'Midnight,' said Quill, with a sangfroid unimpeded by Meg's giggle. 'There's something else. Marge and Betty, how did the search go today?'
'Quill?' Adela Henry rose to her full thin, elegant height. 'If there is to be a disclosure of the activities of the investigatory subcommittee, perhaps I should chair this meeting.'
'Well, sure,' said Quill.
'What subcommittee?' Miriam demanded.
'H. O. W. shall solve,' Adela said grandly, 'the murders of Nora Cahill and that disgusting Frank Dorset,' Her eyes flickered. 'And then we shall seek to replace the lamentable town government with a mayor of quality. A town justice of integrity, a sheriff of - '
'Be quiet, Adela,' said Miriam. 'What's going on here, Marge?'
'Quill, Meg, Betty, and me have been looking for that down coat of Quill's. It's what the guy wore when he stabbed Nora and Frank Dorset.'
'And I've been looking for the videotape from that there hidden camera that shows him doin' it,' said Betty. 'I checked each one of the fireplaces in the Inn today, Quill, and I didn't find a thing.'
'So that's why you dragged Esther and me allover the bottom of the Gorge today, Marge Schmidt,' said Miriam. 'I'd like to have died from the cold, too. Why didn't you tell me?'
'I'm tellin' you now, or Quill is. What's next, Quill?'
'First, who wants to guard Tutti?'
'My goodness,' said Tutti, her cheeks pink. 'And to think the spirit guides led us to this, Tatiana!'
'We want the big ones, like me,' said Marge with satisfaction. 'That means you, Shirley Peterson, and you, Trish Pasquale. We'll stick to you like debentures in a bear market, Tutti.'
'And the rest of you have to turn this Inn inside out,' said Quill, 'discreetly. And you should work in pairs, for protection.'
'What are we looking for?' asked Betty.
'A videotape that's mini-sized, you know, about half the size of the ones you rent from the video store. It's the tape of Nora's murder. And a hat.'
'A hat? What kind of hat?' said Esther.
'My rabbit hat.'
'You mean that horrible old thing with the earflaps you wore all winter last year?' asked Esther.
'The murderer disguised himself in it,' said Quill.
'Disguise?' somebody muttered. 'Heck, you show up in that thing at a school picnic and half the little kids would fall over from fright.'
'I always thought the hat was one of the reasons the sheriff dumped her,' said somebody else.
Quill maintained her aplomb. 'Just two caveats ladies. Don't be so obvious that the other guests suspect anything. And if you do find the hat or the videotape, don't pick either one up. One of you guard it, the other one should come and find me. Or the sheriff.'
'Well, I'm ready,' said Miriam. 'Esther, you come with me. We'll start right away.'
'What about the guest rooms?' asked Doreen. 'You want I should get out the master key?'
'There's only one room I need to search,' said Quill. 'And I should be the one to take the risk.'
Meg started to whistle the theme from The Bridge Over the River Kwai.
'Tutti,' said Marge. 'How'd you feel about a game of bridge?'
'Fifty cents a point? We'd love it. Wouldn't we, Tatiana?' The dog gave her a skeptical glance, hopped off her lap, and followed Doreen and the other H. O. W. members out the door. Tutti pulled a deck of cards from her capacious handbag and shuffled them expertly. Quill strode toward the hall. She felt great.
'Colonel!' Meg snapped to attention and saluted.
'Cut it out, Meg.'
'You're right. I should be addressing you as Inspector Alleyn. He always gathered the suspects in the drawing room and exposed the murderer. Nope. Sorry. Wrong again. It's Holmes himself and the Baker Street Irregulars.'
'Why are you bugging me, Meg? I've had a tough day. And you didn't tell me what went on at that s ‚ance.'
'You didn't give me a chance to tell you about the s‚ance!'
'Tutti's clearly in danger, and you didn't do a thing about it.'
'I most certainly did,' Meg said indignantly. 'Why the heck do you think she was in the kitchen with me all day? I mean she's a sweetie, quill, and I learned a great new recipe for homemade pasta, but this is one of the busiest days of the whole darn year!'
'Oh,' Quill said.
'I mean, really. How irresponsible do you think I am? You never look at anybody the way they really are, Quill. You look at them the way you think they should be.'
'I do?'
