Deadly Night by Heather Graham
A stranger, who looked at her with such sad eyes, and who hung out at the Hideaway at night.
Zachary seemed to take her presence in stride. “So where’s Aidan?” he asked cheerfully.
“He’s upstairs,” she said.
He nodded. “Mmm. I smell coffee.”
“In the kitchen,” she said.
Aidan made his appearance just then; she heard his footsteps on the stairway and felt him come up behind her. “Hey, Zach.”
“I’ll just run up and shower and get ready. Saturday is one of our busy days,” she said. No point in pretending she’d just dropped by. Given her current apparel, it was more than obvious that she had slept here….
“Excuse me,” she mumbled, and fled.
When she came back down a little while later, she found the brothers in the kitchen, talking.
“It’s a ridiculous threat,” Aidan was saying.
“What’s a ridiculous threat?” she asked, going for a second cup of coffee.
“Jeremy got a caller last night who knew we were thinking of having another benefit out here, which is kind of strange because we haven’t really talked about it. Not that it was a secret. I mean, we’ve all mentioned it to someone. But the guy had a really creepy voice and said we were all going to die if we brought people out here for a party.”
“Maybe it was our guy with the voodoo-doll fetish,” Zach said.
“Maybe,” Aidan agreed.
“Wouldn’t that make him…kind of a nutcase?” Kendall asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Aidan agreed. “And it just means we’ll work all the harder to have this place ready for Halloween.”
“So you’re into the idea now, too?” Zach asked.
Aidan grinned. “Nothing like telling me I can’t do something to make me want to do it.” He took a long swallow and finished his coffee. “Listen, Zach. I’ll be back in a few hours. I just have to take Kendall in and meet someone for coffee. While I’m out, will you ask the contractor to talk to the electrician about getting some wiring into that far back shack?” He paused. “And if our tenant is still out there, would you let him know? I told him yesterday that he could stay, that we’d work something out.”
“I’ll take a walk back there, see if I find him,” Zach assured him.
“And if you have a chance, go through the rest of those files you pulled off the computer. See who you can call to get any information about the other women who’ve disappeared. See if they actually made it here to New Orleans.”
“Will do,” Zach said.
As they left, the drive was beginning to fill up with the various subcontractors’ vehicles.
Kendall looked back at the house as they drove away. It was gleaming white and beautiful in the sun. And it was just a house.
A house where she had seen a mysterious man in the kitchen.
“Are you all right?” Aidan asked, looking at her.
“Fine,” she told him quickly.
They were both silent for a moment.
“Are you all right?” she asked him then.
“Fine,” he said.
“You never told me about your nightmare.”
He shrugged. “I swear, I’ve never sleepwalked before. And the dream was…bizarre. I guess I’ve been getting obsessed with this case. I dreamed that Amelia was telling me that I had to help…someone.”
“Really?” Kendall asked. Just like Miss Ady.
But neither of them had dreamed of a sad man with skin the color of café au lait.
The same man who went to the bar. If he was a ghost…
She almost asked Aidan if he had ever noticed the man, but she bit her lip and kept silent. This was getting crazy, though. He was having dreams, and she was seeing ghosts.
Matty Burningham was already at the coffeehouse when he arrived. She told him she’d waited to order, and he decided to go ahead and have an omelet with her.
She was nervous, talking about the dress she’d bought for the gala, asking him about the house. At last he set his hand over hers and stopped her. “Matty, what’s up with you? Why did you want to see me?”
For a moment he thought she was going to cry, and he really hoped she wouldn’t, because he wasn’t much good with tears.
“It’s Jonas, of course.”
“Matty, I wouldn’t worry about anything. He loves you.”
“You think?” she asked a little bitterly. She looked at him squarely. “Aidan, is he cheating on me?”
“Matty, I haven’t seen an awful lot of Jonas lately, you know.”
“But you know him. You did work together once.”
“Matty, I’m sure he loves you,” Aidan said.
“I did everything for him,” she said. “Boobs, face—and it wasn’t as if I were wrinkled like a prune or anything.”
“Matty, you’re beautiful now, and you were beautiful before. It’s all a matter of how you feel about yourself.”
“That’s just it. I didn’t care. I did it for him, and it doesn’t seem as if…He doesn’t seem interested in me anymore. It’s as if…I don’t know. It’s as if he’s bored.”
“Matty, I’m sure things will work out. Have you tried talking to him?”
“Yeah, he acts as if there’s nothing wrong.”
“Maybe there isn’t.”
“Oh, Aidan. You’re just being sweet.”
“Matty, we can all be flirts.”
She stared at him, shaking her head. “Not you,” she said softly. “When Serena was alive, you never…I’m sorry. It’s just that you never acted like…you even noticed any woman but her.”
He didn’t even know what to say to that. It was true, though.
“Aidan, there have been nights when he hasn’t come home.”
“What has he said to you?”
“That he was working.”
“Maybe he was working.”
“Right. At a bar.”
“Matty, honest to God, sometimes you do start working at a bar. Surveillance. And you have to act like you’re there for the good times and the show.”
“Talk to him, will you?” she asked.
“Matty, this has to be between the two of you.”
“If he’s cheating on me, yes. If he’s already called a divorce lawyer, I want to know.”
“I’ll talk to him and see if I can get him to talk to you. How’s that?”
“Thanks, Aidan. Only, please, don’t tell him that I called you. He’ll be furious.”
“I won’t say anything, Matty,” he promised. “I’ll be subtle.”
“He likes that place where Vinnie plays. He says he goes for the music. That it’s some of the best in the city.”
“I suppose it depends on what you like, but I can tell you this,” Aidan told her gently. “He really might be going for the music. Both my brothers—who know their stuff—agree that the Stakes are really good. So he’s not lying to you about that.”
Matty shivered suddenly. “I don’t know. Sometimes the place gives me the creeps.”
“Really? Why?”
“I’ve been in there with him a few times, you know, and I always feel like someone is watching me.”
“Well, I told you. You’re a beautiful woman. I’m sure lots of men watch you.”
She didn’t blush, smile or even thank him. “No, it’s not like that. Not even like…well, a drunken leer. I just feel like there’s someone who skulks in there and pictures all the women with their clothes off or something…. Oh, I don’t know. It’s just not a nice feeling.”
She gave herself a little shake and met his eyes again. “Anyway, thanks, Aidan. And I’m sorry about Serena, you know. So sorry. Isn’t life ironic? Here are Jonas and me, and it’s not looking so good for us. There were you and Serena, and everything about the two of you was perfect, and so life took a brutal swing at you.” She gasped then, as if she’d just realized she might be trespassing on territory that was too private. “Oh, that was a horrible thing to say, Aidan. I’m so sorry.”
She brightened. “Three years…and here you are, in New Orleans. I hope you find someone new, Aidan. The right person. She’ll be very lucky.”
“Thank you, Matty. And listen, things will work out.”
He wanted to leave it at that, but he couldn’t. “Matty, how long has this been going on? I mean, Jonas not coming home at night?”
“The first time was about three months ago. The last time? Let me think. Week before last. Oh, Aidan…”
“Matty, don’t worry. I’ll talk to him.”
When he left her, he thought she was happier. He wasn’t.
He was suddenly wondering just how his old friend was spending those nights out.
Saturday brought a continual flow of people in and out of the shop. Luckily Vinnie had come in and stayed to help.
Kendall had decided that she wasn’t going to do any readings that day. She told Mason from the start that she wouldn’t; any walk-ins who demanded her services specifically would just have to make an appointment for the next week. She was looking forward to the party that night, even though she wondered if she was becoming too dependent on Aidan’s company.
And she was already in a slightly weird place. Had she imagined the man in the kitchen? She must have, because she had checked the entire downstairs and there had been no one there.
She didn’t believe in ghosts, she told herself. She didn’t.
At two, when it trickled down to empty for a few minutes, she noticed Mason and Vinnie standing side by side and staring at her, grinning.
“Hey. Where did you go last night?” Mason asked her.
“Go?” she said.
“I went by your place to see if you felt like going out. You weren’t home. Your car was there, but you weren’t. Or at least, you didn’t answer when I rang your bell.” He moved closer, winking confidentially. “Were you sleeping? Or were you out?”
“She was out, all right,” Vinnie teased.
“Out at the plantation,” Mason said knowingly. They looked like a pair of boys hiding behind the bleachers and telling exaggerated tales of their dates.
“Yes, I was out at the plantation,” she said, staring back at them.
“Well, that was no fun. She gave in too easily,” Mason said.
Vinnie shrugged. “I thought we’d get her to blush, at least.”
“Hey, did you hear about the guy who threatened the Flynns on the radio last night?” Mason asked her.
“Yes, Zach came in and mentioned something about it,” she said.
“They’re not scared, right? Anything else weird happening out there?” Vinnie asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing last night,” she said casually.
This morning, though, she added silently, I thought I saw a ghost.
“You know, that story about the cousins is supposed to be true,” Mason said. “So somewhere along the line, you should be hearing the neighing of horses and the clash of sabers or something.”
“The Flynn cousins shot each other,” Vinnie said. “No sabers.”
“Hey, Vinnie,” Kendall said. “Is there anything in that story about a man of mixed blood?”
“Oh, no, she’s being haunted by the ghost of the caretaker!” Vinnie exclaimed with a laugh.
“I’m not being haunted by any ghost. I was just trying to remember the whole story. I remember the part about the Union soldiers attacking Fiona, and that’s why she jumped off the balcony.”
“Fiona, huh?” Mason teased.
“That was her name, I’m pretty sure,” Kendall said. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to admit, even to the two of them, that she had borrowed the old diary from the attic.
“Well, as a matter of fact,” Vinnie said, “the caretaker’s name was Henry. And he was a man of mixed blood. When everyone wound up dead, the soldiers who had been there ran back into the city. Henry had been with the family for years, but he was a free man. And he rescued the baby—Fiona and Sloan’s baby—who was the ancestor of Amelia. And the Flynn brothers, too, of course.”
All this talk of history made Kendall think about Sheila again. Shelia and the laughing card. Death.
Sheila was dead, she suddenly thought with complete certainty.
No! Sheila was on vacation; she would be back this weekend.
The bell above the door tinkled. “Customers,” she said firmly, forcing herself away from the scary direction her thoughts had taken.
The graveyard was a mess.
Aidan, dirty, sweaty and frustrated, sat on one of the low sarcophagi and stared around.
He’d dug some pretty deep holes.
He’d found four old graves in which the old wooden coffins had completely decayed and only skeletons remained.
He was certain that the work crew, glancing over now and then from the house, must think they were employed by a complete lunatic.
He was searching for a needle in a haystack, he knew. All the skeletons he had uncovered so far had been intact.
He had refilled the graves, and in doing so, he had discovered that many of the graves had shifted. Even if there were a plan for the graveyard, something that didn’t seem to exist, it would be no help in showing him where all the bodies were. Trying to discover if the thighbone had indeed come from an old skeleton didn’t seem like a logical plan.
But even as he sat there, he kept thinking that there was something he should be discovering here.
Jimmy had said that the ghosts came out in the cemetery.
He had found what he was certain was dried blood on a gravestone.
There was something here.
What was the connection between the plantation, Kendall’s shop, the bar where Vinnie played and a girl who had disappeared?
Maybe there was no connection. Or not a meaningful one, anyway. Sure, Vinnie had walked Jenny back to where she had been staying. But another guest had verified the fact that she had changed clothes and gone out again to meet someone.
He thought about what he knew about people, what he had seen and learned over the years. He didn’t believe that Vinnie would have been quite so forthcoming if he were guilty.
Not to mention that he didn’t even know if the ten missing women whose cases Zachary had found were related.
What did he really have so far?
Two human bones—that might or might not be recent. The knowledge that at least one young woman had disappeared from New Orleans without a trace.
A pattern of disappearances most probably from the same area, a pattern that had been escalating in the last few years.
And a nightmare in which a sea of dismembered corpses clutched at him and a woman in white begged for help.
He still felt the answer or at least a crucial clue lay buried somewhere in this graveyard, but it was getting late, and he had to give it up for the day.
As he walked back into the house, covered with dirt, even Zachary looked at him strangely.
“Don’t ask,” he told his brother.
“I won’t. I’m heading into the city now to get ready for Jeremy’s deal tonight.”
“I’ll see you there,” Aidan told him.
Upstairs, he showered again and dressed for the night. He walked back down to the formal dining room and looked at the family paintings and photos on the wall. Amelia had been captured in her mature years; she was a handsome woman still, slim, with a brilliant smile and a face lined with experience.
“I would deeply appreciate if you wouldn’t haunt my dreams,” he told the woman in the painting.
She continued to smile back at him, unperturbed.
It was nothing but a picture. A picture that had somehow haunted his sleep. Just his subconscious, he told himself. And yet he couldn’t escape the thought that the house—or at least the ghosts of the past that haunted it—was urging him to solve the mystery.
He began to study the paintings of the long-ago Flynns, pausing at one of a beautiful woman in a white gown with tiny roses
He remembered seeing the woman’s elaborate tomb in the graveyard, but the inscription there said only Fiona MacFarlane. He recalled that she was the one who had died jumping off the balcony. For some reason, he touched the painting, and as he stared at it, he had the odd sense that someone was standing behind him.
As he swung around swiftly, his peripheral vision seemed to catch a shadow just disappearing into the kitchen.
He followed, determined to find out if someone else was in the house.
The kitchen was empty.
It must have been a workman.
But the back door was locked, and the remaining workmen were all outside, packing up their tools for the night.
Obviously, he told himself, he hadn’t actually seen anyone, and no one had been standing behind him.
And if there were shadows in this house and they were human—and those voodoo dolls had definitely been left by human hands—they were in trouble. Because he was going to be wearing the Colt on his person at all times from now on.
17
The aquarium was done up in black and orange, since it was October and Halloween was coming, but none of the decorations were scary. The pumpkins all wore happy grins, and the only witches present were good witches, dressed in bright colors with cute hats. They were played by volunteers from the local colleges, and they were serving punch and special snacks for the kids. Since children were welcome guests tonight, there were many in attendance.
The city was represented by employees from every department. The band the radio station had brought in was good, though, in Kendall’s opinion, not nearly as good as the Stakes, and Vinnie agreed.
They were standing by a tank displaying hundreds of tiny octopi. Vinnie was mournfully watching the band, while Mason was watching a pretty young blonde. Kendall was watching Aidan, who was deep in conversation with a man with slicked-back dark hair and his Kewpie-doll companion. Frowning, she tried to place the man, who looked naggingly familiar.
As she stood there, Kendall felt a nudge and heard someone say, “Hey there, girl.”