on, speaking more rapidly, “so I thought maybe she’d taken
something to help her sleep and was really out of it. Frank
was anxious to start the meeting, so I went to the bed and
gave Andrea a little shake. I couldn’t rouse her. Then I saw
the pill bottle and the note.”
Gene cleared his throat. “Let’s back up a moment, please.”
He turned to Nadia, whose eyes seemed to have grown as
large as the big glasses she wore over them. “Does this account agree with what you recall so far?”
“Yes.” Nadia’s voice was toneless.
“All right.” Gene offered Ava a slight smile of encouragement. “Do you have the note with you?”
Ava shook her head. “I remembered what you said last
night about not touching anything. I left it on the nightstand.”
“What did it say?”
Ava swallowed hard. “It said, ‘Leon, I’m coming to join
you.’”
“Did you recognize Andrea’s handwriting?”
“Not really,” Ava admitted, “but Nadia did. She’d come
all the way into the room when she saw I had trouble waking
Andrea.”
Gene turned again to Nadia. “You’re certain it was Andrea’s writing?”
“Yes,” Nadia answered, still without inflection. “I’ve
seen it many times. She often sent Frank handwritten notes.”
“What did you do next?” Gene asked Ava.
Ava put a hand to her forehead. “I’m not sure. I think we
both realized at the same time that Andrea was dead. We
ran out of the room and came down here.”
Gene sought corroboration from Nadia, who nodded. “We
may have screamed,” she said. “It was so…ghastly.” Nadia
shuddered at the memory.
“In other words,” Gene mused, “Andrea is still lying up
there in bed…dead.”
“I haven’t heard her walking around,” Margo snapped.
“What’s wrong with everybody? Can’t this crew accept the
“Sleeping pills,” murmured Russell. “Did you say Andrea
took sleeping pills?”
“Sometimes she did,” Nadia said. “Last night she offered
me one, but I have my own prescription. I can hardly blame
Andrea for taking something to help her sleep. She was so
upset.”
Ward stretched out his long legs. “Could it have been an
accident?” he asked.
“Not with that note,” Killegrew put in. “My God, I had no
idea she and Leon were…so close. Sometimes,” he added
darkly, “I wonder what really goes on behind my back in
this company. Sometimes I think the caboose is running this
ship.”
“I think you mean ‘train.’” Margo’s tone was mocking.
