“Yes,” Kanesha said. “I can’t keep them here indefinitely.”
An’gel wasn’t any happier about that prospect than Kanesha, but at the same time she was looking forward to the time when all the guests were out of the house.
They waited in silence for Rosabelle and Antonio. An’gel felt like she could use a nap. The unrelieved stress of the situation seemed to sap her energy more quickly than if she had been working hard at something all day long.
“Here we are, Deputy Berry,” Rosabelle announced from the doorway. She advanced into the room with Antonio by her side. “You wanted to talk to us, I hear.”
An’gel thought, a bit snidely, that Rosabelle entered like a contessa about to give audience to her peasants. An’gel took a bit of satisfaction from the knowledge that what Kanesha had to say would give her old friend a much-needed reacquaintance with reality.
“Dickce and I will leave you to it.” An’gel rose from her chair. “Come along, Diesel, you, too.”
Antonio stared at the cat. “What manner of creature is this? I have never seen a cat so big.”
Dickce quickly explained about Diesel’s breed and his size. Antonio moved close to the cat and extended a hand. Diesel sniffed once, then moved away. He passed by Rosabelle and out into the hall. An’gel and Dickce exchanged wry glances. The cat was definitely not impressed by the conte or his contessa.
“Thank you for coming down,” Kanesha said.
An’gel moved out of earshot, with Dickce ahead of her. When Dickce lingered in the hallway, An’gel grabbed her arm and pulled her along with her toward the parlor. “No more eavesdropping.”
“Spoilsport.” Dickce grinned and shook her arm loose from her sister’s grasp. “I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough, because la contessa will have something to say. She always does.”
“No doubt about that.” An’gel snorted. “Rosabelle has never met a silence she couldn’t fill.”
Diesel climbed onto the sofa beside An’gel and lay his head and front legs across her lap. She rubbed his head, and he rewarded her with his rumbling purr. Dickce sat at the end of the sofa, with the cat’s tail in her lap.
“I could easily get used to this,” An’gel said. “I’m going to miss you, big boy, when your family gets home and you go back to them.”
She glanced at Dickce, who seemed to be considering something, to judge by her expression. She waited a moment, but Dickce didn’t speak. She could ask whether her sister had something on her mind, but she knew all too well that Dickce wouldn’t share whatever it was until she was ready. There was no point in prodding her.
Her mind returned to an unanswered question that still niggled at her. “When Kanesha is done with them, I want to ask Antonio how he got here. I still think it’s strange that there was no car in the driveway.”
“It is odd,” Dickce said, “but I’m sure there’s an innocent, logical explanation. You’re making too much out of it.”
Perhaps she was, An’gel thought. She simply didn’t like not being able to account for each and every detail.
“Thank goodness the deputy will be in the house again tonight,” Dickce said. “I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty nervous over what could happen. I wonder if the killer is going to make another attempt.”
“Surely if the killer has any brains at all, he or she won’t try again. Not with a deputy in the house and all of us on alert.” An’gel felt the tension increasing every hour. If only there were some way to bring the situation to a head, without anyone getting hurt or killed in the process. Could they possibly set a trap for the killer?
She considered that for a moment, then slowly an idea began to form in her mind.
A high-pitched scream interrupted her thoughts.
CHAPTER 29
An’gel winced as Diesel’s front claws dug into her leg. The cat launched himself off her lap, over the arm of the sofa, and onto the floor on the second scream. He tried to wriggle himself under the sofa on the third.
By then An’gel was up off the sofa and heading for the door. She sensed that Dickce was right behind her.
In the hallway she saw Kanesha sprinting up the stairs. Rosabelle stood in the doorway of the library, her head on Antonio’s shoulder with his arms around her. Her heart thudding painfully from the exertion, An’gel climbed the staircase as quickly as she could. Dickce passed her on the last three steps and hurried down the second-floor hallway ahead of her.
Bernice stood outside the door to the guest bathroom huddled against Wade. An’gel reckoned that Bernice was the screamer. As she neared them, Dickce still ahead of her, she could hear Bernice sobbing in Wade’s arms.
“What’s wrong?” Dickce asked when she reached them. An’gel caught up seconds later as Wade pointed, his expression grim, into the bathroom.
“Maudine,” was all he said.
An’gel moved slowly to the bathroom doorway and peered in. The scene inside shocked her, and she thought for a moment she was going to faint. Then she felt an arm around her waist and realized Dickce was there to support her.
Kanesha knelt on the floor near the bathtub, where she was performing CPR on Maudine. Small black objects dotted the floor around them, and An’gel spotted a few on Maudine’s body. Her eyes couldn’t focus at first to allow her to determine what they were.
“I’ll call 911,” Dickce said and slipped away.
An’gel gripped the door frame for support. Her vision settled, and she figured out that the small black objects were spiders.
Spiders?
She felt nauseated. Where had so many spiders come from?
She noticed the spiders weren’t moving. Were they all dead?
Or were they fakes?
She remembered suddenly that Maudine was terrified of spiders. Had someone come in the bathroom while Maudine was in the tub and dumped spiders all over her?
Maybe Maudine had fallen and hit her head while trying to get out of the tub and away from the spiders.
Kanesha continued to work on Maudine. An’gel’s head began to clear. She turned to Wade and Bernice. “Mr. Thurmond, go find your niece. The deputy needs help.” She wondered where Juanita could be as Wade, after a quick nod, hurried down the hall.
Antoinette appeared at the head of the stairs and ran toward An’gel. “I can help,” she said when she reached the bathroom. “I’ve had CPR training.”
“Thank you.” An’gel moved aside and leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to watch any longer. Then she heard crying and realized Bernice’s distress was greater than her own.
An’gel pushed herself away from the wall and approached the distraught woman. “Why don’t you come with me?” she said gently. “Kanesha and Antoinette will do everything they can to help your sister until the paramedics get here.”
She led an unprotesting Bernice all the way down to the front parlor, where Rosabelle and Antonio sat together on the sofa. They had already helped themselves to the liquor cabinet.
“What’s all the noise upstairs?” Rosabelle asked. “Bernice, what’s going on?”
“It’s Maudie,” Bernice said. Her steps faltered, and An’gel feared she might collapse before they reached a chair. Antonio leapt up and came to assist.
“What’s wrong with Maudine?” Rosabelle’s tone was sharp.
“She apparently had a bad fall in the bathroom while taking a bath,” An’gel said. She left Bernice to Antonio’s ministrations and went to pour the shaky woman a glass of brandy. She brought it back and put the glass into Bernice’s hands. “Sip this. It will help.”
Bernice’s hands trembled as they clasped the snifter and lifted it to her mouth. Her color began to return after a couple of sips, and her hands steadied. Antonio returned to his place beside his wife. An’gel pulled a chair close to Bernice’s and sat to sip at her own brandy. She felt the familiar warmth begin to spread, and her tension eased slightly as her heartbeat slowed to normal.