Fear of Frying

“Oh, no. It's in a little town north of us called Spring Oak. So every time we're summoned to take care of some imaginary crisis, it's at least an hour round trip.'

“How awful for all of you,' Shelley said. 'I guess I wouldn't have given up a precious second of my only vacation either.'

“In spite of it all, Sam certainly seems to have benefited from this trip,' Jane said.

Shelley cast her a warning look, which Jane ignored.

“Oh, he has,' Eileen said. 'It's made him a new man.' She said this without the slightest hint of irony. 'Who knows — if he'd gotten away more often these last few years, he might have been a much happier, nicer person.'

“And Marge seems more content, too,' Jane said.

“Content?' Eileen laughed. 'Maybe not the word I'd have used. Hot to trot, I'd have said. When I stopped by there a minute ago, she was in her bathrobe. In the middle of the day! This is not the Marge I know. I think it's sort of cute. A middle-aged woman going all googly-eyed over her own husband.'

“What do you suppose made the difference?' Jane asked.

Shelley nudged her under the table with her foot. It wasn't quite a kick.

Eileen shrugged. 'No idea. Just wish it would happen to me.”

There was a sudden commotion at the door. Liz was using her professional-educator voice, with which she managed, without actually shouting, tc penetrate the farthest reaches of the lodge.

“Where is the sheriff! Where is Benson Titus? I want to make an official complaint.”

A deputy approached her. He tried to take her arm, but she shook him off. But he kept talking quietly while he led her into the dining room. As they got closer, the deputy could be heard saying, 'Just sit down and relax for a moment while I find them.”

Liz flung herself down on the bench next to Eileen. 'I'm so furious!'

“What on earth's happened?' Jane asked.

Liz drew a long, deep breath. 'Bob Rycraft and I went out to look over some of the grounds while the rain had stopped. I wanted to check out that area back behind the Conference Center. He would not listen to me about following the path to the right, so we went left and got lost. Male chauvinist pig that he is, he insisted I stay where I was while he tried another path. He never came back, naturally.'

“Bob Rycraft is missing, too?' Eileen asked.

“What do you mean, 'too'?' Liz asked, but without waiting for an answer, she steamed ahead. 'So I stood there for a minute, thinking the sun would come out again and I could get my bearings, and all of a sudden one of those dreadful costumed idiots came crashing through, knocked me down, and ran on. Just pushed past me like I was a bush! I fell backward and thought I'd broken my wrist.”

She held out her right hand, shoving her sleeve up. Her wrist was swollen.

“You should get it X-rayed,' Eileen said.

“No, I can move it. It's fine. But that's not all. I tried to follow this person and give her a piece of my mind —”

'It was a woman?' Shelley asked.

“I didn't know it then, but yes, I think so. I went stumbling through the brush and found her sitting on a stump, crying. Crying! It was that tall, gangly one with the stringy red hair.'

“What was she crying about?' Jane asked.

“She claimed somebody had knocked her down, put a blindfold and gag on her, and taken her stupid costume. Stupidest excuse for an apology I've ever heard.'

“You're sure it wasn't true?' Shelley asked.

“Oh, of course it wasn't,' Liz snapped. 'She'd gotten rid of the costume, of course. Probably threw it in the undergrowth when she heard me following her.'

“And was there a blindfold?' Shelley persisted.

This took a little wind out of Liz's sails. 'There was a long scarf that I guess could have been wound around somebody's face, but who would believe a story like that? I told her, you just come back to the lodge and try telling the sheriff this ridiculous story, and then I'll decide if I want to press assault charges against her. Stupid woman!'

“So she might have been telling the truth,' Shelley said.

Liz gave her a first-class glare. 'I'll tell you this right now. I'm voting against this harebrained scheme of sending our schoolchildren up here. This place is horrible. Just horrible.'

“I agree,' Shelley said.

“So do I,' Jane and Eileen said in unison.

Liz was taken aback at last. 'You do? All of you?”

They nodded.

“Then let's get out of here now,' Liz said.

“Well, there's a bit of a problem with that,' Shelley said. She tried to make it sound like she regretted giving Liz bad news, although Jane suspected Shelley was reveling in being the bearer of bad tidings. 'The bridge has gone out. Didn't you see all the cars in front?'