Dangerous Secrets (21 page)

‶
It looks like I don′t
have much choice.″

We called for the nurse, who arrived with a
wheelchair, and within minutes we were on the road—complete with flowers,
crutches and teddy bear in tow—and on our way back to Stowe. We stopped at the
first motel along the strip that sported a vacancy sign. Clean and comfortable,
its ground-floor location made for easy accessibility.

Sensing he needed to play doctor, if only to
reassure himself Maggie could navigate on her own, I left Richard to help her
get settled, while I hit the deli across the street.

Twenty minutes later, Maggie sat propped up on
one of the beds, her injured leg resting on a pillow, while I doled out
sandwiches and drinks. Richard and I settled on the room′s two chairs,
looking like mismatched bookends as we squirted packets of horseradish sauce on
our beef hoagies.

‶
What happens next?″
Maggie asked, and then took a bite of her sub.

‶
I didn′t know you were
getting out of the hospital, or we could have gone home today,″ Richard
said.
‶
Those
reservations are for a four o′clock flight out of Albany—tomorrow.″

‶
Then I take it Sgt. Beach says
we can go.″

‶
Yeah, but we still don′t
know who killed Eileen,″ I said.

‶
What else can we do?″
Richard asked.

‶
I know a lot more about the
players in this little drama, but I′m no closer to knowing who did it.
And I′m getting really tired,″ I admitted.

Maggie took a good, hard look at me.
‶
Jeff,
you look terrible. What happened?″

‶
The Great and Powerful Resnick
knows all—except his own limits,″ Richard said.
‶
We ought to hire
him out for parties:
‵
Have your past read.′ It might be funny if it
didn′t cost him so much.″

‶
Would you mind not talking
about me like I′m not in the room. I didn′t ask for this to happen
to me. I feel like a broken radio that only gets an intermittent signal.″

‶
You seemed to have been
adjusting your signal just fine last night.″

‶
Can we talk about something
else?″

‶
Like who killed Eileen?″
Maggie suggested.
‶
I′m assuming you made progress at the
party.″

‶
Ted. It′s obvious it was
Ted,″ Richard said.

‶
So what′s his
motive?″ I asked.
‶
People usually only kill to save their necks or to
gain something—like money. If Eileen had money, she wouldn′t have been
blackmailing Laura. I might believe Ted killed Eileen for Laura, but how would
she get him to do it?″

‶
How did Eileen find out Laura
was even with Ted?″ Maggie asked.
‶
And what’s the big deal anyway?
It’s not a sin for a younger guy to be with an older woman.″

She had that right.
‶
It depends on the
age of the couple.” I filled her in on our little hypnotism experiment the
night before.

‶
Whoa. Screwing with little
boys. That’s just plain nasty.″

‶
It depends on the age of the
boy. I imagine quite a few thirteen year olds would be thrilled to have sex
with an older woman despite what some shrinks and the law say. But at age
ten—that’s really pushing it. ″

‶
I didn’t think a boy that young
could even—″ She hesitated.
‶
Get it up.″

Richard cleared his throat, but said nothing.

‶
Then how about Susan as a
suspect?″ Maggie suggested.
‶
Adam thought she
qualified.″

‶
And she′s a good
one,″ I agreed.
‶
He might have had good reason to suspect her and try
and protect her.″ I told Maggie about my revelation at breakfast. She
didn′t seem surprised.

‶
She and Laura sure like them
young.″ She shook her head.
‶
I suppose it′s
understandable if Zack prefers older women over her. Do you think he knows
about her and Adam?″

‶
Maybe he doesn′t care.
Then again, Eileen thought Zack wanted to buy her out for a two hundred and
fifty grand. The inn is worth a lot more than that. If they can get those
remaining rooms finished, they′d make out like bandits during a good ski
season.″

‶
Yes, and a decent lawyer would
negotiate for better than that for her,″ Richard pointed out.

‶
I don′t think she′d
take a deal. I think she likes being an innkeeper,″ I said.

‶
Why do you say that?″
Richard asked.

‶
The inside of the Sugar Maple
is Susan′s domain—and it′s immaculate. Out back there must be five
or six different gardens that, until recently, look like they′ve had a
lot of care. I′m assuming that was Zack′s interest. Didn′t
you say he had a landscaping business at one time, Maggie?″ She nodded.
‶
Everything
was kind of shaggy when we arrived. The shrubs by the sign at the edge of the
road are in desperate need of trimming. The outside of the inn is where
tourists get their first impression of the place.″

‶
You′re right. Susan was
so proud of that Triple-A shingle. She said they worked hard to get it.″

‶
Sloppy gardening isn′t a
motive for murder,″ Richard pointed out.

‶
No, but it shows Zack′s
interest in the place has waned. Maybe he had other interests he wanted to
pursue.″

‶
You did say he′d do
anything to get the money. Perhaps he′d lie about leaving Susan to get
it. What if he had some other purpose in mind that even Eileen didn′t
know about?″

Something about that rang true.
‶
Maybe
he just got sick of playing first mate to Captain Susan. I mean, think about
it. He had what amounted to a yacht and he sold it for Susan and the Sugar
Maple Inn. What if he just wants to sail away and out of Susan’s life? ″

Richard shrugged.

Maggie frowned.
‶
I still think Susan’s the
killer. She was livid when she told Eileen to leave. I can tell you from
experience, it′s humiliating to know your husband is catting around—be it
with another woman or another man.″

‶
But is that a motive for
murder?″

She shrugged.
‶
Maybe not. I still love Gary. A
part of me always will.″

‶
Yeah, but you′re not a
coldhearted bitch like Susan, either.″

‶
Did she even know Eileen and
Zack were lovers?″ Richard asked.

‶
I don′t know. Maybe she
knew and didn′t care, especially if young Adam had been servicing her.
But when she argued with Eileen, she didn′t know we′d come down to
the pool and were listening. If Susan was angry enough to kill Eileen,
wouldn′t she have hit her then?″

‶
I suppose she could′ve
gone back to kill her later,″ Richard suggested.
‶
But it
doesn′t seem likely.″ He balled the papers from his lunch and
tossed them at the wastebasket across the room. Missed.

‶
Let′s get back to
Zack,″ Maggie said.
‶
Maybe Laura wasn′t going to come up with the
money and Zack and Eileen argued. Murders often happen in the heat of
passion.″

‶
And the passion had definitely
cooled between them.″

‶
Another reason for
murder,″ Richard said, retrieving the papers and disposing of them.
‶
Do
you think it was Zack who burned those pages in the barbecue?″

‶
I′d lay odds. He showed
up after Susan—just as the police arrived on Saturday morning. That
would′ve given him almost ten minutes to go through Eileen′s room
and remove anything incriminating.″

Maggie frowned.
‶
Did they ever determine what
the murder weapon was?″

‶
Technically Eileen drowned, but
I don′t think they came up with the blunt instrument that knocked her out
first. And it wasn′t the plastic scotch bottle, either. Even full of
liquid, I’m not so sure it was rigid enough to fracture her skull.″

‶
That would depend on the force
of the blow, but I tend to agree with you,″ Richard said, and Maggie
handed him her leftovers for the trash.

She adjusted the pillow under her leg.
‶
They′ve
all got motives for killing the poor woman.″

‶
But there has to be one crucial
piece of evidence that′s missing. And somehow you know about it,″
Richard said.

‶
Why do you keep saying
that?″

‶
Why else would someone come
after you and Maggie? There′s no reason—unless you know something
incriminating about the killer.″

‶
Well, I don′t have a clue
what it could be. And it can′t be that important or they—he or
she—would′ve tried again.″

‶
They might—tonight,″ Richard
said.

‶
Why?″

‶
Because we let it be known
we′re leaving tomorrow.″

That statement troubled me.

I looked down at what was left of my hoagie and
sank back in the chair. As Richard had said, I probably did know something so
simple it was invisible to me. But what?

I glanced at my lady across the room. She
looked weary. I felt weary.
‶
Are you okay, Maggs?″

She nodded.
‶
I guess.″

‶
You both look like sleep
refugees,″ Richard said.

I glanced at my brother.
‶
You
don′t look that hot, either.″

‶
Okay—it′s unanimous.
We′re all tired. Tomorrow night we′ll be home in our own
beds.″

I gathered up the mess in front of me and
stashed it in the brown paper sack our lunch had come in.

Beds.

Bedroom.

Bedroom closet.

The prescription bottle in Zack′s closet.

‶
Here′s something I forgot
to mention. When I was nosing around in Zack′s and Susan′s
apartment, I found a prescription bottle hidden in some shoes in the
closet.″

‶
What was it for?″ Richard
asked.

I spelled it for him.

Richard looked up sharply.
‶
Are
you sure?″

‶
I think so. What is it?″

He laughed.
‶
It′s generic
Viagra.″

‶
Are you sure?″ I asked.

‶
As sure as I know my own
name.″

‶
Then that must mean that
without a little blue pill, Zack’s rather useless in bed.″

Richard nodded.

‶
No wonder Susan went looking
for greener pastures,″ Maggie commented

I sipped the last of my coffee.
‶
Or
maybe it was the only way he could do it with Eileen. It might be the only way
I’d have been able to do the same.″

Maggie giggled. “Okay, if Laura wasn′t
going to pay Eileen, that left Zack without money for a new boat. Do you think
that′s enough of a motive for him to kill Eileen?″

‶
I don′t think it was
Zack,″ I said.

‶
I′ll second that,″
Richard said.
‶
It′s
Ted. It′s got to be Ted.″

‶
But if Susan found out about
Zack and Eileen—″ Maggie started.

‶
If she was angry about it,
she′d be radiating some pretty strong emotions.″

‶
Ah, but as you pointed out to
Sergeant Beach,″ Richard said,
‶
there′s the guilt factor.
If she didn′t feel bad about killing him, she wouldn′t be radiating
any kind of guilt or remorse. And you don′t pick up on everything
everyone feels.″

I nodded, conceding defeat.
‶
You’re
right. Susan’s a blank slate to me. Then, I guess we′re back to square
one.″

‶
So what′s our next
move?″ Maggie asked.

‶
Go home. We can′t hang
around here forever.″

‶
What time shall we leave
tomorrow morning?″ Richard asked.

‶
We should be on the road by ten
at the latest.″

‶
No problem for me,″ he
said.

‶
Me, either,″ Maggie
seconded.
‶
I′ve
been waiting to go home almost since we got here.″

The quiet lengthened.

Maggie broke the silence.
‶
What′s
in that envelope?″ she asked, pointing to her stuff piled on the dresser.

‶
Beach handed it to me last
night,″ Richard said.

I grabbed it, tore open the flap, and withdrew
the contents: a copy of the accident report on my car, along with a bunch of
eight and a half by eleven inch sheets of inkjet images of what I’d taken of
the inn, as well as the memory card.
‶
Not bad.″

Richard looked over my shoulder and Maggie
craned her neck.
‶
I told you they′d come out good. I can′t
wait to see the rest of them,″ she said.

‶
We can look at them tomorrow
night on the computer. How′s the article coming?″

‶
Pretty good. I can probably
finish it by the weekend and we can email the whole thing off next
Monday.″

‶
Your first sale,″ Richard
said to me.

I crossed my fingers.
‶
I hope.″

Maggie tried to stifle a yawn.

‶
I think someone needs her
rest,″ Richard said.

‶
Why am I so tired?″ she
asked.