The Haunting of Riley Watson

by Alexandria Clarke

  “You pretended to be a cop?”

  “I am a cop,” he replied. “I’m one of the best cops. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be a detective.”

  “Then why were you suspended?”

  “That impending relapse you just accused me of?” he said. “It already happened a couple weeks ago. I was working a huge case that was over my head. I thought I could handle it when I couldn’t, and I ended up going on a bender I don’t remember.” He tilted his head back to keep a shimmer of tears from falling down his cheeks. “It was a disaster. I woke up in the hospital with a banana bag strapped to my arm. My wife—ex-wife wouldn’t let my daughter in to see me, even though I begged. I’m glad she made that decision. Looking back on it, I never want my daughter to see me like that.”

  “Let me get this straight,” I said. “You’ve been suspended, you’re not actually assigned to the King and Queens case, and you’re not sober. Is that it?”

  “I am sober,” he insisted. “Now.”

  “For how long?”

  “Two and a half weeks.”

  I planted my hands on my hips. “Why did it take them so long to suspend you? You said you were here on official business at first.”

  “They didn’t know about it,” Daniel said. “I begged my wife not to tell them. She went along with it until I got sent here. It’s about an hour drive from our house. She waited for me to get out of dodge before reporting me. While I was here, the station called me back in to take my badge.”

  “What else?” I said. “I want to know everything.”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  “Everything that happens at King and Queens is my business,” I countered. “Because I’m the only one who anyone can actually count on. Tell me.”

  Daniel started me down. He wiped an angry tear away from the corner of his eye. “There is cell service, like you said, but I can’t get a hold of my superiors. They won’t answer the phone for me because of my suspension. They don’t know I’m stuck here.”

  “What about 911?” I asked. “Did it occur you to call Dispatch?”

  “They’re swamped with trying to get everyone free of the snow.”

  “Did you mention that we have a dead body in the storage freezer?” I asked. “Or that the crime scene is smelling more and more like the zombie apocalypse with every passing day? Because that might encourage emergency services to make us a priority.”

  He stayed quiet, kneading the bridge of his nose.

  “Daniel!”

  “No, I didn’t tell them!” he confessed. “I thought if I could handle this myself, solve the case and apprehend the killer, my boss might realize I’m still fit for the job. I was wrong, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  “No!” I said. “What I wanted to hear was that you did everything you could to contact the authorities, to get us out of here as soon as possible, before the killer had a chance to put more people in danger. Are you blind or just stupid, Detective? Riley almost died! Liam could have gone the same way, but you’re too busy worrying about your own damn self to address the problems that matter most!”

  “I know!” We were full out yelling at each other now, holding nothing back. “You don’t think I know that? I’m freaking terrified! I’ve never been in a situation like this before, and I’ve been shot at multiple times. To be honest, I think I prefer the bullet wounds.” Instinctively, he checked that the gun in his holster was still there. “Look, my goals have changed, okay? I don’t need to prove anything anymore. All I want is to keep the killer at bay long enough for us to make it out of here alive. I want to see my daughter again, Lucia.”

  “Call 911 and give them the real report,” I ordered. “I’m not discussing anything else with you until you do.”

  I listened in as he obeyed my request, making sure he told the dispatcher every detail concerning what had happened at King and Queens in the last few days. When he hung up, I looked at him expectantly.

  “Well?”

  “Like I said, they’re backed up,” he reported. “They’re trying to get out here as soon as possible, but conditions are still terrible. They don’t know how long it’s going to be.”

  “Can’t they find out a way to prioritize us? We’re bunking with a murderer and a corpse!”

  “They think I can handle it,” Daniel said. “Since I’m trained.”

  “I noticed you didn’t happen to mention your suspension.”

  “I’m not here on police authority,” he countered. “If they figure out I’ve been snooping around in a homicide case they thought was already closed, I’d be screwed.”

  I smacked my palms against my thighs to relieve some of the tension and anger building up. “Wasn’t that your original plan? Apprehend the killer and prove your worth? Now all of a sudden, you’re afraid of the consequences?”

  “It’d be one thing if I actually caught the killer,” Daniel said. “As it is, I’m looking at expulsion from the force.”

  My brain whirred through our options. Somehow, I had to make all of this crap work to my advantage. “Unless we work together.”

  Daniel lifted an eyebrow. “Say again?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “No, all actors are compulsive liars.”

  I bumped his shoulder. “Be serious. If you agree to my plan, I’ll tell you everything I know, and I know a lot more than you.”

  “How is that even possible? You’re not a cop.”

  “No, but I am a psychic.”

  Daniel groaned. “Not this again. How many times are you going to pull the Madame Lucia card?”

  “As many times as it takes for you to actually believe me,” I replied. “The killer isn’t our only problem at King and Queens. If you remember correctly, Oliver hired me to investigate Riley’s supposed possession. The thing is she was never possessed. She can see the dead, Daniel. All of the people that died in the fire are still here, including Oliver’s mother and sister.”

  “Where do you get this stuff?” Daniel rested his hands on his belt. “Seriously, did you take improv classes in college or something? It’s amazing the stories you can craft on the spot.”

  “It’s not a story,” I insisted. “And I can prove it.”

  “The last time you tried to prove the existence of ghosts to me, you gave me a camera with no footage,” he said. “And then claimed that it had somehow been magically erased.”

  “Because that’s what happened!”

  He tapped his boot impatiently. “I can’t take you seriously right now.”

  A loud creak interrupted our argument, and we both looked up to find the source of the noise. Above us, the massive chandelier that bathed the lobby in golden light swung to and fro. To Daniel, it might’ve looked like a sudden gust of wind set the light piece swaying. I, on the other hand, spotted Odette right away as she loosened the bolts that fastened the chandelier to the ceiling.

  “Odette, what are you doing?” I called up to her.

  “He said he wanted proof,” she said. “Here’s his proof.”

  She disappeared as she worked the last bolt free, and the chandelier plummeted toward the floor. I dove on top of Daniel, pushing him behind the cover of the front desk. The chandelier hit the marble and exploded with a thunderous crash, sending shards of glass flying in all directions. It rained shiny diamond pendants and broken light bulbs. Daniel, out of instinct, covered my body with his, cupping my head to his chest. His heart pounded against my ear, filling my head with the sound of life. As the glass settled, tinkling against the floor, he released me.

  “What the hell was that?” he said, peeking over the edge of the front desk for a look at the lobby. It was a damn mess. The chandelier looked a lot bigger on the ground than it did hanging from the ceiling, and that was saying something. The entire lobby was coated with a layer of shattered glass. It caught what little sunlight filtered in from the windows above, casting miniature shimmering rainbows in every direction.

  “That was your proof.”
I shook slivers of glass from my hair and clothes. Despite our quick dive for cover, we were covered in debris. “Meet Odette Watson. She died in the fire of 1988, but she never left King and Queens. She also happens to be Oliver’s sister.”

  He dusted glass from his shoulders. “You’re pulling my leg, right?”

  Odette reappeared, this time right behind Daniel. Before I could warn him, she flicked his ear.

  “Ow!” He cupped a hand to his ear and looked behind him. “What the hell was that?”

  “He’s annoying,” Odette said.

  “You’re annoying her,” I passed on to him in a dry tone. “Probably because she dropped a chandelier on you, and you still don’t believe she’s real.”

  He hunched up his shoulders, and his neck disappeared as if he were trying to prevent someone from tickling it. “You cannot possibly believe that you’re talking to a ghost. Have you ever had your head examined? Because you should worry if you’re having auditory and visual hallucinations.”

  “Maybe you should have dropped the chandelier on him,” I said to Odette. “Because I’m getting a little tired of this crap he’s feeding me.”

  “Are you talking to her?” Daniel snapped his fingers in my face. “Hello? She’s not real, Lucia. She’s a figment of your imagination.”

  Odette huffed in offense.

  “Go ahead,” I told her, backing away from Daniel. “Prove him wrong.”

  He didn’t have time to process my instructions before Odette took them to heart. She pulled the drawers out of the front desk, flung files and office supplies in every direction, put her fist through the computer screen, and then planted herself right in front of Daniel’s shocked face and took his head in both of her hands. For one terrifying moment, I thought she might twist his neck and leave him for dead, but Daniel’s eyes filled with tears as her small hands alighted on his cheeks and patted his skin.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. He looked right into Odette’s eyes even though he couldn’t see her. “I’m so sorry. I keep letting everyone down.”

  He sank to his knees, and Odette let him. She looked at me, confused.

  I shrugged. “Can he feel you?”

  “For a second,” she replied. “But it’s not like touching a human. It’s cold, unearthly. He should be freaked out, not drowning in a puddle of his own tears.”

  Daniel clutched his chest where his heart should be. He wasn’t quite drowning in his tears as Odette had said, but for a man whose job was meant to be the epitome of manliness, the moisture dripping from his cheeks was probably the most he’d let loose in the last several years.

  “It’s his daughter,” I said, understanding all at once. “You reminded him of his daughter. You can go now, Odette. I can take care of the rest.”

  “You’re running out of time,” she reminded me.

  “I’m aware. Get out of here.”

  She vanished, leaving me alone with Daniel once more. I nudged his knee, not ready to give him the full amount of affection I used with Jazmin and Riley. Even if he was struggling now, he had lied to me.

  “Hey,” I said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “No, I don’t, but it’s what you say in this sort of situation.” I offered him a hand to stand up. He gripped it tightly and rose to his feet. “We’ve got work to do. Do you believe me now? About the ghosts and the fire?”

  “I guess I have to, don’t I?”

  “Yeah, you do.” I brushed a shard of glass from near Daniel’s eye. “The killer is linked to the ghosts. That’s why Odette keeps dogging me about the case. That’s why I’ve been snooping around where I shouldn’t. That’s why” —I hesitated for a split second— “I set up all those cameras around the resort.”

  “So Liam was telling the truth!” he said indignantly. “You have been filming people without their permission.”

  “How do you think I found out that Liam went to Tyler’s room that night?” I said. “I didn’t overhear the conversation. I got it on camera.”

  “You did, or someone else did?”

  I knew exactly what he was really asking. Was Jazmin an accomplice to my crime?

  “I did,” I said firmly. I dragged Jazmin into the mess. Between the two of us, I had committed way more illegalities. If we were going to get arrested after all of this was over, I didn’t want her involved. “It was my idea. I set up the cameras. I reviewed the footage.”

  “So no one else knows anything about this?” he challenged.

  “Not a soul.”

  “Not even Riley?”

  “Nope.” The shorter my answers, the less of a chance he had to pick up on my fluctuating heart rate. I changed the subject. “Are we going to do this or what? Apparently, neither one of us is making progress on our own. If we team up, we might have a shot.”

  “You really want to?” he asked. “I’m not opposed. You definitely have something to bring to the table. I’m just surprised you’d want to team up with an addict.”

  I clapped him on the shoulder with more force than was friendly. “Lucky for you, I have experience with addicts, and I know addiction doesn’t define a person. That being said, you have to put up with me too. Are you ready to work with Madame Lucia?”

  He ducked out from under my grasp. “I’d rather work with Lucia Star. She seems like has a better grasp of her faculties. Wipe that stupid grin off your face.”

  I rolled my eyes but dropped the grin. It was stupid to be smiling anyway given the circumstances. “What the hell do we do about the lobby?”

  He surveyed the heaped chandelier and the mess of broken glass. “I don’t suppose you know where Oliver keeps the brooms?”

  An hour later, we managed to get most of the glass swept into a large pile in the corner of the lobby, but that was all we could to do handle the mess. The dumpster was outside the kitchen door, which was blocked by the snow.

  “We’ll put some more rope around it so no one gets hurt,” Daniel said, kicking a wayward shard into the rest of the pile. “Good grief, what a mess. Tell your ghost friend to can it, would you?”

  “It’s going to get worse if we don’t do something about it soon.” I leaned on my broom handle. The bristles buckled under my weight. “We need to get a handle on this investigation as soon as possible. Do you have any new leads?”

  “I might,” said another voice. Nick limped down the stairs, staring skyward. “What happened to the chandelier?”

  “Likely another safety oversight,” Daniel covered before I had to explain. “First the ski lift, now this. I’ll be filing a report to have this entire resort examined. Can you imagine if there were guests here?”

  Nick reached the bottom of the stairs and shook out a muscle cramp in his bad leg. “What I would give to be at White Oak right now. Anyway, as far as your investigation goes, I think I might have something.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  He glanced between me and Daniel. “Is this information to be shared?”

  “Miss Star and I are working together now,” Daniel announced. “She has my full trust. Anything you say to me, you can also say to her.”

  “Very well then,” said Nick. “I think you should question Oliver Watson.”

  “You think Oliver killed his own family?” I said.

  “I know it’s macabre,” Nick acknowledged. “I’m not saying he did any of these things while he was in his right mind, but think of the timeline. During all of these events—the deaths of his wife and son, Riley’s brief kidnapping, Liam getting stuck in the freezer—Oliver was not accounted for. I’ve seen what stress can do to a man. Perhaps the pressure of running this resort finally cracked him.”

  “He was getting ice,” I remembered.

  “So?” Daniel said.

  “I ran into Oliver earlier today,” I explained. “Before I spoke to you and we found Liam in the freezer. He’d filled up a big bucket of ice because Nick was complaining that the machine in his hallway was e
mpty.”

  Nick frowned. “I never said that.”

  “What you’re saying is we have Oliver placed at the scene of the crime right before it happened,” Daniel clarified.

  “And he’s nowhere to be found now,” Nick added.

  “We couldn’t find him last night either,” I said. “When we knocked on his door looking for Riley, he wasn’t around. He wasn’t right this morning. He was acting like nothing was wrong. When I told him about Riley, he didn’t even blink.”

  Nick clicked his tongue. “I can’t imagine the pain he must be going through right now.”

  “But what’s his motive?” Daniel freed his ever-present notebook from his back pocket, took the pen from behind his ear, and began scribbling his theories. “Why would Oliver want to kill his wife, son, and employees?”

  “He has a reason for each,” I pointed out. “He wasn’t with Thelma. According to Liam, they were never in love with each other. Their marriage was arranged to keep King and Queens afloat.”

  “It’s true,” Nick said, nodding. “I spoke to Thelma out on the slopes every once in a while. She often lamented getting married.”

  “Tyler was a living reminder of their mistake,” I went on. “Riley told me Oliver ignored Tyler for most of his life.”

  “Tyler was the spitting image of Thelma too,” Nick added. “Imagine Oliver seeing his wife reflected in his son’s face every day. Not to mention how terribly behaved Tyler was. Oliver will have a lot less trouble without him.”

  Daniel’s pen flew across the notebook. “And Liam was having an affair with Oliver’s wife. Oliver could have found out about it and wanted revenge.”

  “But what about Riley?” I asked. “Oliver loves her.”

  “Didn’t you say he didn’t care she was left outside in the cold?” Nick said.

  “Yes, but he’s not right in the head,” I answered. “It wasn’t like he didn’t care. It was like he didn’t even hear me say it, like he’s not processing the information the right way.”