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My blood runs cold in my veins and as I feel my knees start to buckle I slide into the seat opposite her, finding it quite ridiculous that I’m sitting across a desk from my friend, colleague, boss as if we’re discussing more pertinent Serenity Suites details and not a murder.
“How did you figure it out?” Louise tugs on her necklace, that same sparkling letter S that I have noticed her playing with more and more lately. “I thought they’d just assume it was an accident...then, of course, with those thefts, it seemed like I’d found the perfect scapegoat. After all, if someone’s a thief they’re just as likely to be a murderer, right?” She shakes her head, ruefully. “I didn’t bank on that person being Mindy though. I didn’t mean for her to be implicated. Or anyone.” She looks at me, coldly. “And I certainly didn’t mean for you to witness the whole thing. If only you hadn’t, this might all have turned out ok.”
“Simone,” I say slowly, testing out the name as if it’s the first time I’ve heard it. It very nearly is. “I thought Jessica had been calling out to someone to help her, but she was saying Simone. She was calling out to you to help her.
Louise scowls.
“She always knew I hated that name. It was her last bit of power to hold over me. My father gave me it, you see. It’s all Mom ever told me about him, that he was married and didn’t want any involvement with us, but he had given me that name. A family name.” Her lips quirk in disgust. “I dropped it just as soon as I could. Louise suits me much better.” She looks at me. “Jessica found a letter my mother had written to Edward telling him about...about me. She put two and two together and worked everything out. That’s why he took me under his wing, working as his assistant. It’s why he was so supportive of my work here. But then she decided to use that knowledge against me, and suggested she’d keep my secret if I let her keep her money.” Louise’s eyes flash. “Her money. Edward promised that donation to me. He didn’t have time to write anything formal about it, of course, but we all knew that was what he wanted. What I deserved.” Her voice rings with bitterness.
“So you argued?” I still can’t quite believe Louise went back to Jessica’s room that night to kill her. “After we left, you went back?”
“I tried to reason with her one last time, but she was insistent. She didn’t care about me, or my plans. She was taking what was hers and putting Patterson in the rearview.” She tosses her head in almost perfect mimicry of Jessica’s flirtatious habit. “It didn’t seem fair that she could just do that. Walk away, as if none of this ever mattered.” Louise’s hands tighten on the edge of her desk. “Patterson is all I have. Serenity Suites is everything to me. And she couldn’t even spare me the little investment I’d been promised.”
“You lashed out at her.”
“She was just so smug!” Louise’s face transforms into a snarl. “She told me that Patterson was just a pitstop and she was on her way to bigger and better things. Of course I lashed out. I shoved her, but she’d had too much to drink - and she was wearing those ridiculous heels she could barely walk in. She tripped. She fell.” Louise’s voice drops to almost a whisper. “It wasn’t my fault.”
“But you could have helped her,” I protest. “She called out to you.”
“She called out for Simone.” Louise’s expression sets like flint. “And I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve told her Simone is not my name.” She smiles, a cold, menacing sort of smile that makes me shiver. “I guess she finally took that seriously.”
“So what now?” I ask, realizing there’s no easy way for either of us out of this tiny office. I’m nearer the door than she is, but she’s a lot younger and stronger than me and will be on top of me before I can open it. I reach into my purse, fumbling for my phone with one hand while I strain to keep Louise’s gaze fixed on mine. “You got the money you needed from David.” I try to smile. “Your brother. Does he know you’re his sister?”
“Nope, and he doesn’t need to!” Louise’s features fall at the mention of this. “Edward Patterson was no kind of father to me when he was alive. I don’t need his legacy now.” She draws a breath. “But I certainly don’t mind accepting his money. Thank goodness David is a lot more detail-oriented about things like that. We’ve already had the contracts drawn up, and the cash should be in my accounts by the end of the week.” She swallows. “Which is why I’m so sorry you had to figure all this out now. We could have worked well together, Cassie. Made this place something really special. I guess now I’m going to have to start all over again with finding your replacement...”
I risk a glance down at my phone - typing without seeing the screen has never been my forte - and then the worst possible thing happens. It starts ringing. A tinny, vibrating rendition of a cheesy old pop song starts reverberating around the room, making us both jump, but Louise is quick to recover herself.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?”
I look away for a moment, just long enough to lift my phone out of my bag and glance at the display, but it’s all the time Louise needs. When I lift my head, I see she has a gun pointed directly at me.
*
“A GUN? WHERE ON EARTH did you get a gun from?”
“Stop questioning me.”
“But Louise, this is Patterson! Nobody carries guns around here.”
“Plenty of people carry guns, Cassie.” I can hear the derision in her voice, and it’s almost enough to overcome the absurdity of our situation. “Believe me, Patterson isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.”
“If you say so.” I trip on a loose floor tile and pitch forward, but Louise, who is walking right beside me, is quick to pull me upright again. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
If she recognizes the absurdity of politeness between us at the moment - a confessed murderer and her soon-to-be second victim - there’s nothing in her stony expression that suggests it.
“Must we walk so quickly?” I feign breathlessness and slow my pace almost imperceptibly. “We climbed ever so many flights of stairs and I have to admit I’m not quite as young as I used to be.”
My frail-older-lady act might have worked on the sheriff and his deputies, but Louise isn’t so easily convinced.
“You managed just fine running around here with Joe an hour ago,” she points out, drily, and I’m stunned to silence. Did she know about that? I feel a cold chill at my neck, wondering just how closely Louise has been watching me without me realizing it. Mind you, she’s been living a double life for years. I guess she’s used to hiding in the shadows.
My phone call hadn’t been rescue - as I’d hoped. It had been Joe, who had received my attempt at a text message - a string of senseless gobble-de-gook - and called me, thinking I might be having a stroke. When I reassured him, through gritted teeth, that I was perfectly fine, and planning to stay and do some work around the site with Louise, he’d ended the call, but not before agreeing to run into Patterson on an errand I hastily fabricated. None of this had been my plan, of course, but when your former friend is pointing a gun at you and directing your words, there’s not much you can do but comply.
At least Joe will be safe, I think, although I’m not sure how much faith I can put in that. He might be off-site at this moment, but if I don’t get out of this mess somehow, it’ll only be a matter of time before he crosses Louise in one way or another, and then what? He’s a big boy, I tell myself. He’ll be just fine. I gulp, as Louise directs me down the hallway to the very room Joe and I had stepped into. Me, on the other hand...
“What are we doing here?” I ask, as Louise shuts and locks the door behind us. She hesitates, then wedges the wicker chair under the door handle, securing us in the small room.
“We’re going to have ourselves a little re-enaction,” Louise says, as she straightens and re-orients her aim towards me. “That’s what you and Joe have been up to, isn’t it? Figuring out what happened on the mansion balcony.” She looks around the room with a disdainful little smile. “This isn’t quite as grand as Jessica’s master bedroom, but it’ll have to do.”
“What do you mean?” My voice squeaks a little and I swallow, trying not to betray how very disconcerting it is to be staring down the barrel of a gun, and faced with the prospect of being pushed off a very high balcony. Neither of these options is how I saw my older years playing out, and I can’t believe I was foolish enough to get myself into such a dilemma. “Louise, dear,” I clear my throat, trying to re-establish something of a balance between us. “You can’t mean...you’ve known me for years!”
“I knew Jessica a long time too,” Louise said, coldly.
“But - but that was just an accident.” I smile, hoping my expression offers more reassurance than I feel. “Wasn’t it? Just an accident. Come on, dear. Put that gun down, and we’ll go together to Sheriff Cooper and explain it all.”
For a moment I think it’s worked. She seems to believe me. The gun lowers, and for the tiniest instant, I see a glimpse of freedom.
“Now, that’s a lovely idea, Cassie.” She matches my overly bright tone with one of her own but turns it mocking and cruel in a way that feels almost like a physical blow. “But I don’t want my name tied to even an accidental death.”
“But - but what about this?” I glance over my shoulder at the doors to the balcony, which are mercifully closed, but I’m being backed towards them against my will and it’s only a matter of time before I’m forced to open them.
“This?” Louise cocks her head to one side.
“Surely you don’t want a scandal tied to Serenity Suites.” I try one last desperate push for reason. “After everything you’ve been through to get this place off the ground.” My mind is racing. “Ophelia Roy certainly won’t want to live in a place where there’s been a murder!”
It’s so absurd it works. Louise laughs and lets down her guard. As soon as her gun drops I strike, swinging my purse violently with one hand and knocking the weapon out of her hands and clear across the room. With a snarl, she dives after it and I’m left with a horrible choice - fight past her to get to the door that will lead me safely back into the building or burst out onto the balcony and trap myself there. I don’t have long to make a decision, and acting almost on impulse, I fly through the doors and start to shout.
“Help!” I cry, wondering why today, of all days, seems to be a holiday for all the workmen I’m used to seeing dotted all around the place. There’s not a sound of a power tool or the sight of a hi-vis jacket, but I scan the ground for them all the same. “Please!” I cry. “Someone, help me!” I’m reminded of Jessica’s words and wonder, desperately, if I’m about to meet the same fate she did. I drop to my knees, determined to stay low to the ground. If Louise wants to push me off this balcony, she’s going to have to come right out here in the open to do it. “Help!” I try again. “Somebody!”
“Cassie?”
I almost think I imagine it, but no, there’s a familiar voice floating up from several feet below me.
“Joe?” Relief floods my limps and I raise a shaking hand to catch his attention. “You have to help me! It’s Louise! She -”
“Cassie?” Louise’s voice rings out loudly somewhere above my head, and I feel her hand close around my shoulder, her sharp fingers digging into my collarbone. “Oh, hello, Joe!” She waves to him, keeping a tight grip on me. “Not to worry! Poor Cassie seems to have had a bit of a funny turn. I’ll keep an eye on her!”
Even though I’m hunched down near the ground I can tell from the way the pressure of Louise’s hand on my shoulder tightens that Joe accepts her words and has now disappeared out of sight. My heart sinks. That was it, my one chance at freedom, and I blew it.
“Well, I guess now we’ll have to go back to my first plan,” she murmurs, low enough that her voice won’t carry. “I can’t risk another witness to an accidental fall from a balcony. Not that this distance would do more than break a leg.”
I’m shaken that my friend Louise can talk so casually about death and injury - while she’s debating how to do away with someone. With me! Slowly, my shock solidifies into outrage. I’m angry that she thinks she has the right to act like this. Just because Serenity Suites is important doesn’t mean she can kill people to keep it going. I shake free of her grip, knocking her away with a ferocity that surprises even me and now we’re both standing on much more equal footing. My confidence only lasts a moment, though. As soon as Louise regains her footing, I realize I haven’t won anything.
“What now, Cassie?” she asks, her voice a cynical sing-song. “We’re both stuck here.”
“Not for long,” I tell her. I look over the edge of the balcony, spotting something she hasn’t, and am momentarily pleased to see her stunned as I climb over the balcony rail all by myself.
“What are you doing? Cassie!”
“Finding another way down,” I say. I don’t jump - instead, I lean out, closing my eyes and praying as my hand closes on the top rung of a ladder.