5 Murder by Syllabub (3 page)

“What on earth took you so long? I’ve been just worried to death. I figured, even if they lost their luggage, y’all’d be here an hour ago.”

“Mary, this is Cora Lee Wittingham, William’s sister. Cora Lee, this is Mary McGill and her niece, Ellen McKenzie. Dunham. Sorry, Ellen. I keep forgetting.”

I smiled and nodded. Didn’t want to tell her I was having the same problem. I’d been McKenzie much longer than I’d been Dunham, but I liked being Dunham a whole lot better.

Elizabeth continued, “I took Mary and Ellen on a little tour since there was some daylight left.”

“Unless you’ve taken to picking up perfect strangers, I assumed that’s who they were.” Cora Lee came down the stairs, using her cane on every step, and slipped her arm through Aunt Mary’s. “Elizabeth’s talked about you so much over the years, I feel I already know you. How was your flight? I see you made your connections. I’m sure Elizabeth meant well, driving you around and all, and, goodness knows, there’s a lot to see around here, but not tonight. You must be exhausted.” She stopped, beamed at Mary and looked over her shoulder at me. “Anyway, you’re here now, and they didn’t lose your bags.” She nodded at the bag Elizabeth wrestled to the base of the stairs. “Seems to me every time I get near an airplane nowadays, they lose something of mine.” She steered Aunt Mary toward a shallow set of stairs with a handrail, leading to the front porch.
Letting go of Aunt Mary’s arm, she set her cane on the first step and started to climb. She held her head high and her shoulders straight but it took her awhile.

It didn’t take Aunt Mary as long, but she held onto the railing. At the top of the steps, she paused to rest and look around. Elizabeth was right behind them. I tried to take Aunt Mary’s suitcase away from her, but she waved me off. She puffed a little as she manhandled it up the stairs. I waited until I was certain all three were safely up before I started to roll mine up
wards. Thank goodness for whoever equipped luggage with little wheels.

On the porch e
veryone stopped to catch their breath.

“Damn. I don’t do that as easily as I used to.” Elizabeth leaned heavily on the handle of the suitcase, took off her hat and wiped her brow with her arm. “I think I need a drink.”

“I’m sure you both do. So do I.” Cora Lee frowned at Mary and me. “You do drink, don’t you? Just a little wine, of course.”

Aunt Mary looked as though she thought a glass of wine sounded like heaven but only nodded.

I put in a hearty, “I’d love one.”

Cora Lee smiled. “Dinner’s all ready. You two can wash up and then we’ll all sit down and have a nice chat.”

“Of course dinner’s ready. I made it before I left. Wanted Mary to know I learned something in all these years. Did you put it in the oven?” Elizabeth’s expression was somewhere between amusement and exasperation.

“No, but I put together the salad.” Cora Lee smiled at them both and turned toward the door.

Hoping that whatever needed to go in the oven wouldn’t take too long, I looked back to see where Aunt Mary was. She’d paused to gaze down the driveway. The tunnel of trees was fast disappearing in the gathering darkness. The moon lit up the circular drive in front of the houses, illuminating two horses whose heads hung over the bordering fence. One gave a soft nicker as if in greeting, then they both turned and walked away. She took another step and looked over at the dark main house. Steep, shallow stairs led to a veranda that stretched over half the front of the house. You could just make out the old paint peeling off the large round pillars, showing wood underneath. The doorway, high and solid, was almost invisible in the shadows cast by the tall, blank windows on each side. The stained glass window on top barely showed any color and even the weathered white paint on the casing was barely visible. Elizabeth was right. Old age had settled down around this wonderful old house in a less than graceful way. It didn’t look gloomy as much as grumpy.

I was beginning to feel that way myself
.
“Come on.” I turned away again to go through the door Elizabeth held open.

Something flickered. I caught it out of the corner of my eyes. Then it was gone.

“What was that light?”

“I don’t know.” Aunt Mary walked to the end of the porch for a better look. It had come from the tall windows beside the front door of the main house, but it wasn’t there now. She peered at the windows. So did I.

“Did you see that?”

“I’m not sure. Look. There it is again. Oh, it’s gone.”

She took another step, but she’d reached the end of the porch. Besides, there was no longer anything to see.

“What?” Elizabeth left the door and came up beside us. “What is it?”

Aunt Mary pointed at the front door and the windows that flanked it. Not a flicker of light showed behind them.

“Was it a light?” Elizabeth moved down
several steps and stared intently at the other house.

“I don’t know. It was just a flicker. Will you please come up here?”

“Like a candle?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was the moon.”

“No. It’s not that high. It was something else. Or somebody. There’s been someone carrying a candle around over there before. Remember? I told you about it. I finally decided it was my ghost.”

Elizabeth had told Aunt Mary about the ghost, told us a little more in the car but I didn’t think she’d said anything about it being in the
main house. I was sure the figure Elizabeth saw in her upstairs hallway was no ghost but a prowler and that the crate had been hoisted over the stair rail. If she’d seen a candle in the main house before, someone alive was carrying it. It seemed reasonable to conclude the same person was in there now. A thought in no way reassuring.

“I thought you said that house was empty
.”

“It’s supposed to be. No one’s lived there since, well, for ages.”

Cora Lee appeared beside me, also peering at the dark windows of the main building, and I gave a little start. “Why? Is someone over there? How do you know?”

“I thought I saw a flicker. Aunt Mary saw it, also.”

“This is too much,” Elizabeth said. “I’m going to have a look, and when I catch whoever is doing this, they won’t be happy.” She started up the steps toward the porch where Aunt Mary, Cora Lee, and I stood. “The key to that house is in my purse.”

“What do you mean, ‘too much’? You’ve seen a light over there before? We’ve got an intruder and you haven’t told me?” Cora Lee appeared to be more incensed that she’d been kept in the dark than frightened by the thought of an intruder.

“You were in Atlanta, remember? I haven’t had time to tell you anything.” Elizabeth brushed by Cora Lee and headed for the door, every step full of purpose. “Besides, when I went to check, no one was there.” She paused, eyes flashing. “Someone had been. Warm candle wax pooled on the dining room buffet. If they think they can scare me with all this ghost stuff, they’ve got another think coming.” She started through the doorway, her skirt swirling around her legs.

“What ghost? We don’t have ghosts at Smithwood
,” Cora Lee called after her. “As for my being gone, you’ve heard of the telephone, I suppose?”

Elizabeth hesitated, as if she’d blurted out more than she wanted to say. She hadn’t told Cora Lee. Why? This wasn’t the time for speculation
.

“Someone’s been prowling around,” Elizabeth finally said. “I saw a light over there a couple of weeks ago.”

“What did you do?” Was the tremor in Cora Lee’s voice purely due to fear, or was there excitement and a little thrill mixed in?

“I called Noah. We went through the house. No one was there. Someone had been, though. It was about a week later I thought I saw someone in the upstairs hall and then again in the cellar.” Elizabeth eyed Cora Lee with no trace of humor. “Whoever, or whatever, was there tipped the crate over.”

“The one that almost hit you? But you said …” Cora Lee’s lips tightened as her sentence broke off. So did the hand that rested on her cane. “Go get that key.”

I almost felt sorry for whoever was in there. Elizabeth had clearly had enough, and Cora Lee just as clearly planned on
providing backup. However, considering what Elizabeth had told us on the drive out here, this didn’t seem safe.

“You two aren’t going in there alone. That’s no ghost over there and it wasn’t a ghost who pushed over that crate. We either call the police or we all go.”

Aunt Mary gave a little gasp just as I realized what I’d said. There might be safety in numbers, but I didn’t think it applied to us. What I meant was, we needed the police. I was the only one who thought so.

“Elizabeth, if whoever’s in there is the same person that pushed over the crate, we could be asking for trouble. Let’s think about this.” Aunt Mary glanced over at me.

I nodded my approval.

“Ellen and Mary are right. We’re all going.” Cora Lee straight
ened her back and brandished her cane.

I blinked. That wasn’t at all what I’d said. Was it? It wasn’t what I’d meant.

“I can’t imagine who would have the gall to prowl around my mother’s house.” Core Lee was building up a good case of righteous anger. “Well, they’re not getting away with it. Candle wax on my mother’s buffet! Why, that buffet is over two hundred years old. Candle wax could take the finish right off.” Indignation that the buffet might be damaged seemed to have banished Cora Lee’s fear and, in my opinion, her good sense. She gave her cane an experimental swing. “This might not be enough. I don’t suppose one of you has a gun?”

“A gun!” The idea seemed to catch Elizabeth off guard. “Of course not. I don’t want to shoot anyone. I just want whoever is doing this to get out of my house. Now. ”

I didn’t approve of guns and I was pretty sure Aunt Mary didn’t either. At least, I didn’t approve of every Tom, Dick or Henrietta carrying one in his or her pocket or pocketbook. However, Cora Lee had a point. Whoever was creeping around in the dark, leaving candle wax and scaring the bejesus out of everybody, needed scaring. Unless, of course, someone really had meant to do Elizabeth some damage. No, there had to be a logical explanation for what had happened. Just because I couldn’t think of one right now didn’t mean it didn’t exist. We wouldn’t shoot whoever was in there. Just give them a good scare. However, since none of us seemed to have one, I’d better come up with plan B. “My cellphone’s in my purse. I think we should call the police.”

“It’ll take too long. We have to go. Wait. There’s something I’ve got to do first. Don’t any of you move.” Elizabeth pushed open the door to her house and disappeared.
Before I had time to be surprised, she was back.

“What on earth were you doing?” Cora Lee sounded equally surprised and definitely annoyed.

“I wanted to see if the passageway door into my house was locked. It wasn’t, but it is now. He’s trapped. Let’s go and, for heaven’s sake, be quiet. No point in advertising we’re on our way.”

Trapping a prowler didn’t appeal to me. From the look on Aunt Mary’s face, she shared my feelings but it seemed that was what we were about to do. As for announcing our intentions, we couldn’t have done it more loudly if we’d had a brass band.

Elizabeth led the way, her braid bobbing up and down on her back and her denim skirt swaying forcefully as she marched down the steps. Cora Lee followed, cane tapping on each step as she descended. They didn’t look very threatening. Neither did we. Aunt Mary had her tote bag, but there was nothing in it but her wallet and her, by now, useless airline ticket. I think she had a paperback mystery novel as well, but that wasn’t going to strike terror into the heart of even the most timid prowler. I had my cellphone. I glanced at it as I dropped it into my bag. It only had one bar and it needed charging. We weren’t well armed. Sending up a silent prayer that the prowler wasn’t either, I hurried after them.

One flickering candle wasn’t something to get scared about. However, ghosts in the hallway and crates tipped over onto stairways were. If someone really was trying to harm Elizabeth, or even just scare her to death, barging in armed with nothing but a fancy cane and a practically useless cellphone didn’t seem prudent.

At the base of the steps of the main house, we stopped. The moon only lit the bottom half, so that shadows obscured the entire porch. Everyone stared at the barely visible, closed front door.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t call the police and let them handle it?” Aunt Mary offered
in a small voice. No light, no handrail and a possibly dangerous prowler. It was clear she didn’t think this was a good idea. I couldn’t have agreed more.

“And let whoever this little bastard is get away?”

“Language, language, Elizabeth,” Cora Lee almost purred.

I suddenly realized Cora Lee was having a great time, as if this
were a wonderful adventure. It didn’t feel that way to me. Did she know something we didn’t? I immediately dismissed that thought. It was probably nerves, and that I understood.

Elizabeth ignored Cora Lee’s criticism. “It’ll take them too long to get out here. No, let’s go find out who we’re dealing with.”

“How about Noah? You said he lives here. Can we call him?” Leave it to Aunt Mary to be sensible. Why hadn’t I thought of that?