expressions frozen in grotesque masks.
“Ward!”
“Is he…?”
“God!”
“No! No! No!”
“How…?”
“Save us! Somebody, please!”
“I’m going to throw up now.”
Bedlam reigned for the next few minutes. Judith and Renie
scrambled out of the way, slipping and sliding on the wet
floor. Ward Haugland stared at them from wide, lifeless eyes.
The cousins finally staggered toward the cluster of sofas.
Gene, whose normal composure now seemed completely
shredded, took a few hesitant steps towards the latest victim.
“Madness,” he muttered. “Where will it
all end?” He stopped, some ten feet away from Ward.
Max joined Gene. “What the hell…?” Max said under his
breath. “I don’t get it.”
“His room,” Judith said thickly. “Where is his room?”
Max and Gene looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.
Maybe, she thought dazedly, she had. “His room,” she repeated, more clearly. “Wouldn’t Ward’s room be above the
front entrance? It’s in the middle of the second-floor corridor.”
Comprehension dawned on Gene. “I see. You mean…”
He stopped, then shook his head. “That’s terrible.”
“What are you jabbering about?” Killegrew demanded.
“Speak up, dammit!”
Gene turned to face his CEO. “Ward’s room is right above
the entrance. Whoever killed him must have pushed him out
the window.”
“That’s why it was so cold in there,” Renie said under her
breath. “The window had been open.”
“Ridiculous,” scoffed Killegrew. “Ward must have jumped.
It’s another suicide.”
“Jeeesus!” screeched Margo. “Who would try to commit
suicide by jumping out a window into a snowbank? Get over
it, Frank—Andrea didn’t kill herself and neither did Ward.”
“Then how did he die?” Ava asked, clinging to the footstool.
With small, creeping steps, Max and Gene moved forward.
“We really shouldn’t touch the…” Gene began.
“Stick it up your backside,” Max growled. “We have to find
out what happened and we can’t leave poor old Ward lying
here like a doorstop.”
“Close that door!” Killegrew ordered in a savage voice.
“We’re never going to shovel through that stuff! It’s getting
dark, it’s too late. Besides, this place is a mess. Look at that
floor!”
Naturally, everybody looked at Ward. “Gee, Frank,”
