“We’ll ask somebody. Maybe Frank. Or Nadia. Didn’t you
say that…”
The pager went off. Judith jumped, then groped around
in her shoulder bag. “Now what?” She peered in the little
window. “Damn—it’s my home number again.”
There was a phone on the desk in the library. “Try it,”
Renie said, apparently making an effort to overcome her
annoyance. “Maybe the brief lull in the weather freed up the
line.”
To Judith’s surprise, she heard a crackling noise when she
picked up the receiver. Jiggling the disconnect button, she
tried to get a dial tone. Nothing happened. “They could be
working on it,” she said as she hung up.
“Could be,” Renie said. “We don’t know where the problem is. It might be clear down the pass or even back in the
city.”
“It must be Mother trying to reach me,” Judith murmured,
drinking more Scotch. “I’m not sure I ever mentioned the
pager to Joe.”
“It’s Saturday, Joe’s home,” Renie pointed out. “If something happened to your mother, he’d know about it.”
“Joe might be working overtime. He could be running errands. He may have gone somewhere with Bill.” Judith’s
voice grew increasingly agitated.
“They may be snowed in, too,” said Renie. “You know
how it is on Heraldsgate Hill—three inches, and we can’t
budge. Heck, it’s so steep in our neighborhood that we can’t
even get out of the garage.”
“Y-e-s,” Judith admitted, then finished her drink. “Come
on. It’s time to present the evidence.”
Renie looked skeptical. “Which is?”
“Just follow my lead.”
Sidling up to the coffeetable, Judith poured herself a small
measure of Scotch. The OTIOSE group appeared to
166 / Mary Daheim
be in wary, desultory conversation. They all seemed to tense
when Judith and Renie joined them.
“Excuse me.” Judith rattled the ice cubes in her glass. “Ex-
cuse me,” she repeated, somewhat louder. Nadia and Russell
were still talking to each other. “Thank you,” Judith said
when everyone had finally turned anxious faces in her direction. “I have a small speech.”
“Hunh,” snorted Margo. “Somebody’s giving a speech I
didn’t have to write for them? How bizarre!”
Judith tried to ignore Margo. Indeed, she also tried to ignore the malevolent stares from the OTIOSE employees. “My
cousin, Serena, and I are in a very awkward position,” Judith
began, her voice sounding unnaturally high. “While Serena
knows some of you slightly, I’m a complete stranger.
Therefore, I wouldn’t blame any of you for being suspicious
of us.”
“Damned straight,” said Max.
“You’re outsiders,” said Ava.
“Why shouldn’t we be suspicious?” demanded Killegrew.
“I’m not suspicious,” Russell maintained. “They made me
a nice cup of hot tea.”
“Thank you, Russell,” Judith said with a small smile. “As
I was saying, we understand your concern. It appears to be
on two levels. The first is that some of you may think we
perpetrated these heinous crimes.” Judith paused, waiting
for comments. There were none, though anxious glances
were exchanged. “The second,” she continued, “is that you
may be afraid that we’re going to rush off to the media and
reveal everything that’s happened here.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” cried Nadia.
“Don’t try it,” warned Killegrew.
“We can get an injunction,” murmured Gene.
“Talk your heads off, who cares?” said Margo.
It occurred to Judith that the threat of exposure by the
cousins posed a greater danger to most of the OTIOSE crew
than did the possibility of Judith and Renie carving them
SNOW PLACE TO DIE / 167
up with a chainsaw. Taking their reaction as confirmation,
Judith resumed speaking.
“The fact is, we haven’t harmed anyone nor do we intend
to. Not in any way.” Again she paused, this time for emphasis. “However, we will do our civic duty. It so happens that
we have acquired certain evidence which points to the killer.
Not only has this evidence been placed in safe hands, but so
has a note stating that if anything should happen to either
of us, those damning proofs will be turned over as soon as
humanly possible to the authorities.”
“Evidence?” Ava wore a bewildered expression.
“You’re bluffing,” Killegrew declared.
“Is this physical evidence?” Gene queried.
“Most definitely,” Judith responded, wondering if Gene
had an inkling about the pillowcase. “Several pieces of evidence, in fact. They’re all in safe hands.”
“Wait a minute,” Max said with a deep scowl. “Who did
you give this stuff to? There’s nobody here but us.” Despite
his statement, everyone turned toward the entrance where
the door still stood open.
Judith was quick to squelch speculation. “We don’t know
where that laugh came from any more than you do,” she said
to the group in general. “As for the evidence—and the
note—we gave everything to the one person we know did
not commit any of these crimes. You know who you are, and
that you are sworn to secrecy. You also know that we have
a note from you, making the same kind of statement to ensure
your own personal safety.” Judith’s gaze floated somewhere
above the gathering. “That’s all I have to say. Thank you.”
Max raised a hand. “Hey! What about Q&A? We always
have Q&A after a speech.”
“We always have cookies,” Russell put in.
But Judith had withdrawn to the other side of the room,
where Renie stood with an inscrutable expression on her
face. “Shall we mop?” Renie asked out of the corner of her
mouth.
168 / Mary Daheim
“I’m tired of mopping,” Judith asserted in a low tone. “I’m
tired of this lodge, and these people, and the whole damned
thing.” She took another big swallow of Scotch.
“What about dinner? It’s going on five.”
“Don’t tell me you’re hungry.”
Renie shook her head. “Not really. But I assume the herd
will want to graze.”
“Let them. I quit.”
“Hm-mm. You’re getting testy, coz. Is it the booze or the
company?”
“Both.” Judith nudged Renie in the direction of the dining
room. “Let’s go in there. We can actually talk above a whisper.”
Once the doors were shut behind them, Renie grinned at
Judith. “That was brilliant, coz. You even managed to stun
me with that part about the note to one of the OTIOSE
gang.”
“It’ll keep them guessing,” Judith said. “I had to come up
with something.”
“I wish we could trust one of them,” Renie said, her grin
fading. “What about Nadia? Could she push Ward Haugland
out a window?”
“You said yourself she’s wiry.” Judith sat down at the
banquet table reserved for the conferees. “If you know how
to use a garrote—I gather there’s an art to it—you need surprise rather than strength. In fact, it would be easy if the
killer somehow first rendered the victim helpless. As for
pushing Ward out the window, that would depend on where
he was standing when it happened.”
“He was a fairly big guy,” Renie pointed out, sitting down
next to Judith.
“Tall, yes, but lean and lanky. A hundred and sixty pounds,