Case of Imagination (8 page)

As Evan started up the aisle, I followed and kept my voice low. “If you’ll give me a key and let me keep surveillance tonight, I may surprise someone.”

“Excellent,” he said.

“Only don’t say anything to anyone, not even Cindy.”

On my way to my car, I encountered drama in the parking lot. Evan was in earnest conversation with Percy. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but from the way Evan was strangling his handkerchief and Percy was flapping his arms like a condor attempting takeoff, I could tell the conversation wasn’t going in Evan’s favor.

I got into the Mazda and had reached for the key when Kimberly Dawn and Juliet walked past. Kimberly Dawn’s voice was tightly controlled.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Juliet gave an elegant shrug and kept walking. Kimberly Dawn caught her arm and made her stop. “You’re not going to make any trouble, Juliet, do you hear me?”

Juliet calmly removed the woman’s hand. She smiled a superior smile. She leaned forward and spoke right in Kimberly Dawn’s face. “I will if I want.”

I expected Kimberly Dawn to give her a lecture on manners, but the older woman stepped back. Juliet gave her a little wave and walked on. Kimberly Dawn stood for a moment, fists clenched. Then she noticed me sitting in my car.

“Oh, Madeline. Did you hear that?” She wiped her palms on her skirt and fussed with her hair. “Honestly, the nerve of that girl!”

“What was that about?”

She stooped a little to speak into my window. “That girl thinks she can do anything she likes. I—” She glanced over to Evan and Percy. “Good heavens, do I have to fix everything? Excuse me, Madeline.”

As she hurried over to the men, I wondered if Juliet had been caught doing something destructive to the stage. And if so, why Kimberly Dawn would want to protect her. I started the Mazda and drove out of the parking lot, passing Juliet in her car. She was still smiling.

***

I drove out to the Eberlin house and parked the Mazda under one of the oak trees. Carrying a couple of bags of supplies, I nudged the door open with my foot.

“Jerry, I got the stuff you wanted.”

Jerry was asleep on the sofa.

“You lazy bum,” I said. “Here I think you’re working and you’re goofing off.” I stopped. Jerry was lying very still, and there was some sort of towel on his forehead. I put the bags down and gave the sofa a little shake. “Hey, what’s the matter?” Jerry blinked up at me. “What happened? Here, don’t go back to sleep. Talk to me.”

He got his eyes open. “I fell.”

“Fell? Fell where? Are you all right? Did you break anything? Let me have a look.” I lifted the towel. “Well, you took a nice chunk out of your forehead.”

Jerry looked around. “Where’s the girl?”

“Save the delirium for later, will you? Do you remember what happened?”

“I tried to get into the attic. The door was stuck. I came back down the stairs. I must have tripped on one of those loose boards.”

“Let me fix a better bandage.” In the kitchen, I got some ice cubes out of the freezer, and wrapped them in a dishcloth. While Jerry was holding this to his forehead, I went out to my car where I keep a first aid kit

When I came back, Jerry was sitting up. “That feels much better.”

”Let me have another look.” The cut was more of a scrape and didn’t look as deep as I’d first thought. “Keep the ice on it for a while, and then I’ll bandage it. Does it hurt?”

“A little.”

“I can take you to the emergency room if they’ve got one here.”

“No, I’m okay.”

“I’ve got some aspirin in my overnight bag.”

“That might be good.”

I found the aspirin bottle. Jerry took two pills and leaned back on the sofa. I pulled a chair closer.

“Tell me again what happened,” I said.

“I cleaned this room a while. Then I ate something. I thought I heard some noise in the attic, but I couldn’t get the door open. When I started back down the stairs, I saw this girl outside, and that’s when I fell. I remember I tried to grab the railing, but it broke off in my hand.”

I hated to think of him lying here all day. “When was this?”

“Some time around three, I guess.”

“Tell me about this girl.”

“She was outside by the trees.” He rubbed his eyes. “I just caught a glimpse. I thought she was a ghost.”

“Probably just a neighbor.”

“From where? The next pasture?”

“Okay, so she was a ghost. Happy now?”

“Thrilled.” His eyes were clearer. “And how was your day?”

“Not to take anything away from your adventure, but I feel as if I’ve fallen down a flight of stairs, too. Want to know why I haven’t had any messages? Reid’s been erasing them.”

“What?”

“Intercepting them, taking them for his own, and then destroying the evidence.”

“I hope you hit him in the eye.”

“I tried. But he won’t have Madeline Maclin to push around any more. I’ve moved out.”

“Good,” Jerry said. “It’s about time. Did you bring any food with you? I’m starving.”

“Just some Baxter’s Barbecue.”

“You are my new best friend.”

“I’m your only best friend.”

He smiled, and again I felt that odd quiver inside. Did he want more than friendship? Did I?

At the moment, all we wanted was barbecue and fries. I bandaged the scrape. Then I unpacked our food. Uncle Val didn’t have a microwave, but everything heated up in the stove. We took our feast out to the porch. We sat in the rocking chairs and watched the sun gleaming over the meadow.

“This girl I saw,” he said, “she was beautiful.”

“Of course she was.”

“I must have been distracted.”

“Sounds like it. You don’t suppose your uncle was cooking up magic mushrooms in this house?”

“I think he was a mad scientist, and his experiments have gotten loose.”

“Well, why don’t I have a look in this attic?”

I went up the stairs, being careful to step over the loose one, and on up the smaller flight of steps leading to the attic. The door wouldn’t budge. I knocked. “Anybody home?” I listened, but there wasn’t a sound.

I went back to the porch. “I think the girl must have been one of your fairy-tale ladies—which reminds me. Olivia tried to hire me today to find out why you want to keep this house.”

“I told her. I wanted a place to hold séances.”

“This is what you plan to do with your life?”

“For now.” He looked out across the meadow. “She was that interested, huh?”

“She was her usual intense self.”

Jerry put his barbecue sandwich down. “I wonder.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Maybe she does care about me. I mean, if she went to all the trouble to find you and hire you.”

I didn’t like the way this conversation was heading. “Finding me is no problem. I’m nearly always at Baxter’s.”

“She can be really sweet.”

I couldn’t tell anything from his expression. I had to ask him. “Do you love her?”

“Maybe. I really missed her.”

I kept my gaze on the golden fields. “You think the two of you have a future?”

He didn’t answer for a while. When I looked back at him, he shook his head. “You know her as well as I do, Mac. Would she ever want to live out here in the country?”

I had a hard time keeping the joy out of my voice. “Not in a million years.”

We ate for a while in silence. Then Jerry said, “Maybe she was a ghost.”

“Who?”

“The girl I saw.”

“Maybe you hit your head just a little too hard.” I passed him another Coke.

“I saw her first—then I hit my head.” He carefully touched his forehead. “Which has stopped throbbing, by the way, thanks to my excellent health care provider.”

“You’re welcome.”

“See, Mac? You can do it all. How’s the Case of the Purloined Pageant coming along?”

“It’s become the Case of the Pulverized Pageant. Somebody trashed the set. The police say it’s probably kids, but I’m not so sure. I’m going to stake out the place for a few hours tonight and see what happens.”

“Could be the ghost of a former contestant, someone who was robbed of her rightful title.”

I chuckled. “Do you sit around making this stuff up, or does it just come naturally to you?”

“You forget, I’m in the séance business. I’d better come along and try to make contact.”

“Are you sure you feel up to it?”

“It’s better than waiting here alone for Ghost Woman to make another appearance.”

I started to say no, then reconsidered. It wasn’t a good idea to leave someone with a head injury alone overnight, and of course, I always enjoyed Jerry’s company.

“Okay, partner, I’ll deputize you. But you can take it easy for a while. I’m not leaving until eleven.”

“Aren’t they rehearsing tonight? I can’t think of anything more relaxing than watching beauty queens.”

“The choreographer has quit, and the set is on the floor. I don’t think they’ll have much of a rehearsal.”

The phone rang. I went into the living room to answer it. Gregory Prill’s booming voice said, “Madeline Maclin, have you found any ghosts yet?”

I felt guilty I’d neglected his case. “Not yet. I apologize.”

“Well, don’t fret. I realize you’re busy with the pageant. I’m calling to let you know Shana Amry is back in town. She’s been on tour, promoting her latest book. She’d love to meet you, say, around noon tomorrow, at Georgia’s?”

“That would be fine, thanks.”

“I think the two of you will get along splendidly. Until later, then. Ta, ta!”

I’d never actually heard a grown man say, “Ta, ta!” I was still grinning when I came back to the porch.

***

Around eleven, we drove into town and parked several blocks from the theater. We walked around to the stage door entrance. I used my key to unlock the doors. Inside, the auditorium made strange creaks and breathing sounds. I turned on the backstage work lights. Most of the set had been reassembled, although the gondolas were pretty much a loss. “Venice lives again.”

“Ah, the old country,” Jerry said.

“Did you ever go to Venice?”

“We took the Grand Tour when I was little. I don’t remember much.”

“Find someplace to get comfortable. I’m going to look around.”

Jerry sat down in the front row while I prowled backstage. Everything looked the same. When I stepped onto the stage, he clapped and whistled. I gave him a pageant wave and a big fake smile.

“Brings back fond memories, doesn’t it?”

I sat on the edge of the stage. “Memories of screaming mothers and crying girls.”

Jerry had seen a tape of me in one of the Little Miss Parkland pageants. “I especially like the big hair.”

I ran my hand through my short curls. “Yeah, I miss all the teasing and the hairspray. Sleeping in rollers is good, too.”

“And now you’re Macho Mac, Defender of the Poor.”

“And where has that gotten me? Sitting in an empty auditorium.”

“Waiting to snag an unsuspecting, Venice-destroying pageant-hater.”

I grinned. “Who’s not going to make an appearance if we’re out here yakking. Let’s find a better hiding place.” I looked around. “How about the light booth? We can see everything from up there.”

We climbed the narrow metal stairs to the light booth. The wide window gave us a complete view of the stage and auditorium. I found the light switch that turned off the work lights. The dim blue glow of the lamp in the booth gave us just enough light. I perched on the stool in front of the control panel and looked down into the shadowy auditorium.

Jerry sat on the floor. “What have you got so far?”

“I still haven’t ruled out kids. The curtain was just singed, and the scenery easy enough to reassemble. It’s as if someone wants to make a mess, not cause real damage.”

“Any clues?”

“Evan’s the only one who smokes, and I doubt he set fire to his own theater. He doesn’t seem the kind of person to burn the one thing he’s crazy about.”

In the dim light, I thought I saw Jerry wince. “You okay?”

His expression was odd, but then again, it may have been the faint light. “Yeah, just a twinge. What else do you know?”

“After a short rehearsal last night, all the contestants were sent home to practice their talent.”

“That’s what they say.”

“But all these young women want to win the pageant. Why sabotage it? It’s puzzling.”

“What about your other case, the one with the haunted house?”

“I haven’t even started on that one. Maybe Hayden’s ghost is responsible for the pageant mishaps.” I sighed. “I really don’t have much to go on right now.”

“You’ll figure it out.”

“Thanks.”