by Jessica Beck
There were a few murmured protests, but after everyone had seen the way he’d handled Janelle, no one was willing to say anything out loud. “Don’t worry, even if you fail tonight, you won’t go hungry. You see, there’s a time limit on the challenge. Anyone not back here by nine o’clock will get a cheese sandwich and a bottle of water. That’s fair, isn’t it?”
“What’s the first puzzle?” Georgia asked, obviously intent on being finished first.
“It’s in the display case in the front hall. Oh, there’s one more thing. Cheating won’t be tolerated.” Was he looking at Georgia and Janelle as he said that? “You must visit every solution yourself, and if you don’t, I’ll know it.”
We all looked at each other, and a few folks started to stand when Hank added, “Sit back down. This is a team challenge as well. I want to see how well you work with others. Dina, since you weren’t invited to this event, you won’t be participating.”
“Does that mean that I don’t get to eat?” she asked him petulantly.
Hank considered the question, and then he smiled as he said, “If all of the other teams solve the riddles, then you will dine with us. Otherwise, you’ll have to eat with the losers. If you are unhappy with that proposal, you’re free to leave at any time.”
“No, that sounds fine to me,” she said, though it was clear that it was anything but.
Hank nodded, and then he pulled out a large hat as he explained, “I’ve entered each of your names into the drawing, so the pairings will be fair.”
I looked at Grace, who shrugged apologetically. I frowned in return, but I didn’t hold it very long. After all, this silly contest hadn’t been her idea, so I could hardly blame her for it.
“Suzanne Hart,” Hank called out from the front. “Stand up, please.”
I did as instructed, though for a moment, I thought about refusing his order. I wasn’t in the mood to play his game, but I was there representing Grace, so I couldn’t let her down. I stood up, and he drew the next name. “Nicole Thurman,” he announced.
At least I’d been paired with someone I liked. I would have chosen Grace if I’d been given the option, but this might not be too bad.
We smiled at each other, and Hank said, “Well, what are you waiting for? Go.”
“That’s not fair,” Georgia said. “They get a head start.”
“This game, much like life, never claimed to be fair,” Hank replied.
I nodded to Grace as Nicole and I left.
“Good luck,” she said.
“Right back at you.”
“Sorry about this,” Nicole said as we walked out into the lobby. “I’m afraid that Hank thinks he’s clever. He’s writing a motivational book, if you can believe that. I don’t know what I ever saw in him in the first place.”
“Well, he’s certainly good looking, in a rugged kind of way,” I said.
Nicole frowned. “I know. That’s what trapped me in the first place. Unfortunately, that pretty wrapping conceals a fairly obnoxious gift inside.”
“It’s interesting to find a man working in the cosmetics industry, isn’t it?” I asked her.
“His mother was one of the company’s founders, so she found a place for her son when he couldn’t hold a job doing anything else. Never mind Hank, though. Why don’t we try to make this fun in spite of him?”
“That sounds good to me,” I said as I headed for the bulletin board I’d studied earlier.
There was a new addition to it.
The world is full of amazing things,
Puzzles are everywhere.
Who knows just what our fortune brings,
When we try hard enough to dare?
“Wow, that’s a really weak poem,” Nicole said with the hint of a smile. “Hank fancies himself a wordsmith, and he used to write me poetry that was every bit as bad as this. What is this even supposed to mean?”
“Unless I’m mistaken, it’s got the answer in the very first line,” I said as I headed for the front door. “I can’t believe that he actually used the word ‘maze’ in his clue.”
“Honestly, that’s kind of clever,” Nicole said as she joined me. “Do we have to solve the maze out front? I’ve never been good at that sort of thing.”
“Don’t worry, I’m a seasoned pro at it.”
When we got to the maze’s entrance, I was ready to start inside right away when Nicole asked, “What’s under here?” as she lifted the lid I’d checked out earlier.
She was right, of course. Why try to solve the maze ourselves when the solution had already been presented to us? She lifted the lid, and I moved in to study the solution.
It read, “Two lefts, two rights, one left, one right,” and it showed a diagram as well.
We both went in together, and with the map in my head, we quickly found the center.
Surprise, surprise. The next clue was there indeed, along with three duplicates of the cheap childhood plastic game where little steel balls had to be led through a maze by moving the entire game from side to side. I’d had one as a child, but I’d grown bored with it after quickly mastering its secrets. The sign said, “Take One,” so I did, and we moved on to the next clue.
“Water, water, everywhere,
And tasks before you’re fed,
Look around but try not to stare,
At the angles above your head.”
“Did he mean to write ‘angels’”? Nicole asked me.
“I don’t think so,” I said as I puzzled it out aloud. “Water implies proximity to the lake, and angles means that it must be in a structure nearby.”
“Does that mean that we should go to the boathouse?” Nicole suggested.
“No, unless I miss my guess, it’s got to be the gazebo,” I said, heading out of the maze in reverse order of the way that we’d come in. “The clue about angles gives it away. The boathouse is locked, but I can still see that it’s a rectangle, while the gazebo is an octagon, full of all kinds of odd angles.”
“How did you know that?” Nicole asked me as we broke out of the maze. Grace was just coming out of the lodge, with Georgia in the lead. She looked unhappy about the pairing, and who could blame her? There was nothing I could do about it, though, so I waved to her as we rushed forward.
The floor and benches of the gazebo were devoid of any further clues, but between two rafters, there was a new clue, as well as three little octagons made of wood and painted green. Nicole grabbed a piece as I read the puzzle.
This next clue is hidden among the trees,
Though they’ve never been alive,
You’ll have to get down on your hands and knees,
Or of dinner you will be deprived.
“Clumsy rhythm to the rhyme,” Nicole said, puzzled. “But what does it mean?”
I thought about it for a few moments, and then I realized that the cottage names were all trees, and the stones forming them had never been alive. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” Nicole asked.
“To the cottages,” I said as I raced toward them.
“But what’s the clue mean?”
“It has to be the names of the cottages themselves: Pine, Spruce, Fir, Hemlock.”
“I’m beginning to think I lucked out in the partner drawing,” Nicole said.
“I’ve always been fond of puzzles,” I said.
The only problem was that we couldn’t find the next clue when we got there.
Chapter 6
I was about to give up when Nicole said, “Suzanne! Over here! I found it!”
I joined her in the narrow space between Pine and Spruce and found her literally down on her knees. “It was under this big rock,” she said.
I looked at the hiding place and realized that this particular stone didn’t match any of the others I’d seen at the resort. When I lifted it, it
came up with surprising ease.
Nicole grinned at me. “That fooled me, too. It’s made from Styrofoam.”
“Nice spot,” I said.
Underneath the rock, there was another puzzle and three small river stones, smoothed from ages of being exposed to running water. Nicole grabbed a stone in triumph as I read the next clue.
Some fires burn bright
But some are for show
This one is light
But cannot glow
I stared at it a few seconds, and then I turned to Nicole. “Sorry, but I’m stumped by this one. I don’t have a clue.”
“Neither do I,” she admitted.
Out loud, I asked, “How can a fire be for show only here? The only fireplaces I saw in the main lodge were real ones.”
“Let’s think about it. What can be a fire for show?” she asked me.
“My aunt had a heater that displayed fake flames,” I said, “but something like that seems out of place here.”
“What choice do we have? It’s the only idea we’ve been able to come up with, so it’s worth a shot, but where do we start?”
I thought about it for a moment before I spoke. “It would have to be in a public space, wouldn’t it? How about the lodge? Have you seen anything like he’s describing?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not there. Let’s go check,” she said.
“I’m not at all certain that we’re even getting warm with this guess,” I replied as we headed back to where we’d started this silly game.
“It’s more than I’ve been able to come up with, so we might as well try,” she said.
We went inside the main lodge to find Hank waiting for us. He wasn’t smiling, though he should have been. After all, he was controlling this little party, and I was fairly certain that he wouldn’t miss tonight’s meal, even if he had to eat alone. “How are you two doing so well? This was supposed to be harder than you’re making it seem.”
Nicole smiled at him. “That’s because Suzanne’s good with puzzles.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Nicole. You’ve been helping, too,” I said.
“Well, the next clue’s the toughest of all,” Hank said with wicked delight.
“Is it fair, though? That’s the real question,” I asked him.
Hank scowled at me, his attractiveness dissipating like fresh rain on a hot pavement. “Are you accusing me of something, Suzanne?”
Nicole stepped between us. “She just wants to know if this puzzle is solvable.”
He shrugged slightly. “It’s not easy, if that’s what you’re asking, but if you’re smart enough, you’ll be able to figure it out.”
I wanted nothing more at that moment than to wipe that smug look off his face. He could keep his gourmet meal; I just wanted to win now. “Come on, Nicole. Let’s get busy with our search.”
Hank was still frowning at me, but I couldn’t care less if I tried. Where could the next clue be hiding? I looked around the fireplace, which was blazing now, but there was nothing there. I happened to glimpse Hank, and I saw that he was smiling broadly. It just made me more determined than ever to figure this out. There were no other fires in the reception area, though.
Nicole came over and asked me softly, “Suzanne, are we sure about this?”
“No. I mean yes,” I quickly amended.
“Why the sudden change of heart?”
“Would Hank have been waiting for us if the next clue hadn’t been here?” I asked. “Or would he have been out on the front porch where he could watch us all scurrying around like mice? It’s somewhere nearby. I can feel it in my bones.”
“Then let’s keep looking.”
Nicole started leafing through the magazines and books, while I studied the room as a whole. I’d noticed the photographs and paintings on my earlier visit. Could a clue be hidden among them? It all suddenly made sense. The fire could be printed or painted, giving off the appearance of light but without heat! And both were meant for show, just as the clue warned.
I approached Nicole and told her my theory quietly so Hank couldn’t overhear me.
“It’s got to be it,” she said. “You take that side, and I’ll start over here.”
As we moved along the walls and started studying the paintings and photographs, I looked over at Hank again and saw that his frown had returned. We were onto something!
Two minutes later, Nicole called out, “Here it is! I found it!”
I joined her at a large framed photograph I’d somehow missed before. It had been treated with something to make it appear old, but there was something about it that made me realize that it wasn’t original to the lodge. The scene was one of nighttime, and a familiar-looking fire pit blazed in its center. That was it. No words, no cheesy poetry, just the fire pit. I was about to tell Nicole it was a red herring when I spotted three wooden matches lined up on the bottom edge of the frame.
“These must be the tokens,” I said as I grabbed one.
“But where’s the clue?” she asked.
I thought about it, and then I realized what it had to mean. “I’ve got a hunch that this one’s literal. There’s a fire pit out by the lake. The next clue’s got to be there.”
Hank had tried to listen to our whispered conversation, but he hadn’t had any luck from the signs of frustration on his face. “Play along with me. This might be fun,” I said softly to her, and then, in a much louder voice for Hank’s benefit, I added, “I don’t know, Nicole. Maybe he’s stumped us with this one after all.”
“Let’s go back to the last clue and see if we missed something,” she said and then winked at me.
Hank looked absolutely triumphant when we left the lodge.
Instead of wandering around, though, we headed straight to the fire pit by the lake.
There, inside the empty pit, were three bottle rockets and a short note.
“Congratulations! You’ve won!
Make it back to the dining room in time,
Get yourself ready for some fun,
Then you’ll have a chance to fine dine!”
“That’s the worst one yet,” Nicole said. “Do we take this back with us, too?” she asked as she picked up one of the bottle rockets.
“No, I think we’re supposed to shoot it off with the match we found in the lodge. That’s how Hank will know if anyone is trying to cheat. Would you like to do the honors?” I asked her as I handed her the match.
“No, we couldn’t have done it without you,” Nicole said. “You go ahead.”
I placed our rocket in one of the three empty soda bottles lined up outside the pit and lit the fuse. Taking a step back to rejoin Nicole, we watched as it shot upward and arched over the lake, exploding at the end of its flight and sending sparks cascading down to the water.
“What do we take back, the burnt match or the bottle? There’s no way we can retrieve that rocket from where it landed.”
“Let’s take them both,” I said. I noticed the other teams watching us. Grace was the only one smiling.
We made it back to the front porch, where Hank was waiting on us. “I have to admit, that was clever,” he said. “Do you have the talismans?” He wanted to deny us our victory; I could see it in his gaze.
I laid them out, one at a time: the game, the octagon, the burnt match, and the bottle.
“Sorry. That’s not right,” he said smugly.
“What? It has to be,” Nicole protested. “We did everything by the book. If you didn’t want us to fire off that rocket, why give us matches in the first place? You said you’d play fair, Hank!”
“I have,” he said smugly, glancing down at our tokens again.
That’s when I got it. I reached for the puzzle and saw him scowling again. In thirty seconds, I had every ball in its proper place and put the game back down caref
ully so I wouldn’t dislodge any of them.
“How about now?” I asked.
He nodded, his lips making two grim little lines.
“So, when do we eat?” I asked him happily. I didn’t care if I made him mad or not. After all, he wasn’t my boss.
“When it’s time,” Hank said stiffly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, the others are still working on their puzzles.” He was nearly at the door when he said, “I meant what I said about not cheating. You are not to give hints, clues, gestures, glances, or any other form of assistance to any of the others, or you will be disqualified. Is that understood?”
Nicole nodded, but I chose to salute instead.
After Hank was gone, she giggled like a teenager. “He didn’t like that one bit, did he?”
“That’s just too bad,” I said. “Let’s go see how the others are doing. We might not be able to help them, but we can at least be there to lend moral support.”
Chapter 7
It was close, but a few minutes before the deadline was upon us, the last pairing of Janelle and Celia made it in, carrying their tokens with them. I noted that Janelle had solved the puzzle on the walk in, and when they were in place, matching ours, Hank put on a false smile. “Very well. Everyone accomplished their tasks. Let’s eat, shall we?”
We all followed him into the dining room, where a sumptuous meal was waiting for us. We dined on crab puffs, shrimp cocktail, roast pork, salmon, glazed asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and for dessert, there was a choice between chocolate mousse or fresh berries and cream. I would never have admitted it to Hank, but it had been a meal worth every moment we’d spent working for it.
After the meal was finished, I found myself yawning, and not just because of the feast. It was nearing my bedtime, and I was having a hard time staying awake.
I approached Grace and Nicole, who were deep in conversation about something business related. “If you all don’t mind, I think I’m going to call it a night.”