t want to go with us to get something to eat? The restaurant has a great view of the fireworks.”
Ian shook his head. “No. I think I might go back over to Marlow House in a little bit. I need to talk to Lily.”
“THIS IS ABSOLUTELY the last July Fourth party I’m ever hosting!” Danielle said as she slammed the dishwasher shut and turned it on. Night had fallen in Frederickport, and the only people remaining at Marlow House were Danielle, Chris, Lily—and one spirit, Walt. The four gathered in the kitchen.
From the distance they heard a booming sound. Chris had just dumped some trash in the kitchen garbage can. He paused when he heard the boom, looking out the window. “Sounds like the fireworks have started.”
“And once again I’m missing them,” Danielle said as she poured herself a glass of wine. “Lily, Chris, you want a glass?”
Chris walked to the kitchen table and sat down. “Is it that good stuff?”
“Yep,” Danielle said as she filled her glass to the brim.
“I thought you’re only supposed to fill it halfway,” Lily teased.
“To heck with protocol. You want some?” Danielle asked from where she stood at the counter.
“Sure,” Lily and Chris said at the same time. They sat at the table, watching Danielle.
“Let me help you,” Walt said after Danielle filled the three glasses. He picked up Chris’s and Lily’s glasses and carried them to the table while Danielle brought hers and sat down.
“What did you do with Ian?” Chris asked Lily.
“I didn’t do anything with him,” Lily said as she sipped the wine.
“I thought you were going to the fireworks show? In fact, from what I recall, when we were all discussing it, Ian made it clear you two were going alone.”
Lily shrugged. “Yeah, I guess he found a new place to watch them from. He thought it would be kinda romantic if just the two of us went.”
“So why are you sitting here with us?” Chris asked.
Lily looked up at Chris and rolled her eyes. “Might have something to do with one of our guests dying today.”
Chris shrugged. “Not like you could do anything now. And let’s be honest, it wasn’t like Agatha Pine was someone you really knew—and from what I gather, if you knew her well, you probably wouldn’t like her.”
“But she did die here,” Danielle said. “And I understand why Lily decided not to go.” Danielle sipped her wine.
“I just figured I wanted to stick around in case we end up having another—” Lily looked across the table at where she imagined Walt sat. She was about to say ghost, but changed her mind. “—spirit around here. I’d like to know about it and not walk in on something I don’t understand. Anyway, Ian went out to dinner with his sister and Joe.”
NO ONE BOTHERED to turn on the kitchen’s porch light. Nor had the exterior lighting along the side and backyard of Marlow House been turned on. Yet light was coming from the kitchen, the
room brightly illuminated by the interior fixtures. Had those been turned off, Ian might have decided to walk to the front door instead of cutting through the side yard and entering through the kitchen. With the bright lights shining through the uncurtained kitchen windows, Ian easily made his way through the dark side yard. No one had bothered to lock the side gate.
He hadn’t brought Sadie with him. She remained back at his house across the street. When he reached the kitchen door, he looked in the window and saw Lily sitting at the kitchen table with Chris while Danielle stood at the counter. It looked as if she was pouring herself a glass of wine.
Ian was preparing to knock on the door and walk in when motion from the counter by Danielle caught his eye. Standing in the darkness, looking into the house, Ian’s eyes widened as two full glasses of wine floated up from the counter and then moved through the air to the kitchen table, where they landed—one in front of Chris and the second in front of Lily.
Unable to make himself move, Ian remained standing outside the window, looking into the house. He couldn’t grasp what he had just seen.
The creak of the side gate opening broke his concentration. Without thought, he moved farther into the darkness, hiding in the bushes. Looking toward the sound, he didn’t see anything, but he could hear footsteps making their way toward him in the darkness.
When the person reached the door, he was able to make out her identity—it was their neighbor Heather Donovan.
Standing on the kitchen porch, just a few feet from where Ian hid, Heather knocked on the door. A moment later, the door opened, and Heather entered the house.
Inching out from his hiding place, he peeked back inside through a window. Heather stood at the table and appeared to be talking to an empty chair. With a frown, Ian continued to watch. The chair appeared to move on its own, and then Heather sat down on it.
Motion from the counter caught Ian’s attention again. But this time, it was the bottle of wine and an empty wineglass floating across the room. The people sitting at the table—Danielle, Lily, Chris, and Heather—continued to chat as if nothing unusual had happened. None even flinched when the bottle of wine tipped slightly, filling the empty glass sitting before Heather.
“What the hell is going on?” Ian muttered.
“WELL, Larry isn’t there,” Dennis said as he drove away from the apartment his brother-in-law rented. His wife, Martha, sat in the passenger seat, and in the backseat was his mother-in-law, Joyce.
“You might as well take me home, Dennis. If Larry would answer his phone, we wouldn’t be running around town, trying to find him. I guess he’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out his grandmother died, or maybe he’ll hear it on the radio,” Joyce said.
“You really think that’s what happened?” Martha asked her mother, referring to the possible scenario they had discussed, regarding Larry’s sudden disappearance.
“I’m sure it is,” Joyce said. “He probably helped Mother upstairs, and then they got into another argument. Like Shane told us, he heard them arguing earlier at my house. He probably left her upstairs, figured someone would help her, and he just took off. Larry was always impulsive like that.”
Ten minutes later they were at Joyce’s house.
“Are you sure you want to be alone?” Martha asked her mother. She stood at the front door of Joyce’s house with Dennis, preparing to leave. “You could always spend the night at our house tonight.”
Joyce shook her head and smiled. “Don’t be silly. I’ll be fine here.”
“But you’ll be all alone. Gran has always been here. Maybe you shouldn’t be alone tonight,” Martha said.
Joyce reached out and patted her daughter’s hand reassuringly. “Yes, dear, she always has. But she isn’t now. Mother lived a nice long life. Any of us should be so lucky. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. You two go. In fact, I think you can probably make the fireworks show.”
“Fireworks?” Martha gasped. “Mom, I can’t go watch fireworks after Gran died today!”
“Gran is fine, dear. She has simply moved on to be with my father. I’m sure she’s very happy.”
“You’re so strong!” Martha said before giving her mother a hug goodbye.
Ten minutes later, after Martha and Dennis drove away, Joyce walked into her mother’s room, carrying several large trash bags. Turning on the overhead light, Joyce stood in the room, balled fists resting on her hips while still clutching the trash bags. She glanced around, surveying her mother’s belongings.
“So here’s the question, Mother. Do I bother fixing up this house, like I have always wanted to, or should I sell it and buy something better? Maybe a house right on the beach.”
Tossing the trash bags on the bed, Joyce opened the closet door and began pulling her mother’s clothes from their hangers and throwing them onto the floor in a pile. After she had removed all the clothes from the closet, she began opening the dresser drawers, emptying them. When she was finished, she picked up one of the trash bags, opened it, and began shoving the clothes she had piled on the floor into the bag.
ELEVEN
The blogger sat down at the computer and stared at the monitor. “People are going to think I’m clairvoyant.” A moment later the blogger began typing.
The curse of the Missing Thorndike strikes again…
“I HOPE this guy isn’t trying to make a living off his blog. He’s a crappy writer,” Kelly said when Ian walked into his living room on Sunday morning. Kelly sat cross-legged on his sofa, wearing yoga pants and a green T-shirt, her laptop computer turned on and propped on her lap. Sprawled out on the floor next to the sofa was Sadie, who lifted her head when her human entered the room.
Carrying a cup of coffee, his hair uncombed, Ian took a seat across from his sister and sipped his drink. Shirtless, all he wore was a pair of navy blue pajama bottoms. “What are you talking about?”
Kelly glanced up from the computer. “That anonymous blogger behind Mystery of Marlow House. He posted again last night.” She glanced back down at the monitor. “He’s not a very good writer, but I’m starting to wonder, he might be clairvoyant.”
“Clairvoyant?” Ian leaned back in the recliner; its footrest popped up.
Looking back to her brother, she asked, “Have you read the blog lately?”
“No.” Ian sipped his coffee.
“He made a post right before Danielle’s party and predicted someone was going to get killed at Marlow House on the Fourth. And looked what happened. Someone did get killed.”
Ian shook his head and mumbled, “I don’t want to deal with this right now.”
Kelly frowned at her brother. “Deal with what?”
“I just have a lot on my mind right now.” Ian pushed the footrest down and set his feet back on the floor in front of his recliner.
“I thought you’d find this interesting.”
“Like I said, I have a lot on my mind.”
Closing her laptop, Kelly set it on the sofa next to her and eyed her brother. “Did you and Lily have a fight or something last night?”
“Fight? Why do you ask that?” Ian set his now empty mug on the side table and then leaned back in the chair.
Kelly shrugged. “I don’t know. You said you were going over there last night, and now you say you have a lot on your mind. I just wondered if something happened between you and Lily.”
“I didn’t go over there last night,” Ian lied.
“You didn’t?”
“I changed my mind. Decided to turn in early.”
Kelly glanced over to the window. “I wonder how they’re doing over there today? Why don’t we go see? I bet Danielle would be interested in this blog post.”
“I imagine Danielle can find it on her own.”
“Does that mean you don’t want to go over there?” Kelly frowned.
Ian stood up. “I have some work I need to finish this morning. But first, I need to take a shower.” He turned from Kelly. Just as he reached the doorway leading to
the hall, his cellphone began to ring. Pausing a moment, he pulled his phone out of the pocket of his pajama bottoms and looked at it. Instead of answering it, he disconnected the call.
“Telemarketers?” Kelly asked playfully.
“Yeah, something like that,” Ian muttered as he left the room.
Fifteen minutes later, Kelly headed for the guest room to get dressed. She paused at Ian’s open bedroom door. She could hear his shower running in the master bath. She spied his cellphone sitting on his dresser. Curious, she entered the room and picked up his phone.
“I can’t believe you’re using that same password,” she muttered under her breath as she logged into his phone. For a brief moment she glanced guiltily to the doorway leading to the bathroom, and then looked back at the phone, curious about the call he hadn’t answered.
Wow, you didn’t answer Lily’s call. What is going on with you two?
Kelly went straight to the guest room and got dressed. When she came out, Ian’s bedroom door was now closed, and she didn’t hear the shower running. Hurrying to the front door before Ian came out of his room, she was greeted by Sadie.
“Sorry, girl,” Kelly said as she gently pushed the dog away from the front door. “You have to stay here.”
“HEY, Kelly,” Lily greeted when she opened the front door. Glancing over Kelly’s shoulder, she asked, “Isn’t Ian with you?”
