Mary Daheim - Snow Place to Die - A Bed-and-breakfast Mystery

throwing it out the window.”

“Stop worrying about something you can’t help,” Renie

advised. “We’ve got more urgent problems here.”

“You’re right.” Judith hauled an oversized paper clip out

of her purse and began straightening it. “Let’s hope these

locks aren’t as daunting as they look. The ones on this floor

are obviously much newer than the ones on the guest room

doors.”

Renie watched while Judith plied the paper clip. The library door had a sophisticated lock, and presented a serious

challenge. After almost five minutes, Judith was forced to

give up.

“We’ll have to knock and yell to get out of here,” she said,

tossing the now useless paper clip into a wastebasket made

of woven branches. “I hope they can hear us.”

Renie began pounding on the door and shouting. Nothing

happened. “I don’t hear any hurrying feet,” she said.

The cousins suddenly heard something else.

The library telephone was ringing.

Judith snatched up the receiver. “Hello? Hello?” she virtually yelled into the mouthpiece.

“Goodness!” exclaimed Arlene Rankers. “Why are you

shouting, Judith? You practically broke my eardrum!”

“Arlene!” Judith collapsed into one of the armchairs.

“What’s wrong, Arlene?”

Renie hovered over Judith, who held the phone away from

her ear just enough so that her cousin could hear, too.

SNOW PLACE TO DIE / 237

“I’ve been paging you for two days,” Arlene said in an irritated voice. “I found your pager number on the bulletin board

in the kitchen. I didn’t even know you had a pager, Judith.”

“Ah…Neither did I. I mean, I forgot. But the phones have

been out up here at the lodge and…Never mind, what’s the

problem? Is it Mother?”

“Your mother?” Arlene laughed. “Of course not! Your

mother is wonderful, as always. She had such a nice time

going to Mass and out to breakfast with us. She said you

never took her for rides in the snow any more.”

Judith’s head was spinning. Gertrude hadn’t attended Mass

for almost three years, claiming that she was too feeble. She

managed, however, to get to her bridge club meetings around

the hill and occasionally, to the church itself for a bingo

session. Judith considered her mother a fraud.

“It’s snowing at home?” Judith inquired. “I don’t usually

drive in the snow.”

“It doesn’t bother Carl,” Arlene declared. “But of course

we’re midwesterners and know how to handle it. Now tell

me, Judith, how do I get into your computer program for

future reservations? I’ve been doing them all by hand.”

“The computer!” Judith felt giddy. “That’s all?”

“All?” Arlene sounded irked. “I can’t get into the cancellation program, either, and there have been several of those,

what with this bad weather and people being so timid about

getting around in it. Honestly, you’d think that just because

the planes have been grounded and some of the roads are

closed and the metro buses have been taken off their runs…”

Judith and Renie exchanged startled looks. “How much

snow is there, Arlene?” Judith interrupted.

“Mm…Two feet? Your statue of St. Francis in the backyard

is completely covered. The poor birds have nowhere to land.”

“Oh, my. That’s quite a lot of snow for us in town,”

238 / Mary Daheim

Judith said. “Okay, let me tell you how to get into those

programs…” She jiggled a bit in the chair, fighting off nature’s

urges. When she had finished her instructions, most of which

required questions from Arlene, Judith asked if Joe was home.

“Poor Joe.” Arlene’s voice dropped a notch. “Poor man.

Poor soul. He’s fine,” she added on a far more chipper note.

Accustomed to her friend and neighbor’s peculiar contradictions, Judith grimaced only slightly. “Is he home? Can I

talk to him?”

“No. Yes. I must run, Judith. I’ve got a million things to

do, since Carl and I are leaving next week for…”

“Wait! Do you mean he’s home but I can’t talk to him or

he’s not home and I can…That is, I can’t…”

“He’s at work,” Arlene broke in. “He’s been at work since

the snow started Saturday during the night. He got called in

late Friday on a very big case. Then he got stuck downtown.

It’s really terrible here, Judith. We’re completely marooned.”

“But…you said…” Realizing it was pointless to argue, Judith sighed. “Okay, Arlene. Thanks for all your help. We

may be able to get out of here by tomorrow. It’s melting

fairly fast.”

“Not here,” Arlene said. “The wind changed last night,

coming from the south. We got another four inches, with

more coming tonight. Take care, and say hello to Serena.”

Arlene rang off.

Judith stared at Renie. “The phone works. Who shall we

call?”

“The bathroom?” Renie said with a quirky little smile.

“I forgot about that,” Judith admitted. “I can wait. Let’s

start with the police.”

“Which police? As I recall,” Renie said dryly, “that was

our first obstacle.”

“ My police,” Judith responded, punching in digits. “At least

Joe will be able to tell us who we should contact.”

SNOW PLACE TO DIE / 239

“Oh, God!” Renie cried. “Are you going to tell him about

our body count?”

“I have to,” Judith said, then held up a hand as someone

answered at the other end. “Joe Flynn, please…He’s not?

But I thought…Oh…Oh, I see. All right. Yes, please have

him call me at this number. This is his wife.” Judith replaced

the receiver. “Joe didn’t get stuck downtown,” she said to

Renie. “He and Woody are out in that snazzy neighborhood

between downtown and the lake. That’s where their victim

was found.”

Renie recognized the neighborhood. “They’ve got tons of

little hills and short, narrow streets,” she said. “It’s not as

steep as Heraldsgate Hill, but it’d be really difficult navigating

in the snow.”

“At least Joe’s in a classy part of town,” said Judith, and

then she laughed, a rueful sound. “I guess he’s stuck with a

stiff, too.” Suddenly, she jumped out of her chair. “The

bathroom! We’ve got to get to the bathroom!”

“So you mentioned,” Renie smirked. “How about using

that wastebasket?”

Judith stared at Renie. “I don’t mean that,” she responded,

going to the door. “Help!” she screamed. “Help! Help!”

“What in the…?” But Renie was at her side, pounding on

the heavy pine panels.

The cousins were almost hoarse by the time Margo and

Gene came to the rescue. “We thought the yelling came from

outside,” Margo said. “What’s wrong?”

“Outside?” Judith blinked at Margo. “No, it was us.”

Their captors didn’t argue when Judith and Renie asked

to be locked up in their own room. They needed access to a

bathroom and also wouldn’t mind if someone brought them

a couple of sandwiches. After escorting the cousins upstairs,

Margo and Gene promised to deliver food.

“You didn’t tell them the phone worked,” Renie said after

the cousins were alone. “How come?”

“Because,” Judith explained, scurrying into the bath- 240 / Mary Daheim

room, “I wanted to stall for time. Obviously, the OTIOSE

gang was in the dining room when the phone rang and they