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“Waste of time.” Chess noted, “The police will know you were here anyway. You passed by the administration desk to get here, didn’t you?”
The dummy stuttered, “Y- yes?”
“There was a camera there,” Chess informed her. “Plus you’re already on the cops’ radar anyway. Your dad’s boat is at Altoria harbor, right?”
“Ye-” Evie frowned. “How do you know that?”
“I know that because the cops told me.” Chess added, “They even asked me about you and Derrick. That means they already know about you, Derrick, and the boat.”
Horror filled Evie’s expression. “Oh my God. No. No. No.”
“What? You didn’t know?” Chess frowned. “Haven’t they talked to you since Derrick disappeared?”
“They tried to call and even went to my apartment, but I was hiding at my friend’s house.” Evie looked like she was about to cry as she asked, “They know it was me?”
“Well, they know that you and Derrick had something going on.” Chess rushed in to say, “But they don’t know you killed him, which is great. We can work with that.”
Hope lit Evie’s eyes. “We can?”
“We can.” Chess proposed, “All you have to say is that Derrick attacked you, and when you defended yourself, he fell off the boat.”
The proposal was ludicrously dumb. Any officer worth his salt would wonder how Derrick could’ve accidentally fallen off the boat if Evie had time to cut off his hand. But Evie was dumb so of course the proposal made complete sense to her.
Her wide-eyed naivety was almost pitiful as she gasped, “Do you think they’ll believe me?”
“Look at the marks on your neck.” Chess confidently assured her, “They’ll believe you.”
“Really.”
“Really.” Chess paused a beat then proposed, “So why don’t you just put that gun away, then let me and Kendall go? Or we could just call the police and tell them our story.”
Mentioning the police was the wrong move because Evie instantly tensed. “You want me to call the police.”
“No, we don’t have to.” Chess rushed to propose, “You can send an email or-”
Chess’s words were interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Both she and Evie turned towards the door; her in elated hope, and Evie in instant panic.
“Ma’am.” A male voice echoed through the wood. “This is management. Could we speak for a moment?”
Evie’s panicked gaze immediately swung from the door to Chess. She waved her gun at her, glanced at the door, and shook her head. If that was supposed to be some message, Chess didn’t understand it.
Chess started, “I don’t know what you’re say-”
“Shshsh!” Evie quieted her with the gun to her lips. She glanced at the door, then back at Chess while waving the gun around.
Chess shrugged and raised her hands, non-verbally letting her know that she didn’t understand what was being ordered.
“Tell him you can’t come to the door,” Evie whisper-shouted.
Are you kidding me?If anything, Chess wanted to yell out that she and Kendall were being held hostage. However, the gun was still in play, and she didn’t want to get shot.
Obediently, she shouted, “Sorry, I can’t come to the door right now.”
“It’s just for a second Ma’am.” The man on the other side of the door paused for a beat then added, “Somebody just reported a fire in there and we have to check it out. Wouldn’t want the whole building burning down, you know?”
So, they were just checking for a fire? The disappointment that swept through Chess was indescribable. Tazeem must not have received her S.O.S. Still, the fact that someone was at the door was a good thing. Maybe there was a way she could use this to get the help she and Kendall needed.
“Tell him there’s no fire,” Evie whispered while brandishing the gun menacingly.
