In the Still of the Night

Maybe two. The village fête goes on all day.”
    Gradually the guests assembled for luncheon. They drifted toward the dining room as Mimi was setting the food out on the sideboard. It was a light meal of fancifully cut fruits, a huge salad, cold herbed chicken and hot cornbread with dollops of butter. As soon as Julian West was settled at the head of the table, Robert made the announcement of the invitation. Julian West frowned for a moment, but the rest of the group greeted the information with such enthusiasm that he agreed to go, albeit with a sense of vague grievance—perhaps because it was his way, or maybe because the whole group was going.
    Robert said, “I’ll go call and accept then.“ Lily said, “I want to eavesdrop.”
    They excused themselves from the table, but as they approached the telephone in the front entry hall, Mimi caught their attention. “What’s wrong, Mimi?“ Lily asked.
    “Well, miss, Professor Hoornart is having a real hissy fit about some kind of papers he can’t find and wanted to search every room in the house and that’s when I realized that Mrs. Ethridge wasn’t at breakfast and she hasn’t come to lunch either. I kept an eye out for her so I could nip in and tidy her room while she was out and about and she hasn’t been.“
    “She’s not in the dining room?“ Lily said. “No, I guess not. There were two empty chairs.”
    “She might be sick, miss.“
    “Have you knocked on her door?“
    “A couple times, miss.“
    “I’ll go see what’s become of her,“ Lily said.
    Robert, who had been ringing up the operator, hung up the phone. “I think it would be better for me to check on her.“
    “But Robert...“ Lily saw his serious expression and paused. “Very well. But I’ll come with you.”
    They went up to the second floor and Robert tapped lightly on the door. “Mrs. Ethridge? Are you all right?“ When there was no response, he tapped more firmly and repeated himself loudly.
    They stood there, brother and sister, remembering another incident last fall, and staring at each other. “I’ll look. You stay out here,“ Robert said.
    He opened the door and almost immediately closed it in Lily’s face. She heard the snick of the inside lock. There was complete silence for a long moment, then Robert unlocked and reopened the door. “Lily, she’s dead.”
    Lily gasped. “Are you sure?“
    “Quite sure.“
    “Oh, why did she have to die here?“ Lily said, then caught herself. “What a selfish thing to say. I’m sorry.“
    “No need to be. I thought the same thing. It’s not as if she’s a good friend, or even someone we willingly invited.“
    “What do we do now?“
    “You go back to the dining room and act like nothing’s wrong while I call the police and the coroner.“
    “The police? Why the police?“
    “I think you have to call them for an unexplained death. Besides, if we don’t, what do we do with her? Somebody has to take her away to be buried.”
    Before she went back to the guests, Lily sneaked into the kitchen where Mrs. Prinney and Mimi were getting the final touches on the dessert. Bud Carpenter was there, too, carefully putting the dessert plates on two large silver trays. Lily told them the bad news.
    “Oh, the poor lady,“ Mimi said. “Was it a heart attack?“
    “We don’t know for sure,“ Lily said. “But Robert is calling Dr. Polhemus and the police. Mimi, could you wait outside for them and try to get them upstairs as quietly and unobtrusively as possible? I’ll help carry in the desserts, Mr. Carpenter.“ She’d forgotten what West had said Bud’s rank was.
    By the time Lily and Bud got to the dining room, everyone had finished eating and Cecil was questioning them, rather annoyingly, about his missing manuscript and the call he was expecting from his secretary. He didn’t actually accuse anyone of taking the manuscript, but he felt sure someone had failed to let him know about his telephone call.
    The others were making halfhearted suggestions for places to look for it and Lily suggested that Bud could help Cecil search, if that was all right.
    As she spoke, Lily could hear a far-off siren and knew it was coming to Grace and Favor. Why did the new police chief have to turn on the damned noisy thing!
    They’d all know in a moment anyway. She might as well tell them before a fleet of cars arrived. “I’m afraid I have bad news,“ she said, setting down the tray of powdered sugar-covered pastries in the center