Dosed to Death

by P. D. Workman

  But there was no sign that he had been plotting the murder of anyone in the group at the Lodge. No pictures or newspaper articles pinned up, taped to the wall, or hanging from the ceiling. Kenzie had thought maybe he would have a bunch of candid shots of Brittany showing that he had stalked her there.

  The living room was neat and cozy. There was a paperback book lying on the couch. Not some serial killer horror book, but a thick tome by a Russian author. One of those ones that Kenzie always thought she should get around to reading one day, but didn’t have the inclination to actually begin.

  There was no clutter. No beer cans on the floor. No duffel bag of suspicious objects.

  Kenzie walked through to the bedroom, and again looked around in something akin to wonder. Jack was not just a neat man. The room was obsessively neat. At first glance, the room was empty. Like an unoccupied hotel room. No personal effects, no suitcase out or clothes draped over a chair as she had seen in the other cabins. Nothing on the night table. No vacation sloth.

  Kenzie checked the closet, wondering if Jack were even staying in that cabin at all. Maybe she had walked into a vacant cabin. Or he was registered there but was staying with one of the other guests. Maybe Raven herself. Or Samantha, the maid. Or even Vance Stiller—Kenzie couldn’t make assumptions.

  There was an empty suitcase in the closet, and a few items of clothing neatly hung from the rod. The suitcase was entirely empty. Jack wasn’t living out of it. He hadn’t taken out just the items he needed right away and left the rest stowed there for when he would need them another day. It was spotless, as if she were looking at it in a luggage store. Kenzie went through the pockets of the clothing that was hung in the closet, but she already knew they would be empty. He would empty everything out of his suitcase and then leave something in his pockets when he hung his clothes up? Not likely. The creases in the clothing were crisp. Not like they had been mashed into a suitcase, but as if he had taken the time to iron them before hanging them up.

  “This guy is something else,” Raven murmured.

  Kenzie nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  She went to the dresser and opened the drawers. They slid smoothly out and, as she had expected, his underwear and other non-hangable clothes were neatly folded and stacked. In the top drawer were a few other sundries, all laid out in the sections of a collapsible organizer tray.

  No medications. Those would be in the nightstand or the bathroom. She closed the drawers, making sure they were all pushed in all the way, the fronts perfectly flush. She didn’t want Jack to feel like she had tossed the place. Everything that he had taken such care to put in its place should be left just as she had found it.

  She opened the drawer of the nightstand. It was empty. Kenzie looked at it for a minute, frowning. She had expected pill bottles, probably something to help Jack to calm his obsessive brain in order to be able to sleep at night. Or at least a bottle of Tylenol. Maybe reading glasses, chargers for his watch and phone, a few other things that he would want close to his bed. Earplugs and an eye mask to shut out world.

  She closed the drawer, again making sure that it was shut tightly.

  “Nothing?” Raven asked.

  “No. Nothing.” Kenzie went on to the bathroom. There was a small toiletries kit on the counter. Kenzie opened it to find Jack’s brush, comb, razor, and toothbrush, along with anything else he needed to get himself ready for the day. But again, no medications. Not so much as an aspirin, vitamin, or sleeping pill. Kenzie looked at the bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and soap. They all appeared to be exactly what they were labeled. “I’ve never seen someone as neat as this.”

  Raven shook her head. “The sign of a sick mind for sure,” she joked. “Why would someone like this even come out here? I mean... nature is messy. And having someone else do all of the cooking for you, the cleaning being done in a substandard way... You would think someone like this would want to stay in his own house and never leave it.”

  Kenzie nodded her agreement. “Yeah. And I would never have guessed that’s the kind of person he is. He seems very... casual. Undisciplined. I never would have thought it was just a mask.”

  Thinking about Raven’s comment about the cleaning, Kenzie checked under the bathroom sink for cleaning products and found some travel-size bottles of bleach and cleansers. She went out to the kitchen and found the same.

  “Are you going to take those?” Raven asked.

  Kenzie shook her head. “I don’t think it was anything like this. They might be toxic, but this isn’t what was put in the food. Besides, you would know. You would taste it. It would smell strongly. And it would burn.”

  “So you’re not going to take it? Even though it could be poisonous?”

  “No. You don’t think you would smell this if he put it in your food?”

  Kenzie held one of the bottles, still screwed shut, under Raven’s nose. Raven reared back, nostrils flaring. She shook her head.

  “No. I guess not.”

  Kenzie did one more sweep of the cabin and didn’t find anything else worthy of note. She and Raven got their coats back on again and stepped out of the cabin.

  41

  Tyrrell was coming the opposite direction and nearly collided with Kenzie.

  “Oh! Sorry, Kenzie.” He looked over her shoulder. “Are you already finished?”

  “Not much to see in this one. We can go to the next cabin, which I guess is... Brittany’s.”

  They were all quiet as Kenzie sorted through the keys to find the one for Brittany’s cabin. Kenzie wondered what it would be like. She had been totally wrong about Jack. Maybe she had misjudged Brittany as well. She hadn’t taken much in when she had gone there looking for Vance Stiller. She had only stood inside the door and hadn’t been able to see the rest of the cabin. She didn’t remember it being untidy, like the Collins’s cabin, or extra neat, like Jack’s. Somewhere in between. Like she would expect from someone on vacation.

  She managed to find the right key and twisted it in the lock. They went inside and took off their boots and other winter gear. Kenzie looked around, assessing the cabin. It was a larger one, like the one she had rented. More than just a single bedroom. And that meant it was going to take longer to search.

  She wasn’t lingering and doing a detailed search anymore. There was too much to be done. Her stomach felt tight and heavy at the idea of having to search the barn and outbuildings too. How could she be expected to do that on her own, at night, in the freezing cold, when she was already bone tired? For the time being, she had to focus on the guest cabins. Even the residences of the staff would probably have to wait until the next day. It would be easier when it was light out and she’d had a few hours of sleep.

  It wasn’t likely to be the staff anyway, was it? If they’d had murderous feelings toward guests, they wouldn’t have lasted there as long as they had. They would have been fired for having a bad attitude or would have already poisoned someone and been arrested. The Lodge couldn’t have a history of poisonings, or it would never have lasted.

  Kenzie started with the bedrooms, as before. The first room was not being used as a bedroom. The furniture had all been pushed to one end of the room, with the mattress leaning up against the wall, to make room for a small seating area surrounded by lights and camera equipment. A recording studio for Brittany’s vlog. Kenzie took a quick look around, but there were no pills, food, or chemicals there. Just expensive-looking electronic equipment.

  They went to the next bedroom. Half of it had been set up with an exercise mat and various elastic bands and other lightweight exercise equipment. Brittany’s computer equipment had been set up at a writing desk on the other side of the room. Kenzie couldn’t identify all of the electrical components. It was a more sophisticated system than she would have been able to deal with. Brittany was clearly experienced in taking her show on the road and setting things up in a way that allowed her to work efficiently and maintain her lifestyle.

  The last bedr
oom was Brittany’s sleeping room. Her clothes were unpacked, the nightstand full of miscellany, and the bed hadn’t been made. Kenzie went to the nightstand and looked through the pill bottles there. Nothing but Tylenol and an herbal sleep aid. Nothing in the drawers. Nothing illegal.

  “You can take another look through here,” she told Tyrrell. “Just make sure I haven’t missed anything.”

  “Okay.” Tyrrell looked a little lost, but he nodded and looked around.

  Kenzie stepped into the bathroom, where there appeared to have been an explosion of cosmetics, jewelry, and other feminine detritus. Kenzie smiled and started looking through it for pill bottles. She fished a few out from the mess and pocketed only one of them. The cabin was a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into the celebrity. Kenzie didn’t know a lot about Brittany, but the general perception of such successes was often that they were totally lazy and had hit it big for doing nothing. It was pretty obvious from Brittany’s set-up that she was a professional who worked hard to achieve the success that she had. Still setting her alarm to get up early and record a session, even while she was supposed to be on vacation.

  Kenzie looked around for anything else she might have missed, then went on to do a cursory review of the living room and kitchen.

  Brittany had a number of prepackaged snack foods in her kitchen. Unlike the others, she was not completely reliant on the meals up at the farmhouse. They were mainly portioned diet foods. Like Brittany’s exercise mat, they were a testament to the fact that she had to work at maintaining her image. She had to watch what she ate and make sure that she exercised if she were to keep her audience. The Bambas wouldn’t be very forgiving if she ballooned up three sizes.

  Tyrrell joined Kenzie. Raven was standing at the door, not even putting on a show of supervising Kenzie. After having watched Kenzie search all of the other cabins, Raven had probably concluded that she was not out to frame anyone by planting drugs. Like Kenzie, she probably really wanted to get back to her own cabin and get to sleep. It wasn’t as though she had volunteered for the job in the first place. She had been nominated by all the others.

  “Nothing?” Raven asked.

  Kenzie held up the one pill bottle she had taken. “Just this. Pretty clean.” She cocked her head at Raven. “I thought you would be really interested in seeing how a famous vlogger like Brittany lived. Not your thing?”

  Raven rolled her eyes and shook her head. “No. Why would it be? I get that she has a big audience, but I’m not one of her fans. I have better things to do with my life than just to watch some inane monologue about how Brittany the Bombshell lives her life every day.”

  “I’ve never met someone like her before.”

  “How do you know? She’s not that different from anyone else.”

  “Well, I mean... I’ve met people who were wealthy or famous before. But not that much of an icon. Or doing whatever it is she does.” Kenzie motioned to the room full of recording equipment. “I just thought it was interesting.”

  “Not very.”

  Kenzie nodded. “Okay.” She turned to Tyrrell. “Anything?”

  “No, I didn’t see anything else. I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking for. You already saw the pill bottles beside the bed, right?”

  “Yes. Nothing I’m concerned about there.”

  “I wasn’t sure about the herbs.” He shrugged. “You can never tell what the side effects might be. Or even if it’s the same thing in the capsules as it says on the bottle. I saw this one study where they tested a bunch of herbal supplements, and a lot of them were just grass clippings.”

  Raven snorted. “Wouldn’t that serve them right?”

  “Serve who right for what?” Kenzie asked curiously. “Someone who is trying an herbal remedy for their health isn’t that different from someone who is taking a medication. Sometimes they work. A lot of the medications we use now originally started as folk remedies. Scientists distilled down the active ingredients, and...”

  “People who take all of that homeopathic junk are always so virtuous about it. Like they don’t take drugs, because that would be wrong or it would mean there was something wrong with them. But if they can cure their problems with herbs, that’s different, that’s just living in harmony with nature or some stupid thing. I hate people who get all high and mighty and say you should be able to solve any illness without medications.”

  Kenzie nodded, understanding. “Yeah, I see what you mean. I wouldn’t want to put up with that either. If you need a medication, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “That’s right. And people who think that everyone should just ‘go natural’ or whatever they want to call it, they should think again. They should have to go through everything that the person they’re criticizing goes through. Seriously. Maybe then they would stop being so superior.”

  “Sorry that you went through that.”

  Raven looked at Kenzie for a minute, then nodded. “Yeah. Fine.”

  Kenzie didn’t know what Raven had been through, but from the looks of the pharmacy that had been in her room, life hadn’t been very easy for her. Kenzie looked at Tyrrell.

  “How was Zachary?”

  “You probably know that better than I do. All I know is how he looked when he got back, and that he said he was done. He needed a break, but he wanted me to keep an eye on things in case you needed a hand. Make sure that nothing happened to you.” Tyrrell spread his hands apart. “I’m not exactly a fighter. I don’t carry and I’m no karate expert. So if push comes to shove...” He grinned, his cheeks getting a little pinker. “Well, pushing and shoving I can manage. But if it’s something serious... I’m not much of an asset.”

  “I think it’s just the safety in numbers that he’s concerned about,” Kenzie said. “Three of us, one of whoever else might be out there. It isn’t like anything is going to happen. Everyone is supposed to stay up at the farmhouse until we finish with their cabins.”

  Kenzie finished getting on her winter gear and opened the door. Brittany was stamping her feet in the snow, waiting for them.

  “You’re getting faster,” she commented.

  “We’re tired,” Kenzie admitted. “And most of these cabins are the same design, so we already know where everything is going to be.”

  She didn’t tell Brittany that they were not checking electrical outlets or light switches for hidden contraband. If they were that thorough with every house, they would never get to bed.

  “Well, glad you’re done.” Brittany covered a yawn. “That means that I can get to bed.”

  “Have a good sleep.”

  “Oh, I plan to. I’ll be up bright and early tomorrow.”

  “Are you going to shut off your alarm tonight, or still get up at the usual time?”

  “Well, I’ll probably still get up the same time as usual. I like to be able to get my routine done early, even if I can’t upload everything right now. I just feel better if I can get my workout and video and everything else done.”

  “Have a good sleep. I guess we’ll see you sometime tomorrow.”

  Brittany raised her face to look up into the dark sky. There were no stars out overhead. Thick clouds still covered the area, blocking out any light from the moon and the stars. Snowflakes still drifted down in thick flakes, gathering on the trees and drifting around the ground. “When will it finish, do you think? Tomorrow?”

  “I don’t see any sign of it clearing yet. I don’t know. I hope it’s soon, so that we can get some reception and hand this investigation off to the police.”

  “Not much of a vacation for you either, is it?”

  “I guess not. But I did plan for it to be. I fully intended to have a nice relaxing holiday.”

  Brittany laughed and entered her cabin. “See you tomorrow.”

  She shut the door and Kenzie heard her slide the bolt to secure it.

  Funny, Brittany had said that she had medical training, but she hadn’t shown any curiosity about what Kenzie might have found so far.
Had that just been a line? If she did have medical training, what area was it in? Was she laughing at Kenzie’s attempts to sort out what had happened at the Lodge? Or was she just as confused about the situation as everyone else?

  42

  Vance.”

  Kenzie looked at the next cabin. She had already seen inside once, but like with Brittany’s cabin, only from the front door. She didn’t know what kind of a person he was behind closed doors. What secrets or indulgences he might have. She had not found anything in any of the other cabins that pointed the finger at one particular suspect. Several people had substances or medications that could have caused hallucinations, if used in fairly large amounts, but Kenzie didn’t know how they tasted or how much would have been needed to cause the effects that they had seen.

  And had the perp intended to get the results that he or she had? Was it just about making people hallucinate and lose control? To make them forget what they had done? Or was it intended to hurt someone? To cause an overdose death? As much as she kept telling everyone that Mr. Dewey’s death was just a natural death and was completely unrelated, she couldn’t help but wonder. Had he been given the same drug, and it had caused a fatal heart attack? Or had he been given something else? Was he the test case and the poisoner had been disappointed that everyone else hadn’t died?

  If everyone was supposed to die, then who was the poisoner? Was it Mrs. Hubbard, who no longer had a job or cared what happened to her? Was it attempted murder or murder-suicide? Could it had been Burknall? Maybe he wanted to steal valuables from the wealthy guests and disappear into the wilderness, never to be heard of again.

  Kenzie found the key for Vance Stiller’s cabin. She pushed the door open and took a deep breath, steeling herself for one more search. Just one more, and she could be done for the night. She couldn’t go on and do the searches of the staff’s quarters. That would have to wait until the next day. If one of them were the poisoner, then it would give them a chance to get rid of the poison. Kenzie admitted that. But the point was to keep everyone safe.