Matthew had finally stopped crying when Christina and Andrew returned to the living room. He kept looking back to the darkness outside and flinching as the unwelcome reminder of what he had just seen smacked him in the face. Iris was sitting next to him, one arm resting tentatively on his shoulder but she would retract it regularly before timidly placing it back, as if she weren’t quite sure if it was a help or hindrance. As Andrew approached, she got up and left.

Upon seeing Andrew’s approach, Matthew got out of his seat and drew his friend into a desperate hug. Andrew patted his back at first, unsure what to do, but when it quickly became apparent that just a pat wouldn’t do, he wrapped his arms around fully and squeezed tightly. 

Neither one said anything. Matthew wailed and clung to Andrew like a child to their parent and Andrew clung back, eyes watery but managing to hold back genuine tears. They must have stayed like that for minutes.

Then, suddenly, like lava from the innermost depths of a volcano, Matthew erupted. He all but flung poor Andrew to the ground as his eyes darted across the room, burning with passion and hatred. 

“Which one of you did it!?” He asked coldly and fiercely.

I could understand his anguish well. I could understand how his shock could turn to anger but what did he think this would achieve? Of course - he wasn't thinking.  Even if one of us - no, it was better to assume that none of us did this. But even if one did, it's not like they'd simply confess.

“Matthew, we don’t know-” Andrew started to say but Matthew cut him off.

“Bullshit Andrew! You saw him! He didn’t do that to himself.”

“He was outside,” Sybil said timidly. “Maybe, a bear-”

“Bullshit! A bear didn’t do that! What bear kills like that? Why didn’t it eat him? Why would it leave him in the bloody courtyard? No! A person did this! And it had to be one of you lot!”

Everyone held their bodies in awkward uncomfortability. They swayed as they stood, staring at their own feet, inspecting the grain of the wood floor or the fibres of the rug, imagining Matthew might just pop out of existence if they ignored him well enough.

“He went to bed just an hour ago! He was right here in this living room with us, wasn’t he!? Then how did he get there?” Matthew paused, horrible realisation dancing across his face. “There’s only three people who could have done this!”

Matthew directed the full force of his gaze on Rebecca, Iris and Sybil now. Like the sun’s rays through a magnifying glass, it seemed to burn them. I suddenly felt the need to protect the girls from these accusations.

“Come on Matthew, do you really think a bunch of girls could have done this?” I heard mixed amounts of spluttering and stuttering behind me before the girls stood up for themselves.

“We went in the opposite direction, to our bedrooms!” Iris pleaded.

“He’s twice our size, there’s no way we could have...” 

“If all three of you worked together, you could have!” Matthew insisted, his tone frantic.

Perhaps he was right that they could have but the real question is if they would have. The answer was an obvious ‘no!’.

“Why would we want to!?” Rebecca snapped. “We’re not murderers!”

Matthew glowered for a while and then composed himself. “You’re right. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing a woman would do.” He spun around to look at me and Andrew now. “I went to the bathroom and I was there for a while. In all honesty, anyone here could have done it. And if you’re so sure it had to be a man, Walter, do you mind telling me which one it was?”

Christina rose fiercely in response to this accusation. “How do we know it wasn’t you?”

“Because I wouldn’t kill my own friend, you bitch!” Matthew growled at her. 

This enraged Andrew. “What did you just call her?” he roared protectively.

Matthew opened his mouth, no doubt to say something inflammatory but Alison interrupted him.

“We should call the police,” she said firmly.

“Oh yeah, and how do you think we’re gonna reach them all the way out here, princess?” Matthew spat out toxically, like a komodo dragon.

Alison rolled her eyes at him, surprisingly cool in this dire situation. “We have a two-way radio here. We can radio the ranger station. Their phone can connect further into town and we can get an officer on the line.”

Matthew bristled as he noticed that nobody in the room was very happy with him at that moment, but he couldn’t deny the soundness of what Alison was suggesting. 

“Fine,” he hissed like a cat about to slink away into a dark hiding spot. “We’ll let the police handle this, I guess...”

He looked at Andrew, the man he had sought for comfort right before turning on him. If he felt any sort of guilt for his accusations, he didn't show them.

Before anyone could say anything else, he disappeared into the hallway.

Matthew had retreated to his room, as had Sybil and Christina. Everyone felt exhausted but I was also sure that nobody would be able to sleep. Alison, Rebecca, Andrew, Iris and I were the ones who remained.

“I’m surprised you’re not going with Sybil,” Rebecca mused to Iris as Alison and Andrew fiddled with the radio.

Iris smiled. “Despite being younger, I’ve always been the tougher sister,” she laughed. “Besides, I don’t think I could sleep now...”

Iris looked absently toward the kitchen. She spoke with a soft breath that I could barely hear. “You know, you and Syl are technically the only people I can trust. We all went to bed together and I didn’t hear a single one of our doors open before Matthew screamed. Everyone else...”

Rebecca nodded along as she listened. “Well, I trust Alison,” she said, although her voice wavered somewhat. “I at least believe she didn’t do it. And I don’t want to automatically blame one of the boys but... the way he looked. I didn’t see it clearly but... he was pretty beaten up wasn’t he?”

“I think a woman could have done it.”

Rebecca and Iris jumped at the sound of a new voice and turned to see that Christina had returned. In doing so, they also noticed that I had been standing behind them, eavesdropping. I tried to look innocent.

“Christina!” Iris chided. “I thought you were going to bed.”

“Not after that,” Christina said, sounding almost bored. “I just had to pee.”

Iris grimaced slightly at Christina's directness but she decided not to bother confronting her about it. “Why do you think a woman could have done it?” she asked.

Christina stared at her with her sleepy, half-lidded eyes. She then shrugged. “Women can do anything, if they want. There’ve been woman killers before, you know?”

Iris grumbled uncomfortably and shuffled in place. “I try not to think about it.”

“There’ve been plenty,” Christina informed us, sounding almost excited. “Elizabeth Bathory, bathing in the blood of young girls.  Mary Ann Cotton, killing her husbands for money, and if you ask me, I think Alison’s a real Jane Toppan.”

Christina winked at me as she made her jab at Alison but I was so baffled by her brazen antagonism that I didn’t think to respond to it. Iris looked like she might faint from the discussion topic but Rebecca seemed to be listening in intently.

“I’ve heard of someone else, recently.” Rebecca said. “Have you heard of the quarter killer?”

Christina shook her head enthusiastically, clearly engaged in a conversation for the first time since she arrived.

“The name comes from how they found the victims, four segments, always buried or hidden separately but still close by. They haven’t caught the killer yet but they assume it's a woman - the daughter of the first victim who went missing shortly after his death.”

“See?” Christina grinned. “You can’t assume it was one of the boys. I don’t suppose old Cory rubbed one of you two the wrong way and you decided to whack him one?”

Iris sucked in air, making a hissing noise. Rebecca, who knew Christina a little better than Iris did, didn’t much react to the provocation. 

“First Matthew, and now you!?” Iris spat. “What is with you people accusing us of - of murder!”

Christina’s face dropped slightly and for a moment I was stunned by the phantasm of Christina actually caring about hurting someone’s feelings. She shrugged again. “I don’t think it was you. I don’t think it was any of us - except for maybe Matthew. I’m just saying, it wouldn’t take a miracle for a woman to take a baseball bat to someone she didn’t like. Human bodies don’t much enjoy being beaten to a sticky, bloody mess, male or female.”

Iris blinked, staring in absolute horror at Christina. Even Rebecca had to take time to manage her initial shock. It’s not that Christina was saying anything wrong, exactly. She was just so direct about it.

“Why Matthew?” Rebecca asked after a long pause.

Christina shifted her weight from one side of her body to the other before responding. 

“We all stayed in the living room: Alison, Walter, Andrew and I. We watched Cory go to bed and we watched the three of you go to bed, too. Matthew went to the toilet - apparently - but it took him forever. Long enough to pull something like this.” Christina turned to look at me. “Right, Walter?”

I nodded in response, although I wasn’t sure how well I should be enabling her. “Everything she’s saying is how I remember it too,” I said. “I don’t agree that he’s the culprit though.”

“No, I suppose you think fairies did it,” Christina chided. “Maybe a witch?”

Finally, the flame of anger licked at my heels and I felt motivation enough to say something, but before I got the chance, Alison and Andrew returned, having successfully gotten the Radio to work. 

Andrew immediately recognised the tension in the scene he had stumbled into and a look on his face suggested he had deduced the probable cause. Alison seemed none the wiser.

“Okay!” Alison said chipperly, despite the circumstances. “The radio is working and we think we found the right frequency to broadcast to the ranger station.”

Alison placed the radio down on the table in front of us and encouraged us all to gather around it. Then, she pressed a button and began speaking into the microphone.

“This is Alison Smith and Andrew Cross, calling from the Cross holiday residence, can anyone hear us?”

A long pause. A too long pause. A pause long enough to make Alison consider trying again. She picked up the receiver again and breathed in about to speak, when a reply scraped through the speaker.

“I can hear you Alison, what seems to be the problem?” The voice sounded like Jacob’s. I suppose he hadn’t finished his shift yet.

“Well...” Alison started but she suddenly found herself unsure of how to proceed. Andrew took over.

he explained.

“The police!?” Jacob asked, incredulously. “If someone’s hurt, don’t you need an ambulance?”

Andrew grimaced. “Uh, for this kind of accident... I don’t think that would be necessary.”

Everyone looked between each other nervously as they waited for a response. Suddenly, a different voice came through the radio. “Andrew? This is your mother! What happened? Is it Walter? Is he okay!?”

Andrew and I were both shocked to hear our mother’s voice. She sounded absolutely frantic. “He’s fine, mum” Andrew replied and then added, as if by stream of consciousness, “What are you doing at the ranger’s station?”

“Never mind that!” Mother’s radio-distorted voice instructed. This didn’t seem to please Andrew much.”We’ll make a call to the police and then Jacob and I will be right over!”

Relief washed over us like a delightfully warm shower. That was good news! Good news indeed! I spared a glance at Alison and we both smiled at each other. A small victory. A small break from tragedy. Thank god. It was Andrew’s voice that pulled us all back into the reality of the situation.

“You can’t come here, there’s a blizzard approaching!” 

“We can make it if we leave now,” Jacob reassured us.

“Fine, then just come!” I said, suddenly feeling somewhat nervous about my mother getting caught in a snow storm.

“We will,” Mother said. 

“Wait!” Andrew said before they both had time to leave. “If you’re coming here,