A huge boom of thunder woke me with a start, and I saw the four girls up, beds made, reading books.
"What time is it?" I yawned.
"Eight in the morning," Betty said, her voice dripping with disapproval.
I struggled to sit up and stared at the black clouds outside the window. "It's still storming? How is that possible?"
The girls nodded. "Dr. Body is brushing her teeth."
"Too bad she's not using the app," Lauren added. "We've come up with some more modifications, and it would be helpful to observe the app in use." She looked at me hopefully.
I shook my head, "No way. I'm not going to be stabbed or shocked just for brushing my teeth."
Inez rolled her eyes. "We haven't weaponized it. Yet."
"There's a lot of testing we have to do," Ava agreed. "And focus groups. We need to do focus groups."
"What are those?" Betty asked.
Ava never liked to seem like she didn't know what she was talking about. "You get a bunch of people together." The wheels turned behind her eyes as she searched for an answer. "From Iceland. And you put them in a room and release a fly to see who can focus on it." The girl folded her arms over her chest smugly.
"What does that have to do with the app?" Lauren pressed.
Ava glared at them. "It's part of the process. Everyone knows that."
Ava's idea was certainly better than the truth. It would be even more epic if you gave everyone a gun with laser sights and money to the first person who shot the fly. Again—nothing that related to a toothbrushing app, but it would be fun.
Seconds later, a refreshed and not-tired-at-all Soo Jin emerged from the bathroom, looking like she'd had eight hours of sleep, no stress, and a shower, and had definitely not been electrocuted by her phone when brushing her teeth.
It took me ten minutes to take a quick shower and get dressed. I joined the girls as they were lined up by the door.
"Breakfast," Inez insisted. "I'm starving."
The others quickly agreed.
Soo Jin opened the door, and I joined the line. The hallway was empty, but the dining room was full. Well, not quite. There were three empty chairs. The delectable scent of bacon and eggs came from the kitchen as my stomach rumbled. The girls sat at their table, and Soo Jin and I took our seats.
Miriam entered with a platter of eggs, bacon, and toast. Ned followed with a tray of chocolate chip waffles, which he set on the kids' table. So. Not. Fair.
The only good news was that at least everyone left survived the night.
"It's still storming," Dennis said glumly.
My eyes lingered for a brief moment on Caroline and Wren, who were sitting next to each other, across from me. Were they secretly thrilled that the storm covered their tracks? The only problem they had to worry about was, how would they escape before I nailed them?
"Arthur didn't sleep very well." Violet patted him on the back. "He doesn't do well with storms, poor thing."
Her husband took her hand and kissed it. It was adorable. Once again, I hoped that Rex and I would be like that at their age. That would be nice. We weren't exactly like that now—neither of us being big on public displays of affection. We were affectionate in our own way—like when Rex cleaned up after Philby knocked everything off the counter for no reason. Or how I shared my Pizza Rolls with him…sometimes.
"At least we still have power," Caroline grunted. "No landline though. I checked."
"We always lose the phone," Ned said as he put a plate of hash browns on the table, "when there's a storm. They never did a good job installing it to begin with."
"Were you two in your cottage all night?" I asked.
Ned glared at me. "Yes, if you must know. We were."
It didn't matter what he said because he could be lying. And unless I found a polygraph test in the basement or truth serum in the medicine cabinet, I'd have no way of knowing if what he said was the truth or not.
We devoured breakfast, our eyes avoiding looking at the three empty chairs.
"I hope we can go home today." Wren shivered. "Thanks, Caroline, for putting me up last night."
The doctor nodded but said nothing.
As far as I knew, the single rooms only had one bed in them. If that was true, where did Wren sleep? Maybe there was more to their relationship than I'd thought.
"I couldn't spend the night in that room with Thad's body." Wren shuddered.
Was she acting? Maybe not. Even if she was the killer, it would be unlikely she'd want to remain in that room.
"I think we need some answers." Betty narrowed her eyes from the kiddie table.
Wren shook her head. "I don't care about answers right now. I want to go home."
Spoken like a true psycho killer.
We finished eating and as a group carried our plates to the kitchen. Miriam and Ned were nowhere to be found, so we piled them on the counter. Where were they? And why were they gone? If we spent another night here, I was going to follow them.
These old houses had secrets, but the layout was too open. Unless they were going back to their cottage every time. I thought I'd need to check that place out.
As if on autopilot, everyone made their way back to the lounge and sat in their original seats. It was depressing.
"Now what?" Dennis asked. "Are we just going to sit here until the storm quits or someone else gets killed?"
It was a fair question.
Caroline didn't even look up from her book Infectious Diseases of Iowa. "There might not be any more murders."
Wren nodded eagerly. "That's true!"
Aha! Were the killers letting us know that we were safe now?
Arthur frowned. "Why would the killer stop?"
"Maybe"—Wren cocked her head to one side—"the killer's rage is spent. Now in the light of day, his fury is burned out."
Caroline nodded. "I think she's right."
It sure seemed like they were telling us it was safe. I needed to get Soo Jin alone so I could fill her in on my theory. And I had an idea.
"Girls." I stood. "How about we handle kitchen duty? Like good Girl Scouts?"
To my complete surprise, they jumped to their feet and filed out the door. These girls were masters of manipulation when it came to chores. When we camped, Kelly made chore charts that rivaled the organization skills of any A-type obsessive compulsive. And those girls managed to disappear every time their names were up.
I once found the four Kaitlyns hiding in a tree one hundred and fifty yards from our campsite when they were supposed to be washing dishes. When I asked what they were doing there, they answered that they were watching for forest fires. It was a shock when they spotted one. But I still made them finish their chores.
Stacey and Juliette started to rise, but I waved them off. Fortunately, Soo Jin got the hint and followed us. Once inside the room, I stationed Betty and Lauren in the doorway with dish towels. Miriam was still gone, and the dirty dishes were piled up. I needed lookouts. They knew what to do without being asked.
Inez grabbed a bottle of spray cleaner and some paper towels and started wiping off the counters, while Ava began putting food in the fridge. I guessed that they only wanted to do dishes if they thought it would help catch a killer.
I turned on the water and as I started washing dishes, quietly told Soo Jin what I'd been thinking about Caroline and Wren. The girls were listening but said nothing. Soo Jin handed Betty and Lauren the wet dishes, and they dried them, glancing furtively into the hall.
"The idea makes a lot of sense," Soo Jin said when I was finished. "Poor Enos. He just got in the way."
I nodded. "That's what I think. And we pretty much heard it from the horses' mouths that the killings were over."
"There are TALKING HORSES HERE?" Lauren shrieked.
"The only way a horse can talk is if it's a magical unicorn." Inez nodded. She'd run out of countertops and was now sweeping the floor.
"Or," Betty added, "if it's two guys in a horse suit."
Ava rolled her eyes. "That doesn't make any sense!"
I couldn't help it. "Which part? The unicorn or the guys in a horse costume?"
She gave me a look I'd seen many times on my troop's faces—the one that said I was an idiot. "Obviously it's the costume. Unicorns are real, duh."
Lauren nodded. "I saw it in the National Enquirer."
Soo Jin, as a scientist, opened her mouth to correct them. Then she closed it. Maybe she liked the idea that these girls still believed in magic.
"Hey." Inez was struggling with a tall cupboard door. "I can't get this open to put the broom back."
Ava joined her, and they gave it a good hard pull, and the door flew open, knocking the girls onto the floor. After making sure they were okay, I stepped forward to check it out.
"Who puts a light in a utility cupboard?" I said as I drew near.
Sure enough, a large light fixture was attached to the ceiling. The whole cupboard was maybe five feet, six inches in height and three yards wide. And it seemed very, very deep.
"Inez," I asked, "did you get the broom out of here?"
"No. It was leaning against the wall. I thought I'd put it back though. Why?"
I turned to look at Soo Jin and the girls. "Because this isn't just a closet." And to make my point, I stepped inside and disappeared.