Organize Your Corpses

by Mary Jane Maffini

  I knew nothing about guns except that this one had probably killed Dominic, or whoever he was. “The people here have never done anything to hurt you. You can get away, but we can’t let the building burn.”

  Behind her in the window, something moved again. Lilith again? No, the wrong shape. I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t want to take my eye off the gun and the woman who was holding it.

  She said, “I can get away. You’ll be staying. In fact, you may find things too hot to handle.”

  “But Olivia . . .”

  “You can stop this ridiculous charade. It’s perfectly obvious that you know who I am. It no longer matters. Time to get moving.”

  “It won’t work, Miss Henley,” I said.

  “But it has worked. Perfectly.”

  I stood tall and met her blazing blue eyes. “Not really. You slipped up a few times.”

  “Don’t bother to prevaricate. It won’t get you anywhere. Now step away from that alarm.”

  If anyone but Miss Henley was going to survive the night at Stone Wall Farm, I had to stall. To do that, I had to appeal to her famous ego. If Lilith had arrived, she needed to know what we were dealing with. Even two of us were no match for a gun. I said loudly, “The truth is that I am not the only person who knows it was you, Miss Henley,” I said loudly. If Lilith was coming, she’d had time to get into the building by now.

  “I’m not deaf,” she said. “And if you thought you can wake the nurse by shouting, you thought wrong.”

  “Other people know.”

  “I doubt that. I’ve eliminated anyone who would. Now march toward the kitchen. Get moving.”

  “Not so fast. You gave yourself away on several accounts. The visit to the dentist just before your so-called death. You were seen.”

  “Circumstantial blather. There’s no law against going to the dentist.”

  It was time to trot out my wilder speculations. I didn’t have much to lose. “You made sure you upset the receptionist enough so that she left you alone to switch your dental records with your cousin Olivia’s. That was brilliant.”

  She smiled. “It was. I’m quite proud of it. It’s a shame you are the only one who figured it out.”

  “I have to admire the way you pulled it together,” I said. “Must have taken a lot of planning. Letting your own hair grow out long and natural, but wearing a short wig in your familiar style and color. The blue contacts. Even if poor nearsighted Francie spotted the contact lenses, she would put that down to Olivia’s vanity.”

  Miss Henley smirked. “Olivia always wore contacts, the vapid creature. I enjoyed turning that against her. And as for Francie, she’s a fool and that’s why I chose her.”

  “Of course, that made perfect sense. Wynona Banks was no fool. She would have known you were not Olivia at once. But Dominic was there to take care of that problem. Very well planned. What did you do then? Offer Francie the job?”

  “Thick as a plank, that woman.” Miss Henley sneered. “To stupid to live.”

  “But just in case, you kept her doped with sleeping pills. She’d never know who you were calling or whether you were in or out.”

  “I told you to get moving.”

  “I must commend you on using Dominic Lo Bello. What was he? An actor? A small-time criminal? An illegitimate child of Crawford’s? Whoever he really was and however you found him, he turned out to be an excellent choice.

  “I met a lot of nasty children in my teaching career. Unlike you, some of them came in handy. Dominio was one of them. I met him one year when I taught summer school upstate, before he went to jail the first time. He came in very handy over the years.”

  “I imagine he did. He certainly was able to charm Olivia into a drive in the country on the evening she died. I am guessing here, but I suppose he suggested a visit to Henley House. Then a sharp blow to the head. Dominic was strong enough to maneuver the beam and drop it on her. Olivia ended up under a stack of moldering papers at Henley House, her face damaged beyond recognition, so that only dental records could confirm who she was. Of course, you’d already switched those. How did Dominic cut Olivia’s hair and put the wig on before he obliterated her face? The cops and the pathologist would put the wig down to a small vanity. No one would ever question that the body wasn’t Miss Helen Henley.”

  She smirked.

  I said, “But I figured it out, and I have made my deductions known to the police.”

  “Oh spare me. The police won’t listen to you. They consider you a suspect in my death. I’ve seen to that.”

  “And that was inspired too. Setting up the contract. Making the unreasonable call to my home the night before. Taking my pen during our meeting and leaving it under Olivia’s body. Placing the heel of my boot at the scene of Dominic’s murder. Nice touch. Did you get Dominic to take that from my car when he was at my place? Very devious. You set him up to leave a clue implicating me in his own death. But of course, he didn’t know it was to be his death, did he?”

  “He was useful, right to the end,” she said. “Until he got too greedy.”

  “I’m not surprised he got greedy, with all he had to do including that nasty hit and run. Phoning in the tips to Pepper and to Todd Tyrell. I suppose he did everything in return for his piece of the pie. And what a pie it was: all of Olivia’s lovely money. A few months of planning, maybe longer, a couple of weeks of relative risk, some boredom here at Stone Wall Farm, and then you’d be off to revel in the millions instead of living with quiet dignity on your sensible investments and teacher’s pension. Unfortunately for you, I was able to get the message about who you really are not only to the police but also to your media flunky, Todd Tyrell.”

  “Not that I believe you for a moment, since I know you are a bluffer. But even if you did, it’s still too late for you.”

  “Don’t count on it. The world will learn what happened to your cousin Randolph. Olivia liked Randolph much more than she liked you, didn’t she? Perhaps you found that annoying, as well as the fact she would have left him a bundle.” I hit the mark with my guess.

  “Randolph was easily taken care of. Not much of a challenge.”

  It dawned on me that she was enjoying this. She wasn’t going to shoot me before she could exult over her crimes, revel in her cleverness.

  I said, “Randolph, as peculiar as he was, had many people who liked him. There was quite a crowd at his funeral.”

  “Shut up, you stupid girl. People just came to gawk at a pathetic old fool. There was no respect for him. None.”

  “Oh yes, respect. Always important to you. That’s why your bequest to St. Jude’s specified the big memorial reception for Miss Helen Henley and the scholarship in your name. You could attend the church pretending to be poor demented Olivia and enjoy seeing the church full of people paying their respects to Miss Helen Henley. No wonder you planned it. Just as well you missed the speeches. So many jokes about ‘Hellfire.’ But then I guess you can’t have everything.”

  “Once again, you are mistaken. I will have everything.”

  “But, of course, not while you’re stuck here being Olivia.”

  She smirked again, definitely not a pretty sight. “That’s right. And after tonight, I won’t be. You do not have to worry about that.”

  I spoke as loud as I could without raising her suspicions. “Well, I am worried, since you have a gun trained on me. I know you plan to set fire to Stone Wall Farm. You’ve already started something smoldering. Francie and the night nurse have been drugged. I imagine the security guard too. They’ll never make it out. The other patients will be trapped. You don’t care about that. Because Olivia will escape. Let’s see, you’ll be found hysterical, lying on the lawn. Maybe you’ll wake one or two other residents to join you to avert suspicion. Olivia could be a bit of a hero.”

  “This whole crowd of drooling fools will be better off dead. No one cares.”

  I felt a wave of nausea. I thought of Gabe and how much his mother and Lilith both cared.

 
; She said, “And of course, I don’t care about you, Charlotte Adams. Although, your snooping and bumbling have been godsends to me. Even though I’d planned it, you made a much better suspect than I could have ever hoped for. Running around like a rabbit. Especially tonight. I couldn’t believe my good fortune when I heard you were eluding the police.”

  Oh crap. She was right. I supposed she’d been following the APB on television this evening. Had she seen me come in to the building as she was making her deadly preparations?

  I said, “I’m telling you, it won’t work.”

  She paid no attention. “I hadn’t planned it this way, but when I realized you’d come here, I thought, perfect. Francie was already out like a light. It was easy enough to slip something into the night nurse’s tea. You’ll be blamed for the fire here, naturally. Not that you will survive it, but no one will doubt your culpability. It was really unwise of you to break in. But it’s most convenient for me, as I no longer have to depend on the fire looking accidental. So much easier.”

  “Couldn’t Olivia just express dissatisfaction with the services and move away? Why does anyone else need to die?”

  “A few loose ends. Medical files, that kind of thing. Better to have them destroyed. Olivia will survive, but naturally after such a disaster, she will no longer leave her money to Stone Wall Farm. No one will know.”

  “I knew. And I knew it was time for you to make a move. I certainly wasn’t foolish enough to come out here alone.”

  “You’re bluffing again, of course. I remember that about you when you were one of my students. Always trying to protect that motley crowd of pathetic friends. Your tactics didn’t work then and they won’t work now.”

  I dug in my heels. “The people here are helpless, but you can’t really eliminate the library staff, the historical society, and more important, the media, especially your tame toady, Todd Tyrell. I’ve let him know.”

  “I doubt that. But since you know so much, are you aware they have a wine cellar here? Quite extensive. I think you should take a little tour.” She gestured with the gun.

  Yeah right, I thought. And you’ll lock the door and I won’t be able to get out. They’ll find my crispy bones along with the staff and residents when they sift through the smoldering wreckage of Stone Wall Farm.

  “I don’t think so,” I said.

  “Then I’ll shoot you. And I’ll enjoy it.”

  “If you shoot me, that will poke holes in your story about me setting fire to the place. Why would I also shoot myself? For that matter, how and why would I have locked myself in the wine cellar?”

  “By the time anyone shows up here, I will have thought of a very good reason. Perhaps the gun will be at the feet of the night nurse. Shot you to protect me, then was overcome by smoke. How sad. I will enjoy working it out.”

  Where was Lilith? Had she gone for help? Stone Wall Farm was miles from anywhere. Would she be back before I was full of holes or the building a smoldering ruin? I said, “Leaving aside the ridiculous notion that night nurses have guns, the autopsy will show that she’s been drugged.”

  “Well, of course, you drugged them.”

  “But I would have had to be here earlier to do that. I was elsewhere, having a conversation with a police officer.”

  “Nice try.”

  “Another question: Why harm Rose?”

  “You don’t know everything, do you?”

  “Here’s what I think. You had someone drive you into Woodbridge, ostensibly for a visit—maybe Francie, she’d never catch on. Inez might have questioned that after your hissy fit the other day. Then if Francie headed off for a break—and she’s the type—you were five houses away from Henley House. You could meet Dominic, ambush him, and head back to be picked up at Rose’s. But I’m betting Rose figured out you were Helen and not Olivia. She probably couldn’t stop herself from saying so. She had to go. You wouldn’t want that to be tied to Dominic’s death, so Rose was left to die, with the cat you knew she was allergic to tossed in for good measure. You figured someone would find her in a day or so. Natural causes, this time.”

  To the side through the window, a flash of movement, a familiar lanky body, and the glint of rimless glasses, ducking down out of sight. Not Lilith. Jack! My heart leapt in my chest. What was he doing there? Where was Lilith?

  “What’s out there?” she said, turning to follow my gaze.

  I decided I had nothing to lose. Every wild speculation whirling through my brain was fit to mention. Why not keep bluffing? “It was always you all along, wasn’t it? So many deaths. Fires, drownings. Crawford, then later his widow and son, dead in a fire.”

  “No great loss, that crowd,” she sneered. “A stain on the Henley name.”

  I said, “Lilith’s job, her bike, her apartment building. I imagine Dominic handled all that for you too. You had to get rid of her, didn’t you? But you couldn’t risk killing her. Two caregivers from the same facility within two weeks; that would draw unwelcome attention. But Gabe knew who you were as he saw you. And Lilith could communicate with Gabe. What if Gabe ended up with someone else like Lilith? Someone who made an effort to understand him. Someone who might discover your secret before you’d managed your move. For sure, you’d need to get rid of Gabe. You couldn’t resist tormenting him. The parrots picked up your words. ‘Stupid boy. Cripple.’ No wonder his mother said he had lost interest in them recently.”

  “This has been entertaining,” she said. “And you’re right, of course.”

  She stood with her back to the foyer. I don’t know how I did it, but I kept my eyes on her bright blue ones. I didn’t look past her.

  “I’m right about something else,” I said. “Your murder game is over.”

  “Not just yet.”

  I said, “Actually . . .”

  As Miss Henley lifted the gun, Lilith raced toward her from the foyer. She raised her arms high and brought the heavy black vase from the table crashing onto Miss Henley’s head.

  The blue eyes widened and rolled upward, the gun tumbled, and Miss Henley crumpled on the floor. Shards of pottery, water, flowers lay around her.

  Lilith sank to her knees sobbing. “My God, she was going to kill Gabe and everyone here. Oh God, I hope she’s dead.”

  “You don’t really.” My legs turned to rubber. “I’m sure she’s not.”

  Lilith whispered, “The things she said. She was proud of it.”

  I looked around wildly. My voice shook. “We have to find the source of the smoke.”

  Lilith said, “I think your friend put it out.”

  “Well, what are friends for?” Sally said, appearing around the corner. “I’m the one who told you to stay away from Hellfire in the first place. But did you listen?”

  “How did you get here? How did you know?”

  Lilith said, “I was worried about you coming out here. You weren’t thinking clearly. I didn’t have any way to get out here on my own. You gave me Sally’s number for the dogs. Here we are.”

  Sally said, “Didn’t I tell you that project was a trap? But did you listen? Nooo.”

  “But who could imagine anything like this?”

  “You know what I can’t imagine? Why you didn’t call me tonight. Were you deranged?”

  “I was worried Pepper might tap your line and Jack’s. And my idea about Miss Henley, it was so crazy. I couldn’t imagine anyone believing me. I was in a panic. I suppose I thought you and Jack would stop me.”

  Sally said, “Jack loves crazy ideas. Why do you think he got those philosophy degrees?”

  I said, “I saw Jack through the window. I was afraid she’d shoot him.”

  She nodded. “I got in touch with him on his cell phone after Lilith called me and told him you were coming here. Dominic had knocked him out. Lucky he didn’t get killed, or arrested. He got away before the cops spotted him. I didn’t tell Benjamin any of this. He would have stopped us. I just left a note. Oh boy, he’ll be totally devastated about Olivia.”

&nbs
p; Lilith interrupted. “Charlotte, you saved Gabe. If you hadn’t kept her talking, all those evil plans, we never could have . . . it’s just so unbelievable.”

  I wanted to see Jack. “But where is Jack?”

  “I knew my way around the building, so Sally and I tried to find the source of the fire. Jack went to put Gabe into his chair and get him out. He was calling the police and the fire department. I was going to wake up the people on the second floor when I heard what that evil woman said about Gabe. I never hated anyone so much in my life. I never felt fear or anger like that, not even back when I was living on the street.”

  Sally said, “Jack was trying to get Pepper on the line so when the cops showed up, they didn’t shoot the wrong person, like, say, you. We figured Jack would have the most impact talking to the cops. We thought Pepper would listen to him. That Hellfire is such a fiend that she could probably convince them that you were the dangerous one.”

  “She’d already managed that.”

  Lilith moved across the room and flung open the French doors. In the distance sirens shrieked. This time I was glad to hear them.

  I hugged Sally and tried to keep from crying. “Thank you both. You saved my life and all these others.”

  Sally’s eyes were full of tears too. “I think you did that, Charlotte.”

  My voice wobbled. “I really want to see Jack. I have to thank him too.” Neither of them would ever know the black suspicions I’d harbored after I spotted his bike outside Henley House.

  Lilith said, “Come on in, Gabe. She can’t hurt you now.” I heard a hum as the motorized chair rolled up the ramp and into the room.

  Jack appeared in the door, behind Gabe. He was holding two squirming creatures and grinning in his Jack way. One eye was swollen shut and there was a sloppy bandage across his nose. “Truffle and Sweet Marie were howling out there in the car, so I figured it was safe to let them out now.” He set them on the floor and they torpedoed toward me.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a movement on the floor. While we watched openmouthed, Miss Henley’s hand shot forward and grabbed the gun.

  “Well,” she said, sitting up, “four miscreants for one. I can see the news headlines now. Badly beaten elderly widow shoots murderous gang in effort to save fellow patients.”