The Best Man to Trust (5 page)

“If we all stay calm and look out for each other, we should be safe until the storm ends,” Tom said.

Jessica’s expression made it clear what she thought about that.

“Are there any weapons in the house?” Scott asked.

Meredith slowly shook her head. “There used to be an antique gun collection, but we sold it.” She swallowed. “It seemed unsafe to have in the house with guests.”

A subdued silence fell over the room. Tom studied the others’ faces as they processed the news that they were trapped here. He knew they all had to have been hoping for a different answer, no matter how unrealistic that was. Now that last bit of hope had been snuffed out. There was no denying it. They were thoroughly trapped for the time being.

Still, as he observed their expressions, Tom had to wonder if everyone was upset about the news. How did the killer feel knowing that they weren’t going anywhere? Upset that there was no possibility of escape for himself, too...or pleased that the rest of them would still be here, still available to be attacked next?

He looked for the slightest hint that anyone was anything but discouraged at the news, but he didn’t detect anyone’s reaction being out of the ordinary.

Then he realized what he was doing. Shock jolted through him at the knowledge. Was he really considering the possibility that one of these people he’d known for years, people he’d once considered his closest friends, was not just a killer, but some kind of psychopath wanting to strike again? If anything he should be looking at the ones he didn’t know, Rick and Ellen, considering them more likely candidates.

But as he surveyed the assembled group, he knew that was exactly what he’d been doing, and what he probably had to do. One of these people likely had a better motive to kill Haley than a complete stranger would. And for the sake of the rest of them, he had to consider that one of them might be a threat to the others.

“I’m still having a hard time understanding who could have done this,” Scott murmured.

“Can any of you think of any reason why someone would have wanted to hurt Haley?” Meredith asked. “Did anyone have any known problems with her?”

Everyone looked at one another, as though expecting someone else to have the answer. No one responded.

“No,” Rachel said finally. “She was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. She’s the last person I could ever imagine anyone wanting to hurt.” Her voice trembled on the final words, and Scott reached out and wrapped an arm around her. She leaned into him, turning her face into his chest.

“Are you sure there isn’t anyone else in the house?” Alex asked.

Meredith shook her head. “No, this is everyone.”

“But are you
sure
of that,” Alex pressed in what Tom imagined was his hardnosed reporter voice. “This is a massive place. There’s no way there could be someone else here that you don’t know about?”

Meredith hesitated, seeming to consider the idea. At the sight of that pause, Tom could practically feel the tension in the room go up another notch.

“We’re so isolated that anyone would have needed a car to get up here, and I haven’t seen any unexpected vehicles around. Have you, Rick?”

The man shook his head. “No.”

“Have you had any trucks making deliveries for the wedding?” Alex asked. “Is there a chance someone could have come with someone else and simply not left?”

Meredith paused again, but this time was quicker to answer. “It’s possible, but very unlikely. For one thing, someone would have had to get into the house without Ellen, Rick or I noticing. I honestly don’t believe there’s anyone else here.”

Tom fought a frown. Given the size of Sutton Hall, there could be any number of places someone could have sneaked in unnoticed. He kept his mouth shut, not about to bring that up now. The group was tense enough as it is. And she was right, it did seem unlikely. Still, it was something they might have to consider.

“Then who could have done this?” Rachel said.

Tom watched several heads turn toward Rick and Ellen, viewing them with suspicion. Rick and Ellen looked back at the group with equal distrust.

“Maybe it was
her,
” Jessica said sullenly, looking straight at Meredith. She leaned back in her seat, her arms folded over her chest, her eyes narrowed to slits.

“It couldn’t have been Meredith,” Tom said, barely managing to keep a hold of his temper. “She was with me.”

Tom sensed the others’ attention shift to him and Meredith. Jessica’s eyes widened, her brows shooting sky-high as she glanced from him to Meredith and back again. “I didn’t realize the two of you were so
close
.”

“We’re not,” Tom said, though as soon as the words were out they felt wrong somehow. “We were in the kitchen. I went down for a snack. We both came when we heard you screaming. And she was right earlier. If you don’t have anything helpful to contribute, you might as well be quiet and let the rest of us work this out.”

“This isn’t your damn TV show, Tom,” Jessica sniped. “We’re not part of some
production
for you to
manage,
Mr. Producer. You’re not in charge here.”

“No,
I
am,” Meredith said. Tom thought he heard a tremor in her voice, so light he wasn’t sure he hadn’t imagined it. She glanced around the room at the others, her gaze steady. “Unless anyone has a problem with that?”

No one voiced an objection. Jess’s eyes narrowed, her face going red, but she held her tongue, pressing her lips together tightly.

“Good,” Meredith said. Tom could practically sense her relief. “Now I think we should all try to get some sleep. It’s been a long day, and sitting here throwing around a bunch of accusations isn’t accomplishing anything. Hopefully after we get some rest, we’ll all be thinking clearer and we can figure out what to do next.”

“An excellent idea!” Greg proclaimed, raising his glass in acknowledgment. Tom noted that his hand shook as he made the gesture. “I could use some shut-eye myself.”

“I’m not sure how much sleep I’ll be able to get,” Rachel said quietly. A few others murmured in agreement.

“That’s why it helps to have a drink,” Greg said.

Rachel shot him a look, her nose wrinkling in distaste. “I don’t think it would help at all if the rest of us started drinking as much as you.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised. It’s very good at helping you forget things. For a little while at least...” he added almost as an afterthought, his voice trailing off, his tone surprisingly subdued.

“There’s just one thing we have to deal with,” Tom said. He almost hated to raise the subject, but there was no way around it. “Haley.”

The reminder that Haley was still up there, lying in the middle of the hall, plunged the group back into a grim, uncomfortable silence.

“It’s still a crime scene,” Alex pointed out. “The police probably wouldn’t want us to move her.”

Rachel looked at him in horror. “So what do you want to do, Alex? Leave her lying there in the middle of the hall for
days?
”

Alex lifted his hands defensively. “I’m not saying it’s what I want to do! I’m just saying it’s normal procedure.”

“We are
not
leaving her there!” Rachel insisted.

Tom had to agree with her. There was no way of knowing when they’d be able to reach anyone. Even if they did, it would be at least three or four days until the police could arrive. There was no way they could simply leave the body in the middle of the hall that long. It would be utterly inhumane to someone most of the people in this room considered a friend. And everyone’s nerves were already frayed, he didn’t want to think how tense things would be after a few days of living with Haley’s body there in their midst.

“You’re right,” Meredith said calmly. “We can’t leave her there. It may be normal procedure, but these are not normal circumstances. We can move her to a room at the end of the hall until the police get here. If the police have a problem with it, they can charge me with whatever they want. I’ll worry about it later. But we should probably try to document the scene first so they can see what it looked like. Even if it’s not admissible as evidence, at least they’ll be able to see it.”

“I can do it,” Tom suggested. “I brought a couple cameras for the wedding, both a video and a Nikon.” A few of the others had actually kidded him about it on the drive up when Scott had mentioned it, pointing out that everyone’s cell phone had a camera on it these days. He’d thought they deserved better images than those captured by a camera phone. That seemed even more vital now that they were talking about things like evidence.

“Thank you.”

Jessica suddenly spoke up again. “You can hate me for saying it, but somebody has to. How do we know the two of you won’t try to destroy any evidence?”

Silence fell again. Tom noted that no one spoke up to say the idea was ridiculous.

“If it would make everyone more comfortable, we could probably use at least one more person to help move...the body, if someone wants to come up?”

He glanced around the group for volunteers. In spite of being the one who’d raised the objection, Jessica didn’t speak up, her lips fixed in a pout. He saw Rachel grip Scott’s hand. Even if she hadn’t, Tom doubted Scott would have wanted to leave her. As Tom thought it, Scott looked up and met his eyes, a hint of apology in his. It wasn’t as though Greg would be much help, his head already starting to droop.

“Why don’t you go, Alex?” Jessica said. “Or would it be too hard for you to see her like that?”

There seemed to be a challenge in the question, one Alex didn’t miss as he glared back at her.

Before he could respond, Rick stepped forward. “I’ll come with you,” he said. “She’s right. Her friends shouldn’t have to see her like that or have to help move her.”

“Thanks, Rick.” Meredith glanced around the room, lingering slightly on Jess. “Any objections?”

Jess pressed her lips together as though she was barely managing to hold one back. She didn’t say anything. Neither did anyone else.

“All right,” Meredith said. “We’ll return as soon as we can to let you know you can come up.”

From the looks on their faces none of them was particularly eager to do so. Not that Tom blamed them, not with the memory of what had happened up there still fresh in their minds.

Tom wasn’t looking forward to moving the body, but it had to be done. He hadn’t been much of a friend to Haley since college, but at least he could do this for her. Not only did Haley deserve to be treated with care, but there might be clues that could indicate who’d done this to her.

And if there was no way out of here, the most important thing was to identify the killer in their midst.

Before he—or she—could strike again.

Chapter Six

The sight of the body lying in the middle of the hallway wasn’t any easier to see the second time. As soon as Meredith stepped onto the second floor and spotted Haley there, she had to repress a shudder, the wave of revulsion rising in her belly.

“Let me get my cameras,” Tom said softly. Moving past them, he headed toward his room, carefully avoiding the body in the center of the hall.

Beside her, she heard Rick swear under his breath, and she realized this was his first time seeing the body. She glanced over at him, his face paler than it had been moments earlier. “Thank you for doing this,” she murmured. “You don’t have to, though, if you don’t want to. I know it’s above and beyond the call of duty.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “I can handle it. It’s not my first time seeing a dead body. But I guess you never really get used to it, and I’ve sure never seen anything like this.”

She’d forgotten for a moment that Rick had served in the army and done several tours of duty overseas. She should have realized he’d seen the dead before, though from his expression there was something uniquely horrifying about this.

Tom returned with the handheld video camera and Nikon he’d brought. Meredith and Rick waited out of the way as he slowly and methodically went about documenting the scene, first on still images, then on video.

It was fascinating watching him work. He took his time, recording every inch of the body and area around it. The hands that held the camera were steady and true, his gaze just as stable as he focused on the screen on the camera. When he moved in front of her, she caught glimpses of the screen, observing how he zoomed in and out to give both a close and wider view of what he was recording.

Meredith watched him bend on one knee, focusing the camera on the floor beside the body. Curious, she leaned closer to see what he was fixing on.

Then she spotted them, the series of red marks on the carpet leading from the body. “Is that blood?”

“Looks like it,” he confirmed.

Meredith followed the trail with her eyes, from where it began at the body to a door several feet away.

“That’s the door to Haley’s room,” she noted just as he began to turn the camera on it. Why would there be a trail of blood from Haley’s room toward the body? She supposed the most obvious answer was...

She stepped forward. “Do you want me to open it?” she asked, referring to the door.

Tom never took his eyes from the viewer on the camera. “I think you should.”

Meredith reached out and released the door, then slowly nudged it open. The light was still on inside. Almost immediately she spotted the blood just inside the door, leading farther into the room, growing denser as it proceeded.

Tom carefully moved inside, tracking the blood with his camera. Meredith followed a few steps behind, unable to resist, even as a little tremor of unease rumbled through her. She felt Rick fall into line behind her.

Tom came to an abrupt stop, aiming the camera toward the center of the room. Meredith peered around his shoulder, her breath hitching as she saw what he was recording. There was no mistaking the blood splattered across the center of the floor, the pool thick and wide on the blue rug she’d chosen and laid in place herself.

“
This
is the murder scene,” she whispered hoarsely.

“I would bet on it,” Tom said.

“So she was killed in here and then moved out into the hallway.” It certainly explained why the trail of blood got smaller as it reached the door. “But why?”

“Because the killer wanted her to be discovered.”

It was Rick who drew the conclusion, but Tom nodded an instant later. “It makes the most sense. If she’d simply been left in here, she most likely wouldn’t have been found until morning, maybe when she didn’t come down for breakfast. Putting her in the middle of the hallway, where someone would absolutely see her if they needed to use the bathroom, guaranteed she would be found sooner.”

Goose bumps raised along her skin as the implications of it sank in.

“The killer wanted everyone to know this had happened,” Meredith said numbly. “He—or she—wanted everyone to be afraid.”

“I’d say mission accomplished then,” Tom said.

“It makes sense, since the knife was left in her,” Rick said. “It couldn’t have been easy to move her like that. Or else the killer stuck the knife back in after she was moved.”

“The killer wanted to make sure everyone not only knew that she was dead, but exactly
how
she died.” It would have been horrifying enough to find Haley lying in the middle of the floor with her chest coated in blood. But actually seeing the big knife, leaving no doubt exactly what had killed her, had made it so much worse.

Meredith let out a long, deep breath, trying to control her racing pulse. “It’s not just to scare everybody, is it? It’s a warning. Whoever it is intends to kill again.”

As much as she wanted someone to disagree, no one argued the conclusion.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” Tom said. “I have everything I need.”

“Good idea,” Meredith agreed. She reached in her pocket for her keys. “I’ll lock the room so no one else can come in until the police get here.”

They quickly filed back to the exit. Rick and Tom ducked through first. Shutting off the light, Meredith pulled the door shut and locked it behind her.

Turning around, her eyes fell back on the trail of blood on the floor. Frowning, she automatically checked the floor around the rest of the body. “There’s no blood leading to any of the other rooms.”

Tom nodded. “I noticed that.”

“That’s strange, isn’t it? I’m no blood expert, but wouldn’t the killer have gotten some on him—or her?” Given Haley’s injuries, it seemed inevitable.

“I would say so,” Rick agreed.

“Yet they managed to not leave a trail leading back to them.”

“Whoever it is was very careful,” Tom observed. “Most likely, the killer knew what he was doing.”

Meredith didn’t miss the glance Tom shot at Rick, his steady gaze full of suspicion. A wave of indignation rose inside her, and she had to bite back the retort that rose to her lips, not wanting to say anything in front of Rick. In all fairness she knew Tom had every right to suspect him. Everyone had to be considered a possible suspect, but it only made sense that he would especially question someone who was a complete stranger to him.

But Meredith was equally convinced Rick couldn’t be responsible. “There’s something else,” Meredith said. She forced herself to look back at the body. “That knife,” she said, indicating the item still jutting out of Jessica’s chest. “I don’t recognize the handle. It’s definitely not one from the house.”

She watched Tom process that information in light of what they’d discussed earlier. “Which means it probably belongs to whoever did this. They must have brought it with them.”

It did seem like the most likely explanation. The only alternative she could think of would be that the knife belonged to Haley and it had somehow been used against her, but she couldn’t imagine why Haley would have brought a knife like that. No, the most reasonable explanation was that it had been brought here for this very purpose. “So this wasn’t something that happened on the spur of the moment. It was premeditated. Whoever it was came here intending to do this....”

Her voice faded as it hit her just how much worse this kept getting.

The killer wasn’t just careful and methodical. He—or she—was prepared. And if this was what happened on the first night, there was no telling what the killer had planned for the next few days.

She struggled to think of something, anything that might indicate who could have done this. “Do you think it’s a man?” she asked numbly. “It would have taken some strength to move the body, right?” Neither Rachel or Jessica was particularly big. She couldn’t see either of them having much in the way of arm strength.

Ellen, on the other hand...

Meredith tried to shut down the thought before it could form, not wanting to go there, even as a little voice deep inside whispered that she was going to have to at least consider the possibility.

All eyes went to the woman on the floor. “Not necessarily,” Rick said after a moment. “She’s not very big. It wouldn’t have taken much to move her. All the killer would’ve had to do is grab her under her shoulders and drag her out here.”

Meredith slowly raised her eyes to look at him, unable to resist the impulse. Out of the corner of her eye, she sensed Tom do the same.

Rick held up his hands, no doubt picking up on what they were so obviously wondering. “I’m just guessing here. I know about moving stuff. I’m saying that’s how I would do it, not that I did.”

“Nobody thinks you did, Rick,” Meredith said automatically, shaking off her momentary doubts and doing her best not to glance at Tom. “So it could have been anyone.” Even Rachel or—

Another thought occurred to her. “I didn’t see any blood on Jessica, did you?” Meredith asked Tom.

Tom was silent for a moment. Whether it was because he was thinking about it or because he didn’t like having to consider Jessica as a suspect, Meredith couldn’t tell. “No, but there’s always the possibility she quickly changed, then came back into the hall and started screaming to make it look like she’d just discovered the body.”

Her screams had seemed genuine, Meredith thought, the memory of them enough to send her skin crawling again. But that didn’t necessarily mean anything. “She is an actress, isn’t she?”

Tom met her eyes with clear reluctance. “Yes.”

“She was awful quick to start throwing accusations around,” Rick said.

Meredith couldn’t argue with him about that. He was right, and he hadn’t even been there when Haley’s body had been found and Jessica had first started accusing people. “I don’t know her well enough to know if that’s suspicious or typical of her personality.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t say, either,” Tom said. “Like Haley, I hadn’t seen her in years before today. I admit she’s a lot more unpleasant than I remember, but I don’t know how much of that is just an indication of how much she’s changed over the years.”

Meredith swallowed. She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

Tom cleared his throat. “I guess we should finish what we came here to do. The others are going to be wondering what’s taking us so long.”

He was right. She surveyed Haley one more time, considering how to proceed. “There’s an empty room down the hall,” she said finally. “We can put her in there.”

“Sounds good,” Tom agreed.

Retrieving a sheet from a nearby closet, Meredith spread it out on the floor. Working together, Tom and Rick placed the body on the sheet and gently wrapped it. Meredith moved ahead to open the door to the room, stepping out of the way to let them carry the body inside. They quickly did so, wasting no time stepping back out once the task was done. As soon as they were back in the hallway, Meredith locked the door.

When they were finally done with the grim task, no one seemed to be much in the mood to talk. They made their way back to the living room in silence.

Everyone gathered in the room looked up at their entrance. No one said anything, but the question was clearly in their eyes.

“It’s done,” Meredith confirmed. “Everyone can head up to bed.”

No one gave any sign of relief, only acceptance as they began to rise from their seats.

“In the meantime,” Tom said, “until we get to the bottom of this, I’d like to suggest everyone try to stay together and not go anywhere alone. It should be safer that way.”

“Unless the person you’re alone with is the killer,” Alex said darkly.

The comment was met with a nervous silence. Meredith saw Jessica shudder. Rachel leaned a little closer into Scott.

Meredith turned to Rick and Ellen. “Would the two of you like to stay upstairs with the rest of us, so you’re not so isolated on the other side of the house? There are still plenty of rooms.” Even without the one that had been turned into a makeshift morgue.

Rick and Ellen glanced at each other, seeming to share a look, before turning back to Meredith. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d rather stay where I am,” Ellen told her.

“Me, too,” Rick agreed.

“All right,” Meredith said. While she wouldn’t have minded having them close so she’d have a better idea whether they were safe, she could certainly understand why they would want to be away from the wedding guests. After listening to all the bickering and suspicions, being isolated on the other side of the house away from these people—one of whom might be a killer—didn’t sound like a bad thing. Not to mention, Rick likely wasn’t in any hurry to spend the night upstairs near the body after what he’d just had to do. “I guess I’ll see you both in the morning then?”

They both nodded.

She watched them go, disappearing into the other wing and the darkness that led to the rear of the house.

The rest of the group made their way up the staircase without speaking. Meredith didn’t know if it was exhaustion or the traumatic events of the past few hours that kept them quiet and subdued. She wouldn’t have blamed them for either.

When they made it to the second floor, Jessica hurried to her room, quickly slamming the door shut. The sound of the lock fastening was audible down the hall.

Scott glanced back when he and Rachel reached their room, Rachel ducking inside first. “Good night,” he said.

“’Night, man,” Tom said. “See you tomorrow.”

With a nod, Scott went inside.

Down the hall, Alex and Greg retreated to their respective rooms.

Until she and Tom were the only ones left.

Meredith felt a sudden awkwardness as they stood there in the echoing stillness of the corridor. It seemed strange. After everything they’d been through in the past few hours, she should feel comfortable around him. But there it was nonetheless.

“Thank you for your help tonight,” she said. “I honestly don’t know what I would have done without it.”

“I’m glad I was able to do something,” he said. “You’re sure you’re all right?”

She remembered when he’d asked her that in the downstairs hall, remembered the way his low, deep voice had washed over, remembered the kindness and concern in his eyes, much as it was now.