Case of Imagination (27 page)

Jerry sat still for so long, I thought he’d really gone into a trance. “Jerry?”

“Then that’s who I saw.”

“When you fell?”

“And when I had the séance. It wasn’t Juliet’s ghost. It must have been Juliet dressed up as Portia.”

“Why would she be at the Eberlin house? She’d have no reason to scare you.”

“Maybe that’s where she went to practice being scary, and to get into her ghost makeup.”

That didn’t make sense. “The Eberlin house is too far away from town. If she’s running back and forth from Val’s to Hayden’s, she wouldn’t want anyone to see her, so she wouldn’t use her car. We’re looking for a hideout, someplace between the Eberlin house and the Amrys’ house.”

Jerry snapped his fingers. “The kids will know. Aren’t they always sneaking into places?”

“We don’t need the kids,” I said. “I know.”

***

The Laytons had a more elaborate lock that Jerry wasn’t sure he could pick, but a locked door hadn’t kept Juliet from sneaking in a back window, and it didn’t stop me and Jerry, either. I hopped in easily, but Jerry fell over the woodbox.

“Ow! Damn, what’s that doing under the window?”

The Laytons must have saved up all their pennies because this was the snazziest cabin I’d ever seen. Unlike Tully Springfield’s rustic décor, the living room had an elegant peach and maroon color scheme, huge artificial flower arrangements, and a selection of expensive-looking books about photography.

Jerry hobbled up, rubbing his knee. “What are we looking for?”

“I’m not sure. It doesn’t look like anything’s been disturbed.”

The kitchen gleamed silver and white. The two bedrooms looked like sets for an upscale soap opera.

“I was hoping to step on another pink fingernail.”

“How about a sequin?”

“You’re kidding.”

He held up the shiny disk on the tip of his finger. I took it. “Is it Juliet’s?” he asked.

I couldn’t tell for sure, but the sequin looked very much like the ones I’d seen around Hayden’s house and backstage scattered on the floor, those special one-of-a-kind sequins that caused Randi so much grief. “Sure looks like it. Let’s see if we can find anything else.”

We checked the bathrooms and the closets.

Jerry shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Did you straighten the woodbox? I want to leave everything the way we found it.”

A few of the logs had rolled under a chair. Jerry stooped down to reach for them and came up with a pair of silky red panties. “Uh, is this a clue?”

We pushed the chair aside. Underneath was a box filled with all sorts of lacy underthings and a makeup kit.

Jerry took out a matching red bra. “I don’t remember Portia being this sexy.”

The makeup kit contained a large tube of white foundation and several black eyeliners, just what a ghost would need for that special dead look. “This was Juliet’s hideout, all right. I don’t know how the lingerie fits in.” There were crotchless panties and fringed leather bras, a short rhinestone-studded vest, and metallic G strings. “These look more like costumes.”

“Maybe she was saving them for another story.”

“Or another kind of pageant.”

“Miss Sex Kitten? I wouldn’t mind judging that.”

I punched his arm. “Pick up the logs, please.”

We took the box and let ourselves out the front door, which I closed and locked. The forest, as before, looked peaceful in the late morning light. As we walked back through the woods, I envisioned Juliet, dressed in her white gown, hurrying down the pathway to the Amrys’ house, slipping beneath Hayden’s window, and laughing inside as she gave her ghostly performance.

“I still don’t know why she’d be at the Eberlin house,” Jerry said.

“What if Juliet knew about the kids’ secret passage? Wait a minute. That explains the spooky draft of cold air.”

“The what?”

“The night of your séance, remember? Whenever the passage doorway is open, cool air comes out. Juliet must have been in the passage that night. Jerry. What if she was looking for a certain videotape?”

“You think she knew about Kimberly Dawn’s second career?”

“If she did, she might have thought it would give her a certain leverage in the pageant.” Then I stopped. “But Ted’s office and Benjy’s station were searched after Juliet’s death.”

”And if Juliet found a tape, it was
Centurio senex
doing his thing.”

“Right. That must have been a shock.”

“Not as shocking as what we got to see.”

“And unfortunately, I need to see it again.”

He stared at me. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Something just occurred to me, Jerry. We’ve been too grossed out to see the whole video. Who’s running the camera?”

“Either Uncle Val, or Kimberly Dawn just set it herself. You can do that.”

“Maybe. Let’s see.”

***

We returned to the house. Nell reported there had been no visitors and that she was going into town for more varnish. Jerry sat down on the sofa with his back to the TV. “I’ll listen for clues.”

It was rough going, but I managed to watch the entire video. It lasted about twenty minutes. During the whole film, Kimberly Dawn’s hair never moved. The rest of her did. At one point, I glanced at Jerry.

“You’re not being much help.”

“I can’t look at it. Listening to it’s bad enough. What’s all that ‘left, right’ business, anyway? When I’m having a, uh, moment, I’m not usually concerned about direction.”

“‘Left, right’?”

“Just before the long grotesque ‘ahhhh’ sound.”

I stopped the tape and ran it back a few minutes.

“Are you going to watch it again?” Jerry said in disbelief.

“Just that part.” I tried to concentrate on the sound and not the picture. Sure enough, right before Kimberly Dawn let out an unearthly moan of manufactured passion a distant voice in the background could be heard saying, “Left, no right. Right. The other way.”

I sat so still Jerry finally turned around. “What is it?”

I’d heard that voice before, a voice demanding, “No, no, Miss Peace Haven! To your left! The other way!” “I know who that is.”

“Who what is?”

“The cameraman. It’s Percy, the choreographer who quit the pageant. The first day I met Evan James, Percy was videotaping the contestants to show them how badly they were screwing up his routine.”

“Before or after he videotaped Kimberly Dawn trying to screw herself?”

I turned off the TV and VCR. “That’s two people who know this tape exists.”

“I thought Percy left town.”

“Let’s find out. Besides, I need a sequin.”

***

We drove to the theater and found Evan James in his office. He was looking through a stack of glossy head shots of the contestants. Juliet’s picture was on top of the stack.

“Hello, Madeline,” he said. “I’m so glad you came by. I feel I owe you an apology.”

“For what?”

“When I hired you to find out who was doing all these things in the theater, I never imagined you’d have to be involved in such a terrible crime. Quite frankly, I’m worried for your safety.”

“That’s all right, Evan.”

He put his hand protectively over the pictures. “Do you suppose this murderer is targeting pageant contestants? If anything happened to any of these other girls, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I’m talking to everyone I can. Do you know how I can get in touch with Percy?”

He reached for his phone. “Cindy will know.”

The ever-efficient Cindy provided me with Percy’s address and phone number.

When I hung up with Cindy, Evan said, “What’s this about a missing videotape? I heard something about it at Deely’s this morning. Does it have anything to do with Juliet?”

The news was traveling faster than I’d hoped. “That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

“You don’t think Percy was responsible?”

“I’m checking all possible angles.”

Evan had a new handkerchief which he used to wipe his brow. “Good lord. I hired Percy on Chuck Hofsteder’s recommendation. If it turns out he had anything to do with Juliet being killed—” His voice quit.

“I don’t see how any of this could be your fault, Evan.”

He took a deep breath. “No. You’re right. I’ve got to stop blaming myself. Thank you. Madeline, on a brighter note, I’m thinking of coordinating the Miss Little River Pageant next month. I hope you’ll stop by and give the girls some encouraging words.”

Encouraging words like,
Get out while you still can
.

“Oh, Jerry, are you available to play the piano? The music director at Little Falls has no sense of rhythm.”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“The pay is very good.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Do you mind if I look around?” I asked.

“Not at all.”

Jerry and I went backstage. “Damn,” I said, “somebody’s cleaned up.”

“They can’t have gotten all the sequins.”

“You’re right. Sequins are hard to kill.”

“Here’s one.”

Jerry found three, and I found one more. I compared them to the one he’d found in the Laytons’ cabin. “We have a match.”

Back at the car, I punched in Percy’s number. “Let’s see what Percy has to say about ‘Barbie Does Celosia.’”

Percy’s fruity voice on his answering machine informed us that he was currently unavailable but would return our call as soon as possible. I left my cell phone number and a message:

“Percy, this is Madeline Maclin. I’ve just seen an interesting independent film starring Kimberly Dawn Williams. The audio could stand a little tweaking. Any suggestions?”

“Now what about Chuck Hofsteder?” Jerry asked when I hung up. “How does he figure into all this?”

“We can pay Chuck a little visit and find out.”

“This doesn’t involve breaking into another house, does it?”

“I thought you liked living on the edge.”

We didn’t have to break into Chuck Hofsteder’s house. He was out mowing his lawn and grateful for the opportunity to stop.

He waved us up to his front porch, where he took a swig of water from a container on the steps. “Come on up. I was just about ready for a drink. Get you folks anything?”

“No, thanks,” I said. “I’m hoping you can answer some questions about Percy. How do you know him?”

“Oh, he does lots of pageants. I’d seen his work at the Miss Cornflower Pageant in South Pines and thought he’d be perfect for Miss Celosia. It’s a shame things didn’t work out.” He took a big gulp of water. “Are you still investigating Juliet’s murder? Do you think Percy’s involved?”

“I’m just trying to figure a few things. You’ve known him a while, then. Did he know any of the other judges?”

“They’d heard of him, of course, but this was the first time any of us had actually met him. I didn’t really know him before.”

“And what was your impression?”

“Oh, the man’s immensely talented, too talented for our poor little pageant, I’m afraid. I don’t blame him for getting frustrated with our girls.”

“Is that all he does, choreograph pageants?”

“I believe he’s involved with other talent shows, dinner theaters, things like that.”

“Movies?”

“Oh, yes. Yes, he’s a pro. It’s too bad he wouldn’t stay, not even for Juliet.” He coughed, embarrassed. “Dear me, I can’t say her name without choking up. Are you any closer to solving this, Madeline?”

“I may be,” I said.

***

We left Chuck still gulping water and sat down in the car.

“You ought to take the accompanist job,” I said.

“Not if I’m busy with the B&B.”

“You’re going through with it?”

“Sure, why not?”

“There are lots of things you could do with music. One of the churches might need an organist. I think Celosia has a community band.”

Jerry gave me a look I couldn’t quite interpret. “I’ll take up the piano again if you’ll start painting again.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Tell me you haven’t thought about it. I can read minds, you know.”

“Okay. Maybe a little.”

“You can be a detective and an artist, you know.”

“It’s just—I don’t know how to explain it.”

“You don’t have to, Mac, not to me. Forget the ultimatum. Take up your artwork if and when you want to. The upstairs parlor will wait for you.”

But will you wait for me? A strain of song from
Paul Bunyan
suddenly came to mind.
Some meet early, some meet late, some like me have long to wait
. How much longer was I going to have to wait? I had to say something now. I had to let Jerry know how I felt, or I was going to lose him to Olivia and her damned bed and breakfast.