Three O'Clock Séance: An Inspector Rebecca Mayfield Mystery (The Rebecca Mayfield Mysteries Book 3) (16 page)

“Grandmother, is it you?” Marta’s voice quavered.

“Yes.” The voice was eerily different from Geri’s. This voice was higher and even lilting. “I didn’t know I had a granddaughter. Why didn’t you ever come to visit me?”

“I didn’t know about you, or I would have,” Marta cried. “I’m so sorry! My mother never told me. She believed you wanted to kill her.”

“I never wanted to kill my own daughter.”

“I know you didn’t, Grandmother. Please tell me, where is the gold?”

“Leave it, and leave here. Danger is coming for you. Run, my dear.”

“I’m not going anywhere without the gold, dammit!”

“You will not blaspheme in this house. Leave now.”

“Look.” Marta sounded peeved. “This is important to me. Now that you’ve learned you didn’t kill your husband and daughter, you can go on to wherever ghosts go. You don’t need to hang around this house anymore. That should be worth something to you, right? So how about you tell me where the gold is. One favor for another. Tit for tat, and all that. Okay?”

There was a long silence, and then the high, sing-song voice said, “It’s buried behind the barn.”

“Barn?” Marta repeated. “Grandmother, there is no barn here.”

“How could your great-grandfather run a dairy without a barn?”

“Oh,” Marta said. “Henry, it must have been torn down. But a barn wouldn’t be too far from the house. You’ll have to find it.”

“What if she’s not telling you the truth?” Henry said.

“Why wouldn’t she?” Marta asked.

“You don’t believe me,” Geri cried, still with her high, squeaky voice. “You’re just like your grandfather! He never believed me either. I’m going.”

“No! Wait.”

“Good-bye.”

“Grandmother! Astrid!”

Silence.

They all dropped their hands.

Henry pushed back the drapes to let sunlight into the room.

Marta glared at her husband. “Henry, you idiot!”

“All I wanted was some proof,” he said.

“Yes, and you got my grandmother pissed off at us. Now go out there and find that barn.”

“How am I supposed to know where it used to be?”

“Look for old boards, or maybe where the ground seems different from what’s around it. How the hell should I know?”

He shook his head. “Maybe I need to get rid of them first. We don’t need them anymore.”

Richie and Rebecca eyed each other, trying to come up with something to stop them.

Marta stood up, her gun in hand. “What if it’s hard to dig, or there’s so much gold you need help loading it? We might need his help.” She thrust her chin towards Richie. “Threaten to torture Momma, and he’ll do whatever we want.”

Henry nodded. “Good thinking.”

“There’s a shed on the far side of the house,” Marta said. “It probably has some tools in there. Maybe a pick or a shovel you can use.”

“Great.” Henry grumbled his way out of the house.

Richie waited, shaking his head at Rebecca so she wouldn’t try anything foolish. Before long, they heard what sounded like a pick striking hard ground over and over.

“I guess he found where the barn used to be,” Marta said with a smile. Seeing that her charges were docile, she took a seat, still holding the gun on them.

Richie caught Rebecca’s eyes. He looked down at the table top, then up at her. She gave a small smile and nod.

With that, he put his hands on the edge of the table, and then stood as much as he was able to while tied to the chair. Rebecca did the same and together, in one quick motion, they lifted the table top, tipping it onto its side as they pushed it forward into Marta. The table knocked her backwards off her chair. She fired the gun, but the shot went wild. Her head hit the wall behind her, and the table landed on top of her legs.

At the same time, Richie slammed the legs of the chair he was tied to against a wall, splintering the old, dry wood on impact. The loosened ropes all but  slid off his body.

He picked up the gun Marta had dropped as she fell, and then untied the knot at Rebecca’s back and helped her pull off the ropes. He gave the gun to Rebecca.

The sound of the pick had stopped and they both expected Henry to either come in or to shoot at them through the window.

Rebecca stood ready to fire if needed as Richie untied his mother and Geri, and then tied up Marta. Marta was dazed and crying with pain, saying her kneecaps had been smashed when the table fell onto them.

They ignored her.

A
ll remained quiet outside.

“I’m going after Henry,” Rebecca said. “You keep Carmela and Geri safe.”

“They’ll be fine waiting here. I’ll be right behind you.”

“No, Richie!” Carmela cried.

“She’s not going out there alone.” He aimed his words at Carmela, but knew they also told Rebecca not to waste her breath arguing.

Rebecca stood next to the dining room door, Richie at her side. She reached out and opened the door a little ways. She saw no movement or any change in the parlor. She opened the door wider and took a better look, then glanced back at Richie with a nod. The room was empty.

Slowly, her gun leading the way, Rebecca crossed the room. Richie looked around as he followed, and even peeked out the window. He saw and heard nothing.

He wondered if Henry had run, leaving Marta behind.

As Rebecca edged her way to the front door, Richie stayed near the wall at her side.

She opened the door. When nothing happened, and no sound was heard, she slowly crept onto the front porch, looking over her shoulders and all around.

Richie inched towards the side of the house, then froze. A black Maserati sports car was parked under some trees. He took Rebecca’s arm and nudged her closer to him. “Look.”

They both peered around the corner of the house.

“What the hell?” she said as she lowered the gun.

Vito, holding a pick in his hand, stood near Henry. Henry look like a stick figure alongside Vito’s girth. Shay sat on an ancient barrel with his Smith and Wesson aimed at Henry.

“It’s about time,” Richie said, strolling off the porch and out to meet them. “I expected you a lot earlier.”

“My biggest problem was to make sure I didn’t blow past you on the highway.” Shay nodded towards his sports car. “We didn’t want anyone watching to know you weren’t alone.”

“You could have come inside and helped,” Richie said.

“What, you couldn’t take care of one little old lady by yourself?” Vito asked.

Richie just shook his head and went to get Carmela and Geri. Rebecca, he saw, was already heading inland, trying to pick up a signal on her cell phone to call the local authorities.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Thank goodness I can go home soon,” Carmela said as she got into the ambulance with Geri. The paramedics insisted they be checked out by a doctor in the hospital after their harrowing experiences, although both women knew they were just fine.

“You two really had them going,” Richie said with a smile. “They believed you could communicate with spirits.”

“You think we were joking?” Carmela asked, her expression serious.

Richie looked so stunned, Carmela and Geri both laughed at him for being taken so easily.

“Actually, I wanted to tell them the gold was in the outhouse,” Geri said, “but I didn’t think I could do it without laughing.” She and Carmela now guffawed so hard they almost did need hospitalization. “We ‘connected with spirits’ the same way during séances, once we saw how they worked. We were afraid they’d realize we were faking, but they never questioned us at all.”

“That’s the trouble with people who believe in any new crackpot thing that comes along,” Carmela said. “They’re easy to convince.”

“I decided to send Henry outside to get him away from Marta,” Geri added. “I knew once they were separated, and Richie and Rebecca didn’t need to spend all their time worrying about us, we’d get through this.”

“Girl power,” Carmela said and the two high-fived. But then she faced Rebecca and Richie. “We also want to apologize to both of you.”

“No need,” Rebecca said. “You didn’t do this on purpose.”

“In a sense, we did. Oh, not that we planned to get kidnapped or to put you in danger,” Carmela hastened to explain. “But we should have let you know we suspected Henry and Marta as soon as we heard poor Sandy was dead.”

“Are you kidding me?” Richie bellowed. “Why didn’t you tell us? You could have been killed.”

“We never dreamed everything would turn dangerous so fast,” Carmela said. “At least you found us. How did you do it so quickly?”

Richie froze. “Uh … Rebecca was here once before.”

He and Rebecca glanced at each other and both struggled not to grin.

The ambulance soon left with the two women plus Marta of the damaged kneecaps and her police escort, while Henry went straight to jail. More police and a local towing company were already dealing with Lucian’s body and car down on the beach.

Vito and Shay had taken off in Shay’s Maserati as soon as Rebecca went in search of a cell phone signal to call in law enforcement. Rebecca couldn’t believe it when she saw their tail lights. She had no idea how she was supposed to account for them to the police.

A couple of detectives from San Mateo county were delayed. Rebecca and Richie agreed to wait for them to arrive to give them their statements. They were due within the half hour.

“Let’s walk,” Richie said. “Just the two of us before we need to talk to those detectives, and then wait forever for the doctors to look over my mother and Geri. I’m going to try to get them to stay at my house tonight so they won’t be alone and start thinking of the horrible things that
might
have happened to all of us. You can join us if you’d like.”

“I think I’ll skip that pleasure,” she said, trying to keep a straight face. But she was glad to have some time alone with him. She had never thought of him as particularly brave before, but everything he did, from going into the warehouse to rescue Claire Baxter, to searching for a way down the cliff to try to save the occupants of Lucian’s car, to attacking a woman holding a gun on him, made her see him as brave now. “I’ll probably be at Homicide all night. I’ve got a few cases to clear.”

As they walked away from the house to the north side of the small peninsula, far from the beach with Lucian’s car, she pointed out the path down the hillside to the beach, the path she had taken with Geller.

“We did it,” Richie said as they stood on the shore. “You and I. We saved them.”

He sounded completely overjoyed. “Yes, we did,” she said with a laugh.

As their gazes met, she saw joy and much more as he looked at her. Her breath caught. “Let’s keep going.” She turned away from him.

He quickly caught up and put his arm around her shoulders as they slowly ambled along the shoreline. “It’s crazy,” he said, “when you think about what started this whole mess. A bunch of people going to séances, looking to the past, looking backwards to live through loved ones who were gone. It makes sense it wouldn’t turn out well.”

“It was sad,” she said.

“If at all possible, a person needs to look to the future. That’s where there’s hope—and life.”

The thought struck her that he might be thinking about himself and his fiancée when he said that, whether he realized it or not.

“You’re right,” she murmured.

He dropped his arm and walked closer to the ocean. He picked up a piece of driftwood and flung it toward the water, watching with satisfaction at the distance he achieved.

She stepped to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. When he faced her, the raw emotion coming from him rolled over her like a wave. She was unnerved by what she saw, and what she felt for him. Unnerved because she knew, whatever she might be feeling, that the two of them as a couple would never work.

She dropped her hand and searched for what to say to bring things back to their usual casual relationship. “After seeing the pain losing a loved one brought to all those people who gave their money to Sandy, I guess I’m glad I’m not looking for that kind of a deep relationship.” When he made no reply, she added, “I suspect you feel the same way.” She forced a smile. “There’s much to be said for ‘no strings.’”

He didn’t reply for a moment as his gaze searched hers. “I think it wasn’t the pain of loss that caused those people to fall into the Sandorista trap. The problem for them, what they couldn’t deal with, was loneliness.”

She hadn’t expected that from him, and she realized he was right. They started to walk again, side-by-side, down the beach.

“It’s good then,” she said, trying once more, “that neither of us leads a boring life. We don’t have time to be lonely.”

“Busy people can still be lonely, Rebecca.” He reached for her hand as they continued to skirt the water. His jaw tightened for a moment, and then he said, “But you’re right. It’s good we’re busy.”

She couldn’t leave it at that, not after hearing the honest sadness in his words. “I must admit, I do find you a surprisingly good companion.”

He glanced quizzically at her, but then his face slowly spread into a smile. “Good, because I find you the same. It’s nice, you know, when two people find this … what should we call it? Companionship.”

She felt suddenly empty inside. “Yes. Of course. That’s what it is.” They walked along the sandy beach until they reached a stretch of rocks that headed out into the water.

Richie climbed up onto the rocks and helped Rebecca join him. She did, and the two of them walked nearer to the water, and then sat. Waves gently rolled up onto the rocks a little way below their feet.

“It’s beautiful here,” he said.

Their shoulders touched, and she could feel the warmth in his dark eyes as he faced her.

“Yes. I wish we could stay here a long time.”

“I’d like it,” he said.

Despite her caution, she couldn’t help but to lean a little closer to him as they watched and listened to the waves lap against the shore.

But soon he looked towards the house. The county detectives stood at the top of the hill waiting for them.

Behind the detectives, the house seemed oddly brighter than it had before, as if some darkness, perhaps some sadness, had been lifted from it.

“Come on, Inspector,” Richie said, holding out his hand to help her climb back down onto the sand. “Your duty awaits.”