CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 17
Is My Fear of Heights Going to Come Back to Haunt Me on This Ropes Course?
Lunch is a calorific and boozy affair. There’s a bison burger bar where your burger is cooked to your liking with the toppings of your choice. After my defeat, ugh, at tennis, I treat myself to one with all the fixings—cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, a creamy spicy sauce, and lettuce and tomatoes. It’s so big I have to eat it with a fork, but every bite is worth it.
There’s also a large drink dispenser full of Buffalo Milk, and what the hell? When in Rome, right?
Have you been waiting for me to use that?
I’ve had it in my drafts folder for years.
Anyway, the first couple of sips are disgusting, but it’s alcohol, and it goes down surprisingly easily.
I’m about to have a second when Oliver reminds me that we’re doing a ropes course after lunch. This doesn’t dissuade me, though. Because I’m afraid of heights, and frankly I’d rather be slightly hammered if I’m going to go up above the tree line.
That’s my logic, anyway.
Flawed, I know, in light of recent events.
But everyone else is drinking, too. It is a party, after all. And at the center of it is Fred, celebrating his ill-gotten gains from his tennis win over me and Oliver. Emma’s smiling at him indulgently, all forgiven, apparently, after the revelation that he’d been gambling.
If I were a real detective, I’d be questioning Fred about his financial situation, but I’m not, so bottoms up!
Oooh, boy, these are strong .
The other “real” detective isn’t talking to Fred either. Instead, he’s cracking jokes with Harper, and I don’t know, but fuck it, I guess? If he makes her happy, who am I to judge?
Ha ha ha ha.
Come on, Eleanor. We all know you’re just biding your time until you can put a stop to it.
I am. I am.
But in the meantime, there’s a slightly terrifying group activity on the schedule, so as Inspector Tucci might say, Andiamo!
We’re doing the ropes course in shifts. The first one includes the usual suspects—me, Oliver, Harper, Allison, David, Emma, Fred, Connor, Simone, Shawna, and Inspector Tucci.
We load into a series of dune buggies to go to the ropes course. Harper, Oliver, and I gravitate to one of them, Harper up front and me and Oliver in the back.
The ropes course is set into the hillside above the Casino, a landmark that seems to be visible from everywhere on this island. It was built by the Wrigleys in 1929, our driver reminds us, in the Art Deco and Mediterranean-revival style, and is twelve stories high.
But here’s some new information. Casino is an Italian word that means “gathering place,” and—wait for it—there’s never been gambling at the Casino. Instead, it has a twenty-thousand-square-foot ballroom and a theater.
I’m not sure why this gives me goose bumps. Maybe it’s the misdirection or the use of Italian, but it feels like a warning.
Or these drinks are just super strong.
Either is possible.
We turn away from the Casino and start to climb up the hill. The track is bumpy and we get jostled up and down, which is not allaying my fear of heights and ropes and anything to do with ropes and heights.
“I thought the ropes course was optional?” Harper says. She’s changed into a pair of black leggings and a crop top that looks like it comes from the Olivia Newton-John videos my mother used to work out to. I’m wearing leggings, too, and a long-sleeved shirt I bought when I was going through a running phase.
“That was yesterday. Today, there’s no opting out,” I say. “How was the glass-bottomed boat, by the way? You never said.”
“It was cool.”
“Cool?”
“Yeah, you know, colorful fish, et cetera.”
“And Connor?”
“What about him?”
“He was on the boat, right?”
She gives me a look. “So?”
“That must’ve been annoying.”
“You should cut him some slack.”
Um, what ?
“Why?”
“He’s been turning over a new leaf.”
I glance at Oliver. He’s looking out at the scenery, his baseball cap pulled low.
“I could tell on the tennis court when he was deliberately making me lose.”
“Maybe he just didn’t want to see the backpack kid dance.”
“Ha ha.”
“Seriously, El. He’s not the devil.”
My stomach churns with unease. “He blackmailed me for ten years.”
“Well, he’s stopped now, hasn’t he?”
“Yes, but—”
“And he’s got some other things going on, too, so maybe let it go.”
I look at Oliver again, but he’s not going to help me out here. Besides, what can he do about this?
At least he knows I didn’t bring it up.
Small mercies.
“Other things like?” I ask.
“It’s not for me to say.”
“Are you guys dating?”
She arches an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“We’re here,” Oliver says as the dune buggy lurches to a stop on a small flat plain in front of a thick clutch of cherry and scrub oak trees with a thick jungle undergrowth beneath it. “Let’s try not to die on this ropes course, shall we?”
“Why would you say something like that!”
He shrugs. “Just stating the obvious.”
“Honey, I love you, but sometimes you don’t think before you speak.”
He gives me a wide grin. “We both do that.”
“Okay, fair.” I touch his arm. “Is this a mistake, you think?”
“Going up into the trees where a fall would mean certain death with a potential murderer among us? Nah.”
“Oliver is funny,” Harper says with an indulgent smile. She had a couple of drinks at lunch, too. “Did you know Oliver is funny, El?”
“I did, in fact. And do not tell me that Connor can be funny, too.”
“Well, sometimes.”
I climb out of the buggy, my legs protesting after the workout from the tennis game. Even though I knew I was going to lose, my competitive spirit didn’t stop me from pushing myself harder than I should have.
And if that’s not a metaphor for many things about me, I don’t know what is.
“Enough,” I say. “If this is going to be my last act on this earth, I don’t want to be wondering what Connor Smith said that made you think he has a sense of humor.”
“She’s so easy to goad, isn’t she?” Harper says.
“Totally,” Oliver agrees.
“Don’t you two gang up on me.”
He winks at me and takes my hand. “Come on, I’ll watch out for you.”
Oliver means it. While the instructor, Andre, a tall guy with dark hair and a deep tan, explains the course, Oliver moves among us, checking that everyone is in their harnesses properly and that all of the safety ropes are secured.
Speaking of which, I should be doing my own safety checks.
“You okay, Em?” I say, catching her at a moment when she’s a bit apart from Fred. Her hair is pulled back by a light blue headband, and her makeup is light. She looks like she did when we were in high school, fresh-faced and vulnerable.
“I’m good.”
“And earlier? The stuff about the money?”
“We talked it out,” Emma says.
“Hey, you can tell me.”
She turns to me with a remote look in her eyes. “Tell you what, El? That someone wants to kill me or scare me out of marrying Fred and I just learned that he’s been lying to me?”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“I know you mean well, okay? But you don’t have to solve this.”
“You asked me to look into it.”
“That was before. I don’t want to know anything more. I know enough.”
“This isn’t my fault.”
She catches my hand. “I’m not blaming you. But you can leave it now. Tyler’s left and Fred’s happy and I’m happy, too.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
She hugs me, then walks to Fred and kisses him, maybe for emphasis, maybe just because she’s in love and it’s her wedding day and it’s easier to concentrate on the task ahead than the wind whipping through the trees and the undercurrents pulling against the group.
Andre finishes his instructions, and we get separated into groups of four—Fred, Emma, Harper, and Connor in one; me, Oliver, David, and Allison in another. Inspector Tucci, Simone, and Shawna get lumped in with a member of the crew. I feel a moment of sympathy for Simone as Inspector Tucci starts rattling off statistics about how many people have a fear of heights and how the top of the ropes course is the same height as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 62 Then we flip a coin for who is going first, and it’s tails, we lose.
“I’m not sure I can do this,” I say to Oliver as I look up above me. The first platform is very high—not Leaning Tower of Pisa high, that’s ridiculous, but high enough.
Oliver checks his harness again. “So, don’t.”
“What? No pep talk? No ‘you can do this’?”
“I’m not a greeting card.”
Allison laughs. She’s dressed in a black Lycra bodysuit, and if they are looking to cast the next Catwoman, she’s in for sure. “Come on, El. It will be good to build the team.”
“What team?”
“ When in Rome, Part II .”
I’m about to say something I’ll probably regret when I realize Allison’s joking. “Ha, right. Good one.”
“You’re a little stress case today, aren’t you?”
“I’m always a stress case.”
“Oh, wait, I remember. You’re afraid of heights.”
“Thanks for reminding me.”
David walks up in his harness. He’s wearing it high on his waist, which makes his white shorts bunch up like they’re a diaper. “Everyone ready to rumble?”
“What?”
“You know, bond, or whatever.”
I sigh internally. “Sure.”
Oliver reaches out and squeezes my hand. “Deep breaths.”
I squeeze back, and we follow Andre to the rope ladder that leads up to a platform where the course begins. He goes first, and I follow behind him because if I’m going to go up here, I want to get it over with. Oliver is behind me, murmuring reassuring words, but I don’t look down. I just put one foot in front of the other and move my hands up and climb, climb, climb until I get to the platform. Andre gives me a hand onto it, and I lie on my back, staring at the clouds racing against the sky as the palm trees rustle around us, trying to steady my breathing.
“You all right there, Eleanor?” David asks as he climbs onto the platform after Oliver. Andre is busying himself checking the clips we’ll use to attach to the guide ropes above the course.
“I’ll live.”
I regret the words the minute they leave my mouth because it feels like a stupid thing to assume.
Because Emma might be reassured by Tyler’s absence, but I’m not.
Instead, I’ve got a feeling like someone’s watching me, but there’s no one up here but us.
“Do you mind if I run something by you?” David says.
I sit up. “What?”
“There’s always something that bothered me about the script, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, you know how you—I mean Cecilia—helped Connor solve the robberies, right?”
“Yes.”
“And then Connor gets a finder’s fee, right?”
“He does.”
“Why doesn’t he share it with Cecilia?”
“I...”
“Is it because she doesn’t need the money? Because I had another theory.”
“Oh?” I stand up. Don’t look down, El. Just don’t look down.
“I wondered if maybe they were in on it together?”
“In on what?”
“The robberies. Like maybe Connor had planned them and Cecilia knew, and that’s why she didn’t claim part of the fee.”
I look down at my harness, checking it again as Allison climbs onto the platform looking calm and assured, like always.
“What do you think, Allison?” I ask.
“About?”
“Whether Connor could be behind the original robberies in Rome.”
A smile curls onto Allison’s mouth. “Was I not supposed to tell people that?”
“Pretty sure that was a secret.”
“Oops.”
I start to seethe. “You know you’re in on it with Connor in this version, right?”
“So?”
“You don’t find it weird that your boyfriend changed the original story to make it so that Connor and Allison are scamming Cecilia the whole time?”
She walks to the edge of the platform. “It’s very high up here, isn’t it?”
“Don’t try to distract me.”
“From what?”
“Were you in on it with Connor? It never occurred to me before, but it would make sense.”
“ What would make sense?”
“Where David got the idea from. Because I don’t think he could think that up on his own.”
“Hey!”
Allison steps toward me. She’s calm, but there’s a hint of menace underneath. “I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about, Eleanor. David wrote the movie long before he met me and—”
“Okay, people, focus up!” Andre says. “You, Miss Talk-a-Lot.” He points to me. “You’re up first.”
“You don’t have to,” Oliver says.
“It’s fine. Let’s just get this over with.”
“You can do it, El!” Emma calls up from below.
“Thanks, Em!”
I step to the edge of the platform. There’s a bridge made of rope to another platform. Andre hooks my harness to the guide rope above, and I take a step out onto the bridge. It starts to sway.
“Is this normal?”
“Normal!” Andre barks. Maybe he was a drill sergeant before he did this.
I take a few more steps. It’s much windier up here than on the ground, but through the trees, I can see a glimpse of the ocean, the surf white-capped now.
And then I make a mistake.
I look down.
“I feel dizzy!”
“You’re okay, El,” Oliver says. “Just keep going to the other side.”
“Why am I doing this again?”
“It builds character,” Emma calls from below.
“My character was fine!”
“That’s what everyone thinks, but it’s not true!”
“Thanks a lot!” I take a tentative step, and then another as the group down below watches me. I try not to look down, but you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I’m not good at working against my impulses.
But this time—ha!—I master them. I force myself to look straight ahead, up even, at the platform I’m heading to.
But—ha!—joke’s on me because that’s why I don’t see it. A gap in the ropes that’s bigger than it should be. My foot falls through, and I go down on one knee, my heart hammering.
“Stand back up!” Andre barks.
I grasp the edge above me and try to pull myself up, but upper-body strength has never been my strong suit.
“I can’t.”
“You can do it, El,” Oliver says.
I grasp the rope again and pull myself up. I get halfway there, then fall back down. The bridge sways underneath me, back and forth.
Don’t look down. Don’t look down.
“I can’t do it.”
“Stay there, I’m coming out,” Oliver says.
“Okay.”
I lie half propped up, trying to free my foot from the hole. The rope is scratchy and thick, and it’s rubbing against my neck and a spot on my back where my shirt has ridden up.
“I’m blaming you for this, Em!”
“I’d expect nothing less!”
“Almost to you,” Oliver says.
“Can’t happen soon enough.”
I feel the bridge sway under me, Oliver’s weight pushing it down. He gets to me and hefts me up from behind, and it’s not the most elegant thing, but it works.
I turn around slowly.
“There you are,” Oliver says, smiling at me. “All better now.”
“All b— Oh, shit!”
The ropes we’re standing on give way beneath us and we fall rapidly toward the earth, clinging to each other, and are stopped with a jerk five feet from the ground.
“Are you okay, El?” Emma says.
“What the hell happened?”
“I knew we shouldn’t have come here.”
“Stay there! I’ll be down in a moment to cut you out.”
I start to shake.
We just fell thirty feet.
We were five feet from slamming into the ground.
Someone’s trying to kill me.
Again.
“Are you okay?” Oliver asks.
“Yeah, you?”
“Okay. But man, that was close.”
I rest my head against his chest. His heart is beating as fast as mine.
“Do not say ‘I told you so,’” Oliver says.
“I won’t.”
I’ll just say it in my head.
Only you can hear me in here, right?
“I literally hear you saying it,” Oliver says.
“No, no. Your brain hearing is off today.”
He hugs me tight and I look down between my legs.
And it’s then that I see it. Something in the undergrowth beneath us.
“Something’s down there,” I say.
“Where?” Oliver asks.
“Right below us.”
“I’ll look,” Connor says.
“I don’t think that’s a...”
But Connor doesn’t listen to me. He never has.
He pushes into the bushes and stops.
“It’s a body.”
“What!?” Fred says.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“I’m not an idiot, for Christ’s sake, Eleanor.”
So much for Connor changing.
“Who is it?”
“He’s wearing a maintenance uniform...”
Oh, shit.
It can’t be.
Wait for it.
No way, José. 63
62 It isn’t.
63 Come on, you knew I was going to say that, right?