by Blythe Baker
The horror in their eyes was the same.
A yell from inside drew my attention. It was loud, terrified. And it also sounded male. Fear coursed through me. It wasn’t the killer, was it? Coming back to take another victim?
But then I heard a name.
“Annie!” the voice yelled. “Annie, where are you?”
Annie. That name sounded familiar.
The door was yanked open, and a young man barreled out onto the porch.
I recognized him immediately, too. He’d also been one of the ones sitting out by the bonfire the night before. As the memories registered in my mind, I realized who he was.
He couldn’t have been any older than the girl down in the water. He was built like a football player, as fit as most college kids in sports are. His hair, chocolatey brown and short, was mussed as if he’d just woken up. His eyes, bloodshot and green, were wide as he stared frantically around.
“Annie!” He called again with his deep voice. “Where is – ”
His eyes fell on the form of the young woman floating in the dark water of the lake, and his jaw fell open.
My heart ached for him. The night before, I’d seen the girl floating out on the water sitting on his lap, throwing him tender smiles. His fingers had been laced through hers as they sat beside the fire together.
He must’ve been her boyfriend or something close to it.
The poor kid’s body started to convulse like he was about to be sick.
“I’m calling the ambulance,” said Mrs. Warren, and she turned and hurried back inside the lodge.
I reached out to help the boy, but he pushed my hands away as he fell down to his knees and let out a wrenching cry.
The door behind us blew open once again, and the other few teenagers that had been with them the night before barreled out.
One of the girls’ eyes widened as they fell on the boy’s crying form on the deck, and she fell to her knees beside him. “Greg – ” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him, her brown high-lighted wavy hair draping over him like a curtain. “Greg, it’s okay – it’s okay – ”
But as she lifted her head and searched the horizon with those grey eyes of hers, they fell on the body in the lake, and she froze like a statue.
“No…” she breathed.
The other three girls and two boys that had run out with her were staring blankly down for only a moment before more screams started to echo out over the forest, masking the sound of the morning songbirds.
3
I’d seen EMT’s moving too many bodies since moving to Faerywood Falls. I was almost at the point where I was starting to recognize their faces, learn their names. I probably should, so I could thank them for doing the work that I’d never be able to, which was transport dead bodies.
It didn’t matter if the bodies were gone, though. Not really. The images of those lifeless husks were burned forever into my mind. And I knew that every time I stepped out onto that front deck at the Lodge, I’d think of poor Annie Evan’s body floating there in the water, found too late.
I’d learned her name from some of the teens after escorting them back into the lodge with the help of Mrs. Warren.
One of the students, whose name was Tessa, was brave enough to talk. She was a delicate thing, looked like a strong wind could blow her away. She told me her name, but confessed she had no idea how Annie ended up in the water like she had.
I didn’t have time to investigate further, since the police arrived only a few moments later. I was pleased to see Sheriff Garland among them, as he’d been away from the last case. Deputy Morris was there, too, and gave me a hard look when he realized that, yet again, I was around when another death occurred.
This time, though, it definitely wasn’t anything to do with me. Yet again, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I sighed, chewing on the inside of my lip as I watched the EMT’s wading out into the shallows of the lake with tall, green galoshes on their feet that went up over their knees. The water swirled around them, rocking the body back and forth.
The first time she’s moved since she died, I thought morbidly, grimacing.
I was the only one still outside, the only one watching as the EMT’s gently scooped her up out of the water. Her torso sagged as they lifted her by her limbs, her pretty blonde hair more sickly green now, water cascading from each strand, dripping back into the lake where it belonged.
I glanced over my shoulder, and could just barely see in through the window. The police had swarmed the lodge, telling everyone they had to stay until they questioned every single guest, which was easily over a hundred as of that morning. I’d heard my aunt apologizing more than I’d ever heard her do it before, and knew that this could end up hurting her business in the long run. Who’d want to come stay at a place where a dead body turned up?
She wasn’t the only one I looked at briefly, though.
My eyes fell on the rest of the college students that were sitting away from everyone else. It seemed that the other guests were more than happy to give them their space, since they were the ones who were closest with the victim.
I looked at each of them in turn through the glass; none of them could look at any of their friends. The boys, especially the one named Greg that I was sure was Annie’s boyfriend, looked lost, their gazes distant and their expressions blank. Two of the girls were crying, one with her nose buried in a tissue, the other covering her face with her hands while she tried to regain some composure over herself.
I saw an officer approach the group, and the wavy-haired girl that had run out and thrown herself onto Greg looked up at him; he must have called her name. Solemnly, she stood to her feet and followed him away from the others, likely to be questioned in private by the police.
My heart ached for them. This was supposed to be a getaway weekend for them, and all it got them was tragedy. I knew what it was like to try and answer questions by the police when they were as upset as they were. It was likely they wouldn’t remember hardly any of this down the road.
I turned away from the window, wanting to give the kids some space as they tried to process what a huge change this would be in their lives.
There was nothing I could do to help them now. It was the way it was, as horrible as that sounded.
The door behind me opened, and a figure dressed in black jacket and trousers stepped out. The wide-brimmed hat gave him away.
“Hey, Sheriff,” I said, turning my attention back to the lake, folding my arms. “How’s it going?”
Sheriff Garland walked up beside me, heaving a sigh as he stared down at the lake. The EMT’s had just laid Annie’s body into a black bag that reminded me of the garment bag I’d picked up my senior prom dress in. Annie probably went to prom within the last two or three years.
“I hate it when it’s kids…” Sheriff Garland said, as we watched one of the EMT’s pull the zipper up over her body, hiding her and her young face from view. “These are the cases that make me consider retiring early.”
“I can understand that completely,” I said, somewhat relieved that the body was covered up now…even though I knew that she was still down there, and definitely dead. That bag was the giveaway. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding onto a small shred of hope.
“I just talked to her parents,” Sheriff Garland said, leaning against the railing of the deck with both hands.
I didn’t even ask him how that went. I knew it was bad.
“What do you suspect happened?” I asked.
Sheriff Garland stood straight again, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief, despite the coolness in the late morning air. “Well, it’s definitely too early to tell, but I’m wondering if this was just an accidental death.”
“You mean you think no one else was involved?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.
He shook his head, his eyes drifting toward the body bag the EMT’s were moving on a stretcher toward the ambulance parked out in front of the lodge. “College s
tudents are known for coming into Faerywood Falls and taking advantage of being away from campus, being away from parents, to…well, indulge themselves a little too much. This isn’t the first body that’s shown up after a group of kids like this has had too much to drink and decided to dare one another to jump off some of the overhanging bluffs into the lake.”
My eyes unconsciously drifted toward where the body had been found, and the foot of the mountains that lay a short distance from there. Cliffs dotted the landscape around the lodge, and there was even a portion of them that butted up against the lake itself. I’d seen tourists jumping off some of the lower ones into the lake; Mrs. Bickford and her husband – when he was living – had marked it clearly as safe, since it was a deep part of the lake, and there weren’t any of the sharp, jagged rocks that had broken off the cliffs years ago at the bottom of the jumping spot.
“Did they admit to drinking or anything like that?” I asked.
Sheriff Garland cleared his throat. “They did. And most of them don’t remember anything after they were here at the bonfire,” he said.
My stomach bottomed out. “Oh. So you think something may have happened while they were blacked out?”
“I think they might have come out here, hearing their friends had gone cliff diving, and decided to do it themselves,” he said. “It’s incredibly popular this time of year, since the water isn’t iced over yet, but is definitely starting to drop in temperature. The borderline danger of it is what entices them, I think.”
“I see,” I said. “Daring each other to jump into the cold water.”
“Exactly,” he said. “They make it a game to see who can stay in the water the longest. Like I said, there’ve been deaths and injuries before from this, but the last one was years ago. Unfortunately, this young woman probably struck her head on one of those rocks underwater and drowned while she was unconscious.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the kids in through the window. Was their sorrow a cover for their shame? Did some of them remember more than they were letting on, and were just too afraid to admit it?
“And the kids haven’t admitted to anything?” I asked.
“No,” Sheriff Garland said. “I don’t think that one of them pushed her or anything. These kids all seem too frightened to really get anything out of them for now. I told them we’d be following up with more questions at a later date, and I’m not even sure that they’ll remember me saying that.”
“But it’s always possible one of them is behind this?” I asked.
“Of course,” he said. “And like I said, I’m not ready to rule any of them out yet, but in all my years on the force, the deaths that have happened at these cliffs have been accidental. Negligent, really.”
I frowned. I wished I could go in and talk to them myself. Would they be more willing to talk to someone they’d seen a few times? Maybe someone who wasn’t on the police force?
I saw Deputy Morris standing off with my aunt, asking her questions. She clearly looked distressed, but he had the hard face like he usually did.
“So…Deputy Morris,” I said, looking for an excuse to talk about something, anything other than the poor girl and her friends. “He’s an interesting fellow.”
Sheriff Garland followed my gaze back inside, and sighed. “Yes. I’m sorry about the last case. There was some evaluation stuff going on that I had to head up, and he was the highest commanding officer that I had to send. He wasn’t happy about it, saying if he found you there, he’d hand in his resignation papers the next day.”
“Why?” I asked.
Sheriff Garland shrugged one shoulder. “He says I was lying about your involvement with everything. He didn’t believe me when I told him that you just had the worst luck of any person I’d ever known.”
I smirked. “Yeah, I could tell he wasn’t happy when he showed up and saw me there.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Sheriff Garland said. “But I don’t think you have anything to worry about with him. He pretends to be a lot harder than he is. In fact, he was impressed with your insight into the last murder, and I think he pities you more than anything.”
“Pities me?” I asked, surprised.
“You know, since you always find yourself at the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “Much like today.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have been here if I wasn’t too afraid to sleep in my own house because of what that Susan Bennet did…” I said.
“I wondered if that was why you were staying here,” he said. “I told the Deputy that he hasn’t even begun to understood your ability to show up at these places unaware.” He glanced over at me, his kind eyes a little less sad than they had been a few minutes before. “I told him I suspected you the first few times, but... I’ve been in the business of people for a long time, and you sort of learn to develop a sense for these kinds of things. I know I can trust you, Marianne. Even if I’m not always overjoyed to see you.”
We exchanged small smiles of understanding, a brief reprieve from all the tension closing in around us.
He sighed again. “Well…I guess I should go speak with the EMT’s before they take off,” he said. He straightened his brimmed hat, and with a nod in my direction, headed off toward the stairs leading down into the driveway.
I bit down on my lip.
Despite the sheriff’s theory, I wasn’t entirely convinced this whole thing was accidental. Something felt…off. Wrong. Misplaced. I couldn’t be sure, but I was almost positive that there was more to this death than met the eye.
Sheriff Garland likely wasn’t going to approve of my choice, but since Annie and her friends had been staying at my aunt’s lodge, I felt responsible for helping get to the bottom of this.
Though if I was honest with myself, I would’ve gotten involved anyway, wouldn’t I?
4
What had started as such a lovely morning turned into an exhausting one. It was almost noon by the time the police left the lodge, with strict orders for Annie’s friends to stay put until they wrapped up the investigation. Sheriff Garland left Deputy Morris to hang around the lodge, keeping an eye on things while the body was inspected.
I fought the urge to call Cain Blackburn. First, I knew he wouldn’t have the body yet, but second, because I knew he probably wouldn’t answer in the first place. He still hadn’t spoken to me, and the more time that passed, the more convinced I became that maybe he never would.
And the more time that passed, the more I realized I wasn’t sure I cared or not if he did want to talk to me. Heartbreak was funny like that, wasn’t it? As much as I cared about Cain, knew that I’d developed genuine feelings for him, there was definitely a point where I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue torturing myself pining over him, hoping for his forgiveness.
Aunt Candace had assured me that he wanted to make up with me when she’d gone to see him, but he hadn’t made the effort to do so. As much as I hoped for it, just like I hoped for resolution with Lucan, I wasn’t sure it would ever come.
So I found it best not to think about either of them.
At least…I tried not to think about them.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Cromwell,” I said, almost completely out of breath as I hurried in through the back door of the antique shop.
“It’s quite alright, Marianne,” Abe said with a chuckle from his stool behind the front desk. He removed his magnifying glasses and set them down as I shut the door behind me.
I shrugged off my backpack – Athena had stayed back at the lodge today, not so secret about the fact she wanted to hang out around Mrs. Warren, who’d been planning to make a roast for dinner – and hurried in to meet him.
“You didn’t have to rush here like that,” Abe said, getting up to hug me as I approached. “You couldn’t control what happened this morning.”
“No, but I’m tired of having to call you with excuses about why I’m late all the time,” I said, checking my hair in the mirror; the wind had picked up on my way over, and nearly knocked
me over as I tried to get into my SUV back at the lodge.
“You don’t call all the time,” Abe said. “That’s only happened a few times. Besides, I don’t mind opening the shop. You know that.”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “But you hired me to help you run this place, and I feel like I’m letting you down when I’m not here.”
“Nonsense,” Abe said. “I made some fresh coffee for us. Why don’t you go get us both a cup, and you can tell me what happened?”
Glad to be doing something useful, I went to the tiny closet that we called our “break room” and poured us both a cup of hot coffee. I added the amount of milk and sugar we both liked, and carried a cup back out to him.
I was only able to give him the most basic summary of what happened before the front door swung open, the bell echoing with a soft ding as customers stepped in. Promising him I’d finish explaining later, I settled into the normalcy of my job.
It was an uneventful day, which I was pleased about. Abe retired up to his apartment about an hour before we were to close up, and I was dusting some of the shelves when the door opened again.
I peered around the back of the shelf and my eyes widened. “Mitch?” I asked.
The burly, military man looked around at my voice and grinned when his eyes met mine. “Hey, Marianne.”
“What’re you doing here?” I asked, walking around to meet him.
He slid his hands into the pockets of his forest green jacket. “Well, I was just on my way home and passed by here. The name sounded familiar, and I realized this was the place you said you worked. So I thought I’d come in and say hey.”
I grinned. “Well, here I am,” I said. “How’s everything going?” I asked.
“Well, I dropped out of that phony supernatural group, for one thing,” Mitch said. “Though I heard that the person who murdered Harriet was found.”