Criminal Crumbs (5 page)

Chapter 8

W
here was Grace, and why
hadn’t she made it back to the cottage? I kept pacing around the tiny footprint of floor space, wondering why I hadn’t just gone in when I’d walked Nicole back to the lodge. I’d hoped to get a little rest, but that was clearly not going to be happening. Finally, I put on the hooded sweatshirt I’d been issued, grabbed my flashlight, and headed back up the graveled path toward the main lodge alone.

And that was when I heard the first scream nearby, then the second, and finally, nothing at all.

Chapter 9

I
nearly tripped as I raced
toward the lodge in the dark. “Grace? Nicole? Who just screamed? Are you okay?” The beam of my light was flying all around the resort’s property, and it took nearly falling myself before I realized that I needed to focus on the path in front of me to keep from falling into the abyss.

“Suzanne? Is that you?”

I played my beam over the woman standing there on the edge of the hillside. It was Nicole.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“It’s Hank. He fell,” she said, the sobs pouring out of her. Grace joined us before I could ask her anything else, and then the others approached us in the darkness.

“What happened, Nicole? Did he try to push you?” I asked her.

She shook her head, dispelling the notion that Hank was the person trying to kill her. “Someone shoved me from behind! I couldn’t see who it was. All I saw was a glimpse of one of the hoodies we got today. Hank was right there, trying to save me! He must have thought something was odd, and he was following me to make sure that I was okay. Anyway, I felt him grab me at the last second to keep me from going over the hillside, but he slipped instead. I tried to save him, but I couldn’t! Do you think he’s okay?”

Grace cautiously approached the edge and played her flashlight beam down below. When I looked at her face, she held her light up, and I could see a pretty grim expression as she shook her head from side to side.

Evidently Hank was far from okay.

“Nicole, this is important,” I said. “Is there
anything
you can tell us about who might have pushed you?”

Through her tears, she said, “I couldn’t see! My light went out the moment I got shoved, and all I saw was Hank’s light falling as it flew out of his hands. It took a long time for it to go out.”

“Where were you all just now?” I asked as I played my light over the other people in our party, who had all joined us by then.

Janelle said, “I was in the restroom in our cottage. When I heard the commotion, I came out to see what was going on.”

“Can you prove that?” Georgia asked her cuttingly.

“I was alone, if that’s what you mean. Where were you?”

“I was sneaking around out in back of the lodge having a smoke,” she said.

“Smoking’s not allowed on the resort property,” Janelle protested.

“Thus the sneaking.” She pointed her light at Celia. “Where were you?”

“I was out at the gazebo, looking for stars,” she said.

I looked up at the sky, still dense with clouds. “There aren’t any out tonight.”

“That’s why I started back when I heard the first scream.” She went to her sister as though she just realized that comforting her was what she should have been doing all along instead of hanging back in the shadows. “Are you okay, Sis?”

“No, not really,” Nicole said shakily. At least she’d stopped crying for the moment, but I had my doubts if the hiatus would last very long.

“That just leaves you, Dina,” I said.

“I was in the kitchen trying to find another piece of pie,” she confessed. “I’m not proud of it, but I was still a little hungry after the meal, and it was awfully good.”

“Did anyone see you there?” I asked her.

“No, I was by myself.” Dina pointed her light at Grace. “Where were you, by the way? And how about you, Suzanne? You’re asking us for alibis. It’s only fair that we hear yours.”

She was correct; it was only fair. I’d asked them about their whereabouts. Why shouldn’t they have the same right to know where we were? “I was just leaving the cottage, getting ready to come back to the lodge to see what was going on after I couldn’t sleep,” I said.

Grace replied, “I was at my car looking for something to make notes with,” she said. “Nicole’s been sharing some new ideas with me, and I wanted to get them down on paper before I forgot everything.”

“So, no one can alibi anyone else,” I said. “That’s just perfect.” I suddenly realized that we, as guests, were all alone. “Where’s the staff? Shouldn’t they have heard us by now and come running?”

Grace explained to me, “That’s right. You missed the announcement. The hostess here just had her baby, and everybody left to go into town to see her after we all finished eating. They’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning.”

“We can’t wait that long for them,” I said. “Somebody needs to drive into town and get the police out here, pronto.” Just as I said it, cold, icy rain began pouring down from the sky. The lodge’s porch was the closest refuge that would hold all of us, so we ran for cover together. “Where did that come from all of a sudden?” Celia asked.

“It’s been overcast all day,” Georgia replied. “I’m surprised that it took this long to finally start raining.”

“Is there some snow mixed in as well?” Janelle asked us as she stuck her hand out.

“It’s cold enough, so anything’s possible,” I said as the first crack of lightning struck, much too close to us. “Maybe we should all go inside until this storm passes.”

“What about Hank? We can’t just leave him there!” Nicole said. While her sentiments were admirable, I’d taken a peek over that edge myself after Grace had, and judging from the odd way the man’s neck was turned, I had a feeling that he was beyond any help we could give him ever again.

“It’s the best we can do at the moment,” I said as another lightning bolt struck, filling the air just before a strong smell of ozone materialized. I happened to be looking toward the entrance where we’d driven up a handful of hours earlier, and I saw a brilliant flash of light struck the mighty oak I’d noticed earlier. Bark exploded from the trunk as the bolt struck home, setting the tree on fire despite the downpour. It seemed to split it in half right before my eyes, leaving two sides of the massive oak plummeting to the ground, shaking the earth under our feet as each piece landed harshly.

I was about to go see if we could still get around it when Grace put a hand on my shoulder. “Nobody leaves until this storm is over; not even you, Suzanne.”

I appreciated the sentiment, but I knew that if we couldn’t get off that mountain, every last one of us but one would be stuck there with a killer.

Chapter 10

A
dding insult to injury, as
the storm finally began to let up, there was one last lightning strike close to home. We all heard the explosion and, almost instantaneously, the following deafening clap of thunder. At that instant, every single light went out in the lodge, and everywhere else in the resort, for that matter.

We’d lost power, and at the worst possible moment as the temperature really started to drop. Could we get all snow after all? I hoped not. We had enough obstacles without the burden of dealing with a winter wonderland on the mountaintop.

It felt as though the heavy precipitation had lasted forever, but with the last burst of lightning and thunder, it suddenly began to let up, petering out into the distance as the storm moved away, assaulting the next area along the line.

Once I finally felt it was safe to leave, I headed off the porch as Grace asked me, “Where are you going?”

“I have to see how bad the road is,” I said. “Like I said before, it’s urgent that someone drives to the nearest town and gets help.”

“I’m coming with you, then,” Grace said.

“We all will,” Nicole answered.

“I’m not going out there in the dark,” Celia complained. “Who knows what’s out there?”

“You’re coming with us, Celia,” her sister said firmly, and then she turned to the rest of our little group. “And so are you all. The only way that any of us can be absolutely sure that we’re safe is to stick together from here on out.”

Nicole was clearly the boss, and she was acting like it. Though she had no real control over Celia or Dina or even me, for that matter, they agreed as well. Most likely they didn’t want to be left alone with a possible killer, or perhaps they were just taking the path of least resistance. Either way, I was eager to see what that tree had done to our chances of escape.

By dying in such a spectacular fashion, the old oak had effectively blockaded us from the outside world. I couldn’t imagine cutting through it with a normal-sized chainsaw, even if I knew how to operate one, which I didn’t. I was guessing that it would take a full crew to cut it up and move it out of the way, and I had a feeling that it would have to be done from the other side of the road. When the tree had fallen, it had also loosened a portion of the road beneath it, which had then been subject to the pouring precip we’d experienced after the initial lightning strike. There was a chasm where the road used to be, ten feet of gravel that had simply dropped down into the abyss without a trace.

No one would be leaving the Shadow Mountain Resort any time soon, at least not in a vehicle.

“Some of us could probably walk it,” Janelle suggested as we all played our beams over the gaping expanse.

“Seven miles? With who knows what we could encounter on the way down the mountain? Use your head, Janelle,” Georgia snapped.

“It was just a thought,” she said.

Celia surprised me by patting her arm. “Don’t feel bad. I was thinking the exact same thing.”

“Clearly, none of us are going anywhere,” I responded. “We’re just going to have to all make the best of it until someone comes for us.”

“I’m cold,” Dina said. “Shouldn’t we go back to our rooms? I’m going to hate staying at that lodge all by myself, since you are all in cottages.”

“You’re not going to have to,” I spoke up. “When I said that we needed to stick together, I meant it. I don’t know about the rest of you, but Grace and I are moving our things up to the lodge immediately. We’ll all sleep in the main reception area, since there enough couches for all of us. After all, we’ve got a fireplace there, and there’s plenty of room. It might not be the most comfortable sleep of your life, but at least we should all make it through the night.”

“That sounds like a solid plan to me,” Nicole said, defying anyone to contradict her. I was happy to have both Grace and her on my side. “We’re all going to do exactly as Suzanne has suggested. We’ll stop at the cottages and collect our things, and then we’re all heading to the lodge, together.”

That’s what we did, stopping just long enough at Pine, Spruce, Fir, and Hemlock to collect our things before we made our way back to the lodge, our bags in tow.

As we walked into the main reception area, Georgia said, “There has to be a generator here, given how secluded this place is. Shouldn’t we try to find it?”

“Would you know how to operate it even if we did?” Dina asked her.

“It can’t be that difficult,” she said. “What do you think, Nicole?”

“While I like the idea of having power, maybe it should wait until morning. There are plenty of blankets here, and we’ve got a massive fireplace to keep us warm and toasty. Why don’t we deal with that tomorrow? The last thing we need is someone stumbling around in the dark and getting hurt, too.”

“Someone else, you mean,” I added under my breath, just loud enough for Grace to hear it.

She nodded, and I could see the dire expression on her face in the firelight.

“Tell you what. Let’s break up into pairs and gather what we can from the rooms,” Nicole said. “Celia, you come with me. Grace, why don’t you and Suzanne stick together? Janelle, you and Georgia should team up, and why don’t you take Dina with you, while you’re at it?”

“I’d rather go with you and Celia, if you don’t mind,” Dina said.

“If you must. Remember, this is going to be a quick scouting mission. Find what you think we can use, and then hurry back here.”

We had all started to leave when Nicole motioned to me. “Suzanne, do you and Grace have a second?”

“Sure,” I said, as Grace and I joined her by the fire. “What’s up?”

“Keep your eyes open. Whoever tried to kill me might take another shot at it, given how helpless we all are right now.”

“There’s safety in numbers,” I said. “Honestly, I’m glad that Dina’s going with you and Celia.”

“Do you still think my sister might have done it?” Nicole asked me.

“I don’t know, but if there are two other people with you, there’s less chance that someone’s going to try something. It probably wouldn’t hurt if Grace and I went with you, too.”

“Thanks, but we need to stick with the original plan. Don’t worry. It will be fine.”

I had to wonder if Hank had thought the same thing just before he’d been shoved over the edge of the path, tumbling far below to his probable death, but I decided not to bring that up. I was fairly certain that it was in the forefront of Nicole’s thoughts anyway. “See you soon, then,” I said.

The moment Grace and I were away from the others, she asked me softly, “Do you honestly think this is such a good idea?”

“Maybe not, but it will take forever if we don’t break up at least a little. Hey, where are you going?”

“I’m looking for the supply closet,” Grace said as she began opening doors near the front desk. “This resort offers hikes and even overnight camping, so they have to have supplies. Sleeping bags and air mattresses might be nice to have tonight. Did you feel the way the temperature was falling when we were outside? Even with the fireplace going full blast, we still might be in for a chilly night.”

We found the supply closet after three tries, and it was a veritable gold mine. Not only were there enough sleeping bags for all of us, but there were tiny lanterns as well, all solar and crank charged, I was happy to see. Grace and I moved them out into the main area by the fireplace, rearranged some of the furniture so we could all be close to the fire, and then we waited for the others. I decided that the fire needed a little more fuel, so I threw a pair of logs onto it, watching the sparks fly as the wood landed. “There, that should help a little.”

“At least we have enough wood,” Grace said. “Did you see how much was stacked out front on the porch?”

“We’ll never burn through that, but even if we do, there’s some extra at each cottage, too.” I looked around, but no one had rejoined us yet. “Speaking of firewood, someone used a piece to try to give Nicole a very bad headache tonight.”

“What happened?”

After I told her about the booby-trapped door, Grace said, “Somebody wants that woman dead, don’t they?”

“I wouldn’t trade places with her on a bet, myself,” I said. “The question is, who’s behind all of these attempts, and who killed Hank?”

“From the way Nicole told the story, Hank’s fall wasn’t planned. He got shoved out of the way; nobody pushed him on purpose.”

“Maybe that’s so, but he was trying to keep Nicole from suffering the same fate that he did, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s just as much a murder as though whoever had done that had shoved Hank over that cliff herself.”

“I can’t believe how well Nicole is holding it together,” Grace said. “If I were in her position, I’d be hiding in the corner somewhere crying my eyes out.”

“I doubt it. Knowing you, you’d arm yourself with something lethal and dare the killer to try again,” I said as I patted her shoulder.

“I can’t stop thinking about poor Hank. He could be a real jerk sometimes, but at least he died saving someone else. I suppose in a way, that makes him a hero.”

“What people say matters, but what they do matters even more,” I said in agreement.

“What should we do about Nicole?” Grace asked me.

“The only thing we can do. We need to keep an eye on her, and that includes all night tonight.”

“Are you saying that we should stay awake and guard her around the clock?”

“Yes, but not so overtly. Tell you what. If you can stay awake until one, I can handle the rest of the night. After all, I’m used to those hours anyway.”

“Are you sure?” Grace asked me.

“Positive. As soon as the others come back, I’m bedding down over there,” I said as I pointed to one of the couches away from the fire. I’d already put one of the sleeping bags on it.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have one of the couches closer to the fire?” Grace asked me.

“No, let everyone else fight over those spots. I’ll be fine over there.”

Georgia and Janelle came back with pillows and blankets, while Nicole, Celia, and Dina brought bottled waters and a few snacks from the kitchen.

Once everyone was settled in, I said, “If you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to get a little rest.”

“How can you sleep after all that’s happened?” Georgia asked me.

“It’s easy. I just close my eyes and count jumping donuts,” I said.

It might have helped if everyone there had known that I was a donutmaker by trade, but I didn’t care enough to explain myself. Instead, I crawled into the sleeping bag I’d claimed earlier, keeping my clothes on to stay warm, and then I nodded off to sleep.

The next thing I knew, Grace was shaking my shoulder. Had I overslept? No, my internal clock told me that I still had a few more minutes of rest. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I need to pee, though,” she said. “I held it as long as I could, but I’ve really got to go.”

“Would you like me to go with you?” I asked her groggily.

“No thanks, I’ve been doing it by myself since kindergarten,” she said.

“I meant to be safe,” I said as I stood and stretched. I’d slept surprisingly well, given the circumstances and the conditions.

“What do I have to be afraid of?” She gestured around us. “Everyone else is fast asleep.”

“Go on, then,” I said.

I could see that it was true. The rest of our party was still soundly sleeping, and a few of the ladies were even snoring. It amused me when I saw that Georgia and Dina had taken the two couches closest to the fire. Did that make them the alpha females, or was Nicole stronger by giving up a comfy spot to one of the others? I wasn’t sure, but I knew that I’d have a little time to consider the possibilities while I was playing guard dog. I added another log to the fire and felt the heat on my hands and cheeks. I wasn’t sure what we would have done without the fireplace, and I was glad to have it. In a way, it reminded me of the cottage that I shared back in April Springs with my husband, and I wondered what Jake was doing at that very moment. Sound asleep, no doubt, unaware of the trouble his wife was currently in. If he’d had any idea, I knew without question that he’d be fighting his way up that mountain, no matter the danger or the cost, to get to me. But with the lack of a cellphone signal and no outside lines, there was no way that he’d know that I wasn’t up here having the time of my life.

Grace came back a minute later, and I was glad for her presence. “Thinking about Jake?” she asked me as she joined me by the fire.

“As a matter of fact, I was. How did you know?”

“It’s not hard. You get this goofy smile on your face whenever you think about him.”

I laughed softly. “I didn’t realize I was that transparent.”

“It’s not a bad thing, Suzanne.” She yawned once, and then she asked, “Would you like some company?”

“Go to bed, Grace. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night,” she said, and soon enough, I heard her soft snores, blending in with the others as though they were members of some slumbering choir.