Page 131 of The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Whatever the case, she scrambled backward—and came up hard against the liquor cabinet. She squeezed the trigger convulsively but she was too panic-stricken to even try to aim. Her gun roared again but the bullet plowed into the ceiling.

Irene held the poker like a sword and drove straight for Claudia’s midsection.

Claudia reeled to the side in a desperate effort to avoid the poker. She stumbled and went down. The gun fell from her hand. Irene turned aside long enough to kick the weapon across the tiled floor, out of Claudia’s reach.

Gripping the poker in both hands, she stood over Claudia.

“Move and I’ll smash your head just like you crushed Peggy’s head,” Irene said.

Crouched on the floor, Claudia stared up at her. “You’re crazy.”

“Right now? Definitely.”

The front door slammed open.

“Nobody moves,”Oliver thundered in a voice that had once electrified audiences.

Irene and Claudia went utterly still for a beat. Then they both looked at Oliver. He had a gun in his hand.

“You can put that poker down now, Irene,” he said.

She took a couple of steps away from Claudia. She was breathing hard.

“She murdered Peggy,” she said. “She killed all of them.”

“I understand,” Oliver said. “But she won’t kill again. You can put the poker down.”

Irene focused on the poker. She realized she still had a death grip on it. She took another deep breath.

“All right,” she said. She set the poker down with great care. “The guard. I think Henry Oakes did something to him. Oakes said something about the gardening shed.”

Another guard showed up at the door. He was red-faced from running. He looked at Oliver for direction.

“Find Randy Seaton,” Oliver said. “He may be hurt. Search the gardening shed first.”

“Yes, sir.”

The guard raced off.

Irene went to Henry Oakes. She put two fingers to his throat. And nearly collapsed with relief when she found a pulse.

“He’s alive,” she whispered.

“Get the gun, Chester,” Oliver said quietly when his uncle appeared behind him. “Use a handkerchief. There will be fingerprints.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Chester muttered.

He whipped a handkerchief out of his overalls and moved to scoop up the weapon.

Another voice spoke from the front doorway.

“What’s going on here?” Nick Tremayne said. He took two steps into the room and stopped short. “Claudia? What have you done?”

Oliver looked at him. “The more interesting question at the moment is, what are you doing here?”

Nick switched his attention to Irene. He looked stunned.Probably sees his career going up in flames, she thought.

“I couldn’t find her,” he explained in a dull, defeated voice. “No one seemed to know where she was. That’s not like her. She usually sticks to her routine. I went to the front desk and asked if they had seen her. They said no. But the hotel operator said that Claudia had recently taken a telephone call from Seattle. That didn’t make sense. I got a bad feeling.”