Something clicked inside Candy, an almost physical feeling. The realization coursed through her being, and suddenly she saw new avenues of understanding that had not been visible before. She saw Victor’s steel blue Honda Pilot SUV, sitting in front of room twenty-three at the Shangri-La Motel. And she saw a red scarf with gold tassels, tossed into the backseat.
Her body tingled. She felt like she wanted to shake out her hands to calm them. When she spoke, her voice was uneven, a little jittery, though she did her best to keep it steady as she turned her gaze to Felicia. “That’s it, isn’t it? That explains everything.”
Felicia gave her an annoyed look. “What does?”
“It was you,” Candy said breathlessly. “You were with Victor that morning, weren’t you?”
The other two women went silent. They exchanged glances, but neither of them spoke. The room had grown deathly still.
“What makes you say that?” Felicia finally asked. Gina had gone as white as fresh snow.
“You were with him in his car, weren’t you? That morning—in his Honda. He must have picked you up somewhere.” Candy looked around the room quickly as the pieces started falling into place. “This is your cabin, isn’t it? This is where you were staying? But you didn’t want to be seen with him here. Maybe there are people you know staying here, and you had to be secretive. So he picked you up and you rented a room at the Shangri-La.” She paused and gave Felicia a penetrating look. “But you made one mistake. You left your scarf in the backseat of his car.”
Felicia looked stunned. Gina suddenly couldn’t stand on her own two feet. Eyes rolling up into her head, she wobbled to the bed, where she collapsed.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Candy pressed. “You were having an affair with Victor Templeton!”
“No!” Gina cried out, and she shot to her feet again. “No!” But her emotions and weariness got the better of her, and she sank back onto the bed.
Candy turned toward Felicia.
The other woman looked strangely calm. Her black hair seemed to emphasize the severity of her jawline, her sharp nose and high cheekbones. She held her body tightly, as if ready to spring, and she had a confident look in her dark eyes.
“It was an accident,” she said after a few moments.
Gina was making strange trilling noises, as if she was trying to block out all sound from her hearing, but Felicia continued. “He came after me, if you must know. But I knew he would. You see, I understood Victor. And I understood what drove him.”
“And what was that?” Candy asked.
“He hated Liam. He did everything he could to beat him—but he usually came in a distant second, or even third. But he wouldn’t give up. He competed against Liam for everything.”
“Including women.”
Felicia nodded. “Including women. Including me.”
Another moment of realization. “Ah, so you were Liam’s girl at one time.”
“I was.” In an emotional moment, Felicia averted her eyes, trying to hold back tears. “But he eventually tired of me. That’s the way he is. You see, I understand what drives Liam too.”
“So once Liam cast you aside, Victor swooped in.”
Felicia cast a worried look at Gina. “I didn’t want any of this. You should know that. I tried to hold him off.”
“How did he die?” Candy asked softly.
Felicia swallowed hard. “Like I said, it was an accident.”
A trembling voice nearby, breaking into their conversation, said, “It was my fault.”
Candy turned.
Gina was on her feet again. She stood in the doorway, clasping her hands tightly together in front of her. “I made him do it. I drove him mad.”
“No,” Felicia said.
“Yes!” She snapped out the word but forced herself to speak calmly as she continued. “I was the one who provoked him. I was the one who drove him to violence.”
She paused, allowing herself a breath and a chance to collect her thoughts. She turned her weary eyes to Candy, who could see the sadness in them. “I’ve known for a long time about Victor’s wandering eye,” she said in a rush of breath, as if she was getting a great weight off her chest. “And I know I’m not the most attractive woman in the world.…”
“Gina—” Felicia began.
But Gina held up a hand. “No, let me finish.” She turned back to Candy. “The truth is, I loved Victor. I really did. When we were first married, we were an amazing team. And when we started sculpting ice, it was even better. But when we started going out on the road, and Liam came into our lives, everything changed. Over the past few years, Victor’s jealously and hatred of Liam has grown deeper with every event, every encounter. Their animosity toward each other cast a dark shadow over the entire circuit. I tried to talk to him. I pleaded with him to let it go. I even suggested we quit the circuit and go back to our normal lives. But he couldn’t.”
Felicia picked up the story. “So yes, Victor came after me, in part because he thought I was still Liam’s woman. He insisted we get together when we arrived here. He said he’d rented us a room in the back of some sleazy hotel, where we’d have some privacy. But we didn’t meet there. I suggested a neutral location—a restaurant way up Route 1.”
“Did you spend the night with him?” Candy asked.
Felicia raised her eyebrows. “Things just happened. I… I’m not really sure I remember all the details. But yes, we went back to the room he’d rented. Gina found us in the morning. And that’s when…”
Candy turned back to Gina. “How did you know where to find them?”
Gina’s gaze had been distant, but now she refocused. “I… I don’t know.” She had to think about it. “I received a text message,” she finally said.
“From who?”
“I don’t know. The sender’s name was blocked. But it told me where to find my husband. So I went to get him. And when I found him, he… he got very angry, like it was me who had done something wrong. He acted like I was ruining his life.” She paused as a wave of emotion threatened to wash over her. “He… he said he didn’t love me anymore.” She paused again, in an effort to keep her emotions under control. “And that’s when I told him I was having an affair with Liam. Just to hurt him.”
Candy sensed the underlying message. “But you weren’t, were you?”
Gina sniffled as she shook her head. “I knew what it would do to him if I told him. I knew how he would react. That’s why I said it. It wasn’t true… but it doesn’t matter now. He…”
She faltered again, and Felicia continued for her. “He attacked her,” Felicia said, and nodded at the scarf around Gina’s throat. “Show her.”
Reluctantly Gina nodded. When she had unwrapped the scarf, Candy could see the bruises around her neck.
“He started choking her,” Felicia said angrily. “He was hurting her.” Her eyes grew hard. “So I had no choice. He had brought a bottle of Champagne with him, but we hadn’t opened it. It was the only weapon I could find. I hit him in the head with it—hard.”
“She saved my life,” Gina said as her hand went involuntarily to her neck. “I’m not sure what he would have done. When Felicia hit him, all three of us fell.” She held Candy’s gaze, her eyes clear. “Only two of us got up.”
“He must have… hit his head on the edge of a table as he fell. It cracked something. I… I don’t know for sure. It was an accident,” Felicia said for the third time, to solidify the point. “I’m sorry it happened. I didn’t mean to hurt him. I was just trying to help Gina.”
“But why didn’t you just go to the police?” Candy asked.
“Because I didn’t want to go to jail,” Felicia said defiantly, “and because I wouldn’t let him ruin the lives of two women.”
When they’d told her the rest, how they’d found a toboggan leaning up against the motel wall, how they’d bundled Victor up in a blanket, laid him out on the long flat sled, and hauled him deep into the woods, she’d listened, fascinated yet saddened, since the desperation in both women’s voices was evident.
They’d taken turns pulling the toboggan, and it sounded like they’d struggled every step along the way. “We thought if someone found him in the woods they’d think his death was an accident,” Gina said, sadness and regret evident in her voice. “We just didn’t think he’d be found so soon.”
When she finished, they were all silent again. Candy thought over everything she’d just heard, but some of it still didn’t make sense to her. “I don’t understand,” she said after a few moments. “Victor was found with a hatchet in his back. But you didn’t put it there?”
Gina shook her head. “We never had the hatchet. Victor died from a head wound.”
“But how did Liam’s hatchet get in Victor’s back?”
“We don’t know,” Felicia said. “Someone must have tampered with the body. All we can tell you is that Victor went crazy and tried to hurt Gina—so we did what we had to do to defend ourselves. In some way, Victor got what he de-served. And neither of us is going to pay for it, because we’re leaving.”
“But you can’t,” Candy said. “You have to go to the police. You have to tell them what happened.”
“And go to jail for twenty years?” Felicia sneered.
“They’ll understand it was in self-defense. You can’t run all your lives. You have to give yourselves up.”
“We’re still talking jail time,” Felicia said. “And why? Because of Victor? Or because of Liam? That’s something neither of us is willing do.”
She nodded at Gina. “We have to leave,” she said, softly yet firmly.
Equally firmly, Candy said, “I can’t let you go.”
Felicia reached under her black cloak and withdrew a small pistol. “I was afraid you’d say that.”