I pulled some Earl Grey out of the cabinet and handed it to her. Her gaze had drifted out the window again and she jerked her attention back to me and took the tin.
“I was wondering, how will you be able to communicate with Jed using just tea leaves?” I asked.
She looked confused.“What? Oh, well… the leaves don’t actually help me talk to him directly. Not the way you think. But I see things in the leaves. Answers to questions. So I focus on a question and the answer is supplied.”
I craned my neck to peer into her mug where a clump of crushed-up leaves sat on the bottom. It looked just like a regular bunch of tea leaves to me but who knew, maybe the arrangement of the leaves had some meaning for her.“Have you gotten any answers?”
“Unfortunately I haven’t gotten anything from Jed.” Her eyes were drawn back to the window as if magnets were attached.
“If Madame Zenda isn’t full of hot air, he must be around. Maybe he doesn’t like tea,” I suggested.
“Maybe.” Gail’s gaze dropped to the tea mug and I sensed she had something to add but she remained silent.
“So whathave you seen in the tea leaves?” I asked.
“Oh… A few things about the guesthouse. Nothing important.”
“Things about the guesthouse? Like what?”
Gail’s gaze dropped to the mug. “I see lots of renovations.” She frowned. “And maybe some problems with completing them.”
My left brow ticked up. You didn’t need to be a psychic to see that I was doing a lot of renovations. “You don’t say.”
“Oh.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I know you have renovations going on, but this is more than that.” Then she glanced down again, a frown spreading on her face. “Of course, I also see something disturbing.”
“Disturbing?” What could be more disturbing than a bunch of psychics trying to talk to the ghost of the guy I’d found inside the wall? I leaned over to look into the mug again.
Her face darkened further as Victor passed by the window, ducking and weaving in the shrubs. What was he doing? Trying to figure out Madame Zenda’s location?
“Yes, you’d better be careful,” she whispered, then tore her gaze from the window and forced a laugh. “Listen to me being all dark and ominous. Nothing bad is coming, just be careful around that Myron guy. And don’t take what you hear from the guests too seriously. Everyone might not be on the up and up here.” With that she raised her mug at me and turned to leave. “Thanks for the tea.”
The conversation was a little unsettling, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. I also didn’t have time to think about it because two dark-clad figures lurking by the side of the house caught my attention. I pressed my face to the window. First Anita Pendragon, then Victor, and now this. How many people were skulking around in my yard and what did they want?
The two strangers resembled small, white-haired ninjas. Except they weren’t strangers. It was Mom and Millie and they were heading for the kitchen door.
Six
I got to the kitchen just as Mom and Millie came through the door. They were wearing identical plain black T-shirts. Their white, spider-veined legs called for attention beneath the hems of their black shorts. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the white pompom-backed Peds and tennis shoes sort of ruined the look.
Millie went straight to the fridge, presumably to inspect the sausages.“Oh good, I see you browned them. Very nice.”
“What do you think?” Mom gestured to the outfits. “We’re going incognito tonight so we can find out what Madame Zenda is up to without being seen.”
“It’s not incognito, Rose,” Millie said. “It’s undercover.”
“No, not really undercover… invisible, like a stealth bomber,” Mom said.
Nero and Marlowe trotted in from the pantry and looked Mom and Millie over, then glanced at each other as if wondering what the two senior citizens were up to.Mew. Nero looked up at me. If a cat could roll its eyes, I swear he would have done it right then.
I noticed their bowls were empty. So, theyhad rushed over to scarf down their food as soon as I’d left the kitchen. They didn’t fool me, I knew they liked to be ornery but I also knew they liked to eat.
“So you’re going to hide in the bushes and follow Madame Zenda?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Millie whipped out a copy of the Farmers’ Almanac.“This here says the moon will rise in forty minutes. We better be on high alert.”
Mom went to the kitchen window and cupped her hands around her eyes, peering out. It was dusk and the trees cast shadows in the dim light. In the distance, the ocean looked dark and ominous.
“We need to ascertain Madame Zenda’s whereabouts.” Mom sounded like she’d been brushing up on police lingo. Probably from one of the TV cop shows she and Millie liked to watch.
“Do you have an idea as to her whereabouts, Josie?” Millie asked.
“Last I knew she was in her room, but I really haven’t been keeping tabs on her.”
I knew Esther had come back and Victor was outside somewhere still. Gail had retreated to the back parlor with her tea. Had Madame Zenda already gone out to make her way to her meeting with Jed? Millie pressed her lips together and looked out the window.“I think we need to secure the perimeter.”
“Where should we start?” Mom asked. “I mean, what’s her most likely ETA and location.”
“She mentioned the moon kissing the ocean,” I said.
“Yes, but you can see that from anywhere,” Millie said. “Most of the property has a view of the cove and I don’t think she necessarily meant it would be in view. She was referring to the time she would meet with him.”
“Funny thing,” Mom said. “Why wouldn’t she keep that a secret? It seems like she wouldn’t want all the other psychics barging in on her meeting.”
“That supports my theory that she is up to something. Probably wanted everyone to know.” Millie nodded sagely. “Especially Anita Pendragon.”
“So you’re going with the theory that getting publicity about being the one who talked to Jed would boost her career?” I asked.
Millie nodded.“Yep, and she’s lying about really being able to communicate with him.”
Mom narrowed her eyes.“I don’t like liars.”
“Me neither, and that’s why I want to catch her. If we can figure out where she is, then we can observe her and see if she is faking,” Millie said.
“If we could figure out where she was going, we could get there ahead of time and stake the place out,” Mom said.
“In our undercover outfits, we’ll blend right in to the shadows.” Millie looked thoughtful. “Did she give any clues as to where she might be meeting him?”
I thought back to her pronouncement.“No. She only mentioned the moon.”
“True, but everyone knows that spirits like to haunt familiar places.” Millie glanced around.
“Well that doesn’t eliminate much. Wouldn’t this whole place be familiar to him?” Mom asked.
“Not thewhole place. Remember, most of this wasn’t around in Jed’s time.” I turned to Millie. “Do you remember which sections existed back then?”
“Well, the main part of the house was in the west wing. And there were barns on the property that no longer exist. There is a part of the attic that I think has some old belongings of the Biddeford family and, of course, there is the three-seater.”
“Three-seater?” I asked.
“The old outhouse. Three people could go at one time,” Mom informed me.
“Well, if Jed’s anything like my late husband, he’d be really familiar with that, maybe we should start there,” Millie said.
“No. We have to think like Madame Zenda. What would she know about Jed?” Mom asked. “Everyone knows his skeleton was found in the wall in the ballroom, so maybe that’s where she will go.”