Chihuahua of the Baskervilles (24 page)

Ellen stared at her for a moment. “I’d like to set up a time for you and me to meet with my lawyer.”

Charlotte’s face fell, but irritation quickly replaced the hurt. “I’m sure we can resolve this without resorting to lawyers.”

“I don’t think we can.” Ellen clasped and unclasped her hands, but her mouth was firm and set. Then she saw Ivan returning and sneered. “Come to protect your investment?”

Ivan went to Charlotte and put a hand on her shoulder. “Charlotte is my friend, and our employer. You and I owe what we have to her.”

“Charlotte owes a lot of what she has to my designs!” Ellen said.

Lila raised her head and gave a peremptory bark.

“Ellen,” Charlotte began.

Ivan took a few steps toward Ellen. “Perhaps you should go cool yourself.”

“You…” Ellen took a deep breath through her nose. “I have things to do anyway.” She walked to the front of the house and left, slamming the door behind her.

Charlotte put her elbows on the table and rested her head on her fingertips. From outside came the sound of a car starting. She looked up and gave Angus a sheepish smile. “There’s nothing like airing your dirty laundry. At least you’re not filming a documentary on me.”

Suki came to the table with a waffle stuck on a fork. “Hey, that’s why we had you sign a video-release form.”

Angus cleared his throat.

“Just kidding,” Suki said, putting the waffle on Charlotte’s plate.

Ivan sat next to Charlotte and put a hand on her back, rubbing it in soothing circles. “If Ellen leaves, there are other businesses you could try.”

Charlotte reached for the syrup, shrugging Ivan’s hand off in the process. “If things don’t work out with Ellen, I’ll find someone else, or go back to designing the clothes myself.”

The back door opened and Cheri walked in. Her hair was flattened on one side of her head, and dark circles of smeared eye makeup ringed her eyes, which were mere slits. She closed the door slowly behind her.

Charlotte frowned. “Are those the same clothes you wore yesterday? Where did you sleep last night?”

Cheri edged along the opposite side of the table from Charlotte, not looking at her. “Can we talk about this later?”

“How about some breakfast?” Suki plucked a waffle off the iron and held it in front of her.

Cheri averted her face. “No. God, no.”

“Suit yourself.” Suki put the waffle on Ivan’s plate.

Ivan reached for the butter. “At the restaurants, they serve these with whippy cream. Is there any of that?”

Michael handed him a can of whipped cream. “Sorry. I was busy thawing the strawberries.” He opened the microwave and took out a bowl, which he put on the table.

As Cheri left the kitchen, she said, “That’s right. We all have to make Ivan happy now.”

“Cheri!” Charlotte said.

Suki pointed a fork at Cheri’s departing back. “No sprinkles for you!”

Charlotte got up, her face grim. “Excuse me, please.” She trotted after Cheri.

Ivan watched her go. Then he stuck his fork in her untouched waffle and moved it to his plate.

*   *   *

Angus wiped his mouth on a napkin. “That was delicious. Thank you, Suki and Michael.”

Suki sat at the table finishing a waffle, while Michael loaded the dishwasher. Ivan had finished his breakfast and gone upstairs.

Charlotte had returned after fifteen minutes, during which they could hear her and Cheri shouting at each other. Now she wiped her mouth on her napkin and glanced at her watch. “Thank you for a wonderful breakfast. I’m helping with check-in at the race, so I should leave soon.”

Angus pushed his chair back. “We’d better get moving. I didn’t realize everything started so early.”

Charlotte waved a hand. “You have plenty of time. The parade doesn’t start until twelve fifteen, and the race is after that.”

“Ah.” Angus subsided. “Charlotte, I hate to add to your burdens, but there are a few things we should probably tell you.”

Charlotte tucked her paper napkin under the side of her plate. “Such as?”

Michael came over, wiping his hands on a dish towel. “While we were staying in Thomas’s room—”

Angus interrupted. “We were looking for the instructions to the clock radio, and happened across a file of Thomas’s.”

Charlotte frowned. “You
happened
across it? What kind of file?”

Angus made a regretful face. “A file that showed your husband hired a detective to prove you were cheating on him or that you were crazy, presumably so he could take the business away from you or get a big settlement in a divorce. He was also working with a lawyer.”

Charlotte’s mouth dropped open slightly, but she recovered quickly. “Where is this file?”

Angus’s regretful expression deepened. “The thing is, someone took it.”

“When did this happen?”

Suki swallowed a bite of waffle. “Probably while we were holding the dog up to the light.”

“Why would you … what?” Charlotte sputtered.

Angus gave Suki a quelling look. “Animal fluorescence is a key part of many paranormal investigations. Regardless, someone came into Thomas’s room and took the file. The cabinet wasn’t locked to begin with, you see.”

Charlotte studied their faces, her expression grim. “Any idea who took it?”

Angus looked at the others. “No. But I’d be careful about trusting anyone in your household too much.”

Charlotte slumped in her chair. “Wonderful.”

“There’s more,” Angus said apologetically, “although it probably won’t come as a surprise. Cheri’s appearance this morning did suggest that she was a bit—”

“Hungover?” Charlotte finished. “I’d like to know how she got hold of alcohol. I’d hate to think Jay would get Cheri drunk in order to get her back.”

“I don’t think she spent the night with Jay.” Angus cleared his throat. “I’m hesitant to say this, because it’s very circumstantial.”

Charlotte’s eyes narrowed. “Do it anyway.”

Angus looked at Michael. “Tell her what you saw.”

Michael pulled out a chair and sat. “I was at Miramont Castle when I looked out the window and saw Bob Hume and a woman in a pink hooded jacket get out of his car. Bob unloaded a box. The woman walked all the way around the block before entering your house, as if she didn’t want to be seen coming from Bob’s.”

“Cheri has a pink coat with a hood,” Angus said.

Charlotte frowned. “Not to be blunt, but did they kiss or something? I mean, it is odd, but—”

“Later, we were in Bob’s garage looking for Angus’s cell phone,” Michael went on. “We came across a box of strawberry schnapps. I’m pretty sure I recognized it as the box Bob took out of his trunk.”

Charlotte stared at the table. “That must be why Cheri wears that terrible perfume all the time.” She sighed. “Bob Hume, huh? And to think, I even wondered if Ivan was giving her liquor in his room.”

“I’m not saying Ivan is lily-white,” Angus said, “but I don’t think his sense of self-preservation would let him liquor up his employer’s granddaughter.”

“When you put it that way, it does seem unlikely.” Charlotte shook her head sadly. “I’m not sure what to do, but at least I have the information. Thank you for telling me.” She looked at her watch and stood. “I’d better get going.”

After she left, Angus blew out a breath. “That could have gone much worse.”

“I notice you didn’t tell her about the missing copies in Ivan’s checkbook,” Michael said.

“True.” Angus squinted and scratched his chin. “It was difficult enough to tell her we’d
stumbled
across that file. I’m not sure how we’d explain searching everyone’s rooms. Anyway, after Ivan’s triumphant performance last night, he can probably get more out of Charlotte alive than dead.”

“Unless she changes her will to favor him instead of Cheri,” Michael said.

Suki shook her head. “Charlotte’s no pushover. Did you see her ease out from under Ivan’s hand when he hinted about changing businesses?”

Angus sighed. “We’ve told her what we can and searched everywhere we can search. I think we’ve done all we can do.”

The front door opened and Charlotte walked determinedly back. “It occurs to me that you haven’t had much access to the workshop in your paranormal investigation.” She handed Angus a key. “Here. Knock yourself out.”

Angus looked at the others as Charlotte marched away. “Or maybe we
can
do more.”

*   *   *

The stone workshop looked like someone had already searched it. File drawers stood open, and stacks of binders littered the tables.

Michael lifted the edge of an empty binder and let it fall. “Presumably Ellen made this mess, but why?”

Angus squatted next to a file cabinet and looked at a stack of folders on the floor next to it. “‘Design notes, 2007,’” he read. He flipped open the manila cover. “Some of the phrases are highlighted. ‘You asked for three new skirt designs. Here’s my take on a sport jacket.’ If I had to guess, I’d say Ellen is putting together proof that she’s responsible for all of Charlotte’s designs.”

“I smell a lawsuit,” Michael said.

“Hey, guys?” Suki said.

They turned to see her in front of the wall rack that held bolts of fabric.

She grabbed the edge of one and waggled it, making the cloth ripple. “White satin.”

They hurried over.

Michael pointed to the cut edge of the cloth. “Dirt. Right there. Could be the edge of a muddy paw print.”

Suki shook her head. “Ellen wouldn’t work with the whole bolt of cloth. She’d cut off what she needed. Anyway, if you look closer, you can see it’s not mud, just general grubbiness.”

Angus bent and examined the fabric’s edge. “It looks like a smudge from the edge of a shoe.”

“Man’s or woman’s?” Michael asked.

Angus gave him a look. “I’m not bloody Sherlock Holmes, Michael.” He let go of the fabric. “I can’t see Ellen routinely treading on the goods.”

“You can’t tell anything from a dirt mark,” Suki said. “Someone could have stepped on the edge at the store, and Ellen hasn’t used it yet.”

“So it’s no help,” Michael said.

Angus shrugged. “It tells us that Ellen has access to white satin.”

“Along with Charlotte,” Suki pointed out.

Michael gave a short laugh. “You really want Charlotte to be behind this, don’t you?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “It’d be more interesting.”

Angus put his hands on his hips and surveyed the workshop. “Let’s see what else we can find.”

While Angus looked through the files for Thomas’s reports, Michael felt under tables and looked behind the whiteboards that hung on the walls. Suki busied herself with the sewing things.

“Hey, guys,” she said, after a few minutes.

“Again? You found the last clue!” Michael tugged at the yardstick he was using to poke behind a cupboard, but it was stuck. He left it there and joined Suki and Angus at the end of one of the big tables, where Suki had been searching through the drawers of a plastic organizer.

“Take a look at this.” Suki poked at a plastic-wrapped lump that lay on the table. It looked like clay but had a silver color.

“What is it?” Angus asked.

“It’s a modeling compound. Ellen used it to make what I think are zipper pulls.” She stirred her finger through a drawer of handmade charms. “Little bones, little dog dishes…” She picked out a charm that dangled from a key chain. “And little paw prints.”

Angus took it from her. “This is far smaller than the paw prints on the coffin lining.”

“But it shows Ellen could have made them,” Michael said. “She probably forgot these were here.” His hand hovered next to Angus’s, fingers reaching toward the charm. “Can I see?”

“In a minute.” Angus tapped the charm on the table, then prodded the wrapped lump of raw material, leaving a dent in the surface. “How do you get this stuff to harden?”

“You bake it,” Suki said.

“Would she have risked doing that at Charlotte’s house?” Angus gave the charm to Michael’s twitching fingers. “Oh, for crying out loud, here.”

Michael tapped the charm. “She could have baked it at a friend’s.”

Angus tilted his head skeptically. “She’d have to really trust that person.”

The door to the workshop opened, and Ellen entered, carrying a covered file box. “What are you doing here?”

“Who is it?” a voice asked from behind her. Barb Metcalf, Jay’s mother, edged into the doorway so she could see. “Oh, the magazine people!” She saw Ellen’s expression and wiped the eager smile off her face.

“How did you get in?” Ellen demanded.

Angus reached in his pocket and held up the key to the workshop. “Charlotte gave us this so we could do some paranormal investigating.”

“And what are your EMF detectors and thermometers telling you?” Ellen looked around, her expression sardonic. “Oh, wait, you don’t have any.”

“We’re not dependent on gadgetry,” Angus said. “Suki here is a bit of a medium.”

“Actually,” Suki said, “I’ve never been above a size six.”

“Rim shot.” Michael held out his fist and Suki bumped it with hers.

“I’ve never seen a medium work,” Barb said. “Can we watch?”

Ellen set her box on the worktable. “They’re not contacting the spirits, Barb. They’re snooping for Charlotte.” She glared at Angus. “You can tell her from me that I have a perfect right to make copies of
my work
.”

Angus held up a calming hand. “I assure you, we’re simply doing research for our article. But since you brought it up, I think you have a case against Charlotte.”

Some of the anger left Ellen’s face. “You do?”

“It won’t be cheap. These lawsuits often depend on who outlasts the other, but a jury could very well decide that Charlotte isn’t giving you proper remuneration, given the role you’ve had in Petey’s Closet.”

Ellen spread her arms. “
Thank
you.”

Barb put another box on the table. “Especially since Charlotte made her sign a noncompete agreement. That’s just not fair.”

“They don’t need to know the details,” Ellen snapped, then turned back to Angus. “You still haven’t explained how going through my drawers helps you find ghosts.”

“Psychometry,” Angus said. “Suki can detect psychic vibrations from objects. Go ahead, Suki.”