Fixing To Die

CHAPTER 35

An’gel spent at the most twenty minutes sharing what she had learned with Lieutenant Steinberg. She stuck to the main points. She knew he would have to dig into the details anyway and verify everything she told him.

She had been right about the lieutenant talking further with Kanesha Berry. The Athena sheriff’s deputy had convinced Steinberg that he would be remiss in his duties should he ignore An’gel and any information she managed to uncover. Steinberg hadn’t apologized for his earlier attitude, and An’gel didn’t expect him to. The main thing was that he was now listening to her and taking notes.

“That’s all,” An’gel said when she’d finished.

“That’s a lot.” Steinberg laid aside his pen. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes for a moment. An’gel thought he looked tired.

“Do you have any further questions for me?” An’gel asked. “If not, I’d like to ask you one.”

Steinberg’s eyes popped open. “No other questions right this minute, Miss Ducote. What is it you want to ask me?”

“Will you tell me how Nathan Gamble died?”

Steinberg looked at her for a long moment. “At this point, I don’t see why not. We believe that he was smothered to death. There were signs of asphyxia when the doctor examined him on the scene.”

I knew it, he purposely misled us, An’gel thought. He was playing his cards close to his chest.

“Further,” Steinberg continued, “we think that he may have been drugged into a sound sleep. We will have to wait for the outcome of the toxicological analysis on that to be absolutely sure, but there are indications that he was too out of it to fight back.”

“Then that means pretty much anyone could have killed him. They wouldn’t have to be particularly strong to do it if he was in no condition to fight them,” An’gel said.

“Yes, exactly,” Steinberg said. “And there you see my biggest problem. I don’t know who did it.”

“Do you have any idea where the sleep medication came from?” An’gel asked.

“There was no bottle or container of it in the room,” Steinberg said, “so we have to assume it came from someone else. We also don’t know whether he took it willingly or if he was unaware. During our search of the house, we discovered that four people had sleeping pills with them.”

“Will you tell me who they are?” An’gel asked.

Steinberg hesitated, then said, “The housekeeper, the lawyer, the deceased’s sister, and the so-called psychic.”

At first An’gel was thankful that he hadn’t mentioned Mary Turner, but then she realized that Mary Turner could have easily gotten the pills from Marcelline. How had the killer managed to get Nathan Gamble to take the pills? Or had he taken them himself?

She voiced this question to the policeman. He shrugged. “There was nothing in the room to indicate how, other than a glass and a bottle of water. That bottle hadn’t been opened, though, and there was no other bottle or source of water in the room.”

“He could have gone to the bathroom to get water from the sink,” An’gel said.

“Yes, of course,” Steinberg said. “The autopsy might tell us how the pills were taken but that could be a few weeks.”

“You need a break in the case,” An’gel said.

“Obviously,” Steinberg replied, not bothering to hide the sarcasm.

An’gel ignored the sarcasm. “I have an idea that could yield results, but you might think it too crazy.”

“I won’t know till I’ve heard it,” Steinberg said. “Shoot.”

• • •

At first Dickce thought An’gel had gone slightly off her rocker when she first told them her idea for smoking out the killer. A séance? Seriously?

“It’s not as crazy as it sounds,” An’gel had protested. Benjy seemed enthusiastic about the idea, particularly when An’gel explained what she wanted him to do. His eyes sparkled with mischief. “It will be fun,” he said.

Dickce warmed to the idea but she had reservations. “What will you do if something unexpected turns up?”

“Improvise,” An’gel said. “You don’t seriously think we’ll be summoning spirits from beyond the grave, do you? This is more of a psychological exercise than a spiritual one.”

“If you say so,” Dickce said. As the time neared for the séance to start, however, she grew increasingly curious about exactly what might happen.

Alesha Jackson had agreed to conduct the séance. Dickce knew her sister could be pretty persuasive, but she had to wonder about the psychic’s motive in complying with the request. If Alesha Jackson was the killer, Dickce reasoned, she might somehow give herself away during the séance. Though exactly how that might be, Dickce wasn’t sure.

They were all at the dinner table that evening when Alesha Jackson startled everyone—except Dickce, An’gel, and Benjy—by announcing that she had received a message from one of her spirit guides that tonight she should hold a séance. The ghost of Cliffwood, they told her, was ready to communicate with her.

“How exciting,” An’gel had said immediately, and Dickce joined in. The others looked skeptical at first, but the more they talked about it, the more interested everyone seemed to become.

Alesha Jackson insisted that everyone had to participate in order for the séance to have the desired result. Her spirit guides had been most insistent on that point, she told them. They would convene at ten o’clock in the dining room.

At nine forty-five, Dickce was back in the dining room, along with An’gel and Benjy, waiting for the others to arrive. They began to trickle in shortly before ten, and An’gel directed them to take their seats around the table. Alesha Jackson sat at the head, An’gel at the foot, and Dickce and Benjy at the midpoint on either side.

Henry Howard had added a leaf to the table so that it could accommodate all nine of them. There were two candelabra on the table, each holding three candles. Henry Howard lit them and then turned out the lights.

Dickce glanced around the table. Serenity Foster looked bored. Truss Wilbanks was obviously nervous. Henry Howard appeared to be enjoying himself, while Mary Turner appeared to be a little on edge. Marcelline, however, seemed overwhelmed by the situation. The housekeeper sat between Benjy and Mary Turner, and she shivered a little now and then, Dickce noticed.

“Let us begin.” Alesha Jackson’s voice interrupted Dickce’s perusal of the occupants of the room. “We must now hold hands to form an unbroken connection around the table.” She extended her hands to those on either side of her. As soon as she was satisfied that everyone had complied with her instruction, she continued.

Her voice deepened slightly as she talked. “There is a spirit in this house, a restless soul who still wanders this earth. This spirit is a remnant of one who lived in this house long ago, but who lingers. We must focus our thoughts on this spirit and encourage it to reveal itself to us. Please close your eyes and concentrate.”

Alesha Jackson began to hum something that sounded like a hymn. Dickce stole a glance at the psychic in the dim light of the candles. Her eyes were closed as she continued to hum. The sound was soothing, almost hypnotic, Dickce thought.

Dickce closed her own eyes and did her best to concentrate her thoughts. She knew that An’gel’s plan called for a certain amount of deception, and she hoped she wouldn’t give anything away. She tended to giggle sometimes when she was nervous, and An’gel would wring her neck if she giggled tonight and spoiled everything. So she focused as hard as she could on the sound of Alesha Jackson’s humming and the idea of the spirit of the house.

The humming continued, the volume increasing and decreasing occasionally. Dickce began to feel relaxed. The sound was soothing. She could feel the hands she clasped. Henry Howard, on her right, seemed calm and focused. Truss Wilbanks on her left, however, trembled now and then. Dickce gave his hand a light squeeze to try to reassure him, and he seemed to be calmer after that.

The humming trailed off, and Alesha Jackson began to speak again.

“Spirit of this house, we are here to help you. To guide you on to the next plane of existence. You no longer have to be confined by the walls of this house. If you will open yourself to us, we can guide you toward the light of eternal peace. Will you allow us to assist you on your way toward the light?”

When the psychic stopped speaking, Dickce could hear only the sounds of breathing. She opened her eyes and glanced quickly around the table. Everyone was still connected, hand to hand, and everyone except An’gel had their eyes closed. An’gel winked at her, then assumed a serious expression.

Alesha Jackson spoke once more. “Spirit of this house, I know you are troubled. Memories of life and of death have bound you to this place, but you can be free of them. Let me guide you on toward the light. Don’t be afraid. Nothing more can harm you now.”

In the quiet that followed, Dickce heard a soft murmur. Even though she was expecting it, she got goose pimples and had to resist the urge to pull her hands loose to rub her arms. The murmur was only a faint sound at first, but the volume grew slightly, and one word, repeated over and over, became distinct.

“Murder.” The syllables were drawn out, the voice a breathy whisper. “Mur-der. Mur-der.” The word repeated, over and over, in a near-hypnotic rhythm. Then all at once, the volume rose and rose until it suddenly ended in an unearthly shriek.

Dickce shuddered. She had been present earlier when Benjy recorded the whole thing, but still she felt spooked by it. In the silence she heard ragged breathing all around her.

Then the voice started again, whispered for a moment, then suddenly stopped.

Alesha Jackson spoke, her voice now sounding tense rather than soothing. “What is it you wish to tell us, spirit? Speak to us. Reveal everything to us. We are here to help you.”

What happened next came as a complete surprise to Dickce. Her eyes flew open when she felt a rush of air across the table. An’gel hadn’t told her about this. All the candles went out, and then a voice began to shriek. “Get it off me. Get it off me. It’s trying to kill me.”

All at once the room lights came on, and as soon as her eyes could focus, Dickce sought out the source of the screaming.

Serenity Foster, her face distorted by fear, sat shivering in her chair. “Get it off me. Oh dear God, get it off me.” Suddenly she pushed her chair back and ran out the door. Straight into the waiting arms of Lieutenant Steinberg.