53 pages • 1 hour read
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The group—Andy, Ernie, Juliette, and Gavin (the vehicle driver)—check the sheds near the ski slopes for Lucy, but there is no sign of her. On the other side of the mountain, they arrive at a lodge, and Gavin suggests they have a drink.
Inside, they find a party underway as the guests have decided to make the most of being stranded. Gavin takes the group to his office, where he pulls up the guest list spreadsheet to determine whether there are any other un-accounted for guests. First, Ernie researches the Black Tongue serial killer, which confirms everything Sofia has told him. Then, reading through the guest list and information, Ernie discovers that an elderly couple with the name “McAuley” is staying at the resort.
Ernie and the others meet with the McAuleys: Edgar and Siobhan. The couple instantly surmises that Ernie is there on Michael’s behalf, sent to collect money from the couple in exchange for their daughter’s body. Ernie suspects that Michael was the middleman who transferred the money between the McAuleys and Alan Holton. He also believes that Michael planned to use money from the McAuleys to pay Holton for whatever it was Holton had wanted to sell to him.