Sorry it has been a little while since I last wrote. I have posted here before, about my job (Part 1, Part 2), but things have been pretty busy around here, and it can be hard to find the time to write. The resort tends to occupy my mind on most days, and at night it is really safest to be asleep. Still, I promised myself I would give this an honest shot, so I need to make time. With that in mind, here is my latest journal. Thanks for reading.

I scrubbed at the grout between the tiles in the dining room, working to get the blood out. I was going to need to see if Manny knew where a grout rake might be, because the stains were already set in, and I was going to have to scrape it out properly to get rid of the dark, rusty staining.

“Why are you doing this?” Vincent stood above me, watching as I labored away, as he had for the last half-hour or so.

“Because if I let the blood set in for too long, I will have to re-grout this entire section of floor. Which is a real pain,” I swiped at the sweat on my brow with the back of my hand.

“That isn’t what I meant, and you know it,” he scowled.

“What do you want me to say, Vince?”

“Vincent.”

“Sorry, Vincent. The fact is, we only get room and board if we work. You might want to find something to do yourself, if you want a place to sleep tonight. It isn’t safe to be in the halls after midnight.”

“I never agreed to work here!” he threw his hands up, exasperated.

“What you agreed to really isn’t the point.”

“You can’t keep me here.”

“Look, you can stay or go as far as I am concerned. I am not the one stopping you.”

“Well, someone is!”

I had already figured that the attempt he made to leave this morning, after he received his uniform, hadn’t gone any better than his previous attempts.

“I know. You think I haven’t tried to leave? It won’t work,” I peeled a small, dried piece of earlobe off the tiles and tossed it into the trash bag.

“So, how do we get out?”

“If I knew that, do you think I would be doing this?” I held up my bloody gloves. “As far as we have been able to piece together, there are only three ways out.”

“And those are?”

“Well, you saw two yesterday. Death is the easy one. It is how most people end their time here,” I paused to rinse off my brush in the now dark red/black bucket of water.

“Yeah, I figured that one out. What about the other two?”

“The other two are… well, you may have noticed that this place it… pushes you. It goads you, taunts you. It plays on your guilt and shame. It is trying to break you. And when you do, the cracks let something in. You become… something else,” I raised a hand to stop him before he could ask his next question. “Don’t ask me what, because I don’t know, and I hope I never find out. But there are things, waiting here, waiting for you to reach the moment when you would choose to throw away your life, so that they can claim it.”

“So, you are saying that guy with the cleaver was possessed or something? At the end?”

“They never really stick around to explain it to me,” I rolled my eyes. “Suffice it to say, I don’t want to end up that way.”

“What’s left then?” he was growing more agitated, pacing the floor as I scrubbed. At least he was stepping around the blood.

“Well, we were all lured here for a reason. The only people who find this place are those who are at the end of their rope, people they thinks they can break. Let go of what is holding you here, find a way to want to go back to your life, you might be able to. It doesn’t happen that often, though.”

“Is that why we got stuck working here, then? To learn something about ourselves?”

I laughed out loud at that,

“Best I can figure is we are stuck working here because we didn’t break quickly enough for their liking. Or maybe they just like yanking some of us around, who knows? This is not a place that is conducive to healing or self-discovery. It isn’t easy to like yourself, here. They expect us to fail, eventually. Best advice I can give is: don’t give them the satisfaction. Do your work, act like it is just a regular job, try to figure out why you are here, so you can find a way to get out.”

“This is bullshit!” he shoved a table over, sending cutlery and glassware crashing to the ground. “I am not staying here. I am certainly not working here.”

Vincent grabbed a bottle of gin from the liquor cart and headed for the door.

“I really wouldn’t advise that,” I called after him, even though I already knew it was futile.

“What are they going to do, fire me?” he asked sarcastically.

“No, but you really do want to keep your wits about you, in this place.”

“You, and this place, can go straight to hell, for all I care,” he stormed out.

“Close enough,” I muttered to myself, and went back to cleaning the floor.

A few hours later, I had finished with the tiles and was washing out the ice machine on the second floor, when I heard the bell at the front desk. Guests. I had been hoping for a few days break, but instead I arrived at the lobby to find a larger group than usual, 5 college aged kids were standing at the desk, talking excitedly.

“Do you think it starts right away?” the blonde woman with glasses asked the young man next to her.

“I don’t know, Clara. I bet things start out normal, lulling you into a false sense of security, then the deaths start happening,” the man, who was twirling a calabash pipe around the fingers of one hand, responded.

I paused for a moment at that. Deaths? I shook it off, one thing I had learned here was how to roll with the punches.

“Welcome to Ultima Resort. How can I help you today?”

The woman in the front had long, red hair, she stepped forward and held out a paper,

“We are here for the murder mystery weekend.”

I took the flyer from her hands. She was right, the Resort was, apparently, holding a murder mystery weekend. It offered guests a chance to ‘Be the detective’ and ‘solve a dastardly crime’. Fantastic. I forced a smile,

“Of course,” I pressed the button to call Manny in from the maintenance room. “We will get you checked in and settled in your rooms. The event will begin,” I quickly checked the flyer, “at dinner tonight. Until then, please feel free to explore the area.”

“We’ll need to know the lay of the land, it might help with the case,” a dark-haired woman in the back, wearing a deerstalker cap, chimed in.

“Ooh that is a good point, Kim,” the redhead replied enthusiastically. “Maybe we should sketch a map, take some photos.”

“That’s a great idea, Hailey!” the man with the pipe reached into his bag and extracted a sheaf of graph paper. “I came prepared to make quality sketches.”

“Nice, Thomas!”

Manny emerged from the back, and I waved him over while they continued to plan their survey of the grounds. I handed him the flyer,

“Do you know anything about this?”

He skimmed the contents, and grimaced,

“I don’t like event weekends.”

“This has happened before?”

“Sure. Business conferences, retreats, yoga, a dog show, one time. That one was especially messy. I think some of them are still in the woods, based on the pieces of rabbits and squirrels I have found in the gardens.”

“That’s where those dogs came from?” I shuddered. They were one of many reasons you didn’t want to be outside after dark.

“Yup, it was a couple of years back, before your time, Lucy. It doesn’t really matter. The point is, event weekends come up, time to time.”

“So, what do we do?”

“What we always do, try to keep the guests happy, follow any instructions we do receive, and wait and see what happens.”

“Do we need to set up a murder scene for dinner, then?”

Manny gave me a long, piercing look. I sighed,

“Right, of course, that part will surely take care of itself, won’t it?”

He nodded. I finished entering their information into the computer and began passing out keys. Five people in four adjoining rooms on the 3rd floor. The blonde and Thomas seemed to be a couple, the rest were in single rooms.

“Do you think we should be expecting more guests for this?” I asked Manny quietly.

“Maybe, maybe not,” he shrugged. “These folks seem to be a group, of some sort,” he gestured to the small collection of kids, with their strange assortment of accessories. “I suspect this is centered around them, specifically.”

I saw what he meant, aside from Kim with the deerstalker and Thomas with the calabash pipe, the blond woman had out a notebook and a magnifying glass, Hailey was talking quietly into a handheld recorder of some kind, and the final man in the back, was wearing a homburg and a bowtie. It was odd.

“May I ask how you heard about our event?” I inquired politely, as I handed a key to the redhead, Hailey.

“Jake found the flyer posted outside our meeting room,” seeing the confusion on my face she continued. “We are the murder mystery club at our university. So, of course, how could we resist the chance to solve a mystery for real?” she giggled excitedly.

“Well, I certainly hope you enjoy your experience,” I tried not to grimace noticeably as I said that.

I retrieved the final key, for Jake, and was just handing it over when the front door burst open. I looked, fearing it would be further guests, but instead saw Vincent, nearly empty bottle of gin dangling from his fingers. Seeing the small crowd in the lobby he paused, swaying in the doorway, before making up his mind and stumbling inside.

“You’re all going to die here, you know,” he slurred, gesturing at them with the gin bottle. “Leave now, before it’s too late.”

The club exchanged quick glances, momentarily confused before Hailey smiled and laughed,

“Wow, things are getting started already. This is very immersive.”

Murmurs of agreement came from the others. Before Vincent could say anything else, Manny picked up the bags at his feet,

“Everyone follow me, please. Don’t fall behind, this place can be dangerous.”

A chorus of ‘oohs’ rose from the club, who quickly followed him up the stairs. I looked over at Vincent,

“Well, you’re officially the crazy drunk from the beginning of Friday the 13th, congratulations.”

“But I’m right.”

“So was he, it doesn’t matter. No one is going to believe you. And even if they do, what then? They are already here; you know first-hand that they can’t just leave. It’s already too late for a warning.”

“What am I supposed to do, just quietly lead them to the slaughter, like you?” he waved the bottle at me.

I plucked it out of his hand,

“I don’t need to be cleaning up any more broken glass because of you, thank you. Now, do you want a cup of coffee?”

“Nope, I just came in looking for another bottle. I don’t need anything from you.”

He staggered off towards the dining room. I placed the bottle in the trash bin under the desk and looked up to see Manny watching me.

“It was a hard adjustment for you at first, too,” he observed. “He’ll come around.”

“Yeah, maybe, I just wish I could spare him learning some things the hard way.”

“Sometimes, we learn by making mistakes.”

“If you survive the mistakes long enough to learn from them.”

Dinner was a black-tie affair. The members of the murder mystery club entered the dining room that evening in gowns and tuxedos, with hair elaborately styled and Clara’s glasses replaced with an antique looking pince-nez. The menu was, apparently, fixed, because once they arrived, the Chef waved me over immediately and placed a serving tray with appetizers into my hand. There were little bacon-wrapped scallops and shrimp with a remoulade. I brought them to the table, and as I approached, I saw Thomas and Hailey solemnly placing a color photograph of a pretty young woman with brown hair and dark eyes on the empty sixth chair at the table. Seeing me watching them, Hailey explained,

“This is Annie, she couldn’t be here with us tonight,” everyone at the table lowered their eyes somberly. “But we promised ourselves that we would keep her memory alive. We bring her photo to every club event, so it is like she is here with us. Right guys?”

The other members nodded gravely. Lifting her cocktail in the direction of the photo, Kim said softly,

“To Annie.”

“To Annie,” the others joined in.

I passed around the appetizers and quietly returned to the kitchen, not wanting to intrude on a private moment. I gave them some space, returning only to refill drinks and pass out the main course, lobster with drawn butter and asparagus. They ate, mostly talking their observations of the resort, anticipating the mystery that was to begin. I had to admit, I was sort of wondering what was going to happen myself. Though I wouldn’t say I was excited about it.

“Did anyone else go down to the spa?” Hailey asked between bites of asparagus.

“Yes! I wondered if you were going to bring that up,” Kim jumped in. “The masseur was very suspicious. He stared for too long and hardly ever blinked. I bet he is going to be a suspect.”

“The guy from the lobby, too, definitely,” Thomas added. “Though I think he overplayed the character a bit. I didn’t really buy his acting.”

“You’re right, it was way too melodramatic,” Kim laughed.

“I thought he did a good job,” Clara said softly.

Thomas laughed and she blushed.

“Did anyone else find any other actors?”

“I thought I heard someone off in the bushes, but when I went to look, no one was there.”

“I saw wet footprints on the pool deck, but I didn’t see anyone in the water.”

Clara carefully noted each observation in her notebook.

“Actually, that is odd,” Thomas piped up, looking around the empty dining room. “Are we the only ones here?”

“It looks like it, doesn’t it? I guess this must be a slow period for this resort, maybe they are doing this theme night to try and drum up business.”

“Doesn’t look like it is working.”

There were a few stifled chuckles and guilty looks in my direction. I would tell them they didn’t need to bother, but that would raise too many questions.

“Well, all the better for us, it’s like our own private event.”

I went around the table and refilled the martini glasses, all of which were empty, except Jake’s, he hadn’t touched his all night. Then, dessert appeared at the pass, so I stepped away to retrieve the lemon cheesecake and began serving it to the table. As I reached Thomas, a strange look came over his face.

“Lemon cheesecake?” he said, more to himself than to me. “Scallops, shrimp, lobster and lemon cheesecake?”

Clara looked up from her dessert,

“What’s wrong, Thomas?”

“Doesn’t anyone else remember? This is exactly what we ate, 6 months ago, at the awards dinner.”

The table grew very quiet. Finally, Hailey broke the silence,

“It’s just a coincidence, Tom. Why did you need to bring that up?”

“I mean, it’s weird, isn’t it? What are the odds…”

“We aren’t talking about the awards dinner,” Jake snapped.

Everyone looked over, he had barely spoken all evening, so his sudden participation drew their notice.

“You are right. Let’s just… enjoy our cake, ok?” Hailey tried to force a smile. “It is almost time for the show to begin, after all. Let’s not dwell on sad memories and ruin it.”

They went back to talking casually after this, but the cheer was somewhat forced. Everyone had finished their dessert and everyone except for Jake had finished several more cocktails when there was a horrifying noise from outside. Rending metal and breaking glass echoed through the night. I ran to the window to see that a car had smashed into a tree out front, leaving it wrapped around the trunk. The horn blared incessantly. The club members at the table all jumped to their feet and moved for the door, I hesitated for a moment. It was well after dark. But the wreck was close to the front door, so maybe it was worth the risk to find out what had happened. Tentatively, I followed them outside.

Thomas was tugging on the driver’s door, trying to get it open, but he was being thwarted by the bent frame. Inside, there was a form visible through the glass, lying very still with their head on the wheel, likely pressing down on the horn. With one more tug, Thomas managed to wrench the door open, and he reached inside to pull the woman out of the car. It occurred to me that they probably shouldn’t move the victim, in case their spine was injured, but I had the thought too late to stop them from grabbing her under her arms and dragging her out of the vehicle. It was probably for the best that I hadn’t said anything, because it would have been very embarrassing when they lay the woman on the grass and it turned out she was a realistic mannequin, with long brown hair and heavily applied makeup. Somehow, there was also a gash on her forehead that was actively oozing red liquid. Pinned to the chest was an envelope. Hailey reached down and opened the note. As she read it, I watched her face darken, then she stormed over to me.

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” she thrust the note into my hand.

I opened it up, it read:

Here is your mystery for the weekend: who killed her? Solve it quickly because no detective will be safe until this case is closed.

I lowered the note and looked into the angry face of the guest in front of me, wondering if I was about to be hit.

“I don’t understand.”

“Who set up this case? Who told you to do this?” she demanded.

“I… I am not involved in that. I am just the concierge,” that was true enough.

“Then who is, huh? Where are they?” Hailey stepped in closer to me, and I shrank back.

Clara placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder,

“Hailey, what is going on?”

“Look at this, Clara, look!” she tore the note away from me and shoved it to Clara. She read it and went very pale, then passed it along, until everyone had seen it. The mood was suddenly very tense.

“Alright, then,” Thomas looked around at his friends. “Which one of you set this up? Because it is in really poor taste. Disgusting, even.”

There was a general shaking of heads.

“Come on,” Clara said softly. “None of us would do this. That’s crazy.”

“Well, what other explanation is there?” Hailey demanded.

“It could be a coincidence, I suppose,” Kim offered.

“You really believe that?” Hailey snapped. “We come here for a murder mystery weekend, and you think the case they give us, by chance, is exactly how Annie died?”

“Not exactly, Annie wasn’t murdered,” Jake clarified. “It was just an accident.”

“Was it?” Hailey muttered. “Thomas was right, back at dinner. The same meal from the night she died, an accident just like hers, the same car she drove, even the mannequin looks like her. Are you trying to tell me none of you set this up?”

The redheaded woman was growing more agitated as she spoke, pacing across the yard.

“Hailey,” Clara broke in softly. “Look around you. Everyone here is as shocked as you are. No one here did this. Please.”

She made a good point. Jake had tears running down his cheeks, Kim was trembling, her arms wrapped around her stomach, Thomas looked as angry as Hailey, and Clara looked wide-eyed and frightened. Hailey finally stopped and took a breath,

“Maybe you’re right. But the fact remains, I am not investigating this ‘case’. No way in hell. I’m going to get some sleep, and tomorrow, I am going home.”

“What about the other thing in the note?” Clara asked. “About how we aren’t safe until the case is solved?”

“That’s just some bullshit they put in to scare us, it isn’t going to work,” she turned on her heel and stomped back inside.

Gradually, the remaining members of the club followed suit, drifting inside one after another. The last was Jake, who spent a long moment staring at the wrecked car, before he finally shook his head and went inside. With everyone in, I closed and locked the front door. It was time to get some sleep, midnight was approaching.

The morning was tense. Hailey had gathered the others and tried to leave first thing in the morning, but by the time I finished laying out the breakfast buffet, they were back, saying the bridge had flooded and they were trapped here. There wasn’t usually a bridge at all, but I supposed it fit well enough with the murder mystery theme. As did the lack of cell signal and the fact that the landlines had been ‘cut’. Now they were eating breakfast and discussing what to do next.

“We could try hiking out through the woods,” Thomas offered. “Surely we would get to the road eventually.”

“Or we’d get killed as soon as we were alone,” Kim murmured. “Someone trapped us here, recreated Annie’s death, and they threatened us, remember? They said we weren’t safe until we solved her murder.”

“But she wasn’t murdered!” Jake cried.

“It doesn’t matter, whoever is doing this is clearly a psycho. This is a classic revenge story,” Thomas announced, looking around the room. “And the culprit must be one of you. One of you blames us for what happened to Annie, and trapped us here to get revenge. The question is, who?”

He studied each of his companions. “The most obvious suspect is Hailey, of course.”

“What?!”

“Come on, Hailey. We all know you and Annie were together. It wasn’t a secret.”

“Yeah, we were dating, I never denied that. That doesn’t mean I would do something like this, over an accident. Maybe it was you, Tom,” she rounded on him. “After all, I know you were obsessed with her.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie. She told me about how you kept hitting on her. She told me you only started dating Clara because she wouldn’t give you the time of day. We both know who you really wanted to be with.”

There was a brief sob and footsteps echoed as Clara fled the room.

“What the hell, Hailey?” Thomas snarled. “Now look what you’ve done!”

“Like she didn’t already know,” Hailey snorted.

Thomas rose and chased after his girlfriend. The rest of the party dispersed after that, seemingly looking for some space from each other. A short time later, as I was gathering the dishes, Thomas returned.

“Do you have a key?” he approached me. “I think something is wrong, I heard a scream from inside my room. But Clara took the only key, and I can’t get in.”

I retrieved my keyring and we returned to the third floor. I unlocked the door, but was having trouble opening it, something was blocking it from the inside.

“She must have pushed a dresser or something in front to keep me out,” Thomas grumbled, throwing his shoulder against the door.

I looked down and saw the dark stain oozing from under the door, seeping into the hall carpet. I had a feeling I knew what we would find in there. Finally, the door shifted open enough for him to poke his head inside and see the obstruction, when he did, he screamed and stumbled back. I looked inside myself, and saw Clara, slumped against the door, bleeding from stab wounds in her neck and chest. Looking back, I saw the rest of the group emerging from their rooms, having heard Thomas scream. They all looked at me, confused. What was I supposed to say?

“Can someone help me get the door open the rest of the way? I think your friend Clara is hurt.”

Everyone gathered in the lobby, shaken and horrified by the turn events had taken.

“Someone killed Clara and it had to be one of you,” Thomas accused.

“What do you mean? It had to have been a suicide, right? She was locked in the room, leaning on the only door. The windows were locked, no one could have killed her,” Kim reasoned.

“Then where was the knife, Kim?” Hailey replied.

“Maybe, she didn’t die right away. Maybe she hid it?”

“Why would she do that?”

“To frame one of us?”

The group of four all stared at each other.

“What about the note?” Jake asked.

We had all seen the note lying on the floor by her side, stained by her blood. It said: Solve the case, or she won’t be the last.

“Maybe she planned all of this,” Hailey offered.

“Or the killer did,” Thomas replied.

“There is only one thing to do, then,” Kim said finally. “We investigate that car crash. Whoever set that up is surely the one doing this. Maybe it was Clara, maybe it was whoever killed Clara. Either way, we need to figure it out. Right? We are smart people, we can put this together, before anyone else gets killed.”

There was silence for a moment as the group considered the suggestion.

“Alright,” Hailey said at last. “Let’s go out and look at the scene.”

As the group filed out, I returned to the desk. I still had work to get done today. I had just retrieved the cleaning cart when I heard footsteps on the tile and looked over to see Vincent coming in from the garden. He looked terrible, pale and disheveled, his uniform was torn in places and there were long scratch marks across his chest. He cleared his throat awkwardly when he saw me,

“Do, uh, do you need help with anything?”

“Let me guess, you really want a room tonight, right?”

He nodded sheepishly,

“It wasn’t so much the…” he paused, running his hand along the scratches, and shuddered. “It was me. What I wanted to do. Is it always like that?”

“I tried to warn you. This place pushes you to do things that will make you hate yourself. You know: get drunk and set fires, put a pillow over their faces and press down until they stop breathing, that sort of thing. Trick is not to listen. But it is stronger at night, so it’s better to sleep, if you can. The dreams are still better than being awake. There are things that can hurt you out there, but there are also things that will make you wish they had hurt you.”

“I think I get it, now.”

“No, you don’t. Not yet. But it’s a start,” I motioned for him to grab a bucket of water and a sponge. “Come on, you can help me clean up the blood in the hallway. Then, we’ll try to find some jobs you can do regularly.”

“Blood? Did something happen?”

“Yeah, one of the murder mystery kids was stabbed.”

“And we are just going to clean it up? Shouldn’t we call the cops or something?”

“The cops don’t come here. The only people who can find this place are the ones they want here. Don’t expect a rescue or help. The most we can do is try to make it through another day, and that means doing our work. So, are you coming or not?”

Vincent hesitated for a minute, looking at the phone on the desk, then he nodded and followed me upstairs.

We were back in the lobby, and I was showing Vincent how to use the computer system when the four remaining club members returned from their investigation. They hovered in the lobby, keeping more distance between themselves than they previously had been, and the looks they exchanged seemed suspicious. They helped themselves to complimentary coffee before sitting around one of the small tables.

“I think we should summarize everything we have learned,” Hailey announced. “Try to put this case together.”

Everyone nodded and pulled out their notebooks.

“Where do we start?” Kim asked.

“Let’s start with the car accident last night. What did everyone find in their examination.”

“Well, something isn’t right about the whole scene,” Thomas began. “The victim was found in the driver’s seat, but that doesn’t make sense based on the other evidence. The air bag had been deployed, but there was no sign of any makeup on it, despite the fact that she had quite a lot on her face. And there was an indentation in the mannequin that seemed like a seatbelt mark, but the mannequin wasn’t wearing a seatbelt at all when we found her. I also found one of the shoes on the passenger side, underneath the dash.”

“It could have bounced there, during the collision,” Jake offered.

“Maybe, but combined with everything else, I think the car crashed with her in the passenger’s set, and someone moved her into the driver’s seat, after.”

“Wouldn’t the passenger’s airbag have deployed, then?” Jake inquired.

Hailey shook her head,

“It was an older, restored car from the 90s, no passenger airbags.”

“So, someone else was driving?” Kim asked.

“I think so,” Thomas concluded. “They crashed, Annie was killed, but the airbag saved them. So, they moved her over so no one would know, and escaped.”

“Wait, why are we talking about Annie?” Kim interrupted. “I thought we were discussing the fake crash.”

“We are talking about both. I found these in the trunk of the car,” he pulled out an envelope and tossed it on the table.

“Are these crime scene and autopsy photos, from Annie’s accident?” Hailey gasped, leafing through the images.

“Yup. And it is the same as this scene, to the last detail. Check for yourself,” he proclaimed. “She had a bruise from the seatbelt on her right shoulder. There was a shoe under the dash and no makeup on the airbag. I think someone is trying to tell us that Annie’s death wasn’t an accident.”

“That’s crazy!” Kim shouted. “The cops said she was driving drunk, missed a turn, hit a tree. Nothing suspicious. Who would kill Annie?”

“I don’t know, but someone seems to think it was one of us. So maybe, we should go over our alibis from after the awards dinner.”

“Alibi? I don’t need an alibi.”

“If you have nothing to hide, why not just tell us where you went after the dinner, Kim?” Thomas stepped closer. “We all know you were jealous of Annie. After all, she won the award for best mystery story by a new author that night, pushing you from the podium. Did you want her out of the way?”

“That’s ridiculous, Tom, no one would kill someone over that. Annie was my friend.”

“Then where were you, Kim?”

“Fine, you want to know? I got way too drunk at the party, we all did. I was in no shape to drive home, so Professor Frost offered to give me a lift.”

“And where did he take you?”

“Back to his place. We slept together, alright? I didn’t leave until the next day.”

“Why didn’t you ever mention this, if it’s true?”

“He’s married and I’m his grad student. He said not to tell anyone. Are you happy now!?”

Kim was blushing crimson as she shoved past Tom and stormed out of the room. There was stunned silence for a moment, before Hailey spoke up,

“Was that really necessary?”

“She was lying, you could see that. And she was jealous of Annie. She could easily have been the killer.”

“What about you?” Hailey asked. “Where were you after the party?”

“Me? What reason did I have to kill Annie?”

“She spurned all your advances. Maybe you were bitter, angry about the rejection.”

“No way. I was with Clara, the whole night.”

“A shame she can’t confirm that.”

“Well, what about you?” he turned on her. “Where were you? Maybe a lover’s quarrel escalated and you did something you regretted.”

“No way. I wasn’t even with her at the end of the night. Like Kim said, we were all drinking pretty heavily. I started feeling sick about an hour or so before the party ended, I called a cab to go home.”

“Can you prove it? Did you pay with a credit card?”

“I think cash, but maybe if the cab keeps records?”

“How would we know it was really you, though?”

The argument was interrupted by a groan from above, and suddenly, Kim appeared on the landing of the stairs, clutching at her throat. Then, she stumbled and toppled down the steps, landing in a crumpled heap at the foot of the stairs. The remaining three rushed over. Thomas pressed a finger into her neck.

“She’s dead.”

“From the fall?”

“I don’t think so. I smell almonds and the red on her lips isn’t lipstick. I think she was poisoned,” Thomas frowned.

“Cyanide?” Hailey gasped. “How?”

Thomas pulled a note from her grip,

“I don’t know. But I think she was coming to show us this.”

Hailey took the note from his hand and read,

“You are almost out of time. The dying won’t stop until the killer is revealed.”

“Who is doing this?” Hailey shouted.

“You think I am going to fall for that?” Thomas grabbed her by the shirt. “You don’t think I know you planned this as revenge for Annie?”

“Just a second ago I killed Annie, now I killed Kim for revenge? You are insane, Tom, let me go,” she slapped him across the face with her free hand, raking her nails across his cheek, drawing blood.

But I had stopped watching them. My eyes were on Jake, standing behind them, several feet away. He was shaking and sweating profusely. I knew the signs; would this be the moment he broke? Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“It was me,” he shouted, the admission bursting from his mouth like a cork from a wine bottle. “It was me. I killed Annie.”

The other two turned towards him, too stunned to even speak for a moment. Finally, Hailey managed,

“Jake? But why? What did she ever do to you?”

“Nothing, Hailey. She didn’t do anything. Annie was my friend, I never wanted to hurt her. I didn’t hurt her,” then he paused and rephrased. “I didn’t hurt her on purpose. It was an accident. I swear it.”

“What happened, Jake? Please, we need to know, all of it.”

“Well,” Jake seemed to struggle to find the words, but he pushed on regardless. “It was like you all said, each of you had left the party. You went first, Hailey, then Tom with Clara, and then Kim with Prof. Frost. Annie and I were the last two left from the club. She told me she hadn’t planned to drink that night, but she had been celebrating her win, and she was really smashed. She had driven there and she didn’t have the money for a cab home, and she didn’t want to leave her car there overnight. She asked me if I could drive. I Had been drinking too, but I honestly thought I was ok, I hadn’t had that much. I knew I was probably over the limit, but it wasn’t that far. I figured as long as I was careful, it would be fine.”

He paused, covering his face with his hand,

“I don’t know how it happened. I just… didn’t see the curve. Before I even knew what was happening, we were wrapped around that tree. I was ok, I little bruised up from the airbag, but Annie… she had hit her head on the dash, really hard. If she’d been alive, I swear I would have stayed, called for help. But she was already dead, and I thought… why should both of our lives be over? So, I moved her to the driver’s seat and I walked back to the city and caught a cab home. I told everyone I had the flu and didn’t leave my apartment until the bruises on my face had faded. No one saw us leave together, no one suspected I was even there. I thought I had gotten away with it, but the guilt, it’s been eating me up inside. I tried to act like everything was normal, but I don’t think I could have gone on much longer,” he collapsed to his knees on the tile, sobbing. “God, Annie, I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry. My life ended that night anyway. I should never have…”

He was crying too hard to speak at that point. The other two exchanged glances. Then Hailey approached Jake, and placed a hand gently on his shoulder,

“I know you didn’t mean to kill her, Jake. But what you did was still…” she didn’t have the words. “We are going to go back to the city, now. You are going to tell the cops and her family everything, and face your punishment.”

“Of course,” Jake nodded. “I’ll tell them everything. I want to set things right, do what I should have done that night. I owe it to her.”

“What about Clara, and Kim?” Thomas interrupted.

“We’ll send the cops back, they will do a proper investigation. Whoever did this is dangerous, we need to get help.”

Thomas hesitated, looking back at Kim, but finally he nodded,

“Alright, let’s get out of here. Wait, what if the bridge is still underwater?”

“We’ll try driving through it. If that doesn’t work, we’ll walk. Any objections?”

No one spoke up. Jake rose and the three remaining members of the mystery club walked together out into the twilight. I turned to Vincent and clapped him on the shoulder,

“You know, maybe you are good luck.”

“What do you mean?”

“That was the first time in a long time I have seen them lose their prey. And on your first real day as staff, too.”

“You think they got out, then?”

“Yeah, that was his moment, but he didn’t break. He took responsibility, he is going to face what he did and make whatever amends he can. And they chose justice over vengeance. I think they’ll make it out.”

Vincent glanced over at Kim’s body, still lying at the bottom of the stairs.

“And what about the guilt over her, and the other girl?”

“You never know, maybe some of them will be back some day.”

“Should we worry about them sending the cops?”

“I already explained that to you, Vincent. Now, help me move this body, will you? Then we will need to go and get Manny so we can haul away the wrecked car and get the place looking presentable again. You never know when more guests will arrive.”

So, that’s the latest here at the resort. I just logged in to post this, and then I need to get some sleep. Cutting down that tree and hauling off the car was a lot of work, and I am more tired than usual tonight. At least we had an extra pair of hands to help. Vincent may not be too happy with being trapped here, but now he seems motivated to work for his room. And he even got a rare glimpse of hope: someone actually made it out alive. Maybe someday, we can do the same. But for now, I just need to focus on staying alive. So, I will say goodnight and end it here for now. I’ll write again when I can.

Until next time,

Lucy

Part 4