Dead and Breakfast (18 page)

Autumn glanced back at the Cayo, making sure her mother wasn’t lurking in the window. Evelyn never liked it when Autumn spoke to spirits. Although Evelyn was convinced Autumn had only been talking to herself. The Cayo was quiet.

“Was this how you died?” Autumn pointed to the pool. “Were you drowned?”

Autumn heard a cackling laugh.

Without the ring, she had no way to pull Inez to her. No way to access the ghost’s mind. She’d hoped speaking to her aloud would provoke the spirit, but Inez couldn’t be controlled that way. Autumn considered a different tactic.

“You drowned, didn’t you? Maybe, no one killed you. Maybe you just drank too much and slipped on the wet patio. It’s not the first time that has happened. Some silly high school girl has one too many whiskey sours or whatever you guys drank back then. She isn’t paying attention and she falls, knocks her head on the edge of the pool, and tumbles into the water. And there’s no one to save her.”

Autumn jerked back as if two hands have shoved her hard. Inez was present and probably pissed.
Good. If I can’t use the ring to call her, maybe I can use reverse psychology.

“Admit it, Inez. You killed yourself by being stupid—” A punch smashed into her chest and Autumn cried out. The swirling blackness quickly followed.

Autumn sucked in a breath. She exhaled as someone clasped her hand and swayed with her. Her heels clacked on the Cayo’s pristine cement patio. A recognizable the song, The Supremes’ “My World is Empty Without You” emanated from the record player which was set up on a bridge table near the French doors. She felt a hot breath in her ear.

Mick held Inez close as they danced. He wore the dark blue uniform with white stripes on the sleeves. Just like the night they met in Autumn’s first vision. The diamond glinted on Inez’s finger. “My grandmother’s ring looks beautiful on you,” said Mick.

Inez admired the glitz. “It does, doesn’t it?”

Mick twirled Inez around, and she bumped into a soft body behind her.

Glenda’s faced pinched with annoyance and her eyes searched frantically. “Has anyone seen Duncan?”

Inez moved her hips and spun around the redhead. “He’s probably hiding from you.”

“Inez,” Mick warned.

“What? She’s a ditz. No wonder Duncan’s a queer.” Inez laughed.

Did queer then mean the same thing it means now?

Inez yelped as Glenda yanked Inez’s hair. “Get off me, puta.”

Glenda ran her fingers across Inez’s face, drawing blood. Inez screamed and charged Autumn’s aunt. Autumn wished she could stop her, but Mick had pulled her back and hissed in her ear, “Let it go or she could hurt the both of you.”

The both of you?

Duncan came bounding near the pool with Ralph on his heels. “What’s going on here? We heard a scream.”

Glenda wiped furiously at her eyes.

Mick answered, “Nothing. The girls wigged out a little over the music. Wasn’t anything.”

Duncan tilted up Glenda’s chin and whispered, “Is that right?”

Inez taunted, “Tell him. Go on.”

Glenda glared at Inez before she nodded. “I wanted to hear The Rolling Stones, that’s all. Inez disagreed. Things got heated. It’s nothing.”

Duncan shot Mick a pointed look as Mick shrugged his broad shoulders. Duncan led Glenda away from the patio and inside the Cayo, leaving Mick alone with Inez.

“Why do you have to say those things?” Mick asked.

“What? I’m saving the chica from her misery,” said Inez with an air of indifference. “She shouldn’t be with someone who can’t really love her.”

Inez should take her own advice.

Autumn felt that queasiness hit her insides again. She pushed Mick away and retched into a nearby shrub.

“I heard it doesn’t last long,” Mick said from behind. “Maybe a few weeks.”

Autumn hurled again. Her mind spun. The sudden nausea. Mick’s protectiveness. Autumn remembered seeing Jennifer retch into a trashcan during a video call with Autumn’s dad.

“Don’t worry, pumpkin,” her father had told Autumn. “Jennifer’s okay. It will only last a few weeks.”

When Autumn stood up, she was back in the present day. Inez having left her body, but having told Autumn something very important.

Inez was pregnant.

Tuesday morning Liam gently rapped on the wood moulding outside reception. Evelyn sat at a small table in the lobby, eating a bagel while pouring over some books. Autumn was there as well. The minute he saw her, his chest swelled. He watched as her cheeks reddened too.

Autumn had texted him last night to tell him about Inez and the baby. He hoped they’d have time to discuss it before school, but glancing at Evelyn’s hunched shoulders, it didn’t seem likely.

“Morning, Mrs. Abernathy. Where would you like me to start today?”

Evelyn didn’t even lift her gaze from the ledger. She held out her hand with a piece of notebook paper dangling from her fingertips. “I have a list here for you. There’s a leak in the August bathroom. Mr. Fletcher mentioned hearing a constant dripping last night across the hall, and he was none too pleased about it.”

“I didn’t hear him complain,” Autumn said. “And I saw him this morning at breakfast.”

Her mother looked up from the ledger as if seeing everyone in the room for the first time. “That’s because he is too much of a gentleman to say anything. But it would’ve annoyed anyone trying to sleep, I can tell you that. It’s our job to see that guests’ needs are met even before they know what those needs are.”

Liam knitted his brows in confusion. It sounded to him like Evelyn was spewing something she must’ve read in a book.
How to Run a Hotel for Dummies
. And she thought they were all dummies. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll go upstairs and take care of it. Do you know where the leak is coming from?”

“I believe the bathtub.” She dropped her gaze back to the ledger in front of her. “I imagine the faucet needs tightening.” She nodded toward the chair next to her. On it was a red metal toolbox, circa last century. Liam grabbed it and took that as his cue to get to work. Autumn opened her mouth like she wanted to utter an apology for her mother’s coldness, but she could only shrug.

Liam climbed the stairs, the metal tools rattling inside the box like bones in a coffin. The humidity was worse upstairs. He wiped a bit of sweat from his upper lip and scanned the worn wooden signs on the door. The September room was on his right. He squinted at the wood on the door and ran his finger over the faded A. August. He inhaled deeply and opened the door.

The first thing that hit him was the wet air. Evelyn had said that the last guest to stay there was a high-maintenance middle-aged woman from Texas in town for a singles event.

He listened carefully for the dripping. Drip . . . drip. The droplets fell softly, as if from a short distance. He opened up the bathroom door and spotted a curling iron still plugged into the socket near the base of the tub. Did no one notice this when the previous guest had left?

The old claw foot tub nearly overflowed with water. Not only had the faucet been leaking, but the tub drain had been clogged too. Liam put down the toolbox on the tile floor and peeked inside the tub. The droplets made little rings that dissipated as they rippled through the water.

Liam stifled a gag. Whatever was clogging that tub had to be gross. If it was a hairball, he knew it would be seconds before he could reach the toilet in time to barf up breakfast. Liam could handle blood, but hairballs he could not. He leaned over and braced one arm against the far end of the tub. He squeezed his eyes shut, thrust his hand into the water, and stuck his fingers into the drain. Streams of water flowed freely from the tub, drenching his shoes.

I’m not being paid enough money to do this.
Liam grazed something soft, not rough like hair, but silky like a piece of cloth. He pushed his fingers farther into the drain in an effort to grab it. It was no use. He yanked his hand out and opened up the toolbox, searching for a pair of pliers.

He exhaled when he found them. The old toolkit was good for something. He leaned over the tub and put the pliers into the drain, trying to pinch the cloth between the pliers’ teeth.

Liam smelled something burning. A curling iron, smoking from the heat, floated in the air, inching toward him. A vein in his neck pulsed rapidly as if it was about to explode. Liam froze, his eyes glued to the sizzling iron. He swallowed hard, glancing at the door, readying his escape. But then he was shoved into the bath. Water overflowed. An invisible hand pressed down on his head. The curling iron, still plugged into the socket, lingered over the tub. If it fell in, he was toast. Electrocuted. Liam struggled to grab the edge of the porcelain tub. His face broke the surface of the water and he screamed. “Help!”

Autumn charged toward him. She smacked the curling iron away, and cried out. The wretched thing clanged to the tile floor. Autumn shook out her hand and hissed.

“Dammit, Inez.” Autumn cradled her injured hand for a moment before reaching in and helping Liam out of the water. “She nearly killed you. Again. We have to get rid of her.”

A cry of frustration cut the air, followed by a baby’s wail. Liam shuddered.

#

“I’m serious, Liam.” Autumn helped him climb out of the tub. He slipped on the tile floor, but she caught him and they embraced awkwardly. “This is the third time. She’s tried to drown you, take off your head, and now electrocute you. When are you going to get it? This is serious.”

“Your mother is going to think I’m crazy. This is the second time I’ve fallen into water while working.”

“Forget my mom.” Autumn tilted Liam’s chin and forced him look at her. “What are we going to do about this?”

“Did you see her?” he asked.

Autumn dropped her hand. “Sorta, kinda. I saw a female form. She had dark hair, but unlike Katie, her features were blurry. Like bad television reception.”

“Speak of the devil.” Katie appeared and glided over to Liam, who didn’t seem to register her apparition.

“He can’t see you,” Autumn said. “You’re gonna have to adjust your reception.”

Katie squeezed her eyes tightly together. Autumn watched her silhouette brighten. “How about now?”

Liam gasped and fell against the pedestal sink.

“It worked,” Autumn said dryly.

Liam’s face paled. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

Katie pouted. “I’m not a what. I’m a who. God, it’s like you’ve never seen a woman before.”

Liam sat on the edge of the tub, which had now drained, with his mouth agape. He stared at Katie as if she was a piece of art he was trying to decipher.

Autumn snapped her fingers in Liam’s face. “Focus.”

“I can’t.” He pointed at Katie’s apparition. “I’m seeing a ghost. A real ghost.”

Katie put her hands on her hips. “Well, thank you for noticing.” She jutted out her chin. “I was just like you once. A living person. Try to pretend I’m still that girl. I’m just a little see-through now.”

Liam’s voice trembled. “Okay. I’ll try.”

The piece of cloth that had been the source of the clog lay on the floor like a giant spitball. “What is that?” Autumn asked.

Autumn gently laid a hand on Liam’s shoulder and tried to steady him as he bent to pick up the rag. “It looks like some kind of handkerchief.”

He opened up the soggy ball. There was the letter B embroidered on it in blue thread. It also had an old brown stain.

Blood
? “Is that yours?” Autumn asked Liam.

“Do I look like the kind of guy who carries around old handkerchiefs?” He raised his brow.

“No,” Autumn and Katie said at the same time.

“It probably belonged to the former guest, Mrs. Benson,” Autumn said. “I mean, that makes the most sense.”

Katie flickered slightly. “It sounds like Inez is trying to tell you something. And that B,” she pointed at Liam, “is a clue.”

“She thinks Leo Breyer killed her,” Autumn said. “B for Breyer.”

“Pops is a lot of things, but he’s no murderer. He’s harmless.”

Autumn remembered Leo’s scowl in her vision. He didn’t look harmless then. But she wouldn’t mention that now.

“If she thinks I’m my grandfather, then doesn’t it make sense that she would be confused as to who killed her?” Liam asked.

Katie thought about that for a moment before saying, “Yes. She’s either missing her own memories or she’s linking separate events from her past. Either way, you don’t have the full picture.”

Autumn said, “When I get inside her head. I’m at the mercy of what she shows me. I can’t make her see the truth.”

“Sounds to me like she’s trying to make
you
see the truth,” said Katie.

“Yeah, well, I know Liam didn’t kill her. Do you think if we called her to a séance, she’d understand that Liam isn’t Leo?”

Katie scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding. I’d never come just because some fools called me to a table draped with a maroon cloth.”

“Well, would Inez?” Autumn asked.

Katie shrugged and flitted around the bathroom. “She might. She likes messing with you guys.”

Liam tilted up his head at Autumn. “How do we go about contacting her?”

“Don’t ask her,” Katie said. “Just because she can see ghosts doesn’t mean she can control them. Two very different things. What you need is a medium.”

“A medium?” Liam asked. “Where do we find one of those?”

Katie smiled and waved her arms in a dramatic fashion. “Luckily for you, right under your nose.”

“Timothy,” Autumn whispered.

“Yes,” said Katie. “That beautiful Bahamian downstairs, who unfortunately wouldn’t be into me, is your medium. You want to talk to Inez. Talk to Timothy.”

#

Timothy stood at the reception desk, doodling on a thin pad of blue paper that had
Cayo Hueso
scrawled across the top.

“What are you jackals looking at?” Timothy said without glancing up from the pad.

“A medium,” Autumn and Liam said together.

Timothy dropped his pen. “Aw, hell no. Who told you I was a medium?”

“Katie,” Autumn said.

Timothy rolled his eyes. “I told you to contact ghost girl through Katie, not
through
me.”