Page 94

“Ye-es.” Leo looked troubled.

“No?”

Leo seemed to have trouble meeting his gaze.

“I’m sure you know by now, if you didn’t before, that Mila’s son Jonathan developed an alarming fixation on John.”

“I’m aware, yeah.” Where was this going? Archie couldn’t quite read Leo’s expression or tone.

“I don’t believe that Jonathan claims were true.” Leo sounded doubtful.

Archie scanned Leo’s face. “Wait. You think there’s a possibility that they were?”

“A possibility, yes. Mila and John had a very long and complicated relationship. And something had to have happened in the last couple of years to give Jonathan that idea. He never held it before. But the, well, kicker is I asked John about it directly, more than once, and he was always uncharacteristically vague.”

“John was? But the paternity test indicated John was not Monig’s father.”

Leo looked relieved. “So, you do fully understand the situation?”

“I didn’t know before John’s death. I do now.”

“I see. Well, John would never confirm nor deny, but I can’t help thinking that if John… Let’s say, if John felt some particular responsibility or obligation to Jonathan, it might explain where all that money went.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Somewhere between the tomato salad with crème fraîche and olive granola, and the Baked Alaska with pistachio brittle and raspberry curd, Desi brought up the subject of Jacqueline McCabe’s ghost.

Desi had been overserved at that point—they had all been overserved, though Archie was still doing his best to pace himself. Desi dropped her spoon with a little clatter and said, “If there really are ghosts, why didn’t Jacqueline McCabe appear the night John died?”

Professor Azizi made a broad gesture and just missed knocking over his long-stemmed wine glass. “Jacqueline doesn’t go with the house like a bird-bath or a rose trellis. She only appears to members of her own bloodline. John was not—”

“Yes, he was,” Priscilla interrupted.

Both Azizi and Leo chorused, “No, he wasn’t.”

“He sure was,” Desi said. “Wasn’t he, Archie?”

Four pairs of eyes turned his way. Archie said, “Yes. John’s maternal grandmother was a McCabe. That was part of the reason John bought McCabe House. It was once a family home.”

Part of the reason, sure, but mostly John had bought the house for Jacqueline McCabe.

“I didn’t know that,” Leo said wonderingly.

“You’ve just forgotten,” Priscilla said. “John told us years ago.”

“I think I’d have remembered that. I thought he bought the house for the ghost!”

“Well, yes! The ghost is family!”

These people. Holy smoke. Literally.

“Exactly,” Desi said. “So why didn’t she appear? The legend says she always appears before a member of the McCabe family dies.”

Archie remembered the faintly glowing, ethereal figure he’d seen—imagined he’d seen—

inside the gazebo. “Maybe she appeared to John.”

Desi stared at him wide-eyed.