Page 125 of This is Why We Lied

Will nodded. “Chuck wasn’t careful with it on the viewing deck during cocktails. He set it down on the railing a few times and walked away.”

“It would be heavy to carry all the time,” Sara said. “At capacity, a gallon of liquid is just under eight-and-a-half pounds.”

“Emma was almost eight pounds when she was born,” Faith said. “It was like carrying around an X-Box.”

“Or a gallon of milk,” Will said.

“So we’re back to the suspect being everybody up here,” Faith summarized. “And anybody who had access to Eads Clear eye drops, which is in every store.”

Sara added, “And is fairly well-known as a poisoning agent.”

“Let’s take Mercy out of the equation,” Faith said. “Who would have a motive to kill Chuck? He didn’t have anything to do with the sale of the lodge. If someone was going to kill him because he was creepy and annoying, that would’ve happened a long time ago.”

Will said, “Before I followed him down here, I heard Chuck talking about the investors with Christopher. They were on the part of the trail behind the kitchen. Christopher said he was going to be late for a family meeting that was probably about the sale. Chuck asked if the investors were still interested. Christopher said he didn’t know, but he was out of the business. He never wanted to do it in the first place, and without Mercy, it didn’t work. He said they needed her.”

“That’s odd,” Sara said. “Did he mean out of the lodge business or another business?”

Faith supplied, “Mercy was running the place after Cecil’s bike accident. According to Penny, she was doing a great job, turning a big profit, investing back in the property.”

Will didn’t seem persuaded. “One of the last things Chuck said to Christopher was something like, ‘This is a good thing we’ve got going here. A lot of people are depending on us.’”

“Maybe Chuck was involved in the lodge?” Faith asked. “A silent partner?”

Will said, “It didn’t sound like they were talking about the lodge.”

The sound of footsteps drew their attention up the trail. Kevin was back with evidence bags and collection kits.

Faith said, “Agent Dogsbody has returned.”

Kevin didn’t seem to like the joke, probably because it cut too close. He told them, “I swung by the dining hall. I asked the chef to clear out the free-standing freezer, but I didn’t tell him why.”

Faith asked, “He couldn’t figure that out when you told him to make a man-sized space?”

“I told him we needed to store evidence but didn’t want to contaminate the food.”

“Okay,” Faith relented. “That was smart.”

Kevin asked, “What’s the plan on Chuck? Do we tell people? Do we keep it a secret?”

Sara said, “I have to notify Nadine of the death, but she won’t be able to transport the body down until the road is accessible. I trust her to keep it quiet.”

“The chef and waiters will see us taking the body into the freezer,” Will said. “But if they stay in the dining hall and nobody from the house comes down, then the information won’t make it to the compound.”

Sara said, “If the lodge is still on the same schedule, guests won’t come down for cocktails until six.”

Kevin asked, “What about the Dave-didn’t-do-it part? Still keeping that under wraps, too?”

“I think we have to,” Faith said. “It’s not like the family is crying out for the name of the murderer.”

Sara asked, “What about Jon? He’ll turn up eventually. Right now he thinks his father murdered his mother. Are we going to let him continue to believe that?”

“That’s a complicated conversation,” Will said. “You can’t ask him to keep it a secret, and he might tip off the real murderer. We still need to find that missing knife handle. The killer might get sloppy because he thinks he got away with it.”

Kevin said, “My vote is we keep it all under wraps—both Chuck and Dave.”

“Agreed,” Will and Faith said in unison, which made Sara’s vote moot.

“Let’s make a plan,” Faith said. “We can use one of the empty cottages to conduct interviews so nobody is on their home turf. Start with Monica and Frank, figure out what else they’re lying about. We need to get solid on the timeline. Then go for the app guys. I want to know why they lied about Paul Peterson’s name.”