Billie paced the lobby while Brandi and Jenny sat together on the couch. Claudia came down the stairs, looking frazzled. Her shirt cuffs were wet and her hair damp and hanging loose; that was strange.
“Have you seen Diana?” Billie asked her.
Claudia shrugged. “Nope. Why?”
“She went to warn you.”
“Warn me of what?”
“That you could be in danger.”
“We’re all in danger. In case you hadn’t noticed.” She went into the dining room.
Billie thought about the killer. If it was someone bumping off Richards’s conquests, then it wasn’t Richard and it definitely wasn’t Miles or Joe. She couldn’t picture Fay killing anyone. It had to be Brandi, Jenny or Claudia, unless someone who was on the crew and left earlier hadn’t really left. That was possible.
It bothered her Claudia hadn’t seen Di.
Billie went upstairs, and when she turned the corner, Miles was tightening restraints on Diana.
“Hey!” she yelled. She took one look at Diana trussed up like a turkey and sprinted down the hall. Before Miles could react, Billie tackled him, sending him sprawling on the floor.
Billie scrambled up and reached Diana before he did. She struggled to get the ropes off her.
“Help!” Billie screamed.
She expected to hear a stampede of footsteps, but none came.
“Help me, you lazy bastards!”
Miles grabbed her by the ankles and yanked her away from Diana. “Leave her, she was attacking Claudia!”
Billie turned around and socked him in the eye. “She was not!”
Miles toppled backwards, cursing. Ignoring him, Billie loosened the ropes around Diana’s wrists just as Richard and Fay came around the corner, Brandi and Jenny at their heels.
Richard raised an eyebrow. “As much as I dream about this, it’s not really the time for bondage play, am I right?”
“Help me get her untied!” Billie ordered.
“Leave her!” Miles stood up. “She was attacking Claudia.”
Billie loosened the knots and helped Diana sit up.
“Closet!” Diana whispered.
“Look, she can barely talk!” Billie brushed Diana’s hair back, revealing blossoming bruises. “Oh my God, look at her neck! Diana, who hurt you? Was it Miles? Someone get her some water!”
Miles scowled. “I didn’t do that.”
“No, you hogtied her!” Billie rubbed Diana’s wrists where the rope had left red marks.
Fay handed her a bottle and Billie had Diana sip it slowly.
“Closet!” Diana said again, pushing the bottle away.
“This is so not the time.” She whispered in Diana’s ear. “We’ll get Closet Sidney later, he’s fine.”
“Closet!” Diana pointed.
“That’s Claudia’s room. Where is she anyway?” Billie asked. Claudia should have come upstairs with the rest of them.
Diana nodded, and Billie had a sick feeling in her stomach again. She got it every time Diana called her from a hospital or a police station. Billie got up and opened the door. The room was empty.
“This is a waste of time,” Miles said. “I saw her! She was attacking Claude! I saw it! Why won’t you listen?”
“All you caught was a hot girl in a skirt, Miles,” Billie said. “Where are her shoes?”
“You mean her weapons? She was beating Claude with them.”
“She would never beat someone with Badgley Mischka unless it was completely necessary.”
“Closet!”
Billie realized Diana wasn’t talking about Closet Sidney. She turned around, looked at Claudia’s closet door, then at Diana, who nodded, then slumped against the wall, satisfied.
“Oh, no.” Billie counted to three, took a deep breath and yanked the door open.
“Holy shit!” Miles said.
Billie stood back and stared. Pictures of Richard were everywhere. Locks of hair were taped to the door, and eyes were scratched out in pictures. Some were pictures Billie took of the cast and crew. Dick’s headshot was front and center, a rose taped under it.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
Diana mimed putting her finger down her throat.
Richard pushed his way into the room. “Wow. She picked some really great shots of me. That headshot turned out okay, Camera Girl. Hey, this is a shrine! I’ve got my own shrine!”
“Richard, this is a shrine created by a psycho who has been murdering your crew.” Fay’s hands shook. “This isn’t cool. This is sick and twisted and—”
“Hey, it’s okay, Fay. Not everyone is into shrines.”
Diana struggled to get up. Billie rushed over to help her. Diana leaned on her as they joined the Richard and Fay.
“Makes your poster look pretty shitty, huh?” Richard smiled at the shrine.
“Fuck you!” Diana whispered.
“Look at this.” Miles pointed at pictures of Lark, Jordyn and others, their eyes blacked out. “Jesus Christ, she killed everyone. How? Why Tiny? Why Judd? Why?”
“I think we have more pressing questions,” Fay said.
“More pressing than this?” Miles gestured at the macabre shrine.
“Yeah. Like where is Claudia now?”
Billie’s mouth dropped open. “She came downstairs a little while ago and went into the dining room. I don’t know where she is!”
Brandi and Jenny squeaked at the news and hustled into the room. They looked at the shrine in shock.
“Wait,” Brandi said. “Why is she killing these people?”
“We think she’s jealous,” Billie said. “She’s killing off people who either slept with Richard or wronged him somehow. Tiny and Judd just got in the way.”
“Richard, you slept with Cassie?” Jenny asked. “You said nothing happened!”
“Wait, you slept with him?” Brandi asked Jenny.
“Why do you care?” Jenny paused as she realized why. “You bitch!”
“Ladies . . . .”
Brandi slapped Richard. “You’re a pig!”
Diana smiled in glee.
“While Richard may be a pig of the highest order, we need to get out of here,” Fay said.
“Hey,” Richard said, wounded.
Diana nodded. “She’s right.” Her voice was hoarse and strained.
“Come on,” Miles said. “We’ll all go downstairs and get ready.”
The group searched the lodge, but there was no sign of Claudia.
Di settled on a chair next to Billie in their makeshift “ready room” in the lobby. There were only a handful of them left—Joe hadn’t turned up. Claudia probably hung his severed limbs from a tree. Poor Joe; he was creepy, but at least he wasn’t a crazy killer.
“Could she be hiding in the lodge somewhere?” Dick asked.
“The only places we haven’t checked are the ones that are locked and we don’t have keys for.” Miles ran his fingers through his hair. “We’re not sure if Joe just kept them locked or if Claudia killed him and got his keys. If she did . . . .”
“If she did, then no door in this entire place will keep her out,” Fay said.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Miles agreed. “We can’t stay here if she’s got access to the entire building. We need to put as much distance between her and us as we can, while it’s still light out. The people we’ve got, we can’t push too hard, they’re not used to hiking. The last thing we need is for someone to get heat stroke in the middle of the woods. We’re getting a late start, so we’ll have to spend at least one night in the woods.”
No one was happy about that.
“I’ll need to check everyone’s pack. They can’t be too heavy, and we’ll need to bring sleeping bags if we can, and, if not, some light blankets. Richard, you can’t bring your laptop or the drives.”
“Bullshit, I’m not leaving my movie behind!”
“It’s too heavy. It’s better to leave it here than to have to dump it in the woods somewhere.”
Dick scowled. “Alright, fine. I’ll leave it here.”
At Fay’s insistence, they left a note on the front desk, detailing what had happened and anchored by one of the few bottles of booze Serena hadn’t managed to gulp down before Claudia shoved a broken one through her neck. Diana gave even odds that Claudia would find and destroy it, but it made Fay happy and calmed Jenny down.
“Okay, everyone go get your packs, and I’ll look them over,” Miles said. “We’ll be back here in five minutes. No more or we’ll come looking for you as a group. And stay together.”
Billie and Diana were on the way up the stairs when Miles stopped them. “I have something to say to you.”
Diana tossed her hair. “I’m not sure we want to hear it.” She was pissed over the hog-tying. If Miles tied her up, she preferred it be consensual.
“I need to say it all the same. I should have realized I was wrong earlier. I was being stubborn, and I should have known it wasn’t you when we saw the bruises. Claudia could have really hurt you. If she had, I would have never forgiven myself. I’m sorry.”
“Um, me too. I mean . . . you’re not a murderous asshole. My bad. But, you know, it’s a mistake anyone could have made. But, sorry. And stuff.”
Miles smiled, then shook his head. “I guess that’s done.”
She and Billie went up to their room, and Diana opened the closet. Closet Sidney was fine. “I don’t want to leave him. I know he kept us safe. Look how many people are dead, and we’re okay. Claudia even tried to kill me and couldn’t. I bet she wouldn’t have even gotten that far, if I had been closer to the circle of protection.”
Billie hugged her from behind. “I know, but he’ll be fine. And you might have had a little bit to do with saving yourself. You were awesome.”
“I was awesome? You should have seen yourself. You were a super-hero, Bils. I was so proud. As soon as you came flying around the corner, I knew I was going to be okay.”
Billie hugged her tighter. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“We’re going to go hiking,” Diana said.
“Yes.”
“We’re going to sleep outside. In the woods.”
“Yes.”
“With a psycho probably chasing us every step of the way.”
“Yes.”
Diana sighed. “This really sucks.”
A short time later, they were almost ready to go.
“Maybe we don’t have to worry about Claudia. Maybe she’s running. She knew we’d catch on once we talked to you. What a nut case,” Billie huffed. “All this over Richard?”
“And he made fun of Closet Sidney.” The bruises on Diana’s neck were darkening. “I bet he won’t have anything smart to say about him now.”
“Here.” Billie held out a pair of jeans. “You need to change.”
Diana looked down at her skirt. “Really?”
“We’ll be hiking through the forest.”
“Don’t remind me. It’ll be too hot in jeans.”
“You don’t want bug bites all over your legs, do you?”
Diana hesitated, then took the pants.
Billie held out her Vans.
“Oh, not the bricks again.”
Once they were ready, they locked the door and headed downstairs again. Fay and Richard sat together on the couch, and Billie was loathe to interrupt them. She slowed Diana down and gestured to them. “If his dick gets anywhere near her, she’s a goner.”
“Too late. Well, not in that department, I don’t think, but Claudia’s already got her sights on Fay. She can see as well as we can what’s going on there. I don’t get it.”
Billie shrugged. “I kind of do. She’s good for him.”
“So is penicillin.”
Fay looked up when she heard them.
“Where’s Miles?” Diana asked.
“Here.” Miles came out of the office. “Where’s Brandi and Jenny?”
“I’m here.”
Brandi came into the lobby from the dining room.
“Where’s Jenny?” Billie asked.
“She went to get her flashlight.”
“And you didn’t go with her?” Miles asked.
“After what she did?” Brandi glared at Richard.
“You’re supposed to stay together!” Miles dropped his pack and headed for the stairs, and everyone followed.
“I don’t like this,” Diana said. “That psycho wombat could jump out of anywhere and get us.”
“She probably left.” Billie was hopeful.
They went upstairs to Jenny’s room and knocked, but there was no answer. Miles turned the doorknob and the door opened.
Billie prepared herself for something hanging from the ceiling fan or a bloody Picasso on the wall, but the room was in perfect order. A flashlight sat in the center of the bed.
“She didn’t make it here,” Billie said dully.
“Shit,” Miles swore.
A loud ding from the elevator broke the silence.
“Downstairs,” Miles whispered.
They sounded like a herd of elephants as they rushed down the hall to the second-floor gallery. There was a flash of color in the lobby below.
“She’s heading to the back!” Billie said.
They rushed the stairs, and Miles took them two at a time. When they reached the dining room, Claudia held a barely conscious Jenny, a knife at her throat.
“Do not move.” Claudia’s wild eyes darted from side-to-side. “None of you.”
“Claudia, put that knife down,” Fay said.
Claudia tilted her head and looked at Fay. “If you think for one minute I’m listening to you—”
“Then listen to me,” Richard said. “Let her go.”
Claudia dug the knife into Jenny’s neck and it bloomed red. Claudia wasn’t playing around.
“Let her go? After all the hard work I’ve done for you? Are you kidding me? Richard, you should be thanking me. I got these fame whores out of your way!”
Richard North was rendered speechless for what Billie guessed was the first time in his life.
“They didn’t do anything to you,” Miles said.
“Wrong answer, wrong answer,” Diana said. “Uh, Claudia. Richard totally doesn’t care about Jenny. Or Brandi or Fay or any of us. Just you.”
“What?!” Richard exclaimed.
Billie stomped on his foot.
“Ow! Yeah, baby, it’s only you.” Richard shook his head. “Fuck these guys.”
“So convincing,” Billie said. “How did you even manage to get any of them in bed?”
“You’re a liar!” Claudia yelled. “I see how you look at her! I see how it’s going. You get rid of me, when you need me to do everything for you, then you punish me by making me look at your conquests all the time. Richard, I was so good to you.”
“You gave me gonorrhea!”
“Too much information!” Diana clapped her hands over her ears.
“Claudia, just put the knife down,” Richard said.
Claudia’s cheeks were tearstained, her mascara streaked and lines ran through her blush. She looked unhinged.
“This isn’t going to work,” Billie murmured.
“It’s Big Bear all over again,” Diana sighed.
“I need you to remember this is for you!” Claudia said.
Billie screamed, and Miles rushed forward as Claudia buried the knife in Jenny’s throat, then dropped her and sprinted off.
Fay reached Jenny first. She pressed her hands against the wound, but Jenny’s eyes, barely open, glazed over and fluttered shut. Claudia escaped through the French doors and into the woods. The same woods they would soon enter.
Billie knelt and felt for a pulse, Jenny’s blood hot and slick under her hands. “She’s dead.” A tell-tale sweet smell lingered around the body. Billie grimaced; chloroform.
Fay kept her hands pressed against Jenny’s neck. “No, no she isn’t.”
Richard looked at the woods. “Maybe . . . maybe that shrine isn’t so cool after all.”
“You think?” Billie asked.
Fay still desperately clung to Jenny’s neck. Blood pooled beneath them and Jenny was still.
“Fay, she’s gone,” Billie said.
Fay shook her head. Richard crouched down next to her, and gingerly put his hands on Fay’s shoulders. “Let her go now.”
Fay looked at him, devastated.
“I’ll go get the tarp,” Miles sighed.
Billie looked around the group, which had grown smaller once again. “We need to get out of here.”
Diana squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll be okay.”
Billie took Diana’s hand and nodded. She wished she believed it.