hold on you?” I asked.
“When the stars lost their sparkle, I went back to my lonely bed above the stables and cried myself to sleep. Must have been about midnight.”
We studied each other for a few minutes, then Bruce went back to his preprandial preparations and I went upstairs to see what Caron was doing, if anything. To my amazement, she was not only awake, but also dressed and sitting tailor-fashion
on the bed. As I came in, she waved a piece of paper at me.
“Another clue, Mother. It was pushed under the door this morning while I was asleep. These people have an odd way of communicating, don’t they?”
“Let me see it,” I said, desperate for anything, no matter how small or insignificant. On the paper was typed: “Do we have to pay? you wonder aloud as you seek the answer.” I scowled at the nonsensical words. “What does it mean? Come on, dear, you’re a whiz with the crosswords; figure it out for me, please.”
“How should I know?” She took back the paper to glance it for a second before she let it drift to the floor. “It doesn’t really matter, anyway. It’s no big deal.”
I caught her arm before she could drift away, too. “Listen, Caron, I realize that you have no interest in solving the murder, but it’s important to me.” A vision of Peter’s smile came into my mind, and my fingers involuntarily tightened until Caron winced. I guiltily released her and turned on the deference. “Sorry, dear, but this is vital. Won’t you please study these clues? I’ve never done any of those cryptic crossword puzzles, and I haven’t any idea how to decipher these meaningless sentences.”
Caron studied her reflection in the mirror. “How much?”
This was the weekend we were going to reestablish our relationship? I caught her watching me in the mirror and narrowed my eyes. “Five dollars a clue.”
“Ten—or I’ll take a nap.”
“Seven-fifty or you’ll take a hike, a twenty-mile hike back to Farberville. I’ll personally put in an order for a thunderstorm.”
“Do we include the clue I’ve already solved about the hobo and the boathouse?”
The girl had career potential as a union negotiator for musclebound dockworkers. The diplomatic corps was out
of the question; she could provoke World War III in fifteen minutes flat. I gave her a curt nod and my notebook.
Before opening it, she assumed an air of studied casualness and said, “I may have seen something important last night, while you were watching that old movie with everyone.”
“What?” I said, mentally rubbing my hands together in glee.
“I don’t know if it was anything or not, but Peter Rosen seemed excited when I told him.”
“You actually told that man before you told me, your own biological mother, who fed you homemade chicken soup when you had the measles and sat up all night with you when you found your first pimple? How could you do that—and why him?” Oh, the treachery!
“He asked what I did last night. He was very polite for a policeman, so I told him.”
“And what precisely did you tell this paragon of civility?”
“Well,” she said, lying back on the pillow with her hands entwined behind her neck, “as you know, our room overlooks the lawn and croquet court, not to mention that slime-infested fish pond.”
“I am aware of the window and the pond.”
“Well … I saw someone go across the lawn to the boathouse.”
Bouncing on the bed like a chimpanzee, I shrieked, “Who?”
“It was very dark, Mother. All I saw was blond hair, but I couldn’t see what color clothes or anything like that. The light from the porch just flashed on the hair for a second.”
“You saw a blond-haired person leave the inn during the movie? Heading for the boathouse?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Mother.”
I flopped down on the other pillow and tried to absorb the new data. Suzetta, on her way to a date with Harmon
Crundall, the inn’s most newsworthy corpse. He must have
“When the stars lost their sparkle, I went back to my lonely bed above the stables and cried myself to sleep. Must have been about midnight.”
We studied each other for a few minutes, then Bruce went back to his preprandial preparations and I went upstairs to see what Caron was doing, if anything. To my amazement, she was not only awake, but also dressed and sitting tailor-fashion
on the bed. As I came in, she waved a piece of paper at me.
“Another clue, Mother. It was pushed under the door this morning while I was asleep. These people have an odd way of communicating, don’t they?”
“Let me see it,” I said, desperate for anything, no matter how small or insignificant. On the paper was typed: “Do we have to pay? you wonder aloud as you seek the answer.” I scowled at the nonsensical words. “What does it mean? Come on, dear, you’re a whiz with the crosswords; figure it out for me, please.”
“How should I know?” She took back the paper to glance it for a second before she let it drift to the floor. “It doesn’t really matter, anyway. It’s no big deal.”
I caught her arm before she could drift away, too. “Listen, Caron, I realize that you have no interest in solving the murder, but it’s important to me.” A vision of Peter’s smile came into my mind, and my fingers involuntarily tightened until Caron winced. I guiltily released her and turned on the deference. “Sorry, dear, but this is vital. Won’t you please study these clues? I’ve never done any of those cryptic crossword puzzles, and I haven’t any idea how to decipher these meaningless sentences.”
Caron studied her reflection in the mirror. “How much?”
This was the weekend we were going to reestablish our relationship? I caught her watching me in the mirror and narrowed my eyes. “Five dollars a clue.”
“Ten—or I’ll take a nap.”
“Seven-fifty or you’ll take a hike, a twenty-mile hike back to Farberville. I’ll personally put in an order for a thunderstorm.”
“Do we include the clue I’ve already solved about the hobo and the boathouse?”
The girl had career potential as a union negotiator for musclebound dockworkers. The diplomatic corps was out
of the question; she could provoke World War III in fifteen minutes flat. I gave her a curt nod and my notebook.
Before opening it, she assumed an air of studied casualness and said, “I may have seen something important last night, while you were watching that old movie with everyone.”
“What?” I said, mentally rubbing my hands together in glee.
“I don’t know if it was anything or not, but Peter Rosen seemed excited when I told him.”
“You actually told that man before you told me, your own biological mother, who fed you homemade chicken soup when you had the measles and sat up all night with you when you found your first pimple? How could you do that—and why him?” Oh, the treachery!
“He asked what I did last night. He was very polite for a policeman, so I told him.”
“And what precisely did you tell this paragon of civility?”
“Well,” she said, lying back on the pillow with her hands entwined behind her neck, “as you know, our room overlooks the lawn and croquet court, not to mention that slime-infested fish pond.”
“I am aware of the window and the pond.”
“Well … I saw someone go across the lawn to the boathouse.”
Bouncing on the bed like a chimpanzee, I shrieked, “Who?”
“It was very dark, Mother. All I saw was blond hair, but I couldn’t see what color clothes or anything like that. The light from the porch just flashed on the hair for a second.”
“You saw a blond-haired person leave the inn during the movie? Heading for the boathouse?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, Mother.”
I flopped down on the other pillow and tried to absorb the new data. Suzetta, on her way to a date with Harmon
Crundall, the inn’s most newsworthy corpse. He must have
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