He held her in return. “No,” he said softly. “I don’t. Ijust wanted to give you an out if you wanted one.”
“Well, I don’t. And I didn’t kill your ex-girlfriendeither,” Emily said with certainty. She managed a real smile then. “If we werecrazed killers, we’d have to have a different method of murder. Eric and Idon’t even like to help each other with a scratch.”
“Not blood people,” Eric agreed weakly.
“Okay, I’m glad that’s settled. And this breakfast isdelicious. I’m going to get back to it, and you two need to eat up. Andre willbe back in any minute. He’s going to love this.”
Andre returned a few minutes later. Cheyenne had finishedeating, and she hopped up, looking at him expectantly but instead asking,“Would you like your breakfast warmed up? It might be a little cold now.”
“Naw, I work for the federalgovernment. I’ve come to like cold food,” he said lightly and sat at the placesetting where his food waited. But he didn’t eat. He smiled, aware that theywere all waiting.
“Inspector Adair came and photographed the steps and dulynoted the bit of minor vandalism. He’ll include it in his files. He’s gonenow.”
“He could have come in for breakfast,” Eric said.
Andre shrugged. “No, he’s on the case. Breaking bread withus wouldn’t be a wise thing for him at the moment.” He shifted his attention tothe food. “Wow. This looks great, Eric, thank you,” he said and started to eat.
“Pleasure,” Eric murmured.
Andre swallowed and took a sip of juice. “I also sent somepics I took to Krewe headquarters. We’ll see if anything comes up. In themeantime, Cheyenne and I are going to head out to meet a few people and seewhat we can find. I suggest you two try to relax here. Keep close to home. Whatabout work?” he asked.
“I’m good from home,” Eric said.
Emily nodded. “I asked for leave. I didn’t say it wasbecause the police think I’m a deranged killer. I just told them family wascoming in from the States.”
“Great,” Andre said.
“How do we relax?” Emily wondered, not really addressing anyof them.
“Movies!” Eric said. “We can cook and clean and watchmovies.”
Andre had finished his plate of food in the few minutesthey’d been talking. He stood up, placing his napkin by his dish.
“Movies, cleaning, whatever. Sit tight this morning. Maybewe’ll go out together tonight, mingle with the community, see if anyonenotices. Or we’ll see if there’s anything unusual when we get back. I’ve alsoasked Inspector Adair to see if he can make sure the regular patrolmen keep aneye on your home. Did you know there is surprisingly little CCTV coverage ofany kind in this area?” He hesitated. “Hey, that’s it. Security cameras. I’mgoing to see that you have a few installed today. How about it?”
“Oh, I don’t…” Emily said and paused. “I’m not sure we canafford a system like that right now.”
“Housewarming gift.” Cheyenne smiled.
“Cheyenne, I’ve been living here for over a year, and it’sbeen Eric’s home since he bought it from his folks a decade ago,” Emily said.
“Wow, I’m late with that gift!” Cheyenne said. “So, we’regoing to let you two pick up alone again. Sorry. But we’re out of here. Anddon’t you dare refuse to accept a gift from me. Andre…Andre knows people. We’llget the best for the buck. Um, pound. And with your computer skills,you’ll know what to do with it, Eric,” she promised.
“Andre knows people in Highgate?” Emily asked.
“He gets around,” Cheyenne said.
She didn’t let Emily argue, just glanced at Andre, whomurmured another, “Thanks for breakfast, Eric, it was great!”
Then he quickly followed her out of the house.
Chapter 7
“So, I know people in Highgate now, do I?” Andre asked, smiling.
“You seem to know everyone you meet right away,” Cheyennesaid. “Seriously, Andre, if they’d had a security camera outside, they couldhave seen who did this.”
“We should have woken up. I should have woken up,”he said.
“Andre, you’re human, and so am I. When we slept, we slepthard last night.”
He didn’t argue that. He looked ahead. Cheyenne had juststarted walking—without a plan, without knowing where she was going. But hestrolled right along with her.
She stopped. “Uh, where are we going?”
“We’re starting with a visit to Clark Brighton.”
She glanced at him. They were walking uphill toward the new,luxury apartments.
“We have an appointment with him, and you know he’s there?”she asked.
“We don’t have an appointment, but I know he’s there. I talkedto Michael Adair about him when the good inspector came to see the writing onthe steps. Mr. Brighton spends his mornings down at a coffee shop on the groundfloor of his building. He likes to hold court there.”
“Do you think Inspector Adair’s partner, Birmingham,informed him that we’re with the American government? Feds?”
He smiled. “Yep, I think he did.”
“Then this guy won’t see us—”
“He will.” Andre glanced her way. “Adair thought it wasfunny as all hell. Birmingham wanted to warn his suspects away from talking tous. He told Brighton we were psyched-up ghost hunters. I guess he didn’trealize that would make the man want to see us all the more. I think he’ll behappy to talk to us.”
“If he’s happy to talk to us, he’s either innocent or trulya flake,” she said.
“We’ll find out. Hey, isn’t there a saying? ‘Out of themouths of flakes?’”
“No, it’s ‘out of the mouths of babes,’ but you know that, of course.”
“I could have sworn it was out of the mouths of flakes!” heteased. “Come on. We have to meet all the persons of interest we know about andthen try to see if we’ve been going in the right direction. I texted Angela,who told me to let them know if we needed anything. I’ve got her checking outthe lives, social media, and habits of the other victims. Right now, the concentrationis on Sheila. Probably because her landing on an ex-boyfriend’s steps seemedawfully convenient.”
“We have to get them cameras and a system today.”
“We will. There’s an electronics shop up here, too. We’regood. I must admit,
