Part 11 (1/2)

”Of course,” Logan said.

”Then I'll call in some backup,” Forester said, ”and we'll get to it tonight.”

”I think that's an excellent idea,” Logan said.

”Where are Kelsey and Jane?” Sloan asked.

”Kitchen, I believe,” Forester told them.

Logan and Sloan headed out of the Great Hall to the kitchen. Kelsey was sitting there with Chef and Harry and Devon.

”Something to eat?” Chef asked.

”No, thanks. We had some horrible food in town,” Logan told him.

Chef grinned. ”I do have the reputation for being the best around.”

”I'd not argue it,” Logan a.s.sured him.

”Why would you stop in town when you're staying here?” Chef asked. ”And how were you out when the rest of us are prisoners here? Oh, yeah, I forgot. You're Feds.”

Logan slid into a seat at the kitchen table. ”We went to hear gossip.”

Sloan remained standing. He still didn't know where Jane was. ”We heard a lot of interesting gossip. Apparently, not many people liked Mrs. Avery. In fact, they seemed to think that she was trying to make everything in the world go wrong for Emil Roth.”

Chef shrugged. ”She treated him like he was a kid. When he hired me, not long after his dad died, they had a huge fight. I overheard them. She told him that he didn't have the know-how to run anything and that he shouldn't make decisions without her. I'm surprised he didn't kill her. He was the heir, but she acted like she owned everything.”

”But he didn't kill her, did he?” Sloan asked.

”Emil?” Harry asked. ”He's a decent guy. He's like a regular guy, but with money. He'd be normal as h.e.l.l if people like Mrs. Avery didn't keep telling him that he had responsibilities as if he were Spiderman or something.”

”Where's Jane?” Sloan asked them.

Kelsey, who'd been sitting at the table, frowned. ”I'll go see.”

”Wait. I'll just try her phone,” Sloan said.

He dialed Jane's number and listened as they continued to talk.

”The people in town even seemed to think that Avery hired only attractive maids to try and get Emil involved with them,” Logan said.

”Was that her plan?” Harry asked.

”I never had it figured as an actual plan,” Devon said. ”Go figure. That dried up old prune of a biddy setting Emil up for s.e.x!”

”Did it work?” Logan asked ”At first, maybe. A few girls wound up being fired for various infractions. Oh, never for flirting with or co-habiting or whatever you want to call it,” Chef said. ”They'd be fired for failing in their duty, for disturbing a guest, things like that.”

Logan heard an unspoken but. ”What?”

”That all ended a few months ago,” Devon said.

”Just spit it out, they know everything,” Harry said. ”They're Feds, remember? Emil is crazy about Scully Adair. And Scully is crazy about him. I don't know how they were managing to hide it from Mrs. Avery. All the rest of us knew.”

”But, he did see people before that?”

”Yeah, sure. He's young, good-looking, rich. Who wouldn't have seen him?” Harry asked.

Jane's phone was ringing and ringing with no answer. Sloan ended the call and looked at Logan and Kelsey.

”Now we go and find Jane,” he said. ”She's not answering, and I'm pretty sure I know who we're looking for. Kelsey, go get the detectives. Logan, will you search the house? I'm heading out to the chapel.”

”What can we do?” Chef asked.

”Stay put,” Sloan told him.

Jane cautiously stepped out of the church. The overcast sky seemed to have fallen closer to the ground, a dense fog rising to meet it. The graveyard, benign by day, now seemed to hold dozens of places to hide. Winged angels cast shadows over crooked stones. Trees grew at a slant and gargoyles loomed over tombs, warding off all evil. Standing in the doorway for the chapel, she was in clear view.

”You know I have a gun and I do know how to use it,” she said, addressing the graveyard. ”You might as well come out. I'm sure that you want me to think that Scully Adair is doing all this. After all, you know that Scully is a descendant of Margaret Clarendon. And you must have heard that there were a few references to the fact that Margaret was suspected of having helped Elizabeth along to her death. But, you know what? I don't think that Scully herself knows that she has any relations.h.i.+p to the castle. Margaret's child with Emil Roth went up for adoption. We only found out the truth because we have access to all kinds of records. Phoebe, you were good. I mean that scream you let out when you found Reverend MacDonald was really something. And the shock in your eyes? Amazing. So, you had an affair with Emil Roth. You thought you were the one. And I don't believe that you did kill Cally Thorpe. That was really just a tragic accident. But if people started dying at every wedding, that would give the castle a real reputation. But that wasn't enough. You figured you'd get rid of Mrs. Avery. Make it really ghostly. You hated her, because she sucked you in. She fed you the story about Scully and her being a descendant of Margaret. You thought you'd replay history, except this time you'd win!”

Jane barely ducked in time as a piece of broken plaster wing off a cherub came flying her way. By the time she was up again, her quarry had moved. Slinking low, she ran from one tomb to the next.

”Phoebe, my Krewe will have figured it out by now, too. Killing me will get you nowhere. Nor is there anywhere for you to go. You'll be arrested, and you'll face murder charges. If you give yourself up right now, I can try to help you.”

Jane had moved away from the chapel a fair distance. Phoebe was leading her to the rear, a place where the graves began to ride down the slopes off the cliffs. She raised her head, trying to see in the near darkness. She thought she heard something-coming from behind her.

She was certain that Phoebe was before her!

Something thumped into the gravestone she'd ducked beneath.

An arrow.

She heard laughter from the fog-riddled graveyard before her, eerie in the strange dying light and the cool air.

”No one gets married here! They don't marry here. They die here!” Phoebe called to her.

Jane thought she heard a snapping sound on the ground, coming closer. She rolled quickly and slunk on the ground, staying low. She was armed and she could aim. But she couldn't make out a d.a.m.ned thing to shoot at.

”Brides die!” Phoebe cried, laughing.

The sound was both ahead and behind Jane.

In fact, it seemed to come from all around.

Sloan was quickly on his feet, racing to the back of the house. At the rear exit from the kitchen, he thought that he felt someone behind him.