Hush, Winnifred Is Dead — Audrey Johnson

It seemed to Maeva Palmer that her life was bleak enough without being caught in a rainstorm on a desolate road in a battered Volkswagen. She was failing her college courses-the result of an accumulation of personal problems-and facing the prospect of returning home defeated to clerk in her uncle's store. Her dwindling finances prompted her to accept the baby-sitting job offered by Craig Baker, who ran an agency on campus. Craig himself had worked at Stoneridge, an estate on the Hudson River, and he urged Maeva to accept the job, even giving her his car to use.

But Maeva arrived at Stoneridge, gloomy and foreboding in the stormy night, only to find her services no longer required. Winifred Canfield, the mistress of the estate, had left her husband that very day, and the couple would not be attending an uncle's funeral as planned. When Maeva's car refused to start ad she was forced to seek shelter at Stoneridge overnight, Maynard Canfield's displeasure was plain.

The next day, however, the severe, darkly attractive Maynard offered her a position as tutor-companion to his son, Timmy. A bright child whose appearance was marred by a facial birthmark. Timmy had led a sheltered life under the tutelage of his mother. Winifred herself was influenced by the bizarre -- and, to Maeva's mind, dangerous -- notions of Grandma Delano, a voodooist. The housekeeper, Hetta Van Buren, confided to Maeva that Maynard and Winifred had frequently argued heatedly on the topic. As days passed and there was still no word from Winifred, Maeva began to wonder to what extremes Maynard Canfield's anger might carry him…