Love Can Be Murder

clothing—and his car—that he wasn't exactly rolling in the dough.
    "Yeah, I get to meet a lot of interesting people." He smiled at her, and she squirmed under his scrutiny.
    "Lots of damsels in distress?"
    "A few," he admitted.
    "How long will you stay in Mojo?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound as if she cared.
    "As long as I'm needed," he said, withdrawing his wallet.
    "Let me pay," she said, reaching for her purse.
    "I got it," he said, then winked. "I'll add it to my expense report. Ready to go?"
    They decided to leave his car parked in the square and walk to the museum.
    "Will you show me the way you went yesterday when you ran into Deke?"
    "Sure," she said, glad for a reason not to walk past the Victorian. They skirted the parking lot of her store, and she gazed longingly toward the door, thinking she'd stop in on the way back. At the edge of the brambly field, she looked around for the stick she'd thrown down, then realized the detective had probably found it and confiscated it as evidence. "The stakes are gone," she said. "The police must have taken them."
    "Or the tourists," B.J. said.
    He was probably right—they were probably already listed on eBay.
    She led the way through the brush, stumbling a couple of times on exposed roots. B.J. took her arm and helped her across, but his warm hand was so distracting that she was even more unsteady. When they reached the fence, she frowned at the wire that had been wrapped around the separated areas of the fence, effectively blocking entry to the other side. "Someone patched it up, probably Tilton."
    "Tilton?"
    "He's Hazel's son. He does odd jobs around the museum."
    B.J. stepped up to the vine-covered fence and craned his neck to look at the towering Archambault house. "So that's the voodoo museum?"
    She nodded. "Come on, we'll walk around front."
    They backtracked to the sidewalk and walked to the front of the museum. Despite the fact that the day was sunny, the temperature around the tree-shrouded house was always ten degrees cooler than it was anywhere else. Fall leaves clogged the yard, the walkway, and the steps, lending to the spooky appearance of the rundown mansion. Penny gave B.J. some history of the place, including a few bits of the more exotic lore. He studied the house and the landscaping as they walked up the steps behind a small group of tourists, then he surveyed the tall, red-stained door and pushed it open. Penny shivered as she walked through, once again overcome with the feeling that the house had the ability to consume her.
    Inside, the atmosphere had been set with low lighting and thick candles behind hurricane globes. The furniture was dark and heavy, the windows tall, the curtains ornate. Murals adorned the ceiling of each room. At first glance, they seemed soft and almost biblical, but upon closer scrutiny, then depicted scenes of torture and sacrifice, each more disturbing than the last. The mural in the entryway showed a man wearing a blue robe with his hands raised to a group of white-robed followers. The man looked angelic and noble, but behind him was a pit of demons, seemingly ready to snatch the followers as soon as they neared.
    "Nice," B.J. murmured wryly.
    A heavy commercial floral fragrance hung in the air, a not-so-successful attempt to hide the unpleasant scent of mothballs. A carpeted runner spared the creaky wood floors from heavy foot traffic. Hazel stood behind a counter, dressed in a loose black dress, smiling and pleasant, describing the tours to the people who were ahead of them. Then she handed off the group to one of several high school students who worked at the museum during peak times and looked up, her expression immediately turning to concern as she came out from behind the counter.
    "Penny, my dear." She hugged her briefly. "I'm so sorry about Deke."
    "Thank you. And I want you to know that I had nothing to do with it," Penny felt compelled to say to her friend.
    "I know that," Hazel said, then she bit her lip. "I have to warn you—when that detective came around this morning, I told him you said you'd run into Deke here yesterday, and he got all our security tapes."
    "They've already questioned me about it. It's fine." She introduced Hazel to B.J. "He's in town looking for a missing friend and was hoping you could help."
    "Certainly, if I can."
    B.J. showed her the flyer of Giselle Taylor. "The dispatcher at the police department says she remembers this woman asking for directions to the museum this time