Unquiet Spirits Read online

  The village of Spirit Lake consisted of about a dozen buildings at the intersection of Highway 60 and Spirit Lake Road. The largest of these was Mike's General Store. One of the first houses they came to was the old log house Kit recognized as the one Elsa had moved from the sawmill property.

  She pointed it out to Bart. "Maybe Elsa will be back from town by the time we've had our lunch and we can have a talk with her," she suggested.

  She braked suddenly when she saw a small neat sign that said merely "Ruby's." She wheeled in and parked the truck with a dozen or so other cars in a good-sized lot beside the nondescript, white clapboard building. The restaurant they stepped into was surprisingly crowded. There were some seats at the counter where a large, gray-haired man wearing a chef's hat was manning the grill, and one vacant table for two in the center of the room. The booths around the edges all appeared to be occupied.

  A wiry, middle-aged woman in a navy blue waitress uniform turned from the table she was serving to call out, "Just sit anywhere you can find a seat. I'll be right with you."

  Then she straightened and stared at Kit. "Mon Dieu!" she gasped. She plunked the plate she was carrying down in front of her customer and hurried over to them. "For a moment, I thought you were Laila. You look so much like her. If you can wait at the counter for a few minutes, I will have a booth for you. And I'll have time to talk."

  The moment the dark-eyed woman opened her mouth, Kit recognized her. "Bart, this is Ruby," she said. "Of course, we'll wait."

  Then a familiar voice called out from a booth on the far side of the room, "Kit. Bart. Why don't you join me?"

  Mike Martin smiled and waved.

  "Gladly," Bart said as they slid into the booth. "Nice surprise to find you here."

  "Not much of a surprise," Mike said with a laugh. "I have lunch here every day. You've got to try the fish. Fresh caught pickerel. I guess you call it walleye. Best flavor in the world."

  They agreed to try it.

  "You want a beer or wine with it?"

  When they said they wanted only water and coffee afterward, Mike, using some kind of sign language known only to him and Ruby, signaled their order. "I've had my lunch, just about to have coffee," he said. "Then I'll get out of your hair."

  A dark-haired teenaged boy appeared with Mike's coffee and their ice water.

  "Thanks, Raoul," Mike said.

  "Raoul." The name rang a bell. "Is he related to Ruby?" Kit asked. "It seems to me Raoul Dupré, who introduced me and my mother to Ruby's burgers, was a cousin of hers."

  "Well, this Raoul is Ruby's son." Mike put down his coffee cup. "You said last night, Bart, that you wanted to discuss something with me. I have a few minutes now."

  "Frankly, we could use your help," Bart said. "You know Kit was hit by a car back in December. What you probably don't know is it was an intentional hit-and-run."

  "Johanna didn't tell me that." Mike's lined face was full of concern.

  "I didn't see any point in worrying her," Kit said.

  "Did they catch the driver?"

  "They don't even have a lead," Bart said. "Worse than that, he made another try to kill her Thursday night. Took a couple of shots at her through a car window as she was arriving at the hotel."

  "You're sure it wasn't some kind of crazy drive-by shooting?"

  "I don't dare assume that," Bart said. "I don't believe in coincidences. And he was right on target. Kit stumbled and the bullet grazed the doorman as he caught her."

  "You may be right but you have to admit it would be pretty hard for anyone to know the exact moment Kit would be arriving." Mike's police instincts had kicked in.

  "Not if he knew which show I was seeing and exactly when it was over." Kit found herself backing up Bart's argument.

  "What do you want me to do?"

  "Keep your eyes open for anything or anybody unusual. Running the general store, you'd know all the locals and most of the regular summer people. There won't be a lot of strangers arriving because the lodge won't be open for another month."

  "A few of the college students who've signed up for summer help are expected to trickle in late next week to do some clean-up and painting in the cabins," Kit added. "I wonder how many students Johanna usually hires."

  "That should be easy to find out. And, of course, I'll keep an eye out for strangers. Are you going to want some local security people? I know a few reliable ex-Mounties who live in the area," Mike suggested.

  "Do you really think that's necessary?" Kit willed Bart to say she was perfectly safe in his care. His exasperated glare told her he wouldn't. "Give me time to tell Johanna about the shooting myself before you talk to her about setting up security measures."

  "You'll tell her today?" She nodded her agreement. "Then I'll talk to some men about forming a security force after I get back to the store." Mike looked at his watch. "I'd better get back and relieve my assistant for what looks like a very late lunch break.

  "Johanna's not going to be thrilled," he warned as he slid out of the booth. Then he grinned. "I'll try to make her think it's her idea."

  The pickerel arrived as delicious and flaky as Mike had promised.

  Bart ate both his portions and was eyeing Kit's second one when Ruby slid into the booth across from them.

  "Raoul," she called. "Bring more pickerel for--"

  "Bart Thornton." Bart stood up as far as the booth would allow.

  "--Bart," Ruby finished. "Would you like coffee now or with your rhubarb pie?"

  "With the pie," Kit said.

  Ruby nodded her approval of the decision, then openly ogled Bart for a moment. "Well, Kit, you seem to have as good taste in men as your mother did." She delivered her verdict with a broad grin and tucked a strand of salt and pepper hair that had come loose back into the large knot at the back of her head.

  "Every bit as good, if not as varied," Kit returned the grin.

  "Ah, but I think Laila had finally met her match in Raoul. And you two have that same look." She looked pointedly at Kit's left hand.

  "Oh no," Kit protested. "Bart and I aren't ... Are you telling me that Laila and Raoul were involved? But he was engaged to Elsa."

  Suddenly, it all clicked into place. How could she have been unaware of what was happening right in front of her? From the moment she and Laila had arrived, Raoul had ignored Elsa. And Laila came alive and sparkled as she only did when she was ensnaring a new man. Was Ruby right? Had Laila actually fallen in love with Raoul?

  Ruby sighed heavily. "He never looked at any other woman the way he looked at Laila. A lot of women fell for him, but ever since they were kids, he measured them all against Laila. None of them ever matched up."

  "I had such a crush on him when I was fourteen."

  "Hey! I thought I was the one you were panting about!" Bart said.

  "You weren't crush material. You and Bret were my best buddies. Raoul was a charming full-grown adult who paid attention to me."

  "Time for that pie?" Ruby asked.

  Bart was looking at the menu printed on the paper placemat. "Make mine blueberry," he said.

  Ruby signaled to her son who brought coffee and removed their plates.

  "I'd love to see Raoul again," Kit said.

  Ruby gave another massive sigh. "So would I, chère, but no one has seen him since Laila's funeral. He left Elsa a note saying he was heading down below."

  Bart raised an eyebrow. "Down below?"

  "Anywhere south of here. From here, usually Toronto," Ruby explained. "Sometimes the States. We figured he thought he'd make his name as an entertainer down there eventually. But we never heard a word about him. It was as if he dropped off the face of the earth."

  Kit suspected Raoul Dupré had done just that. The lusty, good-humored laughter of the ghost in the library could well have been his.

  "Just took his duffel and his guitar and left. He didn't even come back for Pitou. I guess he assumed I'd look after him. Pitou, at least, left a lot of offspring around here."


  The jingling of bells attached to the front door signaled the arrival of four new customers. Ruby sighed and slid out of the booth. "But that was a long time ago. Next time you come in we'll talk about happier things. Like your plans for the lodge. Mike tells me the renovations look great. Enjoy your dessert, now."

  * * *

  The sight that confronted them when they arrived at the lodge dashed all thoughts of cornering her grandmother about the ghosts from Kit's mind. Johanna and Betsy were deep in conversation and Johanna looked as if she'd been crying.

  "Elsa didn't want you to know about this last series of tests until she had the results," Betsy was saying.

  Johanna turned to Kit. "I insisted on taking Elsa to the doctor today. That's when I discovered her trips with Betsy to town for 'therapy' were really for another series of blood tests. I talked to Doctor Evans myself. The cancer has spread. He and the specialist don't think Elsa should be put through any more procedures. It seems all we can do is keep her as comfortable as possible."

  "Maybe we can try other specialists," Kit suggested.

  Bart could not help but think of this news in relation to the attacks on Kit. From what Bret had told him, Elsa, Kit's last living blood relative, was slated to inherit half of Kit's share of the lodge and a significant amount of money. That could have been temptation enough but now it didn't make any sense for her to be behind the attacks. At the time they occurred, Elsa had known she probably didn't have much longer to live. He'd have to get Bret to shift his focus more into the workings of the foundation.

  "Let's talk about something else," Johanna said. "Tell me about your day. Did you get over to the sawmill?"

  "I sure did. I think you've got something there so long as we keep it simple and oriented to little kids. No big loud rides or roller coasters to spoil the peace of the lodge."

  Betsy looked surprised and pleased after Kit's discouraging reaction earlier. She produced a detailed plan that included all the buildings and the landscaping of the playground area. For the next couple of hours, they talked about the pros and cons of Betsy's sketch.

  "All right. If we are going to begin construction this summer, the first thing to do is get someone in to demolish the old mill building."

  "Elsa has objected to that for months," Johanna stated. "I'd hate to cross her right now."

  Betsy sighed and began to gather up her papers. "Speaking of Elsa, I told her I'd drop by on my way home. Joel is off at another golf tournament. Just a one-day event this time. So you don't have to be concerned about her eating. I'll see that she gets something down."

  "Maybe you can convince her that we'll be building a happy place, not tearing down memories," Kit said.

  "I'll try. But she seems determined to keep the old mill standing as long as she does. See you in the morning and we'll make some decisions about contractors and schedules."

  "Tell you what. If I can raid the lodge freezers for some steaks," Bart suggested, "I'll fire up the gas grill outside the cabin and fix you ladies a feast the likes of which you have never tasted."

  "He means we can make a salad and he will grill the meat," Kit said.

  "Well, that's a feast to me." Bart licked his lips. "You're talking to a man who spent the winter in France, gourmet capital of the world, dying for a properly cooked, thick, grilled piece of tender beef!"

  Johanna pointed out the appropriate chest freezer and they left him digging happily in well-marked frozen meat packages.

  * * *

  The sun was still fairly high in the sky as Kit and Johanna strolled along the path above the beach toward Kit's cabin. Kit pointed to the larger of the two islands in the middle of Spirit Lake. "I always thought it would be fun to have a cabin on that island."

  "Raoul was going to build there at one time."

  "Laila was going to sell the island to him?" That surprised her. Laila had been possessive of every square inch of land at Spirit Lake.

  "I don't know what the arrangement was." Johanna paused as if she wasn't sure how to go on. "He and Laila spent a lot of time checking out its possibilities during her visits that last summer."

  "But he was engaged to Elsa, wasn't he?"

  Johanna shrugged. "Officially."

  "I guess there was a lot I didn't know about my mother. Ruby told me that Laila and Raoul hadn't seen each other since their teenage romance broke up. I was at camp when she died and didn't know she'd been spending time up here."

  "It was a miserable time for poor Elsa. From the moment Laila arrived for Jacob's funeral, Raoul had eyes for no one else. Then after her body was found the next summer, he left and never returned. He didn't even tell Elsa he was leaving. Just left her a note saying he was sorry to wreck all Elsa's plans for the big day but he had to leave right away for an appointment with a really big promoter."

  They walked along in silence for a while. When they reached the deck of Kit's cabin, they sat on the wooden lawn chairs and stared out at the lake.

  Suddenly as if it were yesterday, she remembered her first visit to the island. Handsome, laughing Raoul helped her and then Laila out of a canoe into the shallow waters off the island's little beach. Then, after swiftly scooting the craft onto the beach, he grabbed their hands and tugged them laughing along with him, as they splashed through the warm water toward the sand.

  "Tell me, Minou," he'd asked. As always there was laughter in his flashing dark eyes. "Where shall we build our cabin? In a clearing up in the trees or down here on the beach?"

  "Minou?" Kit had said, hoping to divert attention from the blushes he always could provoke. "Why do you call me that?"

  "It's a good French name for a cuddly little kitten."

  His laugh echoed in her memory. Raoul had been such a charming tease and he had loved this part of the country so much. She wondered why he'd never returned. An icy shiver slid up her spine. Or if he had ever left.

  She broke the silence. "I hear a couple of guests had interesting encounters with ghosts in the lodge last fall."

  "Foolishness." Johanna's comment lacked conviction.

  "Bart and I heard them in the library this morning," Kit stated firmly.

  "Them? There's only one." Johanna snapped around to face her. "I mean, we've had only one reported."

  "There were two. They were making love," Kit insisted quietly. "The male voice called out Laila's name. Haven't you ever heard them, Johanna? Your apartment shares an elevator with the tower."

  "Oh, my little Kat." Johanna gave a resigned sigh. "He called her name? But Laila isn't still wandering. She was laid to rest."

  "Last night, I saw the two of them walking on the beach, Johanna. I couldn't see their faces, only silhouettes against the moonlit water. But Laila gave me her silly wave."

  "What on earth is going on here, Kat? I used to laugh at people who were superstitious, but over the years I've had to admit there's much in this world that can't be explained. And this makes me very uneasy. If Laila's back, she wants something."

  Kit had to admit her grandmother was right about that. The living Laila had been delightful, but always self-centered and demanding. Her ghost probably wouldn't be different.

  "They're both back."

  "It's Laila's return that disturbs me. That's new. I've sensed Raoul's presence a number of times over the years. Mostly, late at night when the bar is closed. I've heard him stepdancing on the stage. Sometimes a few phrases of a song. One time though, I was feeling particularly lonely and went up to read in the cupola. That time I heard him singing Jacob's favorite hymn. It made me feel better."

  Kit was so involved in what Johanna was saying that she didn't notice Bart's arrival until he spoke.

  "Voila, the raw material for a gourmet masterpiece!" he announced, holding up the brown-paper-wrapped steaks and a dark bottle. "A nice Beaujolais to complete the feast."

  Their serious faces made him do a quick visual sweep around. He should never have left Kit alone, even to walk back to the cabin.

  "What's wrong? Did s
omething happen?"

  "We're fine," Kit assured him. "Johanna was telling me a little about our ghosts."

  "Do you mind repeating it for me?" Bart said as he sat down with them.

  Johanna told him about being aware of Raoul's spirit for years.

  "Has Paavo heard him? His kitchen is right next door."

  "Not that he's mentioned."

  "Sounds as if Raoul never did leave Spirit Lake. Did anyone ever instigate a formal search for him after he supposedly took off?" he asked.

  "I don't think so. It was a dreadful time. Elsa was beyond doing anything. She had just lost her sister. The fact she was angry at Laila for stealing her fiancé made it even more difficult for her. Add to that the embarrassment about being jilted. Most of us tried not to mention Raoul at all, much less try to find him. His friends and relatives knew how broken up he was about Laila's death and assumed he needed to get away from everything that reminded him of her."

  "He must have left," Kit said. "According to Ruby, he packed and took his guitar with him."

  "Someone packed," Bart countered.

  "I doubt if we'll ever know what happened to him," Johanna said. "Unless that's the point of these appearances that started up all of a sudden."

  "When did Raoul's ghost start making scenes for outsiders?" Bart asked.

  "Right before we got into renovating the public rooms. Early December, I guess. At least, that's when the two incidents in the tower suite were reported. I wonder now if there were others which no one mentioned. Now that I think of it, several couples did leave before their planned departure times."

  "Somehow we have to find a way to send the ghosts on to wherever they belong. Apparently neither Raoul nor Laila is at peace. And let's try to be practical here. If Raoul carries on with his pranks, there'll be no point in planning a kiddieland or the maple business," Kit said, trying to get her mind working on some kind of normal, logical track.

  "That's true enough. Ghosts aren't exactly a drawing card for a family resort," Johanna agreed.

  "You were going to tell Johanna about the attacks, Kit," Bart reminded her.

  "You mean the car that hit you?" Johanna asked. "Are you saying that was intentional?"