The Best Man to Trust

CHAPTER Thirteen



They found Rick and Ellen in the kitchen. The pair looked up warily at their entrance, Rick from his seat at the island, Ellen from where she stood at the counter.

“Are you both okay?” Meredith asked.

“As well as we can be,” Ellen said. “Compared to what I saw upstairs, I can’t complain.”

Spotting the phone on the wall, Meredith moved toward it.

“It’s still not working,” Rick said just as Meredith pulled the phone from the wall and raised it to her ear. “Checked it a few minutes ago.”

The silence that met her ear confirmed the statement. “Of course,” Meredith said as she replaced the receiver. “I should have known you would.”

“Can’t hurt to keep checking,” Ellen murmured.

“Did either of you see anything today?” Tom asked. “Anyone coming out of Jessica’s room? Anyone looking suspicious?”

“Nope,” Rick said.

“Like I told Meredith,” Ellen said. “I hadn’t seen anybody in hours before dinner.”

They sounded honest enough. “Everybody’s in the living room if you want to join us,” Meredith offered. It might be better if they all stuck together. She’d certainly feel better if she knew where each person was. Still, she would understand if they turned down the offer, wanting to be nowhere near the people who kept getting murdered, one of whom—if Rick and Ellen weren’t involved—was likely the killer.

“Think I’m going to tuck in early,” Rick said flatly. “So I can get started digging my way to the garage in the morning.”

“Me, too,” Ellen said. “Just as soon as I get this food put away.”

Meredith looked at the meal Ellen had prepared, all of it untouched. Ellen had the storage containers, aluminum foil and plastic wrap out. Meredith figured if anyone was hungry later, it would at least be in the refrigerator. “That’s fine.”

“I can help you dig tomorrow if you have more than one shovel,” Tom told Rick.

The other man eyed him gravely, as though considering whether he trusted him. After a moment, he nodded slowly. “That’d be a big help.”

“Great,” Meredith said. “I’ll see you both in the morning then.”

She quickly turned toward the door, Tom moving to follow. The whole way there, she felt their eyes on her.

No doubt ruing the day they’d ever agreed to work here.

* * *

THE MEMBERS OF the wedding party were still in the living room where they’d left them. Everyone was sitting apart from each other, and no one was speaking. Even Scott and Rachel sat on different sides of the room, with Rachel’s back rather pointedly to him.

Greg had a glass of amber-colored liquid in his hand, Meredith couldn’t help noticing. Evidently he’d found the bar. He’d been right, she thought, feeling the weight of his flask in her pocket. Her victory had been a hollow one.

They all looked up when Tom and Meredith entered.

“Any luck with the phones?” Scott asked.

“No,” Meredith said. “They’re still out.”

No one seemed surprised, or even disappointed. She understood their reaction—or lack of it. It probably had seemed too much to hope for that the phones would be back up right when they were needed more than ever.

Meredith had expected the group to be in a hurry to get back to the safety of their rooms, but no one made a move to leave. Rachel still seemed miffed with Scott, so Meredith could understand why they might not feel like being alone together. Greg likely didn’t want to leave the bar. Alex might want to remain where he could question people.

Then again, Jess’s death seemed to indicate they weren’t safe in their rooms, either. Staying together might seem much more reassuring at the moment.

She surveyed Scott and Rachel sitting at opposite sides of the room. They’d been nearly inseparable since they’d gotten here, making it impossible to speak with either of them alone.

This might be a rare chance to talk to them separately. She had to take advantage of it.

Meredith leaned toward Tom. “I’d like to try to talk to Rachel,” she whispered. “See if I can get her to open up.”

He gave a slight nod. “I’ll talk to Scott. I haven’t really had a chance to since all of this started.”

“Good idea.”

Moving away, she casually made her way over to where Rachel sat. Her heart twisted at the sight of the other woman. She sat with her head bent, her hands clutched tightly in from of her.

“Hey,” Meredith said, easing herself into the chair next to Rachel’s. “How are you doing?” As soon as she heard the question, she nearly cringed. It was a question she’d come to hate over the past few years. She’d been asked it herself numerous times. She knew it was typically motivated by genuine concern, or was simply a polite way to start a conversation. But usually when it was asked, it was perfectly clear how the person was doing. Just like it was now. With everything that was happening, Rachel couldn’t be doing particularly well.

If Rachel thought the question was inane, she didn’t show it. She slowly shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t understand what’s happening, or why it’s happening, or any of this.... None of it seems real. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and it’ll all turn out to be some terrible nightmare, like I’m dreaming about the worst possible thing that could ever happen at my wedding.” She released a short, humorless laugh. “I thought the worst that could happen would be if something happened to my dress or we got stranded at the airport, but this...”

“I don’t think anyone could have imagined this,” Meredith said.

“But still, Alex is right, just like Jess—” she swallowed hard at her friend’s name “—Jess was this morning. This is my fault. I brought us here.”

“The only person at fault is the killer.”

“Even if that’s true, if we get out of here, I’ve only given them more reason to hate me.”

“I’m sure they don’t hate you,” Meredith said. Remembering Alex’s reaction, she wasn’t sure it was true, but it seemed like the only thing she could say.

“I didn’t realize they were angry at me for breaking up with Scott in college. Maybe I should have, but all that mattered was that Scott and I were back together and the love we felt for each other was still there.” She swallowed hard, her voice softening. “This morning Jess told me that maybe I should have taken what happened in college as a sign that Scott and I aren’t meant to be together. What if she was right?”

“What did happen between the two of you in college? If you don’t mind my asking.”

Rachel’s expression went blank. She didn’t say anything for a long moment, her gaze faraway. Finally she lowered her eyes, giving her head a small shake. “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago. It’s in the past.”

I’m not so sure about that, Meredith thought. Given everything that was happening to members of her college group, it seemed more likely than not that something from the past wasn’t staying there. She studied the woman’s face, more convinced than ever Rachel was hiding something. Whether it was because she truly didn’t believe it was relevant or because she didn’t think it was any of Meredith’s business, it made no difference.

Either way, Rachel wasn’t talking.

* * *

AS SOON AS TOM saw Meredith sit beside Rachel, he turned and moved to where Scott sat across the room. Scott leaned back in an overstuffed leather chair, his gaze distant as he stared straight in front of him.

Tom lowered himself into the chair beside him. “Hey, Scotty. You doing okay?”

Scott let out a long, slow breath. “Honestly? I don’t know.” He turned and looked at Tom, mustering a weak smile. “I’m glad you’re here, man. With Alex throwing accusations around and Greg drinking everything he can get his hands on, it’s good to have somebody I can count on around here.”

Tom glanced over to where Greg sat in an isolated corner. He held a glass in one hand, though he wasn’t drinking from it. Instead, he stared at the liquid it contained, seemingly lost in thought. “He didn’t waste any time finding the bar, did he?”

“No,” Scott said with a grimace. “The sad thing is, he told me last year that he stopped drinking, but I guess that didn’t last. It’s one thing I told Rachel to talk her into inviting him. With Alex performing the ceremony and it looking like you weren’t going to make it, I needed someone to be my best man. I mean, there are a couple of guys I work with I could have asked, but it would have felt strange having somebody here who wasn’t part of the group, you know? I would have felt bad asking them to come all this way to spend a weekend with a bunch of people they didn’t know.” Scott sighed. “Now I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t invite anyone else. I would have hated to put anyone else through this.”

“Did Alex really try to talk you out of marrying Rachel?”

“It wasn’t like that. It was like he said. He asked me if I really believed I could trust her after how she treated me in college. I figured a minister would do the same thing, right? Make sure you really want to marry somebody? I told him we were both more mature now. Seven years is a long time.”

“You never did tell me. Why’d she break up with you?”

Scott sighed. “Guess there’s no reason not to tell you. You remember how crazy things were senior year. Between work and juggling classes I was barely keeping my head above water. She thought I was neglecting her, not paying her enough attention. The fact is, she was right. With everything else, I didn’t have much time for her. She knew I loved her. At least I thought she did. But I guess it wasn’t enough.”

He shook his head. “I was doing it for us. So we could have a good life. That’s the whole reason I was working so hard. To give her the life she deserved. What I didn’t know was that she didn’t want somebody who’d have to work so hard for it. She wanted somebody who could afford to take care of her. Somebody with money.”

For the first time, Tom heard the hint of bitterness in his old friend’s words. They may have gotten past it, but it seemed Scott hadn’t completely forgotten how she’d treated him—or how it had felt.

“She told you that?” Tom asked, more than a little stunned.

“No. She just left it at the neglecting-her part. She cut off all contact, refusing to talk to me, refusing to see me. Her friends were all the same way. Jess, Haley, Kim. They all acted like I suddenly didn’t exist anymore.” A hard look flashed across his face, the expression so fleeting Tom almost missed it.

“It was Kim who told me the truth. I went to their apartment to try to get Rachel to talk to me, to tell her that I’d learned my lesson and wouldn’t take her for granted anymore. Kim refused to let me see her, and when I wouldn’t go away, she finally came out with it.” He drew in a breath. “She said Rachel had decided she couldn’t waste any more time with me. She wanted someone with the ‘resources’ to give her the life she wanted, and that wasn’t me.”

Even after all these years, the pain was evident in Scott’s voice as he related it. Tom wasn’t surprised. He knew how much Scott had to have been wounded by that. Scott hadn’t come from money, but he’d been smart and a hard worker, using scholarship money to pay for school. Meanwhile, Rachel’s family had been well-off. It had been a sore point for Scott. To have that be the reason she’d broken up with him... No wonder he hadn’t wanted to talk about it.

Kim would have known what hearing that would have been like for Scott, too. Yet she’d told him anyway. Tom didn’t know if it was kinder for him to know the truth, or if she’d simply been cruel by telling him. “Is that what Jess meant when she implied Kim wouldn’t have been invited even if she were alive?” he asked. “Because she’d told you that?”

“No, Kim had a falling-out with the rest of them a few years ago. Jess is actually the one who told me about it, since Rachel and I weren’t together then. Evidently Kim’s drinking had gotten worse after college, and she’d developed a drug habit, as well. She showed up high at some event Haley was holding and made a scene. Apparently they’d been trying to help her before then, but after that, they washed their hands of her. It sounds like she got clean last year and tried getting in touch with them, maybe to make amends, but whatever it was she’d done, they weren’t interested.”

“And now she’s dead, too,” Tom said softly, wondering if Alex was right and there was a connection. They’d said she’d overdosed and drowned in her bathtub—an accident, not a violent murder—but was it possible there was more to it than that?

“And Rachel’s the only one left,” Scott said, glancing over at his fiancée.

Tom followed his gaze, watching the woman talk with Meredith. Now that he knew what had happened between her and Scott all those years ago, he couldn’t help but view her with fresh eyes. “I have to say, I’m kind of surprised you’d want to have anything to do with Rachel after she treated you like that, let alone marry her.”

“Maybe there was a part of me that agreed with her,” Scott said quietly. “That didn’t think I was good enough for her. And now I am.” Something in his voice sent an uncomfortable feeling down Tom’s spine, a certain hardness that matched the stoniness of his expression as he stared at Rachel.

“And we both know it.”

* * *

BY NINE O’CLOCK, everyone was ready to retreat to their rooms. They wasted no time doing so, Greg and Alex heading straight up without a look back. Even Scott and Rachel, without a word and only the barest glance between them, moved silently upstairs.

And Meredith and Tom were alone again.

They sat together on one of the couches in the middle of the room. Meredith leaned back in her seat, puzzling over the multitude of questions running through her head.

“So Rachel broke up with Scott in college because he didn’t have any money,” Meredith mused. “I can’t believe he’d want to get back together with her after that.”

“That’s what I told him,” Tom said. “But the more I think about it, it makes a kind of sad sense. Rachel’s family was loaded and she inherited a lot of money when her father died. Scott was in school on scholarships and I know he always kind of felt he wasn’t good enough for her. It had to have killed him to hear that was why she’d dumped him. But now he’s made it, and he’s proven to her—and himself—that he is good enough.” He shook his head. “I knew it must have meant a lot to him to be able to give her a wedding in a place like this. I just wish he knew he didn’t have to prove himself like that to anybody, himself included.”

Meredith turned the information over in her mind. She knew he wouldn’t like what she had to say, but she had to say it. “Do you think he might have had an ulterior motive to bring her—to bring all of you—here?”

It took a second, but Tom jerked his head toward her, and Meredith knew he’d picked up on her implication. “You think Scott killed Haley and Jess? Why?”

“Maybe revenge?” she suggested carefully. “She dumped him, all her friends turned their backs on him. This could be some sick way of getting back at them, and punishing Rachel.”

“That’s way too twisted, and not something Scott is remotely capable of. He’s not a killer.”

She hated the pain she heard in his voice and wished she could let it go, but she couldn’t. “He could have changed over the years without you noticing it. You said you didn’t keep in touch much, only met or talked a few times a year when you were in Chicago.”

Meredith watched his jaw tighten with anger. “Scott’s not a killer.” His tone allowed for no further argument. “What about Rachel? Alex is right, she’s the one who brought everyone here. And she decided to get back together with Scott after all this time, too.”

Meredith thought back to her conversation with the woman, remembering the genuine sadness she’d heard in her voice. At least she’d thought it was genuine. At this point, who knew what to believe? “What’s her motive?”

Tom was silent for a long moment, finally letting out a long breath. “I don’t know. There’s still so much going on here we don’t know about.”

“And we’re figuring it out too slowly.” And two people were dead, and more lives were in jeopardy as long as they continued fumbling around in the dark.

A wave of frustration and despair washed over her. Overwhelmed by the feeling, Meredith gave her head a small shake.

Tom didn’t fail to notice. “What is it?” he asked.

“Part of me can’t help wishing Adam was here,” she admitted. “He would know what to do. No hesitation, no doubt. Just action.”

“You and your brother must be close,” he said.

She nodded. “We were all we had growing up. Our parents weren’t what anyone would call loving. Our father only cared about his career and making money, and our mother didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. I always had the feeling they only had children because it was what they were supposed to do, and they would have been perfectly happy without us. Adam was five when I was born, and he looked out for me, up until the time he left for college.”

“It sounds like it’s a good thing you had each other.”

“It was.” She smiled sadly. “The funny thing is, I used to resent him a little, too. Our mother wasn’t exactly nurturing, but Adam was still her golden child. He was handsome and brilliant, while I was awkward and quiet. He was the valedictorian of his class in high school. I was the salutatorian of mine.” Story of her life. Never quite good enough. Always second best.

“That’s still impressive.”

“Not really. You know what they say. ‘Second place is the first loser.’”

He frowned. “Who says that?”

She grimaced at the memory. “My mother did, actually.”

“No offense, but she doesn’t sound like somebody who’s worth listening to.”

“I know that now,” she conceded. “Unfortunately some things aren’t that easy to shake. Growing up, it seemed like no matter what I did, all I ever heard was ‘That’s not what Adam would have done!’ And for the past few days in the back of my head, I keep hearing, ‘That’s not what Adam would do!’” Or would he have had to do any of this? she wondered. Would he have realized what was happening before it did, stopping the murder before it ever happened? Would he have somehow known who the killer was and recognized what they had planned?

There was no way of knowing. Adam wasn’t here. She was. And she was responsible for everything that happened here—and the lives of everyone at Sutton Hall.

“You’re doing great,” Tom said firmly. “No one could question the choices you’ve made. You’ve done the best you could under the circumstances. We’re going to get through this.”

She looked up into his strong, solemn face. She wasn’t entirely certain she believed him, but at the moment, she was grateful for the kindness.

“What about you?” she asked. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“One of each,” he said with a smile. “They’re great.”

If they were anything like him, she believed it. Because he was great. Strong and loyal and brave, and smart and considerate and caring. Again there was that sense of amazement in the back of her mind that someone so good-looking could be even better on the inside, as great as this man was.

It suddenly struck her just how much she liked him. She simply liked him, as a person, who he was deep down. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d met someone she simply liked on a basic, instinctive level. Maybe she never had. She’d certainly never met anyone like him before. If only she had. If only he’d noticed her. If only she’d been brave enough back then...

It was foolish to think that way. There was no changing the past, no way to go back. Thinking about it was a waste of time. All that mattered was that she had met him—here, now—at a time, at a moment when she needed him. It was the lone bright spot in these terrible few days, and she would always be grateful he’d been here for her, even as she couldn’t help wishing he hadn’t had to be.

Suddenly realizing just how long she’d been sitting there staring into his eyes, she made herself look away, even as part of her regretted breaking the unexpected intimacy they shared.

Even as part of her recognized that as long as she’d been staring into his eyes, he’d been staring back.

“We should get to bed,” Meredith said. “You’re going to need the rest if you’re going to work with Rick in the morning.”

Tom frowned. “What about you? What are you going to do?”

“I’ll watch over everyone else, try keep an eye on them and make sure nothing happens.”

“And who’ll keep an eye out for you?”

It was a valid question, and she couldn’t help feel a flicker of apprehension as she thought about it. She did her best to shake it off, the way she had to. “I’ll just have to keep an eye out for myself. I am the one in charge here, right?”

He didn’t respond, but she didn’t miss the way his lips thinned with disapproval. She knew what he was thinking, but she meant what she said.

As much as she appreciated him being here for her, when it came right down to it, the only one a person could rely on was her—or him—self. She’d learned that the hard way with Brad, when she’d failed to be strong enough, failed to defend herself. She couldn’t do that again, couldn’t be that weak. She was going to have to take care of herself.

Learning how to do that was a long time in the making.

* * *

TWO DOWN...

Poor, stupid Jess. So scared. So cautious. And in the end, she hadn’t seen it coming.

She’d left her room to use the bathroom, and on her way back she’d let her guard down at just exactly the wrong moment. She’d been a step away from being safely back in her room.

Instead, she’d met her fate.

A memory of the way her face had looked at that moment lingered. No, she hadn’t seen it coming—the first stab at least.

The second and the third...those she’d seen.

And in the final moments, when she’d been told exactly why she’d had to die, a flash of recognition had passed over her eyes, briefly eclipsing the fear.

In the end, though, the fear had won out. The sheer terror that she was about to die.

And then she had.

The fear was the most satisfying part. Dying wasn’t enough. They deserved to suffer.

One of them in particular... That would happen soon enough.

Everything was going according to plan. Soon it would be over.

And justice would be served at last.