“How come you did that?”
“Well, I did work for the woman, in theory. Although she wouldn’t let me do a darned thing no matter how hard I tried to…” Hannah broke off, wringing her hands. “All I did was find her. She was there on the floor. Really, I have no idea what happened. And I’m sorry I screamed like that. I just couldn’t help myself. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone like that before.”
“That’s okay, Hannah,” Des assured her. “Not to worry. Did you hear any noises coming from her room before you found her?”
Hannah shook her head. “No, nothing.”
“These walls are very thick,” Les spoke up, his voice strained.
“How about out in the hallway?” Des asked her. “Do you remember hearing any doors open or close, footsteps, anything like that?”
“Well, yeah,” Hannah replied, nodding her head convulsively. “All of those things. Everybody was coming and going before breakfast, getting dressed or cleaned up or whatever. Well, not everybody, but lots of people.”
Des turned to Les now and said, “I need to seal off rooms one and three. No one goes in or out but me.”
“Of course, whatever you say.” Les’s face dropped. “Wait, what are you saying?”
“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” Teddy said. “She’s saying Norma was murdered, too.”
“Norma had a heart attack,” Les insisted. “Her heart gave out.”
“Les, we don’t know what happened,” Des said evenly. “And under these circumstances, Norma’s death now has to be considered suspicious. That makes her room a crime scene just as Ada’s is. This is not me passing judgment. It’s just me following standard procedure. I need to lock down those rooms, and you need to provide me with every key you have for them. Also your master keys. And Jory, could you please open up-let’s see-four more rooms for me?”
Jory had a big jangly key chain stuffed in the pocket of her down vest. She used her master key to unlock the two vacant rooms next to Mitch and Des’s, eight and ten. Aaron and Carly were across the hall in five, Spence in seven. Jory unlocked nine and eleven, then handed over her keys to Des. Jase forked over his own large key chain, although very reluctantly, as if he were giving up a piece of himself.
“I’ve already put Norma’s keys in the top drawer of the reception desk,” Les said as he gave Des his own set. “There’s one more master key down there, plus all of the room keys, of course. If you’d like, I can go fetch them.”
“That’s okay, I’ll take care of that myself in a minute. Right now, I want each of you to hold your hands out like this…” Des straightened her arms out before her, palms downward.
“What on earth for?” Carly asked.
Mitch knew what for. He’d seen the claw marks that Ada had made to her own neck when someone was choking the life out of her. It was very possible she’d left her mark on her killer’s hands, too.
“Please, just do what I ask,” Des said in response.
They all obliged.
Slowly, she went from person to person, studying each pair of hands closely, her own clasped behind her rather like a stern headmistress. “Now palms up, please,” she requested, repeating the drill. Des studied their faces and necks as well, making sure she looked each and every one of them right in the eye. Carly seemed to shrink under her steady gaze. Aaron bristled, defiant and twitchy. Hannah shook with fear. Spence acted curious more than anything else. Les responded with placid acceptance. So did Jory. Jase, meanwhile, seemed to have withdrawn inside of himself. His eyes never left the floor. His rough, red hands revealed no fresh scratches, however. Nor did Teddy’s hands, which seemed so slim and delicate next to Jase’s. Teddy’s gaze was that of a man who was hurting more than he could bear.
If Des had been hoping that Ada’s strangler would panic and blurt out a guilt-racked confession, well, that wasn’t about to happen. Whoever it was, this was not merely a ruthless murderer but a consummate actor. Someone who could stick to the script, play the part, bluff his or her way through.
And Des found no visible scratches on any of them. The killer must have worn gloves and ditched them somewhere, Mitch figured.
“Okay, I need you folks to go your rooms now,” Des informed them. “I’ll be taking witness statements from each of you. The way this works, it’s one person to a room. So Aaron and Carly, you’ll have to split up. One of you can have your regular room, the other can take room eight. Les, you’re in room ten.”
“Des, do we have to split up, too?” Jory asked, meaning her and Jase.
“I’m afraid so. You’ll be in nine, Jase in eleven.”
“We really shouldn’t be separated.” Jory glanced over at her brother, whose eyes were still fastened on the carpet. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Why, what’s the problem?” Des asked her, frowning.
“It’s not a problem so much as it is a…” Jory hesitated, then backed down. “Well, okay. If it’s just for a little while.”
“Is it just me or does all of this seem a bit extreme?” Spence wondered aloud.
“The word I’m thinking of is cruel,” Carly said.
“Outrageous,” Aaron concurred, nodding his big meaty head.
“You’re absolutely right,” Des said. “Murder is outrageous.”
“Honestly, Des, we’re all cold and famished and terribly frightened,” Carly said. “And instead of offering us comfort you’re banishing us to solitary confinement. Why can’t we just gather together in the taproom? There’s a fire, food. We can console one another.”
“Not just yet,” Des replied.
“Well, why not?” Aaron demanded.
“You’re witnesses, that’s why,” Des told him, refusing to be budged. “Look, I know these rooms are unheated. I know you’re all hungry and scared. But the simple truth is that two women are dead. My job is to figure out why, and your job is to cooperate with me. If you don’t, then you’re impeding an official state police investigation. I promise you this won’t take long. Besides, it’s for your own protection.”
“She’s right about that part,” Hannah allowed. “At least we’ll be safe this way. Should we bolt our doors?”
“You can if it will make you feel better. As long as you stay in your rooms, you should be fine. Oh, until we’re done, I’ll also need your cell phones.”
“But I have calls to make,” Spence protested.
“No calls. Please hand over your phones to Mitch right now.”
Reluctantly, they did so. Although, when Mitch arrived at Aaron, he encountered major resistance.
“Why doesn’t he have to sit in a cold room by himself?” Aaron groused, refusing to hand over his phone.
“Because he’s the only person besides myself who I know for certain is innocent,” Des replied.
“And just exactly how do you know that?”
“He and I were together downstairs when Ada was killed, that’s how.”
Aaron considered this for a moment before he grudgingly shoved his phone at Mitch, who was busy thinking that one other person had in fact been with them at the time of Ada’s death: Teddy had been in the dining room that whole time, watching the snow outside the windows. But Teddy was not exactly a bystander to these proceedings. He was a member of the family, and therefore could be a part of whatever, whoever was apparently trying to destroy it, one life at a time.
“Please go to your rooms now,” Des said to them. “I’ll be in to take your statements soon.”
There was some further grumbling, but not much. There was too much fear present. Several of them double-locked their doors behind them. Mitch wasn’t sure how many.
Teddy lingered in the doorway of room two. “Des, I wonder if I might have a quick word with you,” he said to her in a soft voice.
“What is it, Teddy?”
“Do you remember how I told you I was awake last night, waiting for…?” Teddy glanced at Mitch, coloring slightly. “For Norma to come to me?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“At about two-thirty I heard Les and Norma’s door open and close, followed by footsteps. I was expecting my own door to open, but that didn’t happen… She went downstairs instead.”