Inn Dire Straits

by Dixie Davis

  She felt a little selfish for taking that time to do her own work — but that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? She wasn’t sneaking away to soak in the tub or luxuriate in a novel or eat an entire piece of cake without sharing, all things she’d done while her boys were little. She’d solved a murder and now she was taking a few minutes to catch up on her responsibilities which would go undone if she didn’t get to work now.

  Lori had hoped her mental pep talk would make her feel better. Instead, it made her wish she were heading off to the tub or novel or chocolate.

  It had been that way with festival week last year, too. She was sure she’d never make it through the week, let alone the rest of the season. But she’d survived and she’d been that much stronger and wiser.

  On the other hand, if she’d gotten even ten minutes like this to catch up last year, she might have kept just a little more of her sanity.

  She took the clean towels from the storage room and made a quick round of the floor: changing out towels, making beds, taking out trash. In the Carolina Room, she picked up a towel on one of the kids’ cots — and underneath was a stack of cake slices.

  Lori shook her head at herself. Of course someone had to be stockpiling the snacks. At least it wasn’t on the ground floor, where ants would have probably already gotten to it.

  She tossed the cake into her big garbage can and changed out the last of the towels, remaking the beds on her way out. She even changed the sheets in the Wilsons’ now-vacant room. Once the five rooms upstairs were in order, Lori heaved a sigh of relief. What she wouldn’t have given last festival to have fifteen minutes alone to do all the housekeeping.

  Lori grabbed the full garbage and laundry bags from the cart and kicked the cart into the closet. She used a foot to close the door, too, and grabbed the keys from the lock.

  She hauled the bags downstairs. She’d take the garbage out, start a load of laundry, drop off new towels for Doug and Annie, and then see if her phone had charged enough.

  Lori followed her plan to a T. She was probably a little behind the schedule Doug had hoped for — he had to have asked by now. Lori was glad she’d given them the space, much as she wished she could have seen Doug’s face as he asked and Annie’s as she answered. She remembered the thrill when Glenn proposed all those years ago.

  Not quite like her last proposal.

  Lori shoved that thought out of her mind. She made one last trip to the laundry room to drop Doug’s used towels in the dirty pile before coming back to her office. The phone’s screen showed a charging icon. Lori tried to press the button to turn it on, but it didn’t do anything.

  Oh, right, her phone did this too. She unplugged the charger and then pushed the button. The screen flashed to life. Whew. She hadn’t broken Annie’s phone.

  Lori waited a moment to make sure it powered up all the way. When the background screen loaded with a picture of the happy couple, Lori let herself relax.

  Wait. That wasn’t a happy couple. It was a very serious one.

  And it wasn’t Annie and Doug.

  The longer Lori stared at the people, the more sure she grew. The more worried she grew. The more scared she grew.

  That wasn’t Annie. It was Serena.

  With Nate.

  The screen went dark and Lori set the phone down. She didn’t even have to ask why Annie would have this as the background on her phone. Of course she wouldn’t.

  This had to be Nate’s.

  Lori waited for the prickle of chills to crawl over her skin, but instead she just sat there, numb.

  How could Annie have gotten this phone? They hadn’t found Nate’s phone at the scene. Or had they? She couldn’t remember right now. Nothing seemed to be clear with the fog clouding her mind.

  How could Annie have gotten this?

  Finally, her brain kicked in. Number one, this was a clue to a murder, and possibly two murders. Maybe three, if Serena was to be believed.

  Number four — er, number two, she needed to take this to the police.

  Lori picked up her desk phone’s handset and hesitated. This was Annie. She couldn’t possibly have done something like this. She didn’t. She’d asked for Lori’s help in clearing her name.

  There had to be a reasonable explanation. And Lori would get that from Annie. Just as soon as she gave this to the police. She’d learned her lessons about touching evidence and confronting killers by herself. Her foot twinged at the mere thought.

  Not that she would have to confront a killer here. Annie would explain where she’d found the phone and that would most likely point them to the perpetrator, and they could all go on their merry way.

  The chief wasn’t going to take her seriously, not after the last call she’d just had with him. Lori dialed the police dispatch and reported her find to Doris, who promised to send the chief over.

  Lori turned Nate’s phone over, trying to keep her mind off Mitch. Maybe there was still something to learn in the investigation. Maybe she could even solve this before the police arrived.

  Lori turned the screen on again. Who was the last person Nate had talked to? She tapped around until she found the call history. The last number had a local 910 area code. It seemed kind of familiar. Could it be one of the fearsome fivesome?

  Then her theory was right. Lori yanked open the drawer where she kept the notepad with their numbers before she remembered: it was missing.

  Now the chills crept down her back. Could Serena have snuck in here this morning? Certainly. And Brett was working right next door.

  Lori still had his number in her text messages. Oh, of course: she should check Nate’s texts. Another minute of tapping yielded what she as looking for, the last texts Nate had sent before he died.

  The last conversation was with a 910 number, but then again, most of his texts were local numbers. Lori went back to the call history. Was that the same number? She wrote it down on a note card and then pulled up his texts again.

  Yep, that was the same number. So he’d called and texted the same number last.

  Lori opened the conversation and started through the texts.

  We can’t just let this go. They deserve closure. And so do we, Nate had said. That was apparently the end of the conversation.

  Lori read the previous line: If you really think we need to talk, the person said.

  This wasn’t going to make sense in reverse. Lori scrolled all the way back to the beginning of the conversation to read the texts in order.

  It didn’t take long — there were only half a dozen messages in the conversation. The first was from Nate: Hey, this is Nate. Any chance this is still Annie’s number?

  Lori dropped the phone, and it clattered to the desk. The last person Nate had texted was Annie. The last person Nate had spoken to was Annie. Did that mean the last person he’d seen was Annie?

  Did that mean she —? Lori couldn’t even let herself think it.

  Every part of her being rebelled against the thought, but her mind already knew the truth. She just couldn’t put it into words. She didn’t dare.

  Lori picked up the phone again and turned on the screen, which had gone dark. The conversation appeared again and Lori forced herself to read it.

  Nate was insisting that they meet because it was time to come clean about the past. Even in his text messages, he couldn’t allude to what they’d done.

  Annie was insistent that they keep the secret, that they didn’t deserve to derail their lives now. Though from what Lori had seen, Annie might have been the only one with her life “railed” in the first place.

  Nate’s second-to-last argument read, If you’re not going to come forward, I will without you.

  Lori looked at the time stamps on those last messages, then back at the call log. The phone call to Annie was made after the texts, about ten minutes before nine.

  This did not look good.

  In her pocket, Lori’s phone buzzed. She pulled it out, almost expecting to see Nate’s final text conversation continuing on
her phone. But this text was from Doug: You coming?

  Oh. Oh no. How could she face him? How could she face Annie?

  Doug had to have proposed by now. He wanted her to come bring Annie her phone.

  Her son was engaged to a murderer.

  Somehow, Lori had been so busy blaming Serena that she’d forgotten Annie was just as culpable in the original murder. Which gave her just as good of a motive for this week’s murders.

  How could she say this to Doug?

  The chief was on his way. She could easily let the chief handle this, tell Doug who he’d really proposed to, break her son’s heart.

  No way. Lori shot up from her desk. How many times had she given her sons bad news? None quite this bad, but still — he deserved the mercy of a mother.

  Lori hurried outside. Doug and Annie had gone to Val’s neighbor’s dock, so Lori started in that direction. It didn’t take her long to spot them, the happy couple silhouetted against the last light of the sunset, heading back to the riverbank.

  Lori’s stomach flipped. She knew better than to confront a murderer — and one that would break her son’s heart? Not just in that teenage, puppy love way that he’d experienced before, but a woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

  Could she do this to him?

  Could she let the chief do it to him instead? Of course not.

  She didn’t have a choice.

  Lori met up with them as they reached the riverbank. Their laughter reached her first, and Lori closed her eyes. Did she have to be the bearer of this news to people so young and happy and in love?

  One of those people was a killer. She had to be the one to tell her son.

  Doug spotted her first. “Mom!” he called. “She said yes!”

  That wasn’t all she’d said. But there was a lot more she needed to say. Lori waited until they were in front of her to respond.

  Instead of addressing Doug, she turned to Annie. “Do you want to tell him, or should I?”

  Wary and worried, Annie glanced at Doug, then Lori, then back to Doug. “Did you bring my phone?” she finally asked.

  “I found a phone in your room, yes,” Lori said, her voice carefully measured. “But it wasn’t yours.”

  Annie repeated her check-in with Doug and Lori and Doug again. “What are you talking about?”

  Oh, she was good. Of course she was. You didn’t get away with murder for a decade if you weren’t capable of a simple act.

  Lori repeated her first question: “Do you want to tell him or should I? About Corinne?”

  Fear crept into Annie’s eyes. She turned to Doug, but glanced back at Lori, as if checking to see whether she really had to go through with this.

  And then Annie took off running.

  Lori and Doug startled, staring at one another in disbelief for a split second. Doug still couldn’t have known what was going on — but Lori did.

  A murderer was running away.

  She turned and ran after Annie. Within ten feet, Doug had caught up to her. “What’s going on?” he asked, his eyes wide and bewildered. “What’s this about a phone?”

  “It was Nate’s — she had Nate’s phone.”

  Doug hesitated to speak but didn’t miss a step. “The guy who was killed.”

  “Yes, the first one.”

  They crossed the last yard to the Mayweather House, slowing to a stop in the gravel parking lot. Where had Annie gone? Had they lost her?

  Lori scanned the lot to her right and Doug checked to the left. No sign of her.

  A scrabbling sound reached Lori’s ears — gravel. Spinning.

  Without even thinking, Lori grabbed Doug’s arm and pulled as hard as she could. She flung him out of the middle of the driveway, next to a guest’s silver van.

  From his safe position, Doug returned the favor. He tugged Lori out of the drive, tucking her against the van, too.

  A white sedan roared past, right where they’d been standing, and finally Lori’s mind caught up with her reflexes. She’d heard tires spinning on the gravel and acted to save her son.

  And now Annie was getting away.

  That was all she’d ever known as an adult: running away from this terrible thing she’d done. Small wonder she’d try it again.

  “What just happened?” Doug asked, breathless, staring after his fiancée. The white car rounded the corner of the Mayweather House, heading down the drive.

  Just before she disappeared from sight, the brake lights lit up. Lori shot out from their hiding place — not her best plan, but if there was still a chance they could stop Annie, she had to take it.

  She charged toward the parked sedan and Doug’s feet crunched over the gravel behind her. Once she was close enough, Lori veered to the side, out of the parking lot lights and Annie’s line of fire. Doug followed her.

  Another car facing the other direction had stopped in the driveway, blocking her escape. Annie opened her door and tumbled out of the car. She made a dash for the live oaks, but they were too spaced out to afford her much cover.

  The driver of the other car got out and ran after Annie. “Stop!” he shouted. “Police!”

  Not a minute too soon. Lori leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath for a minute. The policeman — had to be Chief Branson — chased Annie, but they weren’t even out of sight when he caught and cuffed her.

  Lori and Doug waited there as the chief walked her back to them. They only caught a glimpse of the grass stains on Annie’s knees and chest before Chief Branson packed her into the back of his car. Lori hoped he had the same protections back there as they did in squad cars.

  Chief Branson marched up to her. “Want to tell me what that’s all about?”

  “She killed Nate,” Lori blurted out. “And Trey and Corinne O’Connor.”

  Chief Branson’s eyebrows shot up. “I thought you said Serena was the killer.”

  “I did — but if you believed me, then why did you just stop Annie?”

  “She ran from a police officer.” Chief Branson glanced around, then leaned closer. “I don’t know if you know this, but we’ve got a serial killer on the loose.”

  Lori didn’t know whether to laugh or scowl at him, so she just shook her head. “I do have some evidence for you.” She led him and Doug inside, where she retrieved the phone and recounted everything that had happened from the time she turned it on until Annie stopped in front of Chief Branson’s car.

  The chief took a plastic zipper bag and sealed up the evidence. “I wish you’d left it where you found it,” he grumbled.

  “But I wouldn’t have known what was on it. I would have just assumed it was Annie’s phone.” Which she actually had. “I’m not trying to ruin your investigation.”

  Chief Branson fixed her with a scowl. “See that you don’t.” He turned for the door, but paused and wheeled back to her. “Thank you for bringing this to us, Mrs. Keyes.” His tone read as obligation, almost begrudging, but at least he said the words.

  She nodded, trying to keep her smile small. “You’re welcome.”

  Chief Branson headed out, leaving Lori and Doug alone.

  Lori turned to her son. “Are you okay?”

  He simply laughed in three bitter bursts. “I just proposed to a murderer. Triple murderer?” He thought about that again. “There was a third victim? When?”

  Lori beckoned for him to follow her to the kitchen. She dug in the freezer for a moment before she came up with a pint of Cherry Garcia from her secret Ben & Jerry’s stash.

  They’d already had ice cream once tonight, but some situations required a double dose of vitamin I.

  She fetched a spoon for Doug, and he sank onto the floor and directly into shock, right in front of the freezer. Lori cracked open the carton and started in on the ice cream and the story, from that party in high school that Serena had told her about.

  By the time she finished the story, the ice cream was nearly gone, too. Doug stared straight ahead, unseeing, when he wasn’t
eating. “I don’t understand how that could happen. How she could — how anyone could —” He stopped and sighed.

  “What I don’t understand is how she ran them down when she had an alibi.”

  “I guess she must have made time to hit Nate on the way to or from the store, right? The police’s window must be big enough for that.”

  Lori nodded. “I guess so. But wasn’t she with you at the memorial this morning?”

  “She met up with some friends and I figured she needed that. I guess she must have slipped away during the memorial.”

  “Covering up one murder with two more.” Lori scooped out another spoonful of ice cream, shaking her head.

  “I just can’t believe that,” Doug said. “I know her better than anyone.”

  Lori furrowed her brow. Was he in denial? “I know it feels that way —”

  He cut her off. “We were getting married. I just proposed. And I didn’t know her at all.”

  Oh, good, that didn’t sound like he was going to try to play the role of the gallant knight to get her out of this mess. Annie needed to face the consequences of her actions.

  “I know how you feel,” Lori tried.

  Doug scoffed, and Lori shot him a look. He relented, but only a little, his attitude still evident.

  “Do you remember how last spring I got engaged?”

  He nodded slowly.

  “And obviously I’m not married now. Not engaged or anything.”

  He nodded again.

  “Did you ever wonder about that?”

  “You said things didn’t work out like you’d hoped.”

  “Because he tried to kill me.”

  That was enough to snap Doug out of it for a moment. “He did what?”

  “I know, it was unbelievable. I even had to stay in the hospital to make sure I was over the poison.”

  “He poisoned you?”

  Lori bit her tongue. It was the only way she could manage not to retort, And yours ran people down along the road. “He laced one of my spice jars with poison from a plant he’d planted on a visit to the inn for me while I was in Charlotte.” She sighed. “I thought it was fate — and innkeeping — that brought us together, but he just wanted the Mayweather House to himself.”