“Inside,” Werzel said.
With Werzel keeping the gun aimed at me from a safe distance, there wasn’t much I could do, so I opened the back of the Subaru, shouldered Rob again, and staggered toward the barn door. The air was so numbingly cold that even the short walk from the car to the barn set my teeth chattering. I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt the warm, welcoming air inside. Various animals stuck their heads over stall doors and I heard soft moos, baas, and whatever you call the humming noise llamas make.
Werzel looked around and shuddered as if he’d walked into a cage of hungry hyenas.
“Damn, this place reeks,” he exclaimed.
Reeks? It smelled of dung and hay and the wet-wool odor of damp sheep. Maybe I was getting more used to the country than I thought. To me, the smell seemed familiar and almost pleasant.
“What a typical urban reaction to the normal, healthy smells of nature,” came a voice from one of the stalls. Caroline Will-ner, echoing my own thoughts.
“Who the hell’s there?” Werzel asked. He scuttled so he could put me and Rob between him and the voice.
“Who the hell wants to know?” Dr. Blake. Coming from the same stall.
“Meg?” Dad poked his head out of the stall in question. “Why aren’t you over at the drama department? And what’s wrong with Rob?”
“Come out with your hands up!” Werzel shouted.
“What the devil?” I could hear Dr. Blake mutter.
The stall door opened, and Dad hurried out. He stopped short and threw his hands up when he saw Werzel waving the gun, and was almost bowled over when Dr. Blake and Caroline Willner rushed out and collided with him. I waited, hoping someone else would emerge—Clarence, for example, or Sammy, or Seth Early. I’d have settled for almost anyone not already eligible for Social Security. No such luck.
“Back in the cell, all of you!” Werzel snapped.
“Cell?” Dad echoed. “It’s a stall.”
“Come out, go in—you could make up your mind,” Caroline Willner grumbled.
“This is unacceptable,” Dr. Blake said.
“Look, can I put Rob down?” I asked.
“Shut up, all of you!” Werzel shouted. “Into the cell—stall—now! No, wait—what’s that?”
He pointed to a door at the far end of the barn that was slightly ajar.
“The feed room,” Dad said. “That’s where—”
“Great,” Werzel said. “Better than the stall—it’s got walls all the way up to the ceiling and a nice sturdy door. Into the feed room, everyone.”
“Why is this man holding us at gunpoint?” Caroline asked.
“Because he’s the killer,” Rob said, startling all of us.
“Rob! You’re all right!” Dr. Blake exclaimed.
“No, I’m not,” Rob said. “My head hurts, and Meg’s holding me upside down.”
“It’s the only way I can carry you,” I said. “Despite being my brother, you’re extremely heavy.”
“Ha, ha,” he mumbled.
“Into the feed room,” Werzel said again. “Now!”
To emphasize the “now” part, he fired the gun into the air. Or, more accurately, toward the rafters. We all flinched, and a flock of chickens who had been roosting on the overhead beams scattered in all directions. Including down, which was alarming to witness, since none of them were particularly skilled at flying. Several of them made interim stops on the walls or doors of the stalls—presumably the reverse of how they’d gotten up onto the rafters in the first place. One made a temporary landing on Dad’s head before hopping down to the floor, and Caroline had to catch another plummeting hen. But apparently Werzel had missed them all. None seemed hurt, though you’d have a hard time convincing them of that—they were all running around the rafters or the barn floor squawking as if the sky were indeed falling.
“You idiot,” Dr. Blake roared. “You could have killed one of those poor birds.”
“He’s planning to kill us,” I said, as I dodged another downward fluttering hen. “Why would he worry about a few chickens?”
“Into the feed room,” Werzel said. “I don’t need all of you as hostages. I could make my life a whole lot easier if I finished off a few of you right now. Don’t tempt me.”
“Come on, Monty,” Caroline said. “Let’s not get ourselves shot by this lunatic.”
She marched into the feed room, taking off her cardigan as she went, as if she planned to settle in and make herself at home. Dr. Blake and Dad followed more slowly, and I trudged in last and set Rob down on the floor as gently as I could.