We carefully descended the staircase following Mac’s flashlight beam. It only illuminated as far as the next few steps. For all we knew, the stairs could dead-end or drop off into a crumbling pit. I kept one hand on the stone wall for balance and one hand on Vi’s elbow. It was slow going and the skittering of creatures in the dark didn’t add to the enjoyment. I sent up a request to the universe that Mac’s light wouldn’t fail.
Finally, we came to a wooden door. I was certain it would be locked and we’d have to turn around and make our way back up in the gloom. Mac tried the handle and it turned. He gave the door a gentle shove and we peeked out into the hallway that Wally had said contained offices and the back entrance to the kitchen. It was empty, but we heard René and Emmett in the kitchen. The three of us looked at one another in various states of surprise. The door was one of several in the hallway. There was a sign affixed to it on the hallway side: STORAGE—STAFF ONLY. This opened up a whole new avenue of investigation.
“I knew it!” Vi said. “It’s the chef. He did it.”
I chose not to mention her last suspect had been the maintenance guy and we hadn’t even interviewed him yet.
“Why would René want to kill Clarissa?” I said.
“I don’t know yet, but he has a back entrance to her room. That’s pretty suspicious.”
“It is pretty suspicious,” Mac said. “Mostly it’s suspicious because the staff and the family must have known this staircase is here, but none of them chose to tell us.”
“Staff and any curious guests might be aware of the staircase,” I said. “It’s not locked on either side.”
Mac nodded. “Let’s get out of here and go somewhere we can talk in private.”
Vi insisted we return to “our” room. Mac’s look of dismay made it clear he had meant that he wanted to talk to me in private, not Vi.
“Should I get Rose and Lucille?” Vi asked. “Wally might be helpful, too.”
Mac opened his mouth to speak, but Vi held up her hand.
“He knows lots of stuff about this place, you just have to ask the right questions with him,” Vi said in a lecture-y tone. “There’s no way he could be the killer because he was with us from the time Clarissa left until Linda found her.” Vi rummaged in her purse and pulled out a small black notebook that looked remarkably similar to the one Mac carries. She flipped it open and began writing a note while we walked along the back hallway toward the stairs.
“What’s that you’re writing, Vi?” I said.
“I just don’t want to forget anything. You never know what will be important to an investigation.”
“Ms. Greer, you aren’t investigating anything. Clyde and I will figure this out.”
Vi’s mouth turned down. I could tell by the softening of his expression that Mac interpreted this as sadness. I knew it was her stubborn streak expressing itself.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you—” Mac began.
Vi cut him off by saying, “I understand. You haven’t worked with us before so you probably don’t know what a great team we make. But Clyde and I have done some good work in the past when we had murders to solve.” She elbowed me in the ribs. “Tell him, Clyde.”
Mac turned his incredulous face in my direction.
I couldn’t look him in the eye, so I addressed his snowman.
“Actually, Mac, they do sometimes have some good ideas, and they have helped me in the past.”
“In the past? You mean the times you took it upon yourself to solve a murder and almost got yourself killed, not once, but twice? Those times?” Mac’s face had turned stony and red. It was as if he didn’t know whether to be outraged or terrified.
I lowered my voice and leaned closer to Mac.
“It’s easier than fighting it.”
Mac took a deep breath and let it out.
“Okay, go get Wally and Rose,” Mac said to Vi. “But leave my mother out of it.”
Mac took my hand and stormed up the stairs toward my room.
“I’ll be right there! Don’t say anything until I get back,” Vi said, and scurried off toward the front desk.
Mac dragged me to the room and waited while I pulled out my key. He closed the door quietly behind us and took a moment before he turned around.
“I don’t like the idea of getting civilians involved in a murder investigation,” he said to the door.
“I know, Mac, but honestly, we can’t stop them from talking about it and throwing around ideas. I think it’s better if they think they’re part of the action. Otherwise, they’ll go around talking to everyone and we won’t be able to keep any information to ourselves.” I put my hand on his shoulder to turn him around. “This way we have some control over them. Plus, technically, we’re all civilians in this case.”
Mac nodded. “I get it. Wally might actually be helpful anyway. He’s in a unique position—we know he’s not guilty and he knows all the suspects better than we do.”
“Besides, if we hadn’t come here, Vi would probably be in charge of the investigation all by herself,” I said.
Mac shuddered and held his hands up. “Okay, okay. You’re always looking on the bright side, aren’t you?”