We moved quietly around the railing to Taylor's room and took up the same positions we had for our search of Enos's room. The bedroom was exactly the same, except that Taylor had filled her dresser and closet with clothes. As I went through it all, a little voice in the back of my brain insisted I was missing something.
I started back at the beginning and went through the room, slowly searching under and behind furniture, inside clothes pockets and bags in hopes of finding whatever it was. After a good twenty minutes, my search yielded nothing. A yawn broke out, and I realized I'd been up for a long time. My overactive imagination was most likely due to a lack of sleep.
Finally, Stacey and I retreated back to our seats near my room. The hall was quiet, but then again, it was getting late, so most people were probably sleeping. Still, I wasn't going anywhere. Just because everyone else was locked up, it didn't mean I shouldn't keep an eye open.
I used to be pretty good at stakeouts. And I could stay up all night if I had to—usually due to enough sugar to give an elephant the jitters. This sugar was loosely disguised as food. Something like cake or candy or in China once—chocolate-covered beetles. I washed those down with an energy drink, and if you had plugged me into a socket, I could have powered a small village for days.
The candy bars I'd swiped from Enos's room were calling to me. The problem with a sugar buzz that would kill a grown man was that eventually you came down and slid into a coma that lasted at least two days. I didn't have any time for that. I would need to stay up the old-fashioned way—talking.
"Stacey," I said. "What about Juliette?" There was a spike of adrenaline when I said her name out loud. Perfect!
The woman looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"What's she like?" I decided to go with.
Stacey took a deep breath. "She's okay. A bit gung ho and a smidge too obsessed with rules, but she loves her job and loves Girl Scouts."
"Does she get along with others?" I asked. "Other than me, I mean?"
She frowned for a moment. "Yes. I mean, if you don't do everything according to the book, she can freak out. But you'd have a hard time finding a better cheerleader for girls."
Did the Council not know how this woman had plagued me? And if not, was it even worth bringing up here? We did have bigger problems to deal with. Maybe I should bury the hatchet and act like nothing was wrong. After all, Juliette hadn't sniped at me once since I arrived.
"Oh!" The blonde's eyes grew wide. "You mean the fact that she hates you!"
I stood corrected. "Yes. Am I the only one?"
She shook her head. "No. Juliette hates you, and the Boy Scouts."
"Great," I mumbled.
"You certainly don't think she's the killer, do you? I can't even imagine that."
I shook my head. "No. I don't think either one of you is the killer."
"I can't stop wondering about Ned and Miriam," Stacey said.
"Do you guys know them?" Now, here was something I hadn't thought of.
She thought for a moment. "Not really. I know they work for the Deivers family and have for at least a few years."
"Would they know the other guests here?"
She shrugged. "I don't think it's likely. Mrs. Deivers must trust them though."
Could Audrey Deivers be involved? I pictured the blonde as a puppet master—manipulating her staff into killing these people. Maybe she never left the island and was here somewhere.
A skittering sound came from my right. "Did you hear that?"
Stacey looked pale as she nodded.
It sounded like a kind of clattering sound on the floor. Was the killer afoot?
"Gertrude!" Stacey squealed as she bent and scooped the bunny up. "You scared us! Naughty bunny!"
The rabbit was larger than I thought. Maybe the size of my cat, Martini. She had white fur, huge eyes, and two long ears that hung down. Her pink nose twitched as she tried to figure out what was going on.
I reached over and scratched between her eyes. She was the softest thing I'd ever touched.
"Should we hold on to her?" Stacey asked. "To keep her safe?"
My girls were never going to forgive my answer. "No. She'll be safer hiding in the walls."
Stacey set the bunny on the floor, and she scrambled away adorably. At least there was one person (well, besides the girls or Soo Jin) in this house I didn't have to worry about. We spent the next hour or so lost in our own thoughts.
I was no closer to finding the killer, which frustrated me. On the one hand, who could solve three murders in half a day? Rex certainly never had, and he was trained for it. But then again, we were isolated, and whoever was killing us off appeared to know their way around the house.
The list of suspects was dwindling, however. Dennis, Wren, Caroline, and the Kasinskis, with Miriam and Ned in a weird second sort of place, with Audrey Deivers as an alternate.
It was strange how I was torn on the issue of Ned and Miriam. Neither servant was in the room when Enos died, but had access to his lunch. And they were the only ones not with us when Taylor was murdered in the study. Could they have killed Thad? Did they see Wren downstairs and think that this was their chance? The rest of us were in our rooms.
And what did we really know about them, except for the fact that they worked here and lived in a cottage out back? They certainly knew the grounds well enough and could probably move around unnoticed.
Looks like those two were now higher up on the list. Alright, so let's work backwards. Who was at the bottom? That was easy—Dennis, Arthur, and Violet. Dennis seemed too lazy to kill people. And I was pretty sure Violet was too weak to have struck both Taylor and Thad down.
But what about Arthur? The man was about my height. He had some girth around his middle, and his amiable personality could be all a lie. But then, he didn't have the connections to any of the deceased, and Violet had been by his side the entire time.
Wren and Caroline were at the top of my list. Wren had definite motive and opportunity. If she knew about Taylor and Thad's alleged affair, she'd have every reason to kill them both. And Wren was the last person to see her husband alive and the first to see him dead. She could easily have lied to us about what happened.
Caroline had a past with Taylor. They'd been close since childhood. Did Caroline hold a grudge when whatever broke them up happened? Was Thad the reason the two friends split up? If so, she'd have motive to kill both. And she was the only one who saw Taylor leave the lounge for the study. Which meant she could have slipped away and killed Taylor, coming back before anyone noticed she was gone. We were all distracted by the bunny. Who knew what really happened?
Caroline's bedroom was three over from Thad's. It wouldn't have been hard to slip across the hallway if she saw Wren go downstairs. And, as a doctor, she knew the right place to strike someone to render them out with one blow. Not to mention that she'd know exactly where in the throat to stab Taylor with one shot.
And then there were the methods of murder. Taylor was speared by a gold trophy. Both Wren and Caroline could have used something like that to make a statement. Taylor always seemed to think she was the best at everything. The trophy could've been a sarcastic metaphor.
As for the bowl of lubricant—if Thad was having an affair with Taylor, Wren would be more likely to choose that method of murder to make a statement of sorts. But if Taylor dropped Caroline for Thad, it was possible she could use the same thing. To be honest, the lube gag was pretty tough to explain to the girls. Maybe I should've gone with the pipe bomb idea. Vaseline was sometimes used when putting a pipe bomb together. But if I had gone with that explanation, for months I'd have parents asking why their daughters were so interested in K-Y Jelly. The thought made me a little nauseous.
My mind was starting to wander. I needed to get back on focus. And that meant my new top suspects—Wren and Caroline. The only problem with Wren or Caroline being the killer—was Enos. Neither woman seemed to have any connection to the man.
Somehow I needed to talk to both women. And both women were currently holed up in Caroline's room. Whoa. Were they in it together?
The scenarios came together in my head like a jigsaw puzzle. It would make sense. Both women working together to get the people who'd betrayed them out of the way! How did I not see it before?
Wren and Caroline working together would explain everything! Caroline slipping away unseen to kill Taylor while Wren kept watch, and Wren killing Thad with Caroline's advice or even help! They could be celebrating right now! As for Enos—I liked the idea of him being a red herring to throw us off the next two victims. It was kind of brilliant. They must've thought that the death of Enos would put Taylor and Thad off a little, but not too much. They needed Taylor to slip away, thinking she was meeting Thad. She couldn't be paralyzed with fear to do that.
Very carefully, I tiptoed past Arthur and Violet's room to Caroline's and pressed my ear against the door. I couldn't hear anything. It would've been so nice to hear them plotting or celebrating. Or better yet—confessing to the crime out loud for no apparent reason.
Stacey gave me a questioning look as I walked back to her. I whispered that I was working on an idea and went back to my seat and my thoughts.
If Caroline and Wren were the killers, did that mean the murders would end? Or would they think that I'd thought of this, so they'd kill one or two more people in order to confuse things even more? Sadly, because of the poem, it didn't seem likely. If the poem was right, more people were going to die.
I didn't want anything to happen to the Kasinskis or to Dennis. But they might not be the only ones in danger. It was always possible that the killers would attack everyone on my safe list, just to make things more confusing.
Soo Jin opened the door and stepped out. Across the hall, a sleepy Juliette opened her door and joined us. The weight of the day started taking its toll on me the minute they arrived. Stacey went straight to her room, and I heard the door lock with a snick.
Part of me wanted to send Juliette away. But I was drooping. I needed sleep. No, there'd be time for me to tell Soo Jin my theories in the morning. Giving her a nod, I went into the room. All four girls were sound asleep, with the lights on. I locked the door behind me and fell onto my bed, fully clothed. My last thought was wondering if I could attach a digital recorder to Gertrude so I could listen as she ran through the walls…