Harrowing Hats (19 page)

As I drifted off, thinking they were lucky not to have to watch out for chamber pots being dumped from upper-story windows, I heard the shop door open and close. I started to tell Andre that his chair was very comfortable and that he’d gotten lunch too quickly. I wasn’t ready to get up yet.

Then I noticed it wasn’t Andre.

I kept completely still, hoping the yards of fabric would hide me from the private detective who’d held a gun on me. I only saw him for a moment the previous night when the stadium lights came on, but I recognized him. I don’t forget people who hold guns on me.

He moved stealthily around the congested work area, obviously looking for something. Maybe this was why he’d wanted to question me. I wondered what he thought he’d find here that would help him. I’d been all over the shop and hadn’t seen anything that I thought was suspicious.

I wondered if he knew there was a reporter in the Village looking for information about Andre and the Hollywood murder. Maybe they were working together. I might be wrong, but I had a feeling Detective Almond wouldn’t appreciate two outsiders stirring the pot.

I dived down a little farther under the blanket—still managing to peek out. If he found something, I wanted to know.

Apparently there was nothing downstairs, or he couldn’t find it in all the scraps from every hat Andre had ever made. He went upstairs to the living quarters above the shop, and I heard him rummaging around up there. The pan and spoon clattered on his side as he walked across the squeaky wood floorboards above me.

I waited, hardly breathing, until he came back downstairs again. He left right away—which made me think he’d found something up there. I threw off the blanket as soon as he stepped out the door. Two (or three) could play this game. He’d stalked me like the reporter had. It was my turn.

It was really easy to follow him even through the crowd of visitors milling around the Village. I was so familiar with my surroundings that I could concentrate on his weird, mustardcolored shirt and floppy hat as he made his way down the cobblestones toward the castle.

“Oh, Jessie! I heard about Chase. I’m so sorry.” Lady Godiva was taking a break from riding her horse around the Village. She was lounging in the shade of the
Queen’s Revenge
as it rode at anchor.

I ignored her. I wasn’t even sure if I knew who she was this year. I certainly wasn’t going to let her get to me.

I focused on my nemesis as he continued toward the castle, then suddenly veered back on the King’s Highway.

For a brief moment, I was afraid he knew I was following him. I darted into Eve’s Garden just in case. The smell of herbs and flowers perfumed the air as I watched him through the open doorway.

He surveyed the area like he was looking for something, then changed direction again and walked in the back door to Our Lady’s Gemstones. He was either in a sudden mood for jewelry or there was something else afoot.

I waited until I thought he’d had enough time to get inside and feel safe, then I followed him in. Knowing Rene and Renee might be watching me almost made me turn back—but I had to know what the detective had found at the Hat House that had brought him here.

The back of the shop was a work area with none of the eerie lighting or props of the front. The tables were cluttered with a rainbow of gemstones, settings, and jewelry-making paraphernalia. It was fascinating looking at everything. It would be a great place for an apprenticeship—if the twins left and someone took their place.

I could hear people speaking in the front showroom and found a place to get behind the black velvet walls so I could listen. This was even creepier and made me wonder if it was worth being there or not. What could he have found that would matter?

“We specifically told you that we didn’t want to meet with you here,” Rene said in a voice that reminded me of Mr. Smith from
The Matrix
.

“You were only to contact us by phone and we would meet you off premises,” Renee added.

Not enough sleep and too much imagination made me wonder if we’d find the private detective in a trash can later, shot by the twins for his ineptitude.

“I knew you’d want to see this right away,” he defended himself. He obviously pulled something out to show them, and there was silence except for some paper-rustling sounds.

“A hat pin?” Rene queried, no expression in his voice.

“A
handmade
hat pin,” he explained. “Just like the one they found in your mother. I’ll take it and have it analyzed—”

Renee corrected him, “Andre Hariot has thousands of hat pins. He probably made hundreds of them himself. That hat pin is in a lockup somewhere inside the LA police crime lab. The hat pin that killed Cesar Rizzo is also in police custody. What did you hope to gain by this?”

I didn’t know what the private detective had hoped to gain, but I learned something important—Kathleen Hariot was the mother of the evil twins! That’s why Renee had said that Andre was getting away with murder again. They knew all about what had happened—without the Internet.

Already images of Captain Jack Russell lying dead at the bottom of Mirror Lake came to mind. The evil twins had killed him and taken over his gem shop to be close to Andre so they could kill him, too. They probably set this whole thing up to make Andre look guilty for killing Cesar. Then they could kill him and make it look like suicide. Or put him in the lake with Captain Jack—although it could get crowded down there pretty quickly. But at least the whole thing made perfect sense.

My hand itched for my cell phone, but it was back at Andre’s with my stuff. I took a deep breath, trying to be patient and very quiet. I didn’t want to end up on the evil twins to-do list.

“How many people have handmade hat pins?” The hapless, clueless PI persisted. “This means something.”

Rene (I think) sighed quite heavily. “You said you knew about this case. You said you were an ace detective. You said you could help us privately. All hatmakers have hat pins, sir. Please find another angle.”

This was all said in a completely flat monotone. I would’ve been yelling at the idiot. I hoped they weren’t paying him much money. What
was
his problem?

“I understand.” He got it at last (about time). “I made a mistake. No reason to get personal about it. I’ll still solve this and prove Andre killed your mother. I just need more time.”

“Time is all we have at this point,” Renee said. “Please don’t come here again. You have our phone number. We will only meet you again off-site. It wouldn’t be good for people to know who we are.”

He mumbled something, then left the shop, slamming the door behind him. I wished I’d known he was going to leave so quickly. I was trapped here without a diversion to get away. What was I supposed to do now?

“He’s no help at all,” Rene said.

“Patience, brother. We’re in the right place at the right time. We’ll find justice, one way or the other, for what the hatmaker did.”

“We should have paid Jessie Morton to snoop around. At least she seems intelligent and has a reputation for finding out what’s going on in the Village.”

“Lucky for us that she’s distracted by the loss of her lover.”

I really expected to hear evil, maniacal laughter and maybe a little pipe organ music. Clearly the twins were even more evil than I thought. It wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

Now I had to get out of the gem shop—preferably while still alive—and find Chase.

Lucky for me, the front door to the shop opened and the twins greeted a customer. It was the diversion I needed to get out of there.

I made it to the back door before the black velvet curtain parted and Rene saw me. “Lady Jessie? May I serve you? We don’t allow people in our work area.” He paused, and his evil little eyes stared at me. I could see he was figuring the whole thing out. “Let me call my sister so we can sort this out. No reason to panic.”

My hand was on the doorknob. “Thanks, Rene, but I think I can sort this out by myself.”

H
e yelled for his sister at the same moment that I jerked open the door and ran outside. There were lots of visitors and Ren folk to blend in with, but I didn’t want to risk the evil twins catching up with me anyway. I ran as fast as my long legs and size twelve feet would take me. The world around me was a blur. I kept running until I ran headlong into the proverbial immovable object—Chase Manhattan.

We both fell on the ground, realized what had happened, then grabbed each other.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere, Jessie. Where the hell have you been?”

I clung to him like a sea urchin. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you. I’m sorry I cared if you were sneaking around. I’m sorry for anything in the future that keeps us apart ever again.”

“Oh, God, Jessie, I’m the one who’s sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, not telling you the truth right away. They asked me to keep it a secret—very hush-hush—and I thought I could do it but that’s just not me.”

“They?” I moved away from him a little.

“It’s a long story.” He kissed me, and that made any story better. “But no matter what happens again between us, promise you won’t leave. The Dungeon is your home, too. Okay?”

“I’ll never leave again,” I promised. “Who are
they
?”

But there wasn’t time for him to explain. The evil twins were coming our way like Frankenstein or the Green Slime. They didn’t have to move fast. I knew they’d catch up with us.

There wasn’t time for me to explain about them either. “Get up!” I urged him. “We have to run.”

“What are you talking about?” Chase looked up at Rene and Renee. “What’s wrong?”

Like all evil entities, they reached us before we could get ourselves together and get away from them. They looked like vampires in the bright sunlight—pale skin and hungry eyes.

“Don’t worry,” Rene said. “We won’t press charges against you, Lady Jessie. We understand that your circumstances are desperate.”

“Yes. We all know how hard it’s been for you after your breakup with the bailiff,” Renee added in a sympathetic voice.

“Press charges?” I yelled, not caring if it drew a crowd. “For what? Eavesdropping on your plans to kill Andre?”

“What?” Chase got up, taking me with him. “I think we should all go inside before this gets any bigger.”

“Not in the gemstone shop.” I shuddered. “We can go in the bakery or in the privies, but not in
their
shop.”

“That’s fine,” Rene agreed. “As I was saying, if Lady Jessie will return the diamond she took from the back of the shop—no charges. But it is quite valuable and we have to insist on getting it back.”

“Seriously?” I glanced at Chase to see if he was as outraged as me. “They’re accusing me of stealing from them?”

The crowd I’d foreseen was growing—visitors and residents. I should’ve realized good theater when I heard it. Both evil twins were almost shouting when they called me a thief. They knew everyone would want to get involved. I couldn’t believe they outsmarted me in my own Village.

Everyone knew Chase and I had had a fight. They probably knew I’d spent the night outside. They didn’t have time to find out that we were back together. The grapevine was good but not that good.

Now Rene and Renee were accusing me of stealing. Like they said, I was desperate. As far as real-life drama went in the Village, it was pretty tasty.

“We demand justice!” Rene managed to sound loud and convincing as he turned to face the crowd. It turned out he was as much an actor as the rest of us, especially to save his own skin. “We demand justice at the stocks!”

This was suddenly bigger than all of us. The crowd sensed blood, even though the best they could get at the stocks was tomato juice.

Chase couldn’t deny Rene’s right to present his case, according to Village rules. Cameras flashed, and the crowd roared its approval as he nodded. “All right. Let’s take this to trial.”

I knew I couldn’t ask him not to do it. He had no choice. I couldn’t imagine what the evil twins would gain by this except the barest reprieve from me telling everyone about them and their relationship to Andre.

Despite not wanting to be labeled a thief (a little late for that), I knew I had to go along with the justice system. It would look bad for Chase if he let his girlfriend go. The twins couldn’t prove I took anything any more than I could prove I didn’t. It could still mean a turn in the stocks for vegetable justice, since an accusation was almost as good as proof in this kingdom.

It didn’t even have to be a real accusation to cause fun for the audience. That’s why if someone doesn’t accuse their friend, sister, or cousin of a crime to see them put in the stocks, Chase grabs residents and makes something up. Most of the time, it’s fun and exciting—at least for the visitors. It gave them something to talk about when they left the Village.