Ghost in the Gallery

by Kathi Daley

  “I’m heading in. I’ll talk to Georgia and update the chalkboard,” I offered. “You just take care of making sure the heaters work and the tables are in good repair.”

  After I spoke to Georgia and updated the chalkboard with the dinner event, I headed back to the cottage. Georgia had a nice dinner planned for the guests, but I’d left a message for Colt asking him to come by if he was able. I still clung to the hope that he would despite the fact I hadn’t heard back from him. Deciding to try his cell again, I let it ring five times and expected to get his voicemail once again when he answered.

  “Abby. I’m so sorry I didn’t call you back. It’s been a crazy day.”

  I leaned a hip against the counter. “I understand. I hoped you could come to the cottage for dinner tonight. Georgia and Amy are planning a formal meal for the guests, but I thought the two of us could slum it and just eat out on my little deck.”

  He paused. I thought he was going to claim to be too busy, but when he finally spoke, I found him agreeing to my idea. “Do you have something, or should I pick up take out?”

  “I can grab something from the kitchen. I think there are ribs and slaw leftover from last night’s dinner. Ainsley left early, Alaric was in town for dinner last evening, and the other guests hadn’t arrived yet, so it was just Jeremy, Annabelle, Georgia, Amy, and me. We had a lot of food left, and it was delicious.”

  “It sounds delicious. The food you serve at the inn always is.”

  “I’m pretty sure I saw baked beans in the refrigerator as well. I have wine, but if you want beer, you might want to pick some up. I think Jeremy and Tanner finished off what we had after they strung the electrical for the band. Are you still planning to be here this weekend?”

  “I am unless I have a break in my murder case or something unforeseen happens. I’ll pick up some beer.” He blew out a breath. “I’m really looking forward to this. It’s been a long day at the end of a long week.”

  After I hung up, I headed over to the inn to raid the refrigerator. I liked to share dinner with our guests occasionally, and I made an effort to be there for breakfast, but most of the time, I ate in the cottage at the end of the day. There might be those who would argue that as the owner of the inn, I should play hostess for every meal, but the truth of the matter was that I liked my privacy and really needed quiet time mixed into my daily schedule. Between Georgia and Jeremy, they took care of the cooking, serving, and clean up, so I mostly just picked and chose when to join the guests and when to eat alone.

  “Looking for a snack?” Georgia asked after I opened the large refrigerator we kept at the inn and began digging around.

  “No. Colt is coming to dinner when he gets off, so I’m just going to heat up the leftovers from last night and eat in the cottage. Is there any of that broccoli salad left?”

  “Yes, in the storage container with the orange lid. We have ribs, baked beans, slaw, and corn as well.”

  I continued to dig around and select the items I wanted. Once I’d taken them from the refrigerator, Georgia began to box everything up.

  “I was thinking about asking Jeremy to cover dinner one night next week. Maybe Tuesday. I think we only have a couple guests on Tuesday, and I’m sure Amy would be thrilled to help him.”

  “Sounds fine with me if it’s okay with Jeremy,” I answered. “Do you have specific plans?”

  “Just dinner with Tanner. We haven’t had a lot of time together lately, and I feel like we need some time to really talk.”

  “Did you work out the marriage thing?” I asked, suspecting they had since Georgia seemed to have stopped avoiding him.

  “We did. He told me that a buddy of his got into his head and pretty much convinced him that despite what I’d said, what I wanted was what every woman wanted.”

  “Marriage and babies,” I said.

  She nodded. “Tanner knows better, but I guess his friend really worked him over, and by the time he was done with him, he’d convinced Tanner that he was going to lose me if he didn’t keep the relationship moving forward. I reminded him that I’d been upfront with him since the beginning about the fact that I wasn’t looking for either marriage or children at this point in my life. I love the life I’ve built here. I love the inn, and I love my little cooking show. I love living with you in the cottage, and I like knowing that I’m not legally tied to anyone who can take all that away from me.”

  “And he was okay with that?” I asked as I opened the pantry in search of the leftover chocolate cake from last night.

  “He seemed to be. He has his own life as well. He has his dogs and his trainers. Neither of us is looking to make any changes. At least I’m not. I guess part of the reason I really want to talk to him is to make certain that he actually feels about things the way I think he does.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.” I opened the freezer. “Is there any ice cream to go with this leftover cake?”

  “In the big freezer in the storage room. You can grab it on your way back to the cottage.”

  I closed the freezer and looked into the box Georgia had packed. It looked like I’d gotten everything I wanted to take to the cottage.

  “Did Colt mention if he’d made any progress on his murder case?” Georgia asked.

  “No. I only spoke to him for a minute, but I’m hoping to get an update tonight. Is Nikki still hanging out at the gallery now that Damian is no longer the draw?”

  “She is,” Georgia confirmed. “She comes in, does the cleaning I assign her for the day and then heads into town. She mentioned several times that the gallery has been busy. It seems that having a murder on the property is a big draw. And then there’s the whole ghost thing. I would think that most adults would realize that the gallery doesn’t actually have a ghost, but there have been a lot of folks coming in with questions about the ghost, so I guess there are people in the world who get pulled into the lore.”

  “I love a good ghost story,” I smiled.

  Georgia shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I do as well, but I don’t think it was a ghost who killed Damian.”

  “Yeah. That is a bit of a stretch. Colt said that Elena admitted that she was the one moving the artwork around in order to propagate the legend of the Gemini Witches. She wanted to stir up some hype, which I guess she has accomplished, but I’m surprised she’s keeping up the ruse at this point. I suppose it isn’t widely known that Elena is the ghost in the gallery, which might mean the legend is intact. She only admitted it to Colt since he’d accused her of much worse.”

  “I wonder if Nikki knows that Elena has as much as confessed her role in the whole thing.”

  “I don’t know for sure what she knows or what she only suspects, but she has continued to yammer on and on about spooks that go bump in the night.”

  “I think she’s been drawn in by the idea that the gallery is haunted. She may even be ignoring any information made available to her that contradicts that. I guess it happens when someone becomes overly attached to a specific outcome or explanation.”

  Georgia began measuring the ingredients for her famous pomegranate dressing. The first time she’d served a salad with pomegranate seeds, pistachio nuts, pear slices, and several varieties of lettuce, I hadn’t been sure I’d like it, but as it turned out, it was delicious.

  “Did Nikki mention whether or not she has a theory as to who might have killed Damian?” I asked as Georgia added sugar to the dressing.

  “She doesn’t seem to have any idea. We’ve talked about it. We’ve discussed every person who is associated with the gallery in any way who might have had a reason to kill Damian, but so far, we haven’t come up with a single reason for Damian to have died.”

  “It’s a tricky case, especially given the limited number of people with access to the place,” I agreed. “If Damian had been killed on the street or in the alley, we’d have a whole other case. But he was inside the gallery in the middle of the night. There are only a handful of people with the code to the place, which, in my m
ind, means there can only be a few suspects.” I picked up the box Georgia had packed for me as I’d raided the refrigerator. “I guess I’m going to head back and get ready. If anything comes up or if you need anything, text me.”

  “I will. Have a nice evening.”

  By the time I’d changed my clothes and freshened up my makeup, Colt had arrived. After I poured a glass of wine for myself and he opened a beer, we took our drinks and a plate with a selection of crackers, cheese, and fruit out onto the deck. It was a lovely evening. Unseasonably warm with virtually no breeze. The overhead lights had been set up on a timer, so they’d come on as soon as the sun set. I’d also set LED candles around the patio and deck area, which gave the entire outdoor area a warm and cozy glow.

  “This is nice,” Colt said, stacking several different kinds of cheese onto a cracker.

  “It really is.” I glanced out over the darkening sky. “I actually sit out here quite often on warmer nights. I love listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks as the wind whistles through the area and watching as the sky darkens and stars appear.”

  He took a sip of his beer. “The patio in my yard is great for when the kids are there and we want to eat outdoors, but the yard is fenced and surrounded by houses, so there really isn’t a view to speak of.”

  “Speaking of the kids, how are they doing? Do they like their new teachers? Have they started soccer?”

  “They both seem to like their new teacher, and both have started soccer. But let’s not talk about them. Let’s talk about us.”

  “Okay,” I agreed, swallowing hard. “I’d like that. I’ve actually been thinking about things quite a lot, and I think I know where I stand.”

  Colt’s eyes narrowed. “Okay. So, where do you stand?”

  I took a breath and blew it out slowly. “When you took me to dinner to tell me that you needed me to know that you didn’t want to have children, I honestly wasn’t sure how I felt about the subject. Mostly I suspect because I really hadn’t taken the time to think about it. But you are important to me. Our relationship is important to me. I really wanted to be able to answer your questions with absolute certainty.”

  “And can you? Answer with certainty?”

  “No,” I said. “Not really. But I can answer with honesty as it relates to how I feel at this moment. Do I want children now at this point in my life? No. My emotions are still much too raw to go there. Might I want children in the future? I don’t think so. As I already said, I hadn’t really stopped to consider whether or not I wanted to have another child. But the reality is that even if I wanted children, by the time I met someone to have a child with, we dated and married, I conceived and went through nine months of pregnancy, I’d be well into my forties by the time that child was born. You said you didn’t want to be a first-time dad at forty, and while I wouldn’t be a first-time mother, I do get what you were saying, and I’m not sure that having a baby at that point would be the best idea. The catch here is that you asked me if I could say with absolute certainty that I would never decide I wanted another child. If I am honest, I don’t think I can say how I’m going to feel about much of anything two, four, or five years from now with absolute certainty.”

  I paused, but he didn’t say anything, so I continued. “What I do know is that I care about you. I like spending time with you. At this moment, the fact that you don’t want children of your own, or the fact that you will most likely end up raising your niece and nephew, is not a deal-breaker for me. I want us to explore what we have. I want to see where it takes us. There really aren’t any guarantees in life, but I can promise that at this moment, nothing we’ve discussed has prevented me from wanting to take the next step with you.”

  I almost had a heart attack when he didn’t respond right away, but he eventually smiled. He reached his hand out and took mine. He stood and pulled me to my feet. He kissed me deeply as the moon peeked over the horizon. He picked me up and carried me into the cottage and into my bedroom. We never did eat the ribs, but we sure had fun eating the cake.

  Chapter 9

  “I really need to go home, shower, and dress before the guests start showing up,” Colt said the following morning as we snuggled under my thick heavy comforter.

  I groaned. “I know this is selfish, but I really do wish that there weren’t hundreds of townsfolk preparing to descend on us.” I glanced out the window. As predicted, it was a gorgeous sunny day. “Are you hungry? We never really ate dinner.”

  “Surprisingly, I’m not. Although I would suggest breakfast at Velma’s if I didn’t know you have a lot to do to get ready for the event.” He kissed me on the forehead. “How about I run home, shower and change, and bring something back? Maybe I can talk Velma out of a dozen breakfast burritos. If I know Georgia and Jeremy, they have things under control, but they might not have had a chance to eat.”

  “Breakfast burritos sound good, and I need to shower and dress too.” I kissed his chest. “Since you’re already planning on having dinner with us, and your band is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon as well as this afternoon, maybe you can bring a little black bag back with you with a toothbrush and change of clothes. That way, you won’t have to go home tonight.”

  He grinned. “I guess that would be time-efficient.”

  “And it would save gas,” I said, rolling over onto his chest.

  “And it would save gas,” he agreed, wrapping his arms around me and deepening his kiss until neither of us was thinking about festivals or breakfast burritos.

  “It looks like your talk with Colt went well,” Georgia grinned when I walked into the inn’s kitchen later that morning.

  “It went very well,” I grinned back. “I’m not sure we’ve worked out every detail of our relationship, but I feel like we are back on track.”

  “I noticed his car leaving a while ago.”

  I picked up an apple and took a bite. “He had to go home to shower and change. He’ll be back. How is everything going here? Are the guests all fed? Is everything ready for the Harvest Festival?”

  “Breakfast has been served, and the guests all seem happy. Amy is upstairs changing her clothes since she spilled apple cider down the front of her top, but she’s been helping me all morning. I’m glad we talked her into accepting the free stay over the winter. She really has been a huge help.”

  “She has. I wish I would have thought to comp her stay in the first place, but she refused a refund, and I guess a gift card for a future stay gives her something to look forward to. Did Mylie and Christy show up?”

  “Mylie is here. She’s in the yard with Jeremy. Christy is coming later with Noah and Haley.”

  “How about Nikki?” I asked.

  Georgia frowned. “She hasn’t shown up, and she hasn’t returned my calls. I’m a little worried. I know she’s been on edge ever since Damian died, so when she didn’t come in on time, I figured she might have just overslept, but I’ve left three messages, and she hasn’t called me back.”

  “Did you try calling Tanner?” I wondered.

  “Not yet,” she admitted. “I didn’t want to betray Nikki’s trust by calling her big brother to complain that she hadn’t shown up for work, but if she doesn’t call or show up soon, I guess I’ll call him. I’m sure we have plenty of help without her, so it’s not that I’m worried about her missing her shift, but I am worried about her.”

  “Maybe you were right the first time, and she did just sleep in,” I said. “I’d give her another half hour.” I was suddenly starving and considered grabbing a sandwich or something, but Colt had said he’d bring food back with him, so I supposed I’d wait. It seemed like it had been a while already, and I wondered how long he’d be. Taking out my phone, I checked for messages, only to find a missed call and a text message from Colt. I must have missed the ding, or maybe Colt had called while I was in the shower. He wanted to let me know there had been a break in the murder case, and he needed to follow up, so he’d most likely miss the Harvest Festival t
oday. He’d mentioned that he called and talked to Lonnie, who was going to have one of the other guys cover for him with the band. He still planned to join the group for dinner, and he still planned to bring his little black bag with him for an overnight stay.

  “Is something wrong?” Georgia asked.

  “I have a text from Colt. He has to follow up on a new development in the murder case. He’s going to have someone fill in for him with the band, but he said he does still plan to be here for dinner.”

  Georgia paused. “I wonder what’s going on. Did you get an update last night?”

  I’m pretty sure I blushed. “Uh, no. We never did get around to talking about the murder case.”

  She just smiled. “Totally understandable. We can get an update tonight.” She began slicing appetizer sandwiches into small bite-sized pieces. “Speaking of updates, have you spoken to Alaric since yesterday?”

  “No. Why? Did he figure something out about his great-grandfather’s death?”

  “I’m not sure if what he found will pan out in the end, but he did discover some interesting information. You might want to ask him directly. He shared what he learned with the group at dinner last night, but I was in and out serving and picking up dishes, so I might have missed part of it, but it sounds like this new information might be relevant.”

  “I’ll track him down. I have to admit his story is an interesting one, although since it happened so long ago, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be impossible to prove anything.”

  “Maybe, but maybe Alaric doesn’t need proof. Perhaps he just needs to have a plausible story to explain the limited information his great-grandfather left him.”

  I supposed Georgia had a point. Alaric had come to town to try to make sense of the death of a man he’d never met who’d lived a century earlier. He probably didn’t expect to find anything so conclusive as to serve as irrefutable proof of what happened, but maybe simply having a general understanding of the events leading up to Cedric’s death would be enough. I was interested in what he’d learned, so I grabbed one of the sandwiches Georgia had made and headed out to the patio where I’d last seen him.