Page 46 of The Midnight Knock

“I do not think you killed Sarah, but I think you know many things you are not saying. Things you do not want Ethan to know about you. Things that might complicate his picture of you. You are hiding something.”

Hunter rose very slowly from the floor, and Fernanda drew away, clearly frightened of him. He almost wanted to tell her she had nothing to be afraid of—if he wanted to hurt her, she’d never know it was coming.

No. It was just time to play hardball.

“Takes one to know one, ma’am.”

With a few quick steps, Hunter reached the side of the room’s rumpled bed. Crouching down, he plucked up the curious item thathad caught his eye a moment ago: a glossy black hair, long enough to reach a woman’s waist.

He held the hair where Fernanda could see it.

“Stanley had short red hair. Penelope has long blond hair. These rooms were all immaculate when we checked in, all the carpets vacuumed. So if this black hair wasn’t left by a previous guest and if it wasn’t left by the room’s occupants, that begs certain questions.”

Now it was Fernanda’s turn to be silent.

Hunter watched her. Fernanda was right: he wasn’t terribly interested in trying to solve Sarah Powers’s murder, but now he was curious. This single thread of hair looked poised to complicate the picture he’d had of the evening. To answer questions he hadn’t even thought to ask.

Hunter said to Fernanda, “There are only two people at this motel who have black hair this long. So tell me—was it you who came here to see Stanley tonight, or the dead woman in room four?”

KYLA

Heading out the front door of Ryan’s room, Kyla looked to the right. Down the arm of the motel, the door to the office was closed, the windows dark. She could almost feel the twins inside, watching her. Let them.

There were three more doors along that wing of the motel. Up the wall from the office were the doors to rooms 1 and 2. Room 2 looked unoccupied: the curtain open, the bed made, the lamps unlit.

Room 1 was also dark, but the curtain was drawn. She tested the door. Locked.

“Have you seen anyone come or go from this room tonight?” Kyla asked Ethan. “Seen the lights on?”

A hard wind was blowing down off the mountain. Ethan’s teeth started chattering. “Pr-pr-probably where the t-twins sleep.”

“We’ll get the key from them in a minute. It’s only fair they let us search every room.”

Ethan looked at his watch. “It’s al-al-almost ten forty-five.”

“Fuck me. There just isn’t time, is there?”

Ethan shook his head. There was clearly something he wanted to say, but his lips were turning blue. The guy didn’t have a jacket, and this frozen wind wasn’t letting up. The ring of lights around the motel flickered. Out in the desert, a warningSHRIEK, like some primal alarm, cut through the night.

“Let’s get inside,” Kyla said.

Past room 2, sheltered by the roof of the walkway that ran between the motel’s northern arm and its main body, Kyla found an unlocked door she’d noticed when they’d checked in. Inside was a wide, windowless supply room stocked with cleaners, linens, tools, spare dinner plates. The room wasn’t exactly warm, but it was shelter from the wind.

Kyla was still thinking about what Ethan had told her a moment ago, the way Sarah Powers had been lying through her teeth whenthey’d first met the woman in the office. “Was it true what you told her? That your mom died?”

Ethan rubbed his arms. He nodded.

“Same thing with my dad,” Kyla said.

“When?”

“Six months back. Feels like yesterday.”

“Is that why you moved out this way?” Ethan said.

Kyla was surprised. He wasn’t far off the mark. “It’s a little more complicated than that. But I guess not by much.”

“What got him? Your dad, I mean.”