Soo Jin checked for a pulse, but I already knew the woman's neck had been broken. I'd seen injuries like that before. Well, assassiny injuries. The medical examiner shook her head and then ran into the dining room and returned with the tablecloth, which she draped over the body.
Which was smart because just then Stacey and Juliette and four little girls came around from the other side of the staircase.
"We heard a scream," Stacey said, unable to take her eyes off the lump beneath the tablecloth. "Is that…"
I nodded. "Wren Gable. Can you go get Dennis and head to the library with everyone? The Kasinskis are there."
The girls turned to go with her, but Betty lingered long enough to perform an impressive martial arts move using a pool cue as a bo staff. She spun the rod without looking at it, ending with it under her arm. Then with a wink to us, she ran off and joined them too.
"Caroline!" I said tightly as I sprang up the stairs. "Stay with the body," I told Soo Jin.
Since I didn't hear footfalls on the steps behind me, I knew Soo Jin had stayed behind. I took the steps two at a time until I reached the top. Had Caroline decided it was time for Wren to go? Maybe it was because of Wren's comment about the killers this morning. Maybe she'd always planned to kill her. Or maybe she just had a chance to do it. Rex once told me that many murders were simply crimes of opportunity. The killer saw an opening and ran with it. Was that what happened here?
Either way, it didn't matter. I was going to find that woman and take her out once and for all. I searched every room, bathroom, and closet as I came across them. When at last I came to Caroline's room, it was empty. I retraced my steps, hitting every room again.
Caroline wasn't on the second floor.
I ran down the steps, and Soo Jin looked up at me. She spotted the question on my face and shook her head.
"Caroline, Miriam, and Ned are missing," I said as I doubled over to catch my breath.
"Or they're using the secret passageways," Soo Jin added.
"Do you think the three of them are in on it?" I hadn't thought of that. It seemed unlikely.
I sighed and sat down on the bottom step. If I kept this up, we'd be at it all night. That would be a phenomenal waste of energy, and I didn't have any to spare.
"Miriam gave Dennis the pie," Soo Jin said. "Which means they're here somewhere."
"Either Caroline killed them both, or they're helping her," I mused.
Soo Jin nodded at the tablecloth. "And look what she does to people who help her."
Now we had an interesting dilemma. The rest of the guests, the girls, and Council employees were in the library. The body in front of us needed examination and moving. Miriam, Ned, and Caroline were missing. If I left Soo Jin here alone to examine the body, I'd be putting her in danger.
Then again, the people in the library weren't necessarily safe if Caroline decided to take a shortcut and mow everyone down with a machine gun. And I had no idea what the staff was up to or where they were.
Soo Jin watched me struggle. "Go to the library and send Juliette here to assist me. Leave the girls with the Kasinskis, Dennis, and Stacey, and that gives you time to get the murder board out of our room and set it up in the library."
I clapped my hands together. "Good thinking. We can ask the others if they have any ideas. The murder board might jog their memories."
After installing Juliette with Soo Jin, I ran upstairs and threw all the supplies into a backpack and grabbed the Clue board and easel. I set up everything in the library.
Filling the group in on Wren's death was hard, but hardly surprising, as the guests nodded numbly.
"What's that?" Violet's voice quavered a little when she saw the board with its Post-it bodies.
Arthur put his arm around her.
"It's a murder board," Lauren explained as she took a little paper Wren, tore and bent the arms and legs askew, and placed it at the foot of the stairs.
"It'll help us get answers," Betty said, still holding the pool cue menacingly. She launched into a set of drills that would make a black belt envious.
I took the pool cue out of her hands and set it aside. Then I took Post-its for everyone still living and moved them to where they'd been at the time Wren was murdered. Arthur's and Violet's went into the library. Dennis's went into the lounge. Stacey, Juliette, and one large one for the girls went into the billiard room. I placed one for me and Soo Jin outside on the porch. Since there wasn't a porch on the game board, I stuck them next to the board.
Caroline, Miriam, and Ned's paper people were placed in the hall entryway, since we had no idea where they were at the time of Wren's murder.
"I have some questions," I started.
Ava and Inez stepped forward and started smacking their fists into their hands. They looked like little mafia henchmen, backing me up. I waved them away, and they grudgingly sat down.
"Has anyone seen Wren—alive—or Caroline and Miriam or Ned since breakfast?"
The Kasinskis looked at each other in confusion. Dennis chewed his lip, and Stacey shook her head. Dennis reminded me about the pie. From the crumbs on his shirt, it looked like he'd eaten the whole thing.
"Okay," I tried again. "When you all left the dining room, did anyone see where Caroline and Wren went?"
Violet's eyes lit up, and she raised her hand. "I saw them at the foot of the stairs. They seemed to be arguing." She turned to her husband. "Right, Arthur?"
Arthur nodded. "We went to the library and got books and sat down to read. I never saw anything after that."
"Nobody walked past the doorway?" Soo Jin asked.
The couple shook their heads. Violet seemed to remember something. "I saw Stacey and Juliette in the billiard room. The doors are across from each other."
"How about you, Dennis? Did you see Wren and Caroline?"
He shrugged. "I heard them arguing, but not well enough to hear it. I didn't see them."
The lounge was kitty-corner across from the stairs. I nodded at Lauren, and she moved Caroline to the steps next to the bent and twisted Wren paper doll. Three people remembered hearing or seeing Caroline and Wren near the stairs. Did they go upstairs? Wren had Taylor's dress on, and she wasn't wearing it for breakfast, so they must have. Well, at least Wren had.
I wished the three missing people would show up so we could get their stories—even if I didn't expect Caroline to out herself as the killer.
"Let's assume Wren went upstairs." I nodded at Lauren, and she moved the Post-it body up to the top of the stairs on the board. "Where she put on Taylor's dress."
"Are you saying Dr. Regent killed her?" Dennis's eyes grew round.
Yes. "No, I'm not. Not until we have all the facts. I just wish I knew where they were right now so I could…"
That was when Caroline walked into the room. She found a chair in the corner and dragged it toward the rest of us, who, I was sure, were wearing odd expressions. She looked at all of us staring at her and seemed to be annoyed. She turned her attention to the murder board and frowned.
"Okay," she said slowly. "What did I miss?"