The Haunting of Riley Watson

by Alexandria Clarke

  “Probably because he was thinking about how to take me down next,” Nick grumbled.

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Daniel said. “Nick, why would you think you’re Oliver’s next target?”

  Nick tapped his cane like an offbeat drummer. “Isn’t it obvious? Over the past year, White Oak has steadily been taking Oliver’s business. You can’t blame the guests. Our amenities are unparalleled. King and Queens can’t keep up. Oliver’s been on my case since we started building. I’m part of the reason his life is in such shambles right now. If I’m being honest, I haven’t felt safe in this resort since I arrived here.”

  “Are we all agreed that Oliver is at the top of our list?” I asked. “Because if he’s our number one suspect, I say we restrain him for the safety of everyone else in this hotel.”

  “And if he’s innocent?” Daniel said. “This isn’t Monopoly. You can’t throw people in jail by chance.”

  “Well, maybe he’ll roll doubles on his next turn and get out of jail free.”

  Nick chuckled, but Daniel didn’t find the joke amusing. “Hilarious,” he said without a hint of a smile. “The last time I put someone under house arrest in the hotel, he turned up dead the next day, so you can understand why I’m hesitant.”

  “There are three of us this time,” I said. “We can take turns keeping watch. No one falls asleep on the job, and Oliver is never unattended. Agreed?”

  It was like drawing invisible lines around us to form a triangle of trust. In reality, not a single one of us knew if this was the right decision, but Oliver was unbalanced and potentially dangerous. Nick and Daniel weren’t at the top of my list to ally with—after all, I hardly knew either one of them—but I needed a plan to keep Riley and Jazmin safe while I worked out the mystery surrounding King and Queens. Both Nick and Daniel brought something important to the table. Daniel’s detective experience would come in handy, and so would Nick’s knowledge of Crimson Basin’s history.

  “I’m in,” said Nick, putting his hand out, palm down, in the center of our triangle like we were a three-man sports team.

  I placed my hand in too, on top of Nick’s. “Daniel? Are we doing this?”

  Daniel eyed our stacked hands then tapped mine quickly in acquiescence. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s go get Oliver. Stay behind me when we do. I have a feeling he’s not going to take too kindly to this.”

  Nick and I fell into step behind Daniel as we headed to Oliver’s room. As we passed the way to the old wing, I suppressed a shudder. Just a few rooms over, King and Queens’s haunted history waited for me to return to it. Why me? After all these years, how come Odette had never been able to find a psychic that actually understood her? I expected the feeling of unease to fade as we continued to Oliver’s room, but it grew tight and solid like a rock in my stomach. Daniel knocked on the door to Oliver’s suite.

  “Mr. Watson?” he called. “It’s Detective Hawkins. Can you please come out? I need to speak with you.”

  When there was no reply, Daniel looked at us and shrugged.

  “Maybe he’s out and about,” suggested Nick.

  “Which means everyone is in danger,” I added. “If he’s the killer, that is.”

  The door swung open, causing all three of us to jump back. Oliver wore his signature customer service smile. When he spoke, it sounded forced and vacant, as if a ventriloquist were controlling him like a dummy.

  “Good evening, guests,” he said, stepping into the hallway. I pressed myself against the wall to make room for everyone. “What can I help you with today?”

  “Well, Mr. Watson,” Daniel said. “Unfortunately, you’re under arrest.”

  A faint look of surprise crossed Oliver’s face as if he could not possibly fathom why Daniel would say such a thing. Then, like a light switch clicking on, his expression morphed into one of determination. He dropped low and heaved Daniel out of his way with an impressive shoulder tackle. Daniel, not expecting such a level of resistance, stumbled into Nick, who barely managed to catch himself with his cane. I grabbed Oliver’s suit jacket as he passed me, but he slipped his arms from the outermost layer and left me holding the silhouette of his ghost. For one stunned second, the three of us watched him sprint away, his old athleticism breaching the surface. Then we barreled after him.

  It was hard to run three people deep in the narrow hallway, especially when one of your comrades was a burly, broad-shouldered detective and the other kept accidentally whacking your shins with his cane. I drew ahead, my long legs speedier than Daniel and Nick’s. Nick fell behind, always a victim to his bad leg. In the long run, it didn’t matter. When we arrived in the lobby, Oliver was nowhere to be found.

  “Damn it,” I said, gasping for breath. “We lost him.”

  “He knows this hotel better than most,” Nick added. Despite his old injury, he was in rather good shape. He had yet to break a sweat. “He could be anywhere.”

  “Running was more or less an admission of guilt,” Daniel said. “We need to find him as soon as possible, before he does something rash.”

  Right after the words left his mouth, the resort plunged into total darkness. The lights switched off and the constant hum of the heater powered down. Night had fallen early, and the snow on the ceiling blocked the moonlight from getting inside.

  “Great,” Daniel grumbled. “We’ve lost power.”

  “It wasn’t the storm,” I said.

  “What are you talking about? Of course it was.”

  “No, she’s right,” Nick added. “If the storm knocked out the power, the backup generators would’ve come on.”

  Daniel appeared puzzled. “Then why are we sitting around in the dark?”

  “Because Oliver wants us to.”

  19

  We gathered everyone in the Eagle’s View for an emergency meeting. It was the best lit place in the resort, thanks to the giant window. Though the snow was thick, the full moon reflected off the white canvas and bounced inside, casting a silvery glow across the lounge. We raided the resort’s stash to illuminate the lodge with workmen’s lamps that grew hotter the longer they stayed on. We passed out flashlights as everyone arrived. The employees huddled in their regular groups. Karli and Matisse made hot chocolate and tea for everyone, along with snacks to compensate for the lack of real dinner food. Imani and Ari were less tense than they had been in the last few days. They held hands in full view of everyone else. Liam wore his big King and Queens snow jacket, the one he usually reserved for working at the ski lift. I guessed he was still feeling cold from his stay in the storage freezer. On the upside, he looked to be in better spirits now that we were all together. Jazmin and Riley arrived last. Riley looked bulkier than usual, the front of her sweatshirt bulging. When I hugged her, something hard and plastic pressed against my chest.

  “Still hoarding cameras?” I asked in an undertone. A GoPro dropped from her grasp, but I caught it before it hit the floor and shoved it up her sleeve. “Be careful. This isn’t going to be fun.”

  Jazmin hugged me next. “What happened?” she whispered. “Why has the power gone out?”

  “We’re going to explain everything,” I told her. “No matter what happens, you have to promise to listen to me, okay?”

  “I promise.”

  The employees were restless. Daniel, Nick, and I had appointed ourselves the de facto leaders of the group. Whether that made everyone comfortable or scared was yet to be determined.

  “What’s going on?” Matisse, ever the instigator, asked. He aimed his flashlight into Daniel’s face. “Did the storm knock out the power?”

  Daniel squinted but refused to raise a hand to block the beam. “Can you put that thing down? My eyes are watering.”

  Matisse lowered the flashlight, pointing it across the floor instead. Dusty gray footprints decorated the red carpet.

  “Everybody, listen up,” Daniel said. “As you’ve probably noticed, the resort’s gone dark. It’s not the storm. It’s Oliver.”

&nbs
p; Riley, sitting in a booth next to Jazmin, perked up. Her hands remained hidden beneath the table. If I knew her as well as I thought I did, she was recording our entire meeting. “My dad turned off the power?”

  “That’s what we think,” Daniel said. “This next part might be hard for you to hear, Riley. Would you like Lucia to tell you somewhere else in private?”

  “I think I know what you’re going to say anyway.”

  Daniel smiled sadly at her. He didn’t want to break the news of another father disappointing his daughter, a running theme at King and Queens. “We have reason to believe Oliver is responsible for the deaths at this resort. He was not accounted for during any of the incidents, and he has a motive for each murder or attempted homicide.”

  Liam immediately turned to Nick. “You told them, didn’t you?”

  Nick folded his hands behind his back, assuming an open, innocent stance. “I believe Detective Hawkins and Miss Star had alternate sources. I did not betray you.”

  “Alternate sources?” Liam scoffed. “You mean Madame Lucia’s hidden cameras set up all over the place?”

  Riley fumbled with her sweater, no doubt pulling the cameras to safety. The other employees talked over one another, demanding answers.

  “What do you mean hidden cameras?”

  “I didn’t give you permission to film me!”

  “Are we going to be on Madame Lucia’s Parlour for the Dead and Departed? Cool. This is just like a reality show!”

  “Except with real danger,” Daniel reminded everyone, raising his voice to be heard over the ruckus. “Which is what we’re here to discuss.”

  “What I’m hearing is you’ve been spying on us without our consent, and a murderer is on the loose,” Matisse said. “What’s the plan to rectify these situations, Detective?”

  “First, we need to locate Oliver,” Daniel said. “Lucia and Nick are going to help me do so.”

  “And Jazmin,” I added. “I want her with me.”

  Daniel leaned toward me and said under his breath, “We didn’t discuss that.”

  “She’s my best friend,” I replied. “Where I go, she goes. I trust her with my life. In fact, I trust her more than you or Nick. Capisce?”

  Daniel frowned but straightened up. “Fine. The four of us are going to find Oliver. We’ll get the electricity back on. Until then, I want everyone to stay together in this lounge. There’s strength in numbers. If you see Oliver, work together to subdue him until we get back.”

  Riley raised her hand. “What about me?”

  Every part of me screamed not to leave Riley behind, especially without me or Jazmin to watch over her. On the other hand, taking her with us felt like a terrible idea too. Oliver was picking off his family members one by one, and Riley had already had a close call with death. She wasn’t truly safe anywhere.

  “Actually, Riley, we should have that talk in private,” I said, beckoning her over to the far corner of the lounge. She hopped out of the booth and joined me, her sweater jostling with all the equipment she was carrying. “What are you thinking?” I asked. She was so little for her age. It pained me to put this decision in her hands rather than offer her a surefire means of protection. “I don’t want to bring you with us in case your dad goes off the deep end when he sees you.”

  Riley extracted a digital camera from her sweatshirt and fiddled with the playback option. “Do you really think it’s him? That he killed Mom and Tyler?”

  “I don’t know, but right now it’s looking like that’s what happened.”

  “A ghost took me outside,” she said. “Not Dad.”

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “I’m pretty sure.”

  “Look, Riley.” I almost took the camera away from her since she was paying more attention to the touchscreen instead of me, but it was source of comfort for her, so I let her experiment. “I’m trying to make sure the people who are still alive at King and Queens stay that way. That includes you. Odette—your aunt—insists the murderer has something to do with the ghosts. If we can catch your dad, we can deal with everything that comes after, okay?”

  Riley turned the camera around so that I could see the screen. It was a picture she’d taken of me on the night we first met. My face was drawn and pale. There were bags under my eyes. Madame Lucia’s trademark mohawk braid had come undone in wild, crimped wisps. It wasn’t a good look.

  “That was two weeks ago,” she said. “I didn’t know or trust you, but you gave me your favorite T-shirt and told me everything was going to be okay. Two weeks. Fourteen days. It’s not a whole lot of time in the long run. Maybe ten years from now, we won’t know each other anymore. Maybe I’ll watch Madame Lucia’s Parlour for the Dead and Departed on a big primetime network, and I’ll wonder if you remember who I am.”

  I cupped her cheeks and forced her to look at me. “Hey, that’s never going to happen, okay?”

  “The TV show? Sure it will. You just have to believe in yourself.”

  I couldn’t help but grin at her belief in my alter ego. “Not the TV show, silly. Forgetting you. I won’t ever do that.”

  “The past two weeks have completely changed my life,” Riley said. “I know I’m young and I’ll go through a ton of other things that will change me, but no matter what, your presence in my life has been a good one. I want you to know that. Whatever happens—if my dad’s a murderer or if the ghosts set the whole place on fire for revenge—I want you to remember that I appreciate you and love you. I’ll always be grateful you made it to King and Queens.”

  My eyes burned, and my nose tickled, but I pressed my lips together and held back the tears Riley’s speech threatened to coax from my emotions. “Kid, this sure sounds like a goodbye speech.”

  “It’s not,” she assured me. “It’s a ‘you can do it’ speech. I figured you’d want me to stay in the lounge. I’m not stupid.”

  “I know you’re not,” I said. “I do want you to stay here. It’s the safest option. Your dad isn’t going to be easy to find, and there are dangerous variables at work here. Do you trust the other employees to keep you safe? Jazmin’s coming with me.”

  She cast a look over the others. Matisse and Karli were deep in conversation with Nick and Daniel. Liam listened in at a distance but remained quiet. Imani and Ari aimed their flashlights at the wall and made shadow puppets, giggling without shame. Riley grinned as Imani made her shadow dog attack Ari’s lopsided butterfly.

  “It’s actually kind of nice,” she said. “They used to think I was a weird little kid, but they’ve been warming up to me ever since you got here.”

  “I asked if they can keep you safe though.”

  “I think they’ll try their best.”

  “That’s all we can hope for,” I said. “It’s decided then? You’re staying here?”

  Riley shoved the digital camera out of sight and looped her arms around my waist for another hug. “Yup. As long as you promise to come back in one piece.”

  The camera jutted into my hip as she squeezed tighter, but I didn’t care. “I’ll try my best, kid.”

  We drew apart, and Riley wormed something else out from beneath her sweater: my Blondie T-shirt.

  “Did you just take that off without removing your sweater?” I asked, impressed.

  She wrapped the shirt around my head like E.T.’s blanket and held the ends tight to squish my cheeks in. “Hush, weirdo. You should wear it. It’s for good luck. You told me Jazmin gave it to you, so now it has her energy, mine, and yours. Can’t go turning your nose up at power like that.”

  “I sure can’t.” Though I wasn’t sure if the laws of psychic energy or whatever we were dealing with at King and Queens worked the way Riley thought they did, I pulled the Blondie shirt on over my sweatshirt. “Did you shrink this thing in the wash or something?”

  Riley snickered. “You’ve probably been eating too much cheesecake.”

  “Hey!”

  She dodged my playful smack and pranced back to Ja
zmin. I rejoined Daniel and Nick, both of whom regarded my sudden wardrobe change.

  “Dare I ask?” said Daniel.

  “Best not to.”

  “I think it’s cute,” Nick added. “Great band.”

  Jazmin finished up her temporary goodbyes with Riley and appeared at my side. “What’s the plan?” she asked, resting her head on my shoulder. “Where do we start first?”

  “Let’s split up,” Daniel suggested. “We’ll cover more ground that way. Lucia and I will take the left side—”

  “No way,” I interrupted. “I already told you. Jazmin comes with me. I won’t partner up with anyone else. No offense.”

  Nick lifted his hands. “None takes. Besides” —he tapped the toe of his shoe with the point of his cane— “this leg can slow me down sometimes. I’d rather have the detective back me up anyway.”

  “Fine,” Daniel said curtly. “Lucia and Jazmin, you take the left side of the hotel. Nick and I will take the right.”

  “What are we supposed to do if we find Oliver?” Jazmin asked. “You’re the only one with a radio.”

  “Which I’m leaving with the employees in case of an emergency,” Daniel said. “Does everyone’s cell work?”

  We all checked. Nick groaned.

  “I forgot to charge mine,” he lamented. “I’m on two percent battery. Of all the days.”

  “It’s fine. Mine is charged,” Daniel said. “Lucia?”

  “The signal’s weak, but it works,” I reported. “I have two bars. Jazmin?”

  “Mine’s in the suite upstairs,” she said. “Should I get it?”

  “We only need one line of communication between the four of us,” said Daniel. “As long as each pair has a phone, we’ll be okay. If service goes down, meet us back here as soon as possible. We shouldn’t roam the hallways without a link. But before we split up, our first order of business is to locate the breaker room. My guess is that’s how Oliver cut the power.”