So Then There Were None

by Annie Adams

  “Hey, what’s this?” Alex reached from behind me and picked up something off the shelf. He pushed against me as he reached and I had to admit, it felt very nice. Nice enough to make the lady parts sigh.

  “It looks like a remote control,” I said. “Actually, it looks really familiar.”

  “Remote controls are pretty common.”

  “No—I meant I’ve seen this particular model before. Hang on…” The significance was right there in the peripheral fog of my mind. I closed my eyes and tried to clear everything out. It was the same thing I did when someone’s name was on the tip of my tongue. “That’s it!” My eyes sprung open and I took the remote out of Alex’s hand and went back into the game room.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Watch.” I clicked the button on the remote and all the hurricane lamps on the table and around the room lit up, all at once.

  “How ‘bout that,” he said, with just a teensy bit of wonderment.

  “I used one of these for a wedding once,” I said, feeling proud of my little ‘aha’ moment.

  “So we know how Pam left the room,” Alex said.

  “And whoever else was in the room with us.”

  “Right. So, K.C. decides to do a séance, and…she asks...Pam where they should do it?”

  “Or, Pam—knowing how K.C. feels about ghosts—suggests the séance, and K.C.—being her loveable self—eats it right up,” I said. Alex nodded as I laid out my hypothesis. “Pam has obviously learned every nook and cranny of this place, so she knew about the secret passage behind the bookcase, and maybe the lanterns. Or maybe she brought them for the wedding, given her position as co-maid of honor.”

  A smile curled into the corners of Alex’s mouth. “You’re cute when you’re sleuthing,” he said.

  “I’ll remember you said that,” I said, grinning back at him.

  “Let’s not get carried away.”

  “Should we go downstairs and see where she—I mean they went?”

  “In a little bit, but I’m serious about us being alone. We’ve got to take advantage of having this mansion all to ourselves. Wait right here.”

  He slid the remote control out of my hand and made his way across the room to turn off the overhead lights. It occurred to me our entire afternoon had centered on the monotony of the turning on and off of lighting in one form or another.

  “Mood lighting,” he said, taking me by the hand and guiding me to the loveseat.

  “You just couldn’t let this couch go.”

  “It’s not a couch—it’s a loveseat,” he said in his best Barry White impression.

  I giggled like a little girl and then felt the butterflies hit my stomach when he dropped onto the loveseat and then pulled me onto his lap.

  We started an epic make-out session, but the entire time, I couldn’t help worrying that Pam or the mysterious figure would literally come out of the woodwork to watch us in that creepy way Pam had done in the garden room…and then…on the pool deck.

  In a single movement he moved my legs off to the side and I found myself underneath of him and leaning back against the throw pillow on the end of the loveseat.

  “That was pretty smooth,” I said.

  “Oh, yeah? I was actually feeling a little rusty. I need more practice.”

  Oh sheesh.

  I felt movement in his legs and heard his shoes drop to the floor as he kicked them off. Then, after a kiss, he rose up on his knees and peeled his shirt up and over his head, the muscles in his chest rippling. He kept in shape for his job which was a nice side benefit for me.

  He lowered himself, pressing a forearm down on either side of my head. He slowly came toward me, his eyes seeming to flicker like the candles in the hurricane lamps. I felt a wave of heat wash down through my body, but it stopped about midway due to the nagging fear of being watched or intruded upon. I told myself to boot that nag out of my mind, this was what I had been wanting, wasn’t it? To have Alex all to myself, with him sharing all of his passion with me and no other woman?

  I settled in and tried to focus on participating to get rid of my hang ups. I ran my hands across his chest and pushed against him.

  I alleviated the confusion showing on his face by saying, “Let’s switch.” His expression immediately changed to a more devilish one.

  “Good idea,” he said in a raspy whisper.

  I took a second to remove my shoes after he let me up and lay back against the loveseat. I sat on the edge of the cushion cursing my inability to wear flip-flops—I just don’t like wearing them—so having to remove socks, in addition to my cute, lace-up Keds, took an extra beat. And at times like this, every second was precious. Believe me, I was racing in order to beat my mind before it started thinking about things it shouldn’t.

  I finished with the shoes and socks and turned toward him. He practically lifted me into the air as he grabbed my waist, assisting me with straddling him on the loveseat. He reached up and splayed his fingers through my hair, cupping the back of my head, and then pulled me toward him for the hottest kiss ever known to have occurred in history.

  He found the bottom edge of my shirt and began to slide it up toward my chest. I leaned back, hesitating for a second, wishing I’d shaved my armpits when I took a shower in K.C.’s bathroom. Oh well, I was here now. I reached for the sky and let him finish with the shirt. Once he cleared it over my head, I felt exposed in so many ways.

  I think he sensed my apprehension, because he immediately pulled me into him, encasing me in his arms. This was happening, and I felt safe, and free, and in love.

  I sat up, biting my lip for extra resolve, and looked into his eyes, as I slowly hooked a finger under one strap of my bra, and even more slowly slipped it down over my shoulder. I took a deep breath.

  “Boss, we’ve got a problem.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  K.C.’s booming voice might have actually stopped my heart. “Oh my sweet lord! What are you doing to that poor man? Officer, I’d like to report an assault.”

  Next thing I knew, K.C. was at my side, elbowing me out of the way. “I know C.P.R. too, I’ll take over, just don’t tell Fred.”

  “Hilarious,” I deadpanned, while desperately searching the floor around the couch. But she didn’t hear me over her roaring laughter.

  “Looking for this?” Alex held up my shirt. There were rare times when I knew just by looking at him that he felt embarrassed. This wasn’t one of them. He had what might be construed as a sympathetic expression reflecting in his eyes, but I didn’t take too close of a look before I snatched the shirt out of his hands. I dove into that thing like a honey badger into its den.

  “I’m sorry, kids,” she said as she wiped her eyes. “Guess I shoulda knocked. I was going to ask what you’ve been up to since I left, but ha, it’s pretty obv—”

  “Okay, okay. You caught us,” Alex said. Maybe he felt a little twinge of embarrassment after all? “But that’s not the only thing.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the book case.

  “Would you look at that.” That was all it took to turn her attention away from us. Alex stood and made a quick grab for his own shirt.

  “What the—is this one of those things you see in the movies? A secret hiding place behind a bookcase?”

  “It is indeed,” Alex replied.

  “Well I’ll be basted and barbequed,” K.C. said.

  After a multitude of throat clearings, I managed to find my voice. “You mentioned something about a problem?”

  “Yeah, yeah.” She waved her lowered hand as if sweeping my inquiry to the side. She was bent at the waist, her nose only centimeters from the opening we’d discovered, her gaze fixed on the bookcase.

  I was just happy she’d moved on from cracking jokes about our embarrassing live show.

  “I’ve got to know how you opened this. I want to have Fred install one of these at our place as soon as I get home.”

  Alex glanced at me and shrugged, then gave her a quick demonstrat
ion. “Hey, didn’t you say there was a problem, K.C.?” he asked her.

  She bolted upright and grabbed his arm. “Oh, shoot. I did. Didn’t I?” She took a breath and blinked like she was getting her bearings back in the present moment, and patted the edges of her blond bob. She did some of her own throat clearing, then came out with it.

  “Audra is gone.”

  “How?” I asked her.

  “I don’t rightly know.”

  “But you went with her.”

  “Well I didn’t go into the actual toilet with her. I wanted to give her some privacy.”

  Well, that made sense. “So, you both went to her room and—”

  “I didn’t want to stick around for what might be about to happen. I mean, we’ve all been there, and I know from experience that a thin bathroom door is no match for bowels in deep distress. Boy, there was one time in Mexico at the Paraiso Natural…well I don’t have to tell you what an emergency it is to be stuck on a beach with no outhouse when Montezuma’s about to take his revenge.”

  No she did not need to tell me, but I was afraid she was about to.

  “Whereabouts in Mexico?” Alex asked.

  Points for Alex, bless him.

  “Down Oaxaca way. Have you ever been?”

  “Hmm, I’m not sure. I used to go to Mexico a lot when I lived in California.”

  “Maybe the two of you could go there on your honeymoon. Now that you’re the last man—and woman—standing, you can keep that prize money all to yourselves.”

  “K.C., I’m not the murderer. I have no idea what’s going on. That’s why I’m surprised that Audra’s gone.”

  “I’d bet a nickel this secret passageway isn’t the only one in the house. That’s probably how Audra left.” She returned to her fascination with the book case and took a step behind it.

  “Hey, Q,” Alex whispered from behind, just over my shoulder.

  “Yeah?”

  “When K.C. was talking about Mexico, she just meant the beautiful scenery was like a paradise, right?”

  The book case moved and closed, flush with the rest of the case that was stationary. The copy of And Then There Were None slid back in line with the rest of its matching collection of books.

  I turned and chucked his chin with my knuckles. “You’re so sweet when you’re naïve. And it’s such a relief not to be the only naïve one of the bunch for a change.” I busted out a grin for him, and watched while his tanned and handsome face turned just a teensy bit rosy.

  “You mean…”

  “I mean she was talking about a nudist colony. The natural meaning au naturel.”

  “Well, we could have our honeymoon there.” He bumped his eyebrows up and down.

  “Who needs nudist colonies when we seem to be getting naked in front of people left and right around here?” I motioned toward the loveseat for dramatic effect.

  “Technically, you didn’t get naked on the loveseat, much to my dismay.”

  I pinched my face up and pretended to laugh. I don’t think he mistook my sarcasm.

  He winked at me and patted me on the behind. “We’ll pick up where we left off later on. But maybe we should rescue K.C. for now. I think she’s locked herself in.”

  “You know what?” K.C. said as she leaned on the kitchen counter.

  “I know I’m starving,” Alex said, yanking the refrigerator door open. “What else?”

  “Something isn’t right about this mystery game.”

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and say no kidding or something a little more severe involving the word Sherlock.

  “Which part do you mean?” I asked.

  “If you really aren’t the murderer,” I did literally roll my eyes dramatically this time, so she’d be sure not to miss it, “which you’ve said you aren’t.” She glanced at me and nodded in recognition of my eye-roll. “Shouldn’t we be on the road home by now?”

  “That’s what we’d figured,” Alex said as he pulled leftovers of all kinds from the fridge. “Glad there’s all this food left in here, since we were supposed to be gone by now.” He stopped pulling plastic lids from their containers for a moment. “There shouldn’t be all this food left.”

  “Don’t stop now, or I’ll have to start eating my own limbs,” K.C. said as she moved over to help where he left off.

  I was the plate and utensil gopher. Having finished my job, I placed everything on the counter next to the food. “I sense that you think this is significant. Why is that?”

  “The guys. There’s enough food here for a lot more people, at least double. I mean, I know there was probably some food left over from the wedding and all, but caterers plan very carefully. They don’t want a lot of leftovers because that means less profit. And this stuff is all from the meals that were planned after the wedding—for those of us left for the weekend.”

  “Ah, and you’re saying there’s enough food here for all the guys who went to the hospital,” K.C. said.

  “Right.”

  “So, they were still supposed to be here,” I said. “And they all came up with the flu or food poisoning—”

  K.C. gasped. “Just like Audra!” She tsked and shook her head.

  “That’s awful. I can’t imagine a company intentionally causing physical harm to the participants. They’d go out of business,” I said.

  “Maybe the guys all really did get sick and so whoever was in charge of the game called an audible and tried to run it with just you gals,” K.C. surmised.

  “And Audra’s just a fluke?” I said.

  “Maybe so,” Alex said, trailing off the end of his sentence, as if he wasn’t entirely sure. He shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t change our circumstances. We’ll just have to wait until everyone comes to work tomorrow morning and we’ll be on our way then.”

  “Speaking of work,” I said, “What’s going to happen when none of us show up on Monday?” For some reason, I hadn’t thought of this aspect before now. I missed my dog Jerome and thought he was probably wondering where I was, but there were bigger problems. My sister Allie would be there at the shop at opening time since she hadn’t started back to college yet. She isn’t one to panic, but she’d definitely be wondering why I hadn’t showed up. I did remember her telling me to stay as long as I wanted and to have a great time, so maybe she’d think I’d taken her up on her offer to cover for me as long as needed.

  “Well my boss is standing right here, so I hope I’m not at risk of getting the old heave-ho when I get home. Fred, on the other hand might be worried. But you know, now that I think about it, I told him we might wait until Monday morning to drive home, thinking we would need to do some clean-up, and, well, sobering up. We should be on our way tomorrow—you said?”

  “Yeah, London should be back tomorrow,” I said.

  “Alex, what about you?” K.C. asked.

  “I’m not scheduled to be there until after noon. If we can’t get out of here early enough, I’m hoping we can at least get some kind of phone signal or something. I’ll call Felicity, she’ll take care of things.”

  I’m sure his new coworker would love to take care of him, I thought to myself.

  “Huh,” K.C. mused. “We could have been stranded here alone for the entire weekend and no one that we know would have realized it. What if there was no food, or electricity? Kind of eerie if you think about it.”

  And with that pallor cast over the atmosphere, we all ate our lunch/early dinner in relative quiet.

  “Quincy, you told your mom about this weekend, didn’t you?” Alex asked. And if that wasn’t the final nail in the coffin of our attempt at a good time.

  “Now why would you go and do a mean thing like that?” I asked him.

  “What’s the problem?” K.C. asked.

  “The problem,” he said, beating me to the answer on purpose, “is that Quincy’s mother—who I truly do love and appreciate—can sometimes—”

  “Freak out for no reason,” I finished for him.

  “You’re ri
ght about that,” K.C. said, nodding her head gently. “Oh, Annette, God bless her.”

  “She’ll have the highway patrol out looking for us the minute she thinks we’re late.”

  “Well that’s okay, the big guy here works for them. Isn’t that right, big guy?”

  “Yeah, but I think that makes it more of a problem, K.C.”

  “She’ll have a manhunt organized and ready by noon,” I said.

  “Hopefully she’ll have the sense to call your sister, or Fred, and they can keep her calm until we can get a hold of her.”

  That sounded reassuring to anyone who wasn’t related to my mother. Even Alex nodded his head in agreement, placated by his naiveté in thinking that my mother is a normal human being. She probably had her army of confidants—the Mormon Ladies Mafia, MLM for short—lined up and ready to pull the trigger on the missing child protocol. Actually, knowing her, despite her claims of liking my fiancé, she probably had the kidnapped child protocol code written next to the secret red phone I just knew she had hidden in her “sewing room.” Her second in command, Barbara Colgate was out at girls’ camp with the ward young women’s group, so she would have contacted Penny Talmage to fill in.

  “Let’s just pray for some kind of phone to show up tomorrow,” K.C. said. She got a sudden look on her face as if she’d been zapped. She bolted up and ran over to the phone in the kitchen.

  Oh no, if that phone was working, I’d have to pound my head against the wall.

  She lifted the receiver, put it to her ear, and her face lit up. “It’s working!”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  It really wasn’t K.C.’s fault that our hopes for an early exit from the island were shattered like the petals of a chrysanthemum the day after Memorial Day. She really had heard a dial tone.

  But when she tried to dial out, the line went dead. “Dagnabbit!” she yelled just before she slammed the receiver down. “It’s like someone is toying with me, clicking the hang up button down with their invisible finger every time I dial.”