hung up when the phone rang in her hand.
“Now what?” demanded an angry Ingrid Heffelman.
“Zillah Young just called me from the state B&B—on
my day off—to say you’d requested changes for tonight.
What’s going on, Judith?”
“Hey,” Judith retorted, “this Hollywood booking
was your idea. I didn’t ask to change the Kidds and the
Izards. You forced my hand.”
“That’s beside the point,” Ingrid replied, simmering
down just a bit. “The Kidds were considering staying
over for a day or two and moving to your B&B. They
felt they’d missed out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the
Izards would still like to spend a night there for future
reference.”
“The Izards already checked out the place,” Judith
said, still vexed. “Anyway, there’s nothing I can do. It’s
out of my hands.”
“How come?” Ingrid was heating up again.
“I can’t tell you exactly,” Judith replied, trying to
sound reasonable. “It has to do with an incident involving one of the guests.”
“An incident?” Ingrid sounded suspicious.
“What would you expect?” Judith said, no longer
reasonable but downright cross. “From the beginning,
I figured this crew would be nothing but trouble. I was
right.”
“What kind of trouble?” Ingrid asked, then uttered a
high-pitched squawk. “Not . . . ? Oh, Judith, not
again!”
“I can’t say. Really,” Judith added in a frustrated
voice, “I’m not allowed to tell anyone just yet.”
“You don’t have to,” Ingrid said sharply. “I can read
the newspaper. It’s that Bruno person, isn’t it? He died
last night. I didn’t put two and two together this morning because the story was so small and I was barely
awake. Being
“I’m sorry, really I am.” Judith was about to say it
wasn’t her fault. But this time she couldn’t. Maybe she
was to blame. “Please, Ingrid, don’t tell anyone. We’re
under siege from the studio, which is why the Hollywood guests can’t leave.”
“Oh, God.” Ingrid expelled a huge sigh. “All right,
I’ll be discreet, if only for the state association’s sake.
You’re right—it’s my fault for putting them up at
Hillside Manor. Given your track record, I should
have known better.” With an apathetic good-bye, she
hung up.
Judith was still muttering to herself when Renie and
Bill arrived at the back door.
“You told us we could come through the kitchen,”
