Read Online Bellringer by J. Robert Janes - Free Book Online Page B

had they agreed to hide? wondered Kohler.
    ‘ Ignis sancti Antonii perhaps,’ offered Jill, again intently gazing at him.
    St. Anthony’s Fire and an ecbolic if ever there was one. The deadly ergot fungus from rye flour or bread made from the same.
    ‘Apiol, Inspector,’ said Nora. ‘ Petrosilium crispum or common parsley. Large doses of the leaves and stems, or the oil if distilled out, the apiol stimulating blood flow to the uterus, but apiol and the rest of the oil can cause polyneuritis and gastrointestinal haemorrhages if one’s luck has run out. Brother Étienne told her not to worry, that “The Grace of God invariably was on the side of the grazer,” and that if it didn’t work, he’d increase the dose.’
    They had put the run on him to see if they could take the heat off themselves, thought Kohler. It was either that or to cover up for one of them. ‘Parsley?’ he asked.
    ‘ Oui .’
    Just what the hell was this trapper of theirs hiding? ‘And did he bring her enough last Saturday?’
    Uh-oh, Herr Kohler did have a way about him, and the others would already have noticed it, thought Nora, especially Jill who, like everyone else in the room, had known of the parsley.
    ‘Well?’ he asked.
    ‘Late in the afternoon. He’d been delayed. A flat tire.’
    ‘His petrolette, Inspector,’ said Jill. ‘Our former Kommandant allowed him a small weekly ration of gasoline.’
    ‘So that he could make it from where to here and back?’
    ‘Domjulien. It’s about eight or ten kilometres if the road is OK.’ said Jill. ‘If not, he uses the cutter, a small, one-horse sleigh.’
    ‘The former Kommandant OK’d that too,’ offered Becky, having at last found her voice again. ‘The one who had to leave right after Mary-Lynn fell.’
    ‘The one who left us with that little Hitler who now runs the camp,’ said Nora.
    The blonde had dried her eyes, the cigarette and the back rub having helped to steady her nerves.
    ‘And now another murder,’ she managed under his scrutiny. ‘What’s happening to us, Inspector? We’re the forgotten of this war, but has God also deserted us?’
    ‘Becky, you were out in the corridor,’ said Marni. ‘You had gone after Caroline.’
    ‘Me? Not likely. I’d have let her wheeze.’
    ‘But you didn’t let her,’ said Nora gently. ‘The corridor light was blinking on and off. She couldn’t see a blessed thing at first because it was pitch-dark. You know that as well as the rest of us. She was trying to get at one of her cigarettes when that damned light came back on. You had grabbed her by the wrist to steady her hand.’
    ‘Darkness. . . ’ began Herr Kohler.
    ‘Night blindness,’ said Jill. ‘Caroline had been having a terrible attack of asthma.’
    ‘She was in tears, Jill,’ said Becky, ‘was very upset and madly searching for those damned cigarettes Madame had hidden on her and you then found. You did, Jill. Please don’t deny it. I got out of bed and turned the room light on and tried to calm her.’
    ‘Of course I found them, but then you went out into the corridor after her.’
    ‘Jill, you don’t know what you’re saying,’ said Becky with a wince. ‘We were nowhere near Mary-Lynn and Nora. Sure, we heard the scream and then. . . ’
    ‘Then what?’ asked Herr Kohler, reaching for her cigarette to take a few drags himself.
    He was looking at her now, but what did he really see? wondered Becky. The weakest link? ‘I. . . I grabbed Caroline. She had started to run toward the elevator shaft when we. . . we heard Mary-Lynn hit the bottom. The bottom !’
    She went all to pieces. Nora moved; Jill did too. Both sat at her side and tried to comfort her. The cot sagged.
    ‘You held her, Becky,’ said Nora gently. ‘When I managed to get up the stairs, I saw the two of you. You saved Caroline. She would have died as well. I’m certain of it. She’d have chanced a look and, in her state and still trying to get her sight back, would have tried to