So Then There Were None

by Annie Adams

  I grit my teeth and kept my mouth shut. I reversed the key card and inserted it with the same result.

  “Here, let’s just use mine,” Alex said. He reached for his back pocket, then fumbled around, trying his front pants pockets, and then the back pockets again.

  “Don’t tell me,” I said.

  He opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. He was palms up and looking at the floor around our feet. “I don’t believe this.”

  “I have an idea!” K.C. blurted out. She snatched the key out of my hand and marched down the hall in an almost run.

  “Where are you going?” I asked. I began to follow, without giving a second thought to the drapery I was wearing. Being preoccupied with my frustration about the room key, when I turned abruptly to follow K.C., I neglected to keep hold of any part of the Mumu. As if in a coyote and roadrunner cartoon, where the bottom falls out on the main character, defying all laws of physics, the dress seemingly took on a life of its own. The neck opening became spring-loaded, opening to its full circumference. The garment practically shot itself off of my shoulders and plunged toward the floor.

  I managed to catch it in the crook of my arms at about waist height, but since I was mid-step when the bottom hem suddenly became floor-length, my legs got tangled and I careened onto the carpet.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Quincy!”

  I couldn’t move. It wasn’t because I had hurt myself—seriously, that is. I was definitely experiencing some physical pain. But I was frozen, due to the most overwhelming embarrassment I had ever experienced in my life. This beat out wetting my pants in front of the entire elementary school and their parents at a Christmas choir performance, getting pulled over by Alex’s colleague in my underwear, and walking into a window, that I thought was an open sliding glass door, in front of an entire wedding party and having it all caught on film in their wedding video.

  “Are you okay?” Alex had managed to hide his laughter, somehow. His voice was soft and compassionate.

  I lay prone, in a pile of Better Homes and Gardens gone bad, my forehead resting on my overlapped hands. I could feel my exposed skin in too many places to count. It was a collective middle finger to everything I’d ever been taught about modesty, I was quite sure.

  I felt the warmth of Alex’s hand on the small of my back, confirming that I wasn’t wearing anything above that.

  “Quincy, talk to me. Are you hurt?”

  I slowly pushed myself up, minding the position of the now, hated, Mumu.

  “I’m fine.”

  The crook in Alex’s eyebrow indicated that he didn’t believe me. “What is this?” he asked, pointing to the crest of my cheekbone.

  I touched the spot he was pointing to and winced. It seemed I had a rug burn there, and now that he mentioned it, the rosy burning increased in intensity on my palms and forearms, too.

  “I’m sorry,” we both said, simultaneously.

  “Why?” he asked, just edging me out of asking the same thing.

  “I was awful to you yesterday.”

  “But, about Eva—”

  “I don’t care about Eva. I’ve let my imagination take over and turn me into an irrational person. And it didn’t help that I was so worried about you all night—I’m just glad you weren’t the Lipstick Bridesmaid.”

  He stared at me intently. “Did you hit your head just now?”

  “No. I just mean, I thought you were gone, maybe you were the next victim in the game.”

  “But it is just a game.”

  “I know, but I can’t help feeling that things are scarier than they should be. You said something to Eva a while back about things not going how they were supposed to—”

  “Quincy. I’m trying to apologize to you.”

  “What for? You don’t need to.”

  “I think you’ll feel differently in a second.”

  He put his hands on my upper arms and fixed his gaze at me. “I didn’t spend the night in our room.”

  I felt my mouth contorting, trying to keep from blurting something out, now that I had just said how all of that kind of stuff didn’t matter to me. There would be a good explanation, I was…sure?

  I maintained an even expression. “I guess that’s why you didn’t answer the door,” I said, very calmly. I was proud of myself.

  He made a slow sigh. “After our...fight, I did see Eva. She told me she was worried about how we were going to get home. We’re supposed to leave tonight.”

  “She knows how we’re leaving? Why are we still standing here, then? Let’s get out of this place!” I could feel my increased heart rate in my pulse, my chest, just about everywhere. I had come alive.

  “She doesn’t know how. Just that the last people standing are supposed to be able to leave. The people that organized the game didn’t give her any details like that so that she could still participate.”

  “Oh.” Suddenly the world was bleak again. I think the lights even dimmed.

  “Quincy, after I argued with you, I realized what an awkward position I put you in by bringing you here. Mike actually told me they had some kind of murder mystery planned when he invited us to the wedding. I thought you would really enjoy it—”

  “You were wonderful to bring me here. It was incredibly thoughtful. My attitude and my insecurities have been the problem. I’m sorry I ruined your stay at your friends’ wedding weekend.”

  The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes gathered and he smiled at me. “You haven’t ruined anything. But there’s more to tell you. After Eva left—”

  “There you are,” Pam’s voice came screeching down the hall at us like a Pterodactyl in a horror movie.

  “Where’s Eva?” Audra asked.

  “And where’s K.C.?” Pam asked. “I thought we were supposed to stay in our groups.”

  “I don’t know where she is,” I said. “We were…” I started to say we were going to follow her, but then I tripped, but I didn’t need to share my humiliating tumbling experience with them. “I thought she was with you guys.”

  “She left right after you three,” Audra said. “She said she didn’t feel well, like she had to throw up.”

  “Did you check the restrooms outside the main ballroom?” I asked.

  “Of course we did. That’s the first place we looked,” Pam said. “Eva said she would catch up with you guys so that she wasn’t alone.”

  “Maybe she found K.C. at the other end of the hall,” I said.

  “I thought you said you didn’t know where K.C. was,” Audra said.

  Before I could explain, Alex said, “We can assume she’s on the other end of this hallway since we were just following her in that direction. We just stopped here for a second.” I had thought he was impervious to their annoying habits, but it turns out he was just better at keeping it to himself, until then. Everyone has their breaking point. He nudged me and we walked in the direction K.C. had gone.

  “We all know that Eva is the murderer—don’t we?” Audra blurted out.

  I stopped and turned around to look at her. I wasn’t sure what to say. I agreed with her, but wasn’t sure how it was all supposed to work, since Eva did know just a little bit about the planning. But, according to Alex, the powers that be still wanted her to play and be a part of the whole mystery game. It did seem to be a bad idea if they had really chosen the murderer ahead of time and they had chosen one of the main planners of the entire weekend. It must have been a completely random choice.

  “Yeah, it’s been obvious for a while,” Pam said matter-of-factly.

  “You just accused me downstairs,” I pointed out.

  “And me,” Alex said.

  “That was in the heat of the moment. Besides, I didn’t want Eva to know I was on to her,” Pam said.

  “I think it’s time we finish this game,” I said. “What do you say we all tell Eva our suspicions when we see her, and she can sound the alarm or make the smoke signals, or whatever happens when we catch the murderer?
I’m ready to go home.”

  “What about the reward?” Audra wanted to know. She’d hardly let me finish the sentence before she was talking about prize money.

  “I thought you weren’t playing,” Alex said. I was just about to say the same thing, so I was glad he could take the heat this time.

  “I’m not. I just…thought I would point out the obvious.”

  K.C. appeared in the doorway of Eva’s room.

  “There you are,” K.C. said. “What took you and the sheik so long to get here? Don’t tell me you stopped in the hallway for a little—you know.” She winked so hard I thought she may have given herself a black eye.

  “Oh, we just got a little tripped up and then we ran into these two,” Alex said.

  Bless him, I thought.

  “Where’s Eva?” Pam asked. She was all-business.

  “How should I know?” K.C. replied.

  “You are standing in her doorway,” Audra said. “Is she in there throwing up? That’s why she told you to say you don’t know where she is, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” K.C. said. “It was all a mistake.”

  “I think it was a mistake to let Eva go alone. She said she was feeling sick, and since she wasn’t in the downstairs bathroom, she had to have come up here to her room. And here you are standing in her room, so you must know where she is.” Pam sounded almost frantic. She’d worked herself into a four-foot-tall froth.

  “I swear to you, she is not in this room. Come in and have a look for yourself.”

  “I think I just will,” Pam said as she charged forward, giving K.C. the straight-arm like a running back holds off a tackler on the way to the end-zone.

  K.C. looked at me and then the others wide-eyed and probably stunned. We all followed Pam into the room.

  “You see,” K.C. said. “No Eva.” She held her arms up. “No, no, don’t take my word for it, even now. Come down here and look under the bed.” She held up the corner of the bed skirt, then moved to the closet. “And don’t forget here.” She opened the closet door.

  “Well if she’s not here, how come you’re in her room?” Pam asked.

  “Actually, we’re all in her room. Except Eva,” Audra said.

  Pam gave her a searing look.

  “As I said earlier, it was all a mistake.” K.C. said.

  “Maybe we were wrong. Maybe Eva isn’t the murderer,” Pam said. She stood at the foot of the bed, hands planted on her hips, speaking to all of us as if she were a general, dressing down her troops.

  “Who do you think it is?” Audra asked.

  “Me.” K.C. said.

  I sucked in a breath and stared at K.C.

  “You mean, you’re the murderer?” Alex said, incredulous.

  “No! Of course not. I wasn’t even supposed to be part of this whole shin-dig, remember? I was invited by the bride at the last minute, if you’ll all recall. I was just saying that Pam thinks that I’m the murderer. I suppose I can see why she would say that, seeing as how I am in Eva’s room. But it was all a mistake. I’ve been trying to tell you. Eva gave Quincy her own room key while we were in the kitchen—by accident.”

  “What are you talking about?” Audra said.

  “I came up here to change—” I said.

  “And I came with, to get my nail file,” K.C. said.

  “And when we tried to get into our room, Quincy’s key didn’t work,” Alex said, finishing the story for us.

  “I realized that Eva could have easily grabbed the wrong key, so I thought I would try her door—and voila!” K.C. said.

  “So you’re saying that Eva has disappeared?” Audra said.

  “I don’t know if I’m saying that,” K.C. said. “She’s just not here.”

  “Maybe you were all wrong, and she’s not the murderer,” Audra said.

  “Sounds like we might have our next victim, kids,” K.C. said.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “She can’t be! I’m sure of it,” Pam insisted.

  “You sound very sure,” Audra said. “To me that means only one thing—”

  “And just what is that?” Pam sneered back.

  Audra made a pfft sound with her lips and flung her hands up. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “It’s not me!” Pam said.

  “Then what makes you so sure Eva isn’t the next victim, sis’?” K.C. asked using the nickname to diffuse the tension in the air.

  “She was sick—nauseated—I mean. She was practically turning green when she left us in the kitchen,” Pam replied. “I just—know when someone is ill like that.” She looked at each of us imploringly. “Anyone would recognize it.”

  I couldn’t help wondering why Pam was so intent on convincing us that Eva was sick.

  “Well, if she is that ill, we need to find her and see if she needs help,” Alex said.

  “I think she’s the murderer for sure,” Pam said. “And if she is, she’s got to be around, because we can’t accuse her and win the game if she’s not here.”

  “If all of us are the accusers, that doesn’t leave much money to split between us,” Audra said.

  “Once again, I’ll remind you that you aren’t playing, so why do you care?” Pam said.

  “I’m just pointing out the obvious—again. Besides, I could use that money, just like anyone else. And maybe I have a different idea about who the culprit actually is.”

  “Changing your mind so soon?” K.C. asked.

  Audra blinked slowly, tilting her head to the side, delivering her lines like a soap opera actress. “Now that I’ve decided to compete, I might have changed my mind.”

  “Gee, how very mysterious,” Pam deadpanned.

  “Let’s go find Eva,” I said.

  “Fine, but are we all going together?” Audra asked.

  “That would be silly,” K.C. said. “I’ll go with you two gals, and Quincy and Alex, you go the opposite direction.”

  “What if they find Eva before we do?” Audra said.

  “Yeah. I deserve that reward just as much as anyone,” Pam said.

  “I’ll make it easy for everyone,” I said. “I’m not in it for the money. I want to get out of here. If we find Eva, we’ll then find you guys and the two of you can duke it out for the prize.”

  “What about K.C.?” Pam asked.

  “Oh heck, I don’t care about that prize. I’m with Quincy. I’m missing my Freddie. It’s time to go home. I just want to find the murderer and hopefully that person will have the code for getting out of this pla...ce.”

  Just as K.C. spoke her last word, the lights went out for a few seconds, then came back on.

  “What was that all about?” Audra asked.

  “I’m so sorry!” K.C. yelled at the ceiling.

  “What the…” Alex muttered under his breath. He flashed a wide-eyed glance at me.

  “I was rather rude to the ghosts,” K.C. explained.

  After some eye-rolling from more than one of our party, we finally settled on the directions we would go. Alex and I were left alone.

  “Do you want to find something else to wear before we go looking?” Alex asked.

  “What’s the matter with this? I’ve grown to like it, I think.”

  Before he asked for his engagement ring back, I told him I was joking. “Different clothes would be nice. But none of Eva’s will fit me.”

  “Hmm. You could go without any clothes. That would work.”

  “I…don’t think so.” I couldn’t help but smile at the twinkle in his eyes as he teased me. “I have an idea,” I said. K.C. had left Eva’s room card with Alex—since I didn’t have any pockets. Surely Eva would have an elastic hair tie, or a clip, or something I could use to cinch the dress around the neck opening and keep it from falling off at every turn.

  Once inside her room, I felt a strange shiver. “It feels wrong to come in here without Eva knowing about it,” I said.

  “She didn’t have the same qualms about entering our room
.”

  “Hey, you’re right. You know, I was just thinking about finding something to cinch this dress together, but now that we’re in here, I’m wondering if we might be able to find the master key.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Last night, we borrowed a master key from Eva.”

  “Before or after you were locked in a—closet, was it?”

  “Before.”

  “So how—?”

  I put my hand on his chest. “I’m going to stop you right there. Many things happened last night and this morning. It’s all kind of a blur. And things were done that will never be spoken of again.”

  “Like the reason you’re wearing this dress?”

  I gave him my best attempt at a steely-eyed, serious glare.

  His mouth began to twitch and he got those annoyingly cute wrinkles around the outer corners of his eyes. “I know—you already said you’ll tell me someday.”

  “Hey, I was giving you my no-nonsense stare.”

  “Is that what that was?”

  I bunched my lips up, to the side. “Not funny.”

  He let loose the grin and slid his arms around my shoulders. “I’m just trying to understand what happened. Don’t be mad at me.” He tilted his head down and touched my forehead to his. It felt like a really good time to give him a kiss.

  It turned out he had the same idea. I felt his hands sliding down my back. “I noticed something earlier,” he said.

  “What was that?”

  “You don’t appear to be wearing anything but this—”

  “Mumu,” I said. Not exactly a word that sets an alluring mood as it rolls off the tongue.

  “Mumu,” he said awkwardly.

  He tipped his head and kissed me again, which should have felt—well it did feel—amazing, but I couldn’t help feeling distracted, too. I had the distinct sensation that someone was watching us.

  “Eva?” I called out, looking over Alex’s shoulder, certain I would see her or someone standing there.

  “Is she here?” Alex said, twisting to look in the same direction.

  “It feels like someone is watching us,” I said.