Wilmington, NC 03 - Murder On The Ghost Walk

backed off.
    I tucked the purse under my arm, squeezing it into my side. "Thanks again," I called, taking a step backward. The ring broke up, the Deadheaders and their charming ladies moved away, and I was forgotten. Eagerly, I scanned the crowd, trying to see who'd struck me. I didn't see a familiar face.
    The noise was deafening with loud voices vying with high-volume music. I felt small and vulnerable. I just wanted to find my mother and get out of there, flee to the safety of my home, and sort out everything that had happened today. I made my way down Water Street as far as the Cotton Exchange parking lot.
    There, pressed against a piling for support, was my mother. She looked overwhelmed, scared out of her wits. "Mama," I cried and wrapped my arms around her.
    "Ashl ey," she sighed. "You found me. Take me home. I just want to go home.”
    So do I, Mama, I wanted to say.

    Hours later, I got my wish. I was s afely inside my own home . I double-locked the front door behind me and checked the back door and windows. Then I closed all the plantation shutters. I knew what I knew. Someone had attacked me. Someone had tried to steal my purse. But who? And why?
    Poor Mama, she'd been so confused. She seemed to have no idea how she'd gotten to the riverfront. She turned to stone when the police questioned her. Melanie and I and the police officers returned her to Magnolia Manor. The look on her face when we said goodnight had broken my heart. Melanie was very upset. So was I. We all were. What a terrible day in the life of the Wilkes family!
    Who had stabbed Mirabelle? All the people with a possible motive had been in the area at the time of the murder. I ticked off the suspects. Gordon Cushman, Mirabelle's lover, who wanted his money back and whom she'd threatened with blackmail had been at Riverfest. And Water Street i s less than a ten minute walk to Campbell House.
    Bob King had been at Riverfest too. I'd seen him working with the sound technicians. And King hated Mirabelle and had vowed to get even with her for taking work from his union.
    Sara Beth Franks had been there too, offering her paintings for sale on the promenade. Was there a relationship between Sara Beth and Mirabelle? I wondered what Nick had learned about her.
    Earlier in the afternoon, Sherman and Muffie Warner had been walking toward Campbell House when Nick and I met them. They lived next door but after I found Mirabelle, they had come from the alley behind Campbell House.
    Sherman said they were out taking pictures. In the dark? But what motive would the Warners have to murder Mirabelle? Was Sherman an investor in one of Mirabelle's product line schemes? Had she persuaded Sherman to raise venture capital for one of her enterprises, and then something went wrong? Mirabelle had her fingers in more than fruit pies, that was for sure.
    Nick should question all of them, have them account for their whereabouts from five to seven. In my book, they were all suspects.
    I got undressed and stepped into a warm, soothing shower. Slipping into a comfortable pink cotton knit pants outfit, I poured a glass of wine.
    I jumped at the knock on my door. Flipping on the porch light, I looked through the sidelight. Nick was on my front porch, pacing back and forth.
    "Just a sec," I called, and raced into the bathroom to fluff up my hair and apply pink lip gloss.
    "Hi," I said softly, holding the door for him.
    He pushed past me angrily . "I told you to wait."
    "Melanie came and got me," I explained. "With the police. Mama was missing from Magnolia Manor, and we had to find her. Didn't the other officers tell you?"
    "No!"
    Well, that took the wind out of his sails. He softened. His anger was all about his concern for me. "I was worried about you." He reached out his arms and pulled me close. "There's a murderer out there. It scares me you might have been in that house with him. Ashley, I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you."
    I had no backbone when it came to Nick.
    He held me out from him so he could look into my face. "Did you find your mother? Is she OK ?"
    "We found her at Riverfest, then drove her back to Magnolia Manor and waited while the nurse put her to bed. They gave her a sleeping pill. Guess she'll be on some kind of medication from now on."
    He gazed at me thoughtfully. "Yeah," he sighed, "she probably will."
    He led me to a one of the love seats, his glance taking in the room. "We've got to talk."
    This was the first time he'd been inside my