Murder in the Winter (9 page)

9

I pushed open the library door and stepped inside. The
others followed. The two officers who climbed the staircase that led to the
library pointed to the section of the bookcase which had parted a few minutes
before and allowed them to enter the library. We walked over and searched for a
button, a spring, some mechanism that would open the wall from this side. I
didn’t think it was relevant to what had happened. Possibly it was the only
staircase that hadn’t been used in the middle of the night. I wondered what all
of the cloak and dagger stuff meant. Why did someone use the underground passageways?
Why did someone leave a note on my windshield to lure me to a
soon-to-be-committed murder? Someone liked playing games. Someone liked jerking
my chain.

After a few minutes of trying to find out how someone
could leave the library without using the door, we found a recessed button
under the table. When we pushed it, one section of the bookcase swung open into
the room, just as if someone had opened a door. With that problem solved, we
sat down at the table to see if our collective thoughts revealed anything else.

“Anyone have any ideas as to what has happened here,
who did it, and how it occurred?” I asked to open proceedings.

“Only the obvious,” George replied. “Somehow, a woman
posing as Mrs. Dukenfield poisoned a couple of other guests,  hid  for  a 
while,  and sneaked out in the middle of the night after all of us were asleep
or searching rooms in the back of the inn.”

“And what if we find Mrs. Dukenfield dead?” I asked.

“Then it’s up to you to find out which of these other
people did her in.”

“Did any of you men on guard duty hear a vehicle running
in the middle of the night?”

As I expected, no one had. All but one of the guardsmen
were present at that moment. I would put the question to Officer Davis when he
returned. Somehow, I didn’t expect him to tell me that the little old lady
knocked on the door before she left, asked if anyone needed anything from town,
and told him she’d be back sometime the next day.

Further rambles got us no closer to solving the case.
Maybe we’d know more after Frank finished the autopsy report.

+++

I looked at my watch. We had been in the library almost
an hour. Officer Davis and the other officer had not returned. I was concerned.
I contemplated asking for volunteers to locate the two men. As I was about to
ask, a noise startled us. Most everyone at the table jumped when the bookcase
swung open to reveal the two missing policemen.

“Where in the world have you two been?” I exclaimed,
much like an outraged parent whose children had stayed out past curfew.

“Following the ledge, just like you asked,” Officer Davis
replied. “Lieutenant, that ledge spiraled around the mountain much like the
markings on a corkscrew. The footprints ended after twenty or thirty steps, but
we traipsed on through the snow in order to see where the ledge led. Eventually,
it touched down on the ground way below the top of the cliff. There’s a stream
down there. Actually, wider and deeper than a stream. We walked around to see
if anyone could’ve crossed it, but we found no evidence that anyone had.
Satisfied, we reclimbed the hill, only climbing that snowy hill is a lot harder
than walking down it. I’m afraid to say that we stopped, out of breath a few
times before we arrived at the place where we began. Because of the wet snow,
neither of us was able to grab hold of something and pull ourselves back up the
cliff. We had no choice but to check out the cave. I don’t mean any offense,
Lieutenant, but there’s no way I figured you could’ve climbed back up. I
figured you must’ve found a way out in that cave. We found the staircases, and
decided to try one of them. This was the first one we tried. I don’t know who
was more shocked when that bookcase opened, the two of us or all of you.”

Everyone laughed at Officer Davis’s remark.

“Officer Davis, I assume you didn’t see a truck anywhere
in your exploits? Like at the bottom of the cliff?”

“No, sir.”

“Did you by any chance hear someone leaving in a truck
in the middle of the night, or early this morning?”

“No, Lieutenant. Things were relatively quiet during
my shift. Once all of you settled down for the night, the only time I saw
another human being was when Officer Downs came to relieve me so I could get
some sleep.”

+++

We left the conference room and returned to the lobby.
I could think of no reason to detain the other officers any longer, so I told
George that Lou and I could handle things until further notice. As George and I
stood talking I could see Longworth trying to get my attention. I excused
myself and went to see what Longworth wanted.

“I don’t know if this interests you, or not,
Lieutenant, but one of yesterday’s expected guests has arrived.”

“Oh, and who might that be?”

“A Mr. Claude Williams from Peoria, Illinois. Mr. Williams
manages a motel in Peoria. He told me he had left the stress of running a motel
behind for a few days, plus he plans to see how we run things here.”

“And did Mr. Williams give any reason for arriving
late?”

“The weather delayed him.”

I asked for Williams’s room number. After I bid goodbye
to my compatriots, I would pay him a visit.

I informed Sidney Longworth that the other policemen
were leaving, and as far as he was concerned, it would be business as usual. He
asked how long Sgt. Murdock and I would be staying. I told him I didn’t know,
but I wanted to retain the conference room for further questioning. He looked
nervous and displeased, but said nothing.

+++

After the uniformed officers left, George asked me if
I’d walk out with him. I knew something was on his mind, but not sure what.

We wrapped up and I opened the door and felt the cold
air smack us in the face. We stepped out onto the front steps, and I turned to
close the door. As I turned back to George, I noticed the smile on his face. I
knew I was in for it.

“Cy, I know you know what you’re doing, but I have
some advice for you, from one friend to another.”

“Okay, George, get it over with.”

“Well, Cy, I know I’m more of an outdoorsman than you
are, so I wanted to help you shore up the areas where you don’t have a clue.
The next time you decide to go rappelling off the side of a cliff, would you
please use ropes instead of a tree? For a minute I thought we were going to
have to send a team down to the bottom to carry your body up.”

“You mean you thought I didn’t know the ledge was
there?”

“Cy, that look on your face was real. The last time I
saw you that scared was when someone else got the last piece of pie at the policemen’s
Christmas dinner a couple of years ago. And if you thought you were scared, you
should’ve seen Lou.”

“Do you mean when I fell or when I asked him to join
me?”

“Both.”

The two of us laughed, shook hands, and George told me
to call him the next time I found myself in a jam. Then, he walked off to that
tank he drives, and I turned to go back inside.

+++

I informed Lou about our new guest and told him that I
wanted to question Williams before we reconvened in the library.

I mounted the steps, walked down the hall until I came
to Williams’s room. I knocked, and shortly a man opened the door. He seemed to
recognize me, but caught himself and assumed an aloof persona. I introduced
myself and asked for a minute of his time. He seemed frightened, but relented,
and opened the door for me to enter. Five minutes later I had no more
information than I had gathered from Longworth. This one needed watching, but I
could think of no reason to detain him any longer, so I excused myself. Maybe I
would question him further at lunch.

I walked out. Lou told me he would meet me in the
conference room, so I ambled down the hall to see how we could muddle the case
more than we had up to that point. We  hunkered down and started to work. Well,
as much as one can hunker down in a conference room.

“Any comments before we start?”

“No, Cy, you start.”

“Okay, let’s look at what we have so far. We have two
guests, Miles Mycroft and Arthur Plankton, dead. We don’t know why someone
wished to eliminate them. We have another guest, Isabel Dukenfield, missing.
It’s possible that she fell over the cliff, and when I check with Longworth to
see what kind of vehicle she was driving, we might know whether or not she
escaped. We have a third guest, Claude Williams, who came to the inn a day later
than he had planned. We have a fourth guest, whose name I do not yet know, who
didn’t arrive. Or did he? We have the inns two owners and five employees.
Somewhere in this mess we have a murderer. Unless you have something more
urgent, I plan to talk to Longworth, get the addresses of each of the guests,
and call Sam Schumann to see what he can tell us about them. Also, when I have
learned what mode of transportation Mrs. Dukenfield used to get to the inn,
I’ll check the garage to see if her vehicle is still there. While she didn’t
look like someone who would drive a truck, no other vehicle is missing. Maybe
she stole someone else’s transportation. Anything I’m neglecting?”

“The only thing I can think of, Cy, is to find out if
Longworth knows who used the room in the back wing that was supposed to be
vacant.”

“I had planned to do that. I want to bring Longworth
back in here to see what else he’ll tell us. We might learn something more. We
might not. But, I want to get him in here and see if additional questions make
him nervous. Anything else, Lou?”

“Just that I figured the old lady left either because
she is our murderer, or she knows who the murderer is and figured she might be
next. Do you reckon Longworth knew all these people and invited them out so he
could butcher them?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call these victims butchered. But
to answer your question, no, I don’t think Longworth got them here to murder
them. I’d think if he were the killer, he would have lured them somewhere where
he has no ties.”

“Any possibility that one of the victims was killed by
accident? After all, if Frank’s guess is right, the men were poisoned. Could it
be that one or the other of them drank or ate something intended for someone
else?”

“Maybe we can better answer that question after Frank
gets back to us and lets us know how the victims were murdered. It’s possible
that both weren’t murdered in the same way. Maybe, Plankton drowned in that
pool.”

“Maybe, but somehow I don’t think so.”

“Me either.”

“Oh, one other thing, Cy. Why was Mycroft wearing a disguise,
so to speak? Was he afraid of someone here? Was it important for him to be
here, but also important that no one recognized him? And is it possible that he
and someone else chose this place to have it out, and the other person spotted
his disguise and won out?”

“Another good point, Lou, and of course, I don’t know
the answer. Let’s go back to the note I received on my car. That person was so
sure he or she would get the best of me, but how could he be sure, and which of
the people we’ve met best fits the description of someone who’s so sure that he
or she will win? Could it be Longworth, who sits here in his castle unafraid of
me, or someone else? Or could it be McArthur, who might be playing dumb when he
acted like he thought this whole thing was part of a play, or a tryout for
one?”

We weren’t getting anywhere sitting on our keisters,
so it was time to get to work. I left Lou to question Longworth, but returned
after spotting the morning snacks had been set out for the few guests who were
left. Even though there was only a few different kinds of unrecognizable cheese
squares, healthy-looking crackers, and grapes, I told Lou to grab some so we
would have something to eat before tackling our candy. He set out to do that
while I cornered Longworth. When we were finished talking, Longworth gave me a
list of all the guests and employees of the inn.  All the employees lived at
the inn. He provided the guests’ addresses. I also had him write down the time
that each guest registered. The inn didn’t ask for car license numbers, and he
had no idea what Isabel Dukenfield drove. I thanked him. I would question him
more later, as well as each of his employees. Maybe I would learn something
new.

10

While Lou made a couple of trips to the conference
room, I ran to my room and called Sam Schumann. Anytime I had any leg work that
needed to be done, Sam was my man. No one in the department looked less
conspicuous and could gather more information than Sam Schumann.

“This is Sam I Am, dining on green eggs and ham.”

“Sounds better than the stuff I’ve been eating.”

“Well, good morning, Cy. Don’t tell me you’ve gone on
a diet.”

“Bite your tongue!”

“I take that as a ‘no,’ and I take your phone call to
mean you have some urgent business you want me to tend to.” 

“That’s the reason I never settle for anyone less than
the best. Sorry, to bother you, Sam, but I’m in the middle of another murder
case, and I have some people I want you to check out. Are you ready to write?”

“Ready when you are.”

“Okay, see what you can find out about the following
people: Miles Mycroft of Missoula, Montana; Isabel Dukenfield of Dubuque, Iowa;
Claude Williams of Peoria, Illinois; Tony McArthur from here in town, and Allan
Halliday of Goldsboro, North Carolina. All of these people are, were, or were
supposed to be guests at the Overlook Inn out at Precipice Point, where the
murders took place. Also, check on Sidney and Estelle Longworth, the
proprietors of the inn, and their employees. Start with the guests, and get
back to me as soon as possible. Lou and I are at the inn trying to solve this
case.”

“I’ll get back with you soon as I can with as much as
I can. It might be Monday before I can get you a lot of details, but I should
be able to find out a little about these people today.”

I hung up and jogged downstairs to Lou. Actually, I
didn’t jog, but lumbered, even though my trek was downhill, and I kept my hand
on the rail to keep from getting downstairs too fast. I wasn’t anxious to set
any records, or for a doctor to reset any of my bones. The only difference in
up and down to me is that I wheeze more and I stop and rest more when going up.
I am more gifted in the art of reclining or sitting; although some people would
take issue that you need talent for those.

I could see that Lou didn’t wait on me. His plate was
half empty, but he hadn’t touched mine. At least I don’t think he had. It
wouldn’t matter anyway. It wasn’t like it was a spread at the Blue Moon.

 I told Lou what I had, which wasn’t much. We would
check with Manfred Mitchuson to see if he remembered what kind of car Isabel
Dukenfield drove. I told Lou I would wait until we had Longworth out of his
comfort zone before we tackled the question of who occupied the room in the
back. We finished our snack with no new inspirations, licked our fingers clean
after eating chocolate to get the fruit and cheese taste out of our mouths, and
sent Lou to get Longworth.

I thought our luck might have changed when Lou returned
with Longworth in tow. At least the owner wasn’t dead or missing. That was
good, since I had already dismissed the bevy of bloodhounds.

“Have a seat, Mr. Longworth.”

“What’s this about, Lieutenant? I already answered all
your questions.”

“Well, Mr. Longworth, there’s nothing like a winter
getaway to inspire a policeman to come up with more questions. I don’t have
many questions for you, but I’d like to know who occupied the room on the back
hall. You said none of those rooms were in use.”

“Well, uh, one of our guests requested a room away
from everyone, and I decided to accommodate him.”

“Oh, and which guest was that, Mr. Longworth?”

“Uh, the deceased.”

“Which deceased, Mr. Longworth? We have so many dead
guys I can hardly count them all.”

“Oh, uh, Mr. Mycroft.”

“And what reason did Mr. Mycroft give for wanting to be
away from the other guests?”

“Just that he came to the inn for solitude.”

“But these rooms have such thick walls. Someone’s in
the room next to mine, but I haven’t heard any noises coming from that room.
And, as I recall, Mr. Mycroft did take his meals with the other guests. Why
this reason to be off by himself?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did he mention knowing anyone here at the inn?”

“Knowing anyone?”

“You do know what knowing anyone means, don’t you, Mr.
Longworth?”

“Sure, but he never mentioned that he knew anyone.”

“Did you talk to him much?”

“Not too much. I mean I wanted to make him feel welcome,
and at the time he checked in he was our only guest.”

“Were any other guests expected when Mr. Mycroft
checked in?”

“Yes, everyone except the two of you, and Miss Humphert.”

“Let’s take a look at when everyone checked in. Mr. Mycroft
checked in at 10:40 Thursday morning. Mr. Plankton checked in at 2:20 Thursday
afternoon. And Mrs. Dukenfield checked in at 4:15 Thursday afternoon. I assume
all of them ate dinner together Thursday evening. Is that correct?”

“That’s right.”

“And did you and your wife join that group?”

“We did.”

“Was the meal similar to the one we had last evening,
with Justin serving?”

“It was.”

“Tell me, Mr. Longworth. What was the conversation
like?”

“My wife and I did most of the talking. Everyone was
new to the inn. We spent most of the time telling them about all the inn has to
offer and answered any questions any of them had.”

“What questions were those?”

“Oh, the usual. What time the pool and library opened
and closed each day. How long before our first play in the auditorium.”

“Yes, Mr. McArthur mentioned that you planned to offer
plays to your guests at some point in the near future.”

“He did?”

“Yes, had you talked to him about that? I know he wasn’t
present at dinner Thursday night, but he seemed to know that you planned to
return to the days of yesteryear with a full compliment of plays.”

I might have embellished my rendition of McArthur’s
comments, but I wanted to see how Longworth responded.

“Well, we do plan to offer plays again, but that will
be a ways down the road.”

“I guess Mr. McArthur was mistaken.”

“Maybe just a little overexcited. A lot of people have
enjoyed plays at the inn. Are you one of them, Lieutenant?”

“No, Mr. Longworth, I’ve never had the pleasure.”

“Well, when we begin I must be sure to leave four
tickets for you and the sergeant. Maybe you would enjoy a Shakespearean comedy,
or our rendition of Macbeth.”

I shuddered at the thought. What would be next? Would
he offer us complimentary dinners before the performance?

“Mr. Longworth, I’m just a little curious as to why
you haven’t asked about your murdered and missing guests.”

“I assume that information is confidential,
Lieutenant.”

“Oh, one other thing, Mr. Longworth. Why didn’t you
tell me that the inn has hidden passageways?”

“Now, Lieutenant, we don’t want our guests roaming
through those passageways.  They might get hurt.  And could you imagine what
our insurance payments would be if we allowed that?”

“I understand that, but why didn’t you tell me about
them after you found out I was with the police department?”

“It escaped my mind. Besides, I didn’t think any of
our guests would know about them, so I imagined you would have been wasting
your time looking for someone there.”

“And you would’ve assumed wrong. I believe it is possible
that Mrs. Dukenfield navigated those passageways in order to make her escape.”

Mr. Longworth laughed.

“Mrs. Dukenfield, that old woman. I don’t want to be
disrespectful, but it sounds preposterous.”

“It does to me, too, but there’s no sign of her
anywhere on the premises.”

I must have paused too long, for I gave Longworth an opportunity
to get something off his chest.

“Lieutenant, one thing I would like to address. Is it
necessary for Miss Humphert to remain in her room?”

“At least until tomorrow. And could you have someone
check with her periodically to walk her dog?”

“Of course, Lieutenant, but why must she remain in her
room? No one else is confined.”

“For safety reasons, Mr. Longworth.”

I let him think I meant her safety, when I was really
thinking about my own. Maybe safety wasn’t the right word, but I couldn’t tell
him it was for my peace of mind. He didn’t know the woman like I did.

“Well, Mr. Longworth, I think that’ll be all for now.
Could you tell me where I can find Mr. Mitchuson?” 

“What could you possibly want with him?”

“Now, Mr. Longworth, if I wanted to tell you that, I
would have invited you to stay while I question him. Now, where did you say I
could find him?”

“Manfred is probably in his quarters.”

“Thank you, Mr. Longworth. I’ll send Sgt. Murdock with
you so you can show him where Mr. Mitchuson’s quarters are.”

A rather displeased innkeeper left, followed by a sergeant.
A couple of minutes later, Lou returned with Manfred Mitchuson.

“Hello, Manfred. Have a seat. You don’t mind if I call
you Manfred, do you?”

“That’s my name, Lieutenant. Go ahead.”

“Manfred, did you by any chance shovel the snow from
the roof on Friday morning.”

“That I did, Lieutenant.”

“Could you tell if anyone had been up there before
you?”

“No possibility of that, Lieutenant. Those of us who
work here are the only ones who know how to get to the roof, and no one ever
goes up there except me.”

“Did you by any chance look out over the parapet while
you were up there shoveling?”

“I didn’t have time. I just barely got it finished in
time for lunch. Just after that you showed up, and then that woman came. That’s
why I didn’t have the drive shoveled before you got here. It takes so long to
do the roof. See not only do I have to shovel all the way around the roof, but
I have to lift the shovel and throw the snow over the side. Believe me, after doing
that a few times my muscles get sore.”

“Yes, I can see where they would. Manfred, I understand
that part of your duties at the inn include parking cars and carrying luggage
to the rooms. Am I correct?”

“That’s right, Lieutenant. Among other things.”

“Did you by any chance carry Mr. Mycroft’s luggage to
his room when he arrived?”

“I did, Lieutenant.”

“That was on the back hallway, away from the other
guests?”

“That’s right.”

“Any idea why his room was so far away from the other
guests?”

“The missus told me that it was because he and Mr. Longworth
had some business to discuss.”

“Any idea what business that was?”

“Well, I hope I’m not talking out of turn. I can’t
afford to lose my job.”

“No, it’s okay to tell me. It’s really not all that important,
and it is just between us. I’m just curious.”

“My missus says Mrs. Longworth told her that Mr. Mycroft
was an actor, and Mr. Longworth was planning on using him when they started featuring
plays again.”

“And when is that?”

“Mr. Longworth acted like it would be soon, but with
Mr. Mycroft’s death, who knows?”

“Any idea if any of the other guests were here for
that reason?”

“Sorry, I can’t help you there.”

“Another question. Did you park Mrs. Dukenfield’s car
when she arrived?”

“Aye, that I did.”

“And what kind of car does she drive?”

“Actually, you might be surprised to know she drives a
truck. I know I was. As a matter of fact, it looks a lot like the truck that
new fellow drove up in this morning.”

“You mean Mr. Williams?”

“I guess that’s his name. I didn’t get it.”

“Well, I’ll have to check his truck.”

“You’ll have to wait until later. He left a few
minutes ago.”

“Left? Left the inn?”

“That’s right.”

“Did he check out?”

“I have no idea about that. I just saw him drive away
when I looked out the window.”

“And how long ago was this?”

“Twenty or thirty minutes. It wasn’t long after your
man here came down the hall with the boss.  I mean I guess it was him. It was a
dark-colored truck like his or that old lady’s. I couldn’t see who was driving
it.”

I excused Manfred Mitchuson and asked him to send his
wife in. While he was away, I called the department to see if they could
intercept a dark-colored truck coming from the Precipice Point Road. I didn’t
need to give them any more information. There wouldn’t have been more than one
truck coming from the inn.