“Dan, have you seen Kelly?”
“Kelly Knowlson? No.”
“I got a call— That is, Chad got a call that she had been in an automobile accident and was here, but now I can’t find her,” Susan explained.
“I’ve been in surgery so I haven’t seen her, but certainly that’s easy enough to find out,” Dan Hallard replied, reaching toward the woman behind the desk. “Nurse?”
“These are Mrs. Knowlson’s admission papers as well as the report on status. That new young resident with the long hair is looking at her now.” The nurse answered the unasked question and placed a manilla folder in his hand.
He looked through it quickly, then handed it back. “No problem. According to this, her car slid off the road. X-rays look fine, but she is feeling some pain in her neck, so the resident will probably put a brace on it. He’s just being cautious. Let’s go find her.”
Susan followed him through double swinging doors and into a large area partitioned into half a dozen small rooms. Kelly was sitting on an examining table in the cubicle nearest the door, a large pink plastic circle around her neck.
“Susan, thank goodness you got my message. I don’t think I could have stood another minute of this place,” Kelly cried, and burst into tears.
Dan took both her hands in his and murmured comforting words. Susan, whose second child had been delivered by this man, remembered when his “calm down, you’re going to be just fine” had sounded like an impossibility followed by the biggest lie she had ever heard. But Kelly was childless and it seemed to work for her. She sniffed a few times, blew her nose into the handkerchief offered, and even attempted a smile.
“Can I go home now? I need to be at home.”
Susan looked to the doctor for instructions.
“Of course, you may. But remember that you have an appointment with the hospital orthopedist tomorrow—I was reading your chart, and it’s down there. It’s nothing to worry about; he’ll just check the fit of your brace. He’s a good man. You’ll have to take a taxi or find someone to drive you around for the next few days, though.”
“I’ll be fine. I have a lot of friends,” Kelly assured him. “Even friends who leave parties to help me.” She looked at Susan. “I really appreciate this, Sue.”
“Don’t even think about it. I’m just glad you’re not hurt,” Susan said, as Dan helped Kelly down off the table. “Here’s your purse. Did you have anything else?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Kelly answered. “Just that and my coat. Everything else was left in the car, and the policeman who brought me here said it would be towed to the Gulf station on the other side of town.”
“They have the contract for all emergency towing in town,” Dan explained. “Anything left in the car will be safe there.”
Susan had helped Kelly put on her coat. “I don’t know how to check you out of here,” Susan said.
“Don’t worry,” Dan said. “I’ll take care of it. You two just head on home. Kelly will get an extraordinarily high bill in the mail in a few weeks, but her insurance company will cover it.”
Kelly smiled. “Thanks, Dan. It’ll be good to get home.”
Susan thought that perhaps Kelly was going to begin to cry again and urged her out of the hospital and into Susan’s Maserati, adjusting the headrest to make the injured woman more comfortable. They waved to Dan Hallard and drove off.
“How did it happen?” Susan asked. “Or don’t you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t mind. It’s just that I’m not sure I know the answer. I was driving down by the old mill— You know where that is?” As Susan nodded yes, she continued. “Well, I was just driving along and the car skidded off the road. I guess I must have hit a patch of ice or something.”
“There’s a stream along the road there, right?”
“Yes, and my car slid right into it. But there isn’t much of a drop between the pavement and the water, and the car didn’t even topple over or anything. The policeman who brought me to the hospital said I was lucky that it didn’t happen four miles earlier. The water is about twenty feet below the road there and the drop is pretty steep. The car might have rolled in a place like that.”
“Yes. I guess you were lucky,” Susan agreed, thinking that if Kelly had in fact been trying to kill herself, she would probably have chosen a more suitable, more dangerous place to do it. Especially when it sounded like one was readily available.
“You know, Susan, I was very upset about Evan’s party tonight. I was crying. That’s probably why I didn’t see the ice.”
Susan wondered if Kelly was going to mention the salad—or if she should, since it was, by now, common knowledge among their friends and neighbors. “I heard that you were at Evan’s new house earlier today,” she began.
“I just wanted to be part of the party in some way,” Kelly said, fumbling in her jacket pocket for a handkerchief and coming up with a pair of pigskin gloves.
“This must be very difficult to you. It’s your first holiday season in town since the divorce,” Susan commiserated. “Maybe you’d be happier with your mother?”
“No. Absolutely not. I’m needed here.” Kelly stopped sniffing and seemed to gather herself together emotionally. “I thought all this out very carefully. You know how much the holidays mean to me, and Hancock is my home. It’s time to get on with my life.”
“Maybe you’ll meet another man,” Susan suggested, thinking that a new love had cured the unhappiness of others in this situation.
“Not me. I’m not that type of woman,” Kelly said as Susan entered her driveway and followed it around to the back of the house. “Evan is the man I loved—the man I’ll always love. I’m just going to continue my life and wait for him to come back to me.”
“But he’s married to Rebecca,” Susan said, shutting off the ignition and turning to look at her passenger.
“He was married to me first, and that was his only real marriage. This thing with Rebecca can’t be permanent.”
Susan didn’t know what to say about that. “Don’t move,” she said. “Let me come around to your side of the car and help you get out. You don’t want to strain your neck.”
Kelly did as suggested, and Susan helped her hobble up heavily salted back steps and into the house. “I’m going to stay here until you’re in bed,” Susan announced, turning on the lights in the kitchen and helping Kelly remove her coat. “You may have some trouble putting on your nightgown. Do you want to shower?” Susan took off her own coat and threw it on an antique kitchen stool.
“The cloakroom,” Kelly reminded her, looking at the casualness of the arrangement with distaste.
“I’ll hang up yours, but mine might as well lie here. I can’t stay very long. How about something to drink? Or maybe,” she suggested, thinking of possible medication, “just some warm milk?”
“I’ll make cocoa,” Kelly said. “Then I think I’ll get ready for bed. It’s been a long day.”
“I can make it.”
“I want to,” Kelly insisted.
Susan had always been impressed with Kelly’s determination—and knew the futility of fighting it. “Fine. I’ll go hang up your coat.” She passed through the hall and into the cloakroom, hanging the coat next to the mink jacket that Rebecca had spoken of earlier in the evening. It looked as if she had been telling the truth about their encounter. A tiny leaf of lettuce hung off the fur’s stand-up collar.
The house was chilly, and she hurried back to the kitchen. Kelly was sitting at one end of the long trestle table. The place to her right was set with a mug, spoon, and napkin identical to those before her. A steaming pot and matching tray of cookies sat on the table and the air was fragrant with chocolate.
“Come sit down. I thought we could both use a little snack,” Kelly said, nodding to the place next to her and picking up the pitcher. As she poured the hot liquid into Susan’s mug, two marshmallows bobbed to the surface. “I always like the marshmallows best, don’t you?”
/> Susan lied and agreed, wondering if her children’s tastes were more mature than Kelly’s. But she sipped her drink and even found herself nibbling at a cherry-decorated wreath cookie. Kelly did the same.
“Did you have any dinner tonight? Would you like me to make you an omelet or something?” Susan offered.
“No, I’m more tired than I thought I would be, though. I think I’ll just leave everything on the table and go upstairs.”
“I’ll go with you,” Susan said. “You might be a little shaky and there are a lot of steps.”
Kelly finished her cocoa and seemed to consider the effort. “Okay. We can go up the back way. It will be easier.”
“The back?” Susan was surprised when Kelly went over to what she had always supposed was the door to a utility closet and opened it, revealing a small winding staircase.
Kelly turned and smiled at her. “Most people don’t know about this. Evan insisted on it when we were designing the house. He said it was foolish to sleep on the second floor of a house with only one stairway, that too many people burned to death in accidents. But I think he just liked the idea of a secret entrance to our bedroom.” She smiled a little sadly.
Susan wondered if this was a peek into some sort of sexual ritual and decided that she was too tired to be interested. She followed Kelly up the stairs. She didn’t need help, as there were curving railings attached to the walls on either side.
They left the stairway through another door; this time it led directly into the bedroom that Kelly and Evan had shared.
“I think I can get washed by myself,” Kelly announced, heading toward the adjoining bathroom. “I’ll call you if I need any help with this brace.”
“Fine.” Susan sat down in one of the two Lawson chairs set before the fireplace. She waited until Kelly had closed the door behind her to take more than a surreptitious glance around the room. But, when she could concentrate on it, she was surprised at what she saw.
Not that the room wasn’t as well thought out and luxurious as the rest of the house. If anything, it was more so with its four-poster bed hung with embroideries done more than a hundred years ago, its hand-loomed carpet, and stenciled walls. The fireplace she sat in front of was faced by another chair and a love seat covered with needlepoint pillows, all signed with the initials of their maker: K. K. Two doors led to walk-in closets. Two recessed windows displayed tiny brass electric candles hung in wreaths. None of this surprised her.
But the fireplace still glowed with the embers of a fire lit a few hours before. And, on either side of the bed, lights were set on a low wattage to illuminate four plump pillows that had been relieved of the spread. Each side of the bed had been turned back invitingly. If Susan hadn’t known better, she would have thought that Kelly was anticipating a romantic evening.
Not that she had dressed for it. The door to the bathroom opened, and Kelly emerged wearing light blue tailored pajamas with white piping around the collar and cuffs. Susan had once bought Jed an almost identical pair when he went to the hospital for some minor surgery. She must have been staring, because Kelly seemed to feel the need to explain.
“The doctor said that I could take off the brace at night.”
“Oh, of course. Let me help you get into bed.”
“I can do it, but would you go downstairs and find my purse? They gave me some painkillers and I’d like to take one.”
“Did you leave them in the kitchen?”
“Yes.”
Susan hurried down the stairs. The front stairs this time. She found the purse easily, sitting on the kitchen counter right inside the back door, and was on her way through the hall and back to the stairs when a light in the living room caught her eye. Might as well turn it off now. She tucked the tiny plastic cylinder in the pocket of her skirt as she entered the room.
“Oh, I …” She didn’t know what to say. “Evan?”
Evan Knowlson was sitting in one of the plaid chairs in front of the fireplace. A small lamp disguised as a candle was lit on the table by the chair; its light beamed down on a cup of creamy liquid beside a plate of tiny cookies shaped and decorated to look like wreaths. He held a book in one of his hands; the gold letters on the leather binding identified it as a copy of The Night Before Christmas. It took Susan a few moments to realize that he must be dead; no one could live with a hole the size of the one he had in his right temple.
“Susan? Why is it taking you so long? Are you okay?” Kelly appeared behind her.
Susan heard her gasp, but then there was almost a full minute of silence before the other woman spoke.
“I told you he would come back, didn’t I?”
TEN
A large stain had spread across Evan’s collar and down the front of his perfectly starched shirt. He would have hated to be found looking like this, Susan thought.
“Evan always read that book on Christmas Eve. He gave it to me right after we were married. It’s a first edition.”
Susan reached out and grasped a corner of the wall beside her, taking a deep breath.
“He’s dead, Kelly. He’s dead,” she repeated.
“I know. It looks like someone killed him, doesn’t it?”
“We have to get help,” Susan insisted.
“You do it. I’ll stay here.” Kelly walked slowly toward the body.
“I think you’d better come with me.” Susan grabbed her arm. To her surprise, Kelly offered no resistance and allowed herself to be guided to the kitchen phone. But the line was dead.
“I don’t understand,” Susan said, shaking the receiver. “There’s no storm, no winds.”
“We’re not supposed to call anyone.”
Susan looked at Kelly before the impact of her comment struck. The killer had cut the phone line. “We’re getting out of here.” Mindful of Kelly’s fragile state, and unwilling to move around the house more than necessary, she threw her own coat over Kelly’s shoulders, grabbed her purse, and pushed Kelly before her out the back door. The cold air shot through her silk dress, but this was no time to worry about comfort. The car was parked at the bottom of the steps, and she shoved Kelly into the passenger seat, slammed the door, and ran around to the driver’s side, her keys already in hand. The car started instantly, and they were out of the driveway in seconds.
“Where are we going?” Kelly asked as Susan steered the car out to the street.
“To Evan and Rebecca’s house. There will be people there to help us.” She pushed down on the accelerator. The two Knowlson houses might share a common property line, but the road from one to the other led around a very large block.
“We’re not going to be able to park close. It isn’t just Evan’s party; there was also a big party going on next door,” Susan said, pulling the car over to the side of the road.
Kelly didn’t answer, but she got out of the car by herself and followed Susan down the sidewalk, toward the commotion. They were stopped from getting any closer to the house by a uniformed policeman hired for the evening as security for one of the parties.
“A little cold to be out without a coat, isn’t it?” he asked Susan.
“I’m so glad to see you, Officer. Something terrible has happened.” She heard Kelly start to cry. “Could you please come up to the Knowlson house with us? Please!”
He looked carefully at the two distressed women and followed without a word.
Susan didn’t know what she had expected to find inside, but not this. The party was still going on, just as when she had left. If anything, it was even more convivial, more jovial. Jed was playing the piano in one corner of the room and proving that drinking excessive amounts of eggnog didn’t turn a group of middle-aged suburbanites into the Vienna Boys Choir. Dr. Barr had just backed into the Christmas tree, and a uniformed girl was rushing over, dustpan in hand, to sweep up a shattered ornament. Both her mother-in-law and Kathleen’s mother were examining the back of his suit jacket for damage. It appeared that a good time was being had by all. Except, of course, the
host.
She waved to Jed, hoping to get his attention. What she got was the attention of everyone else in the large room. Susan had forgotten that Kelly was wearing pajamas.
“Susan. What are you doing? Are you mad?”
Susan’s arm was almost pulled out of its socket as Barbara St. John grabbed her and spun her around. “We’ve got to get Kelly out of here before Rebecca sees her. She’s in the kitchen now, but she’s bound to be back soon,” she continued, latching on to Kelly. “And look at Kelly. She isn’t dressed. She looks terrible. What possessed you to bring her here?” She kept asking questions while pulling Kelly toward the large powder room near the door.
“Barbara, stop this. I have to talk to Kathleen. Evan’s dead!” Susan turned and headed back into the room.
“Evan’s dead?” Barbara repeated in a shocked voice, dropping Kelly’s arm. “How could he be dead?” She looked around the room as though expecting to find him sprawled on the floor.
“Who’s dead? And who brought her here?” Rebecca appeared in the open doorway, there was no mistaking the anger in her voice.
“Rebecca, there’s been an accident …” Susan began, knowing that she was lying, but wanting to prepare her for the shock.
“I know. Kelly was in some sort of stupid car crash. Evan overheard you on the phone and told me about it. But I don’t understand why you brought her here. Surely there are more appropriate places. Or was this no accident? Is she just trying to get Evan’s attention by playing another of her stupid little tricks?”
“Rebecca …” Susan began again.
“Susan, let me take Kelly home,” Jed offered, appearing at her side.
“Jed–” Susan resisted the urge to rush into his arms and hide “—something terrible has happened.”
“Let’s go back into the hall,” he answered. “You come, too, Kelly. I think—” he looked over his wife’s shoulder at Rebecca “—I think something terrible is about to happen.”
“You don’t understand. Evan is dead.”
“Evan—?”
“What did you say?” Rebecca interrupted Jed.
We Wish You a Merry Murder Page 7
