Part Three
"What are you looking at?" Mrs. Davis asked then the men stopped at the doorway. Didn't they know the cook's body was heavy?
"Nothing." Dr. Drake said letting go of the now dead cook.
"Well whose there?"
"Nobody."
"What do you mean?"
"Nobody. No body. Mr. Corinthos's body it's gone." Mr. Craig said both confused and shocked by the turn of events. How did a dead body get up and walk way.
"Maybe he wasn't dead." Mrs. McCall said as they all continued to stare at the empty spot on the floor.
"He was." Dr. Drake insisted pulling at his tie.
"Maybe we should have made sure."
"How by cutting his head off?" Mrs. Davis snapped back at the dark haired woman.
"That was uncalled for." Mrs. McCall huffed walking further into the room.
Ms. Benson sighed at the chaos."Where is he?" she demanded to know impatiently. To be honest the whole night was getting to be ridicules.
"We better look for him."
After several moments of searching the room Mr. Quartermaine broke the silence. "Well he couldn't have been dead."
"He was." the doctor insisted yet again. He paused and let out a deep breath before continuing. "At least I though he was but what does it matter now?"
"I'm sure it makes quite a difference to him. Maybe there is life after death."
Mrs. McCall rolled her eyes at the idea."Life after death is as improbable as sex after marriage."
Suddenly an idea occurred to Mr. Quartermaine. "Maybe Mr. Corinthos killed the cook."
"How?" Mr. Craig asked seriously.
"That's when Mrs. Davis excused herself to powder her nose. It's also when she found Mr. Corinthos's- body."
"You've got blood on your hands."
"I didn't do it." Mr. Quartermaine immediately denied wiping his hand with a handkerchief.
"He's got new injuries. Well he's certainly dead now. Why would anyone want to kill him twice?" the butler wondered as he examined the now battered corpse.
"It seems so unnecessary." Mrs. Benson said before she could stop herself.
"Unless he wasn't before."
"What's the difference?" Dr. Drake asked the nervous man.
"So now you had two corpses? And no one thought to call the police?"
"It seemed more sensible to figure things out ourselves especially since the police were already on their way." Craig explained calmly as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Of course. What happened next?"
"I locked up all the weapons in a cupboard. I figure this way the killer wouldn't have access to them. Then I went to toss the key outside but there was another complication." the butler admitted to the police commissioner. "Apparently a motorist had broken down at the end of the drive. After locking him in the lounge we all met for drinks in the library."
"Are you willing to take that chance?" Mr. Cassadine asked the group when Craig denied anyone else being in the house. Someone killed Mr. Corinthos and the cook. If it wasn't any of them that left just one other option.
"What choice do we have?"
"None."
"I suppose you're right."
"But is dark upstairs and I am frightened of the dark. Will anyone go with me?" Maxine said seductively to the three men.
Both Mr. Cassadine and Dr. Drake immediately responded with, "I will."
Mr. Quartermaine however looked even more panicked by the idea. "No thank you."
"So we split up. Everything was going well until..."
"Ms. Benson and I found a body." Mr. Cassadine broke in. "Well to be accurate we- I found a secret passage into the lounge. Then we found the body."
Mr. Quartermaine yelled attempting to turn the crystal doorknobs. "Let us in. Let us in."
"Let us out. Let us out." Mr. Cassadine and Mrs. Benson screamed as they pounded on the door.
"Stand back" Mr. Craig ordered. "There's no alternative I'm just going to have to break it down."
"I have it!" Maxine shouted running into the study. She picked up the gun from the cabinet and ran out into the hall. Without giving it much thought she aimed the revolver at the door firing two shots. One hit the crystal chandler but the other hit the lock. "You can come out the door is open."
"Why are you shooting that thing at us?" Mr. Cassadine demanded to know. What was wrong with these people?
"To get you out." the young blonde said in her own defense.
"You could have killed us. I can't take anymore scares."
"But look." Ms. Benson yelled point to just inside the lounge. On the floor lay the motorist blood running from his head. Beside him lay the wrench apparently discarded by whoever had killed the man.
"Which one of you did it?"
"We found him together." Ms. Benson asserted to the group.
"How did you get in? The door was locked."
"It's a great trick."
"So Ms. Benson went on to tell them about the secret passageway. That's when Dr. Drake realized that Maxie had the gun."
"How did you know it was unlocked?"
"I didn't. I think maybe I would break it open but it was open already."
"Of course none of that mattered once the doorbell rang."
"I'm going to open it." Mr. Quartermaine declared to the rest of the group's shock.
"Why?"
"I have nothing to hide I didn't do it. The key."
"It was quite shocking to see a cop standing there. Even more when he started inquiring about the now dead motorist."
"And yet you told him nothing. Despite the fact you now had three dead bodies." Mac said shaking his head in disbelief. He didn't know if the DA would even believe any of this.
"Well it all seemed reasonable at the time." Mr. Craig explained slightly embarrassed by the rest of the night.
"Of course it did. And then what?"
"We split up again to finish searching the house."
"Why did you lock him in again?" Mr. Quartermaine asked as they all regathered in the hall.
"We haven't finished searching the house."
"Well we're running out of time." Dr. Drake pointed out."Only fifteen minutes before the police come."
"The police already came."
"Like before things seemed to be going well until someone shut off the lights. That's when the true chaos started."
"Three murders." Mr. Craig noted as they opened the front door. On the steps was a beautiful young woman with a bullet wound to her chest.
"Six all together."
"This is getting serious."