Fixing To Die

“Nancy Drew is a girl detective,” An’gel said. “She’s been around since 1930, I think, and still solving mysteries. In books, of course, but there were also movies and a television series.”

“Okay,” Benjy said. “That Nancy Drew I’ve heard about. I used to read the Hardy Boys when I was a kid.”

“We read Nancy Drew when we were kids,” An’gel said. “Many decades ago. At the time there really was no girl like her in the books we read.”

“Nancy was fearless. She would go anywhere, do anything, to help people in trouble,” Dickce said. “Adults listened to her and respected her, and she solved crimes that the police couldn’t crack. She was strong and independent.”

“That’s why several generations of women admire her and remember the books so fondly,” An’gel said. “Especially back in the times when Dickce and I were really young. Girls weren’t allowed to behave like that, to do such things on their own.”

Benjy nodded. “I get it. She was a great role model is what you’re saying.”

“Yes,” Dickce replied. “Now that you’ve got that, An’gel can explain about the secret door obsession.”

An’gel frowned at her sister. “It’s not an obsession, so don’t use that word.” She turned to look at Benjy. “The second book in the series is called The Hidden Staircase, and in it Nancy is helping two sisters who live in an old Civil War–era mansion. Odd things are happening, and they’re frightened. It was a particular favorite of both of us.”

“And here we are in an old house that might have a hidden staircase,” Benjy said. “You want to be like Nancy Drew in your favorite book.”

An’gel could tell he was trying hard to suppress a grin. She couldn’t blame him because in her heart she knew that he was exactly right. She hadn’t allowed herself to realize the truth before, and now that she had, she could see that she had allowed wishful thinking to cloud her judgment.

“That’s basically it,” An’gel said.

“To be completely fair, though,” Dickce said with a quick sideways glance at An’gel, “in the book the villain was making use of secret passageways and hiding places to play tricks on the sisters. When Mary Turner asked us for help and told us what was going on, I think we both leapt to the same conclusion.”

“That whoever is behind the tricks going on here at Cliffwood is making use of similar passageways and hiding places to haunt the house,” An’gel said.

“I can see why you might think that,” Benjy said. “And it would be so awesome if we did find a hidden staircase.”

“My plan was for us to go over the bathroom wall carefully to see if we could find a movable panel or anything that would allow a person to get into the French room. It wouldn’t have to be the size of a whole door,” An’gel said. “Just big enough for a person to crawl through without getting stuck.”

“We can still look for it,” Benjy said.

An’gel shook her head. “Now that I’ve faced up to reality, I see it isn’t likely. You were right when you talked about the killer getting in through either the door or the window. That had to be the way, if he or she had to have access to Nathan Gamble in order to kill him.”

“We don’t know anything about how he spent his evening, do we?” Dickce said. “Whether he went anywhere, ate dinner out, brought food back with him. I don’t think Marcelline would have given him dinner, do you?”

“No, I wouldn’t think so,” An’gel said. “She didn’t care for him any more than she cares for Serenity, because he kept pestering Mary Turner about the contents of that room.”

“I wonder if anyone saw him last night before he went into that room for the last time,” Benjy said.

“Henry Howard wouldn’t have,” Dickce said. “He left in the afternoon and didn’t come back until late. So that leaves everyone else except the three of us.”

“I know that Truss Wilbanks saw him, remember?” An’gel said.

“Right, that was embarrassing, wasn’t it?” Dickce shook her head.

“Yes, it was.” An’gel didn’t care to remember the incident in detail. “I’m sure Mary Turner and Marcelline would be happy to answer questions regarding the period of time we’re talking about. Alesha Jackson, maybe. I can’t see Serenity Foster being accommodating, though, can you?”

Dickce shook her head. “No, but we could always try.”

“And then there’s Mr. Wilbanks,” Benjy said. “I could try talking to him. I’m a lot less intimidating than you are, Miss An’gel.” He gave her a cheeky grin and a wink.

An’gel was too amused to take offense. Also too self-aware. She understood how she came across to many people. She could be intimidating, but mostly when she knew she had to be in order to get a point across or to get a difficult situation resolved.

She looked at Dickce. “What do you think?”

“About you being intimidating?” Dickce laughed. “Of course you are. But you probably meant about Benjy talking to Truss Wilbanks. I think that would be fine.”