Joan Hess - Poisoned Pins

“Oh, come now,” I said with a chuckle. “You found the photographs in Jean’s room and sent Dean Vanderson a blackmail note just the other day. On Monday, I believe he said. I saw it in his office.”

“She did?” said Eleanor. The question was aimed at me, but the gun, at least for the moment, was still aimed at Rebecca.

Rebecca spoke quickly. “I did not! Jean must have put the photographs in her purse when she met your husband in the alley. If anybody is in a position to use them, it’s Debbie Anne. She has Jean’s key to the chapter room. Why wouldn’t she have the photographs, too?”

“I don’t think she does,” Eleanor said. After a moment, she pointed the gun at Winkie. “Did you happen to look through Jean’s things?”

Winkie jerked her head back and forth. “No, and I know nothing about this matter. I was aware that Jean and some of the girls were… behaving badly, but she made it clear that I was to mind my own business. If National were to hear of some of the things that have happened right here in the house, they’d revoke our charter. You know how desperately I need the pension, Eleanor”

I decided to aid and abet the erosion of Kappa loyalty. “But why did you return to the house tonight? Did you want to enhance your job security with something to dangle over Eleanor?”

“I was worried that I hadn’t locked all the doors. I may have heard something from one of the girls about Dean Vanderson, but I would never stoop to blackmail.

Well, I did think it was important to make sure that no evidence of misconduct be sent to Jean’s parents.”

“That’s right,” Rebecca contributed, still speaking rapidly and in danger of flubbing her lines. “Jean’s parents might have gone crazy and called National. Her fathers a state senator, and he’s got enough clout to force the local police to reopen the investigation. A thorough search of the house would be a disaster for all of us.”

“Stop!” Eleanor leaned against the wall and rubbed her face with her free hand, a frown deepening on her face as she studied each of us in turn. “This is terribly confusing, all these accusations and lies. I think we need to sit down and talk this over, and reach an agreement about what will be said to National and what need not be mentioned. We’re Kappa Theta Etas, after all.”

It was not the moment to correct her I nodded and said, “Why don’t you put down the gun and we’ll do just that?”

“What about her?” said Rebecca, not bothering to gesture in my direction.

Eleanor hesitated, then pointed the gun at me. “I’ll have to ask you to wait in the chapter room while we deal with this, Claire. Earlier you made rash and injudicious remarks concerning our chapter, and I cannot allow you to leave just now. Winkie, would you be so kind as to retrieve your keys from Claire’s pocket and unlock the door at the top of the stairs? Rebecca, why don’t you make tea in the suite for us? I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

She kept the barrel jammed into my back as we went down to the basement. I was hoping she would have a problem unlocking the chapter-room door, but rather than using Winkie’s unwieldy key ring, she took a single key from her pocket and used it with no lessening of pressure in the middle of my back.

“I’d welcome you to the chapter room,” she said as she shoved me into the room, “but you’ve already seen it, haven’t you? Some sororities have open chapter rooms, but it’s a bother to have to put away the banners and scatter the chairs after the meetings. It’s really quite a lot easier to keep it locked.”

I was not in the proper frame of mind for a lesson in sororal protocol, being more concerned with the current situation. “Let’s get this over with,” I said. “Decide who gets to blackmail whom, and then let me out of here so I can go home and go to bed.”

“I’m afraid it may be a long wait. Did you get a good look inside the ritual closet when you discovered Arnie?” I shrugged. “The Kappa Theta Etas have a very special initiation ceremony, filled with mystery and symbolism. What’s said and done here can never leave this room; the very first vow taken is to honor the sanctity and confidentiality of the ceremony. Then guess what happens?”

I warily noted the brightness of her eyes. “I have no idea whatsoever, Eleanor. Why don’t you go upstairs and-”

“Each pledge steps into a real coffin, and when she senses that she’s ready, she comes out to be welcomed by her new sisters. It’s symbolic of her rebirth as a Kappa Theta Eta!” She giggled at my expression. “Oh, we have more symbols than you can imagine. Periodically during the year, the pledges are lined up in the backyard and sprinkled with a hose to make them grow. When the moon is full, the members wake the pledges and sing to them while they pretend to be roses in the flowerbed.”

“You shouldn’t be telling me your sorority secrets,” I said with heartfelt sincerity, mindful of her remark about certain subjects never leaving the room.

“Then why don’t you tell me what secrets you know? No, let me see if I can guess! You seem to know about John’s sordid little sessions at the motel, don’t you? It took me quite some time to figure it out, but he actually kept the photographs Jean took from inside a closet. I found the little souvenirs in his dresser drawer, along with the pink notes.”

“Including the one that ordered him to meet Jean at the fraternity-house patio on Saturday night?”

She beamed at me. “I am so impressed with your cleverness! Tell me more, please.”

I decided to participate in her maniacal game in hopes that someone might intervene. The odds were slightly more in favor of mummified alumnae staggering out of the ritual closet than of police thundering down the stairs, but there was little else to do. “Don’t be so modest, Eleanor. You acted quickly and cleverly when Debbie Anne came to you to confess about the thefts and shoplifting. Did you pretend to be horrified and tell her to stay at the Hideaway Haven until you took action?”

“I did, I did! I told her she was in great danger from Jean and Rebecca, and that she had to hide until I called National on Monday morning. I even offered to move her car to a different location in case someone might see it at the motel.” She clucked her tongue disapprovingly. “Debbie Anne should never have been encouraged to pledge. She lacks initiative.”

I sat down on a folding chair and crossed my legs. “But she called me, didn’t she? That must have annoyed you enough to take her to your house for a lecture.”

Eleanor sat down, but at a distance that precluded any reckless heroics on my part. If we’d constituted a quorum, we could have held a meeting about gun control. Still beaming like a spotlight, she said, “I was annoyed, yes, but the reason I told Arnie to bring her to my house was so that she could clean for me. My housekeeper quit on the very day we were entertaining Judge Frankley. Debbie Anne did a competent job, but she found a newspaper with an article about Jean’s death, and became so agitated that I had to slip her a sedative before I took her to the guestroom on the third floor. It seemed most expedient to leave her there until John was on Ms way to Las Vegas.”

“Why did Arnie agree to this?”

“I paid him, of course. He called me from jail. His accusations were preposterous, but I needed someone to keep an eye on the girl until I decided what to do. I posted his bail and told him to take the room next to hers at the motel. Once Debbie Anne became my houseguest, there was no reason for me to continue to pay for his room-or for his silence. After he delivered her, I asked him to park on Thurber Street and meet me in the alley, hurried him down the back steps, and told him to take a television set out of the closet.” She giggled again at my expression. “If I’d had any idea that you would insist on searching it for Debbie Anne, I would have selected a different place. There was no reason to think anyone would open the door until the middle of August, and I did intend to deal with his remains long before then.”