by Sarah Fox
“You’re cold.”
“So are you.” I squeezed his hands, which were as icy as mine. “How about I go inside and grab our jackets?”
“Good idea.”
I glanced up at the lodge. A shadowy figure stood by one of the windows, looking out at me and Brett. It took me a second to realize that it was Lily. I couldn’t read her expression from this distance. I wondered if she’d already heard the grim news from Harvey.
“I’ll be quick,” I said to Brett.
I averted my gaze as I skirted around Kevin’s body. I hurried up the steps to the deck, getting colder by the minute. The sun disappeared behind a cloud that hadn’t been there just minutes ago. The diminishing light felt ominous. I glanced up at the sky. Gray clouds were rolling in from the north, moving swiftly. The sun wasn’t likely to reappear today. The change seemed fitting, considering the circumstances.
By the time I stepped inside the lodge, Lily had disappeared. The lounge was empty and quiet. I thought I heard low murmurs coming from the dining room, but I didn’t bother to check to see who was there. I didn’t want Brett to be outside on his own for long, so I took the stairs two at a time up to the second floor and fetched our jackets, as well as hats and gloves.
I shrugged into my own jacket on my way out of the room. I jogged back downstairs and reached the lobby just as Harvey came out of the Mannings’ private quarters. He shut the door behind him.
“Did you talk to Rita?” I asked. From the stricken expression on his face, I could guess the answer.
He nodded and took a second to gather himself. “Her daughter is with her.”
What a relief that Zahra had arrived that morning.
“I’ll be outside with Brett,” I said.
Harvey gestured toward the front door. “I’ll wait out front for the sheriff.”
We parted ways, and I wasted no more time getting back to Brett. He bundled up in the clothes I’d brought him and then we stood there together, waiting. Time ticked by slowly. More clouds rolled in, leaving very little blue sky left to be seen. The wind picked up a notch, and I was glad I’d retrieved our coats. Without them, the wait—already difficult—would have been unbearable.
I forced myself to take another look at Kevin to see if I could spot any further clues as to how he’d died, but with most of his body still buried there wasn’t much chance of that. I widened my circle of observation, but there was no sign of a murder weapon nearby, or any other clue that I could see. I probably would have assumed that he’d fallen and hit his head, if not for the fact that he’d been buried in the snowbank. That was no accident.
I turned away again, not wanting to stare at the bloodstained snow or Kevin’s eerily still, bluish face.
“He must have died last night,” I said quietly. “Otherwise someone probably would have noticed the killer burying him in the snow.”
“Most likely,” Brett agreed.
My heart nearly tripped over itself as memories came rushing back to me.
“Harvey was out here last night.”
Brett took a second to absorb my words. “When you were up?”
I nodded, unable to say anything more at the moment. I didn’t like thinking about what that could mean, but I also couldn’t ignore what I’d seen.
“What time was that?” Brett asked.
I found my voice after another second. “Two o’clock, or a little later.”
Brett’s mouth set in a grim line. I knew what he was thinking. That very well could have been around the time Kevin was killed.
I remembered something more. “Someone else was up too. I heard a door close and footsteps out in the hall.”
“Do you know which door?”
I thought back, desperately trying to find more detail hidden among my memories, but it was pointless. “No. Only that it was on the second floor.”
Brett shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “Tell all that to the sheriff.”
“I will,” I assured him.
I didn’t like to implicate anyone in Kevin’s death, but I had to give the sheriff every scrap of information I had. Besides, as much as I didn’t want anyone connected to the lodge to have had a hand in Kevin’s death, what did I really know about anyone here except Brett? My gaze strayed to the lodge. I checked every window, but this time I couldn’t see anyone looking out at us. Nevertheless, I felt exposed and uneasy standing near Kevin’s body, even with Brett at my side.
When I caught the distant sound of a car engine, I hoped desperately that the sheriff had arrived. A moment later, the engine cut off and a car door slammed. Voices drew nearer and Harvey appeared from around the side of the lodge, a woman in uniform next to him.
Harvey drew to a stop and said something to the woman. She nodded and Harvey turned back the way he’d come.
“Sheriff Walczyk,” the woman said by way of introduction as she approached me and Brett. “I understand you folks were the ones to find Kevin Manning.”
“That’s right,” Brett confirmed.
The sheriff studied Kevin’s mostly buried body for a moment and then asked us a few questions about how we’d found him and how much of the scene we’d disturbed.
I felt bad that we’d messed with the crime scene, but we’d had to check if Kevin was alive, and it hadn’t occurred to us right away that he’d been murdered. Sheriff Walczyk didn’t lecture us, so I figured she saw it the same way.
“Thank you,” she said after we’d provided our answers. “I’ll need to talk to you again, but you can wait inside the lodge.”
I took Brett’s hand and gladly left the sheriff to keep watch over Kevin. There was no one in the lounge. The first person we encountered in the lodge was a deputy in the lobby.
“Are you the guests who found the body?” he asked as soon as he saw us.
We confirmed that we were.
“I’ll need to take your statements. Mrs. Manning has allowed us the use of her office.” He addressed me. “Ma’am, are you all right to give me your statement now?”
“Of course.” I gave Brett’s hand a squeeze before letting it go.
He waited in the lobby while I sat in the office with the deputy, who introduced himself as Reynolds. The small room contained a desk, two chairs, and a metal filing cabinet. A painting of Holly Lake hung on one wall while framed diplomas and certificates were displayed on another. I recounted to Deputy Reynolds how Brett and I had found Kevin in the snowbank, and how Harvey had appeared on the scene moments later. I also filled him in on the things I’d heard and seen during the night.
Once I’d told him everything I could think of, I traded places with Brett. There was a padded bench in the lobby, near the front door, so I slipped out of my jacket and took a seat. Aside from the low murmur of Brett’s voice coming from the office behind the reception desk, the lodge was silent. I wondered where Harvey had gone and whether the other guests were somewhere in the lodge.
A minute or so later, I received a partial answer to my question. Hushed voices came from the direction of the stairway seconds before Lily and Ambrose appeared. Lily was speaking to Ambrose in an urgent whisper, but as soon as she spotted me, she stopped mid-sentence.
She quickly recovered from the surprise of seeing me sitting in the lobby. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?” she asked me. “There are sheriff’s department vehicles in the parking lot and I couldn’t help noticing you and your husband gathered outside with Harvey a while ago.”
The excited gleam in her eyes knocked me off kilter until I reminded myself that she didn’t know someone had died.
I stood up slowly, not eager to be the one to deliver the news. “It’s Kevin.”
“He hasn’t shown up yet?” Ambrose asked.
“He has, in a way,” I said. “I’m afraid he’s dead.”
Lily’s eyes widened and the color drain
ed from Ambrose’s face.
“Dead?” Lily echoed.
The door to the office opened and Brett emerged with his jacket over one arm, Deputy Reynolds right behind him. At almost the same time, the door to Rita and Kevin’s private quarters opened and another deputy appeared, shutting the door behind him.
Lily and Ambrose still stood at the base of the stairs, staring at the deputies.
By unspoken agreement, Brett and I drifted toward the dining room. As we left the lobby, I heard Deputy Reynolds asking Lily and Ambrose if they were guests at the lodge. He likely wanted to interview everyone on the premises.
“No sign of Wilson,” I said quietly when we reached the empty dining room.
I didn’t know what to do. It would feel strange to lock ourselves away in our room, but I certainly wasn’t in the mood for any outdoor activities. All my energy had drained away and my spirits drooped.
“Want me to make you a cup of tea?” Brett asked as I pulled out a chair at one of the tables and hung my jacket over the back of it.
“Yes, please,” I said, realizing that I still wasn’t quite warm after standing vigil over Kevin’s body.
A woman in chef’s whites popped her head out from the kitchen. “I can bring you drinks.” She came farther into the room. “I’ve got a pot of coffee on in the kitchen. It’s probably fresher than what’s there.” She nodded at the credenza where a small amount of coffee sat in the pot.
“That sounds great, thanks,” Brett said. “I’ll have coffee.”
“And one cup of tea?” the woman said to me. “What kind do you prefer?”
“Orange pekoe, if you have it.”
“Certainly. I’ll be back in a minute.”
She was true to her word. Brett and I had barely settled at the table when she reappeared with a mug of coffee and a tea cup and saucer, a teabag in the hot water.
“I’m the lodge chef, Cindy,” she said once we’d thanked her for the drinks.
“Brett and Marley,” Brett offered.
“I’m guessing you’ve heard the news,” she said, her face solemn
I fished the teabag out of my cup, letting the water drip from it before I placed it on the saucer. “We were the ones who found Kevin.”
“Oh, how terrible.” She lowered her voice. “Harvey said Kevin was buried in a snowbank, that someone might have killed him.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it.”
I wanted to ask Cindy if she knew of anyone who might have wanted to harm Kevin, but Ambrose and Lily arrived in the dining room and headed our way.
“Would anyone like some lunch?” Cindy asked all of us.
It didn’t seem quite right to have an appetite after what had happened, but my stomach grumbled, making my cheeks flush.
“We should probably eat something after all that snowshoeing,” Brett said to me.
Lily pulled out a chair at the table next to ours. She seemed preoccupied, but said, “I could eat.”
Ambrose murmured his agreement.
My embarrassment eased. At least I wasn’t the only one who was hungry.
We all consulted the menus and Cindy took our orders before returning to the kitchen.
“Can you believe what’s happening?” Lily asked me and Brett, her eyes wide. Wisps of hair had come loose from her bun, which had a pencil sticking through it. “We’re right in the middle of a murder investigation.”
“Suspicious death investigation,” Ambrose corrected her. “They haven’t said murder yet.”
“True,” Lily said. She returned her attention to me and Brett. “Did you find him out by the steps? Is that why you were standing there?” Before we had a chance to respond, she spoke again. “But if the body was in plain view, we would have seen it earlier.”
“It wasn’t in plain view,” I said. “He was buried in a snowbank.”
Lily’s face paled. “To conceal the body?”
“It didn’t snow enough for it to happen naturally,” Brett said.
“What’s going on out there now?” Ambrose had his gaze fixed on the back window.
Lily spun around in her seat. I turned more slowly. With the deck in the way, I could only see the heads of the people out near where we’d found Kevin’s body, but it looked like Sheriff Walczyk was there with two of her deputies.
“Oh, my goodness!” Lily jumped up and hurried over to the window. She let out a gasp. “I think they found the murder weapon!”
I couldn’t help myself. I joined Lily by the window. That gave me a better view of what was going on outside. Sure enough, Sheriff Walczyk was speaking with Deputy Reynolds and another deputy I hadn’t seen before. Reynolds was holding a ski and all three had their attention fixed on it.
I stared at the white and blue ski, wishing I could see it better. I noticed a red mark near one end of it. “Is that…?”
“Blood,” Lily said, finishing my sentence. “It’s definitely blood.”
Chapter Six
Even though my lunch was delicious, I wasn’t able to enjoy it. I picked at the vegetable curry and didn’t manage to finish the meal, despite all the snowshoeing Brett and I had done that morning. I was too on edge and preoccupied to focus on eating.
Brett finished his clubhouse sandwich and fries, but he wasn’t his usual relaxed self either. We both stayed silent, though the inside of my head was anything but quiet. Thoughts about Kevin’s death bounced around like ping-pong balls. I tried to settle my mind, to think about something—anything—else, but that was impossible, so I gave up and let myself think about the crime.
If the ski was the weapon Kevin’s killer had used to strike him in the head, did that provide any clue to the murderer’s identity?
I didn’t think so. Harvey seemed to be in charge of all the outdoor equipment, but the door to the shed was left unlocked, at least during the day. Maybe it was locked at night. If so, and if that’s where the ski had come from, I feared Harvey might well end up as the prime suspect.
Although I didn’t really know Harvey at all, I didn’t want him to be the murderer. I didn’t want anyone at the lodge to be a killer. The thought of being in such close proximity to the murderer was enough to make my blood run cold. I wanted to ask Brett if we should go home. There wasn’t much chance of us enjoying our vacation any longer. It wouldn’t exactly be relaxing since we’d be constantly looking over our shoulders, wondering if someone down the hall or at the next table could be responsible for Kevin’s death.
I didn’t broach the subject yet, though. I wanted to wait until Brett and I were alone.
Over at the neighboring table, Lily and Ambrose were speculating about the murder. At least Lily was. Ambrose offered up sounds of apparent interest and agreement here and there, but it was hard to tell if he was really into the conversation. Much of what Lily was saying mirrored my own thoughts, although she didn’t know about Harvey being outside in the middle of the night.
Cindy came out of the kitchen and cleared away Lily’s and Ambrose’s empty plates. After that, the two of them left the dining room together.
“You doing okay?” Brett asked me once we were alone.
I was about to answer when Cindy reappeared. With Rita out of commission, it seemed the chef had taken on the additional role of server.
“All finished?” she asked us.
“Yes, thanks,” I said, nudging my half-empty plate toward the edge of the table. “It was delicious. My appetite just isn’t what it usually is.”
“Totally understandable,” she said. “To be honest, I don’t think it’s quite sunk in for me yet. I keep expecting Kevin to show up.” She picked up our plates. “I feel terrible for Rita.”
“Do you live on-site?” I asked, wondering how much opportunity she had to see the comings and goings at the lodge at all hours.
“No. I live across the lake. Aside from the Ma
nnings, the only person who lives on-site is Harvey. He’s got a cabin in the woods, just a stone’s throw from here.”
“Has he worked here long?” I caught the way Brett was looking at me. He knew my questions arose from more than an attempt to make casual conversation.
“Three or four years, I think,” Cindy said. “He’s been here longer than I have, and it’s almost two years for me.”
My mind veered off in another direction.
“If you’ve lived around here for a while, I’m guessing you’ve heard the story about the local ghost,” I said.
“Sure, I know the story.” Cindy straightened the salt and pepper shakers on the neighboring table. “And I’ve seen her with my own eyes.”
“The ghost?” I couldn’t contain my surprise.
“Yep. I saw her out on the lake one time last spring. It was like she was walking on the water. That’s how I knew it was Henrietta’s ghost. That and the fact that she looked just like everyone else has described her.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of Cindy’s account and I could tell Brett wasn’t either. The chef seemed sincere, so she probably believed what she was saying, but did that mean she’d really seen the ghost of Henrietta Franklin?
“What does the ghost look like?” Brett asked. If he didn’t believe the story, his voice didn’t reveal that.
“Long, red hair,” Cindy said. “And she’s always wearing a green dress.”
I froze at those words. Brett’s gaze met mine from across the table.
Cindy continued, not noticing our reactions. “According to the story, it was her favorite dress.”
I was too stunned to ask her more questions about Henrietta, even though several had bubbled up to the surface of my thoughts.
She glanced at Brett’s empty mug and my teacup. “Can I get you anything else? More to drink, maybe?”
“I think we’re done.” Brett looked to me for confirmation, and I nodded. “Thank you.”
Getting back to business, she collected our cups, adding them to the stacked plates. “I’ll see you this evening,” she said before returning to the kitchen.