Chapter 12
CHAPTER
TWELVE
The fire had burned low by the time Olive and Jason returned upstairs.
Their team looked up as they entered, faces etched with worry.
Rex stood near the hearth, arms crossed. Trick sat sprawled in one of the armchairs, tapping his fingers against the armrest. Mitzi paced near the window, while Nova hovered close to Tevin, who was trying in vain to coax life into his laptop battery.
Jason didn’t waste time or mince words. “The basement’s empty. JJ’s body is gone.”
A collective gasp rippled through the room.
“What do you mean gone?” Mitzi’s voice cracked as she gaped at them.
“Gone,” Olive repeated. “There are no signs of struggle. No drag marks. It’s like he just . . . disappeared.”
Rex’s expression hardened, but his eyes stayed unreadable. “Someone moved him.”
“Why would anyone do that?” Nova whispered.
Olive’s words came out low. “Maybe the killer realized there was still evidence on JJ—something that could point the murder back to them.”
“Where could they have taken him?” Rex asked. “His body didn’t just disappear. And how did they get him out of there?”
“There is an outside door leading to the basement,” Jason said. “It’s locked from the inside, but the lock could have been picked.”
“And then they took his body into the snowy wilderness in the middle of a blizzard?” Trick shook his head. “Makes no sense. And I’d think we could find them.”
“You would think that,” Jason said. “But Olive and I glanced outside. The snow is coming down so heavy there are no tracks out there.”
“There are no other cabins around,” Mara added. “It’s really quite a mystery, isn’t it?”
Silence stretched between everyone as they let that disturbing thought settle.
Trick muttered under his breath, pushing to his feet. “This just keeps getting better.”
Mitzi flinched. “You sound annoyed, Trick. Like this is inconveniencing you.”
“Maybe because it is,” he snapped. “Forgive me if I’m not thrilled about being trapped in a real-life Agatha Christie movie.”
“At least you’re not trapped in the movie with someone who’s sick and spreading his germs,” Mitzi snapped back.
Rex’s voice cut through the tension. “Enough, you two. You’re not making this situation any better.”
The room fell silent.
Olive’s gaze moved from face to face, reading each expression.
Tevin appeared shaken but focused as his eyes darted around the group as if he mentally logged every word.
Nova’s lips trembled, her hand clutching the back of a chair.
Mitzi couldn’t stand still. Trick looked ready to explode.
Mara and Warren clung to each other. And Rex—Rex was composed, calm, but his eyes flickered with something else. Something she couldn’t name.
Secrets. Always secrets.
Her fingers brushed the edge of her jeans pocket where the flash drive rested. She needed to know what was on it.
But not now. Not while everyone was watching.
The first opportunity she had, she’d grab her laptop and sneak away. She only hoped the device still had charge. She’d used it some on the drive here, figuring she could plug it in when she arrived.
She waited, pulse steadying as she turned toward Rex.
He stood there, gaze fixed on the fire, the flames reflecting in his eyes.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low and controlled. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
“We stay together.” Rex’s voice sounded clipped and sure—the tone of a man used to command. “No one leaves this room without telling me first. Jason and Trick, make sure every exterior door is locked.”
“We checked them when we were outside—” Olive started.
“Check them again. And barricade them this time. While they do that, Olive and Nova, I want you two to double-check that every window is locked. I don’t want any surprises. Tevin, check what you can on that laptop—with whatever battery power you have left.”
Tevin nodded quickly. “Got it.”
“Mitzi, see if your cell phone signal comes back,” Rex said. “If it doesn’t, I want confirmation that the lines are down across the area.”
Everyone nodded, but the air felt tight, brittle.
Olive began checking the windows. But she glanced at Rex as she worked.
His composure should have been reassuring, but it wasn’t. Not tonight. Not when she’d seen that flicker of unease earlier.
She finished her job and met Rex back downstairs. A question gnawed at her.
“Rex, I appreciate all these efforts we’re putting in. But what if whoever did this is still here?”
Rex met her gaze. “Then they’ll show their hand eventually. People always do.”
His tone was calm—too calm.
Jason came back from the foyer a moment later, brushing snow from his hair. “Doors are locked. If anyone’s out there, they’re staying out there.”
“Unless they’re already in here.” Tevin gave everyone a pointed look.
No one responded.
They all knew the implications.
Olive’s hand brushed against her pocket again. The flash drive felt heavier now, as if it carried the weight of everything they didn’t know.
What had JJ found? What had been worth killing him for—and then stealing his body?
She needed to see what was on that drive. But not with Rex watching her like a hawk, not with suspicion already simmering in the room.
Rex turned back to the fire, his expression thoughtful. “We’ll take turns resting, two at a time. No one goes anywhere alone. Morning will come eventually, and once the storm breaks, we’ll figure out our next move.”
Olive managed a nod, but her mind was already elsewhere—down in the basement, where the tarp and neatly folded blanket had been. Where the silence had felt alive.
JJ had tried to tell them something.
She needed to figure out what.