“Please take a seat, everyone.” He waited by the head of the table until the newcomers were seated.
An’gel regarded Primrose Pace with a frown. Had the medium been in the kitchen all along?
“Now, I’m sure y’all are wondering what’s been going on,” the officer said. “First, I’m going to introduce myself. I’m Lieutenant Steinberg. I appreciate y’all’s patience while we’ve been checking out the situation upstairs. Before I can explain that, though, I’d appreciate if y’all would introduce yourselves and tell me your relationship to the deceased. Mr. Catlin we already know. Are you Mrs. Catlin?” He nodded toward Mary Turner.
“Yes,” she said. “The deceased was a distant cousin of mine.”
“Thank you,” the officer said. “And you?”
An’gel introduced herself, and the others in turn did the same.
Serenity Foster was the last person to answer. “I’m Serenity Foster, and the deceased was my brother. Nathan Gamble.” She turned in her chair to point to Mary Turner. “She’s the one who killed him, Lieutenant Steinberg.”
CHAPTER 19
An’gel would have thought Serenity Foster had more sense than to make a statement like that without even knowing how her brother had died. Evidently her animosity toward Mary Turner overruled her caution and good judgment, had she any.
“I told you to stop saying things like that.” Truss Wilbanks fairly hissed the words at his client.
“I don’t care,” Serenity said hotly. “Lieutenant, you heard me.”
“Miz Foster, I can understand you’re real upset right now with your brother dying so suddenly and him being a young man,” Steinberg said. “But that’s a strong accusation you’re making. Do you have any reason to believe your brother’s death was the result of premeditated murder?”
Before Serenity could answer the officer, Truss Wilbanks spoke up. “As I explained in my introduction, Lieutenant, I am Mrs. Foster’s attorney, and I have to advise her to be careful in making these statements without any facts whatsoever to back them up. They could result, if she persists, in a lawsuit.” He glared at Serenity, and An’gel was surprised that the young woman didn’t fire back at him. Instead, she seemed to wilt under his glare.
He turned back to Steinberg. “So to answer your question, no, there is no reason to believe this was premeditated in any way.”
The lieutenant gazed blandly back at Wilbanks. “I see, Mr. Wilbanks, but I was asking Miz Foster. Do you stand by your earlier statement, ma’am?”
Serenity shook her head. “No, I was just upset.”
An’gel hoped that would be the end of it, at least for now. Poor Mary Turner continued to tremble beside her, whether from rage or fear or another emotion altogether, An’gel wasn’t certain. She was afraid her young friend might break down if she had to face another onslaught of her cousin’s spite. They all felt raw and on edge, she had no doubt, and Serenity’s behavior was no help.
She glanced at Primrose Pace and saw that the medium was gazing intently at Serenity. A half smile played around Mrs. Pace’s lips, and she continued to watch Serenity while An’gel watched her. What was the interest? An’gel wondered.
“Very well, then,” Steinberg said. “I can’t tell you a lot at the moment, and that’s because we don’t know a lot. The doctor can’t sign the death certificate because he’s not familiar with the deceased’s medical history.”
“He wouldn’t be,” Henry Howard said. “He’s a friend of ours and lives nearby. That’s why I called him.”
Steinberg nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Catlin. Now, Miz Foster, can you tell us who your brother’s doctor was, if he had one?”
Serenity shrugged. “He never mentioned one to me. As far as I knew, he was in perfect health. He was too cheap to go to a doctor most of the time, unless he was really, really sick.” She named an urgent care clinic, evidently in Vicksburg, where she had known him to go in the past. “He had the flu really bad last year, and for that he went to the doctor.”
“Thank you, ma’am, we’ll check with the doctors there,” the policeman said. “We have no reason to treat this death as anything other than natural at the moment, unless somebody has further information they’d like to share.” He looked around the room.
Primrose Pace suddenly pushed back her chair and rose. “I have information, Lieutenant. I communicated with the spirit of the deceased not long after it left his body, and I will be happy to share that communication with you.”
An’gel had to admire Steinberg’s self-possession after that startling announcement. His bland expression never wavered, though An’gel thought he blinked a couple of times. Then it dawned on her that she had been right about the medium’s whereabouts. Mrs. Pace had been upstairs, probably in the room with the body, before the authorities arrived. Snooping around, no doubt, but why?
“I see. Mrs. Pace, isn’t it?” He waited for the medium to affirm that. “Are you in the habit of communicating with the spirits, ma’am?”
“I am a psychic medium,” she responded with a bit of hauteur. “I have helped police in similar cases before.”
An’gel wondered what the medium’s angle was in this display. She didn’t really believe Mrs. Pace had communicated with Nathan Gamble after death. She was making the whole thing up. She had to be, An’gel decided. The question was, why? Maybe the woman was simply delusional and needed medical attention herself.
“What did he tell you? That he was murdered?” Serenity Foster’s harsh tones brought everyone’s attention back to her.
Wilbanks immediately remonstrated with her, but Serenity ignored him and started repeating her questions to Primrose Pace.
Steinberg’s voice rang out. “Quiet, everyone, please.” He nodded to the medium. “Go on, ma’am.”
“As I was trying to tell you, Lieutenant,” Mrs. Pace said with a hostile glance at Serenity, “I have helped the police before. With missing persons mostly, but those cases often entailed suspicious deaths. This death, however, was nothing like that.” She paused, and the silence lingered.
An’gel wished the medium would get to the point. She really wanted to hear what the woman would say. She almost felt like speaking up but knew that the lieutenant would not appreciate it.
“Please, go on,” Steinberg said after the pause had stretched out uncomfortably long.
“Mr. Gamble died peacefully. His spirit was a bit confused, of course, with the sudden transition. You see, they are often like this, especially when they aren’t expecting it.” Mrs. Pace shook her head dolefully. “And so often no one is there to encourage them on their way.”
“How exactly do you encourage them on their way?” Steinberg asked.
“I tell them that they have to accept the fact that they have passed on,” Mrs. Pace replied. “Few souls are ready to accept that right away, you must understand. Most don’t want to leave the earthly plane and their loved ones. It’s even harder for them if they have a message they want to give their loved ones.” She shook her head again in the same doleful manner. “It’s truly tragic for some of them, and their loved ones are often desperate for some last word.
“Then once they have begun to accept that they are no longer part of the mortal world,” Mrs. Pace continued, “I tell them to look toward the light. Some see it more quickly than others. Some embrace it gladly. Others have to be encouraged to do it.”
“Do any of them ever refuse?” Dickce asked.
An’gel frowned at her sister but she was as curious as Dickce, she admitted to herself, to hear the medium’s answer.
“Yes,” Mrs. Pace replied. “They hang on, refusing to believe that they are dead. They can cause terrible mischief sometimes in their anger and denial. Like the spirit in this house. She is one who refuses to move on. Something has bound her here, but I haven’t been able to figure out yet what it is.”