So Then There Were None

by Annie Adams

  "So you knew all about the murder mystery ahead of time?" Audra asked.

  "No, not at all. Mike and Christie knew that I would be here, and that Quincy would be here too, helping with the flowers. I knew Eva had things planned for us to do, and then when I got here I found out Pam was involved as well, since she was co-maid of honor," he said, making air quotes, "but I didn't know they were planning for a murder mystery."

  "But how come I heard Eva tell you that things weren’t going like they were supposed to?" The last remnants of my jealous self had suddenly reappeared. "Or did you say it to her? It's only been a couple of days, but it seems like weeks. I can't even remember what was said this morning."

  "We just meant that this was supposed to be a fun weekend, and things weren't looking very fun. It started off with the golf cart and Sydnee. No, her body wasn't there when we found it, but the cart was so mangled and wrecked, it was much too violent for a game. Eva had told me that Mike and Christie were really into murder mystery parties and that their friends had planned it all, but she’d been to other parties they had put on and they were light-weight, not dark like it’s been here.”

  "Well, whether the game is still going like it’s supposed to or not, eight of us have disappeared one by one, and there’s still no way back to the mainland," Audra was pointing her finger at me now, "so I think the contest is still going on. And the only bridesmaids left are you and me. And I'm not the murderer, so it must be you.” She let out a defeated sigh. “So that we can all go home, do whatever it is you do. Maybe Alex contacts the people in charge, I don't know. I just gotta get off this island and I want my money."

  I felt my temperature rising and the fire in my cheeks blazing. I paused for just a moment to gather my thoughts and tell Audra where she could stick her accusations, but then I realized by looking at her, she was probably feeling close to death. Her face contorted in a grimace, not the angry, twisted expression of a catty woman who would do whatever she could to get what she wanted. Although, it's possible she wore that expression often, but she looked like someone who was in physical pain. She continually wrapped her arms around her abdomen when she wasn't pointing at me.

  "Audra, I swear to you,” I had to think of something of value to swear on. Something Audra could relate to. I looked down at my hand. “On this engagement ring. Maybe you don't know how big an oath that is from me, but rest assured, if I lost this ring because I was lying to you, it would be all over for me.” I cut my eyes over to Alex, who’d returned to the table by now. He didn't exactly look happy that I was using his grandmother's ring as my betting stone.

  "I swear to you, I'm not the murderer. I've had no idea what’s been going on this entire weekend. In fact, except for being able to spend time with my friends and loved ones," I looked at both Alex and K.C., "this has been one of the most miserable times in my life. No one wants to be in a place where they are constantly reminded of what an outsider they are, and how unwelcome they are, by no fault of their own, but because they showed up when invited.” I jumped off of my figurative soapbox. “You said something about Pam putting something in your drink. What makes you think it's that and not something else, like maybe bad food?"

  "I haven't had anything different to eat than Pam or K.C. We all ate the same thing. And they don't seem sick. K.C. has been drinking from the same bottle of wine that I have, and the same bottle of whiskey." I glanced over at K.C. wondering how many different tastings they’d had. She shrugged and made a coquettish grin. "And by now, you should know that I can hold my liquor. I’ve been throwing back a lot more than this on a daily basis for the last three months," Audra said.

  "Oh, Audra, kid. Seems like an awful lot of drinking,” K.C. said.

  "Well, life hasn't exactly been going great for me these days. Screw it, I might as well tell you. I'll never see any of you again."

  “Now don’t say that," K.C. replied in a grand-motherly tone. "This is one small world we’re living in. People gotta stick together. We've been through a lot this weekend, us girls."

  Audra looked up slowly at Alex, his mouth was hardened into a flat line. Either he was unhappy about being included as one of us girls, or he knew something about Audra he hadn't shared.

  "I guess my past is catching up to me," Audra said. "My last boyfriend's wife found out about us after she hired a private eye. She knows about my dad's business deals with her husband, which, true to his nature are not exactly above board. I've been cut off completely from my boyfriend. And my father's cut me off financially as well. I'm broke, and apparently my ex-boyfriend used my name on some of the business documents. So I'm probably going to jail, too." She doubled over and held her stomach.

  "Audra, my dear, you don't look so swell. Would you like to go up to your room?" K.C. asked her.

  "I know she did this, that backstabbing little monster,” Audra said.

  Alex and I exchanged glances. The anger in Audra’s voice made it pretty clear there was more to their story than we knew. She looked like she could lose her cookies any second.

  I’ll admit, I’d had a fleeting thought that perhaps she could have been faking, since she was the last bridesmaid left who could be the murderer, but it was an Oscar winning performance if that were the case. She was just too green around the gills, though. Wasn’t she?

  Audra took two deep, cleansing breaths while she stooped with her hands on her knees. She eventually stood up and I saw the tension leave her. “When I get a hold of her, I’ll kill her," Audra said.

  "You sure you aren’t the murderer?" K.C. asked Audra. "That sounds pretty threatening to me."

  "Oh no, this is real. It has nothing to do with the game. I don't really want to kill her, though. I want to see her as sick as I am right now. And I’ll stand over her and watch as she writhes in—" She bent over again and put her hands on her knees.

  "I know this may not be the time, but have we figured out where Pam went?" K.C. said.

  "Let's get Audra upstairs, and then we'll figure out what happened to Pam," Alex said, taking over the situation as I imagined he would at the scene of a crime.

  "Okay, how about Audra and I go upstairs, while you two do some snooping? I don't know what we need to figure out, exactly. I'm just too darn curious to let this go. But I'm willing to leave it to the professional, Alex."

  Audra fled with the word “bathroom” floating on the Jet stream she left trailing behind her. She’d assured us she’d eventually be okay and that we didn't need to find an emergency boat of some sorts, but K.C. volunteered the information that she knew how to lash together a primitive raft using planks from the shed and everybody's underwear tied together in case things escalated.

  After they left, Alex turned to me and said, "So what do you think is really going on?"

  "I'm baffled," I said. "I can't imagine where she went. You’re sure she couldn't have escaped through the door?” I asked him.

  "I can't be a hundred percent sure, but as soon as she let go, I went to turn on the lights. And like K.C. said, this door is loud. I don't see how she could have opened it without all of us hearing."

  "Someone screamed though, right? Do you think the scream came from Pam, to cover up the sound of the squeaking door?"

  "I suppose that's a possibility," he said, while his facial expression said no. "But it didn't sound like her voice—the scream—I mean. And I think she still would've been next to me when the scream occurred. But, eyewitness accounts are usually kind of unreliable in a lot of cases. Just like now. I've been trained to pay attention to all the details, yet I'm questioning myself, as to whether the scream occurred before or after she let go of my hand. What I think I remember is that the scream happened before she let go. And I don't think it sounded like her."

  "I don't think the scream came from Audra,” I said. “She was next to me, and by that time she looked horrible. The location of the sound just doesn't seem like it was here, on my right hand side, where Audra was sitting. It seems like it was in that part of
the room.” I pointed to the space behind us, where the loveseat filled one end of a nook, and the flanking walls were covered with built-in bookcases. “More like it was behind K.C. Wait a minute!” I thunked my forehead with the heel of my hand. “I can’t believe I forgot. I really must be losing it.”

  “Sounds kind of harsh, babe.”

  “I saw something."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I saw someone," I said, feeling really stupid to have forgotten a detail like that. I guess with all the commotion and the potential for Audra up-chucking all over my shoes, I was a little distracted. "I glanced up when K.C. was chanting or whatever, and thought I noticed a figure in the darkness, hunched over, with a hood or cloak or something like that."

  "You mean like a hoodie?" he asked.

  "Yeah, definitely could've been a hoodie."

  "So what if, Pam has an accomplice?"

  "An accomplice for what?" I asked him.

  "I don't really know, but Pam…who knows with her? I wouldn't put anything past her with the way her mind works. Maybe she’s not the murderer of the game and she thought she’d gather some dirt about one of us at the séance to help her win somehow. Or maybe she has someone helping her do all these weird things that are going on."

  “Like maybe, my dress?"

  "I thought she came right up to you and dumped her wine on your dress."

  "Yes she did," I said with an intensity of anger to my voice that I hadn’t intended to be there. "But I'm also talking about the cigarette stain on the front of it. Maybe she had someone come and do her dirty work for her, so that she could deny having done the actual deed without lying about it. You know who smokes around here?"

  "Kourtnee," both of us said at the same time.

  "That's very interesting," he said. What if Kourtnee was here during the séance? What if she was the hooded figure? She's been wearing a hoodie around all weekend. What if she was over there hiding, waiting for a signal of some kind, and then she screamed, Pam let go and…"

  “There’s no way both Pam and Kourtnee—if that was her—could have escaped out that door. There just wasn't enough time for that."

  He nodded in agreement. We both made our way to the part of the room where I had seen the shadowy figure. "There's nowhere to hide over here. There's the loveseat, which I still intend to use at some point for the purpose it was intended, with you." I glanced up at him to see the remnants of a grin he must've been wearing when he said it, but he continued on without pause. Very sly, that one. I gave him a light jab to the ribs, and then he broke character and looked down at me and smiled. "Oh, sorry, back to business. He put his arm around my waist and squeezed me toward him. "Then, there's these bookcases. All I see are books and games. There’s nowhere to hide."

  "What if…” I ran my hands along the sides of the bookcase. "What if there’s a secret compartment or something?" I said.

  "You might just be a genius." He let go of me and helped in the search for a secret switch. He ran his hands down the middle of the wooden structure and stopped. He pushed against it, and from where my hands were positioned, I could feel just the slightest little give behind the case.

  We shared a look, as if we’d just discovered the secret entrance to an emerald-filled cave within the jungles of the Amazon.

  While we smoothed our hands over the dark wood, searching for some kind of indication of a latch or switch, I was distracted by a collection of books, all with the same leather bound covers and tooled engraving on the spines. It was a collection of Agatha Christie novels, several of the titles I was familiar with, having read them while staying with my grandmother at her house. She had a similar collection herself that someone had given her as a gift many years before.

  "It's been a long time since I've seen this one," I said.

  "Would you like to stop and take a break for some light reading?" Alex asked me with a smile on his face and then a wink.

  "I do tend to get distracted sometimes. And this book is worth the distraction." I pulled the copy of And Then There Were None from its hold within the middle of its companion books. As the book tilted forward the bookcase swung toward us only about an inch and a half in a quiet, smooth movement.

  "Wow!" Alex exclaimed. "Like something you'd see in a movie."

  We looked at each other and I gave him a slight nod. He cautiously grasped the edge of the bookcase and swung it open.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  The open case revealed a dark alcove at first glance. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I could see we were in a small stairwell.

  A narrow set of stairs disappeared down into the dark.

  “I forgot about the basement," Alex said.

  "Yeah, don't you remember? I told you about it after K.C. and I were down there."

  "Oh, right. What were you guys doing again? Something happened—you told me."

  "It's when I hit my head on something while we were running away."

  He raised his eyebrows. "What were you running away from?"

  "I…was running away from ghosts…maybe?"

  "Come on, really, what was it? Tell me who it was, I’ll make him pay," he said, with comic book bravado.

  "No, really I—I'm not sure. I know, I know. I've been down on the ghost theory, but I heard a voice. I'm sure of that."

  He put his hand on my back and rubbed it up and down. "What did the scary voice say?" His voice dripped with sarcasm.

  "It's not funny, I heard a voice, like an evil voice telling us to get out. And so we did."

  "K.C. heard it too? Wait, I don’t think I need you to answer that."

  I found my hands planted on my hips. I didn't remember putting them there. "Laugh it up, funny guy. Actually, she didn't hear it,” I said. “She just ran because I did. I assumed at first that she heard the voice, then when we got outside she told me she hadn't heard it."

  "All right, I'm just giving you a hard time. I believe you. You said there was a scary voice so there was a scary voice."

  "Weren’t you the one that stood right over there, and told K.C. you wanted to hear from the ghosts?"

  "I was humoring her. I felt bad for her. She was trying to make it fun for everyone, and she got interrupted by Audra and her…"

  "Emissions?" I suggested.

  "That's one way of putting it," he said. "What do you think the voice was from? Or whoooom, should I say?" He sounded like the voice in a goofy Halloween song.

  I gave him a withering stare. “Very funny. I don't know, but it was spooky and scary. It was like something you'd see in a horror movie. It was whispery but loud. She was looking into some antique cupboard of some kind, and I was looking too, but I was also noticing other things around us so her back was to me. I didn’t see anyone, I just heard the voice. K.C. had her head stuck inside the cupboard, so I guess it's possible that if she had her head outside of the cupboard she might've heard the voice too. I'm not sure. I just got out of there."

  "It's the right thing to do if you're scared. If you sense something scary, your body is naturally programmed to fight or flight. I think flight is probably the best option. So anyway, we’re standing here in a stairwell. Where did you find a way downstairs? It wasn't in a hidden alcove behind another bookcase was it?"

  "No," I laughed. "It was in a closet though. Across the hall from the kitchen, in the utility closet."

  "Another closet? You have a thing for closets." He chuckled.

  "I guess I do, it seems. Well, should we go downstairs?"

  "If I can find a light switch," he said.

  We set about patting down the walls, trying to find a switch.

  And then I felt a hand on my behind. "I don't think you can find a light switch there," I said, laughing.

  "Oh, I'm sorry," Alex said very unapologetically. I felt his hands move to another spot. "No, no light switch there either. Keep trying." I found myself in his embrace.

  "You know, it feels safe to say we are finally, really alone,” he said.

&nbs
p; “Yeah, now we can explore without any interruptions.”

  He pulled me into him, closing any gap there might have been between our bodies.

  “What are you doing?” I knew exactly what he was up to. And he knew that I knew.

  “I’m exploring, like you said.” His voice came out in a soft, low, rumble, tickling my ear with its vibrations. His hands slowly moved in different directions on my back.

  One of his hands lifted off of me and I heard it sliding along the wall behind me. He kissed me nice and slow and gently leaned against me, pushing us back toward the wall. I relaxed and let him lead.

  As soon as my back touched a solid surface I put my weight against it. It opened up behind me and I began to fall. I let out a yell. We were in near-complete darkness and falling down the stairs.

  I only fell backwards for an inch or so before I was brought upright with the arm he had wrapped around my waist.

  “Whoa, are you okay?” He’d pulled me tight against him and I could feel my heart pounding against his chest.

  “We didn’t fall down the stairs,” I said through some rapid breathing.

  “We didn’t. I’m so sorry. Hold on.” He reached around me with one arm while clutching me tightly with the other. Suddenly light flooded the small space, illuminating just how tiny the landing of the staircase was.

  I must have looked pretty rattled, because his brows knit together in a sympathetic slant, and he kissed my forehead.

  “Look,” he said, “a closet.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “You’re a closet magnet.” He held open the swinging door. “After you.”

  This little closet was even smaller than the one I’d slept in. “There’s no doorknob on this one,” I said.

  “No.”

  “And no lock.”

  “No.”

  I blew out a sigh. “Okay, I can go in, then.”

  There was a small Erector set-style metal shelving unit against one wall with a feather duster, a roll of paper towels, and a bottle of window cleaner on one shelf. The other two shelves were empty.