Case of Imagination (26 page)

“I will, thank you.”

“Woo, woo,” Jerry said as we drove away. “You’ve got this guy in your pocket.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“But I approve of him. Anyone who’s that big into crystals is okay by me.”

“I’m so glad.”

“You don’t really suspect him, do you? What’s his motive? Did Juliet ridicule his clown pictures? If that’s the case, there’d be bodies strewn everywhere.”

“I don’t know. I was more interested in what he had to say about Val’s pills.”

Jerry’s eyes got large. “You think there’s something suspicious about Val’s death?”

“It just seems odd that if Val always had his pills with him, he couldn’t get to them on time. I hope there’s something useful on this tape.”

“We can look at it as soon as we get home,” Jerry said. “Olivia can handle things at the—argg!”

I almost ran off the road. “What?”

“Olivia! I totally forgot she was coming to talk about the house! Oh, man, if she’s there waiting on me, she is going to be royally pissed.”

Olivia was waiting, and “royally pissed” didn’t begin to describe her expression. She stood on the porch, arms folded, eyes blazing.

“Jerry Fairweather, if you are not going to give the bed and breakfast your full and undivided attention, I am not going to spend one more minute of my valuable time on this project!”

“Sorry, honey.” He tried to hug her, but she shrugged him off. “Mac and I were looking for something important, and we had to go way out in the country to this—”

“I don’t want to hear about it. What could be more important than fixing this house and getting it ready for potential guests? Are you serious about wanting to open a bed and breakfast by September?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then you need to be more responsible! You need to do your part and not run off to play with Madeline. This isn’t college, this isn’t spring break, this is real life.”

He took a step back. “Well, maybe I don’t like real life.”

“That’s obvious.”

“I said I was sorry. You’re better at these things than I am, anyway.”

“That’s not the point. This is a partnership. You have to do your share whether you like it or not. You have to grow up.”

Okay, Jerry, I thought. Now’s your chance. You can choose real life with Olivia, or you can continue to play with me.

He didn’t say anything. Olivia looked at her watch and made an exasperated sound. “I’m late for another appointment. We’ll discuss this when I get back.”

She strode down the steps to her car. She didn’t look at me. When she’d gone, I wasn’t really sure what to say to Jerry.

When he turned to me, his expression was determined. “Let’s check out the videotape.”

I opened the package and took out the tape. The label said, “The Nocturnal Habits of
Centurio senex
.”

Jerry nodded. “Sounds pretty kinky to me.”

“There’s a letter.” I unfolded the paper and read aloud, “‘Dear Sir: While we are interested in the mating habits of
Centurio senex
, we do not need or appreciate suggestive material. We sincerely hope this tape was sent to us by mistake and look forward to the next in your series of documentaries.’”

Jerry and I looked at each other. Then we raced for the living room. I popped the tape in the VCR. Jerry hit the remote. As “The Nocturnal Habits of
Centurio senex
” unwound, our eyes grew wider and our mouths hung lower. Kimberly Dawn Williams, in all her nude and not-all blonde glory writhed upon the pink heart-shaped bed in the attic, panting and groaning in a ghastly parody of sexual excitement.

“Well,” I said. “This is not what I expected.”

Jerry cleared his throat. “She looks pretty good for an old bat.”

I turned it off. We sat for a few moments, still slack-jawed. I was afraid the image was permanently burned into my brain.

Finally, Jerry said, “Okay, so while Val’s away on a bat-hunting expedition, Kimberly Dawn decides to use his studio to jump start her second career.”

“Or make a birthday surprise for that certain someone.”

“What a great idea. Think Olivia will go for it?”

“The only thing Olivia wants to go for is your throat.” I hit the eject button and slid the tape back into its cover. “If I were Kimberly Dawn, former Miss Celosia and reigning society queen, I wouldn’t want anyone to see this.”

“What are we going to do with it?” Jerry asked.

“We’re going to keep it a secret.” I pulled out my phone.

“In this town?”

“Exactly.”

He understood. “Oh, that kind of secret.”

“I’m going to start with Dennis the Mailman.”

Dennis Padgett was glad to hear the mail had gone through.

“I just wanted to let you know that Jerry and I found the package inVal’s car out at Tully Springfield’s.”

“That’s great. Was it a videotape?”

“A very special, one-of-a-kind videotape.”

“Glad to be of assistance, miss.”

“That’s it?” Jerry said when I hung up. “‘A very special, one-of-a-kind videotape’? Not ‘Kimberly Dawn Starring in “Lust in the Attic”’?”

“Give it time,” I said. “I have every faith in the small town network.”

Chapter Seven

The next morning, Jerry wanted to try a pancake recipe that he thought his B&B customers would like.

I sat down at the kitchen table. “Are these special haunted pancakes shaped like little ghosts?”

He turned from the stove to grin at me. “Regular round pancakes. The syrup is haunted.”

Shana was right. I needed to step up my campaign, and now was the perfect time. Olivia hadn’t put in an appearance since her big blow up the day before. Jerry and I had recovered from the sight of Kimberly Dawn as Porn Queen of Celosia. This was a pleasant little domestic scene, complete with the warm, sweet smell of pancakes.

I didn’t get my chance. As I opened my mouth, Nell knocked on the back door. The first thing she said when she came in was, “What’s all this about a videotape you found out at Tully Springfield’s?”

I gave Jerry an I-told-you-so look, and he acknowledged my superiority with a wry grin. “I was hoping you’d stop by, Nell. I’d like to ask you a few questions about Juliet. Have you had breakfast? Jerry’s making pancakes.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Nell and I sat down at the kitchen table. Jerry went to the stove.

Nell grinned. “You mean junior can cook?”

He pointed the spatula at her. “You want some pancakes or not?”

“Hell, yeah. I want a big stack.”

Jerry cooked the pancakes, flipping them out of the pan and onto our plates like a circus act.

Nell covered her pancakes in syrup, took a big mouthful, chewed, and nodded her approval. “Pretty good for a short order cook.” She put the emphasis on “short.”

“Nell,” I asked, “where are Juliet’s parents?”

“They split up and moved away two years ago. Can’t say that they were very good role models. Always drinking and arguing like a pair of wildcats. The aunt took her in, but that’s not much better. She’s never home.”

“Where does she live?”

“Nice little blue house on Grayson Street, just behind the Super Food. Juliet might as well have been living on her own. But lots of folks felt sorry for her, tried to help her. You see where it got Ted Stacy.”

“Did anyone else try to help her? The judges liked her.”

“Well, they wanted to beat Dixley, and she was their best chance.”

It sounded to me as if the judges were using Juliet. She probably knew this. After all, she was using them and the pageant. Ted, however, had been genuinely concerned, and she pushed him away with accusations. Maybe Juliet resented help. Maybe she didn’t feel she was worthy of help. Maybe she didn’t recognize kindness when she saw it.

“Nell, did Hayden try to help her in any way?”

“Oh, I’m sure he didn’t mean to embarrass the girl. He’s not like that.”

I couldn’t imagine Juliet being embarrassed by anything. “What do you mean?”

Nell took another big bite, chewed, and swallowed. “See, him being a poet and all, he went to the school to give a talk and help the kids with their poetry. Then he read them out loud to the class.”

“Let me guess. Juliet’s poem was too hot and steamy for high school?”

“No, from what I hear, it was more like rainbows and puppy dogs.”

“Juliet’s poem?”

“She probably didn’t like the other kids laughing at her.”

Public ridicule. Never a nice experience.

Jerry brought his plate of pancakes to the table and sat down. “Kind of set her reputation back, didn’t it?”

No, I thought. It revealed a side she didn’t want anyone to see.

Nell reached for the syrup. “Just thought of somebody else who tried to help. Augusta Freer. She’s the wife of Toby Freer of Freer and Mason. Teaches English. Never says anything bad about any of her students.” Jerry flopped more pancakes on her plate, and she proceeded to drown them in syrup. “You go to the funeral?”

“I did,” I said.

“Hoping to catch the killer skulking around, like they do on TV?”

“I can dream, can’t I?”

“Heard there was quite a few people there.”

“More than I expected. All the judges, Evan James, Cindy, and a lot of high school students.”

“Hear you found Val’s car. I coulda told you where it was.”

Between Nell and Denisha, there were no secrets in Celosia.

Nell held up her coffee cup. “Oh, waiter.”

Jerry filled her cup and turned to me. “Anything for you, ma’am?”

Just you. “No, thanks.”

He went back to the stove. “More pancakes on the way.”

“Keep ’em comin’,” Nell said. She shoveled the last of her stack into her mouth and spoke around her food. “So you met Tully Springfield. He’s a weird one.”

“He was quite pleasant.”

“Oh, yeah, well, it’s all the medication.”

“Yes, he told me about his heart condition.”

“Yeah, he’s bipolar, too, or whatever they call bad mood swings these days. Had a big blowout at the grocery store one day. That’s why he don’t come to town much.”

I envisioned Tully with a semi-automatic, mowing down hapless shoppers and supermarket displays. “A blowout?”

“A breakdown, I guess I should say. Just totally lost it in the produce section. Maybe the melons weren’t ripe enough.”

“Yes, but he’s not dangerous, is he?”

She shrugged.

“Did he know Juliet? Would she have crossed him in some way?”

“He probably knows who she is. Remember where you are, Madeline. Everybody knows everybody here.”

“He said he didn’t know her.”

“Wouldn’t matter to him if he did. All he cares about are those pictures of his.”

Jerry brought another stack of pancakes to the table and sat down. “Those freaky clown pictures?”

Nell’s eyes narrowed. “I happen to like those.”

Jerry grinned at me in pure impish delight. “Excuse me. I meant to say those charming clown pictures.”

“I’m trying to eliminate Tully as a suspect,” I said. “Do you think his condition makes him violent?”

“No more than Hayden Amry’s. See, these artistic guys can’t handle the pressure.” She took her fork and stole three pancakes from Jerry’s stack. “It’s a good thing you’re not talented, peewee.”

We ate until we were properly stuffed. Nell pushed her empty plate away. “This tape you found. Worth getting killed over?”

“It all depends on how desperate the person was to get it back.”

Nell made a thoughtful “Hmm” noise and drank her coffee. “I’m going to see about those floors.”

After she’d gone upstairs, Jerry offered me the last of the pancakes.

“No, thanks. Those were great, by the way.”

He gathered the dirty dishes. “What did you mean about a desperate person wanting the tape back?”

“Here’s how I see it, Jerry. We search the house for videotapes, and find none. Only empty cases in the attic. Ted’s office and Benjy’s station were ransacked. At the station, all the tapes were on the floor, as if someone had been pawing through them. All these odd incidents involving videotapes are too much of a coincidence to be ignored. I think somebody besides us has been looking for a videotape. A specific videotape. This person couldn’t find it here in the attic, so he or she must have thought Ted or Benjy had it. Which means there’s a connection between what was going on in the attic and with Juliet’s murder.”

“Then why did you broadcast the news that you’d found a tape?”

“I’m hoping the killer will come looking for it.”

He stopped. “Whoa, hold on. You didn’t tell me this part.”

“This is the part where it gets serious,” I said.

Jerry looked puzzled. “I don’t get it. It’s just a sleazy little film, right? Maybe Kimberly Dawn would be embarrassed if people saw it, but how does Juliet fit in?”

“There’s one way to find out.” I picked up my pocketbook and car keys. “I’m going to have a look in Juliet’s house.”

Jerry trailed me to the living room. “You’re not leaving me in the House of Impending Doom.”

“Impending Doom. Would that be the Return of Olivia?”

“Ha, ha. No, the House of the Phantom Videotape Murderer.”

“Isn’t that what you wanted the house to be?”

“Yes, but not really.”

“Come on, then, and bring your special keys.”

***

We drove to the Super Food and found Grayson Street. There was one blue house on the street. Jerry and I decided it must be Juliet’s.

Jerry was concerned about being seen. “Chief Brenner mentioned he didn’t want you to do fool around with crime scenes, didn’t he?”

“He said if I see yellow tape, don’t cross it. Do you see any yellow tape?”

“No. How are you going to get in?”

“That’s why I brought you and your special keys along.”

“I haven’t done this in a long time, Mac.”

“Are you saying you can’t do it?”

He glowered. “A simple front door, no dead bolt or anything? You must be kidding.”

“Let’s see if anyone’s at home first.”

We didn’t see any cars parked in the driveway or out front. I knocked and rang the bell. Jerry peeked in the windows.

“All clear.”

He didn’t have any trouble picking the lock. We let ourselves in. The living room had a sofa and a TV and little else, as if Juliet and her aunt never used the room. Of the two bedrooms, it was easy to guess which one was Juliet’s. That girl had more clothes and shoes than most department stores. She had six jewelry boxes loaded with costume jewelry, mostly fake pearls and rhinestones. Among the mass quantities of makeup, hairspray, and negligees, I found a folder marked “Poems.” Inside the folder were pages and pages of Juliet’s poetry. Many of the poems were about flying to fantasy worlds on unicorns and flowers turning into stars. Several were typical teenage expressions of being misunderstood. “I walk alone in the rain,” “My life is a sunset that no one will see,” that kind of thing. Also in the folder were addresses of poetry magazines and submissions guidelines.

“She was serious about her poetry, Jerry.”

“Is it any good?”

“It’s not bad.”

I closed the folder. On the bookshelf next to the bed were books on collecting seashells, collections of poems by Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, classics like
Little Women
and
Black Beauty
, and books on makeup tips and fashion design. Lying on top of these books was a slim fantasy novel with a black cover and silver spiderweb design. The book was titled
The Monsters of Spider’s Rest
. I read page one and sat down. The first character mentioned was an evil young woman named Portia. She was described as having black hair and black eyes. She wore a long white gown and had a black heart-shaped mark on her forehead.

Jerry had been rooting in the closet. “Find something?”

“Jerry, you have to read this.”

“What is it?”

“Just read a little and see if it reminds you of anything.”

He took the book. I watched as he read. His eyes widened, and he made surprised noises.

“Mac, this is Hayden’s story!”

“Exactly.”

“A spooky woman named Portia is after this guy, and there’s a monster named Theo—everything’s the same.”

“Yep.” I took the book and read the end flap. “‘Spider’s Rest is the eyesore of Specter, a foreboding mansion owned by Tylin ValEndise. Young monster hunter Holly Dark is assigned to guard the mansion and to spy on its owner. Is Ty creating monsters of his own? Why does he feed the creatures at his door? Little does Holly realize she must rescue Ty from evil beings, as well as from his unfeeling family, the true monsters of Spider’s Rest.’” I shut the book. “It’s all here: Portia, Theo, the alternate universe, and my guess is Hayden is a stand-in for the hero, Tylin. At least, that’s what she wants him to believe.”

“What’s Juliet doing with it?”

“Studying for her role as Portia.”

“You mean, when he heard a ghostly voice and saw Portia, it was really Juliet dressed up?”

“Sure. She appears a few times as Portia, tells him this horror story, and Hayden’s imagination runs screaming into the night.”

Jerry looked troubled. “That’s the meanest trick I ever heard of. She had to know it would scare him.”

“Of course she did. She wanted to pay him back for exposing what she thought of as her weakness by exposing his. I have to admire her creativity, but it was focused in the wrong direction. She must have felt extremely insecure to tear everyone down. I wish someone had been able to reach her.”

“Sounds like Hayden tried.”

“His mistake was trying in front of her peers. I think if he’d talked to her by herself, she would’ve appreciated his advice.”

“So all we have to do is show Hayden this book, and he’ll be okay.”

I took
The Monsters of Spider’s
Rest
and put it in my pocketbook. “It’s probably not going to be that easy, but it’s a start.”