Chasing Rainbow Read online

  “It was so sad,” Nellie continued, her voice quavering as she fought back tears. “They were both my good friends. Joe planned that trip for days. He was going to take Lucy out and propose to her. He bought a ring and candles and a white tablecloth, and had a restaurant prepare special meals he could heat up on board. He was going to propose at sunset he said.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Rainbow offered inadequately.

  Nellie gave her a wavery smile. “Joe had never been married. He said Lucy was the woman who taught him to love. I just hope he gave her the ring before the boat exploded.”

  Mary patted Nellie’s hand. “It’s all right,” she said. “They’re together now. I have no doubt of it.”

  Nellie nodded.

  “Why did the boat explode?” Rainbow asked. Nellie didn’t know the details. Maybe Mary knew something Nellie didn’t.

  “No one knows,” Mary answered, echoing what Nellie had said. “There wasn’t enough of it left floating to tell, and the water was really deep. The Coast Guard put it down to poor engine maintenance.”

  Nellie shook her head. “I was never happy with that. Joe cared for that boat like a baby.”

  “Anything could have happened,” Mary added. “A fitting broke. A hose split. If gas leaked from anywhere, the hold would have filled with fumes and a single spark would have been enough.” She shook her head. “Accidents happen. Even on well-maintained boats.”

  “It was so tragic,” Nellie said. “They were as happy as kids those last few months. Joe was like a man reborn. And I’d known Lucy ever since her husband died fifteen years before, and I never saw her as happy as she was those last months.”

  The summer afternoon was edging into evening, bringing no relief yet from the heat. Rainbow sipped her lemonade and looked out over the Gulf, battling a growing sense of fatigue and searching her memory for other impressions she had gleaned from the Towers ghosts. “If there’s unfinished business,” she said finally, “I didn’t get a sense of it.”

  “Maybe Joe and Lucy just miss their friends,” Mary said. “Maybe they’ve just come back for a visit.”

  That didn’t feel exactly right to Rainbow, either, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. Well, she’d have to go back in and check it out again—but not right now. Right now she was feeling too annoyed at Jake to tolerate seeing him. And to be honest, she was feeling annoyed with herself for being so attracted to a man who was so determinedly blind about what was going on right around him. Surely he couldn’t honestly believe that watering can had been rigged by human agency to dump on him twice?

  “I’ll try again tomorrow,” she told Nellie. “Maybe when things are calmer, I can get better impressions.”

  Mary arched an amused brow. “Jake Carpenter is proving to be a distraction, eh?”

  “He’s just so determined to believe some human is behind all this, but there’s no way he can explain a watering can dumping itself on him not once, but twice! And after he moved.”

  “Twice?” Mary Todd chuckled with glee. “Oh, I wish I’d seen that!”

  Rainbow saw movement from the corner of her and turned, half-expecting to see that Jake had finished his search of the building and was joining them. Instead, it was her Uncle Gene, dressed now in a pair of black shorts and a black T-shirt that said, “A clear conscience is the sign of a bad memory.”

  He joined Rainbow and her companions, smiling genially and looking as dashing as always, though how he managed it in a T-shirt and shorts Rainbow could never say. He made a courtly bow over the hands of both Nellie and Mary, causing both women to blush and giggle like schoolgirls.

  Which was exactly the effect he wanted, Rainbow thought. Gene never passed up a chance to wow the ladies.

  “I hear there’s been some sort of brouhaha here.”

  “Where’d you hear that?”

  “It’s all over town.”

  Great, thought Rainbow. The next thing she knew, the newspapers and TV would be here. She wanted no part of that.

  “Don’t worry,” said her uncle. “I told them all that my niece would fix it.”

  “Oh, thank you so very much!”

  He looked surprised. “What did I do?”

  “I wanted to keep a low profile on this. I don’t want the newspapers and TV accusing me of bilking elderly people.”

  “They won’t,” Nellie said. “You’re not charging us anything.”

  “Still”, Mary shook her head. “You’re too defensive, gal. You have a splendid talent, and you ought to be perfectly willing to display it. And to hell with those who don’t believe.”

  “Easy for you to say, Mary.”

  “I suppose it is,” Mary said tartly. “After all, I’ve lived my life the way I wanted, and consequences be damned. You see, child, everybody pays the piper. You might as well pay for the dance you want.”

  “Hear, hear,” said Gene.

  But she hadn’t wanted this dance, Rainbow thought. Although that wasn’t really true, she admitted after a moment. She had chosen to use her talents rather than simply let them lie fallow. So maybe she ought to stop apologizing for them and trying to avoid notice. Maybe she ought to—in the outdated phrase her mother loved so much—just let it all hang out.

  Although, since Walter, she didn’t seem as able to do that. He had hurt something essential in her, and even after all this time, she was still walking around with scars.

  Nellie was telling Gene what had happened that day, and Rainbow was content to let her do the recounting. It was obvious to her that Nellie was attracted to Gene, and that Gene reciprocated. She felt a little uneasy about that, but there was always a chance one of these days he might get hooked and reeled in. It would be nice if he got reeled in here, where she would be able to see him frequently.

  Unless, of course, he kept touting her private business to people all over town. She’d have to discuss that with him later.

  “Twice?” Gene was saying with delight, as Nellie wrapped up the story. “The watering can dumped on him twice?” He hooted at the thought.

  “He still thinks it was rigged,” Rainbow remarked.

  “Well, of course he does,” Gene said. “That’s his way of approaching life. He’s sure there has to be a rational, logical, tangible reason for everything. That’s his scientific training.”

  “Well, he needs a new premise,” Rainbow said tartly.

  “Perhaps,” Gene agreed, smiling.

  “He’s not even being scientific about this. He’s jumping to conclusions based on his beliefs, not on the evidence at hand.”

  “So are you, my dear.”

  Rainbow looked at her uncle, feeling betrayed. Gene reached out and patted her hand.

  “I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m simply pointing out that the two of you are coming from different belief systems. He’s looking for something tangible to explain events. You’re not, because you believe at the outset that there isn’t one.”

  Rainbow looked away, feeling uncomfortable. Gene was right, she realized. She and Jake were having a clash of beliefs, and what was more, she wasn’t giving his beliefs the same respect she was demanding for hers.

  And what if Jake was right? What if there was a tangible cause for the haunting? What if the things flying all over the building had nothing to do with the ghosts she sensed? They could be entirely separate.

  But no, she decided after a moment. She knew exactly what she had felt after that watering pot had dumped on Jake the second time. The sense of a slightly mischievous personality had been unmistakable.

  Harvey Little came up to the table. “Are we ever going to be allowed back inside?”

  Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t see why you can’t go back in if you want.”

  “This has been a ridiculous waste of time,” he complained. “We’ve spent half the afternoon out here for no good reason. The building must have settled or something.”

  Nellie looked up at him. “Didn’t you have all kinds of things flying around your unit,
too?”

  “I got banged on the head when some things fell off the shelf in my bathroom. They were probably ready to fall anyway.” He shook his head. “I don’t hold with this spook nonsense, and I don’t think the association should be paying for an exorcism.”

  Rainbow started to speak, but Nellie beat her to the punch. “We’re not paying for anything. And we’re not having an exorcism. Ms. Moonglow is simply trying to figure out what’s been going on.”

  “It’d make more sense to get somebody out here to find out what’s wrong with the building! We’re so close to the water, the foundation might be settling.”

  Ellis Webster joined them. “The building supports go all the way down to bedrock, Harvey. The place would have tipped over years ago otherwise.”

  “I still say something is wrong with the building, and it ought to be checked out before somebody gets killed. And this ghost nonsense!” He glared at Rainbow. “I know somebody who’s capitalizing on a newspaper headline. And she may not be charging anything now, but when it gets worse, you’ll all find yourselves over a barrel and paying her everything you’ve got!”

  Rainbow bit her tongue with difficulty. She was definitely not going to defend herself to this unpleasant little man, but she did indulge a moment of fantasy in which he was a crawling insect she was spraying with a can of insecticide. No, a worm was better. She could definitely see Harvey Little as a worm. A worm she would put on her fishing hook and use for bait.

  “Don’t you talk to Rainbow that way,” Nellie said, flaring. “You’re a disgusting little man! You always think everyone is up to something unsavory.”

  “I do not!”

  “Yes, you do! Only two months ago, you said Ellis was stealing from the association funds, because it couldn’t possibly cost twelve hundred dollars to repaint all the cast-iron patio furniture. Remember? Ellis had to show you the three estimates he got before you believed it was the best deal. And then there was the time—”

  “Okay, okay,” said Harvey. “So I’m suspicious … I’m just careful. What’s wrong with that? There are sharks everywhere. Any so-called psychic could come to this place and drag up Joe Carpenter! It was in all the papers. Hell, I could do as good a job of gulling all of you as she is.”

  “She’s not gulling anyone!”

  “Right. Just don’t expect to use any of my money for this nonsense!”

  “Don’t worry,” Ellis said. “Nobody’s money is going to be used.”

  Harvey spun on his heel and walked toward the building, and Nellie muttered, “I hope his ceiling falls on his head next time.”

  Gene was looking at Nellie with apparent admiration. “You were wonderful,” he told her.

  She blushed.

  Gene leaned over and took her hand. “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

  Rainbow looked quickly away, feeling a sudden, inexplicable tightening of her throat. She couldn’t help it. All her life long, she’d wished a man would look at her the way Gene was looking at Nellie right now.

  Jake, Colonel Albemarle, and the rest of the men finished their exploration of the building. Jake hated to admit it, but Hank Fields had probably had more luck with his Dustbuster than he’d had. He hadn’t found one thing out of place that he could prove had been put there by human agency. Nor had he found one thing that couldn’t have been tossed around by some skilled troublemaker. He was no closer to solving the problem. In fact, all he had accomplished was making Rainbow angry again.

  And that really bothered him, much as he hated to admit it. But he got so mad when she did her hocus-pocus using Joe. In fact, he resented the hell out of it.

  Colonel Albemarle lined up his troops in the lobby and cleared his throat, signifying an intent to speak. The veterans all immediately assumed stiff postures of attention, broomsticks and mops held rigidly upright.

  “Well done, men,” Albemarle said. “We came when we were called, and we all performed proudly in the face of an enormous threat. We’re involved in an unusual war here, one that will never make the history books. But while history records only the glowing highlights, it’s the individual bravery of individuals that yields triumph rather than defeat. Today we were triumphant against a foe whose powers we cannot know.”

  He cleared his throat again. “I’d recommend a reconnaissance in preparation for future operations, but since we can’t see the enemy, there’s no way to know where they are or how well they’re armed. We will have no way of knowing if they begin to creep back in the night, and the only sentries we’ll have are the good residents of this building. It’s a disadvantage, men, but one I’m sure we will deal with. Never let your weapons leave your side. You may need them at a moment’s notice.

  “And Fields, you be sure to take that Dustbuster far away before you empty it. Wouldn’t want the rascals to come right back.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Obviously,” the colonel continued, “we can’t be sure that we’ve removed the problem. It may be that the Dustbuster didn’t get them all. Or it may be that once we empty the thing they’ll just return. Unfortunately, I’m not all that familiar with ghost operations, so we’ll just have to wait and see. However, it’s been my experience that an enemy rarely concedes after a single battle.

  “But whether or not we managed to remove the threat permanently, all of you are to be commended for the willingness to face an invisible foe. You marched forward with courage into the jaws of hell, and you emerged victorious!”

  A cheer went up from the assembled men.

  “The one thing we can say with absolute certainty is that our presence made Mr. Carpenter and Ms. Moonglow safer. Except for the incident with the watering pot, nothing happened.” He paused for effect. “I doubt that would have been the case if we hadn’t been here.”

  He scanned his ragtag squad and nodded approvingly. “I’m going to dismiss you now, but hold yourselves in readiness. We may well have to return.”

  Jake watched the men march away, thinking they all looked a lot prouder of themselves after the search than he felt. They’d done something good, after all, racing to the aid of their neighbors, however insanely. All Jake felt was that he had wasted an afternoon he could have spent working on his book and he hadn’t accomplished a damn thing.

  Except to hurt Rainbow again. Christ, he wished that woman didn’t have such expressive eyes. He felt he could read every thought that passed through her head. He could certainly see it when he wounded her.

  He wanted to retreat to his apartment, but the colonel had left him in charge of all the keys. They were scattered on a tabletop right now. Looking around, he found a decorative basket and dumped all the keys into it so he could carry them out to the residents.

  Just then, Harvey Little came through the doors, looking mad enough to spit. Seeing Jake, he halted and waved. “They’re all a bunch of damn fools!” he said. “Being led like a bunch of sheep by that charlatan.”

  “Now, wait—”

  But Harvey wasn’t waiting on anyone. “She hasn’t said a damn thing she couldn’t have found out from the newspapers, and they’re eating it up like a bunch of gullible fools. Christ, if she told them all to walk into the Gulf, they’d probably do it!”

  “I don’t think—”

  “I don’t care what you think! I’m not going to have any part of this crap. Idiots! The building is probably settling. We need to have the foundation checked! Instead they hire a psychic!”

  Jake watched him walk to the elevator, thinking that he really didn’t like that man. On the other hand, what he said about the building settling bore some consideration.

  As a geologist, that probably should have been his first thought. He was a little embarrassed that he had first looked for some kind of conspiracy where there was probably a more real, more threatening danger.

  If one of the building’s bedrock supports had weakened, they were all in far more trouble than some real estate scam could do to them. He’d better call an engineering firm and m
ake arrangements. But first he needed to check the structure for any visible cracking. That would probably show best on the outside of the building where things wouldn’t be in the way.

  Carrying the keys outside, he turned them over to Ellis Webster to return to the residents. It was a small revenge, to give the mean the headache of sorting out all these keys. He held Ellis responsible for getting him into this mess; after all, it had probably been Ellis’s idea to nominate him for association president.

  Then, reluctantly, he looked at Rainbow.

  In the evening sun, her eyes were dark and unreadable, like the surface of a still pool. Her face betrayed nothing.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. He wondered, a little wildly, if he was going to spend the rest of his life apologizing to this woman. “I was irritated at having the water dumped on me.”

  “Of course,” she said. Her voice offered him nothing.

  Ellis spoke. “Did you find anything?”

  “Nothing but a minor mess that could have been caused by the building settling.” Even as he said it, he felt guilty. No settling could have caused that watering can to levitate and dump on him. He watched Rainbow’s reaction and felt a twinge when he realized she was disappointed in him.

  Disappointed? What right did she have to be disappointed? But—and this really hurt—he was disappointed in himself. He was being dishonest. “Except for one thing,” he said, the words feeling like lead in his mouth.

  “What’s that?” Ellis asked.

  “The watering can that dumped on me. Settling couldn’t explain that.”

  Rainbow gave him a big, wide, warm smile of approval, making him feel oddly lightheaded and exhilarated all at once. Oh, man, he’d better watch his step here.

  Nellie Blair, too, smiled at him with approval. “So we’re not all a bunch of senile old coots?”

  “I would never say that,” he assured her, appalled. “I never even thought it!”

  “The boy has possibilities,” Mary Todd remarked. “He’ll get his head out of the sand yet.”

  Jake wasn’t sure that was a compliment, but he let it pass. When Nellie and Ellis insisted he join them for some lemonade, he agreed readily enough. Somehow he wound up in the chair next to Rainbow.