An Old Faithful Murder

by Valerie Wolzien

  “I didn’t think so.…”

  “Was it body-shaped?” Marnie asked, leaning across the desk. “You thought it was Randy, remember.…”

  “Wait a minute. Let me think.” She broke a roll and buttered it before speaking. “It could have been the effigy. Definitely. I may have even lifted it off the ground with my skis, and you know,” she added, gaining confidence as the memory returned, “George Ericksen did say that it was just a pile of clothing that someone had left there.…”

  “Interesting that he was on the spot, isn’t it?” Kathleen murmured, her mouth full of food.

  “Do you think that’s significant?” Marnie asked.

  “I think it’s interesting,” Kathleen repeated. “Did he seem at all anxious to keep you away from the pile of clothing?”

  “You could say that, but you could also say that he was trying to be helpful.”

  “In what way?”

  “Well, he said that I was trying to get up wrong and that I should take off my skis first. And he even helped me snap the bindings, and he moved the skis for me.…”

  “Moved them?” Marnie asked.

  “You know, pulled them out of the pile of snow and put them down on the ground going the other direction so I could … He could have been keeping me from dislodging the stuff in the pile, come to think of it.” She was silent for a moment.

  They all were. An observer would have thought that they were only intent upon their meal. Kathleen spoke first.

  “Is Dr. Cockburn the only doctor to see either body?”

  “Yes. He’s the only doctor in the park right now, as far as we know,” Marnie answered. “Otherwise we would have chosen anyone else.”

  “Because he’s a psychiatrist?”

  “Because he’s a pest. Always bothering me or one of the other rangers with his theories about who did what and why.”

  “But he started doing that before the first death,” Susan reminded her. “He started doing that right after the effigy was found. I remember, we were in the main room next door when he came in and started offering his opinions about the situation.”

  “So he probably would have been obnoxious whether or not we asked him for help,” Marnie said. “But we really had no choice. We knew George Ericksen was dead, anyone seeing the body knew that George Ericksen was dead, but we had to have verification by a medical doctor. It’s the rule. It may be the law in Wyoming, for all I know. And then, when we found Randy, we had to ask his help again.”

  “So did Phyllis Ericksen,” Susan muttered, putting down her fork.

  “What?” Kathleen looked up sharply.

  “Phyllis Ericksen asked him for help, too.”

  “But he got involved before that. She asked for his help after her husband was killed—not when the dummy was found,” Kathleen reminded her.

  “Do you think it means something?” Marnie asked.

  “It may, but it may not. Dr. Cockburn seems to be the type of person who needs a lot of attention-getting involved in each crisis around here may be his way of doing just that. And he might honestly want to help people who are in trouble, remember,” Susan added, sounding as if she doubted her own words.

  Neither of the other women bothered to argue with her.

  “Interesting that George Ericksen described the effigy as a pile of clothing—assuming it was the effigy.” Kathleen made the comment as calmly as though they were speaking about the weather.

  “You think he hid it?”

  “How could he have?” Susan asked Marnie. “No, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is why would he have?”

  “Let’s think about that,” Kathleen insisted. “Do we have any real idea who was responsible for the effigy? You checked about the suspenders, didn’t you? And you still don’t know who bought them.…”

  “Or if they were brought into the park, right,” Susan answered.

  “So we really can’t rule out George Ericksen as the person who built it, can we?”

  “Well, I would have thought that how angry he was when he saw it was indication enough that he didn’t do it,” Marnie suggested.

  “If he did it and didn’t want anyone to know, that’s exactly how he would have acted,” Susan said.

  “The key phrase is ‘suspect everybody,’ ” Kathleen elaborated.

  “But why would he do it?” Marnie protested.

  “Why would anybody do it?” Kathleen persisted.

  “Senseless mischief,” Marnie answered.

  “I don’t think so,” Susan said. “It’s probably time we sorted through the possible motives.”

  “How can anyone know what the motives are without knowing who did it?” Marnie asked. “I mean, what I’ve been thinking is things like, if Darcy did it, he did it because he wanted his father to look foolish, he wanted revenge.…”

  “Okay,” Susan agreed. “Now try just thinking of motives.”

  “Like revenge?” Marnie said.

  “Sure. Or to embarrass George Ericksen,” Kathleen chimed in.

  “Which could also be called revenge,” Marnie suggested.

  “True. I suppose they’re just variations on a theme, aren’t they?”

  “Because they all revolve around George Ericksen …” Susan started. “But there might be some other possibilities. Like shocking one of the people who saw the effigy.”

  “Good point,” Kathleen said. “But was it possible to know who was going to be in the group that first got to the pool? There wasn’t a sign-up sheet for the walk, was there?”

  “No, we request that people sign up ahead of time in the summer, but there just aren’t that many tourists around in the winter. We can always accommodate whoever wants to go on one of the tours,” Marnie answered. “And I can’t guarantee that no one would get to the pool before the afternoon tour group, but it would be pretty unusual. That trail isn’t used much by anyone except for the rangers. In the first place, most people miss the turn to the last group of geysers that are before the pool, if they even want to go there—the more popular route is to Morning Glory Pool. Morning Glory is a little like Old Faithful. Most people don’t feel like they’ve seen Yellowstone until they’ve been there. In fact, we choose the route that we do because it’s not often taken. In the first place, people get to see things that they won’t if they just ski off on their own, and because it’s less popular, it’s a more natural trail to travel. It’s quieter, and more peaceful, and we’re more likely to get the opportunity to see some wildlife.”

  “Who would know that?”

  “Who would know that they could put the effigy in the pool and that the tour would probably be the first group to see it?” Susan elaborated on Kathleen’s question.

  “Well, no one could be sure of that,” Marnie answered. “Even the rangers who tour the entire upper geyser basin daily would have no idea who was going to be where and when. On the other hand, anyone could ask one of the rangers or one of the guys at the ski shack how often any trail was likely to be used. We’re here to pass out information; we don’t ask if it’s going to be used for innocent purposes or not.”

  “But it would have to be a pretty good skier to carry the effigy to the pool, wouldn’t it?” Susan asked, approaching the problem from a different angle. “I mean, I have trouble hanging on to those damn poles.”

  “That’s true. It could have been stuffed in a large backpack, but it isn’t easy to carry one of those things unless you know what you’re doing. It throws off your balance.”

  “So assuming it was one of the Ericksen family who did it, it must have been either Jon or Phyllis or George,” Kathleen suggested.

  “Or Jon’s girlfriend,” Marnie added.

  “Or Randy,” Susan said. “And I’m beginning to think it was Randy. And that maybe he was helped by someone else. I just don’t know if that someone else was Phyllis or George.”

  FORTY-ONE

  “Of course, if George helped Randy, that would explain why he was standing so near the dummy. But Ra
ndy did go off with Phyllis.…”

  Marnie could stand it no more. “What are you talking about?” she asked, forgetting her professional manners. “In the first place, why Randy?”

  “Because he said he was going to do something that afternoon,” Kathleen suggested.

  “More than that. Look at the facts first: Not only did he tell the ski teacher that he was excited about something he was going to do, but he had lied about his skiing skills. Now, why would he do that? There is absolutely no evidence that Randy was in any way mean or hurtful. In fact, everyone comments on how nice a person he was. Also, he apparently had a very close relationship with Darcy, and was sincerely in love with him. So why was he lying to him? Why was he hiding his skiing ability? Not to do anything that would hurt him; that doesn’t make any sense.…”

  “But why—” Marnie began.

  “Wait a minute. Let me explain,” Susan insisted. “The other part of this has to do with Randy’s background. Darcy told me that Randy was an orphan, brought up by an elderly aunt. He had lived a sheltered life, in boys’ boarding schools and summer camps, and unlike Darcy, he didn’t acknowledge his homosexuality in public until after he had completed college. So he grew up with no real family life, and by choosing to keep his sexual preference a secret, he separated himself from the gay community, while not fitting in with the rest of the world.

  “Naturally, Darcy was terribly upset about Randy’s death. And part of what made it so painful is that Randy had been looking forward to this family reunion so much—Randy wanted to be part of a family, at least for a little while.”

  “That is sad,” Kathleen agreed, thinking of her husband and child.

  “And significant,” Susan continued. “Because, in fact, Randy didn’t know very much about families; he’d never been part of one.” She paused to let that sink in. “He didn’t know how families act. Anyone who’s been part of any real family knows that holidays and reunions can be stressful—and that would be especially true for a family where individuals aren’t expected to deviate from the norm. And this family had a lot more problems than most. There’s evidence of that: Randy wasn’t the only outsider here.

  “Both Beth and Joyce knew what it was like looking in at the Ericksens, so to speak. And both of them had, at first, glowing images of the family. Beth was surprised by the unhappiness at this reunion before the murders. And she was surprised because Jon had spoken of his family in idealistic terms, talking about summer homes, family celebrations, vacations. But even Jon, who appears to be living the most trouble-free life of all his brothers and sisters, was quiet the night before arriving at the park; apparently even he knew that a family reunion can be a trying time.

  “And when Joyce talks about her introduction to the Ericksen clan, she remembers an enchanted image of charming people living in the middle of a flowering orchard. She adds that the reason the image sounds like something from a fairy tale is that it is fiction. The Ericksens presented a fabulous image to the world, but underneath the truth was something different. And Randy didn’t know that.”

  “So not seeing the reality, he believed the image.”

  “Exactly,” Susan agreed with Kathleen. “And since he didn’t see what was going on, he didn’t know how to act.”

  “So he made a dummy and threw it into a thermal feature out of social ignorance?” Marnie was still to be convinced.

  “No, I think he did it because someone told him that it would be a good joke—the kind of thing that the Ericksen family would get a good laugh over.”

  “Someone in the family,” Marnie said, sounding less doubtful. “But who?”

  “Well, circumstances would indicate that it was either Phyllis or George.

  “Phyllis because she met him after lunch—apparently had an appointment to meet him. So if he was going to do something then, she most likely knew about it.

  “And George because it looks to me like he was guarding the dummy—making sure that no one found or disturbed it …”

  “You’re right, of course. I don’t know how you found out about it, but you’re right.” Phyllis Ericksen stood in the doorway. Except for a very red nose, she appeared to be back to normal.

  “Come in. Please come in and sit down,” Marnie said, jumping up and vacating her seat.

  Phyllis looked around at the three women before speaking. “I will, if you don’t mind. I … I heard what you were saying.… I was in the hall and I overheard voices. When I recognized who was speaking, I couldn’t resist eavesdropping. I thought it might have to do with Darcy.… I would do anything to save him!” She raised her voice. “Anything!”

  “But we weren’t talking about Darcy,” Kathleen reminded the older woman.

  “I know. So there’s no excuse, is there? But what I heard—about the dummy—I thought I should explain. Maybe, if you understand that, you’ll understand everything.”

  “Why don’t you explain?” Susan suggested as Phyllis sat down and Marnie leaned back against the wall, her arms crossed.

  “It … it sounds insane.”

  “A lot of insane things seem to be happening,” Kathleen suggested. “Why don’t you just tell us what happened and not worry about what it sounds like?”

  “Yes. You’re right, of course.” She stopped for a moment. “When I was standing in the hall, I heard Susan say that someone must have convinced Randy that throwing the dummy in the water would be a joke. She’s right, of course. What else could it have been? Randy was a perfectly nice, ordinary person. He would never have imagined doing anything malicious. And the person who convinced Randy that it was all a joke was George. You see, Randy didn’t have a chance. Why would he doubt what my husband was saying?”

  “Maybe if you started from the beginning,” Marnie suggested.

  “And if you’d explain how you know about it,” Susan added.

  “I know about it because George told me about it. He told me about everything. Sometimes it was a burden. A very large burden. You see, my husband never accepted the fact that Darcy is gay. Darcy told us about it almost four years ago, but the time made no difference to George. He was simply determined not to accept it.”

  “You felt differently?” Kathleen asked gently.

  “I saw that if we didn’t accept our son the way he was, we would lose him. George didn’t see it like that. And he avoided Darcy’s lovers. I don’t fly, but in the past three years I’ve traveled to the East Coast numerous times to visit Darcy in college and in the places he found summer employment. And I’ve met more than a few of the men he’s been involved with.…” She stopped.

  “So you got accustomed to meeting your son’s lovers,” Marnie suggested.

  “And you knew that Randy was different,” Susan said.

  “Yes, I knew that Darcy’s feelings for Randy were deeper than those he’d had for others in the past. And my approach to this was different from my husband’s. I tried to help them. I found a job for Randy—a better job than the one he had at that advertising agency in the city. It didn’t work out for him, but at least I tried. And I helped them decorate the apartment they were living in. Neither of them had the time or the money to do it, so I just pitched right in, taking dozens of taxies around the city, visiting hundreds of stores.… But I couldn’t even talk to George about that. When I got home from one of my visits to my son, I couldn’t even speak about most of the things I had done, because George couldn’t stand hearing about that part of Darcy’s life.

  “That’s one of the things that convinced me to arrange this reunion. I thought it was time that George accepted Darcy’s life-style. And I thought that Randy was someone that George could come to accept. And I thought it might be working! At first, George was disapproving. We had everyone in for cocktails, and he certainly was barely polite to Randy. But then, after dinner, I thought that maybe, just maybe, he was getting accustomed to him. We had a talk about Randy before going to that interesting speech you gave at the Visitor’s Center that night.” She smiled
at Marnie. “And George promised that he was going to try to be better, that he was going to try to get along with Randy. He told me that he had a plan … but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. I was tired that night and I went back to the lodge, planning to go to bed early. But the best-laid plans …” She shrugged.

  “You came and spoke with us in the bar,” Susan prompted, surprised at the look on Phyllis’s face. Apparently she had forgotten that part of the evening.

  “Yes, I wasn’t thinking about that. What I was thinking about was what I found on the bed when I finally made it to my room. At first, of course, I thought it was George lying there. That dummy certainly looked more than a little bit like him. Then I realized that it was a stuffed image, a dummy. I was surprised, but I knew that George was the only person who had a key to the room. I just settled down and waited for him to come in and explain it.”

  “And he did?” Marnie asked.

  “Yes. Oh, he was very casual about it. He said that Randy was going to put it into a hot spring or something the next day. He said that it was a joke.

  “Well, you can imagine how surprised I was. I didn’t even know that the two of them were speaking, and I certainly didn’t think that they would be planning some sort of fey practical joke together. I could hardly believe it. But George was tired and didn’t want to explain any more than the bare facts, so I had to be content with what I knew. That was frequently true in my life—I was accustomed to being left in the dark. But he had told me enough. Lying in bed that night, I decided to meet Randy before he picked up the dummy. I thought I could talk him out of it. But the poor boy was so thrilled that George liked him and that they were doing this together.… I couldn’t convince him to give up the plan.”

  “Why didn’t you try to talk your husband out of it?” Kathleen asked.

  “George never listened to me. I knew it was useless. And I felt so helpless over it all. Poor Randy had no way of knowing that George would deny any complicity in the matter. I suspected as much, but I didn’t know what I could do. So I took the coward’s way out, I’m afraid, and I didn’t do anything. It was truly mean of George to manipulate Randy like that, but I’m afraid my husband wasn’t always very nice.