“Perhaps. Abe and Ellie both said she never entertained visitors. Of course, that doesn’t preclude her from extending an invitation to someone for last night or simply giving out her room number. There’s also the register, which Abe keeps on the front desk. There were two entries for her because she moved from a room to a suite. Still, I had no difficulty locating her. I suspect her killer didn’t either.”
Lily wondered aloud, “Do you think Victorine might have known her life was in danger?”
Roen’s expression was puzzled. “Why do you ask?”
“I suppose because she hired that man. The private investigator she told you about. Perhaps he was as much her guard dog as he was an investigator.”
“She’s talking about Martin Cabot,” Roen told Ben.
“I gathered that. He’s on my list to interview. Lily, don’t you agree that if he were also given the responsibility of protecting her, he would have been staying at the Butterworth?”
“Hmm. I reckon so.”
“And where was the threat? Did she think Roen was going to exact some sort of revenge?”
“It wouldn’t have been out of the question. I’m sorry, Roen, but she did shoot you. You would have been well within your rights to retaliate. And if you were a man of different character, you would have.”
“Um, thank you?”
“That was a compliment.”
“Oh, then thank you,” he said, more certainly this time.
She smiled at him and then addressed Ben. “I’m trying to point out that in her mind she had reason to be afraid of Roen.”
“Lily’s not wrong,” said Roen. “Victorine was vengeful. It would have been difficult for her to accept that the same isn’t true of everyone.”
“All right. That adds to the questions I have for Mr. Cabot. He certainly failed her.”
Lily asked, “Do you think Mr. Cabot knew she wasn’t pregnant?”
“I intend to find out,” said Ben. “The killer might have known beforehand, but he definitely knew when he killed her. She certainly wasn’t wearing the cushion in the bath. He put it on her after he carried her to bed. He dressed her then and arranged her hair so that it spilled over the pillow in a manner pleasing to him.”
“Who? Who would do something like this?Whywould he do it?”
“I aim to learn.” He leaned back in his chair to look down the hallway. “Would you mind asking Fedora to come back here? I need to speak to her alone.”
Lily rose to get Fedora. Roen stood and announced he was going to the station to send the telegram. Fedora was entering the kitchen as he was preparing to leave. He touched his face. It was enough to remind her to place the ice bag she was carrying against her cheek. He nodded, smiled encouragingly, and left.
Roen used the time it took to walk to the station to compose the message he wanted to relay in the telegram. Of necessity the news had to be delivered bluntly. He followed this with a question regarding Victor’s wishes and told the station agent that he wanted to receive the reply as soon as it arrived. When he returned home, Ben was gone. Fedora was tidying the kitchen and he breathed deeply of the aroma of rising bread. The ice bag lay on the table. He looked at it and sighed.
“Was it a difficult interview for you?” he asked.
Fedora stopped sweeping. “No. Sheriff Madison was kind. He wanted to know what I did after you left me at Mrs. Brady’s. I told him I went to my room and stayed there. There was no one who could support my story. I explained that Mr. Cabot saw me go into my room but could not possibly know that I remained inside it.”
“Huh. I should have mentioned running into Mr. Cabot to Ben. It didn’t seem important. I imagine it was not the same for you. You didn’t want anyone to see your injury. I recall you tried to avoid him.”
She nodded. “It is always the same with him.”
Then Roen recalled an earlier conversation with Fedora. “That’s right. You told Lily and me that you were ill at ease around him.”
“He watches me the way a cat watches a mouse.”
It was an image that he would have remembered if she had been so direct before. “It begs the question as to whether running into him was serendipitous or orchestrated.”
“I don’t know, but he’ll be leaving soon, won’t he? Now that Miss Headley is dead. The sheriff did not explain the particulars of their association to me, but he hinted there was one. I told him that his mother suspected Mr. Cabot was a spy for Mr. Headley’s railroad, and he didn’t deny it.”
“It’s as good a reason as any for his presence in Frost Falls.” Roen realized it would be a relief to both him and Lilyfor it to remain the prevailing explanation. “Is Lily in the front room?”
