Wilmington, NC 03 - Murder On The Ghost Walk

verfest with me?"
    I grin ned . "Sure. I'd like to."
    "Good. Friends?"
    "Friends."
    The light turned green and we drove around the Kenan Memorial Fountain at Fifth and Market. "I want to explain. Ordinarily when I'm working a case like this, the investigation takes over my life. I can't separate my personal life from my work life. The job consumes me."
    "I can understand that," I said. "I'm pretty consumed by my own work. It takes over my whole life too."
    "Well, I'm ready to change all that. I'd like to have a personal life. I’d like to spend my days off with you. "
    "Oh," I said, surprised. "Sounds nice. I'll try not to be so sensitive, Nick."
    He reached over and took my hand. "And I'll try to sharpen my relationship skills , Ashley."

    The first two people I spotted at the party were Melanie and Mirabelle. They were air kissing and admiring each other's outfits.
    "Stunning!"
    "Wherever did you find that divine creation?"
    Nick whispered in my ear, "You look better than they do."
    "Thanks, but this type of party isn't my thing. If we weren't raising money for the Historic Preservation Society, I'd be at home snuggled up with a good decorating magazine."
    I was wearing a simple black cocktail dress with the ruby necklace and earrings Mama had given me. A Star-News photographer came around and snapped my picture. I planned to rent a lock box at the bank and deposit the jewels in it. Another of Mama's eccentricities had been to keep priceless jewels in her dresser drawers like costume jewelry. We were lucky she'd never been robbed.
    Everyone was talking about the murders. "How did it feel to find Shelby and Reggie like that?" someone had the nerve to ask me, and I turned away, pretending not to hear .
    Then the curiosity seekers migrated to Mirabelle's side, inquiring if she wasn't afraid to live in a house where a murder had taken place. Mirabelle rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed she had to deal with idiots. Didn't they know sentimentality had no place in Mirabelle's emotional makeup? Mirabelle lapped up publicity.
    Where's Jon? I wondered, searching the crowds for a glimpse of him. "Have you seen Jon?" I asked Nick.
    "Haven't noticed him," he replied. "There's Warner. He keeps dodging my calls. Come on, introduce me."
    As we approached Sherman and Muffie, I wondered if Teddy had told Nick S herman Warner had a reason to fear Reggie Campbell. What had Reggie known about Warner that was a threat to him?
    I introduced Nick to Sherman. He'd already met Muffie when he questioned the residents of Orange Street, but Sherman had been in New York. Sherman was a real preppie type, very clean cut looking. Short brown hair grew straight up, the tips bleached blonde. Small, rimless glasses. A dark suit with a dark silk shirt. He didn't seem too happy to meet Nick, but what could he do but make nice? Sherman was a stock broker. Jon had told me Sherman made frequent trips to New York because he was having an affair with a female broker there. Everyone knew but Muffie.
    A former beauty queen, Muffie had spent her teen years making the rounds of the pageant circuit, beginning as a Miss Teen America runner-up, culminating as Miss North Carolina in the Miss America Beauty Pageant. She was striking in a starved, brittle sort of way.
    To give Nick a chance to quiz Sherman, I pulled Muffie aside on the pretext of talking fashion. I started describing an outfit I'd found at an outlet store. That's all it took. Muffie itemized every article of clothing in her closet.
    Sara Beth Franks came up to us, greeting Muffie with a hug and kiss. She gave me the cold shoulder. "Oh . It’s you. Melanie’s little sister. I heard you were back."
    Sara Beth was someone Nick should meet. He didn't seem to be getting much out of Sherman, so I called to him , "Nick, come meet Sara Beth. She's a very talented artist."
    Jon had said Sara Beth was a member of Reggie and Shelby's circle. After high school, she'd gone to Paris to study at the Sorbonne before returning to Wilmington to teach at UNCW.
    Sherman seized his chance to get away from Nick, grabbed Muffie's hand and steered her off .
    I slipped away too, giving Nick and Sara Beth a chance to talk. Cocktails were being served in the Parquet Lobby outside the main theatre. Taking a glass of champagne, I slipped into the old part of the theatre. Here an anteroom was furnished with white wicker furniture under the original hand-painted canvas drop curtain portraying the "Isles of Greece." Thalian Hall