Due to the rain, it meant every guest over the course of two days stayed in the house. My heart sank for the loss of my friend, but also his family that wouldn't be able to even get here when they were told of their son's death. Even if they got through the closed bridge and serious flooding, how could anyone get through the gate?
“We could go around the lake and into the forest, find a way out?” Cardinal proposed, looking back out at the window at the dying light and thick droplets.
A knock on the door has all our heads snapping in the same direction. No one even breathes, until I remembered it’s my room, so I better be the one to open it.
Signaling for everyone but Robin to quietly go into the bathroom, I wait to hear the lock click, then I open the room door. Detective Starling stands there with one hand tucked into his grey work trousers, the other clutching a phone that I’m half tempted to steal. The longer we’re here, the more I worry about the guys, who probably would be losing their minds that both Bran and I didn’t return from our weekend away. It’s not the first time one of us had disappeared for some space without naming a location, but we’d planned for a meeting to discuss the autumn tour this week, which obviously we’d missed.
Would the press class us as missing if they found out no one could get in contact?
So focused on the phone, I miss Lily standing behind him, hands clutched to her chest with eyes red-rimmed. She looks past me to Robin.
“Oh darling, have you heard? It’s so terrible.”
Starling clears his throat and shoots her a look over his shoulder. “I thought it would be best if you knew we have cautioned your bandmate, Mr Redfern. We suspect he is involved in the murder of Jay Marshall. After giving me the secrets you found this morning, we will be taking him to the station.”
I blinked a couple of times, outrage wanting to bubble its way out of my body, but I’m just so fucking tired. All I want to do is go to bed and wake up when it's no longer flooding and Theo can whisk me the fuck out of here.
“You’re arresting Bran? Where’s his Brother?” Surely Merle could do something about this, stop them from taking him, I don't fucking know.
“Due to the weather and the storm coming, we’ve had to restrain him in his room. No one is going to interfere. Once the bridge is open and the roads clear, we’ll be taking him.”
“I know he was mad with Mavis last night, but finding out she was having an affair with his best friend must have pushed him over the edge.” Lily sniffles, the noise irritating. Robin wedges herself next to me, widening the door. Her presence grounds me enough to stop myself from biting at her friend, so I focused that annoyance on him instead.
“She wasn’t having an affair with Jay. You need to speak to Bran if you haven’t already. It’s not my place to say, but he’ll explain everything.” I defend.
“Protecting your friend right now isn’t the right thing to do. We found the secret, it said their characters were sleeping together.” She snaps, waving her hands in front of my face. “Hence, yes, they were having an affair.”
“Lil…” Roo sighs, but she sticks the same hand up and it pissed me the fuck off.
“No, don't defend him. He can’t protect all his friends from everything. We both saw the secret.”
She couldn’t know…could she? I begged myself to just slam the door in their faces. It never occurred to me that Lily might be privy to any of her brother's secrets, not referring to the sibling stuffed in the ensuite. A satisfied smirk pulls at her features and it's unsettling. She thinks she’s gotten the upper hand and because I’m frozen with anxiety over what else could leave her lips, the only thing I can do is bite my nails into the door frame, until I feel anguished pain shoot down my nerve endings.
There’s a long list of things I have done in the past for Phoenix; things I’m not proud of and helped fuel my self-destructive media alter-ego when I couldn’t deal with the loss of Mum. I never turned to drink, didn’t touch drugs, so I needed a vice that could be as hurtful to myself. I hid it all under the guise of helping a friend, which wasn’t an actual lie because there wasn’t anything in the world I wouldn’t do for him. He’s been my best friend through everything, so if the media wanted a bad boy, a true rockstar to villainize, why not give them that without tainting my soul. The thing is, I didn’t just stop with Phoenix. His sister's eyes glint with the power trip she could decimate me with, anf I believe she knows the extent of my lies.
I’d been waiting for this moment, hadn’t I? I’d been stricken with anxiety from the moment he’d called to say I had to attend this weekend. If Robin found out what I did, I’d lose her before we’d even begun.
Chapter twenty-two
Robin
THEmoment the door closes—a little desperately, I might add—everyone files out of the bathroom. My voice is still lodged in my throat, unable to process the turn of events. More specifically, how fucked I feel. The only lead I could scrape together just crumbled between my fingers and despite Bran being restrained before they could arrest him, I didn't hear Detective Starling inform us that he thought there was a connection to Corbin's death. Whoever was trying to frame me also just planted my missing cardigan in a room with another dead body.
My relationship with one of the closest women in my life seems to be crashing before my eyes. This weekend had somehow created a giant crater between Lil and I, one that just kept crumbling the more we interacted. I felt like a shitty friend, partly for not making more time for her, but also because it was apparent she clearly wasn't happy with me being with Wren. Phoenix too was now livid; we'd kept suspecting Merle from him, but that was understandable.
The bathroom lock clicks, so I flop forward onto the bed and bury my face into the soft sheets. I’d rather ignore all my problems right now and suffocate in a luxurious thread count. I smell the familiar scent of cinnamon before a heavy shape hits the duvet next to me.
Turning my face slightly, I peek at ashy blonde hair and Phin lets out a long exhale into the bed like I had, but it quivers through his entire body. With how attentive he's been, I'm surprised it’s not Wren in his place. Shifting my face until it squishes against fabric, my eyes bounce around the room until I focus on him chewing on his fingernail, and staring out the window into the vast gray. His expression is pinched.
“The clue is wrong. Bran told me that the three of them were playing with being polyamorous—sexually. Mavis wasn't cheating on him.” He says, dropping his now bloodied nails and starts to pace till he’s nearly treading through the carpet.
“Really? They were sharing?” Phin asks, sitting up because he can’t resist being a total gossip.
We all look to Willow, who dusts at the desk chair before she takes a seat and crosses her legs. Cardinal remains standing, but he’s edged closer to her.
“If the cat's out of the bag, I don't think she'd mind if I say yes. They were. She’s been really busy lately, so it’s been more of an on-again-off-again agreement. To be honest, I think she was going to end it with both of them.”
“Did you ever think she told you that in secrecy because she’d consider you a loyal friend?” I prop myself up on weak arms, because I'm so fucking tired of this entire week.
