els, and she puts our clothes in the yellow one. They should
all be lined up by the washer and dryer, which, in case you’ve
forgotten, is in the basement laundry room.”
“Hey!” Joe barked. “What’s with the sarcasm? I not only
get called in on a weekend, I get stuck with a stiff in a house
that hardly has any food in it. Plus, I have to share a bed
with the M.E. who snores like a steam engine and smells
like…well, like an M.E. Woody was smart—he grabbed one
of the twin beds in the master bedroom.”
“Why didn’t you take the other one?” Judith asked.
“Because the stiff was lying on it.” Joe sounded as if he
were gnashing his teeth.
“Oh.” Judith’s urge to tell Joe about the other murders
faded. “I’m sorry about that. Really. Will you be able to get
home?”
“I don’t know.” Joe now sounded glum. “Even with fourwheel drive, it’s almost impossible to get up Heraldsgate
Hill in snow this deep.”
“Maybe we’ll both be home by tomorrow,” Judith said
with what she hoped was optimism.
“Maybe.” Joe obviously wasn’t convinced. “I’ve got to go.
There’s a pile of paperwork on my desk.”
“Okay. Be careful. Please.”
“Right. You, too.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.” Joe rang off.
“He’s in a bad mood,” Judith said, replacing the receiver
and looking for the telephone directory, which he finally
found under a turkey roaster.
“He’d be in a worse one if you’d told him about the other
bodies,” Renie pointed out. “Who’d he say to call?”
“The park service.” Judith ran her finger down the listings
under federal government. “Here’s the number.”
Renie’s round face was troubled. “Why you?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s their problem.” Renie jerked a thumb over her
shoulder. “Tell them to call. Why get involved?”
“We
we’ll have to give statements.”
“So? Deal with that when the time comes. But for now,
have one of the survivors out there call. Better yet, tell Mannheimer. He’s the caretaker, it’s his job.”
Judith put the receiver back in its cradle. “Okay, I will.
Let’s see how the rest of them are faring.”
They weren’t faring particularly well. Having reopened
the liquor bottles, the distraught OTIOSE executives had
now degenerated into a maudlin state. Frank Killegrew was
feeling very sentimental and was exchanging old war stories
with Rudy Mannheimer, who appeared to have gotten drunk
rather quickly.
