Killing Mr. Griffin (20 page)

“The rest of the family is out for the evening.” “Well, good. We can talk then. Aren’t you going to ask us in?” “Of course. Come in,”

Susan said, stepping back to allow them to enter. Both their faces were red from the wind, and Betsy’s hair was wild around her face.

“We’re on our way to Zuni,” Jeff said. “I got the car sprayed gray this morning, and Betsy’s borrowed the license off her mom’s VW to use on the drive out there. We figure nobody will be using the bug tonight, and we’ll get the license back on again before anybody sees it in the morning.” “How are you going to get back?” Susan asked them.

“We’ve got Griffin’s car,” Betsy said. “And Mark’s going to follow us in Jeff’s. After we dump the Chevy we’ll come back with him. He’s going to meet us here in a couple of minutes. The reason we stopped here is to tell you that I told my folks I was spending the night with you. I don’t think Mom will check it out, but if she does happen to call about something, you’ll have to handle it.” “How?” Susan asked nervously. “Oh, for Christ’s sake—you’re supposed to be so smart; figure out something. Tell her I’m asleep or in the bathtub or whatever. The main thing is to be sure you get the phone every time it rings tonight. That won’t be hard considering your folks are out.”

“The other thing is, we’ve got to get hold of Dave,” Jeff said. “I gave my folks the same story about sleeping at his house. Are you going to see him tonight?” “Not that I know of,” Susan said. “We tried to stop at his place on the way over here,” Betsy told her, “but there was a whole line of cars parked in front like they were giving a party. We didn’t think we ought to go in.” “Let’s call him from

here,” Jeff said. “Do you know his number, Sue?” “No,” Susan said, “but I can look it up. There’s a

phone in the den.” She led the way into the wood-paneled room where the fire was burning brightly and casting dancing shadows against the far wall. “I’ll find it,” Jeff said, picking up the phone directory, which lay on a stand under the wall phone. “I’ll read the numbers out to you, and you dial. It’ll sound more natural if the call comes from you. Are you ready? Two-six-eight—” Susan shoved the numbers into place. There was a connecting click, and the phone on the other end of the line began to ring. After a moment a woman’s voice answered.

“Hello,” Susan said. “Could I speak to David, please?” “Can I tell him who’s calling?” the woman asked. “It’s Susan.” “Okay. Just a minute.” The voice moved away from the phone. “It’s somebody named Susan for David. Does he want to take a call right now?” From somewhere in the background there was an answer. Susan was aware of the hum of numerous voices. There was a long pause, and then the sound of the receiver being lifted and David’s voice. “Hello?” “David, it’s Sue.” She was not sure he understood it was she who was calling.

“What’s happening over there? Is something the matter?” “Yes,” David said in a flat voice. “My grandmother died this morning.” “Oh, David!” She was stunned. “How awful!” “Yeah, it is pretty awful. It happened while my mother and I were at church. We found her lying on the floor in the bedroom. She must have fallen and hit her head when

she was getting out of her chair.” “How awful,” Susan said again.

“Is there anything I can do?” The question was ridiculous, and she knew it, but it was the only thing she could think of to say. “No,”

David said. “What is it you called about?” He was far away from her, so far away there was no way to touch him. Susan found herself wondering if she would ever touch him again. The scene yesterday in the bedroom between themselves and the old, gray-haired woman would stand between them forever. It would be a memory David would want to thrust away from him, and in her presence, it would come surging back to be relived, over and over again. She answered his question. “Jeff and Betsy are here. They’re on their way to take the Chevy out to the pueblo. Jeff has told his parents he’s spending the night with you and wants you to cover him if they should try to call him there.” “I can’t do that,” David said. “Our minister’s over here and half the people from the church. It’s a regular wake. None of them have seen Gram for years, but you’d never know it to listen to them. There’s no way I can catch the phone when it rings. One of my mom’s friends is acting as telephone secretary.” “Oh,” Susan said. “Well, Jeff will just have to change his story. David, the ring—” It was not the right time to ask it, but she could not let him forget. “Have you gotten it yet?” “I don’t want to think about that right now,” David said. “But, David, you have to! What if somebody else finds it? It has to be there somewhere in the bedroom.” “I’ll hunt through her stuff, but not

tonight. There’s too much going on over here.” He dropped his voice. “The spacy woman from next door came over a few minutes ago, and you know what she said? That there was a guy in the bedroom with Gram at the time she died. She said she looked across from her bedroom window and saw him standing talking to Gram back behind her chair. She didn’t think anything about it at the time, because she thought it was me.” “But—but—how could there have been anybody?” Susan stammered.

“There couldn’t have been, of course, but she’s got my mom and everybody else here all riled up. She says the guy was wearing a brown sweater. I don’t even own a brown sweater.” “How much did she see?”

Susan asked shakily. “Did she actually see your grandmother fall?”

“No. She says she looked over once and saw this guy with Gram and then later she looked again and Gram wasn’t in her chair anymore and she didn’t see anybody. She’s got to be making the whole thing up. Gram didn’t have drop-in visitors, and if she did have they sure wouldn’t have been teenage guys. I think the woman’s cracked. She’s using this as a way to get some attention for herself.” “But what if it was a burglar?” Susan said. “Is anything missing from the house?” “Nope.

My mom’s jewelry, such as it is, is all in its box, and there’s nothing else here that anybody would want to steal. Look, I’ve got to get back to my mother now. She’s taking this pretty hard.” David’s voice came from years away. “Did you want anything else?” “No,” Susan said. “I just called about the alibi for Jeff. David—” She sought for words and could not find them. “I’m sorry,” she said lamely. “Yeah—well, so am I. She was quite an old girl, my gram. The place is going to

seem pretty strange.” “Yes, I imagine so.” “Good-bye,” David said.

“Good-bye.” Susan replaced the receiver on the hook. Jeff and Betsy were looking at her questioningly. “His grandmother died today,” Susan said. “Well, what about the cover?” Jeff asked. “He said he can’t do it.” “Shit, that really messes us up if my folks try to get hold of me. Well, there’s nothing to do but take the chance, I guess.” He paused, taking in the expression on Susan’s face. “Hey, what’s with you? You look like you’re going to keel over.” “Mark has a brown sweater,” Susan said. “He wears it all the time.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “It means—it means—” Susan felt the floor tilting strangely beneath her. The room swam about her, and she reached out a hand to brace herself against the wall for support. “When I told Mark about the ring—he said—“Don’t worry. I’ll get it.” And there was someone with her when she died. The woman in the house next door saw him.” “You’re not making sense,” Betsy said. “What ring was Mark going to get?” “Mr. Griffin’s ring, the one that was missing from his finger when they found him. David took it.” “Dave did?” Jeff said in surprise. “My gosh, why?” “Because—because—” She could not try to explain. That part no longer mattered. All that was important now was the horrendous realization that was sweeping over her. “Mark killed that woman. He went over there this morning while David and his mother

were in church, and he took the ring from her, and he killed her!”

“You’re crazy,” Betsy said. “Mark would never do a thing like that.”

“He would, and he didl” Suddenly, incredibly, there was no doubt in her mind. “We’ve got to go to the police!” “Bets is right, you are crazy,” Jeff said. “After all we’ve gone through to keep this under cover, you think we’re going to go to the pigs now? Why, we’d have to tell them everything right from the beginning, the whole bit about the kidnapping and Griffin’s dying on us and the burial, and who would ever believe it was an accident, especially if you’re going to follow it up with this wild thing about Dave’s grandmother?” “It’s gone past the point where there’s any choice,” Susan said. “Whatever they do to us, they’ll just have to do.” “You don’t have the right to make that decision,” Betsy said. “We’re all of us in this together. You agreed to help in the kidnapping, and by doing that, you agreed to anything that followed from it. You’re committed, just like the rest of us.

You can’t chicken out now.” “Didn’t you hear a thing I said?” Susan asked her. “Mark killed Mrs. Ruggles! He killed an old woman! Mr.

Griffin’s death was an accident, but this wasn’t. Mark knew what he was doing. He planned it, and he killed her.” “You don’t know that,”

Jeff said. “You don’t have proof.” “I do know it, and I don’t need proof! The police can find that!” Susan was on the edge of hysteria.

“If I’m wrong, if Mark had nothing to do with this, if it really was an

accident and the old lady slipped and fell, that will show up from her injuries. They can do an autopsy on her the same way they did on Mr. Griffin. But if he did do it—” _ “If he did do it, he did it to protect us, you as well as the rest of us,” Betsy said. “He was willing to take that risk in order to keep us safe. If Dave was stupid enough to take that ring and let his grandmother get hold of it, what could Mark do but get it back any way he could?” “But to murder someone—” “Like Jeff said, you’re only guessing about that, and you’re probably wrong. But if you’re not, just remember that Mark did only what he had to do. He’s gotten us through this far, and we’ve got to trust him to get us through the rest of the way.” “I don’t care what you say,” Susan said miserably, “I’m going to the police, and I’m going to tell them everything. After that, whatever happens, happens. I’m sorry if the two of you won’t back me up, but if you think Mark did only what he had to do, then you can believe the same thing about me. I can’t go on like this any longer. It’s like a snowball rolling downhill; it’s getting worse all the time!” From the street outside there came the quick, impatient beep of a car horn. “That’s Mark,”

Betsy said. “What are we going to do?” “It won’t do us any good to get rid of the car if Miss Holier-Than-Thou is going to spill the beans,” Jeff said. “We’ve got to keep her quiet.” “How?” “I’ll stay here with her. You run out and tell Mark what’s happened. He’ll think of something.” “You can’t tell Mark!” Susan cried. “He’s the very

one-”

But Jeff’s hand was clamped tightly upon her shoulder, and Betsy was already out the door.

When she returned a few moments later, Mark was with her. He was still wearing the brown sweater.

Where’s her family?” Mark asked.

“Out for the evening,” Jeff said. “There’s nobody else here.”

“Good. Let’s tie her up. The cord on those drapes will do fine.

Betsy, go out to the kitchen and get something to cut them with.”

“Betsy, no!” Susan twisted in Jeff’s grip so that she faced the other girl squarely. “You can’t keep doing everything he says, not when you know what he’s done!”

“I don’t know that he’s done anything,” Betsy said.

“You don’t want to know!”

“I said, go get a knife.” Mark shifted his gaze from Betsy to Susan.

“Now, exactly what is it you’re trying to sell them? What am I supposed to have done?”

“You killed David’s grandmother,” Susan said.

“Did Dave tell you that?”

“No, of course not. He doesn’t even realize you knew about his grandmother having the ring. /

The implications of this last statement Struck her with full force. “I did that.” “And that’s all you’re going on, that I knew she had the ring? You knew it too, baby.” He regarded her quizzically. “If your reasoning holds, that could mean that you killed her.” “The woman next door saw you. That is, she saw somebody—a boy in a brown sweater—in the room with Mrs. Ruggles right before it happened.” “How could she see that?” “Through the window. The house next door has a window exactly opposite the one in Mrs. Ruggles’s room,” Susan caught her breath in a half sob. “It was you. It couldn’t have been anyone else.” “So maybe it was me. I went over and got the ring, like I told you I would. Why does that have to mean I killed the old bag?” He glanced back at Betsy. “You don’t think I did that, do you, Bets?”

“No,” Betsy said softly. “No.” “Good.” Mark nodded approvingly.

“Old people fall down, you know? It happens all the time. An old lady tries to jump up out of her chair and stumbles, and down she goes, smacking her head on the windowsill. I ask you, what could I do about it? I wasn’t near enough to catch her.” “Nothing,” Betsy said. “You couldn’t do anything. Not if it happened like that.” She turned and went out to the kitchen. There was the sound of drawers being pulled out and the rattle of silverware. Betsy came back into the room carrying a paring knife. “Will this do okay?” “It’s not the sharpest thing I’ve ever seen, but it’ll do for a curtain cord.” Mark took the

knife from her hand and went over to the window. Held immobile by the grip of Jeff’s hands, Susan stood, watching as Mark sawed at the cord of the heavy white drapes that were her mother’s pride and joy.

“They’re the most impractical things I’ve ever seen,” Mr. McConnell had said when she bought them. “They’ll have to be cleaned every other month,” and Mrs. McConnell had said, “Oh, I don’t think it will be quite that bad,” but it had been. What are they going to do to me?

Susan thought, terrified, and at the same time there was some odd, untouched corner of her mind that was saying, Mother will be so upset about the draperies, surely there’s something else he can use besides those. “What do we do now?” Jeff asked as Mark came over to them with the cord in his hand. “Tie her, the way we did Griffin. Put her wrists behind her.” “And then what?” Jeff loosed his hold on Susan’s shoulder and as she twisted to jerk away from him he pulled her arms back roughly. An idea occurred to him. “Hey, you’re not thinking of doing the same thing with her are you? Leaving her in the mountains?