She’ll Stitch You Up Page 9

  “I’ve got it under control,” said Calvin. “I’ll make sure the ladies get back safely.”

  Velma gave Reeves a narrow look as he hurried into the house. “And you’re sure that our friendly butler didn’t have anything to do with this? I know you’ve known him for years, but Everett treats him like a whipped dog, and out of everyone here, he’s actually killed men in war. Not only that, but there seems to be a lot of other unhappy things happening around here that might make him want the new project to fail. Including more stress on his boss.”

  “I don’t know,” said Calvin. “It seems like a stretch. We should get back and tell them the bad news.” He took Ethel by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he turned her loose and let Velma lead her sister to the door that went back into the kitchen.

  “Everett isn’t going to like it. He doesn’t want us here as it is. Having to wait until the storm passes for help is going to piss him off.”

  “He’ll get over it,” said Calvin. “There isn’t much else we can do until the rain lets up. I got a look at the bridge. The tree is laid across it, and it would take a good hour and a lot of manpower to get the thing off the bridge. With the damage to that thing, we’ll be lucky if we can drive out of here tomorrow. I’m sure Everett will think of something.”

  As they walked back through the kitchen, the lights went out again. Someone gripped Velma tight, and she reached for Calvin. “I can’t see a thing,” she said, realizing it was him who had her. She didn’t know where Ethel had gone off to.

  “I can’t either,” said Ethel’s voice a few feet away. Suddenly, there was another sound, which reminded Velma of the blade of a knife and the rattle of dishes.

  “Stand still! You don’t want to knock anything over.” Velma’s nerves were on edge. Could this night get any worse?

  Calvin’s voice sounded in the dark. “We need to make it back to the hall.”

  “No way,” said Ethel. “We know we’re safe in here. All of the murderers are out there.”

  “True,” said Calvin. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take our time.”

  Velma’s old eyes began adjusting to the lack of light, and she could make out an outline of Ethel. Velma reached for her, giving her a start.

  “Ah! Someone’s got me!” She struck out, slapping Velma across the face so hard that she nearly lost her dentures.

  “It’s me, you old fool! Now take my hand. We’re going to make our way out of here.”

  “Just a minute,” said Ethel with a muffled voice.

  “Dammit, Ethel, are you eating again?”

  “No,” she said, obviously through a large bite of something.

  There was a jingle of keys, and suddenly, Calvin turned on a small flashlight that dangled on his keyring. “I forgot I had this little gem,” he said. “Safety award. I got this and a new rain slicker.”

  He shined the light on Ethel, who bit into another roll, which she quickly put back into her purse. “You beat all I’ve ever seen, Ethel.” Velma shook her head.

  “I can’t help it. I’m nervous in the dark with a murderer in the house, and you know I’m a nervous eater.”

  “Just hurry up and finish that so we can go,” said Calvin. “I don’t want them to come looking for us. Just you two ladies stay close.”

  Velma had been closer than she’d expected to Calvin, whose body was still warm against hers. He suddenly stepped away, leading them to the door with his handy light.

  “Doesn’t our phone have a flashlight?” asked Ethel.

  “Don’t be dense, Ethel. It’s a phone, not a Swiss Army knife.”

  Calvin stopped in his tracks. “You know, she’s right. I think mine does have a light on it.” He stopped, and Velma waited as he dropped her hand and dug through the pocket of his coat. Soon enough, there was light. “That’s good thinking, Ethel.”

  “Well, I’ve always done better on a full stomach,” she said.

  “Yeah, well, who’d have thunk it?” said Velma. “Technology these days.” She was a little embarrassed she didn’t know about the flashlight, but then Ethel had learned it from Landon Jr., who Velma spent as little time with as possible.

  “Landon told me all about it,” she said, with more dinner roll in her pie hole.

  “Stop talking with your mouth full, Ethel. The last thing we need is two dead bodies.”

  They made it halfway down the hall and passed the dining room door. They peeked in to see Unker’s dead, sheet-covered body all alone, still laying across the table.

  “He was sitting before the lights went out and standing when they came back on,” said Velma.

  “He must have gotten up,” said Calvin. “I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything.”

  They could hear mutters coming from the room, and everyone down there seemed a bit confused. Just when they had nearly made it back, the lights came on, and another chorus of screams filled the air.

  Chapter 14

  As the screams sounded, Ethel and the others stopped in their tracks out in the hallway, holding tight to each other.

  “Don’t tell me another one bit the dust,” said Velma. They ran to the room and found Everett lying dead in the middle of the floor with a large stab wound to the chest. Everyone gathered around the man, whose eyes were set in a mask of death.

  “Someone stabbed him!” said Harrison.

  Ray pointed to Everett’s body. “There’s no knife this time. Whoever did it still has the murder weapon!”

  Alice burst into tears and fell to the floor crying. “My sweet man.” She laid across his face, pressing her bosom against him.

  “Did you reach anyone?” asked Mrs. Tate with fear in her eyes. “Is help on the way?”

  “I’m sorry,” said Calvin. “I tried to reach them, but I couldn’t.”

  “Well, try again!” said Alice with a sudden burst of anger. “We’re all going to die if the damned lights keep going out!”

  “Oh, no,” said Ethel. “When we first passed the dining room, John Pair’s knife was still in poor Balthazar’s back. Someone had to have gone to get another one.”

  “My sister is right,” said Velma. “Someone should check Unker’s body for the other knife, and we need to know who’s been in the kitchen.”

  Ethel reached into her purse and pulled out another piece of roll, which she nervously popped into her mouth, much to the chagrin of the others.

  “Apparently, you have been to the kitchen,” said the Mayor with a bitter tone. “As for this dinner, are we even going to get a hot meal tonight?”

  Mrs. Reynolds scowled. “All you can think about is your fat stomach?”

  “It’s a practice that you’re certainly adapted to,” said the Mayor, looking at her rather round middle.

  “I beg your pardon!” said the woman.

  Her husband, Stanley, stepped up and shook his fist. “Hey, watch what you say about my wife!” He looked over at the Tates. “I say we go to the kitchen and get something to eat. Then we lock ourselves in one of those bedrooms until the cops arrive. I don’t trust a single one of you.” He pointed to the rest of the guests.

  “Now, wait a minute,” Velma said. “We need to think this over before we separate. It’s obvious that one of us is a murderer. Not me, of course, but one of you must have a motive to kill Mr. Gaines.”

  Alice looked up. “You’re all animals!” She wiped her tears and then straightened her dead husband’s tie.

  Mrs. Reynolds walked over and tried to offer the young girl comfort. “It’s going to be all right, dear.” Alice got to her feet and fell into her arms.

  Calvin looked at Velma. “I have to go back and try again.” He took off like a shot, leaving Ethel and Velma behind. She couldn’t help but think of how spry he was. With all that walking he did daily, he was still in tip-top shape.

  “Come along, Martha,” Stanley said. “Let’s get to a room. We’ll get settled and wait it out.”

  Velma thought back to the other murder. Bats had been sitting down
near Everett. “I think that Unker’s murder was a mistake,” she said, bringing the quiet chatter in the room to a halt.

  “What do you mean?” Stanley asked.

  “I mean, whoever the killer is, they must have gotten Bats instead of their intended target. He stood up when the lights went out and could have blocked the killer from hitting his mark. They probably thought they had killed Everett until the lights came back on.”

  “That’s an interesting theory,” said Harrison. “But I, for one, am going to agree with Mr. Reynolds and go lock myself in a room.”

  “You could stay with me,” said Ethel, fluttering her lashes.

  “No thanks,” said the man. “I prefer to be alone. Two of my friends have been murdered tonight.”

  “Like you care,” said Alice with a scowl. “You probably put the knife in him yourself. All you’ve ever done was make his life miserable, and we all know he couldn’t stand you.”

  “I’m going to chalk that accusation up to a broken heart,” he said. “You might have just seen us as competitors, but we’ve been through a lot and have remained friends all the same. Ours was a brotherly rivalry. And despite what you all might think, I’m going to miss him very much.” Velma thought she heard the man’s voice break. Whether he was lying or not, he was convincing.

  “Maybe you want to be alone so you can plan a getaway,” said Jean Pierre.

  Harrison gave the chef a hard look. “The only thing I want to get away from is a fake French chef who brought the murder weapon and a Mayor who is clearly no good in the face of a crisis. Excuse me.” He turned and walked over by Ray, who didn’t have anything to say but had a suspicious look on his face.

  Velma still wasn’t sold on Ray as a suspect, though. He was a creep, but he didn’t seem like the kind who would hurt anyone. Not without a reason.

  “I guess he told you, John Pair.” Ethel thumbed her nose at the man who was clearly offended.

  “I don’t have to take this abuse from the likes of any of you,” said the chef. “I was invited to do a job, and I’ve done it. Now, the man who owes me money is dead, and I’m accused of his murder. I don’t need this shit.” He shoved his hand in his pocket, and a few of the others backed away like he might pull a weapon. “I’m going to sit in my car! You can shove your rump roast up your butts! I’m out of here.” The man stormed down the hall alone.

  “Everyone, just wait,” Velma said. “Let’s not go anywhere until we hear from Calvin again.” She didn’t want them scattered if the cops were on their way, and she wanted to see their faces when they learned the news. Whoever was guilty would likely show it on their face.

  “Calvin is probably dead now too,” said the Mayor, giving Velma something more to worry about. “Who knows if this is even one of you? This killer could be someone else in the house. Someone hiding. The house is certainly big enough, and the lights were off long enough for someone to get in and out this last time. What if the killer was under the dining table before?”

  “You’re really reaching,” said Stanley. “Come November, you’re likely to lose my vote to a dead man. Randy Knox still looks better than you from the grave!”

  Sheffield swelled up like a toad and wasn’t about to let them insult him like that. “Take your vote and shove it, Stanley. I don’t need weak men like you supporting me anyway. You’re a nobody in this town, and you’ll die a nobody.”

  “Is that a threat? I’d rather be a nobody than kissing every ass in town for a vote.” Stanley grabbed his wife’s hand and pulled her out into the hall, but before they could get too far, Calvin rushed back into the room.

  “I think I got them!” The mailman was a bit winded, but Velma couldn’t miss how attractive it made him.

  “What do you mean you think?” asked the Mayor. “You didn’t talk to anyone?”

  Calvin shook his head. “I did the best I could. I got a lot of static, but I got out my message. They gave me a response, but I couldn’t understand them. I went ahead, and I told them where we were and that we needed assistance ASAP. I’m going to keep trying.” Calvin stepped back into the hall and disappeared, heading for the garage for a third time.

  “Thank god,” said Mr. Tate, who was walking out with Gina. She had him by the hand and was following the Reynolds couple. “We’ll be in our room,” she said. “Let us know when they get here.”

  As the two couples left, Sheffield turned to look at Reeves. “Do you think we could get a cold sandwich or something? I’ve got to take my medicine.” He pulled a bottle of pills out of his coat pocket.

  “Certainly,” said Reeves. “Right this way. Everyone is welcome in the kitchen. I’m sure the food is still good, and there are ways to reheat it if it’s not warm.”

  “Count me in,” said Harrison, no longer eager to hide in a room. “Ethel?” He offered her his arm to be polite, and Ethel smiled, nearly fainting dead away.

  “Thank you,” she said with stars in her eyes.

  “You can show me where they keep those rolls. I love good hot buns.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  Ethel giggled like he was talking about her ass.

  Velma thought she better follow, considering the only people left were Alice, who had stopped crying and sat with Everett, and Ray, who stood quietly near the window. Velma looked over at him. She didn’t know if he could be guilty, but he sure seemed like he was up to something.

  She hurried down the hall and caught up with the others. Velma thought Ethel was going to need serious help for her inflated fantasies after that night.

  As Ethel showed Harrison where the rolls were, the mayor gave Velma a hard look. “Isn’t this a fine mess we’re in?” he said.

  “It’s not about you, Mayor. Two men are dead, and with any luck, the police will be here before something happens to anyone else.”

  “Well, you might be used to stumbling over dead bodies, Mrs. Harmon, but to some of us, it’s quite upsetting.”

  Velma didn’t understand the man’s attitude. “I want to get to the bottom of this. Don’t you?”

  “At this point, I just want to make it to election day and finish what could be my last term before I retire.”

  Velma was surprised the man would mention his retirement before the election. “Well, at least there is some good news coming out of tonight.”

  “You old Blisstonians think I’m so bad, but you wouldn’t have liked Randy Knox any better, with his modern policies and new taxes.”

  “I guess we’ll never know,” said Velma. She fixed Calvin a plate of food before it was all gone. Ethel did the same for herself and put an extra roll on Harrison’s plate.

  A few minutes later while everyone waited for their turn at the microwave, Calvin burst back into the room from the garage. “I finally got them!” he shouted. “The police are on their way!”

  Chapter 15

  As they gathered in the kitchen, eating their plates of food and waiting on the police to arrive, Velma couldn’t help but notice that Ray and Alice and the Reynolds were not there. “We should go tell the others that the police are coming. I’m sure Alice wanted to stay with Everett.”

  “I don’t want to walk all the way back down that hall again. My feet hurt.” Ethel pinched another piece of roll and looked across the room at Harrison, eating his roast and vegetables in a corner of the kitchen all by himself.

  “You just want to be around Harrison,” scolded Velma. “There’s two dead men down the hall. Is that not enough to curb your boy-crazy tendencies?”

  “You’ve been keeping very close to Calvin all night,” said Ethel, taking another bite of roll.

  “If you keep it up with that bread, you’ll be stopped up again.” Velma had seen her eat at least two others, not counting what she ate in the dark.

  Ethel cowered a bit, looking around the room as if she didn’t want the others to hear about her little problem. “You hush. I’m starving.” She had already finished off her roast, and now she was slowly working on the vegetables. “Aren’t y
ou going to eat anything?”

  Velma shook her head, but Calvin walked over and handed her a roll stuffed with roast. “Here,” he said. “You should eat something. The police said it might take an hour or more to get the limbs off the bridge, and they want to inspect it before they determine whether we can drive across it or not.”

  “Thank you,” said Velma, trying her best to be hard but too exhausted to put up the front. “I was just telling Ethel, we really should go and see about Alice and the others. Let them know the police are coming. They haven’t come down, and I’m guessing she doesn’t want to leave Everett’s side.”

  Calvin nodded. “I still can’t believe he’s dead.”

  “I know. It’s going to be a shock to the community, but they’ll get it all worked out.” Velma knew that Calvin was going to miss his fishing buddy, but Reeves? What would happen to the man’s job now? Hopefully, Everett provided for him. Alice would, of course, get nothing. With the two of them not married, his estate would go to his next of kin, unless he otherwise stated it in his will.

  And then there were all of his employees in Bliss. What would happen to his company now?

  “I tell you what,” Calvin said. “You eat a bite of that sandwich, and I’ll walk down with you.” He gestured toward the wrap-around, and Velma reluctantly took a bite.

  “This is surprisingly good,” she said. “That chef really knew what he was doing.” She took another bite, and then she looked over at Ethel, who was staring at Harrison. “We’re going to the game room. Are you coming?”

  “You can’t eat in there, Velma.” She regarded Velma’s sandwich. “There’s a dead body in there. It’s sacrilegious to eat in front of the dead.”

  “I’ll finish it before I get down there.” Earlier, Velma couldn’t understand how the others could eat with all that had happened in the house, but after one bite of the delicious roast beef, she changed her mind. No sense in starving. “I just didn’t think you’d want to stay down here alone with them.” She gestured to the mayor, Harrison, and Reeves, who crowded the kitchen. The Reynolds and the Tates had gone to the front room where the taxidermy llama could watch them eat while they waited on the police.