An Unwanted Guest

It depresses him. Matthew seemed so shattered, so genuinely grief-stricken. But David reminds himself that many a murderer – especially one who kills in passion – is genuinely regretful at what he’s done, and he’s still guilty.

Perhaps it’s more personal than that. Maybe David is giving Matthew the benefit of the doubt because he has himself been accused of killing his wife, and he knows how it feels. Perhaps that is all.

Perhaps he’s wrong, and Matthew did force Dana off the landing and then finish her off. He just doesn’t want to believe it.

But he definitely thinks it’s murder. And if Matthew didn’t do it, who did?

Gwen gets up suddenly and walks away from the little circle by the fireplace. She can’t bear to sit there any longer. She goes to the front of the room and paces back and forth before the windows. She glances out occasionally at the icy drive, as if hoping for rescue.

She flicks a look over her shoulder at the rest of them, still sitting by the fireplace. No one is pretending to carry on with the game of Scrabble without her. What David said – and now what Beverly has said – has unsettled them all far too much.

She couldn’t bear to be near David any longer. That delicious tension that had existed between them last night has been corrupted. Now she’s not sure what she feels when she looks at him – it’s a confusing mix of attraction and fear.

She digs her nails into the palms of her hands. How can he be so detached about a man – even if he is a complete stranger – killing a woman he purports to love?

After a while, Riley joins her by the windows. Gwen turns to her briefly. Riley’s eyes are large and alert. For a moment the two of them stand together looking out at the frozen landscape that holds them trapped here.

Finally, Gwen leans in close to Riley and speaks quietly. ‘Do you think David is right? That Dana may have been murdered?’

Riley looks back at her, her eyes huge. ‘I don’t know what to think.’

Gwen studies Riley closely. She’s very pale and there is perspiration on her face, as if she’s running a fever. Maybe she shouldn’t even be talking to her about this. Riley’s brought her wineglass with her; her hands are visibly trembling.

‘Are you all right?’ Gwen asks her.

‘No, I’m not fucking all right,’ Riley says. ‘Are you?’

‘No. I’m not all right either,’ Gwen says, her voice low. ‘But you have to pull yourself together, Riley. Ease up on the booze.’

Riley narrows her eyes at her. ‘Mind your own business.’

‘Oh, because you mind yours?’ Gwen snaps back bitterly. She doesn’t know, suddenly, whether she will remain Riley’s friend after they get out of here. And she’s not even sure she cares.

Riley softens a little. ‘I’m sorry. I did what I thought was best. But I think David Paley is exactly who I say he is.’

‘Well, I don’t.’

‘Why don’t you ask him?’

‘I’m not going to ask him.’

‘Then I will,’ Riley says, and turns away.

‘Stop!’ Gwen hisses, and reaches out and grabs Riley by the arm. ‘Wait.’

Riley turns and looks back at her. ‘Why? I think we should clear this up, don’t you?’

‘Just – wait,’ Gwen pleads.

Riley hesitates.

‘Don’t say anything about David. You could be wrong.’ Gwen watches Riley anxiously as she considers.

‘Fine,’ Riley says. ‘I won’t say anything – for now.’ She lifts her wineglass to her lips and takes a long, needy swallow.

Chapter Fifteen

BEVERLY HAS CHANGED her seat so that she is no longer sitting beside her husband and so that she doesn’t have to see Dana’s shape beneath the sheet.

So this is what has become of their weekend away, for which she’d had such hopes. Her marriage facing imminent ruin. Stuck in an isolated hotel in the thrall of a deadly ice storm, without power, sharing the lobby with the corpse of a woman who may have been pushed down the stairs by her wealthy fiancé. If so, what a shock that must have been to her.

She watches Gwen and Riley return. Gwen sits back down in the chair across from David that she’d abandoned earlier, without looking at him. David glances at her guardedly. Something has happened between the two of them, Beverly is sure of it. She’d noticed the chemistry between them last night; that chemistry is gone, replaced by something else she can’t quite put her finger on. Some kind of awkwardness or wariness.

Riley says suddenly to David, fidgeting nervously with her ring, ‘I don’t think you should be jumping to conclusions.’

‘I’m sorry?’ David says, turning to her politely.

‘Saying that Dana’s fall wasn’t an accident.’

‘She’s right,’ Henry says accusingly, glaring at David. ‘You don’t know what happened – unless you killed her yourself, which I highly doubt.’

Beverly watches her husband, cringing at his supercilious tone. She knows Henry can be a bit of an ass. He’s probably feeling too hemmed in, and it’s making him a little aggressive. He’s like a Border collie; he needs a job to do.

The cornered attorney says mildly, ‘I never intended to imply that I knew what happened. I was asked what I thought, and I gave my opinion. I don’t pretend to be an expert.’

But he is an expert, Beverly thinks nervously, and the rest of them aren’t.

Lauren examines a broken fingernail, trying to recall whether she brought a nail file with her. She glances at all the gloomy faces around her. No one appears to be enjoying themselves – even if they wanted to, it would be in bad taste. Candice going off to the library to work, as if nothing has happened, seems a bit callous. God, she’d love to get out of here! And it’s barely past lunchtime. She wonders how much longer they will be trapped in this hotel.

David thinks it’s not an accident, but murder. She tries not to let it get to her.

Lauren thinks of Matthew upstairs. He’s keeping to his room, on the attorney’s advice. Beverly says she heard them arguing. She wonders if that’s true, and if it is, whether that makes Matthew look guilty. She would like to know what the attorney thinks.

Bradley, always observant – it’s one of the things that makes him a good waiter – notes the various undercurrents in the lobby of his father’s hotel. All the guests are behaving very differently from the way they had the night before.

David seems thoughtful and preoccupied, and Gwen seems distressed. Ian no longer has the relaxed, pleasure-seeking demeanour he had the night before, and his girlfriend, Lauren, seems quiet, observant. And whatever had been bothering Henry and Beverly the night before only seems worse today. Only Riley seems unchanged – she was a nervous wreck when she arrived, and she’s a nervous wreck now.

When David said he thought Dana had been murdered, every one of the guests looked startled, but Bradley also sensed fear.

Bradley goes about his work, turning things over restlessly in his mind.

Saturday, 2:00 PM

They are all still huddled in the lobby. Beverly has been brooding about her situation. She has become fixated on the idea of Henry being involved with someone else. She tells herself that the idea is absurd. Henry is not a particularly exciting man, not the type to have an affair. The idea’s never even crossed her mind until this morning. She tries to push the unwelcome thought away.

She catches David observing Bradley as he scurries about his tasks. David suggests casually, ‘Why don’t we pitch in and ease the load on Bradley? Henry, do you mind making a trip to the woodshed with me to bring in more wood for the fireplace? And maybe for the stove in the kitchen.’

‘You don’t have to do that,’ Bradley says, flushing.

‘No problem at all,’ David assures him. ‘You must have your hands full.’