Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 05 - Life Between the Lines (25 page)

The conversation soon turned to Thomas Zeller. Polly said, “I’m dying to know about this other partition. How do we access it?”

“We need a password,” Anita responded. “I tried Annabel Lee, but that wasn’t it. I tried a couple of other Edgar Allen Poe references, but nothing worked.”

“Did you try Polly’s name?” Ben asked. “He gave her the drive, telling her that it was for her and no one else. Thomas would have wanted her to be able to open it.”

“I didn’t think of that.” Anita typed Polly’s name into the password prompt. Nothing happened.

“What else did the two of you talk about?” Ben asked Polly. “Was there something he focused on when you were together?”

“I don’t think so. We talked about everything under the sun. He loved my animals. We talked about the fact that we had probably met when he was in the Boston Public Library doing research for one of his books, and then we talked about some of our favorite places out there. But nothing would have been important enough to either of us to create a password. Let me think.” She shut her eyes and set her forehead in the palms of her hands, with her elbows on the table in front of her. As she attempted to process, she was aware that they were staring at her.

“I’ve got nothing. Did you try any of the names that Nelly and her son used? Maybe the last iteration? Just a second.” Polly opened her note program. “Lenore or Guy Brothers?”

Anita nodded. “I did go through all of those names, just in case. They didn’t work.”

“Try ‘Eddie Powers,’” Ben said.

She typed the letters into the prompt and the drive opened. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that,” Anita sighed. “I feel like an idiot.” She pulled the folder to her hard drive and opened it.

“He found them,” Polly breathed. “He knew who they were.”

“What do you mean?” Ben asked.

“Look at this picture.” Polly pointed to one and Anita double-clicked to open it. The picture was of Kevin Campbell and his mother coming out of their home in Jewell. There were more pictures of Kevin’s family in and around the community. “He knew they were here.” The pictures were all dated the week before Thomas
was killed. “That’s why he hadn’t talked to them yet. There wasn’t time.”

Another image was a scan of a newspaper clipping about the Drama night at the high school, announcing Kevin Campbell’s annual recitation of
The Raven
. The time was circled.

“He was planning to attend this,” Anita said. “It’s so romantic.”

“And so tragic,” Ben echoed. “He waited his entire life to find Nelly and now that he was within days of speaking to her, he was killed. Who would do this to him?”

“I have an idea,” Polly said. “But I don’t know if it’s because I don’t like her or because I really think she is up to something.”

“What do you mean?”

“There is just something really off about Natalie Dormand.”

Anita had continued to click through the jpegs on the drive until Polly pointed to the screen. “Stop. Look at that. It’s a scan. She sent him a photograph from Jewell. She wanted him to find them.” The photograph was of a younger Genie and Kevin Campbell. The girls were toddlers. “It’s Little Wall Lake. That’s where Dad taught me how to swim.” Polly laughed to herself. “That’s why he was asking questions about rivers and lakes.”

“Here’s a scan of an envelope from last year,” Anita said. “She must have waited a long time to send it to him. The postmark is from Des Moines.”

Then Anita opened a Microsoft Word document. “Here’s the manuscript:
The Long Road to You. An Eddie Powers Mystery
. You were right Polly. He was writing another one.”

“Do you suppose there is a code in this one, too?”

“We can look. He has the chapters bookmarked. Are you ready?”

Anita clicked through the manuscript, reading off the first letters of each chapter to Polly. “A. L. L. I. H. A. V. E. I. S. Y. O. U. R. S. L. E. T. M. E. L. O. V. E. Y. O. U. A. G. A. I. N.”

“Oh that breaks my heart,” Polly said.

“There’s something else here. It’s a Last Will and Testament. Do you suppose Thomas knew he was in trouble?” Anita asked.

“He never said anything, or even acted like something was threatening him. I doubt it. What does it say?”

“He used a lawyer here in Bellingwood. He must have been in a hurry to get this done since he didn’t wait to get home. Did he say anything to you about this, Mr. Seafold?”

“No, but he wouldn’t have. He was scheduled to come up to Vermont this week for our annual Halloween jaunt. I’m sure he would have told me about it then. I’m sure he would have had plenty to tell me.”

“Open it!” Polly waved at Anita’s laptop.

Anita skimmed the document and then looked at the photos Thomas had taken of the Campbell family. “He put this into effect two days after he found them. Nearly everything in his estate goes to them. You’re mentioned in here, Mr. Seafold, and he left something to Miss Dormand. He also emphasizes that his current publishing contract does not include any of the Eddie Powers mysteries, including this latest story.”

Ben nodded. “They
won’t like that. Thomas Zeller’s last book will be a big seller and since he’s gone back to the Eddie Powers mysteries, that will draw a lot of readers, new and old alike.”

He turned on Anita, “Are you any closer to figuring out who killed him?”

“We have some leads …” she began.

Ben interrupted her, “That’s what they always say when they have no idea who is responsible. I’m going to stir things up. If you think there’s something off about Natalie Dormand, she’s my first task. I’m going to let her know I’m here.” He stood up and began pacing back and forth between the living room and the dining room. The cats looked up from their nap and then put their heads back down. They were wrapped around each other on the sofa. Obiwan had startled awake and his head was bobbing back and forth as he watched the man walk.

“You don’t think Genie Campbell could have done this, do you?” Anita asked. “If she saw him taking their picture and followed him back here, he would have let her in with no problem. If she was worried about being exposed, it would be a motive. I should call the Sheriff.”

“It wasn’t Genie,” Polly said. “And I thought they had scheduled a meeting with Aaron.”

Anita nodded. “You’re right and they did. But, Aaron didn’t know that Thomas had found them.”

“I don’t think Genie did it. She loved Thomas.”

“Love does cause people to do awful things, Polly,” Ben said. “It’s a great motivator for both good and evil.”

“Well, I can’t believe she would have hurt Thomas. He didn’t believe it either or he wouldn’t have changed his will,” Polly reminded them.

“Polly, would you ask Natalie Dormand to come downstairs to the conference room? It would be quite inappropriate for me to be in her room and I think that it’s high time I find out what exactly she is still doing here in Bellingwood. There are too many secrets.” He turned to Anita, “Miss Banks, as a representative of the Sheriff’s office, I wouldn’t mind having you in the same room as well. I intend to force a few revelations from this woman and I want her to know that she can’t lie any longer.”

Polly checked her watch. It was three thirty. There were only a couple of hours until the Haunted Hallway would be open and she needed at least an hour to prepare. Andrew and Jason would be here soon and she needed to get them settled. She felt guilty for not helping Lydia do any more preparation and had planned to work with them this afternoon to put the finish touches on the set and make sure things were ready to go. But Ben’s eyes were flashing. He was intent on moving forward.

“I have a few responsibilities,” she said. “I need to make some phone calls in order to let folks know I won’t be available until later, if we are going to do this today.”

“I’m sorry,” Ben sat back down. “I should probably wait until tomorrow when all of this news isn’t quite so fresh
and I’ve calmed down. Miss Banks, would you mind copying the contents of that flash drive to this one for me?” He handed her a drive.

Anita looked at Polly, who nodded. They’d seen everything on the drive and if Ben wanted to look over the manuscript and other documents, there was no longer any need to keep them hidden.

“Give him everything,” Polly said. “He knew Thomas during those early years. If there is anything we might have missed because we didn’t have context for the information, he’ll find it.”

“You aren’t going to do anything that will get me in trouble with my boss, are you?” Anita smiled at Ben as she slid the drive into her laptop.

“I’ll keep quiet until you tell me I can talk about it and I promise to stay away from Miss Dormand as long as possible,” he assured her. “But can we corner the woman
soon?”

Both Anita and Ben looked at the
dishes on Polly’s dining room table. Before either of them could say anything, Polly stopped them. “I’ve got this. You go on.” She put her hand on Ben’s forearm. “We’ll be done with the kids tonight by seven thirty and I’m sure we’ll be eating together. It’s kind of what we do. I’d love for my friends to meet you if you want to join us.”

He smiled. “That sounds wonderful. I will come find you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“Oh! There you are! Have you seen everything all lit up?” Andrew Donovan was as excited as a nine year old could be. He ran into the living room from the back steps. “Have you seen it?”

She finished filling the dishwasher and turned it on. “I haven’t yet. So it’s pretty cool?”

“It’s awesome. I can’t wait for tonight.” Andrew had been given the option of handing out candy or working as a tour guide. He would be dressed as a zombie and had been practicing his lamed zombie walk.

“I can’t either,” Polly smiled.

“You still aren’t going to tell me what you are going to be?” he asked.

“Nope. It’s a secret.”

“Jason won’t tell either. It isn’t fair.” His half-plea didn’t quite make it. Polly knew that he was as excited about the surprises as he was the evening.

“Would you mind taking Obiwan out?” she asked. “I promised him you would, and I need to make sure they don’t need help downstairs.”

“Sure! Come on Obiwan.” Polly followed the two of them down the back steps and went into the kitchen.

“Hey Sylvie,” she said when she walked in, hoping to not startle the woman who was stirring something in a large pot on the stove.

“Hi there. How was lunch?”

“It was amazing. Did Ben stop down?”

Sylvie grinned. “He did. I invited him to join us for supper after trick or treating and he said you already did.”

“A little crush?”

It didn’t take much to make Sylvie blush again. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I never act like this. But don’t you dare say anything in front of my boys!” She brandished the ladle, “Or I will beat you.”

“I promise. But it’s kind of cute.”

Sylvie shook the ladle again, “Stop it.”

Polly grinned as she walked into the hallway. Her friends were all there.

Lydia looked up when she saw her. “What do you think?” She nudged a piece of netting to one side, adjusting something or other that she saw.

“Can I see it with all of the lighting effects?” Polly asked, “Or should I wait until later.”

“Aaron?” Lydia called out. “How are you doing over there? Polly wants to see this in all its glory.”

“One minute, love of my life,” he responded. “I’m on the floor and it takes me time to get up.”

“He’s adding fog to the coffin Henry built. That thing is going to glow.”

Polly heard grunting and moaning and then he said, “Alright everyone, lights are going off … turn on your effects.”

“Follow me,” Lydia whispered.

“Why are we whispering?”

“Because it’s haunted, why do you think?”

The first effect switched on - black lights - then Polly saw a strobe light on the other side of the wall. Fog began creeping around the floor and she heard the sound of something heavy being dropped. She whispered to Lydia, “What was that?”

Lydia took her hand and they began walking. The first scene was black material with a black light aimed at it. Hands and a face pressed at the fabric as if they were trying to break through. “What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s Lycra and that’s Andy on the other side. She didn’t want to dress up. But it’s pretty creepy, isn’t it!”

“It’s way creepy.”

Behind a glass panel, there was an orange glow and as Polly peered at it, the top of a guillotine dropped, making her jump. To her right she saw fog curling around the casket which leaned against the doorway to the lounge. The casket’s lid slowly swung open, revealing Rachel inside.

The girl giggled, “I’m going to be a vampire, but I don’t have my costume on yet.”

There were snakes and spiders on the rocks and up the interior wall. The strobe light effects made them seem as if they were writhing and moving. Lydia pointed to a corner. “Beryl will be there, dressed as a
ghastly clown,” and above that space was gigantic webbing and a large spider hanging from the ceiling. They rounded the corner and a ghost drifted down, hovering over her head. A fan blew its fabric, creating the illusion of flight.

“Len is in the conference room. The ghost is hanging by fishing line and he can reel it up and down at will,” Lydia said. “Aaron will be dressed as Frankenstein and he’s going to be located in the doorway to the office. I wanted him to be the last character the kids see. He’ll know if they’re okay to see him or if he needs to hold back. I trust him.”

A skeleton hanging in the corner of the interior wall hovered over a collection of tombstones and rocks. A small gargoyle finished the scene. They turned back toward the front door where a large cauldron hung over a fire. Flickering lights and fog coming from a pile of logs and twigs created the final effect. Lydia said, “I will be here dressed in my full witch regalia. Aaron asked if I was going to have ugly moles on my green face and I informed him that any witch worth her stuff would ensure her face wouldn’t be ugly. So what do you think?”

“I think it will be fabulous!” Polly said. “This is perfect. The kids are going to want to go through this a few times. Beryl will probably be the scariest thing they experience, though.”

“Hey!” Beryl’s voice came around the other side of the partition. “I take exception to that.”

“You’re an evil clown. How could it be any worse?” Polly laughed. “So you’re ready to go here?”

“All we need to do is get everyone into costume. Jeff will turn the speakers on at five forty-five and most of the kids will be walking between six and seven thirty. When are you and Eliseo planning to show up?”

Lydia was the only person who knew what their plans were. Polly couldn’t wait. “We’ll be back here by six thirty, don’t you think? It shouldn’t take that long to scare the entire community.”

“That sounds wonderful. Is Jason excited?”

“I think so. It’s going to take us an hour to get the horses ready and all of us into costume. Mark and Henry should be down at the barn now.
I can hardly wait.”

Lydia hugged her. “I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had with this. Thank you for letting me get creepy with your home.”

“This is awesome! The town won’t know what hit them.”

“I love you, Polly,” Lydia said. “Have fun tonight and I’ll see you when you get back.”

“You have fun, too. I might have to do one last walkthrough with everyone in costume, so don’t let them break it down until I’ve seen it, okay?”

“Got it. Now scoot and enjoy your evening.”

Polly ran down to the barn and when she opened the door, found it bustling with activity. “What can I do?” she asked.

Eliseo came out of Nan’s stall. “I haven’t had a chance to drape the wagon yet. Why don’t you start on that. The fabric is there on the bench.”

Polly gathered up the black muslin. Eliseo had put a pair of scissors and box of tacks on top of it. He thought of everything. The wagon Henry had restored earlier that summer sat under the overhang. It was painted black with blue trim, and the material would mute the glossy finish. She swooped the muslin along the outer edges of the wagon, tacking it to the top. Then she cut strips and wove them in and out of the spokes of the wheels, fastening the ends. Stepping back, she admired her work.

“Nice job, pretty girl. Eliseo nearly has the horses ready. We should probably get dressed pretty soon.”

“Hi there, hot stuff,” Polly turned to kiss Henry. “Are you feeling grim tonight?”

Henry had agreed to dress as the Grim Reaper and ride in the back of the wagon with a coffin. “I’m feeling very grim.
There are souls to be gathered and it’s not a task to be taken lightly. You are the woman I love and you gather bodies as a hobby, so it’s up to me to deal with them for you” He kissed her once again. “You make it difficult for a man to feel grim, but I’ll give it my best effort. We should go inside.”

They went back into the barn. Eliseo beckoned Polly over to Demi’s stall. “What do you think?”

They had commissioned a pair of blue and black brocade forehead coverings for the two horses who would be pulling the wagon. It gave Demi an eerie look. Matching blankets would hang over their backs.

“I think they’re too beautiful to be pulling a funeral hearse, but that’s okay. What about Nan and Nat?”

She followed him to Nan’s stall. Eliseo would be costumed as the headless horseman. Nan’s head had been wrapped in loose black fabric that looked like leather. With her black cape, she looked like a ringwraith’s horse from
Lord of the Rings
.

“Oh my,” Polly exclaimed. “How did you do that?”

“It took a little finagling, so I figured that if I was doing one, I’d do two. Nat has the same thing and it will look great with Jason hanging over the horse.” Jason was the Headless Horseman’s latest victim, hanging like a corpse over Nat’s back.

“I never thought I would have so much fun with these horses,” Polly said. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Eliseo. Thanks for helping make my crazy ideas real.”

“You are the only person who could have talked me into this, but the horses have fun playing with us.” He checked the time. “We’d better get ready. Do you have everything you need?”

“I’m good. Have you seen Mark?”

“I’m right here, dollface.” Mark stopped and looked at Nan. “Okay, that’s incredible.”

“You look pretty good yourself,” Polly said. Mark was dressed all in black, except for the white blouse. A small bowtie at his neck and a black top hat made him the perfect mortician to drive the hearse.

“Well, guys, I’m probably the only one who needs privacy to change my clothes. I’m taking the empty stall over here. Stay out.” Polly had ordered her costume online and when the boxes came in, brought them down to the barn so no one else could peek.

The blue and black brocade gown matched the material she’d used for the Demi and Daisy. A five-layered black tulle, floor-length, hooded cape with black roses and leaves sewn into the hem would keep her warm enough. She had talked to Rachel about makeup and put on just enough to give her face an unhealthy pallor. Even though it might not be seen by all, a few drops of red on her chin made her smile. Black slippers on her feet and long black gloves on her hands and forearms finished the look. The only mirror she had was the small one in her makeup case and Polly propped it up on one of the boxes, trying to get a glimpse of the full effect, to no avail.

“It’s just going to have to do,” she said to herself and opened the door back into the alley of the barn. She stepped out.

“It will do,” Henry was standing beside the door and grinned at her.

“Have you been here the whole time?” she asked.

“No, I just wanted to make sure you had all the privacy you needed.”

“Like anyone down here would intrude.”

He shrugged, “You never know. I’m still not sure if I trust that Mark fella.”

Polly spun on him, “You’re kidding, right?”

“A little bit.” He had his long, black robe on, but had pushed the hood off his head
and onto his shoulders. “You’re pretty sexy for a soul-less vampire. You might be the only one in town who holds no interest for me on the business end of things. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“No, what does that mean?”

“If I can’t have your soul, I get the rest of you.”

“You can have the rest of me. But later.” She checked the time. “We need to get moving.”

“Mark and Eliseo are hitching the horses to the wagon and Jason is trying to figure out the best way to drape himself across the horse and look dead.”

“We really are having much too much fun with this holiday, aren’t we!”

“If I told you that for the last few years I’ve turned the lights off and hid in my bedroom to avoid having children bother me, would you believe me?”

Polly swatted his arm. “I’d believe you and tell you that you were awful. What was I doing last year?” She stopped and thought. “Oh. That was the night that Joey beat Doug up. Can you believe that was a year ago?”

Polly’s ex-boyfriend, Joey Delancy, had come to Bellingwood to talk her into returning to Boston. He had ended up kidnapping her, but before that, had ransacked Sycamore House and beaten Doug until Billy stopped him. The man’s delusions had him seeing every male figure, from twenty-year old Doug Randall to Aaron Merritt, as competitors for Polly’s heart.