by B. J Daniels
“I put it on a thumb drive. She’d give me another thumb drive for the next assignment.”
Lizzy thought of all the times she’d seen Ariel popping a thumb drive into her laptop to send her assignment to their teacher.
She heard Shade come back in from outside the lodge. “Wait here,” she told Kayla. “You can make yourself another cup of tea if you want. I’ll find out what’s going on.”
The moment Lizzy saw the cowboy’s face, she knew there was even more trouble. They moved to the back of the lounge out of earshot from Tyler and Kayla. “What’s wrong?”
“All of the vehicles up here have been disabled and now the snowstorm is getting worse,” he said, keeping his voice down. “I think I should walk out. It’s about twelve miles down to the closest ranch house and cell service. But I don’t like leaving you here alone.”
“That’s why I should go,” Josh said as he came in the back door behind them. He turned to Lizzy. “It’s snowing hard now. We need to do something about the rest of them,” he said quietly as he glanced toward Tyler lying on the couch. “How is he?”
“He needs medical assistance, but he’s stable,” Shade said. Lizzy could hear Kayla in the kitchen putting on the kettle for more tea.
“Do you want to try to keep them in here until help arrives or have them go back to their cabins and stay there?” Josh asked.
She looked to Shade. He looked ambivalent as she heard the front door open. Their classmates began to file into the lodge, brushing snow off their coats and heading straight for the fireplace and the bar as if they’d made the decision for them.
“Are you sure about walking out of here?” Lizzy asked Josh.
He nodded and looked to Shade. “I saw you checking the vehicles. I checked the old tractor in the barn.” He shook his head, a silent message that not even the tractor was leaving here tonight. “I figured the phone would be out as well but I saw your tracks where you already checked it.” He turned his attention back to Lizzy. “I can make the walk. But mind if I borrow a warmer coat?”
She could see that Shade felt he should be the one to go, but it was clear he couldn’t let himself leave her here alone. She started to remind him that she was the sheriff. She could take care of herself, but she could see the wisdom in Josh making the hike out. They still didn’t know what they were dealing with here.
“Come on,” Shade told Josh as he headed for the front door. As he reached for a coat on the hook by the door, Lizzy saw him frown for a moment before he handed Josh a different coat.
Still Lizzy had seen what he had. Blood. The coat had blood splattered on the sleeves.
“There are warm gloves in the pocket,” Shade told Josh. “You have a cell phone?”
Josh nodded as he slipped into the coat. “I’ll get a few things from my cabin, but I’d take a flashlight and some water.”
Shade got him water and a breakfast bar from the kitchen. “Stay on the road and good luck.”
Josh smiled. “I’ll be fine.” The highway patrolman looked at the others huddled by the fire and bar. She followed his gaze. Tyler was sitting up and Jennifer was sitting next to him asking how he was. She heard him say that his head hurt like hell but that he was going to live.
“Good luck to the two of you,” Josh said. “You’re going to be the ones who need it more than me, I fear.”
* * *
A PERSON HAS to see the humor in all this, especially if they’re already dead. This has to be the worst class reunion in history. I’m sorry, but I can’t help finding some satisfaction in the fact that I’m not the only one who made enemies in high school.
And now my killer is having fun using my diary pages to get some form of vigilante justice? Too bad most of what was written in there wasn’t strictly fact. But close enough. Facts don’t matter all that much when emotion takes over.
But it did give my killer fuel for the fire, so to speak. Or is it subterfuge? Pretty soon they will be at each other’s throats—as if they haven’t been already.
So don’t judge me for being amused. Like they say, what goes around comes around and just keeps coming around, or something like that. Now that I know how my friends really feel about me, I don’t care what happens to them. Why should I? Maybe no one will survive this reunion.
At this point, I’m up for wagering who’s next. I still have my favorites and could offer suggestions—not that the killer would listen to me. Would I spare anyone in this group?
Maybe one. But I’m keeping that to myself. Can’t wait to see who will avoid the grim reaper now that it’s clear that the killer isn’t finished.
Good luck, my old friends.
* * *
AS SHADE HAD reached for a coat to give Josh, he’d seen a dark stain on the sleeves of a coat hidden underneath others on the rack. He’d frozen, but only for a moment. He’d needed to get Josh down the road as quickly as possible and he hadn’t wanted anyone else to notice the bloody coat.
Pulling off another large warm coat, he’d handed it to the man. But Josh had seen the blood. His eyes had widened. He’d been smart enough not to say anything. Lizzy had seen it, as well.
Whoever had taken that coat had attacked Tyler. They’d probably thought it wouldn’t be discovered, hidden under a larger coat. It would have been easy for them to go unnoticed if they stayed back enough from the fire. Once they came into the lodge, they could remove the coat and gloves and hide them so no one saw the blood splatters.
All he could hope was that a lab would be able to get DNA, fibers, hair, something from the coat to point them to at least the person who’d attacked Tyler. The killer? He could only assume so.
Shade shot Lizzy a look. He carefully pulled both coats off the hook, keeping the bloody one covered, and carried them into his office for safekeeping. When he came back out, he locked the office door. He just hoped they all lived long enough that DNA would matter in this case.
When he looked up, he saw Lizzy watching him. She’d seen enough to come to some of the same conclusions, he knew.
“Did you see who stepped away from the fire before Tyler was hit?” she asked.
He shook his head and did a head count of the people in the room. Everyone was accounted for, he saw with relief, sans Josh. Brad and Christopher were making everyone drinks. Jennifer was helping serve them. Kayla was curled up in a chair with what appeared to be another cup of tea. Tyler looked pale but was sitting up watching all of them. Ashley stood with her back to the fire, seeming not to trust anyone in the room. Her face was tear-streaked. Stephanie stood at the opposite end of the fireplace, her gaze on Ashley as if still upset with the woman.
With Josh gone, there were only nine of them left. He noticed that Lizzy had moved away and taken something out of her pocket. She studied it with her back to the others. From the slump of her shoulders, whatever she was reading was upsetting her. He moved to her and saw that she was holding what looked like a piece of paper torn from a book.
Taking her arm, he drew her farther away from the others. “What is it?”
She seemed to hesitate as if not sure she should be sharing the information. But like him, she must have realized their situation. They needed each other more than ever.
“Ariel left a diary. Someone found it and is using what she wrote about each of them against the others. Some of it is definitely inflammatory. The first one accused Stephanie of driving the car that killed Whitney Clark in the hit-and-run accident that took her life and that Ariel had gotten the information from Ashley. Stephanie swears it’s a lie, but she had a DUI arrest the night of our graduation party. She also said she wasn’t driving that night, but she took the rap because she was underage and not alone.”
He stared at her. “If she wasn’t driving, then who was?”
“Ariel’s father.” Lizzy sighed and held up the diary page she’d been reading. “This one was found
on Tyler...” She looked down at the page in her hands before carefully putting it back in her pocket. “It accuses him of being the driver of the car that killed Whitney. Ariel had earlier accused Stephanie of the same thing. Only with Tyler, apparently she was blackmailing him.”
Shade let out a curse. “Did you have any idea all that was going on?”
She shook her head. “I suspect there are more diary pages.”
“More attempted murders,” he said under his breath like a curse. They both turned to look at their classmates who were huddled around the fireplace. “What are we going to do with them?” he whispered.
“I have no idea. I think we’re all going to have to stay here tonight until help comes,” she said. “What choice do we have? Let’s just hope there really is safety in numbers.”
* * *
LIZZY STARED AT the group in the lodge as outside snow fell in a blur of white against the blackness. When she’d seen Ariel’s car being pulled from the pond, she’d thought it had been an accident. She’d wanted it to be a twist of fate that the woman had ended up in that dark, cold grave because of something she’d done to herself.
Even when she’d realized it had been murder, Lizzy had still thought that Ariel had brought it on herself because of the way she’d treated everyone. She’d thought Ariel’s death had been an act of retribution, a single incident. Then she’d seen Tyler lying there...and she feared it might be more involved than that.
“Where’s Josh?” Christopher asked, looking around the room, his gaze settling on Lizzy. But it was Shade who answered.
“He’s left to get help for Tyler.”
“Left? But all the rigs are out front.” Lizzy saw recognition dawn on the man’s face. “Are you telling me he walked out of here? Why wouldn’t he take—?” Christopher swore and looked around the room. “You didn’t call for help? You sent Josh?”
Lizzy could see no way around the truth. “The phone lines have been cut and the vehicles tampered with,” she said. “But there is no reason for panic. Josh has gone for help.”
Christopher swore again.
Brad had gone pale. “So someone in this room did this? Attacked Tyler and then made sure we were stranded here?”
“We’re safe here,” Shade said. “We’ll stay in the lodge together until Josh returns with help. It will be at least four hours.”
Christopher shook his head and reached for another beer.
“This is not how I thought this reunion would go,” Ashley said, sounding close to tears. “Now someone’s attacked Tyler and made sure we can’t all leave?”
“I think the question we should be asking ourselves is who’s next?” Brad said.
“Maybe we should have the slideshow,” Kayla said, but no one responded. “Or the dance we planned.”
“Seriously, Kayla? Does anyone look like they want to dance?” Stephanie snapped.
“Let’s all settle down,” Shade said. “We’re here for a while so let’s try to make the best of it. I’m going to put on a pot of coffee and Buckshot left us some cookies.”
“I’m going to my cabin for a sweater,” Jennifer said as she put her arm around Ashley. “Why don’t you come with me? I think the fresh air would do us some good.”
“It’s snowing hard out there,” Lizzy said, hoping to keep everyone together so she could keep an eye on them.
Jennifer gave her an impatient look. “We’ll be right back.”
Lizzy watched them leave, trying to tamp down her worry.
“Restroom?” Stephanie asked, coming up to Lizzy.
She pointed toward the large room at the back where the dances were held and watched as Stephanie disappeared through it.
Shade went into the kitchen to make the coffee, saying, “It’s going to be a long night.”
Lizzy was the only one who stood at the window watching Jennifer and Ashley until they disappeared in the storm. Turning back to the others gathered around the fire, she tried to relax. Maybe Tyler’s attack was all there would be. But then again, she’d thought that about Ariel’s murder.
“It wouldn’t be our class reunion, unless there was drama,” Christopher said, joining her. “Beer?” He offered her one of the bottles in his hand. Lizzy shook her head. “More for me then, Sheriff.”
She was relieved when Ashley and Jennifer returned, both shaking off the snow. They discarded their coats on the hooks by the door and joined the others. Jennifer had been right. The walk to her cabin seemed to have done them both good.
Ashley took the glass of wine Christopher offered her and came over to stand by Lizzy. “Did Shade mention that he came by to see me yesterday?”
Lizzy shook her head. She was watching the room, watching her classmates, looking... What was she looking for besides a killer?
“I thought he might have mentioned it,” Ashley said and took a drink of her wine. “Maybe we should have canceled the reunion. Maybe our class is cursed.”
Lizzy looked over at the woman. “It’s a little late for that.”
Ashley sighed. “I can’t shake this feeling.” She shuddered and then tried to laugh it off. “Ariel used to say I pretended to be psychic because I couldn’t stand not being special.”
“You can see the future?”
The woman shuddered again. “I hope not. Sometimes I just feel things. Like on graduation night. Sitting at the cemetery. I knew Ariel was dead. I just...felt it.” Ashley looked away as if fearing she’d said too much. “I know Ariel was mean, but she was also vulnerable and scared. She just hated showing it. That’s what gave her such rough edges.”
Lizzy laughed. “Rough edges. That was Ariel all right. But I do know what you mean. It wasn’t the cruelty in her that allowed her to control us, it was that softer part that we all saw that made us sorry for her at certain moments. It made us want to protect her from herself. We didn’t want to hurt her even as she was hurting us.” She shook her head. “She was one complicated human being. Even now, it makes no sense why she dominated all of us the way she did.”
“But it does make sense. Otherwise, it would mean that we were all just afraid of her and that makes us cowards.” Ashley drained her wineglass. “She should be here.” Her voice broke and she covered it with a laugh. “If Ariel was here right now, well, this party wouldn’t be so dull, you know?”
Lizzy did know. “You said earlier that you feel something?”
Ashley nodded as if she was sorry to be reminded. “Just a bad feeling that it isn’t over.” Her gaze met Lizzy’s. “Why would someone attack Tyler and make it where we can’t leave?” she whispered. “That’s crazy, huh? Ariel was the one everyone hated, not the rest of us.” Her voice broke.
“I wish I knew.”
When Lizzy said nothing more, Ashley seemed to notice the empty wineglass in her hand. “Looks like it’s time for a refill.”
The wind howled in the eaves. Lizzy looked at the people in the room, finding it hard to believe that any of them was capable of murder and possibly attempted murder. She couldn’t imagine that kind of anger, especially spread over ten years.
Why hadn’t the killer struck before now? That thought made her frown. Why wait until the reunion? Or had the killer been waiting for Ariel’s body to be found?
Lizzy realized with a start that Stephanie hadn’t returned. She went down to the large room at the back of the lodge. The tables were still up from where the photographs had been but other than that, the room was empty. She saw that the bathroom door was still closed.
Moving closer, she listened for the sound of running water but heard nothing. “Stephanie?” She tapped on the bathroom door and then tried the knob when she got no answer. It was locked. “Stephanie?”
Shade appeared at her side. “What’s wrong?”
“Stephanie. She asked where the bathroom was, but that was a long time ago.”
&
nbsp; “Stephanie!” he called louder and pounded on the door. Still no answer from inside. “We keep a key in the office for when kids lock themselves in.” He left to go to his office.
Lizzy saw that several people from in the lounge had come into the room. She hurried to shoo them into the main lounge and closed the door behind Shade as he returned. He used the key to unlock the door and swing it open.
She rushed forward with Shade right behind her. Stephanie lay on the floor, body convulsing in spasms, her back arching before she suddenly collapsed. Her face was a bright cherry red that appeared to be getting darker. Lizzy knew at once. Cyanide poisoning.
Shade dropped next to her to check for a pulse.
“Is she...?” Lizzy barely got the words out before he was getting to his feet.
“She’s gone.” As he rose, he handed her a small crumpled piece of paper. She recognized it as another one of the pages torn out of Ariel’s diary. “This was lying beside her.”
Lizzy quickly read what had been written on it:
Stephanie and my father? Gross. It makes me want to throw up. She really thinks people won’t find out? Worse, she thought she could keep it from me? They both did? This is going to cost you, Daddy. And you, too, Steph. Talk about a bitter pill to swallow.
Lizzy glanced up at Shade. They shared a look before they both rushed into the lounge.
* * *
SHADE WENT STRAIGHT to the bar. “No more drinks.” He realized he would have to watch the food just as carefully until Josh got to where he could use his cell phone and call for help.
“What’s going on?” Brad demanded. Glancing around, he asked, “Where’s Stephanie?”
“What did Stephanie have to drink?” Lizzy asked. “Is her glass still around?”
They all looked around at each other and then at the drinks in their own hands. Quickly, everyone put down their half-finished glasses and stepped back, looks of horror and shock on their faces as realization began to move through the group.