"But AI's not here yet!" Claire said.
Quill exchanged a glance with Meg. "Why don't I go upstairs and see if he's still in his room. I do know that he went out skiing fairly late. He may just have gotten back."
"Tell Elaine and Vittorio to come down, too, will you, dear?" Tutti, who was looking especially grandmotherly in pink lace over gray satin, gave Quill a decisive little nod.
"I'd like to tell you what we'll be serving tonight," Meg went on. "For the first course, I've developed a clear game soup seasoned with a combination of herbs we grow right here at the Inn."
Quill went into the foyer. The chair behind the reception desk was empty. Dina had left that morning to go home for the holidays. Mike had filled the Oriental vases near the cobblestone fireplace with fresh pine, and the scent filled this small area. Quill drew a deep breath. It was like being in the woods. The fire was low in the fireplace, and she bent to put a fresh log on it. The odor of burning apple wood joined that of the pine.
"It smells wonderful in here." Myles came in the front door. Snow powdered the shoulders of his heavy anorak and the heels of his boots. His face was red with cold. Quill went to him and put her warn hands on his cheeks. He kissed her. She put her arms around him, inside his jacket. She could feel his heart beating against her hands.
"Davy said you called. Is anything wrong?"
"We found the hat. Or rather, Tatiana found the hat. My hat."
His eyebrows drew together.
"Oh, it's Tutti's little dog. Apparently, Tutti dragooned Doreen into taking it, I mean her, for her constitutional in the park. The dog ran off and came back with the hat. I stuck it - the hat, I mean - in the storeroom." She looked around vaguely. "I don't know where Tatiana is. Doreen's stuck with her, I suppose. Anyway, the hat's there whenever you need it. How did the interview with Greenwald go?"
Myles's gray eyes narrowed. "The guy's slick. You're sure that no one saw him after you on the interstate?"
Quill shook her head. "positive. The snow was awful."
"Greenwald didn't come right out and say it, but he intimated that a couple of witnesses could place you at Cahill's apartment."
"He's right. I wasn't very careful, I guess."
"Quill, you shouldn't have gone there in the first place."
"True, true, true. Sorry. I'll know better next time. It turned out to be useless, anyway. Greenwald practically blackmailed me into giving him those computer disks. As a matter of fact, he did blackmail me. He threatened me with impersonation and breaking and entering. So I gave him the computer disks."
"Hmm. It doesn't matter. You were right about Nora's hard drive. The computer boys in Ithaca found - "
"Sarah, my dear. Can you encourage my daughter-in- law to join us? We're waiting that delicious dinner on her and my son."
"Tutti." Quill pulled away from Myles's arms. "I haven't been up there yet. Have you met Sheriff McHale?" Joseph Greenwald, his dinner jacket slung over his shoulder to accommodate his broken arm, appeared behind Tutti. Ed - or maybe it was Marlon - joined him and stood on her right.
"How do you do, Sheriff?" Tutti's eyes gleamed behind her glasses. "You've met my boy Joseph. And this is my boy Marlon Guppa."
Myles nodded and said, "Ma'am," which made Quill want to giggle.
"I'll be back in a minute with Elaine, Tutti. Myles, Meg's set aside some food for you in the kitchen. I think she put it in the storeroom."
Quill ran lightly up the stairs to the Adams suite on the second floor. She knocked, received no answer, then knocked again. She called out Santini's name, then took her master key from the chain around her neck and let herself in.
She turned on the overhead light. Doreen had been in to clean, and the room was neat. Quill and Meg had managed to save the chestnut floor in this particular set of rooms, and the yellow, striated wood gleamed softly in the lamplight. The suite was two rooms. In the living room, a Queen Anne style sofa sat in front of the small fireplace next to a wing chair covered in a Williamsburg print. The coffee table held a filled ashtray and a half-empty glass. Quill picked up the glass and sniffed. Scotch. So the senator had been in the room after Doreen had cleaned. She searched the small secretary that stood under the window. The stationery with the Inn logo was there, and a partially filled pack of matches, but that was it. No briefcase, no notes, no documents.
She went into the bedroom. The king-sized bed was covered with a wedding-ring quilt. The cherry rocking chair next to the four-poster held a crumpled envelope. Quill picked it up. It was empty. The return address was for the Golden Pillar Travel Agency. Typed on the front of the envelope were the words: "Enclosed, please find your ticket! Thank you for your business." It was addressed by hand to Marlon Guppa.
Quill opened the armoire: empty. Maybe Santini'd stopped off at the Croh Bar in town after skiing and forgotten the time. She'd known quite a few Hemlockians to stop off at the Croh Bar and forget what day of the week it was. Except that he wouldn't take his suitcase, his clothes, his briefcase, and the contents of an envelope from a travel agency to go skiing, or drink at the Croh Bar, or go anywhere at all in Hemlock Falls.
Poor Claire. Poor Myles. She picked up the phone by the bed and dialed the kitchen. Meg answered, her voice impatient.
"Is Myles there?"
"I was just about to feed him. I will feed him and my twenty guests if you'll get off the phone!"
"Tell him it looks like Santini's skipped town. I'm in his room and everything's gone." There was a short silence. "Wow," said Meg. "Sorry I snapped. Well, there's one good thing. At least I won't be serving a murderer."
Quill thought of Tutti and her two "boys." "I wouldn't be too sure about that."
The Mclntoshes had taken a pair of adjoining rooms on the same floor as the Adams suite. Quill let herself out of Santini's room and walked down the hall to 246. She mentally rehearsed a few lines: Elaine, Vittorio. I'm so sorry, but the senator seems to have skipped. Very probably with the cash from the murder of Nora Cahill in his pocket. And to avoid prosecution for two murders.
She raised her hand to knock and heard the sound of angry voices; Vittorio's harsh and bullying, Elaine's soft and tearful. Quill turned away. She'd go downstairs and give the room a call from the front desk. Vittorio's voice rose; there was the sound of a blow. Elaine cried out.
Quill's reaction was instant and unconsidered. She whirled and pounded on the door. The voices within stopped, except for the soft sounds of Elaine's tears. Quill pounded on the door again. Vittorio jerked it open and pushed his angry bulk into the hall. "What the hell do you want?"
"Tutti was a little concerned and asked me to come up and find you. Dinner's waiting."
"Beat it." Quill placed her palm against Vittorio's shoulder and shoved him out of the way. She walked into the bedroom. It was chaotic: clothes were draped over every available surface, cosmetics littered the small dressing table under the window, and three suitcases lay open on the floor. It was the bedroom of an untidy child.
Elaine sat on the edge of her bed, rubbing her wrist. She was in a silk full slip, pale pink. She looked at Quill with swimming eyes.