The Sun Down Motel(94)

“Put it in the back seat,” Marnie said. “We’ll dump it.”

Hess didn’t quite fit, and Viv had to push his feet in, tuck them under the edge of the trunk while Marnie folded up the shower curtain. Viv was reaching up to the trunk lid to close it when headlights swept across the parking lot.

Marnie swore and dropped the shower curtain. Viv slammed the trunk.

The car stopped and the headlights went out. A door slammed.

“Alma,” Viv said.

“Oh, Jesus,” Marnie whispered. “A cop.”

Alma approached them. She was alone, in uniform, one hand on her hip. She looked back and forth from Viv to Marnie.

“I know you,” she said to Marnie. “You’re one of the photographers we sometimes use.”

Marnie said nothing.

Alma looked at Viv again. She took in Viv’s disheveled appearance, her flushed face lined with cold sweat. “Vivian,” she said. Her voice was strangely flat, empty of its usual Alma confidence. “Tracy Waters is dead. We found her body early this morning.”

“I know,” Viv said.

“I think . . .” Alma looked away, closed her eyes for a second. She opened them and turned back to Viv and Marnie. “I think I was wrong. I think you might have been right when you came to me, but I didn’t listen. So I did something that I don’t normally do. When I heard they’d brought Tracy’s body in, I looked up Simon Hess’s phone number and called to see if he’d come to the station for an interview.”

Both women were silent. The only sound was the wind howling through the trees.

“He wasn’t home,” Alma said. “His wife said he’d gone out very early this morning, before six, and she hadn’t seen him since. She doesn’t know his schedule. She thinks he might be home tomorrow.”

She looked at the closed trunk. Viv felt her hands clench, felt cold sweat on her back and in her armpits.

“I would have called Simon Hess’s scheduling service, but they were closed for the day,” Alma said, still looking at the trunk. “I was going to call first thing in the morning to ask if they know where he is.”

Then, finally, her gaze wandered to the shower curtain, crumpled in Viv’s hands. There were thick smears of blood on it.

Alma’s face went very still. She raised her eyes to Viv’s. “Vivian,” she said, echoing Marnie. “What did you do?”

“He told me everything,” Viv said, as if that explained.

Alma was quiet for a long minute. “He checked in here?” she asked finally.

“Yes.”

“And he did all of them? He told you that?”

“Yes. Betty, Cathy, Victoria. Tracy. Maybe more. I couldn’t get it out of him. He was laughing at me, because to him it was a game.”

Alma flinched a little. “Did he say why?”

“Because he liked it,” Viv said. “Because it was fun. A challenge. Because all of them were lonely. Because no one stopped him. Because he could.”

“Goddamn it,” Alma swore softly. She sounded nothing like she usually did; she sounded sad and almost broken. She lifted her gaze to Viv again, her face. “Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

“You’re not going home.”

Viv blinked. “What?”

“You’re not going home,” Alma said again. “Not tonight, and not for a long time. If we get rid of this”—she motioned to the trunk—“and we will, then it can’t be traced back to you. We can’t take that chance.”

“He’s a murderer,” Viv said. “A killer.”

“It’s that simple, is it? That cut-and-dried?” Alma’s voice was regaining its usual tone. “You have proof? Irrefutable evidence?”

“He told me he was.”

“And you think that’s good enough? That’s why you’re in this parking lot, doing your best to get rid of the body.” Alma shook her head. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. Simon Hess isn’t going to come home. His wife is going to report him missing. The police are going to investigate. And at some point their investigation is going to lead here. To tonight. To you. Tell me, did anyone else see Simon Hess here tonight?”

Viv remembered Robert White, his hands on her throat. The way he’d thrown her to the ground. And then—Simon Hess, standing there. Are you assaulting that young lady?

White would remember Simon Hess. The question was, would he say anything?

Helen, driving up, slowing her car. Had Hess been there then? Had Helen seen him?

And then there was Jamie Blaknik. He technically hadn’t seen Hess, but he’d made that phone call. Viv had trusted him. But could he be trusted when he learned that Hess was dead?

“Two people saw him,” Viv said, because she wasn’t sure about Helen. She felt compelled to add, “It isn’t likely that either one will say anything. And he didn’t sign in. His name isn’t anywhere. It isn’t likely that anyone will know he was here.”

“Anything is likely,” was Alma’s reply. “Anything at all. They’ll come back to you, Vivian. And it will be over.”

“What about me?” Marnie said.

“You were never here.” Alma was in control now, the shock wearing off. “No one can put you at the Sun Down tonight except us, and hell, we might be lying. You should go home now and get out of this.”