“Why didn’t she say anything about Abel threatening to kill her just then?” I asked Jake when we were alone out on the cold balcony.
“I don’t know, but I’ve got a hunch we haven’t heard the last from those two.”
“Those four, you mean,” I said, remembering Beatrice’s cold plan to kill her uncle before he could write her out of his will.
“Poor Killian,” Jake said as I shivered a bit. “Come on, let’s get you inside by the fire.”
“I’ve got the chills, but I’m not sure how much of it is because of the cold and how much of it is due to what we just overheard. We need to talk to Killian, and I mean now.”
“I know,” Jake said. “Let’s go find him.”
At least we’d be doing something proactive.
That was my hope, at any rate.
“Killian, do you have a second?” Jake asked his old friend as we approached him in his small home office. It wasn’t large enough for much more than a modest desk, a file cabinet, and a few chairs, but I saw that there was a window looking out into the living area. I didn’t remember seeing any windows on the other side, but I did recall a mirror about where this looked out.
“You installed a one-way mirror?” I asked him.
“What can I say? I like to know what’s going on in my home,” he said dismissively as though there was nothing wrong with spying on his guests. “What can I do for you?”
“Listen, I don’t know if you’re aware of the fact or not, but you’ve got a pair of problems on your hands,” Jake said.
“A pair, or four of a kind?” he asked with a forced smile.
I’d been determined to let Jake handle this, but somehow I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep my mouth shut. “This isn’t a joking matter. You’re not safe here with these people.”
Killian saw that I was speaking out of care for him, and his smile vanished. “Suzanne, I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ve never been the type of man who most folks consider beloved. I’ve allowed things to go from bad to worse for too long with my family and my former business associates, and I’m afraid I’m finally reaping what I sowed.”
“What did you do to any of them that was so bad?” I asked him. “You gave your niece and nephew money and you gave two people great jobs. Are those some kind of crimes I’m not aware of?”
He shrugged. “I clearly didn’t think so at the time, but I’m afraid I’ve been coddling Jasper and Beatrice for so long that they won’t be able to stand on their own feet now. As for Vera and Abel, there have been times when they’ve each failed me, and I’ve punished them for it. I’m not really proud of much that I’ve done in my life, with the notable exception of my daughter.”
“Then go be with her,” I said. “Forget all of this. She needs you.”
“Suzanne, take it easy,” Jake said gently.
“You’re right. Killian, I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.” I hadn’t realized how it had sounded until the words were already out of my mouth. Nice, Suzanne. As if this man doesn’t have enough reason to feel bad, you just piled more on.
“Don’t ever apologize for caring,” he said. “I know that you’re right, but I’m afraid it’s too late. I should have ignored her demands and insisted on staying with her, but that’s never been my strong suit when it comes to my daughter.”
“I know it’s risky driving. That mountain road is treacherous even in the daytime,” I told him. “By the way, does Hank commute? We didn’t see an occupied room downstairs except for yours.”
“My handyman has his own little space, at his own insistence, I might add. There’s only one way to access his apartment, and it’s from outside. I warned him that when the snow started flying he could get trapped in there, but he doesn’t believe me.” Killian started to pick the telephone up, but then he put it back down again as he shook his head. “It’s too late to call Leandra. I’ll touch base with her in the morning,” he said as he disconnected the phone and wrapped the cord up. After he did that, he tucked it under his arm as he stood. “If you two will excuse me, I feel kind of drained, so I’m off to bed.”
“Are you seriously taking the phone with you?” I asked him. I didn’t like the fact that the only way we could communicate with the outside world was going to be locked up in the owner’s room downstairs, not that there was anyone I needed, or even wanted, to call at the moment.
“Sorry, but I don’t want any of them stirring up trouble while I’m resting,” he told us.
“I get that,” I said. “Will you at least think about going to see your daughter in the morning on that anniversary?”
Killian just shrugged, and then he followed us out of his office. He deadbolted the lock on the door, and I could see that it was pretty hefty. Nobody was going to be able to break in there without raising a ruckus, which I was sure had been his intent.
“Sleep well, old friend,” Jake said as Killian headed for the downstairs door.
“If only I could,” he said, and I saw him falter a bit before he caught himself.
As he vanished, I saw Jasper and Beatrice coming down the steps of the main stairway.
As she headed straight for his office door, I couldn’t resist taking a shot at her. “Don’t bother. He’s not there.”
“What do you mean, he’s not there?” she asked me indignantly as she rattled the doorknob. I’d been right; it was firmly secured in place and barely moved under her onslaught.
“Gone, disappeared, left, vacated,” I said with a smile that had no warmth to it at all. Her chilling words earlier were still on my mind, and I had no desire to even pretend to be cordial to her.
“I need to make a call,” she insisted.
“Even if you could get inside, which you can’t,” Jake explained, “he took the only telephone with him to bed.”
“We’ll just see about that,” Beatrice said as she started for the downstairs door.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jake said coolly, the authority thick in his voice.
“Trust me when I tell you that what you would or would not do is no concern of mine,” she snapped as she went to the door.
To the surprise of all of us, it was locked as well.
“This is ridiculous!” she snapped. “Come on, Jasper. We’re leaving.”
To my surprise, her brother didn’t move. “No.”
It was obvious that Beatrice wasn’t used to hearing that word, and I had to fight the temptation to define it for her as well. “What do you mean, no?”
“I’m not driving down that mountain in the dark, and since you rode with me, you’re stuck here until morning,” he said.
“When did you suddenly grow a backbone?” she asked. “Give me the keys, then. I should have known you wouldn’t be man enough to back me up.”
“I’m not going to let you kill yourself, either,” Jasper said. “Just take a second and breathe, Beatrice.”
“Killing myself is exactly what I should do!” Beatrice looked at her brother as though she wanted to commit murder, not suicide, and if we hadn’t been there as witnesses, she might have taken a stab at it, but after a moment she turned on all of us and trounced up the stairs, no doubt heading for her room to get her pout on.
“Sorry about my little sister,” Jasper said. “She’s a little high-strung.”
Wow was that a massive understatement. “How do you manage?” I asked him gently.
“Oh, she’s not always like this,” he said. “I’d better go check on her, though. She’s had a history of threatening to harm herself, and I don’t want it to be because of me if she ever actually does it,” Jasper added as he followed her.
I had a feeling that Beatrice would only threaten suicide if it would get her attention, but after she was gone, I began to wonder. “Jake, is there a chance she might actually be desperate enough to kill herself?”
“I don’t think so,” Jake said.
“But you don’t know for sure,” I replied.
“No,
but if she’s intent on it, there’s nothing we can do to stop her,” he answered.
It was kind of a cold response from him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just don’t have much patience for people who have everything, and it’s still not enough. Leandra is fighting for her life with every ounce of her energy, and it cheapens her battle when people like Beatrice threaten to end it all just for the attention. I know that depression and despondence and desperation are all very real—trust me I’ve gone through them all—but what I can’t abide by are people who pretend to be suicidal for the show of it.”
I knew that he was talking about his own experiences after he lost his late wife and unborn daughter, and I understood why he felt the way he did. I’d lost a classmate, more than that, a friend, in high school to depression, and it had left an indelible mark on me. I’d tried to persuade her to get some help, but I hadn’t tried as hard as I should have, and I would take that regret with me to my grave.
“What were all of those hysterics about?” Vera asked as she came down to join us in front of the fireplace.
“It sounded like a family thing to me,” I said, not wanting to go into any details with her about our conversation with Killian’s family. “Where’s Abel?”
“How should I know? I’m not his keeper,” she snapped.
“Sorry,” I replied, though I really wasn’t sorry at all. She’d gotten a little sympathy from me after the way Abel had threatened her, but she’d quickly used that up. Vera seemed like someone who might often inspire mayhem against herself.
“What are we supposed to do now? Is he holed up in there?” she asked as she pointed toward Killian’s office.
“No, he went to bed,” I said, using her same inflection.
Vera tried the door and was upset to find that it was locked. “I absolutely hate locked doors!” Were we really going to have to go through this yet again? “I have to get in there. I need to make a phone call.”
“Sorry. It’s going to have to wait until morning,” I told her. “Killian took the phone with him to bed.”
“It figures,” she said with disgust. Outside, the wind began to howl and I could hear rain pelting against the glass at the balcony despite the overly generous overhang. “At least we still have power,” she said.
A moment later we didn’t though, as we were all plunged into darkness.
Chapter 8
“COME ON. SERIOUSLY?” Vera asked.
“At least we have the light from the fire,” I told her. I wasn’t in the mood to be completely plunged into darkness in a strange place where there was so much animosity in the air, either.
“I saw some candles earlier,” Jake said as he made his way to the bench in front of the fireplace. Sure enough, under it were a dozen candles and holders for them as well.
“How did I miss these?” I asked him as he got out the tapers, and then retrieved a pack of matches as well.
“I wouldn’t have seen them either if I hadn’t had to bend over and tie my shoe earlier,” he answered with a grin as he lit one and handed it to me. “I have a hunch this isn’t the only stash. You heard Killian before. The power is an issue right now.”
“Hey, I need one of those,” Vera said impatiently.
Jake looked at me for a second before seating another candle and handing it to her. He was reaching for the matches when she said, “Give me the matches. I need a light.”
“I’m working on it,” Jake said, and I could swear he slowed down under her prodding. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. When he finally managed to light a match, he ‘accidently’ dropped it on the floor, extinguishing it in the process. “Oops,” he said.
“Give me those,” she said as she tried to grab the box only to find that it was no longer within her reach. If she’d had any doubts earlier about Jake’s reflexes, they were certainly gone now.
“I can do it. Just give me a second,” Jake said. He lit another match and then made a show of lighting Vera’s candle, but she still wasn’t satisfied. She reached down and grabbed half the remaining candles and headed back for the stairs.
“Hold on. We might need those later,” I told her.
“Tough. You should have been quicker,” Vera crowed. “It’s everyone for themselves.”
Once she was gone, Jake said, “Good riddance.”
“Even though she took half of our supply?” I asked, wondering about the petty ruthlessness of the woman.
“That’s just half of what I pulled out.” Jake grinned at me as he retrieved another full box of tapers. “We’re all set.”
“It shows you what kind of person she is, though, doesn’t it?” I asked him.
“I believe we already knew that,” Jake answered as he set up the rest of the candles and holders. “Shall we deliver these to the rest of the guests, since our host hasn’t come back upstairs?”
“Beatrice already thinks I’m on the staff, so I’d hate to disappoint her,” I answered.
Jake grabbed three holders with candles while I took ours, along with extra tapers as well. “Why don’t you grab a few packs of matches, too?” he asked.
“You had more of those all along as well?” I asked. “Why did you make such a show of having to light Vera’s candle for her and not giving her a pack of her own?”
“She had to pay a jerk tax for the way she was behaving, didn’t she?” Jake asked me.
“I’m not upset with that idea, to be honest with you,” I said approvingly, then we made our way upstairs and started knocking on doors.
“Beatrice, it’s Jake and Suzanne,” I said as I knocked on her door, at first gently and then with a bit more force.
There was no response.
“Could she be in there sulking?” I asked Jake.
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” he answered as another door close by opened. Jasper walked out into the hallway, and I saw that he was wearing silk pajamas and some kind of kimono. It didn’t surprise me a bit that he also had on leather slippers, and I was honestly a little surprised he wasn’t sporting a nightcap as well.
“What’s going on here?” Jasper asked. Had we actually woken him? It was my bedtime as a donutmaker, but I didn’t realize anyone else followed my crazy schedule.
“The power’s out,” I said, which was one of the more obvious statements I’d ever made in my life.
“I can see that,” he answered, “but that still doesn’t explain why you are trying to knock my sister’s door down.”
“She’s going to need a candle if she’s going to find her way around,” I explained.
“If I know Beatrice, she’s already taken enough sleeping pills to knock out a horse. You’d have better luck waking a stone than rousing her. Leave it with me. When she wakes up and sees that the power is out, she’ll come find me first thing.”
I wasn’t so sure of that, but then again, I didn’t care enough about it to argue the point with him. Jake lit a taper in its holder and handed it the man, along with two packs of matches and an extra setup for his sister. I gave him a few of the unlit candles as backups and tried not to smile as he fumbled with the bounty we’d just bestowed upon him.
“Be careful. We don’t want to burn the place down, now do we?” I asked him.
“I’m always careful,” Jasper said with a hint of scold in his tone.
Of that I had no doubt. “Anyway, we just thought you’d like to have some light in case you needed it.”
“How long is the power going to be out?” he asked me as though it were my fault somehow.
If my hands had been empty, I would have been tempted to hold them up to my temples and pretend to concentrate. As it was, I had to fight every impulse I had to give him the smart-aleck answer his question deserved. “Who knows?”
He didn’t seem all that pleased with my answer as he made his way back into his room. Jake wasn’t going to let that stand, though.
He put his foot in the doorway so Jasper couldn’t close it. “It’
s customary to say thank you when someone does you a favor.”
Jasper looked as though he were about to snap back at Jake when he must have seen the expression on my husband’s face. “Thank you,” he said, barely able to get the words out.
Jake gave him a cold smile. “You are welcome,” he said calmly as he withdrew his foot. It was clear it was all Jasper could do not to slam it in our faces, but prudence must have won out because at the last second, the velocity he’d put on it eased to a gentle push.
“That went well, didn’t it?” I asked Jake with a smile. “You know, you’d probably have more luck teaching a horse to sing than getting that man to be polite.”
“I know, but I owe it to the world to at least try,” Jake said with the hint of a smile. “That covers Vera, Jasper, and Beatrice, so we only have one left up here.”
“Abel,” I agreed as we made our way down to his room.
Vera came to the door when we knocked, though. “What do you two want now?” she asked, clearly irritated by our very presence.
“I thought this was Abel’s room,” I asked as I tried to peek inside around her. “He’s not in there too, is he?”
“Gross,” she said. “Of course not. He didn’t like this room and I didn’t care, so we switched. It’s all perfectly innocent.” Vera glanced at our full arms. “So, you found more supplies. Good for you.”
“We did,” Jake said, still refusing to offer her any matches of her own. “Good night.”
“Good night,” she said with a frown as she slammed her door. At least she’d had the spirit to do it in our faces, unlike Jasper’s tepid close.
“Who is slamming doors at this time of night?” Abel asked as he came out of his room, still fully dressed.
“The power’s out, so we thought we’d bring everyone candles,” I volunteered.
“That was nice of you,” he said as he took a set from us. “I told Killian it was a fool’s errand building up here in the middle of nowhere, but the man hasn’t taken my advice for a very long time.”
I didn’t like him talking about our host, and my new friend, that way. “Was it about the time you lost faith in him and sold your part of the grocery chain to him at a loss?” I asked.
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