The Corpse's Secret: Recluse Island, #3

Chapter One

Vanessa Chesterton-Avery ran down the dim hall and skidded to a stop in front of her oldest daughter’s room.

Chris caught up to her. Where’s the body?

It was right here. She pointed to the floor in front of her.

Are you sure?

Yes, Vanessa said, sweat breaking out around her forehead.

Where is it now?

I have no idea.

He couldn’t have been dead.

I watched him die, Vanessa said. In fact, she couldn’t get the image out of her mind. She probably wouldn’t ever unsee the life fading from Cortez’s eyes.

Chris drew a deep breath. Then what happened to the body?

A horrifying thought clawed at her. She gasped at the thought.

What? Her husband took a protective stance, looking around.

She struggled to say the words. What if … if the guard found him?

He glanced down the other end of the long hallway. I don’t see anyone on post.

It’s the switch shift.

Chris visibly relaxed. Okay, so they’re downstairs talking to each other. They wouldn’t move a corpse.

You sure about that?

Yes. They’d call the sheriff.

Then where is Cortez? Vanessa asked, struggling to keep her voice down. The last thing they needed was to wake any of the seven kids.

Everyone was finally starting to blend into a family, even if it didn’t look normal. They were making progress. Bringing the kids into something like this would put all of that at risk. People could turn on each other and all gained trust could be lost. She and Chris had worked so hard over the summer to bring the two families together.

He has to be alive, Chris said.

No. He can’t be. I saw him die. She struggled to breathe, to make sense of the missing body. If someone found him and dragged him off, they couldn’t have gone far. We can find them.

It was true. It had only taken her a few minutes to wake Chris and explain that they needed to do something with the corpse. Then they’d come out here.

Or he could’ve walked away, Chris said.

"That would be impossible. He was crawling when I found him. Already weak. He wanted Hope to find him dead, to think she’d killed him."

Chris frowned. I don’t know what happened, but we need to figure it out. Now.

She grabbed his arm. Let’s go.

We should split up. We’ll cover more ground.

She stiffened at the thought of walking through their old, large house on her own. Someone else was somewhere, and everything was dark.

Plus she was dealing with the fact that she’d just killed Cortez. He’d been almost dead already, thanks to Hope. He’d abducted her, and she’d fought back. Wounded him severely. And with everyone on Recluse Island looking for him, he couldn’t go to anyone for help.

Instead, he’d come here. To their home, to Hope’s bedroom door wanting her to see him die. To live with remorse.

But there was no way Vanessa was going to let him wrack her daughter with that kind of guilt.

Vanessa had killed the monster, and she would have to live with what she’d done. If it protected her child, it was worth it. Even if now she was a killer.

She’d taken a life.

The reality of what she’d done took her breath away. She leaned against the nearest wall for support.

Vanessa, are you okay? Chris asked.

I took a life.

Maybe not.

I did! She glared at him. I watched him die, and he wasn’t faking.

Okay. Let’s figure out where his body is.

Someone’s in our house. I don’t want to search alone.

Do you want to ask the guard to help us?

No. I’m not telling anyone what I did. I want us to look together.

We’ll lose time and cover less ground, but if that would make you feel better let’s do it.

Relief washed through her. Thank you.

He kissed her cheek. Let’s be quick.

They hurried through the halls on the second floor until they made their way back to Hope’s door. They’d found nothing.

Now a guard stood with his back to them at the other end of the hall.

Dead bodies didn’t walk away.

There was also no way in and out of their house. They’d found and sealed secret passages leading from their home to the other wings of the massive hotel that their house was attached to. Not only that, but they had guards posted and security cameras in the hotel, outside their home.

For all the good that had done. Cortez had still managed to get inside.

To Hope’s room.

What if Vanessa hadn’t found him first?

Let’s check the other levels, Chris said.

Exhaustion squeezed every inch of her body. But they had no other option. Somebody had moved Cortez’s corpse, and they had to find that person.

After an hour of searching, they were no better off than before. They hadn’t found anyone, dead or alive.

Could it have been a dream? Chris asked, once they were back where Vanessa had left the body.

You don’t think I know the difference between a dream and reality?

That isn’t what I said. Sometimes dreams can seem realistic.

"I’d know if I only dreamed about killing my daughter’s stalker."

I’m not making a value judgment against you, he said. I’m only trying to figure out what happened.

Either you believe me, or you don’t. Which is it?

Of course I believe you.

Then I don’t want to hear anything about Cortez not being dead. Someone moved him. That’s the only explanation.

Let’s speak with the guard.

And say what? That I killed a former hotel employee?

No. We’ll ask him if he heard or saw anything unusual.

Don’t you think he’d have said something? That’s his job.

There’s only one way to find out.

She didn’t have the energy to deal with the conversation, so she leaned against the wall and watched as Chris made his way down the long, dim hallway. Their voices carried, but she couldn’t make out anything said.

What happened to Cortez’s corpse? He’d somehow, in his injured state, found his way inside their home and up to the second-floor hallway to Hope’s door.

Then Vanessa had cut off his air supply. He died. There was no question.

Chris returned. He said he’d keep an extra watchful eye out tonight, but he hasn’t seen anything, and the other guard didn’t mention noticing anything unusual.

What’d you tell him?

I said you heard something and are worried.

Nothing more? she asked.

What else could I say? That we lost a dead body?

Not so loud. She glared at him.

He can’t hear us from here.

What are we going to do? she asked.

Let’s get some sleep and figure it out in the morning.

Tears blurred her vision. Sleep? Someone is in our home.

And they’ve probably left.

With Cortez? she asked.

That’s the only thing that makes sense, assuming he’s dead.

She stepped away from him. You don’t believe me.

"I do. You think you killed Cortez. It looked believable. But then he woke up after losing consciousness. He crawled away and is hiding. He isn’t a danger to anyone in his condition. You and I both need rest."

Vanessa glared at him.

If you didn’t kill him, that’s good news. His death isn’t on you or Hope. What more could we ask for? And even if he is dead, you did the world a favor. You’re a hero.

Do you really believe that? she snapped. You’ve killed two men, both who deserved it. Are you telling me you have no guilt? Do you feel like a hero?

He didn’t answer.

Because they both knew the answer to that question.

It was why he kept turning to alcohol, to numb pain he didn’t want to feel.

I had to protect Hope from that, Vanessa said. That’s why I did it. If he died due to the injuries she’d inflicted on him — even though he was threatening to kill her — she would live with insufferable guilt. I know she seems tough, but she’s softhearted. This would destroy her.

You’re going to tell her that you killed him? he asked.

If we find and hide the corpse, she’ll think he ran away somewhere.

And always have to look over her shoulder.

Vanessa tugged on her hair. There was no easy answer.

That’s what would happen, he said. But we don’t even have a body. I don’t think you actually killed him. He probably crawled away and is hiding somewhere. It would be easy to miss him in the dark. But the good news is, he’s not a danger to anyone in his state. We’ll look again in the morning.

Vanessa blinked back tears. She wanted to insist that she’d killed Cortez, but what if Chris was right? Him crawling off made a lot more sense than someone else finding and hiding his corpse.

Are you good with getting some sleep, and dealing with this in the morning?

Okay. She had no energy left anyway. There was no point in arguing any further.

It’ll be fine. I promise.

Nothing would ever be fine again.

Chapter Two

Hope pressed her ear to the crack under the door and listened, barely able to hear anything over the sound of her pulse drumming. She took deep breaths and calmed herself.

The hallway was quiet. Mom and Chris had finally stopped talking. But that didn’t mean they had left. They could still be out there.

She needed to get into the hall.

It was too hard to think. Her mind and her heart both raced out of control.

Now she was guilty of multiple crimes.

This had escalated beyond being in over her head. She was drowning. In quicksand.

It was no time to lose her mind. Had to think. Hold everything together.

Deep breaths.

She could do this.

Hope yanked open her closet door.

The sight of Cortez’s body made her jump, even though she knew he — it — was there.

He’d come to her room to die.

But why? To see her one last time? Or to throw his death in her face? They both knew it was her that killed him, not that he’d given her any other choice. Dragging her away, threatening her. Said if he couldn’t have her, nobody could.

His plan might’ve been to kill her since the moment he laid eyes on her.

But now she had his dead corpse in her closet.

She shouldn’t have dragged him into her room. But what else was she supposed to do? If she left it there, one of the other kids could walk out and find it. She was the oldest; she had to protect the others.

Plus, she was the one who had killed him. She’d stabbed him to save her own life. And though he hadn’t died right away, that was what had ended him.

She was a killer.

What now?

Maybe she should tell Mom.

No. She couldn’t live with her thinking of her as a killer.

She had to figure this out on her own. But what was she supposed to do with the body?

It was going to start smelling at some point. And it was heavy. Moving it would be no small task.

Why did Cortez have to come and die in front of her room? Selfish to the end. Now she had to deal with it.

She should’ve called the police, or at least told Mom and Chris. But she’d moved it. Gotten her fingerprints all over it.

Now she was in too deep. This was all on her to take care of. And she could, if Mom and Chris would ever leave the hall. Then she could at least move it somewhere else.

There was also the matter of the guard, but those guys usually had their backs to the bedrooms. They thought someone could only come by way of the stairs.

Obviously not. Cortez had proven that much. He’d gotten in somehow, even though he was almost dead.

He had to have used a secret passage. That was the only explanation — the only way into the house was with the new keycards. Chris had sealed the secret passage they’d found.

That meant there was at least one they’d missed.

But how did Cortez get past the cameras outside?

That was something only the dead guy could answer. The good news was that he was likely to be the last person to know about the secret passage he’d used. No one else would be able to get in without anyone from their family knowing.

Now she had to deal with his corpse.

Maybe she should call the police. The sheriff thought he was already dead when he did his investigation because of all the blood Cortez left behind after she’d defended herself against him.

But he’d lived this long after her ordeal. Could something else have killed him? Or had he been that determined to get back to Hope to finish her off?

She shuddered at the thought. It was the only explanation.

Not that it mattered. She’d moved his dead body, and she was pretty sure that had to be a crime.

It was in her closet under a blanket. Now he was probably covered in evidence that would link back to her. And not just them fighting in the abandoned part of the hotel.

She shouldn’t have brought him in here. But she had. And she would have to woman up and deal with what she’d done.

That meant getting rid of him, putting him somewhere nobody would ever find him.

But where? Somehow she would need to get him out of the building without being seen. That would be impossible with all the new security.

Maybe she could put him back in the hall and then call the police. At least she’d be doing the right thing. Yeah, that was what she needed to do. Put him back. Tell the guard. Then he could deal with it.

That was the best idea. No one would know she’d moved it. He wasn’t bleeding, there weren’t any drag marks.

But first, she had to wait for her mom and Chris to leave the hallway.

She listened again.

Quiet.

Hope opened the door slowly and stepped outside. Faked a yawn, looked around.

Mom leaned against a wall, like her life depended on holding it up.

What are you doing? Hope asked, trying to sound surprised to see her. You scared me.

Why are you up? Mom asked, looking her over.

I have to go to the bathroom. Why are you standing out here in the middle of the night?

I’m, uh, just waiting for Chris.

Not in your room?

Well, I heard something. He’s checking it out.

"And you’re here because …?"

Mom wrung her hands together. Making sure you kids are safe.

Why wouldn’t we be? You’re scaring me. At least she didn’t have to