Authors: A. Gardner
"That sounds horrible." I sympathized with her, mostly because I felt like I was talking to an entirely different Lila.
"That wasn't the half of it," she answered, seemingly unscathed by her childhood nightmares. "Anyway, I noticed that some of the more expensive gym equipment gets locked up every night and you being the Head Trainer obviously tote around the keys. Yesterday morning when everyone else thought I was in my room pouting, I moved them so you would receive a phone call from that other trainer woman with oily hair."
"Taryn," I muttered.
"An awful name and an awful haircut," Lila commented. "No offense."
"How did you know where I kept the keys?
"Essie," she scoffed. "You work in an ancient hotel where no one important ever comes. My room doesn't even have a safe. Obviously the key was somewhere in your office." With her free hand she brushed back a few curls, pleased with herself.
"I take it you also sent me that letter?"
"Franco delivered it." Lila rolled her eyes. "He thought it was a thank you card. When the investigation goes further his prints will be all over that envelope."
"So you had Franco plant the threatening letter, you snuck into the gym, and you knew what exit I was going to use to leave the resort," I added.
"Uh-huh." She giggled. "I fit into those storage cabinets quite nicely. Must be my trim figure." She placed a hand on her hip and held her gun steady. "I sent that errand boy Eli down stairs to distract you. He has a thing for me, especially since I'm the one who told him Misty the spa receptionist had a crush on him. It didn't take long for the two of them to wander to the nearest utility closet so Donna and I could have our privacy."
"And the security cameras?"
"My request, but Franco always does the paperwork for me."
"Same with the special order with the Charles Dickens code name?" I asked.
"All me," she freely admitted. "All I had to do was show you Franco's lame old book and I knew you would put the pieces together. Like I said. It was too easy. All of it."
"Your friend from The Cove threw me for a loop." I paused to see her reaction.
"Who?"
"John Slagger," I responded. "Did he have a hand in this too?"
"I don't know what you are talking about." She clenched her jaw together and ground her teeth as she stared at the gun in her hand. "Back to business, sweetheart. I'm thinking a closed casket. What do you think?"
"Do I really get a choice?" I gulped. My palms started to sweat and my chest felt like it was being held down by a barbell. I contemplated lunging forward and overpowering Lila. It seemed like it would be easy to wrestle her fragile frame to ground, but she was capable of far more than I'd given her credit for.
She really was one of the greatest actresses of all time.
"Good point," she replied.
Her finger twitched and I instantly let out a yelp. Lila laughed. She hadn't pulled the trigger yet. She wanted me to die from the anticipation first. I glanced down at her wounded calf and imagined myself dropping to a squat position and pushing her weight forward like I've done at the gym with a punching bag.
My throat tightened up and I took one last breath, hoping it wasn't my last. I was going to go for it. If anything, I could stall for more time so Lila didn't shoot me, turn around, and then shoot Patrick a second time.
Before I had the chance to execute my plan, an unexpected visitor interrupted us. Lila curiously turned around and lowered her gun in the process. Behind her was the man I'd been searching for. John Slagger, the mysterious out-of-towner slash fake undercover reporter slash escaped mental patient, was heading towards us with a look of concern.
"Hey!" he shouted. He waved his hand, and abruptly lowered it when he caught sight of the weapon Lila was holding. He slowed his pace and approached us with a calm demeanor.
I took Lila turning her back as my one and only opportunity to take her gun. Patrick had the same idea. As I squatted low to ram Lila's legs out from under her, Patrick lunged in our direction. My shoulders hit Lila's lower legs and I could practically feel the bone of her kneecap digging into my chest. Patrick let out a low growl as he let go of his bloody shoulder and snatched Lila's gun before she could react. My entire upper body throbbed as I glanced up and saw Lila lying in the snow trying to catch her breath. Patrick's face cringed as he forcefully handed me the gun. As soon as I accepted it he resumed clutching his shoulder. He let out another loud yell from the pain.
Lila rolled to her knees, her wounded leg and giant wedding dress making it difficult for her. She clawed her way out of the mess of snow around her and attempted to stand up. She stumbled towards the chair lift and John followed her with a watchful eye. I focused my attention on Patrick.
"Are you okay?" I whispered to him.
"I'll survive." I could tell it pained him even to speak, but he grinned when our eyes met.
"Lila, stop," John instructed. "Lila, what are you doing?"
Lila had moved so fast I looked away from Patrick and saw that she was standing in front of one of the moving ski benches. She waited to take her ride up the slope to the highest black diamond run on Pinecliffe Mountain.
"Lila," I yelled.
"Lila, don't do it!" John Slagger ran towards her right as she took her seat on a moving bench. John ran at her and made it just in time to grab part of the armrest and hoist himself up into the air.
Sirens blasted through the canyon. I stayed by Patrick's side carefully setting the gun down next to me. The two of us looked up at Lila and John. Their feet swung above us on the chair lift, and Lila's enormous gown took up most of the bench. The two of them climbed higher and higher in altitude. I listened carefully as John reassured Lila everything was going to be okay.
An ambulance stopped at the base of the mountain and a team of medics came running towards us with a stretcher. I jumped to my ice cold feet and waved my arms. My toes had to be frost bitten by now. The medics tended to Patrick's shoulder. He groaned as he was lifted onto the stretcher and given an oxygen mask. Patrick looked up at the sky at long train dangling from Lila's wedding dress.
"I'm sure she'll be fine." I squeezed Patrick's hand. It was comforting that his skin was still very warm.
"What's going on with them?" one of the medics asked.
I let go of Patrick's hand and jogged through the snow to catch a closer look at John and Lila. They had disappeared over the trees. I quickly accompanied Patrick back to the ambulance and ran up the patio steps towards the top floor of the hotel. From the patio off the bride's room I could see Lila getting closer to the mountaintop. She scooted farther away from John and repeatedly shook her head.
I brushed freshly fallen snow from my shoulders and face and kept watching despite my chattering teeth and icicles for fingers. A hand gripped my shoulder, making me jump. I turned and saw the sheriff. His eyes darted down towards the ambulance that had loaded up Patrick and was pulling out of the parking lot.
"What happened?" Sheriff Williams asked. He spoke in almost a whisper like it was a personal matter between the two of us and no one else.
"A lot," I answered, watching Lila disappear again behind a white cloud of snow. I turned to the sheriff, rubbing my hands together. I was worried about Lila. What would she do next? Would the sheriff’s holding cell be able to contain her crazy? But my heart wasn't racing because I'd stared death in the face and hesitated. My heart wouldn't slow down because Patrick was on his way to the hospital and I didn't know if I would ever see him again.
"And the bride? Where is she off to?"
"Who knows," I answered quietly. A snowflake landed on my eyelashes. "But you'll need to get your handcuffs ready for when she inevitably takes her ride back down the mountain. She's the murderer."
"Now Essie—"
"This isn't one of my wild theories, Sheriff. She confessed everything in front of me and Patrick." I took a deep breath and stared hopeful at the returning chair lifts as they appeared one by one from behind a snow cloud. The sheriff put his arm around me and escorted me inside, knowing I would've waited on that patio until my limbs fell off.
"Essie," Joy gasped. She was waiting inside with her arms folded. She immediately ran her fingers through my hair and attempted to dry it off with the fabric of a throw pillow. "You look awful … and what were those loud noises? Don't tell me the Lellend boys were out there with firecrackers again? I've warned them so many times—"
"No," the Sheriff spoke up. "I'm afraid those were gunshots. I heard them when I arrived and I called an ambulance."
"That's why you barged in like you did," Joy muttered. "I thought you were just being a jerk as usual. No offense, Sheriff." He narrowed his eyes.
"I'm afraid there are still matters that need to be dealt with," he said. "And seeing as your groom is on his way to the hospital, and the bride is on the top of Pinecliffe Mountain, I think it's best that you send all those folks in there home."
"What?" Joy had a difficult time processing the news. The time had finally come to do what she dreaded the moment she'd heard there was a dead body in the spa. "Are you sure?"
"Joy," I added. "Do it before everyone starts asking questions."
"Too late," a voice came from the doorway. Eli raised his eyebrows. He waved at us to follow him as he periodically glanced over his shoulder.
The three of us followed him down the hall towards the place where the wedding ceremony was waiting to begin. A large window overlooking the mountain ran alongside the wall. It had a full view of the chair lift and the chalet building at the base of it. Bebe was standing near the window biting her nails.
There was yelling coming from downstairs. Voices resonated up the staircase and disturbed the peaceful silence that graced the new wedding location. The members of the press that had arrived in town this morning were getting restless, especially after hearing the commotion going on out back.
"Some of them slipped through the back fence after the ambulance left," Eli said looking down towards the lobby. "What do we do?"
"We remain calm," Joy said impatiently. "That's what we do. You go down there and tell those reporters everything is fine. Got it?"
"Oh Lord!" Bebe yelped, looking out the window. I ran to join her, realizing there was just as good of a view of the chair lift from inside. I peered out the window and saw Lila and John making their return trip down the mountain.
"Bebe," I hesitated. "Did you see…?"
"Oh no, darlin'." She placed a hand on her chest. "You'll have to tell me what happened down there because I couldn't see a thing as soon as you walked around the other side of that building."
"Oh uh—"
"And you could use a major touch up," she went on.
Lila was waving her arms and arguing with John again. She was still too far away for me to see the look on her face. I was relieved that my parents and Patrick's didn't have the opportunity to see what had really happened between the three of us. Patrick's mom might have dropped dead if she saw her only son shot by his fiancée right before the wedding.
Lila shook her head. She turned away from John and wouldn't stop shaking her head. John outstretched a hand to comfort her, but Lila jerked her hand away. I could barely see her face now. She glanced down at the snow and then back at John before she slid from her seat. My stomach churned. John grabbed her arm just in time.
Lila dangled from the ski lift and she didn't look the least bit frightened. She swung her body, trying to force John to let go, but he wouldn't budge. I turned around and saw that all eyes were on the frosty window. Bebe gasped again, then the room fell eerily silent.
The chair lift was still high enough that falling would cause serious injuries or even death. I studied the look on John's pale face as best I could from a distance. He clenched his jaw and wrinkled his entire face. He was holding onto Lila with all his might. In the meantime, Lila was furious she hadn't fallen. With her free, dangling arm she clawed at John's fingers. He cried out, but his yells were muffled from behind the glass.
Sheriff Williams was already outside watching from above. I ran back towards the bride's room and to the open patio. The cold stung my face as I stepped back into the snow. My body shivered. I hadn't fully de-thawed from my first adventure in freezing temperatures.
"Hang in there, son." The sheriff was shouting encouraging words at John. "Hold her steady."
Lila screamed. Her shrieks shot up and down the canyon and I thought they might cause a mini avalanche. She swung her body again and this time she was successful. I let out a yelp, and my lungs felt like they had been squeezed to half their size as I watched her plummet into the snow. Sheriff Williams went running towards her. She was still a good ways up the mountain. High enough to do some damage, but low enough that whether or not she was alive would be unclear until someone checked her pulse.
Bebe had followed me and stood at my side. She buried her face in her hands, hiding tears. As she wiped her cheeks, her gaze steadily wandered down to the ground beneath us. She froze just like she had the moment she saw Donna's body. My eyes darted to the spot she was staring at. Lights flashed uncontrollably from every direction at the base of the resort. Like the wedding party upstairs, the press had also seen the whole thing.
"Let's hope she's not dead," Bebe quietly muttered. "Otherwise, the world is going to hate this town."
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
By the time John Slagger was back on the ground, another ambulance had arrived and more medics were making the trek up the snowy mountain to meet the sheriff. His son, Murray, staid near the hotel keeping the press under control and shouting
no comment
as they rattled off lists of ridiculous questions. Bebe retreated back to the wedding party to offer words of comfort to Patrick's frail mother, and Joy prepared a private room for family to wait and receive word about the bride and groom's conditions.