In the Still of the Night

Cecil’s room. He called, “Come in“ to her knock.
    “That letter you got from the old nanny,“ Lily said. “Do you have it here? Let me see it.”
    He looked alarmed by her curt behavior, but took the letter Phoebe had written down from the phone message out of his bedside table drawer and handed it over.
    Lily skimmed it quickly. “Yes. That could be it. Cecil, she says at the end that she has a telephone. “You must call her and ask one question. This is what it is....”

    Twenty minutes later she had her answer. Only one more thing to find out. Lily paced around at the front door, waiting for Dr. Polhemus to return. When his car came into the drive, she ran to meet it.
    “Dr. Polhemus, there is one very important thing you must find out and tell me.“
    “Yes?“
    “Examine Mr. West’s body thoroughly before it’s taken away. Tell me if he has any other serious scars.“
    “All in good time, my dear. That will be noted in the autopsy.“
    “By that time, a murderer may have escaped. You must do it now. By yourself. Must I ask Chief Walker to make this request?“
    “Oh, very well.”
    Lily told him exactly what to look for and followed him to the yellow parlor. Bud Carpenter was now sitting on the sofa across from the body of his dead master. He had his head in his hands.
    “Sir, I must make one more examination,“ Dr. Polhemus said. “Miss Brewster will take you to the kitchen and I’ll be through in a moment.”
    Bud got up like a mechanical toy. Expressionless, he followed Lily. Mrs. Prinney was just washing out a dishcloth and said, “Oh, Mr. Carpenter, I’m so very sorry about Mr. West’s death. It must be horrible for you. Let me get you a big glass of warm milk. That’s always soothing.”
    Lily left him there and went in search of Robert and Walker. She found Robert slumped in the visitor chair in Mr. Prinney’s office while Walker spoke on the telephone to the local funeral home.
    “Lily, you’re pale as a ghost,“ Robert said, getting up and forcing her into the comfortable chair. Walker hung up the phone. Lily perched at the front of the chair like a fledgling bird about to take a first, terrifying flight.
    “I think I know how this all happened. I just don’t know quite where to start.“
    “Start anywhere,“ Walker said, looking at her intently.
    “Well, I told Phoebe about what Henry had heard on the calling system, and she said, ‘What kind of appendix?’ I told her the kind in the back of a book with extra information.“
    “Right,“ Walker said.
    “No, wrong. Cecil spoke with West in his room about the book appendix. But the conversation I think Henry overheard was between West and Lorna Ethridge in her room about his appendix. West’s, I mean.”
    Walker and Robert exchanged looks that clearly meant: Has she gone off her rocker?
    Lily knew what they were thinking and wondered if they might be right.
    “The dead man on the sofa isn’t Julian West,“ she said.

Chapter 24

    Walker checked Lily’s story with Cecil and Dr. Polhemus, who confirmed what they’d both learned. Then he asked everyone to come to the yellow parlor. Mr. Prinney had come home from his errand and Robert filled him in on what had happened during his absence.
    “All that? I was only gone for half an hour.”
    Robert had to conceal a smile. He’d never known Mr. Prinney to be funny, even inadvertently. The guests and residents, plus Dr. Polhemus, assembled once again in the yellow parlor. Lily was considering closing it up when this was over. At the moment, she couldn’t imagine ever wanting to come back in this room, lovely and comfortable as it was.
    Only Rachel had flatly refused to be present. “We don’t need her,“ Walker said. “Let her stay in her room.”
    He took Julian West’s place in front of the fireplace. It was four o’clock and the sky had clouded over so the doors had been shut and the lights turned on. Bud Carpenter was again sitting on the sofa where West had died. Robert sat beside him.
    Raymond stood behind the sofa. Dr. Polhemus and Mr. Prinney were on the opposite sofa. The women were around the sides of the room.
    Bud still looked like he’d been pole-axed, though he’d absolutely refused to take the sleeping powders that Dr. Polhemus had offered him.
    Walker cleared his throat and glanced at Lily. She nodded.
    “Mr. Carpenter, we’re all sorry for your loss.“ Bud shrugged, looking down at his hands folded in his lap.
    “But you didn’t lose