Mercedes' Dirge Page 7

  She found the nondescript looking sign for the shop and checked herself out in the mirror. Makeup looked good, outfit was acceptable and she didn't look like a lunatic, at least not outwardly. That would likely change the second she opened her mouth. She was a glutton for punishment and was going into this meeting blind as well. Apparently the shop sold comics, figurines and card games and hosted tournaments. She knew she probably couldn’t convincingly sell herself as a fan of any of those items, but had devised a story of a nephew’s birthday. She was even settling on the name for the fictional child as she swung the door open.

  There were a few customers mulling around, and some sitting at tables, and they all stared at her as she entered. There were no frills to be had in the store. And the shelving was bland, and hanging from unadorned particle board. But it well stocked and counters were filled with card packs, dice and accoutrements of the games sold there. But even if the interior design had been spectacular, it would have been overwhelmed by Bryan who was standing at the counter staring directly at her. He was handsome as a devil and he had no qualms about making searing eye contact with her.

  She approached the counter nervously while trying to gather her story in her head. Even in her mind she was stuttering. “My-” She began.

  “Was it you who called?” He cut her off briskly.

  “Uh, excuse me?” She said, taken aback.

  “Was it you who called and hung up?” It wasn’t accusatory, but rather curious.

  “Yes.” Lying may not be a virtue, but it was a skill, and not one she possessed. Luckily he didn’t wait for an explanation.

  “I know you.” He told her.

  “Oh, really?” She feigned shock.

  “Yes, and you know that I know you.”

  “This conversation is getting hard to follow.” She said with a slight smile.

  “I know.” He was completely deadpan, so she couldn’t get a sense of whether or not he was joking, but she chuckled all the same..

  “Well, my nephew has a birthday coming up-” She was so nervous that her original half baked plan unfurled off her tongue like verbal phlegm.

  “Oh? What’s his name?”

  “Buh…” She couldn’t believe he was really forcing her to implement that portion of the plot. What the hell name did I decide on? She panicked. “Uh, Buford.”

  “Wow, Buford, huh? That’s a name I haven’t heard since 1872.” He stared at her steadily. “And how old it Buford?”

  “You ask a lot of questions.” She told him.

  “Well, I find you interesting and I'm a very curious man.” He told her, searching her eyes, and she knew the jig was up. He was onto her. “Not being familiar with the products in this store, it must feel risky to try and make up an appropriate age that would afford you a viable reason to shop here, yes?”

  When she was unable to answer, he leaned over the counter until he was uncomfortably close to her face. “What can I really do for you, Ella?” She felt her face warm and blush. “It is Ella, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Uh, what just happened here?” She said, uncomfortably taking a step back. His subtle cologne was wafting and rendering her brain even more confused than his sharp tongue.

  “Letting you off the hook, Ella, and hoping you’ll tell me why you’re really here.” He grinned dapperly. “Generally one could play off a chance meeting with a fellow highschool alumnus, but this particular business really doesn’t allow that sort of kismet. I suppose I could be wrong, but you do not meet the specs for my clientele.”

  “And why not?” She asked indignantly, placing her hands on her hips.

  “For one, you have breasts,” his eyes finally strayed from hers to briefly glance down as though he needed to authenticate his statement. “I also knew of you in high school, and you are not a nerd.”

  “I could be a nerd.” She told him. “I like Star Wars.”

  “Oh well, my mistake. Let me go laminate a nerd badge for you. You’ve met the secret prerequisite.” He leaned back against the shelving and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here?”

  She cocked her head to the side. “Apparently waiting for my nerd badge, I was wondering why it hasn’t come in the mail.”

  “Look, I certainly don’t mind pretty girls coming into my store; I just would love to know what I owe the honor to?”

  Though he had stated it as fact, she felt a blush creep over her cheeks at the compliment. “Fine, I would like to talk about Mercedes Tavares.”

  His eyes flickered for only a second. “Really? I can’t imagine why.”

  “I’m dissatisfied with the investigation surrounding her death and have decided to do a little research of my own.” She thought it sounded plausible enough since certainly this man did not seem the type to believe in ghosts.

  “Are you a journalist?” He asked calmly.

  “No.”

  “Law enforcement?”

  “No.” She said carefully. “And before you ask, I’m not a writer or private investigator either. Alexa is still my best friend and her husband is my brother. We’ve all moved into the mansion, and it’s kind of…stirred things up.”

  “Huh. Interesting,” he said staring directly at her. “Ok.”

  She was taken aback. “No more banter? Just ok?”

  He cracked a small smile. “Certainly I could engage in more banter, if you prefer.”

  “No, I’m good. I also had banter for breakfast.” She informed him. “How would you like to do this?”

  His lean became more casual and his look softened. He was really starkly attractive. Every feature on his face was pleasing to behold, and his intelligence only enhanced his romantic good looks. “Well, let’s go somewhere.”

  “I’m game. You ready?” She asked slinging her purse back onto her shoulder.

  “Not now, dear,” he laughed. “Tomorrow for dinner.”

  “Uh-”

  “Drinks first, then dinner. Say around 6:00? We can go somewhere lovely on Shelter Island.” It rolled off his tongue as though it had been pre-planned, and she took in his face, wondering if he had a mode other than smolder.

  “Are you asking me out?” She asked with a smile, placing her hand demurely on her chest.

  “Well, you do have to approach the restaurant from outdoors…”

  “Is this a date?” She said directly.

  “This is how we will talk about Mercedes. Are you amenable?”

  “You won’t talk to me unless I go out with you?” Ella clarified, raising her eyebrows.

  “I’d still talk to you, but this will make it more fun.” He smiled

  “Yes.” As long as you aren’t a murderer, she added in her head. “I’ll meet you?”

  “If that would make you more comfortable, Ella.”

  “It would be easiest.” She told him. He wrote down the name of where to meet him and his private contact information, and she did the same. They said their goodbyes and Ella walked to the car utterly confused. She could not believe how that had gone down and what had come out of it. I mean, really, what just happened?

  Chapter 9

  “So, what did you get out of your investigation?” Troy asked her when she walked in.

  “A date.” She said as she set down her purse and keys.

  “With Mira? Wow, I didn’t see that coming, but you could do worse.”

  “I could. She’s still a babe.” Ella told him as she sat down across from him in the den. “But alas, it’s actually a date with Bryan Mayfield.”

  “Are you joking?” Troy seemed genuinely shocked. “How the hell did that happen?”

  “It just did. I’d forgotten all about him, though I don’t know how after getting reacquainted with him.” Ella told him, unable to stop her eyebrows from waggling, which in turn made Troy furrow his. “Anyhow, Mira suggested I talk to him. I found the store he owns and went in and left with a date for tomorrow night.”

  “That’s really stupid.” He barked unexpectedly, causing her to rear her head back.
“You are conducting your own small-fry murder investigation and you end up on a date with one of your supposed suspects? He was a creep in highschool”

  She threw up her hands. “He was not a creep. He wasn’t outgoing like you, but he wasn’t a jerk either. He was just on the outside of all the high school bullshit. He also doesn’t strike me as a murderer.” She saw the concern lingering in his eyes and softened before continuing. “It’s nothing. I’ll have dinner with him, I’ll ask him questions and that will be the end of it.”

  “It’s dangerous. You don’t even know this guy.” He muttered.

  “Neither do you!” She yelled, annoyed at the continued disregard of her adulthood. “I’m meeting him. It’s not like he’ll be driving me into a forest somewhere.”

  “Are you interested in this guy?” He asked, switching gears back to calm.

  “No.” She told him as solemnly as she could muster. She wasn’t sure if it was the truth though.

  “Lies. I saw you waggeling your eyebrows.” He accused.

  “I most certainly did not.” She fibbed.

  He exhaled sharply. “I sure hope your ghost will alert you if this is a bad idea.”

  “I don’t think that’s the way this works. Otherwise she’d be alerting the authorities instead of making me do this.” She grumbled.

  Alexa suddenly appeared in the doorway. “What are you two fighting about?” She looked at Ella and smiled. “You look nice, what have you been up to?”

  She shrugged. “I just wanted to have a day out without grubby jeans on. I just took a drive around and had lunch.”

  “Did I hear something about a date?” She said raising her eyebrows dramatically.

  Troy suddenly scooped Alexa up and kissed her. “What are we doing for dinner?”

  Ella was eternally grateful for the distraction and excused herself. In her room she looked around and was happy to see that the infernal music box had not found its way back there from the downstairs again. She hopped onto the bed and made a log of what she had done, leads she had and questions she had on her computer. Basically she had Joel and Bryan to question and if nothing came from that, it would be a dead end. Certainly the day had not been fruitless as she had learned that Joel had been moderately obsessed with Mercedes and Mira had been fighting with her as a result at the time of her death.

  Ella found her mind wandering to Bryan and she felt an indecent tingle. She shook her head and admonished herself for it. She doubted that Mercedes’ game plan in this endeavor was to get Ella laid, but thoughts of Bryan’s burning gaze just seemed to be emblazoned on her brain and she found herself unconsciously smiling like a goon again. The chemistry had been undeniable.

  At dinner she tried to concentrate but ended up mentally wandering back to the game store and that distracting devil in it. Thankfully Alexa didn’t end up bringing up her date again, but Ella knew it was just a matter of time.

  She retired to her room early and was lying in bed with a book when she heard an ominous scratching above from the ceiling. She shot up in bed and strained her ears. It was definitely coming from the attic again, though the sounds were much less overt, almost as though it was accounting for the other people in the house.

  There was a knock on her door and the sound disappeared as soon as Alexa stepped inside.

  “Hey lady, can I come in?”

  Ella settled back against the pillows and smiled as an invitation.

  Alexa sat on the bed and grabbed the book Ella was reading and read the back of it. “Looks good, loan it to me if you like it.”

  “Of course.” She promised. The mood in the room dipped in awkward silence, and Ella was again astonished at how they’d grown apart. The ripples of Mercedes’ death were never ending.

  “So, is it true you got a date?” Alexa finally asked with a knowing smile.

  Ella’s weakness of being a bad liar reared its ugly, truthful little head again. “Yes.”

  Alexa squealed. “Yay! Tell me about it!”

  “I really don’t want to jinx it, if you don’t mind.” She said uncomfortably as she tried to avoid Alexa’s hurt look.

  Before Alexa could react, footsteps began to thud up above them. The TV show that Troy was watching was blaring from downstairs and Ella got the sense that Alexa knew quite well that it wasn’t him. She shot a stricken look up to the ceiling.

  “Alexa…” Ella said softly, as she reached out for her friend.

  Alexa jumped off the bed suddenly. “No!” She cried out. “I hear you two running around here whispering. It’s about this, isn’t it?”

  “About what?”

  “That.” She said pointing to the ceiling. “I’m not stupid. I know she’s here.”

  “I’m sorry. We weren’t sure you’d experienced anything and we just didn’t want to make things worse for you.” Ella tried to explain helplessly.

  “By treating me like I’m made of glass? I know she’s dead, I know she’s not resting and I know she’s chosen to contact someone she barely knew over her own sister.” Alexa sobbed.

  “Maybe she doesn’t want to scare you or cause you any more pain.” Ella offered, leaning over to pat her shoulder.

  “She’s my sister, she could never scare me,” Alexa looked at the ceiling as though that was where she was directing her comment. “And I couldn’t experience more pain than her dying and finding her like that…”

  Ella had never heard Alexa speak of finding Mercedes’ corpse and she was startled mute. Alexa barely glanced at Ella as she jumped off the bed and headed briskly for the door. “I can’t talk about this. I’m sorry.”

  Ella saw enough of Alexa’s face to know that there were tears streaming down it uncontrollably. She listened as Alexa slammed the door to the hall bathroom and the water started running. Ella rested her head against the headboard and sighed.

  Chapter 10

  2007

  Ella and Alexa sat uncomfortably on the couch as they watched Mercedes bid goodbye to that evening’s entertainment. He was a tall blonde who was at least 30 and his manner was gruff and looks unrefined, all hard lines and jaw.

  He cast a look in the direction of the girls who instantly began to look anywhere else in feigned nonchalance. Certainly he looked quite pleased with himself and even made the offer to collect Mercedes’ phone number.

  She smiled warmly and shook his hand as if they hadn’t just been intimate. “It was nice to meet you, Clark”

  “Greg.” He corrected.

  “Sure. Have a good night.” She all but pushed him out the door and then sauntered into the living room and sat across from the girls and motioned for a hit off of their joint. Ella handed it over while attempting to not perceptively shake her head in disapproval.

  Before she could even exhale, the door opened and they all looked over alarmed. Ella entirely expected to see Clark/Greg return with an ax. It wasn’t much better to see Nick standing there holding some roses, his face stricken.

  “Who was just here?” He asked slowly, indicating he’d seen the man on the way out.

  “I don’t know.” Mercedes claimed as she stood up. Nick’s gaze wandered to Mercedes’ thigh length silk robe and the curves and peaks of her body that were clearly naked under the thin material.

  “You don’t?” He asked incredulously.

  “Honestly, no, I don’t. Sorry.” Her voice had a tinge of edge to it, but besides that she seemed cool as a cucumber. She leaned over and handed the joint back to Ella who didn’t grab it for a moment, as she was transfixed with the whole scene.

  “Can’t you at least attempt to make something up?” He cried out. “A plumber, or a friend of your parents or something? Do I not even merit a cover story?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine, he was a friend of my parents who is a plumber.”

  Ella watched Nick’s crestfallen face sadly as Mercedes’ shoulders dropped and her face softened. “Let’s talk about this upstairs.”

  “Not in your room.” He sobbed. “Not in tha
t room. Your sheets are still dirty…”

  “Not in my room.” She promised gently, as she led him upstairs.

  Alexa and Ella stared at each other as the fighting started. They could hear Mercedes telling him that he should have been well aware of who she was and that he had agreed to take her on despite her flaws and transgressions.

  Alexa shook her head. “Oh man, that is so fucked up. I hope he dumps her this time. Who would stick around for that?”

  Ella shrugged. “I hope he dumps her too.”

  The fighting raged on for what seemed like an eternity as they attempted to drown out the discomforting, private words with loud television unsuccessfully. Finally, the ruckus burned out and Alexa sighed disapprovingly as she lifted herself from the couch. “I’m going to go bed, now that it sounds like they are done. Are you sleeping down here?”

  Ella nodded. “Yeah, I’m not tired though.”

  “Hopefully those two are too exhausted to start the makeup sex, or I’ll be joining you.” Alexa said with a yawn and stretch as she padded out of the room.

  Ella strolled to the front porch and get some air that wasn’t tainted with thick, emotional drama. The heady ocean air filled her senses pleasantly, as she slid down onto the dewy porch swing, feeling the dampness cling to her striped pajama bottoms.

  She took it in stride as her thoughts returned to the disturbing events of the evening. Aside from being one of the most uncomfortable confrontations she’d ever witnessed, her regard for Mercedes was slipping rapidly. She couldn’t shake the sadness in Nick’s face and Mercedes’ initial utter disregard for it.

  Ella nearly jumped as the screen door opened and footsteps landed on the wood patio. She looked up and was surprised to see Nick, who seemed embarrassed to see her after the scene that had commenced. The emotional drain showed heavily on his handsome face, though after a moment he seemed happy to see her. Like he’d been depleted and was desperately thirsty for affection and respect to replace what he’d lost.

  She was shocked when he wordlessly sat right next to her on the porch swing. It was on the small side, and his broad stature placed him right up against her. There was an entire set of patio furniture sitting vacant, so his choice surprised her. Thigh to thigh, she could feel his body heat and was ashamed to realize she was gratified to have him so close.