Creeps Suzette

by Mary Daheim

  “About what?” Russ’s gaze hardened.

  “Oh—changes,” Judith said vaguely. “I’m not sure. We don’t know the rest of the family well. What were you saying about Creepers?”

  Russ cleared his throat. “You mean about only Kenny wanting the house?” Seeing Judith nod, he seemed to relax. “Well…Bop has his apartment just off the highway near the pizza place, and Carrie likes that artists’ community up north where she wants to start some kind of women’s writing retreat. Peggy talked Kenny into getting a place in town to wean him away from Creepers, but it hasn’t worked.” He paused to take another swing, his gaze following the invisible ball. “Kenny and Carrie got shuttled back and forth between Peggy’s marriages. They spent so much time at Creepers that they felt like this was their real home. At least Kenny does. I’m not so sure about Carrie, but then who is? She may be my stepdaughter, but she’s kind of an odd duck.”

  “And Kenny isn’t?” Renie broke in.

  “Oh—he’s just got this mania for animals,” Russ replied, now bending over to concentrate on the imaginary ball. “I’ll admit he’s a little immature, they both are, but they’ve had a rough time growing up. Peggy was a single mom for quite a while after her second husband died in ’Nam.” He paused, watching the unseen ball travel what seemed to be a rather short distance. “Hey! I birdied that hole. How about that?”

  “Terrific,” Judith enthused. “You must be a very fine golfer.”

  “I do okay,” Russ admitted. “This course here is a good one, but I prefer Pebble Beach. Peggy and I usually go down there in March, but things are kind of up in the air right now.”

  “You mean because of Dr. Moss’s murder?” Judith asked.

  “Well…that and other things.” Russ gave the cousins an off-center smile. “Guess I’d better go. It’s going on eleven. Peggy’s staying here again tonight, so somebody ought to keep the home fires burning.”

  “Russ,” Judith said, holding out a hand to stay him, “what kind of a father was Charles Ward? Don’t think I’m snoopy, but you mentioned that Caroline and Kenneth had a rough upbringing. Did he do his share?”

  Russ scratched his head again. “I don’t really know. Peggy always complained about him when he was still alive, but the kids, especially Carrie, seemed nuts about him. I met him a few times, but Peggy and I’d only been married a couple of years before he got killed. He seemed like an up-front kind of guy, but we didn’t have much in common. My world’s golf, and Charlie didn’t play. He’d hurthis back. I wouldn’t call him an invalid, but he was pretty screwed up by the time I met him.”

  “It doesn’t sound as if his last years were very happy,” Judith remarked.

  Russ chuckled. “You wouldn’t have known it to meet him. He was one happy-go-lucky sonuvagun. I suppose that’s what drew Peggy to him in the first place. She’s always liked a good time. Catch you later.” Russ went out through the front door.

  “Does he or doesn’t he know about the trouble between Wayne and Dorothy?” Judith asked Renie as they started up the stairs.

  “Does,” Renie answered. “If Peggy knows, and I assume she does, then Russ knows.”

  “Why not say so?”

  “We’re not family,” Renie said as they reached the second floor.

  “He blabbed everything else to us,” Judith argued. “Besides, he’s not one of The Rich. None of Peggy’s husbands was, it seems.”

  “Her rebellion,” Renie said. “Or her need to be better than somebody. Bill would say the latter, that she was dominated by her parents, especially Walter. Her mother—stepmother, that is—has both beauty and class, neither of which Peggy has in nearly the same quantities. Bill would describe her as—”

  “Not now,” Judith said in a whisper as she pointed to her watch. “It’s two minutes to eleven.”

  “Then I can finish telling you what Bill would say,” Renie whispered back.

  “No, you can’t.” Judith smiled meaningfully at Renie. “I’m thinking.”

  “Thinking,” Renie said in a vexed tone, “that you never like hearing Bill’s psychological insights because they don’t always agree with yours and he usually has them first.”

  “That’s not true,” Judith retorted. “Not exactly, anyway. Bill’s approach is clinical, mine is based on experience. I don’t claim to be an expert like he is, but I think I have a pretty good knowledge of how people behave.”

  “You do, it’s just that you never want to hear me out when—” Renie stopped and Judith jumped at the sound of a heavy thud on the other side of the door. “What was that?” Renie asked, looking apprehensive.

  “Let’s find out.” Holding the crowbar in one hand and turning the knob with the other, Judith entered Mrs. Burgess’s suite.

  Nurse Fritz was lying facedown in a large mushroom, pepperoni, and tomato pizza.

  FIFTEEN

  “QUICK!” JUDITH CRIED. “Check on Leota. And try to call 911!”

  Renie rushed into the bedroom while Judith attempted to rouse Nurse Fritz. The stricken woman was still breathing, but she didn’t stir. Feeling panicky, Judith tried to remember the first aid instructions she had learned in order to handle emergencies at the B&B. She could only recall how to apply a tourniquet, which didn’t seem appropriate since Nurse Fritz wasn’t bleeding. The red blotches on her face were tomato sauce.

  “Leota’s sipping tea and fit as a fiddle,” Renie said, breathless. “I called 911; they’re on the way. Should I call Dr. Stevens, too?”

  “No, go down and let the medics in,” Judith said, still trying to bring Nurse Fritz around.

  Renie raced out of the master suite. Feeling helpless, Judith went to the bedroom door. “Did Renie tell you Nurse Fritz collapsed?”

  “Of course,” Mrs. Burgess answered querulously. “Really, people today have no stamina.”

  Not wanting to alarm Mrs. Burgess, Judith murmured something about a stomach disorder, which triggered a question in her own mind about the pizza. “Was Bop here this evening?”

  “Yes, he watched my program with me,” Mrs. Burgess replied. “He just left, via the back stairs. He brought pizza for the staff. I gather Dietz is working late. You know,” she added, pointing to an empty cardboard box on the nightstand, “it’s rather tasty. I’ve never had pizza before.”

  “Excuse me,” Judith said, “I’d better check on Fritz.”

  “She’ll be fine,” Mrs. Burgess asserted. “Nerves, that’s all. I’d like to have just one member of the medical profession not fall apart on me in a time of crisis.”

  Judith, however, couldn’t listen to the old lady’s complaints. She rushed back to Millicent Fritz, whose breathing had grown more shallow. The crowbar still lay on the floor where Judith had left it. Again using her skirt, she carefully placed the tool behind the settee.

  The sitting room seemed in order, except for Nurse Fritz. Judith noticed an empty teacup, a teapot, a half-filled glass of milk, and the remnants of white chocolate mousse. The medium-sized pizza box, with two missing slices, was marked with a hand-lettered “M,” presumably for mushroom. Nurse Fritz, Judith concluded, was either finishing a late dinner or having an early snack when she passed out.

  The door to the sitting room opened, revealing Peggy Hillman. “What’s going on? I thought I heard somebody running around up here. Oh!” Peggy spotted Nurse Fritz and retreated a step. “Is she…?”

  “No,” Judith replied in answer to the unfinished question. “But she’s not good. The medics are on their way.”

  Drawing her green satin robe closer to her body, Peggy moved cautiously toward the unconscious woman. “Has she had a heart attack? A stroke?”

  “I don’t know,” Judith responded. “My cousin and I found her like this. Don’t alarm your mother. She thinks Fritz merely fainted.”

  “Maybe she did,” Peggy said. “Did you throw water on her or use smelling salts?”

  “I’m leaving the emergency measures to the pros.” Judith didn’t want to add that she’d ha
d enough experience to know when someone suffered from something more sinister than a simple faint.

  “I’ll go see Maman,” Peggy said, giving Nurse Fritz’s crumpled form a wide berth as she headed into the bedroom. “God knows she seemed just fine when I left before her TV show came on.”

  Since Peggy hadn’t closed the door to the suite, Judith could hear Renie explaining what had happened as she accompanied the medics up the stairs. Without further word, the emergency team went to work while the cousins stood near the windows and kept their mouths shut.

  Judith tried to overhear what the two men and one woman were saying to each other, but they might as well have been speaking in code. She recognized them from the previous night, and wondered what they must think of the people who lived at Creepers. Whatever it was, she decided, they’d be pressured to keep it to themselves. The medics and their supervisors weren’t dealing with trailer park trash.

  “We’re taking this one to the hospital,” the female medic said as one of her companions used a cell phone to alert the emergency room staff. “Who’s coming along?”

  “I am,” said Peggy, coming out of the bedroom. “I’ll follow in my car as soon as I get dressed. I’ve got to notify Dr. Stevens first. That’s Theo Stevens, got it?”

  The female medic nodded. “Okay, see you there. Let’s move out.”

  An IV had already been inserted in Nurse Fritz’s left hand. With military precision, the trio put her on a gurney and wheeled her out of the room. Peggy followed.

  At the door, one of the male medics, a young man with prematurely white hair, called back to Judith and Renie. “Don’t touch any of those food and beverage items, okay? The police should be here any minute.”

  Renie shot Judith a wry look after the medic had left. “Does he expect us to be surprised?”

  “Fritz isn’t the fainting type, and she looked healthy as a horse,” Judith declared. “We’ve had one murder and several attempts prior to that. How could we be surprised?”

  “That’s what I meant,” Renie said. “Shall I go see Mrs. B. while you wait for the cops?”

  “Sure,” Judith said, then stared at Renie, openmouthed. “The phone! It works. You got through to 911.”

  “That’s right,” Renie said in wonder. “Are you going to call Joe? It’s too late to ring Bill. He’s in bed by now.”

  Judith grimaced. “I’d better not. I don’t want to be talking to him when the police get here.”

  The words had barely gotten out of her mouth when they heard Edwina Jefferson’s voice float up from the bottom of the main staircase. A moment later, she and Danny Wong were in the sitting room.

  “The cook let us in,” Edwina said, shaking the raindrops from her jacket. “What have we got now?”

  “We don’t know,” Judith said, “but we’re willing to suspect the worst.”

  Edwina nodded. “That’s what the medics said. Possible poisoning.” She scanned the leftover foods and beverages. “You haven’t been tinkering, have you, sugar?”

  “We know better.” Judith smiled. “And I’m glad to hear I finally graduated to the rank of sugar.”

  Edwina gave a nod, then told Danny to bag the evidence. Judith remembered the crowbar and pointed to the back of the settee. “What do you think?”

  Edwina frowned. “As a weapon? Where’d it come from?”

  “Out back by the Dumpster,” Renie answered, then hung her head. “And yes, I touched it. I didn’t even think about it being the weapon.”

  “Then you’re still honey, honey,” Edwina said with a vexed expression. “What were you doing with a crowbar?”

  “That’s a long story.” Renie sighed. “We wanted to get into the top floor of the north tower.”

  Edwina looked perplexed. “Why?”

  Judith explained, but not before she had closed the door between the sitting room and the bedroom. The sealed door didn’t seem to perturb Edwina, but the dollhouse discovery made her wince.

  “That’s ugly,” she asserted. “Who’d do a nasty thing like that? And why?”

  “That’s the reason we wanted to get into the fourth-floor room,” Judith said.

  Danny was placing the crowbar in a large plastic bag. “The uniforms couldn’t have missed this,” he said. “It’s too obvious. It must not have been there when they searched the grounds.”

  “In other words,” Judith said dryly, “you still haven’t found the weapon.”

  “Hey, Number Three Son,” Edwina said to Danny, “stop giving information away. We haven’t put these two on the payroll yet.”

  Standing by the fireplace, Renie pouted. “I want to be a sugar, too.”

  Edwina ignored her. “Okay,” she said, sitting down on the settee, “tell me what happened with the nurse.”

  “There’s not much to tell,” Judith said. “We came up here about eleven to say good night to Mrs. Burgess when her TV show was over, and when we got to the door, we heard a big thump. We dashed in and found Nurse Fritz, lying in the pizza.”

  “She didn’t say anything?” Edwina prodded.

  “Nothing,” Judith replied. “She was out like a light.”

  As Danny started to bag the remains of Fritz’s meal, Edwina took another quick look. “What’s that white pudding stuff?”

  “White chocolate mousse,” Judith answered. “It was the dessert du jour.”

  “Where’d the pizza come from? That redheaded kid’s place?”

  “Yes. Bop was here until eleven, watching Mrs. Burgess’s show with her.” Judith stopped and slapped a hand to her cheek. “Leota ate some of that pizza, too. I wonder if she should be checked by a doctor.”

  “How is she?” Edwina asked, glancing at the closed bedroom door.

  “Fine,” Judith replied. “She doesn’t know that anything serious happened to Nurse Fritz, though.”

  “We aren’t positive ourselves,” Edwina said. “Okay, so who else has been around here this evening?”

  “Everybody,” Judith said, making a face. “Peggy’s spending the night again, but she’s gone off to the hospital to be with Nurse Fritz. I think most of the family came to dinner. I haven’t seen Caroline, but I’m sure she’s staying over. Kenneth is here. Russ Hillman stopped by around ten-thirty.” Judith glanced at Renie. “Who else?”

  “Dr. Stevens,” Renie said, still pouting at Edwina. “I shouldn’t tell you that. I’m not a sugar.”

  “What about Wayne and Dorothy Burgess?” Edwina queried, again ignoring Renie’s complaint.

  “Wayne was here earlier,” Judith said slowly. “We saw him in the game room. With a woman.”

  “What woman?” Edwina asked.

  “We couldn’t see much of her,” Judith said. “She was sort of under Wayne.”

  “Oh.” Edwina burst into laughter. “You’re kidding me. Wayne?”

  Even Danny was smiling. “The woman wouldn’t have been his wife, I take it?”

  “Dubious,” Judith replied. “Dorothy is threatening divorce. Did you know that the Japanese are trying to take over Evergreen Timber?”

  “Yes,” Edwina said. “We’ve been checking into the company. Evergreen’s in big trouble. It’d take more money than even Mrs. Burgess has to bail out the firm at this point.”

  “Let’s see,” Judith ruminated. “What else did we learn? Oh—Dr. Moss left an estate of—”

  “We know that, too.” Edwina grinned. “We haven’t been sitting on our hands, sugar. The young Dr. Stevens is now the wealthy Dr. Stevens, complete with a three-million-dollar motive for murder.”

  Judith flinched. “That’s true, but you don’t really think—”

  Edwina broke in again. “We’re keeping an open mind. Aren’t we, Number Three Son?”

  “We have to,” Danny replied. “So far he’s the only one with a clear-cut motive for killing Dr. Moss.”

  “But he wouldn’t break into his own house and office,” Judith protested.

  “He might if he were clever,” Edwina said. “And he is
clever. The robbery would throw suspicion away from him.”

  Renie moved off the hearth. “He didn’t know about the money. He seemed genuinely shocked.”

  Edwina said nothing until she started for the bedroom. “I’m going to talk to Mrs. Burgess. Come on, Danny, bring the notebook.”

  The cousins were left surrounded by evidence bags and a sense of gloom. “Does Edwina seriously suspect Theo Stevens?” Renie asked.

  “She suspects everybody,” Judith said glumly. “Maybe even us. By humoring us, she may be setting a trap. Who knows?”

  Renie started to sulk again. “She called you sugar.”

  “That’s in deference to Joe,” Judith replied, then gazed at the phone. “I feel terrible that I didn’t call him earlier today. What’s wrong with me? There was a time when Joe was always uppermost in my mind.”

  “Eight years of marriage and twenty-four hours of daily togetherness will do that,” Renie said. “You needed some time apart. Your resentment was showing.”

  “Not to him, I hope,” Judith said with fervor. “Goodness knows, I still love him like mad.”

  “Of course you do. I still love Bill like mad, but we aren’t joined at the hip,” Renie contended. “Married or not, we’re still individuals, and since we arrived at Creepers, we’ve had plenty of distractions. I do believe that around four o’clock this afternoon, I forgot I had children.”

  “I didn’t,” Judith said. “I wonder how Mike and Kristin and little Mac are doing.”

  “Probably just fine,” Renie responded as Edwina and Danny reentered the room.

  “We got a call from the hospital,” Edwina said. “All they can tell so far is that it’s some kind of gastrointestinal distress. We’ll gather up our goodies and go downstairs to talk to the cook.” She motioned at Danny to coollect the evidence bags, and then they were gone.

  Judith led the way into Mrs. Burgess’s bedroom. The old lady was looking tired, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

  “What’s going on with Millicent Fritz?” she demanded. “That colored woman wouldn’t tell me a thing.”

  “Maybe,” Renie broke in, “that’s because she wasn’t the right color.”