“Do you have a picture of Victor Zelko?” Robin asked.
Dr. Ashcroft had an attaché case. He opened it and took a photograph out of a file. Robin examined it. Then she answered Ashcroft.
“Zelko was here. We’re not sure if he’s left or is hiding somewhere in Black Oaks. He pretended to be a man named Carl Samuels, a detective who’d been in a car accident. He fooled us.” Robin pointed toward Sheila. “Miss Monroe had seen old pictures of Zelko and told me she thought Samuels might be Zelko. Ken and I left the grounds and found a car that had crashed through a guardrail about a mile down the road There was a dead man in it. I think he was shot.”
“That was the real Carl Samuels.” Pine shook his head. “He was a good man.”
“After we found Samuels, Ken and I came back and organized teams to search the house. We didn’t find Zelko. There’s a good chance he left during the night.”
“Lucky for you,” Pine said.
“Not so lucky for Miss Melville’s father, Frank, and Mr. Melville’s attorney, Justin Trent,” Ken said. “They’re Zelko’s two victims.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, ma’am,” Pine told Nelly.
Nelly nodded, her lips in a grim line.
“We’ve tried to preserve the murder scenes,” Robin told them. “We did move Mr. Melville’s body. He was killed in an elevator, and we weren’t sure how long it would take for you to get here. The body is in his bedroom. I took pictures of the elevator before he was moved.”
“I’m sure you did the best you could under the circumstances,” Detective Carter said. “The team from the Oregon State Crime Lab is working at the crash site with the medical examiner. They’ll come here as soon as they finish. And we’ll get more officers to do a thorough search of Black Oaks to make sure Zelko has gone.”
“That will be a relief,” Nelly said.
“Why don’t you come inside,” Robin said.
“Who are these other people?” Pine asked when he was in the entryway.
Robin introduced Sheila, Jose, Mrs. Raskin, Corey Rockwell, and the rest of the caterers. She noticed that Luther was not in the entrance hall.
“Would I be right if I guessed that none of you have had a decent meal since Zelko escaped?” Nelly asked Sergeant Pine.
“You would,” Pine said?
“Let’s get you coffee and something to eat, while you talk to Robin and Mr. Breland.”
Nelly went toward the kitchen with the caterers, and Robin and Ken led the doctor and the policemen down the corridor toward the library. She noticed the men taking in the odd and impressive features of the reconstructed manor house as they followed her.
After they were settled in the library, Max and Janet DeNucci brought the new visitors lunch while Robin told them about being hired to free Jose from death row, the invitation to celebrate his release at the manor house, the history of Black Oaks and its curse, the sudden appearance of the box with the werewolf handle, Melville’s murder under impossible circumstances in the cage elevator, the search for Zelko, and the murder of Justin Trent.
“That’s some story,” Pine said.
“I feel like we’re in an Agatha Christie novel,” Dr. Ashcroft said.
Detective Morales laughed. “You’re right. We’ve got a spooky mansion, an escaped madman, and a locked-room mystery.”
Carter shook his head. “I’ve been a detective for fifteen years and a cop for five before that, and I’ve never had a murder in a locked room.”
“Thank goodness,” Pine said. “I like the ones where there’s one suspect, we catch him in the act, and he confesses.”
“Amen,” Morales said.
“I’d like to see the elevator,” Carter said.
Robin led the way up the stairs to the elevator, then stood back when Carter opened the gate. The three policemen looked into the empty car but didn’t go inside so as not to contaminate the crime scene. Robin, Ken, and Dr. Ashcroft stood behind them on the landing.
“We left the murder weapon in Mr. Melville,” Robin said.
“Do you have any idea who sent the knife?” Carter asked.