5 Murder by Syllabub (5 page)

I thought Cora Lee might balk, but after a second, she nodded, raised her cane up over her head, ready to strike, and bolted for the hallway, out the front door and onto the porch. Elizabeth, clutching my cellphone, was right behind her. Aunt Mary paused for a second, glanced at me and hurried after them. I looked quickly around the room, at the beautiful but dusty buffet, at the glasses on it and finally at the corpse and shuddered. There were details here I would need to remember later. I wasn’t married to a policeman for nothing. I took another deep breath, swallowed the gag it produced and headed for the front door. Elizabeth was waiting for me. “Follow Cora Lee,” she said. “Get inside my house and close the door but don’t lock it. Not yet.”

“What are you going to do?” Aunt Mary sounded breathless. Actually, she sounded scared. So was I. “Elizabeth, this is no time for heroics. Let’s go.”

“Oh, I’m coming. I want to make sure this door locks. It’s supposed to lock when it shuts, but I don’t trust it. I don’t know how that person thinks he’s going to get out, but it’s not going to be this way.”

I opened my mouth to say something but couldn’t think what it might be. Aunt Mary pointed her light
at the steps and Cora Lee started down, her cane lightly touching each step. Elizabeth gave the door one final tug and followed Aunt Mary, who was taking the stairs faster than I’d seen her do in years. I wasn’t far behind.

T
he four of us sat in Elizabeth’s house, in the large room she called the gathering room, and waited. We had immediately checked the doors to make sure we were locked in and whoever was out there was locked out. Only then had Elizabeth phoned 911. Then she called Noah. He arrived first.

The tall young man who walked through the door
had been transformed from the handsome, immaculate man I’d met at the airport. Noah had been in the barn when he got the call, feeding horses and mucking out stalls, and he looked it. His jeans were dirty, and his flannel shirt hung open over a sweaty blue T-shirt that clung to his well muscled shoulders and arms with a tenacity that would have inspired envy in the heart of any red-blooded male contender in a wet T-shirt contest. His black boots were manure-stained, as were his jeans that fit tightly over slim hips. He looked and smelled like a horse handler ending his day.

“Sorry. I was just finishing up.” He was a little breathless and it was obvious his mind was no longer on horses. “Tell me again. Monty’s dead? In the dining room next door?”

He didn’t act like a policeman, either. More like someone who couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. Something I understood. I was also having a hard time believing any of this and I’d seen the body.

“What was he doing there?”

“Getting himself killed, evidently,” Cora Lee answered.

“I doubt that was his reason for coming.” The look Noah gave Cora Lee was not one of admiration. “I’ll try again. Monty wouldn’t have come out here, especially dressed as a colonial gentleman, unless he had a darn good reason. What was that?”

“I have no idea.” Elizabeth leaned back and rubbed her eyes as if they pained her.

Cora Lee didn’t seem to be bothered by eye trouble. Hers were open wide and staring at Noah, somehow challenging him. “None of us knew he was here. We didn’t know anyone was here. Mary saw a light in the window by the door and we went over to investigate. There he was, dead as a skunk, right on Mother’s Aubusson carpet. And he’d thrown up on it!”

That seemed to be the final affront. How dare he desecrate her mother’s carpet? Maybe it was shock that made her act so callous, but I was beginning to suspect not. She’d been worried about wax on the buffet. She was indignant at the thought that Monty and whoever else had been with him had used her mother’s glasses. She certainly had an attachment to her mother’s possessions. Or, was it to the possessions of Smithwood? That was, I supposed, understandable. She’d grown up here. This had been her home. That brought another thought. Why hadn’t Cora Lee inherited Smithwood? Or at least some portion of it. Women hadn’t been allowed to inherit in years past, but certainly that no longer held true.

Noah brought my attention back to the problem at hand. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Monty’s dead on the carpet. We have that established. You know because you saw a light and went over to investigate and there was Monty. Did any of you ever stop to think
that whoever was over there might not have wanted to be found? Anyone sneaking around someone else’s house in the middle of the night has to be considered dangerous. Why didn’t you call the police?” No one answered him. He sighed deeply and ran his hand through his short-cropped hair. “I don’t suppose any of you have any idea how he died?”

“He was poisoned.” I hadn’t said much up
till now, but it was time to put a stop to Cora Lee’s little side trips and get down to business.

“What makes you think that?” Noah’s head snapped around. I had his attention now.

“He’s all twisted like he died in agony, and he threw up. He’d been drinking something yellow and sticky looking, and I think he still had the glass in his hand when he fell. It didn’t break. Whatever was in it was fast-acting. It looked as if he just keeled right over.”

“That’s right. Ellen’s right. He dropped like a stone.” Cora Lee’s voice was low and theatrical.

Elizabeth’s lips twitched with what might have been the beginnings of a smile.

Aunt Mary wasn’t as generous.
I knew that look of disapproval well. I’d had occasion to cause it growing up. Evidently, she too had her reservations about Cora Lee.

“Like a stone
,” Noah repeated and shook his head. “Then you called nine-one-one and me?”

“We didn’t call anyone until we left that house and came over here
,” Elizabeth said.

“We left
fast
.” Cora Lee put a little stress on the word “fast.”

“Why?” There was concern in his voice along with more than a little alarm. “Did you think someone was still in there?”

“Oh, yes.” Cora Lee tapped her cane on the floor a couple times as if to emphasize that point.

“Whoever was with Monty had to still be in the house, hidden somewhere.” A
shiver of fear ran through me more intense than I had felt when I looked at Monty’s body, or even after we had run back to Elizabeth’s house. The stupidity of going over there, just the four of us, was suddenly overwhelming.

Noah’s expression hardened and his voice settled down into police deadpan. “Why did you think someone was still there? Was there a noise? Did you see something?”

“It wasn’t that.” Elizabeth leaned forward. There was a tightness in her voice that hadn’t been there before. “Whoever it was couldn’t have gotten out.”

Surprise passed over Noah’s face, followed quickly by disbelief. “Go on.”

“You need a key to get into that house. The latches engage when the doors close and you need a key to get out.”

She paused. Noah nodded as if he knew that.

“Mary saw that candle just a few minutes before we went over. No one came out the front door, and if someone went out the big doors that overlook the river, we would have seen him. We didn’t. The conservatory doors are also locked. I have the key. I locked the passageway door leading to this house before we went over. That person had to still be inside, and I think he’s there right now.”

Noah didn’t say anything for a minute, but his eyes widened and the muscles around his mouth tightened. “I’d better get up with the lieutenant. We’ll need the S.W.A.T. team.” He patted his pockets for his cellphone but came up empty. Elizabeth handed him mine. He appeared a little surprised but accepted it.

Before he could dial, sirens split the air.

“I’d better get out there and tell them we might have a murderer trapped.” He dropped the phone on the table, pushed back his chair and was halfway to the door in almost one motion. He stopped and turned back. “Elizabeth, I’ll need your keys.”

Reluctantly, she reached into her skirt pocket and handed them to him.

Noah tossed them in his hand, as if assessing their weight, or what they might unlock. “Stay here, all of you.”

Whatever else he might have added was drowned out by the howling of a dog.

“Oh, dear God. It’s Petal. How could I have forgotten?” Elizabeth rushed to the French doors that opened
on the side of the house that overlooked the river. She yanked at the door. It didn’t move. “Damn. I forget. What did that locksmith say to do?”

Another siren blast split the air. Two dogs howled. Noah appeared beside Elizabeth, his mouth set in a
straight line. “That’s Max. I can’t leave him out there. He’ll get in the way. What locksmith? What did he do?”

“Put on a new lock and put in some kind of rod. There.” She pulled up a lever. A rod slipped out of a hole in the floor and the door obligingly opened. Two dogs charged through. The large one skidded to a stop in front of Noah and tried to jump into his arms. Not an easy task considering
its size. A Golden Retriever. The little one ignored everyone in the room and ran for the wing-backed chair that sat beside the fireplace, jumped in, buried its nose under a pillow and started to shake. Elizabeth scooped it in her arms, crooning. The sirens got louder; the dog shook harder.

“You four wait here. Don’t move. Don’t come outside. Don’t do anything. Someone will come to you as soon as possible.” He looked thoughtfully at Elizabeth’s keys and started for the door, the large dog on his heels. He paused. “Max, sit.” The dog sat, but he looked expectant, ears cocked, tongue lolling to one side. Noah sighed. “Can Max stay here?”

“Of course.” Elizabeth had the little dog clutched tight against her and she made no move to put it down. Max let Noah go out the door that led into the main hall before he followed.

“Max, get back. Will one of you please come get this dog?”

Tires crunched on gravel, strange voices issued orders, car doors slammed and impatience was giving way to anger in Noah’s voice.

“Cora Lee, go get that dog. I’ll get the door.” Aunt Mary hurried toward the French doors, got them closed and managed to drop the rod into its hole. Max reluctantly came back into the room, but as soon as Cora Lee let go of his collar, he ran for the doors. He pawed as if expecting them to open. They didn’t. He turned toward us and whined. We didn’t respond. Max turned back to the doors. He sat down and stared through them, mumbling dog curses under his breath.

“What are they doing?” Cora Lee peered at the windows beside the front door. “Damn. I knew you shouldn’t have hung those blasted curtains on those windows. I can’t see a thing.”

“They were your idea.” Holding the trembling little dog seemed to help Elizabeth. Her voice was crisp
. The fear that had been evident when she told Noah she thought the prowler was trapped had dissipated. Of course, having the circle driveway filled with police cars was reassuring.

“What’s got Max so enthralled?” Aunt Mary walked over to the French doors to stand beside the dog,
who was staring intently into the dark yard. “They have the house surrounded.” Surprise filled her voice. “There’s a man in a black jacket doing that silly looking crouch run. He’s got a rifle! Good grief. Surely they don’t plan on shooting someone.”

“Only if someone tries to shoot them first.” The same fear I felt when Dan was on a call ran through me. I crossed my fingers, hard,
hoping that the only thing our prowler was armed with was poison.

“Where? Who’s shooting who?” Elizabeth pushed up against the doors for a better look. Max gave a small yelp. “Sorry.” She gave him an absentminded pat on the head. Max wound his tail around his front feet and kept looking.

“I hope those idiots don’t do something stupid like shoot through a door or break a window,” Cora Lee said. “The glass in some of those windows is original.” She pushed in beside Aunt Mary.

Max was in danger of getting edged out again, but he held his ground. I didn’t even bother. There was no more room in front of the doors. I’d settle for a description of the action.

“Where’s the S.W.A.T. team guy?”

“He went toward the back of the house. It’s so dark, you can’t see anything.”

“For heaven’s sake, Cora Lee, you almost knocked me over.” Elizabeth edged to the side of the doors. Suddenly, lights went on. “Where are those lights coming from?”

“It looks like someone pulled the curtains back. I think that’s the dining room, but it
’s hard to tell from here.” Straining to see more, Cora Lee had her hand up by her face, which was almost pressed against the window. “Look. The upstairs windows have lights. They must be up there looking for the prowler.” There was no mistaking the excitement in her voice.

“What are those men doing?” Aunt Mary held her ground at the doors, pressed almost as tight against them as Cora Lee.

“Don’t know, but they’re not going to find anything in those planters. There’s nothing in them but weeds. Uh-oh. That man better watch where he’s walking. The ground slopes down the hill pretty fast right there.”

I listened to th
eir blow-by-blow with great interest, wondering what would happen when they found the prowler. So far the voices outside hadn’t risen above a murmur and there hadn’t been a single gunshot.

“I don’t think they
’ve found anyone.” Cora Lee turned to leave the doors and almost tripped over Max. He yelped. “Damn that dog. He’s always in the way.”

Elizabeth stood in front of the doors, the small dog still in her arms, shaking her head slightly. “That’s not possible. We know someone was over there. Where did he go?”

“I don’t know.” Aunt Mary inched closer to the door. I stood right behind her. We said nothing as we watched the searchers’ bobbing flashlights. House lights blazed, lighting up the yard, making them unnecessary.

“Are you sure there are no other doors? No other way out of there?”

“There is one other way.”

“Where?” Elizabeth wheeled around to stare at Cora Lee. “I don’t know of any other way. Oh.”

Cora Lee’s tight little smile said
I told you so
.

“Right. The other passageway door.”

I felt a little like Alice, minus the white rabbit, of course. “What other passageway?”

“The one from the main house to the east house. It’s the twin of this one, at least it used to be until we remodeled.” Elizabeth’s face and voice were both
thoughtful. “Why I didn’t think of that before, I can’t imagine.” She stopped and frowned. “No. That wouldn’t do him any good.”

“What do you mean?” Aunt Mary turned away from the doors to look around the room, as if trying to locate the door to the passageway from this house to the main house. The one Elizabeth had locked. She looked puzzled, as if she’d forgotten there was another house, the twin of this one. So had I. Was Cora Lee saying
that whoever was in the main house with Monty could have gotten out that way?