An Unwanted Guest(20)

Candice walks up to everyone near the coffee things and says, quietly, ‘Are any of you aware of who Matthew Hutchinson is?’ The rest of them look at her in surprise. ‘No? He’s from one of the most prominent and wealthy families in New England.’

Beverly had no idea, and looking around at the others, it seems that nobody else had any idea either. At that moment Bradley brings out plates of rolls, croissants, and muffins from the kitchen. He sets them down on the long side table where the buffet had been laid out the night before. ‘Please, help yourselves,’ he says.

Bradley seems quite different this morning, Beverly thinks. He has a distracted air, and he’s missing his charming smile. Well, no wonder.

He glances around the room and says, ‘I’m really sorry about the power. There’s not much we can do about it but wait for them to fix the lines. I’m sure they’re working on it. We’ll try to make you as comfortable as possible in the meantime.’

Beverly is relieved that Matthew isn’t there. He must have returned to his room. She imagines the others must feel as relieved as she does. No one would know how to act around him. A handsome young man in the prime of life, evidently the heir to a great fortune, engaged to such a lovely young woman – his happiness destroyed in an instant by this terrible, tragic accident. How sad and difficult the weekend will be, tiptoeing around his grief.

She wishes now, her own marriage hanging in tatters, that she’d never heard of this place. If only they could leave. She wants nothing more than to go home. She wants to go home with Henry and patch things up and carry on as normal.

The guests mill about awkwardly. Some step up and reach uneasily for croissants and muffins. Bradley soon returns carrying a big platter of eggs. ‘Fortunately, we have a gas stove,’ he says. He places the platter on the table and invites everyone to dig in. But many of them seem to have lost their appetite.

Finally James appears from the kitchen and says, with appropriate solemnity, ‘This is such an awful thing to have happened. I am so sorry. And’ – he hesitates – ‘I apologize – but unfortunately, I have been advised that we must leave the body where it is for the time being.’

The guests shift uneasily where they stand.

‘Advised by whom?’ Henry asks.

‘By me,’ David answers.

‘Are you sure you can’t … move her?’ Beverly asks, dismayed. It seems awful just to leave her there. Disrespectful, somehow.

‘And no, we can’t.’

‘Why not? Surely it was an accident,’ Lauren says.

‘Better to wait for the coroner to determine that,’ David says.

‘You’re not suggesting it wasn’t an accident!’ Gwen says.

‘I’m saying it’s for the coroner to decide.’

Suddenly Beverly wonders if the attorney suspects Matthew of pushing his fiancée down the stairs. She studies the others; she’s pretty sure one or two of them just had the same thought. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she wonders if any of them heard what she heard, the argument between Matthew and Dana late last night. Should she say anything? Surely it was just a lovers’ quarrel. Matthew wouldn’t harm Dana. They seemed so in love.

There’s an awkward silence, and then Riley says abruptly, ‘I thought I heard a scream last night.’

‘When?’ David asks.

‘I don’t know. I thought I’d imagined it.’

‘Did anyone else hear anything?’ David asks, looking around the room.

Beverly feels her whole body tighten. She doesn’t want to get the young man into trouble if he hasn’t done anything wrong. Perhaps someone else heard them arguing. She doesn’t want to be the one to tell. But no one else offers anything. She looks down, uncertain, and lets the moment pass.

‘What about the police?’ Henry asks now.

James speaks up. ‘As you know, the power’s out and the phones are dead. We haven’t been able to reach the police.’

‘I know, but what about snowmobiles?’ Henry asks.

James shakes his head. ‘We don’t have them here. They’re noisy. We like to focus on nature – hiking, skiing, snowshoeing. We’re old-fashioned.’

Henry rolls his eyes in disgust. ‘I can’t believe you don’t have a generator,’ he mutters.

‘The police will get here eventually,’ James says, ignoring him. ‘Once the power’s restored and we can use the phone. Or they clear and sand the roads and we can get out.’

‘How long does it usually take,’ Riley asks uneasily, ‘to restore power up here when there’s a storm?’

Bradley says, ‘It all depends. But I imagine it’s a pretty widespread outage. Ice is much worse than snow. It brings down the wires.’

‘Until the police do get here,’ the attorney says, ‘we have to treat it as a possible crime scene.’

‘But—’ Beverly begins and stops, as all eyes turn her way and she flushes. She says, pointing out the obvious, ‘We’ll have to step past her body every time we go up or down the stairs. We’ll see her lying there whenever we sit in the lobby.’

And then she thinks of that poor young man up in his room, waiting for the police. And whether she ought to say something about what she heard.