04 Lowcountry Bordello (3 page)

Three

We were both quiet on the trip from downtown Charleston to the ferry dock on Isle of Palms. I didn’t want to hear any more until Robert was part of the conversation. And Nate. As soon as I parked the car in the ferry parking lot, I called Nate.

“Hey, Slugger,” he said. “Where are you? I was just about to call you.”

“Are you finished for the night?”

“Yeah. I just got home. I didn’t think you were going out.”

“Neither did I. Can you meet me at Robert and Olivia Pearson’s house at eleven? I’m waiting for the ten-thirty ferry.”

“Is everything all right?”

“We have a new case.”

“
Now
? How are we supposed to—”

“Sweetheart, please. Humor me.”

He sighed. “That is my usual custom. Drive safe.”

As soon as I ended the call, Olivia flew into a hissy fit. “You
cannot
tell Robert about any of this.”

“I won’t have to if you will.”

“I will
never
tell him. And if you were my friend, you wouldn’t either. I
trusted
you. You just think you’re so much smarter than everyone else—like you know what’s best. You don’t have any idea what I’ve been through.”

“And whose fault is that? If you’d told me you were being blackmailed, I could’ve helped.”

“I don’t need you to solve my problems. I can take care of myself just fine.”

“I can see how well that’s working out.”

“Oooh! You just drop me off at the end of my driveway and go straight on home and forget every single thing about tonight.”

“Not a chance. Didn’t you hear? Robert hired me.”

She screeched at me. “How could you betray me like that?”

“I don’t see it as a betrayal.” I kept my voice calm and soothing. “I’m trying to help two friends, both of whom asked for my help.”

“Exactly when did Robert ask you for help?”

“Like I told you, he hired me. He
tried
to hire me earlier this afternoon, and I turned him down flat, out of loyalty to you.”

“Why didn’t you call me right that very second and tell me? That’s what a true friend would’ve done.”

“Honestly, Olivia, I figured the best thing I could do was stay out of it all together. That was before you told me Robert was dead on the floor of a whorehouse, which, if I understand you correctly, you own half of.”

That shut her up, but I could feel her seething. Another eruption was imminent. While I could get a word in, I said, “And you abdicated the right to tell me to mind my own business when you called and asked me to come to the scene of an imaginary crime.”

“I didn’t imagine a damn thing.
Someone
was lying facedown on the floor of that parlor with his head smashed in.”

I held up my hands for her to stop. “Let’s just hold off on all that until we get to your house.”

She looked at me with so much venom I was momentarily afraid she might claw my eyes out.

“There is one thing I want to know right now,” I said, “and you owe me this much. Was someone other than Seth blackmailing you and Robert regarding this…brothel…a couple years back? Around the time Gram was killed?”

At the mention of Gram, she looked away. After a minute she said, “Because Robert is on the town council. That demon tried to blackmail me into getting Robert to vote in favor of a certain development project. I never told Robert. He knows nothing about any of this.” The meanness crept back into her voice. “And I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

I knew exactly which demon she referred to, my suspicions confirmed. The final piece to the puzzle surrounding Gram’s murder fell into place. But that’s a whole nother story.

Finally, the ferry docked. Cars trickled off. As soon as I could, I pulled onboard, parked, and opened the car door. “I’m going to get some fresh air.”

Before long, we were underway. The ferry glided through the night air, whipping the brisk wind into a freezing frenzy. I shivered, even with my trench coat over my pajamas, but the cold air blowing all around and through me had a cleansing effect, cleared my head. Thankfully, my car was the only one on the next-to-last trip of the night. No one could see me and report my attire to Mamma, who would not have been amused.

Also thankfully, Olivia stayed in the car.

Robert and Olivia lived in the closest thing Stella Maris had to a subdivision: Sea Farm. It was situated on the southeast corner of the island, Pearson’s Point. At one time, the land that now held roughly two hundred homes, a golf course, a clubhouse, Olympic pool, and tennis courts, had been Pearson family land. Robert and Olivia had a prime lot in the back of the neighborhood with the Atlantic just across the dunes.

Nate’s brand-new Ford Explorer was in the drive. This one was a color Ford called Kodiak Brown, on account of the bad luck we’d had with two of the Metallic Grey versions. He got out of the car as I pulled in and parked beside him. The porch light on the traditional Charleston-style home came on and Robert opened the front door and stepped out onto the lower piazza.

Olivia had ruined my sunny disposition with her tirades. Nevertheless, I tried the gentle approach. “Come on, let’s go get us a glass of wine and we’ll figure this whole thing out.”

She sat rigidly, eyes front, with one arm on the console, the other on the armrest. Her right hand gripped the door pull. She didn’t say a word, but her posture shouted,
You can’t pry me out of this car.

I climbed out and called to Robert. “Would you help Olivia, please? She’s a bit shook up.”

Robert hot-footed it down the steps.

Nate and I met at the front of my car.

“Short version?” Nate said under his breath.

“She’s either delusional or a witness in a murder case. Robert tried to hire me this afternoon to follow her. I turned him down, thought it was a domestic. Clearly it’s something else and they need help.”

Nate nodded, glanced at my attire. “You must’ve left the house in a powerful hurry.”

I blushed, mortified at how I knew I looked. I combed my fingers through my hair.

“Now you know I didn’t mean to criticize,” Nate said. “In fact, you look quite appealing. That’s just not your normal attire for a trip into Charleston.”

Robert said, “She’s locked the car door. Liz, can you help me out?”

I reached into my purse, grabbed the key fob, and unlocked the door. Before Robert could open it, Olivia pressed the lock button again.

“For Pete’s sake,” Robert said. “Olivia, you can’t take up residence in Liz’s car.”

I walked over and grabbed the driver’s door handle. The car automatically unlocked and I opened the driver’s door in the same instant. “Sooner or later you’re going to have to go to the bathroom, you know.”

Olivia gave me a bonus hateful look, then opened the passenger door, sprung out, threw herself into Robert’s arms and commenced theatrical wailing. “I thought you were dead,” she managed to sob.

“Why on earth would you think that?” Robert hugged her reassuringly. After a moment, his eyes sought out mine.

I cocked my head towards the house.

To Olivia, Robert said, “I’m fine, sweetheart. Everything’s fine. Let’s get you inside.”

“Everything is
far
from fine,” she said. “You’re going to divorce me, and Mamma and Daddy will disown me because of the scandal.”

Robert gentled her towards the house. “This is all nonsense. Here we go now.”

Nate and I followed them up the steps. Olivia babbled. Robert shushed her and rubbed her back, murmured soothing things. That man was a saint.

Colleen’s voice came from the front porch. “For the first time in forever, she’s probably not overreacting.”

My chin snapped up. There she sat, in a wicker chair. Flowing red hair, bright green eyes, in a long white flouncy dress, with a ring of flowers in her hair. She looked like a fairy princess. No one could see her but me, of course. I’m her sole human point of contact. She can materialize when she wants to, but she only does that in extenuating circumstances. Colleen can also read my mind.

Where the hell have you been
? I thought hard, and glared at her.
I need to know if anyone died at 12 Church Street tonight.

“I had business to tend to. And to answer your question, I don’t keep track of all the departures in the county.”

Can you find out?

“I can try, but it’s a long shot. If I’d been there at the time I could’ve told you.”

Exactly.

She gave me a mulish look and vanished. But when our procession finally reached the keeping room that opened to the kitchen in the Pearson home, Colleen waited, sprawled across the granite island, her head propped in her hand, elbow on the counter. “I know she’s nutty, but I miss Olivia.”

Robert settled Olivia in a club chair near the fireplace, pulled her feet up onto the matching ottoman, and tucked a throw around her. He skipped the wine and poured her two fingers of bourbon. “What can I get y’all?”

Nate and I both declined his offer. I needed to keep a clear head.

Robert perched on the end of a sofa to Olivia’s right. I took the other end of the sofa, and Nate grabbed a chair next to me. Olivia had gone quiet, save for an occasional hitched sob. Robert studied her carefully.

Gently, I said, “Olivia, honey, we’re all here for you. But we have to know what’s going on before we can help you.”

“I told you what was going on.” Her voice was subdued, which was a blessing.

“Well, you told me part of the story,” I said. “But I have a lot of questions. And we need to bring Robert and Nate up to speed.”

I looked at Nate, then Robert. “Olivia called and asked me to meet her at 12 Church Street this evening. She was quite upset, so of course I went straightaway. Olivia, tell us about the house on Church Street.”

Her shoulders rose and fell with a sigh. “Fine.” She studied a spot on the rug beside the ottoman. “Granddaddy Beauthorpe inherited the family homeplace here on Stella Maris. He had three sisters. The oldest girl married a Quinlan. The younger two girls, Willowdean and Mary Leona, never married. Great Granddaddy left the family home in Charleston—12 Church Street—to them, so they’d never have to worry. Or at least that’s what he thought. He left them money, too, of course.

“But property values in Charleston have skyrocketed. The taxes, upkeep, insurance, and utilities on that house are insane. But it’s been in the family ever since it was built in 1810. Aunt Mary and Aunt Dean couldn’t bring themselves to sell it. When the money ran low, they started taking in boarders. It was a very word-of-mouth kind of thing. Friends of friends. Only young ladies from proper Charleston families, or with references from one. That was their idea, anyway. There were several College of Charleston students, a young nurse who worked at MUSC—like that. Things were working out. Or so I thought.

“Aunt Mary passed a few years back. She left me her half of the house, and I’m in Aunt Dean’s will to inherit the other half. I suspect they thought I would be more understanding of their affairs than anyone else in the family. Mamma would’ve lit the match herself and burned the house to the ground.”

A confused look slid over Robert’s face. “Why on earth would she do that? And why didn’t you tell me you’d inherited the property? That house must be worth millions.”

Olivia dropped her chin and widened her eyes. “The money wasn’t my first concern. Literally on the way out of the attorney’s office, my second cousin, Seth Quinlan, was waiting for me. He’s been blackmailing me ever since.”

“Blackmailing you?” Robert’s voice was incredulous.

“Yes,” said Olivia. “It seems the proper young ladies who now occupy the guest rooms are actually mistresses—perhaps exclusive, high-dollar call girls is a better description—of several of the pillars of Charleston society. One of them—possibly more—has other clients on the side, I’m told.”

Robert looked like he’d swallowed a live fish and was trying not to choke, but being real mannerly about it.

Olivia continued. “I could just hear Mamma saying, ‘Olivia, Beauthorpe women simply do not own bordellos.’” She reached for Robert’s hand. “I was afraid of what it would do to your career, our reputation.”

He grabbed her hand and wrapped it inside both of his. “But why didn’t you tell me? I’m an attorney, for Pete’s sake. I could’ve had your cousin arrested and we could’ve evicted the prostitutes.”

“And then we’d’ve had a financial millstone around our necks,” Olivia said. “We couldn’t sell that house out from under Aunt Dean. She’s lived there her entire life. And she still owns half. But without the money coming in, the expenses would’ve fallen on us. Robert, that’s an
eight-thousand-square-foot
, two-hundred-year-old house. And the scandal. We have our children to think of.”

Robert closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose.

I said, “Olivia, why did you go to the house tonight?”

“I finally worked up the nerve last week to tell Aunt Dean that Seth was blackmailing me. Seth lives in the guesthouse. He’s the handyman, has been since he was a teenager. He thought they should’ve left the house to him. He was mad as fire that it was coming to me. Anyway, Aunt Dean and I have been trying to come up with a plan. She knows he’s a problem, but he is family after all, and she depends on him for a great many things.”