Dead Before Dinner by Kerry Schafer

Author:Kerry Schafer [Schafer, Kerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Jill is in the office, sitting behind my desk, pouting. The instant she sees us, she springs to her feet and launches into a tirade. “Matt marched me in here, basically at gunpoint, and told me to stay. To stay! As if I am a dog. Can you tell him—”

“Just stay where you are Jill. He’s trying to contain a crime scene and you are a suspect.”

“But—”

“Sit, Jill. Stay.”

Leaving her sputtering incomprehensible curses in French, I trot a few steps in an attempt to catch up with Jake. Given that he’s recently had a collapsed lung and his ribs cracked open, he’s a little easier to keep up with than he was before I shot him. For once, I don’t quibble about the elevator. A spider hangs on a web in the upper right corner, but it does nothing other than watch me as intently as I watch it.

On the second floor, we wade through a congested traffic of walkers and slow-moving bodies who all consider themselves too old to be told what to do.

“Hey, Maureen, are you going to evacuate us again?” Dan asks. It’s a justified question. Given back-to-back murders, resident safety is in question and Dan is one of the sharper knives in the drawer. Of course, the last time I tried to evacuate the Manor for safety reasons, most of the residents refused to leave.

“If you would all please go either to your rooms or to the game room and wait, I will fill you in as soon as I know anything.” I raise my voice to carry and I know they’ve heard me. Nobody moves. Jake, standing in the door of Sylvia’s room where Matt has cleared a space for him, turns around and turns the request into a legal and authoritative command.

“Clear the hallway. Go directly to your rooms and stay there. A deputy will be around to collect statements.”

For a long moment nobody moves, and I wonder if we’ll have a mutiny, but the dam of resistance breaks and they turn and flow down the hallway, only to jam up again at the elevator. I cram into the entrance of Sylvia’s room with Jake and Matt.

Sylvia sits upright in her recliner, eyes wide open and staring at nothing. A fork is clutched in her left hand, a steak knife in her right. In front of her is a TV tray, laid out with a bright yellow mat, a plate, glass, and a small vase of fresh flowers. She looks like a posed figure in a wax museum.

“Have you taken photos?” Jake barks.

“Not my area of expertise,” Matt replies. “I was mostly busy guarding the door. Nobody has been in this room, to my knowledge, other than Jill.”

“Who found the body,” I say, uneasily.

“Who found the body,” Matt confirms. “Apparently, she came to see if Sylvia had taken her meds and found her in this condition. Jill claims not to have entered the room and that she called 911 immediately before coming to find me in the kitchen.

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