Peril in Paperback (11 page)

He scratched his head, then shrugged, a typical guy wondering what this girl was talking about. “You look great.”

“Well, thank you,” I said, grateful for his words, yet still unwilling to wear dusty jeans to Grace’s séance. “But I’m just going to stop by my room for a few minutes. I’ll see you up there.”

I was running late, but made it to the Gold Salon in time for the second round of cocktails. I ordered a vodka and tonic from the bartender and took a quick sip. Gazing around at the well-dressed guests, I was thankful I’d decided to change into chocolate silk pants, black heels, and a burgundy satin blouse.

“There you are,” Suzie said. “I thought we were going to have to send out a search party.”

“Sorry I’m late. I was working with old books all day and wanted to freshen up before the party.”

“No problem, kiddo,” Suzie said.

That’s when I noticed what she was wearing. “Hey, you look really nice.” I hoped I didn’t sound too surprised. Suzie usually went for more of a butch look that often combined denim vests with motorcycle boots and chains. But tonight she wore a pretty sleeveless black top in some kind of flowing chiffon material over slim black pants. Her normally spiky blond hair was now a sleek bob. And were those high heels she was wearing?

“Yeah, color me shocked, too,” she muttered, and craned her neck to gaze over my shoulder. “But Vinnie’s been on a kick lately.”

I turned and my eyes almost bugged out of my head as I watched Vinnie approach wearing—oh, dear God—a little black cocktail dress. It was short and tight and clung to every curve she had, with capped sleeves and a sweetheart neckline that actually showed some cleavage. Her strappy black heels were seriously high and very sexy. She wobbled only once; otherwise, she looked like she’d been sporting stiletto heels her entire life.

Wait. Is she wearing makeup?
Yes, I could see a glimmer of pale pink lipstick and soft gray eye shadow.

I leaned in close to Suzie and whispered, “Isn’t this one of the seven signs of the coming Apocalypse?”

She snorted a laugh. “Doesn’t my girl look hot?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Vinnie, you look amazing.”

“Thank you, Brooklyn.” In a self-conscious gesture, she fluffed her hair, which, instead of hanging straight down her back in a demure braid, was curled around her shoulders in thick, lustrous waves. “I thought it would be fun for Suzie and me to play dress-up. Doesn’t she look lovely?”

“You both do.”

Suzie winked at Vinnie. “Never thought you’d catch me playing the lipstick lesbian, but it’s kind of fun to see you all dolled up.”

I took another sip of my drink. “Not that you guys don’t always look perfect, but…wow.”

“Thank you,” Vinnie said, smiling her appreciation for my inability to speak coherently.

The men were gathered around the bar and I heard Nathan trying to convince the others to get a football pool going. Marko’s silly giggle could be heard throughout the room and I wondered again what Bella found attractive about him.

Against one wall was a bountiful buffet table filled with hearty appetizers of every kind. Miniature quiches and taquitos, finger sandwiches filled with rare roast beef and horseradish sauce, Chinese dumplings with dipping sauce, chicken satay.

Once again, Chef Tang had outdone himself. And he would be serving dinner after the séance. I was so in love with him, and to prove it I was careful to eat as much as possible. I’d learned my lesson about skipping a meal.

“The séance is about to begin,” Grace said in a clear, cheerful voice. “You’ll want to take your drinks with you, but please place them on the floor by your feet. I can’t have any beverages on the table interfering with the power of the crystal ball.”

There were a few snickers at that. Bella and Ruth and some of the others hustled over to the bar and quickly ordered more cocktails. The rest of us followed gamely behind Grace, who led us into a slightly smaller sitting room next door to the Gold Salon. She called this room the Red Room. It was more than obvious why. Swaying streams of thick red velvet billowed out from the chandelier to the walls and cascaded down in a rich red waterfall. The material effectively covered any windows that might have allowed the moonlight inside. In the center of the room was a large round table cloaked in mirrored brocades and Indian print fabrics. Two rows of chairs circled the table.

Grace sat down at the table first and Ruth joined her.

“I brought you an iced tea,” Ruth said, handing Grace a tall glass of dark red liquid.

“Mm, passion fruit, my favorite,” Grace said, and leaned over to place the glass on the floor. “Thanks, sweetie. Sit here next to me.”

Ruth took the chair to Grace’s right and set her own glass on the floor. Then Bella grabbed the seat on Grace’s other side and Marko sat down next to her.

“No glasses,” Ruth murmured.

“Okay, just one more sip,” Bella said, and took a serious gulp from her beverage before handing it to Marko, who placed both of their drinks on the floor.

Peter, Sybil, Harrison, and Madge rounded out the seating at the main table. Vinnie, Suzie, and I, along with Nathan and Kiki and Merrilee, took seats in the second row of chairs. Stephen Fowler straggled in last and sat down next to Kiki, grumbling as he did so.

As soon as everyone was seated, the lights dimmed and flickered as sounds of thunder were heard in the distance. It was obviously an old recording, complete with scratches and pops, but everyone laughed nervously.

Bella feigned girlish apprehension, inciting Marko to slip his arm around her. “Don’t worry, Peaches. I’ll protect you from the ghosts.”

Peaches?
I kind of liked that nickname, although I still wasn’t sure I’d want Marko protecting me from anything.

Grace pulled the crystal ball closer. Looking around at all of us, she began to stroke and caress the large globe. Suddenly she cried out, “The spirits are restless! They know we seek answers.”

Sure enough, that cued a series of scary sound effects, mainly lots of groans and moans from the spirit world. There were giggles and mock screams from the audience and everyone seemed to be having a jolly time. The lights continued to flicker.

“Grace Crawford,” a baritone voice cried out from somewhere.

Grace gasped. “Uncle Cuthbert?”

Kiki, sitting next to Suzie, giggled, then whispered to the group, “We don’t have an uncle Cuthbert.”

“Silence!” Cuthbert shouted.

Kiki emitted a short shriek and hunched down in her chair. There were more giggles as Grace carried on a hilarious conversation with her dearly departed great-uncle Cuthbert. Apparently the story went that he had hidden his fortune in a tree trunk somewhere and Grace was trying to cajole the location out of him.

In the middle of Cuthbert’s rant that all his relatives were drunken sots with no social skills and would never get a single rotten cent from him, there was a sudden raucous thumping of footsteps from somewhere in the house.

The noise startled me. One of the women seated at the table screamed.

“What is that?” Grace asked, glancing around. She sounded seriously concerned, but somebody chuckled and a few others joined in the nervous laughter.

Those footsteps sounded real to me, not part of the show. And they were growing louder.

I whipped around to stare at the closed door and caught Suzie’s look of surprise mixed with alarm. We both frowned as the sound of boots continued to echo off the hard marble surface of the front hall downstairs. Seconds later they were stomping on the grand stairway, the heavy sound barely muted by the carpeting. Some man was coming upstairs in an awful hurry.

I rubbed at the sudden rash of goose bumps on my arms.

“Who the hell is that?” Peter asked.

A loud rumble of thunder roared outside, for real this time. The lights dimmed and stayed that way. The pounding footsteps grew closer.

I recognized Kiki’s nervous giggle. A glass shattered on the hardwood floor. Grace cried out. There was another giggle and someone else gasped, then made a choking sound.
Probably laughing too hard,
I thought.

There was some grappling and pushing of chairs, but I didn’t pay any attention. My full concentration was riveted on the door.

“This is ridiculous,” Peter said, pushing his chair back and standing.

But Nathan had already jumped up and beaten him across the room to the door. He yanked it open and yelled, “Who’s out there?”

Is this part of the show?
I wondered, as we all stood and stared in fear at the open doorway.

Two more women screamed as my dangerous friend Gabriel stalked into the room.

Gabriel?

“Oh, my goodness,” Kiki said on a sigh. “Am I dreaming?”

“Wow,” Sybil whispered.

Madge pressed a hand to her heart. “You can say that again.”

“Uncle Cuthbert, I presume?” Nathan said.

“I hope he plans to stay,” Sybil whispered.

Kiki giggled again. “Yes, please.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” I muttered, letting go of the breath I’d been holding. Pushing a chair out of the way, I ran over and hugged him. “Gabriel, what in the world are you doing here?”

“Hey, babe,” he said, and bent and planted a smacking kiss on my lips. He looked even taller and darker and more rebellious than usual in his weathered leather bomber jacket and dark-washed blue jeans. His black hair was windblown and his cheeks were ruddy from the cold. I guess I couldn’t blame the other ladies for their swoony comments about him.

“Gabriel, you’re late,” Grace said next to him, her breath coming out in short huffs and puffs from all the excitement.

He gave her a cockeyed grin. “Hope it was worth the wait.”

She slapped his arm. “Always, you scoundrel.”

“Oh yeah,” Madge murmured. “Definitely worth the wait.”

Down, girl
, I thought, but again, I couldn’t blame her. The guy was eye candy personified. I watched as Kiki slid into one of the chairs as though she were boneless, then simply stared at him.

Gabriel scanned the room. “How’s everybody doing tonight? Hey, looking good, Suzie.”

“Back at you, pal,” Suzie said, grinning. “Way to make an entrance.”

“Whoa, Vinnie.” Gabriel made a point of blinking, then narrowing his eyes to focus on her. “Nice shoes.”

Vinnie beamed. “You are the sight for sore eyes, Gabriel.”

“Not bad yourself,” he said, then glanced down at his own attire. “Sorry. Must’ve missed the dress-code memo.”

“There’s broken glass on the floor,” Merrilee said. “I’ll ring for someone to clean it up.”

“Thank you, dear,” Grace murmured, as Merrilee dashed out the door.

“Something’s wrong with Bella,” Marko said sharply.

I whirled around and saw Bella slumped in her chair with her head thrown back, her gorgeous red hair backlit in the dim light. Her eyes were open but glazed over.

No.
I tried to say it aloud, but the word stuck in my throat.

Marko gave her cheeks a few light taps, then shouted, “Something’s really wrong here!”

My stomach lurched. This wasn’t happening. Not again. It was impossible. Wasn’t it? I stared at Gabriel, whose eyes narrowed in suspicion. Not at me, I assured myself, but even I was growing wary of people dying around me.

“What’s wrong with her?” Sybil demanded. “Is she asleep?”

“She’s drunk. What else?” Madge mumbled, and slurped her own drink.

“Shut up, you dumb bitch,” Marko snapped.

Madge turned up her nose at him, but didn’t speak again. No one did. Marko’s threatening tone made everyone nervous.

He spun around and gave Bella’s cheeks another smack or two. There was still no response, so he gripped her shoulders gently to help her sit up. “Come on, Bella. Wake up, baby.” Marko’s face was pale and his eyes were wide as he bent and pressed his ear against her chest. Lifting his head, he said, “She’s passed out. I—I don’t think she’s breathing. Somebody help me.”

Gabriel wound his way through the chairs and reached Marko just as the man was about to give Bella mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Gabriel pulled him away brusquely. “Don’t do that.”

“I’ve got to! She’s not breathing.”

Gabriel moved closer and sniffed the air just above Bella’s lips, then muttered, “Almonds.”

“What’re you talking about?” Marko grabbed the back of Gabriel’s leather jacket and tried to push him out of the way. Gabriel didn’t budge, but instead quietly nudged Marko back. Then Gabriel leaned in close to Bella and sniffed again.

Marko shook his hands and swallowed compulsively as Gabriel attended to Bella.

“She’s been poisoned,” Gabriel said, and pressed two fingers to Bella’s neck. A few seconds later, he looked directly at me, his expression grim. Glancing at Grace, he said, “Someone needs to call the police.”

Then he turned to Marko. “I’m sorry, man. She’s dead.”

No one protested when Gabriel took immediate charge of the situation. He suggested that we all gather in one
room, and Grace led the way back to the Gold Salon—where the bar was, naturally. The buffet table had been restocked with hot chafing dishes while the séance was going on, and now the confused guests hovered nearby, unsure whether to eat anything.

Gabriel pulled Suzie and me aside and gave us our assignments. Suzie was to stay with the guests in the Gold Salon and make sure nobody left. She was to listen in on conversations, watch for nervous gestures, and keep mental notes for Gabriel.

“You got it,” she said with barely concealed excitement.

“Merrilee has called the police,” Grace said.

“Thanks,” he said, and gave her a hug. “You stay here and take care of your guests. Brooklyn and I will see to Bella.”

“Thank you, dear,” she whispered. “I’m…oh, God. I can’t believe it. Please, Gabriel. Find out what happened.”

“I will.”

Grace walked away just as Merrilee rushed up with a broom and dustpan. “I’ll clean up the glass.”

“No,” Gabriel said, easing the broom from her hand. “It’s too dangerous. I’ll take care of it.”

“Oh.” She blinked, unsure of herself. “Is there anything else I can do?”

Gabriel asked for some plastic Ziploc bags and Merrilee raced off to get them. Then he turned and took my arm. “Do you have your phone with you?”