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

It’s horrible when you stop to think about it.”

A silence followed, as Ava wrestled with her special

demons. Renie finally spoke up, breaking the tension. “What

about Andrea? Why kill her?”

“Because,” Judith said, “she not only knew he’d fleeced

Mrs. Killegrew, but that Leon had been forced to juggle the

books. There was a missing page in her private files that

followed a discussion of an independent audit. I suspect that

page—which Frank destroyed—contained incriminating information about Frank’s financial dealings. He burned that

page—probably along with Leon’s own records—in Leon’s

room. He couldn’t do it right after he killed Leon in the kitchen because Andrea was waiting in Leon’s room. When we

noticed the fire in the grate this afternoon, at first we thought

the entire set of folders had been destroyed. Then we realized

there weren’t enough ashes. So what else had to go? The

phrase Mooney’s money came to mind. Someone had mentioned it, and it stuck. Money is always a serious motive

when it comes to murder. It dawned on me that the real

financial records had been burned, as op- 260 / Mary Daheim

posed to the fraudulent ones that Leon had been forced to

make public.”

“Good grief.” Ava had paled and was holding her head.

“How did Frank think he could get away with it?”

Judith uttered a bitter little laugh. “Frank thought he could

get away with anything. His corner office mentality made

him believe he was different from other people, that he was

above the law, that he could do anything he wanted because

he was a CEO. Oh, I realize not all powerful people go on

a homicide spree. But they kill in other ways—they demean

their subordinates, they stifle them, they control them—and

often, they fire them. You can destroy other human beings

without violence. In the isolated corner office, someone like

Frank becomes so disassociated that he lives in a different

world, a false world where the only values are the ones he

makes up.”

Renie nodded slowly in agreement. “Not only that, but

he’d invested his entire life in OTIOSE. Oh, he may have

had a boat and played golf, but those were just extensions

of his executive persona. Unlike other people—like my husband and my cousin’s husband—he had nothing outside of

his exalted position. He was a shell of a man, hollow inside,

and incapable of living anywhere but in the corporate world.

When reality touched him in the form of retirement, he went

over the edge. As my psychologist husband would say, Frank

Killegrew…went nuts.”

“My God!” Ava clapped a hand to her cheek. “Will I be

like that? Am I already there?”

“Let’s hope not,” said Renie. “You’re still young. This

weekend, you’ve seen how corporate thinking can cause total

devastation. Follow Margo’s example—get out before it’s

too late.”

Ava didn’t respond. She seemed to sink into deep thought,

her eyes on the brightly striped rug beneath her feet.

“My cousin’s right,” Judith chimed in. “It was too late for

Nadia, which is why she killed herself. She had nothing

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but Frank—and OTIOSE. That was her family, her gang,

where she belonged. She was utterly devoted to him, as much

as any wife is to a husband. In fact, she acted just like an

old-fashioned wife, waiting on him, fetching and carrying,

soothing, selfless. If his horrible schemes were uncovered—as

Nadia knew they would be—he’d face disgrace and ruin.

He’d go to prison, and she’d lose him. Nadia couldn’t bear

that. Nor could she face what might happen to OTIOSE,

which was her real home. Don’t make the same mistake as

Nadia did, Ava. Find a life—a real life—while you still have

the chance.”

Ava was still staring at the carpet. “I have no family here.

Everyone is in Samoa. But I have some friends outside the

company. Maybe I could start to…” Her voice trailed off.

“We need your help,” Judith said abruptly. “We have to

trap Frank.”

Ava’s head jerked up. “What are you saying? There’s no

evidence? I thought you had…”

Judith slowly shook her head. “We have next to nothing.

These were virtually bloodless crimes. There will be fingerprints, yes, but not just Frank’s. We’ve all been in and out

of the guest rooms, either in groups or as individuals. For

all we know, Frank wore gloves. There may have been a

struggle with Ward—I suspect there was. We found a Bell

System service pin on the floor in his room, which may have

come loose when he tried to fight Frank off. But that doesn’t

prove anything. None of it does. All of his victims trusted

him—he was the boss. I imagine Andrea drank whatever

Frank gave her without a qualm. No doubt he told her it

would be good for her. Whatever Frank said was law. It’s

the way you corporate people think.”

“Good Lord.” Ava took another sip of juice, then rose from

the chair. “What do you want me to do?”

“First,” Judith said, also standing up, “we’re going to call

the park service. Their law enforcement personnel have jurisdiction at Mountain Goat. Then we’re going to restage

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that little scene with you and Frank in the conference room.

Are you game?”

Ava grasped her throat. “I…I don’t know. It was terrifying

at the time. Just now, before you stopped me, I was about

to…But I really…” She lowered her face into her hands and

began to sob.

Judith bit her lip. Ava, like the rest of the OTIOSE executives, had been stripped of all surface emotions. The weekend

had pared them down to the bone. Judith saw the bruises

on Ava’s throat, and understood how deeply the young woman had been wounded.

“Never mind,” Judith said. “I’ll do it.”

“Whoa!” Renie grabbed her cousin by the arm. “Don’t

you dare! It’s not your fight!”

“Yes, it is,” Judith said grimly. “I threw down the gauntlet.

Let’s go.”

Renie was still arguing when the three women reached the

kitchen. Judith, however, had made up her mind. “I know,

I know. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s…”

“Why you?” Renie demanded. “What about me? I’ve got

the corporate connection. Let me stick my neck out for once.

Literally.”

“No. Absolutely not.” Judith picked up the phone and

dialed the park service number. “Let’s see how fast they can

get here.”

A woman, instead of a recording, answered the park service

phone this time. She sounded flabbergasted when Judith informed her what had happened at Mountain Goat Lodge. It

was clear that she initially thought Judith was playing a

practical joke.

“Look,” Judith said, at her most earnest, “if you send some

of your police personnel, they’ll be able to see the bodies for

themselves. Or is it impossible to get someone into Mountain

Goat until the snow melts some more?”

“Of course it’s not impossible,” the woman huffed. “We

can have someone there within the hour.”

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Judith frowned into the receiver. “You can? But the first

floor here is still mostly snowed in.”

“Drifts,” the woman said, not sounding quite as suspicious.

“The lodge is out in the open. There’s no real wind-break.