by Skylar Finn
“Is he looking at the camera?” I suppressed a shudder. Oliver’s wooden gaze got inside my lungs and sat there like cancer.
“There’s no way,” Jazmin said. “I was hiding it beneath a sweater. He couldn’t have seen it.”
Oliver’s eyes burned into the screen.
“Tell him that.”
“He looks so empty,” Riley said, studying her father’s face. “Defeated. He was never like that before.”
“Losing half of your family will do that to you,” I said. “Everyone hush. I want to hear what he says.”
“Look who’s into breaking the law now,” Jazmin said. I wrapped the throw blanket around her and pulled it tight like a straightjacket. She shut up.
“Oliver?” Daniel said on screen, tapping the other man’s arm to get his attention. “Can you tell me about that night? Where were you before you came to check on Tyler in the morning?”
Oliver blinked but did not emerge from his distant state.
“Can you remember anything?” Daniel pressed. “I’m no forensics officer, but by the look of Tyler’s body, he’d been lying around like that for a couple of hours. That puts the murder at around three or four in the morning. Were you awake?”
Finally, Oliver muttered something under his breath. Daniel leaned in.
“What was that?” he asked.
“How dare you,” Oliver said. He repeated himself again and again, each time escalating in volume. “How dare you? How dare you? How dare you?”
In the background of the shot, reflections of the other people in the lounge window turned to stare at Oliver and Daniel. Daniel, trying to contain the situation, reached out to pat Oliver.
“Don’t touch me!” Oliver said.
Somewhere offscreen, the mic picking up the humiliation in her voice, Riley said, “Uh oh. Here he goes again.”
Oliver exploded like a pipe bomb. He shoved Daniel out of the booth and slammed his fists against the table. “Why?” he sobbed, garbling his words. “Why me? Why is this happening? I’m a good man.”
Real-time Riley hit the button to fast-forward the video. “I don’t need to relive that part if you don’t mind. I saw it in person.”
“I didn’t,” I protested. “Where was I?”
“This was before you came downstairs again,” said Jazmin. “We can watch it later.”
Riley scowled as she pushed play. On the screen, Daniel walked toward the camera. Jazmin pulled the camera further into her sweater to hide it better until all we could see was a tuft of green cotton and Daniel’s utility belt.
“Riley, do you mind talking to me for a bit?” Daniel asked. “It’s about last night. I need to know where you were, if you saw your dad, stuff like that.”
“Did Oliver say it was okay?” Jazmin asked. “You need permission from a parent or guardian to question a minor.”
“Oliver’s not in shape to give his permission,” Daniel said. “We need to crack down on what happened last night. That means questioning family members first.”
Riley slid out of the booth, my Blondie shirt flashing across the screen as she did so. The camera jostled and went black.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Shh,” Riley said.
“It’s okay, Jazmin,” Camera-Riley said. Though the visuals were gone, we still had audio. “I don’t mind answering the detective’s questions. Should we go somewhere quiet?”
“The bar is fine,” Daniel answered.
Static rushed through the mic. Riley was carrying the camera. When the visual came back, the shot was cocked at an angle. She’d hastily set the camera without checking the framing. A third of the picture was obscured by a napkin dispenser, but Daniel was in the shot, his back turned to the lens. The camera was in position to catch the remainder of Daniel’s interviews.
“Did you put her up to this?” I asked Jazmin. “Did you ask her to bring the camera to the bar?”
“No!” Jazmin insisted.
“She didn’t,” added Riley. “It was my idea, and if I hadn’t done it, we would have lost whatever information Daniel got out of the other employees, so can you stop scolding everyone and get down with the plan?”
I crossed my arms. “Fine. What did you tell Detective Daniel?”
“Watch and see.”
On screen, the auto-focus feature struggled to capture Daniel and Riley in the same shot. Either he was fuzzy, or she was. Daniel cleared his throat. He seemed more nervous to speak to Riley than he had to Oliver.
“How ya holding up?” he asked.
“Really?” she said. “This is how we’re going to do this?”
He shuffled on the bar stool. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You can’t treat me like a kid,” Riley said. “I might be young, but I’m not stupid. You’re using me to get information about my dad and my brother. You might as well be up front about it.”
“No, I wasn’t—” He quickly changed his tune at the look on Riley’s face. “Fine, that’s exactly what I was doing. I had no idea why I thought it would work. My daughter’s about your age, and she would’ve seen right through me too. I should have known better than to underestimate you.”
“Yeah, you should’ve.”
“I won’t make that mistake again,” Daniel promise. “Can you tell me what happened that night? I know it was a rough one for you. Lucia said she found you screaming in the old wing. Something about being set on fire?”
It was Riley’s turn to shift around in discomfort. “I’m sure you know my dad hired Lucia to purge me of evil spirits, right?”
“I do.”
“And you probably don’t believe in it.”
“I’ve never been particularly spiritual or religious.”
“Then let’s call them nightmares,” Riley bargained. “I have nightmares about the people who used to stay in this resort. Sometimes, they cause me to sleepwalk. It’s not really sleepwalking, because I’m not asleep when it happens, but I don’t have control over it, so that’s the best explanation I have. That night, after Tyler dropped me from the mezzanine, I had a nightmare and sleepwalked into the old wing. That’s when Lucia found me.”
Daniel scribbled notes in his booklet. “Right, I was busy taking Tyler to his room during that time. Where did you go after?”
“I wanted to stay with Lucia, but my dad wouldn’t let me,” Riley said. “He tried to make me stay in his room, but it’s too close to the old wing for my tastes, so I went back to my own.”
“Not to Lucia’s?”
“I would’ve gone to her suite, but my dad walked me to my own room to make sure I got there okay,” she said. “He worries too much about me.”
“And then what? He left?”
“Yup.”
“And what did you do?”
“I went to sleep,” Riley said.
“Did you have any nightmares?”
“No.”
“Can anyone clarify that you were in your room for the duration of the entire night?” Daniel asked.
Riley narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you trying to ask me, Detective Hawkins?”
He squirmed hearing Riley use his full title. “You mentioned not being in control during these sleepwalking episodes. All I want to know is if you remember leaving your room that night.”
“Do you think I killed my brother?”
“I’m hoping to ascertain that you didn’t.”
Riley respected his frankness. “I was in my room the entire night.”
“But no one else can confirm that. Is that correct?”
She rapped her knuckles against the bar, a nervous tick. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Daniel flipped the cover of his notebook shut. “Thanks, Riley. That’s all I needed to know. You can head back to Jazmin now. Send Nick Porter over, would you?”
Riley stood up, leaving the camera where it was. She paused, half in and half out of the camera frame. “I didn’t do it, Detective Hawkins. I know I have plenty of reasons to kil
l my brother, but I’m not like that. I don’t even know where to get a knife like that.”
“You saw the stab wounds?”
“I was in the room this morning, remember?”
Daniel covered his eyes. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I should have taken you out of there sooner.”
Riley lifted her shoulders. “It’s not your fault. You were preoccupied.”
“Still.” He coughed to cover up the awkward moment. “Nick Porter, please.”
“Yeah, sure,” Riley said.
She walked beyond the frame. For a minute, Daniel reviewed the notes he’d taken during her interview, circling or underlining here and there. Nick Porter took up Riley’s empty seat, groaning as he lifted his stiff leg into place on the rung of the barstool.
“Rough morning, eh?” Nick said as he placed his cane on the counter in front of the camera. Now only the top two-thirds of the frame was of any use to us.
“You could say that,” Daniel replied. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” said Nick. “I imagine no one’s bothered to ask you the same question. How ‘bout it, Detective? How are you doing?”
Daniel shrugged off the question, but the gesture wasn’t as nonchalant as he would have liked. “This is my job. My own well-being comes dead last in this race.”
Nick clapped Daniel on the shoulder. “Do you want my advice? Take it easy, my friend. Prioritize your well-being. Out of all of us, you’re the one who needs to keep a level head the most.”
“Solid point,” Daniel said. “You can guess why I had Riley call you over here. I’d like to get everyone’s story of where they were last night and this morning. This is not an accusation or anything like that. You’re not a person of interest. It’s simple protocol.”
“Of course, of course,” Nick said. “I’ll be happy to answer your questions. What is it that you’d like to know specifically?”
Daniel flipped to a fresh page in his notebook. “Let’s start with last night. You were present when Lucia brought Riley back from the old wing, right?”
“Yes, that poor girl was so far past distraught, I almost considered calling my medical team at White Oak,” Nick said. “We have excellent care facilities. Then I remembered the snow was all but above our heads.”
“Yeah, it’s an issue,” Daniel agreed, more to placate Nick than anything else. “Can you walk me through where you were for the rest of the night, Mr. Porter?”
“I was given a room on the first floor, in the hall opposite Mr. Watson Junior’s room,” Nick said. “It’s quite nice. A little old-fashioned for my taste, but what can you do when you’re stranded at your rival’s resort, eh? Anyway, I returned to my room and went to sleep soon after we located the young girl. I’d say that was around eleven o’clock. I did, as it were, wake up in the middle of the night completely parched.” He tapped his throat to demonstrate. “The dry weather often affects me. So I got up and left my room to find the ice machine. I like my water nice and cold, you see, even if it’s frigid outside. It’s soothing.”
Daniel scribbled Nick’s timeline in his notebook, frowning as he separated the important facts from the rambling. “So you did leave your room in the middle of the night? Do you know what time that was?”
“I would guess about two or three,” Nick said. “I can’t say I had a gander at the clock. Sleep is so important to me. I usually doze like the dead. No chance of waking me up unless I’ve had a full eight hours.” He chuckled deep in his chest. “I guess staying at King and Queens had more of an effect on me than I thought it would, but no matter. It won’t be much longer until the roads are cleared. I requested an employee from White Oak to man the snowplow.”
“Mr. Porter, did you happen to see anyone else in the hallway while you were looking for the ice machine?” Daniel asked.
“Not that I can recall,” Nick said. “No, wait! As a matter of fact, I ran into Mr. Watson. Senior, that is. Pardon my hazy recollection. I was quite groggy.”
“You saw Oliver?”
“Yes,” Nick replied firmly. “He had come from his own room. We passed in the hallway. I asked him where the ice machine was, but he walked by as if he hadn’t heard me at all. I assumed he was distracted or overwhelmed, but on second thought, he appeared to be sleepwalking.”
Daniel jotted down another note. “If he was, it runs in the family.”
“Whatever the matter, I let him be,” Nick said. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the man isn’t very fond of me. He’s terrorized my staff and trail officials more times than I can count. I was hoping to clear up the matter on this visit. Good God, I should’ve said something to him last night when I realized he wasn’t awake. You don’t think—well, I mean—he wouldn’t kill his own son, would he?”
“I’m afraid I can’t discuss that with you,” Daniel said.
“Right, of course.” Nick realized that in his worry, he’d leaned in a little too close to the detective. He drew away, lingering in the hidden part of the frame.
“Where did Oliver go?” Daniel asked. “Was he heading somewhere?”
“Toward the lobby. I didn’t follow him. I was eager to return to bed.”
“And did you?”
“Yes, right after I found the ice machine.”
“How long would you say you were out of your room, Mr. Porter?”
Nick scrunched his brow in thought. “No more than five minutes, Detective Hawkins.”
Daniel wrote this down too. “That’s all for now. I might ask you for another interview in the future. In the meantime, I would avoid Mr. Watson if you can. He’s not doing well, and like you said, he doesn’t care for you. We don’t need unnecessary drama.”
“Agreed,” Nick said. “Shall I fetch the next interviewee for you?”
“No, I’ll be taking a quick break,” Daniel replied as he tucked his notebook into the back pocket of his pants and placed the pen behind his ear. “I need to find Lucia.”
Nick looked around the lounge, as if just noticing I wasn’t amongst the others. “Yes, where is Miss Star? Mr. Watson’s death seemed to affect her the most, other than Oliver. Did she have a close relationship with the boy?”
“Yeah, right,” I said in real time. Jazmin shushed me.
On screen, Daniel said to Nick, “If I were to guess, she’s upset because she came to help a child after the death of her mother, and the situation has only escalated and gotten worse since she arrived her. Lucia’s sympathetic.”
“I wish her the best of luck in her endeavors.” Nick collected his cane, jostling the camera with the tip of it. I winced at the thought of Daniel discovering the hidden lens. “All we want is to take care of our children, wouldn’t you agree?”
Daniel solemnly replied, “I would indeed.”
Nick tapped his cane on the ground, something he did often as if to test the stability of the wood. “Detective, I’m sure this is a stupid question, but have you consulted the security footage from last night? It would surely show who snuck past you and into Mr. Watson’s room.”
Daniel rested his elbow on the bar and leaned against his fist. “That was my first order of business this morning, but Mr. Watson Senior didn’t hire a security team this season. I guess because business was so slow for him, he didn’t think he’d need it. None of the cameras were in operation last night.”
Nick made a distinctive humming sound in the back of his throat, like he wished to say something but couldn’t.
“What?” Daniel asked.
“Nothing,” Nick said. “I was going to say an oversight like that would never happen at White Oak, but that would be petty and childish of me. Please forgive my small-minded comments, Detective. The situation has brought some disturbing facts about Kings and Queens to light for me. The sooner I take over this hotel, the better for everyone involved. For Mr. Watson too, even if he doesn’t agree right away.”
Daniel lazily saluted Nick. “Good luck with that. After this investigation, there might not b
e a resort to buy from Mr. Watson.”
“It’s my aim to make Crimson Basin the number one ski destination in the world,” Nick said. “That includes being number one in safety. I promise you, when King and Queens is under White Oak management, you’ll never get called to this establishment for an incident like this again.”
“One can only hope.”
The phone rang in the bedroom, jarring us all out of yesterday’s events. Riley hit the pause button on the laptop while Jazmin ran to answer the phone. Riley and I listened from the living room.
“Sorry, Detective,” she said. “Yes, we’re on our way right now. Totally dressed. No, I understand it’s important. Uh-huh. Great. See you in a few minutes.” She emerged from the bedroom. “That was the detective again. Everyone else is already downstairs. In his words, we’re ‘later than Alice’s coked-up white rabbit.’”
“He did not actually say that,” I said.
“He did.”
“Well, he’s wrong,” Riley piped in. “Everyone knows Lewis Carol didn’t do cocaine. The guy really dug his opium.”
“My God, what are they teaching in middle school these days?”
Riley went downstairs ahead of us to scope out the scene and set up the camera for day two of Daniel’s interrogations. Now that we’d all agreed to jump into this without regrets, it made sense to have Riley man the camera. No one would suspect the pre-teen with the dead brother and mother to record Daniel’s police investigations. She had the benefit of appearing innocent and less intelligent than the rest of us. Only Jazmin and I knew how sharp and quick-witted Riley really was. I had my doubts about her involvement, but Jazmin was right. This was as much about her as it was about me, if not more. If someone was targeting the Watson family, Riley was in the crosshairs. The thought made my blood run cold.
“We should go too,” I said to Jazmin as soon as Riley had left the suite to go downstairs. “Daniel’s going to yell at us.”
Jazmin zipped her jeans and sat on the edge of the bed to put on her heeled booties. “I thought we were letting her get a head start to set up the camera.”
“I’m having second thoughts,” I said. “Riley shouldn’t be alone in the hotel. I know she’s tough, but I doubt she’d be able to fend off a murderer.”