Harrowing Hats (11 page)

Andre smiled. “If you mean by that comment that Cesar was a demon womanizer who never truly cared about anyone he ever dated, you’re right, Detective. Eloise is in love with me, but Cesar kept pestering her. He wanted her for himself. She only wants me.”

Detective Almond glanced at Chase, then said, “That’s not the way we’ve heard it. Miss Santee and Rizzo were a couple when you started forcing yourself on her. You bought her gifts and tried to take her away. It’s my supposition that when those things didn’t work, you decided to take Rizzo out of the equation.”

“You have no reason to assume that,” Andre charged. His upper lip was quivering a little, making him look agitated.

“Maybe I do. The handmade hat pin—your signature, I believe. But to clarify things, what exactly were you doing the night Rizzo died?”

“I was working on the new hat Queen Olivia ordered.”

“See, that’s what I mean about being out here.” Detective Almond did a monologue for his officers. “It’s crazy. Nothing makes any sense. The queen needed a hat. Anybody else believe that?”

Chase stepped into the discussion. “Were you alone, Andre?”

“As you know, Sir Bailiff, I frequently work at night after the Village has closed. So I suppose I was alone, yes.”

“Can anyone verify that they saw you here between the hours of midnight and two A.M.?”

“I seriously doubt it,” Andre responded. “But that doesn’t mean I killed him.”

“Like you didn’t kill your wife in Hollywood either, right?” Detective Almond nodded to his officers. “I think you were right. We should continue this conversation at the station. If you’d come with us, Mr. Hariot. Maybe we can get to the truth in this matter.”

There was nothing else to do but let the police take Andre. They didn’t handcuff him or anything. He meekly walked between them out of the shop.

“That was unbelievable!” I sank down into the chair behind me again. “They think he killed Cesar
and
his wife in Hollywood?”

“It looks like it,” Chase replied. “I don’t know all of it yet, but whatever happened thirty years ago was bad enough that the police feel like he’s a slam dunk for killing Cesar.”

We kind of looked at each other for a moment then the same idea hit both of us.

“Google!” I yelled, getting to my feet.

“If there was a murder investigation, it should be out there somewhere,” Chase agreed.

“I love Renaissance Village,” I said, lifting the hem of my skirt to go past him. “But I’m glad we have the Internet.”

The rest of the day and into the evening was cloudy and rainy, which meant fewer visitors until the Village closed and we had time to ourselves in Chase’s apartment over the Dungeon. It didn’t take long to locate the information about Andre. The whole scandal was chronicled in the newspapers and Hollywood insider magazines.

“So the police think Andre murdered his wife because she was sleeping around,” I told Chase as he worked on his patent attorney paperwork and I perused the Internet while I ate cheese curls.

“How did Andre’s wife die?” Chase asked.

“I know you aren’t going to believe this—”

“Try me.”

“There was a hat pin involved. The woman drowned in the pool, and the police would’ve gone with an accidental death because she’d been drinking. But there was a handmade hat pin shoved in her eye.”

“Sounds familiar.”

“They had to let Andre go because the DA refused to indict him. He said there was insufficient evidence. But no other killer was ever found. The case is still open.”

“And that’s why Detective Almond thinks Andre killed Cesar.” He nodded without taking his eyes off the screen where he was working. “I don’t blame him. It sounds too similar not to be the same person.”

“It’s kind of spooky thinking about it.” I shivered. “I could’ve sworn Andre wouldn’t be capable of doing anything like that. You know him better. What do you think?”

He paused and shook his head. “It’s an awfully big stretch between Myrtle Beach and Hollywood for the same basic crime to happen—and coincidental that Andre was involved in both cases.”

I turned off the laptop and lay back on the bed. “Back to the frog catapult for me.”

“Maybe not.” Chase got up and lay down beside me. “Mayhap I can convince the powers that be that I need a lackey or a pretty minion. You could help me keep the Dungeon clean and get ripe vegetables to throw at evildoers in the stocks.”

I sighed. “Like I said, back to the frog catapult.”

“You’d rather help people throw frogs and win prizes than be with me?” He wrapped his arms around me. “I think I’m hurt.”

“Wounded nigh to death you are, sir.” I did my best pirate impression learned from my summer spent on the
Queen’s Revenge
. “And in truth, I pity ye for falling for such a wench as meself. It can only bring ye trouble.”

“Oh, lass,” he whispered before he kissed me, “but a right pleasurable trouble it is.”

I
t was later, when we were sharing a snack, that things got ugly between me and Chase. All I asked is if he was going out to see the knights later, and he got angry.

“I wish everyone would understand that there’s not much I can do about the knights. They sell tickets and they look good on brochures. That’s all Adventure Land cares about. Everyone forgets that before the knights came, they were all complaining about Robin Hood stealing toaster ovens and snacks. Now it’s the knights. That’s the way it is.”

I felt sorry for him, but he had a duty to the Village. I couldn’t believe he was willing to shirk that responsibility. He never had before. “You know, Bart and some of the other guys would be willing to go out there with you. It’s not like anyone expects you to confront them alone.”

He laughed in a snickering kind of way. “I’m not afraid of the knights, Jessie. But there’s not much point in me going out there and confronting them because the girls in the Village want to be out there with them. They haven’t broken any rules.”

“I’m not saying you’re afraid.”

“Yes, you are. And I don’t know why. Did someone else say I was afraid?”

My poor Chase. It was becoming even more apparent to me that he really dreaded going out there. I hugged him and told him it was okay. “No one blames you. They have big horses and everything.”

“Jessie! I’m
not
afraid of the knights. I can get a big horse, too. It’s not necessary. I’m not going out there unless one of them actually breaks the rules. Can we talk about something else?”

I immediately changed the subject. There was no reason to antagonize him. I started formulating a plan that would include a group of people from the Village, maybe a few of the more impressive guild heads, confronting the knights. There was a guild for each of the groups such as the Craft Guild, Weapons Guild, Magical Creatures Guild, and the Knave, Varlet, and Madman Guild. The Pirates, Nobility, and the Brotherhood of the Sheaf were all separate groups with their own heads.

I shouldn’t have pushed Chase,
I thought as I closed my eyes to go to sleep. Yes, he was big and, yes, he was usually good at telling people what to do. But anyone can face a foe too terrible to handle.

I lay there for a few minutes, listening to Chase’s even breathing—he suddenly whispered my name. I was drowsy and comfortable, so I didn’t answer right away. Imagine my total surprise when he got carefully out of bed, got dressed, and left the apartment.

I couldn’t imagine where he was going or what he was doing. Obviously, he’d called my name to see if I was asleep.

If there was a problem, I would’ve heard the radio go off. What surprised me even more was that he’d left his radio on the bedside table when he went out. Now I was really curious. Where could he be going? Why didn’t he want me to know?

I sat there for a few minutes, not sure what to do. Finally I got up and slipped my feet into sandals before I bounded down the stairs. Yes, I was wearing my pajamas, but they looked like a tank top and shorts. It was more important for me to find Chase than to bother with what I looked like.

I could barely make out his dark tunic as he walked down the cobblestones toward the Stage Caravan. A dancer! I should’ve known!

But then he suddenly veered right toward the privies. Okay. Maybe he wasn’t cheating on me. Maybe he was inspecting the privies and didn’t want to bother me. Usually that wouldn’t be his job, but Chase didn’t mind doing whatever needed to be done.

That wasn’t right either. Chase walked past the privies and toward the edge of the forested area. A man dressed like one of the Templar Knights was waiting by the large sign that proclaimed the beginning of the encampment.

I hung back. This was something more than a woman.
Thank God!
It was probably something interesting instead of devastating. The fact that he didn’t want me to know that he was going out here, and let me think he was afraid to confront the knights, made it even more of a priority to learn the truth.

Chase and the knight talked for a few minutes. Most of the normal sounds from the Village were silenced by the lateness of the night. I could still hear some of the animals calling out and some laughter probably coming from the Pleasant Pheasant. There was also a little music from somewhere that drifted by me toward the pine trees Chase and the knight were getting ready to enter.

I hung back, giving them time to get ahead of me. There were a few real torches scattered along what looked like a path leading into the forest. Normally, fire was discouraged in the Village, but no one cared what went on after the visitors went home. Robin Hood never had any lighting along the path to his tree house encampment at all. It was hard to get in and out without scratching or stubbing something.

When I saw Chase disappear along the path, I slowly began to follow him. I hugged the darkness away from the torches. The smell of freshly cut pine was strong as I crept along at the edge of the tree line. The torches heated up the already hot night, making it hard to breathe from the fumes as they burned.

As I left the Village behind me, I began to hear sounds and see flickering lights coming from the deeper part of the forest. The music was loud here and mixed with extravagant laughter. Obviously, someone was having a good time. Since it wasn’t me, it made me angry. It was too hot to be out with dive-bombing mosquitoes swarming around me. There were already pine needles wedged in my sandals. Nothing about this trip to visit the knights was making me feel better.

I heard movement in the brush close to me and dropped down, breathing quietly. Two knights passed barely a few inches from my position. I looked the way they had come and saw the lighted area around the huge, black tents. Large fires were burning in pits, keeping the area well lit. As many as a dozen knights were standing around like they were waiting for something.

Once again, I had to admire their wonderful costumes and nicely made swords. No wonder everyone hated them and Chase didn’t want to come out here. Everyone probably wanted to be them or was afraid of them.

But what was Chase’s angle? He didn’t seem afraid for his life when he met the knight at the entrance. If he wasn’t afraid, why not come out and talk to them sooner? I’d seen him lay down the law on Robin Hood, the pirates, and every other group of miscreants in the Village. Why hold back on the Knights Templar?

I moved to get a better view of the knights and what they were doing, but a branch cracked under my weight. It sounded like cannon fire to me because I was so nervous. I waited for several minutes to see if anyone else had heard. The men in the encampment didn’t seem to notice, and I took a deep breath of relief.

That was before a sword found its way to my back and a deep voice said, “What are you doing out here?”

“
I
demand that you release me,” I shouted, hoping Chase would hear me. “The bailiff will hear of this! You better let me go.”