Read Online Murder in the Winter by Steve Demaree - Free Book Online

is.”
    “You mean he isn’t Myles Mycroft?”
    “I don’t know about that. He doesn’t have any I.D. on
him.”
    “Then, I don’t understand. I don’t really know anything
about him other than his name is supposed to be Myles Mycroft. Come to think of
it, the name does sound made up.”
    “What I mean is the guy’s wearing makeup.”
    “You mean he’s a fairy?”
    “I don’t know about that. I mean he’s wearing actor’s
makeup. Actually, it’s more like fake skin, false teeth, and hair that isn’t
his own.”
    “I know lots of people who wear hair and teeth that
aren’t their own, but that doesn’t make them fairies.”
    “Forget the fairy stuff, will you, Cy. I mean, was
there some reason this guy’s disguised?”
    “Maybe he’s an actor. But why would he wear makeup unless
this whole thing’s a play?”
    I thought for a moment, wondering if maybe this was a
play, and Lou and I were the suckers sent here by someone from the department,
who would see that we remember this moment from now on. I remembered that Tony
McArthur acted like everything was part of a play.
    “Come clean, Frank. Is he really dead, or is all this
a joke?”
    “It’s no joke, at least not to the dead guy over
there. I’ll see what I can find out, and when I get all the makeup off him,
we’ll see if you or anyone else can identify him. By the way, I think the
second guy was made up, too.”
    Could it be that my next-door neighbor, the one who
needed a new face more than anyone, was the only one other than Lou and me who
came wearing no disguise? I pondered what Frank’s comments meant. The guy was
dead. Both guys were dead. I scratched them off the suspect list. But the list
was dwindling. The only guest we had left, other than my next-door neighbor,
was missing. Could that missing old lady be responsible for murdering two men,
and whether she did or not, where was she?
     
    +++
     
    I stopped my woolgathering when I noticed a passel of
policemen looking at me. All would rather have been home in a nice warm bed
than hunting for murder suspects.
    “Okay, men, there’s only one passkey. We’ve checked
the entire inn, except for guest rooms and employees’ quarters. It’s almost
midnight. Let’s check the rooms in the back.  To save time, I’ll walk down the
hall and open each door. As I unlock a door, one of you will check out each
room. Remember to check the shower and under the bed. We should have this
knocked out in no time.”
    Since we didn’t interrupt those checking the food for
poisons and the three men guarding the front door, I soon found myself with no
officer beside me. I unlocked a door and stepped inside. The room was nicely
furnished, and quite different from my own, both in color scheme and type of
furniture. I knew little about decorating, but I knew enough to know that
Longworth had spared no expense decorating any of the rooms. I had finished
checking the room and was closing and locking the door when one of the men ran
up to me.
    “Lieutenant, did you say that no one is staying in any
of these rooms?”
    “That’s right, Son.”
    “Well, while there was no one in the room I checked, I
believe someone is staying in it. There’s a suitcase, clothes hanging up, and
personal items scattered in the bathroom.”
    “Let me see the room.”     
    The young officer led me to the room in question.
While the bed was made, it was obvious someone had been staying in the room. At
least, someone’s belongings were in there. All that I could tell was that it
was a man. I wondered who it could be, since Mr. Longworth told us none of the
back rooms were occupied. Could someone have been using the room without his
knowledge? Could it have been the murderer, who may not even be registered? If
so, how could he have gotten in?
    By 12:30, we’d finished checking all the rooms off the
middle and back hallway. There was no one in any of the rooms, and none of the
other rooms contained evidence that they had