Лейганн Доббс - A Whisker In The Dark

Marlowe finished her route around the humans’ ankles and trotted back to where Nero was under the window. “Come on, let’s go claw some dirt out of those plants in the conservatory. Millie brought them even though Josie hasn’t had Ed finish the room yet and no one will even notice we’ve been near them. I’m in the mood for digging.”

“Perfect. Josie won’t like that at all.” Nero stood and stretched.

“Yes, one more way to show her she doesn’t own us.”

“Good thinking.” Josie had made the mistake of saying that once and it really stuck in Nero’s craw. Apparently, Marlowe felt the same.

“I just hope Josie doesn’t withhold treats once she discovers the mess,” Marlowe said as she led the way out.

Nero paused at the doorway and looked over his shoulder at the Biddefords, who were talking animatedly while Josie called the cops on her cell phone. “Me either. But somehow I have the feeling a little dirt and an old skeleton are going to be the least of Josie’s problems.”

Three

“Who says he never made it to Europe? Maybe this happened when he got back from Europe,” Mom whispered to Millie and me in the hall after the sheriff, Seth, had kicked us out of the room.

Millie nodded. “Good point, Rose. But either way, whoever did it is long gone. Still, maybe we could do some research and come up with a list of possible suspects.”

“Might not be very much fun though if we can’t confront the culprit and see him arrested,” Mom said as she and Millie slowed to a crawl. Apparently, they couldn’t walk fast while their minds were full of the possibility of a new investigation.

I sped ahead and continued down the hallway. The Biddefords had all disappeared and I felt it was my duty to make sure they weren’t shaken by these new events. Whoever was in the wall was likely a relative… or had been murdered by one.

I heard a murmur of conversation from the dining room and headed in that direction. The Biddefords were there, but they weren’t sitting in shocked silence contemplating their lost ancestor as I’d imagined. They were scarfing up the remains of the breakfast. There were no sniffles, or muted grieving tones. The room was abuzz with excitement.

“I’ll tell you exactly what this means,” Doris said. “This means that Jedediah really did bury that treasure.”

“I thought the curse was that he would come back to enact some revenge on anyone who messed with his treasure. Doesn’t seem like he came back to me. Looks like he’d been there the whole time.” Paula strolled along the server looking at what was left of breakfast. She stopped in front of the pumpkin bread and my heart leapt. Would she cut a piece? I wondered if the excessive drinking had dulled her pallet. Then again, that might be a good thing if she was going to eat my pumpkin bread.

Doris pinched off a piece of bacon and fed it to Nero, who was skulking around under the table. Darn cat, I’d told him not to go in the dining room when guests were eating. They never listened. I was sure Marlowe wasn’t far behind either. Yep, her tail was sticking out from under Earl’s chair.

“Nonsense! You know how those old curses are, they get all mixed up because they’re handed down generation to generation. It’s like that game where you whisper in each other’s ears and by the time it gets to the end, it’s not even close to what it was when it started. The specifics of the curse might have been different too. But there’s one thing for sure. He did come back—seeing as his skeleton was found in the wall,” Doris said.

Her children looked at her with a mixture of doubt and greed in their eyes.

Paula picked up a knife, her hand hovering over the loaf. I held my breath.

“Did anyone try a piece of this?” Paula bent down and sniffed. She eyed the loaf as if it were trying to trick her, then put the knife down.

No one answered her.

“Maybe I’ll just have some more eggs.” She scooped some onto a plate and returned to her seat.

“But now what does it mean? If he came back doesn’t that mean someone took his treasure? And how, exactly, will he get revenge?” Arlene asked.

“Maybe the opening of the wall has released his ghost,” Henry answered, eyes scanning the edges of the room, no doubt looking for Jed’s spirit. Would tourists want to stay in a haunted guesthouse or was that off-putting to most? Hopefully this would all be cleared up before word got out and I had to find out firsthand if having a ghost would be bad for business.

Mom and Millie had come in behind me, but the Biddefords were too engrossed in their conversation to notice us.

“If someone did take his treasure, that person is long dead, so good luck to old Jed for getting his revenge.” Earl popped a grape into his mouth.

“How do you know he even made it to Europe?” Arlene asked.

“He must have, because I remember seeing family letters he sent from overseas.” Bob poured a cup of coffee and slurped.

“But what about those rumors that he never came back? Wouldn’t people have noticed that he did?” Carla asked.

“I know!” Doris fed a scrap of bacon to Marlowe this time. “I bet you he kept it a secret because he had the treasure. He didn’t want anyone to know he was back because he wanted time to bury it.”

“But then someone came in and bashed him over the head and buried him in the wall!” Bob sounded almost gleeful.

“Yeah, but the question is, did he bury the treasure first or did the killer get it?” Paula asked.

Her question was met with silence as they contemplated this.

“I bet he buried it first. If he hadn’t buried it, then surely the family records would have shown someone spending a lot of money.” Earl turned to Doris. “There weren’t any rumors about a big influx of money back during that time, were there?”

Doris pressed her lips together. “Well that was a bit before my time, but I don’t remember anything about sudden wealth. If someone found it, they could have doled it out a little bit at a time. The family originally had a lot of money from Jed’s spice import business, but since future generations had to sell off the house, I’m gonna assume there was no treasure chest of riches found.”

Paula’s eyes lit up. “It could still be buried here.”

“Yeah, but where?” Bob glanced out the window.

“Maybe he didn’t bury it, maybe he hid it in the house somewhere?” Henry said.

Doris scowled at him as if he were dense. “I hope not. Most of the original structure from Jed’s time—aside from that one ballroom wall where he has been found—has been torn down and renovated. I remember my grandfather showing me that the only part that hadn’t been touched from the old house was that wall where Jed’s skeleton was. And there was no treasure in the wall with him, so if it was hidden somewhere else in the house someone would have found it by now.”

“Mom’s right,” Earl said. “Besides, I think I remember the curse having something to do with haunting anyone who dug up the treasure—he must have intended to bury it. Our best bet is to look on the grounds.”

“So my question still stands, where on the grounds?” Bob said.

“I wonder if he left a map?” Arlene asked.

Earl put his arm around her. “That’s a good question, honey. You’re always thinking. Where would he have left it?”

“Hopefully not hidden in the house otherwise that’s gone too,” Doris said.

“Maybe he had it on him?” Paula suggested.

“In the wall?” Earl glanced toward the hallway. “We should go look.”

“Can’t,” Doris said. “The police are in there now. Besides, I looked in there pretty good and didn’t see anything but that ring and a bunch of bones. We all got there together so no one would have had time to take the map out without the rest of us seeing them do it.”