The Darwin Effect (12 page)

“Well, yeah. But everyone voted it down.”

“It doesn’t mean that you didn’t go ahead and do it,” Abraham said.

“I didn’t stuff her body anywhere,” Ward yelled at Abraham. “I didn’t come down here. I didn’t move her.”

“Let’s stop pretending,” Abraham said to everyone, his voice quivering from nervousness. “Let’s stop dancing around this. We all know Ward killed Butler.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t kill her!”

“You were the one who was worried about the amount of food we have left,” Abraham said, his voice shaking even more, his skin turning red under the dull lights of the ceiling. “And there was no knife in Butler’s room. All of us looked in her room after she was dead and we didn’t find a knife, or anything else Butler could’ve killed herself with. What did she slice her wrists with?”

“No knife?” Ward asked and looked at everyone. “What do you mean, there was no knife?”

“He’s right,” Cromartie said. “We didn’t find any kind of weapon or anything else that she could’ve cut her wrists with in her room.”

“When were you guys going to tell me that there was no knife in her room?” Ward asked Cromartie and then looked at the others. “So all of you knew about this, and you were keeping this information to yourselves?”

“He has the knife,” Abraham said and pointed at Ward. “He’s going to keep killing us one by one until there’s enough food for him.”

Ward looked at the others and saw the suspicion in all of their eyes. He put his hands out in a placating gesture. When he spoke, his voice was careful and calm. “Hold on, now. You guys all knew that there wasn’t a knife in Butler’s room and you never told me.”

No one answered him.

“You guys are all ganging up on me. One of you did this, and you’re trying to use me as the scapegoat.”

They all stared at him.

Ward shook his head again and chuckled like he couldn’t believe this was happening. “I didn’t do this. I didn’t kill Butler. I don’t have a knife. And I didn’t put her body in the airlock. I haven’t even been
near
the airlock.”

“That’s not true,” Abraham said, and his voice was gaining a little strength now. “I saw you in front of the airlock.”

“When?”

“You left your room. I was sleeping but I woke up when I heard you leave your room. I went out into the hall and followed you.”

“Followed me?” Ward snorted out in disgust. “This is crazy. This guy’s fucking crazy.”

“You went up to the third level,” Abraham continued. “You stood in front of the airlock door. You just stood there staring at it for a while, like you were studying it.”

“That’s not true!” Ward looked at the others. “I never went up there and stood in front of the airlock.”

“Yes, you did. I saw you. I watched you.”

Ward looked around at the others and panic was starting to creep into his eyes. “You guys are all ganging up on me. You’ve got me pegged as Butler’s murderer, and you don’t even have any proof.”

“You’re starting to look pretty guilty to me,” Sanders said.

“Fine,” Ward said. “Let’s all go look at the airlock.”

T
hey followed Ward up to the third level. Cromartie was right behind Ward, and even though they didn’t have any proof that Ward had murdered Butler and then moved her body, he still wasn’t comfortable walking in front of the man. The rest of them followed Cromartie.

“It won’t mean anything if Butler’s body isn’t in the airlock,” Abraham said as they walked. “He could’ve used the airlock already. He could’ve already shot her body out into space.”

“I didn’t use the airlock,” Ward growled from the front of the group. He looked up at the ceiling as he kept on walking. “MAC! Has the airlock been used yet?”

“No, Ward. It has not.”

Ward looked back at them without missing a step. “See? There you go. I never used the airlock. No one has. I’m sure some kind of alarm would’ve gone off if someone used the airlock.”

“He’s right,” Cromartie said as he glanced back at the others, trying to calm everyone down before this got out of control. But he still wanted to see the airlock door for himself.

Ward reached the airlock door and stood next to it, pointing at it with a smile on his face. “Satisfied?”

They gathered around the door and Cromartie saw what the others were looking at. Ward noticed their attention and looked at the door. “What the hell’s that?” he muttered, backing away a few steps.

“Someone wrote on the door,” Abraham said in a low voice.

They all stared at the words that had been scrawled across the metal door in what looked like a black magic marker. The words read: THIS IS THE ONLY WAY OUT.

“Who wrote that?” Rolle asked and glanced at the others.

Ward shook his head. “Oh, I guess this was me, too?”

“You were up here by the door before,” Abraham said.

“Did you see him write on the door when he was sleepwalking?” Rolle asked Abraham.

“I wasn’t sleepwalking,” Ward muttered.

Abraham looked torn, like he wasn’t sure of the answer, but he finally shook his head. “No. I don’t remember anything like that.”

Cromartie read the words scrawled on the metal door again, and the words from his dream echoed in his mind. “This is a really sick joke,” he said and glared at Ward, then he looked at the others one by one. “Whoever did this needs to admit it right now.”

Nobody admitted anything.

“We still need to find Butler’s body,” Rolle reminded them, getting them back on track. “Someone moved Butler’s body out of the storage area, but if they weren’t going to shoot her body out into space in the airlock, then why would they move it in the first place?”

The answer suddenly clicked in Cromartie’s mind—and he saw the realization in Sanders’ eyes at the same time. Why didn’t he think of it earlier?

“Maybe we should break up into teams and go look for her,” Abraham said. “Rolle and I will team up.” Abraham looked at Cromartie. “You and Sanders will be a team, I would guess.”

“That’s okay,” Ward said sarcastically. “I’ll go by myself.”

But Cromartie wasn’t paying attention to Abraham or anyone else—he was pretty sure he already knew where Butler’s body was.

Abraham saw the look in Cromartie’s eyes. “What’s wrong, Cromartie?”

“I think I might know where Butler’s body is.”

“Where?”

“We need to go back down to the kitchen.”

T
hey all entered the dining area, and then Cromartie walked right to the narrow doorway that led into the galley-style kitchen. The others followed him as he walked to the end of the kitchen, to the walk-in freezer door. He opened the door and stepped inside.

They all rushed towards the freezer. Abraham stood in the doorway with the others behind him, all of them trying to peer into the small space. They watched as Cromartie moved some boxes out of the way, throwing them down to the floor. And there behind the boxes, leaning up against the wall, was Butler’s body still wrapped in the plastic and tape.

Cromartie turned and looked at the others in the doorway. “Somebody dragged her body up here from the storage area and stuffed it in the freezer because they didn’t want it to rot. They wanted to save it for later.”

“So they could eat it,” Sanders whispered, finishing Cromartie’s thought.

Cromartie walked out of the freezer and closed the door. He looked at the others as they stood in the kitchen. “It’s starting to look like one of us murdered Butler.”

They all looked at Ward.

Ward’s eyes darted to each one of them, and then he locked eyes with Rolle. “Rolle, listen to me. I didn’t kill Butler. I swear I didn’t. I know everybody thinks I did, but I didn’t.”

Rolle didn’t say a word.

“Come on, Rolle, you’re a reasonable person. I can see that. We can’t just accuse someone without any proof. Besides, how did Cromartie know Butler was in the freezer? I mean, think about that. And how did he know her body was missing from the storage level in the first place? He just went down there to check on her for the hell of it?”

How was Cromartie supposed to explain that? He could tell them that Sanders had been traumatized by a nightmare and that he went down to the storage area to check on Butler for her. But he didn’t want to tell them that Sanders thought she had seen Butler in her room. He didn’t want to tell them that Sanders asked him to make sure Butler’s body was still stored safely away down on the lower level. He didn’t want them to think Sanders was seeing things, mixing up reality with fantasy. He watched Rolle and swore that he could see a trace of doubt creeping into the man’s expression. Was he really buying what Ward was saying?

“I’m just saying let’s not rule any of us out yet,” Ward said. “Before you guys are so sure I’m the guilty one, let’s look at each of us.”

Rolle didn’t say anything. He walked into the dining area.

The others followed Rolle and watched as he walked towards the doorway that led out to the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Ward asked him.

“I … I need to use the bathroom,” Rolle said and turned around to look at them.

The others stared at him.

“Is it okay with everyone if I use the bathroom?” he asked.

Cromartie nodded. “Go ahead.”

Rolle left the kitchen.

R
olle hurried down the corridor to Ward’s room. He knew he only had a few minutes to find what he was looking for before the group broke up and Ward came back to his room.

He slipped inside Ward’s room and looked around for a minute, eyeing everything. Then he went right for the bathroom.

• • •

“What are we going to do now?” Abraham asked.

Cromartie sighed. “We need to do something with Butler’s body.”

“We should just leave it in the freezer for now,” Abraham said.

Sanders stared at him. “In the same place where we get our food?”

“Why do you want to leave her body in the freezer, Abraham?” Ward asked and looked at Cromartie and Sanders. “That doesn’t seem a little suspicious to you guys?”

“We should detain Ward,” Sanders said. “I think we should vote on it right now.”

“No,” Ward answered quickly. “Nobody’s detaining me. I promise you that.” He looked right at Sanders. “I’m not the killer, and you’re not going to persecute me without any proof.”

“He’s right,” Cromartie said and locked eyes with Sanders with a warning stare. “We need proof. We might not be in America, but we’re still Americans and we’re going to follow the laws. The laws
you
swore to uphold when you were a police officer,” Cromartie reminded her.

“Have you ever been convicted of a crime before?” Sanders asked Ward, ignoring Cromartie’s comments.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Just answer the question.”

“I’m not answering a question like that. It’s none of your business.”

Sanders looked at Cromartie. “Have
you
ever been convicted of a crime?”

“No.”

She looked at Abraham. “Have
you
ever been convicted of a crime?”

“No.”

She looked back at Ward. “
I’ve
never been convicted of a crime. Now you know our history, so answer the question.”

“This is crazy. This doesn’t mean anything.” His eyes flicked to Abraham, then to Cromartie. They were both waiting for his answer. He sighed in defeat. “Okay. I did three years in the pen when I was younger.”

“For what?” Sanders pressed.

“It was for attempted murder,” he answered. “But it was a bar fight that got out of control,” he added quickly. “The guy didn’t die and we were both drunk as hell. After that I swore off drinking.”

“I told you he was hiding something from his past,” Sanders told Cromartie with her eyes still on Ward.

“You guys are talking about me?” Ward asked. “Discussing all of this behind my back?”

“What do you think, Abraham?” Sanders asked, ignoring Ward’s protests.

Abraham hesitated and then glanced at Cromartie. “I agree with Cromartie. We need to have some more proof before we detain anyone.”

“Proof,” Ward said like an idea had just popped into his mind. “That’s it! You guys need proof. Check my room. See if there’s a knife or some other kind of weapon in there.”

The others glanced at each other.

“What are you waiting for?” Ward asked with a smile on his face now. “We’ll all stay together and you can check my room. And then we’ll check each one of your rooms, one by one. We’ll see who’s hiding something.”

“Sounds fair,” Abraham said. “But the killer could’ve just dropped the murder weapon somewhere else on this ship.”

Cromartie nodded. “At least it’s somewhere to start looking.”

They were about to head to the archway that led out to the corridor, but Rolle rushed inside with a knife in his hand. “Look what I found in Ward’s room.”

“T
hat’s not mine!” Ward said.

Rolle stood there in the archway, holding the knife in his hand by the end of the handle like just touching it disgusted him.

“I think we have our proof now,” Sanders said, looking at Cromartie.

“Nobody’s detaining me,” Ward said as he backed up towards the archway. “You got that? Nobody’s holding me anywhere!”

Rolle moved out of the way, suddenly afraid of Ward even though he held a knife in his hand. He hurried over to the line of cabinets and the counter.

“That’s not my knife,” Ward said and glanced at Rolle who had backed all the way up to the cabinets now. He pointed at Rolle. “You planted that there.”

“No,” Rolle said. “I just wanted to check his room while he wasn’t in there. And then I found this knife in his bathroom. It was behind the toilet.”

“That’s a lie!” Ward snapped. “One of you planted that in my bathroom. Trying to frame me.”

“Just calm down for a minute,” Cromartie told Ward.

Ward wasn’t calming down; his eyes were wild, his hands up and ready to fight and defend himself. “I know martial arts. I’ve trained myself to fight. I won’t let you take me.”

“I’m trained, too,” Sanders told him.

“Hold on, everybody!” Cromartie snapped at them. “We all need to calm down before this gets out of control.” He looked at each of them. “Nobody’s detaining anyone right now. Is that understood?”