Allegra Fairweather_ Paranormal Investigator - Janni Nell [34]
He thought for a moment. “Obviously I can protect you. I can also assist in providing an opportunity for you to obtain information.”
“Like creating this storm?” I put in.
“Exactly, but I can’t actually give you any information that would help you solve this case.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not allowed.”
“So you say. But why isn’t it allowed?”
He shrugged. “I never asked.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“Look,” he said gently, “when I first died, the Powers-That-Be told me I couldn’t enter Heaven. I thought I’d be damned to some kind of ghostly half-life, but I was given a chance to redeem myself. I never questioned the rules. I was just happy to be given a second chance.” He sighed. “I didn’t think it would take this long to redeem myself, but I guess I did some pretty bad things when I was alive. Most warriors are guilty of that. You think differently in the heat of battle.”
I had never seen Casper so pensive. Clearly he regretted what he’d done. If that was any indication of how soon he’d enter Heaven, he might be on his way sooner rather than later. I was surprised at how sad that made me. When Casper was around, life was like that glorious moment in The Wizard of Oz when everything changes from black and white to color. Without Casper my world would revert to black and white.
I wanted to hug him and never let go.
Sir Alastair’s reappearance prevented me from doing anything so stupid.
He announced grandly, “Francois has made a casserole. There will be plenty of food for everyone.”
That chef was a champ. No doubt about it.
But Sir Alastair’s tone told me quite clearly that both he and Francois considered this a shocking inconvenience. I hoped Francois wouldn’t do anything unspeakable to our food.
“Dinner will be served in one hour,” said Sir Alastair. He offered us sherry.
It tasted great and I had to make a concerted effort not to drink too quickly. I couldn’t afford to get drunk before I questioned Lady Justina. And I couldn’t question her until I had ensured she would be joining us for dinner. With that in mind I turned to Sir Alastair.
“I assume your wife has recovered from her earlier illness.”
Sir Alastair seemed surprised. “Why would you make such an assumption?”
“When I went to the bathroom, I saw her outside. She appeared to be returning from a walk in the wood. Naturally I assumed she’d recovered.”
“Ah. More sherry?” He didn’t care whether we wanted more sherry. He was giving himself time to think. I could almost see the cogs of his mind turning. Should he claim I had been mistaken and that Lady Justina had been in bed all afternoon? Or should he admit that she was now well and would be joining us for dinner?
“How did you know the woman you saw was my wife?” he asked. “Have you met her?”
I had no trouble admitting I had met her in the wood. That eliminated one of Sir Alastair’s options. He could no longer claim I had mistaken the identity of the woman I had seen from the bathroom window.
He said smoothly, “Ms. Fairweather, you have correctly assumed that my wife has recovered. She will be joining us for dinner.”
I sipped my sherry and tried not to look smug. Then I asked, as though I was just making conversation, “How did you meet Lady Justina? The rumor in the village is that it was a whirlwind courtship.”
“True enough. I was in Edinburgh on business. There was a little shop—it was closing down. I bought some things…”
“Little shops are always being put out of business by the big chains,” I said. “What kind of shop was it?”
“What kind of shop?”
“Yes. I only ask because my uncle owned a general store and a supermarket opened down the road and… You can guess the rest. Did Lady Justina work in a general store?”
“Oh no,” he said quickly. “She worked in a book shop—educational books.”
Apparently a general store was too down market for Sir Alastair’s patronage. I’d have been insulted on my uncle’s behalf if he’d really owned a general store, but I’d been lying about that. I didn’t like lying but sometimes it was necessary to get the information I needed.
“So,