Murder-You-Vote

Chapter Six

He lingered around the desk hoping to bump into the other guests or their cheery host, or else some sign about where dinner might be. Maybe he had missed where the dining room was on his own awkward shuffle up to his room.

Audrey came down the stairs slowly, still stiff from the drive. When she reached the bottom she saw Zach, hovering near the desk and flinched, remembering Kena's warning about the second male guest. But after her nap and freshening up a bit she felt better, more capable of handling these little awkward run ins.

"Hey," she called out as she approached the lobby. "No dinner yet?"

Zach turned to see her. Definitely not one of the people around earlier to witness the fool he'd made of himself. It was a bit of a relief, really.

"No, not yet, I guess. It was for about now, wasn't it? I'm Zach by the way."

"Audrey," she said, smiling, "and I thought so. Have you seen Kenna around anywhere?" Audrey stood on her tiptoes, trying to get a better look behind the counter, but saw no one. If anything it seemed too quiet for anyone but the two of them to be downstairs yet.

"We could always go check in the dining area if you know where that is." He shrugged and groaned. "Cause I have to admit I don't. I sort of missed if she said it at all."

Zach had definitely been paying attention to Kenna. For the most part, he corrected.

"Sounds like we get to go exploring," Audrey said, laughing a little. "I thought she said it was back by the stairs but I had sort of an awkward check in. I wasn't paying that much attention."

Audrey relaxed. This was going far better than her last run in with a male guest. Kenna's warning had helped. This time Audrey was prepared.

"Okay so back by the stairs..."

Zach headed back in that direction. The whole ground floor seemed completely quiet. Surely somebody else would be coming down soon.

"Awkward check in, eh?"

"Yeah," she said, following behind him, past the couches and fireplace. "I let my boss book my vacation for me and now I'm the only lesbian at a straight matchmaking event. But I will say, he picked a gorgeous spot."

Audrey waited to see if Zach would try to make eye contact and when he didn't, looked around the dining area as they approached it. Still no one. Maybe she wasn't the only one who'd been more fleeing to her room than anything else.

"Oh... oh damn," Zach responded a few beats too late to avoid being awkward. He looked over at her as she wove in and out of the dining room tables. Whatever he had expected to hear, that wasn't it. "I'm sorry. That's gotta be hard. If it makes you feel better, my friends booked this trip for me, too. They don't trust my taste in men. I'm bi," he added. "I'm pretty sure the snow was so I couldn't hide outside from everybody."

Audrey stifled a giggle as the two of them made their way to the kitchen.

Zach peered past the tables and chairs and into the glaringly clean kitchen. "So, obviously nobody's been cooking"

Audrey looked around the kitchen, perplexed.

"I guess not. That's so strange. Do you think we should go look for her? I was sure by now she'd be in here icing cookies or something."

She paced the length of the kitchen counters as she spoke, panic starting to build like rising water in her chest.

"You think? No, you're right we should. She was far too excited about us being here not to be cooking or anything. I think she's got a cabin of her own or something."