Read Online Hocus Croakus by Mary Daheim - Free Book Online Page B

Maybe Judith was overreacting.
    The Lake Stillasnowamish Resort Casino was a fantastical place. Like all casinos and most resorts, it was designed to take visitors out of their drab, real lives. “Disneyland for grown-ups” was the way Renie had described her first visit to Vegas. For a few days, you could actually leave your troubles—along with your money—at the door and exist in a dream world.
    Slowly, she got to her feet. Would it be crass to cash out her unused quarters? Only, Judith thought, if Salome really was beyond help . That’s how she looked. Completely still. Drained of life . Judith had seen enough bodies to recognize death.
    Before she could decide what to do next, Renie appeared at her side. “I lost the whole twenty dollars,” she declared, looking vexed. “Unless you’re winning, let’s get out of here.”
    Grimacing, Judith glanced at the body and then atthe people who had been sitting on either side of her. The elderly white-haired woman with glasses on a chain was riveted to her machine; the burly, middle-aged man in the plaid flannel shirt was reaching into his worn wallet to fetch another twenty. Neither of them seemed to notice that Judith or anybody else was alive.
    Or dead, for that matter, thought Judith as she started to walk away from the console.
    â€œHey!” Renie gave Judith a small shove. “You’ve got over ten bucks still in the machine.”
    Not wanting to cause a fuss, Judith dutifully hit the Cash/Credit button and began scooping quarters into a plastic bucket.
    â€œYou dropped a couple,” Renie said, bending down to pick up the stray coins. “If you do that when I’m not around, ask somebody else to pick them up for you. You don’t want to bend too far and dislocate your hip. This is a vacation, you aren’t looking for trouble.”
    â€œI’m not,” Judith said, “but I think I’ve found some.” Without acknowledging the puzzlement on her cousin’s face, she moved away from the console, then turned to stop by the front end of the car. “Look up into the driver’s seat,” she whispered.
    Renie, who didn’t need her glasses except for close work, peered up into the ’Vette. She started to shrug, then tensed. “Good God. It’s Salome.”
    â€œYes.” Judith looked around. No one was paying the slightest attention to the cousins. Except, perhaps, for the eye-in-the-sky, as the security cameras were called.
    Renie grew red in the face and clenched her fists. “I don’t believe it! We’re supposed to be having fun!” Her voice began to rise. “Now you have to spoil it by finding another damned corpse!”
    Several people turned to stare at the cousins. Judith stopped short of putting her hand over Renie’s mouth. “Keep it down!” she ordered in a low, but emphatic, voice.
    Still looking outraged, Renie appeared to be weighing mayhem versus propriety. Before she could make up her mind, a short but stout white-haired woman whose hands glittered with diamonds and sapphires touched Judith’s arm.
    â€œDid your friend say ‘corpse’?” she asked in a quavering voice.
    â€œUh…” Judith winced. “No, no, she said ‘horse.’ She wants to play the ponies in the sports-book area.”
    The woman patted Judith’s arm. “You should. I won over four hundred dollars today in the sixth race at Pimlico on a horse named Gasbag. He was a long shot, but I bet on him because that was my late husband’s nickname. Good luck, dear.” The woman toddled away.
    Renie had simmered down. “Okay, okay, now that I haven’t killed you, what do we do next?”
    Judith made an effort to gather her usual logical thought processes. “I think I know where security is located. I saw the desk this afternoon when I telephoned Bart Bednarik.”
    To her relief, Pancho Green was