Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN OUTSIDE
“Ashlynn.”
The voice came again.
I recognized it this time.
Eleanor Hartman.
My mother-in-law.
I nearly laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because Gregory had used the word family as a threat and his mother had arrived before I could even process it.
“Ashlynn, open the door.”
“It’s locked from your side?”
“No.”
“Then why do you have a keycard?”
Silence.
Gregory shifted.
I moved the bat toward him.
“Don’t.”
Eleanor said:
“Gregory, tell her to put that down.”
I stared at him.
He said nothing.
“Gregory.”
His mother’s voice sharpened.
“Answer me.”
He swallowed.
“She took it.”
Good.
Truth at least once.
“What did he do first?” I called.
No response.
Instead, another voice.
Male.
“Owen Pike. Resort security.”
I knew Owen.
Head of security for Hartman Ridge Lodge.
Former state trooper.
He had smiled at me during cocktail hour.
“Mrs. Hartman, we need to make sure nobody gets hurt.”
“Then call the sheriff.”
“We can handle this internally.”
“No.”
That one word changed the air.
I moved toward the balcony door.
Gregory saw.
“You’ll break your neck.”
“Maybe.”
The curtains opened onto a narrow balcony wrapping around the cabin.
Below:
A slope.
Snow fencing.
A maintenance road.
Thirty yards away, another guest cabin glowed with lights.
People.
Witnesses.
I unlocked the balcony.
Cold mountain air hit me.
“Ashlynn!” Eleanor shouted from outside.
I stepped onto the balcony.
Gregory lunged.
Not at me.
At the bat.
I pivoted.
He lost balance and hit the edge of the bed.
I did not strike him.
Then I screamed.
“HELP!”
The word tore out of me.
Again.
“CALL 911!”
Across the slope, a balcony door opened.
A man in a wedding suit stepped outside.
One of my cousins.
“Ashlynn?”
“CALL 911!”
Eleanor cursed behind the cabin door.
That told me everything I needed for the next ten minutes.
Not the whole truth.
Enough.
Within seconds, more lights came on.
Guests emerged.
Someone shouted that deputies were being called.
Owen said through the door:
“Everyone calm down.”
I answered:
“Unlock it and step away.”
He did.
The lock disengaged.
I kept the bat.
Gregory remained by the bed.
I opened the door only after I saw three people in the corridor:
Eleanor.
Owen.
And Gregory’s father, Conrad Hartman.
Conrad wore the same tuxedo from the reception.
His bow tie was gone.
His face looked irritated rather than shocked.
That disturbed me.
He glanced at Gregory.
Then at the bat in my hands.
“What happened?”
“Ask your son.”
Gregory said:
“She attacked me.”
I laughed once.
Owen looked at the room.
The locked door.
Gregory shirtless.
The bouquet on the floor.
His bat now in my hands.
Then:
“Where did the bat come from?”
Gregory did not answer.
I did.
“Ask him.”
Deputy sirens climbed the mountain road.
Conrad’s expression finally changed.
Not fear.
Calculation.
“Ashlynn, whatever happened here can be handled privately.”
“No.”
“You’re married now.”
“Yes.”
“This family protects its own.”
I looked at Gregory.
Then Eleanor.
Then the spare keycard lying on the floor.
“I think I just learned what that means.”
The county deputies arrived eight minutes later.
I surrendered the bat immediately.
Gregory began talking over everyone.
The lead deputy stopped him.
“One at a time.”
Thank God for boring procedure.
I gave my statement.
Gregory gave his.
Eleanor insisted she came only after hearing “a disturbance.”
Owen said he was called by Conrad.
Conrad said he knew nothing about the bat.
Then the deputy asked:
“Why was there a second keycard under the door?”
Nobody answered.
May you like
The resort lock system would.
That was the first piece of evidence Gregory’s family could not explain with tone.
