open the doors. Either way, the problem was determining why the stains were at the bottom of the servants' stair, which only went to the third floor; and on the second floor in front of Edie's door. If she'd been killed on the third, and we certainly had no real evidence that she had, it might explain the movement. Except to get her down to the second, the logical way was to go via the main stair, which we had gone up. To go down from three all the way to one via the back stairs, then right back up to two via the main staircase… Illogical. Not to say not possible, but not logical.
As Hester said, “Especially since it doesn't look like she was killed up on the third, anyway.”
“Since it didn't appear she was killed in the basement, on the first floor, on the second floor, or on the third floor… ” I said. “Unless she was killed on the roof, she wasn't killed at the Mansion at all.” Not a brilliant deduction, by a long shot, but at least logical.
“Sounds that way,” said Hester. “You really think that's likely? Not the roof,” she added quickly. “But, I mean, if you kill her away from the house, why drag her back at all? Why not leave her there?”
“Oh, maybe because you'd rather have the cops looking at suicide, instead of a missing person. If it was a suicide, we sure wouldn't pry as much as a missing person case.”
“I don't think so,” said Hester. “To deliberately cast suspicion, you should kill her there. Otherwise, even a dumb cop is going to figure out that she was done elsewhere, and there goes your plan.”
“I'll try not to take that personally.”
“Sorry. Didn't mean it that way.” She chuckled. “So all we have to do is prove who killed her, and why, and then we can explain the evidence.”
I glanced toward her and smiled. “Simple, no?”
We drove in silence. Hester had her attache case opened, and as I drove, she was leafing through our preliminary reports, as well as the reports of everybody else at the scene who'd had to write one. As I turned into the Mansion drive, she stacked the papers neatly, closed her case, and said, “I've got another question, that just might at least have an answer attached.”
“That'll be a relief.”
“Okay, now you're going to have to go with the flow here.” She leaned her head back against the headrest, and shut her eyes. “We've had a total of two runners: Toby and the Unknown who is probably Peel. Right?”
“So far.”
“We have no idea what Toby was up to, do we? I mean, he said he was running to get away from Peel, who was a vampire. Isn't that it?”
“Yep. That's what he said.” I slowed, to give us time to finish the conversation.
“But you don't believe him, do you?”
“Toby,” I said, matter-of-factly as we crept up the drive, “is a lying sack of shit.”
“Oh, yes,” said Hester, sounding happy. “He sure is. Now, then, hang on. We have the elusive Mr. Peel trucking out the very same door, and also into the woods, right?”
“Yep.”
“Now think back,” she said. “Don't we assume that Toby was just trying to get away, for whatever reason?”
“Yeah. I think we can do that.”
“And don't we think Toby's a general screwup, when it comes right down to it?”
I chuckled. “Oh, we do, we really do.”
“Now, and jump with me here, we also think that our Peel dude was fleeing, as well, and basically just trying to get away. Right?”
“Okay… ”
“But what if they were not running so much away from something, as running to something?”
I didn't answer for a second. Then, “And Toby is so much of a fuck-up he couldn't find it in the dark?”
“You got it.”
“Damn,” I said. “Damn. I think you might be right.”
She sat up straight, eyes wide, and said, all perky, “Oh, I am. I know I am.”
“So now, we just have to find where?”
“That's it,” she said. “If we find that, I'll just bet we find out a lot more at the same time.”
Time being short before the wake, we knew we were going to have to target one particular individual first. Did we do one of the innocuous ones first, or go for one who would produce a useful effect that we could use later? We decided to go for the latter.
“So, who first?”
She thought a second. “You think that Holly, a/k/a Huck, is the strongest personality up there?”
“Well, her or Kevin. She strikes me as the more stable one.”
“I'll go with Huck,” said Hester. “I think Kevin might be her most enthusiastic follower, though. And he might be her 'muscle' with the rest. Strong ally, you know.”
That seemed possible.
“So,” I said, “we concentrate on Holly slash Huck for our break?”
“Don't you think?” said Hester.
“Well, sure,” I said with some spirit. “Unless it turns out we have to concentrate on somebody else.”
It's nice to have a plan.
We relieved the two reserves that were stationed just outside the gate. They were curious about why we'd been summoned to the base of the bluff, and we told them that there had just been some weirdo up on the hillside. It had the advantage of being the truth.
They showed us two little plastic vampires, a small plastic gravestone, and a large paper bat.
“Where in hell did you get those?” I asked.
They'd found them hanging from the mailbox, and from the gate pillars. One of the women in the Mansion had pointed them out. Probably placed there by local high school kids. Halloween was close enough that the things were probably on sale all over. It was to be expected because of the coverage, I guess. I was glad it wasn't more than that.
“There are pictures of them in place,” said one of the reserves, a man named Vinton.
I was impressed that they'd thought to take photos, and said as much.
“Oh, it wasn't us,” he said. “One of the TV stations from Cedar Rapids had a crew up when we got here. They got 'em on tape.”
Great.
We radioed in when we got out of our car at the Mansion. It was 14:00 on the button. By 14:02 our plan was already in trouble.
Huck greeted us at the door, dressed in a black turtleneck and black slacks and shoes. Appropriate for the day. I noticed the tattoos on her face were gone. She ushered us into the parlor, with an explanation ready.
“I'm really sorry, but Hanna can't join us. She's not feeling very well, migraine I think, and she's lying down upstairs.”
No problem. Although I made a mental note that Hanna might just be the weakest link, and being kept out of reach. Sometimes it bothers me, that I think that way all the time. She could just as easily be having a real migraine.
“And, I'm sorry, but Toby's still taking a shower; he got up late.”
Two down. The two I'd have picked as the greatest liabilities. Interesting.
“That's just fine,” said Hester. “No problem.”
As we seated ourselves, me on the couch, and Hester in one of the overstuffed leather chairs, we were already down from five to Huck, Kevin and Melissa. So much for approaching the group as a whole.
“We would really like to get to the wake as soon as we can,” said Huck. “We feel we should be there for as long as possible.” She smiled, almost apologetically and, I thought, quite sincerely. “Edie's been our friend for quite a while.”
They'd arranged to limit the interview by controlling both the number of individuals present and the time spent. Not bad. I remembered what William Chester had said about them not going to cooperate, and gave him some points.
“We'd like to go, too,” said Hester. “Since Edie was Lamar's niece.” “Of course,” said Huck. “So, then, what
