Midsummer Murder (25 page)

“We’ll take him up to the house.”

“Come on, Doc,” said the girl who had taken his arm. “We’ll come back tomorrow and salvage what we can.” She pulled him away.

“You okay?” asked Lindy.

“Just dirty.” The expression on Bill’s face frightened her.

Donald trudged up at that moment looking even dirtier than Bill. “Nothing much we can do here tonight,” he said. He took a shaky breath. Annie slipped her arm around him. Lindy felt Glen start to move.

“Why don’t you guys get in the car,” she said. “We’ll give you a ride back.”

Annie and Donald turned to go.

“Thanks, Bill,” said Donald.

Bill only nodded.

Annie gave Bill a long look before she turned and started back up the hill.

“Come on, Lindy,” said Glen. “Give you a ride, Bill?”

“No thanks. I’ll just stay here for a while.”

“Be careful,” said Lindy over her shoulder as Glen led her away. But Bill was staring out over the shattered remains of the camp.

* * *

“With Donald.” Annie’s hand rested on the car door. They had stopped in front of the main house to let Donald out. A group of archeology students sat on the front steps.

“It’s late.”

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“Daddy, it’s barely past midnight. I’ll be back soon, I promise.” She slammed the door.

“Want me to chaperone?” asked Lindy.

“We’ll both chaperone. I’ll park the car and meet you back here.”

Lindy followed Annie across the drive. Five dirty, unhappy faces watched them approach.

“Ms. Easton’s arranging for us to stay up here tonight,” said Donald. “She doesn’t want us back at the site until she’s sure it’s safe.

The old man is not happy about it.”

“No, I am not.” The words rumbled through the doorway, preceding the speaker who limped across the porch and sat down heavily on the top step.

Marguerite, still dressed in red, followed close behind.

“Emil, you cannot go back there tonight. Chi-Chi is preparing the guest rooms for your staff, and I have a room ready for you in the main house.”

Emil shook his head stubbornly.

Marguerite sat down on the step beside him. She accomplished it with the ease of a young woman.

“I won’t have you placing yourself at risk until we know what caused the landslide and if there is danger from more. I’ll have the park service come and take a look first thing tomorrow.”

“Don’t bother. I know what caused it. And it wasn’t the rain.”

So that was why Bill had stayed behind, thought Lindy. He was going to look for clues of vandalism. In the dark? What if there was another slide? Should she send someone back to look for him?

Her questions were answered before she could voice them. Bill, accompanied by Stu and Ellis, emerged from the trees near the dining hall. Bill looked dirtier than when she had left him a few minutes ago.

There were blotches of mud on Stu’s trousers.

Emil helped Marguerite to her feet.

“Stuart Hollowell, you are incorrigible,” she said.

“I just slipped. Could have happened to anyone.”

“No more roaming around at night, do you hear me?”

Stu and Ellis hung their heads like two chastised boys.

“Thank you for rescuing them, Bill.”

Bill flashed his wide smile at her.

She smiled up at him.

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Lindy cast her eyes heavenward. Bill had been there all of one day and had already made a conquest. She moved closer to him as the others began to file inside.

“How did you get back so fast?”

“As the crow flies, more or less. I saw something move on the path above the site, and when I went to investigate, I found the two of them. Stu on his butt on the ground, and Ellis trying to get him up.”

“Did you find anything?”

Bill’s eyes widened. “Wasn’t that enough?”

Damn, he could be so infuriating. He knew exactly what she had meant. And he had purposely deflected her question back to her.

She felt an arm link through hers. “We’d better go,” said Annie.

“Daddy will be wondering where we are.”

She practically dragged Lindy toward the entrance of the annex.

“Did you and Donald have a fight already?”

“No.” But Annie’s scowl said otherwise.

“Are you sure? You don’t look very happy,” said Lindy.

“I’m just tired.” Annie slowed down as they reached the top of the stairs to their rooms.

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

Annie was studying the texture of the carpet at her feet.

Lindy waited. Annie was not usually at a loss for words.

“Bill—” she stopped.

“What about him?” asked Lindy trying to figure out where this was going. Was Annie worried about what had happened at the camp? Was she frightened? Maybe she should have Glen take her home in the morning.

“Nothing.” Annie ran down the hall to her room without even saying good night.

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“Tomorrow?” asked Lindy.

Glen looked up from the breakfast menu. “They’ve moved the Paris meeting to Wednesday afternoon, so I’ll have to catch the Tuesday evening flight out of JFK.” Glen closed his menu. “I’ll take Annie home with me. I’m sure Haddie will stay over until you get back.”

“Annie could stay here.” Lindy sipped her coffee. “If you think I can take care of her.” She looked over the rim of her cup.

“What are you talking about?”

“Last night you seemed to think I wasn’t doing a good job of overseeing her.”

Glen looked confused.

Lindy hurried on before she lost her nerve. “You said you’d never forgive me if anything happened to her.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Yes, you did—when we were in the car.”

“No, I didn’t. Why would I say something so stupid?”

Lindy shrugged. “I don’t know, but you did.”

“You must have been hearing things.”

Annie joined them at the table. She looked unhappy; her eyes were puffy from lack of sleep. She opened her menu, hiding her face from her parents.

“Lover’s quarrel,” Lindy mouthed to Glen.

Glen’s mouth opened. He looked relieved.

“Annie,” said Glen. “I have to leave tomorrow morning instead of Wednesday. So you’d better pack tonight. We have to get an early start.”

The menu came down. Annie eyed both parents then returned to reading. “I think I’ll stay here,” she mumbled from behind the menu.

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Glen put down the coffee cup he had just picked up. It hit the saucer with a rattle. Annie’s menu landed on the table with a thud. Two sets of brown eyes locked on each other. The Haggerty standoff. Lindy had lived with it for years. She leaned back in her chair to wait it out.

It was cut short by a waiter returning to take their breakfast order.

“So who is this Donald Parker?” asked Glen.

Annie’s eyes rolled back in her head. “So that’s it. Really, Daddy.

I’m not a child. I’m eighteen.”

“For two months.”

“Sooo?”

“We don’t know anything about this boy.”

“Daddy, I’ve been living away from home for two years. I think I can judge if someone’s nice or not.” Her tone held just enough exasperation to trigger Glen’s fight instinct.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” said Glen.

“Really? Well, I’m not the one you should be worried about.” Annie flicked Lindy a look that could have meant anything.

“Be ready to leave by eight o’clock.” Glen picked up the morning newspaper.

They ate breakfast in silence. Annie played with her food. Glen read as he ate; Lindy just waited for it to be over, while she tried to figure out what Annie’s last statement had meant. At last, Annie pushed her chair back and got up.

“No,” she said and walked away.

“Time for a little mother-daughter talk,” said Lindy and followed Annie out of the restaurant.

Lindy caught up with her in the driveway. “Let’s take a walk around the lake.”

“I can’t,” said Annie. “I’m helping Donald and the others clean up the mess.”

“It will just take a few minutes. Did you two have a fight?”

“No, why should we have?”

Lindy shrugged. “I don’t know. You just seem unhappy.”

“Jeez Louise, Mom. Dr. Van Zandt just lost years of work and you think I’d be worried about some man?”

They walked in silence. It must be teenage hormones, thought Lindy, as she guided Annie toward the lake. She had always been a 168

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good-natured child. Even the usual angst of adolescence had seemed minor when compared to her brother, Cliff. But she had spent the last two years away at school, and it struck Lindy that she had missed out on a lot of Annie’s growing up.

They passed the man-made beach. Students were already in the water; Monday was their day off. Jeremy had even given the company the day off. Lindy hadn’t questioned him why.

“It’s just that Daddy and I want you to be happy.” The second she opened her mouth, Lindy knew she sounded just like a parent from a fifties sitcom. She was out of practice.

Annie threw her a look that her statement deserved.

A man was opening the boat rental shed. Shiny aluminum canoes sat upside down on wooden racks.

“Want to go for a row on the lake?”

“No.”

“Come on,” said Lindy. “You always want to do everything.

Where’s my enthusiastic little girl?”

“I’m not a little girl, and I’m not going home with Daddy.”

“He’s just worried about you.”

“I’m not the one he should be worried about.”

“So you’ve said.” Lindy turned to face her. “Who should he be worried about?”

Annie crossed her arms and refused to look at her. Lindy pulled her chin up. Annie’s eyes flashed with anger.

“I’m not stupid, Mom. I know what’s going on and why you want to get rid of me.” She dropped her gaze back to the beach.

Which is more than I can say for myself,
thought Lindy.

“Care to elaborate?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Annie, I don’t have a clue.” Lindy was beginning to lose her patience. She felt tired and harassed, and she didn’t feel like dealing with a belligerent daughter. “Could you try working with me here?

Give me a hint.”

“Bill.” Annie’s face crumpled and tears began to fall from the corners of her eyes.

“Bill?” Did Annie, like Glen, resent her “indulging in disaster?”

“What about Bill?” she asked slowly. An uglier idea was taking hold in her mind.

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Annie dug the toe of her sneaker into the sand, then smoothed it out again. Lindy watched her repeat the action, while she tried to calm herself enough to talk.

“Annie . . .” Lindy reached for Annie’s shoulders, but she pulled away.

“You have a lot of nerve.” Annie’s voice broke. “You come down on Rebo and Juan, you try to keep me away from Donald, and all the time you have Daddy and your lover here at the same time—in front of everybody.”

Lindy reeled back.

Annie’s tears were dropping onto the sand. She wiped her arm across her nose. “How could you?” she cried and began running along the shore, leaving the beach and scrambling over the path that skirted the lake.

At last reaction kicked in and Lindy ran after her. It only took a minute to catch up to her. Angry and hurt, she spun Annie around.

“How dare you!” It was all she could do not to slap the girl for her wrong-headedness and lack of trust.

Annie tried to pull away. Lindy gripped her more tightly. “Listen to me, Miss Know-it-all. And listen good. Bill and I are not lovers, we are friends.”

Annie gave her a sullen look. Lindy shook her hard. “Whatever gave you such an idiotic idea? We have never been lovers. And even though it is none of your business, I will let you know that I have
never
been unfaithful to your father. Not in twenty years of marriage — and yes— there have been plenty of times when I could have been. So before you go throwing around any other accusations, be sure you’ve got the facts right.” She gave Annie a shove and stalked away, furious, mortified, and a little self-righteous. She and Bill were not lovers.

Their relationship had absolutely no physical overtones. They made sure of that. Because although it was unspoken, they both knew if they once overstepped the bounds of propriety . . . but it was better not to think about that.

* * *

camp, he took off after her. Lindy went to look for Bill, but he wasn’t 170

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to be found. He was probably at the camp, too. Great, she thought, he and Glen together, after what Annie had said. She shuddered at the thought. She just hoped that Annie had come to her senses and would not cause any trouble between the two of them.

She would deal with that later if necessary. Right now she had another matter to clear up. It couldn’t be put off any longer.

The sight of the pink rabbit bobbing along toward the beach sealed her fate. She fell in step with the rabbit.

“Going to the beach?”

No answer.

“I didn’t know bunnies could swim.”

The bunny stopped. Rebo’s head peered out from behind it. “You got something to say?”

“How about ‘I’m sorry for being such a jerk’?”

“That’s a start.” He stuffed the bunny under his arm.

“I’m not a hypocrite; I don’t know why I reacted like that. You know I love you and Juan.” She swallowed. “And I’m glad you love each other.”

“You are?”

“Sure.” She took a deep breath. “Looove—” she sang.

“—And sex—” he added.

“Make the wooorld go round,” they sang together.

Lindy punctuated the sentiment with a kiss in the air.

Rebo smiled back, his teeth flashing white against his ebony skin.

Almost his old smile. They were making progress.

“You were just trying to protect us. Juan says we can’t expect you to stop acting like a mother, just because you’re our boss.”

“Juan said that?”

“Yeah, sometimes the boy gets right to the heart of the matter.”

“Pax?”