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

the awful sound.
It seemed to come from a little box that had lights on the front that showed
6:00. I fumbled with the buttons, got the noise to stop. I contemplated turning
over and going back to sleep, then pictured angry men with a passkey lining the
sides of my bed, contemplating murder. I hoisted myself from my comforter, and
stumbled to the bathroom. Thankfully, my eyes had not adjusted to the new day,
so I didn’t look as bad as I expected. I splashed water on my face, rinsed my
eyes, and suddenly, I looked worse. I shed my pajamas and stepped into the
shower. I had just enough time to take a shower, pray, and read my daily
devotional book before I met the others. I thought of Lou. I know that he does
a Bible study booklet assignment every morning that takes close to an hour. I
knew he wouldn’t miss a morning. Lou had set his alarm for sometime before
6:00.
     
    +++
     
    As I walked down the steps George Michaelson walked
toward me.
    “Our keeper has been kept long enough. He wants to
know if he can get back to business as usual. Also, the SOC team finished in
the kitchen. None of the food was poisoned, and they found no poison anywhere
in the area.”
    “Evidently, they didn’t check that stuff Lou and I ate
last night.”
    I wondered where the poison had come from, provided
the deceased had been poisoned. Evidently, whoever poisoned these two men kept
the poison secured somewhere in his or her room, provided that there was any
poison left. It would be easy for someone to throw a container of poison over
the cliff, if he had no further use for it. A person with a good throwing
motion could possibly heave a bottle from the roof. As far as I could tell, if
someone brought poison and no longer had any of it, he or she would’ve had to
have tossed it from the roof or washed it down the sink. I made a note to check
for evidence as we continued our search for Mrs. Dukenfield.
    George stood there as I pondered the situation. When I
made eye contact again, he knew I was through for the moment. I excused myself,
walked behind the counter, and knocked on the door of the Longworth’s private
quarters. Longworth opened the door, and I opened my mouth before he could open
his. I kept him abreast of the situation. At least as much as I wanted to tell
him. I let him know that another guest was missing, and a second body had
turned up. I cushioned the blow by letting him know that the SOC team were
through in the kitchen, so it was okay for the chef to go back to work. It was
difficult not to choke on those words. I asked him about extras at breakfast.
He agreed to serve everyone, and bill the city. Then, I told him we would need
to search the living quarters of each of the inn’s staff. I explained that it
wouldn’t take long. We were merely looking for bodies, dead or alive. I didn’t
tell him about vials of poison. I allowed Longworth to let each person know that
we needed to search all the premises. I didn’t want to walk in on Mrs.
Longworth, just in case breakfast would be an improvement over dinner. I
instructed him that Miss Humphert needed to be served in her room. Miss
Humphert and McArthur were the only guests who had been located alive who
weren’t members of the police department. I wanted to keep one for a suspect,
and one for a victim, but wanted to allow Frank to catch up on his autopsies
before I fed him another body. I asked that Miss Humphert’s server make her
aware of her restriction, and that they find something that the dog could eat.
I refrained from recommending the previous night’s leftovers.
    With that chore completed, I assembled the troops. We
would do a visual check of the outdoors from each of the doors and windows. If
Mrs. Dukenfield was not found in some of the staff’s quarters, we would do an
outdoor search after breakfast, footprints, or no footprints. But first, I
caught up with Longworth and asked him directions on how to get to the roof. It
would be our first adventure after