Criminal Crumbs (14 page)

“We could always search the lodge again,” Grace suggested.

I wondered why she’d suggest that, but if that was her play, then I was going to back her up. “I think that’s a great idea.”

“Have you both lost your minds?” Georgia asked. “It’s dark out, so there won’t be any light coming in through the windows. We don’t have any electricity, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but the batteries in my flashlight are starting to weaken. The worst thing we could do is break up and search this place again.”

“That’s not the
worst
thing I can think of,” Janelle replied.

Georgia looked affronted by the comment. “Oh, yeah? Name one thing worse.”

“We could search the grounds outside,” she said.

Georgia shrugged. “You’re right. I was wrong. That
is
worse.”

Janelle grinned slightly as she put a hand behind one ear. “Excuse me. I’m not sure I heard what you just said.”

“You were right. Don’t act so surprised. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“We could always play a board game,” Dina offered, pointing to a stack of games in one of the bookcases. “Just not Clue.”

“I’m not sure Monopoly would be any better,” Nicole said.

“We could sit by the fire and tell ghost stories,” Grace said with a grin. It was something that only she would have said aloud, let alone thought of in the first place.

“On second thought, Monopoly sounds great.”

We played, though none of us were focused on the outcome, and I soon pushed my money and properties into the center of the board. “If I’m going to pull two shifts, I need to get a little sleep.”

I nodded to Georgia. “Wake me when it’s our turn.”

“Me? Your internal alarm clock has to be better than anything I can buy. If you’re counting on me to wake you up, we’ll both be sleeping until dawn.”

“Don’t worry. Dina and I will wake you when it’s your turn,” Janelle said.

I nodded and took one of the free couches far away from the game but closer to the fire. I’d chosen to serve with Georgia first. That way, while everyone else was asleep later, Grace and I could plant Hank’s bandana somewhere and come up with some other way of frightening the killer into making a mistake. Out of consideration, they all lowered their voices after I curled up to sleep, but it still seemed to take me forever.

I must have managed to doze off at some point, though, because the next thing I knew, someone was shaking my shoulder. Had I honestly slept all that long, despite the fact that there was a killer among us, or had something gone wrong, and was I about to hear some very bad news indeed?

Chapter 20

“W
hat’s wrong, Celia?” I asked
as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “How long have I been asleep, anyway?”

“I’m sorry I woke you, but I didn’t know what else to do. Nicole’s missing!”

“What? Weren’t you together?” I asked as I stood up and stretched. “I thought you were working as a team.”

“I had to go to the bathroom,” she admitted. “I was only gone two minutes, but when I came back in, she was gone. Suzanne, I’m worried about her.”

It was clear that Celia was near her breaking point. “Take a deep breath and try to calm down. Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”

“What if something happened to her because I couldn’t hold it?”

“There’s no reason to believe that anything’s wrong,” I said. “Where could she have gone?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out,” Celia said when I saw something dark coming down the stairs from the second floor. I grabbed an ancient golf club on display and got ready to defend both of us, but I didn’t need it.

“What’s up?” Nicole asked as she came into the firelight.

Celia ran to her and hugged her tightly. “I thought you were dead!”

“Why would you think that?” Nicole asked her. “I thought I heard someone moving around upstairs, so I decided to check it out by myself.”

“Why didn’t you wait for me?” Celia asked her.

“I didn’t want anything happening to you if I was right,” Nicole confessed.

Maybe they weren’t the best team to pair up after all. If the buddy system was going to work, that meant that everyone had to stay with their partners and not take any foolish risks on their own. I wasn’t about to chide Grace’s boss about it, though. Her heart had been in the right place, but I still needed to say something. “Nicole, you can’t just wander off by yourself. If anyone needs a buddy watching their back, it’s you.”

She looked contrite. “You’re right, Suzanne. It was foolish of me to take a risk like that. I’m sorry.”

I hadn’t been expecting an outright apology. “Just stay together while you’re on duty, okay?”

“Okay,” she promised. “Why are you awake, anyway?”

“That’s my fault,” Celia said. “When I couldn’t find you, I panicked and woke her up.”

“I’m doubly sorry now,” Nicole said. “Suzanne, why don’t you go back to sleep? We’ll be fine from here on out, I promise.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” I said.

“Thanks,” Celia said to me, and I nodded as I did my best to smile.

Settling back onto the couch, I tried to get back to sleep, but I soon realized that it was impossible. Getting back up, I approached the two sisters as they stood by the fire.

“Suzanne, you really need to at least try to sleep,” Nicole scolded me.

“I did, but for now, I’ll keep you two company.”

“There’s nothing to see here,” Nicole said. “Really, I must insist.”

“Nicole, she’s a grown woman,” Celia told her sister. “Let her do what she wants.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just not myself this weekend.”

“Who can blame you, Sis? Someone tried to shove you off a cliff! It would be enough to shake anybody up, and the thought that Hank is wandering around somewhere, probably in this lodge, makes it amazing to me that
anyone
can sleep. You must be distraught by what’s been happening.”

“I am, but I’ll get through it, with your help.”

We talked about a dozen different things, from running a donut shop to supervising a region of a large cosmetics company to making crafts and selling them online, which happened to be our three specialties. Soon enough, it was time for the next shift, and as Dina and Janelle took over, I decided to try one more time to sleep.

I finally managed to do it, but it seemed as though it were an instant later when someone was shaking my shoulder again. It was Georgia this time, and my night’s rest was officially over. I’d been known to go into the donut shop and work on a depressingly small amount of sleep at times in the past, but this was going to be a challenge, even for me.

“I’m awake,” I said as I stood and stretched. “Man, I’d kill for some coffee right about now.”

“You’re in luck,” Georgia said, “because Dina made some just before she woke me.”

“Did she not stay with Janelle?” Was nobody willing to follow the simplest rule, that you always stay with your partner?

“I don’t know the details. Do you want some or not?”

It was too late to worry about it now, and I desperately needed something to wake me up. “I do,” I said. “How can we get some and still watch the group?”

“Tell you what. You stand in the doorway between the reception area and the restaurant, and I’ll prop the kitchen door open and fetch us both coffee. If either one of us sees anything out of the ordinary, help is just a shout away.”

It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do. “Fine, but don’t dawdle.”

“No worries there. I’m no more eager to be alone here than you are.”

Georgia came back quickly with two mugs, both emblazoned with the Shadow Mountain Lodge logo on them. I’d thought about buying one as a souvenir when we’d first arrived, but now I just wanted to wipe every memory of this place from my mind if we got away.

The coffee was stronger than I normally liked, but I drank it anyway.

Georgia and I stood in the dim light of the fire where we could watch everyone else as they slept as well as see the fire. Someone must have recently put fresh wood on it, because it was blazing nicely. If we hadn’t had that fireplace, we’d all be huddled together somewhere trying to conserve every last bit of heat, but as it was, I saw that most of the women had not only thrown off their covers, but they’d taken off their hoodie sweatshirts as well. Only Nicole still wore hers, but in her defense, she was farthest from the fire.

“What do we do, just stand here for two hours and watch the flames?” Georgia asked me.

“We could always talk, as long as we keep our voices down,” I suggested.

“Sure. Why not? What do you want to talk about?”

“How about that forged sales report?” I suggested.

Georgia glanced at me warily. “I was thinking more along the lines of the latest gossip in the entertainment world.”

“As far as I’m concerned, discussing the events of this weekend is all I want to do at the moment. Did you do it, Georgia?”

“Why should I tell you anything, Suzanne?” she asked.

“I’m not in any position to hurt you with the information,” I said.

“Why don’t I believe you? If I say one word to you, you’ll tell Grace or Nicole, and I’m sunk either way. Thanks, but no thanks.”

I took a deep breath, and then I made a decision. “What if I promise that I’ll keep whatever you tell me in confidence?”

“Even from Grace?” she asked me.

“Yes, even from her,” I vowed.

“Suzanne, why should I believe you? I know what good friends you two are.”

“Georgia, I wouldn’t promise it if I weren’t willing to abide by it. Do I want to share everything with my best friend? Of course I do, but if it means getting you to tell me something confidentially, I’m willing to make that sacrifice. Besides, wouldn’t it feel good getting it off your chest?”

She frowned, and then, nearly shocking me by its unexpected nature, Georgia started to softly cry.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

Georgia stopped crying and swiped her cheeks with her free hand. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. All of a sudden I’m some kind of basket case.”

“The stress we’re all under would break a Navy Seal down,” I said. “So tell me, just between the two of us, did you fake that report?”

She nodded, but then she quickly explained, “Just because it was faked didn’t mean that it wasn’t true.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Suzanne, what I’m about to tell you could get me fired. You can’t tell anyone, but I’ve been thinking. If something were to happen to me, no one would know the truth. I have to trust someone with what I know. Can I trust you?”

“You can,” I said. What kind of bombshell was she about to lay on me?

“I found a way to tap into the real-time sales records of all of the associates at our company. Don’t ask me how, because I really don’t know. I happened to stumble across the access code one day, and I’ve been using the information to my advantage ever since.”

It wasn’t stellar behavior, but I didn’t think that it was criminal, either. “What did you see?”

“Nicole cheated just like Janelle and I did! That form might not have been the original, but the numbers it reflected were on the money. The only problem was that Nicole must have found some way to alter her numbers before Hank saw it. It made her sales look legit, while Janelle’s and mine were suddenly tainted.”

“Are you saying that neither one of you tried to game the system?” I asked her.

Georgia shook her head. “Of course we did. It was the way it was set up. What I’m saying is that Nicole did the same thing we did. She was just too smart to get caught doing it.”

I didn’t know if Georgia was lying to me or not. Could I believe her? Had Nicole really cheated, or was this just Georgia’s way of justifying trying to sabotage her boss’s promotion? “What were you going to do with the report?” I asked her.

“What do you think? I told Hank the moment we got here, and I even showed it to him.”

“What was his reaction?” I decided that my best bet was to at least pretend to believe her for the moment. It was the only way I could get more information out of her. If I seemed skeptical in the slightest, then Georgia would shut up about it forever.

“He was furious,” Georgia said. “He told me that he’d been looking for a reason to fire her since she broke up with him, and that report was all the ammunition he needed.”

“Was he going to fire her while we were all here at the lodge?” I asked her.

“He asked me to keep the report until he needed it. Hank didn’t trust anyone, and that included Nicole.”

“And yet he risked dying trying to save her. That part doesn’t make sense,” I said.

“Who knows? Maybe he had a change of heart at the last second. After all, he said that he loved her. Maybe seeing her in danger made him momentarily forget what had happened. It could have just been instinct that made him save her.”

“So you didn’t push him off that precipice yourself?” I asked her calmly.

Georgia’s voice got a little loud, but I didn’t care if she woke anyone up at that point. “Why would I do that? He was going to fire her! I don’t like Nicole, and everyone knows that I want her job, but I wouldn’t kill her, and I certainly wouldn’t have tried to get rid of the one man who could give me what I wanted.”

“Calm down,” I said. “I had to ask. So, if you didn’t do it, who did?”

“My money’s still on Janelle,” she said.

“Seriously? I have a hard time seeing her do something like that.”

“That’s why it’s so brilliant! It’s so out of character for her that no one would suspect her, but I know something that no one else here knows. Her daughter needs surgery, and our insurance will only cover part of it. Janelle needs that bump in pay more desperately than anyone else knows. If it were just about her, I agree with you. She would never even consider it. But if it meant saving her daughter’s life, I firmly believe that she’d kill every last one of us without a second thought.”

I knew how strong a mother’s love for her child could be, and Janelle certainly seemed truly devoted to her kids. Could Georgia be right? I’d have to rethink several things I’d been considering. Either Georgia was telling the truth about everything, she was blatantly lying about it all, or there was a blend of honesty and deception that I wasn’t clever enough to discern. Was it possible that Nicole had altered the numbers to make herself look better than her closest competitors? From what I knew of her, I supposed that it was. After all, she made no bones about buying the finest things she could afford, as evidenced by her wardrobe, so I was certain that she’d use every dime of the raise she’d gotten on more elegant clothing and jewelry. But I couldn’t see her as a killer. Then again, no one fit my idea of a cold-blooded murderer. We were a group of saleswomen, a crafter, an investment manager, and a donutmaker. None of those descriptions fit the anatomy of a killer. Then again, I’d come to believe that given the right motivation, coupled with the exact amount of applied pressure and given the opportunity, just about anyone could turn into a murderer.

My head was spinning with possibilities, and I was faced with the prospect that I was no closer to unmasking the real murderer than I had been the moment we’d discovered Hank’s body lying at the bottom of that ravine.

The real question was how could I go about winnowing the chaff of lies, deception, and misdirection, and finding the kernels of truth hidden somewhere within?