Fear of Frying

farthest reaches of the lodge.
    “Where is the sheriff! Where is Benson Titus? I want to make an official complaint.”
    A deputy approached her. He tried to take her arm, but she shook him off. But he kept talking quietly while he led her into the dining room. As they got closer, the deputy could be heard saying, “Just sit down and relax for a moment while I find them.”
    Liz flung herself down on the bench next to Eileen. “I’m so furious!“
    “What on earth’s happened?“ Jane asked.
    Liz drew a long, deep breath. “Bob Rycraft and I went out to look over some of the grounds while the rain had stopped. I wanted to check out that area back behind the Conference Center. He would not listen to me about following the path to the right, so we went left and got lost. Male chauvinist pig that he is, he insisted I stay where I was while he tried another path. He never came back, naturally.“
    “Bob Rycraft is missing, too?“ Eileen asked.
    “What do you mean, ‘too’?“ Liz asked, but without waiting for an answer, she steamed ahead. “So I stood there for a minute, thinking the sun would come out again and I could get my bearings, and all of a sudden one of those dreadful costumed idiots came crashing through, knocked me down, and ran on. Just pushed past me like I was a bush! I fell backward and thought I’d broken my wrist.”
    She held out her right hand, shoving her sleeve up. Her wrist was swollen.
    “You should get it X-rayed,“ Eileen said.
    “No, I can move it. It’s fine. But that’s not all. I tried to follow this person and give her a piece of my mind—”
    “It was a woman?“ Shelley asked.
    “I didn’t know it then, but yes, I think so. I went stumbling through the brush and found her sitting on a stump, crying. Crying! It was that tall, gangly one with the stringy red hair.“
    “What was she crying about?“ Jane asked.
    “She claimed somebody had knocked her down, put a blindfold and gag on her, and taken her stupid costume. Stupidest excuse for an apology I’ve ever heard.“
    “You’re sure it wasn’t true?“ Shelley asked.
    “Oh, of course it wasn’t,“ Liz snapped. “She’d gotten rid of the costume, of course. Probably threw it in the undergrowth when she heard me following her.“
    “And was there a blindfold?“ Shelley persisted.
    This took a little wind out of Liz’s sails. “There was a long scarf that I guess could have been wound around somebody’s face, but who would believe a story like that? I told her, you just come back to the lodge and try telling the sheriff this ridiculous story, and then I’ll decide if I want to press assault charges against her. Stupid woman!“
    “So she might have been telling the truth,“ Shelley said.
    Liz gave her a first-class glare. “I’ll tell you this right now. I’m voting against this harebrained scheme of sending our schoolchildren up here. This place is horrible. Just horrible.“
    “I agree,“ Shelley said.
    “So do I,“ Jane and Eileen said in unison.
    Liz was taken aback at last. “You do? All of you?”
    They nodded.
    “Then let’s get out of here now,“ Liz said.
    “Well, there’s a bit of a problem with that,“ Shelley said. She tried to make i t sound like she regretted giving Liz bad news, although Jane suspected Shelley was reveling in being the bearer of bad tidings. “The bridge has gone out. Didn’t you see all the cars in front?“
    “Surely there’s another way out?“ Liz exclaimed.
    “There’s a logging road that’s probably flooded,“ Jane said. “Or you could wait in what probably is a very long line for a neighbor with a boat to take you across where you’d have to get a ride to town, then take tomorrow’s bus to Chicago.”
    Liz muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “Oh, shit!“ but wasn’t quite distinguishable. Then she stood and beckoned imperiously to Bob Rycraft, who had come into the lodge looking discouraged and disheveled. His jeans were soaking wet halfway up his thighs. There was a swipe of mud across his forehead.
    He hurried over to them. “Thank God you’re here, Ms. Flowers! I found the way out, after I fell in the creek, and you were gone. I came back here to try to find a search party to go looking for you.“ His lips were a bit bluish and his teeth were chattering.
    Liz was suddenly maternal. “Go to your cabin and put on dry clothes. You’re going to catch your death. But let me ask you one question first. Do you still