“Yes.” Ava now seemed more definite. “Ask Nadia. She
was with me. We were chatting between the stalls. I suppose
we each wanted to make sure the other one was okay.”
Judith’s bright idea was dashed. “Before that, you were
with Gene in the library, right?”
Ava was starting to look vexed. “Yes, I was. And no, I
won’t answer any more questions about that.”
Judith gave up. In silence, the two women cleared away
the dirty tablecloth, swept the floor, and finished tidying the
kitchen. As Ava was about to leave, Judith apologized.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be impertinent. I was only
trying to figure out who was where when Ward was
murdered.”
Ava gave Judith a tired smile. “We’re all trying to figure
that out. Frankly, it’s impossible.”
Judith frowned. “Why do you say that?”
Ava began ticking off the names on her fingers. “Margo
and Russell had gone to the basement with you and your
SNOW PLACE TO DIE / 201
cousin. But after they came back to the lobby, Margo went
to find Frank. Nobody knows where Russell was at that
point, though he claims to have stayed put. But how long
did it take before Margo met up with Frank? What was he
doing while Nadia was heading for the restroom? What was
Nadia doing after she left Frank? And what took Max so
long to figure out that Ward was taking forever to change?
Don’t you see? Only Gene and I can alibi each other.”
Given what appeared to be a romantic relationship
between Ava and Gene, Judith didn’t think that was much
of an alibi. “You can’t alibi Gene while you were in the restroom,” Judith said.
Ava’s face fell. “You’re right. I can’t.”
As far as Judith could see, nobody had an alibi.
Ava obviously agreed. “You were with your cousin?”
“Yes, in the kitchen.”
“See what I mean?” Ava said with an ironic smile.
She was right, Judith thought. The cousins didn’t have
much of an alibi, either.
No one seemed inclined to stay up late that night. Russell
and Ava were the first to announce that they were headed
for bed. Gene and Margo followed. Nadia badgered Frank
to get his rest; he’d had a very trying day, she said.
“Is she kidding?” Max snarled after the pair had gone upstairs in the elevator. “This is worse than ’Nam! At least over
there you knew who the enemy was. Well,” he added, staring
at the floor, “most of the time you did.”
“How’s your head?” Judith asked.
Max fingered his smooth pate. “Okay. Margo didn’t hit
me very hard. I suppose it was only fair after I whacked
Russell with that damned carving.”
Judith had decided that a frontal attack was best. “Were
you looking for Andrea’s personnel files this afternoon?”
Max’s chin jutted, then he slumped against the sofa. “Yes,
but I never even saw them. Everything had been
202 / Mary Daheim
cleaned out except her notes and a daily planner.”
“Does the phrase ‘Scandinavian wheat-thrasher’ mean
anything to you?” Judith inquired.
At first, Max looked puzzled. Then he held his head. “It
means my ass,” he said, then peered at Judith between his
fingers. “How did you know?”
Renie edged forward on the footstool. “We found the
folder in the conference room yesterday. We put it here, on
the coffee table. Somebody must have picked it up.”
“It’s not mine,” Max said, his long arms dropping to his
sides. “It’s got to be somebody in my department, so I’ll take
the fall. That damned file’s been missing for over a year.”
Judith sat up very straight. “How do you know if it’s not
yours?”
“Because,” Max explained, cracking his knuckles, “I found
it back then when I was going through some year-end stuff
for the annual report. I’d guessed something like that was
going on, but I wasn’t sure who was responsible. In marketing, we entertain a lot of outsiders. Somebody wanted to go
beyond wining and dining to win new clients. I left the file
where I found it with a note to see me, ASAP. All these
months, nothing happened. Then, last night, Andrea started
making hints about ‘prostituting ourselves’ and ‘women who
took things lying down.’ She kept looking at me, and I realized she must know. There was no chance to talk to her
alone, so I went to her room last night. She wasn’t there. I
had no idea she was waiting for Leon in his room. That’s
when you must have seen me in the corridor.”
Judith felt surprise register, but desperately tried not to let
it show. “Last night. Yes, that’s what we must have seen.”
She flashed a warning glance at Renie.
Max stretched his long legs out towards the hearth. “I
suppose she was going to show the file to Frank. Or maybe
she was just going to hold it over my head. Blackmail comes
in some weird forms.”
SNOW PLACE TO DIE / 203
“Why would Andrea want to blackmail you?” Renie asked.
“Well…” Max seemed genuinely puzzled. “I honestly don’t
know. Like everybody else in the company, she felt marketing
types aren’t real telecommunications people. We’re mavericks, and as vice president, I get to wear the black sheep label.
Plus, my wife, Carrie, and I’ve been having some problems.
We fight a lot, we always have. Carrie hates company functions. She’s a master gardener and has her own career.
Playing the part of corporate helpmate makes her puke. As
you might guess, a wife with an attitude really pisses off
women like Patrice Killegrew. It pissed off Andrea, too. She
liked to fit everybody into their own little niche.”
“What about Mrs. Haugland?” Judith inquired. “I understand she’s too sickly to take part in company social gatherings.”
Max waved a big hand. “That’s different. Helen Haugland
thrives on sympathy. She got plenty of it from poor Ward,
and most of the others. Oh, some of them saw through her,
but Helen can pull the wool over lots of eyes. I wonder
what’ll happen now that Ward’s dead. She might have to
get off her dead butt and do something.”
While Judith was interested in Max’s assessment of his
colleagues and their spouses, she realized he hadn’t answered
the original question. “You mentioned blackmail,” Judith
said. “Do you mean that Andrea would have used the
hooker ring files to make you do something you otherwise
wouldn’t do?”
Max seemed to consider Judith’s somewhat garbled suggestion. “Maybe originally. She and Alan have a couple of
kids. One of them is out of high school, I think. It might be
that she wanted me to hire him. Anyway, that can’t be true
now. I mean, Alan’s going to run WaCom, right? And WaCom wants to merge with OTIOSE. So now I figure that
Andrea was going to use that file to get me canned.”
204 / Mary Daheim
Renie leaned forward on the footstool. “And replace you
with someone hand-picked by Alan? That makes sense.”
“I’m afraid so.” Max assumed a brooding expression as
the lobby grew silent.
The silence was short-lived. A sound came from somewhere, unexpected and distant. Judith, Renie, and Max all
tensed.
“That’s an engine,” Max said, getting up and inclining his
bald head. “Where’s it coming from?”