Deadly Visions Boxset

by Alexandria Clarke

  Daniel shrugged off the question, but the gesture wasn’t as nonchalant as he would have liked. “This is my job. My own well-being comes dead last in this race.”

  Nick clapped Daniel on the shoulder. “Do you want my advice? Take it easy, my friend. Prioritize your well-being. Out of all of us, you’re the one who needs to keep a level head the most.”

  “Solid point,” Daniel said. “You can guess why I had Riley call you over here. I’d like to get everyone’s story of where they were last night and this morning. This is not an accusation or anything like that. You’re not a person of interest. It’s simple protocol.”

  “Of course, of course,” Nick said. “I’ll be happy to answer your questions. What is it that you’d like to know specifically?”

  Daniel flipped to a fresh page in his notebook. “Let’s start with last night. You were present when Lucia brought Riley back from the old wing, right?”

  “Yes, that poor girl was so far past distraught, I almost considered calling my medical team at White Oak,” Nick said. “We have excellent care facilities. Then I remembered the snow was all but above our heads.”

  “Yeah, it’s an issue,” Daniel agreed, more to placate Nick than anything else. “Can you walk me through where you were for the rest of the night, Mr. Porter?”

  “I was given a room on the first floor, in the hall opposite Mr. Watson Junior’s room,” Nick said. “It’s quite nice. A little old-fashioned for my taste, but what can you do when you’re stranded at your rival’s resort, eh? Anyway, I returned to my room and went to sleep soon after we located the young girl. I’d say that was around eleven o’clock. I did, as it were, wake up in the middle of the night completely parched.” He tapped his throat to demonstrate. “The dry weather often affects me. So I got up and left my room to find the ice machine. I like my water nice and cold, you see, even if it’s frigid outside. It’s soothing.”

  Daniel scribbled Nick’s timeline in his notebook, frowning as he separated the important facts from the rambling. “So you did leave your room in the middle of the night? Do you know what time that was?”

  “I would guess about two or three,” Nick said. “I can’t say I had a gander at the clock. Sleep is so important to me. I usually doze like the dead. No chance of waking me up unless I’ve had a full eight hours.” He chuckled deep in his chest. “I guess staying at King and Queens had more of an effect on me than I thought it would, but no matter. It won’t be much longer until the roads are cleared. I requested an employee from White Oak to man the snowplow.”

  “Mr. Porter, did you happen to see anyone else in the hallway while you were looking for the ice machine?” Daniel asked.

  “Not that I can recall,” Nick said. “No, wait! As a matter of fact, I ran into Mr. Watson. Senior, that is. Pardon my hazy recollection. I was quite groggy.”

  “You saw Oliver?”

  “Yes,” Nick replied firmly. “He had come from his own room. We passed in the hallway. I asked him where the ice machine was, but he walked by as if he hadn’t heard me at all. I assumed he was distracted or overwhelmed, but on second thought, he appeared to be sleepwalking.”

  Daniel jotted down another note. “If he was, it runs in the family.”

  “Whatever the matter, I let him be,” Nick said. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the man isn’t very fond of me. He’s terrorized my staff and trail officials more times than I can count. I was hoping to clear up the matter on this visit. Good God, I should’ve said something to him last night when I realized he wasn’t awake. You don’t think—well, I mean—he wouldn’t kill his own son, would he?”

  “I’m afraid I can’t discuss that with you,” Daniel said.

  “Right, of course.” Nick realized that in his worry, he’d leaned in a little too close to the detective. He drew away, lingering in the hidden part of the frame.

  “Where did Oliver go?” Daniel asked. “Was he heading somewhere?”

  “Toward the lobby. I didn’t follow him. I was eager to return to bed.”

  “And did you?”

  “Yes, right after I found the ice machine.”

  “How long would you say you were out of your room, Mr. Porter?”

  Nick scrunched his brow in thought. “No more than five minutes, Detective Hawkins.”

  Daniel wrote this down too. “That’s all for now. I might ask you for another interview in the future. In the meantime, I would avoid Mr. Watson if you can. He’s not doing well, and like you said, he doesn’t care for you. We don’t need unnecessary drama.”

  “Agreed,” Nick said. “Shall I fetch the next interviewee for you?”

  “No, I’ll be taking a quick break,” Daniel replied as he tucked his notebook into the back pocket of his pants and placed the pen behind his ear. “I need to find Lucia.”

  Nick looked around the lounge, as if just noticing I wasn’t amongst the others. “Yes, where is Miss Star? Mr. Watson’s death seemed to affect her the most, other than Oliver. Did she have a close relationship with the boy?”

  “Yeah, right,” I said in real time. Jazmin shushed me.

  On screen, Daniel said to Nick, “If I were to guess, she’s upset because she came to help a child after the death of her mother, and the situation has only escalated and gotten worse since she arrived her. Lucia’s sympathetic.”

  “I wish her the best of luck in her endeavors.” Nick collected his cane, jostling the camera with the tip of it. I winced at the thought of Daniel discovering the hidden lens. “All we want is to take care of our children, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Daniel solemnly replied, “I would indeed.”

  Nick tapped his cane on the ground, something he did often as if to test the stability of the wood. “Detective, I’m sure this is a stupid question, but have you consulted the security footage from last night? It would surely show who snuck past you and into Mr. Watson’s room.”

  Daniel rested his elbow on the bar and leaned against his fist. “That was my first order of business this morning, but Mr. Watson Senior didn’t hire a security team this season. I guess because business was so slow for him, he didn’t think he’d need it. None of the cameras were in operation last night.”

  Nick made a distinctive humming sound in the back of his throat, like he wished to say something but couldn’t.

  “What?” Daniel asked.

  “Nothing,” Nick said. “I was going to say an oversight like that would never happen at White Oak, but that would be petty and childish of me. Please forgive my small-minded comments, Detective. The situation has brought some disturbing facts about Kings and Queens to light for me. The sooner I take over this hotel, the better for everyone involved. For Mr. Watson too, even if he doesn’t agree right away.”

  Daniel lazily saluted Nick. “Good luck with that. After this investigation, there might not be a resort to buy from Mr. Watson.”

  “It’s my aim to make Crimson Basin the number one ski destination in the world,” Nick said. “That includes being number one in safety. I promise you, when King and Queens is under White Oak management, you’ll never get called to this establishment for an incident like this again.”

  “One can only hope.”

  The phone rang in the bedroom, jarring us all out of yesterday’s events. Riley hit the pause button on the laptop while Jazmin ran to answer the phone. Riley and I listened from the living room.

  “Sorry, Detective,” she said. “Yes, we’re on our way right now. Totally dressed. No, I understand it’s important. Uh-huh. Great. See you in a few minutes.” She emerged from the bedroom. “That was the detective again. Everyone else is already downstairs. In his words, we’re ‘later than Alice’s coked-up white rabbit.’”

  “He did not actually say that,” I said.

  “He did.”

  “Well, he’s wrong,” Riley piped in. “Everyone knows Lewis Carol didn’t do cocaine. The guy really dug his opium.”

  “My God, what are they teaching in middle school these da
ys?”

  Riley went downstairs ahead of us to scope out the scene and set up the camera for day two of Daniel’s interrogations. Now that we’d all agreed to jump into this without regrets, it made sense to have Riley man the camera. No one would suspect the pre-teen with the dead brother and mother to record Daniel’s police investigations. She had the benefit of appearing innocent and less intelligent than the rest of us. Only Jazmin and I knew how sharp and quick-witted Riley really was. I had my doubts about her involvement, but Jazmin was right. This was as much about her as it was about me, if not more. If someone was targeting the Watson family, Riley was in the crosshairs. The thought made my blood run cold.

  “We should go too,” I said to Jazmin as soon as Riley had left the suite to go downstairs. “Daniel’s going to yell at us.”

  Jazmin zipped her jeans and sat on the edge of the bed to put on her heeled booties. “I thought we were letting her get a head start to set up the camera.”

  “I’m having second thoughts,” I said. “Riley shouldn’t be alone in the hotel. I know she’s tough, but I doubt she’d be able to fend off a murderer.”

  Jazmin calmly tied her laces. “First of all, Riley can take care of herself. Second, I doubt the killer is waiting for Riley to step out of the elevator so he can take her out in the middle of the lobby in broad daylight. The Eagle’s View is right there. Everyone would hear it or see it.”

  “How do you know?” I argued. “This person knows the hotel well. They could stop the elevator prematurely or gag Riley and take her to some storage room or—”

  Jazmin stuffed a sock into my mouth. Thankfully, it smelled of laundry detergent instead of feet. “I know someone who could use a gag.”

  I spat out the sock. It was purple with yellow ducks on it. Jazmin’s fashion sense was flawless unless you looked too close. Her underwear drawer at home was full of unicorn patterns.

  “You aren’t taking this seriously,” I said.

  “I’m taking this very seriously,” she replied. “Which is why I’m willing to sacrifice my morning skincare routine to go after Riley. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is. Are you ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  The elevator had already taken Riley away when we stepped into the hallway. The jitters made my hands shake as I waited for Jazmin to turn out the lights in the suite and close the door behind us.

  “Would you relax?” she said. “It looks like you’re on speed.”

  “I have a weird feeling,” I said, scratching the back of my neck.

  “About Riley?”

  “No, about—what are you looking at?”

  Jazmin’s woodsy green eyes no longer focused on my face. Instead, she looked at a spot over my shoulder, her bottom lip trembling. I’d never seen her stunned into silence before. A creaking sound echoed behind me. The door to the suite across the hall crept open on its own.

  “That’s not a fluke, is it?” Jazmin whispered.

  “No.” The back of my neck prickled, a warning sign. “No, it certainly isn’t.”

  Odette appeared in the doorway. A garbled yell escaped my throat as the imaginary nerve damage brought me to my knees for the second time in two days. It stung as much as it had when Odette first appeared yesterday. Jazmin uttered my name in a worried squeal, squatting next to me and sweeping my hair away from my face as I attempt to control the muscle spasms.

  “Lucia?” she said. “What’s going on? Can you hear me? Can you see me?”

  “Odette,” I said through clenched teeth, concentrating as hard as I could. Worry and fear bled into Jazmin’s expression as she looked around for something to help me with. I grasped her arm to get her attention. “She’s here, right across the hallway in that open door. Can you see her?”

  Jazmin looked right at the tiny little ghost girl and shook her head. “No, it’s just the room. Are you sure she’s there?”

  Odette rolled her eyes in a Riley-like way. Maybe she’d picked up some of Riley’s mannerisms after haunting her for so long. “Typical,” she said. “Baby psychics are always trying to justify their visions by asking other people for confirmation. News flash, Lucia, your friend Jazmin is never going to be able to see me. Tell her to go downstairs without you. You and I have things to discuss.”

  “She’s not leaving,” I growled through my teeth.

  “What?” Jazmin asked. “Who isn’t leaving? Odette?”

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” I said.

  “You won’t be able to concentrate on getting that terrible feeling under control until she leaves,” Odette said, employing a smug smile. “Her energy is crazy wild. It messes with the way you balance yours since the two of you are so connected. You can try to balance both out, but it’s a lot harder to do two living people and a dead one all at once. One of the other psychics did it, and her brain nearly exploded—”

  “Shut up,” I ordered.

  “Me?” Jazmin said.

  “Not you!” Another shockwave traveled along the length of my spine. When Jazmin moved closer to help, it got worse. “Don’t! Jazmin, please go downstairs.”

  “Finally,” Odette muttered.

  “No way,” Jazmin protested. “I’m not leaving you like this. Tell Odette to go away.”

  The ghost lifted a judgmental eyebrow.

  “I can’t,” I told Jazmin. “I need to talk to her, and I can’t do it while you’re here. Please.” Another jolt, another yelp, another helpless look on Jazmin’s face. “Please go. Find Riley. Look after her.”

  Jazmin got to her feet, and my muscles unclenched slightly. Jazmin wagged her index finger where she assumed Odette’s nose was. In reality, she was threatening Odette’s hairline. Odette glared up at Jazmin’s finger as if considering the possibility of biting it off.

  “Listen to me, you little punk,” Jazmin said. “If you hurt my friend, you’ll have to answer to me. I don’t care if you’re a dead kid that I can’t see. I’ll find a way. Do you understand?”

  “Call off your dog,” Odette told me. “I just need to talk. The paralysis is your own fault. You haven’t been practicing.”

  “Jazmin!” I barked, the sting of my nerves sharpening my tone. “Now.”

  “I’m going.” She stepped over me and pushed the call button for the elevator. The center one opened first. She got inside, positioning herself so she could watch me as the doors closed. Once she was gone, I inhaled like my life depended on it.

  “There you go,” said Odette, watching me go through my unorthodox breathing exercises. “I told you it’d be easier without her around. The two of you are hardcore tied together. What’s up with that?”

  “She’s my best friend.”

  “It’s not just that.” She sat on the floor, stretched her legs out in front of her, and tapped the toes of her Oxford shoes together. She wore a gray-and-white plaid skirt and a collared blue shirt with a crest embroidered on the pocket. Saint Anne’s Preparatory School for Girls. “You don’t share that much energy with someone unless you’re sharing something else too.”

  Weirdly, the conversation helped get my mind off the crunching sensation in my bones. I began to relax. “Like what?”

  “Like secrets.”

  “All best friends share secrets. It’s one of the reasons to have a best friend.”

  Odette pursed her lips. “Your secrets are different. Deeper and darker. Aren’t they?”

  I leveled her with a challenging stare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Whatever,” she said. “It’s your own fault you’re struggling. I told you to practice balancing your energies.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” With the spurt of anger came a spurt of pain. I grimaced and tried again. “What I meant was that you didn’t give me a whole lot of information on how to deal with this.”

  “I’m not psychic,” Odette said. “I don’t know what you’re supposed to do on your side of things. The ‘breathe and relax’ trick was common sense. Fig
ure it out on your own, but don’t go back to the old wing until you do.”

  “How did you know I wanted to go back to the old wing?” I asked. “And why shouldn’t I?”

  “Seriously?” she said. “It’s your biggest lead. That’s where everything happened. That’s where all the clues are. That’s also where all the other ghosts are. If you go back there before you’re ready, they’ll tear you apart.”

  “I’ve been there before.”

  “Before they realized who you are and what you’re doing,” Odette said. “They take a while to wake up and notice things. It’s a side effect of being dead but not gone for thirty years. Take my word for it, you don’t want to go back there before you get a handle on your energy.”

  The more I focused on the weird connection between me and Odette, the more the paralysis faded. I pushed myself upright, sitting across the hall from her. I was tempted to stick my legs out too, to test if we could place the soles of our feet together or if my body would sink through hers. I refrained, scared of the outcome.

  “You’re not on fire this time,” I said.

  “They don’t know I’m up here,” she replied.

  “The other ghosts?”

  She nodded slowly.

  “Why can’t you always sneak around like this?” I asked. “How do they know whether or not you’re with me?”

  “That actually has more to do with you than it does with me.” She examined a run in her black tights. “It won’t be long until they figure out I’m with you.”

  “But how do they know?” I pressed, desperate for information. “How does any of this work? I can see you, but I can’t see them. I can control my energy around you, but you say I won’t have control of it around them. I have to go to the old wing soon. It’s the only way I can figure out what happened to you, but I have to be ready for these other angry spirits. Give me something to work with if you want me to help you.”

  “I guess I have time to run you through the basics.” Odette winced, and a faint whiff of burning hair passed through the hallway. “Three minutes, I’m guessing. You want to know why you can see me, right?”