Organize Your Corpses (31 page)

“Oh boy.”

“That’s just plain bad,” Lilith said. “People should take care of their elderly relatives.”

I said, “Um, maybe you could . . .”

“Go to the hospital and pretend to be her daughter?”

“Yes.”

“I’m walking over now. You can’t believe the number of cop cars on the road.”

“If you get in to see her and if she’s conscious at all, ask her who she let into her home. She keeps that door locked. She must have opened the door to the person who attacked her. I have this crazy idea . . .”

“Where are you?”

“I’m on my way to Stone Wall Farm.”

“You don’t think anyone would go after Olivia? Oh my God, Gabriel would freak. What am I talking about? There’s really good security at Stone Wall Farm. They have staff on twenty-four hours a day. Nothing can happen to her with Francie right in the room.”

“I hope you’re right. But two people were attacked today, three if you count me: Dominic’s dead and Rose is in the hospital. We’re talking about a killer with a lot of nerve.”

“Call the police! They’ll protect Olivia.”

“The police are not going to believe me. Especially since I don’t have everything figured out yet. The murderer will just take cover and wait for a better time. Let me do this now. Call me when you talk to Rose. I’ll have my phone on vibrate. If I don’t answer right away, it might be because I don’t want anyone to hear me.”

“Be careful, Charlotte.”

“You too.”

20

The road to Stone Wall Farm is scenic and curvy in the daytime. The undulating hills make for a gorgeous drive. Translate that to nightmare as soon as the sun goes down. Add a high wind and occasional blasts of rain and it’s a Tim Burton fantasy. My hands were frozen in the steering wheel grip by the time I reached the property. I wasn’t dopey enough to park where anyone could see or hear me. I left the car near the edge of the property and told the dogs to keep sleeping in their new blankie. I called Lilith. She didn’t pick up. I left a message saying that I’d left the dogs in the brown Pontiac sedan just past the gate. Just in case.

Without looking back, I crept along the hedge near the driveway, until I was even with the main building. Most of the rooms were dark, but here and there a corridor light shone. I tried the back door and found it locked. No surprise. I crept around to the side door, which I thought was the kitchen entrance. That too was locked. The same thing for the five sets of French doors along the wide verandah. By this time, I was near the front. I crouched down and peered through the glass at the staff desk in the front hall. There was no sign of a staff member. Surely there was a night nurse on duty. And what about security?

My phone vibrated in my pocket. Bad timing.

I slunk away from the house and took shelter behind a large cedar tree. It could be only one person. I called Lilith again.

“That was fast,” she said.

“What happened with Rose?”

“You were right. I said I was the daughter. No one argued with me. No one asked for ID. Nothing. They just let me in.”

“That’s good,” I whispered. “How is she?”

“She’s unconscious still. I couldn’t get any information from her. I’ll try again in the morning. But now, I’m on my way to meet you. Don’t do anything until I get there.”

“Do you still have your key?”

“Don’t need it. There’s a keypad on the side door, near Gabe’s room.”

“I don’t know where Gabe’s room is.”

“Main floor just off the common room. It’s set up specially for his motorized chair. Got its own ramp and everything.”

“The common room? The big sitting room off the front foyer? The parrots are there, right? Okay, how do I use the keypad?”

“Everyone has their own code. Mine was SWFL—so, like, Stone Wall Farm Lilith—unless they changed it after they fired me. They’re planning to switch to security cards, but they hadn’t installed the new system when I got the boot.”

“Would they have changed your code?”

“Probably. But I don’t imagine they’d expect me to break in. Watch out for the night nurse and the security guard.”

SWFL didn’t work. So much for the Stone Wall Farm staff not expecting Lilith to break in. I tried SWFF for Francie and I was through the door. I crept along the hallway. Off in the distance, I thought I could hear the soft murmur of late-night television. As I approached the desk in the front foyer, I scuttled on all fours and hid behind the drapes. Life was turning into a hokey stage play. My heart froze. There
was
someone there. The night nurse sat slumped on the chair, her head resting on the desk. A spilled cup lay by her hand.

Her chest rose and fell. Definitely alive. I scurried up the stairs, hugging the wall. Straight out of one of my mother’s wilder novels. The hallway was dim, but light filtered up from the lobby level as I crept toward Olivia’s suite. The television noise seemed to be coming from it. Did that mean Olivia or her caregiver were awake? I edged closer. The television droned on.

I paused outside the door, breathing hard. Was that the soft thud of footsteps on the stairs? Or just my imagination? Without thinking I slipped into Olivia’s suite. A ragged snore erupted from the daybed in the corner. Francie. How many people were involved in this crazy plot? Was Francie one of them? She seemed pretty dozy. Was that an act? I had two doors to choose from. Which one was Olivia’s bedroom? I tiptoed through the closest door and found myself in the bathroom. My heart rate shot up when I heard the door open to the suite. A staff member checking up on Olivia? Why would they do that with Francie in the room?

I could see and be seen in the soft safety light. I hopped behind the shower curtain. Hard to believe, but that seemed like the most sensible thing. I tried to get my breathing under control. I looked around for something to defend myself with. There were also the usual rails and antislip guards that you might expect to find in an elderly invalid’s bathtub. One door led to the sitting room; the other must have been direct access to Olivia’s bedroom. Everything in the bathroom fit with Olivia’s luxurious but limited lifestyle. I was surrounded by high-end imported bath products. Verbena shampoo, olive and sage conditioner, lavender shower gel, and French skin cream. Large soft towels were stacked on the spa-style shelf. I could toss one over someone’s head and then make a run for it. Abandon my nutty, half-formed suspicion and hide in the woods. But after all I’d been through, I didn’t plan to leave Stone Wall Farm until I found what I needed to know. And I didn’t want to get caught first.

When I thought I heard the door to the suite close again, I crept out silently. Or at least silently until my foot struck the trendy metal flip-top wastebasket. It clattered across the ceramic floor and came to rest against the door, spilling its contents. I grabbed one of the towels and waited for Francie to check out the noise.

Eventually, I decided that Francie was still passed out. There was no sound from Olivia’s room. I bent down to clean up the mess I’d made on the floor. Force of habit. Who cared about a few spilled tissues and toiletries at a time like this? My hand stopped at the contact-lens case.

Olivia might be old and fragile, but she hadn’t lost her vanity. In the dim light, I squinted at the tiny empty container. So that was the explanation for her brilliant blue eyes.

I opened the door and peeked through. Francie still snored on the daybed. I crept toward Olivia’s bedroom. Another soft night-light showed a mountain of bedclothes. I tiptoed toward the bed, holding my breath. I leaned in closer. The bed was empty.

I checked her sitting room again and whipped open the bathroom door. Olivia was gone. I moved softly and peered from the door into the corridor. No sign of anyone. I listened. No soft pad of footsteps. But there was something else. The distant, subtle smell of smoke.

I scuttled down the wide staircase. As the bottom, I sniffed again. Definitely something burning. The woman at the desk continued to sleep, mouth open, a trickle of drool pooling on the desktop.

I swallowed. The smell of smoke was faint but distinct.

Fire? Oh crap. Why hadn’t the alarm system gone off?

Lilith had told me that Gabe’s suite was on the main floor because of his motorized wheelchair. I could probably get him out, but how many other people were sleeping upstairs and downstairs?

It didn’t matter what happened to me for breaking into Stone Wall Farm. I had to get help. I shook the sleeping woman’s shoulder. She groaned but didn’t wake.

“Open your eyes,” I whispered. “There’s a fire.”

As I let go, she slipped from her chair to the floor. I grabbed the desk telephone and pressed the button for emergency services. No dial tone. I jabbed the buttons in panic. Nothing.

Okay, no phone. By this point, I would have welcomed the security guard, but there was no sign of him. Where was the fire alarm? I vaguely remembered seeing one in the common room. I raced toward it, past the covered parrot cage.

A voice from the cage croaked, “Stupid boy, stupid boy.”

A second said, “Cripple.”

I stopped. The last pieces of the puzzle fell into place. My nutty idea was not so wild after all. I stared at the figure across the room. She stood erect in her pink and silver silk dressing gown, her long white hair hung in a braid around her shoulder. She moved quickly and confidently toward the window, the dressing gown flowing behind her, the braid now glowing silver in the moonlight. She bent and peered out the window. My heart thundered in my chest. I caught sight of a blur of motion outside. An owl? No, definitely human in shape. I thought I recognized the dark spike of purplish hair.

The smell of smoke was growing stronger. Where was it coming from? The kitchen? I spotted a fire alarm on the far wall and dashed toward it.

“Take your hand off that,” the voice said.

Like hell. I was surprised by how fast she could move. I found my hand in her steely grip and gasped. I wrenched my hand away from her. “Don’t you smell that smoke? Something’s burning. We have to warn people.”

“I don’t think so,” she said.

“Listen,” I said. “You have to . . .”

“You listen,” she said in her familiar voice. The gun in her hand glinted in the dim light. “I told you to step away from the alarm.”

I knew nothing about guns except that this one had probably killed Dominic, or whoever he was. “The people here have never done anything to hurt you. You can get away, but we can’t let the building burn.”

Behind her in the window, something moved again. Lilith again? No, the wrong shape. I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t want to take my eye off the gun and the woman who was holding it.

She said, “
I
can get away. You’ll be staying. In fact, you may find things too hot to handle.”

“But Olivia . . .”

“You can stop this ridiculous charade. It’s perfectly obvious that you know who I am. It no longer matters. Time to get moving.”

“It won’t work, Miss Henley,” I said.

“But it has worked. Perfectly.”

I stood tall and met her blazing blue eyes. “Not really. You slipped up a few times.”

“Don’t bother to prevaricate. It won’t get you anywhere. Now step away from that alarm.”

If anyone but Miss Henley was going to survive the night at Stone Wall Farm, I had to stall. To do that, I had to appeal to her famous ego. If Lilith had arrived, she needed to know what we were dealing with. Even two of us were no match for a gun. I said loudly, “The truth is that I am not the only person who knows it was you, Miss Henley,” I said loudly. If Lilith was coming, she’d had time to get into the building by now.

“I’m not deaf,” she said. “And if you thought you can wake the nurse by shouting, you thought wrong.”

“Other people know.”

“I doubt that. I’ve eliminated anyone who would. Now march toward the kitchen. Get moving.”

“Not so fast. You gave yourself away on several accounts. The visit to the dentist just before your so-called death. You were seen.”

“Circumstantial blather. There’s no law against going to the dentist.”

It was time to trot out my wilder speculations. I didn’t have much to lose. “You made sure you upset the receptionist enough so that she left you alone to switch your dental records with your cousin Olivia’s. That was brilliant.”

She smiled. “It was. I’m quite proud of it. It’s a shame you are the only one who figured it out.”

“I have to admire the way you pulled it together,” I said. “Must have taken a lot of planning. Letting your own hair grow out long and natural, but wearing a short wig in your familiar style and color. The blue contacts. Even if poor nearsighted Francie spotted the contact lenses, she would put that down to Olivia’s vanity.”

Miss Henley smirked. “Olivia always wore contacts, the vapid creature. I enjoyed turning that against her. And as for Francie, she’s a fool and that’s why I chose her.”

“Of course, that made perfect sense. Wynona Banks was no fool. She would have known you were not Olivia at once. But Dominic was there to take care of that problem. Very well planned. What did you do then? Offer Francie the job?”

“Thick as a plank, that woman.” Miss Henley sneered. “To stupid to live.”

“But just in case, you kept her doped with sleeping pills. She’d never know who you were calling or whether you were in or out.”

“I told you to get moving.”

“I must commend you on using Dominic Lo Bello. What was he? An actor? A small-time criminal? An illegitimate child of Crawford’s? Whoever he really was and however you found him, he turned out to be an excellent choice.

“I met a lot of nasty children in my teaching career. Unlike you, some of them came in handy. Dominio was one of them. I met him one year when I taught summer school upstate, before he went to jail the first time. He came in very handy over the years.”