“Um. I was helping him fix a leak at the warehouse.” The lie came out way too easily. To drive it home, I brandished my wet clothes. “I wasn’t muchhelp.”
“Must’ve been a real bad leak.” Her smile told me that not only did she not buy my stupid story, but that she’d also added a ton of dirty extrapolations toit.
“Her plumbing skills need some improvement,” Augustadded.
Emmy shot him a pointed look. “Never belittle a woman’splumbingskills.”
Although I appreciated her coming to my defense, this was getting weird. “I need to shower and grab some stuff. Is everything okayhere?”
“Yes. Well, except—” She flicked her gaze up to the first-floor landing. “Your uncle finally came out of his room this afternoon. He was in a strange mood. A tad manic. He must’ve looked through every ledger and dossier in the back office. It was like a bomb detonated in there. We tidied up with Isobel, but we weren’t sure where things were supposed to be put away, so we just made a bigpile.”
I glanced at the staircase. “Lucy and him are . . . ” I hesitated a second before adding, “divorcing.” It was an easier explanation than the truth. “He and I are actually movingout.”
Her mouthgaped.
“Please don’t tell anyone yet. I mean you can tell Skylar, but no one else. I don’t want the staff to worry how the divorce will affect theinn.”
She shook her head. “I won’t blab, butwow. I’m in shock. PoorEverest.”
I clasped my phone tighter, desperate to listen to his voicemail. “I’ll just head down and stick these in the wash and grab a shower. I won’t belong.”
August nodded even though he didn’t seem too excited to be left behind with Emmy, especially when she said, “Wait. I just connected the dots. You’re Isobel’s boy, aren’t you? She showed me a picture ofyou.”
As she roped him into a conversation, I bounded down the stairs to the laundry room, unearthed a clean towel, tossed my clothes and August’s shirt into one of the industrial machines, wrapped the towel snugly around myself, and set the washing machine to the quickest cycle. After I rinsed the rubber soles of my white sneakers, I headed to the locker rooms that connected the indoor pool to thegym.
Only then did I listen to Everest’smessage.
“Hey, Ness. I’m on my way back to Boulder. Thank you for having my back. I didn’t deserve your help. Not after what I did. Everything’s such a fucking mess. Such a fucking mess,” he repeated slower, lower. I could imagine him pulling at his dark-red hair like he used to do when things didn’t go his way as a kid. “In case anything happens to me, I left”—the word he uttered was garbled, as though he’d passed through a tunnel—“in your room”—static filled the receiver again—“under the fl—Fuck!” Air whooshed through the phone followed by a muffled thud, as though the phone had clattered out of his hand and onto the floormat. From far away, I heard him hiss, “Son-of-a-bitch foundme.”
The screech of metal had me yanking the phone away from my ear, and then . . .nothing.
Nothing.
With stiff fingers, I jabbed my screen to call him back. The dial tone sounded and sounded. And then I was prompted to leave amessage.
I hungup.
I shivered but then whispered to myself, “He must’ve run out of battery.” I prayed that was why the line had gone dead. Unless theson-of-a-bitchhad caught up withhim.
No,I couldn’t gothere.
Everest was all right. He was on his way back. I checked the timestamp of the voicemail. He’d phoned about an hour ago. He was probably already inBoulder.
I typed:I’m at the inn. Where areyou?
My thumb hovered over the send icon as I read the incriminating text above the still unsent one. I searched the wording, trying to find something about it that would prove my innocence. But it sounded like me, which meant the hacker was familiar with my speech. My pulse skittered wildly at thatrealization.
Or maybe the hacker had perused my phone’s contents. That was a possibility,right?
For a long moment, I hesitated to send Everest the message I’d just composed, afraid it would make me the traitor my Alpha already believed me to be.Screw it.I’d already tried phoning Everest anyway. Besides, he and I needed to talk. I deserved answers. I didn’t care what that made me. I hit send, then stepped into the shower stall and turned the water on scalding to ward away the frostiness enveloping mybones.
I spent a long time lathering away the dirt from my body; I spent an even longer time trying to untangle my hair. When I accomplished both tasks, I turned off the spray and towel-dried myself, but not before checking my phone. I was hoping Everest had messaged meback.
Hehadn’t.
As I plucked a disposable comb from a tray of amenities and dragged the teeth through my wet hair, I wondered where he would go in Boulder. There were too many cameras here. He was probably hiding in amotel.
I listened to his message again. “In your room. Under the fl . . . ” What had he left in my room? And under what? Which word started with anfl-sound and could be found in abedroom?
