Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six(64)

“I thought it was her,” said Mako coming up behind her. “When I came up to change. I didn’t disturb her, wanted to let her sleep. But it’s like she stacked the pillows that way to fool me.”

Mako’s suitcase was on the ground, contents spilling sloppily probably from his digging around for swim trunks.

“Her stuff is gone,” said Mako, looking around. “Her suitcase, her tote with all her camera equipment for her yoga class, her laptop. She packed up and left.”

“That makes no sense. We would have seen her go, wouldn’t we?”

Maybe not, when they’d all been outside.

“Did she take the car?” Bruce wanted to know.

“I didn’t check,” said Mako, helpless, miserable.

Hannah walked into the bathroom, noticing right away Liza’s toiletries bag—makeup, lotions, a pill bottle spilled across the counter. If she’d taken her other stuff, this had been forgotten. That wasn’t Liza, either. She was meticulously neat; Hannah had always envied their kitchen where surfaces gleamed and everything was an object—the finest knives, the outrageously expensive coffee maker, the handmade acacia wood cutting boards. All the stemware, dishes, plates like polished sentries behind glass doors. Liza’s bathroom at home was no different; it was a department store showroom of high-quality organic products, plush white towels rolled on teak shelves, shining tile. Liza curated. She liked things a certain way.

Hannah left the toiletries bag as it was, turned back to the room. Things look tussled, like Liza had left in hurry. That’s when Hannah noticed that the bedside lamp was tilted to one side, shade askew as if it had been knocked over, tipped again against the wall.

“Why would she have done this?” asked Cricket.

Mako said nothing, just stood in the doorway, looking stunned. Hannah would expect him to be raging; that was his default setting when things happened that he didn’t want. His picture-perfect weekend was ruined. Usually he’d be yelling and ranting. Calling everyone they knew to try to figure out where Liza might be. But instead, he looked ill—pastier than he had been downstairs, leaning heavily against the doorjamb. What wasn’t he telling them? She found herself staring at her brother. His eyes darted to hers and then away.

Bruce walked into the room and approached the bed, pulled back the covers where the pillows had been stacked.

“Hey,” he said, taking a step back. “Is that blood?”

“What the fuck?” said Cricket, moving in. Hannah came up behind her.

Three big stains of red blossomed like roses on the pure white sheets.

“Oh my god,” said Hannah. She couldn’t bring herself to turn around and look at her brother. But both Cricket and Bruce did.

Hannah was surprised at the rush of emotion—anger, fear. She moved closer and saw that the stains were still wet, had transferred onto the top sheet as well.

This moment, this feeling.

It brought her back to an ugly place she’d been with her brother before. She felt the cold finger of dread trail down her spine.

This was all wrong.

“So she packed up all her things and left without any of us noticing?” Hannah said. “But she forgot her toiletries bag. She left you this letter—which doesn’t even look like her handwriting?”

“What are you saying?” asked Mako.

“I’m not saying anything. I’m asking. Does that seem like Liza to you?”

Mako looked at her blankly. “No—not really.”

“So—what?” asked Cricket. “Do you think something happened to her? Like someone took her?”

“Woah,” said Bruce. He did not like drama, or Cricket’s desire to create it. “Let’s not overreact.”

“That chef was a creeper,” said Cricket. “His horrible stories. The blood on his apron. And they just kind of snuck out, didn’t they?”

“And I saw the host earlier,” said Hannah, feeling a dark tingle of fear. “He seemed really off, too. Like he was standing too close to her.”

“What?” said Mako, alarmed. “When was this?”

“When you went into town.”

“And we saw someone out by the lake,” said Cricket, grabbing onto Hannah.

Bruce looked inquiringly at Hannah who filled him in. “We couldn’t be sure. We took some gummies.”

Hannah’s buzz was long gone. This secluded cabin, which had seemed so serene, now just felt like a house of horrors.

A bright flash of lightning lit the room, casting them all in harsh white. It was followed by a boom of thunder so concussive that it rattled the house, Cricket issuing a frightened shriek.

Then everything went dark.





27


Cricket

What the actual fuck?

Seriously?

Cricket groped in the dark for the doorjamb while her eyes adjusted. Another flash of lightning cast the room in harsh white. Hannah was by the bathroom, hand on her heart. Bruce was by the bed, watching out the window. For a second, everyone seemed frozen and pale as statues.

She braced herself. Another huge crash of thunder seemed to rattle the house. Something had definitely been hit. Rain started to tap on the windows.

“Crick? You okay?” Mako came up beside her, put a hand on her arm. She felt her body tense, and shifted away.