How had this happened in front of us? He'd looked like he was asleep when Soo Jin and I came into the room. Was he, in fact, dead when we'd shown up? How was it managed? I pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and covered him up.
Then I walked down the hall to the dining room, bypassing that to go into the lounge. Only one statue and the action figure remained. The killer had time to kill Dennis in front of everyone, leave the room without being seen, and destroy another statue.
I was stunned and unsure how to play this with everyone else. I had to join the others, but what would I say? All kinds of ideas pummeled me as I made my way to the dining room. Guilt was one of them. I'd insisted that Caroline couldn't act if everyone was together. And I was wrong.
As I settled into my seat, the smell of pork chops had no effect on me. Sooner than later, people would notice Dennis wasn't here. Like it or not, I'd have to announce another murder.
Caroline's smug look as she was leaving was such a giveaway! Soo Jin was right. It was time to lock her up or tie her up.
Oddly enough, no one seemed to notice that Dennis wasn't with us. Either they'd given up worrying, or they thought he was still snoozing. In any event, they probably thought he was safe since the killer was one of us.
I didn't push it. Instead, I took a pork chop, scooped up some mashed potatoes, and ate in silence, like everyone else. Cautiously, I glanced around the table. No one looked up. They seemed to be fascinated by their own food. Maybe they didn't want to look up, thinking if they did, there'd be another dead body sitting across from them.
The girls were even quiet. They had a platter of chili cheese dogs and french fries that made me wonder if I could lure Miriam away to cook for me and Rex full time.
Unlike the others, the girls seemed introspective, as if each one was working through the case. That was when I noticed that Lauren had a bowl of Jell-O, and she was launching herself facedown into it, holding that position for a few seconds before coming up for air and doing it again. The girls studied her and made quiet comments. They were reenacting Thad's murder. I guess the gelatin made sense. They probably intuited that I'd never let them use the real thing.
Something got Betty's attention. She looked up and then studied everyone at the table. Her eyes grew wide on seeing Dennis's empty chair before resting on me. I shook my head, and she nodded. Then she went back to her supper. Good girl.
A large sheet cake was brought out, and as Miriam cut each piece, Ned handed it out. This seemed to cheer people up immensely, and there were even a few smiles around the table. And that was when it happened.
"Where's Dennis?" Caroline asked, her eyes narrowing, drilling into mine.
"Why don't you tell us, Dr. Regent?" I fired back.
She looked confused for a moment. Startled, even. "How would I know? You were the last one out of the room."
All eyes turned to me. It was time.
"Dennis is dead," I said simply.
I waited for the uproar, the questions, and angry accusations, but none came.
"Was he murdered?" Stacey squeaked. She was probably wondering how to tell his parents that their only child died at an event they were supposed to attend.
I shrugged. "I don't know. Dr. Body will have to take a look at him. In the meantime, I'd say it's time for bed." I pointed to the girls and indicated I wanted them to stay.
Everyone agreed, and there was a stampede up the stairs. The sounds of doors slamming were most likely followed by locks being turned.
Once everyone was gone, I looked around for Miriam and Ned. Who had disappeared. Again. In that case I helped myself to a huge piece of cake and a chili cheese dog.
"You're just going to sit there and eat?" Soo Jin asked.
"Yup. And when I'm good and done, we'll go to the conservatory. Until then, enjoy!"
The girls sat at the big table, each taking another slice of cake. Soo Jin threw her arms up in the air and joined us.
"What happened?" Soo Jin asked as she cut into the cake.
"He was the only one left in the room," I said. "I went to wake him up, but unfortunately, he was dead."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Betty's head cocked to one side. The question wasn't accusatory but full of curiosity.
"I figured it would be nice to eat without a murder, for a change. And I wanted to see who would be the first to say something."
Inez asked what was on everyone's mind. "Do you still think it's Caroline?"
I nodded. "She was the first one to ask. I'm guessing she wasn't getting the reaction she wanted. It galled her that she'd gone to the trouble of killing Dennis and no one noticed."
"And the figure?" Ava asked.
"Broken. There are only two left."
"And one is for you…" Lauren's voice trailed off.
"She'll go after Arthur, and maybe Violet again," Soo Jin said. "What do we do?"
I panicked. I ran up the stairs, two at a time, and knocked on Stacey's door. She answered immediately and agreed that she and Juliette would head to Arthur and Violet's room to watch them until I came back up.
When I returned, the girls and Soo Jin were in the conservatory examining the body.
She shook her head. "The poem said that this one sniffed some glue, which could mean poisoned. The easiest way to do that sneaking up on him would be injection, but there aren't any marks on him. He isn't showing any obvious signs of poison. In fact, he could've had a heart attack. It's hard to say."
I plopped into the chair where Caroline had been sitting. "Did you girls see Caroline move around the room when we were in the basement?"
Inez nodded. "She was over at the plant stand." The girl pointed to a huge metal shelving that held maybe a dozen plants. It was right next to Dennis's head.
"She looked at the plants and then returned to her chair." Lauren pointed at me. "But I think others wandered around the room a little. I can't really remember."
Betty spoke up. "We watched her. We watched everyone. She never touched him."
My vantage point, from Caroline's seat, had the perfect view of the deceased. But how did she do it?
"He certainly didn't sniff any glue," Lauren said.
"Sniffed glue!" I snapped my fingers and jumped to my feet. "What kind of aerosol poisons are there?"
Soo Jin thought about this for a moment. "Well, without my books from my office, I'm not sure. But it's possible that's how he was killed."
"This plant is dead!" Ava cried out. She was pointing to the plant closest to Dennis's head.
"So are those!" Inez pointed at the plants next to and below the first plant.
Soo Jin had the girls move out of the way. She bent down and looked at the dead plants.
"I think," she said at last, "that whatever the murderer used killed these plants. And it happened quickly."
I steeled myself. "That's it. It's time to deal with Caroline."
Five minutes later, I had Dr. Regent tied to a chair in the middle of her room, while Soo Jin and the girls carefully searched it. Stacey and Juliette stood in the doorway, watching. Arthur and Violet were locked up tight in their room.
"Don't touch anything," Soo Jin told the girls. "Don't open drawers or bottles. Just use your eyes."
"This is outrageous!" the constrained bowel doctor roared. "I'm suing all of you when this is over!"
Stacey's hands twisted with worry, but she didn't make a move to untie the bowel doctor.
"What did you use to kill Dennis?" I asked. "What aerosol was it? And if any of my girls get hurt, I'm going to kill you. Very slowly."
Caroline's mouth closed. She was done speaking.
After ten minutes of searching, Soo Jin called it off. "There's nothing here," she said.
"Untie me this minute!" Caroline roared.
I shook my head. "No way. You're staying here all night. It's for the safety of everyone else."
The doctor glared at me. "I'll scream all night until you let me go!"
I took a scarf from her closet and gagged her. She didn't like it, but I felt better.
"So," Soo Jin asked, "what now?"
Betty was checking the ropes to make sure the knots would hold. She gave me a thumbs-up.
"Now." I yawned. "Now we go to bed."
* * *
"Soo Jin! Will you stop pacing?" I said from my seat on the bed.
"Sorry!" she said, stopped, and came over to sit next to me.
The girls were out cold. Hearing that the killer was tied up probably was enough for them.
"I just don't know how she did it," she said for the tenth time.
"Killed Dennis?" I frowned. "Some sort of aerosol poison. I thought we'd decided."
She shook her head. "Not that. Enos. We know how everyone was killed except for Enos."
"I know. And it's bugging me." I picked at a piece of string. "We must be overlooking or forgetting something."
"Or it's not cyanide," Soo Jin said. "That's what has me going. Everything points to cyanide from his reddened skin and the smell of bitter almonds. But the speed at which it works throws a wrench into the works."
I shrugged. "It could have been in his food. We can't rule that out."
She shook her head. "You're right. It could have come from his fish. We just don't know for sure."
"In the end, this will be the sheriff's problem, not ours." And for once, I really, really wished the police were dealing with this. "At least our main suspect is tied up in her room."
"I wanted to believe that it was someone outside the group," she said. "Someone who was getting in, maybe hiding in the secret tunnel in the basement."
I thought about this. "That's plausible. We wouldn't even know someone else was here. It would make for the perfect murder."
It was a good theory—that Caroline could be the killer. Except for the murders of Enos and Dennis. Maybe we'd never know what her motives were there. Maybe she had done one bowel surgery too many and she snapped and decided to kill a houseful of people.
It happens more than you'd think. We had this guy at the Farm—the training facility for the CIA. Donny was great at everything, from jogging to interrogation to martial arts training. I was sure he was going to go on to a great career. He was the type of guy you'd expect to save the world.
The problem was, Don was losing it. And no one knew. Then one day, while we were qualifying on sniper rifles, something snapped. Don took off all of his clothes, ran to the commissary, where he smeared pickle relish all over himself, and declared that he was the King of Sweden.
People handle life differently. I could've lost it. When I was outed and lost the only job I'd ever had, I could've snapped and joined the circus or become a rutabaga farmer. But I didn't. I held it together.
Caroline wasn't holding it together.
* * *
A few hours later, Soo Jin and I passed out. When we woke up, it was daylight, and we were still wearing what we'd worn the day before.
"Look!" Lauren pointed out the window. "It's sunny!"
I ran to the window. She was right. The rain had stopped, and the sun was out. The boat was scheduled to come at one o'clock to pick us up, which was good because as Ned said, the radio had been destroyed, and our phones didn't work.
There was a spring in my step as I changed clothes and brushed my teeth. This was almost over! No one died during the night! We'd saved the day!
Well, not really. We'd have saved the day if we'd gotten to Caroline sooner. I felt very guilty about that.
"I guess we should check on our prisoner and see if she needs a bathroom break," I said brightly.
Soo Jin followed me to Caroline's door. I turned the handle and called out her name, before remembering that we'd gagged her. I opened the door and was confronted with something I certainly didn't expect.
Caroline's head lolled against the back of the chair, and she was completely limp. A piece of wire had been woven around her from neck to toe, and that wire was hooked up to a car battery. I'd seen this kind of thing before and was, in fact, too familiar with it.
Caroline had been electrocuted—CIA style.