“Don’t be silly,” Harrison says. He’s holding one snifter toward me. The other is cupped in his hand.
If the Head is on his way down, why are there only two glasses? Ebling said he was about to leave. So why did he pour himself a megashot of brandy? Or maybe that’s for the Head.
I give the decanter a dubious look. I take the glass he’s offering me and put it on the table. No chance I’m drinking one bit of this stuff.
“To your ‘where are they now’project.” Ebling lifts his snifter toward me, toasting.
So that glass isn’t for the Head. Where is he?
Ebling takes a sip of brandy. I don’t. The only sound is the hissing crackle of the fire. If the Head is now tiptoeing downstairs with a gun or something, I’m outnumbered, outmaneuvered and potentially out of luck. And farther away from the front door than I was just minutes ago.
Or I may just have a way-too-vivid imagination. From working in TV news too long.
Be that as it may. It’s not my imagination that two people are dead. I don’t want to be next. I reach across the couch for my purse. I’m heading for the door.
“You may be wondering about the rest of the names,” Ebling says. Smiling, he sits down on the couch, between me and my purse, and pats his pocket again. This time, he pats a different pocket. “We have those, too.”
We? What if the Head is waiting by the front door? To—somehow—stop me from leaving? If I run I could be in even more trouble.
Ebling’s so close I can smell the fragrant brandy he’s swirling his glass. See the gray stubble on his cheeks and chin. See a few tiny reddish-brown spots on his yellow tie. I place my glass on the coffee table and stand, moving toward the fire.
“Chilly,” I say, edging away from him. This is not good.
“True,” he replies. He stands up, coming elbow to elbow with me in front of the fireplace.
He’s too close. The fire is too hot. I loosen the scarf around my neck.
Call me. Call. Me.
I send ESP messages to Josh, to Penny, to Annie, to everyone I called. All my dear ones who I’m beginning to fear I may never see again. My eyes well, and it’s not the heat.
“I suppose you’re wondering about Byron,” he says. He takes another sip of brandy.
“As a matter of fact, I was.” I’m trying to back up but I’m trapped between the couch, the coffee table, the fire and a mousy accountant who seems to be developing into another kind of animal altogether. A scary one.
“Truth is,” Ebling says, “he is indeed upstairs. However. He will not be coming down. Our Byron was so despondent that you discovered his secret little financial stratagem that he killed himself. It’s very sad,” Ebling says, as if he’s relating the plot of a movie, “because he could never have regained his reputation, let alone abide for the rest of his life in prison for three murders. He went upstairs to his room. And used his little antique pistol. Such a tragedy.”
He pauses. With a flourish, he hands me my brandy glass, urging it on me like a gracious host from hell.
“So I fear you won’t be having your meeting about your little project.”
I instantly recognize his voice as “Carter the temp.” And Ebling did a perfect imitation of the Head. I guess he’s right. He’s good at voices.
Oh.
Which allowed him to hide his identity when he made the phone calls. And he said “three” murders.
Three. Did he and the Head kill Josh?
Am I next? I’m next. My throat closes. My brain spins, racing to get ahead of whatever is about to happen. Do I run for the door? Couch, coffee table, fire, Ebling.
“But now,” Ebling continues, sounding like himself again, “the least I can do is show you that list of names you wanted so much.”
He gestures at the snifter I’m holding.
“Byron did have one last glass of his very nice brandy,” he says. He steps toward me. “Which you may also want to do.”
He reaches inside his pocket again.
Of course there’s no list. There’s a gun. Pointing at me.
C
ouch, coffee table, fire, Ebling.
I’ve only got one idea.
The fire.
“No!” I yell. I crash the crystal snifter, hard as I can, into the crackling fire. With a hot whoosh of heat, the alcohol-fueled flames flare from the fireplace. Harrison leaps back, jumping away to escape the licking orange.
I grab the heavy decanter from the coffee table. With a cry of something that even I can’t translate, I smash the crystal toward him, hitting his neck and lower jaw. Sticky, pungent brandy spills from the bottle, dousing my hands and Ebling’s clothing and the rug beneath us. Ebling wails, outraged, and I hop in pain and surprise, frantically patting away spitting flames from the brandy spatters on his clothing.
I throw my scarf around his neck, pulling, pulling, pulling with every ounce of my strength. The soft loop of knitted fabric tightens, yanking Ebling off balance. Before he can untangle himself, I wrench the scarf, fabric straining and murderer howling, down toward the floor.
The heat from the fire is more intense than ever. It seems closer. Hotter.
The crack of Ebling’s head against the coffee table, a thunk of skull against solid mahogany, is as shockingly loud as the silence that follows.
The gun drops from his open hand. I kick it out of the way with a sweep of my boot. It spins across the rug and slides under the couch, just the barrel showing. Keeping my eyes on the motionless Ebling, I move to try to pick it up.
And then I see I have another problem.
The fire.
Rivulets of flame travel across the Oriental rug, devouring the tight weave and turning the elaborate maroon and emerald designs into monochrome crusting black. Some alcohol-fueled flames are licking at the pleated skirt of the upholstered couch. The camel fabric begins to streak with smoke. The air is a suffocating, thickening gray, sweet with the brandy fragrance, acrid with burning fabric. I stomp my boots at the flames, grabbing for the phone on the round end table.
“One Bexter Academy Drive. Emergency.” I say to the 911 operator. I struggle to keep my voice calm so she can understand me. “A fire. A big fire. And we need an ambulance. Someone’s hurt.”
I glance at the still-motionless Ebling. Can I drag him out of here? And what about the Head? Who’s still upstairs? And maybe still alive?
“Operator?”
“One Bexter Drive. I understand, ma’am. Help is on the way. Now listen to me, ma’am. Are you listening?”
“Maybe we need two ambulances,” I say, ignoring her. “And the police, send the police!”
I can’t help it anymore, my voice sounds thin and frantic and terrified. I’m moving toward the front door. Through the increasing smoke, I see Ebling’s head lift from the floor. His eyes open, then close again. And his head drops back down.
Should I try to get him out? What about the Head? The cordless phone is still clamped to my ear, my hand clenched in a death grip around it. The dispatcher, urgent-
voiced, is trying to tell me something. I know. I know the firefighters are coming. But what if it’s too late for the Head? I’m through the living room arch and into the front hallway. The stairway to the second floor is right here. I could race up, outrun the fire. Get to the Head. And when the firefighters get here, they’ll—
“Ma’am? Get out of the house. Now. Right now.” The dispatcher’s voice goes harsh, commanding, demanding. “Get everyone out. Now. Go.”
A piercing wail suddenly comes from every corner of the darkening living room. I freeze, baffled. Until I realize it’s the Head’s alarm system. The one guarding his treasures.
If he’s dead, the fancy alarm system won’t matter. Do I go upstairs?
And then I hear the sirens. Sirens from outside. Louder and louder and louder.
“He’s, he’s…it’s, it’s…” I jab a finger toward the living room, trying to explain everything at once, not able to compete a sentence, but the four black-suited firefighters, one carrying a huge silver cylinder, the others hefty axes and picks, don’t care about a coughing and babbling woman standing in the doorway. I flatten myself against the wall to get out of the way as heavy boots clomp down the hallway. Radio static cuts through the wail of the sirens. The four instantly take control of the fire, the living room, the now-motionless Ebling and me.
In an instant, a mist of glittering water hisses from the black hose connected to one firefighter’s triple-size extinguisher. The flames sizzle in protest. The gray smoke hisses into white. Through the fire and water and smoke and steam and the sounds of the sirens and the still-howling alarm, I watch one firefighter shoulder through the chaos toward Ebling.
“He’s, he’s—dangerous!” I yell. I step back into the house, heading for the living room. If they can be inside, I can be inside. I need to warn them about Ebling, and show them where I kicked the gun. “And there’s a gun in the—”
“You need to be outside, ma’am.” A black-suited monolith in a white helmet, with breathing tank strapped to shoulders, doesn’t wait for me to follow directions. He picks me up, clamping two huge gloved hands around my arms, and moves me toward the open front door in about one second.
“There’s a gun in the—” I’m in midair. The phone clatters to the floor. My feet are not touching the ground. I’m still talking. There’s stuff they need to know. “A gun in the living room. And there’s someone upstairs. Listen! They could be in trouble. You should—”
He deposits me on the front step.
“Move away from the house, ma’am,” the firefighter instructs me, pointing one gloved finger in my face. “The fire’s already out. I’ll check upstairs.”
More sirens. More red lights. An ambulance screams up in front of 1 Bexter, a Brookline police car right behind it. Doors slam. Radios squawk. The front windows of the cottage fly open. Every motion is hyperspeed. Two EMTs, ninja-tough in black jackets stenciled Brookline EMS across the back, hoist an aluminum stretcher up the front steps, then wheel it through the open door.
“Upstairs,” I call after them. “I could show you—”
But they’re gone.
“Charlie McNally?” Officer Jeff Petrucelly, followed by another blue-uniformed Brookline police officer, trots up the walkway to the front porch. Last time I saw him he was interrogating Bexter faculty about the death of Alethia Espinosa. “What’s going on here?”
“The Head, from Bexter,” I say, grateful that someone already knows who I’m talking about and actually wants
to talk to me. I know I sound on the verge of tears. And I guess I am.
“I think the guy in the living room shot him. He’s upstairs. I don’t know. He might be dead. There’s a gun in the living room. I kicked it under the—”
But Petrucelly and his partner, no longer listening, are already sprinting inside.
“Don’t leave,” Petrucelly commands over one shoulder. “Do not leave.”
Suddenly, my knees are weak. I can barely stand up. I may have escaped. But Josh. Penny. Where are they? My purse, cell phone inside, is probably a pile of ashes right now.
Hanging on to the wrought-iron railing with both hands, I lower myself to sit on the bottom step of the front porch. The Head is probably dead. And Ebling is in bad shape. Were they in it together? It’s terrifying, and sad, and so tragic, that a beloved pillar of the Bexter community could be twisted and corrupted by greed and desire and, I don’t know, envy. Byron Forrestal is dead. Killed by a money-hungry loser who had no remorse about tormenting people over secrets from their past. And who finally turned on his own partner in crime.
I lower my head into my hands, staring in dread at the concrete walkway. What if the Head and Ebling got to Josh and Penny? I have to go home. I have to check on them. I start to get up. But I’m trapped. The police ordered me not to leave. My locked car, parked in the driveway, is blocked in by the ambulance.
The tips of my fingers are white with cold, my rear is freezing on the concrete, and I’m grateful for my thick sweater. I pull the turtleneck collar high over my chin, then push my bare hands up under the sleeves. It’s dark. Frigid. And I’ve never felt so alone. Or powerless. Or afraid. When I look up, I’m shocked to see stars, every
constellation glittering, arrayed across the winter sky. Like nothing happened.
“Miss McNally? You said someone was upstairs?”
The voice behind me is a firefighter, wet droplets glistening on his uniform, a deputy’s white helmet strapped into place. He smells of fire and smoke and water. A smear of soot crosses one ruddy cheek.
“Yes, yes, upstairs,” I say. Turning, I jump to my feet, straining to the left, then to the right, trying to see what’s going on behind him inside the house. The smoke is almost gone and the way is clear, but the firefighter is blocking my view.
“The Headmaster, Byron Forrestal,” I say, pointing. “He’s upstairs.”
The firefighter is shaking his head. No.
“No what? No, he isn’t there? He has to be. I mean, he might be hurt. Maybe you didn’t look…”
“We checked everywhere, ma’am.” The deputy’s voice is dryly confident, puffing into the cold. “I know Headmaster Forrestal, of course. And he’s not—”
Then I see his face change. With raised eyebrows, he points a gloved hand, one canvas-covered finger directing me to turn around.
The Head. Is trotting up the front walkway.
Framed in hat and coat and scarf, his face is the picture of fear and confusion.
“What on earth? How did this start?” He looks at his house, then the firefighter, then me, then this house. His face goes bleak. Sagging with terror. “My collection?”
“It’s all fine, sir, nothing badly damaged,” the deputy says. “We got here in time. You’ll have to replace a rug, and your living room couch and a chair. It’s smoky, but nothing some ventilation won’t cure. We got the vent fans going now. The EMTs are still working on Mr. Ebling, but he’ll make it.”
“Ebling? Why was—” The Head steps toward the front door, pointing. “I need to go inside.”
“Miss McNally?” The firefighter faces me briefly, holding up a palm to stop the Head. “We saved your purse, but your coat’s a goner. Sir? You can come inside in a minute or so. After the EMTs leave.”
The deputy turns on his heel, saying something into his squawking shoulder radio, and heads back into the house.
I couldn’t be more confused.
“Ebling told me you were upstairs.” I ping-pong my gaze between the Head and the house, reconciling actual reality with Ebling’s concocted version. The third murder—was me. He was going to try to frame the Head for my death. But how?
Suddenly, I get it. When the Head got home, I’d already be shot dead on the rug, killed with the Head’s pistol. Ebling would kill the Head, then pretend to find us both. He’d say I’d uncovered the Head’s scheme and confronted him. He’d killed me, and then himself. It could have worked.
But the Head doesn’t know about that part yet.
“Ebling? Told you?” The Head is answering me, shaking his head. “Preposterous. Of course I wasn’t here. It’s Bexter board meeting night. I was at the school. Your Josh was there, didn’t you know? Ebling knew that. You can’t be two places at once, you know.”
Josh is okay. I begin to breathe again.
“Do you know where Penny is? Don’t those board meetings usually last until midnight or so?” The words tumble out. “Why are you home now?”
“Senior prank,” the Head replies. “We all had to leave the building. Seems the seniors spread mashed-potato flakes across the floor of Main lobby. They hid and waited until Mr. Parker tried to mop them up. Your Penny was there, too. Watching with Annie Vilardi as the lobby turned to potato soup.”
He takes a few steps toward his front door, then turns back to me.
“You and Josh might want to have a little chat with her about it. After they finish helping with the cleanup. It’s pretty unpleasant.”
I’m speechless. And on the verge of laughing. Until I think about the body in front of the fireplace. The one who might have been me.
I hit the snooze button, curling up against my pillow, getting ready to savor the next eight sweetly stolen minutes before today’s chaos begins. Botox purrs and cuddles up closer. I smile and sigh with my eyes closed, going over the whole thing once again, a long, confusing, frightening night ending with Ebling in jail and Penny in the doghouse. I think Josh grounded her for the next twenty-five years. Ebling’s sentence is probably going to be longer.
I flip over, ousting a protesting Botox from her nest behind my knees, and mentally chew over the one journalistically annoying element in all this. I can’t do the Bexter extortion and murder story for Channel 3, since the same person can’t be a witness to a crime and the reporter on the same story. So Liz Whittemore, who showed up at the Head’s house as the emergency crews were all wrapping up, gets a big break. Courtesy of me.
I’ll help her, of course. And I guess I’ll be interviewed today about it. Weird to be on the other end of the microphone. And weirder to watch it on TV.
Eyes still closed, I reach out a hand to touch Josh. He’s not here. Probably in the bathroom. I have about four more minutes. I nestle in again, holding on to peace. I’ll go to the office, help Liz with the Bexter story.
Then Franklin and I will figure out how to approach Loudon Fielder.
“Sweets? You awake?”
I feel Josh standing by the bed, his presence altering the darkness behind my closed eyelids.
“Yes,” I say, because it’s true. And there’s only three minutes until the alarm rings. My eyes struggle to open and through my still-fuzzy vision, I see Josh holding a cup of what I hope is coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Caffeine and news. Makes it much easier to wake up after a rough night of almost getting murdered.
I ease upright, scooting my rear against the pillows and reaching out to Josh. He hands me the ceramic mug, and kisses me on the top of my head. He sits on the edge of the bed, still holding the newspaper, as I take my first delicious sip.
“Mmm,” I say. “This is perfect. A good day to be alive.”
“Sweets?” Josh says. “You might want to look at the paper.”