The Inheritance (Happy Endings Resort Book 1) (6 page)

“Are you saying that someone killed Drew and then drew on a map for Rory to go out there and find him?” Jason sounded angry.

“We aren’t sure which happened first,” Detective Hall stated.

“Ms. London, we are going to have to ask you not to leave town. You either Mr. Duke.”

“I have nowhere else to go.” I said sadly, wishing I had any other place to go but here.

“This is my home. I’m not going anywhere.” Jason nodded.

Chapter Eight

I WENT WITH Jason to his office in order for the police to retrieve their copies of the requested files on the resort. After the police left with their copies, I got my copies and headed back to the resort.

“There’s an envelope here for you,” Jason said as we stepped back into his cabin. The square, white envelope was on the floor just inside of the door. Someone must have slipped it under the door. “I’ll make us something to eat and then we can head on over to Betty’s.” He left me standing in the living room holding the envelope.

I looked over at him then back down at the white square in my hand. I was a bit fearful about opening the envelope after knowing the last thing someone had left me was a map with a dead body drawn on it. A dead body that turned out to be Drew Parker.

“I’m going to sit outside for a bit.” I took the envelope with me as I moved out to the deck and sat down in the Adirondack chair. Looking out at the water, I could see the crime scene tape across the lake where they had found Drew’s body. I looked around the lake trying to avert my eyes from the tape, from the canopy that covered the ground, the cars that were parked blocking off the area. Then my eyes went to the left. That was Betty’s cabin. That was where I needed to go.

“So what was in the envelope?” Jason asked stepping out onto the deck carrying a small tray with two glasses and two plates. “I figured sandwiches would be the quickest and easiest so we”—he paused and looked at me as he handed me a glass—“uh, that is if you want me to go with you.”

“I think I’d actually like the company.” I smiled with a bit of relief that he was going to go with me. I thought I wanted to go alone, but looking back up at the crime scene tape, and with Betty’s house being in almost the same line of vision did freak me out and made me more than leery about going by myself. “You going to open that envelope or just let it sit there?”

“After the map being left on my car last night, I’m pretty hesitant to open it.” I flipped the envelope over in my hands.

“Want me to open it?” he took the seat across from me.

“I’d say yes, but what if there is something poisonous in there? I’d feel terrible if it was intended for me and you got it.”

I started tearing open the corner envelope. He moved up to the edge of his seat as I moved the envelope away from my chest and peeked inside. All I saw was a piece of paper. I spread the envelope sides apart and pulled the slip of paper out.

Rory,

When you have a moment, please stop by my trailer. I need to give you something. I’ll be around all day today. Please come by yourself. I was told to give it to you alone.

                                                                                                                              Stixx

“It’s from Stixx.” I wondered what she could possibly have to give me. I just saw her last night and don’t remember forgetting anything at the bar.

“We can stop by her place on the way over to Betty’s.” Jason bit into his sandwich.

“Actually, she said that she needs to give it to me alone.” I thought it was weird, but she had kept an eye on me at the bar the first night.

“Okay then. Take my golf cart over after we eat. I’ll clean up here and then you can swing back by and pick me up. Cyber should be working anyway. Sometimes those two together can be . . .” I looked up at him over the rim of my glass of iced tea. “Well, let’s just say Stixx and Cyber are a perfect match for each other.” he laughed.

“What or who is a Cyber?” I asked, my concern of going over there alone was rising again.

“Oh, sorry. Cyber is Stixx’s man. He owns the tattoo parlor over in town. He was really good friends with Drew, too.” He dropped his head in thought. “Drew got a lot of business from over there.”

“I’m sorry about Drew. I don’t know if I said that earlier.” I slipped the paper back into the envelope. “He seemed like a pretty nice guy.”

“Yeah, he was.” He shook his head. “Was. I can’t believe he’s gone. I still don’t think it has hit me yet.” He sat back further in his chair and ran his hand down his face then looked out over the water. I could tell by his face that he was looking at the same thing I had been looking at earlier.

“I think I’m going to head over to Stixx’s so we can head over to Betty’s. Hopefully something either in your files or over at Betty’s will shed some light on the murder that happened years ago and maybe if there is a connection to Drew’s . . .to . . . to what happened to Drew.” I felt terrible for him losing his friend.

***

                                          “Sweets don’t just stand there with the door open. Either get the fuck out, join in or say why . . . ah, yeah, that’s right, you like it like that. Don’t you Stixx? You like that.” Cyber was standing behind Stixx whose ass was pressed against his thrusting hips. Stixx was on her knees rocking back and forth with her face buried in the crotch of a completely naked man standing in front of her.

“I . . . Sti . . . I . . .”

“Seriously, ah. Sweets, say what you have to say.” Cyber thrust again, digging his fingers into Stixx’s hip. I could see the impression of his fingers leaving white marks on her skin. “You are messing with my rhythm.” He swiveled his hips, thrust his body and threw his head back with a growl. “That’s right Stixx, ride it. Ride my cock. I feel that wet pussy clenching.”

“I’m close.” The man standing in front of Stixx, now obviously with his cock in her mouth, pulled my stare from Cyber’s muscles flexing as his tanned skin was breaking out in a sweat before my eyes. I couldn’t get my feet to listen to my brain telling it that I had to move. That I had to turn around and run the hell out of Stixx’s trailer.

“No! No, you don’t come until I say you can come.” Cyber pointed a finger at the naked man. “Stixx baby, find out what Rory wants. You’re Rory, right?” Cyber looked over at me again and I nodded, that was all I could do. I couldn’t even think how to speak. “If you don’t take care of your business with her, she is going to have to either join in or get the fuck out.” He pumped her from behind again.

              Stixx pulled her mouth from the other man’scock with a pop of her lips and smiled widely over at me. “What can I, oh yeah, fuck don’t stop. Harder. Yeah. Christ Cyber, I’m right there. No!” she whimpered out of breath and turned back to look over her shoulder at Cyber. “You’re an asshole.”

“And you love it. You’ll come when I tell you to.” He smacked her on her bare ass leaving a pink spot on her cheek. “You love that, too.” He laughed. “Now get Rory what she needs so her she can close her mouth and put her eyes back in her head.” He winked at me and began to stroke himself blatantly, drawing my eyes from his and to his well-endowed length. I couldn’t help but notice the piercing in the tip that his hand was rolling over or the few links at the bottom that looked like a ladder. “Sweet Rory. Oh sweet, sweet Rory.” He ran his tongue over his lower lip. “Ever been with a man whose cock is pierced?”

I felt my entire body heat with a blush. All I could do was shake my head and tried to avert my eyes, but they were only drawn to the other man who was now also stroking himself.

“You sure you don’t want to join in? Plenty for everyone.” He smiled devilishly at me.

“No, she’s good.” Stixx finally stepped up next to me now wearing a short silk robe and handed me a black plastic bag, like one you get in a liquor store. “Bear, the pothead down the way,” she pointed to the back of her trailer. l shook my head. “Haven’t met him yet?’

“No?”

“He is a sweet boy, but a stoner. Ask Jason about him.” She nodded with her head and shoved thebag at me again. “Bear said he picked it up out by the woods, but couldn’t remember where or when.” I looked down at the bag and peeked inside. There was a small black book, like a journal. Before I closed the bag again, I saw the initials D.P. in a simple script in the bottom corner of the book.

“Stixx, I can’t take this.” I tried to shove the bag back at her.“This has to go to the police . . . I . . .” I tried again to hand the bag back to her.

“Yes, it does, but it can’t come from me or Bear.” She wrapped her hand around my upper arm and turned me back to the door. “Rory, Bear was so high off of his ass last night he didn’t know which way was up. He may have walked into the middle of a fucking crime scene. They will tear him apart questioning him.” I could hear the concern for Bear in her voice, but what she was asking me to do was . . . “I’m asking you to basically break the law here, I know, but Bear wouldn’t hold up to questioning, let alone jail time.”

“Do you know for a fact that Bear had nothing to do with Drew’s death? Why would he have been out there anyway if he lives all of the way over here?” I looked at her for answers. “Stixx?”

“He grows his weed at the edge of the woods. A little here, a little there. He has it planted so it blends in and you can only really see it if you are looking for it.” She stood with her hand on her hip and sighed. “And no, I don’t think he had anything to do with Drew being killed.”

“It wasn’t a drug deal or anything like that?”

“Bear is a pothead, yeah, but he’s no killer. He doesn’t have it in him. He is a good guy. He just had lots of shit happen to him and it makes him feel safer being high than actually living his life.” I looked into her eyes and she was telling the truth.

“You’ll tell me another time?” I looked back down at the bag in my hand.

“I’ll tell you this.” I stepped down from the trailer and looked up at her. “Bear didn’t lose his pinky in a bar fight. He had it chopped off.” I gasped and covered my mouth. “Bear’s mother was an abusive bitch. One day she was drunk and got mad at him for something he didn’t do, so she chopped it off. She was going for the next one when Cyber walked in and pulled her off of him. He was twelve.” She sighed. “Bear is a good kid, but he had a fucked up childhood. He lives in his video games and does his web shit to make his rent, but he is no killer.” All I could do was nod.

“I’ll tell the police I found it just outside of where they taped the area off.” I sighed. “And you are going to help me get Bear help . . . cut back or even get off the pot.”

“We’ll work on it.” She smiled and moved to pull the door closed. “I have to get back before they finish without me.”

“Oh, and sorry about walking in.” I looked down at the ground.

“No worries. You aren’t the first and probably won’t be the last. Cyber likes an audience.” She laughed and closed the door.

As I ran back to the road where I had parked the golf cart, I heard what sounded like a man shouting “fuck yeah!” I couldn’t help but laugh. They were able to just get right back into what they were doing and finish before I even got back on the road.

“Gotta love a Happy Ending here at Happy Endings Resort.” I laughed shaking my head as I slid onto the cushioned seat of the golf cart and headed over to the taped off crime scene.

Chapter Nine

“SORRY,” JASON LAUGHED as we continued to make our way around the roads to Betty’s cabin. “I should have warned you that if Cyber’s motorcycle was parked outside, then you might not want to go right in.”

“That would have been nice. I mean the door was unlocked.”  I shivered at the memory of what I had seen going on in Stixx’s trailer. “If they were having sex you’d think they’d lock the door.”

“Nah, they like getting caught. They like an audience. Trust me, the neighbors are all used to it. That's why they are where they are.” He waved at a couple of people as we passed by in the golf cart. “Bear doesn’t really care and the neighbor on the other side is blind so he doesn’t see anything. He certainly hears them, I’m sure, but he doesn’t see them.”

“What about the other guy? Who was that?”

“Probably a friend of theirs or someone they picked up at the bar.” He spoke so nonchalantly about it. “Your first threesome?” He looked over at me. “It was only the three of them right?”

“I only saw the three of them. I guess I was just shocked.”

“So not your first threesome?” he cocked an eyebrow at them.

“Yes, my first threesome. In person. Like in real life. I’ve read about them, seen them online and in movies, but this was my first in person, up close and personal, front row seat.”

“Next time, call her first.”

“She didn’t leave her number on the note.”

“So am I allowed to ask what it was she needed to give you?” he turned the wheel slightly as we rounded the last turn toward Betty’s cabin.

“I think it is a book. I think it belonged to Drew.” I pulled it out of my bag where I had stuffed it when I had gotten back to the golf cart from Stixx’s trailer.

“Did she say why it was so important?”

“What do you know about Bear?”

“He’s been here since he was a kid. He and his mother moved in when he was about ten or eleven. She was a nasty lady. She yelled and screamed at Bear all the time. She cut his pinky off when he was a kid. Betty let his aunt move in, rent free for six months if she promised to take care of Bear. Betty said he reminded her of the little boy she always wanted.”

“So Bruce and Betty never had any children of their own?”

“No.  Bruce traveled a lot and Betty would go with him sometimes. They said that the kids here at the resort were their kids.”

“How did Betty run this place if she was traveling with Bruce?”

“They had, and still have, a really great staff. Betty personally trained everyone and everyone knew that she would fire them without hesitation if they fucked up “ He laughed at my shocked look. “Her words, not mine. Why are you asking about Bear?”

“He said he found this book, but was too stoned to remember where he found it.” I pulled the book out and placed it on my lap, with the front cover facing down against my lap.

“What’s in the book?” Jason asked as he pulled up to Betty’s house.

“No idea. I haven’t even opened it yet.” I flipped the book back and forth in my hand, covering the letters on the bottom corner.

“Why don’t you go on in and I’ll grab the files from the back and meet you inside.” He handed me a key ring with four keys on it. One was attached to a round, bluish coin with the outline of a cabin on it.  “The key opens the handle and the deadbolt.”

I slowly and unsurely made my way up the steps to the large cabin. It was bigger than any of the ones we had passed on the way here. There were two levels. There was a wraparound porch running around the whole front of the cabin. The view of the lake was fantastic. The cabin was set a little further back than the trailersand cabins on the other side. It made the landscape seem larger. 

I slipped the key into both locks and held my breath for an alarm to sound, but none came when I pushed the door open. My breath was caught in my chest when I stepped into the living room.

“Rory? Rory? Hello? Rory could you move in a bit so I
can . . .” I heard Jason’s voice, but I couldn’t respond. I felt like I was drowning. “Rory.”

“This is . . .” I brushed my hands over my face. I looked around the living room. The four walls felt like they were closing in on me. “I need to sit down.” I felt Jason take my elbow and walked me toward the floral printed couch.

“I know this can all be overwhelming. Being in someone ‘s house for the first time like this can be . . .”

“This looks like my grandmother’s house.” I said trying to catch my breath. “I mean it looks exactly like . . . how can this . . . I don’t . . .”

“Let me get you a glass of water. You just sit tight.” He patted my thigh and disappeared around the corner. “Here, drink this.” He handed me a glass and took a seat on the edge of the coffee table across from me, his knees almost brushing against mine. He gently rubbed my knee as I took sip after sip of the water while I continued to look around the room.

Is it possible that my grandmother and aunt being twins would have given them the exact same taste in interior design? I mean this wasn’t just a few things matching or the same theme running through the room. This was the exact same room. Right down to the pictures on the walls, the knickknacks on the shelves and on the fireplace mantel. The fucking curtains were even the same.

“This is my grandmother’s living room. Right down to the curtains, pictures and knickknacks.” I pointed to the mantel behind him.

“Well, they were twins.  I’m sure the might have liked some of the same . . .”

“This isn’t some of the same stuff. This is the same couch, the same carpet, the same everything,” I stated. My stomach was in knots.

“Should we check out the rest of the house? I doubt it would be the same all of the way through.” He stood up and reached his hand out to me.

“But what if it is?” I mumbled as I took his hand and stood up.

“Is the design the same? I mean did your grandmother . . .”

“Oh my God!” I covered my mouth as we stepped into the kitchen. “The floor plan is different, but this is . . .” I turned around in circles looking at every inch of the room. “This looks exactly the same.” I opened the cabinet closest to me. “This can’t be real.” The cabinet had the exact same items lined up in them. I moved to the next cabinet. Then the next and the next until every cabinet and drawer was opened. “The dishes, the glasses, the silverware, everything.  What the hell is going on?”

“Maybe we should go back to my place with the files.” He tried to pull me out of the room.

“I want to see the rest of the house.” I let go of his hand and started down the hall to the first door. Every room. Every single room was the same. I hesitated at the last door. I had seen every room recreated from my grandmother’s house, but one. Mine.

We had only lived in grandma’s house for a short time before—I hesitated at the word—“mother” died. She called it my blank slate. The first time I opened the door to go into the room I was disappointed that it had nothing in it.  She stood behind me looking into the room and said, “This is your room. Your space, your place. You do whatever you want with it.”

My hand wrapped around the last door’s handle. I gripped it so tightly my knuckles were turning white and it felt like needles were beginning to poke at my skin.

“Rory. Rory let go of the handle.” Jason’s hand covered mine and he eased my hand from the handle.

“I have to see it. I have to see if that is my room.”

“I’ll open the door.” He gently moved me aside and stepped up to the door. I held onto his arm as he turned the handle. “I’m going to count to three and then I’m going to turn the handle and open the door.” He squeezed my other hand as he began to count. I closed my eyes when he got to three.

I heard Jason turn the handle and the swooshing sound of the door open. Jason took a step forwards. I heard his feet hit the bare, uncarpeted floor and my heart sank. The floor in my room had been uncarpeted. I only had a rug surrounding my . . . my eyes immediately popped open and were met with an exact duplicate of my room.

My legs gave out on me and the heavy feeling of my body and mind had me dropping to the floor. I couldn’t help but continue to scan the room before me. The walls were the same light shade of purple. The queen size bed that stood in the middle of the room with the same bedding. My small wooden desk was in the far corner facing the door. My dresser was at an angle from my desk. Everything was exactly the same.

“Why? What is going on? Why is everything the same?”

“Let’s get out of here.” Jason bent down in front of me and lifted me with his arms under my elbows. I could barely move on my own. Jason gave up and lifted me from the floor and carried me back out to the waiting golf cart. “Rory, I need for you to hold on. I’m going to get us back to my cabin as fast as I can.” He started the golf cart. “We are going to figure this out Rory. I promise.” The golf cart jumped with a start. “Now hold on.”

***

I was sitting on the couch with my head in my hands trying to figure out what the hell was going on. My life was boring as hell a few days ago and now there was so much going on I couldn’t keep anything straight. Jason was talking to someone in the kitchen. I didn’t hear another voice so he must have been on the phone.

“I don’t care what you have to do. I’ve only got what Betty gave me, but there has to be more. There has to be a hell of a lot more. Are you listening to me? Rory said the house is the same.” He paused listening to their response. “Exact . . . to a tee. Who the fuck does that?” I turned to look at him, he moved closer to me. “I need it right away. Like a week ago.  Yeah, I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not leaving her. You’ll have to come here.”He covered my hand with his.

“Who was that?” I wiped the sleep from my eyes.

“I have a friend down at the police station. His father worked the case of the body they found years back. He was also good friends with Betty’s husband. And he’d done some side work for Betty.” I looked at him, about to ask what kind of work. “Some kind of security stuff from what Tony said. He wasn’t really too sure.”

“Is his father coming over now?” I ran my hand through my hair.

“Yeah, Tony said he’d bring him by in a little bit.  For now do you want to go through Drew’s book with me?” He lifted the book from the table behind him and handed it over to me.

“Did you already read it?” I looked at him, hoping he hadn’t.

“No, I helped you to the couch and then I started making some phone calls.  I thought all of a sudden it seemed very strange that so many people have lived here and have known Betty and Bruce so long, but did anyone really know them?”

“What did you find?” I questioned. Something brought him to this frame of mind about Betty and Bruce.

“I admit I flipped through Drew’s book and I found this.” He held up a thumb drive.  “Now this I did look at.”

“That was in the book?”             

“There was a hole cut in the back and this was tucked in the little nook of the pages.”

“What was on it?”

“Recent pictures of you from when he was following you.” I went to say something, but he stopped me. “None of them were anything more than following you around, outside of your house.”

“Still freaks me out a bit that he had been following me.”

“I know. I’m sorry about that, but Betty insisted.”

“What else was on there?”

“That’s why I called Tony. There were pictures of your grandmother, well I can only assume it was your grandmother and you when you were a child, pictures of you at her house, pictures of you and Caroline when you were a baby, and . . .” he ran his and down his jaw.

“What?”

“Pictures of you with Bruce.My head snapped up at him.               But you said you never met Bruce or Betty.”

“I hadn’t.” I was confused.

“Well, you wouldn’t have remembered it, you were just a baby. Maybe two.”

“I don’t understand this. I don’t understand what is going on.”

“I’ve got the pictures loaded to my laptop. I’ll hook it up to my TV and we can see them on the bigger screen.” He moved to get his laptop.

“I’m going to go freshen up. Splash some water on my face.” I stood up and headed toward the bathroom in the hallway.