Creeps Suzette (10 page)

Returning to the sitting room, Judith found Renie still sound asleep. There was a door on her left, which she hadn't noticed before. The doorknob turned easily to reveal a small well-organized office, complete with a brand-new computer. There was, however, no stairway, though it looked as if at one time there had been another door in the opposite wall. The outline remained, and the space had been painted over with a mural of tropical birds.

Judith tiptoed into the bedroom. A nightlight covered by a china seashell cast a soft glow over Mrs. Burgess, who also appeared to be in a deep sleep. The walk-in closet next to the bathroom didn't contain a stairway, either.

Standing at the foot of the big four-poster bed, Judith peered in every direction. Finally, she saw a Chinese screen
in the far corner of the boudoir. Sure enough, there was a door behind it—and a stairway. She also saw the elevator to the right of the stairwell, but decided against using it. The last thing she needed was to get stuck between floors.

If there was a light switch, Judith couldn't find it. Treading carefully down the narrow wooden steps, she reached the bottom and realized she was facing another door. She reasoned that it had to be the one she'd seen when she and Renie had come in the back way after their tour of the grounds.

She was not, however, prepared for the bright lights that met her eyes when she opened the door. She could hear voices in the kitchen, but could distinguish only Ada Dietz's and Edna Thompson's. Perhaps they were preparing some food for the rest of the staff and the detectives. It looked like it was going to be a long night.

Judith scurried past the open kitchen door where she caught a few of Ada's words. “It's that Suzette, she's always brought trouble to this house. If you ask me, there's no end to it.”

Judith froze in place, but Edna's response was too soft to hear. Then what sounded like the dishwasher was turned on, drowning out both of the women's voices.

Judith went outside. The wind whipped at her coat and the rain pelted her face. Head down, she followed the faint light that shone in what she thought was the pool house.

By the time she reached the door, her nightgown and her hair were soaked. Cautiously turning the knob, she went inside and found herself in what was the changing area where an overhead light had been switched on.

I'm an idiot
, she thought.
Why on earth have I come out here in a big storm?
Probably someone had carelessly left the light on. For all she knew, they always kept a light burning in the pool house. But Judith couldn't just turn around and go to bed. She felt a need for activity, and, as usual, her curiosity got the better of her. Smiling grimly, she thought of herself as a racehorse, sniffing the finish line.
Judith couldn't stop in the home stretch; she had to keep going.

She passed by the dressing rooms and the bathroom, then went through a door that led to the pool itself. The smell of chlorine was strong in her nostrils. In the faint light that followed her from the dressing area, she could see the Olympic-sized pool as well as some chairs and tables.

Adjusting to the near-darkness, her gaze wandered around the edges of the pool. There were potted plants, too, and a bar in one corner. It looked like a very pleasant place for a swim.

Finally, she took in the area at the near end of the pool. Judith could hear the wind wailing through the trees. She hugged the raincoat closer, and shivered in spite of herself.

Then she saw it. Huddled in the corner was another pile of clothes. It was like a flashback to the scene at the bottom of the staircase.

Oh, God
, she thought,
not another body
. Judith swayed slightly, then forced herself to approach. She got within two feet before she recognized the form of a young woman in a fleece jacket. Sucking in her breath, Judith reached out a trembling hand to feel for a pulse.

The young woman's arms flailed and her legs kicked. Then she let out a blood-curdling scream that was almost swallowed by the next gust of wind.

One of the flying feet caught Judith off-guard, and she tumbled backward. Losing her balance, she fell into the swimming pool, where the wet tangle of raincoat and nightgown weighed her down.

At least
, Judith thought as her head struck the hard tiles at the pool's side,
this one's still alive. But am I?

She sank to the bottom and everything suddenly went dark.

F
ROM OUT OF
the depths and deep in the night, Judith felt hands tugging at her arms.
We've hit an iceberg
, she could hear the
Titanic
's captain say.
We're going down
.

But Judith was coming up. The hands that pulled at her arms were strong. They must belong to the hiking boots she could see at the edge of the pool. Man? Woman? Leonardo DiCaprio?

Slowly, she looked up and tried to focus her eyes. The ship had stopped spinning. But there was no iceberg and the creature with the mass of frizzy strawberry-blond hair was no actor, but a young woman. Judith realized she was not in the North Atlantic, but in the Burgess swimming pool.

“My God!” the young woman cried. “I'm so sorry! Let me help!”

Judith felt that was only fair, since this must be the person who had knocked her into the pool in the first place. Sputtering, Judith clambered onto dry ground.

“You're all wet,” her savior declared. “Can you forgive me?”

“I was half-wet before I fell in,” Judith responded, brushing hair out of her eyes and trying to get her bearings. “Who did you think I was? And who are you?”

“I thought you were a fiendish rapist,” the young woman answered in a high-pitched voice.

“Do I look like a fiendish rapist?” Judith retorted, wringing out her raincoat.

The young woman backed away. “No…no, of course not. But I was in Arcadia.”

Judith gave a start. “Arcadia?” Seeing a faraway look come into the young woman's eyes, Judith held up a hand. She'd had enough fantasy for one night already. “Never mind. I'm Judith Flynn, a friend of Mrs. Burgess,” she said, stretching the truth a bit as she rubbed at the bump on the back of her head. “Now please tell me who you are.”

The dreamy expression turned wary. “Do I know you?”

“It doesn't seem so,” Judith said, growing impatient and beginning to shiver from the cold, wet garments. “If you don't want to tell me, I'm going back to the house. My head hurts.”

“Oh.” The young woman gazed at the pool. She gazed at the ceiling. She gazed at the floor. She was almost as tall as Judith, but her thin figure and the untamed masses of reddish-blond hair lent a wraithlike air. After coming to what appeared to be an excruciating decision, she finally spoke: “I'm Caroline Flaherty.”

The name Flaherty meant nothing to Judith, but Caroline rang a bell. “You're…a granddaughter?”

Caroline nodded. “My mother's Peggy Hillman now, but my father's name was Ward. Flaherty's my married name.”

Judith gave an absent nod. As far as she could tell, Caroline didn't act as if she knew about any of the events that had transpired during the past few hours at Creepers. Judith could ask, but now wasn't the time. Her priorities were a throbbing head and a chilled body.

“I think we should go inside,” Judith said, then pointed to a backpack that rested against the tiles. “Is that yours?”

Caroline frowned at the dark green item. “Is it? Oh—yes. I was using it for a pillow.”

As the wind howled in the trees, Judith led the way to
the house. “We'll take the back stairs,” she said. “We can go up to my room.”

Caroline had stopped walking and stood staring up at the bulk that was Creepers. “Why are so many lights on? Isn't it still nighttime?”

“Yes, it must be around two-thirty. Come on, I'll explain when we get inside.”

Caroline didn't budge. “Has something happened to
Gran'mère
?” she asked in an uncertain voice.

“
Gran'mère
? Oh—your grandmother. No,” Judith assured the young woman, “she's fine. But she's asleep. Hurry, I'm frozen to the bone and I need some aspirin.”

The kitchen had been vacated, and the dishwasher churned in the darkness. Judith and Caroline climbed the narrow back stairs. “You probably know the way better than I do,” Judith said to her companion. “I assume you grew up around here.”

“Yes,” Caroline replied. “Kenneth and I sometimes stayed here when we were children, but my parents lived a few miles away, in a nice house overlooking the sound. After the divorce, Mommy and my stepdad stayed on, but then he got killed in Vietnam. Way back, when my parents got married, my real daddy didn't…” Her high-pitched voice trailed away.

“I take it he preferred not to be so near his in-laws,” Judith remarked dryly.

“Yes…in a way,” Caroline replied.

“Understandable,” Judith said, opening the door to Mrs. Burgess's suite and signaling for Caroline to be quiet.

The mistress of the house was still sound asleep. Caroline tiptoed past the bed with a whispered, “
Cher Gran'mère
.” As they reached the door to the sitting room, Judith heard low, angry voices. One of them sounded as if it belonged to Renie.

A rawboned middle-aged woman in full nurse's regalia stood with hands on hips, facing off with a pugnacious Renie.

“Listen, Glitz or Ritz or Ditz or whatever your name is,”
Renie snarled, “I don't take orders from anybody except Bill and even that's a sometime thing. If you want to get out of here with your appendages still somewhere in the vicinity of your torso, you'd better—”

She broke off, following the nurse's startled gaze. “Coz,” Renie said, her jaw dropping as she took in Judith's appearance. “What happened?”

“Never mind,” said Judith. “What's happening here?”

“Meet Nurse Zitz,” Renie said, still staring at her cousin.

“Fritz,” the nurse shot back, glaring at Renie. “Millicent Fritz.” She transferred the glare to Judith, then hesitated as she saw Caroline quivering in the background. “My dear, is that you, Carrie?”

“Miss Fritz?” Tremulously, Caroline moved out from behind Judith. “Hi.” She waved a thin hand in the nurse's direction.

“Well, now.” Fritz beamed with apparent pleasure. “I haven't seen you since your grandmother had her gall bladder attack four years ago. I wasn't able to come when she sprained her ankle last fall. My, you really haven't changed.”

“Too bad,” muttered Renie, who was now standing next to Judith. “She could have used some improvement. Who's this one?”

“Caroline, Peggy's kid,” Judith said between clenched teeth. “Are we unwanted in here?”

Caroline and the nurse had finished their friendly exchange. Fritz turned a gimlet eye on the cousins. “Mrs. Burgess's granddaughter is here. You two may go.”

“That answers my question,” Judith said. “Bye.”

Renie let out an exasperated sigh. “Swell. Now I've lost face, not to mention sleep.” She turned to the nurse. “I guess I can't send you to the OR after all, Pitz. We'll take up where we left in the morning, right where you called me ‘a buck-toothed interfering nobody.'” Renie sashayed out of the sitting room.

“She really said that?” Judith gasped when they reached the hall.

“Sort of,” Renie replied. “At least she was thinking it. Now tell me why you're all wet.”

In their suite, Judith made a beeline for the pillbox she always carried in her purse. Before saying another word, she gulped down two aspirin. As she got out of her wet clothes, she rapidly summed up her adventures in the pool house.

Renie was already under the covers. “Your poor head. Did you really black out?”

“I sure did,” Judith replied. “At least for a few seconds.”

Renie gave her cousin a weary yet sympathetic smile. “I should have been with you.”

“You were asleep,” Judith said dryly.

Renie made a face. “I was at that.” She paused to arrange the pillows. “So Caroline's the poet,” she remarked. “How'd she end up out back?”

Judith sighed. “I've no idea. I never got a chance to ask her. How did you and Nurse Fritz get into it?”

“I'm not a Burgess,” Renie said between yawns, “and in that old bat's mind, you might as well be a blister on the big toe of life.”

Judith shrugged as she headed into the bathroom. “I assume Fritz will tell Caroline about Dr. Moss. I wonder when she arrived. It must have been before the medics and the police got here or she would have asked what was going on.”

“Whatever.” Renie had turned over on her side.

Judith took a hot shower, finally getting the chill out of her bones. Since she'd exchanged her bathrobe for her raincoat, she decided to sleep in the robe. The nightgown wouldn't be dry until morning. When she returned to the bedroom, Renie was out for the count.

But Judith wasn't sleepy. The events of the past few hours had started the adrenaline flowing. Or perhaps it was the fall into the pool. Whatever the cause, she felt wide awake. After about five minutes of staring into the darkness, Judith got up to get the book she'd brought along. She'd just taken it out of her suitcase when she heard a
frantic pounding from somewhere in the vicinity. Going into the sitting room, she realized that someone was knocking on their door.

“Who is it?” she asked, her ear to the heavy oak.

“Caroline,” came the reply. “Help me, please!”

“Just a minute.” Judith dashed to the other end of the room and closed the bedroom door, then returned to let Caroline in. “My cousin's sleeping,” she cautioned. “What's wrong?”

The younger woman fell into a damask-covered armchair. “It's Dr. Moss. He's been murdered, and the police will think I did it!”

“Why?” Judith asked, sitting down on the settee.

“Because,” Caroline replied, putting her thumb in her mouth like a small child.

Trying to convey an aura of calm, Judith folded her hands in her lap. “Let's start from the beginning. When did you arrive at Creepers?”

Slowly, Caroline removed her thumb. Judith figured she must be in her thirties, but like her brother Kenneth, she looked and acted much younger. “I'm not sure,” Caroline said vaguely. “The house was dark except for a light or two on the third floor in the servants' quarters. It was so quiet, like a crypt…the silence of sadness, the gloom of doom, the empty womb. I felt inspired to write a poem. I didn't think I should bother
Gran'mère
, so I went out to the pool house and fell asleep until you woke me up.”

“You'd come from…where?” Judith asked, recalling only that Caroline lived somewhere north of the city.

“La Bido,” Caroline replied. “I have a cottage there. We creative types band together in the town. It's quite an artists' community.”

Judith knew the picturesque little town, which was on the edge of an Indian reservation. It was about an hour's drive from Sunset Cliffs, if traffic wasn't heavy on the interstate.

“Your husband lives there, too?” Judith asked, already knowing the answer.

Caroline shook her head, sending the wild frizzy hair flying around her shoulders. “Brett and I are separated. We used to live together in La Bido, but last summer he rented a place on the ocean. I haven't seen him since.”

“What brought you here?” Judith inquired, trying to sound casual.

“I wanted to talk to
Gran'mère
.” Caroline lowered her eyes. “I wanted to ask her about something.”

“Why would anyone think you murdered Dr. Moss?”

Caroline's gray eyes widened. “Because. Because I was so mad at him when Daddy was killed.”

Judith gave herself a little shake. “Why was that?”

“Dr. Moss was the one who found Daddy by the side of the road.” Caroline paused, her eyes filling with tears. “I always blamed him for not being able to save Daddy.”

“I thought your father was killed in a car accident,” Judith said, feeling somewhat at sea.

Caroline wiped at her eyes and nodded. “He was. It was a hit-and-run, up by the golf course. Daddy's car broke down, and he'd gotten out, probably coming to Creepers for help. At least that's what we figured afterward.”

“Goodness,” Judith whispered, “I didn't know any of the specifics about the accident. Did they catch the person who hit him?”

“No.” Caroline's hands twisted in distress. “It was about the time that night classes let out at the community college. The authorities figured it was a student who was in a big hurry to get home.”

“How was it that Dr. Moss found your father?” Judith asked.

Caroline grimaced. “I don't remember exactly. It happened four years ago. I've written so many poems about it that I've lost sight of the actual facts. Imagery, emotion, meter—they're far more important than reality.”

“Um…yes, I suppose so.” Judith murmured. “I don't imagine you have any idea who'd want to kill Dr. Moss?”

Caroline shook her head very slowly. “Only me. But I've written my way out of that vengeful aura.”

“That's good,” Judith said, trying to smile. “Do you think the killer might have made a mistake?”

Caroline stared at Judith. “A mistake? How do you mean?”

Judith winced. “Well…Did you know your grandmother felt…threatened?”

The laugh that Caroline emitted was as high-pitched as her speech, but quite merry. “Of course! At her age, she's looking into the future, trying to penetrate the Other Side. Being
Gran'mère
, she enjoys a touch of drama. I've inherited that trait from her, but I use it in my poetry.”

“But you're not a blood relation,” Judith blurted.

The merriment died. “No,” Caroline admitted. “I'm not. She's really my stepgrandmother. But I never think of her like that. She's the only grandmother I've ever known.”

“Of course,” Judith went on in a soothing tone, “traits can be picked up by environment and association. Her imagination no doubt rubbed off on you.”

“Yes,” Caroline asserted, her smile emerging again. “I'm sure that's how it worked. Anyway, I've never worried about anyone trying to kill her. In fact, I've encouraged her to come up with more ideas. Eventually, I'll work them into an epic verse. A kind of saga, you see.”