Norway to Hide by Maddy Hunter

Author:Maddy Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2007-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

I didn’t know what time it was anywhere else in the world, but in Saariselka, it was 3:05 a.m., and I was still awake.

I sat propped against my headboard, staring bleary-eyed at the list I’d written but failing to be inspired by my notes. I’d separated my suspects into two columns: Board members, which included April, June, Vern, and Lauretta, and Others, which included Curtis, Joleen, Jimbob, and Reno. My instincts told me that the killer’s name was right in front of my face, but the challenge was, how could I whittle eight names down to one with any certainty?

I put an asterisk next to O’Brien, wondering if Officer Vitikkohuhta was right about the killer trying to frame Reno. Sure sounded good, but I wasn’t entirely convinced. Reno was quick and he was strong. He could have strangled Gus in no time flat and returned to the lodge before anyone missed him. But why would he have killed a friend? Or had the friendship just been a ruse? Had they had differences they’d never telegraphed, differences that could have led to murder? Reno and Gus had supposedly been arguing about the Red Sox outside the lodge, but who’d given that information to Officer Vitikkohuhta? Reno or Bernice? If it had been Reno, had he been telling the truth, or had he tried to cover his butt by making up the story?

I studied the names as I listened for suspicious sounds outside my room. Were the Peabody sisters capable of murder? Was either one of them strong enough to strangle a man who had greater upper-body strength? I doubted they could have succeeded alone, but could they have joined forces and done it together? They’d probably scarfed their meal down so fast that they would have had plenty of time to slip Gus a note and lure him outside.

I scribbled a note to myself: Find out who Gus was sitting with at dinner.

Chances were he hadn’t been sitting with the Barnums, but I wondered if his deliberate avoidance of them had been so blatant that it had pushed them over the edge. Could this final humiliation have turned Joleen and Jimbob into murderers? Like Nana was fond of saying, you might not remember what someone said, but you’ll always remember how it made you feel.

I doodled a question mark by Vern’s name. Military men were trained to kill the enemy, but had Gus been the enemy? Could Vern even attempt to overpower anyone with his bad knees? And what about Lauretta and Curtis? How could they have strangled Gus? They were too short! The only way they could have placed that noose around his neck was if they’d been piggyback, and I doubted they had either the strength or balance to execute a move like that. Jimbob, on the other hand, could have tightened the noose with both hands tied behind his back, using only his feet.

I placed two asterisks beside Jimbob’s name.

Hearing voices in the hall, I ran to the door and squinted through the peephole.

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