For the few days we spent preparing, I didn’t think about Cale’s ulterior motives for killing Laurel. It wasn’t until I got a phone call from my old manager Tim that I thought of that redheaded devil. Tim explained to me that he had heard from Perry that I was interested in coming back to the shipping department. I most definitely wasn’t, but this was clearly manipulated by Perry to get me back to the hotel. I had planned to politely tell Tim that I had already found another job before he revealed to me something that made me drop the phone in a stunned shock. Jonna was no longer working in the shipping department.
Immediately, I felt Tim was about to explain to me that the same grisly fate had fallen upon Jonna as it did Laurel. That would make two ex-coworkers gone in the course of a week. But according to my old manager, it wasn’t a dark reasoning for her not being there anymore. Jonna simply sent a text message to Tim saying she was quitting her job.
Tim was desperate for me to come back to the hotel even for a week. He didn’t have anyone else to hire except one J1 student who could barely speak English. The kid also didn’t have a drivers’ license so that would make the college student’s job rather difficult considering he would have to drive the delivery van around the resort. Before contemplating whether or not it would be wise to go back to the hotel considering that was exactly what the werewolves wanted, I agreed on the terms that it would only be a few days. That would provide Tim a bit of time to come up with a new group of employees.
I pulled into the employee parking lot of the conference center at eight the next morning. The shipping department was one building over, right behind one of the outdoor water parks. My shift in shipping didn’t start until nine, but I came an hour early because I knew Matt was scheduled to work that morning. Set-up department gave their employees schedules two weeks in advance, so that gave me an advantage to know when Matt would be here and others wouldn’t be. Perry’s car was in the parking lot, as well as cars belonging to people who worked in neighboring departments of the conference center.
I entered the building through the front entrance, the strong smell of fresh paint and bad air freshener quickly filling my nose. It was a very pretty building. After just a few days away, I had forgotten how beautiful the golden chandeliers of the conference center lobby went perfectly with the dull blue paint of the walls.
I made a beeline for the employee lounge, knowing Matt would be there, as he was probably just arriving for the day. I ignored the girl at guest services and carefully avoided running into any servers or kitchen staff. When I rounded the corner and pushed open the door to the employee lounge, I found Matt was hanging his small drawstring bag into a locker. His back was to the door. “Everly,” he said without ever turning to see who it was that entered the room. That was creepy. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Now it was my turn to close the door behind me and lock it to avoid entry to others similar to how he had previously done to me. Common sense told me to be afraid to confront Matt. He wasn’t quite human; I had to remember that. But anger and fear told me I couldn’t avoid confronting him any longer. I was having trouble sleeping come bedtime; nightmares were now keeping me awake. I was once a solid sleeper. Nowadays I was haunted by thoughts of blood and gore. I dreamed of the large reddish brown wolf howling in the night as it stalked me.
“Laurel was killed as a way to manipulate me to go back to the hotel, wasn’t she?”
My words were barely a breath of a whisper; my fear was taking over, quieting me down. Matt turned a careful eye to me.
“Hello. What’s new, how ya been, it’s been awhile. No pleasantries, huh?” I didn’t respond to his playful banter. Matt could see I was in no mood to verbally spar with him. He sighed. “I guarantee she was.”
“You’re not even going to deny it?”
“What would be the point?” he said sardonically. “I don’t like to lie.”
“So, who did it?”
“I honestly don’t know.” He motioned for me to move closer. I didn’t; it was a silent refusal. Matt slowly approached me, seeming to not want to scare me by moving too fast. “The pack has been talking about you for a while. We took a vote. A few of us were outnumbered; they want you in.”
My bottom lip trembled. I suppose subconsciously I figured as much. It wasn’t exactly a coincidence to encounter both Cale and Perry this last week as they gave subtle threats. “You’re not one of the ones who want me in,” I recalled, not being able to look away from him. I could dimly remember the night of the party; Matt had been one of the few who didn’t want me to join. It was what he and Cale had in common.
“No. You deserve more than what we have to offer you.”
My head was already hurting so early in the day. “I don’t want to be a…a…member.” That was my best phrasing. I didn’t want to say the words that were behind my tongue. I didn’t want to say werewolf or, worse, monster. Because even though he was one of them, I was having a very difficult time picturing Matt ever hurting me. It was thinking of him as someone I trusted and not as a werewolf that got me talking.
“What about Simon and Miranda? Will they be hurt?”
“I can’t imagine anyone will want to harm your siblings,” said Matt softly. I must have looked doubtful, for he continued. “Counterproductive, is it not? Harming them is just going to make you angry.”
All I could do was stare at him. “And killing Laurel was just…what? Going to make me happy?”
“Provide you a way to come back to the resort,” said Matt quietly, now avoiding eye contact. “You liked that department and would have stayed if not for those girls.”
Evidently Erik had been right in his theory.
I was about to argue. I was about to point out the utter ridiculousness of that logic before my words became trapped in my mouth. “Girls,” I said slowly. That wasn’t singular. “Tim said that Jonna quit her job. She…she didn’t quit, did she?” My thoughts suddenly went somewhere very dark. All I could now picture was nothing left upon Jonna’s departure minus a few scraps of bloody clothing.
“A nice note to her roommate was left explaining that she was leaving town for a while,” said Matt softly, his eyes holding nothing but pity as he watched me. “It’ll give us time to make up another reason for her sudden disappearance.”
My hands went to my mouth to cover it. This was more than I cared to know. Tears pricked at my eyes as I realized the grim truth. My original thought hearing that Jonna had left the shipping department had been quite accurate. She was killed by a werewolf. I wanted to know why. I wanted to know what poor Jonna’s family was going to be told when they started looking for her. But I also didn’t want to know. I wanted out of this real-life horror story. I wanted to leave this hotel and never come back. I turned to hurry away before Matt gently grabbed my arm. He used the pad of his thumb to rub the fabric of my jacket. “I’m sorry. Truly, I am. You shouldn’t be a part of this.”
“Who’s doing this?”
“I honestly don’t know. At this point, it could be anyone in the pack who wants you to stay.”
Tears pricked at my eyes as I let my arm remain in his grasp. “Who’s the wolf leaving the dead bodies outside my house?”