Blue-Eyed Doll Page 5

  “No. No way am I going down there,” she moaned to herself.

  However, she knew she didn’t have another choice. Taking a deep breath, she took the first step. She wondered just what in the world was wrong with her. Why was she going into some random old cellar? Pausing on the third step, she called out. “Cora? Are you down there?”

  At first, there was no sound at all.

  Then, a distinct tapping echoed from below, like a something hard against a glass surface.

  “I’m coming down, okay?” she said.

  The tapping continued, slowly. There was no rhythm or pattern to it, just random taps at various intervals.

  Taking the wooden steps one at a time, she made her way down, unerringly groping the wall for a light switch of any kind. If only there’d been a switch at the top of the stairs, or even a flashlight, she would have felt more comfortable.

  The lower she got, the louder the tapping grew. There was another noise as well. It creaked like a porch swing on a gentle, breezy day.

  She prayed it was nothing more than the house settling or the pipes talking.

  Finally, her feet found the familiar firmness of smooth concrete. She’d reached the bottom.

  Her hand located a metal box sticking out from the wall—maybe a switch.

  There was a skittering noise, like little feet running across the floor, and something brushed by her leg and up the stairs. With a scream of fright at the unknown thing that had touched her, she absentmindedly swept the switch and turned on the light.

  When she spotted the form of someone in the room, she caught her own breath. Hanging from one of the wooden beams in the exposed ceiling was Coraline Danvers. Despite being dead, her eyes remained wide open and staring.

  The rope creaked as it gently moved back and forth under the weight of her body.

  The next instant, Anna screamed and screamed.

  CHAPTER 8

  * * *

  Belle was wading through the piles in the living room when she heard the distant echo of her sister’s scream. “Anna, I’m coming,” she cried, shoving through the countless boxes, tables, and shelves of items stored there.

  Running down the hallways and into the kitchen, she found the cellar door. “Anna! Anna, are you okay?”

  “Get down here,” Anna shouted.

  Take the steps two at a time, Belle entered the room and gasped. “Oh, my gosh. Cora.”

  Harlem floated down the stairs behind them. “Oh, dear heaven,” he exclaimed upon seeing the poor woman.

  “Who would want to kill Cora?” Belle whispered.

  Sitting against the far wall of the room was a table with a red table cloth. Flowers, a skull, a few candles, and other trinkets surrounded a large glass box. The hinged door on the box sat wide open.

  “I don’t know, but it looks like Mrs. Danvers was into some version of voodoo.”

  “I’m going to call Dan,” Anna informed them, digging her phone out of her pocket and running up the stairs

  “There was something in this glass case,” Harlem noted.

  “Whatever it is, it’s gone now,” Belle murmured.

  * * *

  “I’m so sorry you girls had to see that,” Chief Bronson told them as he came out of the house into the drizzling rainfall of the late afternoon. He was a stout man who looked like he’d eaten a few too many of his wife’s delicious pastries. His head was bald, shiny, and dark. A large bushy mustache graced his upper lip.

  Anna and Belle sat huddled together under the awning of the porch with a blanket over their shoulders. Even with that, a few raindrops were getting through. The emergency technicians from the local clinic had taken the time to check them for shock, but they’d both turned out to be fine. Mostly, they were just a little spooked.

  “We’re okay. We’ve both seen our fair share of scary things,” Belle admitted.

  Dan brushed his mustache back and forth. “I’m aware of that. If it was up to me, and I had complete control, neither of you girls would have seen any of the strange things you’ve seen in the last couple months.

  “Too late,” Anna joked unhappily.

  “But a crime scene like that is never a pretty sight, especially when it’s a friend like Cora.”

  “Why would someone want to murder her?” Belle asked again. She had spent the last half-hour since they’d found the body trying to figure out just who might be responsible. She considered Candy Danvers, Cora’s daughter. Why had she been in town? It was suspicious, after all, since Cora didn’t seem to know she was there.

  Then there was Shelly, the doll collector. Had there really been an expensive doll in that case in the basement, or something else entirely? Was Shelly the kind of woman who would kill for a collectible item?

  Finally, Belle’s mind settled on Don Delta. He had been harassing Cora about the doll all day. His clunker of a truck was seen racing away from the scene of the crime. There had been blood on the floor, maybe Cora had wounded him while he tried to strangle her.

  He seemed the most likely suspect for the crime.

  “Honestly, I can’t be one-hundred-percent sure it’s murder yet.”

  “You can’t be serious, Dan?” Anna butted in.

  “Unfortunately, I am. I’m doing the best I can with limited resources. After all, there is only me and the one other officer here in town.”

  “This wasn’t a suicide,” Belle argued.

  “I promise you, I’m going to figure out what happened, even if it means calling in backup.”

  “There was literally nothing for her to stand on. No stool, no box, nothing. She wasn’t even close enough to the table, really,” Anna pointed out.

  “I’m aware of all of those facts, and I never said this wasn’t a homicide case. I just wanted you girls to know that I’m looking at all the possibilities. All of them.”

  “I understand the need to look at this from all angles, but what does your gut tell you? What do you think happened?” Anna pressed.

  “If I was going to venture a guess, I’d say it has something to do with whatever was inside of that glass case. The killer probably took it.”

  “Maybe a rare, expensive doll?” Harlem noted from the sidelines where he’d been floating out in the rain.

  The sister’s both shot a glance at him. They’d thought of it, of course.

  “Now, before I let you two go on back to the drive-in, can I ask you a few questions?” He pulled out a little yellow notepad and a pen.

  They both nodded.

  “You mentioned when we got here that Don Delta had been on the scene?”

  “He was. He was here earlier this morning at the same time we were. He was asking about buying some rare doll.” Anna answered.

  Belle jabbed her sister in the ribs. She just wasn’t sure that talking about the doll was a good idea, yet.

  “Ow. I’m going to get a bruise, you know?” she whispered.

  “Okay, then. A doll, huh?” Chief Bronson pursued the topic.

  “That’s right. A doll.”

  “Did you see the doll he wanted to buy?”

  “No, Cora said there was no such doll,” Belle chimed in.

  “I see.”

  “Don was also here just before we found the body,” Belle said.

  Chief Bronson’s eyes widened and his bushy eyebrows moved up. “Is that so?”

  “He nearly ran us off the road with his monster of a truck,” Anna added.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He was zooming so quickly away from here that he nearly hit us.”

  Dan tapped his pen on the pad, creating dots. “I’ll need to track him down and talk to him.” He scribbled something down. “I’ll need to contact her daughter as well, since she’s the only living relative. I just hope she can come into town.”

  “She’s already in town,” the sister’s said in unison.

  “Wait, what?” he asked.

  The girl’s looked at each other.

  “We saw her outside the V
eranda Hotel this morning,” Belle informed him.

  “You’re positive it was her?”

  “I’d say it was.”

  “And you can confirm this?” he asked Anna.

  “It’s true. We spotted her going into room thirteen, I think.”

  “Yep, room thirteen. I’m ninety-nine percent positive,” Anna agreed.

  Letting out a heavy breath, he marked something else down. “It’s only been a half-hour since the body was found and already this case is turning out to be a doozy.”

  CHAPTER 9

  * * *

  The back end of the Voodoo Drive-In restaurant had metal shutters that opened to reveal concession stands. The evening schedule was always the same at the Voodoo Drive-In. They opened the restaurant at four in the afternoon and served dinner until about eight, when it finally started getting dark. At eight-thirty, they opened the concession stands and ticket booth for the nightly showing of an old horror, sci-fi, or mystery movie. At nine, the movie started.

  Anna was still getting used to having to work nearly every single night except Sundays. Having lazy mornings and busy nights wasn’t her thing, since she wasn’t a night owl like her sister seemed to be. Of course, Val helped out many of the nights and other temporary or part-time employees (usually local teens) helped to lighten the load as well.

  That evening, the disturbing images of the murder scene were still lingering in Anna’s mind as she shoveled popcorn into a classic red and white carton. “Here you go. That’ll be seven-fifty please.” She handed the popcorn over the counter to the teenage couple.

  The blonde haired young man gave her a twenty. “Here.”

  She quickly got him his change. “Enjoy the movie.”

  “Oh, we will,” he said with a wicked smirk. They walked off, arm in arm, toward their car.

  A small part of Anna couldn’t help but be jealous. She wished she had a boyfriend to hold her like that, to tell her everything was okay even when something scary happened. It was all well and good when your date held onto you during a scary part of a film, but it was another thing entirely when your life turned into a horror movie.

  The image of Cora’s swinging body returned, and she shivered.

  “That smile means they’re going to make out the entire movie,” Belle whispered playfully to her sister, referring to the teens.

  “I know that. I wasn’t born yesterday,” she defended herself, grabbing another kernel of the steaming, buttery popcorn and popping it into her mouth.

  “Okay, I get it,” Belle chuckled.

  “Heck, I’m pretty sure I went on way more dates than you ever did in high school.”

  “Yes, as you always insist on reminding me. You’re the popular one.”

  Anna let out a quiet groan. “Not anymore.” While she didn’t miss going to school, she did miss the inherent social life it allowed for. Her mind wandered as she thought of the maintenance man who worked on the drive-in from time to time. His name was Hank and she’d sort of had her eye on him since she’d arrived back in Sunken Grove. Of course, she would never in a million years admit to Belle that she was interested in the maintenance man. It sounded too much like some tacky romance novel.

  Grabbed another kernel from the large glass popper, she tossed it in the air, catching it in her mouth. “Gosh, I’m starved.”

  “You said you weren’t in any mood to eat when we got back earlier,” Belle reminded her.

  “I was still feeling sick from that whole scene.”

  Belle sighed. “I know what you mean.”

  “Anyway, at this point, I think my body’s need for food is winning out over my emotional trauma from today,” she admitted, feeling her stomach growl.

  “The movie is about to start and our concession lines are dwindling down. Why don’t you take a quick break and eat something?”

  “Oh, that would be perfect. Are you sure?”

  “I can hold down the fort for a few minutes. Go and relax. You deserve it after today.”

  “Awesome,” she thanked her sister. Not wanting to think too hard about what she was going to eat, she grabbed a red serving basket, laid a piece of deli paper in it, and took out some hot fried pickles from the fryer. In addition, she grabbed a box of warm boiled peanuts, some peanut butter cups, and an orange sweet roll that Val had prepared that afternoon.

  She knew it wasn’t the healthiest of meals, but she didn’t have the time—or the patience—to whip up something balanced.

  At first, her thought was to sit down at one of the empty tables in the restaurant (which was closed) to eat, but she decided she wanted some fresh air. There were a few picnic tables along the border of the parking area in the drive-in—two on each side of the lot. Belle had them installed for teenagers or other patrons who wanted to come see the movies but didn’t have a car.

  Walking out the back door, Anna spotted the nearest vacant table. The low hum of drums and violins played in the air as the opening credits came up on the screen in classic black-and-white.

  Sitting on the bench, she set her food down.

  A small silver speaker pole sat at one end, playing the film’s opening soundtrack. The four picnic tables were the only part of the theater with built in speakers. People who drove their cars were expected to tune into the drive-in’s radio station which broadcast the film’s audio.

  A loud fanfare played as the title of the movie, Horror Hotel, came up. While the theater rotated through many films that were available in the public archives, Belle had a habit of showing her favorites more frequently. This particular film, starring a very young, very handsome Christopher Lee, was one such movie.

  It wasn’t a surprise, since the whole movie was centered on a cult of witches, and Belle loved the idea of witches.

  Anna didn’t much care for horror movies, but figured this one wasn’t half-bad.

  Popping the first fried pickle into her mouth, she looked up at the screen to watch. Just then, a rustle in the nearby brush drew her attention. Before she had time to formulate a theory on what may be in there, a shadowy figure slid out and began to tip-toe into the lot.

  Someone was trying to sneak into the movie without paying first. It wasn’t a hard feat, to be sure, since the chain link fence around the lot wasn’t exactly high. Additionally, it was old, and rusted in parts. Most likely, there were holes where kids could slip through.

  Her makeshift dinner of junk foods would have to wait for a moment.

  Standing up, she proceeded to follow the figure as they weaved in and out of cars, always remaining low as to not obstruct anyone’s view of the film. Keeping her eye on the figure, the occasional glimpse of light caught his features. It was a male. She was pretty sure of that, based on his short hair and build. Additionally, he was small, indicating that he was likely a teen or middle schooler.

  She was just getting close enough to grab him when he pulled open a nearby car door and climbed in. Just as he did, the cab illuminated for a second, showing that the person wasn’t a teenager after all. It was a man.

  She instantly recognized him from earlier that day, from their first visit to Coraline’s plantation.

  It was Don Delta.

  CHAPTER 10

  * * *

  “Just what the heck is Don Delta doing sneaking into the Voodoo Drive-In?” Belle asked, spraying more fresh butter over the popcorn.

  “And who’s car did he climb into?” Anna pointed out.

  “I thought Dan would have tracked him down by now, brought him in for questioning.”

  “I’d prefer if he’d arrest him,” Anna added. “In my opinion, if someone is behind this murder, it’s him.”

  “Well, we can’t honestly know that for sure,” Belle pointed out.

  “I do. I’ve spent the last few hours since thinking about it. He was the only one we know who had contact with Mrs. Danvers in the last few days.”

  “Besides us,” Belle noted.

  “Well, I’m not counting us.”

  “D
an might be. It’s his job to know all of the possibilities.”

  Anna cringed. “That’s ridiculous. Dan wouldn’t do that.”

  “I’m just telling you, Anna. That’s how police work goes.”

  “The point is, that antique salesman had a vendetta against Coraline. He wanted something she had and she wouldn’t give. We saw him bothering her this morning and then saw him fleeing the scene just before we found the body. It’s gotta be him. I just know it.”

  “Just listen to me for a second. Maybe we’re on the wrong course about this whole thing. We don’t have any hard evidence.”

  “What about the blood on the floor?”

  “Dan will probably send it to a lab for testing, is my guess.”

  Anna clapped her hands. “I’ve got it. If Dan can get a search warrant for that truck, maybe we can find the missing doll. That would prove it was Don Delta.”

  “Yes, except that we don’t know if it was even a doll that was stolen. No one even knows if that darn doll even exists.”

  Anna made a pouty face of disappointment, realizing her sister was right.

  “I’ll tell you what I can do. I can tell Don Delta to get lost.” Belle wiped her hands on a towel and headed straight for the back door, but Anna grabbed a hold of her.

  “Don’t go.”

  “Why not? He didn’t pay for a ticket, and whoever is driving the car is letting him sit in. I, as the owner of this establishment, have every right to kick him out.”

  “What if we blow it? I mean, who is he meeting with? Did he commit this murder while in cahoots with someone else? Shelly Waite, maybe? Or Cora’s own daughter?”

  Belle only hesitated for a second. “No matter who it is, I’m about to find out, aren’t I?”

  Anna gripped her sister’s arm tighter to keep her from running off. “I didn’t come in here and tell you about it so you could kick them out. I have a better idea. Let’s call Dan. He can come down and pick them up while they are on their way out of the movie.”