The Reunion (22 page)

She glanced toward the scene of the crime. Most of the crowd had heeded Zach and returned to their rooms. The deputies had arrived and relieved Zach of his duties. He stood to one side. The manager was gone.

“Are you ready to go? Most of the people have left.”

Suzanne took a step and stumbled. Meghan slipped a steadying arm around her waist.

“You can do it. We’ll take it slow.”

They walked with hesitant steps down the hallway. The closer they got to the room, the louder the gasps from Suzanne. Zach intercepted them.

“Do you need help?”

“No, I think I can handle her.”

Suzanne shuddered and gasped for air, mumbling between breaths.

“I’ll take her to the bar before she faints. Maybe a brandy will help calm her. What about you?”

“I’ll stay here for a while and see what they find.”

Meghan nodded and steered the staggering, breathless Suzanne toward the elevators. The handkerchief remained clutched in her hand along with the purse.

“Let’s get you a brandy, okay?” Meghan suggested. Anything to get the poor woman back under control.

“Okay. M-maybe. I-I don’t know.”

“I imagine just being away from your room helps, doesn’t it?”

She kept her voice soft and sympathetic. It worked. Suzanne’s gait steadied and she’d ceased the horrible gasping even though she shook uncontrollably on the ride down. Heading for the bar, they passed the ballroom entrance when the door suddenly swung open. Suzanne shrieked and clutched at Meghan’s arm. Glory emerged carrying the memorial posters.

“Glory, I thought you’d gone back upstairs,” a startled Meghan said, tightening her grip on Suzanne’s waist.

“I thought about it, but I’m still too keyed up to sleep, so I decided I’d help with the clean-up.” She placed the easel and the boards outside the door and looked at the women for the first time. “Good grief, what’s wrong with Suzanne?”

“Help me get her into the bar.”

Glory’s arm joined Meghan’s supporting Suzanne. They entered the lounge, lowering her into a chair. The bar was closed, but Meghan walked behind it, poured a large snifter of Hennessey and returned to the table. She set it in front of Suzanne who tried to raise the glass, but failed. Her hands trembled so hard, the liquor sloshed almost to the rim.

“Here, let me.” Meghan took the glass pressing the rim to the redhead’s lips.

Suzanne didn’t sip. She gulped, and then gagged. A small rivulet of brandy trickled down her chin. Meghan daubed at it with a napkin.

“What’s going on?” Glory asked. “Why is Suzanne in such a state?”

“I’ve got bad news. Dave Coryell’s been murdered. Suzanne found his body in her room.”

Glory gasped. Her eyes went wide, and she pressed shaking fingers to her lips. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth,” she muttered.

Meghan looked at her with a sharp glance. “Proverbs.”

Glory nodded. “This is just too horrible. What on earth is going on?”

“I don’t know.”

“Someone’s trying to frame me,” Suzanne muttered through chattering teeth. “I didn’t kill him. I swear it.”

“No one thinks you did,” Meghan answered.

The brandy had done its job. Suzanne raised the glass on her own this time and sipped. She still trembled, but appeared more in control.

“I needed to talk to him. So, I went to his room, but he didn’t answer. I got scared because I thought someone was following me.”

Meghan drew in a silent breath. “Following you? Where?”

“In the hallway outside his room, and again in the parking lot when I searched his car. I thought I heard footsteps. Then I couldn’t find my key, so I went to the front desk to get another. When we opened the door, we found…” She gulped more brandy, pressed the handkerchief to her mouth, and let fresh tears run down her face. All the carefully applied make-up had washed away. Suzanne looked every bit her age.

Meghan looked at Glory whose face was curiously blank. She stared straight ahead as though in a world of her own.

“Glory?” She touched her arm. The blonde jumped. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, yes, I’m fine. Just taking it all in. I thought this reunion would be so special. I worked very hard. I tried to make things run smoothly. I know some people made fun of me, but I truly wanted them to feel welcome. I wanted to do the best job possible. Divine would have. It’s the kind of thing she would do.”

Meghan stared in consternation, and then realized the woman was on the verge of shock. She snatched the snifter from Suzanne’s fingers and held it out to Glory.

“You did a magnificent job. I felt very welcomed. I’m sure most people did. You can’t be responsible for the actions of a maniac. Here, have a sip of this.”

Glory recoiled. “Oh, no, I couldn’t drink spirits.”

“Just a sip. You’ll feel better,” she wheedled.

The lanky blonde placed her lips on the rim and tilted the glass allowing the barest touch of liquor to make contact. She licked, shuddered, and made a face.

“That’s awful.” She licked again. “How do you stand it?”

“I’m not fond of brandy, but for some reason it calms the nerves.”

Zach walked in and pulled out a chair. “Are you all right?” he asked Suzanne.

She blew her nose and shook her head. “No, I’m not all right. I’m scared shitless. He was strangled, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah. The killer cut the cord from the lamp on the dresser, fashioned a slip knot, and placed a knee on his back for leverage.”

Meghan inhaled sharply. “Just like with Annabelle. Was a stun gun used?”

He nodded. “Got it right in the throat. A heavy dose, too. According to Ray, there are several sets of burn marks. He needed more than one round.”

Meghan shivered. “Oh, God.

They found Suzanne’s room key on the floor near the desk. Dave must have dropped it. Ray wants to talk to you, Suzanne, as soon as you’re able.”

She nodded and drained the rest of the brandy.

Zach rose and headed for the bar, then returned with a bottle, and three more glasses. He refilled Suzanne’s before pouring one for himself and Meghan. Glory pushed her glass away.

“Nothing for me. I can’t listen to any more of this. Please forgive me. I…I need to check on…I mean I need Tom.” She rose and left the bar.

“So both of my keys were missing,” Suzanne said. “Anyone can get a key. I did for Dave’s room.”

“You have Dave’s room key?” Meghan asked.

Suzanne explained her reasoning to them. “I don’t suppose the desk clerk remembers who wanted my key.”

“Probably not. The killer must have obtained the second key and stolen yours. Did you leave your purse unattended at any time tonight?” Zach questioned.

“Sure. Any time I went to the bar in the ballroom. So, how did Dave get a hold of my key?”

“Good question,” Zach commented. “Maybe he’s the one who requested it. He could have been looking for you, too.”

“I doubt it. He knew nothing was going to happen between us.”

Meghan gnawed on a fingernail. “Any idea when he was killed?”

“Ray says he’d been dead an hour, maybe a little more, but that’s a rough guess.”

“God, what a mess.”

Zach turned to Suzanne. “Tami, Eddie, and now Dave. Have the four of you had any contact since high school?”

“Not much. By our junior year in college, Eddie had flunked out, Tami was stalking her first husband, and I have no idea what Dave was doing. My roommate’s family was rich, so I spent a lot of time with her.”

“I guess that’s one way to get ahead in the world,” Meghan said, sipping her brandy.

“God dammit, don’t judge me. Money opens doors. I met people through Jennifer, people who counted. And don’t go thinking I didn’t work for my money. You try hosting a fundraiser for the Chicago Museum of Art and being the chairperson for God knows how many charities. It’s damned hard and time consuming.”

“All right, all right, I’m sorry.”

“Can we get back to the four of you?” Zach demanded. “Someone holds one hell of a grudge. Who would wait twenty years to kill you guys off?”

Suzanne gulped a large portion of her liquor. “I don’t know. Maybe because they couldn’t find us until this reunion. My name changed, so had Tami’s—many times. And as a truck driver, I’m sure Eddie moved around a lot. But why?”

“I haven’t got the answer to that. You must have done something to warrant all of this.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Dave was always pulling some kind of prank. He Super-glued the locks on the freshman lockers. We all helped. And he and Eddie got a hold of some kind of liniment and dumped it on their teammates’ jock straps. Burned like hell. Dave claimed he got that one from some movie.” She rubbed her fingers over her forehead. “I don’t know. We pulled a lot of pranks.”

“What about Tami?” Meghan asked. “She could be damned vindictive. I heard Monica Evans was livid about things she’d said.”

“Oh, the cheerleader business. Yeah, Tami was madder than hell. She wanted that head position real bad. She started the rumor Monica was a lesbian.”

“Did Monica confront her?”

“Not to my knowledge. Most people didn’t want to get on Tami’s bad side. Tami was a calculating, manipulative control freak. Dave thought up funny pranks. Tami served up revenge. She didn’t even have to have a good excuse. If she thought you’d wronged her in some way, look out.”

“That sounds paranoid,” Meghan commented. “Was she?”

Suzanne shrugged. “I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me.”

Zach frowned at the redhead. “Who’d she go after other than Monica?”

“Hell, Zach, it’s been twenty years. Give me a break. I can’t remember everyone she got even with for supposedly slighting her.” She paused for a moment. “There was that girl in the drama club. She beat Tami out for the lead in the junior class play. I remember Tami cursing up a storm in the restroom. She threw the trash can clear across the room. Those things were made out of metal and damned heavy, but she tossed it like a wad of paper. Busted the mirror over the basins to smithereens.”

“What was her name, the girl who beat her out of the part? Do you remember?” Meghan said.

“Christy? Kristin? Something like that.”

“Crystal Bennett?” Zach suggested.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“What was the revenge for that?” Meghan asked.

“Vintage Tami Robinson. She spiked the girl’s soda at dress rehearsal. When she got sick and couldn’t go on, Tami, as the understudy, did.”

“Spiked it with what?”

“A laxative. Her parents had to take her to the emergency room.”

Meghan looked at Zach who gazed back with a scowl. “That’s not only mean, but dangerous. I take it she didn’t get caught.”

“Tami? Consequences always bypassed her.”

“Sounds like they all caught up with her a few months ago. Was Crystal here tonight?” Meghan didn’t remember having seen or talked to her.

“I have no idea,” Suzanne replied.

Zach nodded. “I saw her just before dinner. What about Eddie? Where did he fit in with revenge and practical jokes?”

“Eddie was dumber than a box of rocks. His idea of fun was physical. You know, punch a skinny kid on the arm so hard he cried, or trip the class geek in the hallway, and then watch his books and papers fly all over.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Zach muttered. “I was one of them.”

“Could he have hurt someone doing that?” Meghan wondered. “I mean really hurt them, like a broken arm or internal injuries or something?”

“I don’t know.”

Meghan nibbled on her thumbnail this time. It sounded as though most of the class had motive for hating and killing Tami Robinson, but Eddie, Dave, and Suzanne? Then she remembered a conversation from earlier.

“What about Carol Rutherford’s and Alicia Raines’s dates?”

“What about them?” Suzanne frowned. Lines etched from her nose to her mouth.

“Alicia said you flirted with them.”

“Alicia is full of crap. The guy she was with was bored to tears. I would be if I had a date with Alicia. I spoke with a couple of guys when I ordered from that overpriced bar set up in the ballroom. With one bartender and a lot of thirsty people, it was often a long wait. I talked. I did not flirt.”

“Anyone else?” Zach persisted.

Suzanne cast her gaze down, “Lots. I just can’t remember offhand.” She sipped some brandy, made a face, and pushed the glass away. “I can’t handle any more booze tonight.”

“How about food?” Zach asked. “You didn’t eat much at the banquet. Are you hungry?”

“I suppose. Is the restaurant still open?”

“No, but I know where I can score some roast beef.”

“As long as it’s food,” Suzanne rose swaying briefly.

Meghan stood. “Need help?”

“No, I’m fine. Just tired now. It’s been a hell of a night.”

****

Suzanne lied. She wasn’t fine. She was scared to death. She followed Zach and Meghan into the kitchen and helped pull food out of the fridge, but her mind wasn’t on eating.

Dave’s face haunted her. She clenched her teeth against the nausea as his blackened face and outthrust tongue refused to leave her mind. And the smell! The stench had been enough to gag a maggot.

It could just as easily have been me. It should have been—twice
.
Maybe the killer was lying in wait for me to come back, but got Dave as a bonus.

She shivered. Meghan and Zach believed the killer was on some kind of a vendetta. Suzanne agreed. Who could have a held a twenty year grudge allowing the resentment to fester? Dan Masterson had reason. So did Monica and that Crystal person. Other than Dan’s veiled threat, none had said anything homicidal.
And I don’t even remember seeing Monica or Crystal.

She racked her brain trying to recall all the people they had wronged back then.

I should have kept a scorecard
.

None of them had given a damn about who’d they’d hurt. A twinge of guilt gnawed in her shaky stomach. She pushed the thought away.
For God’s sakes, we were kids. Kids make mistakes.

Carol Rutherford and Alicia Raines hadn’t been angels either. Tami had tangled with both of them during their senior year, although what about, Suzanne couldn’t remember. Tami hadn’t been paranoid, but just plain mean. The former cheerleader enjoyed hurting others.