Heather Horrocks - Who-Dun-Him Inn 01 - Snowed Inn (12 page)

“The fellow did not seem in his right mind,” said Dr. Ray.

When Lonny returned to report the house secured, I handed him a plate with a large piece of Death By Chocolate. I figured he earned a double dose.

“Thanks.” He sat with the other three at the table.

Next came Liz and Xavier. Liz said, “It was getting lonely in the kitchen. Mind if we join you?”

“Of course not.” Martha patted the seat beside her.

Lonny laid down his fork. “Have you called Paul yet?”

With everything happening at once, we never actually connected with Paul. Even though I didn’t think Kevin would be back, I needed to report the attack, and let Paul know so he could watch for a possible wreck involving a pickup.

I reached up and lifted the receiver from the wall dock, but there was no dial tone. “
Hmmm
.”

“What
hmmm
?” asked Bonnie.

I told her.

Dr. Ray said, “The phone line’s been cut.”

Martha laughed. “You’re being overdramatic, Nicholas.”

“Kevin took his knife when he ran off,” Bonnie said. “He could have done it.”

Made sense to me.

“Yes,” Lonny said, “and he jumped in his truck and raced off down the mountain. He didn’t have time to cut the phone line.”

“The storm could have interrupted service,” I said.

“Use my cell phone,” Martha offered as she reached into her purse. She pushed the buttons, then shook her head. I must have mentioned it to everyone else, except her.

I said, “The cell phone tower is down for repairs. No cells work this weekend.”

How long could the storm last? Surely, it would die down by morning, and we could call Paul then. I saw the others glance at each other, and quickly reassured them. “The phone company is usually very good about restoring service quickly.”

Bonnie pushed back from the table. “I realize this evening has not gone as you planned,” she said to me, “but I hope we can still play a game of Clue in the parlor.”

“Of course.” With the mystery postponed, playing Clue in the parlor was better than standing around being scared.

“Anyone care to join me?” asked Bonnie.

“Not me,” Martha said. “I don’t think I could stand the excitement.” Her lipstick had faded and she looked tired. “I think I’ll go and visit my roommate, the hard-boiled Sam Spade.”

“I’ll play.” Dr. Ray shrugged. “Let’s see if I still have the old deductive power.”

Liz said, “I’d love to play Clue.”

So I led the way into the Mayor’s Parlor, now Sherlock Holmes’s study, pulled the Clue game from the oak cabinet, and set the board on the antique chest between the armchairs.

After that, I joined Xavier and Lonny at the window, staring out at the storm. “It looks like you’ll be staying the night. Most of the third floor rooms are free. Just choose one that’s not already taken, and let me know which one.”

They nodded and Xavier announced he was going up now.

Lonny stayed behind, standing between Dr. Ray and Bonnie, who were setting out the Clue game.

Liz worked her way around the room to me. “Stop puttering.”

“I’m not,” I insisted, then realized I was straightening knick-knacks to keep my nervousness under wraps. I put my hands in my pockets and ignored my sister’s smug look.

“I’m going to play,” she said. “How about you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Can’t stand to lose, huh?” She smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “You go skunk my guests, why don’t you?”

Bonnie laughed. “She’ll have a hard time skunking me.”

Liz grinned. “I guess we’ll see about that.”

I wouldn’t bet against Liz. She won nearly every game she played. Unless Grandma played. Nobody beat Grandma. Ever. Her good luck was legendary.

Bonnie, Liz, Lonny and Dr. Ray took turns shaking the dice as I watched from the fireplace. After a few turns each, Bonnie shook the dice, moved her playing piece, and announced she thought it was Miss Scarlet with the knife in the conservatory. I shuddered as I thought of Kevin’s knife. He didn’t seem like a bad guy, more a pathetic, lovesick fool; but if he wasn’t a bad guy, then why the knife?

All of a sudden, something didn’t seem quite right. I tilted my head to listen. A rhythmic pounding sound could barely be heard above the wind’s roar. “Do you guys hear that?” The others paused. During a brief lull in the gusty whines, we heard a definite, too-rhythmic-to-be-nature pounding.

“From the back of the house,” Lonny said.

“I gave Garrett the key, so it’s not him,” I said.

“Kevin!” Bonnie’s eyes grew wide. “He must’ve returned!”

Lonny grabbed Zach’s baseball bat as he moved up by Dr. Ray, forming a testosterone-laden duo heading toward the back door, followed by the estrogen pack— Liz, Bonnie and me.

Liz said, “What a wacky weekend this is turning out to be.”

The pounding grew louder and more distinguishable from the sound of the storm as we moved nearer the back of the house.

I looked around for another weapon. My eyes fell on the large, heavy paperweight on the check-in counter. I hefted it. Little protection, probably, but if anyone tried to get past me to Zach, I’d clobber them good.

Dr. Ray put his hand on the lock and glanced at Lonny. When Lonny nodded, Dr. Ray crouched down a little, in a boxing-type stance. He must have been quite athletic when he was younger. Still was, apparently. I tightened my grip on the paperweight, my heart doing a polka in double time.

Dr. Ray flipped the lock and twisted the knob, throwing the door open. My heart thudded into my throat as Lonny raised the bat high. But he didn’t swing.

BJ stood there, her coat and hair snow white. When she saw the raised bat, she flung up her hands and screamed, falling backward to the ground. The fall must have knocked the wind from her lungs, because the scream stopped abruptly.

I could nearly smell our collective fear.

Lonny handed me the bat and was out the door to haul BJ out of the snow.

When she got inside, she was not in a good mood. “Do you welcome all your guests this way?” Her hair hung straight, weighted down by wet snow, which Lonny brushed carefully. BJ pushed away his hand, and asked, angrily, “Gregorio told me Kevin is here. Where is he? I want to talk with him right now.”

“He’s gone,” Lonny said.

BJ grew quiet. “Gone where?”

“Down the mountain.”

“In this storm?” BJ rolled her eyes. “The idiot. What was he thinking?”

“Did you come back by yourself?” Dr. Ray asked.

BJ turned back. “No, don’t close the door yet. Garrett’s got my bag. He was right behind me.”

Actually, he wasn’t. Dr. Ray stepped out into the storm and looked around, finally disappearing off to the left.

When both men reappeared a few moments later, neither was smiling. Garrett had a particularly deep scowl on his face.

Lonny asked if Calabria was with them. When Garrett shook his head, Lonny closed the door and bolted it. Garrett set BJ’s suitcase down by the door.

BJ was shivering. From the cold? Fear? Anger? “Gregorio will be coming in later. He insisted upon gathering his papers together beforehand. We would please like the big suite. The one on the top floor.”

“Of course,” I said. Why couldn’t they have listened to me in the first place when I suggested they bypass the carriage house and go straight to the Southern Sisters suite?

Liz said, “There’s food in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

BJ looked at my sister gratefully. “Thanks.”

“What’s wrong?” Lonny asked, as Liz and BJ disappeared into the kitchen.

Garrett’s voice was harsh and angry, but low. “Kevin did cut the phone line. Really destroyed it. The box is right outside the back door.”

Garrett’s words created quite a stir.

“I knew it,” said Dr. Ray, who predicted the cut line.

Bonnie frowned. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

I didn’t say anything, just shook my head. I couldn’t believe any of it.

Lonny grabbed his coat. “I’m going out to find him. He can’t have gone far.”

“Wait for me,” Garrett said; and soon the three men, bundled up, went maniac hunting.

As they left, Bonnie said, “I need chocolate.”

“Excellent idea.” And it was. The first bite was heavenly, not quite enough to make me forget the maniac running loose, but enough to calm the edges a tiny bit. The second bite was better. The last was… not quite enough.

“Go ahead,” Liz handed over the plate. “We’ve already had two.”

I went for the gusto. If this were my last night on earth, I’d regret not having a second piece. Thank goodness Grandma made plenty. She always planned on three pieces per person; that’s how good it was. As I took another bite, I glanced at BJ, who looked about to cry. “Are you all right?”

She sighed, sounding as pathetic as she looked, wet hair and all. “As well as can be expected when your not-quite-ex-husband tries to stab your soon-to-be-husband.”

“Yeah,” Liz said, looking pointedly at me. “Silly question.”

“No, that’s all right. It’s my fault. All my fault,” BJ said with a wave of her hand. “I’m going upstairs now.”

We watched her leave. The wind rattled the kitchen windows and Bonnie shivered. “The atmosphere is getting to me.”

“Me, too, and I live here,” I said.

“Thirds, anyone?” asked Liz.

We laughed, a bit nervously, but declined, already feeling the rush of sugar to our brains.

“Do you have anything stronger?” Bonnie asked.

Liz looked somewhat amused. “Than Death By Chocolate?”

“I mean to drink.”

“The strongest Vicki carries is Stephen’s Hot Cocoa.”

I shrugged. “Sorry. Nothing remotely alcoholic.”

“Ah, well, it’s probably for the best,” Bonnie said. “How much longer do you think it will take the men?”

I sighed. “I’ll go check.”

* * *

When I reached the foyer, I thought I heard voices. The sound of the wind really honked things up, but I stopped and listened. Definitely voices. A man and a woman, it sounded like. And the voices were raised.

From the parlor? The library? I walked toward the sound, catching only scraps of words. The woman said something about “married” but I couldn’t make out the rest until I heard “embezzled.”

Married? Embezzled?

The storm combined with the lowering and raising of voices prevented me from hearing most of the conversation. I moved closer.

The woman was obviously angry. The man yelled back.

Definitely coming from the library. I tried to identify whom the voices belonged to, but couldn’t.

The voices faded for a moment, then the man’s voice said “Watch for the candle.”

Was that an Italian accent I barely heard? Or Kevin’s down-home accent? The howling wind distorted everything.

As I reached the stairs, three steps before the library, the lights flickered off, back on, and off again.

Standing still in the dark, the voices in the library stopped, and I could hear Liz and Bonnie in the kitchen behind me.

“Hello?” I called out in the inky black, waiting for the generator to kick on.

No one answered. And the generator did
not
kick on.

Spooked, I touched my hand to the wall, feeling my way along until I reached the kitchen. “It’s just me,” I said to the others as I opened a drawer and pulled out three flashlights.

I clicked the first one on, shooting a beam of light onto the ceiling, illuminating the others, more or less, in an eerie, shadowy fashion. I took the second one and handed the third to Liz, who asked, “What happened to the back-up generator?”

“Darned if I know,” I said. “I hope it kicks on.” But usually, it only took a few seconds. Something must be wrong.
Please tell me that hasn’t been tampered with, too.

I still wanted to find out who was in the library arguing. I was afraid it might be Kevin. “Liz, come with me.” We crossed the foyer, following our twin beams of light back to the library.

This whole weekend was getting on my nerves. It was like my big, friendly home had suddenly become a haunted house.

Reaching the library, I called out again. “Hello?”

Silence. I swung the beam of light slowly around the room, my heart racing. No one. Liz and I stared at each other.

Another, smaller beam of light shone from the foyer we came from. “Are you ladies all right?” I recognized Dr. Ray’s voice.

“Yes.” I tipped my head, and wondered if he was the man who was in the library. “Thank you.”

“Lonny and Garrett are still outside.”

“What’s up?” Liz asked.

“I heard arguing from here. A man and a woman.” He shone his small beam around the room as we had.

I motioned toward the back of the room with my light. “Perhaps they went through the arboretum and into the exercise room. From there, they could have gone anywhere.”