Али Брэндон - Double Booked For Death

A prudent woman would have left the place posthaste. Jake had a gun and would know how to search a house for a possible intruder. But Darla remembered the way the ex-cop had surreptitiously coddled her bad leg after her impromptu sprint. While the other woman would not hesitate to make the roundtrip up and down two narrow flights of stairs to guarantee Darla’s safety, Darla was loath to put her through the pain. Besides, Hamlet had now abandoned the books for the back of the sofa, which meant whoever might have broken in was probably long since gone.

Probably.

Cell phone in one hand and a clublike wooden rain stick that Great-Aunt Dee had brought back from a Chilean vacation in the other, Darla checked out the rest of the apartment. Her first thought was for her laptop and television. Both were in their usual places, as was her jewelry and the small stash of cash she kept in a mug in an upper kitchen cabinet. Her aunt’s valuable nineteenth-century glassware and a lesser-known example of Jackson Pollock’s early work were untouched as well.

The bedroom appeared equally intact. No drawers were dumped onto the floor, no mattress was flipped, and no crazed book stackers leaped out of any closets at her. She ended the hunt back in the living room a few minutes later, feeling relieved yet somewhat foolish. After all, what kind of thief limited his ransacking to overstuffed shelves of highly uncollectible volumes? Just to be certain, she checked the windows. All were locked, so that even if the intruder had scaled the front of the building or somehow had managed to crawl onto the fire escape in the back, he’d not come in that way. The deadbolt on the apartment door had been locked, as had the ground-level door. As for extra keys, Jake had the only other one. Unless Hamlet had opened the door to a stranger, there was no way someone had entered from the outside.

Setting the rain stick back in its spot in one corner, Darla flipped open her cell phone and dialed Mary Ann’s number. Something still didn’t seem right about the situation. She’d run it past Jake and Reese at supper. In the meantime, it didn’t hurt to find out if Mary Ann or her brother had seen someone lurking around the building.

“Why, Darla, it’s been so long since we’ve spoken,” the old woman answered her call on the first ring, chuckling at her mild joke. “What can I do for you?”

Mary Ann sounded frailer and a bit more breathless over the phone than she did in person, and Darla hesitated. She didn’t want to upset the woman unnecessarily by carrying on about a possible intruder. On the other hand, Mary Ann might have noticed someone hanging about the place, and, at the very least, she should be aware if something untoward was going on in her neighborhood.

“I don’t want to worry you, but something odd just happened. I went out for a few hours with Jake and Detective Reese, and when I got back, I found half the books in my bookcase lying on my living room floor.”

“Oh dear, was Hamlet misbehaving?” Not surprisingly, Mary Ann sounded puzzled, but she gamely went on, “He’s usually such a civilized cat, but he’s probably upset with everything that’s happened since yesterday. I’m sure he won’t do it again.”

“No, it’s more than that. Don’t be alarmed, but I think someone broke into my apartment while I was out.”

When she heard a gasp from the old woman, she hurried to add, “Like I said, no need to worry. Nothing’s been taken that I can see, and Hamlet’s fine. It’s just some books that got scattered around. But I was wondering if maybe you saw someone who didn’t belong hanging out by my door this afternoon.”

“Oh my gracious, let me think. No, no one in particular, my dear, though all those young people have been wandering down the sidewalk all day bringing their flowers. Oh, but wait.”

Darla heard a pause and shuffle of footsteps before Mary Ann went on, “I almost forgot, there was a woman out chatting with some of the young people a bit earlier—a pretty young thing, and in such a respectable suit. She was there for about an hour and then left, but I’m looking out my window and she’s back again.”

A woman? A bad feeling swept her, and Darla promptly headed for her own window to take a look. Since the Lone Protester had only just been released from custody from what Jake had said, then it had to be . . .

Marnie !

Darla set her jaw as she stared down at the woman in a pink jacket and skirt handing out what appeared to be tracts to a pair of teen girls near the Valerie shrine. She was going to have a word with her, no doubt.

“I see her,” Darla replied, “and I’m pretty sure it’s the same woman who was driving the van that killed Valerie Baylor.”

“Gracious!” was Mary Ann’s shocked response. “Whatever is she doing back here?”

“I don’t know, but admittedly she doesn’t look like my idea of a break-and-enter artist. ”

“Maybe you should call that nice Detective Reese if you’re worried,” Mary Ann suggested, sounding more than a bit concerned herself. “And I can send Brother up to repair your door for you.”

“Thanks, but the door’s fine. Everything was locked up tight as a drum when I got back.”

Mary Ann made a small, polite sound of confusion. “I’m sorry, dear, I must be missing something. If everything was locked up, and nothing is missing, why are you certain it wasn’t Hamlet being a little devil?”

“Because the books were stacked neatly.”

Almost hearing Mary Ann’s questioning look through the phone, Darla gazed at the volumes on the floor in front of her and went on, “I know it doesn’t sound like much . . . I guess you have to see it to understand. Some of the books were scattered on the floor, but most of them were arranged in perfect columns about a dozen high. Hamlet is clever, but he doesn’t know how to use a carpenter’s square.”

Mary Ann was silent a moment. “Well, that is very strange,” she finally said. “Maybe you have a poltergeist.”

A poltergeist!

Now, it was Darla’s turn to fall silent as she eyed the books with even greater misgivings. She’d read enough ghost stories to recall that strangely stacked items were a hallmark of a poltergeist haunting. She hadn’t forgotten that Great-Aunt Dee had died in this very apartment—in her very own bed, to be specific, though Darla had made certain to replace that particular piece of furniture before moving in—and Valerie had been killed just outside her building. That added up to at least two possible unruly spirits right there.

That was, if one were inclined to believe in such things.

Darla frowned. While she considered herself a skeptic when it came to the occult, Valerie’s Haunted High books had occupied her thoughts for the past few days. Moreover, she couldn’t forget Jake’s reports of mysterious footsteps in the store after hours, and the lights turning on and off by themselves. Were Hamlet’s stacked books but the latest incident in a string of other strange occurrences?

“Darla? Darla, are you there?” came Mary Ann’s worried voice breaking through her unsettling reverie. “My dear, I was only joking about a poltergeist,” the woman said, punctuating those words with a nervous-sounding chuckle. “I hope you didn’t take me seriously. I’ve lived in this building all my life, and believe me, there are no ghosts here. Would you like me to come over, just to make you feel better?”

“Well . . .”

Darla hesitated, tempted to take her up on the offer. But, just as with Jake, she didn’t want the woman trudging up and down two flights of stairs for no good reason. While spry for her age, Mary Ann had gone through at least one knee-replacement surgery. And besides, now that Darla had allowed herself more time to consider all possibilities, the only reasonable explanation was that Hamlet had been the culprit after all.