by Parnell Hall
Sebastian chuckled, shook his head. “You expect me to defend it? I’m really not obligated to. But, okay, I’ll take a crack at it. She did it to cover up the crime.”
“The other people were killed first.”
“Okay, she did it for practice.”
“Now you’re just being facetious.”
“Well, it’s a stupid idea, you asking me for reasons. I was in Seattle this morning. You expect me to fly in here, solve your crime.”
“I don’t expect anything of the sort. You volunteered the suggestion. I’m trying to determine if it has any basis, or if you’re just a kook I can ignore.”
Sebastian smiled. “Fair enough.” He considered. “How about if she just killed her sister, you’d suspect her at once. So she kills some other people first, so when she kills her sister you don’t suspect her at all.”
Harper frowned.
“On the other hand, I’d look at baby brother. Particularly if he’s manipulated them into leaving everything to him.”
“He’d only inherit if he killed them both.”
“Maybe Edith’s dying. Maybe he found out. He’s got to kill Charlotte before Edith dies, because Edith would be easier to manipulate, particularly if she’s weakened. Whereas Charlotte would be more apt to dig in her heels. Oh, sure, she plays the weak and ditsy role, but trust me, she isn’t like that at all. Wasn’t. Hard to believe she’s gone. That type of woman tends to live forever.”
Harper turned to Cora. “You buying any of this?”
“I’m keeping an open mind.”
“That isn’t what I wanted to hear.”
“Okay, I’m keeping a closed mind.”
“Cora.”
“Let me ask a few questions here. When was the last time you saw your aunt?”
“I don’t know. Must be twenty, twenty-five years.”
“Same as your brother?”
“That’s right.”
“He must have been pretty young when you left.”
“He was old enough to know better. He did know better. He just didn’t have the guts.”
“You mean to leave?”
“I mean to do anything but go along. Passive, that’s what he was. Passive aggressive.”
“Have you kept track of your aunts in any way? I mean, how would you know they’re still alive?”
“I assume if they died I’d hear from their solicitor.”
“How do you know they have one?”
“I don’t. You’re asking me for assumptions.”
“If you don’t like your aunts, why did you come?”
“Are you kidding me?” Sebastian grinned. “It’s a murder.”
Chapter
43
Edith Guilford was still woozy from the sedative Barney Nathan had given her.
“Why are you waking me up?”
“We need to ask you some questions,” Chief Harper said.
“I’m too tired.”
“I know. I have to ask you nonetheless.”
“I don’t see why.”
“Do you know your sister’s dead?”
“You woke me up to ask me that? I thought you had something new.”
“How did you feel about your sister?”
“We were very close.”
“Didn’t you ever fight?”
“About what? Sometimes we argued about what TV channel to watch.”
“I thought you didn’t have TV,” Cora said.
“The guests don’t have TV. We do.”
“You said you hadn’t seen the report of the murders because you don’t have TV.”
“I meant we hadn’t watched.”
“But that’s not what you said. You said you hadn’t watched because you didn’t have one.”
“Did I say that? I don’t remember saying that. Maybe it was Charlotte. She made mistakes sometimes.”
“Like what?”
Edith didn’t answer.
“Like what?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes.”
Cora took a breath. “When Charlotte was missing, why didn’t you look in the window seat?”
Edith’s face contorted. “What a horrible idea. Why would I look in the window seat? I wouldn’t want Charlotte to be in the window seat. That’s just stupid. I wanted her to be somewhere I could find her.”
“But you thought something might have happened to her,” Chief Harper said.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you called me.”
“To find her. Not to look for her body.”
Edith dissolved into sobs.
Cora, watching carefully, couldn’t tell if she was faking. She wasn’t acting naturally, but then she’d been drugged.
“Snap out of it,” Cora said. “Your sister’s dead, and we’ve gotta find out who killed her. You want to help us, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Edith blubbered. “I guess so.”
“Who was closer to your nephew, you or Charlotte?”
“I don’t know.”
“Your nephew Alan. You don’t know who was closer?”
“No.”
“Who did he like better?”
Edith looked at Cora, then at Chief Harper. “Why is she doing this?”
“I’m trying to sort out the relationships,” Cora said. “Because it’s the only way to figure out what happened here. I want to find out who killed your sister, so I’m asking personal questions. I know they’re difficult. So you don’t know who Alan liked better?”
“No.”
“How about Sebastian?”
Edith looked like she’d been slapped in the face. Her mouth fell open. Her eyes shifted. It took her a few moments to pull herself together. When she did, she seemed more focused than before. She waved her finger. “You mustn’t believe a word he says.”
“Why?”
“He lies.”
“About what?”
“Everything. Every word out of his mouth is a lie. He’s always been that way, ever since he was a little boy.”
“You never mentioned you had another nephew,” Harper said.
“Why should I? He’s an embarrassment. Better forgotten. You spoke to him on the phone?”
“No.”
“No? Who did? I should warn them. This is very bad. Who did he speak to?”
“Actually he spoke to both of us,” Cora said.
“Oh?” Edith’s eyes widened in alarm. “Oh! You mean he’s here?”
“Yes, he is.”
Her face hardened, her jaw snapped shut in a firm line. “He did it! I might have known. Back to kill us, after all these years.”
“I don’t think so,” Harper said. “Apparently he was in Seattle at the time of the crime.”
“Can he prove it? I suppose he mocked up some phony evidence to make it look like he was in Seattle, but, trust me, he wasn’t. Oh, my God! You have to protect me from him. It’s a wonder he didn’t kill us both.”
“Sebastian seems to feel his baby brother was to blame for a lot of the things he got blamed for.”
“Of course he does. He’s always tried to put it off on Alan. He’s here. Where is he?”
“Right outside.”
“Don’t let him in! Don’t let him get to me! Arrest him! Put him in jail!”
“I can’t arrest him.”
“Why not? You’re the police. That’s what you do. Arrest people.”
“He hasn’t done anything.”
“That’s what you think. If he’s here, he’s done something. And he’s been here from the beginning, and he’s killed all those people, and I should have known it but it’s been so long I just didn’t think of it and I had no idea he was around.”
Edith sprang up and began to pace the room. In spite of the drugs she’d been given, she was pretty steady on her feet. “It’s too much! It’s too much! After all these years, he’s back, devil himself, to kill my sister! I hate him, I hate him! It’s been so long I thought he was dead. I hoped he was dead! Oh, forg
ive me, I wish he were dead!”
Harper lowered his voice, said out of the side of his mouth, “She going to need another sedative. You think Barney’s home?”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
Chapter
44
Sherry was up with the baby when Cora got home. She was walking the floor of her bedroom, joggling Jennifer on her shoulder.
“Colic,” Sherry said. “Just a little colicky, she’ll quiet down soon.”
Jennifer’s crying was getting on Cora’s nerves, but she wanted to talk to her niece. She waited it out until the baby stopped blubbering. Sherry nodded, smiled, took Jennifer into her room, and put her down in the crib.
Sherry came back into the bedroom. “So? Tell me all about it.”
“Aaron hasn’t called?”
“He’s busy with the story. You want to tell me what he’s writing? You didn’t give an interview to Rick Reed.”
“Yes, I did.”
“I don’t think ‘No comment’ counts as an interview.”
“I actually said more than that. There was an awful lot he couldn’t use on the air.”
“So what’s up?”
Cora gave Sherry a rundown of the evening’s events.
“My God,” Sherry said. “The criminal brother. Just like in the movie. Does he look like Boris Karloff?”
“Yes and no. He’s tall and gaunt, with a lean, ashen face.”
“Okay, how doesn’t he resemble Boris Karloff?”
“He’s not being pursued by a horde of angry villagers.”
“Cora.”
“And he doesn’t have a plastic surgeon sidekick who talks like Peter Lorre.”
“And he thinks his aunt did it?”
“Either that or brother Alan.”
“That nice young man? He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Where did you meet that nice young man?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Oh, my God. Is your marriage over so soon? The baby’s not even walking and already the seven-year itch.”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“You don’t remember where you met Alan?”
“He was pointed out to me somewhere as the nephew. I really can’t remember.”
“Of course not.”
“And what reasons did Boris Karloff give for Edith killing her sister?”
“They didn’t like each other.”
“No, really.”
“Yeah, really. According to him, the whole family’s batty.”
“Like in the movie. Oh, my goodness. How did Rick Reed ever miss this guy?”
“I don’t think he knows about him.”
“Dan Finley didn’t tip him off?”
“I think Chief Harper read him the riot act.”
“Rick Reed?”
“Dan Finley.”
“Even so, I’m surprised Rick didn’t pounce on him the minute he came out the door.”
“He never got the chance. The chief let him out the side way.”
“So Rick doesn’t have the story. Does Aaron know about this?”
“Sherry.”
“Well, it would be a scoop.”
“Yeah, it would. And the chief would know exactly where it came from. I’d be in more trouble than I am now.”
“Are you in trouble now?”
“Not really.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“I know. This whole case doesn’t make any sense. And then this guy Sebastian shows up.”
“Who?”
“Boris Karloff. And he rolls out all these theories why the sister did it or the nephew did it.”
“Because they’re nuts?”
“Basically. But why kill all these other people? To cover up the crime. But it hasn’t happened yet. Like for practice. What about to camouflage the crime so it wouldn’t stand out?”
“Does that make sense?”
“I don’t know. It’s a generic reason. It could apply to anyone at all. But in this particular case, I don’t know these people. I certainly don’t know them the way he describes them.”
“So, what’s your theory?”
“I don’t have one. That’s the whole problem. I can’t get a grip on anything. I’m wondering if you’d take another look at the puzzle.”
“What do you mean, take another look at the puzzle? You think I solved it wrong?”
“No, I’m sure you solved it right. I just don’t understand the message. It tells us Charlotte’s in the window seat. We know Charlotte’s in the window seat. It says Charlotte was nosy. We could have guessed that, too.”
Sherry considered. “Does it tell you she was killed because she was nosy?”
“That’s implied.”
“Yeah, but it’s not necessarily true. To start off, there are two possibilities. The killer put that implication in the puzzle deliberately. Or the killer put that implication in the puzzle accidently.”
“How could it be accidental?”
Sherry smiled. “Hey. You don’t construct crossword puzzles. They’re not easy. You’re writing a short little poem, it’s gotta be symmetrical, the first and last line having the same number of letters, the same with the middle two. And it’s gotta rhyme. You got very few words to convey the idea.”
“You’re saying the killer could have said she was snoopy just because it satisfied the meter?”
“Why not? What could it hurt? Unless your theory is the killer is trying to help you figure this out and convict him. In which case, he would be scrupulously careful not to give you a false lead. Assuming getting caught is not the killer’s intention, implying the woman got killed for being snoopy doesn’t hurt him in the least.”
“You keep saying him.”
“Well, I’m not going to say him or her every time. I’d go batty. Anyway, say the killer put the implication in the puzzle deliberately. He either put the implication in the puzzle because it’s true, or he put the implication in the puzzle because it’s false. If he did it because it’s true, it’s because he’s playing a game with you. Because he’s trying to taunt you. Or because it’s an elaborate double-bluff, telling you what’s actually true in the hope you’ll think it’s false.
“If he did it because it’s false, it’s because he’s trying to mislead you.”
“Oh, my God,” Cora said.
“What?”
“You know what you’re doing? You’re being me. You’re thinking like me. And do you know why? Because I’m not thinking like me. Because I’m totally buffaloed by this case, and I’m not thinking at all, so you’re stepping up and doing it for me. Because I’ve become addled and stupid and can’t do it myself.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that.”
“Well, don’t panic. It’s not irreversible. I’m just momentarily fuddled.”
“Knowing that, you can now think clearly?”
Cora sighed. “I’m afraid so.”
Chapter
45
“We have to break up.”
“What?”
“Sorry, Barney, but you’re cramping my style.”
“Huh?”
“I can’t think. I can’t function. I’m like a ditsy teenager with a high school crush.” At his expression, she said, “No, no, don’t panic, that’s not what I mean. It’s just been a long time since I’ve been in any relationship. I’ve forgotten what it takes. I mean mentally. Emotionally. The fact is, it’s clouding my thinking.”
Barney blinked at Cora, sat on the edge of the bed. “You picked me up at the Country Kitchen, smuggled me into your house so your niece wouldn’t know I’m here, to tell me you’re breaking up with me because this is just a schoolgirl crush? Why couldn’t you have slipped me a note in study hall?”
Cora smiled. “Why, Barney Nathan. Good for you. It’s nice to see the feisty side of you. I mean, when you’re not defending some autopsy.”
“I’m glad you like it. I’m still baffled. I have no idea what y
ou’re talking about.”
Cora shrugged. “I used to be such a playgirl. Ever since I’ve come to Bakerhaven my social life has dwindled. For one thing, I quit drinking. If you’re not hanging out in singles bars, you’re not going to get much action. Not that there are singles bars in Bakerhaven, but you catch my drift. Anyway, I sublimated my primal urges into something else.”
“Crossword puzzles.”
“I was going to say crime solving, but it’s the same idea. And I got good at it. I honed my mental agility, reached the point where I could approach a problem logically, and do my best to reason it out.”
“While decimating a medical examiner or two.”
“It was never personal, Barney. Always business. Not that it makes a lot of difference. I doubt if the guys who got shot in The Godfather cared if it was personal or business.”
“What’s this got to do with us breaking up?”
“I’m trying to explain where I’m coming from. Which I’m not exactly sure of myself. Since I’ve been here I’ve had one serious relationship, and it ended badly. Very badly. I mean, on a scale of one to ten, a dead groom is gonna cost you a lot of points.
“And I pulled myself together and I solved that crime. And I haven’t had a serious relationship since. Not that my ex-husband Melvin hasn’t tried.”
“Is that the one who got arrested?”
“You’ll have to be more specific.” At his expression, she said, “Yes, he’s the one you know who got arrested. Anyway, without the distraction of a man, I’ve been sharp and focused and aware and good at what I’m doing. And now I’m not. My senses are dulled. It’s worse than alcohol.”
“Can’t you work through it?”
“I couldn’t work through alcohol. I had to quit drinking.”
“You’re saying I make you stupid.”
“That’s an oversimplification.”
“This is all because you don’t know what happened to Charlotte Guilford.”
“No, this is all because I don’t even suspect what happened to Charlotte Guilford.” Cora sighed, shook her head. “How are things with your wife?”
“Huh?”
“You know. The woman you married. How are things with her?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”
“You do know. She thinks I’m having an affair with Becky Baldwin.”