“He’s not prosecuting him for stealing all those purses?”
“I guess not. You didn’t press charges. None of the other women did either.”
“What about Miss Mildred?”
He nodded. “I think they had a judge and the DA up there talking to her today. Luke Helms was there with her. They’ll probably bring in a psychiatrist and a few other doctors to make the final assessment. But from what you’ve told me, they’ll find her incompetent and she’ll be institutionalized. The only good thing about that is that it spares her jail time.”
“Because she won’t back down from saying she saw Miss Elizabeth’s ghost, right?”
“Yeah. Even in the Outer Banks, it’s one thing to believe in folklore but another thing when a ghost turns up with evidence that places you at a murder scene.”
“Have you heard anything about the testing they’re doing on the murder weapon?”
“The chief gave me back the derringer we found at the inn. It wasn’t the weapon used to kill Johnny. I haven’t heard anything about the weapon they think killed Miss Elizabeth. But ballistics is faster than DNA. It’ll probably be a while before we know for sure about that.”
“The only thing I could squeeze out of Tim was that the shovel they think was the murder weapon was not a regular garden shovel.” It wasn’t much, but I wanted to add what I could to our investigation.
The news we shared did nothing to alleviate the dark day. We sat for a long time not talking as the evening came down prematurely on Duck. Anne and Ginny finished up the clothes. They waved as they walked out the door. I took a look at the job Anne had done and admired her work. If I could ever afford to hire someone, I’d certainly give her a call. In the meantime, at least both of them had some new-to-them clothes to wear.
I closed the shop about five. It was early, but no one had come in for hours. The rain was still a steady downpour. My mind kept working on helping Miss Mildred, but there didn’t seem to be anything I could do.
Between that, the rain and no customers, I was completely depressed. Even Kevin’s offer to cook dinner in exchange for eating at my house the night before didn’t pick my mood up. But knowing Gramps would be out that night playing pinochle, I agreed to go to the inn with him. Better to be depressed with someone else than by yourself.
Shayla and Trudy stopped us as we walked toward town hall so I could check my messages. We stood under the bright blue canopy on the boardwalk, which thankfully kept most of the rain off of us. “Don’t you two look chummy?” Trudy giggled and nudged Shayla.
“A little too chummy,” Shayla said, giving me an evil look. “Where are you two going?”
“Dinner at the Blue Whale,” Kevin explained. “You’re both welcome to join us. I make a very good lasagna. My grandmother on my mother’s side was from Italy. She taught me how to cook when I was a little kid. There’s plenty for everyone.”
Shayla muttered something under her breath about Kevin being too full of himself to think there was enough of him to go around. Trudy giggled again. Both women agreed they wanted lasagna for supper in the worst way.
“I have to check my messages,” I told them. “Then I can go.”
“We’ll meet you there,” Shayla said. “You can find the way without us, right?”
“Sure.” I wondered what she was up to. Didn’t she and Tim have something going on now? She acted like she was still interested in Kevin and I was getting in her way.
“We’ll wait.” Kevin smiled. “Maybe the rain will ease up.”
“Shayla has the coolest idea,” Trudy told us. “She wants to do a séance for Miss Elizabeth and maybe Wild Johnny too. The Blue Whale would be the perfect place for it. It’s kind of spooky anyway.”
We all looked at Kevin to see what he thought. He shrugged. “Why not? Although I’m not crazy about people thinking the Blue Whale is spooky. It might hurt business once I’m open.”
Shayla linked her arm through his as we walked into town hall. “Whatever! You don’t understand the tourist climate down here, sweetie. If people thought your place was haunted, you’d have a crowd there every night waiting for a place to eat and stay. People love ghosts.”
I said hello to Nancy, who was still at her desk, and then heard someone clear his throat. At the sound, Shayla moved away from Kevin. “Tim! I didn’t know you’d be here,” she simpered. “I was just thinking about you, honey.”
Tim nodded to me. “Dae. Could I have a word with you? Official police business.”
“Sure. Come in my office.” I glanced at the four people left in the lobby. “We’ll just be a minute.”
Once the door closed behind us, Tim said, “The chief wanted me to remind you about the ribbon cutting tomorrow at the new restaurant across the street. It’s at ten thirty.”
“I know. I have it on my calendar. You brought me in here to remind me about the ribbon cutting?”
He looked down at the floor. “They talked to Miss Mildred today. I heard her crying from out in the hall. She’s losing it, Dae. They’re going to put her away. I don’t think there’s anything any of us can do.”
I put my hand on his arm. “I guess we’ll do the best we can. Thanks for telling me.”
We went back into the lobby where Shayla had convinced Nancy to join us for what had become lasagna and a séance at the Blue Whale. Nancy handed me my messages as she put on her bright yellow rain gear. It didn’t take much to convince Tim that he should come along. Within moments, we were back out in the rain and headed for the Blue Whale.
After the short, wet walk to the ocean side of Duck, we all worked together in the big hotel kitchen. Kevin put Tim and me in front of a table-sized wooden chopping block with instructions to cut vegetables. Nancy and Trudy grated fresh cheese while Kevin and Shayla made the sauce. The sauce making seemed to be more fun than the jobs the rest of us were doing. Shayla kept laughing and saying, “Oh, Kevin! You’re crazy!”
“I hope he remembers that Shayla is my girlfriend,” Tim growled as he chopped carrots.
“If she remembers, you won’t have any problem,” I advised him.
Kevin uncorked a couple of bottles of muscadine wine and told us all about the Mother Vine in Manteo that he visited when he first came to the Outer Banks. “Did you know it’s been there for four hundred years?”
“We’ve lived here all our lives,” Tim told him. “I think we know about the Mother Vine.”
“I haven’t lived here all my life,” Shayla said. “Tell me about the Mother Vine.”
Kevin turned on some late-eighties rock music and poured us all some of the sweet red wine. He talked about the early settlers and growing grapes as though he’d memorized the information from a tour. Nancy and Trudy giggled as they grated. Tim kept setting up pieces of Boston bibb lettuce and chopping them into shreds.
The lasagna noodles were finally in the pan with the appropriate sauce, cheese and vegetables. The kitchen smelled like garlic and herbs. I looked around the room, which was almost as big as the whole downstairs of my house. I could see where Kevin had done renovations to the walls and added a new stove and dishwasher. The room seemed ready for customers, if the Blue Whale ever opened. No telling how long it might be before the SBI was done looking at it. Gramps and I probably added to that by turning over the music box.
“It will be an hour until that’s done,” Kevin said. “What about this séance thing while we’re waiting?”
“I think we could manage that.” Shayla smiled up at him. She handed him her empty wineglass. “I could use a refill. Being a medium is thirsty work.”