by B. J Daniels
Lizzy didn’t have to ask what she was referring to. She was still stunned by what had been written on that diary page. “I don’t know yet. But you don’t have to worry about it.”
Stephanie gave her an incredulous look. “Ashley told Ariel that I was driving the car that hit Whitney.”
“Were you?”
The woman’s eyes widened in horror. “No! Why would Ashley do that unless...?”
“Unless she was covering for someone else. I will definitely look into it after this weekend is over. I promise. In the meantime, let’s all try to get along. There is enough going on without adding more.” Without adding yet another murder to the mix.
Stephanie shook her head, her face pinched in anger. “One of them is trying to frame me. I thought we were all friends.”
That, Lizzy thought, could be the theme of the entire weekend. Some high school friendships lasted for a lifetime. A lot of them were superficial and ended with graduation. Some had never been real, as if everyone had been wearing a mask.
But now the masks were coming off and she wasn’t sure any of them were ready for what was underneath.
* * *
SHADE LOOKED UP as Lizzy and Stephanie joined the rest of them around the large campfire. Lizzy’s face in the firelight was so beautiful that he felt his heart do a slow, painful somersault. He wanted her, like nothing he’d ever wanted before. He moved to her, tempted to whisk her away, forget about everything but the two of them—just for a little while.
He saw her shiver as she looked around at the others standing around the warm fire. The temperature had dropped. He knew he shouldn’t have been surprised when he saw the first snowflake come lazily spiraling down to disappear into the flames.
Christopher had pulled a cooler full of beer over against the barn. He was handing out beer, his earlier mood replaced with a let’s-party one.
Kayla went to her cabin to grab a throw blanket and get the s’more ingredients from the lodge kitchen. Shade told Tyler where the metal skewers for roasting could be found right inside the barn and several others went with him to get them.
Shade threw more logs on the fire and went again to stand by Lizzy. “How are you doing?” he whispered.
She smiled in answer and he put his arm around her and pulled her close for a moment. He could feel everyone around the fire watching them and could well imagine the speculation.
Josh had brought his guitar and began to play, singing as the group with the skewers returned from the barn. “Join in!” he cried as he reached the chorus and some of them did with varying vocal abilities.
Shade looked around the campfire. Everyone seemed to be enjoying this. Someone who didn’t know them and their history would believe that they were all friends. Right now, studying their faces, he couldn’t imagine any of them drowning anyone. He saw Christopher move toward the cooler in the shadow of the barn to get more beers.
Tyler called to him that he’d take one but that he had to pee first. As he disappeared around the side of the barn, the first firecracker went off.
It exploded in a string of loud pops that spewed hot burning embers all over them and sent them all scurrying back from the flames and into the darkness beyond it.
Shade swore, immediately realizing what had happened. Some fool had thrown firecrackers into the campfire. “That was a dumb-ass thing to do,” he said as he ground out embers that had flown as far as the dried fall grass. Others joined him in putting out the embers before the grass went up in a blaze.
“Anyone want to take credit for that?” he asked as he looked around the group, angry with the culprit and suspecting Christopher, the usual troublemaker.
Shade didn’t have time to realize who was missing from the group before a scream pierced the cold night air.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE BLOODCURDLING SCREAM brought them all up short. Lizzy ran with Shade in the direction of the scream, and another shriek filled the night air. As they rounded the corner of the barn, they saw Kayla standing with her hand over her mouth staring down at the ground at her feet.
Next to her was the bag of s’more fixings that she’d dropped beside the body on the ground. She was clutching the blanket she’d brought from her cabin, her mouth open in a silent scream.
Lizzy stepped toward the dark mound of clothing on the ground and knew at once that all her fears had come true. “Stand back,” she said to Kayla. She crouched close to the body, careful not to disturb anything, and checked for a pulse. To her relief, it was strong.
Rising, she saw that others had come running, as well. “Please go back to the fire. All of you, please.”
“Who is it?” Ashley asked, trying to see into the darkness next to the barn.
“Oh, my God, it’s Tyler,” Jennifer cried. “He and Kayla left the fire at the same time.”
“But they went in different directions,” Josh pointed out. “At least for a while,” he added.
Shade put an arm around Kayla, who was crying uncontrollably now, and drew her back away from Tyler’s inert body. Everyone was moving in closer, trying to get a better look.
“You heard the sheriff,” Josh said in a loud voice. “Back to the fire.” He moved in front of them and began herding them back. “Let her do her job.”
She’d never been more grateful for Josh than at that moment. Shade had his hands full with Kayla. Lizzy could see that he was wondering the same thing she was. What was Kayla doing out here beside the barn? How was it that she’d found Tyler?
Squatting down next to Tyler, Lizzy pulled out her cell phone, useless up here without cell service except for the flashlight. She hadn’t seen any blood when she’d checked his pulse but he was wearing a heavy coat and his body was curled away from her. As she knelt over Tyler and held the flashlight higher, she saw the head wound. It appeared he’d been hit in the temple with a blunt object.
She shined the light around nearby and saw a brick lying next to the barn. There was a dark spot on it that looked like blood.
“We need to call for an ambulance,” Lizzy said.
“He’s alive?” Kayla sounded as shocked as Shade looked.
Lizzy pressed one of her gloves against the wound. “I’m going to need help getting him up to the lodge. He can’t stay out here in the cold.”
As Shade moved to her side, she could hear the rest of her classmates around the fire speculating. The conversation about Ariel’s death in the dining room had sounded almost like a game they were all playing. Now, though, they all sounded scared. Except for Josh. He seemed to be handling things.
Tyler groaned and tried to sit up.
“Don’t try to move just yet,” she said to him.
“What happened?” He sounded as if in pain. His hand went to his head and came away stained with blood. His eyes widened in alarm.
“You seem to have been struck in the head,” Lizzy told him. “Just lie still for a moment.” But even as she tried to keep him down, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. “Do you think you can make it up to the lodge if we help you? Here, keep this pressed to the side of your head.” She saw that Kayla had gone around the corner to the fire. Everyone was asking her what had happened. Lizzy couldn’t hear her reply.
She took a couple of deep breaths as she pocketed her phone. As a deputy she’d seen car accidents, a couple of murder victims and definitely some bloody messes with domestic arguments. But it never got easier, especially the initial shock.
“Did you see who hit you?” she asked Tyler.
“No. It was dark. I just remember finishing peeing when the lights went out.” Which would explain why no one had heard anything. Except maybe Kayla.
As she and Shade got on each side of him, Lizzy noticed that Tyler had a piece of paper sticking out of his coat pocket. She reached over and pulled out a page from Ariel’s diary. Carefully, she slipped it i
nto her pocket as they neared the lodge. Tyler seemed to be getting stronger, more able to walk on his own as they climbed the steps to the lodge.
The snow was picking up now. Large lacy flakes drifted down from the dark heavens and whirled around in the breeze. As she glanced back, the campfire sparked and popped softly. She reminded herself that everyone around that fire was a suspect, including Josh.
Someone had thrown firecrackers into the blaze to distract them long enough to go around the side of the barn to attack Tyler? Had the plan been to kill him? She felt relieved that she didn’t have another murder on her hands.
With the snow falling harder, she couldn’t keep them around the campfire for long. It was already beginning to stick to their clothing. She also needed to go back for the brick before the snow washed away any evidence that might be on it.
Leaving Tyler on the couch by the fire in Shade’s capable hands, she ran back down to the side of the barn to retrieve the brick. It was gone.
Any one of them could have picked up the brick. With a start, she realized Kayla had been standing there, as well. She hadn’t noticed when Kayla had moved away to go back to the fire. She could have picked up the brick.
In fact, she’d been standing nearby when Lizzy had shined the flashlight beam on the brick. If she hadn’t been sure what weapon had been used on Tyler, she was now.
* * *
AS SOON AS Shade had Tyler settled comfortably on the couch, he went to the phone to call for an ambulance. He had no idea how badly the man might be hurt. But he was conscious and didn’t seem to be in very much pain.
“I’ll get the first aid kit out in a minute,” Shade told him. His mind was whirling. Who had done this and why? After the fireworks incident, Shade couldn’t be sure who had left the fire. They’d all been bundled up, having helped themselves to the extra coats hanging by the door up in the lodge. Anyone could have stepped away from the fire, attacked Tyler on the side of the barn and returned to the fire without being noticed.
Lizzy came in as he was hanging up the phone. She must have seen his expression. She moved to him quickly. “Shade, what’s wrong?”
“I couldn’t get through to your office or the coroner,” he said, keeping his voice as calm and quiet as possible. “The phone’s dead.”
Her eyes widened for a moment, then she nodded. She wasn’t one to panic. “I have Josh taking care of the others for the moment but I can’t leave them all out there. It’s snowing much harder than earlier.” She turned. “How is Tyler?”
“Better, I think. I can’t tell if he has a concussion or not.” He looked past her to where Kayla had come in the door. She stood just inside, looking scared.
“I need to question Kayla,” Lizzy said. “I thought I’d make her some tea.”
“I’ll do what I can for Tyler,” he said. He stepped into his office and brought out the first aid kit. He went to work cleaning the wound. It wasn’t as bad as all the blood had made it appear. He’d just finished when he heard the teakettle begin to whistle.
In the dining room, he found Lizzy and Kayla sitting at one of the tables. He stepped into the kitchen to pull the teakettle off the fire. “I’ll bring you both a cup of hot tea in just a minute.” Kayla appeared to be in a trance.
“I need you to tell me what you saw,” Lizzy said quietly as Shade made two cups of tea.
Kayla shook her head. “I didn’t see anything.”
“Why did you go to the side of the barn instead of coming back to the fire?”
The young woman looked confused for a moment. “I heard someone call my name.”
“A man or a woman?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. When I went around the corner of the barn, I just saw someone lying there and screamed. I thought he was dead.”
Shade flinched, the tea sloshing a little. He met Lizzy’s gaze. “I can drive Tyler down to the hospital. I can also call your office from there.”
She seemed to consider that, looking longingly at the steam coming off the hot water. “It wouldn’t do any good to get a forensics person up here. Just take Tyler to the hospital. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the others want to leave, as well.”
He hadn’t thought about that. “Maybe it would be for the best.”
Lizzy didn’t argue the point.
“I know this must come as a shock,” Lizzy said to Kayla as Shade moved back into the kitchen. From there, he could still see that Kayla’s hands shook as she picked up the cup of tea he’d put in front of her. “Do you remember seeing anyone nearby?”
Kayla shook her head.
After checking to make sure that Tyler was resting comfortably, Shade took one of the flashlights from his office and headed for the large area used for dances behind the main lounge. He exited through the back door into the dark snowy night. Flakes swirled around him. The weatherman had called for possible snow in the mountains, but the forecast hadn’t looked bad. Now he feared a heavy snowstorm might make a bad situation even worse.
He moved along the edge of the lodge, fearing what he was going to find. Earlier he’d hoped that the phone might be out because of weather. But that hope died when he saw that the phone lines had been cut, the box destroyed in a way that would make it impossible to get service without a technician.
For a moment, he stood in the cold dark, watching the snow drift down from the dark sky, suddenly afraid of what he would find next. Someone hadn’t wanted them to be able to call out. What were the chances that the person also didn’t want them leaving?
He walked down to his pickup hoping not to alert the others. He’d parked off to the side of the lodge but as he approached the truck he could see that the hood was open slightly. His heart raced as he swore under his breath.
Shade knew even before he popped the hood and shined the flashlight down on the engine... He wasn’t going anywhere in his truck. Closing the hood, he shined his light in the direction of Brad’s vehicle, already knowing that like his truck it wasn’t going anywhere.
He headed for Lizzy’s SUV but saw before he reached it that, like his pickup, the hood was slightly ajar. He shined the flashlight into the interior on her damaged radio.
The only way to get off this mountain now was on foot and it was a very long walk. Given the storm, they weren’t going anywhere tonight.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LIZZY PICKED UP her tea, cupping it in her hands as she soaked in the wonderful warmth. “Kayla, walk me through what happened.”
The young woman looked up at her. She had drunk some of her tea. She still looked in shock but seemed to be more focused. “I went to my cabin for a blanket. After getting the chocolate, marshmallows and crackers from the kitchen, I started back down the mountain toward the fire. I stopped for a moment when I heard the firecrackers go off.”
“Did you see anyone leave the fire or come back to it?”
Kayla shook her head. “I was staring at all the sparks flying through the air.” They all had been, Lizzy thought. “I started walking again as things died down. I was almost there when I heard someone call my name. That’s when I went around the edge of the barn and saw what I thought was a body.” She shuddered and finished her tea. “I guess that’s when I screamed.”
“Did you check to see if Tyler was dead?”
She shook her head.
“Did you know it was Tyler?”
Another head shake. “Why would someone want to kill him?”
“We don’t know that they did.” Lizzy thought of the diary page in her pocket, anxious to look at it and see what Ariel had written. All of this seemed to come back to Ariel and the hell she’d raised in high school.
Shifting gears, Lizzy said, “I got a copy of Ariel’s cell phone calls on the night she was murdered.” She studied Kayla’s face. Had the woman’s eyes flickered just a little? “You didn’t mention that she call
ed you the night she died.”
The woman looked confused for a moment. “So that was who called. Someone butt-dialed me. I said hello. I could hear music in the background and what sounded like grunting.” She shrugged. “I had no idea who it was. I thought it was a prank call from outside the party.”
“You stayed on the phone for over a minute on what you thought was a prank call? Kayla, are you telling me you didn’t know it was Ariel?”
The woman looked away guiltily and then swallowed before she said, “I recognized the number. I thought she was having sex.” She shrugged. “I didn’t have anything else to do. I was curious. I could hear what sounded like grunting as well as the music. I remember getting up and looking out the window to see if she was outside and it was just a prank. I think by then everyone had moved into the garage because the wind was really rocking the trees.”
Lizzy felt ice race through her veins. She hadn’t heard Ariel having sex. She’d heard Ariel being murdered. Maybe she hadn’t realized that even now. Or maybe she’d been watching the whole thing from the shore of the pond. If anyone had reason to hate Ariel and some of her other classmates, it was Kayla.
“So Ariel had your number? She would have had to have it to butt-dial you. Had she ever called you before?”
Kayla smiled as if she knew what Lizzy was getting at. “You’re wondering why Ariel would have my number in her phone when she barely said two words to me in school unless it was to give me a hard time, right?”
That was exactly what she was getting at.
“We talked after school. Only so she could get the answers to the math assignment or try to pay me to write her papers for her in English class.”
This was news. “Did you?”
Kayla looked away. “I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it? She paid me to do her homework, her papers. I wasn’t busy so I didn’t mind and my mother and I needed the money.”
Lizzy thought of the thumb drive found in Ariel’s purse. “How did you get the work to her?”
