The Haunting of Riley Watson

by Alexandria Clarke

  “All right, that’s enough,” Daniel said, toting Oliver away from everyone else. “Mr. Watson, Mr. Porter can’t leave and neither can your employees. Former employees. Whatever you want to call them. We’re investigating two different homicides and we’re all snowed in, remember?”

  Oliver didn’t seem to recall any of that information as Daniel hauled him away. Nick, Liam, and I all stared awkwardly at each other.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Liam. “That smack looked pretty intense.”

  He checked his reflection in the front-facing camera of his phone and snapped a quick picture. “Works for me. If it leaves a mark, Mr. Watson’s screwed.”

  “Don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh?” Nick asked. “Mr. Watson lost half of his family. I’m sure he didn’t mean to bully you like that.”

  “Mr. Porter, I mean no disrespect,” Liam said, “but you have no idea what it’s like to work here. Mr. Watson wasn’t nice to his employees before Thelma—Mrs. Watson died either. I wasn’t lying when I said he deserved all of the crap that’s been happening to him. Riley doesn’t though. The kid’s weird, but she’s all right.”

  “What about your sister?” I said, sensing an opportunity. “Was Mr. Watson saying inappropriate things to her?”

  Liam examined the red welt on his cheekbone. “That’s her business. If she wants to tell you about it, she will. I have to go. Tell Mr. Watson if he comes looking for me again, I’ll punch his nose off.”

  “Yeah, I’ll pass that on to Detective Hawkins too,” I said.

  Liam ignored the comment and continued to the rental shop. Why he needed to be in there when no one required skis or hiking equipment, I had no idea. That left me alone with Nick Porter, who wiped his dry brow with the sleeve of his King and Queens hoodie.

  “Whew! This place is a handful, isn’t it?”

  When I returned to my suite on the twentieth floor, Jazmin worked at the desk and Riley lay on the floor with her hands and feet in the air like a dead bug, raising and lowering her limbs in alternating sequence. She went limp as I came through the door.

  “I’m dead,” she announced. “And the culprit is boredom.”

  I nudged the sole of her shoe. “Don’t joke, kid.”

  Jazmin swiveled her chair around. “Did you find out anything from Matisse?”

  “He’s not the killer.” I collapsed on the sofa and kicked my feet up. “Or at least he’s got a pretty decent alibi.”

  “So we got nothing,” Jazmin said.

  “Not nothing,” I replied. “Did you guys hunt down any more of the employees today? Matisse said Ari and Imani are hiding something.”

  “They’ve been holed up in their room all day,” Riley said. “I saw them sneaking off when I was looking for Matisse and Karli earlier. Don’t know why they were creeping around like that though.”

  “You didn’t get any footage of them?” I asked.

  “Nope. Sorry.”

  “I did,” Jazmin said. She navigated through the video files on my computer. “The interview camera wasn’t the only one we set up yesterday. I put one in the opposite corner of the lounge where all the employees were hanging out. Imani and Ari are all over it.”

  I lay on my stomach to watch over her shoulder. “Let’s have a look then.”

  Jazmin pressed play on a long video from yesterday’s time at the bar. In the foreground of the shot, Liam lay across two chairs, limp and solemn. Beyond him, out of focus, were Imani and Ari. The video was hours of pointless chatter. While Liam remained silent, the girls discussed everything from the snowstorm to possible job openings at White Oak to how different I looked from the “real” Madame Lucia.

  “At least she’s not wearing that ridiculous kimono,” Imani said at one point.

  “Or dyed her hair pink and silver again,” Ari added, both of them peering across the room, presumably at me.

  “Is there anything worthwhile in this entire video?” I grumbled, toying with the ends of my hair. The pink, indeed, had faded, but the silky gray color remained everywhere except for my dark roots.

  Jazmin fast forwarded through a few minutes and pressed play again. The hunched together, whispering when they hadn’t been before. Imani’s eyes darted around the lounge, and Ari checked that her dozing brother wasn’t listening in.

  “Turn up the audio,” I told Jazmin. She tapped the volume control.

  “We have to talk about it at some point,” Imani urged. She cupped Ari’s cheek to make the other girl look at her, but Ari pulled away.

  “Don’t do that,” she hissed. “People could be watching.”

  Imani’s face fell, but she dropped her hand. “Everyone knows we’re friends.”

  “Yeah, and that’s all I want them to know,” Ari replied. “Look at what happens when people start to suspect. Mr. Watson—”

  “Is a twat,” Imani finished for her.

  “That’s not what I was going to say. He started asking me questions, Imani. Making comments. I can’t deal with that. As for Tyler—who knows what he would have done if he were still alive?”

  Imani almost put her arm around Ari’s shoulders but stopped herself. “After this, we won’t have to deal with the Watsons anymore, okay? It’s decided. We’re done with King and Queens.”

  “Not by choice,” Ari reminded her. “If I had a choice, I’d keep my job. I need this job, and so does my brother. We’re not like you.”

  Imani drew away, frowning. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I know you like to think of yourself as one of us, but me and Liam and Parker aren’t as lucky as you,” Ari said. “We don’t have rich parents.”

  “My parents aren’t rich.”

  “You work this job because they said you needed to build character,” Ari said. “And because it’s convenient to get to the slopes. You can complain about the crappy discounts as much as the rest of us, but when it comes down to it, if you want to snowboard, you can ask your parents for money.”

  “That’s not true,” Imani argued. “I work this job because my parents won’t pay for me to get out on the slopes. How do you think I afforded my new board?”

  “Oh, babe.” Ari shook her head, as if Imani wasn’t grasping her point. “That’s the thing. You only have to worry about affording a new board. Liam and I haven’t bought new equipment ever. We got everything second hand because we had to pay for the gas to get here.”

  “You think I’m spoiled.”

  “No, it’s not that—”

  “Really? Because that’s exactly what I’m hearing.”

  Ari clasped Imani’s hands and drew the other girl closer. “Can we get back to the point here? I can’t leave King and Queens until I have another job lined up.”

  “If we don’t leave King and Queens, it’s going to be like this forever,” Imani said. “Secrets and lies. Pretending we don’t know anything about Tyler Watson.”

  “Shh!”

  They parted again. Imani stirred her coffee as if to look busy while Ari adjusted the blanket over her knees. At the table next to theirs, Liam muttered something in his sleep and rolled over. The girls watched him until he was motionless again.

  “We should tell the detective,” Imani said, her voice so low that the camera mic had trouble picking up all of the words.

  “What? No way!”

  “He’s going to figure out we’ve been lying,” Imani said. “And it’s not going to go over well. Better to come clean now than deal with the consequences of hiding it.”

  Ari hid her face in her hands. “Have you forgotten what the consequences are going to be when everyone finds out? Forget about Mr. Watson. What about our parents? That’s why we messed with Tyler in the first place, remember? His big mouth would’ve gotten us into all sorts of trouble.”

  “We’re adults,” Imani said. “I’ve told you once, and I’ll tell you again. I don’t care what our parents think.”

  “They’ll kick me out.”

  “So you’ll move in with
me.”

  “And your parents?”

  “I’ll move out,” Imani offered. “Come on, Ari. It’ll be an adventure. Ever since I met you, you’ve been trying to get away from your parents. What if this is the perfect opportunity?”

  Ari ducked away from Imani’s proffered embrace. “Stop. This isn’t some grand road trip, Imani. It’s a freaking nightmare. It’s a game, and we’re losing.”

  “As long as I don’t lose you.”

  Ari’s expression softened at long last, her golden-brown eyes catching the gray light filtering in from the snowy window. She leaned her forehead on Imani’s shoulder. “We’ll figure something out.”

  Imani rested her chin on top of Ari’s head. “At least Tyler’s gone.”

  “Yeah. At least there’s that.”

  Liam woke up soon after that, and the girls went quiet as he stretched his arms over his head. The three of them waited without talking until Detective Hawkins came over to their table and asked Imani to join him for an interview. I reached across Jazmin to pause the video.

  “Matisse was right,” I said. “They definitely know something about Tyler’s death, and they’re hiding something big that they don’t want anyone to find out about. The question is what?”

  Riley made a face. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “No, what are you talking about?”

  “They’re dating,” Riley said matter-of-factly. “Sounds like their parents aren’t down with the idea of it. That’s why they’re keeping it a secret. That and the fact that my dad is really strict about employees dating each other. He says he doesn’t want to deal with the sexual harassment lawsuits.”

  “They’re not dating,” I argued. “That’s too simple.”

  “Have you seen the way they look at each other? It’s right out of a mushy rom-com.”

  “They’re pals,” I said. “They’re close. By your standards, Jazmin and I are dating.”

  Jazmin grabbed me around the waist, knocked me off balance, and pulled me into her lap. “You caught me!” she cried dramatically. “I’m madly in love with you, Lucia.”

  Riley grinned. “The two of you do have a freakishly close bond.”

  “That’s because Jazmin knows all my secrets,” I said, wrestling out of Jazmin’s playful grasp. Odette’s words from earlier, so similar to mine, came back to haunt me. “Can we be serious for five seconds?”

  “Fine.” Riley crossed her arms. “What else would they be so worried about?”

  I rewound the video, pushed play, and watched the entire conversation on mute. This time around, it was hard to ignore how much of the girls’ body language was indicative of an intimate relationship.

  “You think they were so desperate to keep their relationship a secret that they killed you brother?” I asked Riley. “It seems like an overreaction.”

  “Is it though?” Riley asked. “Crimson Basin might feel progressive, but there are a lot of people who aren’t okay with this sort of thing.”

  “She’s got a point,” Jazmin added. “My sixteen-year-old cousin lived with me for two years because his mother kicked him out. If Imani and Ari’s parents are anything like my aunt, they would do anything to keep it quiet.”

  “What am I supposed to say?” I said. “‘Hey, ladies, I know you’re dating even though your parents disapprove of it. By the way, you wouldn’t happen to have a murder weapon lying around, would you?’”

  “Tact was never your strong suit,” Riley commented.

  I aimed a playful smack to her shoulder, but she ducked under it. Jazmin rolled her chair between us to stop the anticipated tussle before it started.

  “Find out what they have to say,” Jazmin told me. “I’m sure they’ll be more comfortable talking to you than anyone else. After all, they are some of Madame Lucia’s biggest fans.”

  “That was before.”

  “Before what?”

  “Before Madame Lucia was real.”

  Riley knew exactly which room had been assigned to Ari and Imani, more evidence that she was a better spy than anyone expected her to be. The girls were staying on the first floor in the same hallway as Nick Porter. These were the least expensive rooms in the entire resort, the ones with a single queen-sized bed, no ensuite kitchen, and a crappy view of the air conditioning and heating units along the side of the building. To me, it was a surprise that Oliver had stuck them there. He’d been so generous with me from the beginning, but I guessed his employees didn’t rate the same treatment. I knocked on the door to Room 105.

  “Hello?” I called. “Imani? Ari? Are you in there?”

  I rapped again for good measure, but no one replied. No one was around, so I took a master key card that Riley had stolen from the front desk, swiped it through the card reader, and opened the door.

  “Anyone home—whoa!”

  It turned out Ari and Imani were present, but the reason they hadn’t come to the door was because both girls were in the shower. They must not have heard me knocking over the running water.

  “Oh my god,” Ari gasped as she disentangled herself from Imani, turned off the water, and grabbed two robes hanging from the hooks. “What the hell are you doing in here, Madame Lucia?”

  I turned around to face the wall and buried my head in my hands. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t think anyone was in here.”

  “How did you get in?” Ari demanded.

  “Better yet, get out,” Imani added. Her voice shook. She was either scared or angry. Either way, this was not going the way I intended it to. “Since you apparently already know where the door is.”

  “I have to talk to you two about something,” I said, grimacing. This was the most embarrassing thing I’d ever done. “About this actually.”

  I waved a finger at the general vicinity of the bathroom door. One of the girls grabbed me with her own steamy palm. It was Imani, thankfully covered up in her bathrobe. She glowered down at me from her supermodel height. She was taller even than Jazmin.

  “You can turn around now,” she said.

  I rotated on the spot, lifting my hands as if both girls had a gun on me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to barge in.”

  “Really?” Imani stood in front of Ari, blocking the shorter girl from view. “Because to me, it seems like that’s exactly what you meant to do. What do you want?”

  “You can’t say anything,” Ari blurted out before I had a chance to reply. “Please, Madame Lucia. You can’t tell anyone about us.”

  “She won’t,” Imani said. “Will you, Madame Lucia?”

  “You don’t have to threaten me,” I told her. “You don’t have to call me Madame Lucia either. It’s a stage name. I’m not here to question or expose your relationship. I don’t care about that, but I do need to know what your beef was with Tyler Watson.”

  Ari peered around her Amazonian girlfriend. “How do you know about that?”

  “The kid,” Imani answered for me. “She’s a damn ghost.”

  For a hot second, I thought she was talking about Odette. Then I realized she meant Riley. “Riley’s got a way of getting around without being noticed. She overheard your conversation in the lounge yesterday and brought it to me. I couldn’t let it go.”

  “I have money,” Imani said. “That’s what you were after in the first place, right? I can pay you to keep quiet.”

  “Keep your money, Imani,” I told her. “I’m not interested in bribery or blackmail. All I want to know is what happened between Tyler and the two of you. If you don’t tell me, you’re going to end up talking to Detective Hawkins, and I can assure you he will not be nearly as discreet as me. If I can figure this out before he does, you’ll both be in the clear and no one has to know about any of this. Deal?”

  “Just tell her,” Ari urged.

  Imani squinted at me. “What do you get out of this? Who are you working for?”

  “Every person in this resort right now,” I said. “Including the dead ones. I’m not a cop or anything like that, but I do have an
invested interest in this homicide case. Who would you rather talk to? Me or Detective Hawkins?”

  Imani glared at me. Ari nudged her in the back. “Fine,” she said, stepping aside to allow me deeper into the tiny room. “We’ll answer your questions.”

  We all sat down. Imani and Ari took the edge of the bed, their hands folded together in Imani’s lap. I lifted myself to sit on the dresser since there was no other furniture in the room.

  “Let’s start with the an easy yes or no question,” I said. “Did either of you kill Tyler Watson?”

  “No, of course not,” Imani said.

  “Absolutely not!” Ari answered at the same time. “Blood makes me queasy. Ask my brother. I threw up on him over a paper cut once.”

  “Why would you ask us that?” Imani said.

  “Because your conversation from yesterday suggested he knew something about the two of you that you didn’t want getting out,” I replied. “And that you knew something about his death.”

  Ari squeezed Imani’s hands tighter. “Tyler found out about us a few weeks ago. He didn’t tell us he knew at first, just kept dropping hints and making terrible comments. It was awful.”

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Imani added. “I was about five seconds from drop-kicking him across the mountain, but I would never kill someone. Not even Tyler Watson.”

  “But you got back at him somehow,” I guessed. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be wondering whether or not to confess something to Detective Hawkins.”

  “How much did Riley Watson tell you?” Imani demanded.

  “Enough. So?”

  “It’s not a secret,” Ari said. “A few months before Tyler’s mom died, patients’ prescriptions started disappearing out of their rooms. Xanax, Valium, Adderall, Vicodin. You name it. If it had a withdrawal warning, it went missing at King and Queens.”

  “So what?”

  “Tyler was stealing them and selling them,” Imani explained. “Mr. Watson tried to blame it on the maid service, but we have friends who work in housekeeping. They didn’t deserve to get fired over Tyler’s dumb decisions, so we followed him one day. Sure enough, he would wait until the guests left their rooms to go to the slopes. Then he’d use a master key to get into their rooms. We recorded him breaking into a couple suites and selling the pills to his idiot friends.”