THEfirst person I catch in a lie is Mavis.
Reluctantly Wren had followed both detectives, and I headed to the kitchen to start on something to eat for us. Inside Mavis was perched on a stool with Willow, and Cardinal stood nursing a cup of tea by the sink. The absence of everyone else hit me with more questions. Mumbling a hello, I start to align the clue cards left scattered on the marble top, unsure how to initiate any of them.
My train of thought is in tatters, remembering Wren’s soft but greedy lips teased all my senses as I tried so hard to concentrate on motives. Despite my mental gymnastics of wanting him close but needing to create distance, I wish he was here in the kitchen. A weaker woman would have asked him to rip their clothes off, but I just needed whatever this was, to not begin at the hotel. Nightingale had never felt like a home, and unpacking my past relationship had opened my eyes to how deluded I’d been to picture my future here.
Willow stabs a sharp nail in the air as she hisses across the kitchen, drawing me back into the awkward atmosphere asMavis taps against the porcelain mug between her palms, giving me an apologetic smile.
“Are we really going to pretend like someone wasn’t murdered this weekend?”
Crossing his arms, Cardinal sighs like this isn’t the first time he’s hearing this. “No one is fucking pretending. I don’t like it either Princess, but they’re keeping us here for now.”
“Stop calling me that!You’re making tea like everything’s fine—it’s not! One of the guests clearly did it and we’re just sitting around doing nothing. Someone here is a killer and what? We’re expected to go to bed and get a good night's rest?” Bewildered, she looks to her friend and to my surprise, me as well. I’ve never seen Willow this emotional, pleading with her eyes, worry swelling in them. Starling theorised a guest here murdered Corbin, but right now something prevents me from suspecting anyone. They’re wasting their time adding me to their list, but I’d rather plead my innocence from these hotel walls and not a cell.
The kettle whistles from its perch on the counter. Closing his eyes, he rubs between his nose and I have the feeling this conversation is on one continuous loop. “Even if it’s true, what are we meant to do? Barricade ourselves in the dining room? Panicking won’t help, so don’t worry your fucking pretty head about it.” His tone shuts her down and a little agitated he bangs the cupboards whilst he collects mugs, dumps tea bags into them and stalks to the fridge. “Who wants a bloody cup of tea?” He seethes through his teeth and I’m scared to say yes.
Raising my index finger in the air, he grunts and slams the fridge, making everything clatter louder as she starts her onslaught of questions again. I slide onto one of the bar stools and haphazardly my drink slides in front of me, a shade darker than I like but he might actually kill me if I voiced it.
Mavis’s short hair is pinned up on either side by an eccentric amount of hair clips and she looked cosy in an oversized sweatshirt that I assumed is her boyfriend's.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, realising how little I’ve gotten to see her or any of the girls. My vision for the weekend had been to catch up with both her and Lil as much as possible. I thought at worst I’d have to deal with a hangover and maybe a drunken cry; not be a suspect for murder.
Shrugging, she sighs and takes a little sip from her tea which smells strongly of peppermint. “We’re ok. The guys are really stressed about needing to leave, they’re meant to meet with their label. I do too. I’m pretty sure my boss will launch a search party if someone doesn’t contact them about me not being there tomorrow. I’m really anxious about it, I’ve never missed a day of work in my life.”
I give her a sympathetic smile, rubbing my hand in a circle on her shoulder. Ok, so I feel slightly guilty that I hadn’t worried yet about my own work situation. Would the detectives have contacted my agent? No one had asked me and I could kick myself now for not checking. Aurora is going to have a panic attack when she can’t reach me.
Not really wanting to sit here and berate myself until I feel like a child again, I rest my elbows on the counter and my chin on the back of my clasped hands. Nerves replace dread, as I try to keep three steps ahead and subtly start to dig for the information I need. “I went straight upstairs to bed Friday, so I feel so useless answering Detective Starling's questions. I literally have no clue where anyone was.” I leave out Wren punching Corbin and then the soul melting kiss afterwards—she doesn’t need to know those details.
Twisting her body on the stool to face me, her fingertips run over the handle of the cup. It’s the smallest of ticks, but it’s enough to share how she becomes nervous with me. “Yeah, metoo. I went straight up with Willow and stayed in her room. The first person we saw Saturday morning was Lily on the patio, but then everyone came down for breakfast.” She’d taken the bait, but her answer is nothing more than a box tick which doesn’t further my investigations.
Willow raises her eyebrow at her with a questioning expression—like she only heard the end of our conversation. A strained look passes between them, but both women wear a neutral mask. I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn't watching her fingers tap the mug, how her leg bounces and how she looks across the room as we speak.
“I was just saying that we had a sleepover Friday night because Bran was with Merle downstairs and I really wanted to go straight to sleep.” She says, keeping firm eye contact with her. Thankfully she changed out of her bikini, but her shirt dress is still short enough to show off so much olive skin.
“Sure. We even did cute panda face masks before getting all tucked up for the night.” Willow answers.
My eyes narrow and she tips her chin up, daring me to ask them anything else. I know they’re both lying, but until I piece more things together I don’t understand why. She must forget I’ve witnessed some of her bullshit stories, and if Mavis’s nervous fiddling with her cup wasn’t giving them away, she couldn’t be any more obvious with her blind obedience.
I don’t think they shared a room Friday night.
I toss over that Bran had been downstairs with Merle, which contradicts his story of being held up in his room with Phoenix all night. If he’d actually gone downstairs to lockup, wouldn’t he have remembered speaking with his brother? Making a mental note to find out where Bran and Jay had actually been, I also put a giant question mark next to Mavis and Merle on their whereabouts.
Smiling sweetly, I raise my cup and toast. “That’s so nice. You're in the astrology themed room right? I just love the ceiling and the light fixture in there.”
Willow twists her hair back over her shoulder and shrugs, whilst Mavis nods. “Yeah, it’s really pretty. Fancy.” Mavis is the one to reply. Her posture is wound so tight, nearly coiling in on herself.
I lower my cup and beam, showing no cracks in my farcade, even with the quizzical look from Cardinal. His arms are crossed disapproving at this entire conversation, and I don’t know how I missed him wearing thick rimmed glasses that give him a dark Clark Kent look. Widening my eyes for a quick second, I make a gruff noise in my throat, hoping he follows my drift that I have a plan. I need him to watch what both of them do next, because I am fully aware that Willow isn’t in the astrology room and it means Mavis didn’t stay the night. The ceiling is in fact plain white with a basic woven light shade. She’s in the room which has a Scandinavian vibe, whilst the astrology themed room with star decal and a beautiful glass moon light fixture is currently unoccupied. Willow is no doubt fully aware that if she corrects her now, it'll call out her lie.
“Had either of you met Corbin before? He gave Phin so much shit about theming the rooms, thought it was such a waste of money but they’ve all turned out so well.” I’m lying, just wanting to know the answer to my question without being so obvious.
“I met him once when he showed up at a party to collect Lily. It was a wild one. I don’t know who threw it, it might have been Wren.” Her eyes twinkle like she merely added him into the conversation to get under my skin, before she continues. “He was pretty mad she was there, but he didn’t really speak to me. I’m pretty sure she was the one who invited me this weekend, not him.”
I nod, aware that in fact Corbin had all control over the guest list. “No reason for him to invite you?”
She huffs, moving to stand beside her friend. “Maybe I’m just a good time Rob, something you have no clue about.” Knowing I’m not going to get anything more from her now, I turn my gaze to Mavis and tilt my head.
“I never met him. I think Bran had a couple of times, but I think Lil invited us both for a girls weekend.” She says quickly, averting her eyes whilst getting to her feet and discarding her tea on the island. “Let's go, I'm tired.”
Not wanting to push my luck by asking anymore questions, I give them both a little wave in goodbye and smile through the suspicious glare Willow gives me. She's not stupid and I respect her for that.
