Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I stepped closer, trying to maintain composure as the details made their way to my brain. Her legs were bent at an unnatural angle. Her eyes stared, unseeing, at the stars above. Blood pooled under her head, but her long red hair fanned out like angel wings.
Susie was dead.
The screams had stopped, turning to strangled cries and panicked murmurs. People had taken either of two choices—run away or crowd around the body. One man even took his phone out. He was about to photograph her—dead and vulnerable—an obscene act.
Nick grabbed him by the scruff and effortlessly tossed him aside. “Everyone stay back!”
“She killed herself,” a woman said, her voice relaying her shock. “Right in front of us.”
Nick’s eyes cut to the woman. “Did you see her jump from the roof?”
“No,” the woman said, confused. “But …” She gestured toward the ground like jumping had been the obvious cause.
But Nick and I knew Susie could have been the victim of foul play. He looked at me and something unspoken passed between us.
“I need everyone to move back!” he hollered. “This is a crime scene!”
People stepped backward, clutching each other. Cold, rosy cheeks drained of color. The choir’s carols had turned to sobs. My eyes flicked from face to face, and all I saw was trauma reflected back.
Nick knelt by the body, checking for any signs of life. She’d fallen from the roof. Three stories. Was it possible to survive from that height? But as I asked the question with my eyes, he gave me a sad shake of his head.
The sheriff pushed his way through the crowd, huffing like he’d just run a marathon. Two more officers—ones I didn’t know—arrived shortly after. Kris barked orders while they tried to secure the scene.
Then Kris turned toward the thinning crowd. “Who saw something? Anyone?”
“She fell from the roof,” a teen girl said with a shaky voice.
“Did you see her up there?” Kris asked. “Was she alone? Did she trip, jump, what?”
The girl shook her head. “I didn’t see.”
“Did anyone see?” He bellowed. “Was anyone taking pictures? Video?”
Only silence and shaking heads answered him. Even if someone had been recording, they wouldn’t have been zoomed in on a random roof. They would have been recording the concert or taking pictures at street level.
I didn’t think the killer could strike with this many people here.
But they found a way. My body trembled as the shock gave way to realization.
This was real. This had actually happened.
We never should have held the event. We put all of these people in danger.
My breaths started coming faster and shorter.
Susie’s creepy smile as she opened the door to the building rose from my memory. Why had she done that? What did it mean? Was she planning to jump, and she wanted me to see her face right before? What purpose would that serve?
I rubbed my temples as my head started to pound.
The crowd was dispersing faster now. The killer could be among them, but we would have no way to know.
If they’d been on the roof with Susie, they’d had plenty of time to come back and disappear into the crowd with all of the screams and chaos.
My mind whirred and spun, and soon the world was spinning with it. Dark spots edged in on my vision.
“Hey, hey.” Two warm arms wrapped themselves around me.
I looked up into Ellison’s concerned eyes. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Yeah, you look like you might faint, but I’ve got you.” His voice was soft and smooth, like melted caramel, and I closed my eyes and lost myself in it.
Time and place seemed to fade away. I was gone, somewhere else.
But when I came back, I was bouncing, weightless in the air.
A soft fabric caressed my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked until they adjusted.
A quick check of my surroundings confirmed I was not on Main Street.
In fact, I was almost to the front door of the inn.
I turned my head to see better and figured out what was happening. Ellison was carrying me.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“It’s no problem,” he said, his eyes focused on the road ahead. “We have to get you safe and sound.”
The night and its details came back to me, but the panic didn’t return. My breathing was steady and normal. But I had no idea how Ellison planned on getting me inside and up those stairs.
“I’m good now,” I said. “I can walk.”
He carried me a few more steps. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” I said, though I honestly wasn’t. I wouldn’t know for sure until I tried to stand on my own.
He carefully set me down but kept his arms around me. I stood about as confidently as a newborn deer for the first few seconds but then found my footing.
“I’m good,” I said, trying to convince myself more than him.
But after a few steps, I realized I was fine. The dizziness was gone but soon replaced by a rush of embarrassment. I kept my head down in the lobby, past a cluster of people openly weeping. We took the stairs slowly, Ellison keeping one protective hand on my elbow.
At my door, I looked up at him. “Thank you. I’m so sorry.”
His eyebrows raised in question. “For what?”
“I don’t know. Fainting. Causing a scene. Making you carry me after I had a huge takeout dinner.”
He let out a soft laugh. “You did not cause a scene. I’m pretty sure everyone’s attention was on something else. I don’t blame you for fainting. You witnessed something horrific. Something no one should have to see.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, looking up into his eyes. Susie was his ex, and she’d stalked him, but at some point in time he had to have feelings for her.
“I’m still processing, to be honest,” he said. “It hasn’t hit me yet. My first instinct when I heard the screams was to find you and get you to safety.”
I stared down at the worn burgundy carpet.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was supposed to be a good night.
The open space, the crowd, was supposed to keep us all safe.
I was supposed to be under a blanket with Ellison, staring at the stars.
Susie was supposed to be alive—probably stabbing a Kelsey Hendricks voodoo doll, but alive.
“This wasn’t what I had in mind for our after-work date,” I said softly.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead. “We have all the time in the world for that.”
I gazed up into his eyes. “Do you want to come in?” I wouldn’t mind not being alone.
“I wish I could, but I need to head back and close up. When I heard the screaming, I just bolted, and I left poor Alma behind in the store. She knows how to lock up, but I just want to make sure everything’s okay.
Also, I want to check in with Nick, see what’s going on. See if I can help in any way.”
As my mind absorbed his words, all I could think was that I’d gone to the woods of Maine and found a real-life unicorn. He was a good man. He cared about his community, wanted to help people, hired little old ladies, and somehow, through some miracle, he wanted me.
“Of course,” I said, not wanting to hold him back. “Go help.”
I rooted through my pockets for the key card and unlocked the door.
“Let me just take a peek first,” he said, and I was more than happy to let him look around. That would save me the heart attack of checking the closet and then ripping open the shower curtain with my straight iron brandished as a weapon.
He returned a minute later. “You’re all good. Just lock the deadbolt after you close the door.”
“I will,” I promised.
“Don’t open it for anyone.”
“Not even you?” A teasing grin lifted the side of my mouth.
“Just for me.”
He touched my cheek, brushing a rogue strand of hair from my face.
Then his fingers trailed down to my chin and gently tilted my face up.
His lips brushed against mine in a sweet but painfully short kiss.
He tasted like mint and candy canes and good things.
When our lips broke apart, he pulled me in for a hug.
His arms were strong and warm, and I felt safe.
I wanted to melt into him and cling to him forever. But I knew he had to go.
I stepped backward into my room, his eyes never leaving mine until the door closed. I watched through the peephole as he stood sentinel. He didn’t leave until he heard the click of my deadbolt.
After a night like that I figured I’d never sleep, but the opposite happened.
As soon as I burrowed under the thick comforter, my consciousness slipped away.
Every muscle in my body felt worn and tired.
I knew I didn’t have to get up for work, so I hadn’t set an alarm.
When my eyes drifted open, sunlight was peeking through the edge of the closed drapes.
I checked the time and realized I’d slept ten hours. I guess trauma can do that to a person.
I eased myself up to sitting, and the details of the night before came rushing back.
I shoved away the image of Susie’s dead, unseeing eyes.
The sounds of the screams. The blood. I fought against my rising panic.
I wouldn’t let that take hold again like it had last night.
I had to remain clearheaded if I wanted to think this through.
Would Susie have jumped? She’d definitely proven that she was mentally unstable, but enough to take her own life publicly in a way that would traumatize tourists and townspeople?
That didn’t make sense to me. I wondered if the police found any evidence of another person on the roof.
A killer who only needed to deliver one big push to take his next victim.
But how would they know Susie was heading up to the roof?
More important, why would she have been going there?
I reached for my phone, hoping to find some answers in my alerts. But my only text was from Carol.
Can you meet me at the office?