Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3

by Karen McQuestion

  Mallory took charge. “Time to get back to the room, Jameson, before you get us all in trouble.”

  “Try this.” Jameson swung around and held a drink out to me. It was light green in color and frothy on top, like a glass of beer with a good head. It smelled like limeade. I took a generous sip.

  “Nadia!” Mallory said.

  “What? I wanted to try it.” I moved the glass in circles to watch the lovely liquid swirl. “What’s it called?”

  “That, my friend, is a Pisco Sour, a traditional favorite here in Peru. Some people say it reminds them of a margarita.” He punched Russ in the shoulder. “Old Russell here had never heard of it. I guess they didn’t have anything about it on Wikipedia.”

  “It tastes pretty good,” I admitted. Mallory took the glass out of my hands and took a sip of her own before setting it back down in front of Jameson.

  “They do go down smooth,” Jameson said, throwing back the rest and then shakily sliding the glass down to where the bartender stood. “Yes they do. They go smooth all the way down.” He pointed to the floor. My eyes followed his gesture, but there was nothing there.

  “Time to go, buddy,” Russ said.

  “Not just yet,” Jameson said and then swiveled to face the bar. “Señor Bartender, Un trago más, por favor.”

  “I am closing up now,” the bartender said, giving us a grateful smile. “It was very nice to meet all of you.”

  “The bar is closing,” Mallory said. “Time to go to bed.”

  “We’re going to bed? Oh Mallory, I had no idea.” His shrill laughter made my spinal cord vibrate. I realized that I’d never heard him laugh before. Probably a good thing.

  “Watch it,” Russ said. “You’re starting to make an ass of yourself.”

  “Starting to?” I muttered.

  “Thanks for the drinks,” Jameson told the bartender before sliding off his stool onto rubber legs. Russ moved quickly to keep him from falling. Surprisingly, Jameson accepted his help and looped an arm around his neck.

  “You are welcome. Ees no problem.” said the bartender, removing the glass. He was wiping the counter when we left.

  Jameson swayed as he walked, and Mallory got on the other side to steady him. His head bobbed up and down and he kissed the top of Mallory’s head. “You got nice hair,” he said, loopily. “Did I ever tell you how nice your hair is? It’s pretty and it smells really good...” He paused to pet her, which threw all three off balance, forcing Russ to stop and get a better grip on our drunken friend.

  “We can talk about my hair later,” Mallory said to Jameson. “Let’s just concentrate on getting back to the room.”

  We decided to take the elevator up to the fourth floor and then switch to the stairs from there to the fifth floor, to avoid the ding of the elevator which could possibly wake up the adults in our group. Getting Jameson up the stairs was another story. Gravity was against us, and he wasn’t helping. I followed in the rear and steadied his back with both hands. If they lost their grip he’d fall on top of me and we’d both be in a very bad way. “How come you’re not drunk?” I asked Russ.

  “I stopped after two,” he said. “And I’m bigger than he is so it doesn’t affect me as much.”

  “No,” Jameson said, pounding his chest, “I’m bigger.”

  “You’re taller,” Russ pointed out, “but I weigh more.”

  When we reached our floor, Mallory popped her head around the corner and gave the all clear. We made our way slowly down the hall. When we got to the guys’ room, Mallory helped steady Jameson, while Russ opened the door. Once we made it inside and Russ had flicked on the lights, I breathed a sigh of relief. “Put him on the bed,” Mallory ordered, while Jameson protested that he could take care of himself.

  They were lowering him onto the bed and I was following behind when I tripped over something solid and heavy. After I caught my balance, I looked down to see what I’d stumbled over. A rock. A good-sized rock wrapped in paper, all of which was held in place by a large rubber band. I leaned over to pick it up. It was as big as a softball and heavy. “Russ, what’s this?” I held it in both hands.

  Russ threw a glance my way. “I don’t know. Where’d you get it?” Meanwhile, Jameson pulled Mallory onto the bed next to him and she was unsuccessfully trying to get out of his grasp.

  “It was on the floor right here.” I gestured to the spot. He came over to my side and looked it over, then pulled the sheet of paper off the rock. “I have no idea. I’ve never seen it before.” Russ pulled the paper out from underneath the rubber band. “There’s something written here,” he said, unfolding it.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Nadia

  He read aloud, “Go home, Americans. Leave now or face a horrible death.”

  “What?” Mallory said, jumping up to take a look.

  Jameson slurred, “Dude, that is so not cool.”

  “I didn’t write it,” Russ pointed out. “I’m just reading what it says.”

  Mallory and I crowded around to get a look at the note. The paper was basic white printer paper, creased from being wrapped around the rock. The message was handwritten in all capital letters. I got a whiff of Sharpie marker, which made me think it had been written recently. “How awful,” Mallory said. “Who would have done this?”

  “The Associates?” A good guess on my part. Mallory’s eyes grew wide.

  “Whoever it was came into our room while we were in the bar.” Russ had a pensive expression, like he was working out a problem. “They’d have to have access to a room key to get in. They must have watched to see us leave, so they knew when the coast was clear. Maybe whoever did it has a room on this floor? Or else they work at the hotel.”

  “Or they bribed someone who works here,” I said.

  Jameson mumbled. “What kind of horrible death? Like are they talking about torture or decapitation or what…?” He made a slicing gesture across his own throat.

  “Don’t even talk like that,” Mallory said. “You’re scaring me.” I sensed her fear and I tried to push it away because I didn’t want it. “We have to show this to Mr. Specter right away,” Mallory said, starting to get frantic. “He said we can knock on his door anytime.”

  “Wait a minute.” Russ held up a hand. “Let’s think this through for a minute. If we talk to him now, he’ll want to know why we’re all up. And he’ll want to know why we weren’t in the room when the rock showed up.”

  “Yeah, but…” Mallory wasn’t convinced.

  “And we all smell like liquor,” Russ pointed out.

  “And what if he sees Jameson like this?” I added. Jameson was examining the back of his hand and giggling to himself. “That’s going to be a huge problem.”

  “So we’re supposed to just let it go? Maybe bring it up over breakfast?” she said. “Oh, by the way, we got a death threat last night? That’s no good.”

  “I don’t think we should say anything at all,” Russ said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think we should keep it to ourselves,” he said. “Not tell them at all.”

  “Not mention that someone wants to kill us? Are you insane?” Her voice pierced the air, and both Russ and I shushed her at the same time. “Don’t shush me,” she said. “I’m not going to shut up when my life is in danger.”

  “I don’t think our lives are in danger,” Russ said. “Look, it’s a piece of paper, wrapped around a rock. With sloppy printing. It doesn’t say anything specifically. I think it’s meant to scare us. We’re being tested.”

  Mallory looked up at him with her big dark eyes and put a hand on her hip. “So what is it that you think we should do?”

  “I say we kill them.” Jameson’s muffled voice drifted over.

  “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go home,” Russ said. “And that’s just what’s going to happen if we show this to Mr. Specter and he sees we’re afraid.”

  “I’m not going home.” It came out louder than I intended. “I just
got out, I can’t go back.” A feeling of panic welled up in my chest. It was like someone opened the door to my cage and then wanted to pull me right back in after a brief taste of freedom.

  “None of us wants to leave,” Russ assured me.

  “It’s not that I want to leave,” Mallory said. “But I don’t want to die either.”

  “You’re not going to die,” Russ said.

  Jameson said, “You’re wrong, sir. Everyone dies.” He turned his hand into a gun and made a shooting noise. Ka-pow.

  “Not on this trip they don’t,” Russ said and then turned his attention to Mallory. “Look, could you at least give it until morning? I don’t want to wake them up.”

  “Well…” Mallory said. “I don’t know.”

  “Take the note with you and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning you can decide what to do with it. I’m thinking you might feel different in daylight.” Russ wrapped the note around the rock and secured it with the rubber band. “We’re all tired. Go sleep.”

  “Come on, Mallory,” I said. “Let’s go back to our room. We need to sleep.” I hoped Russ was right and she’d change her mind.

  Begrudgingly, she took the rock and we headed to the door. When I looked back I noticed Jameson sprawled across the bed, one leg draped awkwardly over the side. I had no idea how Russ was going to get him under the covers, or if he was even going to try.

  We slipped out and went back to our room. When the door closed behind me I sighed in relief. Our wakeup call was in five hours. Not nearly enough sleep, but I’d take it.

  I was almost asleep when I heard our door open and close, which scared me awake. I sat up, and listened. A solid clunk came from the hallway. When the door reopened a minute later, and I saw it was Mallory, I was both puzzled and relieved. “Where did you go?”

  “I couldn’t sleep with that rock in the room,” she said. “So I chucked it in front of Mrs. Whitehouse’s door.”

  “Why’d you do that?”

  “Now it’s out of my hands. Whatever they decide, they decide. I don’t care what Russ thinks, this is something for the chaperones to deal with.” She went into the bathroom. The way she closed the door had the sound of finality about it. Case closed. Whatever happened with the rock and the death threat would be decided by someone else.

  From the direction of Mrs. Whitehouse’s room, I heard a door open in the hallway and the grunt of a woman of a certain size leaning over to pick something up. I waited for a reaction, but there was nothing. And then the door closed. I whispered the news to Mallory when she came out of the bathroom, and we both listened for some kind of reaction—a knock, a shriek, a phone call, but when nothing came after the longest time, we eventually fell asleep.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Nadia

  The next morning we all arrived at the hotel restaurant for breakfast at the specified time—eight o’clock. All of us, that is, except for Russ and Jameson. Mallory and I had stopped by their room on our way out and when Russ answered the door we heard the unmistakable sound of Jameson puking in the bathroom. It was loud. Closing the bathroom door hadn’t occurred to him, I guess. Hearing the guttural sounds of someone throwing up, and the splash that came afterward made me wince. Gross.

  “We might be a little late,” Russ said, glancing over his shoulder. “My roommate is having a few problems. You better go ahead without us.”

  In the elevator, Mallory said, “I don’t like the way this is going. Between the death threat and Jameson getting trashed and puking his guts out, I bet you any money they make us go home.”

  The night before both Mallory and I’d agreed that Mrs. Whitehouse’s reaction to finding the rock had probably been quiet hysteria. I wasn’t looking forward to hearing her go on about it when we all met up that morning. I didn’t want to go home, but I had to agree with Mallory. We were off to a very bad start. “You’re probably right,” I said.

  Our conversation was cut short when the elevator door opened and a distinguished looking man in an expensive suit boarded. He nodded amiably at us, the only other occupants in the elevator. “Buenos diás.”

  I answered automatically. “Buenos diás.”

  Mallory elbowed me and whispered. “And you said you didn’t know Spanish.”

  I grinned. “I’m quick that way.”

  Breakfast was included with the cost of the room, according to our information sheet, so we were expected to show up and eat it. The Praetorian Guard, the mysterious organization that was funding this trip, was firm on some things. Mr. Specter had told us on the plane that those who missed out on breakfast would have to wait for the next meal.

  I expected the kind of continental breakfast I’d experienced traveling with my parents when we stayed at hotels in northern Wisconsin. Cereal, fruit, pastries along with coffee and juice, but this was much nicer. Much, much nicer. The buffet on the opposite end of the room was expansive with silver-domed lids and trays of delicacies. Mr. Specter, Mrs. Whitehouse, and Kevin Adams were already sitting at a long table, drinking coffee.

  “Buenos diás!” I said, before Mallory could beat me to it. Everyone looked amused. I still kept my hood up, not wanting to gross anyone out over breakfast, but I was starting to feel more comfortable with the group. Maybe eventually I’d be okay with having my hood down if it was just us and it wasn’t meal time.

  I took a seat next to Mrs. Whitehouse and she abruptly got up to get more food.

  “Nice manners, Whitehouse,” Kevin Adams called after her. And then to us. “Someone’s got a bug up their butt this morning.” I was beginning to really like Kevin. He was a little unpolished, but genuine. With him there was no pretense. The words came out of his mouth unfiltered. You knew where you stood.

  “Is she upset about something?” I asked.

  Kevin shrugged. “If she is, she’s not talking about it. She’s just grumpy all the way around.”

  The waitress came and took our drink orders and told us, in English, to feel free to go up to the buffet at any time. “So where are the boys?” Mr. Specter asked. I made a pretense of straightening out my paper place mat, afraid to meet his eyes. He was a sharp one. I could tell.

  “They’ll be down in a minute,” Mallory said with a breezy wave of her hand. “The story I heard is that they overslept.”

  “Guys that age, they need their shut eye,” Kevin Adams said. “I used to sleep so deeply, my mother used to wonder if I was drugged. Of course, half the time she was right.” He slapped the table, making the salt and pepper shakers tremble. Mr. Specter shot him a look of disapproval. I tried to suppress a laugh, but a choked giggle still came out. “What?” Kevin asked innocently of Mr. Specter. “You know I’m kidding, right kids?”

  When Mrs. Whitehouse came back to the table, she took a seat on the opposite side, leaving the place mat next to me sullied with her coffee drips and used spoon. “We’re friends now, is that it?” Kevin said giving her a playful punch in the arm. She gave him a thin-lipped smile and took a sip from her cup. I wondered when she was going to say something about the rock and the death threat. So far, no one had said a word, and neither of the men showed any signs that anything was amiss.

  Mallory and I loaded our plates with eggs, French toast, apple strudel, and some kind of pink sausage that looked undercooked, but tasted delicious. Around us tables started to fill up, some with couples and others with businessmen. Everyone had all the time in the world, from the looks of it.

  The voices I heard were a mixture of Spanish and English. I tried to eavesdrop, but unlike restaurants at home, people spoke softly.

  We were halfway through our meal when Kevin said, “Maybe I should go and see what’s taking those young’uns.” He laughed at his own silliness. “Russ and Jameson do know where the restaurant is, don’t they?”

  “If they don’t, they can ask at the front desk,” Mr. Specter said dryly. “It’s not a secret.”

  Mallory nudged me under the table, her foot grazing my ankle. I couldn’t even ima
gine what was happening up on the fifth floor, but I could guess. Jameson was busy emptying his stomach, and Russ, knowing we were supposed to stay together, didn’t want to leave him. What a disaster.

  “I’m sending out a search party,” Kevin said, pushing his chair back. “And I’m not coming back until I find them. Tally ho!”

  As I watched him cross the room, I had a thought: this is the beginning of the end. I’d barely begun to live a life outside of my parents’ house and it would be cut short. I would be left saying I once had breakfast in Peru, and that would be the end of my story. Next to me, I felt the same vibe coming from Mallory. Last night she’d been afraid, but Russ was right. Daylight had driven away the fear, and now she wanted to stay as much as I did.

  Kevin flashed a smile at the pretty hostess before breezing though the doorway, but before my eyes left that spot he was back again, now accompanied by Russ. It was like a magic trick. He walked through the door alone and turned around and came back with his arm around Russ’s shoulders, like he’d created him. If he’d had a cape, it would have been a Las Vegas performance.

  “Look who I found,” Kevin said enthusiastically as they approached the table. “Turns out he was heading this way.” He gave Russ a friendly slap on the back.

  “Really,” Mr. Specter said. “And where is your amigo?” His expression said he knew something was up, he just wasn’t sure what it was.

  “Jameson was right behind me,” Russ said. “He stopped at the concierge desk to look at some brochures.” He glanced back at the entrance. “He should be here any second.”

  Mallory’s toe found my ankle again. This time it hurt. “Did you guys sleep well?” she asked sweetly.

  Russ shrugged. “I could have used a few more hours, but it was good enough.” The waitress approached, welcomed him and took his juice order.

  “You can go up to the buffet table,” Mrs. Whitehouse said, and I realized these were the first words I’d heard her say since we arrived.