My heaving turns dry as nothing else can possibly come out of me and with shaky arms, I press my palms to the tiles, sitting myself up. Closing the lid so neither of them can see, I flush the toilet and grab tissue to wipe my mouth.
Whilst he starts to pace and ask questions I can't answer, I pull myself towards the sink, wash my hands twice, I stick my full face under the water and don’t even care when the soap burns my eyes as I scrubbed with my fingers. Then I brushed my teeth, endlessly spitting like I can’t chase away the smell I’ll never forget.
Finally collecting myself, I look up into the mirror, meeting pools of caramel. “I found him in his room. Someone stabbed him, in the stomach.”
Robin stiffened. My girl is smart, because her eyes widen as she comes to the same conclusion I have. I’m not just losing my goddamn mind because I found my friend dead, it's because only a couple of days ago, I read a book with a very descriptive retelling of the scene I just stumbled on. From the kitchen knife to the way Jay’s body was flung on the bed, with his arms spreadlike he’d accepted his fate. The way his face was twisted in agony, told me otherwise, meaning someone staged his arms like that.
Just like the way the mother-in-law had taken her fated death in Robin's novel.
First the murder in the pool, now this? It can’t be a coincidence, someone was involving her in this all somehow, and I feared she could potentially be the end goal in this sick game.
Willow appeared behind her in the doorway, hand raised with the item I’d taken from Jay's room. “Care to explain why you took this?” she asks me, my throat sore as I swallow. Pushing my damp curl off my face, I lift my chin and we all make our way back out into the bedroom.
Cardinal stands by the window, frowning out at the darkened skies and lashing rain.
Phin moves around me to throw himself onto my bed, snatching a small cushion to press into his chest and curl his legs. He looks exhausted, but my nerves are too shot to put his needs above my own. Taking the item from Willow, I run my fingers over the green cardigan; the one with the velvet black bows scattered on it. I remember the way it had fallen down one of Roo’s shoulders when I first saw her, showing me her soft collarbone. She’d scowled and ignored me, but when we’d started on the stupid scavenger hunt, she’d come alive and thrown the cardigan down on the ground as she ran off into the garden. I think fell in love with her cackle.
“Why do you have my cardigan? I’ve been looking for that everywhere.” Robin asks, tone suspicious.
“I found it in Jay's room.” Turning to look at her heart-shaped face, I hold it out to her still hoping the scent of sick hasn’t clung to my clothes. The cardigan didn't have a drop of blood on it, which made it stand out as obviously being placed there afterwards.
“I’ve never been in there. I took it off Friday and haven't been able to find it.”
“I think someone's trying to frame you for murder by putting it in there.”
“Anyone could have swiped it. We weren't exactly paying attention when we started that stupid game.” Cardinal turns to look at all of us.
“Hang on a minute, this is incredibly serious,” Phin lets go of the pillow to hold both his hands up. “Why would someone do that?”
“Someone staged both deaths like how you wrote them, Drew. Maybe because no one has voiced it, they wanted to send a clearer message.” Approaching us in the center of the room, he looks down at the cardigan and then back up to her.
“So you think it’s one of us?” Willow’s expression is in utter disbelief.
“Unless someone is magically getting into a locked hotel at night, or anyone has seen a stranger stalking around in the day, it has to be.” I reply, pulling at the hair on my nape.
“Why would one of us do this? Jay was our friend, Corbin my brother.” Phin looks so lost, clutching the pillow again. I let out a sigh, knowing that we need to tell him about Merle’s secret, knowing it'll break his heart further. Robin must have the same realisation because she hesitantly sits at the foot of the bed. I know I should be right there with them, but I'm having a slight fishbowl sensation of peering in on the room, rather than being present.
“I’m so sorry to tell you this now, but we found out Merle had a lot of money issues with your brother. He owed Corbin so much money for the hotel and was going to take it back because he couldn’t pay the debt. We thought it was him—that maybe he attacked him out of panic of you finding out or he didn’t want to lose the hotel.” She shakes her head, eyes pleadingly for our bestfriend to understand. “I don’t think he would do this, though. Not to Bran.”
Phin is so still I think briefly his mind has shut down, or maybe we all need to jump behind the furniture because he’s about to lose his shit. He just stares at her with pale, empty eyes, unblinking as I see him completely deflate.
“So many secrets,” he says barely above a whisper, rubbing at his chin and looking down at his crossed legs. “You thought my boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, killed my brother and you didn’t say anything? You both–ugh.” He rocks forward, pointing a shaky finger between the two of us.
She takes his hands and he doesn't fight off her taut grip. “Phin, we obviously were going to tell you. I wanted to make sure my suspicions were right and that we had solid evidence to give to Detective Starling.”
“And in the meantime, it was fine for me to share a bed with him, try to patch up a broken relationship, whilst you potentially found proof for him to go to prison.” His tone starts to harden.
“Mate, we didn’t say anything in case we were completely wrong. What if we accused him of murder and he was innocent?” I step forward, but it only seems to piss him off more.
“Well, he didn’t do it! Merle might be a liar and a fucking cheat, but he wouldn’t kill my Brother.” He shouts. I try to approach him slowly, hovering over where Robin sits on the edge, but he shakes out of her hold and jabs a finger into the air. “This is so fucked, and you know it.”
“Phin, we’re sorry.”
“Objectively, Detective Starling said it has to be one of the guests. He was the only one we caught out in a lie and had more than one reason to have an altercation with Corbin,” she defends, swallowing thickly, and Phin allowed her to place her tiny hand on his knee. “I’m so sorry.”
Whilst I still received a glare from him, he softened for her.
“What do we do? We can't hide away in our rooms and wait for it to all blow over. Someone's locked the gates, smashed the cars—no one even batted an eye. I asked the detectives about our phones, he made me feel like I was wasting police time. Now magically they found them, Jay's been murdered, whilst we've all been inside the hotel.” Willow crosses her arms, reminding us all of the bigger picture and she's right.
