Then he continued, “As you know, I moved to Florida many years ago. One day in May, nine years ago, Ron showed up on my doorstep. He told me what had happened here, every detail. How Ami had shot his twin.” His eyes moved to Helena. “How the four of you buried the body behind the motel, thinking it was him.”
“Why would he look you up when he got to Florida?” Helena asked, her voice a near-whisper. “Why would he tell you all those things? He had to know you didn’t like him.”
Stowe pressed his lips together. “That’s where things get tricky. I can only tell you that Ron had heard of the…organization I work for. He thought the people I knew might have a use for him. Like be able to put him to work. He wanted to start over by assuming the identity of his brother, Russ. We made that happen.”
An organization that could make things happen, provide work for a criminal.
“Hmm, who do you work for, Stowe?” I asked, my imagination running wild. I recalled the mention of a guy named Nikolai, something about disobeying orders. “Are you involved with the Russian mob or something?”
“No, Maddy, I am not involved with the Russian mob.” Stowe actually laughed.
Helena piped in, “Well, you’re obviously tied to something illegal, or you’d be able to tell us.”
Stowe’s silence gave us all the answer we needed. It was clear that what he’d revealed thus far would be the extent of the information we’d be receiving. And that was fine. I wanted to get out of this godforsaken place. But there was one thing we’d not yet addressed, and it seemed rather important.
“Uh, Stowe… What about the…bodies?” I grimaced.
Bradley’s limp form lay prone across the room from us, and I imagined Ron’s lifeless body at the base of some elevator shaft. Both images I preferred not to dwell on.
“I’ll take care of things in here,” Stowe said nonchalantly. “I doubt you want the authorities involved.” Helena shook her head emphatically. “Then you should go before one of the regular guards discovers us.”
“What about you?” Helena asked.
“I’ll be fine,” Stowe replied, eyeing the body of Bradley like he was already contemplating how best to get rid of it.
I had no doubt Stowe would be fine indeed. From how he was handling all of this, it was clear he was not unfamiliar with things like, say, removing dead bodies from crime scenes.
Helena and I left, I in more of a hurry than she. I think she was just relieved Ron was really gone for good. It felt as if we walked forever. I hadn’t realized how far down into the depths of the west wing Ron and Bradley had taken us. Good thing Stowe had showed up; nobody would have ever heard our cries.
We finally made our way out of all the twisting corridors, emerging in a deserted, overgrown courtyard behind the building. We were, at last, out of the building. I breathed in the night air; it had never smelled so wonderful and refreshing.
“Come on, Maddy,” Helena urged as she tugged on the sleeve of my coat. “Let’s get out of here.”
I wanted nothing more than to leave this place, so I followed her to the front of the building and down to the employee lot where we’d parked.
“Adam!” I cried out when I saw he and Nate were standing between the Escalade and my car. They’d gotten our messages after all. And come to our rescue, except Stowe had gotten here first.
“Madeleine…” Adam scooped me up into a hug when I reached him.
I wanted to never let him go, but we had to break apart. There’d be time for a proper reunion later. Helena and Nate were next to us, disengaging from a hug of their own.
“We got your voicemails,” Adam said. “We got here as soon as we could. We’ve only been here for a few minutes though. Where were you two?” He scanned our dusty and dirty appearance. “Did something happen? Did you see Ami?”
I didn’t even know where to begin, but Helena saved the day. She started at the beginning, telling Adam and Nate how I’d unknowingly been set up by Ami’s guard, Bradley.
“I thought it sounded fishy,” she said. “So, there was no way I was going to let her come up here all alone.”
She continued, finally getting to the part where Stowe arrived.
“What the fuck was he doing here?” Adam asked, shooting me an extremely disapproving look.
Nate appeared to be just as irritated, but at his wife instead of me. Helena quickly told them both how Stowe had ultimately saved us.
“So he’s still here?” Nate questioned, his gaze shooting to the far end of the west wing.
I could tell Adam had no desire to see Stowe Hannigan, and it seemed, from his behavior, that Nate felt the same way. Interesting…
“Yes, but he’s taking care of the…bodies. We really should just get out of here before someone sees us.” Helena tugged on Nate’s arm to get his attention.
Nobody disagreed; we’d already pushed our luck by standing around talking in the parking lot. The only thing I imagined saving us from discovery was the serious lack of guards at Willow Point. And the darkness of the lot itself.
Before we left, Adam told me to give Nate the keys to my car; he wanted me to drive home with him. I suspected he had more questions for me. I handed the keys over resignedly. I was exhausted and just wanted to forget this day had ever happened. I thought about Ami, up at on the fourth floor, but I knew she’d be fine now that her tormentor, Ron, was dead.
Poor Ami, she’d obviously known for a while now that Ron was still alive. Sadly, her mental state had made her turn a dangerous situation into a reckless game, a
