by Jill Sanders
“I’m alive.” DarCee sighed.
“DarCee, I…”
“Call me Deb. Fray—” She shook her head. “Steve always hated my name and when he started his channel, he decided we both needed to change our names.” She shook her head and Eve noticed her eyes were dry. “I don’t want any of that nonsense to follow me into my future.”
“Okay,” Eve said slowly. “How can I help you, Deb?” She sat down when the woman motioned her over.
“The police have been here and filled me in on the investigation. Since I’ve been held up here…” She stopped. “I don’t remember much after the surgery, but I do remember you being here. The nurses have confirmed the time you arrived and left.” She glanced over to where Eve and Dylan’s flower still sat, alone. “I can’t remember if I thanked you for these, and for what you did for me.”
“It’s nothing.” Eve smiled.
DarCee… Deb shook her head and closed her eyes. “I’m pregnant.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I told Fr– Steve last week. He was pissed about it. He told me to take care of it.” Her eyes opened and moved to Eve’s.
Eve held still, unable to really process what the woman was saying. She knew she was pregnant and still put herself in danger setting off that rocket. What kind of woman did that?
“I know what you’re thinking.” Deb sighed. “I wasn’t going to.” She put a protective hand on her flat belly. “I want the baby. I always did. Foolishly, I thought Steve would to. I thought he would… change after he found out about the baby, and we could be a family.”
“Why tell me?” Eve asked, shaking her head.
“Because I know your family. They think I’m stupid, but…” She closed her eyes again. “I didn’t have much of a choice. Steve was very… controlling.”
Eve sat forward slightly. “Did he hurt you?” Eve asked.
Deb’s eyes opened, and Eve could see the truth. “I don’t have a family. My parents took off in separate directions before I graduated school. They kicked me out and well… I’ve jumped from job to job since then. When I started dating Steve… He was the first one who took care of me. I had to cave in and do what he wanted. I liked someone taking care of me.” She shrugged and turned her eyes to Eve. “I didn’t set off the rocket. The police have asked me. Steve had the remote. He asked me to set it up. I hadn’t even put the thing down before the thing went off. That’s why I think it exploded. I think he planned it all along. I think”—her hand went to her belly again— “that he intended to kill us.”
Eve’s stomach rolled. “My god.” She shook her head.
“That video, the one he posted. It started right at the explosion. The full video, with the proof of everything”—her eyes closed again— “along with some other videos is probably on his laptop in his room. If you get that, you’ll have proof. I don’t know what good it will do now, but the police will know I had nothing to do with the destruction to your property and that I didn’t try to harm my baby.” Deb reached out and took Eve’s hand with her good one. “It’s important to me, that you know the truth. Can you understand?”
Eve nodded slowly.
“I hope that when this is all over, that you might give me a chance to make it up to you.” Deb sighed and Eve could tell that she was tired.
“Rest.” Eve stood up. “We can talk about all this later.”
Deb nodded. “I really am sorry. About… everything.” She closed her eyes.
Eve let herself out and thought about the conversation for the entire drive back to the inn. Was Deb correct? Had her cousin really been trying to kill her and the baby? She knew Steve had been narcissistic and possibly a little bipolar, but could he have gone as far as murdering his unborn child? A shiver ran through her.
The proof was somewhere in the boxes in the storeroom with the rest of her family’s items. Stopping along the way back to the inn to grab a salad for lunch, she debated telling Dylan but didn’t want to interrupt his workday.
She was just about to leave the small restaurant she’d stopped at when her mother and father walked in. She watched them from her table near the back of the diner.
They laughed and talked as if they hadn’t a care in the world. As if their nephew hadn’t been murdered the day before.
Then again, she thought, she’d just had sex all night after finding her cousin’s body. She supposed it had been a primal desire that had kept her and Dylan up most of the night.
It took her parents almost two whole minutes to spot her. When they did, their demeanor changed instantly; they stiffened and became more sober.
Standing, she made her way over to their table.
“Evelyn,” her father said in a solemn tone.
“Mom, Dad.” She nodded politely. “It appears you’re well rested.”
Her mother’s eyes narrowed at her. “No thanks to you.”
Eve held her tongue, knowing it wouldn’t do to cause a scene in town.
“I called down to the coroner’s office. They plan on releasing Steve’s body by next week. Will there be a service? If so, I’d like to be included in this one.”
Her father shook his head. “That’s not up to us. Roger and Regina—”
“He was my cousin. No matter what everyone thinks, I would have loved to attend Reggie’s services. He was my grandfather, and I was closer to him than any of you were.” She was leaning on the edge of the table and realized she’d raised her voice slightly. Standing up again, she took a deep breath. “Please convey my wishes to Roger and Regina.”
She moved to go, but her mother stopped her by saying, “He was my father, you know.”
Eve turned around, her eyes narrow and her heart pounding a million miles an hour.
“You’re my parents, you know.” Her parents continued to look at her without any emotion. Eve moved closer and lowered her voice. “You’ve never acted like parents to me. Reggie practically raised me. Hell, the staff at the inn helped more than you two did. When I needed help with school work, I went to Kathrine, or Beth when she was here,” Eve said, thinking of all the times she’d done her homework in the kitchen amongst all the noise and bustle of the evening rush. “Timothy taught me how to dance and drove me and my date to my first prom,” she spat out, the hurt causing her words to flow as her eyes and her heart stung. “Ezra and Elsie watched out for me more than any of my aunts or uncles did. Reggie…” She felt her throat close. “Was more like a father to me than you were,” she said to her dad. “He taught me how to ride a bike, how to fish, how to sail. The only thing the two of you taught me was how to be selfish and get what I want.” She took a deep breath. “Well, now, thanks to Reggie, I have exactly what I want.” She leaned closer and smiled as she said the next words. “And good luck trying to take it away from me. Everyone in town knows just how much you’ve all done to help with the inn over the years. Thanks to you, the place is run down, in debt, and months away from bankruptcy.”
Her mother gasped and covered her heart with her hands.
“So,” Eve continued, “if you don’t want to see the family business ruined, you’ll get out of my way and let me do what I can to save our legacy.” She turned away and stormed out of the diner, thankful she’d paid before her parents had come in.
By the time she parked in front of the inn, she had convinced herself to keep Deb’s secret until the proof could be found. Even then, she questioned if her family needed to know anything. After all, Steve was gone. Why would the police need to know? It wasn’t as if they were going to open an investigation. Would they?
Still, the way her parents had acted, she knew they would try to blame her somehow. She didn’t need that bigger mess to muddle up her time and thoughts.
Genie wasn’t behind the front desk, and Eve guessed that she was on her lunch break, since the sign saying she would be back in half an hour was set out.
Instead of heading towards her office, she took the stairs to the lowest level. She figured she had a couple hours before she had to help o
ut at the rehearsal party that evening on the back lawn.
Using her keys, she unlocked the large storeroom and stepped inside. She’d forgotten how much stuff her family had. The movers had separated the items by whom they belonged to. Moving over to the section where Roger, Regina, and Steve’s items were, she got to work.
She went through over a dozen big boxes. When she finally spotted the laptop, she flipped it open and frowned when the thing wouldn’t turn on. Looking in the box, she located the power cord and looked around the room for a plug. Finding none, she tried the door handle and frowned when it was locked.
Pulling out her keys, she realized the lock was on the outside instead of the inside. The knob was smooth and wouldn’t budge. How was it the room only locked from the outside?
She tried it again and then set the laptop down and started banging on the door. She tried for a few minutes, then realized she was a total idiot and pulled out her phone. Unfortunately, there was no service this far underground.
She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, realizing how cool it was down here. Cool and dark. The single light barely lit up the room. It had been fine when she’d been focused on a task, but now… She glanced around and shivered again.
She’d seen one of her aunt’s sweaters in a box and rushed over to wrap it around herself and felt better almost instantly. Then she moved back to the door and thought about how she’d locked herself inside.
The door needed a key to lock, it didn’t just lock itself. If she’d unlocked it, it would remain unlocked until someone slid a key into it and locked it again.
Since Dylan hadn’t replaced it with a new lock or handle, it was one of the old master keys she and more than a dozen people had.
Had it been a mistake? Or had someone locked her in here on purpose? She felt her stomach roll at that thought. She banged on the door again and screamed for help. For the next half hour, she tried yelling every few minutes. She was losing her voice and her hands hurt from pounding on the door.
Time ticked by and she continued to try to get someone’s attention. But the room was pretty solid and soundproof, unlike the linen closet she and Dylan had used the day before on the level above her.
Here, on the lowest level of the old building, there wasn’t much activity.
The laundry area was on the other side of this floor, but there was a maze of narrow, dark hallways between her and the other side. Not to mention the dozen or more large storerooms that held tables and chairs that would be dragged out for events, such as weddings or dances.
Her voice had completely left her now, and she could only bang on the door every time she thought she heard someone pass by. Her mind had started playing tricks on her shortly after the light bulb flashed a few times and then burned out, leaving her in complete darkness.
Images of spiders crawling over her, bugs of all kinds slithering over her skin, kept her shivering and scared, her eyes wide open in the darkness even though she couldn’t see even a sliver of light from under the locked door.
She tucked herself into a tight ball and wrapped another one of her aunt’s sweaters around her when she started shaking and her teeth began to chatter.
She was doomed to be lost forever, her mind kept telling her as the realization of her situation sunk in. She desperately needed to go to the bathroom and she wished that instead of a light healthy salad for lunch, she’d eaten a large steak or, better yet, a double cheeseburger with a stack of fries the size of her head.
She groaned as her stomach growled for the hundredth time.
Using what she thought was a stack of her uncle’s shirts, she made a pillow and curled up, tears rolling down her face as she imagined them finding her body, years from now, curled up as she currently lay.
Closing her eyes, she succumbed to the weariness and depression of the dark, cold, damp room and the fact that there was probably no one out there looking for her. No one out there who loved her enough to search for her.
She was completely alone in this world, just like Brent had warned her she would be.
21
It’s time to move on
Just after his lunch break, which he had used to go into town again and get Palmer’s paints and canvas, he went looking for Eve. He’d seen the van in the parking lot, but her office was closed up tight.
He wanted to help her set up the last hidden camera on her phone, but she was nowhere to be found. When he asked Genie, she told him that she’d just returned from having lunch with her sister in town.
Heading up the stairs to the top floor, he knocked on her door. Maybe she’d gone up to rest for a while? He knocked for a few minutes, shooting off a few text messages to her as he waited.
When she didn’t respond, he made his way back downstairs to the lobby. Genie was in the middle of dealing with the wedding group, along with a handful of other staff members. The group was having a formal dinner out on the lawn that evening, the first wedding event, now that all the family and guests had officially arrived.
“You haven’t seen Eve, have you?” he asked every staff member he ran into.
“I’m sure she’s around here somewhere,” they all said, rushing around.
By the time the event started, his worry level had spiked. No one had seen her since before lunch. Someone had confirmed that they had seen her return to the inn, but they weren’t sure where she’d gone.
Since most of the staff was busy with the dinner party, he started searching the massive place himself. He didn’t even know where to look. When his watch chimed that it was time to leave and go pick up Palmer, he texted his dad and asked if he could pick her up and take her back to his place.
His father called him immediately.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Eve’s missing,” he blurted out. “She came back from lunch, but…” He couldn’t hide the panic in his voice.
“I’ll get Palmer. We can come help.”
“No, just… take her back to your place. Don’t let her know that something’s up. Okay?”
“Sure, thing, son. If you need anything… I’m going to send Barb over there to help look. I just saw her at the hardware store.” He heard his father rush and call out to Barb. He waited, listening to his father convince the woman to swing by the inn. At first Barb tried to convince him that Eve probably just wanted some time alone, but his father convinced her to swing by and help Dylan search.
“She likes you,” Dylan said when his father told him she was on her way.
“What?” His father chuckled. “She’s, years younger than I am?”
Dylan laughed. “Age doesn’t matter. We’ll talk about this later, but… you should hit that, bro,” he said before hanging up.
Barb found him going room to room on the top floor. There were a lot of small attic storage rooms on the floor, rooms he’d inspected.
“What’s this about Eve missing?” she asked, then frowned at his head. “You really did get conked.” She motioned to the bump on the side of his head, the one that he’d accidently hit more than a dozen times that day.
“Yeah, which is why I’m really worried about Eve. Someone broke into her room last night and now she’s missing.”
Barb nodded, concern flooding her eyes. “What’s the plan?” she asked.
“Room by room search.” He nodded. “I have the keys and I had Genie inform all the guests I’m doing an inspection on the fire alarms.”
“Smart.” Barb nodded. “Okay, where do you need me?” she asked.
“Next floor.” He handed her a key ring. “Master key. Opens all the doors. Knock first,” he warned as she took off.
“Right,” she called over her shoulder.
Why was it taking him more time to go room by room than it had that first day when he’d inspected everything? Maybe it was because he’d started later, but by the time the party was in full swing and night had fallen, he and Barb had only made it to the main floor.
“Anything?” Genie ask
ed.
“No.” He sighed and pulled out his phone to check for messages again. “She’s not answering her phone or any of the text messages.”
They finished the main floor together, every room except for Eve’s office, which he didn’t have a key to. The light was off, and he thought about breaking down the door, but then logged into the new camera system and watched the footage from the past few hours. At no time did anyone enter or exit the room after she’d locked up to leave to visit the hospital.
“I’ll take the bottom floor,” he told Barb. “There are a lot of little rooms. Don’t get lost and miss something,” he warned her, and he disappeared down the spiral staircase to start on the bottom floor.
He moved around all the hustle and bustle in the laundry rooms, searching all the small storage rooms and asking all the employee when they had last seen Eve.
He moved to the larger storage rooms, unsure of why she would have been down on this level at all.
He let himself into each room, making sure he didn’t skip any or get lost. Here, the hallways were narrow, dark, and like a maze. This is where he’d joked with Eve that first day that one could get lost down here.
Unlocking one of the larger storerooms, he was about to shut the door again but when he tried to flip on the light switch. He frowned when the bulb wouldn’t turn on. Using the flashlight on his phone, he scanned the room and noticed a small pile of clothes on the floor. Walking over, he was about to use the toe of his boot to move it aside, when it moved slightly.
Bending down, he pulled the top layer off and gasped when Eve’s pale face appeared. Her eyes were closed, and her skin was cold to the touch. Too cold. Hoisting her up into his arms, he rushed from the room, calling to Barb as he passed the next level.
Barb caught up with him on the main level as he set her down on a large sofa in the main lobby.
“She’s freezing,” Barb said, running her hands over Eve’s hair.