Krewe Of Hunters: Crimson Twilight Part 8

"No ghosts."

"Or Mrs. Avery."

"You think she's guilty?"

"She has the only motive," Sloan said. "Can you think of another?"

At the moment, she couldn't.

She kissed his lips with a promise for the future.

"Go to sleep," he told her. "I can't sleep anyway, right now. I'll take both our turns watching the hall. I'll be back in once it's full light. Logan will be up by then."

She headed into the bedroom, exhausted. She knew Sloan. He'd be pacing in the foyer area of their room for a while, thinking.

But she fell quickly asleep.

She awoke.

And felt Sloan's warmth beside her. She loved that she lay with him at night and woke with him in the morning. She even loved that they could disagree, even argue, that life with him was comfortable-and yet, she could see him, breathe his scent, watch him walk from the shower and want him as if they'd never made love before.

She rolled over to tell him that she loved him.

But never spoke the words.

A shrill scream pierced the castle's quiet.

Chapter 7.

"I guess that Mrs. Avery wasn't responsible," Sloan said.

The scene was a repet.i.tion of the previous morning. Only now, it was Denise Avery who lay at the foot of the stairs, her neck broken.

Sloan looked at Logan, who'd been on guard duty. "What happened?"

"She was never on the second level to descend to the first," Logan said, looking at them.

This time, it had been Scully Adair-dressed in one of Kelsey's tailored work suits-who'd made the discovery when she walked down the stairs. Her scream had alerted the castle. Now, everyone was there, including Mr. Green.

Chef and Harry and Devon rushed in from the hall to the kitchen. Phoebe Martin had come running from the Great Hall and the two day maids, Sonia Anderson and Lila Adkins, hurried from the office. It was chaos, everyone asking each other if they'd seen Mrs. Avery.

"Whoa!" Sloan shouted. "Stop. All of you!"

They went silent.

Phoebe stared at Sloan with fear. Scully Adair seemed to be in shock. Harry and Devon just looked sick.

Chef shook his head. "I knew I should have taken that job out at the really haunted hotel in Colorado."

Mr. Green just stood there, hat in hand, shaking his head. "Sorrowful end. The reverend? He was a good man. Mrs. Avery? Not so much. Still, a sorrowful end."

"We're going to have to call the police," Jane said.

"Already dialing," Logan told them.

"Let's leave her as she lies for the M.E.," Sloan said. "We'll head into the Great Hall and wait for the police."

They obeyed like sheep. Chef, Harry, and Devon drifted to one side of the table-team kitchen. Phoebe Martin, Sonia, and Lila to the other side. Emil Roth-appearing to be in total shock-walked to his place at the end.

Scully looked at the room uncertainly. At last, she walked to the wall and sank down against it and seemed to curl into herself.

"Did anyone see her this morning?" Logan asked.

"I did," Mr. Green volunteered. "I saw her walking up to the castle from the guard house."

"Did you speak with her?"

"No," he said. Then, he added, "I only speak with her when I have to."

"We saw her-the three of us," Chef told them.

"Yeah," Harry said. "She came in telling us that if we were all going to get so chummy with the guests, Chef needed to plan cheaper meals."

"Nice," Scully muttered.

"Did you see her?" Jane asked the maids.

The three of them shook their heads.

"Not until she was there. At the foot of the stairs. But, I knew. The minute I heard Scully screaming, I knew," Phoebe said. She stared at Jane. "It's the ghost. She's angry. Elizabeth is angry. You tried to get married here when she couldn't. I think she's trying to kill you!"

Sloan cleared his throat. "I really don't think that Jane and the reverend and Mrs. Avery resemble one another in any way. Nor do I think that a ghost is killing people."

"So she just tripped?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Personally, I don't think so," Jane said matter-of-factly.

"But the reverend just fell yesterday!" Harry protested.

"And she fell today," Kelsey said.

"So, if she didn't just fall-" Harry began.

"Someone pushed her," Devon finished.

"And who would want to kill that old battle-ax?" Chef demanded sarcastically.

The police didn't knock, they burst right in. Detective Forester immediately looked at the FBI agents. "Four of you are still here-and another person is dead? What now?"

Everyone began to speak at once again.

Sloan a.s.sumed that Detective Forester was decent at his job. But he probably didn't deal with situations like this often. And Detective Flick, at his heels, merely followed the path that his boss took.

"Hey!" Sloan shouted. "Tone it down. Let the detective get his questions out in an orderly fashion."

They all went silent like errant school children.

"The ghost did it!" Phoebe said again. "The ghost did not want people getting married here. Maybe Elizabeth Roth didn't even want to hurt the reverend. He was just there and she had to stop the wedding. And so, to stop killing other people, she had to kill Mrs. Avery, who kept letting people try to get married here."

Forester stared at her as if she'd completely lost her mind.

"Who saw what happened?" Forester demanded.

"No one saw anything," Sloan said. "My co-workers and I were on the second floor. Scully Adair came down the stairs and found her."

"No one else was around?" Forester demanded of Scully.

Scully shook her head.

"Where were the rest of you?" Forester asked.

Mr. Green told him he'd never entered the house. Chef and cook said that they'd been in the kitchen, but that she had been in to see them just moments earlier.

"We had just gotten here," Lila said.

"We rode in together," Sonia said.

"I was still up in my room," Phoebe said.

"So she just fell?" Forester said, bewildered. "Someone has to know something." He spun on Mr. Green. "Who can vouch for you?"

Green just looked shocked. "I'm always outside."

"And you?" he demanded of Phoebe.

She stared back at him in horror. "Miss Everett walked me to my room last night. d.a.m.n you! Why will no one listen to me? The ghost did it."

"I want this place shut down to the public immediately," Forester told Emil Roth. "And no one leaves."

He made the announcement as if that were the answer to the dilemma.

"I don't really have anywhere else to go," Mr. Green muttered.

They heard activity at the door. The medical examiner had arrived. Forester told the group to stay in the Great Hall. Sloan ignored the order, getting a nod from Logan, and followed out on the heels of the detective.

The medical examiner shook his head as he stared at the corpse. "I'll get her temperature for time of death-"

"We know the d.a.m.ned time of death," Forester snapped. "Can't you tell if she was pushed or not?"

"When I have time for an autopsy," the man snapped back.

"Doctor," Sloan asked. "Did you discover anything yesterday that might have caused the reverend to fall? I heard he had a bad heart."

The medical examiner looked at him and nodded. "He was a walking time bomb. There was damage to his heart. Whether that caused his fall or not, I don't know. But he didn't suffer a heart attack before he came crashing down the stairs. And Mrs. Avery, I think she was in decent health. She certainly appeared to be."

Sloan said, "But she didn't fall from the top of the stairs. We were out in the hallway on that landing and we didn't see her." He actually hadn't been on the landing himself. Logan had been there. But, to Sloan's knowledge, Logan never missed anything.

"She fell from midway up?" Forester asked.

"She had to have. She was never on the second floor landing," Sloan said.

"It's a broken neck for sure," the medical examiner said. "If you want to know more, I'll be able to tell you in a few hours. She'll be an immediate priority at the morgue."

Forester thanked him. The medical examiner looked at Sloan and nodded. He had the feeling that he'd be getting any information just as quickly as Forester.

"What do you have to say?" Forester asked, looking at Sloan.

"I don't know what is happening any more than you do," Sloan said. "But three people breaking their necks on a stairway in a matter of years-two of them within two days? I don't see that as accidents, nor as coincidences. Something is going on here."

"You are saying that these people have been murdered?" Forester asked.

"I'd say it's likely."

"And what do you say we do to find out what is happening?"

Sloan was surprised. Forester's anger was all bl.u.s.ter. He was bewildered. There were no knives involved, no guns, no gang wars, and no obvious motive for killing. A husband hadn't gotten too angry with a wife. A mistress hadn't suddenly turned on a man who'd promised to leave his wife and marry her.

And yet, people were dead.

"Detective, we've been researching everyone here. We expect some reports this morning. But, questioning the people here could prove helpful."

Forester nodded. "I'll do it. Whatever you find out, you'll tell me, right?"

"Of course. This is your jurisdiction. We just happen to be here. We're happy to help. But I need to get together with my team."

Forester nodded and seemed better equipped to take control. "I'll see the employees one by one in the Great Hall. You and your team may return to your rooms. I'll send the cooks and the maids to the kitchen and start with Mrs. Avery's a.s.sistant."

Forester walked ahead of Sloan to return to the Great Hall. When they were there, he announced his intentions. "Chef, you and your helpers stay together. Miss Martin, Miss Anderson, Miss Adkins, you will stay together, too. You're welcome to wait your turn in the kitchen. Mr. Roth, we'll have to speak with you, but you're welcome to return to your room until Detective Flick comes to bring you down. Please understand, no one is being accused of anything but we must ascertain what happened here. Therefore, I need to speak with all of you, one by one. Mr. Green, you may return to your apartment. Just be ready to speak to us when we call you."

For a moment, everyone was dead still. Then, Chef rose. "Coffee sounds d.a.m.ned good. And breakfast. Detectives? Should I plan for you, too?"