Dark and Stormy

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  “Let’s say the lights were the person who didn’t kill Rolf, or, at least, were from before he was killed. Rolf was hanging out in the hall of the dorm he had made sure was empty, waiting for Cadence. Someone used Cadence’s phone to make sure he was waiting there.” I felt the obvious needed to be restated. At least I needed to get back on track. “We’ll say that person was Troy. He overpowered Rolf, then left, locking the building behind him.” Oh, that was good. He would have been the only one of the three with a key to lock up. “Then, in a straightforward, get the job done kind of fashion, he took the splitting maul…” I turned in a circle. Where did he take it? The woods behind the dorm, if you went far enough, were where the police found the iceblock. They had been searched, and it sounded like they had been searched well.

  Dani turned to face the woods. “I think we can agree the killer took the weapon away from the school. Too many of us have looked too many places on campus for it to be here.”

  I walked towards the woods, my eye on any accumulation of snow. The snow, in fact, was falling lightly, and the moon was bright. Though we were in the long, dark season it might have been dusk still, the way the moon and the snow worked together to light the area.

  “What about here?” Dani pointed her thumb towards a tangle of brambly bushes under several old oak trees. “I noticed this fall that the ground just past these roses was kinda mushy. Very mossy, very moist. We only had to get a foot soaked in mud once to teach us not to turn this way when we were hiking.” Dani pushed her way through the bushes as she spoke. “But right now, the ground would be frozen. And both Troy and Xavier have been around campus long enough to know that no one goes this way.”

  “And,” I added, wanting very much to contribute, “there are several fallen branches here. I bet no one’s disturbed the area since the storm.”

  “It’s pretty pokey. No one goes here on purpose.”

  I ran my hand along one of the bare rose bushes. The branches twisted and twined around the trees and around older branches that had fallen in the years past. “Why wouldn’t the police have gone through here?”

  Dani hadn’t moved from her spot on the other side of the wild rose bushes. “Maybe they did. It wasn’t that hard to push through right where I went.”

  I gave the spot another once over. If one were to go through the rose bushes, this would be the spot. I followed her. Though a couple of branches snagged my coat, I was pretty well protected. “See anything?”

  Dani pointed to a spot in the snow just ahead of her. “Yes.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  Dani Honeywell

  It was right to consider the psychology of our most likely suspects. Troy, being psychologically the most likely criminal, would have taken the straightest path to the best hiding spot. And that was the bramble patch in the woods by the little bog. He’d been at school long enough to know it was here. And right there, less than a yard from my feet, was a heavy depression in the snow, barely visible under the wild roses, evergreen leaves of two lingonberry bushes, and a fallen branch. In fact, if the police had come through here and poked around under all the branches and in every little pile of snow, they may well have left a maul handle alone, thinking it was an oak branch.

  Isaac stared at the spot I pointed at. “That’s not a snow pile.”

  “Exactly. It’s a snow hollow. Just the width of a splitting maul handle.” I didn’t move, afraid to be right and afraid to be wrong. “Troy came straight here, knowing it was a good spot, selected a place with good cover, and slid the maul under the bushes, digging a little hole in the snow that was already there. The storm raged around him, he escaped the thorny hiding place, turned his light back on, and finished “searching” for Rolf. The snow fell, and has continued to fall, collecting in this protected place, just enough to cover the weapon, but not enough to look like a big pile of snow with something hidden in it.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the spot, but I still couldn’t bring myself to check.

  “There’s a spot over here that looks the same.” Isaac jerked his thumb to a place just to the left of the spot that had caught my eye.

  “Exactly. We’ll have to check them all.”

  “Okay.” Isaac didn’t rush to check the ground either.

  “On the count of three?” I asked.

  “Okay.”

  “Ett, Två, Tre…” I counted in Swedish. Then I reached my hand—covered in a Mylar mitten—into the snow, under the bushes. I pawed at the snow and gripped a bumpy stick.

  I pulled it out, but I knew even before I saw it that it was just a branch.

  I set it aside and moved to a similar depression in the snow that was just a couple of inches from the first one.

  Isaac tossed a branch behind me. “If we don’t find anything here, maybe Troy didn’t do it.”

  I didn’t answer. My hand bumped against something hard, with a blunt end instead of a sharp, broken one. I wrapped my hand around the stick. It was smooth, straight, and very heavily weighted at the end. I gave it a yank.

  The action toppled me back onto my bottom.

  But I had it. The missing splitting maul.

  I turned it over, wanting to get the snow off, but careful not to touch the head, where I thought I saw signs of blood.

  Isaac stared at it. “Not Troy.” His voice broke.

  I lay the maul down. “Maybe not.”

  “Then who?”

  “Someone else who knew about this spot.”

  “Probably not Bel.” Isaac said.

  “But Xavier had been here long enough. He’d remember.” I didn’t want it to be Xavier any more than I wanted it to be Troy, but it had to be someone. “Or someone else. Someone who came in from town.” I stood up and backed away from the weapon. “It doesn’t have to have been one of us.”

  “Of course not.”

  I wondered if he believed his words, because I didn’t believe mine. Troy or Xavier. They knew where to get a splitting maul and knew how to find this hiding place, even in the middle of the storm.

  “We need to take this to the police before the killer decides to move it.”

  I pulled out my phone and took a few pictures. One of the splitting maul, one of the spot I had pulled it from, and one looking towards the school to place the position in relation to the murder. Then I texted Megan. I would have texted the cops, or even Dr. Hoffen if I'd had their numbers. “I think we need to stay here.” In the distance something crashed—a branch or an animal stomping through the woods, perhaps.

  Or the killer, who might have noticed us.

  “I don’t think it’s safe.” Isaac pushed the maul back under the bushes. Then he pushed snow over it with a light hand. “I’m taking you out of here.” He whispered, but he also took out his phone and snapped some pictures. Then he did what I hadn’t thought of and dialed 411.

  While he gave the emergency operator the details about what he found—I suspected to get it on official record as quickly as possible, I watched for a return text.

  Nothing.

  So I texted Cadence. I told her to get a policeman as quick as she could and bring him towards our location. I hoped we’d meet halfway.

  She didn’t respond either. But then again, her phone was almost always sitting by her bed where anyone could use it to set up a murder appointment.

  Isaac took my hand and led me back through the brush. A thorn snagged my hair. I almost screamed as I pulled it out, but I wanted to get out of the woods unnoticed. A cloud rolled over the moon, shutting us in sudden darkness.

  Isaac walked fast and didn’t hang up.

  A text alert popped up, so I stopped. Cadence. “yes.”

  I swallowed. Was that her, really? Or the killer using her phone again?

  I heard footsteps to the side, to the right—the way that you could come into the woods from the road. I inched closer to Isaac.

  The footsteps started running.

  The clouds rolled away again, and the moon illuminated the runner, a dark shadow o
f a person desperate to reach us.

  I tried to walk faster.

  Isaac waved at him. At Troy.

  He was on us, breathing hard. “I was with Cadence when you texted.” Troy said. He maneuvered to my exposed side, and looked over his shoulder.

  Fear raced up my side like a thousand spiders.

  “She’s getting the police, but I’ll walk you out.” Troy radiated power, his shoulders square, his steps confident. Like he could grab me by the hand and drag me into the woods where the weapon was and no one could stop him.

  Isaac kept his eyes straight ahead.

  A few seconds later and we were in the open grounds of the campus again, Cadence and two policemen—and Polisinspektör Peter and Dr. Hoffen—coming to us at a run.

  We stopped. Troy standing too close on one side, and Isaac standing nowhere near close enough. In fact, if I could, I would have traded spots with Isaac.

  As soon as Polisinspektör Peter was in ear shot, I called out, “We found the missing splitting maul, follow us!” I turned and walked slowly. I wanted to see if Troy would follow me or lead me. If he had left it there…

  But then, he might be a smooth operator, capable of not falling for my trap. Either way, the cops followed me.

  I pointed to the brambles, explained what had led me to them—leaving out Troy’s psychology—and let them check it out.

  By the time I had counted to trettiofem, one of the police called out in Swedish. I assumed he said he had it.

  Things went quickly from there. The police all spoke to each other in Swedish, but the way three of them broke at a run towards the girls’ dorm and the skola, I expected they were gathering the rest of the Tillgiven residents.

  Troy, Cadence, and Dr. Hoffen were taken to the dining room and left with a couple of officers while Polisinspektör Peter led us from there to Dr. Hoffen’s office.

  I sat down and tried to pull myself together. Troy had killed Rolf. Troy had killed Rolf, and I had caught him. It seemed wrong. All wrong. Troy hadn’t done it so how had I caught him? I took a deep breath and counted again, stopping at nio. Nine. I tried again, but I couldn’t remember ten in Swedish all of a sudden. The room was tilting, and Isaac sort of came and went as he sat still in his chair.

  Someone placed their hands on the back of my head and helped me lean forward to my knees. "Breathe.” It was Megan. I didn’t know where she had come from. “Breathe slowly. You’ll be okay.”

  I tried it. Slowly helped.

  While I breathed, Isaac seemed to get solid again. And he told the inspector the whole story of how we had found the splitting maul.

  “You did a good job finding the weapon, if it is that.” Polisinspektör Peter said. “But please, relax. Take care of yourselves. We will catch the murderer. You do not have to put yourselves in our position.”

  Megan rubbed my back. “But what if now that they found the weapon, they are in real danger? What if…” she looked toward the door. “What if the person who did this is one of us, and…” Her voice broke, and she didn’t continue.

  “I understand your worry. But we have officers stationed here still, and we won’t be leaving. You will all be safe.”

  “We think we know who did it.” Isaac said.

  Not Troy, not Troy. Don’t say Troy. My head screamed at Isaac, but I kept my mouth firmly shut. I was illogically and overwhelmingly opposed to it being Troy. I had no reason for my opinion, apart from an act of the Spirit, but my whole body rebelled against it.

  “You think it was this Troy?” The inspector referred back to Isaac’s explanation of our following the path Troy might have taken.

  “No.” Isaac looked at me and locked eyes. “We don’t think it was Troy.” He paused, then swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. Then he started in again. “We followed the path we thought Troy would have taken, but we were going alphabetical, so we hadn’t tried out Xavier’s path yet. But Xavier would have been furtive. He would have been sneaky, calculated. Smooth. He would have walked straight through the storm and into the woods to tuck that weapon in the brambles were no one would find it. Not this winter or the spring. But it wouldn’t have mattered if they had found it after the snow melted, because he has a plane ticket out of here the day after Christmas. If you don’t find any evidence supporting it was him, he’ll leave the country freely and never come back.”

  Polisinspektör Peter narrowed his eyes. “But what makes you suspect Xavier so strongly?”

  “His sister.” I broke in. The idea washing over me in waves. “He wants to protect her at all costs. He knows she is troubled. He sees Rolf talking to her. Knows Rolf, and what he does. He finds Rolf alone, asks him about Bel. Kills him…” I was rambling, but it was playing out for me like a movie.

  “Not exactly.” Isaac’s voice was weirdly calm. “He had to have planned it. He made the appointment with Cadence’s phone. He brought the weapon to the meeting. He went there to kill, on purpose. But yes, because of his sister. Because of her drug problems. He said she came here to get away from the Mormons, but he wasn’t surprised about her smoking pot, well, Spice, anyway. And where did she get that? Bel found out from someone, I don’t know who, someone here, innocently maybe, that she could get drugs from Rolf. Or that Rolf sold drugs. Something like that. And Xavier saw it. He saw her take something from him. Then he heard Cadence talking about Rolf wanting to hook up, and he made the appointment.”

  Polisinspektör Peter nodded. “Maybe so. But what evidence do you have for us?”

  “None.” I leaned my spinning head on my arm. “We have none, and he’s going to get away.”

  “Nej.” Polisinspektör Peter said. “Whoever did this, even if it is Xavier, will not get away with it. Please stay here. I will go talk to the others.” He looked at Megan. “Thank you for joining us so quickly. Please,” he looked at me with kindness in his blue eyes, “don’t let the flicka pass out.”

  He left.

  Megan kept rubbing my back.

  “Isaac, we need to get in there. They will have the whole school gathered, and be addressing them. We need to submit what we have, and see if we can’t get a confession out.” I spoke fast, my heart racing like my tongue.

  Megan lay her hand on my shoulder.

  “This isn’t a movie, Dani.” Isaac said. “No one is going to confess in a room full of friends.”

  “He’s right, Dani.” Megan said. “But you’re right, too. We need to be there.” She opened the door. “There may not be a confession, but we need to be there, to see how everyone responds.”

  I didn’t wait for Isaac to agree.

  Dr. Hoffen’s office was just down the hall from the dining room. I made it to the gathering first and stood in the doorway and listened.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Isaac Daniels

  I stood behind Dani and watched the scene in the dining room. I wanted to obey the cops, and stay where he put us. I wanted to keep Dani safe by keeping her away from anyone who might be willing to kill. I did not want to be forced to look Xavier in the eye after telling the cops I thought he had killed. But instead, I stood in the doorway and watched.

  Everyone had been gathered together, and it was quite a crowd. Gretchen sat far from Garret. Bel sat near Si who seemed more than happy to believe he was her choice for comfort. Though from where I stood, she wasn’t all that aware of his presence. Not in the way I was aware of Dani standing in front of me, at least.

  Cadence stood with Troy, not touching but close. Nick was beside Johanna, at the back of the crowd, near Nea, but not, from the look on his face, near enough.

  Xavier sat by himself.

  “Having found new evidence in this case, we are closing the campus now. No one enters, no one exits. We will confiscate cell phones for now, and we will tell you right away when we open the area again.” He held his hand out to Xavier, as though asking for his phone.

  Xavier crossed his arms. “What is the nature of the evidence you found?”

  “That is privil
eged information at this time.”

  “Remember what I said about a lawyer?” Bel said. “Like, an hour ago? Don’t give your phones up, and don’t say anything.” Bel crossed her arms as well. Her posture so exactly like her brother’s, it was almost sweet.

  A movement outside caught my eye. A silver Boxter parked in front of the school. Stina’s car. She got out, one really long leg at a time. The passenger door opened, and a wide-eyed youth with bushy brown hair got out.

  He followed Stina up the steps of the Huset and into the building.

  “What is all this?” Stina whispered in my ear.

  “They found the murder weapon. They are just explaining that we all have to give up our phones and stay on campus until further notice.”

  Stina sighed. “Perfect timing.” She reached into her big pink bag and pulled out her iPhone. She pushed past Dani and I and handed it to the police. “Jag är ledsen.” She looked around at the gathered students and then switched to English. “I’m so sorry. I just got on campus. I was dropping someone off. Is it possible I will be able to go home shortly?” I had a view of her in profile. She smiled at the policeman in her most international-fashion-model kind of way.

  He smiled back. “Soon, soon. I will tell everyone. Can you please collect the phones?” He acted like he knew her, and maybe he did. Brunn Vatten was a small town, and there could only be so many international models and so many cops.

  Stina started in the back with Johanna. Stina was good. If Johanna, the least likely killer of all, would hand over her phone willingly, who could argue?

  Stina got to Bel. “My phone is in my room. I’ll get it for you later.”

  “What room is yours?” Polisinspektör Peter asked. “I can send an officer to get it for you.”

  “I want a lawyer.” Bel’s voice was a little weaker.

  “He has a right to search and seize,” Stina said. “This is a murder investigation.” She put her hand on Bel’s arm gently. “It’s not the same as home, I’m sure, but we aren’t uncivilized. You have rights here, and we won’t let any of our students or staff be unjustly or unfairly treated. Please, just tell them that you are staying in room fem of the girls’ dorm.”