“You were saying that you weren’t happy about going to the cabin,” Vera prompted.
“Yes.” Alicia sighed. “Seth was an old boyfriend of mine. I hadn’t seen him or Sandy—the woman he brought with him—in ages. Anyway, he came up here claiming I asked him to come. That was a total lie, but he just wouldn’t leave. He kept saying he was afraid for me. That someone was setting him up and me too.”
“Do you know of any reason someone would want to set you up?”
“No. That’s the weird thing. I mean, I’ve done some things in the past I’m not proud of. Like cheat on my boyfriend or whatever. But I’ve been a different person for a while now. And after I met Thomas, I knew I was never going back to my old life.”
“How did the four of you end up at the cabin for the weekend?” That part puzzled Bent the most in light of what she’d just said, as well as what Sandy Owens had shared with her sister.
“When I told Thomas what was happening, he was worried too. He felt doing this weekend thing would maybe help bring out the truth. He wasn’t worried about it being me who’d done something wrong, if that’s what you’re asking. He knew I was telling the truth. You may not know this, but we’re having a baby. We weren’t thinking about anything else.The truth is, once we really talked it all over, we both actually believed Seth’s story about being lured to Fayetteville by a person he thought was me. Thomas wasn’t quite as certain as I was, but he trusted my judgment. The weekend at the cabin was his idea. He insisted on seeing how the weekend went down, just to be sure.”
“If you started to believe Seth,” Vera ventured, “who did you feel might be responsible for what was happening?”
She gave a dry laugh. “Take your pick. They all hate me. Valeri, Helen, Renata, and Jose. I don’t know what I did, but I couldn’t trust them with anything. Whatever I said or did, they twisted it around and tried to make me look like I was somehow mistreating them. They even went to Thomas about it. It was just crazy.”
Bent and Vera exchanged a look, and she asked, “Is there one you felt was the ringleader?”
“Valeri, for sure,” Alicia insisted without hesitation. “She did not like me from the beginning. She preferred having Thomas all to herself.”
Bent could see the possibility. “When did the trouble start at the cabin?” At her pained look, he added, “Take your time.”
“By Monday we pretty much had everything worked out. Thomas was confident someone else was behind the situation, even if he wasn’t ready to believe it was one of his dedicated employees. He planned to hire a private detective to figure it out. So we all relaxed. Sandy and I were talking about what we should make for dinner and baby names. It was a perfect day. I tire easily, so I decided to take a nap that afternoon while the others prepared dinner.”
She fell silent for a while, but Bent didn’t push. This was difficult enough.
“Something woke me up. A loud noise of some sort. I got up and came downstairs ... The first thing I saw was Seth on the floor by the sofa.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I ran to him, but he was dead. Then I saw Sandy, and my heart almost stopped.”
She shuddered. “All I could think was that I had to find Thomas. I rushed onto the deck.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “He was floating facedown in the hot tub. I reached for him, and that’s when I heard someone behind me. I glanced back, and there was this black figure—clothes, mask, all black. I ran, but something hit my head.” She touched the bandages there. “I remember falling. I was face down, and he was on top of me. He kept banging my head into the wooden step. His hand was twisted in my hair, and he banged and banged and then ... I don’t remember anything else.”
“You’re certain it was a man?” Bent asked.
“I can’t be sure,” she said, “but the person in black was very tall and broad shouldered. Really strong.”
“Did you notice eye color?” Bent asked. “Did you see any part of his skin that could tell if he was white or otherwise?”
“It happened so fast ...” She drew in a big breath. “I honestly can’t say. I just remember the black ... ensemble, I suppose, is the best way to put it.”
“Did you notice how he smelled?” Vera asked. “Did he say anything?”
“He didn’t say anything, and I don’t recall any smells. I think I was too terrified for my baby. The next thing I knew, I was here. I could hear things, but I couldn’t wake up until now.”
After a moment, Vera asked the next question. “Would you tell us why you and your husband as well as your guests were naked?”
Alicia looked confused. “What?”
“When we arrived at the cabin,” Vera explained, “all of you were naked.”
“How is that possible? We all had on clothes. Sandy and I had on shorts and tops. Thomas and Seth were wearing shorts and T-shirts—at least when I went to our room to take a nap. Seth and Sandy had clothes on when I found them.” She hesitated, as if trying to recall. “Thomas had taken off his tee, but I don’t know about his shorts.”
“Had everyone been drinking?” Bent held up a hand. “I’m not asking because I want to use the information against you or anyone else, Mrs. Wilton. I’m trying to gauge the situation in terms of how everyone reacted to the attack.”
“Thomas had been careful about how much he drank up until then. Of course I wasn’t drinking at all. But after we figured out thatsomeone had set us all up, everyone kind of let loose, so they may have all gotten pretty buzzed while I was napping.”
“But you’re certain you were all clothed?” He didn’t like pressing the issue, but he needed to know she was certain.
“We were. Yes. No one walked around naked that weekend.” She made a face that revealed exactly how awful she considered the idea. “No one.”
“What about drugs?” Vera asked. “Cocaine was found. There was weed.”
