Death in Castle Dark, page 8
He looked at his watch. “Your secret is safe with me. I’m going to go investigate your theory. You say you put the glass shard on the windowsill?”
“Yes. To the left of the door.”
“Thanks, Nora.” His smile was a little bit crooked. “Enjoy your contraband.”
He walked swiftly down the hall, pausing at Garrett’s room to study something on the door. Even from a distance he looked tall.
I went back into my room. The three cats sat in a peaceful cluster in the center of the bed. The sky had turned darker; rain was coming. The gray cats, juxtaposed with the metallic sky, brought sudden inspiration.
“Oh, my goodness! You are my little Brontës!”
I knelt in front of the bed and gently scratched their tiny heads. I touched the nose of the solid gray one, who was fluffier than her sisters. “You’re Emily, of course. You’re gray as the Yorkshire sky, and your shaggy fur captures the wildness of the moors.” Then I looked at the one with the clean white bib and four tidy white paws. “You’re Charlotte. Jane Eyre was always such a neat, quiet person.” I turned to the third kitten, with her white ear and white chops that gave her a rather comical air. “And that leaves Anne. You’re my little Annie.”
They seemed pleased with the names, but even more pleased with my bed. Emily stretched out to her full length (which wasn’t very long), and I watched her little belly go up and down as she relaxed into slumber. The other two stayed where they were, heads together, eyes closed.
“Okay, promise not to pee,” I whispered. “I’ll see about getting some equipment.”
* * *
* * *
Connie opened her door wearing a tangerine blouse that made her look like a sunbeam. She raised her brows. “You look urgent. What happened?”
“I need to tap into your well of creativity. We’re not supposed to leave town, but there are some things I desperately need. And also, no one can know that I need them.”
“Intrigued,” Connie said, smiling.
“Can you keep a secret?”
Her face looked uncertain. “Does this have to do with—?”
“No! God, no. This is my own personal secret.”
“Okay, what?” She leaned in, her blue eyes sparkling. “I know. You slept with that cop!”
“Connie. No.” I took her hand and led her across the hall, into my room, and up to my bed. The Brontës were still asleep, their little bodies sprawled in a luxury of exhaustion.
Connie was about to squeal, so I said, “Shh.”
She covered her mouth, then uncovered it and whispered, “They’re so sweet!”
“I didn’t go out looking for them. Jade Balfour came by with all of them in a basket.”
“Oh, Jade. She’s priceless. I was in a play with her in the local community theater. We have to get you involved in that.”
“Yeah, well, she was holding them and sort of swinging them around, and it made me nervous. I just said I’d take all of them.”
She bent low to study the tiny forms. “I love them.”
“I smuggled them up here. I’m worried because I don’t know what Derek would say, and I don’t have anything for them! No food, no litter, no toys. But there are police at the door, and we’re not supposed to stray too far.”
Connie smiled. “No problem. You came to the right person. We can fix this without even leaving the third floor.”
“What? How?”
“Come with me,” she said.
She left the room and I followed her, carefully closing my door behind us. She went down the hall, almost as far as Garrett’s room, which sat right across from Elspeth’s costume room.
Next door to the costume room was Elspeth’s actual room; Connie knocked on the door, and Elspeth opened it a crack. “Yes?” she asked.
“Hey, El. Is Oliver around?” When Elspeth’s eyes flitted to me, Connie said, “We have a reason for asking.”
“Well, come in, then,” Elspeth said. She flung back her door, and I saw a room similar to mine, but draped in a way only an imaginative costumer could create, with midnight blue curtains and a blue-green patchwork quilt on the bed. Suncatchers hung in all her windows, and even in the grayness, the room glittered with refracted light. A giant armchair sat in front of her windows, and in this was a very large marmalade-colored cat. His face was majestic and pleased with life, and he eyed me with a mild distrust.
“This is Oliver,” Elspeth said in an indulgent tone. “We’ve been together ten years, haven’t we, Ollie?”
“He’s gorgeous!” I said. “Can I pet him?”
“Sure. He would love it.”
I walked forward and knelt in front of the big cat. His face was still wary, but when I started scratching his ears, he relaxed into the pleasure of it, squinting at me in a friendly manner. His purr, when it started, was as loud as a motorcycle. We all laughed, but Oliver ignored us.
“Does Derek know?” I asked.
Elspeth shrugged. “I’ve never mentioned him. I don’t know if Derek has figured it out. At first I felt bad, cooping up Ollie in here. But actually he’s got a nice amount of roaming space. I can keep the door open to the costume room, and suddenly it’s like two full apartments. And then see that closet over there?”
I looked where she was pointing, at a closet next to her bathroom door. “That’s one of the many secret passages. It goes along this back wall, across the hall to a little storage room right in front of Garrett’s room. So between my room, the costume room, and the hidden passage, Ollie has a lot to do. He’s caught mice in there.”
“Ew,” I said.
Connie knelt down and played with Oliver’s long tail. “The reason I needed to introduce him to Nora is that she has unexpectedly ended up with her own secret. And she needs supplies. Litter, food, maybe some toys.”
Elspeth’s eyes lit up. “Show me!” she demanded.
We left her room, closing in the half-sleeping Oliver, and ran giggling down the hall to my room, where we showed Elspeth the kittens. “Oh, my Lord!” she cried. “I forgot how small they can be. Ollie was just three pounds when I got him. How did they end up here?”
I told her the story, and she nodded her approval. “They’ll be happy as clams, especially with one another to play with. If need be, we can arrange playdates with Ollie.” She sighed. “Oh, this is an antidote to the sadness.”
“Agreed,” I said.
“What will you name them?” Connie asked.
“I already have! They’re all female, and gray, and I saw them against that cloudy sky and said, ‘You’re the Brontë sisters!’ ” I pointed at each cat. “Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.”
“That’s perfect!” Connie said.
“They’re darling,” Elspeth told me. To my surprise, she spent a moment unwinding the white cloth flowers from her hair; they were little blooms, all affixed to one slender string. “Here’s the first thing they can play with,” she said. “It will look like butterflies flying through the air when you wave it around. They’ll go nuts.” She tossed it on the bed.
“Elspeth, that is so sweet of you. Thank you!” I said.
She smiled at the tiny sleeping felines. “I’d like to be their toy supplier. It will give me a reason to visit.” She clapped her hands and said, “Now, to get you set up with a litter box!”
* * *
* * *
By noon the cats were getting familiar with the space. They had a little cardboard box full of litter (to which I had introduced them all several times), a “toy box” with about five kitten toys that Elspeth said Ollie no longer played with, and bowls of food and water. “You can get them Kitten Chow soon enough, but it’s not going to hurt them to eat the adult food for a while,” she said.
I thanked her extravagantly and she insisted that “Aunt Elspeth” would always be ready to help. We laughed, and then Connie wandered in, holding a crown.
“I like this one, Elspeth.”
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Connie shrugged. “Derek is toying with a new script idea, focused on a royal family and their servants.”
Elspeth petted Connie’s hair, her expression indulgent and motherly. “He’s got Connie pegged as his princess, which makes sense. She looks like a Disney cartoon.”
Connie smirked. “Anyway, he asked Elspeth to come up with some sort of headdress that suits me and that looks—what did he say?—modern but traditional.”
“No, he said classic with a modern twist.”
“Oh, right,” Connie said.
Elspeth clapped her hands. “Okay, let’s go to the costume room and play.”
Connie looked at me. “Do you want to come, Nora?”
I shook my head. “In all honesty, I’m starving. I’m going to hunt around for some lunch.”
They waved and moved down the hall, Connie chattering happily in Elspeth’s ear.
It was a dreamlike moment: Connie’s blond hair glinted in the dim hallway light, and the gold crown glimmered in her hand. Tall Elspeth looked like a lady-in-waiting for some historical royal, and the wood panels in the middle of the walls looked antique enough to be from just about any era. Just for an instant, I once again had the sensation that I was being drawn into some elaborate illusion, that everyone around me was playing a part, that I was somehow being duped, deceived, lured into a web of intrigue in a remote castle where I would not be able to run for help. . . .
Connie and Elspeth disappeared into the costume room, and I shook my head. I’d read too many book jackets, performed in too many plays. Real life wasn’t full of intrigue, at least not all the time.
I just needed a bite to eat. I thought of something my brother Luke had said once, as he worked at my parents’ kitchen counter, creating, with lunch meats and cheeses, what he had assured me was a masterpiece. He had contemplated me with the eyes of a philosopher. There is no ill that a really good sandwich can’t cure, Nora.
So far I had never proven his theory wrong.
7
Hamlet’s Castle
I found Zana in the kitchen chatting with Bethany, who looked casual in a pink tank top and a pair of white shorts. A pair of sunglasses sat on top of her pouf of red hair.
Even in the gray light the kitchen was a beautiful place. It was dominated by a giant white stone fireplace, flanked by walls tiled with white and ocean blue. A huge farmer’s table sat in the center of the room, and white marble-look counters dominated two other walls. Zana was unpacking a bag that sat on the table. Bethany lifted her hand in a friendly wave.
“Hi, Nora,” she said. “I just dropped off a few groceries Zana needed. I guess you guys are sort of on lockdown, huh?”
“I’m surprised they let you leave the castle.”
“They did a fair amount of interrogating. But I showed them my driver’s license, and they saw how close we live, so they just said not to leave Wood Glen.” She gave an elaborate shrug. “And then I came back here with a bag of groceries. I don’t suppose that looks suspicious, although poor Tyler is waiting in the car, and the cops were giving him the evil eye when I came in.”
Zana nodded, her face sympathetic. “You should go. Don’t make that boy sit out there all alone.”
Bethany ran a hand through her pretty hair and then sent a beseeching look to Zana—probably a well-rehearsed expression. “You’re right. Can I bring him a sandwich, Zana?”
“Sure. We’ve got plenty. Let me pack you a bag.” She went to one of the giant counters and began to tuck things inside a small tote for Bethany and her husband.
I studied Bethany. “Where’s Tyler waiting?”
Her gaze moved to me. “What?”
“I mean, which entrance did you come in? I only ask because I know they’re being super strict about people entering. I got the third degree myself when I came back from my walk. Did you come in the back by the fountain?”
Bethany’s eyes slid away. “No, we didn’t. He parked in the driveway near the east door. I used my key there.”
“Does Tyler know about the back entrance key?”
This question seemed to upset Bethany; even Zana looked at me over her shoulder, her mouth an O of surprise.
“I’m just curious because the police asked me about that entrance today, and I didn’t feel I had the right to give them the information. I told them they had to ask Derek.”
“So?” Bethany asked. Her voice was a bit frostier than usual.
“So I’m just wondering how many people actually know about that key. That is—how secure is the castle, really? Could a stranger have come in and hurt Garrett last night?”
Bethany folded her arms. “My husband does know about the key in the brick, if that’s what you’re asking. But Tyler wouldn’t tell a soul, so no need to worry about that.” She lifted her chin in a defiant gesture. “They could have used Tyler here that night. He’s really good at martial arts, and he could have taken on whoever it was. He accidentally broke one of our chairs once when he was showing me a karate move. He doesn’t even know his own strength.” The final comment pleased her immensely.
I studied her pretty face. “But he was here. He brought your jacket.”
She shrugged. “I mean, he should have been here when some criminal was stalking Garrett. He just dropped off my jacket and left. Remember how cold it was last night? I texted him and asked if he’d stop by. He didn’t mind; he likes coming to the castle. He pretends he’s a knight. Anyway, the back entrance doesn’t matter,” she added, putting her hands on her hips and tossing her head in a dramatic way. “It’s obviously a stranger who killed Garrett. Any one of the Inspectors could have let him in any number of entrances. We give them free rein of the castle, remember.”
This was true, and yet the evening before we had all instinctively assumed otherwise, hadn’t we? Our suspicions had been focused on one another.
Zana adjusted her glasses on her nose and looked at me. “What’s bothering you, Nora? You seem to be brooding over something.” She had finished wrapping a sandwich, and she handed it to Bethany.
I shook my head. “I’m starting to be paranoid, I think.”
“Anyway, I’ve got to be going,” Bethany said. “Thanks for the food, Zane. Let me know if you want me to make any other deliveries.” She waved at us both and darted out the door.
I turned back to Zana. “Did you go home, too?”
She shook her head. “No, I stayed here last night. I have a little room across the hall for the nights when we have evening events that Derek wants catered. Sometimes it’s easier, after I finish cleaning up, to just crash here. My family is used to it.”
“I heard you had a daughter.”
She stiffened. “Where did you hear that?”
“Jade Balfour.”
She relaxed. “Oh, that kid. She and Eriza get up to the craziest things together.”
“That’s a beautiful name. I think it’s very romantic.”
Zana shrugged, smiling. She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “We had our moments when we were young.”
“When you were young? I didn’t even believe that you had a daughter when Jade told me. You look like a kid.”
“I got married at twenty-one,” she said.
“Well, you look great. And I hope to meet your daughter one day.”
Zana nodded. “She’s here once in a while. She’s helped me with some of the bigger events, she and Jade both.”
“Do you mind if I take some of this delicious food?”
“It’s for all of you. I’m not the hostess. I’m the paid cook.” She said this lightly as a joke.
“Well, great. Thank you. Something about this weather, or the stress, is increasing my appetite. You’d think it would be the other way around.”
“No, that sounds about right,” Zana said. “Stress affects everyone differently. I’ve been kind of hungry myself, though.”
She handed me a plate with a sandwich and some chips. “Drinks are in the fridge,” she said.
“Thanks.” I opened the large stainless steel refrigerator and found a diet soda, then went into the dining room and sat at the giant table by myself. While I ate, I thought about the last day or so in the castle and how unlikely it all was. Perhaps one of the reasons I didn’t feel a constant sadness about Garrett’s death was that it didn’t feel real. Sure, I had seen him lying there, but afterward I saw nothing. Perhaps my fragile state of mind was best revealed by the fact that I kept pursuing this idea in my head: Detective Dashiell had led me away. I didn’t see the stretcher leave. What if it had been an elaborate hoax? What if Garrett was still in the castle, hiding out in a different room?
Tim appeared in the doorway, wearing a bike helmet.
“Need to unload some stress?” I asked, cracking a potato chip in half.
He nodded. “You look a little stressed-out, too, Nora. Do you mind if I say something?”
Usually when people prefaced a comment with something like that, it was a strong indicator that they were about to say something inappropriate. I shrugged. “Sure, go for it.”
“Derek showed me your audition tape. The one you did in the city, but that you essentially used for your audition here. It was amazing, Nora.”
My face grew hot. “Well—thanks.”
“You are a natural actress, but your singing was beautiful. It was like your soul came out in your music.”
His face was so earnest, it was almost childlike. “Tim, that is such a sweet compliment. Thank you.”
“The only reason I bring it up is, I wonder if you know that there’s a piano in the castle.”
I sat up straighter. “Really? Derek never mentioned—”
