“Oh, I’m sure he won’t be too far off,” she said, “In fact if you want to take yourself back to bed now, I can bring you both a midnight snack very soon.”
I paused as she held my gaze, not dropping her smile. I wondered if she was someone who I could question about Dylan, but just because he wasn’t in the kitchen didn’t mean that he wasn’t waiting anywhere else for me.
“That would be lovely. Thank you so much Jackie, I’ll head back to bed.”
Jackie nodded. “I won’t be too long.”
I turned my back on her as I walked back towards the elevator, but just before I pressed the button, I gazed out into the night sky, the stars’ bright light, shining through the front of the building. If Dylan wasn’t in the kitchen, maybe he already knew that he had the night off, and if he was waiting for me to leave, then I had no doubt that he would be waiting for me in one of the only places where you could leave this island. Out by the yacht or the helicopter pad. I threw my arms around the front of my body as I walked out to the front of Henry’s mansion.
The wind was cold. “Dylan,” I whispered softly at first. I don’t know what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting to pop around the corner of the building. But as I gazed out to the long pier, I noticed a couple of lights on inside the yacht. I began walking towards the pier, calling out Dylan’s name again and again, louder the third time.
“Molly?” a voice called out loudly behind me. It wasn’t a voice that I wanted to hear. I spun around to see Jackie standing stiff behind me, the light on her phone, shining directly back at me. “I’d advise you not to go out there, if I were you.”
“Why not?” I snapped back, getting my back up this time.
Not too long ago she was treating me like royalty, the guest of the island, now she’d heard me call Dylan’s name, wanting to restrict me to the island. Jackie opened her mouth to speak, but I watched the lights of the yacht turn to dark, in the reflection of the front windows of the mansion.
A bright light moved along the pier, most likely a torch coming close to me. I wanted to call out for Dylan again but kept my mouth shut knowing that whoever was coming at me with a light so bright could see me clearly enough. I squinted as the light got closer, shining bright in my eyes. I took a step back as a hand reached around my arm, the light dropped, and Henry was standing right in front of me. He let go of my arm and wrapped his arm around my lower back, pulling me in close to him.
“Miss Molly,” he spoke my name like blood on the edge of his tongue. “What are you still doing up?”
“I was having some, um, bad dreams, just like the doctor said that I might. I thought I would come down for a snack and then I saw the lights on the yacht,” I said. Henry smiled back at me warmly, tucking my hair behind my ear and kissing my lips softly.
“I’m so sorry that took longer than I thought, but it’s all done now.”
Henry turned to walk back into the property with me, as he caught eye of Jackie, his brow furrowed, surprised to see her standing there.
“I was just telling Miss Molly to go back to bed. I was going to bring her a snack and when I found her out here, I was just making sure that she wasn’t going to disturb you,” said Jackie. Forcing a smile.
“Miss Molly can ‘disturb’ me, anytime that she wants. Thanks, Jackie,” Henry’s voice was stern as Jackie nodded instantly in agreement. Although it had felt like she was acting strange around me, I knew for a fact that she heard me call for Dylan’s name, and not Henry’s but still she didn’t say anything. Not yet anyway.
Wherever the hell Dylan was, I knew that this was now a conversation that I had to have with Henry tomorrow before Jackie got the chance to do it for me. Did she not like me? Was she jealous? Is this what this was about? Why she was acting well… like she was… I thought that we were getting along like a house on fire not too long ago. Or maybe I was just in my head, now knowing what she had heard, and how close her and Henry really were.
“It’s okay,” I said, “Jackie was just helping me out. I didn’t want to disturb you and I’m really good for a snack now. Thanks, Jackie. I think that we all just need to get some sleep.”
Jackie nodded, as she turned back into the house, Henry and I following behind her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Elyse
Ithink the victim, may have been related to the killer in this one. It just doesn’t make sense, if not related, they were definitely having relations if you know what I mean.”
I was listening and I did agree, but I was too lost in my own mind to reply.
“Elyse. Elyse. Elyse? Goddamn it, woman, are you in there?”
I shook my head out of my thoughts, wiggling around in the passenger seat of the SUV, turning back to Johnathan. “Yes, sorry. I think you’re right.” I replied.
He glared back at me. It was the same look that I hated from him, the very same look that I really did not need right now. But then his jaw dropped open, his eyes rolled around in his sockets as he gripped the steering wheel tighter. And there it was. I’d been waiting for this very look.
“What the hell has gotten into you, Elyse? You’ve been so distant. You hardly looked alive back at the crime scene. Usually that’s your favorite place to be. But for a second there you were so pale and despondent I thought that you were about to become the next victim.”
I scoffed. “Don’t be so stupid, Johnathan. I could never be someone’s victim.”
“Then do you mind acting a little more alive and tell me what the hell is going on with you?” he asked. I kept my mouth shut. “Please don’t tell me this is still about your sister.”
“Of course this is still about my sister. I was only talking to you about it yesterday and I still haven’t heard from her. I have no idea where in the world she is.”
