by Aysia Amery
Scrunched eyebrows made the menu today.
“Are you familiar with Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None?”
Heads nodded. A few mumbled a yes.
“Jemma and I believe that somebody is recreating that scenario here this weekend.” I paused, ready for the onslaught of attacks.
“What are you talking about?”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Are you crazy?”
People shuffled in their seats. Some mumbled to the person next to them.
Yup, I knew that would be the reaction.
“Hang on, let me explain further.” I sucked in another breath, this time with more volume than the last. I was gonna need it.
“There’s a library just before our room. We found ten Menehune figurines standing in a circle. The first time we saw them there were ten. After Sam went missing we checked again...and there were nine.”
Gasps filled the room, and more mumbling ensued.
“Oh my god. There’s a poem on my wall with the nursery rhyme, but replacing Indians with Menehunes.” Jenn’s eyes reflected her shock.
“I have one too,” someone else chimed in.
“Me too,” others said.
I pulled the one from my jeans and held it up. “Yes, that’s another thing just like the Agatha Christie novel.”
“At first I thought the Hawaiian rendition was cute, but this is scary now.” That was Jenn again.
“Calm down, everyone,” Kat said, holding out her two hands, palms facing the group. “We’re letting our imaginations run wild here. It’s probably a coincidence.”
“Kat, even so, Sam’s missing and Floyd is dead. Heidi can’t assess how he died without an autopsy, but are you willing to risk other people’s lives by dismissing this as just coincidence? We must take precautions in case it’s not.” My breath puffed out of me like a locomotive’s chimney. “We can’t go for help, and help can’t get to us right now. We have to stay together. Nobody should be doing anything without a partner at this point.”
“Okay, I can agree to that,” said Kat. “I just don’t want everyone to panic. In all the years I’ve worked here, we’ve never had a problem like this, ever. This is troublesome.”
“I understand. Do you know who your employer is?” I asked.
“I’ve never met them. I get instructions through email.”
“You can access the Internet from here?”
“No, we have to go up top. Neither Evan nor I live here. We live near the area though. Only when there’s an overnight event, like this one, we’re asked to stay over.”
Chris spoke. “I think you’re jumping the gun here. We don’t know for a fact that Floyd died by foul play.”
“He’s right,” someone said.
“Doc, can you say Floyd died of anything other than natural causes?” Owen asked.
“As I told Ginger, I can’t determine what caused Floyd’s death without an autopsy.”
“I can’t believe somebody has it out for everybody here and wants to kill us. I haven’t done anything to anybody that would merit them wanting to kill me,” Nadine the reporter said.
“Kat told me a story the other night about the family whose photos are on the walls by your rooms. From what she said, all of you fit into that story.”
“What story?”
Too bad none of them were in earshot of hearing it when Kat told it to me.
“Kat, you might need to fill them in on that story,” I said.
After she did so, ‘ashen’ described the color of their skin tone. Seems they remembered that family and the incident years ago.
“Twenty years is a long time to harbor a grudge,” Owen said.
“So Floyd was the foster parent who abused those kids?” Chris asked. “The scumbag. He deserved to be killed.”
“Well according to the story, you were bribed to change your statement. You may not be as big a scumbag as Floyd, but there was no honor in your behavior either.” Jenn crossed her arms as she spoke.
“And aren’t you the mistress?” Nadine’s sarcasm could’ve been served on crackers.
“Okay, everyone, let’s stop with the attacking, please. This doesn’t help our situation.” I felt as though trying to calm down a hornet nest.
How were these people going to partner with each other if they couldn’t get along?
“Ginger, did you check to see if another Menehune was gone?” Heidi leaned forward in her seat.
“No, we didn’t have time to do that yet.”
“Maybe we should go see.”
“That’s a good idea,” someone noted.
Everyone agreed.
When we approached the door, I had to make a confession. “Um, the door’s locked.”
“Where’s the key?” someone asked.
“Kat couldn’t find it.”
“Someone stole the key? How’d you get in?”
“Excuse me, please.” Jemma squeezed her way past a few bodies to where I stood.
“Here’s our lock picker,” I said.
Jemma gave them a sheepish grin sprinkled with sugar.
“Do you do this for a living?” someone asked as we watched Jemma do her thing.
“Yeah, she’s a professional burglar,” I joked.
“I am not!” Jemma halted her task and glared at me.
“I’m kidding,” I told the group with a naughty grin.
“Voila!” my trusty partner-in-crime cried out.
Everyone filed into the library room and headed straight for the table with the Menehune figurines.
A few people gasped.
“Another one’s missing.”
“What the f@%# is going on?” Yup, the marine said that.
“It’s clear that somebody on this property is trying to scare us.” Nadine sized up everyone one by one.
“With one person missing and another dead, ‘scare’ might be the wrong word. I think they want to do more than just scare us,” David said.
“It’s gotta be somebody in this room. Who else would have access to our rooms and the food? A stranger wouldn’t go unnoticed.” Jenn scrutinized our faces.
“She’s right about that.” Owen nodded.
“We don’t know yet if Floyd was murdered. His death could’ve been by natural causes or accidental. As far as Sam, we just don’t know what happened to her. Missing doesn’t mean dead.” Heidi wasn’t convinced yet. “For all we know, someone could be playing a nasty joke on us.”
“What’s the next one in the poem?” Owen asked.
“Eight Menehunes looked toward the heaven, one got leavened and then there were seven,” I read off the sheet.
“How would that one be done?” That was Nadine.
“In bread making, yeast leavens dough.” Heidi beat me to it.
“Leaven could also mean an influence that causes gradual change.” David would know that one.
“And would looking to the heavens be like stargazing? Or religion? I’m not religious, so I probably won’t be the next victim,” Nadine said.
“Or the killer might be religious and want the next victim to repent for their sins, so whether you’re religious or not won’t make a difference.” Owen sure knew how to dampen a person’s wishful thinking.
“I need to get out of here.” Panic engulfed Jenn’s voice.
She pushed past the others and fled the room as though in need of a bathroom.
Quite frankly, I couldn’t blame her for wanting to run. Chills crept into my bones with the thought that somebody in this room might be the murderer.
It wasn’t evident with Sam. In fact, it couldn’t have been anybody here who’d done her in. I was the second to the last in the trail line. Everyone else was ahead of us, so Sam’s disappearance was a mind-boggler.
But with Floyd, if he’d been poisoned, somebody definitely snuck into his room with that bowl of fruit. Nobody outside this group could’ve come through the ranch house without being spotted. There were too many o
f us roaming around the place.
As people ambled out of the library, I wondered who of these eight could’ve killed Floyd.
But again, what about Sam?
Could there be two killers?
Chapter 8
I couldn’t believe I fell asleep again without needing help, and snoozed so soundly throughout the night. Especially with everything that was going on. Weird.
Normally, stressful events caused me to stare at the ceiling until I gave in to melatonin. But sometimes even that didn’t help. I wasn’t complaining though. Glad I slept through my anxiety.
Kat and Evan woke up before us and were busy tending the horses. The weather wasn’t done with its temper-tantrum, but so far this morning it only sobbed. I had no doubt though: the kicking and screaming could start up again at any time.
Jemma and I set out a buffet breakfast, and one at a time the guests entered the dining room and filled their plates.
An hour passed, and everyone except Owen had satisfied their bellies. Yesterday he had plowed through the eggs benedict before most of the other guests had even brushed their teeth.
We’ll give him another fifteen minutes before closing down the buffet.
When his time was up, I said to Jemma, “Can you check on Owen? He’s the only one who hasn’t come down to breakfast yet.”
“Oh, no, I’m not going up there by myself,” she said. “You want me to end up a missing Menehune?”
Hmm. She had a point. We had to stay together. What was I thinking?
“Sorry, Jemma. I completely lost my mind there for a second.” I hoped my apologetic grin would make up for my blunder.
“Yeah. I was a little hurt you’d throw me to the lions like that.” She spanned her hands on her hips.
Okay, Drama Queen got her point across.
“Sheesh, you don’t need to rub it in.” Although I knew she was partially kidding. Partially, mind you.
“You want me to ask Kat to check up on him?” she asked.
“Nah, maybe we’d better just let him sleep.”
“What if he’s dead?” Jemma’s eyes had been popping so much this weekend, you’d think they were spring-loaded.
“They all were told to lock their doors, so I can’t see why he wouldn’t do that. If he didn’t, he’d be an idiot.”
“I hope you’re right. But if somebody else turns up dead, I’m outta here. I don’t care if I have to swim across shark-infested waters.”
I’d rethink that if I were her. She’d stand a better chance running from a maniacal human where if worse came to worst she could defend herself or even escape.
Swimming with the sharks with nowhere to hide and them eyeing her as fish food...umm, I don’t think so. Those were not so good odds.
“You’re not going anywhere without me, so don’t go putting on your fins just yet.”
“You’d better be ready. I’m telling you.”
After another half-hour passed, we closed the buffet and cleaned up the kitchen.
Suddenly, a scream that could’ve shattered glass pierced my ears.
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Jemma dropped a plate, and she looked about to cry.
“Ginger.” Her voice warbled like a warped vinyl record.
I expected Jemma to take off sprinting toward the beach, but thank goodness she followed me instead.
We rushed outside to the back of the ranch house past the carport of food, and there lying on the ground on a bed of sourdough bread loaves was Owen.
Nadine must’ve been the one who screamed. She rocked back and forth, clasping her knees as she sat on the rain-spattered ground. Only Jenn had gotten there before us.
We all just stared at the body. I figured since we had a pathologist among us, she should take the lead.
Heidi appeared next on the scene, then the others. She hit the ground by Owen’s side, lifting his eyelids, and checking for signs of life. But we all knew there wouldn’t be any. Her shoulders drooped, confirming Owen’s days were done.
“Can you tell how he was killed?” I asked.
“Looks like suffocation.”
“How can you tell that?” Jenn asked.
“His eyes are bloodshot, and the skin’s pale around his nose and mouth.” She indicated the areas with a finger. “There’s facial cyanosis as well. Looks like he might’ve been smothered with a pillow.”
“How long do you think he’s been dead?” Me again.
“From the rigor mortis that set in and the pronounced discoloration of livor mortis, I’d say he died over 8 hours ago.”
My watch displayed 10:03 a.m.
“Is there any way to tell if he was killed somewhere else and moved to this location?” It would save me time knowing where his ghost might be lingering.
“If they moved him right away, then livor mortis wouldn’t indicate that, so he could’ve been killed elsewhere. In fact, that might probably be the case. Why would Owen be out here last night after everyone went to bed? Especially in this weather.”
Yeah, Owen would’ve been snuggled in his bed.
I had no more questions for Heidi. Right now I wanted to talk to Owen’s ghost.
While Chris and Evan moved the lawyer’s body to keep Floyd’s corpse company, I took leave upstairs. Jemma stood watch again.
When Owen showed up, I went through my normal spiel when a newbie ghost first appeared to me, then started in on the questions.
“Did you see who murdered you?”
No, he didn’t.
“Do you know how they killed you?”
No, he didn’t.
Hmm. He must’ve been a sound sleeper if someone entering his room or being smothered didn’t awaken him.
But then again, the way I’ve been sleeping these past few nights, that seemed the case for me too.
It was clear. Owen’s ghost had nothing to give me. Like Floyd’s ghost, the killer took him by surprise. Seemed the ghosting process took a while; otherwise, they would’ve gotten a glimpse as they transcended.
When Jemma and I arrived downstairs, the living room buzzed with commotion.
“We have to do something. We can’t just sit here and wait to get murdered,” David said. His usual smiles had been turned upside down.
“It’s still too dangerous with the weather like this.” Kat knew this area well, so she must know what she was talking about.
“We have to try. I’ll volunteer.” A marine might make it through; he certainly had been trained for worse.
“What about your SUV? Shouldn’t that be able to get us out of here? It’s built for rugged terrain, right?” Nadine glanced at Kat, then Evan.
“There’s gonna be floods out there, and not only with the streams and rivers but the roads too. When storms hit, everyone stays put until it’s over.” A crease formed on Kat’s forehead. “Only a tsunami would warrant risking lives to get to higher ground.”
“I’d say a murderer picking us off warrants importance, as would a tsunami evacuation,” Jenn said, her hands waving around as she spoke.
“I agree.” Nadine nodded.
“Yeah, we’re good as dead anyway,” David said.
Kat made eye contact with Evan. He nodded.
“Chris, you and Evan take the Cherokee and see if you can make it out of here.”
Kat finally rescinded.
Everyone sighed, and Mr. Politician put his happy face back on.
“Thank you, Kat,” Jenn said while she slumped back on the sofa.
“Evan, ditch the Cherokee if you guys can’t make it through an area. We’ll retrieve it later when the storm dies.”
Evan nodded at Kat once more.
“You ready?” Evan asked Chris.
“Lead the way.” Chris raised his arm in a way that Evan recognized as a ‘dude hug’ kinda thing. They clasped hands and almost did a chest bump, if their arms weren’t in the way.
When Evan and Chris made ready to leave, I stood in front of the bay window and watched them. O
utside, angry wind gusts rattled the windows and walls. A blanket of dark gray clouds loomed overhead with an ominous threat.
I worried about the two men’s safety even though we weren’t in any less danger.
“Looks like the weather won’t give us a break,” Jemma said as she stood next to me, both of us now regarding the sky’s mood.
I answered her with a guttural sound.
“Ginger,” she said, now facing me with fret in her eyes, “I’m really scared.”
My eyes empathized. “Me too.”
“A part of me wishes that the two guys didn’t leave. They might’ve been able to apprehend the murderer should he show up,” she said.
“It could be a she,” I told her.
“In a way, I hope it is. We might be able to overpower a she.”
“Maybe a he, too.” I smiled, but it lacked confidence.
“Yeah, we’ll kick ‘em in the nuts.” She laughed.
How easy it was to be heroic when not face-to-face with the psychopath.
As I turned away from the window, Kat approached us. Looked as though she needed to talk.
“I know your contract only covered until lunch today, since we weren’t expecting to be stuck here with this storm, but could you continue with your services? I know I can get my employer to agree to the extra payment.”
Hmm. What if her employer was the murderer?
“This has nothing to do with the money, but have you considered that your employer might be the killer? They might be one of the guests here right now.” It was bold but necessary.
“I have.”
It didn’t seem as though she was going to add to that.
“Okay, sure, we’ll continue service, but I’m hoping we’ll all be getting out soon.”
“So do I. And thanks.” Kat smiled her appreciation.
When she left, I turned to Jemma. “Sorry. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Nah, I prefer keeping busy rather than waiting around for my turn to get the axe.”
“Don’t even kid about that, Jemma.” I again thanked the heavens that Reese wasn’t here. “Hopefully we’ll be the two left standing. Remember, there’s only ten Menehunes.”
“Yeah, but what if they’re Kat and Evan? Or one of them and the murderer? Both ways, we’re screwed.” Her lips curved a frown.