Inn Dire Straits

by Dixie Davis

  Lori’s stomach crept toward her sneakers. “What happened?”

  Serena fixed her gaze straight ahead. “You have to understand what kind of party this was. We’d all had too much to drink — none of us had any business driving, but we were too buzzed, or maybe just too stupid, to see it. And maybe some of us had gotten into some stuff that was a little less legal than liquor.”

  Lori tried not to frown, or at least tried not to let Serena see her frown. The idea of drinking and drugs at a high school party was making all her maternal muscles twitch, even ten years after the fact.

  “We got in the car and headed home, but we made a couple wrong turns and I’m not even sure where we were when it happened.” Serena gasped for air, pressing one hand to her sternum. “I don’t know if I can say it.”

  Lori took Serena’s free hand. “It’s time, Serena,” she said gently.

  She could only hope she was right. They moved down the path, out of range of the yelping children on the playground, and finally, Serena continued.

  “We ended up on one of the country highways lined with trees. Corinne was walking home that way.” Serena swallowed.

  Lori gave her hand an encouraging little squeeze. Serena nodded and seemed to brace herself. “We never even saw her. Until it was too late.”

  A bolt of shock zipped down Lori’s spine. They’d hit Corinne? With their car? “Did you stop?”

  Serena’s hollow stare seemed like she couldn’t believe it either. “We — we fought about it. I can’t remember who said what now, but some people were shouting that we needed to go back and help her, and others pointed out that we would go to jail for all kinds of things if they caught us. Drugs, underage drinking, drunk driving, and then of course . . . Corinne.”

  “So you didn’t stop?”

  She shook her head. “We didn’t know who it was. Somebody — Brett, maybe? — kept saying it had to have been a deer.” She cast a sad glance at the towering pines that lined this end of the park. “We kept driving all the way to Annie’s. Spent the rest of the night talking. And as we sobered up — I mean, the shock of it all got us a good way there — we realized we’d made it even worse by not stopping. And we only had a couple choices left: if we all stuck together and had the same story, we’d be okay. We just had to say we came home a different way. As long as we all agreed together on our story, there couldn’t be much they could do, right?”

  “What about the car? Couldn’t the police examine it?”

  Serena eyed her. “Annie’s family was already moping about her leaving. Her parents decided they didn’t want to be away from her and they’d follow her to school. By the time the police got around to interviewing us, they’d gotten her car fixed in Wilmington and onto a truck headed to Florida.”

  “Wait, her parents knew about this too?”

  Serena twisted her lips together, moving her head from side to side, almost a shrug. “I don’t know if Annie ever told them. It wasn’t like they sat around with us discussing how to cover up everything. But it was also a pretty big coincidence. Annie was their baby, and she’d had them — and everybody else — wrapped around her little finger since birth pretty much. I just didn’t realize that would extend to actually . . . getting away with murder.”

  Lori stared at the baseball diamond in front of them, trying to wrap her brain around this. The dark secret Brett and Trey and Nate had alluded to was literally killing someone?

  And now they were dying in the same way, hit and run accidents. “It certainly sounds like Nate and Trey’s deaths have to be related to this.”

  “You think?” Serena snarked. For a girl who seemed like a frightened and half-witted bird half the time, her voice could carry quite the bite. “Of course they’re related.”

  “Who do you think might have done this?”

  Serena shot her an are you stupid? look. “Corinne’s family, of course.”

  “As in Eddie?” Lori pulled up her mental picture of Eddie. Tall, freckled, friendly — could he possibly run down two people in cold blood?

  The people who’d done the same to his little sister? Maybe. Lori couldn’t say for sure.

  Though she suddenly remember how he seemed . . . off at the crime scene. Shifty. Defensive. Wanting to get rid of her before she got involved.

  Was this why?

  “She had another brother, too, a year older than us. He had a temper in high school, so I’d probably put my money on him.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Craig O’Connor. Lives out in Bolivia.”

  The name of their county seat always threw Lori. That had to be at least twenty minutes away (but certainly a lot closer than South America). She’d wanted to get back to Dusky Cove before traffic got insane, but it was probably too late for that.

  At least she wouldn’t have to worry about finding parking when she finally got back with a designated spot at her inn.

  “But how would Craig or Eddie have found out?” Lori asked, circling back to that topic again. “Do you think Trey or Nate would have let it slip — or told them on purpose?”

  Serena held out empty hands as if to say I have no idea. “We promised we’d never tell a soul. This is the first time I’ve ever told the truth about that night.

  Lori marveled a little — she’d kept this dark, heavy secret all these years, and now she’d chosen to share it with Lori? Sure, Lori had people tell her stories and maybe even secrets all the time — it was a regular feature of her grocery shopping or library visits, for example — but only under duress had anyone ever confessed to murder to her.

  Serena had just told her about a secret murder she’d committed ten years ago. The other people who knew about this — the only other people — were dropping like flies.

  Had Serena just put Lori in danger? On purpose?

  Was Serena the killer?

  Lori still didn’t know. Unless Serena’s master plan was a lot more sophisticated than Lori’s understanding — definitely a possibility — Lori couldn’t be sure she could take Serena off the suspect list.

  And if Serena was right, she had at least two more names to add to it: Eddie and Craig O’Connor.

  Was a slain little sister enough motive to kill over? Definitely.

  Serena started walking faster again, as if the answers lay at the end of their cement path. “Eddie’s a cop. I bet he tracked down repair records on Annie’s car or something.” She was almost talking to herself, working herself up. “Yeah — what if seeing Annie in town this week, and seeing us all together, made him realize we were all involved? He could have even commandeered Nate’s car — wouldn’t you trust a cop?”

  “I guess so.” Revenge was a powerful motive, but you’d probably need more to go on to commit two murders. “Do you think Nate or Brett or Trey could have told anyone? You said that with Nate, it seemed like he never forgot, or moved forward?”

  Serena nodded slowly. “Whenever it got quiet when were together, he looked like he was stuck in some other time or place. One that hurt him. A lot. And this was always the first place that my mind went when I saw that kind of pain.” She looked Lori in the eyes, and Lori saw exactly the kind of hurt that she knew Serena meant: a deep, soul-searing ache.

  Serena’s voice was barely a whisper. “We killed someone.”

  “It was an accident,” Lori tried.

  “Covering it up wasn’t.” She closed her eyes. “We know what we did was wrong — and it’ll all come out one way or another. So maybe one of us did tell Craig or Eddie, or maybe something we did told them. We deserve everything we get.”

  “Does that mean you’ll be walking along the roads in Dusky Cove any time soon?”

  Serena shot her a scowl as they reached the end of the walking trail and turned back on the sandy shoulder that would lead to her apartment. “Deserving, but not stupid.”

  Lori nodded slowly, still not exactly agreeing despite the hidden depths Serena was showing. She definitely couldn’t take Serena off the suspec
t list. Maybe Serena had decided that she was the one who needed to hand out the punishment they deserved.

  And no matter what, Lori could see that nobody was any safer than when she’d started.

  Now was probably not a good time to fire the girl, especially not if she was in the middle of a murderous rampage.

  “I’m going to try to get a hold of Craig and Eddie,” Lori said. “Until then, you stay safe, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Maybe you should come to the festival tonight with us. Just to be safe.” Lori almost suggested coming in to make up her hours, but really, having Serena work was actually less helpful than if she stayed away. Besides, she was still fired.

  Serena frowned. “What, and paint a huge bull’s-eye on my back? Thanks, but no thanks.”

  Lori didn’t want to accuse Serena any more than she already had and make her angrier. But the best way to make sure they all stayed alive would be to keep them in one place where they could all keep an eye on one another.

  Then again, maybe the unlit Salt Marsh Boardwalk in the middle of the night, crowded though it would be, wasn’t the best place to keep an eye on someone.

  Serena glanced around. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

  Lori bit her lip. She certainly couldn’t sit on this information forever — then she really would deserve to be arrested like the chief had threatened. “Let’s just stop the person who’s doing this, then we’ll figure out the rest.”

  Serena frowned, but nodded. “Thank you.”

  Lori walked her back to her apartment, checking over her shoulder the whole way. At Serena’s stairs, Lori hesitated. How did you tell a possible murderer she was fired? “Um, you don’t need to worry about coming in to work tomorrow.”

  “You’re going to talk to Quint?”

  Lori furrowed her brow. “Who?”

  “My manager.”

  Lori still stared at Serena, bewildered.

  “At the Quik’n Easy.” She said it like Lori would have to be dense to not have guessed this by now.

  “No,” Lori said quickly. “You don’t have to come to work at the inn.”

  “Oh.” Serena’s face fell and she hurried up the stairs.

  At least she hadn’t gotten in her car and run Lori down. Once again, she was looking over her shoulder the whole way across the parking lot.

  Lori didn’t like the idea of adding new people to her suspect list after pursuing one tack so long — but then, if she didn’t learn and adapt, then she was just like the police department, sticking too long to one theory of the crime and ignoring evidence to the contrary. And this was some pretty serious evidence.

  Serious indeed.

  She’d definitely have to check out the O’Connors.

  Before she made her way toward Bolivia and Craig O’Connor, Lori dialed the Dusky Cove Police dispatch. She recognized the thick accent of the woman who answered instantly — of course, they only had three or four people who worked dispatch, so it wasn’t too hard to guess anyway. “Hi, Doris,” Lori said, “it’s Lori Keyes.”

  “Well, hey, Miss Lori. How y’all doing today at the Mayweather House?”

  “Not bad, not bad. Listen, I was wondering if Officer O’Connor was available? Could I get his phone number?”

  “Oh, sugar, he’s married.”

  Lori startled a little. “No, no, no — not that kind of available. I just wanted to talk to him.”

  “Oh, oh, of course, right. I’ve got his number right here. You ready?”

  Lori fished a piece of paper and pen from one of her cup holders. “Ready.”

  Doris read off the number and Lori wrote it down. “Oh, hey,” she said before Doris could end the call. “Do you happen to know where his brother Craig lives? Val asked me to make a delivery, but I lost the address slip.”

  Lori realized her lie was even better than she’d thought — with Brett’s SUV surely taken into evidence, Val really did need more help getting her deliveries out there.

  As long as Doris didn’t double-check with Val, that was.

  “Uh, I’m not sure. Do you want me to check with Eddie real quick?”

  “No, I really don’t want to bother him with something like that while he’s working.”

  “Oh, he doesn’t get on duty till later tonight.”

  That piqued Lori’s interest. “Really? Was he working earlier today?”

  “Nah, we don’t ask them to pull a double like that. Makes people punchy. Only had Ken out working today so we could get everybody else to help with the festival.”

  Lori nodded slowly, as if Doris could see her. So Eddie didn’t have work as an alibi for the incident with Trey this morning. He was probably already there working last night — but in the dark, really, could anyone say for sure that Eddie was doing his job during the festival? Doubtful.

  “Hey, do you know if Eddie and Craig’s family is close with the Cromleys?” Lori asked, making her tone conspiratorial, like she was digging for gossip.

  Doris lowered her voice, too. “Well, they’ve never been best friends, if that’s what you mean, but I don’t know of any feud. Why? You worried Val’s poisoned the pecan pie?”

  Lori laughed. “No, I just feel like I never understand the dynamics of Dusky Cove, so whenever I can get that insider info, I like to try.” She hoped Doris would not only buy the excuse, but accept the compliment. She needed as many people at the police department on her side as she could find.

  Although suddenly, Lori realized how true the excuse was. If she’d had access to a helpful insider, a native Dusky Covite — like, say, Mitch — surely he would have pointed out the parallels to Corinne’s hit and run death sooner. The only “natives” she’d talked to about the case were actually in the fearsome fivesome.

  “Oh, sugar,” Doris exclaimed. “Did you say you had a delivery for Craig?”

  “Yes?” Lori bit her lip. Was her cover going to catch up with her already?

  “That just won’t do. Craig’s out of town — took his kids to Disney World.” She laughed. “Eddie’s been grumbling all week about his kids complaining about not getting to go with their cousins.”

  Disney World? Hardly the place you’d picture a killer — and a pretty good alibi. Didn’t seem likely he would’ve driven the nine-plus hours to get back just to bump off the people who lived here all the time anyway.

  “Well, I guess I’ll just have to eat this pie for him,” Lori joked. “It’s only neighborly.”

  “And you’re a great neighbor,” Doris teased back. “Tell me, who sent a pie to someone who wasn’t home?”

  “I don’t know — maybe it was Eddie wanting to get back at him by infesting his house with ants.”

  Doris chuckled. “That sounds like Eddie.”

  Yes, it definitely sounded more like the Eddie Lori knew than someone who would run down a man in broad daylight, no matter what he’d accidentally done to his sister ten years ago.

  But Serena was right about another thing — covering up the crime was no accident. That was a conscious choice they’d made, and they’d continued to make every day for the last ten years. Nate and Trey and Serena and Brett hadn’t even left the area, so they’d had to look at the people around them and lie to their faces every day.

  Maybe something like that was enough to push Eddie over the edge.

  “Oops,” Doris said, “sorry, sugar, I’m getting another call.”

  “I’ll let you go.” Lori thanked her and hung up quickly. Even if the other call wasn’t an emergency, she should probably take advantage of the opportunity to end the conversation before Doris got off on one of her tangents. On police business, she was always laser focused, but when they strayed to anything else, they might be straying a long time.

  Lori waited until the next intersection to turn around to head back to Dusky Cove. On the plus side, she’d not only make it back to Dusky Cove in time to beat the worst of the traffic, but she’d also ruled out another suspect.

  Of course,
that left a suspect she really didn’t want to think capable of cold-blooded murder. A police officer, someone charged with keeping the public safe — someone she’d worked with before, just last night.

  Well, “worked with” might not be the right term, but he’d always been respectful and sometimes even helpful to her, and that was saying a lot considering everything she’d been through with the Dusky Cove Police Department.

  If he wasn’t on duty yet, she might be able to catch him before he reported for work tonight. She pulled over to dial the number she’d written on the piece of paper.

  Eddie’s phone rang four times before he answered. “Eddie O’Connor.”

  Lori introduced herself and cut to the chase before it got awkward. “I was wondering if we could talk about a few things.”

  “Well, Mrs. Keyes, if this is about a pending investigation, you know I can’t —”

  “Not like that.”

  Eddie cleared his throat. “Mrs. Keyes, I don’t mean to put you on the spot or anything, but I’m married.”

  Why did everyone assume that was what she wanted to talk to him about? “No, I just have a few questions I need to ask you. That’s all.”

  “Oh. Okay. Well, I have to get to work in an hour, but I could meet you at the boardwalk a little early.”

  Would that be private enough for their conversation? Lori wasn’t sure. Early birds would definitely already be there to stake out a post, and the second night of the festival had been the busiest last year.

  She’d have to risk it. Besides, there was safety in numbers, wasn’t there? “All right. I can be there in about half an hour.”

  “See you then.”

  Lori stepped on the gas to hurry along to meet Eddie, and to run as fast as she could from the doubts creeping in.

  Was this just a setup by Serena, trying to get Lori in a certain place so she could run her down too?

  She couldn’t possibly know exactly where Lori would be when she went to talk to Corinne’s family, so she wasn’t targeting Lori to kill her.

  Or maybe Serena was sending Lori on a wild goose chase so Serena could escape. Or worse, so she could target the last two members of their fearsome fivesome: Brett and Annie.