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

been occupied recently.
     
    +++
     
    All of us were tired from working so late. I made a decision.
I would open rooms for each of them to get some rest. Each room contained an
alarm clock. I told each man to set the alarm for 6:00, except for those who
would relieve the men guarding the doors. George arranged a schedule where,
every two hours, each man would be relieved from guard duty, in order to get
some rest. We would reconvene by the front desk at 6:30.
    Lou stopped by my room to rehash the case before retiring
for the night.
    “What do you make of all this, Lou?”
    “It’s too early for me to tell.”
    “Okay, let’s take a minute to talk about what we know.
Maybe if we sleep on it we can solve it in our sleep.”
    “Provided the murderer doesn’t break into our rooms in
the middle of the night.”
    On that cheery thought, I continued.
    “We have two people murdered and another one missing.
As far as we can tell, our murderer is someone who works at the inn, Tony
McArthur, or Isabel Dukenfield, who may be living or dead.”
    “If that’s our total suspect list, then it looks like
we can narrow our lists of suspects to one.”
    “How’s that, Lou?”
    “Well, Cy, someone traipsed through the snow to leave
you a note this morning. Everyone but McArthur was here at the inn this
morning, and there was no break in the snow when we arrived. Only McArthur
arrived after we did.”
    “Which will present a magnanimous problem if we learn
that McArthur really was in Chicago at the time the footprints were left.”
    “I know the person who wrote the note acted like he
was one person acting alone, but could it be we have two people working
together, and one of them has an alibi while the other one is wreaking havoc?”
    “The problem is that we’re having trouble coming up
with one suspect without an alibi. How in the world are we going to come up
with two?”
    “Well, we can always pin it on your next-door neighbor.
She could’ve left the note, and she did arrive after we did.”
    “Is there any way we can implicate the dog, too?”
    Lou and I found out something a long time ago. It’s important
to take your job seriously, but if you take it too seriously, it can be your
downfall. Even in the most stressful of moments we take time for levity
whenever possible. We laughed at the good sergeant’s suggestion, realized we’d
gotten nowhere, and went to bed. Maybe we’d solve the murder in our sleep.
     
    +++
     
    Tired, I dosed off quickly. As is usually the case
when I’m exhausted after working hard during a murder investigation, I began to
dream. I was sitting at the inn’s dining room table. I looked around the table.
Everyone else at the table had fallen into their soup. Mrs. Longworth stood beside
me, and spoke.
    “Now, Lieutenant, you must eat your arsenic soup before
it gets warm.”
    I pushed her away and ran. Mrs. Longworth ran after
me, sloshing the soup as she bore down upon me. I turned a corner, found a
door, and yanked at the knob. It opened, and I followed the steps that led
down. The steps continued to lead down, and finally I heard a sound, as if
someone were digging. I could see a faint light in the distance. As I descended
the light grew stronger. I reached the bottom step and turned right, the only
way I could turn. I froze as I encountered Longworth, shovel in hand.
    “Come, come, Lieutenant. Let me measure you for your
grave. You are so much larger than the others. You and the sergeant. Hurry! I
must get everyone buried before the next guests arrive.”
    I screamed and woke. I found myself under the bed,
batting a house slipper at a table leg. I slid from under the bed and made a
mental note that next time I would ask for a room with beds closer to the
floor. But would that help? Maybe I should seek safer work. Was it too late for
me to become an engineer?

 
    7
     
     
    Shortly after I went to bed for the second time, a
terrible noise woke me. I sat up, looked in the direction of