Page 108 of It's a Wonderful Knife
Hermina sighed. “We wanted to do something fun on our last night here.” She glanced up toward the ceiling and whispered, “Now that the bad man has been caught.”
Chloe came in from the direction of the dining room. She made a beeline for her mother, and she sat down on the couch with her. Elle put her arm around her daughter. “Hey there, sweetie. You made it just in time.”
“Of course,” Chloe said brightly. “This was Dad’s favorite movie. I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
She seemed a little stiffer than usual. My gaze slid to Jax, who was leaning in the doorway to the dining room. Had he been bothering her again? Chloe had come from that direction. If he’d been harassing her, I hoped she’d speak up.
Jax too seemed unusually stiff. When he was near the guests, he usually joked around a lot. He could be very entertaining when he put in effort. But he was just standing in the doorway, looking distracted.
“You need to tell them before they start the movie,” Max said softly.
He was right, of course, but guilt ate at me as I watched them helping themselves to popcorn and giggling happily. I was about to shatter their holiday spirit, big-time.
“Are you going to sit?” Mona asked.
River patted the spot next to him. “I have room next to me, Royce.” He cleared his throat. “And Max.”
“Could he be more obvious?” Max muttered.
I sucked in a shaky breath and prepared to ruin their evening. I had no choice. “Folks, I have something I need to tell you,” I said.
Penelope laughed. “Why do you look so serious, Sheriff? This is a Christmas party.Smile.”
“Unfortunately, I have some bad news.”
Penelope’s smile faded. “Really? Are the police not coming for us tomorrow?”
“They’re not coming?” Hermina widened her eyes. “But why?”
“I didn’t say they weren’t coming,” I said.
“The police are still coming tomorrow,” Max said over their murmuring. “That isn’t what Royce needs to tell you.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Penelope pressed her hand to her chest. “That would have been just about the worst news ever.”
Wanna bet?
“I… I know that we were all pretty shook up about what happened today with Dakota and the homeless man.” Looking at their unsuspecting faces was torture. “But I’m afraid there’s been another murder. Richard has been killed.”
A hush fell over the room.
“I’m sorry, I know that you probably all thought things were safe now, but I’m afraid that’s just not the case.” I sighed. “We all need to stay paired up until tomorrow. No one should be alone right now.”
“But I thought Richard had drowned?” Amelia asked quietly.
“We didn’t know that for certain. We simply found his jacket by the river. Maybe he put it there to make us think he drowned. I don’t know.” I raked a shaky hand through my hair. “All I know is Richard is most certainly dead now.”
“How?” Elle asked. “How did he die?”
I shook my head, trying to find a way to say things without sounding so grim.
“He was stabbed.” Max’s voice cut across the quiet room. “Same as Santiago.”
Several people gasped.
“I don’t understand.” Hermina’s eyes were wide and startled. “Why is someone hurting us? Are they planning on picking us off one by one? Will we all be dead by morning?”
I shook my head. “Nothing will happen to us so long as we stick together. All we’re talking about is one night, right? I promise you, this person will be found and punished.”
