Creeps Suzette Read Online Free

the dining room to the entry hall, she called to Joe over her shoulder: “Stop hovering. You scared me half to death.”
    â€œI’ll help greet the guests,” Joe offered, trailing along behind her.
    Judith ignored him. A middle-aged couple was standingon the doorstep, luggage in hand. “Welcome to Hillside Manor,” Judith said, forcing a bright smile. “Do come in. You must be the—”
    The phone rang. Reining in her patience, Judith shoved the receiver at Joe. “You answer,” she said under her breath.
    As Judith asked the guests to register, Joe clicked the phone on. “It’s for me,” he said with a surprised expression. “It’s Renie.”
    Judith gave her husband a curious glance, then led the visitors upstairs. They were named Drabeck, and had come from across the state for a family reunion that was to be held downtown at the Cascadia Hotel. Judith put on her best innkeeper’s face as the Drabecks explained how they didn’t want to pay the high room charges at the Cascadia, and had heard that Hillside Manor was highly recommended. After ushering them into Room Three, the largest of the second-floor bedrooms, she hurried back downstairs.
    Joe had just hung up the phone. “I didn’t realize Renie wasn’t well,” he said with a worried expression.
    â€œWhat?” Judith thought she hadn’t heard right.
    â€œThis palsy thing,” he said, frowning. “When did that start? She doesn’t seem to shake very much.”
    â€œPalsy?” Judith suddenly understood. Renie was playing upon a case of Bell’s palsy she’d had years earlier after developing adult chicken pox. “Well. It’s a recurring problem.” That much was true, Judith thought, though Renie had never really gotten the disease again. “Stress aggravates it.” That might not be true, but it sounded good. “She needs to get away. But of course she’s not at all steady on her feet.” Renie was never too steady, though probably “clumsy” would have been a more apt description. “I hated to turn her down, but as we discussed, you and Mother and the guests need me here.”
    â€œPoor Renie.” Joe passed a hand over what was left of his graying red hair. “Bill’s never mentioned her medical problems.”
    â€œYou know how Bill is,” Judith said, placing crackerson a pewter tray. “He’s very tight-lipped about some things. But I’m sure Renie will be okay as long as she goes into the hospital every day for her electric shock treatments. I’m not sure if she can drive, but maybe they’ll have somebody at her friend’s home who can give her a lift. Of course,” she went on, “it’s embarrassing. One side of her face gets absolutely frozen and her eye droops. She probably has to patch it, but she insisted before that it doesn’t totally impair her vision, except for depth perception.”
    â€œMy God!” Joe exclaimed. “I’d no idea.”
    â€œYou were married to Vivian at the time,” Judith said, taking a bowl of liver paté from the refrigerator. “How could you know? You and I were out of touch for over twenty years.”
    â€œDon’t remind me.” Joe came up behind Judith and put one arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist. “I’ve been kind of a pain lately, haven’t I?”
    Judith juggled the tray and the paté. “Well…I think it’s taking a while for you to settle into retirement. You did go out a year early.”
    â€œI know,” Joe said, nuzzling Judith’s ear. “I’m like one of those college players who turns pro before their senior year. Maybe I needed more seasoning.”
    Judith leaned against Joe. “But not more spice.”
    â€œIt’s only four-thirty,” Joe said, glancing at the schoolhouse clock. “How about spicing up