“There’s a spirit here?” Steinberg asked, his expression still bland. “Where is it now?”
Mrs. Pace shrugged. “She’s hidden herself for the moment. I doubt she is happy that there are so many strange persons in her house.”
“Let’s get back to Mr. Gamble for the moment,” Steinberg said. “You assisted his spirit. Did his spirit go willingly?”
“Not at first,” Mrs. Pace said. “He needed coaxing, but once he understood that he had died and could not go back, he seemed eager to embrace the light.”
“That’s good, I guess.” For the first time Steinberg’s facade slipped, and An’gel thought he was losing patience with the medium. “Now, exactly where were you when all this communicating was taking place, ma’am?”
“In the room with his corporeal self, naturally,” Mrs. Pace said. “I would have thought that was obvious. The spirit usually remains quite close to its former shell until it is ready to move on, or the body is removed from where the person died.”
An’gel could tell that the lieutenant wasn’t happy to find out that Mrs. Pace had been in the room. Even if Nathan Gamble’s death had been completely natural, An’gel thought, Mrs. Pace had no business being in there. She wasn’t a member of the family, and she had no official standing as a medical or legal person.
“Mrs. Pace, I’d like you to come with me for some further questions,” Steinberg said. “Mr. Catlin, is there another room we can use for a little while?”
Henry Howard nodded. “Sure, the front parlor across the hall, or the library. It’s the room next to the parlor. Either one.”
“Thank you,” Steinberg said. “We’ll use the parlor. Mrs. Pace, if you please.”
The medium inclined her head and moved in a stately fashion toward the door. Steinberg saw her out, then turned to address everyone. “For now, I have no further questions for you, but those of you who are guests, I’d like you to give your home addresses and contact information to my men here in case I need to talk to you further. Miz Foster, I would like to talk to you, however, so if you don’t mind waiting.” He stated the last as an order, not a request, An’gel thought.
• • •
Serenity Foster didn’t offer any objections, though she immediately ducked her head toward her lawyer and began speaking in a lowered tone to him.
Steinberg left the dining room door open, and the young officer who had been watching them earlier stepped forward, pad and pen to the ready. “I need to get the information the lieutenant wants. Mr. and Mrs. Catlin, we have yours, of course. Miss Ducote, ma’am, if you wouldn’t mind.”
While An’gel provided the necessary information for herself, Dickce, and Benjy, the latter returned with the older police officer, Peanut, and Endora.
Peanut woofed joyfully at the sight of An’gel and strained against his leash to get to her. Benjy held him back with a quiet command, however, until An’gel finished dictating to the young policeman.
He next took Marcelline’s information, and as soon as he finished, the housekeeper turned to Mary Turner. “Now, Miss Mary, I’m taking you upstairs, and you’re going to lie down for a while. And don’t you try to argue with me, missy.”
Mary Turner gave the housekeeper a wan smile. “I’m not going to, Marcelline. I need to be where it’s quiet for a while.” She turned to her husband. “How about you? Would you like to come with me?”
Henry Howard frowned. “No, you go ahead. I’d better stay here in case the police want anything else. I’ll be up to check on you later.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
“All right,” Mary Turner said. She rose from her chair and followed Marcelline docilely from the room, allowing the housekeeper to put an arm around her as if she were unable to hold herself upright.
Henry Howard looked like he needed rest far more than Mary Turner did, An’gel thought. The circles around his eyes seemed darker, and he moved stiffly. She realized that he had never had much chance to have breakfast.
“You need to eat something,” she told him. “You come with me. I’m going to take you to the kitchen, and we’ll find something.” She turned to Peanut, who had put a paw on her leg. She fondled his head for a moment. “Yes, I’m glad to see you, too, you silly boy. But I need to take care of Henry Howard right now.”
Peanut woofed and withdrew his paw. An’gel always marveled at how the dog seemed to understand exactly what she told him. Endora, of course, always ignored her.
An’gel returned her attention to her host and saw him smiling at her. “I miss having a dog,” he said.
“Why don’t you and Mary Turner adopt one?” An’gel said. “Now, come along with me. Let’s get you fed.”
“We’ll stay here for now, Sister,” Dickce told her. An’gel knew Dickce would do her best to find out what was going on between Serenity and Wilbanks. They were still conferring and seemed not to notice what the others in the room were doing.
An’gel repeated her question to Henry Howard on the way down the hall, then added, “There are plenty of animals in shelters who need adopting, after all.”
“I know,” Henry Howard said. “But dogs need a lot of attention, and sometimes guests don’t respond to them well. We have to be really careful, you know. We can’t afford to get sued just because some crazy person can’t handle a dog or a cat anywhere in the house.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” An’gel said. “That’s a shame, though.”
“Yes, it is,” Henry Howard replied. “But that’s the way it is. The house always comes first, basically, because it’s our livelihood.” He walked into the kitchen and went straight to the small table near the back door.
Before An’gel could look for food for Henry Howard, Marcelline came storming in. She walked straight over to Henry Howard, ignoring An’gel.
“You’ve got to get her out of this house.” Marcelline slapped her hands down on the table right in front of Henry Howard. He jerked back in his chair.
“Something has made that spirit angry. It killed Nathan Gamble, I tell you, and now it’s going to harm Miss Mary if you don’t stop it.”
CHAPTER 20
Surely Marcelline couldn’t be serious, An’gel thought. A spirit trying to harm Mary Turner? The idea was ridiculous. Primrose Pace hadn’t mentioned that a malicious spirit caused Nathan Gamble’s death, although she had said that spirits could turn malicious. When she had time to herself later on, An’gel wanted to think about all that the medium had said and try to figure out exactly what was going on here. She wished they knew more about Mrs. Pace’s background.
Henry Howard evidently agreed with An’gel about Marcelline’s claims of spirit interference. He laughed in the housekeeper’s face. “I know you believe there’s a ghost in this house, but even if there is, it’s never done anything bad before, has it? No one’s ever been hurt here, have they?”
Marcelline looked taken aback at Henry Howard’s response to her demands. “Well, no, not before now,” she said. “But Nathan wanted to take those things from this house, and the spirit didn’t want him to. She wants those things left right where they are. They belong here, no matter what Nathan was always saying.”
That was an interesting idea, An’gel thought. The spirit was protecting the furnishings of the French room. But why? Was the spirit supposed to belong to the long-dead great-aunt who had once lived in that room, Nathan’s great-grandmother four times removed? As far as An’gel was aware, the woman hadn’t died in this house. Surely she had died in Vicksburg, where her husband and children lived. That might be something they needed to find out, though.
“You and I are never going to agree on this, Marcelline,” Henry Howard said, his tone becoming increasingly testy. “I hope you’re not saying all these things in front of Mary Turner.”