“That’s a possible assumption,” Noel told Sarah. “This location is very remote.”
Sarah looked at Noel. “But why choose a location close to a hot springs?” she asked.
Noel shrugged her shoulders. “I honestly never thought of that. I used to take walks to the hot springs when I worked here, but Dr. Kraus never showed any interest—at least not to me. As a matter of fact, I can’t recall him ever even mentioning the hot springs at all.”
“But there has to be a reason,” Sarah insisted. “And there has to be a reason why the killer only stole one tube of that deadly virus instead of all three.” Sarah reached down and removed her gun from the ankle holster. “I’m going to take Amanda and walk to the hot springs. I need to do a little investigating.”
Noel became nervous. “Please, do not try to hike out of here,” she begged.
“I wouldn’t dare try to leave,” Sarah promised. “However, I do believe that we may be barking up the wrong tree. I believe all of our talk is leading us in the wrong direction.”
“What do you mean?” Noel asked.
“It is possible that the new deputy in Snow Falls is this monitor you mentioned. And that Amanda and I were brought here to become unwitting carriers for the virus and return back to Snow Falls. But it’s also possible that the killer might not be as far away as we think.” Sarah pointed at the steel rack holding the last two tubes. “Why didn’t the killer take all three? And why was Dr. Kraus shot in the kitchen and not in the basement? Why did the killer leave his body out for anyone to find?”
Noel placed her hands down on the table and shrugged. “When I arrived, Dr. Kraus was dead.”
Sarah walked over to Noel and touched her shoulder. “Noel, I know there is a lot that you’re not telling me—things that you’ll never share. I’m sure the people you are working for now are not the same people you worked for at the CDC.”
“Sarah, I—”
Sarah held up her hand. “My concern is my best friend and seeing my husband again. Now, if we are infected, that means time is slipping away and we have to act.” Sarah pointed down at the table. “You get to work down here, and Amanda and I will get to work topside. We still may have a chance.”
“Not if we are infected,” Noel insisted.
“Even if we are infected,” Sarah promised. “Don’t you see?”
“No—I don’t,” Noel begged. “Sarah, I am considered a woman with a dangerous amount of intelligence. But right now, I feel very dumb. All my mind can think about is dying. I deserve to die for my crimes—and I will before I ever hurt anyone again. But I don’t want to die.” Tears began falling from Noel’s eyes. “What chance, what hope do we have? I did what was required. I crippled any chance of escape. I trapped us here, and the three of us will die here together.”
“Will we?” Sarah asked. She walked Noel away from the table and back to the stairs. “You said the virus has to live at a certain temperature before it can mature, right?”
“Yes.”
“You said the virus enters the human body in a frozen state, right?” Sarah asked.
“Sarah, winter is still—”
“Maybe winter is still an arm’s reach away, but the hot springs aren’t,” Sarah insisted. “Dr. Kraus, if he was as smart as you claim, must have chosen this location for a reason. Maybe,” Sarah said, in a desperate voice, “he did so because of the hot springs. Maybe—somehow or someway the hot springs can kill the virus.”
Noel stared at Sarah in shock. Then, as if a soothing, clean rain dropped from the sky and began washing away the fear blinding her intelligence, she began to understand, or so she pretended. Sarah noticed a sudden look she couldn’t identify flash through Noel’s eyes and then vanish just as quickly as it had arrived. “The human body stays within an acceptable temperature range—but—if we can raise the body temperature, hmm.”
Sarah pointed back toward the far corner of the basement, too concerned with saving her life and the life of her best friend to focus on the sudden strange look that had come over Noel. “That’s for you to find out,” said Sarah. “We may or may not be infected, and playing around with the virus could kill us if we’re not already infected—but we have to take that chance. Now, go get to work.”
Noel drew in a deep breath. “It could be possible,” she said, in a calm voice. “It could be possible that if the body temperature is raised beyond a certain level, the virus would die.” Noel spun around and looked at all the stacked boxes. “Go, leave me alone and let me get to work.”
“I will,” Sarah said, “but please stay alert. Amanda and I will be outside and there will be no one upstairs to stand guard.”
Noel nodded her head. She patted her waist. “I have a gun.”
“Use it,” Sarah warned Noel and hurried up the stairs.
“What’s happening?” Amanda asked, reading Sarah’s face.
“I’m not really sure,” Sarah told Amanda in a strained voice. “My mind is still struggling to make sense of this mess.” Sarah closed the basement door. “I’m certain Noel is hiding many secrets from us, but what I’m sure of is that she’s not kidding around about the virus. If she thinks the killer sprayed the virus in this cabin, we have to believe her.”
“But?” Amanda asked, looking deep into Sarah’s eyes.
Sarah grabbed Amanda’s hand and pulled her into the front room. “There are two leftover tubes down in the basement. Why didn’t the killer steal them? It doesn’t make sense to me. Surely if the killer came here to kill Dr. Kraus and infect us with the virus—surely he would have stolen all three tubes and not just one. Something had to have happened.” Sarah studied the front room. “There’s no sign of a struggle, but that doesn’t mean that Dr. Kraus didn’t put up a fight. Also,” Sarah pointed out, “why was the body of Dr. Kraus left out in the open?”
“I don’t know,” Amanda confessed. “I’ve been too busy thinking about my family—my hubby and son—to focus on this horrible place.”
“This horrible place just may save our lives,” Sarah promised Amanda. She pointed toward the basement. “I think it’s possible that Noel might have arrived sooner than she’s letting on, and she may be hiding a few secrets about the killer from us. I don’t want to push her, though,” she warned Amanda. “The woman is on the verge of a mental breakdown—I have to keep her focused and on track.”
Amanda bit her thumbnail. “I like Noel,” she said, in a low whisper, “but it does seem she is hiding a lot of truth from us. But, I wholeheartedly agree that she is about to fall off the edge. I also believe she is very serious about us being infected.”
“Noel has obviously been through more than anyone should have to endure,” Sarah agreed. “Whoever she is working for seems to be just as deadly as the White Cell terror group.” Sarah shook her head. “We may never know the full truth, but right now we need to focus on the hot springs.”
“The hot springs?” Amanda asked, confused. “This is hardly the right time to go take a relaxing dip.”
“I’m not interested in taking a hot dip—at least not yet,” Sarah promised. She walked over to the front door and, with her gun at the ready, cautiously disengaged the lock and pulled the door open. Wonderful, sweet, fresh air rushed into the stuffy room and struck Sarah in the face. Sarah closed her eyes for a second, soaked in the soothing air, and then stepped out onto the front door. Amanda quickly followed. “We have to be careful,” Sarah cautioned Amanda. “The killer, or killers, could still be close by.”
“Love?” Amanda asked, still confused.
Sarah studied the beautiful landscape and looked toward the river. “I don’t think the killer has fled the scene,” she explained. “And I don’t think the killer wants us dead, either. If that were the case—we would be.” Sarah kept her eyes focused on the land as a refreshing wind touched her tired face. “There’s more than meets the eye, June Bug, and we have to find out what. And time isn’t on our side—on anybody's side for that matter.”
; Amanda turned her eyes out toward the land and, even though she was scared out of her mind, she somehow felt a strange calmness wash over her. “Okay, love, I’ll take us up to the hot springs and we'll poke around some. At what? I have no idea. But I think you do.”
Amanda took Sarah’s hand and carefully walked off the front porch. In the distance, a pair of eyes watched. “The hot springs?” the voice whispered. “Why are you going to the hot springs now?”
5
Sarah followed Amanda down a long winding trail surrounded by tall trees, beautiful bushes, and lush landscape. In some places, the land opened up to a beautiful view of the mountain, while in other places, the trail squeezed to a narrow passageway. “It’s very beautiful,” Sarah told Amanda as her eyes searched for any sign of human movement.
“I know, love,” Amanda sighed, climbing a small hill on the trail. She paused and looked around. “As much as I want to hate this land now—I can’t,” she told Sarah in a teary voice. “This land captured my heart and I—oh, I wanted to own it. I still do,” she confessed, and wiped away a tear. “The property didn’t make me sick—the evils of man did. Why should I hate this land for something a lousy terrorist bloke did to me?”
“If we survive this nightmare, we’ll buy this place, June Bug, I promise,” Sarah said. She checked the watch on her wrist. “If I don’t call Conrad by tomorrow night, he’ll jump in his truck and drive up here. Once he sees the tree down across the road, he’ll know something is wrong.” Sarah quickly wiped Amanda’s tears away. “I made such a big fuss about being able to handle this trip—Conrad didn’t want us going, and we had our first big argument. The last thing I told him was not to forget to feed Mittens.” Sarah looked around. “He’ll think I didn’t call him last night because I’m still upset. He’ll probably think the same tonight. But if I don't call him by tomorrow night, he’ll drive up here.”
“We could be dead by then,” Amanda sighed, and dried up her tears. “If Conrad finds us before we’re dead, he could become infected, too.”
“I know,” Sarah replied. “On the other hand,” she added, “Conrad may not be allowed to leave Snow Falls.” Sarah quickly explained about the new deputy. Amanda listened with dread. “That sounds very possible.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Amanda told Sarah and kicked at the ground with her right foot. “You should have never left Los Angeles, love.”
Sarah checked her gun. “It was time for me to leave Los Angeles. I’m just sorry Pete changed his mind at the last minute and decided to stay. I guess I should have known.” Sarah thought about her old partner and felt a smile touch her face. “Los Angeles gets into your system. When I was working as a homicide detective, I would have never dreamed of living in Alaska. If someone would have told me my husband was going to divorce me and that I was going to begin a new life in a little Alaskan town—I would have arrested that person and had them admitted to a mental hospital. Now look at me. Remarried, living in a small Alaskan town, and now I’m trapped in the middle of nowhere fighting to stay alive.”
“I know what you mean, love,” Amanda said, as they continued hiking. “I never dreamed of leaving London. London was my home. When my hubby told us we were moving, I was heartbroken. I cried for days.” Amanda swept her eyes up and down the trail. “I didn’t even know where Alaska was on the map. I was a city girl—fog and rain were my companions, and shopping was my passion. Oh, how many times did I stop off for a custard tart and a hot tea before exploring a new dress shop?” Amanda’s eyes filled with warm memories. “In my day, London was special—so many sweet memories.”
Sarah felt a smile touch her face. “There was an old diner that stood in front of the beach down a remote highway—way off the beaten path. I’m not sure if it’s still there or not. Anyway, I would drive to that diner whenever I had the time to sit, drink coffee, and look down at the beach—the waves especially—and think about a new book I wanted to write—or not think at all.” Sarah kept her eyes walking around and very alert as she talked. “I remember the smell of coffee, hamburgers cooking, and the sounds of the old jukebox playing songs from the 1950’s. That diner was my special place, just like London was your special place.”
“You’re going to make me start crying,” Amanda warned Sarah.
“Don’t start crying,” Sarah begged, “because if you do, I’ll start crying and we'll never get anywhere and—” Sarah stopped talking. Without warning, she grabbed Amanda’s arm and yanked her down to the ground. “There,” she whispered and pointed to a tall tree. “I saw movement.”
Amanda felt goosebumps crawl down her spine. She cast her eyes at the tree but didn’t see anything. However, if her best friend said she saw movement, that was good enough for her. “Could it be Noel?” she whispered.
Sarah shook her head. “I saw a man, not a woman,” she whispered. Then, to Amanda’s shock, she took aim and fired a single bullet at the tree. “Whoever is behind that tree, come out!” she yelled.
Silence fell. Amanda kept her eyes on the tree and waited to be shot at. But then she heard someone start running off into the brush, away from the trail. Sarah started to stand up and give chase, but Amanda grabbed her arm. “Could be a trap,” she warned.
Sarah considered Amanda’s warning and nodded her head. “Smart thinking,” she complimented Amanda. “I guess I’m more upset than I realized if I’m willing to go chasing a stranger through these wild woods.”
“Don’t kick yourself, love,” Amanda told Sarah and rubbed her shoulder. “We’re in a tight situation, and I, for one, know my mind isn’t capable of thinking straight, never mind about roses and teacups.”
Sarah eased up and looked out into the woods. “Whoever that man is, he didn’t fire back at me. I didn’t think he would.”
Amanda dared to lean back up. She didn’t like being out in the open like this, but she sure was curious to find out why her best friend had risked their lives. “Do tell, love.”
“Whoever that man is,” Sarah explained, “I think he’s infected, too, and waiting to see if we find a cure.” Sarah kept her gun at the ready even though she knew the strange man she had run off had no intention of returning—at least not for the time being. “One tube was stolen—not all three. That’s the key, June Bug. Also,” Sarah pointed out, “Dr. Kraus was left in the kitchen. That’s the second key. And last,” Sarah pointed out, “Noel went through a lot of trouble to make sure we couldn’t leave. Why? All she had to do was explain the obvious—or even kill us. There’s more to this story, June Bug.”
Amanda studied Sarah’s words. “Well, whoever was hiding behind that tree didn’t kill us—” Amanda looked back toward the cabin. “You didn’t seem very worried about leaving Noel alone, either.”
Sarah nodded her head. “I think—and I could be wrong—that Noel is trying to keep me off-guard. She confessed to me earlier that she was afraid that whoever killed Dr. Kraus and took the virus might spray the virus in a large city. Her story didn’t make sense to me. I mean, I suppose it’s possible, but June Bug, as a trained cop, I felt that the woman was trying to make me look to my right instead of my left. And this whole business about the White Cell terror group—it’s possible—but then again, maybe it's not. Maybe,” Sarah said in a careful voice, “Noel is spinning lies in order to hide the obvious truth? I’m trying to process the facts and straighten everything out in my mind—and I admit that I’m hitting a lot of sharp edges—but I think I’m starting to see something tangible I can hold onto.”
Amanda felt confused. “If you tried to spin this tale into a book, your readers would kill you.”
“Tell me about it,” Sarah sighed. She rubbed her temples. “I know Noel isn’t a killer—and I believe she might be telling the truth about certain things—but, June Bug, the woman is—well, she’s out on a very shaky limb talking to birds that just aren’t there.”
“Are you saying she’s a nut?” Amanda asked.
Sarah shrugged her shoulders. “I’m saying I t
hink she’s been through more than a woman in her position can handle.” Sarah reached into her front dress pocket and pulled out a small black device. “I checked the phone while you two were sleeping last night. I found this device. Noel did bug the phone.” Sarah looked around. “I know she doesn’t want to die—I feel she isn’t a bad person—but she’s trying to hide something from us. What? Maybe the man I shot at might be able to tell us. What I do know is that the whole White Cell terror group thing is—possibly not true. I believe the people Noel is working for are the true terror group and she’s trying to protect their identity.”
“Are you saying Noel is still a terrorist?” Amanda gasped.
Sarah bit down on her lower lip. “It’s possible she found out who the people she was working for truly were and had a big change of heart? I don’t know, June Bug. But right now I want to focus on the hot springs. Whoever was watching us will make his presence known soon enough—that is, if we make him think we have a cure. Come on.”
Sarah took Amanda’s hand and walked her the rest of the way down the trail. The trail ended at a large river with a gentle current. “This way,” Amanda said, and pointed to her right. A small trail branched off to the right and ran beside the river. Sarah followed Amanda down the trail for a quarter of a mile and then, to her amazement, she saw what appeared to be two large pools sitting off from the river. The two pools had steam rising up from them. “There they are,” Amanda said, and nodded toward a shallow part of the river. “We have to walk across the river to get to them.”
“That’s fine,” Sarah assured Amanda. She rolled her pant legs up to her knees and stepped into part of the river that actually felt warm instead of cold. “It’s very beautiful back here,” she told Amanda, walking through the river and looking at the two pools of water. The two pools sat a few feet apart, feeding small streams of bubbling water into the river. The pools weren’t very large in size and, Sarah thought, if a person wasn’t looking for them, they could be easily overlooked.
Hot Springs Murder Page 7