An Unwanted Guest(35)

‘She wasn’t in the library,’ Bradley says. ‘I’m not sure where she is.’

By now everyone has finished their drinks and they’re getting cold. They decide to go back inside. When they leave the icehouse it’s starting to get dark. David sticks close to Gwen as they file back up the path to the woodshed in the deepening dusk, accompanied by the shrieking wind.

‘This is what the wind is like on Mount Everest,’ Riley says, once they’re inside the woodshed.

‘Have you been?’ Henry asks.

‘No, but I saw the documentary.’

They return gratefully to the fire in the lobby. Some of them keep their hats and gloves on for warmth. Gwen stands in front of the flames, rubbing her hands together. David considers asking her to come with him somewhere else, where they can talk. Maybe they could go to the bar. He could make them a fire, and they could be alone. Bradley has gone to the library again to see if Candice is there. Lauren is in front of the reception desk, leaning over it, looking for a pen for a crossword.

Bradley returns to the lobby shaking his head. ‘She’s still not there. I’ve looked around down here. She must be in her room. I’ll check.’

David feels a twinge of unease. He wonders why Candice isn’t where she said she’d be. ‘I’ll come up with you,’ he offers.

‘I’ll come, too,’ Gwen says.

No one else shows any interest in going up those dark stairs. Bradley grabs one of the flickering oil lamps off the coffee table and uses it to light their way. It’s getting properly dark out now, hardly any light at all filtering in through the windows.

Bradley holds the lamp high, and David and Gwen follow. The oil lamp throws shadows on the dark-papered walls as they ascend. David has his mobile phone’s torch on to provide more light for their footing. There’s not much charge left.

As they trudge up the stairs, Bradley says, ‘I saw her after lunch when I went to take the tray away. I told her we’d be having tea at four o’clock. She said she would come out if she wanted any tea, but otherwise she was not to be disturbed.’ He adds, ‘It’s really a shame she missed the ice bar. But we can always go back out again.’

They reach the second floor, which if anything, David thinks, seems darker and gloomier than the floors below. It’s bloody cold. Candice’s room is to the left of the stairs, across from the housekeeping closet. Bradley knocks on the door. There is no response from within. He knocks again. David’s uneasiness has grown to a mild alarm, but he tries not to show it.

Bradley turns to him, looking worried. ‘Do you think we should open it?’

David hesitates. ‘Is there anywhere else she might be?’

‘I’ve looked everywhere else.’

David nods. Bradley hands him the lamp and fishes the appropriate key out of the bunch. He feeds it into the lock and slowly opens the door. David holds the lamp high.

He sees Candice lying on the floor, her scarf pulled tightly around her neck.





Saturday, 5:35 PM


In the lurid light of the oil lamp, Gwen sees the body slumped on the floor, a flash of pale face, the pretty scarf around Candice’s throat, and screams. She feels David grab her with one strong arm and quickly pull her head into his chest so she can’t see Candice, but it’s too late. She feels the acid corroding her stomach, feels the bile slip up her throat.

Gwen trembles against David’s chest, trying not to be sick, her mind reeling. Dana had at least looked like an accident. Gwen hadn’t allowed herself to even think that it might be deliberate murder, despite what David said. She didn’t want to believe it. But there’s no mistaking this. Candice has been strangled with her own scarf.

Filled with dread, she hears the sound of running footsteps stumbling up the darkened stairs.





Chapter Eighteen


RILEY HEARS GWEN’S scream, and despite her own immediate fear, tears up the stairs. The others are close on her heels. She arrives at the open doorway to Candice’s room. The first thing she sees is Gwen with her face buried in David’s chest, to her right, and then, beyond them, the body on the floor. She gives a strangled cry, feels as if all the breath has left her body.

The others crowd around her, trying to see. Candice is clearly dead. They spill from the open doorway into the room. Riley steps to one side, allowing the others in. She feels her anxiety spiking as her mind desperately tries to make sense of what this means. She sees Gwen pull away from David, and David places the oil lamp on the desk. It creates a pool of light around Candice, as if she’s an actress on the stage, under a spotlight. She doesn’t look real.

Riley can’t bear to look at the body any more; she turns her attention to the others instead.

Bradley is staring at Candice as if he’s seen a ghost, grabbing the edge of the desk to steady himself.

David’s mouth is set in a grim line.

Gwen, beside him, has her hand pressed hard against her mouth, trying not to throw up.

Ian mutters, ‘Dear God,’ and stands flat-footed, as Lauren pushes past him to the body. She moves to pull the scarf loose, touching Candice’s neck.

‘Get back, everyone,’ David commands harshly. ‘There’s nothing we can do for her.’

Lauren sits back on her heels and looks up, pale and shaken.