Cruise to Murder (Z & C Mysteries, #2)

by Kane, Zoey

  “What do we do?” Claire yelled.

  “Push, pull handles and knobs until you get results!” answered Zo. They yanked and pounded, pulling what might even remotely resemble a button, level or drop-rope.

  Something worked, because the boat dropped suddenly and then eased on down the few stories of the ship, until it landed in the waves, sending Zo sprawling.

  The engine started up and the two looked forward, seeing Butch seemed to know what he was doing. “Where to, ladies?”

  “To the Koona Caves.”

  “What? Not there!”

  “Claire, call 911 and tell them to meet us back at the well at Mr. Belmont’s cottage.”

  “Mom, I don’t have my phone. I lost it running.”

  “I’ll call.” Butch opened his phone and began punching in the numbers.

  “You ought to get an up-to-date phone, Butch.”

  A shot was fired and then four more. Everyone ducked down. Then one more rang out. A man could be seen in the moonlight falling off the ship into the waters far below. Then nothing.

  The boat bounded softly over the waves, with just the lull of the engine and sea spray to the face. Everyone was silent. The dark ocean, with its moonlit silver crests, was very comforting.

  The only thing moving within the boat was a pair of ears.

  “What’s that?” Claire pointed.

  Butch turned and looked. “We have a stowaway.”

  It was the bunny. His ears flattened against his back, since being noticed.

  “Are you running away from Larry the Great again? You look so dashing in your black bow tie with white polka dots.” Zo smiled.

  He twitched his little pink nose.

  “I’ll take that as a yes you are.”

  As they closed in on shore, the smoke from Belmont’s shrouded the cliffs and caves. The ladies repositioned themselves, sitting next to each other along one side of the boat. Their hair blew back from the wind. Butch was silent as he stood at the helm, pulling a lever to slow down.

  Claire put an arm around her mother. “We’re going in, huh?”

  “I’ve never been one to completely run away. Let’s face the demon, which is a whole lot easier since we’ve called the police to meet us there.”

  A corner of Claire’s mouth turned up in an anticipating smile.

  Butch eased on the gas some more as they neared the shore, then suddenly jumped out into the three feet of water, pulling a rope, so the boat’s bottom was against the sand. Zo and Claire climbed out, stepping into the cold water. Claire grabbed the bunny before walking up the beach. Butch tied the rope around a large stone.

  “Well, ladies…,” he put his hands on his hips, going over to them, “are you sure you want to enter the Koona Caves? We can always stop for a drink and just dance the night away.”

  “We’re sure,” the mother and daughter said resolutely.

  “Okay, okay.” He put his arms up in a surrendering stance. “Which cave? And what are you looking for anyway?” He narrowed his dark eyes.

  “The one by the well,” Claire said, “and we are not sure.”

  “As long as it isn’t in the stinky one, ’cause that is where you two are on your own.” He waved his hands to wipe the thought out of the air.

  “Oh, why not?!” Zo asked. “Just because it has a warning sign and no trespassing sign? Where’s your testosterone?”

  “Yeah,” Claire added. “Just because we might reek of fish a week or two is no big deal.”

  “Mama!” Butch exclaimed. “Belmont’s is burned down, girls. What could you possibly do up there?”

  Zo and Claire looked to each other, hesitant.

  “Okay, you two need to tell me what is up, before I go with you further. What do you know? What trouble are you getting me into?”

  Zo spoke. “The ship is on lockdown right now; voodoo dolls are hitching rides with me; there have been three murders thus far—Mrs. Belmont, Blondie and Mr. Belmont; hoodlums are trying to get a pin that I found; and crazed natives are chasing us, trying to make bone necklaces out of us. And then, there is the fire.” She breathed in.

  “In other words, Butch, we are in deep voodoo doodoo and need to solve the puzzle.” Claire raised her brows. “…Reminds me of a recent situation.” She thought of The Riddles of Hillgate.

  “Well, you’re right about crazed natives. I’ve been after your mother since I threw a flaming spear at her table in a love dance. Have you thought of just handing over the pin to the troublemakers?” Butch continued, “If that seems to be what they want?”

  “Nah, I would rather be cursed, strangled by a zombie, chased, shot at, have dead people grab me, be in a fight with a man with a knife, and cause a dog and a man to spontaneously combust in a temper tantrum,” Zo affirmed, nodding.

  “Besides, we’re too deep into this mystery now,” Claire said matter-of-factly. “We couldn’t take ourselves out of it if we tried. If we just handed over the pin, I am sure we would be killed, anyway.”

  “We would be killed! That’s what I overheard.”

  Butch folded his arms, placing a finger over his lip in consternation. “Okay. Let me see this pin again.”

  Zo pulled it out from under her shirt. She lifted it up toward the moon. The light shined through the iridescent broach. “There is a tunnel that leads from the well down to the caves. And it says here, ‘Go the second mile.’”

  “We better go to Mr. Belmont’s well then.” He stuck the pin in his pocket. “I’ll bring some of the extra rope from the boat, in case we need it.”

  Claire nodded. “Sounds good. I wish we had a flashlight.”

  “The boat should have one of those in its emergency box!” Butch said, and started jogging back over to it. “…And flares and other things we may need. Maybe some beef jerky!”

  When he returned, he asked, “What makes you think that the people who caused this fire, or the zombies, are not around? I mean, if you are right and this is a sinister, crazy ring of people?”

  “Oooh, didn’t think about that one.” Zo frowned. “Claire, be a good girl and wait for Mom in the boat.”

  “Hah! No way.”

  “Alright then. Let’s go… Anyone see any red and blue flashing lights?”

  “We have to get up the sandy hill a bit before we can tell that.” Claire started walking while cuddling the bunny, stroking his back.

  Finally, they were standing in front of the burned down cottage. “I didn’t know fires like this smelled this strong.” Zo wrinkled her nose.

  The cottage looked like tossed match sticks burned to the end. The remaining stone chimney and stone elevation stood as a monument.

  “No cops yet, Mom.”

  Butch began patting all his pockets. “Uh, ladies. I didn’t actually complete that call. Remember all the shots fired and then the guy committed suicide with the last shot? It distracted me, and I really don’t remember anything about my phone since then. I’ll run back to the boat and look for it.” He turned and trotted toward the boat, disappearing down the hill.

  “Suicide? Like that other weirdo that cornered me in my room?” Zo addressed. “Will the mayhem ever stop?”

  “If they were suicides. And not the murdering of zombies who botched their assignments.”

  The bunny suddenly jumped out of Claire’s arms and hopped over to the well. He made a final hop to the well’s stone rim, looked down a moment and then leaped down into it.

  “Well, Alice, I guess we better go over and see why the bunny went down the hole,” said Zo.

  “We can’t see down a hole at night without a flashlight, Mother. Where’s Butch?”

  They headed for the slope of the hill to see what was keeping him. When they looked down, they didn’t see Butch… or the boat.

  “What did I tell you? Wee-wee-wee. Of course, you know what this means… His lips can never touch mine.”

  “That’ll teach him, Mom. Look, there’s a flashlight on the ground, there.” She pointed. “I’ll get it.
”

  When Claire got back up the hill, she complained, “I am so disappointed in Butch. But, at least he threw the flashlight onto the beach for us.”

  “Yeah, remind me to take it back to the ship when this is all over, so I can shine it in his face and spotlight him as a coward.”

  “I still want to look down the well. I don’t see anyone to be afraid of, so let’s not leave here until we see what is at the bottom.”

  They both were leaning into the well and the glow of the flashlight was shining back on their faces in the dark.

  “Okay, there’s a metal ladder going down the side of the well’s wall, all the way to the dry dirt floor. What say we climb down just to take a peek? If we don’t think it is safe to go any further, we’ll come back up and take a cab to the police station.”

  Claire’s plan seemed reasonable to Zo. So down they went, Claire leading with the flashlight.

  When they reached the bottom, they both peered further down into the tunnel, which amounted to hewn-out stone and dirt with wooden beams holding it all up.

  “I guess it wouldn’t hurt just to walk a little ways down,” Claire whispered.

  “Okay,” Zo agreed. “I don’t see any bunny. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were the mastermind of all of these goings on.”

  They walked a ways with no incident, so they walked a ways further, always ready to run, listening for any sound that would cause them to turn around. The tunnel suddenly took a turn. As the two came around the bend, they stood at the mouth of a dark cavern. “What do you want to do now, Mom?”

  “Shall we shine a light in?”

  Claire flashed the light in and saw that it was somewhat of a small arena. They entered carefully.

  “Wow. I’m guessing a cave behind the caves.” Claire moved her flashlight around the cavern and saw other tunnels leading off. As she turned with her light in the direction she came from, she was shocked to see two bare-skinned men with bone necklaces, loincloths, feather headdresses, tribal tattoos, and red painted faces. “Mother, we have a situation.”

  Zo turned around and to her horror the natives looked at her through vacant eyes.

  CHAPTER TEN

  She took Claire by the wrist and started backing up slowly. “Normally, the sight of bare-chested men would make me happy. Not right now… Run!”

  They sprinted past the men, the light of the flashlight shaking along as they went.

  “Turn out your flash light and follow my pull as we run for that opening,” she whispered in Claire’s ear.

  The light went out and they started running in the remembered direction around the zombie-looking men for the cave opening, when (pop-pop-pop) lights went on around the cave walls. They were soon taken in the hands of the two huge men. Other men of the same appearance stood up and walked out from behind rock formations, which previously concealed them. Zo and Claire were brought to the middle of the arena.

  There was a raised stone platform in front. Everyone stood silently looking to it and waiting. Soon the white bunny with the polka dotted bowtie hopped up and sat down in the middle of it.

  “See there, Claire? He is the ring leader, mastermind. Just like I suspected.” None of the men moved a muscle and continued to stare directly ahead.

  A figure in a gilded face mask plumed with colorful feathers came to the platform. He had long, black hair that was decorated with red beads. The bunny hopped away. He, too, had a bone necklace, but also had a more modest covering of a golden material around his waist. A follower handed him a staff with a lighted crystal globe. The staff itself was carved in a swirl to the bottom. He looked in the direction of the mother and daughter, speaking in a deep, microphoned voice—“You may speak.”

  “You must be a techno-Koona of whom would be—cannibals?” asked Zo.

  “Mother…” Claire hoarsely whispered in distress.

  The leader laughed. “You would be techno-cally right.” He continued, “You have conveniently interrupted our meeting tonight, but you are welcome. In fact, you are invited to our feast. Ha ha ha. Bring two poles and bind them.”

  Two men ran forward with two round, six inch poles in width, and staked them into the middle of the dirt arena. Then Zo and Claire were bound to them.

  The figure raised his hand and pointed out to the left. “Mr. D.J., would you provide us with inspirational music?”

  Kettle drums began pulsing and the men circled with their spears and lit them on fire. “We keep a little of the old tradition, Zo and Claire.”

  “You know our names?” asked Claire.

  “How could we not? You have been awful nuisances.”

  “Why didn’t you eat Mr. Belmont?” called Zo. “Aren’t you behind the murders?”

  A tribal man pointed a fiery spear at her throat. “Not so fast, Mr. Sergeant at Arms. Let us mind our manners. We have no reason to rush here.” The leader continued, “There is evil all around. Even within well-dressed, affluent, educated people. Mr. Belmont was up to his fingertips in greed and warmongering. He was also a liar, who was pretending to still be financially stable. He got what he deserved.”

  “What about Mrs. Belmont?” Claire was now confident enough to ask.

  “Mrs. Belmont? She was a victim of jealousy. Another woman murdered her, who was just as greedy as Belmont. We had nothing to do with her. We only murder as-needed. For instance, you have threatened our society’s well-being by nosing around. We are a secret society.”

  “One more question.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Kane. By all means, a last request.”

  “What then is your main purpose in these caves? Secrecy and murder? There has to be a better reason than cannibalism. I don’t know that I take you for being a standard Koona Cannibal.”

  “Very discerning. Oh, we are warmongers also. Except ours is as necessary. Mr. Belmont’s reason was money—Capitalism. Ours is for a better life. We would take down Imperialistic nations and bring peace to the world.”

  “Peace by force. Imagine that. How are you going to achieve that holed-up in caves?”

  “Time to move on with the entertainment.” The drums picked up again. He raised both arms and the men yelled together, “Ho!” and began to step-dance and chant around Zo and Claire. Every so often the natives would all rush to a duo who held spears pointed at the women, and then would rush backward to their larger circle.

  A large ornate chair was brought for the chief to sit on. He was served a drink as he watched the evening’s festivities. Pretty soon, it appeared the chief was nodding off, as his masked head would droop. A definite snore soon resounded out from his unseen microphone. The dancers continued their routine, closing in on the mother and daughter, and then marching backwards into their circle.

  When the circle closed in the next time, one of the dancers pointed a red hot spear tip at Zo. He spoke in words that were not in sync with the chant, but kept the beat to blend in. “When your ropes drop—run out the way—you came in. Ho! Wait for Claire’s ropes—to drop. Hoooo hah!”

  Zo could see that Claire heard the same message, because she gave a knowing look to the native. She could feel the heat of her rescuer’s blade near her wrists. Seconds later, with the help of the same glowing hot blade, a loose part of Claire’s ropes, behind her back, were burned and cut.

  After one more circled approach, Zo felt her ropes drop against her palms. She held on to them, until Claire’s hands were completely free.

  With the next retreat of the natives into the larger ring, Zo went and grabbed Claire. They ran between some of the chanters, who didn’t even blink, out of the arena.

  But this time they had no flashlight and Claire who was ahead, called back to her mom, “Take hold of the neck of my blouse, I’ll keep a hand touching the wall, so we don’t get lost.”

  Zo listened. They only fell once. They got back up, reorganized and took off again. Finally, they saw a pool of light from what had to be the moon shining down the well.

  After reaching the top of the well,
Claire made sure she helped her mother out. “I feel another scream, Mom.”

  Zo began to cry. “Come on! I can cry and run, too. Let’s get out of here.

  As they ran Zo said, “All I could think about is watching my sweet daughter killed right before my eyes.”

  “Thank God, Mom, we were helped, so we could escape. Nobody ran after us. How would you explain that? Where are we going?”

  “Just keep running! It will come to us.” About that time Zo could hear another set of feet running. As she turned to see what lunatic was behind her, the bunny whizzed on by them.

  “He looks like he is late for a very important date. Follow him!”

  The bunny stopped every once in a while and looked back at them taking time to chew a little cud. As soon as the girls would get close enough, he would take off again.

  Pretty soon they ended up at a resort hotel, called Sea Winds. It had thatched roofs, palm trees, a pale blue lighted swimming pool and soft music wafting through the eaves. The bunny stopped at the lobby’s brass doors. Claire picked him up and walked inside.

  Soon the Kanes were standing at the front desk, the bunny sitting in front of the receptionist. “We need a room,” Claire said, trying to compose herself.

  The woman registrar looked at the sweaty, dirty, messy women with a judgmental eye. “You have no luggage?”

  “No,” answered Claire.

  “No purses with ID… and a rabbit who is dressed appropriately.”

  “True,” acknowledged Claire.

  “I’m afraid the policy of this hotel does not allow for transients,” the woman said, looking down over her glasses and narrow nose.

  “Hand me the telephone and I can clear up your concern immediately,” Zo insisted.

  “We don’t allow personal calls from the desk phones. There is a pay phone in the lobby there.”

  Zo reached over the desk counter and picked up the phone, lifted the receiver, and pushed in a phone number.

  “Hi, Lew. This is Zoey Kane. Claire and I are standing at the reception desk of Sea Winds Resort Hotel. I wonder if you can vouch for us with the lady here, because we don’t have luggage or a purse… and our makeup and hair is a mess… And, we have a rabbit with us… Yes. You guessed correctly. You know us too well.” Zo laughed. “I will be calling the police. We are okay, thanks… Sure.” She handed the phone to the astonished registrar. “He wants to talk to you.”