Millie on a Mission Read online

“I think that’s rather obvious,” Charlie answered, her eyes narrowing as she made her way to the wall across the way. She seemed entranced by something. “She’s jealous that we’re together. She wants to see if she can force us apart. She’s sensed that things aren’t the same as they used to be between us and she wants to see if she can leverage that to her advantage.”

  Jack immediately started shaking his head. “Things aren’t bad between us.” He looked to me for confirmation, but all I could do was arch an eyebrow. “Okay, things are a little tense between us,” he conceded. “They’re not bad, though. We’re going to be okay.”

  He was so earnest I couldn’t help feeling for him. “Of course you are.” Honestly, I’d never doubted that for a second. “I’ve been telling Charlie just that because she’s such a bundle of nerves. You don’t have to convince me.”

  “I guess that means I have to convince her.” He turned in Charlie’s direction and I could see the intent scrawled across his features. He was about to have a serious conversation with her — even though it was absolutely the worst time — and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

  I was resigned to watching their relationship drama play out when everything shifted.

  “Charlie?” He furrowed his brow and took three long strides toward the opposite wall. “Where did she go?”

  I’d been paying so much attention to him that I’d lost track of Charlie, which was apparently a mistake because the young woman had disappeared. “I don’t understand.” My heart skipped a beat as I moved to follow Jack, and then I saw something that he’d apparently missed in the first scan. “Wait ... look.” I gestured toward an obvious seam in the wall. I hadn’t seen it the first go-around either.

  Jack slipped his fingers into the crease and tugged, causing the seam to widen as a hidden door opened.

  “Oh, well, that’s not something you see every day,” he muttered, shaking his head.

  “This is an old house,” I reminded him. “It was around during the prohibition era. I bet there was some bootlegging going on in these neighborhoods, which is how people continued to be able to afford these homes.”

  “That was a fascinating history lesson,” he drawled. “If you don’t mind, though, I’m going to find my girlfriend.”

  He seemed anxious to disappear down the dark passageway. I didn’t blame him. He was worried about Charlie, who seemed to find trouble wherever she went. The thing about the young psychic, though, was that she almost always found her way out of it, too. I wasn’t all that worried about her.

  Jack was another story. He strode down the gloomy hallway with a purpose, directing himself toward a source of light at the far end of the corridor. When we arrived, we found an absolutely huge room with bay windows ... and it was completely full of baby items.

  “You scared the crap out of me,” Jack announced as he closed the distance on Charlie. “Next time you find a doorway to a secret room, yell, ‘Hey, Jack, look what I found,’ before disappearing. I would prefer not having a heart attack every five minutes.”

  Charlie had the grace to be abashed. “I’m sorry.” She looked sincere. “I thought you saw me slip through the opening. You were right behind me.”

  “Yeah, well ... we were talking.” Jack’s fingers were gentle as he brushed a strand of hair from her face. He was a big, tough, rough-and-tumble guy ... and she made him gooey. “Please just tell me next time before you disappear inside the walls of a house. That should probably be a rule or something.”

  Instead of being offended that he was bossing her around — which is how I would’ve handled it — she beamed. “Sure. We can make a list or something.”

  “Yeah.” His smile was soft as he squeezed her wrist, and then he reluctantly broke eye contact and started scanning the room. “What is this place?”

  “It’s a nursery,” I replied, trudging to the ancient crib resting against the far wall. It was white, as was all the bedding. It had probably been in pristine condition at one point. Now it was a dusty mess.

  “Why would someone close off a nursery like this?” Charlie asked. She was standing by a shelf and staring at the abandoned stuffed animals that littered it. They should’ve been happy items. Given how long they’d been locked away, they looked sad more than anything else. “It’s like whoever did this wanted to pretend a child was never here.”

  “I’m guessing that’s because there never was a child here,” I offered, tapping into my memory of a long-forgotten event. “I’m betting this was baby Arthur’s nursery.”

  Charlie turned away from the shelves and focused on me. “Arthur and Adele had a child?”

  “Actually, they didn’t.” I turned rueful. “You have to understand. This was ... well, I guess it would’ve been almost thirty years ago.

  “Arthur and Adele were basically the same age as Myron and me, which is why we so often got thrown together at the club,” I continued. “That continued for a long time because we never had children either.”

  Charlie shifted from one foot to the other and I could practically see the uncomfortable question haunting her eyes.

  “Before you ask, Myron and I talked about having children,” I explained. “I knew even back then that our marriage wouldn’t work, but that didn’t mean I was opposed to having children. Believe it or not, he would’ve made a good father.”

  “I can see that,” Jack confirmed. “He’s very good with Chris. He’s indulgent at times and you can tell he’s extremely fond of him. He’s also stern when he thinks he needs to be. He’s a good balance ... at least for Chris.”

  I smiled at the way he phrased it. “It was Myron’s love for Chris that saved our marriage for such a long time. Whenever I would convince myself I was done and try to walk away, I would see them together and it would pull me back.

  “Anyway, I’m drifting,” I continued, pulling myself from my reverie. “At a certain point, when Adele was in her late thirties, she turned up pregnant. They were much different from Myron and me. We decided we would’ve liked a child or two but couldn’t have them. That probably turned out to be a blessing.

  “Arthur and Adele, on the other hand, could find no medical reason for why they couldn’t get pregnant. There were no baby St. Clairs running around this big house. I heard things, of course. Adele wasn’t going to confide in me, but she did in others. They weren’t exactly trustworthy and spread her business all over town.”

  “She would’ve been better trusting you,” Charlie noted. “Even though you’re blunt and say whatever comes to your mind, you’re loyal.”

  “You’re definitely that,” Jack agreed. “Finish the story.”

  “I think you can guess where the story is going,” I replied. “In her late thirties, Adele actually turned up pregnant. It was a big deal and she was excited. Arthur was thrilled, too. He spent all his time strutting around the club as if he was the cock of the golf course. He kept talking about the son he was going to have and how he would grow up to be an important man. That was the happiest I’d ever seen the two of them.

  “They went all out, as you can see,” I continued, gesturing around the dusty nursery. “They found out it was going to be a boy and that only heightened their anticipation. They were happy right up until the end ... and then Adele went into labor.

  “Apparently the doctors knew there was something wrong from the start. They took her in for a C-section because the baby was under duress. They almost lost Adele during the procedure. They did lose the baby. He was essentially stillborn, although I don’t technically know if he meets all the criteria for that distinction. I do know that he never took a breath outside of his mother ... it was a tragedy.”

  Charlie made a wounded sound deep in her throat, and when I turned my eyes to her I found Jack standing at her side with his arm wrapped around her waist. Obviously she was more affected by the story than I anticipated.

  I opted to finish the tale, even though I wasn’t certain the details were important. “After it happened, Ade
le and Arthur grew more distant. He wanted to try for another child right away — that’s what he told anyone who would listen, because Adele wasn’t getting any younger — but she was broken-hearted and opted against it. I don’t think their marriage ever recovered from that bitter disappointment.”

  “It sounds like a terrible time for both of them,” Jack noted, his hand busy as he rubbed it up and down Charlie’s back. “That doesn’t explain why they tucked away this room. Also ... was this the best place for a nursery? It’s on the other side of the house from their bedroom.”

  “Adele’s bedroom,” Charlie corrected as she bent to dust off an antique rocking horse. “It’s clear Arthur doesn’t ever sleep in there.”

  I shifted my eyes to her, surprised. “What makes you say that?”

  “It’s all girly stuff. Silk robes hung all over the place, makeup strewn about ... and cold creams everywhere. No man would put up with that … at least very few that I know. After meeting Arthur, I’m positive he wouldn’t be one of the few exceptions.”

  Huh. I hadn’t put that together. I should have, but I was obviously running behind on this one. “So ... maybe Arthur was in the part of the house we saw this morning because that’s where his room is. Maybe they don’t want anyone to know that they’re not sharing a room.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Jack didn’t look convinced. “Mercedes said that Arthur has been sleeping at the club. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s the info that they’re sharing with the staff. There has to be a reason behind it.”

  “Do you think Bailey Rankin plays into it?” Charlie asked.

  “I think that’s a possibility. We should probably find her.”

  “We should,” I agreed, my fingers moving along the wooden railing of the crib so I could wipe away some of the dust. “I’m betting this wasn’t always the baby’s room. I’m sure they had a nursery elsewhere. After losing the baby, Arthur probably wanted the nursery items taken away at some point and Adele didn’t want to part with her dreams, so instead she moved everything in here so she could visit when she got the urge.”

  “I don’t think anyone has visited this room in a long time,” Jack argued. “This place has been tucked away and forgotten about.”

  “I don’t think it was forgotten as much as forced into the background.”

  “Whatever you say.” Jack tugged on Charlie’s hand and directed her toward the hallway. “As sad as this is, I don’t think it has anything to do with why we’re here. We need to focus on that.”

  “I know.” I flashed a smile that I was certain didn’t make it all the way to my eyes. “Seeing this room simply reminds me that Adele has been through a lot … even if she does cause some of her own problems. She didn’t create all the strife in her life. It’s not that I forgot about the baby as much as I just forgot to remember. Not everything that happened to her was of her own doing.”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say,” Jack said after a beat. “I still don’t like her. I feel sorry for her, but she’s a horrible woman.”

  “She’s definitely horrible,” I agreed, shaking my head. This wasn’t what we should focus on. “We should track down our suspects.”

  “Let’s start with the gardener,” Jack suggested. “I think he’ll be the easiest for us to rule out.”

  JIM BRADY WAS WORKING IN THE yard when Mercedes led us to him. He didn’t exactly look surprised as much as resigned to see us.

  “When I heard Mrs. St. Clair was hiring investigators to solve her ghost problem I figured you would eventually find your way to me.” He shook his head. “What can I do for you?”

  “We ran background checks,” I announced before Jack could respond. “We know you’re a thief.”

  “I stole a riding lawnmower from my last employer, got drunk and drove it all over the river walk,” Brady confirmed. “I paid a fine and did a couple weekends in the county jail for my trouble. Also, because I was drunk, I had to attend alcohol awareness classes, finish eighty hours of community service and take a special education class for those with impulse control issues.”

  I frowned. “All for driving a lawnmower while drunk?”

  He nodded. “I got spanked harder for that than actually stealing the lawnmower.”

  “Have you made amends with the individual you stole the lawnmower from?” Jack asked.

  “No. He won’t take the restitution checks I send. I’m not exactly sorry for what I did — he was always a world-class jerk — but I believe it’s my job to make restitution. Actions have consequences. He refuses to cash the checks. You’ll have to ask him about that.”

  Oddly enough, I believed him. To ensure I wasn’t on the wrong page, I looked to Jack for confirmation he felt the same way.

  “I guess that’s it,” Jack said, mustering a legitimate smile. “One thing: I read the arrest report. It said you weren’t wearing pants during your joyride. Is that true?”

  “It is. I’m lucky I didn’t get anything for the public indecency.”

  Jack snickered. “That’s kind of funny.”

  “It’s a colorful story I’ll always have to tell.”

  8

  Eight

  Aaron Slade was next on our list. The handyman was working on outdoor solar lights, Mercedes said, pointing vaguely to the yard.

  “I’ll do the talking with this one,” Jack announced as we crossed the massive lawn. “I don’t want to hear any arguing.”

  If he thought I was simply going to agree with that, he had another think coming. “Why do you get to ask the questions?”

  “I’m in charge.”

  I snorted. “I must’ve missed your promotion ceremony.”

  “I’m in charge when it comes to security,” he clarified, his eyes flashing. “This guy is dangerous. He’s a rapist.”

  “I think we should let Jack ask the questions on this one,” Charlie offered. She looked nervous, as if she expected us to start yelling at one another. “He understands people like this better than us.”

  Jack slowly slid his eyes to her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “That she’s worried you and I are going to start sniping at one another. Also, you’re the big, bad security guru and it’s your job to protect us helpless females.”

  Charlie balked. “That’s not what I was saying. It’s just ... he dug up the information. Plus, if this guy runs Jack’s going to be chasing him ... and beating him up. It’s not like I can offer anything with this many people hanging around.”

  “You offer enthusiasm,” Jack encouraged. “That’s the most important thing.”

  “Ugh.” I mimed throwing up. “I’m glad to see you’re back to being gross, but must it always be in front of me? Why am I the lucky one?”

  “You inserted yourself in our relationship from the start,” Jack replied without hesitation. “You’ve earned the special privilege.”

  His reaction made me laugh. “Oh, whatever. If you want to ask the questions, knock yourself out. I already don’t like this guy just from looking at him.”

  “And why is that?” Jack queried. “Other than the obvious, I mean.”

  “He’s wearing a beanie cap in the middle of beautiful weather. That’s always suspicious.”

  “Well, at least you have a reason.”

  SLADE WATCHED OUR APPROACH WITH narrow eyes. He was clearly on edge and didn’t offer a word of greeting when we finally closed the distance.

  “Mr. Slade, I’m Jack Hanson. We’re here working a problem for Mrs. St. Clair, and over the course of our investigation we found some troubling things regarding your background.”

  I had to hand it to him, he was blunt when he wanted to be.

  “You’re working a problem for Mrs. St. Clair?” Slade wore work gloves covered with dirt and the accumulated grime smeared across his face as he swiped at the sweat dripping from his brow. “What problem would that be?”

  “She’s concerned about some things that have been happening around the house
.”

  “Would you care to ... you know ... give me more information?” Slade’s tone was mocking. He was well built, his arms bulging with muscles, and after giving each of us a cursory look he focused all of his attention on Jack. He clearly wasn’t worried about Charlie and me.

  “I don’t know that we’re at liberty to say,” Jack replied smoothly. “Mrs. St. Clair didn’t give us clearance to spread her business around the household.”

  Slade let loose a snort of derision. “Oh, please. This entire house is one big gossip convention. Everyone knows everyone’s business.”

  “Would you care to be more specific?”

  “I don’t know that I’m at liberty to say.” Slade’s tone was dismissive. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”

  “I don’t believe we’re done yet.” Jack wasn’t the sort to back down and he wasn’t going to change his approach today. “We want to know what you do here.”

  “What I do?” Slade’s eyebrows hopped as he glanced around. “You’re looking at it. If something needs to be fixed around this house, I’m the one to fix it.”

  “But how did you get the job?” I blurted out, ignoring the dark look Jack shot in my direction. “With your background, you shouldn’t have been hired in the first place.”

  “My background?”

  “You’re a rapist.” I wasn’t ashamed to say it. I wasn’t particularly worried about him attacking me either. For one thing, Jack was here and he would never let this dirty fool put his hands on me. For another, Charlie was present and despite her fear she would use her magic if she thought it was our only option. And, lastly, I had a Taser in my purse and I wasn’t afraid to use it.

  “I believe we’re done talking,” Slade growled. He managed to maintain his temper, but just barely. I could feel the hatred rolling off him. “There’s nothing in my job description that says I have to talk to random people asking questions. How do I know you’re even supposed to be here?”

  “You can take that up with Adele,” I shot back. “If you don’t like us questioning you, that’s on her. She gave us a job to do and we’re going to do it.”