Ghost Shadow

Heading out, he ran into Liam. His cousin started to speak, but David shook his head slightly and indicated the door.

Outside the station, Liam frowned handing David the files. “What was that all about?”

“I don’t care to talk in front of anyone else,” David told him.

“Why? If you’re on a hunt to solve a murder from the past, you’re going to need lots of help, and we’ll be questioning lots of people.”

“Liam, you’re the cop, yeah, and I’m grateful. I want to keep it low profile. No big announcements that we’re opening up the case again.”

“Okay…but actually reopening the case. Hell, you didn’t even tell me that you were thinking of doing this-didn’t warn me. I would have helped you talk to Pete. You’re a civilian. You know he couldn’t have given you any files.”

“Yeah, I know, which makes it good that you’re a cop-in the right division.”

Liam nodded and looked away. “I know you. You want to investigate on your own. It’s a wild-goose chase, and you’re worried about bringing in our cops. Why?”

“Because someone from this city killed Tanya, I’m sure of it. Cops down here, they all think that they know everyone, and they’ll be blinded to what they should be seeing. And I’m not sure that any of the members of the old-boy network will be happy to discover that I’m coming after one of their own.”

Katie walked down the stairs, trying to swallow down her disappointment.

She’d dreamed about owning the place for years. She’d been sad for a while after talking to Liam but now she was ready to go to battle again.

As she came down the stairs, she was surprised to smell coffee. The timer hadn’t been set to go off for another few minutes.

Bartholomew met her at the foot of the stairs. He looked grave, but as if he was trying not to smile, as well.

“I’m sorry, Katie. I heard you talking. And the bank is off-really, we both knew that it would be-and I’m sorry. But…”

“But what?”

“I did it!” he told her proudly. “I did it!”

“What did you do?”

“Can’t you smell it? Coffee! I-I-managed to push the button on the coffeemaker. Katie, I moved something. Something tangible.”

She wanted to be happy for him.

It was the start button on a coffeemaker!

But it was a start.

“That’s wonderful. Truly wonderful. And thank you. Coffee is excellent right now, and-”

“I think a good grog would have suited me better, but for you-yes, coffee. And it’s ready.”

She continued to congratulate him as she walked to the large kitchen in back. Once it had been a bedroom and the kitchen had been the apartment in back. But now, it was all a kitchen, and a very nice one, state-of-the-art. Her mother had loved to cook.

She caught her reflection in the back of one of the pans hanging from an old ship’s rack above the counter.

Ugh.

She was wearing an old Disney nightshirt tee and her abundant hair was in tangles all about her. Thank God Bartholomew never commented on her morning appearance.

“Next, we need to work on me stepping out for the newspaper,” he said somberly. “Give the neighbors a terrible fright!”

“Hey! And I was just thinking how kind you were, and how much of a gentleman you were proving to be-for a pirate.”

“Privateer!”

“Whatever,” Katie said sweetly.

She opened the front door, coffee cup in hand, and stepped outside. She saw the paper on the little patch of ground to her right and headed to it.

But as she stooped down to retrieve it, she saw a hand ahead of hers.

“Allow me.”

She looked up and stood quickly, staring at the man in her yard. The sudden bane of her existence.

David Beckett.

She stared at him, not sure if she was feeling ill, angry or simply surprised. He’d just ruined her life. Well, that was an exaggeration, but he had destroyed her future plans and the dream she’d harbored for years. And he was in her yard.

“Can I help you?” she said at last.

“Your paper,” he told her.

“Yes, I see that.”

“Don’t worry. I was just walking. I got in last night, and I’m seeing what hasn’t changed and what has. Your house is the same, exactly the same, as I remember it.”

“I’m so glad to give you something familiar, and happy to make you feel right at home,” she said flatly.

He grinned. By day, she was surprised to realize what a fine face he had. He had a look that was intense, as if the world around him was solemn. But when he smiled his grin broke the chiseled structure, and lightened his eyes. Without a smile, he was compelling-tall, well built, lithe, an outdoorsman with bronzed skin, honed muscles and the rugged appeal that went with it all. When he did pause to smile or laugh, there was an added dimension to him that was even more appealing; the man was sensual.

She wasn’t admiring him, she decided. He’d ruined her life, and he remembered her as a little kid. Sean’s much younger sister.

“I really wish you understood what I feel about the museum,” he said. “I’m not out to destroy anyone’s dream.”

“Well, you managed anyway,” she said. She remembered her apparel-and the fact that she looked like Simba on a very bad mane day.

They were both holding the newspaper. She tugged at it. “Thanks for my paper,” she said. He released it immediately.

Behind her, she felt Bartholomew. “Hey, he’s trying to be nice,” Bartholomew said.

She forced a rigid smile.

“You think you can talk him into seeing it all your way, remember?” Bartholomew asked. “Invite him in. I just made coffee!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped, not thinking.

David Beckett’s dark brown brows arched high. “Pardon?”

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” she murmured. She cleared her throat and looked around. It was going to be a beautiful day. Hot, but with a really nice breeze coming through. “I’ve just brewed a pot of coffee, if you’d like to come in.”

He hesitated.

“Seriously, you’re welcome to come in,” she said. “If you don’t mind helping yourself for a moment and letting me run up.”

“You’re going to try to convince me to sell the museum,” he said.

“Well, I won’t be able to if you’re really determined, right?”

“I was actually headed to the Starbucks at La Concha. Sure, I’d love a cup of coffee,” he told her.

“Then, please…” She indicated the steps.

She came in behind him but headed straight for the stairs. “Go ahead, help yourself. I’ll be right down.”

She showered, dressed and brushed her hair with the speed of light and came hurrying back down the stairs. Heading toward the kitchen, she stopped. David Beckett was sitting at the table in the breakfast nook, perusing the paper and sipping coffee.

Bartholomew was sitting across from him, one leg tossed casually over the other, his fingers laced around his knees as he observed David attentively.

David Beckett, of course, was oblivious to him.

“Thus far, he has perpetrated no evil deeds,” Bartholomew said, immediately aware of Katie’s presence and looking up at her.

She ignored him. She had gotten very good-most of the time-at ignoring his comments.

She poured herself a cup of coffee and came striding toward the table. Bartholomew instantly moved over to make room for her. She wasn’t sure what ghosts felt when the living-or inanimate objects-went through them, but Bartholomew wasn’t fond of being sat upon, she knew. A husky fellow at karaoke had sunk down upon his lap once, and Bartholomew’s face had screwed into such an expression of distaste that Katie had quickly lowered her head to hide a laugh.

“So.” She held her cup in both hands and sipped from it. “Lovely day.”

“The kind I remember,” he said.

“What are you doing while you’re here?” she asked him. “You did say you weren’t staying.”

He shrugged. “I don’t like to think of anything as permanent,” he told her. “I don’t have fixed plans at the moment. I’ll spend some time with Liam, and with my great-aunts. Alice and Esther. I believe you know them-everyone always seemed to, anyway.”

Katie nodded. “Of course. They don’t spend much time in town, though.”

“No, at the age of eighty, they still compete over their flowers. Oh, and they both enjoy volunteering at a few of the museums. But will you see them swigging down a pint or two at Sloppy Joe’s? Probably not!”

“The man does seem to have a dry, pleasant and even self-deprecating sense of humor,” Bartholomew commented.

Katie refused to glance his way.

“So, family time, eh?” she queried.

He nodded.

“And dismantling the museum?”

He set his cup down. “Actually, I will get to that. In a month or so.”

“Okay, so, immediately on your agenda? Are you planning on swilling down a few pints at Sloppy Joe’s?”

He laughed. “I may. But that’s not my main intent or purpose.”

“What is?” she asked.

“I want to find out who did kill Tanya,” he told her.

She frowned, so surprised that she just stared at him for long seconds. “I…I don’t see what you can discover now. It happened a decade ago. The police tried-very hard, I’m certain-to find her killer. It’s now ten years after the fact. How could you possibly find out something now that they couldn’t discover then. And why would the killer have hung around?”

“A random killer wasn’t going to bring Tanya’s corpse and leave it in our family museum,” David said.

“Perhaps it had nothing to do with it being your family’s museum. Maybe he had just seen the Elena/Carl Tanzler tableau and decided it was the right place to leave a corpse. God knows, maybe he even thought that the body wouldn’t be discovered.” ns class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">