“Mrs. Raskin,” Nelly answered.
“Did she vet them?” Trent asked.
“Emily checked their references. Max and Janet DeNucci’s are excellent. They brought Milo Corrigan and Sandy Merrick, the servers, with them, so we didn’t do any kind of background check on them.”
“I don’t think it’s likely that our caterers are the culprits,” Sheila said.
“Well, someone here is,” Justin Trent said.
Justin’s brow furrowed. “Where is Alvarez? He wasn’t at dinner.”
“He’s in his room,” Robin said.
“You’re not suggesting that Jose is responsible, are you?” Frank asked.
“He would have had a golden opportunity to plant the box while everyone was in the dining room.”
“No, no,” Frank said. “We are not going to accuse that man of anything after what he’s gone through.”
“Justin, stop it,” Nelly said. “You’re upsetting Dad.”
“I’m sorry,” Justin apologized.
“It’s getting late,” Nelly said. “Why don’t all of you get some sleep. Sheila and I will look after my father.”
Trent, Samuels, and Rockwell headed for the elevator. Robin,who was still leery of the contraption, took the stairs, and Ken followed her.
“I think Melville is in danger,” Robin told Ken.
“I agree, but from whom?”
“Does anything about Rockwell being here seem off? I mean, if I was going to finance a film, why would I want a has-been like Rockwell in the lead? I asked Sheila about the movie deal, and she said there was more to it, but didn’t elaborate.”
“Melville has been working on cold cases where innocent people were sent to prison for murders they didn’t commit. Wasn’t Rockwell’s wife murdered?” Ken asked.
“I think so. And Melville told me he wanted you to come to Black Oaks because he had more work for us. I wonder if it involves the murder of Rockwell’s wife.”
“We’re not going to find out tonight,” Ken said. “We can ask Melville why he wanted me here in the morning.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ken said good night and went into his room. It was almost midnight when Robin went into hers. She was tired, but she was too wound up to go to sleep. The appearance of Detective Samuels and the box with the satanic inscription and its eerie contents had been unsettling. And there was something that had happened at dinner that had struck her as odd, but she couldn’t remember what it was.
Robin had brought a draft of a brief that was due in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals with her. She took it out of her overnight bag, figuring that reviewing it would put her to sleep as effectively as a sleeping pill. She was just starting to feel drowsy when the elevator alarm went off. Robin stopped reading and looked at the clock on her nightstand.
Robin resumed reading the brief, assuming that someone would respond to the alarm, but it didn’t stop. Robin got up and went into the hall. A second later, Corey Rockwell walked out ofhis room. They both looked down the elevator shaft. Ken walked out of his room, and Justin Trent walked onto the landing from the Melville family wing. Then Jose came out of his room.
“What’s going on?” Jose asked.
“I don’t know,” Robin answered. She looked down the shaft. The elevator looked like it was stuck between the second and third floors.
Nelly Melville ran up the stairs with Sheila close on her heels.
“Dad, Dad!” Nelly yelled.
Robin hesitated. Then she climbed into the shaft, dropped onto the top of the car, and pried open the escape hatch. Frank Melville’s head was resting against the back of the wheelchair. His eyes stared at Robin, who had seen enough corpses to know that Melville wasn’t seeing anything.
Robin edged down into the narrow space between the wheelchair and the side of the car. When she landed, her foot hit something. She looked down and saw a small piece of rounded pipe rolling across the floor.