 XI. Tafrac 8:00 PM The after dinner mints that Mary had placed out on a table in the living room were rapidly disappearing. No one noticed until Larrington put his hand into the bowl and found nothing. He grumbled, cursing under his breath. “Who took all the mints?” Most of the guests stared at him blankly. Amanda remained under the table chewing. Diana fidgeted and ran a hand over her graying hair. “I want to get out of here now.” “You know the police don’t want us leaving this town,” said Xanthia. The astrologer paced in front of the fireplace like an agitated lion. “I knew that this was going to happen. Ira just didn’t want to listen to my advice.” She suddenly stopped to glare at her cousin. “Just like you, you know.” “I knew she was going to say that,” declared Larrington. “I’d say that Ira finally came to her senses,” retorted Diana. Vicker stopped discretely fondling his young wife (although it wasn’t so discrete since everyone noticed where his hands were the entire time). “Why don’t we play a rousing game of chess?” “You play chess?” said the Baron. “Don’t suppose you’re one of the mysterious players of the set in the den?” “Certainly not. It’s ungentlemanly to play in the dark that way.” “Give it up, dear,” said Tabora. “No one’s going to admit to playing the game.” Mary arrived in the living room just as Tabora commented, wiping her hands on her apron. “Speaking of games, there’s a Chinese checkers set stored in one of the cabinets. We could play that. There’s twelve of us and there’s room for six players. We could divide up into teams of two.” “That sounds fun,” said Hadrian. Esther yawned and leaned over. She was wearing another of her neck-plunging outfits. “Chinese checkers is so passé. Since Ira employed an astrologer, I’m sure she has a ouija board. Maybe we can commune with the illustrious Phineas Cronan.” “What a ridiculous idea,” snapped Xanthia. “And don’t trivialize my profession. I actually had to go to school to learn about astrology. Ouija boards are for amateurs.” Diana gave a small smile. “She didn’t mention that all her knowledge about astrology stemmed from taking online courses at the Psychic University.” “Diana!” “You know,” said Reine, “if we really did contact Phineas Cronan, I have a feeling that the old ghost would only be asking what the women were wearing underneath their clothes.” “Dirty ghost,” sniffed Diana. “That sounds endearing,” countered Esther. Reine looked up at the ceiling silently asking for patience. “Actually, I’d find that annoying. Who wants some dirty old man looking up their skirt?” “Ira doesn’t have a ouija board,” said Mary. “But besides Chinese checkers, she has checkers, dominoes, and cards.” “We could play a card game,” suggested Vicker. “Esther and I will be a team.” Everyone seconded his suggestion except Palwick who sat at the end, frowning. “We should be worrying about Ira. Not playing card games.” “Worrying is unproductive,” Tabora informed him. “The police are already working on the case. We can’t do anything about it, unless you happen to know where she went.” Tuesday leaped from Reine’s lap to her shoulder to get a better vantage point to see what the humans were doing. Mary had gone over to one of the cabinets in the room to remove a pack of cards. She handed it to Hadrian who quickly opened the box and flipped through the cards. “One of them is missing,” he said, slapping the deck back on the table. Marcus grabbed the deck. “You must have miscounted.” But when he went through the deck, he shook his head. “Never mind. You’re right. There is one missing. There’s no two of spades.” “Well, Ira has three more decks,” said Mary. “The card for that deck must be stuck between the cushions or something when it was last played.” But when Marcus and Hadrian looked through the rest of the decks, they were also missing one card. Specifically the decks were missing the two of spades. “That’s too much of a coincidence,” growled Larrington. “Who the hell would want to steal the two of spades? I would understand the ace of spades, but the two of spades? Someone here is off his rocker.” “Who said it was anyone here?” said Vicker. “This could be the prank of one of Ira’s past house guests.” “Well, how would you explain that chess set in the den?” “Ghosts,” said Mary. “I refuse to believe that ghosts are popping in and out of here to mess with our minds,” said Reine. “I think it’s just lack of sleep.” “I’ve been getting plenty of sleep lately,” said Tabora. “God, I need a mint.” Hadrian reached into the mint bowl. “Damn. Where are they?” He looked underneath the table and found Amanda munching on the last crumbs. “Bad dog!” Amanda barked. “There are more in the kitchen,” said Mary. “I’ll go get some.” “You usually need a smoke,” remarked Reine. “It’s too dark to go outside to smoke. So, since the ghosts are playing chess, Ira doesn’t have a ouija board, and all the card decks seem to be missing cards, and no one’s keen on playing Chinese checkers for whatever reason, why don’t you demonstrate the use of your seeing stones?” “No way, Hadrian. I hardly know how to use them. Besides, Ira said one was missing.” “Figures,” said Vicker. “Ira had a fondness of things with missing parts.” Xanthia’s strange eyes glittered. “Did you say seeing stones? Can I have a look at them?” “They’re not very interesting,” said Reine as Mary came back with a new bowl of mints. Hadrian grabbed two and popped them into his mouth. Amanda crawled out from underneath the table and tried to climb up the nearest chair so he could have access to more treats. “They don’t have any mystical runes or anything carved into them.” She took out the pouch from her pocket and took out two stones, one lavender and one milky white. “Ira gave them to you?” said Larrington. “For my birthday. They’re just quartz stones. They’re colored because of impurities when the quartz was formed.” “Very pretty nonetheless,” said Tabora. “I’d like to use the opportunity to ask everyone if you see some hair pins with turquoise stones that you return them to me. I seem to have misplaced them. They have sentimental value.” “I’d also like to say I lost something too,” piped up Esther. “I have a little golden pin in the shape of a rose that Vicker gave me as an engagement present. So this has sentimental value too.” “Is it one of those small pins that you put on a jacket?” asked the Baron. “No. It goes in my cleavage.” Larrington’s face grew red and he began coughing. Palwick pounded him on his back. The astrologer frowned. “I thought Ira gave you those. What makes them seeing stones?” “Marcus has this theory that they act as a scrying focus.” “Does it work?” Reine shifted uneasily in her seat. “I don’t know,” she finally lied. “I usually don’t believe in all this stuff.” “Science editors are always skeptics,” said Hadrian. He reached back into the mint bowl and encountered a wet tongue. “Amanda, didn’t I tell you not to eat everything?” The bulldog ignored his command and continued eating. “But you do know how to work the seeing stones, don’t you?” persisted Xanthia. “Well, sort of.” “I want a demonstration.” “Give it up, Xanthia,” said Diana tiredly. “Unlike you, Reine knows what’s real and what’s a hack.” “Don’t be such a spoilsport,” said Tabora. “Even if no one believes in it, it might be fun to watch anyway. It’s sort of like Tarot cards. They’re like parlor tricks that people do to amuse themselves. No one is serious about it. So why not do it, Reine? I offer myself up as a test subject.” She shook her head reluctantly and dropped the two stones back into the pouch. “All right. You should ask a question first. And then you draw out three stones.” “I’ll ask a silly question, then,” said the Baroness. “Are ghosts playing chess or someone among us who has a warped sense of humor?” She reached into the pouch and dropped three stones into Reine’s hand. The stones felt heavy and very cold. She looked down and saw black, white, dark purple. “Well, it’s noth…” Suddenly, the living room scene around her disappeared and she was in the library. The drapes were drawn so that it was dark. The fireplace only glowed dimly with withering embers, casting the strange shadowy shapes on the shelves. She saw the mannequin in the armchair. The wig was on its head. The dress was untouched. But over the mannequin stood a dark, tall figure. A menacing figure who looked up at her with glittering eyes. She cried out. “Reine!” She blinked, mouth open, breathing hard. Marcus had taken a hold of her arms and was staring down at her with his worried, dark eyes. Tuesday made a small sound in his throat and rubbed himself against her cheek. “Are you okay?” asked Tabora, frowning. “I, I just remembered a dream.” She brushed Marcus’s hands away and pulled Tuesday back into her lap. Still concerned, the cat stared up at her with gold eyes and gave a plaintive meow. She placed a hand over his head. “I’m okay. It was nothing.” “Oh, no, it wasn’t nothing,” said Xanthia, pouncing. “You saw something right? You had a vision. You have the gift.” Reine instinctively recoiled from the astrologer’s aggressive manner. “I don’t have a gift. I was just thinking about something else, that’s all. I didn’t see anything with these stones.” She dropped the stones that Tabora had picked out back into the pouch and shoved it into her pocket. “You’re placing emphasis on things that don’t exist.” “Why don’t we just play some Chinese checkers anyway?” said Mary. “As I recall, only Esther objected.” “Chinese checkers is for old people,” the red-headed beauty sniffed snobbishly. “And exactly how old are you?” asked Tabora. “Twenty-six.” “So is anyone here the same age or younger?” No one raised his or her hand. The housekeeper grinned. “Well, you’re outnumbered by us old fogies. We’re going to play Chinese checkers.” © 2002, S. Y. Affolee |