the upper windows to see if anyone is there, but it’s impossible to see very far. Yet we all heard that awful laugh.
Surely that could have been the killer.”
“It’s possible,” Judith admitted, “but I don’t see how. Of
course if we could be sure that each person inside the lodge
was with someone else, then we’d know we’re all innocent.”
Behind the big glasses, Nadia’s eyes narrowed. “I thought
you and your cousin knew the killer’s identity.”
“What I said was that we have evidence pointing to the
killer. That’s not quite the same,” Judith hedged. “It will take
a forensics expert to actually pin the murders on this…person.”
Nadia took a moment to sort through Judith’s ambiguous
statement. “You haven’t eliminated me,” she finally said. “I
don’t have your note or your evidence.”
Judith said nothing. Nadia drank more sherry. In silence,
the two women carried the remainder of the table settings
out to the dining room. When they were back in the kitchen,
Judith rephrased her original question.
SNOW PLACE TO DIE / 181
“Do you know where everyone was around the time that
Ward must have been killed?”
“Frank and I were in the lobby,” Nadia replied, not looking
at Judith. “Then we went to check on the smaller conference
rooms. I had to use the restroom, so I asked Margo to stay
with Frank. Ava accompanied me to the bathroom. I wasn’t
alone—nor was Frank—for more than a minute.” At last, she
gave Judith a defiant stare.
There was no way to prove or disprove Nadia’s story. It
seemed to mesh with Margo’s account. Perhaps Frank Killegrew would have a different version.
Nadia finished her sherry while Judith checked on the game
hens and the bean dish. Then the two women returned to
the lobby. The interrogation of Ava would have to wait until
after dinner.
Renie and Gene had removed enough snow so that the
door could be shut. They were just turning the lock when
Judith joined them. Renie was panting from exertion and
Gene was mopping his brow.
“We had to pour all the melted water down the restroom
toilets,” he explained, then pointed to the wet-dry vacuum.
“We filled that thing eight times.”
“Good work,” Judith remarked before turning to Renie. “I
could use your help in serving.”
“I’m pooped,” Renie said, then caught the meaningful glint
in Judith’s eyes. “But so what? I’m a glutton for punishment.”
She took a cigarette from her purse and lighted up.
“I think I liked it better when you were just a glutton,” Judith murmured, leading Renie not to the kitchen, but to the
restroom. “Let’s stop in here first.”
“I’ve been here a lot,” Renie said, but followed Judith.
“Gene and I were so buddy-buddy that he came with me into
the women’s restroom to empty the water.”
Judith made a quick check of the six stalls; they were vacant. “So what did you find out from Gene?” she asked, entering the stall at the near end of the row.
182 / Mary Daheim
“He knows we have the pillowcase.”
Judith blinked several times at the closed door. “He does?
And how did he learn that?”
“I don’t know,” Renie responded over the sound of running
tap water. “It was a slip on his part. He said something to
the effect that, ‘Physical evidence consists of more than proof
of foul play.’ Thus, I deduced that he was alluding to the
pillowcase—which you had mentioned to him when you
were in Andrea’s room—and to the fact that we had removed
it.”
Judith emerged from the stall. “Was he guessing? Or did
he know?”
“I don’t think Gene Jarman guesses,” Renie said, drying
her hands on a paper towel. “It’s not his style.”
“Coz,” Judith began, dispensing liquid soap into her palm,
“do you see what that means?”
“Of course. Gene has been in Andrea’s room since you
were there with him. Either he went with someone—or he
went alone,” Renie said with an impish expression.
“Brilliant deduction,” Judith remarked. “So which was it?”
Renie was in front of the mirror, brushing her hair. “I tried
to get a run-down on who he was with at the time of Ward’s
murder. Gene had gone into the library with Ava, but he
was very evasive about how long they were there. It made
me wonder what they were doing. Do you remember yesterday afternoon when we thought we heard somebody in one
of the smaller conference rooms? I’ve noticed a certain intimacy between Gene and Ava. How about you?”
Digging a lipstick out of her shoulder bag, Judith gave
Renie a bemused look. “Why not? They’re single, they make
a good-looking couple. It’s nobody’s business but theirs.
However,” she went on, waving the lipstick at Renie, “they
didn’t stay in the library during that whole critical time
period. Ava came in here with Nadia, and Gene and Russell
were seen talking outside the library. At some
SNOW PLACE TO DIE / 183
point, they separated, if only for a very brief…”
The pager went off again. Startled, Judith dropped the
lipstick which rolled across the floor and under the fourth
stall. Renie chased the lipstick while Judith checked the pager.
“My number,” she sighed. “Do you suppose Mother is
dead?”
“Not a chance,” Renie replied, crawling around on the
floor. “My guess is that she wants you to go to the store and
bring back a fifty-pound bag of Goo-Goo Clusters. She’s
probably forgotten you’re out of town. Meanwhile, my
mother is…” Renie stopped, the lipstick in one hand and
something else in the other. “It’s a note someone dropped,”
she said, standing up.
The note had been folded several times into a quarter-inch
thickness. Renie smoothed the paper and held it so that Judith could read over her shoulder. It appeared to have come
out of a daybook and was a list of things to do for Thursday,
January 11.
Take Frank’s suit to cleaners—grease spot on left lapel
Stop at post office to get change of address forms
Change Frank’s appointment with Hukle, Hukle, and Huff
Call cable company re Frank
Go to liquor store
“Nadia,” Judith breathed.
“Dogsbody,” Renie said. “Which, some might say, is another word for wife.”
“But she’s not,” Judith noted. “On the other hand, she acts
like one.”
“Interesting,” Renie remarked, and pointed to the notation
about Hukle, Hukle, and Huff. “Roland Huff is the city’s
leading divorce attorney.”
Judith respected Renie’s knowledge when it came to lo- 184 / Mary Daheim
cal law firms. Her mother, Deborah Grover, had been a
legal secretary for almost fifty years. Still, Judith had a
quibble.
“So what kind of law do the Hukles practice?”
“Mostly estate and insurance.” Renie held up a hand before
Judith could interrupt. “I know what you’re thinking—Frank
Killegrew’s appointment could have been with Burton or
Kay Hukle. Still, it’s intriguing.”
“Maybe.” Judith, however, was gazing not at the items on
the list but at the paper itself. “What intrigues me is why this
was folded so small and ended up on the restroom floor.