And One to Die On(85)

2


What Geraldine Dart wanted Bennis Hannaford to do was simple enough. It was so simple, Gregor was embarrassed not to have thought of it himself, hours ago.

“Out in the garage we’ve got these spotlights,” Geraldine explained to the rest of them. “Battery-powered spotlights. We bought them a couple of years ago to serve as backups in case of a power failure. So that people could get in and out of the dock and up and down the stairs in the dark if there was an emergency. I don’t know if any of them still work.”

“What about the batteries?” Bennis asked. “If the batteries have been lying around for two years, they must have expired.”

“No, no.” Geraldine shook her head. “Don’t worry about the batteries. I’m very careful to keep up-to-date on all the different kinds of batteries we use in this house. It’s the lights themselves we have to worry about. It’s very damp out in the garage.”

“But what will you do with the lights when you get them?” Mathilda demanded. “What does Morse code have to do with it?”

“Don’t you see?” Kelly had a tiny smile on his lips. “They’re going to send out a signal. Save Our Ship.”

“There’s a balcony that looks out toward the front of the house from the living room,” Geraldine said. “We can set up there. Maybe there won’t be anyone on the mainland looking out at us, but maybe there might be. Maybe Jason might be. And if somebody sees our signal, they’ll know we’re in desperate need of help.”

“But what difference would that make?” Mathilda asked. “Nobody can get out here in this weather. Everybody’s been saying that right from the beginning.”

“I think it’s a very good plan,” Lydia said firmly. Her face was very pale. “Maybe somebody on the mainland could think of something really special to do once they knew our situation was really dire. Maybe they could send in a helicopter.”

“A helicopter couldn’t land here,” Hannah Graham objected. “It’s much too windy.”

“Whatever it’s going to be, we’d better get started,” Bennis said. “Shall Geraldine and I go out to the garage together, Gregor?”

“That’s an excellent idea,” Gregor said.

“So what are the rest of us supposed to do?” Hannah demanded. “Stand around staring at the silly jerk’s body and twiddling our thumbs?”

“No,” Gregor said. “You’re supposed to help me search the closets one more time. In case none of you had noticed, and I’m sure at least one of you didn’t have to notice, because you knew all about it in advance, Richard Fenster is lying on the floor in there, but Tasheba Kent’s body is not lying on the couch. It has disappeared. I suggest you help me find it.”

“Oh, dear,” Mathilda Frazier wailed. “I hadn’t thought of that. Even if Carlton did kill Tasheba, he couldn’t have killed himself. That means somebody else killed him. One of us.”

“Carlton didn’t kill Tasheba,” Gregor said.

“We’re going,” Bennis said, ignoring Mathilda’s vapors. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. Keep your fingers crossed and wish us luck.”

Bennis and Geraldine Dart left the room. A moment later, Gregor heard them leave the house through the front door. Then he turned and faced the rest of the group.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s get going.”





3


They were good. Even Hannah Graham was good. Cavender Marsh did not help out, but Gregor did not expect him to. He was old, and he was furious, a prisoner of alien forces in his own home. He got even more furious when Gregor refused to allow him to stand guard at the television room door, and assigned Lydia Acken to that job instead.

“You can’t possibly be implying that you suspect me of bashing that young man’s head in,” Cavender fumed. “I couldn’t lift whatever it was that hit him.”

“I’m sure that’s perfectly true,” Gregor said calmly, “but I want Lydia at that door.”

Cavender stormed off. He went to sit by himself in the living room, muttering imprecations against Gregor Demarkian and all his works and offspring in four languages. Lydia Acken took up her place in front of the television room door.

“This makes me very nervous,” she told Gregor. “What is it I’m supposed to do here?”

“Make sure nobody else gets in.”

“I don’t see how I’m going to bring that off. I couldn’t physically restrain someone like Kelly Pratt. I couldn’t even physically restrain someone like Mathilda Frazier.”