Mary Had a Little Scare Page 4

  “What, Betty?” Mary asked.

  Betty locked her eyes on Mary. “Why did Cousin Brenda invite me to the funeral and not Mother? Mother was very close to Aunt Gennifer. At least that’s what she told me. Of course, Aunt Gennifer was Mother’s sister-in-law and not an actual relative. Aunt Gennifer married my Uncle Samuel, who died in that tragic accident when he went fishing in the ocean.” Betty sighed. “After Uncle Samuel died, Aunt Gennifer—according to Mother—became a very distant person. Of course, she was very young when Uncle Samuel died and if I’m not mistaken, Cousin Brenda was only five or so. It’s understandable for a person to be upset over the death of a loved one.”

  Mary made a few more mental notes before replying. “I’m not sure why your mother wasn’t invited to the funeral,” she confessed and then added, “Betty, maybe there isn’t a funeral.”

  “What?” Betty asked and nearly fainted. “No funeral…but Cousin Brenda said Aunt Gennifer died—”

  Mary grabbed Betty’s hand and rushed her back to the couch. “Betty, it’s possible your Aunt Gennifer is dead…and then it’s possible that she might be alive.” Mary rubbed her eyes again. “It’s also possible that you were lured here.”

  “Lured?” Betty asked, confused. “But why?”

  “I don’t know,” Mary confessed. “But I’m going to find out.” She looked at the living room doors. “If the killer wanted us dead, we would be dead right this very second,” she pointed out. “Whoever the killer is, well, he or she is up to something. But what? That’s the question.” Mary looked toward the fireplace. “We have to start finding a way out of this room.”

  “How?” Betty asked.

  “Remember the mansion we visited in Los Angeles?”

  “How could I forget?” Betty replied and rolled her eyes. “That mansion was almost as spooky as this one…hidden passageways and—” Betty stopped. “Oh…hidden passageways.”

  Mary nodded. “This mansion is enormous,” she said. “It’s possible that there might be a hidden passageway someplace.” Mary focused on the fireplace again. “The living room is in perfect order. It’s clear someone has been giving the inside of this mansion a lot of care.” She paused, thought about the dead body, and then continued. “I’m confident this mansion belongs to the man your Aunt Gennifer married. And if he was as eccentric as your mother claims…well then, there might be more to this mansion than what our eyes are seeing.”

  Betty glanced up at the portrait hanging over the fireplace and shivered all over. “I wish I were home in my safe, warm bed and—” Betty stopped talking and froze. She lifted a trembling hand, grabbed Mary’s shoulder, and pointed up at the portrait. “The eyes…the eyes…” she whispered in a terrified voice. “The eyes are watching us.”

  Mary shifted her head upward and looked at the portrait. “Oh my,” she whispered, feeling her skin grow cold. “The eyes…are alive.”

  “Come and play,” a shadowy figure hissed, even though Mary and Betty couldn’t hear. “Come and play,” the figure hissed again and then slithered down a hidden hallway. Outside, the dark and rainy night gripped the mansion with a fierce hand and squeezed it tight.

  “The…eyes…are gone,” Betty said and then fainted.

  Mary kept staring up at the portrait. “Oh, John,” she whispered, “what am I supposed to do? I’m so scared.”

  But of course, Mary’s husband didn’t answer. Instead, a powerful flash of lightning lit up the living room windows and wandered away into a dark cloud.

  3

  Mary was fanning Betty’s face when she heard the living room doors unlock. She froze, her eyes wide with panic and fear.

  “Oh no,” she whispered as she watched the doors slowly begin to open. Expecting to see a vicious killer, she quickly grabbed the fire iron, shot to her feet, and braced herself for a fight. Instead, to her absolute shock, she saw a woman in her mid-forties appear wearing a confused expression.

  “Who…are you?” Mary demanded.

  The woman stared at Mary and then focused on Betty. “Cousin Betty?” she asked in a shocked voice.

  Mary stood very still as confusion attacked her mind. Her eyes locked on a woman who was very tall and shaped like a broomstick. The poor woman had long, stringy brown hair that was in need of care and a face that reminded of her a…well, a bat. And to put a cherry on top of the cake, the woman was wearing a very ugly green and yellow dress that obviously cost a great deal of money but lacked style and grace. “Uh…yes…she fainted.”

  The woman rotated her eyes back to Mary. “I’m Betty’s cousin Brenda. What are you doing in my home?” she asked.

  Mary wasn’t sure what to say. She felt her mind reeling back and forth. “My car…this storm caused me to run off the road into a ditch. We began searching for help and found this mansion,” Mary explained, still keeping a tight grip on the fire iron. She looked into Brenda’s eyes and saw a very strange woman. “You…called Betty and invited her to your mother’s funeral.”

  “My mother’s funeral?” Brenda looked as if Mary had slapped her across the face. “Why, my mother is resting at Sparrow Manor no more than ten miles from here.” Brenda quickly folded her arms. “Mother suffered a terrible fall last month. I was forced to place her at Sparrow Manor where she can receive the proper medical care she needs.”

  “But…” Mary stuttered and then shook her head. “When we arrived…a dog chased us inside…and there was a dead body lying in the foyer and—”

  “A dead body?” Brenda asked and then, to Mary’s confusion, she simply rolled her eyes. “Oh, I understand now. It’s obvious Ralph has performed one of his pranks again.”

  “Ralph?” Mary asked.

  “Mother’s husband.” Brenda sighed. “Ralph is always carrying on in some odd manner or another.” Brenda shook her head. “However, his dog…that horrible dog…is no laughing matter. I have insisted that Ralph get rid of that dog time and time again, but he refuses to listen.” Brenda looked over her shoulder and then focused back on Mary. “Ralph is a little…funny in the head,” she whispered.

  Ralph isn’t the only one funny in the head, Mary thought. “We saw a dead body…a knife was stuck in the dead body,” she insisted.

  Brenda shrugged her shoulders. “There’s no dead body in the foyer,” she told Mary. “Go and look for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

  Mary hesitated, glanced down at Betty, and then made a wild dash out of the living room. She ran to the foyer, slid to a stop, and looked down at an empty floor. “The body is gone,” she whispered. Feeling confusion continuing to attack her mind, Mary glanced around and then ran back into the living room. She found Brenda bending down over Betty. “Get away from her!” she yelled.

  Brenda stood up. “My, aren’t you rude,” she said in an annoyed voice. “You’re acting as if I was intending to harm my own cousin.”

  Mary stepped closer to Betty. “Where is the dead body?” she insisted.

  Brenda rolled her eyes. “I have already told you…” she began but then stopped, walked over to the couch, and sat down. “It’s clear that Ralph is performing one of his pranks,” she told Mary again. “I’m not sure why he would call Cousin Betty and tell her Mother had died. That’s going a bit too far…but then again, Ralph is a little…funny in the head.”

  Brenda’s voice annoyed Mary. The woman sounded like a chipmunk when she spoke. No wonder she had never married. “Don’t be mean,” Mary whispered. She decided to kick her confusion to the curb and put on her thinking cap. “Think,” she whispered again and looked down at Betty. Betty slowly opened her eyes and let out a painful moan.

  “Mary…”

  “I’m right here,” Mary said. She quickly bent down and lifted up Betty’s head, using the time to clear her mind. A few things were clear in all the confusion: Brenda didn’t seem overly concerned that Mary had mentioned a dead body, or that the storm had caused a road accident, or that her cousin was lying unconscious on the floor. As a matter of fact, Mary th
ought as she gently fanned Betty’s face, the woman seemed…a little annoyed that two sudden guests had been tossed into her home. “Where is…Ralph, you said?” Mary asked.

  “Ralph?” Betty asked, finally regaining full consciousness. Her eyes shifted over to the couch. She spotted a strange woman she had never seen before. “Who are you?” she gasped.

  “Oh, Cousin Betty,” Brenda huffed, “stop being so silly. I’m your cousin Brenda.”

  Betty stared at Brenda with wide, confused eyes. “Help me stand up,” she begged Mary. Mary grabbed Betty’s arm and helped her to stand up. Once Betty was on her feet, she took a few steps backward and looked at Brenda. If the woman sitting on the couch was her cousin…well, that was a shock to her. “Well, it has been many years since we’ve seen each other—”

  “Twenty years, to be exact,” Brenda pointed out, “maybe more? Who knows.” Brenda made a sour face. “Cousin Betty, I’m afraid Ralph has performed one of his gags again.”

  “Ralph?” Betty asked.

  Brenda nodded. “I’m not sure what that old man is up to, but I’m far from pleased.” Brenda let out an irritated huff. “Living in this mansion with that man is impossible.”

  Mary took Betty’s hand. “Where is Ralph?” she asked Brenda and glanced toward the living room doors while holding the fire iron in her left hand. If Brenda made one wrong move, or if a killer suddenly appeared, she would be ready to fight and then make a wild run for her life.

  “Who knows?” Brenda huffed again. “This is a very big mansion. Sometimes I go days without seeing Ralph. However, I do see his miserable dog every single day because I’m the poor soul that has to feed him.”

  Mary kept her eyes on the living room door. She decided to change course. “The storm caused me to run my car into a ditch. We need to use a telephone and call for help—”

  “Ralph refuses to allow a telephone in the mansion,” Brenda interrupted in an annoyed voice.

  “Then perhaps you can be so kind and loan us a car?” Mary asked. “I need to drive into the nearest town and report the accident.”

  Brenda shook her head. “I can’t drive, and neither can Ralph,” she explained. “We pay a man to drive me into town once a week. I visit Mother during that time, buy groceries, and carry out other small chores before returning home.”

  “No phone…no car,” Mary whispered under her breath.

  Betty stared at Brenda with confused eyes. “I saw a dead body…in the foyer,” she insisted.

  Brenda folded her arms. “There is no dead body,” she told Betty in an impatient tone. “What you saw was Ralph performing one of his tricks.”

  “But why?” Betty demanded. She lifted a shaky finger and pointed at Brenda. “I spoke to you on the phone. You told me Aunt Gennifer died.”

  “I did no such thing,” Brenda snapped. “There isn’t a telephone on property. The closest phone is in Sparrow Falls.” Brenda unfolded her arms and stood up from the couch. “I did not call you, Cousin Betty,” she said in an annoyed voice. “It’s clear that Ralph is—”

  “I spoke to a woman, not a man,” Betty insisted.

  “Well, you didn’t speak to me,” Brenda fired back. She threw her eyes toward the living room windows and grew silent. When she finally spoke, her voice came out angry and frustrated. “I do not like uninvited guests,” she announced, “and normally I send uninvited guests away. However, you are family and it does seem that you were deceived into coming here.” Brenda shifted her eyes to Mary. “And because your car is currently…in a ditch?”

  “In a ditch,” Mary confirmed.

  “Well,” Brenda said, “it would be rude of me to send you back out into this storm. You two may remain until morning and then…we’ll figure something out.”

  Mary lifted her eyes up to the portrait. The eyes staring down at her were now the eyes created by an artist; no human eyes were in sight. “I would like to locate Ralph,” she told Brenda. “I want to speak to him and ask him what the purpose of his prank is.”

  “That’s right,” Betty said, becoming very angry. “I’m not pleased, Cousin Brenda, and Mother certainly will not be pleased, either. Mary and I have driven a very long way to attend the funeral of a family member. And now we are finding out it’s all been a very ugly…prank!” Betty stomped the floor with her right foot. “I demand we speak to this Ralph person immediately.”

  Brenda narrowed her beady eyes. “Cousin Betty, the hired help comes three times a week to clean. Do I look like I’m a lowly slave?” she snapped. “If you want to find Ralph then you and your…friend…can go search for him.”

  Mary bit down on her lower lip. “I suppose it is past your bedtime,” she said in a quick voice.

  “Huh?” Brenda asked.

  Mary pointed at the ugly dress Brenda was wearing. “You’re wearing a day dress,” she pointed out. “At this time of night, I would assume you would be wearing your nightgown.” Brenda glanced down at her dress. “By the way,” Mary asked, “where were you when we arrived?”

  “What?” Brenda raised her eyes and focused on Mary’s face.

  “When we arrived…where were you?” Mary asked in a stern voice. She drew in a deep breath and continued. “Someone opened the front door for me…and then we were chased inside by that awful dog.” Mary steadied her mind. “We saw a dead body lying on the foyer floor. Now, unless you can produce a living person for us to see I’m going to assume you’re a killer who has hidden the body…and that you’re the one playing games.”

  “How dare you!” Brenda snapped. “How dare you stand in my home and declare that I killed Ralph! Get out!” Brenda threw her hand toward the living room door.

  Mary shook her head. “Not with that dog outside,” she replied. “And if you try to make us leave, I’ll feed this fire iron to your face.”

  “Well,” Brenda huffed, marching over to the living room doors, “some guest you are.” She pointed at Betty. “Cousin Betty, you should choose your friends more carefully.”

  “Maybe I should choose my cousins more carefully,” Betty told Brenda.

  “Well…if that’s how you’re going to treat family…good night,” Brenda said. She stormed out of the living room, leaving the double doors standing wide open.

  Mary bit down on her lip. “Betty…you really didn’t recognize that woman?” she asked.

  Betty shook her head. “It’s been…years,” she admitted. “I suppose she could be my cousin.” Betty looked at Mary with apologetic eyes. “In my family it doesn’t matter how much time has passed since you’ve seen a relative. Mother insists we treat everyone as if we’d seen them yesterday.”

  “It’s that way with every southern family,” Mary replied and patted Betty’s hand. “No need to apologize to me.”

  Betty sighed. “I’m so confused.”

  “Me, too,” Mary admitted. “One thing is for certain…a dead body is missing and the only living person in sight is your cousin Brenda…if she’s your cousin.”

  “If?” Betty asked.

  “That woman could be anyone,” Mary pointed out. “However…she did seem to recognize you, didn’t she?” Mary lifted her eyes back up to the portrait hanging over the fireplace. “Of course, we were being watched…” Mary shook her head. “Too many hallways and doors…not enough light to see clearly.”

  “Mary, can’t we just leave this awful place? Please,” Betty begged. “You have the fire iron. If we run into that mean old dog…well, just wallop it over the head one or two good times.” Betty looked up at the portrait. “I would rather take my chances with that dog than stay inside this mansion another second.”

  “I would be tempted to say hello to that mean dog again,” Mary explained, “but the fact is, a real murder could have taken place here tonight, and if we leave…why, we would get into a world of trouble.”

  “How?” Betty asked. “We didn’t kill that man we saw lying dead in the foyer.”

  “Will the police believe that?” Mary asked. She focuse
d her eyes on the living room doors. “Maybe that’s what she wants,” she said. “Maybe that woman wants us to leave in order to pin the murder on us…somehow. Assuming she is the killer.”

  “Mary?”

  Mary looked at Betty. “First we were locked inside this living room and now we’re free to roam,” Mary pointed out. “We were locked inside just long enough for the killer to hide the body.” Mary shifted her eyes away from Betty and explored the living room. “As much as it grieves me to say this…we have to go find a living man or a…dead man.”

  “Oh, I was afraid you were going to say that,” Betty fretted.

  Mary nodded toward the living room doors. “That woman doesn’t strike me as the type who stays up all hours of the night. She’s wearing a day dress…her eyes were far from sleepy…and she seemed very…very…oh, what’s the word?”

  “Rehearsed,” Betty said without realizing how the word came to her mind.

  Mary looked at Betty. “Yes, exactly,” she exclaimed. “I managed to knock her off course a couple of times, but she stayed her course, didn’t she…feeding off me more than I was feeding off her.”

  Betty rubbed her nervous hands together. “Mary, do you really believe Cousin Brenda killed that man we saw? I mean…couldn’t it really be a prank of some sort?”

  Mary locked eyes with Betty. “What does your heart tell you?”

  Betty searched her heart. “I think we better go find a living man…or a dead man,” she said as a flash of eerie lightning lit up the night sky outside, illuminating a vicious dog perched on the front porch.

  Mary eased open a heavy wooden door and peered into a large, voluminous library with walls lined with antique bookshelves that reached the ceiling. “My,” she whispered and stepped forward onto a deep burgundy carpet, “amazing.” Mary slowly set down the fire iron she was holding and motioned for Betty to enter the library. “It’s safe.”

  Betty hurried in after Mary and froze. Never before in all of her life had she ever witnessed such an extraordinary personal library. “Wow,” she whispered, spotting a diamond chandelier hanging down from the high ceiling like dripping words from the pen of a sad, tragic poet. The chandelier cast a pale, weak light onto the expensive pieces of literature that had been collected and cherished over a lifetime.