Murder at the Bellamy Mansion (24 page)

“
No, ma’am, couldn’t risk shining a light. I had no idea that lady was down there. Otherwise, I’d’ a radioed for help. Maybe saved her. I feel real bad.”

Jon clicked off the TV. “So she fell in. I’m like the security guard. What in the world was she doing there at night? And how did the cover get ajar? If that had happened before the museum closed, someone would have noticed.”

I thought about what he was saying, not easy to do in my sleep-deprived haze. “According to Melanie she was obsessed with that mansion. Maybe she imagined herself living there, transformed into a Southern belle. You know, she had her hair colored to look like Melanie. Maybe she’d start wearing hoop skirts. Who knows? She was strange. So she drove into town at night, visited the mansion, maybe sat on the porch? Pretended it was hers?”

“
And you think she tripped and fell into the cistern?”

“
Sure. Maybe she hit her head, or something.” I yawned.

“
Sweetheart, why don’t you go back to bed? I’ll go over to Willie’s shop. Do some work on the windows. So I won’t disturb you.”

“
Oh, I’d love to. I’m so sleepy I can’t hold my eyes open.”

“
Don’t even try. Go ahead. Get some rest. I’ll turn off the coffee pot and lock up.” He gave me a kiss. “See you later.”

I set down my coffee cup and dragged myself up the stairs. Drew the shades, took off my robe, and slipped between the sheets.

I think I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I was sleeping hard when a shrill, jangling noise drew me into wakefulness. That blamed door bell!

“
Nick, what are you doing here?” I opened the door and let him in. Nick was showing up at my house much too often.

He took in my tousled hair, my robe over my nightgown. He got a dreamy expression on his face. “I always loved your morning look,” he said huskily.

I took a step back. “This is not a good idea, Nick. It’s over, don’t you get it? Jon’s not here. And you shouldn’t be here.”

Nick studied my face intently. He heard. And he knew I was right. Swiftly, he assumed his cop’s mantle. “Sorry, that was out of line. I’m here on police business.”

“
OK,” I replied. “Then you wait right here while I go upstairs and dress. I’ll only be a minute.”

“
Be all right if I go back to the kitchen and put on some coffee? It’s been a rough morning. Surely coffee is not inappropriate, is it?”

“
Sure,” I said. “Make yourself at home.” It used to yours, I thought. It’s not like you don’t know that I keep the coffee beans in the freezer. Or what I look like first thing in the morning.

Hair combed, dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, I joined him in the kitchen five minutes later. “So, what’s going on?” I asked him as he handed me a cup of coffee.

“
Sit down, Ashley, I’ve got something important to tell you. And this won’t be easy.”

I cried out in alarm. “Wait a minute, you’re not here to tell me that something has happened to someone I love, are you? Jon? Is Jon all right? Aunt Ruby or Binkie? Oh no, Melanie. Something happened to Melanie.”

“
No, no, Ashley. I’m sorry I scared you.” He took a step toward me and wrapped his arms around me. “It’s OK, baby. Everyone you love is OK.”

My eyes burned with hot tears of fear. For a second I leaned on him. Everyone I loved was OK.

I used to love this man, I thought. His strong arms were familiar. His firm body was familiar. His scent was familiar. For a second, I yielded.

And then I caught myself. The man inside Nick’s body was a stranger to me. I had never really known him, not even when I was married to him. He was so utterly complex. So unknown, even to himself. And as Kiki had seen in the cards: a man not rooted at heart. Not rooted in his relationships with others. And while he was attractive and dynamic – a leader among men – he was able to dissociate himself from his feelings too easily. Or too late. For now it seemed he had genuine feelings for me.

I moved away, pulled out a chair, and sat down. He poured himself a cup of coffee and settled at the opposite side of the table.

“
All right, Nick, what is this all about?”

He regarded me with beautiful hazel eyes. “First, I have got to ask you a question. I noticed that you were limping a couple of weeks ago. What was that about? How did you injure your leg?”

I shrugged, feeling maybe a little guilty. Jon and I had never reported that near hit and run to the police. “A car going a little too fast on Front Street, that’s all,” I said. “Jon and I had to jump clear of it. I fell on the sidewalk and hurt my knee.”

“
A car going a little too fast?” he asked. “Or a car deliberately trying to run you down?”

I heaved a big sigh. “That may be true. The driver didn’t try to stop,” I confessed. “Or slow down.”

“
We have a witness,” Nick said. “The driver sped up, aimed right for you.”

“
A witness?” I asked, my mouth dry. I took a sip of the coffee.

“
Yes, a witness.” He looked at me searchingly. “Why didn’t you report this?”

I hesitated.

“
Tell me honestly, Ashley.”

“
OK. If you really want to know. It was because you were in our lives much too much. You were always turning up. And my marriage to Jon is so new. I didn’t want any interference from you. So there. You asked. That is the answer.”

Nick looked hurt for a second. Then steely. “I was showing up because I was doing my job. People have been injured, and one died, under suspicious circumstances. It is my job to investigate. It is my job to protect you. Even from yourself and your poor decisions.”

“
What poor decisions!” I exclaimed. Here we go again. Blame me, the victim. “Restoring the belvedere at the Bellamy Mansion? That was a poor decision? Well, you should be the first to understand. Because that is my job. And like you, I was just doing my job!”

“
OK. OK. Cool down. This isn’t going like I planned.”

“
It never does,” I said with finality.

Then I remembered that he had a reason for being here.

“
I didn’t come here to quarrel with you, Ashley. I came here to apologize.”

“
For what?” I asked.

Nick took a moment, framing his response. “As I said there was a witness to your near hit and run. He got the car’s plate number, and reported what he had seen to us. He described you and Jon. And he said he watched as Jon carried you into a nearby house.”

“
Binkie’s house,” I said.

Nick nodded, then continued, “I assumed so from the location. The witness said he saw that you were getting help, so he did not offer assistance.”

“
I assume you traced the plate number then. Whose car was it?”

Nick blew out his breath. “The car belongs to Diane.”

“
Diane Sherwood? Detective Diane Sherwood? Tried to run us down?” I shook my head, my mouth hanging open, my eyes wide. “I can’t believe that.”

“
Internal Affairs investigated. She admitted it. She said she just lost it when she saw you. She hadn’t planned to aim her car at you, but when she saw you out there in the street, she just lost it. Her jealousy and rage took over.”

“
I don’t believe this,” I repeated.

“
She’s been suspended,” Nick said. “She has to see a shrink. She’s ruined her career. Might get desk duty, but I doubt the chief will take her back under any circumstances. She’s a loose cannon. And you are free to press charges if you want to.”

“
But why did she do it, Nick? Why? Does she really hate me that much?”

“
I’d say this is partly my fault. I never meant to lead her on. She misinterpreted my friendship for something more. Thought it meant more. And she saw you as her adversary. As someone who was preventing me from moving on and getting involved with her.”

“
And was she right?” I asked.

“
Yes,” was all he said.

“
I’m sorry, Nick.”

“
Me too, Ashley.” He rose. I walked him to the door. “Stay away from that mansion as much as possible,” he said. “Candi Cheng did not fall into the cistern. She was murdered.”

“
What?” I exclaimed. “How do you know?”

“
No water in her lungs. She was dead before she was dumped in. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Someone hit her. Repeatedly. And hit her hard.”

30

“
He left! He just plain left. Sailed out of port in the dead of night. Like some eighteenth-century pirate.” Jackie Hudson was livid.

On Thursday, we were holding a bridal shower for Scarlett at the Wilmington Tea Room on Water Street that overlooked the Cape Fear River. The air was a bit nippy and breezy, not warm enough to sit out on their deck that adjoined the River Walk. But it was sunny, and sunshine shone in warmly through the multi-paned French doors.

“
Who left?” Scarlett asked. She turned to me. “Who is she talking about?”

All the girls were talking at once. There was Melanie and her good friend realtor Faye Brock; Kiki of course; Aunt Ruby who at seventy-four was still a girly girl; Elaine McDuff; Scarlett and I. And Jackie Hudson who had brought Esther, Brian’s aunt and Willie’s wife to the shower.

Jackie’s phone call last night, asking for permission to bring Esther Hudson to the shower had completely surprised me. But I quickly told her that Esther Hudson was more than welcome, welcomed anywhere she went, a delightful lady who was loved and admired by everyone who knew her.

“
It has taken Brian’s death,” Jackie had told me, “to bring the Hudson family to their senses. Uncle Willie called me to ask about the funeral plans. And I had to tell him that they were on hold. The police are not releasing his body for burial just yet.”

I had commiserated with her about the delay, and wondered to myself what was going on. Why were they holding him?

So we had all turned up at the bridal shower, dressed formally for high tea in dresses and high heels, stopping short of hats and gloves. We were colorful and perfumed and the tea ceremony was a ladylike event. Or supposed to be.

But no ceremonious event could deter the talk of Candi Cheng’s drowning which had been ruled a homicide. And there was nothing ladylike about the talk of her murder.

“
Whom are we discussing, child?” Aunt Ruby asked Jackie. “Who sailed away like a pirate?”

Jackie was so outraged she was practically ranting. “Han! Han Cheng! I told y’all that I had arranged for a top law enforcement officer from the Fish and Wildlife Service to come to make an inspection of the contraband aboard Han’s yacht. Fish and Wildlife has jurisdiction over imports when they involve endangered species. And because there is an international treaty against the harvesting . . .

“
Harvesting! That is what they call it. Can you imagine? Like they were talking about vegetables. More like murder, I’d say.

“
Anyway, there is an international treaty against the trade in ivory because the elephants have become an endangered species. So the F&W has jurisdiction. The agent told us that since Han had sailed into U.S. waters, he had the authority to search the yacht and to fine and perhaps even jail Han for trading in ivory.”

“
Oh, it was dreadful,” Melanie said, and went on to tell everyone about how the ivory had been molded into bathroom fixtures.

“
Oh, no,” the girls gasped. “How awful.”

“
I adore elephants,” someone said.

On the table before us, lay a lovely blue and white tea service: squat teapot, a sugar bowl with sugar cubes and silver tongs, a cream pitcher, dainty blue and white teacups and saucers. But no one was touching the tea. Everyone had paused to listen to Jackie.

“
Ron and I met the inspector at the airport early this morning. We drove him out to the Wrightsville Marina. Han and his crew and the yacht had simply vanished. Hoisted anchor during the night and sailed away.”

“
But what about Candi?” I exclaimed. “Are you saying he sailed away and left Candi’s body behind in the morgue?”

“
That is precisely what I am saying, Ashley,” Jackie declared vehemently.

“
Ohmygosh! Do you think he killed her, and that is why he fled?” I asked.

“
I would not put murder past that man,” Jackie said. “And I do think he is running from the law. Somehow he got wind that the wildlife agent was coming to inspect his yacht.”

Esther stared, wide-eyed. What had she gotten herself into? She thought she was here to celebrate an upcoming wedding.

Kiki reached for a finger sandwich from the triple tiered server. She munched on it mindlessly. I could see the wheels in her brain spinning. “Ashley, you said the police have ruled Candi Cheng’s drowning as a homicide. What are they basing that on?”

“
Oh, please, girls,” Aunt Ruby cried. “This is dear Scarlett’s wedding shower. Is this what you want her to remember about this event? Talk of a woman’s murder?”

“
Aunt Ruby is right,” Melanie said. “Shall I pour for each of you?”

“
Yes, Melanie, please do,” Aunt Ruby responded. “We’ve got all of this lovely food. Dainty sandwiches and small sweets. Let’s try to enjoy ourselves. And after we eat, you can open your presents, Scarlett.”