Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Corndog and Petunia ended up joining us in the library. Petunia had knocked on every room door, asking if they needed anything before they retired for the night and inviting them to the library, but none of them appeared interested in taking her up on the offer. She’d come straight to the library after, so we knew we were clear to talk, but that was subject to change at any moment. To run interference, Ida Belle and Gertie headed to the entry with their drinks, intending to take some pictures. That way, they’d see if anyone was coming downstairs and could warn us to change conversation.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Corndog and Petunia gave me hopeful looks.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t tell you anything yet.”

Corndog’s shoulders slumped. “I know it’s foolish to be disappointed, but I guess I was hoping for a miracle.”

“It’s possible he ate the wrong thing,” Petunia said, clearly trying to soothe her husband. “He was really drunk. They all were. I know they said they didn’t bring in anything with peanuts, but that’s what they would say after something like this happened, right?”

I nodded. “Whether it was accidental or intentional, I think we can be certain no one is going to volunteer that information. It would help if I had the autopsy report and if I could see the room.”

“Not much to see,” Petunia said. “The sheriff took all his personal effects.”

“I figured, but it helps to see everything. Have you heard from the sheriff yet?”

Corndog shook his head. “He said we’d hear from him by tomorrow morning. I don’t know if that means 8:00 a.m. or 11:59, but I’m figuring the latter, given how uninterested he seemed in all of it.”

“Yeah, I’d go with that one as well. I’m sorry I don’t have better news, but since the sheriff isn’t interested in working, do you think he’ll try to pin it on you, or just let it go as some random accident among drunk people?”

“That’s a good question,” Corndog said. “I can’t see any benefit to him pushing it as my fault, but then, he can be right contrary if you know what I mean. Still, seems like that would be a lot more paperwork.”

“You can do paperwork sitting down,” Petunia said drily.

“Regardless,” I said, “I don’t want you worrying about it. Let me get all the facts, and if it looks like he’s going to make trouble for you, then I’ll set you up with my attorney. What time is the group leaving tomorrow?”

“They said not to make a big buffet breakfast like this morning,” Petunia said. “Told me they were planning on heading out early and getting breakfast in Houma before they check into the hotel. Their dance is tomorrow night, and they have a barbecue thing on Saturday midday.”

“That fellow in charge told me on his way upstairs after dinner that they was wanting to load up at 8:00 a.m.,” Corndog said. “I have to make two trips, but I figure they should all be clear of here by nine at the latest, assuming we head out on time.”

Petunia clutched her hands together. “If that fool sheriff says it’s okay to go into the room, maybe it will help spark something in your mind. I’m sure you don’t want to be hanging around any longer than you have to.”

“Actually, I love this place. The house is beautiful and I don’t have a problem with remote. Means fewer people, well, except for the whole B and B thing you have going now. And the food has been stellar.”

They both smiled, and I could tell my compliments had perked them up. The best part was, I hadn’t even lied. I really did love the house and the food. I just hoped I could figure out a way to salvage the situation for them because like Shadow, I hated the thought of these nice people losing the home they’d lived in for well over half their lives.

And thinking of Shadow…

“I assume you’ll be talking to your nephew tonight,” I said.

Petunia sighed. “That boy has already called six times. We keep telling him to either leave you alone to work or call you himself, but apparently, you scare him.”

“Good. I don’t want him to start texting or calling me all day. Being irritated tends to delay my progress.”

Corndog chuckled. “And people are about the most irritating thing on earth.”

Ida Belle and I both nodded.

Petunia smiled. “Your clothes are all done. Let me go grab them so you’ll have them for the morning. I threw in a couple of my housecoats for Ida Belle and Gertie in case they need a bathroom trip in the middle of the night.”

Corndog watched her go and his eyes got misty. “She’s a fine woman. More than I ever deserved. I don’t know what I’ll do if we lose this house. I know we can move somewhere else, but I’ll be breaking my promise to her. We were supposed to grow old and die on that porch.”

“I want you to die there too. No time soon, of course.”

He gave me a grateful nod, and I prayed that I could find a way to make that happen.

We headed upstairs around eight, me toting a grocery bag with our clean clothes. I was glad Petunia had been able to drum up something for us to stay and get to know the other guests, but I was ready to be back in pants that fit. I was certain Ida Belle and Gertie felt the same, especially Gertie. But when I opened up the bag, I had to laugh. I assumed the two garments on the top were the ‘housecoats’ Petunia had referred to. They appeared to be a combination of a thin robe and old-timey dressing gown.

Both were large floral patterns and had zippers all the way up the front. Huge collars with lace on the ends looked like an itchy mess, but I supposed they weren’t meant to be slept in, but rather worn outside of your bedroom so as not to offend houseguests by jaunting around in your pj’s.

“That’s almost as bad as this dress,” Gertie said.

Ida Belle nodded. “It’s definitely worse than my overalls.”

I doled out the housecoats and our clean clothes and we sat around in my room for about an hour, going over everything we’d learned that day. It was a good bit of information but absolutely nothing that screamed ‘Justin was murdered, and X did it.’

Of course, if things had been that obvious, I would have been just as suspicious. I was never impressed with coincidence or easy. But this one time, it would have been nice to have something more positive to latch onto. Gertie and Ida Belle headed for their bedroom around nine and I hopped into bed with my phone, hoping that since the storm had passed, I could at least read. I was nowhere near sleepy, but there was no television in the rooms and the one in the library hadn’t been able to get a decent signal anyway.

I checked my phone and sighed. One flashing bar. I was going to have to resort to carrying a rescue bag. Too many times, I’d ended up somewhere and needed things that were back at my house. No weapons, of course. They were always on my body, but a spare set of clothes, some lock-picking tools, and an e-reader probably weren’t a bad idea. At least if I preloaded books, the weather couldn’t strand me with nothing to do.

I checked my text messages and was surprised to see a reply from Carter. I hadn’t gotten an alert but with the signal going in and out, that wasn’t surprising. I tapped to open it.

Avoid Bryce. Good luck.

I smiled. It was nice having a guy who really understood you. I imagined I’d give regular men a heart attack, but I’d been fortunate to surround myself with men who didn’t feel the need to be rushing in to save me all the time. Carter, Mannie, and Harrison were all well aware of my abilities and let me run with them. Of course, they had my back, as I had theirs, but that was a totally different thing than white-knighting around the helpless woman.

I knew Carter worried a lot more than he let on, because he wasn’t as good at hiding it as me. I should have gotten an Academy Award for my performance after his rescue. When I was in Iran, I was 100 percent game face and that was legit. But afterward, watching him question his entire military career had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Especially since the smartest thing to do was absolutely nothing. It was something I couldn’t fix. The answers had to come from within Carter.

And I thought they were finally arriving.

I typed a reply and hit Send.

So far so good on Bryce. Not so much on the case. Hoping to find something tomorrow.

The text hung for a bit and finally went through, so I flipped over to my book and started to read. I dozed off at some point, but then something had me bolting up and reaching for my pistol. I’d shifted the nightstand so that my gun was in the exact location I placed it at home, so I was already standing, gun pointed at the door, before I was completely awake.

Then I heard what must have alerted me. Footsteps in the hallway outside. I hurried to slip on my pants and eased the door open. As I stepped into the hallway, Ida Belle opened their door a crack and I knew she’d heard it too. The hallway was empty, but the bathroom door was open and the light wasn’t on. I motioned to Ida Belle to follow, and cringed a bit when I saw they were both wearing the horrible housecoats. I said a silent prayer that no one stuck their head out of their bedroom, because even in the dim light, the material glowed.

I crept down the hallway, trying to ascertain where the footsteps had gone. The hall bathroom was empty, as expected, and I detected no sound on the other side of any of the bedroom doors, so I continued the length of the corridor. When I reached the stairs, I heard someone moving across the entry below. I ducked back into the shadows so that they wouldn’t see me if I looked up and saw Ida Belle and Gertie do the same. I waited until I could no longer hear movement below, then eased toward the railing and peered over.

The only light permeating the entry was cast from the rear, and I assumed it was a lamp on a table near the library doors, or perhaps even light coming from the library itself. It was barely enough to create a dim shadow into the space, but I saw no movement. I hurried down the stairs and just as I stepped off onto the entry floor, a boom of thunder roared through the sky and the light went completely out, as did the hallway lights upstairs.

I froze, listening for footsteps, but the storm was the only sound I heard. Then the floor above me creaked. Ida Belle and Gertie were right behind me on the stairs, so it wasn’t them. I waited for the normal movement and sound of someone who had awakened and needed a bathroom visit, but everything was quiet.

Too quiet.

If someone had legitimate reasons for moving around, they wouldn’t be taking such care to conceal their movement, especially in a pitch-black house that they weren’t overly familiar with. At the very least, they’d fire up the flashlight on their cell phones. So what were they up to that they didn’t want anyone else to know about?

A glint of moonlight streamed in through the windows, illuminating the entry enough to traverse, so I motioned to Ida Belle and Gertie to look around, then did a fork to mouth motion, indicating that if anyone inquired, they’d been hungry and were going to raid the cookie stash in the library. They nodded and headed by me, still walking quietly and without speaking, but not attempting to sneak. If someone was watching, they would not assume they were anything but two old ladies with insomnia looking for a snack.

I crept back up the stairs, and just as I stepped onto the landing, I saw the door to Justin’s room move. I eased up to the door and nudged it open an inch with my shoulder. The moonlight was sparse, but every couple seconds, a dim glow settled over the room. I didn’t see anyone moving, but without light, I couldn’t be certain the room was empty.

“Corndog?” I called out loud, keeping up the pretense of being a guest. “Petunia? Are you in there?”

But the only thing I heard was the wind and rain outside. I did a quick check over the rail to make sure no one was below and looking up, then shoved the door completely open with my shoulder and stepped between the police tape, careful not to touch anything as I wasn’t wearing gloves. The room had a double bed with one nightstand and a wardrobe in one corner. There was no other door than the entry, so I walked for the first of the only two places someone could be hiding.

I lifted a tissue from the holder on the nightstand and used it to grab the wardrobe door. When the next burst of moonlight entered the room, I yanked the door open, ready to tackle anyone inside, but the wardrobe was empty. Before the light disappeared again, I dropped to my knees and lifted the edge of the bed skirt and peered underneath, but the space below the bed was clear.

I popped back up and frowned. Something had caused that door to move. They were solid and heavy. If it was uneven or the frame was sloped, the door could naturally inch open, but every time I’d passed the door until now, it had been in place against the broken frame. Something or someone had to have caused it. And since there was no someone that I could find, maybe it was a something. Air pressure maybe, created by someone opening an external door.

Or a window!

I hurried to the bedroom window and spotted the unlocked latches and drops of water on the inside sill and the floor below. I peered outside, but the only movement I saw was trees and the ivy surrounding the window swaying in the storm. They’d gone out the window and climbed down a trellis! For a split second, I considered going after them, then realized it was not only risky but foolish. It wasn’t as if there were any place to run, so whoever had gone out that window had to come back inside the house.

I hurried out of the room, using my T-shirt over my hand to pull the door closed, and then I crept downstairs. I was aware of three doors into the house—the front door, the kitchen door, and the back door—but it was possible there were more. And whoever had planned their illegal jaunt could have unlocked any of them before they went into the room, or a window for that matter. Which gave them multiple options to reenter the house, but the one thing that they had no flexibility on was the weather.

Whoever had gone out that window in the storm would come back into the house wet.

I hurried down the stairs, listening for any sound of movement, but the only noise was the ticking of the grandfather clock. The power was still out, and the only illumination in the entry was the bits of moonlight that crept out of the clouds long enough to cast a dim glow over the space.

Then someone shrieked. Then another someone. The second one was Gertie.

It came from the direction of the kitchen, so I sprinted for the door, but when I got close, the door flew open and I barely got my hands up to keep it from smacking me in the face. I vaulted backward from the blow but before I could regain my balance, someone slammed into me, knocking me down as they bolted for the stairs. I jumped up and ran after them and out of the corner of my eye, saw the front door open as I ran past .

I tackled the fleeing figure, who let out another shriek, and we both crashed in a heap on the stairwell, but my grip on them was solid. They weren’t getting away. A second later, the lights in the hallway overhead and the lamp behind me flickered back on and illuminated the face of a very scared Brittany Stout.

Who appeared to be covered in blood.