A Masquerade of Muertos (Wisteria Tearoom Mysteries Book 5) (20 page)

I
took an instinctive step back even as I realized who the black-draped figure was. “Dee!”

The clock’s chime, amplified by the house sound system, ceased. “I thought you were going to be hiding until midnight,” I added.

“I am,” said the shadow. “I just thought I’d help with the fire. I’m not banished until eight.”

“Well, thanks.” I unloaded the last of the wood into the rack, then held out the sling. “Want to stash this back in the kitchen?”

“Sure.”

She slunk across the hall as a knock fell on the front door. I started toward it, but Ramon was two steps ahead of me and had it open by the time I arrived. A flutter of white drifted in, followed by a festive figure in orange and black, carrying a large cardboard box.

“Are we late?” The lady in white peeled off her outer layer, which proved to be a gorgeous hooded cape. It was Gwyneth, looking more ethereally lovely than ever in translucent layers of iridescent white that shimmered and floated with every movement. Her golden hair was piled on her head, white gems twinkling among the curls.

“No, we’re on time,” said Roberto, shedding his black cloak to reveal a Spanish colonial style outfit in lush, variegated orange velvets.

“You both look marvelous,” I said. “May I take your wraps? I can put them upstairs for safekeeping.”

“Thank you,” said Gwyneth, handing me a cool armful of white satin.

Roberto gave me his cloak with a smile of thanks, and proceeded to set the box on the floor and withdraw an airy construction of silver and gems, with shimmering, sheer ribbons and tiny white plumes trembling on the ends of wires. Gwyneth stood still while he lowered it onto her head, completing her magical outfit.

I hurried upstairs to lay the cloaks on the couch in my sitting area, and locked the door of my suite while I was there. As I turned back toward the stairs, I heard a low voice and froze. 

“At least I’ll be right next door, where I can keep an eye on you.”

Kris. I looked toward her office. The door was closed, but I could see a light under it. She and Gabriel must be changing in there.

“Don’t you trust me?” came Gabriel’s voice, confirming my assumption.

“I trust you,” Kris answered after a moment.

I trust him to be who he is.

Biting my lip, I tiptoed downstairs, avoiding the fourth step down, which squeaked. I glanced into the dining parlor, empty and silent, waiting for the party. Impulse made me step in and look up at the motionless chandelier, wondering what the captain would think of the pageant that would shortly unfold in his former home.

Julio came in to collect the cauldron. “Time to fill this,” he said, offering me a box of matches. “Mind lighting the tea lights?”

“Not at all.” I did so, then followed him to the kitchen.

Dee was at the break table, a glass of water with a straw in front of her, reading something on her cell phone. Julio poured the contents of a soup pot into the cauldron. Wine-scented steam, heavily laced with cinnamon and clove, wafted through the kitchen.

“Oh, that smells good!” I said.

“Have some. There’s plenty.”

“No, I’m being good tonight.”

“Well, there’s some cider on the stove if you want it,” he offered.

He carried the cauldron back to the parlor, placed it on the stand over the tea lights, hung a ladle on its edge, and nodded approval.

“Food’s ready,” he said. “Should I start putting it out?”

“I think we should wait until the chamber minders are in place.”

“You’re not still worried about someone messing with food,” he said, looking ready to be insulted.

“Just—it’s best to be safe. Let me check with Gabriel.”

With a small pang of trepidation, I started for the stairs. Kris came down as I reached them, and I waited at the foot, admiring her gown of flowing velvet, vaguely Grecian in style, such a dark violet that it almost looked black except when the light caught it. She wore a tiara of amethyst crystals in silver wire, a necklace of similar design, and her hair was caught back in a net of woven silver and violet thread to reveal earrings of two perfect polished amethyst drops. She carried a violet mask traced with silver filigree designs and glimmering with jewels in shades from lavender to concord grape.

“Wow!” I said. “You look incredible!”

“Thanks.” She smiled, blushing slightly as she reached the hall. “Gabriel designed it.”

At the sound of his name Gabriel appeared on the stairs, and this time I really gasped. He had answered my musing about the absence of yellow from Poe’s color scheme: he was resplendent in gold, head to foot.

A small, golden circlet bound his brow. His honey-colored hair was loose over the shoulders of an amber velvet doublet. His legs looked amazing in...not tights, as I’d thought at first, but period-style hosen, made of knitted jacquard. Having worked on the costume crew of a production of
Romeo and Juliet
whose designer was an authenticity freak, I appreciated the work it took to make hosen fit without sagging. He wore a pair of bejeweled golden slippers and an elaborate, golden mask that I suspected he had sculpted himself. He was supposed to be Prince Prospero, but though the period was different, I couldn’t help thinking of the Sun King.

His eyes gleamed through the mask as he came slowly down the steps, watching me take in his glory. “My lady approves?” he said.

“Very much,” I answered, dropping a curtsy.

The trace of smugness in his voice diminished his attractiveness, but only slightly, and the sincerity of his “Thank you” made up for it. I was pleased to see him bow deeply over Kris’s hand. He couldn’t kiss it through the mask, but he made a good pantomime of it.

“Are the chamber guardians all here?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said, glancing toward the front door and wondering where Roberto had stashed his box. I could hear him and Gwyneth talking in the main parlor.

“Good,” Gabriel said. “Let’s get them all together and do the walk-through.”

Kris stepped toward the parlor. I went into the gift shop and poked my head into Hyacinth, where Cherie was adjusting the angle of the peacock lamp. “Gabriel wants everyone in the hall,” I told her, then fetched Margo and Dale.

Gathered together, the seven chamber guardians made a gaudy display, probably the most colorful group of Goths ever seen. Gwyneth and Gabriel outshone the others, of course, the one white, the other golden. I couldn’t help thinking what a stunning couple they must have been.

A lull fell in conversation as Gwyneth came toward Gabriel. Her pale gown and headdress trembled with each slow, small step. She had put on her half mask, so that I could see no facial expression except around her mouth, which was unsmiling. She stopped, facing Gabriel about three feet away, and slowly curtsied.

Gabriel bowed deeply to her. “You shine, White Lady.”

She smiled at that, briefly, then turned looking for Roberto, who immediately stepped to her side. He shot a glance at Gabriel, then murmured something into Gwyneth’s ear.

“My friends,” Gabriel said, raising his voice but not shouting, “thank you for joining me. Let us tour the imperial suite and set the lamps alight!”

He led the way through the gift shop to Hyacinth. I followed at the end of the group, smiling a little at Gabriel’s flair for the dramatic. Plainly he was getting into character.

Five people were the most that could fit into Hyacinth. I had to wait in Poppy along with Dale, Margo, and Kris, though we could peek through the curtained passage into the room.

“There should be no lights except the lanterns,” Gabriel said, looking at my peacock lamp on the mantel.

“It’ll be too dark in here without it,” Cherie said.

“But there will be the lanterns, and the firelight.” Gabriel leaned toward the passage to look at me. “Ellen? Could you turn out the overhead lights?”

I stepped out to do so. Muted light from the street came through the curtained windows of the gift shop, but as I returned to Poppy I saw that they didn’t penetrate the draperies.

A small flame flared up, followed by a blue glow as Gabriel lit the two candle lanterns. He reached up to turn off the peacock lamp.

“I think it will be bright enough,” he said. “Our eyes will adjust. Let’s continue to the purple chamber.”

Those of us waiting in Poppy stood back as they filed out. Margo and Dale gave the blue chamber a cursory glance, then hurried after the others. I stepped into Hyacinth and looked around. Gabriel was right; there was enough light, and though the monochrome lamplight was a bit off-putting, the firelight softened it. I glanced at the peacock, and noticed a sugar skull beside it, decorated with blue icing. Had Gabriel just put that there? I hadn’t seen it before.

The others had all packed into Violet. I could have squeezed in, but chose to watch from the passage while Gabriel lit the lamps. Purple light flooded the chamber, casting looming shadows onto the draperies as the people moved. Probably exactly what Gabriel wanted, and at least in the purple light they looked more natural than in the blue. This room was also softened by firelight, and I spotted a sugar skull on the stand of one of the lamps.

Gabriel led the group through a passage along the back wall into Dahlia, now the green chamber. This room was darker, since the draped passage was between it and the fire. As the lamps were lit, everyone was washed in green light, and I suddenly thought of the Bird Woman’s witch costume.

“I’ll look like the Wizard of Oz,” Margo remarked, clearly thinking along similar lines.

Gabriel bowed to her. “Guardian of the Emerald City.”

Margo looked as if she didn’t know whether to be flattered or offended. Biting my lip to keep from laughing, I followed the group back out through Poppy and into the hall. I remembered to glance over my shoulder and confirm that there was a sugar skull in Dahlia as well: also on a lamp stand.

Curious who was adding the skulls, I looked at Gabriel as I came into the hall, but he wasn’t carrying anything but the matchbox. I examined each of the others, and noticed Dale carrying a black shoulder bag.

“Now to the other chambers,” Gabriel said. “Lights off, again, please.”

I dutifully switched out the lights in the main parlor, but hung back as Gabriel led the group through the short passage into the center of the room. Julio was coming up the hall.

“Are we a go for putting out the food?” he asked. “It’s getting close to nine.”

“Go ahead and put it out on that side,” I said, waving toward the south half of the building.

Julio nodded and turned back toward the kitchen. As he passed the stairs I saw Ramon sit in his chair and pick up the guitar.

I hurried through the passage into the center of the main parlor and stood looking at the four arches, each giving onto one of the alcoves. The group had moved into Jonquil, and Gabriel was lighting the orange lamps. They made the chamber seem very bright, especially compared with the green chamber. This was partly due to a very shiny, metallic brocade that made up part of the draperies. As Gabriel blew out the match, I noticed Dale slide a sugar skull onto one of the stands.

When the party moved along the front of the house into Lily, a couple of them gave quiet exclamations of relief. Even without lighting, Lily glowed. Its drapery walls were all white, and when Gabriel struck a match I blinked at the brightness.

“A fitting setting for the White Lady,” he said, and Gwyneth preened, smiling.

Dale waited for the others to leave before slipping a white sugar skull onto the stand beside a lamp. He caught me watching him and grinned. I peered at the skull, confirming that it was indeed decorated, though the icing was white on white.

“Your work?” I asked in a low voice.

He shook his head, still grinning.

We now passed through the center again, this time through two arches into the diagonally opposite Iris, which was the violet chamber. Voices hushed as we moved from the whiteness of Lily into the darker room. The fire crackled softly, concealed from the room but sending flickers of firelight into it from the short drapery passage. Gabriel lit two violet lamps, wakening glints of texture in the brocade walls. The lamps cast a violet glow over the Death’s Head skull on the piano, the palest object in the room. I glanced around the group to see if anyone had taken note of it, but if they had they showed no reaction. Dale quietly placed a violet-iced sugar skull next to the Death’s Head.

The mantel clock chimed, making me start. The others froze, listening to the three-quarter-hour bells. Exactly as in the story; Gabriel must be pleased by the response.

“It’s a little loud,” Cherie said into the silence that followed.

“That’s necessary,” Gabriel said. “People will be talking, and there will be the music.”

Gabriel turned to Kris and stood gazing at her while the others murmured together. I watched, unable to see his expression, but sensing his appreciation in his body language. Kris’s fair skin glowed in the lamplight, and her jewels glinted softly. She gazed back at him, head held high, regarding him as an equal.

The Dark Lady had won out over the White Lady. Was it because she demanded equality? Gwyneth was as feminine as one could get, but I wouldn’t have called her strong. Kris’s personality was a better match for Gabriel’s.

All merely my opinion, and in fact, none of my business. If they hadn’t been so focused on each other, I would have looked away, but they seemed unaware of me.

Behind me, someone coughed. I glanced over my shoulder, but couldn’t tell who it had been.

“Come along,” Gabriel said, stepping toward the fireplace.

The group moved through the short passage and into the final chamber, Rose. The muted light from the fire had nothing to catch on, here. Through the arch at the inner corner I could see across the center of the main parlor to Jonquil, and I realized that the arch wasn’t needed; we would pass from here into the dining parlor. Why, then, had Gabriel included an arch into the black chamber?

To give glimpses of it from the other chambers, was all I could think of. A foreshadowing of what lay ahead. Brilliant, really.

Gabriel lit the two lamps, bathing the group in scarlet light. The velvet walls gave none of it back; we seemed to float in the blackness. Kris’s, Dale’s, and Margo’s costumes all turned black; Roberto’s became a dull blood-red, and Gwyneth’s and Gabriel’s blazed like rubies. I thought of Dee’s makeup and sucked a sharp breath. The silver dappling would be bright red in this light, and shine like liquid! Her costume would light up into a red skeleton, and the pink “shroud” would glow scarlet. Gabriel’s surprise was going to be even more spectacular than I’d thought.