No Place to Die

by Jaden Skye

  As Olivia did a final check of the hotel room, she opened the closet one last time, checked it, and was about to close it when she noticed something in a heap on the floor, in a dark corner. Her heart skipped a beat. Todd’s pants and shirt. It was the outfit he was wearing the day before he died. Somehow it had been forgotten here.

  Olivia saw the clothes lying on the closet floor and didn’t know what to do. It felt wrong to leave them behind. It was all she had left of him. She reached down and grabbed his pants and began to roll them up to put in her suitcase. Yet as she did, her hand stopped at the pocket. There was something in there.

  She reached inside and was stunned to pull out a small jewelry box, with a small envelope beside it. Another surprise he had waiting for me? she wondered, a wave of guilt rising.

  Olivia opened the box and inside she was stunned to see a glittering emerald bracelet, shining brightly at her. It was beautiful. She couldn’t take her eyes off it. Was Todd planning to give this to her later on in the weekend? Her heart started pounding as she opened the tiny envelope. Inside was a note scrawled in Todd’s handwriting.

  Love you so much. See you Thursday, at the Wisteria, can’t wait.

  Olivia felt her body buckle. Her legs trembled and for a second she had trouble catching her breath. She’d had no plans to check in to the Wisteria. In fact, she was scheduled to fly back the Sunday before. Olivia wouldn’t have been here then.

  Then she remembered: Todd was scheduled to stay down until the following weekend.

  For work, he’d said. Olivia shivered and counted the days. This was it! Thursday, the day he was supposed to meet her at the Wisteria hotel.

  Olivia looked back at the note and kept reading the words over and over. Love you so much. Little by little those words lost all their meaning, seemed laughable even. Todd hadn’t the slightest idea what it meant to love; he’d been twisting everyone’s heart. Had it given him some weird thrill? How had Olivia been so stupid to fall for it? She wouldn’t again, ever.

  A flash of rage suddenly arose. Just as she closed the box, her father suddenly opened the door and walked into the room swiftly, a big smile on his face.

  “It’s over, it’s over,” he said, seeming triumphant. “My lawyer texted me that Frank has been taken in. “You’re a hero, Olivia, you’re a star.”

  Olivia felt jarred by her father’s response. There was nothing to be so happy about. No matter who they captured, Todd was dead and right now she was holding another loose strand in her hand.

  “There’s all kinds of evidence mounting up against him, too,” her father went on.

  “What kind of evidence?” Olivia was stunned that it was on the news already and things were going so fast. Was Frank the next patsy? Had the evidence been planted? She knew the cops had to close the case fast.

  “There’s evidence regarding the drug cartels and money laundering,” her father replied. “Of course the cops had this information for a long time, but now they can connect the dots.”

  Olivia breathed deeply.

  “Thank God this is over,” he said.

  But it’s not over, Olivia kept thinking in her mind.

  Olivia’s father walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. “What a terrible, terrible ordeal you’ve been through,” he said. “But we’re leaving now, it’s over.”

  “But it’s not over,” Olivia replied.

  “What?” He looked incredulous.

  “Something’s come up. I’ll meet you at the airport. I need to go somewhere first.”

  Her father shook his head forcefully. “No, it’s enough. It’s over, Olivia. You’ve become obsessed, you can’t shake it.”

  “It’s not an obsession,” she objected. “I just need resolution. Please, go. Meet me there.”

  He left, and Olivia threw her head back and summoned her courage. She couldn’t leave yet. Not now. She had to find this woman that Todd loved so much.

  And to find the whole truth about the man they loved.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  The cab dipped down to the edge of the island. When they got near the Wisteria Hotel they passed through bamboo groves to a stunning oasis of palm trees, orchids, banyan trees, and cobblestone pathways.

  “They call this place honeymoon haven,” the driver announced, as he pulled up to the front gate. Olivia could see why. The place had a romantic, luxurious quality about it, a little haven down here, secluded and nestled among a rocky shoreline. Definitely a place to be together and dream. The problem was Olivia wasn’t the one Todd had been planning to meet up with here.

  Olivia got out and walked into the sunny lobby of the beautiful Wisteria Hotel. Filled with potted plants, luxurious furnishings, and happy couples, the place seemed to be a world of its own. Olivia walked straight to the check-in desk as if she belonged there, was a familiar guest.

  The woman behind the desk smiled at her brightly. “Good day, welcome, how can we help you?”

  “I’m scheduled to meet my friend here today,” said Olivia. “Can’t remember the room number though.”

  The clerk responded pleasantly. “So sorry, miss.”

  “Can you give it to me, please?” Olivia asked nicely.

  “Wish I could but I’m afraid we can’t give out that information.” The clerk gave Olivia a knowing glance.

  “My friend’s name is Todd Denton,” Olivia pressed. “Perhaps you can look it up?”

  The clerk shook her head. “I can’t. Why not call your friend and ask?”

  Olivia grew nervous. “He lost his phone. Please, this is urgent.”

  The clerk shook her head emphatically now. “It’s impossible, against hotel regulations!”

  Olivia wasn’t getting anywhere with her and probably wouldn’t. “I’m asking, please!” she repeated.

  “Have a lovely day, miss,” the clerk said abruptly then, dismissing Olivia.

  But Olivia couldn’t take no for an answer and fully realized it. There had to be some way she could get into the computer and find the room number. For all she knew the woman was there right now, waiting. This was a murder investigation she was involved in, after all. And it was entirely possible this woman held the key.

  Olivia walked into the main lobby frantically and looked around. A few people were milling around.

  All at once Olivia saw a small, red fire alarm perched on a far wall. Drawn to it, she made her way over. Anything was fair play when a murder was at stake.

  In a fierce wave of courage, Olivia raised her hand and pulled at the fire alarm.

  Immediately it began to shriek.

  In a matter of moments people began rushing into the lobby and then out of the hotel.

  As the clerk hurried out from behind the desk and fled with the others, Olivia was both horrified and thrilled. She immediately rushed to her computer and yanked it down with her beneath the desk. It all happened perfectly, was so easy and natural. Obviously Olivia was meant to track the woman down.

  Ducking low so as not to be seen, and with shaking hands, Olivia typed Todd’s name into the computer’s guest search box.

  Nothing came up. She blinked, confused. She had to find it. Olivia knew there wasn’t much time, as more guests raced out the front door.

  Olivia tried typing in her own name. Nothing. Mina. Nothing. Then she tried only by first name. Todd.

  One listing appeared: Todd Smith. That had to be it! Beachside Villa 400.

  “Can I help you ma’am?” came a sharp voice beside her.

  Olivia jumped, as she saw a manager standing beside her, looking down at her, scowling.

  “The fire alarm,” Olivia breathed.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m hiding, was scared,” Olivia muttered as she jumped up from behind the counter and flew with others out the front door.

  “Ma’am!” the manager cried. “Ma’am! Get back here at once! Security! Security!”

  But his voice was drowned out by the howls of the fire alarm and sounds o
f guests nervously rushing outdoors.

  Freed by the commotion, Olivia slipped into the crowd and made her way toward the back of the hotel, intent on finding Villa 400.

  *

  As she approached the beachside villa, Olivia felt a sense of impending doom. She also felt a flood of anger. This luxurious beachside hotel room, its own private cottage, was right on the sand, under a palm tree, a mere hundred yards from the waves. It must have cost two thousand a night, at least.

  Todd had seen fit to put his lover here, in this den of luxury, only a few days after he had proposed to her across town on the small beach near the restaurant. It was enough to make her sick.

  Olivia approached the villa as her head spun with questions. Would the woman even be here? Had she heard about Todd’s death? She must have. How could she not?

  Whatever Olivia found here, she sensed it would give her closure, final proof of Todd’s infidelities. Somehow, even after all she’d seen, she still needed that.

  Olivia checked her watch. Her flight left in four hours. There was barely enough time.

  She approached the cottage and saw the huge glass doors ajar, white silk drapes billowing in the ocean breeze. Olivia could not bring herself to knock. Instead, she walked right in, fingering the jewelry box as she did. Would she give it to the woman?

  But as Olivia entered, she spun around and then stopped, stunned. The room was empty.

  Maybe Todd had called off his plans. Maybe, after he had proposed, he had a change of heart?

  “Well, well,” came a voice.

  Olivia spun in another direction, shocked to see a beautiful woman with auburn hair standing there. She had just walked in off the patio.

  The woman’s face was familiar.

  “I look familiar to you, don’t I?” The woman smiled oddly.

  Olivia stopped and stared. Then it hit her. This was the woman who’d had been at the restaurant, staring at them, the night Olivia and Todd got engaged. A long terrible chill ran through Olivia’s veins.

  “You recognize me!” The woman’s smile broadened.

  “I do,” Olivia gasped, quickly putting the pieces together. “You were at the hotel the night Todd and I got engaged.”

  “Yes, I was,” she answered, her voice growing throaty. “Rhonda is my name.”

  Rhonda stared at Olivia deeply now, the way she had the night they’d briefly crossed paths. She was dressed in slacks with a loose, silky, tropical print shirt and matching scarf wound around her neck.

  Olivia smelled something odd. She looked around the room and saw a candle burning in the corner, beneath a framed picture of Todd.

  “It’s my personal memorial to him,” Rhonda said. “Do you like it?”

  Olivia was speechless.

  Rhonda pressed on. “Of course, I knew he couldn’t make it today unfortunately, being dead. But with the room all paid for, what better place to go to remember him? The place he booked for the only one he ever truly loved. The one he always returned to after all the flotsam and jetsam floated away.”

  Olivia felt her stomach drop. This woman seemed unhinged. Olivia didn’t trust her for a moment. She stood there, tongue-tied, not knowing what to make of it all.

  “Some people say that Todd actually asked you to marry him,” Rhonda said then, walking slowly, as if circling her.

  Olivia finally cleared her throat. “Yes, that’s right, we did become engaged,” she responded.

  Rhonda laughed, a harrowing sound.

  “I saw you and Todd together the night he died walking to that table at the edge of the deck.” Rhonda took slow steps in Olivia’s direction. “The two of you looked gorgeous. If I hadn’t seen it for myself I wouldn’t have believed it.”

  Olivia was beginning to feel uneasy. “Believed what?”

  “Todd always said he was never as happy with anyone as he was with me,” Rhonda shot back.

  Olivia took a swift, painful breath. “That’s exactly what he said to me,” she replied.

  Rhonda shook her head a second. “He said it but he didn’t mean it. He only meant it when he said it to me.”

  Olivia felt her stomach tying in knots.

  “You didn’t like that Todd was giving me money, though, did you?” Rhonda snapped.

  Olivia was startled. She hadn’t even known about Rhonda, let alone realized that Todd was supporting her. Olivia wanted to say that, but didn’t think Rhonda would believe her.

  “I heard the case is over and that you’re going home now,” Rhonda continued. “You’re not still lying to everyone, are you?”

  “It was Todd who lied, not me,” Olivia retorted.

  “Why did you come here?” Rhonda’s voice started to grow shrill.

  Olivia suddenly wondered why exactly she had come here. Of course she had wanted to meet the woman the bracelet was for, learn more about her and Todd’s relationship. But, coming face to face with Rhonda now, Olivia felt nauseated. Something felt really off.

  Olivia knew she should turn around and walk out the door, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to.

  “Why am I here?” Olivia quickly replied to her question. “Todd never told me about you. I needed to know for myself.”

  Rhonda tossed her head back and laughed. “What about Mina? Did he tell you about her?”

  “He didn’t tell me about any of it!” The anger began to rise in Olivia again.

  “Todd loved turning people into idiots,” Rhonda said. “But the last laugh was on him. He was the greatest idiot of all.”

  Olivia couldn’t hear any more of this. She had to leave. She had to get away from Todd’s entire sick world.

  She knew what she had to do then. She reached into her pocket, took out the jewelry box, opened it, and showed it to Rhonda.

  “He bought this for you,” Olivia said sadly. Then Olivia stepped forward and placed the box on the table.

  Rhonda stared at it, eyes widening just a bit, seeming to be more angry than touched.

  “How insulting,” Rhonda replied, “that you should be the one to give it to me.”

  This woman was completely insane. Olivia had found the peace she needed. She turned to leave. Yet as she did, something stopped her.

  It was a vial, small, filled with white powder, beside Todd’s memorial. A chill flooded her. Arsenic. What else could it be? The vial rounded out Rhonda’s sick, obsessed memorial.

  Rhonda was the killer. Olivia stood frozen, numb, unsure what to do.

  Rhonda stared again at her, and Olivia could see the madness in her eyes.

  “Todd belonged to me.” Rhonda smiled strangely. “He knew he did and told me so. I let Mina have him for a little while, because he promised he wouldn’t stay with her much longer. He needed a break, a little fling. And I was happy to let him have it. But I was the only one he truly cared for! Only me, always! He loved me the most and gave me money to prove it.”

  Olivia listened to each word intently.

  Rhonda stepped closer. “Todd told me he was running out of money, that things weren’t going well at work. At first I thought he was trying to pull me into another scheme. But then pretty soon I realized that wasn’t it at all. He was lying to me.”

  Seemed Todd lied to everybody, couldn’t help it, thought Olivia.

  Rhonda took a step closer. “It was you, wasn’t it? You didn’t want him to give me what was mine!”

  Olivia was speechless.

  Rhonda stepped even closer and scowled.

  “It just took a minute,” she said, and started to smile. “When I did it, I slipped into the kitchen from the back door right after I saw you order dinner. Alana was there. She was happy to see me. I asked her what you and Todd had ordered. She checked and said you ordered fish, he ordered steak.”

  The horror grew inside Olivia.

  “I knew they would leave the plates there for a few minutes before they actually served the food. It would be easy to slip the arsenic into your food.” Then Rhonda’s face distorted in agony. “You wer
e the one I was trying to poison. Not Todd. I put the arsenic into the fish dinner. But then, when the food was brought to your table, the two of you suddenly decided to switch meals! Why? Why? I keep asking myself that over and over.”

  Olivia quickly flashed on that moment. “Changing dinners was spur of the moment,” she cried out. “We did it for fun. He suddenly wanted the fish and I liked the look of the steak.”

  “You had to switch meals, didn’t you?” Rhonda’s voice got louder now. “You had to ruin everything. The poison wasn’t meant for him. It was meant for YOU! So you’re the one who really killed him!”

  Olivia felt like melting into the earth. He died because they switched dinners. Olivia had been the target all along.

  Olivia turned to flee. Suddenly, she felt icy cold hands grab her neck from behind, pressing hard. She struggled to breathe. Try as she did, she could not extract herself from Rhonda’s grip.

  “You’ll never take him from me!” Rhonda cried, pressing harder, strangling her.

  The next thing Olivia knew she went crashing into the bamboo coffee table. Rhonda’s hands grew tighter and tighter as the table splintered into pieces and Rhonda landed on top of her. Olivia couldn’t move. Rhonda was squeezing the life out of her.

  Olivia felt her strength leaving. She was too weak to push Rhonda off now. Her world started turning blue as she had a sinking feeling that she was going to die. Soon, any minute, she would be joining Todd.

  “Stop, stop,” Olivia gasped with what was left of her failing breath.

  “Go to hell, go to hell,” Rhoda howled as there was the sound of a crash on the outside door.

  Olivia looked over, her blurry world spinning in circles.

  The front door suddenly flew open and the hotel manager and two security guards raced in.

  “There she is!” the manager yelled. “The woman who set off the alarm!”

  The guards pulled Olivia and Rhonda apart.

  As Rhonda continued howling, they restrained her.

  Olivia gasped for air, thankful to be alive.

  “She’s the killer,” Olivia managed to utter. “She killed my fiancé!”