A quick check showed that everyone else was fine. Arthur and Violet were still in their nightclothes and half asleep when we roused them to let us in. Stacey and Juliette were dressed when they answered the door.
No one was happy to hear the news.
We slouched down to the dining room together like a pack of disheartened zombies. Boxes of cereal, bowls and spoons, and a gallon of milk sat on the table. Ned and Miriam were nowhere to be found.
"You thought it was Dr. Regent!" Juliette snapped. Ah. There she was. Angry at me and ready to suspect the worst. I'd almost missed it.
I nodded. "I did. Apparently, I was wrong."
"Maybe she killed herself?" Arthur ventured. "She knew she was caught and knew she'd be in prison for the rest of her life and she committed suicide."
I shook my head. "She was still tied up. Someone added wire and the battery. It couldn't have been her."
"What about the statue?" Ava asked.
"It's probably broken," I said.
No one had any interest in seeing for themselves. I couldn't blame them.
My money was now on Ned and Miriam, but I was afraid to voice it. How did I get it so wrong about Caroline? "Roasted in the sun" from the poem referred to electrocution. I shivered. I'd basically gift wrapped the woman for the killer. How was I going to explain that?
And there was another problem. According to the poem, I was next. It would be pretty hard to nail the killer if they nailed me first.
We ate in silence. The break in the weather did little to raise our spirits. I didn't even have the energy to track Ned and Miriam down. If the goal was to break me, this killer was succeeding. I wasn't cut out for this—which was too bad, since we could really use a leader right now.
Even the girls seemed depressed. We were going to be rescued at one. It was nine. We had four hours left, and I was the only remaining victim listed in the poem.
"Now that the weather is good, when will the boat be here?" Violet asked.
"Not until one. We still don't have cell service or a working radio," I explained. "The boat is to come back here at one. Until then, we have to stay together."
Arthur spoke up. "What if the killer is on the outside? Someone we don't even know?"
Soo Jin said, "We've thought of that. That's why staying together is so important."
Stacey asked, "You mean someone else might be on the island with us?"
"It's possible." I didn't say that I wondered if it was Lana, because I wasn't sure.
The theory of an outside killer was something I didn't really want to consider because it would be much harder to solve. Either the killer was Arthur, Violet, Miriam, Ned, or an unknown entity. If it was a mysterious killer, how did they move around so we didn't see them? It had to be the tunnels, since four of the rooms had access to secret passages. For all we knew, Audrey Deivers had snapped and was living in the walls with Gertrude, picking us off one by one.
If we stayed in one of the rooms that didn't, we could avoid a sneak attack. That meant the conservatory, study, lounge, and kitchen were out. We could only use the billiard room, library, ballroom, and dining room.
The plan initially was for a farewell lunch before the guests left. We could stay in the dining room until lunch. But by the way people picked at their food, I was pretty sure all appetite was gone.
As I looked over the remaining guests, I wondered if they had the wherewithal to kill. They'd need strength and stealth. Ned was strong. Having worked for the Deivers, both he and Miriam probably knew about the underground passageways.
Should I confront them? Ned was much bigger than me, but I was pretty sure I could take him. Would it be best to get him alone? I wasn't sure that was possible. I'd never seen one without the other.
The room they always seemed to be in was the kitchen. There was no way I was going to deal with them in there. Too many knives. Should I do it in front of everyone? What if he lost it and attacked us all?
The killer was very careful to avoid being seen. Would Ned decide to chuck it and kill me anyway since I was the next on the list?
And what did I ever do to him or Miriam? Since the whole Caroline-Thad-Taylor-Wren love…um…square wasn't the reason, what were the motives for the other murders? Spree killers? They had a chance to fulfill some fantasy to take out innocent people? Sadly, that kind of thing happened.
What about Lana? She befriended Dennis and told him she was writing a book about me. I'd sworn I'd seen her a few months back in Who's There. Her motive? Probably pinning this on me. It would be sweet revenge to see me locked away in prison for the rest of my life.
It was a ridiculous thought. If I was the killer, what was my motive? I didn't know these people, and I certainly wouldn't hurt the Girl Scouts by killing off their biggest donors. How would Lana prepare a case against me? I'd been with Soo Jin almost the whole time.
I'd been the one who found the first broken figure in the lounge. I was a spy who knew how to poison and kill. There were other times when I'd run around the house alone, and I could've put myself at the end of the poem as a red herring. Would that be exploited? Had evidence been planted in my room? In my things?
Now I really wanted to search my stuff. But I couldn't leave any of these folks alone. Especially the girls. They'd been real troopers through all of this, probably due to their more morbid fascination with all things creepy. No, none of these people had it in them to hurt the kids. I truly believed that.
It had to be the staff or an outsider. I wasn't willing to bet the farm that it was Lana. It could be anyone—most likely someone I didn't even know. And I was next. How did the poem go? Something about going undercover in the CIA?
That didn't seem like a way to die, but I'd been oblivious to everything so far, so what did I know? If it were me, I wished they'd just take me out on the street instead of killing me and seven other people.
Miriam and Ned came in and cleared the plates. Violet asked if they had any playing cards. Miriam opened a drawer in the sideboard and handed her a pack. The elderly woman called the girls over and offered to teach them a game.
Good. I needed them to be distracted while I figured out what to do.
"What do you think?" Soo Jin asked. "You've been quiet a long time."
"I think our suspects are Ned, Miriam, Audrey Deivers, Gertrude, or someone outside, like Lana."
She rolled her eyes. "That really narrows it down."
"I think we keep the windows and doors shut. We wait out the next few hours here."
"Okay," Soo Jin said. She started to walk away but returned. "How do you think the killer will come for you?"
"I have no idea. I'm still not convinced they are going to let Violet out of here alive. They smashed her figurine. Whoever it was thought it was a done deal."
"Yes, but that's when we thought it was Caroline."
I thought about this and lowered my voice. "Do you think the killer is Arthur? That Violet was his endgame?"
We looked at the old man with new eyes. He was taller than his wife and sturdily built. After all, the man had been a hog farmer all of his life. Was it possible that he was the killer? Why would he kill his wife? Okay, I'd watched enough episodes of Forensic Files to know that the most common killer of a woman was her husband.
The idea gained traction in my brain. Was cyanide used on farms? He could've poisoned Enos's food or injected him with the cyanide. No one mentioned where he was when Taylor slipped away. He was certainly strong enough to kill her and Thad. And his room was right next to Caroline's. Wren could've been easily convinced to try on Taylor's dress—she wouldn't suspect a sweet old man.
Suddenly, I didn't want him anywhere near the girls or Violet. But how to get him away without making him suspicious? I could send him to the kitchen and follow him. But that would just provide him with an opportunity to work his plan alone.
I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. I was going mad from all of this. My mind was racing, making me a mess. I was terrified of everything that my overactive imagination could think of.
"Are you alright, dear?" Violet asked.
Every set of eyes was on me. I had everyone's attention…Wait! That was an idea! Draw the killer off! Force his hand! And do it away from everyone else in hopes that I'd survive it.
"I'm fine." I waved her off. "It's just a headache. I'm going to run upstairs to get some aspirin."
The old woman looked startled. "Do you think that's wise? Someone should go with you."
Hoping I was acting as if I hadn't a care in the world, I replied, "I'll be alright. I can take care of myself. Would you make sure to watch the girls for a minute?"
She smiled broadly. "Of course!"
Soo Jin slid over to me. "What are you doing?"
I shrugged. "Nothing."
"You're setting yourself up as bait, aren't you?" She folded her arms over her chest.
"Maybe," I said slowly. "Just stay here. I'll be back."
"Merry," she warned. "This is a terrible idea."
"If something happens to me, you have to take my place in the troop." I winked at her.
Soo Jin blocked the doorway. I gently shoved her aside. "I'm doing this. Stay here. You can watch me go upstairs. Then watch to see if anyone follows me. Okay?" I fled before she could stop me.
Yes, this was a stupid idea. Believe me—it wasn't the first time I'd done that. While stupid ideas often led to death, they also led to clues. I was rooting for the latter.
Once upstairs, I headed straight to Arthur and Violet's room. Hopefully, I had enough time to search for whatever I was looking for. Closing the door quietly behind me, I looked around.
I'd been in here only once, to put out the envelopes for the game. I couldn't recall that anything was different from the other rooms, but I was wrong. This was the master suite. The Deivers' bedroom. The furniture was expensive and the decorating first rate. It made perfect sense that the Kasinskis were put in here. They'd been donating to the Girl Scouts for years, according to Stacey.
The bed was made. Clothes were neatly folded in the suitcase or hanging on the back of the door. A lovely painting of the house and island hung on the wall. I stepped closer to examine it. It was an idyllic setting with children playing in the yard. It was sad to think that this house was tarnished by murder.
"What are you doing?" Betty's voice at my elbow made me leap into the air, landing in a defensive crouch.
I looked at the door. Still closed.
"What are you doing here? How did you get in? Why aren't you with the others?" My rapid-fire questions matched my heartbeat. I didn't want to draw out the killer with her in here.
She shrugged, as if she snuck up on me like this every day. To be fair, she kind of did.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay." She smiled. "I made this." The girl handed me a large dagger taped to the end of a pool cue. That was sweet.
"Why did you slip away? They'll notice!" The last thing I wanted was for everyone to find me snooping.
"Lauren and I asked to use the bathroom. Lauren's still there, ready to tell the others that we're still busy."
"How did you get into this room?"
She grinned. "The basement doesn't have the only hidden passages in this house." She led me to the closet and opened the door. The clothes were parted in the middle, and a small door was open in the back.
"What? When? How?" I sputtered.
"We found it this morning around five. You were still sleeping, so we decided to check Thad's crime scene. This goes up into the attic and comes down into his room."
"Is it the only one?" I turned on my cell's flashlight app and aimed it into the darkness.
"It also goes into Taylor's room. I meant to tell you. I guess we forgot."
"Show me," I insisted as I dove into the closet.
Betty closed the closet door behind us, took my cell out of my hand, and found a light switch just inside the passageway. Lights went on, and we climbed a steep and narrow staircase that opened into an attic. The place was covered in dust everywhere, but there was a clean trail that went over to the opposite corner. No footprints, just the floor.
I followed her to that corner, and we went down another set of stairs, coming out in Thad and Wren's closet. Then we crossed the room where a large mirror was hanging on the wall. Betty yanked on one side, and it swung open like a door. We went through that and emerged in Taylor's closet.
I sat down on the bed. Of course my troop found this. They were smart, inventive girls who didn't stay put even when ordered to. The connection between Arthur's and Thad's room made it clear that he could've easily slipped into the room, bludgeoned, and suffocated Thad before slipping into the closet and reappearing in his room.
He could have done this with Violet in the bathroom. Caroline's room was next door to theirs. He could've killed her while his wife was sleeping. We left the room, crossed the hall, and went back into the Kasinskis' room. Was Arthur the killer? It sure seemed like it. At least for Thad's and Caroline's deaths. But he wasn't anywhere near Enos at lunch, and I couldn't remember if he'd been upstairs when Wren was pushed.
"Did you know…" Betty tapped me on the arm. "That the killings have been done boy-girl-boy-girl? Well, until yours, that is."
"I guess I didn't," I admitted.
"That's weird," Betty said. "That's how we were seated for that first lunch too."
Something went ping in my brain. And then I spotted a book on the dresser. I'd seen that book before. Walking over, I picked it up. The Canterbury Tales. Thad had been reading that. I raced out the door and into Thad's room. What I saw pulled everything together.
I knew who the killer was. I knew why they'd killed. I still didn't have all of the hows, but it didn't matter.
"Come on!" I shouted to Betty, and we ran down the stairs and into the dining room.