Robin walked into the hall, and Samuels closed the door. When they got back to the elevator, Nelly went down the stairs. Samuels started after her, but Robin told him to wait. When Samuels turned around, Robin was frowning and staring at the bars that made up the exterior of the cage.
“Something is off,” she said.
“Well, yeah. We got a guy stabbed to death in an elevator with a werewolf knife.”
“That’s not what I mean. It looks like the knife went right into Mr. Melville’s heart, so death was probably instantaneous. Do you see what that means?”
“No.”
“I used my hand to get a rough estimate of the width of the knife’s handle. I think it’s too wide to pass through the bars of the elevator. If I’m right, Melville couldn’t have been stabbed by someone outside the cage.”
“So?”
“If Melville was killed instantly and his body was leaning away from the control panel, the killer had to have been the one who pressed the Stop/Alarm button.”
“That makes sense.”
“Don’t you see the problem? The car was stopped between the second and third floor. If the killer was in the car, how did he get out?”
PART SIXDungeons and Dragons
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
When Robin and Samuels walked into the library, Ken was talking to Luther and Mrs. Raskin, Jose was standing by himself in a corner, and the caterers were standing near one of the bookshelves, conferring in hushed voices.
Sheila Monroe was sitting in one of the armchairs that bracketed the fireplace. She was bent forward, and Nelly was comforting her while Justin Trent looked on.
Corey Rockwell was sitting in the other armchair, and he looked frightened. When he saw Samuels, he jumped up.
“Did Zelko kill Melville? Is he in the house?”
Samuels held up his hand. “Calm down, Mr. Rockwell. Right now, you know as much as I do about who murdered Mr. Melville, but it probably isn’t Victor Zelko. Zelko wouldn’t head up the mountain. He’d be trapped up here. We’re pretty certain he headed for the highway.”
Robin noticed that the box with the red pentagram was stillon the mantel. She walked over to it and used her handkerchief to raise the lid.
“The box is empty,” she told Samuels. “So, Mr. Melville was probably killed with the knife that came in it.”
“Hopefully, the lab can find some trace evidence in the box or on it,” Samuels said. Then he addressed the people in the room.
“Does anyone know the exact time the elevator alarm went off?”
“I do,” Robin said. “I looked at the clock on my nightstand when the alarm went off. It was twelve thirty-three.”
“Okay,” Samuels said. “I need to know where each one of you were at twelve thirty. Let’s start with you, Mr. Alvarez.”
Alvarez glared at Samuels. “Why?”
“The detective is not out to get you, Jose,” Robin said. “He got here during dinner, so he doesn’t know anything about you or your background.”
“What background?” Samuels asked.
“Jose was convicted of a murder he didn’t commit and just got out of OSP after thirty years on death row,” Robin explained.
“He hated my father,” Nelly said. “He refused to eat with him.”
Jose’s hands curled into fists. “You’re not going to pin another murder I didn’t commit on me. I had nothing to do with Melville’s death. I was in my room, sleeping, when the alarm went off.”
“Can you prove that?” Samuels asked.