2 Murder in the Winter Read online

  “So let’s see if I have this right, Mr. Longworth. You knew the man who registered as Myles Mycroft was really Carter Thornton.”

  “It was my idea for him to spend the weekend at the inn. When I found out there would be other guests, I called him and told him to come in some sort of disguise, so no one else would recognize him. I guess that didn’t work. The reason he had a room away from the other guests was that it was easier for the two of us to get together and discuss possibilities for reopening the theater at the inn.”

  “Is it possible that someone overheard any part of your discussions with Thornton and decided to do away with him?”

  “It’s possible, Lieutenant, but I doubt it. The two of us never spoke business around anyone else.”

  “What about the other dead man? Matthew Simon? Did you know that Arthur Plankton and Matthew Simon were one and the same?”

  “No, Lieutenant. I did not.”

  “So you had no idea who the second victim was until I showed you the pictures the other morning.”

  “I expected it to be someone I knew, but I had no idea who. His disguise fooled me, as would Carter’s, if I hadn’t known he was coming.”

  “So, you never heard anyone threaten Carter Thornton’s life?”

  “Sure I did. Richard Le Blanc, for one. Even Arthur Rothschild was bitter after his accident, but I don’t think he ever threatened anyone’s life. Other actors were jealous of Carter, but I don’t think they were jealous enough to kill him. Martin Mulroney was a little miffed one time when he got passed over, and I selected Carter instead. But there’s a big difference between being miffed and committing murder.

  “By the way, one reason I didn’t go to Richard’s funeral was because I knew that I wasn’t high on his list at that moment. I discouraged all of our actors from attending, and it was probably good that I did. Some of his family blamed me and some of my actors for his death.”

  He paused, briefly, seemed unnerved.

  “Something wrong, Mr. Longworth?”

  “It just occurred to me that Antoine was part of that family. I assume he was bitter, too. Evidently he isn’t still bitter, or he wouldn’t have come to work for me.”

  “Or it could be why he did come to work for you.”

  If Longworth was unnerved before, he was stricken by my most recent comment.

  “You don’t really believe that Antoine murdered these men and will try to murder me, too, do you?”

  “To be quite candid with you, Mr. Longworth, I don’t know what to believe right now. But I would like to talk to Antoine while I’m here. Is he in?”

  “Yes, usually he’s already busy preparing lunch by this time, but since it is only those of us who live here, he doesn’t cook quite so elaborately for us as he does for guests. I imagine he’s in his room. Would you like for me to get him for you?”

  “No, just show us where we can find his room.”

  +++

  Longworth led us behind the checkin desk and down a hall until he stopped at a door.

  “This is his room. I will be in the lobby area if you need me.”

  I knocked on the door, and Antoine answered my knock. When he opened the door, I suspected that I wasn’t the highlight of his day, either.

  “You’re the police lieutenant, aren’t you?”

  “I am, and I have a few more questions I’d like to ask involving our investigation.”

  I doubted if Antoine knew either Profitt or his sister, but I showed him the picture anyway. He didn’t recognize either of them. I put the picture back in my pocket, and resumed my questions.

  “Why were you in town on Wednesday?”

  “That doesn’t have anything to do with your investigation.”

  “I won’t tell you how to cook. You don’t tell me how to investigate. Please answer the question.”

  “I do my own shopping. I don’t like for others to select my ingredients at the market. My reputation is at stake, not someone else’s. I use only the best ingredients in my dishes.”

  After listening to his commercial, I continued my questioning.

  “Did you do anything else while you were in town, other than shop?”

  “No.”

  “When you applied for the position here, why didn’t you tell Mr. Longworth who your brother was?”

  “I wanted to be judged strictly by my dishes. Nothing else.”

  “But didn’t you threaten revenge against Longworth and some of the actors who worked with him, at your brother’s funeral?”

  “That was a long time ago. My brother had just died. I was very bitter.”

  “And you are no longer bitter?”

  “I’ve put the past behind me.”

  “Ever do any acting, Antoine?”

  “I left that to my brother.”

  “Thank you. That will be all, but please don’t leave town.”

  “I don’t plan to go anywhere, except to shop for my dishes.”

  +++

  Lou and I got up, excused ourselves, and followed the serpentine hallway back to the checkin desk. As we stepped from behind the counter, we saw Longworth sitting beside a window, deep in thought. He looked up, saw us, and got up to greet us.

  “It seems he’s not as big of a suspect as I.”

  “How do you figure that, Mr. Longworth?”

  “You didn’t ask him as many questions.”

  “Sometimes it takes only one question to get a confession.”

  “You mean he confessed?”

  “Not yet. Both of you are still in the race. I’m just checking with everyone, eliminating anyone I can from the field.”

  “Lieutenant, I never know when you are joking and when you are serious.”

  “Neither does my next-door neighbor. Goodbye for now, Mr. Longworth, and thanks for the pancakes. If we owe you anything, bill the department.”

  Lou grinned at me as soon as he shut the door of the inn. He was used to my antics. We stood and looked at the area in front of us. Nothing had changed. Everything before us was white or brown, except for a yellow bug that stood guard over the entrance. Lightning looked magnificent in front of that white background. Maybe some of the snow had melted, but most of it remained.

  21

  We crossed the bridge which connected Overlook Inn to the outside world and had gone only a couple hundred feet when Lou hollered. I thought something had bitten him. It’s not often that Lou hollers when I’m driving. His sudden ejaculation took me so much by surprise I hit the brakes. I turned to my partner and realized he was pointing.

  “Look, Cy. See those tracks. A car’s been in and out of there recently.”

  I looked where he pointed. There was a partial clearing in the trees and tire tracks leading down to some place I couldn’t see. The trees kept anyone driving toward the inn from seeing where the tracks went, but if someone looked closely, they could see them as we headed back toward town.

  “Come on, Lou. Let’s see what we can find.”

  “You’re just going to leave Lightning here.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t want to take any chances in getting stuck down there, and I doubt if anyone comes down this road for a while. Let’s see where these tracks lead.”

  In the first few feet, the makeshift driveway dropped steeply from the road, then leveled off. All in all, it wasn’t more than three feet down, but with my body I could do a lot of damage in three feet. We stood still looking for the best way down the hill. There was no best way. Putting one hand down, I tried to descend at a snail’s pace. It didn’t work. While I didn’t fall, I didn’t stop until I braced myself against the rapidly approaching tree. Lou tried to learn from my mistake. Evidently, I’d made no mistake. Lou came to a stop two trees over. We stood still until our breathing returned to normal. Well, normal except for the fact that we could still see our breaths in the cold. So far, so good. We had stopped with all of our body parts intact. I had heard no crunching metal from above, and no crunching bones from within. I looked at Lou t
o get an idea what I might look like.

  “Don’t look at me, Cy. You’re the one who’s always getting us in trouble with these downhill treks of yours.”

  “No one’s blaming you, Lou. Now, that we’re on relatively level ground, let’s see where these tracks lead.”

  What looked like relatively level ground was actually a slight incline. Slight to a normal person. Severe to someone of my girth. We trudged up the incline. Not up the hill we had rapidly descended, but one toward town, between two stands of trees. The tracks led to a trailer, but there was no car in sight. Whoever had driven there had left. We decided to check out the trailer to see what we could learn.

  From the weather-beaten look of the outside of the trailer, it had probably been setting there for quite some time. Regardless of how long it had been there, it had been somewhere for a long time. Only a realtor could make it sound inviting. We plodded along in the snow until we got to the wooden steps leading to the front door of the trailer. Actually, I don’t know whether it was the front or back door, because both doors were on the same side. I just knew that I wasn’t going any farther than I had to, so I stopped at the first set of steps.

  I knocked on the door, and just as we thought, no one welcomed us inside. I tried the door and was surprised that it opened. I guess that someone figured the trailer was hidden enough so that no one would find it, so there was no need to lock it. Either that or the owner had lost the key. I opened the door, called out, and after receiving no reply, I stepped inside. I left the door open until I located a lamp and turned it on. I tried the thermostat. The heat worked. Plus, there was a kerosene heater. While it wasn’t the Ritz-Carlton, it could’ve been someone’s hideout, even in the winter. Could it be that someone from the inn had used the place, taking away an alibi that the lack of prints in the snow eliminated him or her as a suspect? What at one time seemed like a case where one of two people were guilty had escalated into one with many more suspects, including some that we hadn’t met. If someone from the inn had used an underground means of escape, he or she could have gotten to the trailer without leaving prints in the snow.

  After perusing the place, it was obvious to us that it was some actor’s hideout, or home away from home. That wasn’t surprising. It seemed liked we had met only two people who had no acting experience.

  We looked through a closet, but didn’t disturb anything. There were a few articles of clothing, but nothing stood out. We checked the refrigerator. It looked like mine. There were a few things to eat in a pinch, but even a puny eater wouldn’t last more than a couple of days without going to the grocery. Still, nothing appeared to be past its prime. Someone had been there to keep things tidy, but then we already knew that. We searched the trash and looked behind the couch, but found nothing of interest. We didn’t plan to leave any evidence, either. If whoever was using the place didn’t return before our footprints went away, no one would know we’d been there.

  Unable to determine any information about the trailer’s latest occupant, I opened the door and was hit by a blast of cold air. I gingerly stepped down to the ground while clutching the thin, wooden railing with my gloved hand. It wobbled enough that I knew if I fell against it, someone would have to replace the railing. While I waited on Lou to follow, I stood and looked at the tracks we had followed to the trailer. While the footprints and tracks had not been obliterated, they were not clear enough to tell who was responsible for them. As I followed them back to Lightning, all I could determine was that the tracks seemed to lead to and from the inn. In all likelihood, whoever last visited the trailer came from and returned to the inn. There was no way to determine when that visit took place. Just that someone had visited the trailer since the snowstorm on Thursday night.

  Not wanting to catch a cold, I gathered my thoughts and turned to the dilemma at hand. Our uphill venture back to the road would be harder than our downhill escapade. If I had anticipated finding the trailer, I would’ve brought a rope and tied it to Lightning, so two well-nourished men could climb back up what amounted to a three foot hill. Only three feet. There was a time that I could’ve taken a running start and made it up that hill. On second thought, I don’t think I could’ve done that in my youth. I started growing horizontally at an early age. More than likely my parents left me in a short crib too long and I had to grow some way.

  After several attempts to regain the road, we realized that one step up followed by sliding three steps down would never get us to a yellow bug that seemed so close. I considered rolling Lou up the hill, but decided against it. I wanted to live until the case was solved. Once, after repeated efforts, Lou made it up and reached out to pull me up. It didn’t work, but at least Lou was back down where I was. Only the two of us were lying in the snow, with Lou on top. It was not a pretty sight. We had met the enemy, and it was us.

  I located a copse of trees thirty feet up the road and opted for Plan B. The hill surrounded by trees was around five feet, instead of three, and we had to squeeze our husky bodies over, under, and next to protruding branches, but we hoped to regain the road using this method sometime before nightfall and before someone slid down the hill and into Lightning. By grasping a limb and pulling an arm out of its socket, we pulled ourselves up to the road. This was after one certain sergeant, who agreed to go first, released branch after branch that whacked the face of a lieutenant who followed too closely behind.

  After what seemed like no more than two or three days, our feet found asphalt. Well, there was asphalt under the snow. If we had brought a flag, we would have planted it. We had gained the summit and found the view to be good, but not good enough for déjà vu. At least, Lightning was no worse for wear. No blind actor on a snowmobile had been out joyriding. No runaway semi ruined a policeman’s winter. At least that was something to be thankful for.

  The exercise experience had weakened us so much that I shook uncontrollably and ate most of a Hershey bar and Lou downed two bags of M&Ms before either of us gained the strength it took to hightail it back to town. At least, if we embellished the details off our excursion in the woods, it would be a story that someday we could tell to someone else’s grandchildren. But for the time being, we would buckle up and follow the long and winding road back to town.

  +++

  We took our time on the drive back, thankful that we didn’t have to be rescued from downhill wanderings. Lou kept his eye out for more openings on the right-hand side of the road, while I perused the trees on the left. Each time we came to an opening, I gave a sigh, and scanned the area for any recent activity. Luckily, we found no reason to leave Lightning for more exercise. God was with us. On the way back to civilization, we saw no creatures, living or dead.

  +++

  Forty five minutes later, we had returned to town, with no new adventures on the way. The next place on my check list of the day was a place I don’t go unless I have to, headquarters.

  Louie Palona is a master when it comes to photography, computers, or any other electric or electronic devices. He once told me that with the right program, a few clicks with a mouse, and hitting a few other keys, he could put people in places where they’d never been. Not knowing anything about a computer, and not wanting to, I decided to leave that up to him. I hoped he was lying to me. I’d had enough problems explaining the places I had been.

  All I wanted Louie to do for me was blow up three pictures. When I shared this with him, he responded with, “a piece of cake.” I wish he’d used a different expression. He made me hungry. Louie asked me if we wanted to wait, but I told him we’d come back after lunch. On the drive in to town, both Lou and I had heard the mating call of the Blue Moon.

  +++

  As always, Rosie seemed thrilled to see us.

  “So, Rosie, what are you going to do tonight?”

  “So, you’re finally asking me out?”

  “You mean you don’t already have a date?”

  “You know I do. But I can leave Pat and Alex for you.”

  I k
new what Rosie was going to do. What Rosie did every night. Went home and watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, then cut the TV off because there was nothing else on, and reached over and picked up a good book. Rosie split her time between reading murder mysteries and romance novels. Not smut, but old-fashion romance novels. Still, not the kind of drivel a man would read. I had forgotten to tell Rosie that Lou and I were now reading whodunits. I planned to do that, just after we solved our own mystery.

  After pleasing Rosie by eating everything in sight, and resting until we could make it back to Lightning unassisted, we returned to headquarters to see what Louie had for us. He had a stack of pictures, different sizes, some with a panoramic view, others that zeroed in on a particular item. I refrained from kissing him, but thanked him profusely. I gave up kissing men when I turned five. Or was it four? Three? Definitely, six months.

  I wanted to study the pictures, but there was another errand we needed to run first. It wouldn’t take long. I pulled up in front of Hilldale Taxi Service, and gave Lou the option of sitting in the car with the heat, or going inside with me. He opted to remain where he was. I would’ve too, except that I had no phone to call the taxi service to see if they would have someone run out front to answer my questions. I extracted myself from the car and pulled myself to a standing position. A few minutes later, I returned with the information I’d sought. Only three taxis had picked up passengers anytime after the snow stopped falling on Thursday night, and none of the pickups or drop-offs were within a mile of my house or Oppenheimer Arms. Whoever paid me a visit had driven his or her own vehicle or stolen someone else’s.

  Tired from a long day, Lou and I decided to study the pictures from the comfort of my dining room table. We opted for my place instead of Lou’s, because Lou doesn’t have a dining room, let alone a dining room table. Because we possessed the power to look ahead, we stopped by a grocery on the way to my place to purchase snacks necessary to make it through the rest of the afternoon. This time the good sergeant went in with me. Twenty-seven dollars and forty two cents later, we were ready to rumble.