Part 22 (1/2)
”No, look, there's a house on the hill, lit up like a twenty-four-karat gold Christmas tree. The perfect castle for a greedy old goat.” I rubbed my arms against the chill the sight evoked. ”It's forbidding enough to house vampires.”
”Too much Buffy or too much Sookie?”
”Barnaby Collins on DVD, if you must know. And that's who McDowell reminds me of, minus the hair. I wonder when he stopped wearing the rug.”
”Sweetie here probably burned his rug.”
I looked in the back. ”I wouldn't put it past her.”
As we pulled up the drive toward the house, Lolique had not changed positions. ”I think rigor mortis has set in.”
”We'll have to help her to the door.”
”Yay. I want to see if I recognize anything inside from my vision, you know to match it with McDowell and his dead wife. Take off the old goat's sentimental old sweater first. I don't want him to claim it.”
”Right.”
Carved of cold gray stone, the Gothic, towered mansion overlooked a steep cliff-side drop to the Mystic River.
”Should we take her to the front door or the back?” Eve asked as we drove closer.
I looked in the backseat. ”Lolique?”
”You want a lap dance, honey?” She opened her eyes and looked surprised to see me.
”Uh, no, thanks. Where's the old goat's office? In the front or the back of the house?”
”Front.”
”Drive up to the front,” I told Eve.
She gave me a double take but said nothing and followed my directions.
It took both of us to get Lolique standing, more or less. ”Man, she can snore,” Eve said.
I hit the doorbell. ”You bet your French knickers she can.”
The councilman let us in. ”I've got her.” He took Lolique in his arms. ”Ms. Cutler?” he said, as if asking for an explanation.
”She invited us for drinks. She's doing a story on my new shop, and we partied a bit.”
”But she partied heartier than both of you?”
I shrugged. ”She ate the salty nuts. They made her thirsty.”
”How kind. Thank you for bringing her home.”
Eve and I got back into the car and Eve backed her Mini Cooper down the drive. It was so narrow I was glad I wasn't driving my new Element.
”Why didn't you turn around on the landing field up front?” I asked her.
”I wanted outta there. Fast.”
”Too bad. Turn the corner, back into the woods, and stop beneath that tree.”
”What?”
”I wanna look around a little bit.”
Eve hit the brakes and gave me a look of pure shock.
I took advantage of the moment, threw open my door, and ran.
”Madeira Cutler! You come back here.”
I turned to her, spotted a huge white owl watching me, and took his look for approving wisdom, so I crossed my lips toward Eve and turned to sprint through the woods. The underbrush was wild with bittersweet and Chinese Lanterns, which I might have appreciated at a different time.
It wasn't long before I heard Eve's door shut. She could run faster than me any day, but her Fendis should slow her down some. She was not used to running in heels. Still, she grabbed my arm sooner than I expected, and I screamed.
”What the h.e.l.l are you doing?” she snapped.
”Shush. I'm going to peek into a few windows to see if I recognize anything.”
”Like the room from your vision?”
”No. That didn't take place here. Aunt Fee said McDowell moved here from Groton after he lost his wife. I was hoping his office furniture might be the same, though.”
”You'd go to jail on a long shot? Besides, Councilman McDowell is hardly likely to have been in that vision.”
”Lolique said 'Saint Belle,' which could stand for 'Iso bel.' Her money referred to his first wife's money and his money referred to the councilman's. I need to look. If you don't want to come, go home. I'll walk.”
”If I go, I'll call Werner is what I'll do.”
”Go ahead. He might like a look around.”
”I'm not leaving you.”
”Well, duh. I knew that.”
She elbowed me.
We sneaked up beneath a lit window. Eve's teeth began to chatter, though she stopped them quickly enough. ”Deja vu all over again,” she said. ”Halloween at Fee's, except that we could get arrested for peeking in these windows, and we won't find a friendly witch staring back at us, either. Good thing you used the bathroom before we left the bar.”
”Brat. You're more afraid than I am and you didn't use the bathroom. This is the kitchen. Are we in the back or in the front of the house? We cut through the woods and I lost my bearings.”
”I think we're on the side. This way,” Eve said, so I followed, but she got turned around, too, because we ended up in the backyard.