Camera Never Lies (24 page)

I was beyond incredulous that Mom had kept another bottle of sleeping pills despite my demands she hand them all over. How many could the woman have? But I refused to discuss that in front of Emily. Feeling Mom was being rude, I gave Emily an apologetic gaze.

“Oh no, no, no. It’s not you, dear. It’s just that I was already going to suffocate sleeping in the same room with my own daughter. I can’t bear to have yet another person in such a small room.”

My mind was about to blow. I had so much going on that I couldn’t remember why I’d moved Mom to my room in the first place. I shook my head.

Spencer stepped into the fray. “Polly, it’s no problem, really.” A bead of sweat slid down his temple.

Yeah, right. Between Mom’s themes and Emily’s black disguises, the amount of luggage Spencer had moved within the last hour should qualify him for some sort of power-lifting competition. I wasn’t about to let him move another suitcase.

“We’re meeting Rene in the lobby. So there’s no time to move again. She’s getting us tickets for the boat tour. You and Mom go on down.”

Spencer gave me a questioning look before his face became unreadable. “We’ll see you there.”

After he’d left with Mom, Emily touched my arm. “Look, I’m not sure I should be here. I realize you’re trying to help me, but I’m just in the way. I don’t have anything to do with Alec. I didn’t murder him. I’m hiding from my husband.” She wrung her hands. “To tell you the truth, I’m starting to get a little nervous about all this. I think I could hide better by myself. You can’t really help me against the likes of him.”

“I don’t think you have to worry that he’s here, because you would have seen him already, right?” What could I say to convince her to stay? I couldn’t physically keep her.

“I don’t know. I just don’t feel comfortable staying in one place for so long.”

“Let’s talk with Spencer and see what he thinks. Or maybe you should go to the rangers with your story; they could protect you.” Ranger Jennings’s guilt notwithstanding. It was the worst thing I could have said. Spencer had mentioned going to the authorities to her, but when I said it, she reacted like I was threatening her.

“I can’t do that.” She began stuffing clothes back into her suitcase. “I’m out of here.”

“No, wait! I’m only thinking of your safety, Emily. Please!”

She threw her bags over her shoulders and headed for the door.

I rushed to stop her. “I won’t go to the authorities—that’s your call.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Tears brimmed in her eyes. “I know you wanted to help, but it’s not going to work.” Emily opened the door and walked out.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

I
’d figured out that the holiday smell Emily referred to was pumpkin pie. I remembered that cloves were among Mom’s ingredients for the dessert. I’d smelled cloves on Peter during the boat tour—an uncommon odor to be sure. I once had a friend in college who smoked clove cigarettes. He’d given it up because of a strange lung fungus that occurs in clove smokers. Oddly, my friend had feared contracting the fungus but wasn’t worried he could get cancer from smoking. Maybe Peter had never heard of the fungus one could get from smoking cloves. Who knew?

The only other explanation I could think of was he’d been busy making pumpkin pie that morning or had punched an orange full of cloves because he enjoyed the scent. There were many possibilities, but I’d only smelled cloves on one person.

And Emily had smelled the same in Alec Gordon’s room.

I dragged myself to the small table at the Terrace Café where Rene, Spencer, and Mom were sitting. Minus Emily. They’d not been in the lobby, but I’d spotted them easily enough. When he saw me, Spencer opened his mouth, but Mom was the first to speak.

“Where’s your friend? The girl in black?”

Spencer stood and pulled a chair out for me.

“She had to leave.” Blaming myself for Emily’s departure made it hard to fully appreciate his etiquette.

Spencer’s eyes grew wide. I shrugged again, certain it wouldn’t be the last time.

“But I thought she was staying overnight?” Rene asked.

“She changed her plans.” I’d almost said she’d received an emergency phone call from home. That would have been a blatant lie. I began to worry that if I continued down this road, I’d become a pathological liar. I thought I was doing the right thing by sleuthing. But how did I continue without hiding things, telling lies? I was in dire need of alone time with God.

A waiter set a glass of iced lemonade before me. I’d been thinking strong, black coffee, but I didn’t want to hurt Spencer’s feelings. He was the only one who would have ordered lemonade for me.

I mouthed a “thank you” at him and took a sip, so he would know I appreciated it. “When is the boat tour?”

Rene perked up, pulling her gaze from a piece of paper she was writing on. “At three thirty. So we have an hour.”

I almost spewed my lemonade. “An hour? Then we’d better get going.”

Mom protested. “What? Why? It can’t be that far, can it?”

I’d only formed a few details of my plan and hoped that was enough. “The tour starts from the other side of the lake. It’ll take a few minutes to get there.”

No time to eat, we paid for our drinks and headed to my car. I would have to remember to carry protein bars if I were to keep up this schedule. Spencer managed to nudge me as we all climbed in. “What’s going on, Polly? Where did Emily go?”

“We can’t talk now, but I need you to do me a favor. You and Rene are going to end up going on the boat tour. Without me. I’m going to bring Mom back. I’ll explain later.”

His look was severe. I forestalled any lectures by getting into the car and starting it. Rene and Mom chatted along the drive, pointing out various aspects of the scenery. At one point Mom shouted for me to watch the road, because looking out her window, she could see right down the rim to the lake. Spencer said nothing, and I had too much to think about to be an active participant in their conversation.

I pulled into the parking lot for the boat tours. It surprised me that Rene hadn’t realized that a person had to be in top condition to hike down the steep drop to the boat dock. But on second thought, she’d been a little self-absorbed lately.

“See, we got here in fifteen minutes.” Mom eagerly strolled to the entrance. “The tour doesn’t start for another forty-five. Polly, you were worried for nothing.”

I approached the sign next to the entrance and read in silence. “Um…Mom, I think you need to reconsider this. I’m not sure you’re going to want to hike this particular trail to the boat dock and then back up.”

“What?” She read the sign as well.

Rene pulled her sunglasses back over her hair and read it, too. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t remember this hike from years ago at all.”

“Well, hon.” Mom shook her head. “You wouldn’t even think about it, of course. You’re in such great shape.”

“We can do something else then.” Rene started walking to the car.

“No, wait.” I said the words with too much force. “You and Spencer go, Rene. Don’t waste the tickets. I’ll try to get Mom a refund.” I cleared my throat and gazed at Spencer.

He frowned in return. “I’d love to tour the lake, Rene. Let’s do it. After all, we’re already here.” His words came out like he was reading from a script and had no talent.

“Well, all right. If you’re sure?” She took Spencer’s outstretched arm. “Polly, I’m sorry about this.”

“This is your weekend, Rene. I want you to enjoy it to the fullest.” And I did, never mind that her complete focus on herself and the upcoming nuptials gave me much-needed time to search for clues.

For the second time, I thought about Conrad and what he must be doing since he’d apparently not contacted Spencer. As they headed for the trail that led down to the lakeshore, Spencer glanced back at me, concern in his eyes.

I mouthed that I would be all right. It seemed that silent mouthing of words was our only mode of communication lately. But what else could we do with all the secrecy and no privacy?

On the drive back, I pondered what to do with Mom now that Rene was occupied.

“So what are we going to do now? I’m relieved you didn’t make me hike down to the lake, but mostly because I’m hungry. I didn’t have breakfast because you made me pack my bags and wait all morning for you.” Mom rolled down the window. The fresh scent of pine filled the car. “Then I didn’t have lunch because we had to rush to this boat tour that I’m not even taking.”

I glanced her way, feeling like I had not only neglected Rene but also Mom. I hoped she would be able to make it to the coast to see me. I wouldn’t be nearly as preoccupied there as I was here, even with a business to run.

“Sure, why don’t we grab something to eat? Then we can decide what to do.”

“How long do you think the boat tour will take?”

“It takes quite awhile, Mom. I wouldn’t expect them back before a couple of hours or more.”

“You know, I’d forgotten about that. While the ranger questioned me, you were off on the boat tour. Why didn’t you say you’d already been?”

“I didn’t want to spoil the fun for Rene. She wanted to go.” “I’m surprised you’d have a friend like that Emily. Where’d you meet her?”

“Mom, the truth is I only just really met her today.” I pulled into the lodge parking lot.

Mom’s eyes bored into me; I could feel them without even glancing her way. “You have got to be kidding me. You don’t even know the girl, and you were going to let her stay with you. With us?”

“Well, she was in some trouble, needed help.”

“I’ve never known you to pick up strays like that.”

We hauled ourselves out of the car and headed to the Terrace Café. The place had become our favorite, it seemed. It was either that or the more expensive, fancy restaurant inside.

“I wish you wouldn’t call her that.”

“She looked like a woman out of her element, dressed all in black.” Mom waltzed to the table of her choice.

I followed. “Look, do we have to talk about this right now?” But Mom had nailed Emily. She didn’t fit with the way she dressed—something I had sensed the first time I saw her.

If I couldn’t help her, I hoped she would find a place where she felt safe. I wasn’t one who believed that people should get divorced, but I had no idea what I would do in the same situation, married to an abusive, controlling drug dealer. I looked at the menu, staring at it like I hadn’t seen it a hundred times already and knowing that I would only order one thing. I used the time to silently pray for Emily.

Mom flipped the menu closed and slapped it onto the table, probably meaning to let the waiter know she was ready. Déjà vu came to mind, not for the first time this weekend. In fact, this was the exact same table where Mom and I had met on Thursday when she’d announced she wanted to kill “that man.” The whole thing seemed surreal, including my hunt for clues.

I’d never eaten so much Hawaiian chicken in one weekend, so when the waiter arrived, I asked for a hamburger. That was safe. Mom seemed intent on staring at the lake. I pushed aside concerns that she could have murdered Alec in her sleep.

Once our food arrived, Mom dug in. If she was that hungry, then I had at least until she finished her burger and fries to think about Peter in Alec’s room somewhere between Hillary’s fleeing Alec and Emily discovering him in the closet. On the tour, Peter had commented that a better way to kill Alec would have been to push him over the rim. I almost choked on a french fry. I chugged water, trying to wash down the fry and calm my hacking throat.

“You okay?” Mom came around to slap my back repeatedly.

“Mom, I’m not…choking.”

When I finally eased my cough, she sat down. People were staring.
Please, Lord, let this not be a repeat of Thursday
. I leaned in to whisper, “Mom, even if I were choking, that’s not the Heimlich you were doing. That’s not how it’s done.”

“Well, when you were a little girl, that’s what I did when you were choking. Worked every time.”

Except I was probably not choking, just like I hadn’t been a moment ago. But I didn’t want to argue. I shoved another fry into my mouth, trying not to get distracted from my last thought. When Peter commented on a better way to kill Alec, had he been referring to himself in retrospect? I couldn’t shake the idea. I coughed again and glared when Mom looked like she might get up to slap me.

Peter had taken me to the lookout—a name that escaped me at the moment—just so he could ask what I’d learned. Then he’d pointed me to Ranger Jennings. Could it be that he’d wanted to frame Ranger Jennings for a crime he’d committed himself? But who would have had greater motivation to kill the man having an affair with his wife than her husband, the park ranger? If Peter had killed Alec, then what was his motivation?

Considering Peter’s reaction—a decidedly emotional one—when he talked about his brother-in-law having an affair, I decided that if Peter was involved in the murder, it had everything to do with Hillary’s affair. But how and why?

“Mom, after we finish lunch, would you mind if I make a visit to Hillary Jennings?”

“Who’s that?”

Too late, I realized I’d never told Mom about discovering the woman in my closet. She’d been sick the whole day or sleepwalking. “Um…one of the housekeepers at the lodge had an accident. She’s the woman who found Alec in the room next to mine. I want to visit her, and as far as I know, she’s still in the infirmary. Do you want to come with me?” I held my breath and wondered how many times people had asked that question just to be polite.