in the middle of this splendor with a sallow face and a discontented mouth.
Meg came out of the kitchen and toward the party. She was dressed in her chef's coat, a specially made tunic that had been a present from Helena Houndswood, the celebrity chef who had visited the Inn two years before. The tunic was made of fine white wool, with full sleeves that ended in neat narrow cuffs at Meg's wrists. Her cheeks were pink from the heat in the kitchen and her gray eyes serene. Quill was swept with affection and then wondered, briefly, at her own emotions. She jerked a little in surprise: despite everything, the two bodies, her night in jail, the discontented bride in front of her, she realized that she was happy.
She took Meg's hand in her own and brought her to the table. 'For those of you who haven't met her yet, this is our chef, Margaret Quilliam.'
Polite applause swept the table.
'I'd like to welcome you to the Inn,' Meg said. 'Our partner, John Raintree, will be serving chilled champagne in a moment, so that Quill and he and I, in fact all of us here at the Inn at Hemlock Falls, can toast Claire and the senator, and wish them the very best.'
'Hang on a second,' said Marlon. 'I want to get this on tape!' He took a mini-camcorder from the case sitting by his chair, then circled the table, the camera whirring. Meg straightened her collar uncertainly. Quill ducked out of camera range.
'But AI's not here yet!' Claire said.
Quill exchanged a glance with Meg. 'Why don't I go upstairs and see if he's still in his room. I do know that he went out skiing fairly late. He may just have gotten back.'
'Tell Elaine and Vittorio to come down, too, will you, dear?' Tutti, who was looking especially grandmotherly in pink lace over gray satin, gave Quill a decisive little nod.
'I'd like to tell you what we'll be serving tonight,' Meg went on. 'For the first course, I've developed a clear game soup seasoned with a combination of herbs we grow right here at the Inn.'
Quill went into the foyer. The chair behind the reception desk was empty. Dina had left that morning to go home for the holidays. Mike had filled the Oriental vases near the cobblestone fireplace with fresh pine, and the scent filled this small area. Quill drew a deep breath. It was like being in the woods. The fire was low in the fireplace, and she bent to put a fresh log on it. The odor of burning apple wood joined that of the pine.
'It smells wonderful in here.' Myles came in the front door. Snow powdered the shoulders of his heavy anorak and the heels of his boots. His face was red with cold. Quill went to him and put her warn hands on his cheeks. He kissed her. She put her arms around him, inside his jacket. She could feel his heart beating against her hands.
'Davy said you called. Is anything wrong?'
'We found the hat. Or rather, Tatiana found the hat. My hat.'
His eyebrows drew together.
'Oh, it's Tutti's little dog. Apparently, Tutti dragooned Doreen into taking it, I mean her, for her constitutional in the park. The dog ran off and came back with the hat. I stuck it - the hat, I mean - in the storeroom.' She looked around vaguely. 'I don't know where Tatiana is. Doreen's stuck with her, I suppose. Anyway, the hat's there whenever you need it. How did the interview with Greenwald go?'
Myles's gray eyes narrowed. 'The guy's slick. You're sure that no one saw him after you on the interstate?'
Quill shook her head. 'positive. The snow was awful.'
'Greenwald didn't come right out and say it, but he intimated that a couple of witnesses could place you at Cahill's apartment.'
'He's right. I wasn't very careful, I guess.'
'Quill, you shouldn't have gone there in the first place.'
'True, true, true. Sorry. I'll know better next time. It turned out to be useless, anyway. Greenwald practically blackmailed me into giving him those computer disks. As a matter of fact, he did blackmail me. He threatened me with impersonation and breaking and entering. So I gave him the computer disks.'
'Hmm. It doesn't matter. You were right about Nora's hard drive. The computer boys in Ithaca found - '
'Sarah, my dear. Can you encourage my daughter-in- law to join us? We're waiting that delicious dinner on her and my son.'
'Tutti.' Quill pulled away from Myles's arms. 'I haven't been up there yet. Have you met Sheriff McHale?' Joseph Greenwald, his dinner jacket slung over his shoulder to accommodate his broken arm, appeared behind Tutti. Ed - or maybe it was Marlon - joined him and stood on her right.
'How do you do, Sheriff?' Tutti's eyes gleamed behind her glasses. 'You've met my boy Joseph. And this is my boy Marlon Guppa.'
Myles nodded and said, 'Ma'am,' which made Quill want to giggle.
'I'll be back in a minute with Elaine, Tutti. Myles, Meg's set aside some food for you in the kitchen. I think she put it in the storeroom.'
Quill ran lightly up the stairs to the Adams suite on the second floor. She knocked, received no answer, then knocked again. She called out Santini's name, then took her master key from the chain around her neck and let herself in.
She turned on the overhead light. Doreen had been in to clean, and the room was neat. Quill and Meg had managed to save the chestnut floor in this particular set of rooms, and the yellow, striated wood gleamed softly in the lamplight. The suite was two rooms. In the living room, a Queen Anne style sofa sat in front of the small fireplace next to a wing chair covered in a Williamsburg print. The coffee table held a filled ashtray and a half-empty glass. Quill picked up the glass and sniffed. Scotch. So the senator had been in the room after Doreen had cleaned. She searched the small secretary that stood under the window. The stationery with the Inn logo was there, and a partially filled pack of matches, but that was it. No briefcase, no notes, no documents.
She went into the bedroom. The king-sized bed was covered with a wedding-ring quilt. The cherry rocking
