Page 62 of This is Why We Lied

“None.” She tried to come at this from a different angle. “Have you guys been at the lodge before?”

“First time,” Gordon said. “Not sure we’ll be repeat customers.”

“I dunno, hon. We could probably get a deal if we book right now.” Paul reached for the bourbon as he sat up on the couch. He poured another double, then asked Sara, “You want more?”

“She’s barely touched the first one.” Gordon reached out his hand. “May I?”

Sara watched Gordon dump her glass into his.

She asked, “What about Mercy?”

Paul slowly sat back.

Gordon asked, “What about her?”

“It seemed like you knew her. Or at least knew of her.” She said this to Paul. “And like you weren’t happy to find her living a nice life up here at the lodge.”

Sara caught a flash of something in Paul’s eyes, but she couldn’t tell if it was anger or fear.

Gordon said, “She was a strange bird, don’t you think? A bit rough around the edges.”

“And what about that scar on her face?” Paul asked. “I bet that could tell you a story, too.”

“I wouldn’t want to hear it,” Gordon said. “The whole family is a bit suss if you ask me. The mother reminds me of that girl from that movie, but her hair was dark, not stringy white like a witch’s pubes.”

Paul asked, “Samara from The Ring?”

“Yes, but with an evil child’s voice.” Gordon looked at Sara. “Have you seen it?”

Sara wouldn’t let them sidetrack her. “So you’d never met Mercy before you checked in?”

Gordon answered, “I can honestly say today was the first time that I ever laid eyes on the poor woman.”

“That was yesterday,” Paul said. “It’s already tomorrow.”

Sara pressed a little harder. “Why did you lie about your name?”

“We were just having a little fun,” Gordon said. “Like you and Will, right? You lied, too.”

Sara couldn’t argue with that logic. This was one of the many reasons she hated lying.

“Let’s have a toast.” Paul raised his glass. “To all the liars on the mountaintop. May they not all share the same fate.”

Sara knew it was pointless to ask if he was including Mercy in their liars’ club. She watched Paul’s throat work as he drank the entire contents of his glass. He slammed it down on the coffee table for good measure. The sound echoed in the silence. No one spoke. Sara could hear a dripping sound outside. The rain had passed for now. She hoped that Will had kept his bandage dry. She hoped that he wasn’t lying on his back with a knife sticking out of his chest.

She was about to take her leave when Gordon broke the tension with a loud yawn.

He said, “I’d better go to bed before I turn into a pumpkin.”

Sara stood. “Thanks for the drink.”

There were no pleasant goodbyes, just a pointed silence as Sara left the cottage. She looked up at the sky. The full moon had moved toward the ridgeline. Only a few clouds remained. Sara left the umbrella on the porch and walked down the stairs. She scanned the compound looking for Will. The floodlights were still blazing, but there was only so far they could reach.

Movement near the parking pad caught her eye. No false Big Foot sightings this time. She recognized Will by his shape. His back was to her. Both his hands were down at his sides. She assumed his bandage was soaking wet. There was no sign of Dave, which shouldn’t have brought her any relief, but it did anyway. She thought Will must have been looking at the woodpile Delilah had mentioned, but then a set of headlights broke through the darkness.

Sara put up her hand to block the light. Not a car, but a dark-colored sprinter van. She assumed the coroner had arrived. She hoped the man would be glad to have a state medical examiner already on scene, but considering the unexpected reactions Sara had witnessed tonight, she wasn’t taking anything for granted. At the very least, she hoped the coroner knew the limitations of his job.

People often confused the role of medical examiner with that of a county coroner. Only the former position required a medical doctor. The latter could be, and tended to be, anything but. Which was unfortunate, because county coroners were the gatekeepers of death. They were in charge of overseeing the collection of evidence and officially ruling whether or not a death was suspicious enough to ask the state medical examiner to perform an autopsy.

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