Ghostly Graveyard (Zoe Donovan Cozy Mystery Book 17) (12 page)

I sat down on one of the leather chairs across from Ethan’s desk while he walked around the room pulling books off shelves. He looked to be intent on his task and seemed to know what he was looking for, so I didn’t offer to help.

After he had pulled four of five volumes he seemed happy with he returned to his desk. He opened the first book and began thumbing through it. He located what he was looking for at last, then passed the book across the desk. The page was open to a photo of two men.

“This,” Ethan pointed to the man on the right, “is Alvin Everlay, and this,” he indicated the other, “is Isaac Wainwright’s father. The photo was taken when they were both attending university. It seems George ran out of funds to continue his studies, so the duke paid for the remainder of his education at the request of his son.”

“Wow, so the men weren’t just friends, they were
good
friends.”

“For a while.”

“They had a falling out?” I asked.

“They did.” Ethan opened a different book and, as before, passed it across the desk. There was a wedding photo of George and his new bride.

“The falling-out occurred when George fell in love with Alvin’s girl. It was pretty much unheard of for a woman to choose a nearly bankrupt commoner over the wealthy son of a duke, but she did. Her name was Evette.”

“So this must be Isaac’s mother.”

“Yes. Evette and George had eleven children when all was said and done. Isaac was the eldest.”

I frowned. “Okay, they were friends until George stole Alvin’s girl. I’m assuming the friendship ceased to exist at that point. So why would Alvin leave whatever it was he left to Isaac?”

Ethan drummed his fingers on the desk as he considered the situation.

It was an odd set of circumstances that brought Isaac to the States. Unless…“I spoke to a man named Gus who was owed a large amount of money by Duncan,” I informed Ethan. “He said Duncan had some sort of a plan to get the money. He mentioned an inheritance. What if Alvin and Evette had a fling behind George’s back? He loved her, and maybe after she married George she regretted her decision. What if the fling ended in pregnancy?”

“Isaac,” Ethan supplied. “Alvin and Evette know the truth, but Evette is married to George, and they realize that pursuing their relationship would end in heartache all around, so they keep the fact that Alvin is actually Isaac’s father to themselves. Eventually, watching some other man raise his son becomes too much for him so he runs away and comes to America. On his deathbed he wants his son to know the truth, so he sends him the letter Duncan found. In the letter Alvin tells Isaac that he has left something for him in Devil’s Den and gives him a set of encrypted instructions to find it.”

I narrowed my gaze. “Yeah, but the part of the letter we found didn’t say anything about Alvin being Isaac’s father. It just stated that he left him something he wanted him to come to the States to retrieve. Of course it looks as if there must have been two or more pages to the letter and we only found the first one, so maybe the revelation of Isaac’s parentage is on another page.”

“Perhaps.”

“The question is, why would Alvin want Isaac to come to America?” I asked. “Why not just mail him whatever it was he wanted him to have?”

“It does seem as if that would have been easier and more direct. Asking him to make this huge voyage seems unnecessary. And Alvin must have shared with him what it was he left him, and it must have been valuable; otherwise why would Isaac comply with the wishes of a man he’d never met?”

“The legend tells us that Isaac came to Devil’s Den to search for a stone. Maybe it was a diamond or something even more valuable. I sure wish we had the rest of the letter.”

“Maybe we should go back to the mine when it’s light to have another look,” Ethan suggested.

“I’m game if you are. Of course, even if we figure out what it was Alvin left for Isaac and what might have become of it, that doesn’t necessarily explain why Duncan was killed all these years later. I mean, it’s been a hundred years. Whatever it is Alvin left can’t possibly still be on anyone’s radar.”

“I agree,” Ethan commented. “It’s doubtful the relationship between Alvin and Isaac plays into Duncan’s death. If I were you, I’d look at other motives.”

“I guess we’re back to Benny.”

The Halloween spirit had most definitely gripped the entire Donovan-Zimmerman extended family. It was dress-up day at the elementary school Scooter attended, and he was proudly displaying his ninja costume. Alex had gotten into the spirit by wearing black pants and an orange sweater and Pi had on black pants and a black T-shirt with his black leather jacket. Zak was already outside stringing lights even though it was colder than heck and the sun had only just poked its head over the horizon. And I had joined in with the fun and dug out an old jack-o’-lantern sweatshirt I’d had since middle school. Yup, it still fit, which is a true testament to how tiny I really am.

“We only have a half day of school, so my classes are over at eleven,” Alex reminded me as I spooned oatmeal into a bowl. “And Zimmerman Academy is closed, so I’ll need a ride home.”

“We’re out early as well,” Pi informed me.

“Me too,” Scooter added.

So much for a morning of sleuthing.

“Okay, I’ll pick everyone up in the usual places,” I confirmed. “Given the tight schedule, I might be late picking one or more of you up, but I’ll be there.”

“Maybe we should get Pi a car,” Alex suggested. “That way he can help with the driving.”

“Yeah,” Pi agreed. “Maybe we should get Pi a car.”

“You don’t have your driver’s license yet,” I said.

“I can get it. I’m sixteen and I’ve taken the class. Or at least I took the class that was required where I used to live. I guess I should check the requirements here.”

“Let’s talk to Zak about that after Halloween. Right now I doubt he’ll be interested in any conversation where the subject matter isn’t dead and doesn’t suck blood.”

“He does seem to be really into the whole decorating thing,” Alex responded. “Is he always like this at Halloween?”

“I think last year was the first time the fever really hit him, but now that he has it I’d be willing to bet it’ll be an annual thing.”

I began getting out the ingredients for assembling the sack lunches Scooter and Alex took with them. Pi usually preferred to wait to eat until he was finished with school and could pick up fast food.

“Do you even have lunch today considering it’s an early release day?” I asked the younger two.

“I do,” Alex confirmed, “but it’ll be so early I doubt I’ll be hungry. Maybe I’ll just take an apple.”

“I do, too, but I don’t need a lunch ’cause of the party. Do we have my punch and cupcakes?” Scooter asked.

Thanks to Zak, we did.

“And the goodie bags?”

“They’re all packed and on the table near the entry. I even had extra spiders for each bag because Zak bought some, as well as some extra candy and some cool Halloween cards with coupons on them for a free ice cream at the parlor in town. ”

“This is going to be the best Halloween ever.” Scooter grinned.

I had to agree. I knew I was superexcited. There was just something about holidays and kids that seemed to go together.

I dropped everyone at school and decided to check in with Ellie. I’d been so busy that I hadn’t so much as called her the previous day. She seemed to be doing better with Mariah, but I could see the situation was still really hard on her. When I arrived at the boathouse she was sitting on the back deck in tears.

“What happened?” I hugged my best friend as tight as I could.

“Skye,” she sobbed.

My heart sank. It must be bad if Ellie was this upset. “Did she die?” I asked softly.

“No. She woke up.”

I pulled back just a bit. Woke up? Wasn’t that a good thing?

“Don’t get me wrong.” Ellie took a deep breath. “I’m so very happy and so very thankful that she’s going to be okay. I really am. I’ve been so worried about her since the accident. It’s just that…”

“Mariah,” I realized. “It’s hit you that she’ll be going home.”

“I know Mariah isn’t mine and I really am happy that she can be with her mama, but…”

“Having her here reminded you what you’re missing,” I provided.

Ellie nodded her head.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”

Ellie wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. I looked around for a tissue but didn’t see one.

“I’m sure Skye will let you visit Mariah any time you want. After what happened maybe you’ll even be close again.”

“I’m sure Skye will let me visit. In fact, she’s already suggested it. And while I’m happy I’ll have the opportunity to renew my relationship with Skye and to have Mariah in my life, it isn’t enough. I’ve decided I’m going to have the surgery that will increase my chances of having a successful pregnancy,” Ellie informed me. “I’ve thought about it a lot this week. I’m not saying I’m going to run out and get pregnant right away, but I want to be ready when the time is right.”

“You know I’m here for you. You know I’ll do anything in my power to help you through this, but having a child is a big step.”

“I know.”

I sat down on one of the yard chairs Ellie had scattered around the deck. “Have you discussed this with Levi?”

“No. Not yet. I know my decision to pursue having a baby will spell the end of our relationship, and as mad as I am at the guy right now, I do love him and I’m not making this decision lightly. I know having the discussion with him I need to have will be emotionally draining and I don’t think I can deal with that right now. I’m going to wait until after I take Mariah home and things settle down a bit. I may even wait until after the holidays. I thought I’d try to get an appointment with the fertility specialist I spoke to before, so I have all the information before I decide.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

“In the meantime I’m just going to enjoy the time I have left with Mariah. Now that she’s gotten used to me we’re really having a good time.”

“Do you know when she’ll be going home?” I asked.

“It’ll be another week at least. I’m not really sure. I told Skye I’d bring Mariah for a visit, but she thinks it will be harder on the baby to see her and then have to leave again. Skye is dying to see her, but she wants what’s best for Mariah. That’s real love. That’s the way love should be.”

“Levi loves you.” I knew she was comparing Levi’s commitment to her with Skye’s commitment to her baby.

“Maybe. But maybe that isn’t enough. You know I’ve struggled with the fact that we just don’t seem to have the level of commitment we should if we’re going to pursue a long-term relationship.”

“Yeah, I know.”

I watched Ellie as she looked out across the lake. A myriad of emotions danced across her face as she appeared to watch a duck family as they glided across the glassy water. I supposed when you longed for a child, babies of any kind could tug at your heartstrings. I didn’t need to watch Ellie’s face to know how much she wanted to have a baby. And I knew what a good mom she would be. I really thought Ellie and Levi had a chance at the happily ever after Zak and I shared, but I also knew this conflict could make that future impossible.

I hugged Ellie again. “You know I’ll always be here for you. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

After I left the boathouse I headed out to look for Benny. He was the only person I still had on my monk’s costume list, other than the person who’d paid cash and was therefore untraceable. I didn’t know Benny really well, but he was a nice guy and I found myself hoping he would prove to be innocent. Of course, if the killer was the unidentifiable person who’d bought the last costume I didn’t know how I’d ever find him.

Benny was an electrician by trade. I stopped by his shop but was told he was out on a call. I kind of knew the clerk, who was willing to give me the address of the place he was working that morning. I didn’t have a lot of time before I had to pick up Alex, who was the first of the three kids to get out of school that day, but I figured I wouldn’t need a lot to find out if Benny was the man I’d seen in the cemetery.

“It was me,” Benny said when I confronted him as he rewired an old cabin near the lake.

“You killed Duncan Wright?”

“What? No! You asked me if it was me you saw in the cemetery the night of the haunted house. It was me, but I didn’t kill the guy.”

I took a deep breath. “Maybe you should start at the beginning.”

“After I said good-bye to you, I went out to my car. When I got there I saw another car parked on the road near mine. I realized it belonged to Duncan. I had a feeling he’d come back to mess up what we had just finished cleaning. That made me mad. Really mad.”

“Wait. You said his car was parked near yours? I don’t remember seeing any cars other than my own when I went to the parking lot.”

“I was parked on the old dirt road that runs behind the cemetery. So was Duncan.”

“Why did you park there?” I wondered.

“I had all the sound equipment, so I wanted to park as close to the house as I could get without actually disturbing the cemetery or the decorations we’d set out. The road directly behind the house proved to have the closest entry point.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense; go on.”

“Like I said, I was really mad when I saw Duncan’s car. I had my monk’s costume on my backseat, so I got the idea of scaring him. I hoped if he thought the place was haunted, like a lot of folks around here believe, he might stay away once and for all.”

“So you tried to scare him, but he came after you, so you killed him?” I speculated.

“No. I told you, I didn’t kill him. I never even saw him. At least not until you tripped over him. I was walking toward the house from the back of the cemetery when I saw you walking to your car. I noticed you saw me and began walking toward me. Initially, I was going to try to sneak away, but I didn’t want to leave you wondering if you’d seen a ghost, so I turned around and walked back toward you. Before I could say anything you screamed and tripped over Duncan.”

“Why didn’t you help me? Or at the very least reveal who you were?”

“Once I saw Duncan was dead I figured you’d think I’d killed him.”

Benny had a point. That was exactly what I would have thought. In a way, that was what I still thought. He had a story, but he didn’t have an alibi.

“After I realized what you’d tripped over I panicked and ran,” Benny continued.

I narrowed my gaze. “If that’s true where’s Duncan’s car now?”

“I don’t know. I swear. After you tripped over the body, I didn’t wait to find out what was going to happen. I just left. When I went back the next day after they canceled the haunted house the car was gone. Maybe the deputy took it.”

“Maybe. I guess I’ll have to ask him.”

Benny began to squirm. I could see our conversation was making him nervous. “You do believe me, don’t you?”

“I’m not sure,” I answered truthfully. “But at this point I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Benny looked relieved.

“Did you see anyone else other than me that night?”

Benny paused, I assumed, to consider my question.

“Even for a minute,” I added. “Maybe a shadow?”

“Actually, I did see someone. A large man wearing dark clothing. He was pretty far away, so I couldn’t see his face. I bet he was the killer. Damn, I wish I’d thought of this earlier. I bet the guy is long gone by now.”

“Can you think of anything at all that might help me track the guy down? Even a minor detail could help.”

“Like I said, it was dark, and at the time I didn’t suspect anything was wrong, so I didn’t pay that much attention, but I’m pretty sure the guy had a limp.”

Something about Benny’s statement wasn’t adding up, but I wasn’t entirely certain what it was. Still, my Zodar was tingling, and as far as I was concerned, that was proof enough that all was not quite as Benny wanted me to believe.