Nighttime Is My Time

32

Jake Perkins sat in the lobby of the Glen-Ridge House, watching as the last of the reunion celebrants checked out and headed back to their private lives. The welcoming banner was gone, and he could see that the bar was empty. No last good-byes, he thought. By now they're probably all sick of one another.

The first thing he had done when he arrived was stop at the front desk and verify that Ms. Wilcox had not yet returned to check out, and that she had not cancelled the car that was to take her to the airport at two-fifteen.

At two-fifteen he watched as a uniformed driver came into the lobby and went to the desk. Jake rushed to stand next to him and hear for himself that the man expected to pick up Laura Wilcox.

At two-thirty the driver left, obviously disgruntled. Jake overheard his comment that it was too damn bad he hadn't been told that she wasn't going, because he could have had another job, and not to bother to call him the next time she needs a ride.

At four o'clock, Jake was still in the lobby. That was when Dr. Sheridan returned with the older man she'd been talking to after the dinner. They went directly to the front desk. She's asking about Laura Wilcox, Jake thought. His hunch was right-Laura Wilcox was missing.

He decided it wouldn't hurt to try to get a statement from Dr. Sheridan. He reached her side in time to hear the man she was with say, "Jean, I agree. I don't like the look of it, but Laura is an adult and has the right to change her mind about checking out of the hotel or catching a plane."

"Excuse me, sir. I'm Jake Perkins, a reporter for the Stonecroft paper," Jake broke in.

"Sam Deegan."

It was clear to Jake that his presence was not welcomed by either Dr. Sheridan or Sam Deegan. Get right to it, he thought. "Dr. Sheridan, I know you were concerned that Ms. Wilcox didn't show up for the brunch, and now she has missed her car to the airport. Do you think that anything may have happened to her-I mean, given the history of the women at your old lunch table at Stonecroft?"

He saw the startled glance Jean Sheridan gave to Sam Deegan. She hasn't told him about the lunch table group, Jake thought. He didn't know who this guy was, but it would be interesting to test his reaction to what Jake was now sure was a breaking story. He pulled out the picture of the girls at the lunch table from his pocket. "You see, sir, this was the group at Dr. Sheridan's lunch table in their senior year at Stonecroft. Over these twenty years since they graduated, five had died as of last month. Two of them were killed in accidents, one was a suicide, and one disappeared, supposedly caught in an avalanche in Snowbird. Last month, the fifth one, Alison Kendall, died in her swimming pool. From what I read, it seems to be a possibility that it was not an accidental death. Now Laura Wilcox seems to be missing. Don't you think that this is a pretty bizarre coincidence?"

Sam took the picture, and as he studied it, the expression on his face became grim. "I don't believe in coincidence of this magnitude," he said brusquely. "Now if you'll excuse us, Mr. Perkins."

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm going to wait around to see if Ms. Wilcox shows up. I'd like to have a final interview with her."

Ignoring him, Sam took out his card and handed it to the desk clerk. "I want a list of the employees who were on duty last night," he said, his voice commanding and forceful.