“AEGIS’S EX-GIRLFRIEND? WHAT the hell? Why didn’t you tell me about her before?” Even as I said it, I realized how ridiculous that sounded. Franny didn’t know what had been going on.
“I assumed that he told you about her. It’s not like he’s fresh out of the cradle. Aegis has been around a few thousand years. I figured you knew all about his past liaisons.” Hands on her hips, Franny glared at me.
“Right, right.” I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “You had no way of knowing, Franny. I’m sorry. But we’ve been trying to figure out who this woman is since yesterday.”
“Oh. Well, you’re right, I didn’t know. But I’m happy I could help.” Franny seemed to be mollified. In fact, she looked downright jolly. I realized she didn’t get many opportunities to feel useful anymore.
“Franny, if you see her in this house, tell me. Please.” I wanted to ask her to leave so Sandy and I could discuss what we had just found out, but that would be rude, especially since she had just helped us out. And maybe, just maybe, Franny could be of more help.
“So. Rachel, huh? Do you also happen to know her last name?” Sandy seemed to be on the same page I was.
“Oh, no. Vampires don’t always use their last names, you know.” Franny was veering into eerily cheerful territory. The grin plastered across her face looked rather manic. The idea of a bipolar ghost intimidated me.
“So she is a vampire? That would mesh with what Ralph said.” I bit my lip, worrying it between my teeth. “I had better let Delia know about this. Franny, is there anything else about Rachel that might help us? Maybe where she lives?” Then, quickly, I added, “She never lived here, did she? With Aegis?”
Franny shook her head. “No. I’d know if she did. I think they had already broken up when he came to live here. I heard Rachel keep begging him to take her back. Well, ordering him. She likes to be in charge. I also heard her talking about Essie Vanderbilt. Apparently they didn’t like each other very much.”
“None of that is good news.” Sandy pushed her tea away. “We need something stronger than tea for this.” She moved to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of champagne that was half-full. Pouring two flutes of the sparkling wine, she handed one to me. “To Rose. May Delia find whoever the hell killed her.”
“May the gods hear your words. To Rose.” I upended the drink. The bubbles tickled my nose and stung my lip where I had accidentally drawn blood. I paused. “If she’s trying to get Aegis back, Rachel has plenty of reason to want to get rid of me.”
“Yeah. She can’t be too happy if she knows about the two of you.” Sandy paled. “They should check Rose for bite marks.”
I reached for my phone, intending to call Delia, but just then I noticed a commotion outside, near the bushes. One of the forensics team seemed to have found something. He was holding it up, talking loudly to his buddies. I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and tromped through the snow, intent on knowing everything I could about Rose’s murder. The tech had already started to bag it before I managed to cross the distance between us, but even from where I stood, I could make out what he was holding.
He turned around as I approached. “I’ve called Sheriff Walters. She’ll be back in about half an hour.”
Quickly, I backtracked inside the house. “Damn it, he found a set of panpipes.”
“Ralph’s?” Sandy’s eyes widened.
“Ten to one, yes.”
“Could Delia be right? Could Ralph have killed Rose, thinking she was you?”
“No. I refuse to believe he would do that. Ralph’s not a killer. We have to tell Delia about Rachel. She’s on her way. Until she gets here, I guess we just wait.” I could call her but since she was coming back, it seemed easier to wait. The matter was getting entirely too convoluted, entirely too quickly.
A thought struck me. “Franny, I know you can’t go outside, but by any chance were you looking out the back window last night? Did you see anybody out there? Maybe the person who attacked Rose?”
She moved to the window, looking out. “Just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean I have spectacular vision. Nor does it mean that I’m always spying on everybody.” But then, she let out a long sigh. “No, I didn’t notice anything. I wish I had. I liked Rose. She was sweet and polite to me.” Franny sounded wistful. “Do you think she might come back here as a ghost? I haven’t seen her but that doesn’t mean she won’t wake up pretty soon.”
“I hope to hell not. The coven will hold a ceremony for her so she’s free to move on.”
Franny shrugged. “I have to admit, since you bought the house, at least I’ve had people to talk to. Aegis wouldn’t talk to me at all before you got here. He tried to pretend that I didn’t exist. The same with Rachel. But you…you acknowledge my presence.”
I winced, thinking it wasn’t possible for her to sound any lonelier.
“That’s because you’re the best house ghost I could hope for.” I forced a smile. “Thanks to you, we know about Rachel, even if we don’t know where to find her.” I stopped myself. Franny wasn’t an oracle, and she wasn’t a crystal ball and I didn’t want to make her feel guilty. Guilt like that usually didn’t do anybody any good. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I know very well that you aren’t here to keep track of everything that happens. And I’m sorry you had to spend so many years alone.”
Franny moved over to sit on the banquette. At least, she did a good job of appearing like she was sitting down, though we could see the seat right through her. “That’s all right. I also realize that it’s hard for people to think of me as a real person. Get slapped with the label of ghost and people assume you have no feelings, or that you’re just some misty vaporous rerun.”
Sandy gave me a sideways glance. I could tell she was thinking what I was—Franny sorely needed friends, and maybe she had been such a pain in the ass because she was so lonely. “It must be very difficult going through your days as a spirit. Has anybody tried to free you before?”
Franny shrugged. “Oh yes, several times. But it seems that there’s something keeping me bound to the house. Nobody’s ever taken the time to figure out just what it is. And I certainly don’t know or I’d be gone by now.”
Curious, I asked, “What do you remember from your last days, and right after you…right after the accident?” Even though we all knew she was dead, saying it to her face felt wrong.
She closed her eyes, then wistfully said, “I remember telling my mother I wasn’t going to marry the man she had chosen for me. And then I ran to my room. I was reading a book. I did so love to read—it wasn’t new, but I hadn’t read it yet. I remember very well—the book was Clermont, by one of my favorite authors. Regina Maria Roche. She was a bestseller at the time, you know. Anyway, I was so wrapped up in the book that when the dinner bell rang, I continued to read as I headed downstairs. But I didn’t see that one of the serving girls had dropped a piece of coal on the stair and I stepped on it and tumbled down—all the way down.” She paused, wiping a hand across her eyes. “The staircase didn’t have a railing or carpet like it does now.”
I winced. The thought of tumbling down the stairs like that was horrifying. The staircase was steep, though wide.
“As I dropped my book and found myself falling, I remember being shocked—as though I had discovered some terrifying new thing and didn’t know what to make of it. After that, I remember one sharp pain, and then everything went black. I don’t know how long later, but I woke up and I was standing on the staircase, but nobody seemed to realize I was there.”
“That must have been horrible,” Sandy said.
Franny nodded. “It was. My mother…my grandmother and sisters…my father—they all ignored me when I tried to talk to them. I couldn’t go outside. When I went into the parlor I saw a casket, and there was my body in it. After that, it got misty again until I was standing in the kitchen and somebody else was there. The kitchen was different and I realized that I was dead, and that I was in the house but my family was gone.”