Audra allowed Sheriff Miller to escort her from the drawing room to the dining room. Audra noted that the dining room was perhaps bigger than her entire apartment in New York.
The table was massive enough to fit a party twice the size of the one they had and was decorated with fresh ivy and lavender, bouquets of blue and white flowers lining the center of the table. Enough places where set for the guests in attendance, including the specters, but none of the spaces held name cards.
"Just have a seat wherever you wish. I just ask that we keep it as symmetrical as possible," Principal Shelley instructed as she brought up the rear of the dinner guests.
Margret allowed Eric to escort her to her seat, and then he took up residence in the seat next to her. Yolanda sat with Joshua, across from Eric and Margret. Sheriff Miller helped Audra into the seat next to Joshua and took his seat next to her. Audra was surprised when Principal Shelley took the head of the table, while Dr. and Mrs. Shelley senior took the seats directly to her right. Councilman Shelley took the seat to Principal Shelley's left directly across from his father. Specter Dr. Shelley and Dr. Hawthorn took the seats to Councilman Shelley's right, with Dr. Hawthorn seated directly to Marcus' left. Magic took the seat next to Sheriff Miller. Marcus and his date sat across from Audra and Sheriff Miller. Charles Stuart and Katherine Taylor took up the last two seats on either side of the table.
The wait staff was almost entirely made up of specters. It seemed as if each guest had a specter of their own serving them. Even though the specter guests didn't eat, they were also served in order to appear as if they were indeed enjoying the food.
The dinner started with a house salad topped with grilled chicken. Audra ate lightly as she tried to eavesdrop on the conversations around her. She suspected that no one would say or do anything incriminating but she listened anyway. Councilman Shelley complained to his aunt and father about the never-ending job of campaigning to keep his job and what a pain in the ass the Mayor was. Specter Dr. Shelley and Dr. Hawthorn discussed the merits of some new specter research out of an Ivy League school. Dr. Shelley tried to remind Dr. Hawthorne that even Ivy League students got most of their inspiration and information while either high or drunk.
Margret was in the middle of explaining to Eric the many hats she had to wear as the hospital administrator. She hoped that she made the job appear much easier than it actually was. Marcus was trying to impress his lady friend with stories of meeting the greats during the Harlem Renaissance. Katherine Taylor seemed more interested and enthralled by his tales than his generation-next date. Sheriff Miller was certain to have noticed that he didn't have Audra's undivided attention, so he turned to Charles Stuart and asked about the possibility of Gwyn haunting the stacks of the library once again.
Yolanda and Joshua were quiet, Audra assumed listening in on conversations as well. However, equally quiet was the wife of Dr. Shelley senior. Audra zeroed in on her and tried to interpret what her silence and apparent lack of interest in the dinner party all together meant.
She was a tall woman and relatively thin. Audra suspected she might have been some sort of town beauty who landed Dr. Shelley at the height of her young adult bloom. Her skin and hair were both fair. Audra suspected that she kept a regular hair appointment, much like Margret, to dye away any grays. Mrs. Shelley's eyes were a pale blue that was close to gray. She watched the woman reach past her untouched salad as Councilman Shelley told a joke that both Principal Shelley and Dr. Shelley senior laughed at, in order to pick up her glass of wine and take a long sip.
Audra's concentration on Mrs. Shelley was broken when her waiter arrived with her lobster soup. She and Yolanda exchanged smiles during the interchange and Audra indicated Mrs. Shelley with the tip of her head. Yolanda smiled, turning back to Joshua in order to make a comment on the food and take in Mrs. Shelley for herself. Audra took a spoonful of soup and turned her attention back on to the conversation that Marcus was having with his date about the New York atmosphere of the 1920's.
"My mama was always scared that the streets would take me, but once I got the jazz bug up my rear end not nothin' was gonna keep me from it. I'll be the first to say New York is tough and hard, but I was a good looking young fella and I had a sweet sugar mama to look after me when her old man was on the road."
"Only the way you tell it," Magic chimed in. "You and I both know that you were just a pretty boy male prostitute that played a mean saxophone."
"Played as in past tense?" Marcus looked amused. "I'll have you know I still play a mean saxophone. You remember them days don't you Lily?" Marcus shouted down to the edge of the table.
"You know good and well that was before my time, Mr. Knox. I may be old but I'm not that old," Principal Shelley said.
"I know your parents spun them jazz records around well into the sixties, young lady," Marcus said good-naturedly. "You know just as much about Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald as anyone else. I remember that time you asked me if that was really what the D-Train sounded like."
"So you two knew each other when she was a child?" Yolanda asked with wide-eyed amazement.
"Oh yeah, my family came down often to visit the family and pay respects," Marcus explained. "That was some kind of respect back in them days. I remember we had to make it a two-day trip. The first day we drove from New York to North Carolina. You hear that north in North Carolina? You just didn't let the sunset catch you on the road south of the north if you were a person of color. Then we would start at the crack of dawn the next day to get on over to Specter before nightfall."
"Interesting!" Yolanda said.
"On that note." Councilman Shelley tapped his wine glass and stood up. "During tough times this family has always strived to recognize the good things we have to be thankful for. I never got to know Gwyneth Miller but from what I've heard she was a very special young lady. And although we have her back here in spirit, it will always be a loss to us, the young woman she was destined to become.
"The family understands that it was Gwyn's wish to be cremated and have her ashes buried in the cemetery rose garden. The family will sponsor that. In addition, we will dedicate a new bench in that garden to her memory. I also want to personally thank the FBI, led by Special Agent Wheeler, for their tireless efforts in bringing this case to a conclusion and ensuring that our town is truly safe once more."
"Once more!" A ghoulish cackle ran through the dining room. "This town will never be safe with the likes of this family in it."
Gwyneth's voice became recognizable as she manifested on top of the table with a twisted face that looked anything but at peace. Audra jumped in her seat along with everyone else.
"Gwyn, what is going on?" Sheriff Miller floated out of his seat and went to his daughter's side.
"Ask Dr. Shelley!"
Specter Dr. Shelley stood, holding up cautious hands in front of him. "Gwyneth, if you are talking about those test results please remain calm."
"No!" Gwyn floated above the dinner party with a menacing snarl. "Tell them Dr. Shelley. Tell them what those lab results showed when you compared your brother's DNA with your father's DNA, Margret's DNA, and Abigail's DNA!"
The dinner party shifted its collective gaze from Gwyneth to the Shelleys.
"Let's discuss that in private, as a family Gwyneth. Please," Dr. Shelley the second pleaded.
Audra and Yolanda traded glances as Audra reached for her specter shield but halted from turning it on.
"Oh, so now I'm family?" Gwyn's rage was unmistakable. "Tell them!"
The specter turned to each of his family members in turn and sighed. "Those test results confirmed that although we share some DNA with Dr. Kenneth Shelley senior, he is not our father."
Audra turned her eyes to the aging doctor and watched him turn a shade of green that worried her.
"What else!" Gwyn pushed him.
"Brendon's DNA proved that, while she grew up as our younger sister, any one of us triplets could actually be Margret's father."
"And most importantly, Dr. Shelley?" Gwyneth pushed again.
"The DNA match confirmed that Dr. Kenneth Shelley senior is Abigail Steven's biological father."
Dr. Shelley senior hung his head low and began to cry. Principal Shelley put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder as Mrs. Shelley stood from the table with her head held high.
"Jessica…" Principal Shelley began but Mrs. Shelley put up a halting hand.
"Now you know everything," Mrs. Shelley said. "Excuse me, I feel ill, I must lie down."
"That's not everything!" Gwyn shouted. "Who killed my mother?"
Her eyes began to glow red, something Audra had never witnessed a specter do. As Gwyn zeroed in on the elder Dr. Shelley, Audra lost her grip of the specter shield. Whatever Gwyn had in her mind to do next however, was stopped as Sheriff Miller placed a hand on her shoulder and they both disappeared.
"If that's not a specter with a motive I don't know what is," Yolanda muttered under her breath.
"Which one of you is it?" Margret's voice was a low feminine rumble.
Dr. Shelley, the specter, turned to Margret.
"Who is my real father?" she asked.
"Oh Dear, all I can tell you is that it's not me. I have always been a homosexual."
Margret turned to Brendon. "Was it you?"
Brendon cleared his throat.
"No," he said. "It wasn't me."
"Eli?" Margret said with a snort. "It was him, right? Like the accident with Amanda Stuart?" Brendon bowed his head as if he had just been severely shamed.
Audra and Yolanda traded another low-key bewildered glance and joined everyone in looking over at Charles Stuart, who looked like an angry deer caught in headlights.
"What?" he breathed.
"The three of you are something else," Margret said, taking the attention back from Charles and standing. She shook her head. "I hope it is him. Eli was the only one of you worth a flip. With you yes-manning to daddy," she pointed to specter Dr. Shelley. "Oh, wait no, he's not my daddy, or your daddy. He's your uncle, and my granddaddy, right?" Margret paused for chilly effect.
"And you," she turned back to Brendon. "Everything in a skirt. It was understandable when you were a teenager, but it got sad before I could walk. And even if you're not my deadbeat father, I don't blame your wife for leaving you. Put a lid on those political ambitions, Uncle Brendon. You'll never be President of the United States."
Margret took a minute to swallow back the remainder of her anger. "If you all will excuse me, I will join the only woman I ever knew as my mother and retire."
Margret stood from the table dropping her napkin at her place. She nodded to the guests and walked away, Audra was sure, with more regality than she felt at that moment.
"You see what you did?" Principal Shelley said as Margret cleared the room. "Dragging up that dead girl hasn't done anyone any good."
Principal Shelley stood from the table and left without excusing herself. The Councilman and Dr. Shelley senior did the same. The specter Dr. Shelley turned to Dr. Hawthorne who nodded his understanding. Then the specter doctor vanished.
Charles Stuart stood from the table. He stumbled a little off balance as Katherine came to his aid. They left the dining room and most certainly the house without another word.
Dr. Hawthorne stood as the de-facto host. "I apologize that the evening has gone so sour," he said.
"Right before the main course," Magic pointed out.
"I will have the staff prepare everyone a take-away plate," he nodded to the butler. "Feel free to mingle and talk amongst yourselves until your food is prepared. Please exit with our sincerest apologies."
With that, Dr. Hawthorne left the dining room.