Rayna bolted upright sweating profusely, breathing hard, and gripping the sheets on either side of her tightly. She should have known better than that. She knew if she slept more than four hours, like clockwork, she would have a dream. Well, at least it didn’t get that far tonight, but still she had gone four months without a dream. Four months. That was such a good sign, and now she has had another dream.
Suddenly Robby sighed deeply and then settled back into the bed. Rayna jumped and then realized it was Robby. She leaned on her elbow to look at him and brushed some hair from his face. He looked like an angel, so sweet and innocent, when he was asleep. Rayna watched him sleep for nearly an hour, before finally falling asleep again.
Rayna woke up with her head on Robby’s chest and her arm draped across him. She looked up to find him staring at her.
“I’m sorry,” Rayna said quietly.
“For what?” Robby ran his fingers through her hair.
“For laying on you, you could have moved me.”
“It’s all right,” Robby muttered, their faces inches from one another. Rayna wet her lips and leaned in. The kiss was soft at first but quickly grew more intense.
“Madam. Madam!” a voice called from the door. Rayna looked up at the door and sighed. She jumped off the bed and yanked the door open.
“What,” she said sternly.
“Sorry to disturb you, madam, but they neglected to tell you that breakfast will be served at ten,” the young boy stated quietly to his shoes.
Rayna softened, “Thank you, dear.” She shut the door and walked seductively back to Robby. She laid down on the bed again. “Now where were we, before we were so rudely interrupted.”
“Right about here,” Robby said as he leaned in to kiss her. There was a second knock on the door.
“God damn it,” Rayna said as she hit the bed.
“Just ignore it,” Robby whispered into her hair.
“Robby, man, you in there?”
“Shit,” Robby said and sat up. “I’ll get it, I guess.” Rayna sighed and threw herself against the pillows, as Robby made his way to the door. “Johnny, this better be fucking important.”
“It is,” Johnny said, forcing his was into the room. “There’s been a murder.”
“A what?” Rayna called from the bed.
“A murder,” Johnny said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Rayna said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
“The girl who served us at dinner was killed last night.”
“K-killed,” Robby stuttered.
“Yes, sliced like Thanksgiving turkey.”
“Well, they called the police right?” Rayna walked over to Johnny and Robby.
“They tried.”
“What do you mean they tried, either they did or they didn’t.”
“Jesus, Rayna, have you looked outside recently?” We’re snowed in, fucking snowed in. The phones have been dead all night.”
“Fuck. Well, what the hell are we supposed to do, we’re trapped in a house with a murderer.”
“Don’t yell at me, Rayna, it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it.”
“I wasn’t yelling at you, Johnny.”
“That’s not what it sounded like.”
“Would you two stop it!” Robby yelled startling them both. “Someone is dead for God sakes.” Robby was sitting on the fainting couch, looking rather pale.
“Robby. Sorry Johnny, I’m not mad at you. I’m just scared. That’s all. I’m just scared.”
“Come here,” Johnny said, pulling Rayna into a hug. “I’m sorry too.” They let go and sat down on either side of Robby. Rayna picked up Robby’s hand and squeezed it.
“We are in luck though. One of the local sheriff’s has a 4x4 and a CB radio. He’ll be here soon.”
“What do we do now?” Rayna said quietly.
“I don’t really know,” Johnny said.
“I guess we could go get same breakfast,” Robby said, standing up.
Rayna and Johnny shrugged they couldn’t think of anything better to do.
“You guys, I need to change,” Rayna said, realizing she was still wearing her clothes from the night before.
“All right, we’ll meet you downstairs,” obviously Robby didn’t care about changing.
“Uh, no. I mean, do you have to? Could you wait for me?” Robby could see his fear mirrored in Rayna’s eyes.
“Yeah, sure. No problem,” Robby said. For once Johnny appeared to have no objections. Safety in numbers was the motto of the day. Rayna walked over to the dresser and grabbed a black cashmere sweater and a pair of faded jeans. Without even thinking she pulled off her tank top and pulled the sweater over her head. She took off her skirt and pulled on the jeans. She turned around just in time to catch a quick glimpse of Johnny and Robby turning away.
As they walked downstairs Rayna grabbed Robby’s hand and pulled him close. At the bottom of the stairs the saw your classic mountain town sheriff, twirling his hat in his hands and talking to the man at the front desk.
“I want to talk to everyone who is staying or working here now.”
“All right, sir. We have four employees, six including Maria and myself. We have five guests staying with us.”
“I’ll start with the guests and then talk to the employees.” The Sheriff turned around and saw Rayna, Robby, and Johnny standing at the bottom of the stairs. “I think I’ll start with them.” He sauntered over to the three, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Fine and you can use the conference room next to the dining hall for whatever you need,” with that the man turned and left.
“Howdy folks, I’m Sheriff Steven McCaid. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the events of last night?”
“No, not at all,” Rayna said trying to sound polite.
“Then let’s step into the conference room and have a seat. I was gonna order some breakfast, you can as well if you like.”
“Okay,” Robby said sheepishly.
They went into the cavernous conference room. They sat at the end of the mahogany table and an elderly woman cam in behind them. She handed all four of them menus and stood there silently. Rayna, Robby, and Johnny found this very disturbing, so they scanned the menu quickly for something to order.
“I’ll have a bagel with cream cheese and a cup of coffee,” Rayna said, then closed the menu as if to finalize her order.
“I’ll take a short stack and a glass of orange juice,” Robby said hoarsely.
“Um, give me scrambled eggs, wheat toast and coffee,” Johnny said, handing his menu to the woman.
“I’ll have steak and eggs. I want the steak well done, the eggs over easy, wheat toast, hash browns, and a cup of coffee. Thank you, Eleanor,” the sheriff smiled at Eleanor. Rayna, Robby and Johnny looked at one another, appalled that he could eat so much after what had happened the night before. They weren’t even sure they would eat what they just ordered.
“I’ll be right back with your drinks,” Eleanor slowly left the room.
“Well, let’s get down to business,” the sheriff sighed. “What are your names?” he asked, whipping out a notebook.
“Rayna Marie.”
“Robby Takac.”
“Johnny Rzeznik.”
“So, you want to tell me why you guys are up here?”
When neither Rayna or Robby would talk, Johnny spoke up.
“Robby and I are here on vacation. We’re trying to do some songwriting up here.”
“Songwriting?”
“We are in a band,” Johnny explained.
“Okay. So why are you vacationing here, I mean are you from here?”
“No, we’re from Buffalo.”
“Buffalo where?”
“New York.”
“New York. I see,” the sheriff gave Johnny and Robby a skeptical look. “What about you, why are you here?”
“Pretty much the same thing. I need to ut out a new album and I was having some problems with writer’s block,” Rayna explained.
“Are you in the same band?”
“No. I just met them yesterday.”
“So are you from New York?” it was obvious that New York was an automatic cause of suspicion for the sheriff.
“No. I’m from Colorado, near Denver.”
“Oh, I see,” apparently any city was a cause of suspicion.
Eleanor arrived with their drinks and quickly exited again.
“Thank you, Eleanor.” the sheriff called after her. “Now, Rayna, was it?”
“Yes,” she said, putting cream in her coffee.
“What do you know about what happened last night?”
“Not much,” Rayna said, stirring her coffee. “All I know is she served us dinner last night and then this morning Johnny told us she had been killed.”
“What time was it when you last saw her? And what time was it when Johnny told you this morning?”
“Um, about ten o’clock last night and about 9:30 this morning.”
“What about you, Robby?” the sheriff said, glancing at his notes.
“Same as Rayna. I saw her at dinner last night and then Johnny told me this morning.”
“Well, Johnny, how did you find out about Maria’s murder?”
“I had gone down to the second floor to get some ice and I heard a woman scream. I went into the room and found the maid inside. She had found Maria on the bed.”
Eleanor returned with their food on a tray. She set it in front of them and left hurriedly. The sheriff dug right in, inhaling half his food. Rayna absentmindedly spread cream cheese over one half of her bagel over and over again. Johnny pushed his eggs back and forth across his plate. Robby stirred his orange juice with a straw, without even thinking about it.
Sheriff McCaid asked them a few more questions about the events of previous night. He seemed to be attempting to narrow it down to a smaller time frame.
“Oh and there is one last thing I want to ask you,” the sheriff said almost casually.
“Uh, what?” Rayna asked cautiously.
“Well, you see, the killer left something behind. It’s a picture, actually, and we want to know if it means anything to any of you,” he said handing the picture to Johnny.
“No,” Johnny said with a shrug.
“What about you?” the sheriff said, as Johnny handed the picture to Robby.
“Nope,” Robby said handing the picture to Rayna.
Rayna’s heart skipped a beat, as she looked into those familiar emerald green eyes. How much should she tell them? Should she tell them anything at all? She turned it over to see “She’s gone , you’re next!” scrawled on the back.
“She was a friend of mine, but I haven’t talked to her in about eight years.”
“What’s her name?”
“Jen Murphy.”
“Can you think of any explanation for this?”
“No.” Part truth, part lie. There was an explanation all right, but she wasn’t sure what it had to do with this.
“Well, that’s all I need of you then.” Rayna, Robby and Johnny got up to leave. “Oh and Rayna, if you think of anything else you think I should know, come talk to me. I’m staying here until more help can get through the snow.”
“Right, I will. Goodbye, Sheriff McCaid.” Rayna practically had to shove Johnny and Robby out the door. They left their food pretty much untouched.
“What was that all about?”
“Nothing, Johnny.”
“It wasn’t nothing, Rayna.”
“Just leave it alone, okay Johnny.”
“I will for now, but I’m not giving this up.”
“Whatever, Johnny.”
She grabbed Robby and they went upstairs. Rayna didn’t want to explain this to them, they wouldn’t understand. Only one person did understand and it was apparent from that picture that she was gone.
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