Nadia. With a shake of his head, he led them on.
As before, Leon’s was the last room they checked. Killegrew turned the knob, opened the door, started to mouth
Nadia’s name, and staggered.
“No! No! Nadia!” he cried in anguish. “Oh, my God!” He
fell to his knees, leaning against the side of the bed where
Nadia’s stockinged foot still dangled. Lifting his head, Killegrew grabbed Nadia by the shoulders in a futile attempt to
rouse her. “Wake up, Nadia! Wake up! It’s me, Frank! Please,
please, wake up!” He collapsed on top of her lifeless body.
“Oh, dear!” Russell exclaimed. “Is she…? Oh, dear!”
Killegrew’s shoulders were heaving. Russell, with a hand
over his mouth, rushed into the bathroom. The cousins
could hear him being sick, but their concern was focused on
Frank Killegrew.
“Mr. Killegrew,” Judith said softly, “come away. There’s
nothing you can do.”
He continued to sob for several seconds. Then, suddenly,
he turned his head and stared at Judith. “I
bed. “I can’t do,” he breathed in an incredulous voice.
For Frank Killegrew, it appeared to be a revelation.
It took a great deal of coaxing and soothing for the cousins
to get Killegrew and Russell out of Leon’s room. The bereaved CEO rejected Judith’s suggestion that Max and Gene
carry Nadia up to the third floor where the other bodies lay
at rest. Killegrew adamantly refused to have Nadia moved.
Judith understood, and backed off.
The others had already returned to the lobby from the
basement. Since Killegrew appeared to be in shock and
Russell still claimed to feel sick, the burden of making the
tragic announcement fell on Renie, who hurriedly consulted
with Judith.
“The four of us found Nadia Weiss dead in Leon Mooney’s
room. Cause of death can’t be determined without an
autopsy.”
Ava began to cry again, Margo collapsed in a side chair,
Gene held his head in his hands, and Max exploded with a
stream of obscenities. It was clear that the OTIOSE contingent had completely fallen apart.
“There’s no logic to this!” Gene exclaimed. “It’s irrational,
insane, beyond understanding! I can’t deal with it anymore!”
He whirled around, looking as if he were trying to escape.
Ava stopped crying and raised her head. “It’s not a cutand-dried legal issue you can find in one of your RCW law
books,” she said, compassion evident in her voice. “But it
the next few minutes. It’s like the future has been canceled
for all of us.”
“It sure as hell has for some of us,” Max declared savagely.
