Chapter Thirty-Six
Blake
“Rise and shine!”
Sheriff Irons tapped on the holding cell bars, and I opened my bleary eyes. “What time is it?” I asked.
“It’s nine-thirty.”
“We slept for fourteen hours?” Indi said, sitting up next to me and stretching her arms.
“I guess we needed it,” I muttered. With all the shit that’d been going on lately, sleep hadn’t been the highest thing on our agendas. I never thought a cramped cot in a police holding cell would be the right spot for a decent snooze, but we’d managed it anyway.
Irons moved to the door and unlocked it. “You’re free to go, Indi. Sorry about the inconvenience. I hope you understand.”
“Wait, what?” Indi said, her eyes widening. “That’s it? I’m free?”
The sheriff nodded. “Thought you’d be happy to hear that news.”
“I am! I just… I don’t understand.”
I nodded in agreement, frowning. “Yeah, neither do I. Yesterday you seemed pretty sure she was guilty.”
“And I apologize for that,” Irons said, swinging the door wide open. “We reviewed the evidence, and we came to realize it just wasn’t possible that you committed the crime, Indi. The CCTV time stamps show that you were only in the office for around a minute before running to the door and screaming for help. That’s not enough time for you to stab a man to death, wipe your prints off the knife handle, and clean the blood off yourself.”
“No shit. You couldn’t have figured that out yesterday?” I said, shaking my head in annoyance.
Irons sighed. “Look, there’s only me, my deputy and three junior officers on the island. We aren’t used to stuff like this. I don’t think there’s ever even been a single murder in the history of this place. It’s all very hectic, and we have to explore every possibility.” He focused on Indi. “I’m sorry, that’s just how it is.”
Indi nodded. “I understand,” she said. She could be temperamental sometimes, but she was also endlessly sweet and forgiving. I loved that about her. “So how did the killer get in without walking through the door to Ed’s office?”
“The inn owner reminded us of something—old Prohibition tunnels run all over the place underneath the inn, and there’s hidden entrances to those tunnels in a lot of the rooms. The killer got into the office that way and left in the same manner.”
Shit. I’d totally forgotten about those tunnels. I couldn’t remember who told me about them, but I definitely remembered having a conversation about them with someone.
Indi stood up and patted down her rumpled clothes. “So does that mean no one at the inn is safe right now?” she said fearfully. “If this murderer can just get in and out of people’s rooms like that?”
Sheriff Irons shook his head. “No. My boys and I have been busy sealing off every tunnel entrance so that can’t happen. Got the original inn blueprints and everything. Whoever the killer is, he isn’t going to get anyone that way again.”
“I guess that’s a vague comfort,” Indi muttered. “But we’re still all stuck here on the island, right?”
“Yep. Weather conditions haven’t changed.”
“But it’s stopped raining,” she said.
“It has here, yes. But look outside. Sky is still grey, and you can see the storm out on the ocean. It’s impossible for anything to reach us right now. So until the storm lets up and everything gets fixed, no one comes or goes from this island, and everything’s running on generators.”
I sighed. “I suppose that means no phones or internet?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
I grimaced. “So after being lied to by the showrunners and told we were trapped here with a murderer, which was bullshit, now we’re really trapped here with an actual murderer roaming around. Wonderful.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that,” Irons said with a terse grunt. “Anyway, I’ll give you a ride back to the inn, and then I’ve gotta get back to work trying to catch this guy so people like you will stop giving me a hard time.”
“Sorry, man. I know you’re doing what you can,” I replied. I had to admit, I felt a little bad. The cops here weren’t accustomed to shit like this, and as a result they were understaffed and under-resourced. I assumed that in cases such as this, police from the mainland would usually be flown in to aid in the investigation, but obviously that was impossible for the time being with the current weather situation.
“I appreciate that,” Irons said with a nod as he led us out of the station. “And look—I wouldn’t usually say this to civilians. But while you’re stuck here, I’d suggest you keep something to defend yourself with on you at all times. We still have no idea who this killer is, or what their motive is. We don’t know if they’ll strike again, and we don’t even know if their activity will be confined to the inn.”
“So no one on the island is safe?”
He shook his head and unlocked the police cruiser. “No, not the way we see it. We can’t take the risk. So all the locals have been warned to only travel in pairs or groups, and we’ve also issued a curfew. No one’s allowed out after dark.”
“Makes sense. Gotta try to keep everyone safe,” I said. I got in the backseat of the car with Indi, then leaned forward. “So you have no suspects at all right now?”
“I’m not really supposed to give you details on the case, but I suppose you did just spend a night in one of my cells. Guess I owe you one,” Irons said with a sigh, jamming his key in the ignition. “So no, we have no suspects yet. We’re still in the process of interviewing everyone who was at the inn yesterday.”
“That’s a lot of people,” Indi said, puckering her brows.
“Yup. All the inn staff, plus the show contestants and crew. Altogether that’s nearly sixty people.”
“And any one of them could be the killer,” I mused, sitting back with a sigh.
“Yup.”
“I presume production for the show has been shut down?”
Irons nodded again. “Of course. With a man dead, it can’t continue. Everyone’s petrified. Not to mention all the legal shit that’s gonna happen,” he said with a sigh.
“And I also presume everyone knows the truth about the show now—how it was a horror show, and Yuri and Elise are actually fine.”
Another nod. “Yep. With everything shutting down, all the other contestants have been made aware of the original nature of the show, and let’s just say none of them are too pleased.”
I didn’t need to look at Indi to know exactly what she was thinking. Now she didn’t have to worry about being sued for telling everyone the truth… because the truth had already come out with Ed’s death.
It was all over. The show was history.
That was bound to be a weight off her shoulders, although it was awful that Ed had to die for it to happen. I never liked the man, but that didn’t mean he deserved what he got. He didn’t. No one deserved to die like that.
The cruiser hit a pothole in the road, and as we all jerked forward, something seemed to get shaken loose in my brain at the same time. Suddenly I knew exactly who it was who told me about the Prohibition tunnels beneath the inn.
“Sheriff,” I said. “I don’t know if this means anything, but I might have an idea for who you should interview next.”
He looked at me in the rearview mirror. Indi stared at me curiously as well. “What? Who?”
“Mike Blackthorne,” I said. “He knew all about the tunnels running underneath the inn. We had a whole conversation about it. And he’s already shown himself to be a dodgy asshole. He even threatened me yesterday after we got in a bit of a fight.”
Irons frowned. “What motive could he possibly have to kill Ed Kramer?”
“Our fight. I made him admit what he was doing, which was sneaking around and screwing with other contestants’ medications to try and give him an edge. He tried to talk quietly when he admitted it, but our argument was filmed by a cameraman. I bet he was still audible on the recording.”
“And?”
“Ed could’ve seen the footage and threatened to throw Mike off the show for what he was doing, because the network could be seen as legally liable for his actions if anyone actually got seriously ill.”
“I see.”
“Like I said, Mike’s already proved that he’s a vengeful, vindictive asshole. Maybe he took it a step further,” I said.
Irons nodded slowly. “It’s a possibility,” he replied. “We haven’t questioned him yet, but he’s just gone right to the top of my list.”
He stepped on the gas, and five minutes later we were back at the Candle Cove. Several people were standing in the front garden despite the cool temperature outside, obviously feeling a sense of safety in numbers. They were probably also scared to be inside the inn right now, given that a killer could be hiding out in any nook or cranny.
When we got out of the car, Amy and Donna rushed over to us.
“Indi, thank god!” Amy said, wrapping her arms around Indi. “I knew you didn’t do it!”
“We never doubted it,” Donna added. “We’ve been telling everyone the same thing. But we didn’t even need to. I don’t think anyone ever really believed you’d hurt Ed.”
Indi smiled. “Thanks. You guys are the best.”
Sheriff Irons frowned and looked at the two women. “Have either of you seen Mike Blackthorne within the last few minutes? I need to speak to him.”
Donna shook her head, but Amy nodded. “He was hanging out with the guy who heads up the lighting crew. Neil something-rather. I saw them when I went to use the bathroom about half an hour ago.”
“Where?”
“In the bar with everyone else. But I overheard them talking about going to Mike’s room to get some cigarettes,” she said. Her brows puckered into a frown. “Why? Do you think Mike had something to do with what happened?”
Before the sheriff could even reply, let alone go and question Mike, a shrieking Meredith Blackthorne emerged from the inn’s front entrance. “Help!” she screamed, her eyes bulging and her skin pale. “Mike…Neil…they’re…”
Irons strode over to her and held her steady so she wouldn’t collapse. “They’re what?” he asked firmly.
Meredith was almost hyperventilating now. “I found them. They’re dead. Someone killed them in our room!” she blubbered.
“Did you say they’re dead?” Sheriff Irons said. It was hard to hear exactly what Meredith was saying, given how hysterical she was.
She nodded frantically. “Yes! Neil’s in the bathroom, and Mike’s on the couch. Oh, god… Mike!”
She started wailing, and nothing that came out of her mouth after that was intelligible.
Indi and I stared at each other in shock. So much for my theory that Mike could be the killer—apparently he’d just been murdered along with Neil Kingston.
“Oh, shit,” Indi whispered. Her face went stark white.
“I’ve got you,” I said firmly, immediately gripping her hand. “No matter what happens now, I promise I’ll protect you. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
She nodded and looked up at me, her hazel eyes filled with trust and adoration. “I know.”