“You’re in room 243. Enjoy your stay at the Elk Peak.”

The receptionist handed Holly her credit card back to her with the room key packet. Holly nodded but didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to open her mouth. The horrid smell of the cheesecloth bag of body parts still made her feel like if she even opened her mouth she would vomit again. She put the keys in her purse and made her way under the third staircase to the small room with the spiral the staircase. She followed it down to the bar called “The Gold Mine.” The staircase came down to a dark basement. The lights were old lanterns, letting off a yellow glow. They were strung on wire around the whole bar. The walls had amber glass windows with silicon roots in each one, giving the bar the feeling of being under a giant tree. The booth had slate gray tables and amber cushions, while the tables were white aspen. The amber window was largest behind the bar where they added transparent shelving, creating the illusion that all the spirits hovered over the bar. The bar itself was amber with gold streaks zig zagging out from it, down from the counter to the floor. Westly was sitting at the far corner of the bar, arguing with the bartender. Holly sighed and walked over to them.

“It is a simple drink. Like a Bloody Mary, but with but with coconut milk instead of tomato juice and no vodka.”

“No vodka?” The bartender scoffed.

“How da hell you gonna make a Bloody Mary with no vodka?”

“I didn’t say it was a Bloody Mary, jackass, I said it was like a Bloody Mary!”

The bartender looked as if he was going to knock out all of Westly’s teeth. Holly separated them.

“Do you have a blender?”

“Yea” The bartender said confused.

“Just go in the kitchen blend up all of the green vegetables, celery, lettuce, kale, add a little honey and simple syrup and that will do.”

She reached into her purse and handed the bartender a fifty-dollar bill.

“Oh, and a Brandy Old Fashioned,” Holly said with a soft smile.

“Real charmer your boyfriend,” the bartender snarled.

“Yeah he’s a real peach,” Holly said sarcastically.

The bartender pocketed the fifty dollars and walked to the back. Westly flipped him off as he turned his back. Holly pulled out the stool next to Westly

“Making friends?”

“I don’t know what so hard about a coconut almond blend, green vegetable smoothie.”

“This is why you should move back to California.”

Westly scoffed as he folded his arms on the bar. Holly grabbed one of the thin bread sticks sitting in front of them and faced the wall of spirits.

“It is not going to be like Casper,” she said, trying to comfort him.

“You don’t know that.”

“No, but you aren’t stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. Or would you like me to call Bobbi?”

“God no!” Westly shrieked.

“See, you’re a one mistake kind of idiot.”

They both laughed, the weak kind of laugh where neither person has anything positive to say. Westly put his head back on his folded arms.

“Do you remember what he said to me as they were taking him away?”

Holly took another bite of the bread stick.

“Best not to think about it. Let’s deal with the problem in front of us. Did Robert get a forensic team up to the mountain?”

“He quarantined the area off, but Denver isn’t sure they can get someone up here tonight. Knowing Robert, he is not taking no for answer.

The bartender brought back both their drinks. He set Westly’s in front of him but handed Holly hers.

“Enjoy,” he said with a wink.

Holly smiled back him. He walked back to the other end of the bar.

“He’s going be sorely disappointed,” Westly mumbled.

“Drink your garden juice and focus on the case, not on me. Any ideas on who Foxgloves is?”

Westly sighed.

“Autumn’s lover, I guess. I am meeting her-should-be husband Jeremy here in…well now”

Westly pointed to the staircase. A tall, golden blonde-haired man came down the stairs. He had dress pants and dress shoes on, but he was wearing a gray hoodie that read “Karopi University.” Westly waved at him and motioned him to one of the booths. The three of them sat at the booth.

“Can I get you anything to drink Jeremy?” Holly inquired.

Jeremy shook his head.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Westly took a swig of the vegetable mixture.

“Jeremy, did your fiancé know anyone had the nickname of Foxgloves?”

Jeremy shook head and began fiddling with the table. He kept his head down, refusing to look at either of them.

“Not that I can think of. She had a lot of weird friend when we were in college, but I don’t recall anyone by the name of Foxgloves. Was she seeing this guy?”

Westly and Holly shared a look of uncertainty.

“She dead. It’s not like things can get worse” Jeremy said emptily.

“I found a note in her coat pocket. It was addressed to her from Foxgloves saying they had to meet. She went right after the rehearsal dinner.”

Jeremy continued to fiddle with the table. His eyes watered up, but it seemed like there wasn’t enough to cry. He nodded.

“Yeah, she a…she said that she was going to bed and tomorrow…tomorrow we were going be the happiest we have ever been.”

An awkward silence fell over the table.

“Did your fiancé ever use lavender perfume?” Westly asked.

Jeremy shook his head still pushing the tears back.

“No, I asked her once in Macy’s and she said it brought up bad memories.”

Holly pulled out her note pad and started writing.

“We found the note in a bottle of lavender perfume and she was wearing lavender perfume when I found her. Did anyone give her a gift before the rehearsal dinner or at any time before that?”

Jeremy shrugged.

“You’d have to ask her mom, Beth. Any gifts, even envelopes of money she would snatch up for collection purposes she would say. I think she’s obsessed with “Thank You” notes.”

Westly extended his hand and shook Jeremy’s.

“Anything you want is on us.”

Jeremy nodded, his eyes fully filling up with tears. Westly nodded to Holly and the two of them left Jeremy in the booth.

“Poor guy,” Holly said sympathetically.

Westly bit his lip.

“Where’s the mom?”

“I am not sure. Didn’t you call her while I was getting checked in?”

“Yes, but no response. Perhaps the front desk will give us her room,” Westly said doubtful.

They climbed the stairs back to the main lobby. As they reached the top, Westly’s phone started to buzz. He took it out and it read “Oliver.”

“Go check with them, I will deal with this.”

Holly nodded.

Westly answered.

“Ollie?”

“Living up to the straight razor name aren’t you, Wes? Did you really disrupt a crime scene or is Deputy Estevez’s two-page email exaggerating?”

“He has no proof I disturbed the crime scene, just that it was disturbed.”

“Oh, okay you are going with the semantics plea?”

“How many times have we caught a bastard who got off on technicality? We can use that in our favor.”

“Taking a page out of the criminal’s book, yeah that will help your innocence. I don’t think you grasp how much thin ice you are on.”

“I can swim in frozen waters, Oliver. Just keep the dogs at bay for a little while longer.”

“So, can you solve the case? The lawsuits don’t stop just because you solved the case.”

“No, but it might be enough to get Robert off my back. I got work to do Oliver.”

Westly hung up the phone. He joined Holly at the desk.

“Be prepared for your phone to blow up.”

“I have it turned off.”

The receptionist handed Holly a note. Holly mouthed the words “thank you.” Westly looked at the two of them, perplexed. Holly walked over to the elevators and pressed the “up” button. She handed Westly the note; it read 247. He smiled.

“You have way of making people just give you stuff.”

“The trick is not to be an asshole. You’ll get there.”

“Doubt it.” Westly mumbled.

They entered the elevator. Holly pressed the 2, the doors closed, and the elevator began to rise. It had a window on the right that overlooked the parking lot and the mountains in the distance. During the day Westly noticed how pleasing the view was. Yet now that the sun had set, it was just a dismal darkness with the occasional flicking light from a car pulling into the lot. It may have been the altitude but Westly was quite tired. The elevator dinged, the doors opened, and they made their way down the hall. The hallways mimicked the lobby’s dark red marble in the carpet and the walls. Black round trash receptacles were after every other door. The lights that lit the hallway were the same old-fashioned lanterns from the bar only secured to the wall instead of hanging. Each room had a white aspen frame and a dark redwood door. Holly saw Westly getting lost in his own head.

“Wes, where are you at?”

Westly shook off his exhaustion and melancholy.

“I find it odd that Jeremy was completely unaware that his fiancé was having an affair.”

“People keep secrets. He was probably too in love to see anything.”

“Perhaps, it is just odd. His fiancé is dead, and we pile on that she was cheating, and he didn’t seem any sadder.”

They reached room 247. Holly knocked.

“You know as well as I do sometimes when it gets bad, it’s all you can do to stay together, much less process anything else.”

“I guess.”

The door creaked open. A woman in her sixties peered out. Her eyes were almost swollen shut from the red bags around them. Her hair was bright gray looking as if it had just turned gray within the last year. She was dressed in a dark navy-blue dress. It was stained with multiple splotches. She was wearing makeup; however, it had mostly accumulated around her jaw and neck in clumpy mess.

“You are those private detectives. If you haven’t come to tell me my daughters’ killer is in the back of a police car, I have nothing to say.”

She started to shut the door and Westly put his hand on the door.

“Miss, we need your help tracking a gift. It will help us find who killed your daughter.”

She glared at him.

“I heard the lies you have been spreading. My Autumn was not a slut! She wouldn’t step out on Jeremy like that!”

Westly sighed.

“I am just going off the evidence. Evidence that can get Autumn justice.”

Beth blocked, the door staring Westly down.

“Explain to me what good it does anyone to spread lies like that! She’s already been mutilated, why do you need mutilate her more!”

Westly started to defend himself when Holly cut him off.

“We found a note sent to Autumn from a secret admirer calling himself Foxgloves.”

“Foxgloves? I haven’t heard that name in a while.”

Beth stepped out of the way and ushered them into the room and closed the door.

The room seemed almost identical to the one Autumn was in. Save that window was on the left of the room and the vanity was against the window instead of the arm chair. The room was spotless as if no one had even checked in. In the doorway of the bathroom was a bucket of cleaning supplies, a mop and steel wool. The bed was covered in wrapped gifts stacked in the shape of a giant pyramid. Beth grabbed a wash cloth out of the bucket and began scrubbing the walls.

“The hotel staff was nice enough to give me all of these cleaning supplies. It helps a little.”

Westly sat on the edge of the bed. The pyramid jostled a bit. Beth snapped back at him.

“Don’t sit on the bed!” She snapped.

Westly jumped up as if he had just sat in a fire. Beth turned her back to him.

“Autumn worked really hard on it…” she wept to herself.

She went back to scrubbing the walls. The room fell silent with Holly and Westly looking back and forth between each other, hoping the other one would say the first word.

“Foxgloves, miss?” Westly blurted out.

She shook her head.

“I was glad when that part their life was over. My three children were in a fencing club in college. They called themselves the “Flowers of War” and everyone had a flower nickname. They would come and gossip about the other team mates and use their flower nicknames so I couldn’t figure out who they were talking about. It didn’t work. I could always tell who they were talking about, they wore their feelings on their sleeves.”

Beth wiped the sweat from her forehead and continued.

“Foxgloves was this skinny anorexic little boy who used to follow my girls around, trying to get them to join some creepy other club. It had something to with pagan rituals. He would call them at night until my son told him to knock it off. Autumn always had a good heart though and she would still try to be friendly.”

Beth tossed the wash cloth back in the bucket.

“I knew that little bastard would be the death of Autumn.”

“Do you know Foxgloves’ name?” Westly asked.

“It started with a J, Judson, something like that.”

She made her way to the pyramid, reaching in the middle she pulled out a yearbook wrapped in a white ribbon. She handed it to Holly. The front page said “Karopi University - Class of 2012.” Holly paged through the book and came across a picture of five people in fencing garb including the masks which covered their faces. All of them looked pretty fit save for the last one on the right, who looked very skinny. Holly looked at the names. Brock Glass, Forest Brookstone, Autumn Brookstone, Summer Brookstone, and Jordan Vernal. Holly handed the yearbook to Westly.

“Jordan?” Holly asked.

Beth nodded.

“Yes, that was his name. Do you think he killed my baby?”

“Let find out of if he checked in.” She grabbed the room phone and dialed the front desk. Westly pointed to the pyramid of gifts.

“Did she receive a bottle a lavender perfume?’

“No.” Beth groaned.

“She was wearing it and I found a bottle in her coat pocket.”

“If she was given a bottle it wasn’t at the reception dinner with the rest of the gifts. She stopped wearing lavender perfume after college. I remember her telling her college friends she didn’t want any as a gift. I was happy to see they respected that.”

Westly ran his hands through his hair. Holly’s voice broke his concentration.

“That can’t be right! Are you sure? No, I must have been mistaken.”

She coldly hung up the phone.

“What?” Westly inquired.

“Jordan Vernal is checked in. In room 243. I just checked into that room.”

“Shit.” Westly snapped.

Westly and Holly both rushed out of the Beth’s room. Turning quickly down the hall they came to room 243. Holly reached into her purse and pulled out the room key packet. She opened it. Scribbled in black marker, on the section of the packet where the restaurants were written.

“Surprise you two!”

Holly’s heart sank as Westly took the key from her. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small silver 30-30 revolver. Unlocking the room, he burst in, ready to fire. The room was empty of people but filled with dozens of materials. Industrial plastic wrap was rolled up in the corner. Blood soaked shoe at the base of the bed. Piles of leaves and twigs were littered all over the room. Bailing wire was set on top of the vanity. Bloody garden shears next to them. A pile of cheese cloth bunched up at the base of the vanity. The words “Taint the Virgin!” was written on the mirror in black marker. On the bed was an epee with the missing eye skewered down to the hilt. Westly pushed Holly back and slammed the door shut.