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 belon
ged 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.”
Even Dr. Ray could have done that, and I wondered if he really was doing what he said.
Dr. Ray was already following the path of my light into the arboretum, moving carefully. He stopped and looked back. “No one’s in here, either.” Then he started for the exercise room.
Spooked, I followed him, with Liz right beside me. I expected to see the flash of Kevin’s knife in the light at any moment, but the exercise room was empty, too.
I looked at Dr. Ray. “I wonder what that was about.”
The courtly man frowned. “I don’t know.”
I also wondered where he got the flashlight. When he caught me staring, he smiled and held out a tiny, but powerful flashlight on a key chain. “Eagle scouts, even old ones, are always prepared.”
So who was arguing? And what did it mean? Married. Embezzled. Watch for the candle. Could the man have been Dr. Ray? Or was Kevin back? Or were they just raised voices between my guests?
All of a sudden, I longed for this weekend to be over. “Does anyone know anything about misbehaving generators?”
A man’s voice I didn’t recognize rang out clearly. “I do.” I turned toward the sound.
A shadowy figure stood in the doorway. Kevin!
For the first time in my life, I opened my mouth and screamed bloody murder.
Or was it Liz’s scream I heard?
Chapter Nine
Dr. Ray flashed his light into Kevin’s face.
The man I thought was Kevin had a beard like Kevin’s, but now I saw he wasn’t Kevin.
Then who the heck was he?
“Sorry to startle you.” The stranger stared at Liz and me with raised eyebrows, although we had already quit screaming.
Lonny and Garrett, who came running at the sound of our combined screams, also stared at us like we were crazy.
“Surround sound, even.” The man looked from Liz to me and grinned. “Sounds like the mystery party has begun and everyone is in the proper frame of mind. This is all very strange. I was walking up when a man dropped off the roof at my feet, and then ran off.”
Oh, my gosh, that must have been Kevin, trying to get inside to talk with his wife.
“About time you got here, Slim,” Garrett said.
Good. This man was apparently supposed to be here, probably even expected by everyone but Liz and me. My heart was still pounding so fast, I had to take a few deep breaths. If the man hadn’t been in the shadows, I never would have reacted so strongly. He didn’t look intimidating. He was a handsome man, probably six feet tall, who reminded me of Cary Grant in those wonderful old movies. A neatly bearded Cary Grant, and bundled in a bright red snowmobile suit.
Dr. Ray said, “How’d you get up here?”
“I rented a snowmobile from a guy in town. The lights in the Inn went out just as I arrived.”
“Wasn’t the door locked?” Dr. Ray asked.
The man shook his head. “Nope.”
Garrett swore and turned to Lonny. “Looks like we’ll be checking the house again. Come on.” Lonny followed dutifully after Garrett. He found a big buddy. Well, older, anyway. Lonny was bigger and more buff than Garrett, who was no slouch, himself.
Slim reached out and redirected my flashlight beam. “You’re blinding me.”
“Oh, sorry,” I said. “If you really do know about generators, I’d appreciate your help.”
Slim smiled. “My dear old pappy was the best heating and air conditioning contractor west of the Rockies.”
As we headed toward the back door, Zach and Stephanie came up the stairs— the elevator wouldn’t work with the power out— and held up their flashlights. At least I’d been trained right by my own dear, old pappy and kept lots of working flashlights around in case of emergency.
Right behind them, Grandma held her knitting needles in a particularly threatening grip. “I heard screaming.”
Dr. Ray smiled, apparently delighted to see her. “Naomi, you are about the most level-headed woman I ever met.” He was sidetracked from the mission by a pair of faded blue eyes.
I exchanged a look with Liz. Levelheaded? Grandma? Ha!
Zach ran up to me. “Let’s go, Mom. I’ll protect you.”
I had to smile, my first one in the last hour. I hugged him too tight and too long. I wasn’t about to let him go outside where Kevin might be hiding. But then it dawned on me that, with the front doors unlocked, I didn’t know if Kevin were inside or out.
Liz leaned closer to me. “I’ll keep Zach safe.” She grabbed my son’s hand. “Come on, Zach. Let’s light some candles in the dining room.”
“Thanks,” I called out to her as I shrugged into my coat and pulled on snow boots. Slim still had his on, along with the red snowmobile suit. A skinny, trimmed-bearded Santa.
Dr. Ray and Grandma were already walking toward the parlor, he lighting the way with his Boy Scout keychain flashlight, and she holding his arm with one hand and the knitting needles in the other.
Pushing open the back door, I was hit by the wind, which nearly stole my breath away. What a nightmare. Paul may have been right. Perhaps this whole mystery thing was a bad idea. I pulled my coat’s hood closer around my face.
“Which way?” Slim asked.
When I pointed toward the large shed off to the left, Slim took my arm and we struggled against the wind.
He yelled to be heard. “Is this the play? Or something else?”
I yelled back. “A man attacked Mr. Calabria.”
Lonny caught up with us. I could barely hear him above the wind. “I’ll keep watch for Kevin.”
I fumbled in the pocket of my coat, trying to fish out my keys with my gloves on while keeping
one hand on the paperweight I carried around earlier. Our three beams of light illuminated the snowflakes falling everywhere. The storm was growing in intensity. The wind sliced through my coat and chilled me to the core.
Reaching the shed, one hundred yards behind the house, I struggled to unlock the padlock, then pushed the door open. Slim and Lonny stepped in beside me, and together, shut the metal door.
Inside the eight-by-eight enclosure, we were safe from the driving snow, if not from the cold or noise of the wind. I could breathe again— and saw the evidence of it in the air, too.
I tried the switch on the wall. Still no lights.
“Aim your flashlights over here,” Slim said. “On the generator.”
I caught a glimpse of Slim’s face. He was smiling at me.
“Thanks for your help,” I said.
He nodded.
Lonny shone the light on the generator. “Sure hope you can get this ornery thing going.”
Slim stepped beside me. “Let me take a look.” He pulled off one glove and ran his bare fingers over the gauges and wires.
Lonny watched the door intently, as if expecting an attack. He’d obviously watched too many slasher movies and his fear was giving me the willies. I wished I thought to grab the baseball bat.
I suppose I ought to have been somewhat apprehensive out here with a stranger, but he wasn’t really a stranger, after all. Dr. Ray and Garrett both knew and trusted him. Besides, Lonny had grown into a man capable of protecting me, if need be.
Slim fiddled with stuff in the same manner I’d seen my father do years before. “Aha! See this loose wire? I think that’s your problem.” He connected it, flipped a switch, and the motor’s roar filled the small building. A moment later, the back-up power was on and light filled the shed.
Slim turned back with a triumphant smile. He looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure where I’d seen him before.
I smiled back, the tension in my chest relaxing. “Thank you… Slim, is it? I guess I ought to introduce myself, now that you’ve gotten us through this crisis. I’m Vicki Butler, the owner of the Who-Dun-Him Inn. This is my friend, Lonny Singer.”
Heather Horrocks - Who-Dun-Him Inn 01 - Snowed Inn Page 9