Creeps Suzette by Mary Daheim

show.”
    â€œYou don’t feel nervous about sleeping alone?” Judith asked, as she got to her feet.
    Mrs. Burgess wore a sad little smile. “Oddly enough, I don’t, now that I lock myself in. Only Sarah has the keys, and I trust her implicitly. Good night, my dears. Do sleep well.”
    A few minutes later, Judith and Renie wandered back toward the main staircase. Kenyon was at the door, peering outside.
    â€œMore visitors?” Judith inquired.
    Kenyon closed the door. “Sarah thought she heard a car, but I don’t see anyone. I might mention that we all retire when the mistress does. If there’s anything you need, please let us know now.” He sketched a little bow.
    â€œWe’re fine,” said Renie. “In fact, we’re going to bed, too. Good night.” The cousins ascended the wide, carpeted staircase.
    â€œBop and Kenneth,” Judith said when they reached their suite. “What a pair of ill-matched cousins. We aren’t like that, are we?”
    Renie was pulling her red cashmere sweater over her head. “You mean poles apart in personality? Yes, I think we are, except that with us it’s not readily apparent. Or so extreme.”
    â€œI wonder what Kenneth wanted to discuss with his grandmother?” Judith mused, slipping off her pumps and rubbing her tired feet.
    â€œFur,” Renie said. “He’s probably one of those peoplewho throws paint on mink coats and sable jackets. I don’t wear fur, but I find that kind of protest not just loathsome, but criminal.” Hanging up her black pleated skirt in the armoire, Renie announced that she was going to take a bath.
    Judith nodded. “I’m going to watch the ten o’clock news.”
    â€œIt’s way too early for me to go to sleep,” Renie called from the bathroom. “I brought a book, so I’ll read for a while.”
    â€œFine,” said Judith. “I’ll shower in the morning. That’s what I do at home.”
    Judith found the remote control on the night table, next to a lamp with a beaded shade. The TV itself was enclosed in another, smaller armoire that looked as if it could have dated from the seventeenth century.
    The news from the last part of the twentieth century was much more tawdry and inelegant. The President was having woman trouble, the Albanians were rioting, and the Serbs were hopping mad. However, the economy was strong, the sports news from spring training held the usual March promise, and the university’s basketball team was going to the NCAA tournament. On the downside, the weather called for blustery winds and heavy rain.
    Renie didn’t come out of the bathroom until the anchor-persons were signing off. “I read in the tub,” she said. “I often do, and that one is really comfortable.”
    Judith stared at her cousin. “You took off the patch.”
    Renie nodded. “I do, at night. I tend to keep my eyes closed when I sleep.”
    â€œLet’s see.” Judith propped herself up on one elbow. “The left eye looks…droopy.”
    â€œIt is…dopey. That’s the problem. But it’s better,” Renie said. “Maybe I’ll try to read a little more. Will the light bother you?”
    â€œNo,” Judith replied, settling down under the covers. “Joe often reads in bed. I know you’re a night owl, but I think breakfast is served at eight-thirty. You’d better be fully conscious.”
    â€œI’m never fully conscious before ten, and you know it,” Renie said. “Don’t worry, I can fake it.”
    As Judith drifted off to sleep, she could hear the wind in the trees. Somehow, it was a cozy, comforting sound, as if Nature were playing a lullaby.
    She was asleep when she felt Renie shake her. “Did you hear that?” Renie asked in an uneasy voice.
    It took Judith a moment to figure out where she was—and why she was there. “What