Seductive Suspect

Her gray eyes narrowed behind her thick glasses. “Do you have something better to do today?”

“Anything sounds better than your game of hide and seek with a person who doesn’t even exist.”

“You guys can sit here sniping at each other all day,” Paul said. “Me, I’m going to do something productive. Like seeing if I can find a cell signal somewhere on this damned mountain, assuming the storm didn’t knock out all the local towers.”

Victor nodded. “Good idea. Though we established, while you were gone, not everyone has the appropriate attire to go exploring amidst the trees.” He scratched his chin. “Perhaps we should split into groups. Some of us can try to call for help outside, while the others search the inside of the lodge for any…unknown guests. If we stay in our larger groups, we should be safe.”

“Works for me,” Laura said. “I guess Brittany and I are definitely staying indoors.”

Isabel wrinkled her nose again. “I’d prefer not to get all muddy, if it’s okay with the others.”

The idea of escaping the lodge and its horrors, even if only for an hour or so, appealed to me. “I don’t mind the mud and pine needles and whatnot.” I turned to Paul. “Let me run upstairs to grab my sneakers and phone, and I’ll come with you.”

“I keep a pair of rubber boots here in case I need to do any outdoor maintenance,” Victor said. “I might be able to get farther outside in them.”

Adam shrugged. “I don’t have a preference.” He looked at Dylan. “What about you? If we want to keep our ‘teams’ even, I’ll go with one group and you can go with the other.”

“Poking around in every little dark corner withheror traipsing through the woods, swatting away the bugs?” He made a disgusted face. “What great options.”

Sighing, Adam reached into his pocket and fished out a quarter. “Let’s keep this simple. Heads, I’ll be the one to stay inside; tails, you stay here.”

“Whatever, man.”

We watched the coin flip through the air, and I held my breath. I struggled to decide if I wanted Adam on my team or if I was better off keeping my distance from him. The quarter landed on the table, and he bent over to examine it.

“I’ll be enjoying the great outdoors while you help out in here,” he said.

Dylan rolled his eyes. “Lucky me.”

Laura pursed her lips, but didn’t say anything.

I had enough to worry about without having to deal with the petty squabbles of the others. “Let me get changed and I’ll meet you outside.” Abandoning the remains of my breakfast, I stood and left the room.

***

I exited the lodge and walked past the fountain, fresh air filling my lungs. Murky clouds hung heavy overhead, threatening more rain, but it felt good to finally get outside and pretend there weren’t three dead bodies in the building behind me. Paul and Victor stood at the end of the row of parked cars, the latter wearing a pair of bright orange galoshes with his usual suit. I grinned at the absurd sight, and my mood continued to improve.

Adam joined us a minute later, having also changed into more suitable clothing. “So, Victor,” he said, “what do you know about these woods?”

“Not much, I’m afraid.” Victor wrung his hands in front of his chest. “I always dissuaded the guests from venturing too far from the lodge, for liability purposes.”

Paul tapped his cell phone against his palm. “Okay, here’s what I’m thinking.” He looked at each of us in turn. “If we split up, there’s a better chance of someone finding a signal and being able to make a call. Each of us can take a separate direction, and we can plan to meet back here in about half an hour.”

My jaw dropped. “Split up? Are you kidding?” I shook my head, my eyes wide. “No way. It’s bad enough I could fall off a cliff or get mauled by a bear in the woods. If one of you is the murderer, I don’t want to be an easy target, without any witnesses.”

“She has a valid point,” Adam said.

He let out a puff of air. “Fine. What if we split into pairs, then?” I opened my mouth to protest, but Paul put up a hand to stop me. “Wait, hear me out. I do think it’s important to cover as much ground as possible before the rain starts up again, which might be any minute now.”

A glance toward the sky supported his prediction.

“And if one of us is the killer, it would be kind of stupid and obvious for that person to kill their partner out here, right? He orshe isn’t dumb, and probably wouldn’t take the risk.”

I kicked at the soft dirt at the edge of the driveway. “I suppose…”

Paul resumed fiddling with his phone. “If there’s no objection from these guys, you can pick who you feel most comfortable teaming up with.”

Adam caught my gaze for a split second and then looked away. “It’s okay with me.”