Page 36 of The Engagement Party

“No, no, no.” Cassie wailed as she rocked her body back and forth over Alex’s still form.

“The branch.” Will pointed to a splintered piece of wood next to Alex’s head.

Ruthie had no idea what that meant, but she agreed with Mitch. They needed to get inside and check Alex. She hoped he’d passed out but was fine. Dry clothes. A first aid kit. Those were the priorities.

They were all yelling directions that disappeared into the roaring air. Wet hands. Clothing weighing them down. A weeping woman. They shifted and grabbed until Cassie stood up, wrapped in Sierra’s arms. Mitch and Will lifted Alex’s torso off the ground and started dragging him. His head bobbed as his brown shoes disappeared into the trail they left in the mud.

The return to the house went faster. The wind at their backs propelled them forward. Ruthie hugged the fireplace shovel and one of the logs to her chest. All other weapons and thoughts of conducting surveillance vanished under the need to get Alex inside.

As they neared the porch the shed door flew open and slammed against the side of the small building. The banging sound traveled a good thirty feet and rose above the din. The noise also stopped their final push inside.

“It’s the wind.” Will nodded, satisfied with his explanation.

They continued. Grunts mixed with Cassie’s panicked mewing. The pathetic sound sliced through Ruthie. No matter how little she trusted Cassie and Alex, they were married. Cassie’s panic for Alex sure looked genuine. She seemed so self-focused, but she obviously did love him.

Once inside the house again, Ruthie and Sierra dragged supplies out of the linen closet. They had pillows and blankets piled on the couch as Cassie stripped Alex’s wet shirt off and the other men laid him down.

“Was he ambushed?” Ruthie asked the question that had been trapped inside since they took off on their thankless excursion.

Will shook his head. “I think it was an accident.”

What was it Cassie kept shouting earlier?Convenient. “How is that possible?” Ruthie couldn’t see it.

Will dried his hair with a towel. “It looked like a tree branch snapped and fell on him.”

“While a killer is running around the island? No, it’s more likely he was attacked,” Sierra said.

Ruthie appreciated the combination of confusion and sarcasm in Sierra’s voice. A simple weather-related mishap sounded too easy. But no one had attacked the rest of them out there either. They’d been wet and distracted, basically disarmed and vulnerable, worrying over Alex. The perfect targets. If someone wanted to hurt them, that was the time. Use the storm and the darkness as cover.

Bang. Bang.

Cassie stopped fussing over Alex. “What the hell is that noise?”

“That shed door.” Mitch took a towel off the pile as he balanced on the sofa’s armrest. “I guess the wind snapped the lock.”

Again, convenient. The coincidences piled up and threatened to tumble over. Ruthie didn’t know why this group always missed the obvious.

“If there’s a portable generator it might be in the shed,” Mitch said.

The easy way he offered the comment put Ruthie on the defensive. “Why do you say that?”

“It’s where I’d keep it.” He shrugged. “It can’t get wet. It can’t operate in an enclosed space either. So, you drag it out when you need it. Except for the rain, the picnic pavilion near the back porch would be the ideal spot.”

She was about to question his sudden wealth of generator knowledge when she remembered his job. He sometimes worked on construction sites. Worked outside. He probably worked with the machines all the time.

“This is all supposition.” Will dropped the towel and headed for the kitchen. “Wait, where’s the house manual? That should say if there’s a backup generator on the island.”

Shit. This would lead to more speculation and mistrust, but... “There is. A generator... on the property.”

Cassie stopped drying Alex’s face and trying to shake him awake. “Were you planning on sharing that information?”

“I didn’t remember seeing anything marked ‘generator’ and we couldn’t open the shed, so it was irrelevant.” And that was the truth. Well, part of it. She also didn’t know anything about generators and assumed it would come on automatically. That one of the people in this room had sabotaged it. Waiting themout, trying to figure out which one of them did it had seemed like the smart choice. Now it had backfired on her.

Cassie stared at Ruthie. For a few seconds Cassie didn’t say a word. “We need it now. I’m not sure about the rain part, but we don’t have enough light and we might need to hunt down medical supplies and—”

“I’ll go.” Mitch’s voice cut through the growing tension in the room.

Sierra made a choking sound. “Since when are you so big on volunteering?”

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