“And then what?”Monty asked, bristling.He wanted badly to tell his cousin where he could stuff his stupid group, but decided to tell him off later, after they were done and had been paid.Then he’d tell Leon exactly what he thought.“Someone’ll hear him.”
“Not if he’s tied up.We’ll stuff him ...”Leon glanced around the obviously disused, dusty room with a sneer that Monty always dreaded.“In the back room, there.They have a big cupboard, big enough to hold him.Is that enough information for you, Mr.Nosy?”
“I like to have all the facts beforehand,” was all Monty allowed himself to say before leaving the room, his dignity wrapped around him like a blanket.
He was very much looking forward to giving Leon an earful.He might even video it, so he could share it with his mum.She’d enjoy that almost as much as he would.
––––––––
MACE ABBOT: Kitchen
Gerard peeked throughthe door to the dining room, and said softly, “Well, at least the ghost people aren’t getting in the way of the wedding party.”
“I should hope not!After all the trouble we went through getting everything settled.”Mace, holding a basket of rolls, peeked alongside him.He counted heads.“We’re missing two ...oh, no, there they are.”
“Everyone rest easy, Chief Detective Inspector Mortimer is here,” the father of the bride announced as he entered the room.He sounded a bit liquid in his vowels, which had Mace narrowing his eyes on the man.He had a dislike of rowdy drunkards, but hadn’t had to worry about that with this group ...until now.
“Did you get a promotion?”the bride asked, but only after she stopped making sheep’s eyes at the groom.“Weren’t you just regular ‘Detective Inspector’ before?”
“It’s in the pipeline,” the father said, dismissing it as he made his way to the buffet.“Just as soon as my team and I solve the mystery of Redheads Inc.and their wave of country house crime.Ooh.Is that local fish?Chris, did you see the fish?”
A middle-aged woman with short blond hair, and who bore a variety of Celtic jewelry hung around her neck and both arms, lifted the lid on the pulled pork and breathed in appreciably.“I’m standing next to you, Brother.I can see the fish, but this pork smells divine.”
“You like fish,” he told her just as if he was having a moment of insight.
“Yes.And you’re slightly drunk.Did you boys stop off at a pub after your zombie fun, by any chance?”the mother of the bride asked the room in general.
The men all cheered.“Two pubs, actually.The first got too rowdy, considering Emily refused to let us fight,” a dark-haired man said.He, also, had a liquidity to his voice that had Mace making a mental note to keep a closer eye on the room than he might otherwise.
“Is the father police?”Gerard asked after glancing behind them to make sure the kitchen was empty.
“No.He’s a professor of some sort,” Mace whispered back.“The bride said he’s on some mystery puzzle tour, and they adopt personas.That’s his character name.”
“How odd.Is he—” Gerard stopped as the bride and groom strolled past the barely open door toward the food dishes.
“—can’t expect to move an aggressive pigeon with us to the States.They’re bound to have laws, Em.”
“We can take the animals,” the bride pointed out, frowning.“Why would they allow us to take a dog and cat, but not a pigeon?And you haven’t met Herbert.He’s not aggressive.Oooh, lemon tarts!”
Gerard allowed the door to slowly close.
“An interesting couple, that,” Mace said, approving of them on the whole.“The groom’s a vet, you know.And she’s some sort of scientist.”
“Younger people have more education these days than we had,” Gerard said, glancing at the clock.“I wonder if I should offer Mr.Adam some refreshments before they start their hunting.It’s bound to be dusty in the attics.I think I’ll just pop upstairs and see if they need anything.”
Before Mace could answer that the ghost group would probably welcome being left on their own, the female detective suddenly appeared in the door to the cellars.“You leave them alone.Focus on your customers, as we requested.”
“Absolutely,” Mace said, giving Gerard’s hand a supportive squeeze.“We understand the situation perfectly.We won’t approach them unless they’re on the ground floor.”
She frowned.“You don’t need to talk to them at all, no matter where they are.”
“Madam, you asked us to act naturally while your team was present,” Gerard said, causing Mace to glance at him in surprise.Gerard tended to be nonconfrontational, but his tone was decisive.“If a customer, even one who is poking around the attics looking for ghosts, is in one of this hotel’s many public spaces, we will always interact with them.It is our duty as hosts to ensure our guests feel welcomed and valued.”
Mace wanted to applaud, but confined himself to an even more supportive squeeze, breathing a sigh of relief when the superintendent, with an unladylike snort, snatched the basket of rolls from his hand and shoved past them to enter the dining room with a muttered, “Just see to it you stay out of our way.”
“I can’t wait for that to be gone,” Gerard said with a whisper and a head nod toward the dining room.“I swear I’m as jumpy as a hedgehog on a roundabout with them underfoot.”
“It’ll be over tomorrow,” Mace said, and wondered if it was wrong to want to lock Gerard and himself into their rooms and refuse to deal with anyone or anything for the next twenty-four hours.
