I had to agree on that, but lucky for us, the coroner wasn’t a bit close-lipped.
“There are costumes on your beds for you to change into. I haven’t seen 30s era clothing in quite some time, but my mother sure had a chest full of it. It was great for playing dress up,” Elsie explained.
I raised a brow, and Eleanor and I went in search of the costumes that she spoke about. When I walked into my room, Caroline was hiding behind the door. “That ghost dog won’t quit. I had quite the time losing him.”
“I see. Well, where did these costumes come from?” I asked, indicating the black flapper dress that was lying on my bed.
“I thought you might like it.”
I picked it up and admired the sequins and fringe. “I love it. Thanks, Caroline.”
Once I had dressed and strolled into the hallway, Eleanor surfaced from her room dressed in a matching flapper dress—hers in red—that made her skin appear even more pale than normal. To make up for it, bright rouge was smeared on both of her cheeks with blue eye shadow swept on her eyelids.
Eleanor adjusted her headband appropriately and asked, “What do you think?”
I thought how much I really wanted to take a better look at the picture hidden in my drawer, but with Caroline lurking so close, I didn’t think it was the best of ideas. I couldn’t help but wonder if Caroline knew more than she was letting on.
“Looks great, but I must say that Caroline was responsible for our costumes.”
“How, I wonder?”
“Beats me, Eleanor, but she might have clothing on hand. Last time I checked, there was a closet full of it in the room where Peterson found that suitcase.”
Eleanor strode up the hallway and waltzed into the room, whipping open the door of the closet, but instead of the 30s clothing I had seen earlier, two people yanked us from behind. A lever was then pushed and we were all propelled into the corridor hidden behind the wall.
The beam of the flashlight shone in my eyes and I blinked repeatedly. Sure enough, it was Len McGroovy and the female I had knocked unconscious the other day.
“Great, this has worked out much better than I had hoped,” Len said. “Now you can help us.”
“Help you how?” I asked.
“Help us find the money, of course. Katherine has been holding back for some time. I worked out the deal with her some time ago, but instead of turning the money over to me, she decided to swindle me, too.”
“Well, Len. That’s just awful, but it really has nothing to do with me.”
“Us,” chimed in Eleanor. “She keeps forgetting about me.”
The woman took a hold of my arm. “Hey, now. Aren’t you my daughter in-law?”
“Stuart really needs to keep his yap shut.”
I wished I could take it back when Len pulled a gun from his belt and pointed it at the woman. “Is that right, Mona? Are you plotting against me?”
“Of course not! We’re a team, remember?”
“I don’t recall saying that exactly. Now that I to think about it, you let Stuart and his loud-mouthed mother go.”
“I did not. She attacked me with her purse. I was knocked out.”
“Your purse, Aggie?” Eleanor asked. “Whatever did you have inside it?”
“Rolled coins—like, thirty dollars’ worth.”
“Smart move. I personally like to carry a pistol, but unfortunately I’ve left it back in my room.”
“Enough with the jibber jabber,” Len threatened. “Get moving, the three of you.”
“I swear, Len. I’ve not betrayed you.”
“And I suppose you’ll tell me you don’t work for the FBI, either.”
“I … I … No.”
Some special agent she was, caving like that. “I’m sure she’s no good, just like you, Len.”
“We’ve been all over this place and there isn’t any money,” Eleanor added.
“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll kill you right here.”
I gulped. “There’re a few places we haven’t looked, I suppose,” I said. “But the mansion will be full soon since it’s the grand opening of the bed and breakfast.”
“Which makes me wonder why Katherine would hole up here.”
“Perfect cover, I suppose. If she hadn’t died so unexpectedly, we’d have been working with her to ready the mansion, but I suppose since you murdered her, you’ll never find the money.”
“I didn’t murder her. I was here that day, but she was long gone when I found her upstairs on the third floor.”
My wheels turned. The third floor is the same floor that Eleanor and I had seen a ghost walking toward, or at least that’s where I felt she was going. “So how exactly did she get from the third floor to the main floor?”
“I didn’t want the cops tearing up that third floor room. They might have found the money if she had hidden it there. I barely escaped that day”
“Did you check the room where she was staying?”
“Of course I did, but I had to make my great escape when the cops showed up. Luckily, Katherine had told me about the secret passageway she found.”
I glanced around. “I suppose the money might be in here somewhere.”
“My bet is on the third floor,” Eleanor suggested. “Of course, it’s dangerous up there. I wonder how Katherine really died.”
I could see where Eleanor was going with this. Eleanor had nearly lost her life in that room. That was, until the ghosts of the Butler Mansion had other plans. They had warned me that day, and I had freed Eleanor from the ropes before she could be propelled out the window to her death. Yes, we had to get Len up there. If Katherine had been frightened to death, perhaps Len could be, too.
“Hand over your pistol, Mona,” Len said in a menacing tone. “I’m not about to let you get the drop on me.”
“Len, you can’t think that I actually work for the FBI. You always said I’m not that bright.”
“I beg to differ. You’re smarter than I gave you credit for. Convincing a couple of old bats to help you is one for the record books.”
“I’m not—”
“We’re not,” I added.
“Besides, she already pulled a gun on Stuart and me once. You can’t think we’d be in cahoots with her,” I said.
“Would you all just shut up? We’re going go back through the passageway and make our way to the third floor. If Katherine had died there, she must have hidden something up there.”
“Unless she heard noises,” Eleanor added. “You do know this place is majorly haunted, don’t you?”
“I’ve been in and out of this place on many occasions, including that day you two showed up—the day after Katherine died. I hid in the passageway that day, too. Lucky for me, I was able to slip from the mansion undetected.”
“Was it you who took the suitcase we found that day?”
“Yes, but it didn’t have anything in it but clothing.”
He was slick, this one. He had hidden in the passageway while Eleanor and I were going through Katherine’s suitcase, and stole it while we were outside with the sheriff. That really gave me the chills. Eleanor and I were in more danger that day than we realized.
“So you’re quite an escape artist,” I said. “If you try to escape now you’ll probably get away. If not, my son, Stuart, will show up to make the arrest. You’ll wind up in some prison cell.”
“Federal prison is a piece of cake next to the state prison system, but I won’t be seeing any prison cell after I find the money. You’ll all be quite dead, though.”
“Isn’t running a Ponzi scheme enough of an offense?”
“Actually, Katherine was the one running the scheme. You won’t find my name anywhere, and if I let any of you live, I’ll go down for sure.”
He pushed us ahead of him and whispered that if any of us said a word, he’d kill us on the spot. I noted that his revolver had a silencer, so I wasn’t willing to risk his threats, nor put the lives of my friends downstairs into jeopardy. I prayed that
they wouldn’t come looking for us upstairs.
We silently moved into the room and up the hallway to the stairs that led to the third floor. Caroline appeared and led the way like she knew where we were going. I wanted to scream for her to do something, anything, to show herself, but she’s just a ghost, after all, and I can’t see any ghost frightening Len to death like one may have frightened Katherine.
Eleanor and I climbed the steps first and kept to the back of the room, far from the third floor window from which several people had fallen to their deaths. Of course, now there should not be anything to cause anyone to fall from the window, unless they were pushed.
Len instructed us to begin our search and we started with the bookshelves nearest to us, flopping books to the floor with a loud bang. I then shrugged as Len pointed his gun menacingly toward me.
“Do something,” I said to Caroline.
“What am I supposed to do? I’m a ghost.”
“Rattle something like you did the dining room table.”
“Who are you talking to?” Len asked.
“Caroline, she’s a ghost. She sorta attached herself to me when I had a car accident.”
He laughed. “You really are off your rocker. Everyone knows there is no such thing as—”
“Ghosts?” I said.
Try as I might, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to will ghosts to appear. This was one of those moments when I knew we were in dire straits. If something didn’t happen, and quick, we’d all be goners.
The shelf across from us began to rattle, knocking a jar down. When it smashed to the floor, three apparitions appeared, one of which became a black mist that bounced off wall after wall with a wailing sound. Eleanor and I hugged each other, not because I was afraid of the ghosts. Quite the contrary. I felt they were trying to help us, although the way Len was waving his pistol bothered me to no end. I certainly hoped that he didn’t think bullets would stop ghosts.
“It’s a banshee,” Eleanor shrieked.
“Make it stop!” he screamed.
“You make it stop. There’s no such thing as ghosts, remember?”
His eyes bulged and he cracked off a shot. Mona knocked us to the ground, sheltering us with her body, but I watched from beneath one of her arms as the bullet ricocheted, striking Len in the middle of his forehead. The three ghosts hovered for a moment, one of them saying, “Serves you right for disturbing us.” They then turned into a black mist and disappeared into a picture of two elderly ladies and an old man, none of whom I recognized.
“I bet those are the same ghosts that helped us the last time,” I said. Staring down at the broken jar and dust, I added, “This might be their ashes.”
“Oh, no. All Butler descendants have to be buried in the cemetery, remember?”
“I completely forgot about that, Eleanor.”
Mona stood up and helped us up as well. “I’m so glad you ladies are unhurt. I sure wouldn’t want to try and explain to Stuart about how I had allowed his mother to be murdered.”
“So you do work for the FBI after all?”
“Yes, I’ve been undercover for quite a while. Stuart—”
Before she could say anything further, Andrew and Stuart burst into the room, each wanting to save the day for totally different reasons. Andrew, because I was his beloved, and Stuart, because he was on the case of a Ponzi scheme that involved both Katherine and Len.
“Are you okay, Agnes?” Andrew asked, taking me into his arms.
“Oh, yes, but you sure could have gotten here sooner. On second thought, I’m glad you didn’t, but how did you know I was in danger?”
“When I arrived and couldn’t find either or you, I just knew something was amiss, but then I heard the gunshot … I knew you were in trouble. I ran into Stuart on the way up here.”
“Mona’s wearing a wire,” Stuart explained. “It was hardly the time to tell Andrew to stay back, but I have an idea he wouldn’t have listened anyway.”
“You got that right, Stuart,” Andrew said.
Mona patted Stuart on the back. “Your mother is one smart cookie. I’d work with her anytime.”
Stuart rubbed his neck. “Please don’t encourage her. I’ve been trying to convince her to give up her investigative ways.”
Mona chuckled at that. “Len has been coming back here to look for the money that Katherine had swindled, but it appears he didn’t have anything to do with her death. He admitted that when he found her, she was already dead.”
“You weren’t with him that day?” I asked.
“No. I was back at the motel. I hadn’t met up with him until later that day.”
“So how did she die?” Stuart asked.
“Actually, I believe she was scared to death. We spoke to the coroner and he admitted that she died of natural causes. He told us it was completely plausible that she had died from an excess of adrenalin.”
Stuart scratched his head. “She died how?”
“Adrenaline overload,” Mona said. “I’ve heard about it, but I never heard of anyone who was verified of dying that way. I wonder if Len showing up caused her to die. He was the one in charge of funneling funds though a third party, but it looks like we’ve really hit the wall this time. I doubt that Len has any incriminating documents that would tell us if anyone else was involved.”
“He’s too smart for that,” I agreed. “He even mentioned that his name wasn’t on anything.” So was this the end of it or not? “I’m thinking that Katherine was scared to death because she saw a ghost. Since she was up here, just maybe the money is hidden up here somewhere.”
Stuart shook his head. “A what? Ghost, you say? There’s no such thing as—”
“Shhh,” Eleanor and I said, echoing one another. “You wouldn’t like to see them, I assure you. When Len fired a shot at the ghosts though, it ricocheted and killed him dead.”
“I see. I think I’ll leave the ghost part out of my report, if you don’t mind.”
“I can write it up excluding the mention,” Mona said. “By the way, my real name is Moraine.”
“Our friends, Jack Winston and Elsie Bradford, were both conned out of their money.” I went on to say the exact amounts, and Stuart made a call via his cell. Soon sirens were sounding off as cop cars tore into the driveway. I wanted to stay and help Stuart look for the money, but they shooed us off.
By the time we had made it downstairs, the first trick or treater’s were at the door. Sara sauntered her way there, giving a clown and cowboy two large candy bars each and, just like the proper actress, she never let them see her sweat.
Sheriff Peterson strode in the door asking what happened, and I explained to him as best I could—excluding the ghost part.
“So how did Katherine really die?” I asked Peterson.
“Coroner says it was natural causes, heart attack.”
I stared him down. “Why did the news report that there was on ongoing investigation?”
“Well, when we found out she wasn’t who we thought she was, we put everything on hold. We really were trying to figure out who she was. I had no idea there was an ongoing FBI investigation until much later. I wasn’t at liberty to discuss the case further. Unfortunately, the coroner didn’t understand that.”
“I see. I can’t say I blame him entirely, but I suppose he has a job to do and so do you.”
Caroline was nowhere in sight and I really wondered if she’d found her way to the other side, but there was so much more I had to check out.
Sara’s eyes now were quite wide and I asked her if she was okay.
“Okay? A man was murdered upstairs and you expect me to be okay? I’ll be lucky if this place makes it a year. Who wants to spend the night in a murder house?”
“It’s already been a murder house, Sara,” I said. “And Len’s death was accidental. If he hadn’t cracked off that shot, it would never have ricocheted and killed him.”
“What did it ricochet off of anyway?” Trooper Sales asked as he lingered in the b
ackground.
“Beats me. I’m just glad that Eleanor and I will live to tell the tale.”
Caroline’s absence really began to bother me, and I went in search of her just as Mona and Stuart came up the stairs, bringing the cops with them to the third floor. I wasn’t sure, but I hoped the ghosts—whoever they were—decided to play nice and stay inside the picture frame from which they were wont to appear. All I knew was that they’d saved us in a big way once again.
Chapter Fourteen
I stared at the picture frame with interest. The man wore a black tuxedo from the 30s era. His hair was slicked back and he had a twinkle in his eyes. I sat in the drawing room while everyone else was in the dining room chatting. The cops had left hours ago, an ambulance carting off Len’s body to the morgue. After over half an hour, Sara batted her eyelashes the right way while speaking to Sheriff Peterson so that the mansion wouldn’t be considered a crime scene. After a thorough search of the third floor, no money was found. Stuart and Moraine, along with a slew of federal agents, convened on the cemetery after the money wasn’t found in the mansion. Luckily, they left the mansion intact. Andrew made sure of that, claiming his client, Sara, had been through quite enough already.
“Who are you?” I asked the man.
I felt a breeze move my hair slightly and I looked up, making my way to the window. When I glanced outside, I saw a van parked well away from the mansion, and with my iPhone in hand, I made my way outside. An owl hooted nearby as I approached the van, my cell’s flashlight my only resource. When I was at the van, I cupped my hands around my face, trying to see inside. In was then that the door moved slightly. I tried the door and found it was unlocked. My nostrils flared at the chemical smell inside, and after I swept my flashlight along the interior, I realized this van belonged to the cleaners. It was then that I also caught sight of a wheelchair. It would seem that Robert wasn’t as wheelchair-bound as he seemed. His wheelchair was here, but he wasn’t.
Madison Johns - Agnes Barton Paranormal 01 - Haunted Hijinks Page 13
