Mysteries of Holt House - A Mystery (22 page)

It bothered me more than I was willing to
admit. It was reminiscent of the notes I’d received earlier, even though those
hadn’t contained quotations. I finally decided to put the note aside and ignore
it. Well, maybe I’d show it to Mike, and maybe I’d ask Lucy if she’d seen
anyone near my room. Then again, maybe I really would just throw it away and
forget about it.

I climbed into bed and as I fell asleep I
thought,
That note is just dumb enough to have come from Richard English. I
can picture him doing something like that
.

And I buried my head an inch deeper
in the sand.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Thanksgiving had come and gone, and we’d
had a traditional dinner for the boarders. Most of the men had adjourned to the
living room to watch football after eating. It was reminiscent of having my
father in the house. The women sat around the dining table and chatted. It was
surprising that after just finishing a huge Thanksgiving meal, our thoughts had
already turned to Christmas.

The day drew closer and most of us were
getting into the spirit of things. Lucy temporarily gave up humming
Beautiful
Dreamer
, switching to Christmas tunes. In fact, everyone seemed pretty
cheerful with the exceptions of Marjorie, who’d so recently lost her husband,
and Richard, who seemed to get bluer as the day grew closer. Ted didn’t seem to
get too excited about anything.

Two weeks before Christmas, Marion left
for her daughter’s home in California. Before she left she gave me three small
packages to be opened on Christmas morning. One was for Lucy, one was for Josh,
and there was one for me. I gave her the gift I bought for her and she insisted
on opening it before she left. She peeled the paper off carefully, folding it
neatly to be used again, and saved the bow, reminding me very much of my
mother.

“Never throw away the bows, even if you
throw the paper away,” my mother said. “You can always resort to newspaper for
wrapping gifts in an emergency, but there’s no substitute for the bow.” I had a
grocery sack full of bows in my closet.

Marion finally set everything aside,
neatly folded, and opened the box. She carefully lifted out the shawl.

“Oh, Kelly, it’s beautiful. My favorite
color, too,” she said. What a sweetheart. If I’d given her army fatigues she
would probably have reacted the same way. She would be appreciative no matter
what anyone gave her.

“I’m glad you like it, Marion. I know you
get chilly in the evening, and I thought you could use it.”

She looked at me for a moment, then stood
up and gave me a hug. “It really is my favorite color, you know.”

Lucy gave her a gift too, and about an
hour later Josh drove her to the airport. We’d miss having her with us on
Christmas Day.

Two days later Marjorie left for New York.
I gave her the scarf before she left and she was visibly touched. She hadn’t
expected anything.

“I almost wish I was staying now,” she
said, regretfully. “I’m afraid I don’t have anything for you though, and I do
feel bad about that.”

“I didn’t expect anything,” I said. “Don’t
give it a second thought. Half the fun of Christmas, at least for me, is the
giving. I don’t care about getting anything in return. I honestly don’t.”

“Well,” she repeated, “I do sort of wish I
was staying now. You know, for a boarding house, this is still what I would
call a happy home.” She drove herself to the airport after we all wished her a
happy holiday.

Three days after Marjorie left, J.T. was
due to leave. It snowed heavily the night before he planned on leaving, and it
was still snowing the next morning. His flight was cancelled and he couldn’t
get another one. He called his sister and made his apologies. “It’s just as
well,” he said. “My sister worries about my weight, and she never feeds me
enough.”

“Do you have any hobbies besides eating?”
Richard asked, turning to look over his shoulder.

“Yeah. Drinking, and you make me think
about that quite a bit.” That stopped Richard cold, and I had to laugh. I was
still amazed that these two men had formed a friendship. J.T. was so nice, and
Richard was such a jerk. They were the odd couple.

“So I guess I’ll be here to celebrate with
all of you.” J.T. glanced around the room.

“Well, I’m glad,” I replied.

The days rushed by, the snow continuing to
fall off and on, and all of a sudden it was only four days until Christmas. I’d
put off wrapping most of my gifts until the last minute, and stayed up late
that night to get the job done. I didn’t get started until around ten-thirty.
After I wrapped the last gift and set it aside, I walked to the kitchen and
fixed myself a cup of coffee. I took it into the living room with me, turned
out the lights and sat down on the couch.

Only four more days
, I thought to myself.
This is such a magical time
of year. I feel sorry for people like Richard who get depressed instead of
getting involved. It must be rough.
Wow, I couldn’t believe I was actually
feeling sorry for Richard. I didn’t think I had it in me.

Setting my coffee cup down on the end
table, I leaned back, relaxing for the first time that day. I almost dozed off,
but a noise brought me to. Was someone on the stairs? I sat in the dark living
room and listened, but the noise didn’t repeat. I leaned back again, too tired
to get up and go to my room. I’d just rest my eyes for a moment…

The clock woke me with its chiming.

That clock and the door bell are going
to drive me nuts
. I picked up my
coffee cup, deciding I’d better bring Jem in and go to bed. I didn’t relish the
thought of sleeping on the couch all night.

There was another noise and I realized
there was someone on the stairs. I heard Richard’s distinctive voice. The words
were muffled because he was at the top of the stairs. I couldn’t tell who he was
talking to.

“
No!
” Richard yelled.

It was quiet for a moment, and then he
yelled again, this time sounding both angry and frightened. There was a lot of
bumping and thudding, and Richard came flying down the stairs, head over heels.

“
Richard!
” I cried. The ferocity of
his fall told me he’d been pushed, with a lot of force. That thought sprang
into my head even as I ran to him and knelt by his side. Richard moaned and I
heard footsteps upstairs, the sound growing fainter and fainter.

“Richard?” I said, tentatively. His eyes
fluttered open, but they looked distant. There was blood oozing from the corner
of his mouth, and his nose was bleeding. His eyes closed again and he seemed to
stop breathing.

I heard voices upstairs.

“
Hurry
,” I yelled. “
Richard’s
been hurt. Somebody help me
.”

Mike came running down the stairs with
Josh right behind him.

“What’s going on?” Mike asked.

“What happened?” Josh tried to look over
Mike’s shoulder before pushing him out of the way.

Ted ran down from the third floor while
Josh tried to help Richard.

“Call 9-1-1. We need an ambulance.” J.T.
looked frightened.

“Call the police,” Josh said, kneeling by
Richard’s side, checking for a pulse. “It’s too late for an ambulance. He’s
gone.”

I felt woozy for a split second, but
recovered quickly.

“Josh,” I said. “He was pushed. There’s no
doubt about it this time. None.”

“Where were you when it happened?” he
asked. “How do you know he was pushed?”

“I nodded off on the couch. The clock woke
me, and I heard Richard arguing with someone at the top of the stairs.”

I stopped talking and glanced down at
Richard. It almost looked like he took a shallow breath, but I was wrong.

“Can’t this wait, Josh?” I asked, my voice
trembling.

“Absolutely not. If someone pushed him, it
can’t wait. Tell me the rest.”

“Could we at least go sit down on the
couch? My legs feel awfully shaky.”

“Sure,” he said, a little more
sympathetic. He took my arm and led me to the couch.

“Okay,” he said, “what happened after you
heard voices on the stairs?”

“I didn’t hear voices. I heard one voice –
Richard’s. I couldn’t tell who he was talking to. I was kind of groggy because
I’d fallen asleep. It took a second for Richard’s voice to even register.”

“But you’re sure he was arguing with
someone?” Josh asked.

“Yes, I could tell by his tone and how
loud he was.”

“What happened next?”

Mike walked into the room and for some
reason that set me off. I started to cry, out of both guilt and sorrow. I’d
suspected Richard of having something to do with Ruth’s death, and now he’d
joined her. I hadn’t liked him at all, but his death put a different slant on
things.

“Kelly, get hold of yourself. This is
important,” Josh said.

I nodded my head. By that time Lucy and
Sharon had heard the commotion, had awakened David, and they’d all run out to
see what was going on.

“Josh,” Lucy said, “what happened?”

“Richard fell down the stairs,” he
replied.

“He was
pushed
,” I corrected.

“He was pushed,” Josh echoed my words. “Go
on with your story, Kelly.”

“I heard Richard yell ‘
No’
, it was quiet
for a second, he yelled ‘
No’
again, and the next thing I knew he was
flying down the stairs. He came down with too much force to have just tripped
and fallen.”

“You’re absolutely sure he was arguing
with someone?” Mike asked.

“Yes. There’s no doubt in my mind.” I
closed my eyes for a moment, wishing I could block it out. No such luck.

“He
does
look like someone hit
him,” J.T. said, walking over to join us. He’d been listening to us from the
doorway. I could see how shaken he was. He’d been the closest thing to a friend
Richard had. “His nose and mouth aren’t bleeding from the fall, I’m sure of
that. His face looks like someone hit him.”

 “But why didn’t any of us hear
anything if there was a fight?” Josh looked around at each one of us, because
by that time everyone had gathered in the living room.

No one had a clue.

“I’ll answer my own question,” he said,
thoughtfully, inspecting the faces of the people gathered around. “Someone may have
punched Richard, but there wasn’t actually a fight. No one here has any bruises
or cuts. I guess Richard never had the chance to defend himself. Maybe the
first punch knocked him off balance and the second punch knocked him down the
stairs.”

Everyone was suddenly a suspect – even me.
They had no way of knowing whether or not I’d really been asleep on the couch.
As far as saying a woman couldn’t have hit Richard that hard, well, it didn’t
wash. Any one of us women could have hit him with an object or a fist. It was
just a matter of taking him by surprise.

The police arrived while we watched each
other, each one of us trying to figure out who was guilty.

Chapter
Twenty-eight

After examining the body, I heard one of
the police officers say it looked like Richard had broken his neck in the fall.
They took statements from each of us again, as they had when Ruth Bell died.

Ted tapped one of the officers on the
shoulder. “I can’t deal with this. Can you please ask your questions so I can
go to my room? Really! This is just too much.” He did look a bit ill, so the
police took his statement first and let him return to his room.

The police agreed with Josh and J.T.,
saying it appeared Richard had been punched, at least twice. “It looks like the
first blow surprised him, and the second one knocked him down the stairs.” The
officer made notes to himself on a notepad.

“Come on. I’ll make coffee.” Lucy motioned
for J.T., Sharon and David to follow her to the dining room. I though they
looked relieved to be leaving the room.

Josh and Mike stayed with me while the
police asked more questions. I’d already told them everything I knew, which was
very little. However, they wanted to know if there was any type of relationship
between Ruth and Richard.

 “If you mean like a romance, then
no. I can’t think of anything to link them together. I don’t think they even
liked each other. Ruth avoided Richard as much as she could.”

The police took photos while a crime scene
tech worked, and one of the officers went upstairs to take a look around. He
came back down and I heard him tell one of the other officers it looked as
though someone had cut the carpet at the top of the stairs in an effort to make
it look like Richard had tripped. Josh, Mike and I stood aside from the
officers, talking in hushed whispers.

 “To me, that indicates the murder
was premeditated because there wasn’t time for someone to cut the carpet after
the fall. I heard footsteps running away. Should I tell them about the secret
passages?” I asked.