The Night is Watching

She sat at a table that she thought must be in Liz’s station, since she was delivering food to a family at a nearby table. She was right. As she studied the menu, Liz breezed by with a smile. “Hi, glad you came down! Okay,” she said, lowering her voice, “I don’t suggest the fish. We have farm-raised tilapia and it’s kind of blah. Are you a vegetarian? We do a cheese and broccoli risotto that’s absolutely delicious. But, hey, we’re in meat country. The beefalo is pretty darned good, either as a steak or in a burger. And then, of course, there’s Tex-Mex. We have excellent fajitas, tacos, burritos...”

“The risotto sounds great,” Jane said.

“Oh, you are a vegetarian.”

“No.” Jane shook her head. “It just sounds good for tonight.”

Liz was going to give her the full list of wine choices to complement her meal but Jane didn’t think she wanted her perceptions dulled in the least that night. “I’ll have an iced tea, thanks.”

“Sure thing!” Liz said. “Be right back. Oh, take a peek at the show if you like—just slip through the curtain. We’ve all been told that you have free rein of the place and to make you as happy as we can.”

“That’s really nice. Thank you,” Jane told her.

Liz grinned and hurried off, and Jane decided to check out the show. As she stepped through the divide in the curtain, she saw that there was a full house and moved to the side to hover in the background.

“Oh, no, oh, no! What shall I do, what shall I do?” Valerie Mystro was crying out as Jane entered. Valerie was tied to the train tracks on the stage, struggling against the ropes that held her there while a train whistle sounded in the background.

“I’m coming, my heart, I’m coming!” Cy Tyburn cried in return. He’d been tied to the old stagecoach across from the tracks.

“Save her! Save her!” someone from the audience called out enthusiastically.

Cy stopped and looked at the audience, arching his brows. “Well, duh!” he said, bringing a rise of laughter from the crowd.

Jane laughed herself as he tried to drag the stagecoach toward Valerie.

“The knife!” Valerie shrieked.

“The knife?” Cy asked.

“The one strapped to your ankle, idiot!” someone yelled from the audience.

“Oh, yeah...yeah!” Cy said.

The play was ridiculous, Jane could see, but tremendous fun, and the audience seemed to love it. Cy cut himself loose, then ran over and freed Valerie as the audience urged him on.

Valerie spoke loving words of appreciation, while he gazed into her eyes adoringly. The two ran offstage together just as a train pulled out from behind the curtains. Alice, in full vamp mode, was standing in the front of the locomotive, hissing as she saw that she’d lost her victims. The audience booed her until she stepped down, played with them, telling them she was really a good girl caught in terrible circumstances. Then she launched into a musical number in which she told the audience why everyone should love a vamp. Watching, Jane smiled. It was a cute show, suitable for all ages. The physical humor had broad appeal and the sets were impressive.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. Liz had come in to get her.

“Take your time, but your food is on the table,” she said cheerfully. “And,” she whispered, “all hell breaks loose when the show lets out!”

Jane whispered a thank-you and watched a few more minutes of the show. As Alice’s musical number ended, Cy Tyburn, naive and innocent hero, came back onstage. He tried to warn Alice about the evil machinations of the villain, Brian Highsmith, and Alice listened with wide-eyed adoration. They shared the number “You Make a Bad Girl Even Better at Being Badder.”

It was clever, and Jane decided that the next night she’d make a point of seeing the whole show. She quietly left the theater and returned to her table. A metal cover had been placed over her plate to keep her meal warm and, as she lifted it, she glanced at the stairs.

A woman was standing on the upper landing, her hand resting on the stair rail. She was dressed in late-Victorian attire, in a dark green travel suit with a slight bustle and a tailored jacket over a high-buttoned blouse. A green hat was worn at an artistic angle, her dark hair neatly tied at her nape. Her facial structure was elegant, handsome. She stared down at Jane, and for a moment, Jane thought she was an employee who worked in the bar or food area—or perhaps sold tickets or souvenirs. But as she watched Jane, she raised her hand from the rail, adjusted a glove and slowly faded away, her eyes on Jane all the while.

Sage McCormick? Jane wondered. And if so, what had happened to her?

Judging by the way the woman had stared at her, Jane wasn’t at all certain that Sage—if that was indeed who it was—liked her or felt happy to have her there.

She didn’t ponder the question long. She felt a real presence nearby and turned.

Sheriff Trent was back. She glanced up at him, thinking again that he fit his Western town very well. He had the rugged good looks of a cowboy, a frontiersman. She was disturbed at feeling her heart rate increase as he stood before her; she was afraid she was going to blush. But, like it or not, he was a very attractive man, masculine, rugged, exuding casual confidence.

“May I?” he asked her.

“Please,” she said, indicating the seat across from her.

“Tables are at a premium right now,” he told her. “The show’s almost over.”

“I don’t suppose it would be a neighborly thing to do, refusing you a chair,” Jane said. Sloan Trent had made it fairly evident that he didn’t approve of her any more than the ghost seemed to.

“How do you like staying here?” he asked.

She smiled. “Well, I’ve only had a few hours. But the room is both historic and lovely, the employees and the theater people all seem very pleasant, and I’m about to judge the food.”

“Sorry, please, eat!” he urged. “Liz.” He greeted the waitress who’d seen him and she came over.

“Sloan, nice to see you!” Liz said with her natural warmth and enthusiasm. “What would you like?”

“Whatever our guest is having. It looks good,” he said.

“Sure.” Liz nodded and moved away.

“So, I guess you really were desperate for a chair—since you don’t seem to want me in this town,” Jane said lightly.

He grinned at that and shrugged. “Have I been an ass?”

“Yes. I would say so. Especially since you’re the one who called Logan and asked if he knew a forensic artist he could recommend.”

“I’m sorry. It’s nothing personal. And yes, I called Logan. I wanted the skull sent out, say, to the Smithsonian or something. But when Henri, as mayor, said no...” Sloan shook his head. “I don’t understand Henri Coque’s motivations. I’m worried that he wants to use a dead woman’s skull as a tourist attraction, a ghost story...a fabrication.”

“Maybe he’s just clinging to history,” Jane suggested.

“He’s got a notion that he can create some kind of great romantic story that will make the theater and the town even more appealing. You know, hit up the travel sites and magazines and so on.”

“Is that really such a bad thing?” Jane asked.

Liz delivered an iced tea to Sloan and he thanked her. “I don’t know. I just think that there are labs better situated to deal with this.”

“In my brief, I read that no one has any idea how the skull got where it was.”

“That’s right. Henri is always saying that one day he’ll get all the ‘treasures’ in the basement organized. Some of the things down there really are priceless. Old cutouts for advertising and promo, dressmakers’ dummies, mannequins—some are wire, some are wooden, some are cardboard. Some are junk and some are certainly collector’s items. The problem is, it’s such a hodgepodge, the actors seldom go down there. Now, the wigs are used, but they hadn’t been in about a year. What happened was that the show was about to open and Valerie’s wig had been damaged, so she went to see what else they had down there until it could be fixed. But...if she hadn’t needed a wig, the skull could have sat there for weeks or months or who knows how much longer. They hadn’t been touched in ages, so...”

“There was powder residue on it so I assume you tested for prints?” Jane asked. “Or was it just seen as an act of mischief—not really worth investigating—since no real crime was committed? At least, not a current crime.”

“Mischief, but the kind of mischief that infuriated Henri. Yes, we tested for prints and found none. It had been wiped clean. I mean, there weren’t even prints from way back when. Nothing at all. Someone wore gloves and knew enough to wipe it down.”

“So, you’re thinking maybe it was someone who’d been in law enforcement?” Jane asked skeptically.

He laughed. “No! I was thinking someone who’s seen a cop or forensic show at some time during his or her life—and that’s practically everyone. The woman’s been dead for over a hundred years, so as you said, we’re not looking at current crime. Also, Henri wants to exploit the skull—great for tourism. I also think he wants to know who it belonged to. That might help him figure out who put a wig on the skull, and he wants to know that so he can fire his or her ass.”

“You believe whoever did it had to be an actor or crew member or Gilded Lily employee?”

“It’s not like the place is locked up tight all the time. It’s unlikely that anyone not associated with the theater would have wandered in with a skull in hand to hide it under a wig in the basement,” he told her, shrugging. “So, yes, it had to be someone already here, someone trying to cause trouble.”

“Someone like...a trickster,” Jane murmured.

“A trickster?” Sloan asked, looking at her curiously. “Yes, I guess.”

“Ah, beware tricksters.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing, just thinking out loud,” she said. “It’s hardly a good...joke when you consider that the skull once belonged to someone living and breathing.”

“Maybe after so many years that didn’t matter much to whoever put it there.”

“Are you investigating?”

“We did investigate,” Sloan replied. “Like I said, we dusted for prints. We checked out the basement area. Naturally, we did a thorough search. We wanted to make sure there were no more bones down there. But whoever messed around with the skull wiped it clean, and prints in the basement would mean little because everyone goes down there from time to time. Not necessarily for a wig, but there are boxes of fabric, costumes pieces, props, you name it. So, other than me questioning the cast, crew and staff, there wasn’t all that far we could go. Everyone here denied ever seeing the skull before.”

“I guess you’re at a dead end, if you’ll forgive the pun. And I understand that Henri Coque might want to know who put the skull there.”

“Everyone—other than the person who put it there, of course—wants to know who did it. Who the trickster, as you called him, might have been.”

“Someone with a warped sense of humor, I guess.”

Sloan frowned at her. “I’m surprised Logan let you come here. Don’t you and your group usually deal with felonies, serial killers, major crime?”

“Yes.”

“So how could he spare you?”

“I’m an artist. You needed an artist. If something major occurs, he’ll call me back in. Frankly, I’m surprised myself. You don’t want me here, for whatever reason, but you called Logan.”

“I thought I explained that,” he said, a little testily. “I know Logan. I trust him. If we had to have someone in here, I’d prefer to go with a professional sent by someone I know.”

“Power struggle!” she teased.

“Not at all. Henri is a politician, I’m just a lawman. But I wanted it done right.” He hesitated. “Henri wanted to call in a local artist who does landscapes, caricatures and the like. When I suggested calling a friend who could recommend a legitimate forensic artist, we came to a compromise.”

“Ah,” she said.

“So, I wound up with a member of Logan’s own Krewe.”

“So you did.”

He didn’t offer an opinion as to whether that was what he’d wanted or not. He knew Logan, so he had to know something about their Krewes. She’d already guessed as much. But he didn’t ask the questions they usually got. Questions like “Aren’t you known as the bureau’s ‘ghost-busters’?” Or “Shouldn’t you be off chasing ghosts somewhere?” Or one of her personal favorites: “Did the ghost do it? Or was it the butler? Or the butler’s ghost? Ha-ha!”

Yes, he had to realize that Krewe units were considered “special” or “specific.”

But he didn’t ask her another question. Liz arrived with his meal and they both began to eat, concentrating on their food. After a while, the silence grew awkward, even though there seemed to be an expectant quality in the very air between them. He was definitely way too attractive, and the sexual draw she felt toward him made her uneasy.

Jane felt that she had to speak. “You were close to Logan?” she asked.

“Logan didn’t tell you anything about me?”

“Just that you were a friend he knew from Texas, and you needed a forensic artist here in Lily. He gave me a short brief on the situation, on the Gilded Lily and the town.”

“We worked well together. I was with the police force in Houston. He was a Ranger, which, of course, you know. We met when we ended up combining forces to capture a spree killer who was making his way through the state,” Sloan told her. “That was before Logan joined the bureau. But I take it you worked with him before then, too?”

“I did. I wasn’t with any agency. I was brought in whenever a forensic artist was needed.”

“So, when you were a little girl, you knew you wanted to grow up and do facial reconstructions for law enforcement?” he asked. There was a curl to his lip. He did have a sense of humor.

“I started off the usual way. I was into nudes,” she said drily.

He gave her a full-fledged smile at that. “Sorry. I guess I did ask that rather caustically.”

“I always drew, and I had a flair for faces. When I was in college, one of my professors was asked to help with a reconstruction on a burn victim. I was fascinated by his ability to take a skull and return it to life through the image he created. I didn’t go right into forensics, though. I graduated, and then apprenticed on an anthropological dig in Mexico. And...well, Texas is a big state. I helped various departments fairly frequently. Logan was approached by a man named Jackson Crow, who managed the first Krewe, and I was called in. We worked a sad and gritty case in San Antonio, and next thing I knew, I was in the academy at Quantico.”

“Life does take us along unexpected paths sometimes,” he said. He sounded far more open than he’d been earlier in the day.

“You seemed disturbed by my sketch,” she said.

He shrugged. “I can’t put my finger on it, but your sketch reminded me of someone.”

“At this point it’s not really accurate, you know. It’s just the way I work. Tomorrow, I’ll have measurements, do a second sketch and begin to build up the face. With what we know and what we can guess, that should give us a better sense of a person’s appearance. Some of it remains guesswork, of course, but you’ll have more of a likeness when I’m done. But you can’t know the woman. The skull is over a hundred years old. If it was from someone more recently dead, it wouldn’t be as delicate.”

“No, I haven’t been around for a hundred-plus years,” he said with a slight laugh.

“True, but I understand you’ve been in law enforcement for quite a while. Did you always want to be a cop?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“You’re from here. However, you started your career in Texas?”

“I went to Texas A & M University and then into the academy.”

“You left Houston to come back here,” she said.

“My parents died when I was a kid. I was raised by my grandfather. He was dying. I came home to be with him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. He had a good life and lived well. Didn’t deserve to die the way he did, but then no one does. The cancer was brutal.”

“And you stayed here in Lily,” she said.

He had a rueful smile that could almost be described as charming. “Well,” he mused slowly. “I took the job of sheriff. Right now they’d be stretching to find someone to take my place. I have deputies who’ll be up to it soon enough.”

“Still...Houston, Texas. Lily, Arizona. You must’ve become accustomed to dealing with gangs, murder...you name it.”

“Lily is a change,” he agreed. “In a way, a damned nice change. Back in the very early days—the Civil War and after—you had a fair share of bar brawls, shoot-’em-ups and rancher-outlaw entanglements. Then, a decade or two after the war, there were men working the silver mines out in the caverns. Those were rough days. There was a sheriff way back—but no real sheriff’s department, and the sheriff had to be an ex-outlaw himself to handle the trigger-happy gunfighters out here. Now, of course, we have our small-town department and the larger county department. The towns had their own sheriffs back then and county help amounted to praying that the militia might be on hand or the regular military if things went really badly. But then the outlaw days pretty much petered out in the twenties. We had a few more modern bank-robber types pass through in the thirties. In the forties, when a lot of local men went off to war, the town almost closed down. Now...” He paused with a shrug. “Now, we get a few bar brawls, a few fender benders, occasionally a domestic situation. But Lily’s a safe place. We have law-abiding citizens and tourists for the most part.”

“So, you stay because you love Lily, you love the peace and tranquility or...?”

“Or I burned out in Houston?” he asked her.

“I didn’t say that.”

“It’s easy to burn out in Houston,” he said mildly. “But no, I didn’t burn out.”

“If you were friends with Logan and worked with him, you were probably pretty intense as a cop,” Jane said.

“Intense? I think it’s a requirement. Anyway, I liked working in Houston. And I don’t mind being the sheriff in Lily. There is a lot here that’s good. I like the history, and the fact that my family’s from this area. Anyway, who knows what the future will hold?”

The velvet curtains were drawn back by an usher as they spoke; people surged out of the theater area and into the bar.

“Time for me to go,” Logan said, rising. He dug into his pocket and left a large bill on the table. “I’ll pick you up in the morning. Eight-thirty? We have a car you can use while you’re here if you want, but it’s down at the sheriff’s office.”

“Thank you. I’ll build up the skull tomorrow, get a more realistic look at measurements and have a more accurate image of soft-tissue depth, at least,” she told him.

“Thanks,” he said. “You should see the show while you’re here.”

“I did watch a few minutes of it before you arrived. It’s really cute.”

“Catch the haunted hayride, too.”

“Sounds like fun. Maybe I will.”

People were spilling out of the theater. He glanced at the crowd and grimaced. “Kind of a long day. I’m out of here. Good night.”

“Good night.”

He made a quick escape, and Jane soon realized why. It had been a full house and forty or fifty people were milling in the bar. It seemed a nice crowd; the show made people laugh and put them in a pleasant mood. Some people were going across the street to the saloon—too crowded at the Gilded Lily. She could see that the theater was good for all the businesses in the area. It brought those who then stayed at the Old Jail or other local bed-and-breakfast places or hotels and it brought people to shop and visit restaurants and use the stables.

Liz came sailing by to ask her if she wanted anything else before the crowd got crazy. Jane said no.

“I told you, you’re totally on the house,” Liz said, looking at the money.

“Sloan left that.”

“That man!” Liz groaned. “He always tips way too much. Well, Lily is his town, and he tries to make sure we all do well here. Wish he’d stay around!”

“You don’t think he’s going to stay in Lily?” Jane asked.

Liz shook her head. “No. Not forever, anyway. He’s popular here. He’s a man’s man, you know?” She laughed. “He doesn’t smoke, but I could’ve seen him as the Marlboro Man, sexy and rugged and good-looking. Don’t you think?”

“He’s a very attractive man,” she replied, trying to sound noncommittal.

“Be still, my heart!” Liz said, and then laughed again. “Oh, well. You sure you don’t want anything else—more tea, some coffee or maybe decaf?”

“No, no, I’m fine, thank you. I’m going to call it a night.” She reached for her purse; her food might be free, but she wasn’t letting a server work for nothing.

“Don’t you dare leave money. Next time, you can give me a tip if you want. Sloan tipped enough for five tables,” Liz told her. “Seriously, don’t you put down a dime!”

Jane didn’t want to insult the woman and she was afraid that insisting might just do so. “All right, thank you. But, please—”

“Next time!” Liz said.

Liz moved on, efficiently taking orders from the crowd now seeking chairs and bar stools.

Jane didn’t see Henri Coque, Jennie or any of the actors yet—just the people who’d been in the audience. She headed for the stairs. She glanced around to see if the slightest hint of an apparition might appear; none did. She was convinced, however, that she’d seen the image of a woman there earlier.

The ghost in her room? The spirit of Sage McCormick?

And had Sage been busy in the bedroom while she was gone?

Jane turned the key in her lock, opened her door, flipped on the light and looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed in the room. “Hello,” she said softly.

“Hey!”

The shout came from the hall. Startled, Jane swung around. Brian Highsmith was opening the door to the room beside hers. “You all right, Jane? Were you expecting to greet the resident ghost? If you’re worried, I can check out the room for you.”

Brian was serious; he seemed worried that she might be frightened, even though he knew she was an FBI agent.

“Just because you know how to use a gun,” he said, walking down the hall toward her, “doesn’t mean you might not be afraid of the theater’s reputation.”

“Brian, I’m pretty sure every old building has a reputation for being haunted.”

“But this is Lily.”

“Yes, yes, it is.”

He paused, looking a little disappointed. “You don’t understand. This town...well, it saw a lot of violence. The whole place is haunted, inside and out. Are you positive you don’t want me to check that there’s nothing—no one—in your room?” He leaned against the wall, presenting her with a come-on smile. Was he trying to use this as a pickup line? Did he think she’d ask him to protect her, so he could offer to sleep by her side?

He was dark and handsome, and although he played the villain, he had a pretty-boy flair to him. She was disturbed to realize she was comparing him to Sloan Trent. Trent was far more seductive, even in his awkward courtesy when he’d pondered opening a door for her. She liked his looks, but she was still debating his reversal, from hostility to polite and genial conversation this evening. Well, he’d wanted a seat to have dinner. It could be as simple as that.

“Jane?”

“Oh, no, Brian, thanks. I had my door locked. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re not afraid of ghosts?”

“Not tonight. I’m too tired.”

“You really should take the haunted hayride trip tomorrow night,” he advised. “You’ll hear about all the ghosts haunting this town. Pretty scary.”

It was the second time she’d been told she should try out that particular Lily attraction. Maybe she would. She’d enjoy learning more about the history of the town.

She smiled at Brian. He was young and earnest—if a bit too persistent. “And yet,” she said, “you seem to be okay. As do the other actors.”

“Well, we’re not sleeping in her room,” he said.

“I’ll take my chances tonight.”

“If you need me, just holler. I’ll be here in a second,” he assured her.