Fixing To Die

CHAPTER 17

“Here, sip some coffee,” An’gel said to Mary Turner. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

The young woman obediently drank from her cup, and An’gel was happy to see color returning to her face. Mary Turner seemed a bit steadier after another couple of sips.

“Tell us what happened,” An’gel said gently.

“Henry Howard was about to go into your room, Miss An’gel, when I got upstairs,” Mary Turner said. “I told him about the switch, and it took him a moment to understand. Then he went down the hall to the French room. I went with him, I’m not sure why.” She paused for a final sip of coffee, set down the cup, and pushed it away.

“He knocked on the door but he didn’t get a response,” Mary Turner said. “By that time I’d caught up with him. He knocked again and waited, but there still wasn’t any answer. So he opened the door and went in. I hesitated to follow him, but then I heard him cry out.” She flushed suddenly. “I can’t repeat what he said. It wasn’t a nice expression. Anyway, I did go in then. Henry Howard was standing over the bed, staring down at Nathan.” She shuddered and closed her eyes.

“My dear, I’m so sorry, I know it must have been a shock to you,” An’gel said. “You don’t have to tell us any more if you don’t feel up to it.”

Mary Turner nodded. “It was a shock, I don’t mind telling you. Poor Nathan. I never liked him, but now he’s dead.” She shuddered again. “He had the most horrible expression on his face. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget it.”

“Do you think he suffered a great deal?” Dickce asked. “Perhaps he had heart trouble and didn’t know it.”

“He looked terrified,” Mary Turner said. “Like he had been scared to death.”

An’gel exchanged a glance with her sister. She knew they were thinking the same thing. Had a malign spirit appeared in the French room during the night and frightened Nathan Gamble into having a heart attack?

An’gel didn’t want to believe that. She patted Mary Turner’s hand. “Many people are fearful when they realize they are dying, child. Don’t place too much emphasis on his expression.” She looked at Dickce again, and her sister picked up the cue.

“Heavens, no,” Dickce said. “The poor man may have had a seizure right before he passed away.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Benjy asked.

An’gel shot him an approving glance. “Yes, we’ll all be happy to do whatever you need.”

“Henry Howard is in the office calling the doctor,” Mary Turner said. “And I guess he’ll have to call the police as well, since Nathan died unexpectedly.”

“Yes, the authorities have to be notified,” An’gel said. “Let’s wait here until Henry Howard gets through with his calls. In the meantime, you need some more hot coffee. You’re starting to look too pale again.”

“I’ll get it for her.” Benjy reached for the cup and took it to the sideboard.

An’gel glanced across the table at Dickce and then noticed that Primrose Pace had disappeared from the room. Where was she? An’gel wondered. She had no time to ponder the question further, because Serenity Foster and Truss Wilbanks walked into the dining room then.

“Good morning,” Serenity said. “I hope we’re not too late for breakfast.” She looked around the room for a moment, and when she spotted the coffee urn on the sideboard, she made a beeline for it.

“We’re here before eight,” Wilbanks said as he glanced around the room. “As you told us to be.”

Marcelline bustled into the room, and An’gel wondered if the housekeeper had been standing at the kitchen door, watching for the two of them. She started to recite the breakfast menu but broke off when she noticed Mary Turner sitting at the table with An’gel standing by her.

She hurried over. “Miss Mary, what’s wrong? Are you sick, honey?”

Mary Turner shook her head. “No, Marcelline, I’ll be okay. Something really sad has happened, and I’m a little shaken by it. And now I have to talk to Serenity.” She looked across the table toward the sideboard, where her cousin stood sipping coffee.

“What is it?” Serenity asked as she approached the table. “Did Nathan fall down the stairs and break his leg? I warned him about snooping around during the night. He can barely see in the dark.” She laughed.

An’gel would have found the young woman’s remarks in poor taste at any time, but now they seemed particularly unfortunate.

“Mrs. Foster, I think you’d better sit down,” An’gel told her. “You, too, Mr. Wilbanks. I’m afraid Mary Turner has bad news for you.”

Serenity Foster looked taken aback but did as An’gel told her to. Wilbanks came to stand behind her chair and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Go ahead, what is it?” Serenity said, her tone harsh.

“Nathan is dead, Serenity,” Mary Turner said. “We found him, Henry Howard and I did, I mean, only a few minutes ago. He must have died in his sleep. He was still in bed.”

Serenity stared across the table at her cousin. All the color drained from her face, and An’gel thought the young woman was going to faint. Wilbanks tightened his grip on her shoulders, An’gel noticed.

“He can’t be dead,” Serenity said. “He’s too young, and he was in perfect health as far as I know. Is this some kind of sick joke you’re trying to play, Mary Turner?”

“No, it’s not a joke, Serenity.” Henry Howard spoke from the doorway. He walked into the room, his own shock still evident in his expression. “Nathan is dead. I’ve called for the doctor, well, an ambulance, that is, and I’ve called the police.”

“The police? What the hell for?” Serenity said. “Do you think he was murdered?”

“Calm down, Serenity,” Wilbanks said. When Serenity tried to rise from her chair, he kept her in place. “No one is saying he was murdered.”

“Why would you think that?” Marcelline demanded. “Why would someone want to kill that brother of yours? He probably had a weak heart, and something scared him to death.”

An’gel wished the housekeeper hadn’t used those unfortunate words.

“That’s crazy talk,” Serenity said hotly. “There aren’t any ghosts here. That’s just Mary Turner trying to scare Nathan away from this place. She’s never wanted him to have what was rightly his. Whatever happened to him, I know she did it.” She tried again to get out of her chair, and Wilbanks forced her down again.

“Take your hands off me,” she told him. “I’m not going to rip her face off, though I sure the hell would like to. I’ll wait and tell it all to the police.”

“I think you’d better take her out of here, Truss,” Henry Howard said, a steely glint in his eye. An’gel was happy to hear him finally speak up and take charge of the situation. “Why don’t y’all go out to the kitchen with Marcelline, and she can give you breakfast there if you feel up to eating anything.” He held up a hand when Serenity started to protest. “I’ll let you know as soon as the police are ready to talk to you, I promise.”

“Come on,” Wilbanks said. He stepped back to allow Serenity out of her chair. “We’ll do that.”

An’gel could almost feel the heat pouring off Marcelline. If looks could kill, she thought, Serenity Foster would be joining her brother soon if Marcelline had her way.

“Please, Marcelline,” Mary Turner said.

“All right, Miss Mary,” the housekeeper said. “For your sake.” She marched out of the dining room and didn’t look back to see whether Serenity and Wilbanks followed.

Serenity stared hard at Mary Turner. “You’re not going to get away with this.” She allowed Wilbanks to lead her from the room after that parting shot.

“We never should have let any of them in the house,” Henry Howard said in an undertone. “What a nightmare this is going to be.”

“I know you’re both upset,” An’gel said to the couple, “but there isn’t much time before the police and the doctor arrive. Henry Howard, how closely did you look at Mr. Gamble?”

Henry Howard stared at An’gel as if he weren’t sure he had heard her correctly. “I looked close enough to see that he was dead. I also felt for a pulse, but there wasn’t one. He wasn’t breathing. What are you getting at, Miss An’gel?”

“Did you notice anything unusual about the body?” she asked. “Other than his expression. Mary Turner said he looked terrified.”

Henry Howard frowned. “I didn’t notice anything else. He was lying there.” He thought a moment. “His hands were clutching the bedclothes, I remember now.”

“Tightly?” An’gel asked.

“I don’t really remember,” Henry Howard replied. “Is it important?”

“It could be,” An’gel said. After another look at Mary Turner, she decided to let it drop. The poor girl looked sick, despite having had more coffee, and An’gel couldn’t blame her. Gamble’s death had come as a great shock. She would only look worse if An’gel started talking about rigor mortis. Depending on what time Nathan Gamble actually died, if his hands were tightly holding the bedclothes, that would indicate he had died most likely less than twelve hours ago. It was barely 8 a.m. now, according to An’gel’s watch. She wondered what time he had gone to bed.

The doorbell sounded, and Henry Howard left to answer it. He shut the door behind him.

An’gel heard sirens coming nearer and nearer the house. The police and the emergency responders were arriving.

Mary Turner looked up at An’gel. “What are the police going to think, Miss An’gel? We can hardly tell them that a ghost frightened Nathan to death.”

“My dear, don’t start thinking things like that,” An’gel said. “We don’t know that any such thing happened. More than likely, he had a heart condition. He might not even have known about it. That kind of thing happens even to men his age. And to women, too.”

“Maybe,” Mary Turner said, “but I can’t help thinking about what I said to you and Miss Dickce yesterday, about hoping that a ghost scared the life out of him.” She started crying. “I didn’t want him to die.”

“We know you didn’t,” Dickce said gently. “It’s a terrible thing to happen to one so young, but you’re not to blame. Even if your cousin did happen to see something spooky in his room during the night, it wasn’t anything you did. If there truly is a spirit loose in this house, it’s going to do what it wants to. Not what you want or tell it to do. Right, Sister?”

“Right.” An’gel spoke with far more assurance than she felt, and she knew Dickce did as well. “All this speculation isn’t going to do anything but keep you upset. The doctor will have to sort it out. There will likely be a postmortem if the doctor can’t determine the cause of death after examining him. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Mary Turner seemed calmer after that little speech, An’gel was relieved to see. She urged the young woman to try to eat something. “I’ll go ask Marcelline to fix you something,” she said.

“No, thank you,” Mary Turner said. “I really don’t think I could eat anything right now. Coffee is fine for the moment.”

“All right,” Dickce said. “But if you change your mind, let us know.”

“Thank you all for being so kind,” Mary Turner said. “I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t think I could bear any of this otherwise.”

An’gel gave her a hug, and she felt the young woman tremble. “Everything will be okay,” she said before she released Mary Turner.

Silence ensued in the dining room but An’gel could hear sounds of activity in the hallway. Voices, footsteps, everything muffled by the closed door but still audible. They all sat looking at the door, waiting for someone to come in.

An’gel noticed again that Primrose Pace wasn’t with them. Where had the woman gone? Had she packed her bags and run off? If she had, An’gel reckoned, that would be a strange thing to do, unless she had something to hide from the authorities.

Even if she hadn’t done a bunk, her behavior was still odd. An’gel had a new thought. Had the woman gone up to the French room to see the dead body?