Page 100 of This is Why We Lied

Faith looked at Penny’s worn face. Once you peeled away her posturing, there was a depressing level of defeat.

“Shit,” Penny muttered. “No matter what I did, it was always gonna end up this way. Same with Mercy. Her daddy wrote the first page of her life before she had a chance to figure out her own story.”

Faith let her continue to rant. She was normally all in for a good men are assholes session, but she had to find a way to re-center the conversation around the investigation. With Dave out of the picture, that left only a handful of suspects at the lodge who could’ve raped and murdered Mercy.

She waited for Penny to wind herself down before asking, “Was Mercy seeing anybody?”

“She barely ever left the mountain. Can’t remember the last time she was down. Couldn’t drive herself. Didn’t like showing her face, especially after what she had to do to get Jon back. That old bitch that runs the candle shop spit in her face once, called her a whore. People down here got long memories.”

“Mercy wasn’t hooking up with anyone in town?”

“Hell no, that would’a gotten out on the front page of the newspaper. You can’t keep nothing to yourself down here. Everybody’s up in your business. Better off being a Happy Meal. Always come with a toy.”

“What about the staff at the lodge? Was Mercy seeing someone there?”

“Don’t eat where you shit. Alejandro’s a tight ass and those two waiters don’t have a pubic hair between ’em.” Penny shrugged. “She might’a thrown a bone to a guest here and there.”

Faith couldn’t control her surprise.

Penny laughed. “A lotta those couples, they think being isolated at a luxury resort is gonna fix their marriage. Then the men give a look, maybe make a comment, and you know they’re good for some fun.”

Faith thought about Frank and Drew. Of the two men, Frank seemed like a prime target for a mountain quickie. “Where do they go?”

“Wherever they can be alone for five minutes.” She fluttered her lips again. “Ten if you’re lucky, then they slip back in bed with their wives.”

Faith gathered she was speaking from experience. “Did Mercy ever have anything going on with Chuck?”

“Hell no. Poor little weirdo’s been sweet on Mercy since Fish brought him home from college over Christmas break.” She explained, “They call Christopher Fishtopher on account of he’s obsessed with fish. Him and Chuck went to UGA together. Peas in a pod. Both of ’em are super geeky. Not a lot of luck with the ladies.”

“I heard that Mercy yelled at Chuck during the cocktail party last night.”

“She was nervy is all. Merce didn’t tell me what was going on, but I could tell the family bullshit had her riled up more than usual. Chuck was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Which is his specialty, by the way. Always creeping up on people, especially women.” Penny went to the obvious question. “If Chuck was a rapist, he would’a done raped Mercy a long time ago. And she would’ve sliced open his throat. I can promise you that.”

Faith had worked her share of rape cases. No one knew how they would react. Her opinion was that whatever a victim did to survive was exactly what the victim should’ve done to survive.

“I’ll tell you who Mercy was worried about,” Penny said. “That guest, Monica, she was already off her ass when she showed up for cocktails. Lady tipped me twenty bucks cash money with her first drink. Told me to keep ’em coming, but I’m gonna be honest, I watered that shit down. Then Mercy told me to water it even more.”

“What was she drinking?”

“Old Fashioneds with Uncle Nearest. Twenty-two bucks a pour.”

“Holy hell.” Faith readjusted her math on the liquor gains. The lodge could’ve been brushing up against a grand on some nights. “Anyone else drinking?”

“Just the normal amount. Husband didn’t take a sip, though.”

“Frank,” Faith supplied. “Did he have any interactions with Mercy?”

“Not that I saw. Trust me, with what ended up happening, I would’a told Biscuits if I’d seen a dude trying to pull anything.”

There was nothing left to ask about but the VC Andrews of it all. Faith tried to approach the subject carefully. “Did Fish ever hook up with any guests?”

Penny guffawed. “Only thing Fish could hook is trout.”

Faith pulled a detail from Will’s recording. “What about that awful business between Christopher and Gabbie?”

“Gabbie? Wow, that’s a blast from the past. It’s been a minute. I was still drinking when she died. So was Mercy, bless her heart.”

Faith felt the hairs on the back of her neck go up. Delilah had made it out like another failed relationship for Christopher. “Do you remember Gabbie’s last name?”