CHAPTER SEVEN

 

"Everybody back to your rooms!" I shouted at everyone who'd gathered in the hallway after hearing Wren's call for help. They cleared the area immediately.

Wren stood over her husband's body. "I didn't touch him. I ran down to the kitchen for a sealed bottle of water. Thad said he wouldn't drink anything else here anymore in case it was poisoned."

"You went alone?" I asked.

The woman nodded before sitting on the edge of the bed. I looked around the room but didn't see any water bottle. Was she lying, or had she tucked it away? It was strange that nervous little Wren would run off alone with a killer on the loose.

Thad was on the floor, his face submerged in a clear, gooey substance. From the look of the back of his head, it seemed he'd been bludgeoned. So why the bowl?

"Tell me what happened when you returned," I said, trying to distract the woman from Soo Jin's examination.

"Oh." She turned her gaze to me. "I knocked on the door, but he didn't answer. Then I tried the doorknob and found out he hadn't locked it behind me. This is what I found when I came in." She looked at the body. "Is he dead?"

I sat down next to her. "Yes. I'm so sorry."

There were no tears. No trembling. The fragile, nervous act was completely gone. The woman next to me was calm and emotionless. Was she in shock?

Dr. Regent came into the room. "I heard screaming. I was in the bathroom. What's going on?"

She took one look at the body and Soo Jin and gave Wren a once-over. Then she pulled an afghan from the foot of the bed and wrapped the woman before leaving the room.

"She thinks she might be in shock," Soo Jin said.

Sure enough, the doctor returned with a bottle of brandy that she said she got from downstairs and asked Wren to drink from it, which she did.

I'm not a doctor. I got that as Thad's wife she might be in shock. But I found Wren's behavior strange. The woman had been a jittery mess since she'd arrived. Now that her husband was dead, she'd become kind of normal. Did she kill Thad and Taylor? It would fit. The perfect motive. And where was the water bottle? Should I ask her now or save it for an interrogation later? For the thousandth time since lunch, I wished that Rex were here.

"Dr. Regent," Soo Jin said, "could you take Wren to your room?"

Caroline nodded and whisked the new widow away.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" I asked as I knelt beside her. "Either woman could be the killer."

Soo Jin looked at me. "Not a clue. But it will give me a chance to examine her late husband without upsetting her—and that seems like the priority now. Examining the crime scene before she can change things is critical. Help me turn him over."

We rolled him onto his right shoulder then onto his back. Thad's eyes were closed, and his face was completely covered with whatever this was. I touched it and rubbed it between my fingers.

"I'm probably way off," I said. "But this feels like personal lubricant."

The medical examiner nodded. "I think it is too. Glycerin based."

"What's a huge bowl filled with lube doing in here?" I asked as I started to search the room.

Under the bed I found six bottles of lubricant—all empty. Using a coat hanger to drag them out, I showed them to Soo Jin. The poem popped into my mind.

"Did he drown in it?"

Soo Jin shrugged. "I'm not sure. The killer struck him on the back of the head first, I think. Then when he was unconscious, pushed his face into this bowl." She opened his mouth and peered inside.

"It looks like he swallowed some. It's possible." Soo Jin looked at me. "But it would be more like suffocation than drowning."

"Yes, but drowning is in the poem. The blow on the head was to render him unconscious in order to drown him. I just don't understand why he'd use this stuff."

You know that moment when you inappropriately get the giggles? Like at the funeral for a Somali pirate or a 90th jubilee for a saintly nun in Peru? The sensation started in my throat and rose up until I was in hysterics.

"You're not helping," Soo Jin said.

"He drowned in lube!" I kept my voice down. "You don't think that's funny?"

She sighed. "Yes. It's funny. But I have to be professional about this."

That kind of took the wind out of my sails a bit. I thought maybe I was losing my mind.

"Tell me about the head wound," I said.

"I won't know until I shave his head. And examine his lungs to see if he drowned. But I'd say it was something blunt. Like a baseball bat, maybe."

"Well, I guess we know for sure that these murders were premeditated. Someone brought in cyanide to kill Enos and six bottles of lubricant to kill Thad. I think it's safe to say it's one killer."

Soo Jin stood up and looked at the body. "I wish it weren't true, but I think you're right."

"I wonder what the killer thought when they found out you were here."

"What's that?" she asked.

"The killer didn't realize there'd be a medical examiner on site."

Soo Jin shook her head. "I don't think that makes any difference. These crimes are pretty obvious. There are other ways to drown someone. And poison someone without it looking like poison."

"I have to think they aren't happy you're here. We're storing the bodies in the basement and collecting evidence in bags. The killer might have thought that the guests here would trample all over the scene and they'd get away with it."

"I don't know that the evidence is safe," she said. "We've been storing it in the basement. Everyone probably knows that."

"The killer will be more careful now. He knows the list of suspects is shrinking and that we are investigating."

We took an extra sheet from the closet and wrapped Thad's body in it, trying to decide if it was worth navigating two sets of stairs with the corpse. The possibility of leaving it in the room was tempting. But then, where would Wren stay?

A loud thunderclap indicated that the storm hadn't let up.

I knocked on Dennis's door, but he told us to go away. When I said we needed his help with Thad, he didn't answer.

"Thad needs to go to the basement, but because of the girls, I think we should leave him here for the time being." Soo Jin wiped her face with her forearm.

I agreed. Carrying another man, this time down two flights of stairs, was daunting. Instead, we collected up the evidence and bagged it, taking it to our room.

The girls had created a fortress. And they weren't letting anyone in.

"Come on!" I insisted. "It's Merry and Dr. Body!"

Betty's voice drifted through the door. "What's the password?"

Password? We didn't set up a password. But it was a good idea for the future.

"Girls," Soo Jin said, "please let us in."

"Password?" Betty said again.

For a moment I thought about busting in the door. But that would remove one of our main defenses.

"I guess we're going to have to figure out what the password is," I mumbled to Soo Jin. "And then I'll kill them."

She suppressed a smile.

"Can you give us a hint?" I asked the door.

There was some mumbling before Betty announced, "Who was the breaststroke swimmer from Norway in the 1964 Olympics?"

"You're joking," I replied. "How could we know that?"

"If you don't say the password," Betty said, "how do we know it's really you?"

"How can we tell you the password if you made it up after we left?"

There was dead silence on the other side as I imagined four little girls staring at each other. The bolt was thrown, and the doorknob turned.

Once inside with the door locked behind us, I said, "While I like the idea of a password, I think that all of us should be aware of it…before we leave the room." And then I stopped dead in my tracks.

Betty had something red smeared all over her neck, and Inez was holding a four-foot-long stuffed Marlin with similar red marks on its pointy nose. Where had she gotten that? In the corner, Ava was face down on a dinner plate.

"Are you guys reenacting the murders?" Soo Jin asked.

"Yes," Ava shouted, her face still on the plate.

Betty turned around, and Inez stabbed her in the neck with the giant game fish. Betty fell to the floor and started to twitch violently as foam came out of her mouth.

"Toothpaste?" Soo Jin asked.

I nodded. "You have to admit—they're creative."

This wasn't a bad idea, and I appreciated the effort. It still only told us what we already knew. That doesn't mean I stopped Inez from stabbing Betty over and over. You have to take your entertainment where you can get it when locked in a big house with three dead bodies and a killer.

Lauren looked into the bowl I was carrying. "What's that?"

The other girls stopped what they were doing and crowded around. I had no idea what to say.

"Glycerine!" Betty said. "Are we making bombs?"

"What's up with you and bombs?" I asked, remembering the shape charges sitting at the bottom of the lake.

"It's not for bombs," Soo Jin said. "But you're right. It's…um…a glycerin-based substance."

"What's it used for?" Ava stuck her finger in it, and I pulled the bowl away.

Soo Jin and I exchanged glances. She probably was silently suggesting that we give them a very technical medical excuse, while I was trying to tell her through telepathy that I wasn't going to tell them anything.

I tried something else. "Thad Gable is dead."

That got their attention. Inez ran to the murder board and took up one of the little Post-it figures.

"Where does he go?" she asked.

"In his room," I answered. "Two doors over."

Betty was prepared for this. They'd made the facsimile of the board for the second floor while we were gone, in addition to acting out the crimes. I didn't think we were gone that long.

The little figure went into Thad and Wren's room as Inez uncapped a pen. "How did he die?"

"Struck on the back of the head then drowned in this." I indicated the bowl.

Inez thought about it for a moment before drawing a dent in the figure's head and little waves of water going up his nose. The attention to detail was impressive. Meanwhile, Ava was sculpting Thad face down in a bowl. I only knew who it was by the bowl, because Thad's figure looked like a penguin with two heads. These girls were seriously in need of some art instruction.

Lauren folded her arms over her chest. "You're going to have to tell us everything."

She had a point. Soo Jin and I explained what we'd seen when we entered the room. They listened carefully, even as I described Wren's strange behavior.

"Dr. Regent showed up late?" Betty asked. "And she was walking around alone?"

I nodded.

"She did it," the girl said. "She's our killer. Only the killer would wander around alone."

I shook my head. "I don't know if that's true. If she thought everyone was in their rooms, she'd have felt safe."

"But she didn't know Thad was dead," Lauren said.

Betty nodded. "She did if she was the killer."

That's when I noticed the large pad of paper and easel in the corner.

"How did that get in here?" I asked as I scanned each face. And that was when I noticed Betty's hair and Lauren's hair were wet.

"Did you go out the window?" I gasped.

"We had to get some more materials," Lauren said. "You'd notice us in the hallway. So we went out this window, climbed down the drainpipe, and went in through the conservatory."

Betty picked it up. "We found this in a closet in the study and ran it upstairs."

What? I couldn't believe it! I was angry and stunned, trying to decide how to handle this, when Soo Jin stepped in.

"That was a terrible idea," she said gently. "You could've fallen or been killed."

The girls actually hung their heads. They loved the doctor, and I guess her being upset made them sad. I had to admit, it calmed me down a little.

"Wait," I said. "The conservatory window was open? Earlier we'd checked all the windows. They were all locked on the inside."

Lauren shook her head. "No, it wasn't. We taped over the bolt on one of the windows, just in case."

Betty added, "You would've thought you'd locked it, but you didn't. Turning the bolt wouldn't have released it because of the tape."

Well, at least we had a place to write ideas.

Since my handwriting was terrible, Soo Jin was selected to make a list of the guests and who the victims were so far.

There was a knock on the door. It was Stacey. Oh, right! I'd forgotten we were going to take a shift in the hallway. I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway so she wouldn't see what the girls had been up to.

She looked around nervously. "Are you ready?"

"I should check in on Wren," I said.

"She just went back to her room to get a bottle of water. Caroline walked her there, and both went back to Dr. Regent's room. I just saw them."

So there was a bottle of water. I must've missed it.

"I'll relieve you in a few hours," Soo Jin said as she made notes.

Stacey had dragged two chairs just outside our room. It was quiet in the hall. The railing that surrounded the staircase was the only thing obstructing our view of the entire floor, and that was only three feet high.

We could see the door to every room. Either the killer was in their room, planning to kill Thad, or they got lucky when Thad sent Wren downstairs for a bottle of water. Did the killer know that would happen?

"I can't believe this," the Girl Scout employee said sadly. "If you'd told me one person would die at our fundraiser, I wouldn't have believed it."

I patted her hand. "None of this is your fault."

She gave me a look I couldn't interpret. "JD thinks it's yours."

JD? Juliette Dowd? Was that what her co-workers called her? Of course she'd think it was me. She hated me. If I went to prison, that would get me out of the way so she could pursue Rex. It probably didn't matter to her that Rex had no interest. But was she the killer here? I didn't think so.

"Yeah, well, Juliette doesn't like me."

Stacey laughed. "You can say that again."

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"

"She says she was contracted to marry Rex," Stacey added. "Is that true?"

I sighed. "When they were little kids, their parents verbally discussed the two of them getting married. It was never legally binding, and Rex had no interest in dating or marrying her. It's kind of sad, really."

We were speaking very quietly, but since we were outside of Enos's room, I figured no one was listening. Our job was simple. To sit here and make sure no one left their room. Since each room had a bathroom, there was no reason to go anywhere.

The thrum of rain on the roof was making me sleepy. Carrying bodies down to the basement, running around chasing a killer, and worrying about everyone was exhausting, to say the least.

"If only we'd done this an hour earlier," Stacey said. "Thad Gable would be alive."

Wren said she went downstairs to get a bottle of water. I racked my brain but didn't remember seeing a bottle of water anywhere in the room. And yet Stacey just saw Wren go to her room to retrieve the bottle, so maybe Wren wasn't lying. Or, she already had a bottle. Wren could've killed Thad without even leaving the room. That was a possibility. I'd kill Thad if I was married to him.

Did that mean Wren was the killer? She certainly had a motive to kill Taylor. This would've worked out well for taking her husband and his lover out at the same time. The whole flighty thing could be an act. People weren't always what they seemed.

The only problem with Wren as the killer was Enos. Why kill him? Practice for taking out the others? As a red herring to throw us off the track? That idea had merit because it would mean no one else would die. Wren could very well be Kevin. And the great thing about that was I knew I could take her.

I wanted to talk about this theory, but should I discuss this with Stacey? How much did she want to know? She'd stayed in the background during this whole thing, which was probably for the best.

"I don't know if it would've made a difference," I said finally. The less she knew, the better.

"Well." She looked around the corridor. "It really would've been a fun event."

"I have a question you might be able to answer." I realized she had info I could use. "How did you get these attendees? Did you send out a bunch of invites and limit it to eight? Did you only ask these folks?"

For a moment I was afraid she wouldn't answer—like there was some sort of Girl Scout special event secrecy rule or something. But the blonde relaxed a little, seemingly happy to discuss something other than murder.

"We only have about a dozen donors who give at that level annually. Audrey Deivers came up with the idea initially and volunteered her house. We sent out invitations, and these eight accepted."

"What about the other four?" I asked. "The ones who didn't accept?"

"Two couples—they were going to Greece on a cruise together. They left a week ago."

I thought of something else. "Did everyone who accepted know who was attending?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. Word might have gotten around. But I doubt it. I don't think Wren would've come if she knew Taylor was going to be here."

So the guests most likely didn't know who was going to be here. Which brought us back to the random killer theory. I didn't like that one.

"Did anyone know my troop was going to be here?" That would explain the last part of the poem about the CIA.

Stacey narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the right. "I don't think so. You weren't on the invitation."

"And what about Miriam and Ned—did anyone know about them?"

She shook her head.

The staff had been at the back of my mind during this whole thing, but I was still on the fence about their involvement. Mostly they kept to themselves and stayed in their cabin. They were the only people who actually belonged here, and it was unlikely that they moved in the same social circles as the guests.

However, if it was Miriam and Ned and they were just killing us off for fun, it would make sense since they had access to the fish that poisoned Enos, knew about the trophy that killed Taylor, and knew their way around the house. I thought about seeing that shadow in the lounge when the first sculpture was broken. Whoever it was hadn't come out of the doorway or I would've seen them. The problem was, where did they go?

There was probably another broken sculpture now. I wanted to check, but I couldn't leave Stacey alone up here, and if we both left, the killer might strike again.

I followed another train of thought. "Do you know these people well?"

"Not really. I'm mostly in charge of the camps, so I'm not involved too much with administration. The CEO and VP of Finance probably knows them better. I've seen a few of them at parties we've thrown whenever we update one of the camps. I've talked to almost all of them a bit."

"What can you tell me about the Gables?" I asked.

"Well, Thad is a famous attorney, and Wren is involved in the art world. They haven't been married very long. I think a couple of years, maybe?"

"I didn't know that. I'd have thought they'd been together longer."

She shook her head. "In fact, Thad brought Taylor to a fundraiser a month or so before his wedding. We thought it was odd, but then they're both donors and had been invited. So maybe it wasn't so weird."

That was interesting. "I know this sounds like gossip, but it might really help. Do you think they were having an affair?"

She looked uncomfortable with the question. "I'm sorry. I really couldn't say."

Moving on. "What about the Kasinskis?"

Stacey smiled. "I do know them. Married fifty years. Always lived here. Violet was a Girl Scout back in the day. Very generous donors and the nicest people. As much as they love kids, it's sad they couldn't have any."

"Why's that, do you think?" I tried to sound casual.

She shrugged. "No idea. They never discussed it. But rumor has it that they tried for decades before giving up."

"I wonder why they didn't adopt."

"Violet once told me that they channeled their energy instead into helping children's causes. That's why they are so great for the Council. I honestly can't say anything bad about them." She frowned. "Which makes me worry. You don't think the killer will target them too?"

I thought about this. "From the poem, it looks like almost all of them will be targeted, because one of them is the killer."

"And you," Stacey said. "The last line is about you, right?"

I nodded. "I think so." I had an idea. "I think I should search Enos's room."

Stacey's eyes flew open wide. "But what about watching things here?"

"You stand in the doorway, in sight of me and the hall. Call out if you see anyone, and I'll be there to handle it."

It took a few seconds before she agreed. I mean, we were sitting right outside Enos's room. It was a perfect opportunity. In fact, I don't know why we hadn't thought of it sooner. Enos's things should still be inside. Maybe I could find a clue. And the best part was—it would keep me awake. My energy was dangerously low.

We propped open the door with one of the chairs. Stacey stood in the doorway, her back against the frame so she could see both the hall and inside the room.

Enos's room was pretty small. One lone twin bed and one dresser. It had a tiny bathroom with a stool, sink, and shower stall. Two windows were being hammered with rain. A suitcase sat on the floor. I checked the closet, but it was empty.

Lifting the suitcase to the bed, I carefully opened it. I don't like opening things if I don't know what's in them. It all dates back to those little music boxes you wind up until the clown pops out.

It wasn't a toy that made me jumpy around them. It was a case I had in Uzbekistan. My contact there hid a thumb drive inside of a toy for me to retrieve. Unfortunately, the Russians knew about it and hid something of their own…a pop gun that shot a ricin bullet. It narrowly missed me.

Ricin is a nasty way to go and a Russian trademark. Riley pulled us out of there after that happened, and shortly after we were stationed in the much safer drug lord countryside of Colombia.

Nothing popped out of Enos's suitcase. In fact, it was almost empty. The man only had extra underwear and socks inside—which meant he planned to wear his outfit the entire weekend.

After a quick glance to make sure Stacey was all good, I started working my way through the pockets. I found a Dopp kit with the usual toiletries and another pair of shoes. And in a hidden panel, I found five dozen Twinkies. I'm not kidding. I counted. I even toyed with eating one or two for the sugar rush but decided against it. In fact, I was starting to think I was just a dozen shy of becoming Enos. Maybe I should eat more salad. Can you put Pizza Rolls in salad?

"Anything?" Stacey whispered.

I shook my head and closed the suitcase. Next I tried the dresser. All of the drawers were empty. I took each one out and examined it, including the underside. Nothing. Using my cell as a flashlight, I checked under the bed and dresser, where I found a case of candy bars but nothing that even resembled a clue. I did put a couple of bars in my pocket for later. I'm not an idiot.

"There's nothing there." I sighed as I pulled my chair out into the hall and closed the door.

What did I really expect to find? The man was the first victim. He obviously wasn't the killer. If there'd just been some connection to Thad or Taylor, I could've had an idea who the murderer was.

Instead, I had connections between Thad and Taylor. And without the water bottle, Wren was starting to look guilty. But first, I needed more information about the other guests.

"What do you know about Enos and Dennis?" I asked Stacey once we were seated again.

"Dennis didn't want to come," Stacey whispered. "His parents haven't been very happy with him just lying around their house for years. They were originally going to join us, but then his father got called out of the country for work, and they insisted that Dennis take their place since they'd already paid."

"Was that unusual—for Dennis's parents to miss the event?"

Stacey cocked her head to the side, thinking. "You know what? Now that you say it, they often miss events. They buy the tickets at the drop of a hat, but later they always find some sort of conflict in their schedule." She shrugged. "I guess they just aren't very organized."

That was interesting. "What else do you know about Dennis?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

"And Enos?"

There was a bit of hesitation. "That's another matter. Enos is…was fairly new to us. From what I understood, he gave money away just to avoid taxes. There was talk that he was bored with life and always looking for something interesting. Frankly, we were shocked when he accepted."

The door to my room opened, and Soo Jin appeared. "The girls want to go to the library to find books to read. Is that okay?"

I nodded. And watched Soo Jin herd them out of the room and downstairs. Poor kids. They were wide awake with all the excitement and probably bored out of their skulls. Then I remembered the sculptures, so I called out to Soo Jin to look in the lounge.

A moment later, she called up from the bottom of the stairs. "Another one of the…things…I think it's a cow…"

I heard Lauren yell, "Badger."

Soo Jin corrected, "The badger is broken."

She promised to hurry. I looked around. Enos's room was behind me, with our room on my right. Dennis was between our room and the Gables'. Taylor's room was next to theirs, with Stacey and Juliette's room in the corner. Caroline's room was next, with the Kasinskis in the corner on my left. From eight rooms, only six were occupied now. How many more would become empty in the next few hours?

The storm had to let up soon. Tomorrow we'd find a way to signal the shore and get the boat back here with the authorities. That was my mission. To get the rest of these folks off the island alive. If only I had a gun.

Soo Jin and the girls came up the stairs and went back into the room, their little arms full of books. Each girl gave us a little nod as she passed.

I relaxed a little.

"What about Taylor?" I asked.

Stacey rolled her eyes, which surprised me because I'd never seen her be anything other than professional. Taylor was obviously a source of irritation. It was like watching a dam break.

"She's been involved with us for years. Never as a volunteer, but as a donor. As she climbed the corporate ladder, her donations grew, but she drove us insane, constantly criticizing everything we did. She was on the board of directors for two years. Drove them crazy. We lost three great volunteers while she was on. No one was sad when she resigned."

Did anyone like Taylor? Besides Thad, that is?

"How about Dr. Regent? Tell me about her."

Stacey tapped her chin. "Well, she and Taylor were friends for years. Met at Girl Scout Camp as kids."

What? I never would've guessed that! The two women didn't so much as look at each other this whole time. I guess that should've been a giveaway. In the spy world, you can often tell if people are connected by how they ignore each other. How had I missed it?

"Are you sure? They hadn't said two words to each other all day?" Of course, this was partly due to the fact that Taylor was now dead.

"I'm sure." Stacey nodded. "Taylor brought Caroline to a couple of fundraisers her first year with us. They both told me they'd grown up together. I have no idea what happened to split them up, but they were fast friends originally."

This was interesting news. And it moved Caroline up to the top of the suspect list. A doctor could easily get ahold of cyanide and would know just how much it would take to kill a guy as big as Enos. If she and Taylor had a bad breakup, it would explain the violent way Taylor was murdered. And a doctor would know exactly where the jugular vein was. She would know where to hit Thad on the head so he'd be out cold and easy to drown.

The hair stood up on my arms. Caroline was the only one to see Taylor leave the room. And she came late to see Thad's body. She also had no problem running downstairs alone for brandy—especially if it was because she felt safe since she was the killer.

Could it really be this easy?

Hmmm…but what about motive? I understood her killing Taylor. And maybe the reason she'd stopped hanging with Caroline was because she'd been having an affair with Thad. But once more Enos's murder didn't seem to fit.

"What is it?" Stacey studied my expression.

"I think we need to search Taylor's room too," I said.

And then find a way to catch the killer before they killed again.