Chapter 14
14
MILA
I couldn’t remember the last time I slept so well or so long. I didn’t wake up this morning until after eight, but I woke to an empty bed, telling me that Ethan was an early riser. I immediately smiled when I smelled the coffee before throwing the covers from my body and finding the Keurig machine sitting on top of a small refrigerator. Grabbing a cup, I brewed my coffee and added the powdered creamer the hotel must provide, considering we didn’t bring anything. Turning, I looked out the sliding doors and saw the back of Ethan while he leaned on the railing. He must’ve been up for a while, considering he was already dressed and his hair was damp. When my stomach growled, I took another sip of coffee and headed to the bathroom.
Moving quickly and efficiently, I showered and was ready to go within a half hour. I didn’t need much time, but I spent a little extra in the shower, just enjoying the hot water after having not showered for over a day. I really wanted to shower last night but after talking to Kyle, I was too tired to motivate myself, so I just went to bed.
Opening the door, I stepped out and noticed Ethan sitting on the edge of the bed. “I looked for hotels and even called a few, but nothing’s available.”
I grinned. “Good morning to you too.”
“Yeah,” he muttered but was tapping away on his phone.
“I can call the front desk and ask if there are any rooms with two doubles,”?I suggested, assuming he wasn’t in the mood for joking.
“Already did.” He frowned. “They said there’s nothing this week. Apparently, Kyle was right, and the festival draws a huge crowd, including the locals who usually show up for the events at the lake. That must’ve been why he said to go to the lake.”
“That could be good for us. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and this festival is something Samson actually attends.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“Hungry?” I asked when my stomach growled again.
“Definitely.” He gestured toward the door. “We eating here or somewhere else?”
“It’s probably good to drive somewhere, maybe find a place where the locals go. We’re not going to see Samson here at the hotel.”
“Good point.” He grabbed the SUV keys from the table, and we headed for the elevators.
The doors slid open, and we stepped inside, coming face-to-face with a couple. “Morning.”
“Morning,” I replied with a smile.
“I’m Jenny”—the woman smiled and gestured to the man beside her—“and this is my husband, Carl.”
Still smiling, I nodded but couldn’t help wondering if everyone was this friendly. That seemed odd to me. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m April, and this is Joe.”
“Is this your first time here?” Jenny asked.
“Yes, it is,” I replied. “How could you tell?”
“Just a hunch.” She shrugged. “We come every year to celebrate our anniversary, so if you need any tips on things to do, where to go, you know that kind of stuff, we’re in room 208.”
“We might take you up on that.” The doors opened, and we walked out. “Happy anniversary.”
“Thanks.” Jenny smiled. “We’ll be by the pool if you want to hang out.”
I lifted my hand in a wave. “Okay, thanks again.”
“Idiots,” Ethan grumbled while we walked toward the SUV.
“What do you mean?”
“Who the hell gives a stranger their hotel room number?”
I laughed. “People who don’t have our jobs.” I yanked open the door after he unlocked the SUV. “Although, they did seem extra friendly, didn’t they?”
We both got into the SUV, and Ethan started the engine before pulling onto the main road. “Too friendly if you ask me. Do you want to look up some food places?”
“Just pull into the first place you see,” I replied. “I’m so hungry, I’ll eat anything. Plus, the only way to find out what’s local is to ask the locals. We need to start somewhere.”
As we drove, I saw the lake come into view and immediately noticed families. Kids were everywhere. Tents were set up, and people were already in the lake, and it was only a little after nine in the morning. “Wow, these people start early. Definitely feels like a family place, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“What the hell would Samson be doing out here? Think he has a family?”
“No idea.”
I slowly turned my head and studied the side of Ethan’s face. His jaw was tight as he stared out the windshield. “You hungry or what?”
“Starving.”
I grinned, chalking up his mood to being hungry. “Me too.”
He pointed at a large building that looked like a cabin but was obviously a restaurant. “What about here?”
“Sure.”
He parked, and we walked through the nearly full parking lot to the front doors. A hostess greeted us and immediately sat us in a booth, but I was shocked by how crowded this place was. “This must be the hot spot.”
“Oh, it is.” The hostess, who couldn’t be more than twenty years old, smiled. “It’s also the only restaurant along this stretch.”
“What does that mean? Along this stretch?” I asked.
“I take it this is your first visit to Devil’s Lake?”
“It is.” I smiled. “Can you give us any insider tips?”
The hostess giggled. “You’re down pretty far. Most of the action happens about five miles or so up the road.”
“Really? We saw a lot of families already set up along the lake,” I said, wanting her to keep talking and see what I could find out.
“Yeah, this side of the lake is more family-friendly with more beach area and kids’ activities. The festival is set up a little farther down, and the other side of the lake caters to adults.” She glanced between us. “I can grab you some drinks if you know what you’d like, and then I’ll send over your server.”
“I’ll have chocolate milk.”
She nodded and looked at Ethan, who hadn’t spoken one word yet. “Coffee.”
She smiled. “Sure. I’ll grab those.”
He opened his menu and started looking, but something seemed off. Ethan was quiet, but this morning he seemed pissed, which wasn’t a side of him I’d seen often. “You okay?”
“Didn’t sleep well,” he grumbled.
“Really?” I asked, surprised because I thought the bed was comfortable. Maybe I was just that tired. “I slept really well.”
“Good for you.”
Sitting up straight, I kicked his shin under the table, and his head snapped up. “Why the hell did you do that?”
“Because you’re being an ass,” I replied. “I’m sorry you didn’t sleep well, but that’s not my fault.”
He snorted just as the server brought our drinks and took our orders. I wasn’t even sure what I ordered because I was annoyed.
“Why did you make that sound?” I asked when she walked away.
“What sound?” He blew on his coffee before taking a sip.
“When I said it wasn’t my fault you didn’t sleep well, you made a noise.”
He studied me for a minute before finally answering. “Forget it. You’re right, I’m being an ass. Sorry about that.” He put his cup down. “Let’s figure out what we need to do today. It doesn’t seem like we’re gonna find a new place to stay, and with any luck, we won’t be here long, so why waste time looking for one.”
Not convinced everything was fine, I wondered if I should ask more questions, but then I decided not to. Maybe he was just hungry or tired like he said. Either way, I was overanalyzing it, which I did a lot.
Shrugging it off, I offered a suggestion. “Why don’t we head to the bookstore where Striker first tracked him? I may be able to bring up the search history on the computers and see if we find anything.”
“Didn’t Striker already do that?”
I shook my head. “A little, but not much. Kyle probably did some searching, but it can’t hurt to check again. See if he was back in and which computer he used most often. My gut tells me he’s habitual.”
We stopped talking when the server set our plates in front of us. Ethan thanked her before I could and waited for her to walk away before speaking. “Why do you think that?”
“He’s organized,” I admitted. “He’s managed to stay one step ahead of us this whole time, which tells me he’s methodical in how he does things. He doesn’t make mistakes. What bothers me is that if he wanted Beth dead, he could’ve killed her with the arsenic, but he didn’t.”
Ethan took a bite of his scrambled eggs and swallowed before answering. “Are we sure he didn’t want her dead? I mean, if she had eaten more of the pizza, could it have killed her?”
I took a bite of my bagel and considered that. “I guess so, but she would’ve had to eat a lot of it to ingest enough arsenic.”
“So you think he wants her alive,” he surmised. “For what reason?”
“The safety deposit box,” I guessed. “We don’t know what’s in it, but it must be worth something, considering everything Max Skinner went through to try to get his hands on it. The fact that Samson is somehow involved in all of this tells me he knows about it too but doesn’t have a clue where it is.”
“Neither does Beth,” he pointed out.
“Yeah.” I pointed my fork at him. “But Samson doesn’t know that.”
We ate the remainder of breakfast in silence, paid the bill, and were headed back to the car when my phone rang. Pulling it from my back pocket, I showed Ethan the screen and laughed before answering the FaceTime call.
When his face popped up, I shook my head. “Hey, Kyle.”
He smiled. “Well, well, well, look at you two up and out. Where are you?”
“Just finished breakfast.” I slid into the passenger seat of the car and closed the door.
“How’d you sleep?”? he asked, but I heard the teasing in his tone.
I glanced at Ethan, who looked ready to snap. I ignored that and smiled at Kyle. “We both slept great.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Why do you sound so surprised?”
He smirked. “Just thought it might be a little crowded.”
“It’s a king-sized bed, Kyle. We barely knew the other was there.” I grinned. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
When Ethan chuckled, relief washed over me. Finally, his mood seemed to be improving, and if lying to Kyle helped that, then I was more than happy to keep doing it.
Kyle smiled but thankfully moved on. “Boss wants me to check in. See where you’re headed today.”
“We’re going to the bookstore,” I answered. “Want to see if I can trace anything on the computer.”
“Let me know what you find,” Kyle said. “I’ll keep digging here and see if I can give you any leads to track down.”
“Sounds good.”
“What did you have for breakfast?”
Ethan chuckled again before asking, “You bored this morning or what?”
Kyle laughed. “A little.”
Ethan gestured toward me. “Mila had chocolate milk.”
I glanced at him. “Something wrong with chocolate milk?”
He studied me a minute before a grin graced his lips. “Are you ten?”
“Adults like chocolate milk,” I defended myself.
“I like chocolate milk,” Kyle chimed in, and I frowned because I knew by the look on Ethan’s face that Kyle was making his point.
“You don’t have to say it,” I groaned.
Ethan laughed, and I tried to keep a straight face, but seeing the lightness in his expression made it hard. I looked back at the phone and noticed Kyle watching us closely. “I’m hanging up now, Kyle.”
“Brody give any specific orders?” Ethan asked before I could do what I threatened.
Kyle shook his head. “Nope. They just wanted me to check in. See what you need us to do from here.”
“Not sure yet. We’ll do some…” Ethan looked around us before finishing. “Exploring, and then call you later.”
“Got it,” Kyle replied with a smirk. “Why don’t you have some fun while you’re there? Maybe hang out in the clubs I read about or get your suits on and get wet.”
When Kyle wiggled his eyebrows, Ethan shook his head. “Just hang up on him.”
This was the one time in my life I was happy to follow orders.