Unquiet Spirits Page 10

  "I've been waiting for you for such a long time. You and your soul mate are the first ones to be able to see me in all these years."

  Bart found his voice. "Why is that?"

  "The strength of your love allows me to materialize," she replied. "And only you can return Raoul to me."

  "Raoul?" Kit broke in. "I don't know how we can find Raoul. No one has heard from him since he left."

  "I'll explain. But first, I must warn you of danger, Kit. Your troubles are based right here. I know you and Bart are looking at your business interests all over the world for the reason behind the attempts on your life. Don't be fooled because those vicious attacks took place far away from Spirit Lake. It all starts here. You must believe me. This is the deceptively calm center of the storm. The evil at the heart of the whirlwind flings destruction great distances."

  "Someone here is trying to kill her?" Bart exploded. "Who?"

  "How I hate rules! When I was alive, I specialized in breaking rules, but I can't do that now," Laila said, shaking her head sadly. "And the biggie right now, darling, is I can't give you specific information. Events must happen as they will.

  "But know this: my death was no accident and the same person murdered Raoul."

  "You're asking us to find the murderer?" Bart asked.

  "It's too late for revenge. Please find Raoul's body so that we can be together forever."

  "You were together in the library yesterday," Kit muttered.

  "Thank you both for that. Another rule that I have cursed is that Raoul and I can only make love in the presence of true and lasting love. There has been precious little lovemaking over the years, let me tell you!"

  "But we're not..." Kit and Bart began together.

  Laila raised her hand. "Don't waste your lives!" she commanded. "Raoul was the only man I ever loved and we spent most of our lives apart. What you have is precious. Be together."

  Try as she might, Kit could not shift her eyes from her mother's mesmerizing gaze. The sincerity and absolute conviction she saw in those shimmering light blue eyes shook her to the core. Was Laila right? Were she and Bart struggling to contain a love that was meant to be freely enjoyed?

  "Oh, heavens. I must run." Laila sounded as offhand and breezy as if she'd just been reminded of another social engagement. "I forgot the rule governing length of appearances. After all, this is my first."

  As Laila's body swiftly returned to mist, her vibrant essence paled along with it.

  "Please find Raoul." There was nothing offhand about her faint hollow voice as the plea faded on the wind.

  As Kit stared at the long, unbent grass of the slope where her mother's ghost had sat, an immense weight of sadness filled her. It was as if she had lost her mother a second time. Bart's grip tightened on her fingers. When she turned to look at him, he pulled her onto his lap and held her tight.

  She wrapped her arms around him and lay her head against his chest. His heart was beating as loudly as hers. She snuggled into his embrace and wished he would hold her forever. When she could breathe normally again, she loosened her grip and looked up at him.

  "She really was here, wasn't she?" Kit more stated than asked.

  "I can't deny it." Bart still sounded shaken but he was able to give her a crooked grin. "But your mama sure isn't a typical Halloween ghost." He winked. "Sweetie."

  Reluctantly, she scrambled off his lap and got to her feet. "If you only knew how I hated it when she called me that in front of my friends." She shrugged and said honestly, "It sounded pretty good today, though. For a few minutes, it was like having her back."

  Laila had packed so many disturbing ideas into those few minutes that Kit needed time to think about them.

  "Well, so much for our plans for a morning run and a swim," Bart said as they strolled across the sand to the beached canoe. He apparently didn't want to talk about Laila's revelations just yet either. "Do you want to have a swim when we get back or do you think we should return Elsa's car?"

  "I want to think about what Laila said about the murders before I talk to Elsa," she said.

  "We said we'd return the car. We don't have to stay and chat but I'd like to get that address book of your grandfather's. Ghostly insights aside, we need to find out more about Laila's pregnancy and what happened to the child."

  "I guess we have to." He was right. But her mind was still reeling. "Neither of us asked her about that."

  Laila had controlled the conversation, just as she had in life.

  Kit looked out at the lake. The sun was shining out of a blue sky and a light breeze rippled the surface of the lake.

  "The mist devils are all gone," she said. That was obvious.

  Bart shuddered. "Those mist devils really spooked me."

  "I always wondered if Spirit Lake was named after them."

  Bart waded into the water and held the canoe while Kit climbed into the bow seat. "No pictures this time. I get to steer."

  "You hate giving up control, don't you?"

  "Not true. Sometimes it's fun to let a woman take over." His irrepressible grin distracted her from her gloomy thoughts. She wished she could toss aside her inhibitions and find out how much fun they could have.

  That's what her mother's ghost was urging her to do.

  They were half way to shore before he spoke again. "If, as Laila the sexy ghost says, she and Raoul were murdered, they weren't together when it happened. Ruby said Raoul disappeared after Laila's funeral."

  "We need to find out more about the day Laila drowned," Kit said. "Probably Johanna is the one to ask. If she's willing to talk about it."

  When they entered the lobby, Betsy was at her usual place behind the reception desk working on the computer, but she hurried out to intercept them. "Isn't the silence lovely?" she said.

  Kit realized that for the first time the lodge was blessedly free of hammering and other construction noises. "It must be a relief for you," she said.

  Betsy hesitated, then asked, "Do you have time to talk for a few minutes this morning?"

  Surely she wasn't going to try to push her for a decision on the kiddie playland already. "I'm sorry, Betsy, but I'm meeting Johanna and I have a full day planned."

  Betsy's face fell and Kit regretted being so curt with her. But she'd had enough hard sell for a while.

  They found Johanna at a table in the bar having a midmorning cup of coffee and looking over a sheaf of invoices. She looked happier and much more relaxed than she had last evening. Settling Mike in had apparently been the right thing to do.

  Her brown eyes brightened when she saw them and she took off her reading glasses.

  "Just in time for coffee. I made some fresh and Paavo dropped off some cinnamon buns. They're still warm."

  They got their coffee and were enjoying their first bites of the delicious sticky buns when Kit simply couldn't wait any longer to think of a smooth way to ask. She blurted out, "No one ever told me what happened the day Laila drowned, Johanna. Do you remember much about it?"

  Johanna gave her a long look and carefully placed her cinnamon bun on her napkin before replying. "Oh, I doubt if I'll ever forget that day. The kitchen was in turmoil. Paavo had just fired his sous-chef for arriving drunk and was cursing and banging pots like a madman. Elsa was grumpier than usual because of the amount of attention Raoul had paid Laila in the bar the night before. Laila had taken a book and a lunch over to the island to get a bit of peace, I suspect.

  "I wasn't aware she was gone until sometime in the midafternoon when a fisherman pulled up to the dock towing Laila's canoe. Apparently, he'd found it floating down in the long bay. Elsa and Paavo and I rounded up everyone we could find and scoured the lake for her.

  "We found her blanket and book in a clearing on the far side of the island but no sign of Laila. Her body didn't surface until a few days later."

  "She went off alone?" Bart asked.

  "That's what Elsa told me. She was covering the reception desk and saw Laila leave. I didn't see her because
I was in the dining room most of that morning with a couple who were planning a big reception."

  "Strange that her things were still on the island if she was canoeing when she drowned," Kit said.

  "That's what I thought at the time," Johanna said. "Someone suggested she might have gone out to eat her lunch in the canoe to get away from a bee or ants or something. That was probably what happened."

  Kit could think of other possibilities. Perhaps someone had come by and enticed her out for a paddle. Or, for some reason, she had never reached the island at all. But who could have done that? Raoul loved her. Elsa had the obvious motive but, according to Johanna, she'd been on the reception desk that day.

  "Johanna," Betsy was standing in the doorway. "The computer technician is on the phone again. Do you want to talk to him or should I have him call again later?"

  "We've been playing telephone tag for days. I'd better get it."

  "Don't worry about us, Johanna," Bart said. "We should leave. We promised to return Elsa's car to her. Do you have anything you'd like us to take to her?"

  "Take some cinnamon buns," she said. "Oh, and Mike said to remind you about this afternoon--whatever he meant by that. He got a late start for his morning run but he should be back soon. He said if you need to talk to him, he'll be up in my suite making phone calls."

  "Tell him I'll be back for two o'clock."

  "And don't worry about us for meals today. We have lots of food at the cabin," Kit called after her. "While we're out, we may wander a bit."

  Betsy headed back to the reception desk. "Would you like me to call Elsa to tell her you're bringing the car?"

  "Good idea, Betsy. She could be resting," Kit said.

  As they headed out the door, Kit suggested that after they delivered the car, they go to Ruby's for lunch. Bart agreed as long as they were back in time to meet the man who was to install the security devices.

  Elsa's garage was near the road and she'd left the doors open for them. Kit waved at Bart as he drove her car inside.

  Elsa's log house was set a long way back from the road, down a well-kept gravel driveway. From the number of flowerbeds, it was obvious Elsa was a gardener. A thick row of peonies--some white, some red, all of them covered with big heavy blooms--ran the whole length of the driveway. On either side of the front steps were crowded beds of brilliant red impatiens.

  Elsa was leaning over the railing of the front stoop, shouting at a tall thin redheaded man who was standing on the lawn a few feet away holding the leash of a large German Shepherd pup. She was furious.

  "And I'll have the animal control people pick up that mongrel if you don't keep him tied up. Don't think I won't," she spat out as Kit pulled up by the front steps.

  "Now, Elsa," the man said. His face was as red as his hair with the effort to hold onto his temper. "Blitzie is just a pup. You have to make some allowances for that."

  "Don't 'Now Elsa me,' Tomas. I won't put up with any animal that digs up my flowerbeds. I've warned you once before. Keep him tied or lose him."

  "Dammit, Elsa," he exploded. "We're out in the country. A pup should be able to stretch his legs."

  "And a woman should be able to have a flower garden," she shouted back at him. "Take your mutt and get off my property before I have you arrested for trespassing."

  He glared at her for a minute, then tightened his hold on the pup's leash. Before he turned and stalked off, he bit out, "One of these days you're going to push someone too far, Elsa. And I hope I'm there to see it."

  Elsa was still breathing heavily when Bart returned from parking Elsa's sedan. She finally seemed to become aware of Kit getting out of the car and Bart approaching on foot but she didn't acknowledge their presence. Instead, she dashed inside, only to pop back out again before they were halfway up the stairs. She was clutching a large cardboard file folder tied with a string in front of her.

  She seemed to have enough energy today to be quarrelsome but her face was still pasty white, almost gray. She was bundled up in baggy brown corduroy pants, a white turtleneck and a heavy brown cardigan.

  "Here," she said, thrusting the file at Kit before she reached the top step. "Johanna said you wanted to look at this."

  It was obvious from the way she had positioned herself squarely between them and the door that she did not intend to let them inside.

  "How are you feeling today, Aunt Elsa?" Kit accepted the file and stood awkwardly holding the file in one hand and the box of buns in the other. She took one more step.

  "About the same," Elsa snapped, not backing up an inch. Her blue eyes were icy.

  Kit waited for her to say something more. Her cold silence was becoming uncomfortable.

  "I was hoping to talk to you a little about my mother," Kit said. "And her life when she was young."

  Elsa gripped the railing of the little stoop and laughed. At least, Kit assumed the decidedly unpleasant rasp was intended to be a laugh. "You really don't want to hear my version of life with darling Laila."

  "But I do," Kit said, taken a little aback by her vehemence. "I know Laila was far from perfect. But I never met my grandfather and wonder about him. And I hoped we could talk about the kind of child Laila was. And why she left Spirit Lake so young."

  Elsa tottered and started to fall back toward the house. Bart leapt up the last couple of steps and caught her.

  "Open the door, Kit," he said.

  "I didn't invite you into my house," Elsa muttered as Bart picked her up and carried her inside. Kit followed. She hovered uncertainly near the door, looking around the large cozy room for a place to deposit the box of cinnamon buns.

  "We'll leave as soon as we can get someone to stay with you," Bart said firmly as he placed Elsa in the easy chair nearest the door.

  "Joel is coming over," she said with a triumphant smirk.

  "We'll wait."

  "I don't understand, Aunt Elsa. What do you have against me?" Kit was truly shocked at her reception.

  "I'll be glad to tell you that much," Elsa bit out. "You're the spoiled daughter of a spoiled mother. Laila stole my life."

  "How could she do that? She left home when she was seventeen."

  "She stole him from me. Twice!"

  Elsa snapped her mouth shut and closed her eyes. Apparently she had said all she was going to.

  Kit looked helplessly at Bart who looked equally lost about what they should do next. They couldn't leave the sick old woman alone, no matter what she said she wanted.

  The sound of a car door slamming came as a relief. Joel rushed into the room and headed straight for Elsa.

  "Are you all right, Elsa?" he asked.

  "I'm fine, dear," she replied with a sweet smile. Was this the same woman? "It was nice of Kit and Bart to drop by but I'm a little tired."

  Joel turned to them.

  "Hello again," he said, flashing his vendor's smile. "Elsa tires very easily these days."

  "We were waiting for you to arrive before we left," Bart said.

  At this awkward point, Kit was glad to have the cinnamon buns. "Paavo dropped these off at the lodge and Johanna thought Elsa might enjoy one," she said as she handed the container to him.

  "If she doesn't, I sure will." Joel accepted it with a genuine grin. "I'll see you to your car."

  Elsa had retreated behind her eyelids again, sparing them from having to say any good-byes.

  "I'm afraid Elsa is in a rotten frame of mind these days," Joel said. "Was she terribly rude?"

  "Well, she did tell us to get out in no uncertain terms," Bart told him crisply.

  "Aunt Elsa is my only living relative and for some reason she won't even talk to me." Kit tried not to sound as hurt as she felt. "She seemed happy to see you, though, Joel. I couldn't believe the change in her attitude when you walked in."

  "I'm sorry she hurt you." Joel sounded as if he meant it. "I have no idea why she's taken such a scunner to you. She's always been exceptionally kind and generous to us.

  "You wouldn't know but Be
tsy lost her mother to cancer a couple of months before we came up here and Elsa kind of adopted us," he said. "Betsy is very fond of her. She can hardly stand the thought of losing a second mother the same way. Did she tell you she's moving in here to look after her?"

  "I didn't know." Kit wondered if Elsa was hurt because her only niece hadn't offered to be with her.

  "Elsa is much weaker this morning than she seemed last night," Bart commented.

  "Yesterday was one of her better days. She's not in good shape today."

  "Tell Betsy I'll gladly hire private care nurses to help her out," Kit said.

  "I will." Joel looked surprised at the offer. "I'd better get back inside. I told Betsy I'd stay around until she got off work."

  Back in the SUV, Bart asked, "Where to? The cabin for a sandwich and a little privacy, or Ruby's?"

  "Ruby's."

  They'd have to talk about the morning's encounters but right now she couldn't handle another emotional scene. She was still stunned by Elsa's open hostility. Coming on the heels of Laila's revelations about murder and upsetting talk of soul mates, the unpleasant scene with Elsa was the last straw.

  It was too bad she didn't have the right personality to adopt Scarlett O'Hara's philosophy. She wished she could act now and "think about it tomorrow." She'd have to sort out all those tangled emotions sooner than that.

  In a few minutes, maybe she'd get Ruby talking about Laila and Raoul when they were young. Some more background might help them with the mission the ghosts had pressed on them.

  * * *

  On the drive home after lunch, Bart gave himself a mental pat on the back. His years of diplomatic undercover work had come in handy. He'd participated in conversations with Mike and with Ruby pretty well for a man whose brain was totally occupied elsewhere. He had considered, then agreed with Mike's suggestions for installing cameras around the property and motion sensors around various doors and windows. He'd listened while Kit questioned Ruby about Elsa's relationship with Raoul when they were younger.

  "I swear it was all in her mind," Ruby said. "Poor Elsa was in Raoul's grade in school and followed him around for years. He never paid a bit of attention to her. He had a lot of girlfriends, but none after he started seeing Laila.