Murder on Masaya (Kea Wright Mysteries Book 3)

by RJ Corgan

  Shona nudged Carter out of the way and staggered down the steps with a bulky duffel bag. He offered to help, but she directed him to the large canisters of water sitting on the dock instead. It was only when he lifted one of the barrels that he saw a young woman sitting in the flatbed, her back resting against the cab.

  Surprise briefly widened her wet brown eyes. Then, without a word, she helped secure the barrel and waved for another. They had only managed to fasten two of the canisters before Shona gave a toot on the horn and gunned the engine.

  The young woman sat between the water cisterns, while Carter barely had time to slam the tailgate shut before the vehicle lurched into reverse.

  “What’s the hurry?” Carter scrambled into the cab as the truck rumbled down the alley.

  Brushing her cardigan out of the way, Shona shifted into third gear with a grunt. “Kea’s reading on Nindiri could just be an error, but we won’t know for certain until we confirm it with gravitometers at other survey sites.”

  Carter looked at the bag between his feet stuffed with cables, batteries, and four little boxes. “Those would be these things, right?”

  “Keep an eye on them, they’re worth a small fortune.” Despite her words, she raced the truck through the alley, before taking a sharp turn onto the arterial road.

  Carter grabbed the oh shit handle in time but heard a thump and yelp from the flatbed as the young woman slid full force against the other side of the truck.

  “I don’t recall Nicaraguan water being so loud.” Shona squinted through her glasses at the rearview mirror. “Looks like we have a stowaway.”

  “I didn’t catch her name,” Carter said. “Should we turn around?”

  “Quite the opposite.” Shona floored the gas before adding breezily, “Let me know if anyone’s following us. They should be easy to spot - they’ll be waving guns.”

  Carter marveled as Shona sped through the streets. She looked to be in her seventies, but she drove with the ferocity of a Tokyo Drift driver. Thankfully, traffic was light at this time of the evening, and they only left a few outraged motorists cursing in their wake.

  “I’m not quite clear what I should be panicking about,” Carter found himself yelling. “Guys chasing us with guns or an exploding volcano!”

  Shona shrugged. “Depending on their aim, we’re probably safer with the gunmen. The volcano only gets one shot, but that’s all it needs.”

  “And why would men be shooting at us?” Carter asked.

  “Well, it’s possible they might assume we’ve kidnapped our young hitchhiker. She must have evaded her bodyguards. They’ll be none too pleased about that.”

  Carter glanced through the dusty Perspex partition. The woman had wedged her feet against the canisters and braced her arms against the edge of the truck. Her face was turned to the wind, eyes closed, hair streaming behind her.

  “Can’t blame her,” Shona happily tailgated a slow-moving truck in front of them. “Grief’s a bitch,” she said with a honk of her horn. “Her brain’s probably awash in chemical’s she’s never had to process before. Will do her a world of good to get her away from the Outpost for a few hours, away from her family.”

  Something about the shape of the woman’s face and Shona’s words finally flicked a switch in Carter’s brain. “Oh fuck.”

  “Don’t worry,” Shona put on her hazards and sped passed the truck, flipping off the driver as she went by, “I’ll call in Maria’s location after she catches her breath. I don’t want them to divert any resources away from the rescue.”

  “Speaking of …” Carter remembered their hasty exit from the Outpost. When Shona had ushered him toward the loading docks, he hadn’t been sure what she was up to, but it seemed more productive than sitting fernside. “Why aren’t we helping with the rescue?”

  “Technically, I’m not an employee of Global Solutions.” As Shona spoke, the dilapidated buildings on the outskirts of Masaya quickly gave way to fields that stretched out on either side of the road. Instead of crops, however, the fields were strewn with endless miles of plastic bags and garbage. Beyond the expanse of detritus lay the black and crumbled lava flows that skirted the base of the volcano. “I’m retired, but I was one of the founders of the Outposts, so I can pretty much do as I please. If I want to drive my truck out and do a quick survey, no one will stop me. Anyway, I’m doing them a favor. Discovering what’s going on beneath our feet is the best thing we can do to help right now.”

  Carter plucked one of the little devices out of the canvas bag. They resembled tricorders, only they had more of an industrial heft to them. They were stamped with ‘Property of Global Solutions.’ “I don’t understand – why do we have to put them out manually? Why don’t you install ground sensors and connect them remotely?”

  Shona barked out a laugh. “We spend two weeks doing a survey on foot every year to measure every change in elevation. The markers we use for that survey are nothing more than nails hammered into the rock. If we don’t hide the nails, they’re stolen within a week by visitors walking through the park.” She nodded at the bag of equipment. “There’s half a million dollars of gear in there, imagine how long they’d last out there.”

  Carter stared at the devices in dismay. “But you have to place one into position manually each time you want a reading? That’s insane. What if it erupts? How do you send alerts?”

  “There are seismometers at the ranger stations that send out warning signals if there’s a potential eruption. Those are connected by radio and satellites. The gravitometers, however, tell us how the magma chamber is shifting. That’s a little less alarming. Usually.”

  Carter considered her phrasing. “Should I be worried?”

  Shona swerved down a dirt side road that cut through a field at an angle. “I’ve generally found that being worried is a waste of time. Better to assume everything’s going to be fine and just get on with it.”

  With a sharp twist of the wheel, Shona took another right-angle turn into what Carter had assumed was a solid wall of forest. He choked back a yelp of fright as the truck accelerated into the dense vegetation. Branches thwacked the cab and spikey talons of succulents clawed at the windshield as the truck bounced and rattled its way across ancient lava flows.

  “Is it much further?” Carter asked, concerned that Maria might not survive in the flatbed if they drove much longer.

  “Hmmmm?” Shona gave him a vaguely startled look that he had come to interpret as, ‘You’re still here?’ “Another mile or so, I expect.” Then, as if she’d misplaced a set of house keys, added, “I know I left my husband around here somewhere.”

  KEA PULLED herself along the line, her eyes locked on the rope above in a futile effort to ignore the abyss that gaped below. Essentially a horizontal zipline, after the initial terror wore off, she found that she relished the thrill of pulling herself along the traverse. She was almost disappointed to reach the other side.

  Any relief, however, was short-lived. They were only halfway down from basecamp: two hundred feet down, another two hundred to go. That meant there were two more rappelling lengths before they even reached the top of the rockfall.

  “Not bad.” Ling steadied the line as Kea unclipped her harness.

  “Piece of cake,” Kea replied unconvincingly.

  The ledge on the cliff was much narrower than the previous station. She kept one hand wedged into a small fracture to steady herself as she studied the line of people in front of them. It would take a few minutes before she could start the next vertical descent, she judged with an audible sigh.

  At the sound, Ling turned to study her. “Why did you insist on coming along? You could have just watched from the Outpost.”

  “These are my people.” Kea shifted uncomfortably under the woman’s intense judgement. “Why are you here? You could be watching from the comfort of your own home and, no offense, but I’d rather have a real doctor on this trip.”

  Ling’s upper lip twitched. “I’m here to evaluate you
r team.”

  “It’s a bit late for that, surely?” Kea asked.

  “If we’d joined your expedition sooner, this rescue mission wouldn’t be necessary.”

  “We don’t need a therapist,” Kea snapped. “This is a three-week mission for a handful of geologists, not the voyages of the Enterprise.” We haven’t had time to get on each other’s nerves yet. We’ve been too busy working.”

  “This expedition is part of a long-term data collection study, one of many across the world. Projects that may last decades.” Ling waved a hand around them. “It isn’t only the natural surroundings we need to understand, but the interactions of the people who study them.”

  Kea didn’t respond for a moment, too preoccupied wondering what personnel files the Outpost might have compiled over the years on her. She did not want to get on the topic of Mack, or any number of other ‘personnel encounters’ that they might have been documented.

  “I fail to see how having a psychologist on a rescue mission is of any value,” Kea said, relieved to see that Ling was already next up to descend. “I imagine we’ll need help with greenstick fractures, not managing bipolar disorders.”

  “Like you, I’m a fully certified EMT.” Ling clipped her harness into the line. “Besides, as you were the project manager, I need to inspect the site of the accident to see what you may be held liable for.”

  Stunned, Kea remained motionless as Ling slid out of sight. She hadn’t realized a lawsuit might be a possibility. However, given Emilio’s family, they would look to Global Solutions for retribution and Kea had no illusions who Amirah would peg as the fall guy.

  “Fuck me.”

  Chapter 7

  JACOB, SHONA’S husband, turned out to be a chiropterologist. Which meant, as Shona explained to Carter, that he studied bats. Jacob, with an angular nose, gray comb moustache, and stooped back, appeared to be the same age as Shona: two weeks shy of the Cretaceous. When he was introduced, Jacob’s gaze quickly evaluated and dismissed Carter, turning his attention instead to inspecting his equipment in the back of the truck.

  Shona had explained that she’d met Jacob on a postdoc in Germany and lured him to Texas with the promise of studying the largest bat colony in the world, Bracken Cave. He wound up doing so much field work across the state that she was pleasantly surprised when he bothered to show up to their wedding.

  Leaving the truck parked at the entrance to a lava tube, Shona entrusted Carter and Maria to Jacob’s care before hiking up Masaya’s slope to continue taking gravitometer readings.

  When Carter pressed her about the reason for leaving them in the lava tube, Shona frowned darkly at Maria’s back and gave him a look so frigid it could have sunk the QE2.

  Carter decided it was better not to question her further.

  On the slopes of the mountain, yellow green patches of grass clung to the uneven blackened surface of the lava flow. The sun was nearing the horizon now, its angled rays seeming to light the tips of the grass on fire. A few haggard looking white horses, apparently given free range of the park, grazed in the distance. The idyllic beauty of the scene belied the violent unrest that simmered within the mountain’s heart.

  As the others rooted through a bag of snacks in the back of the truck, Carter sat among the gnarled roots of a giant tree that grew above the mouth of the tunnel. He re-watched Emilio’s fatal leap on his phone, hoping to see something that Kea missed. He paused the video and paged through it frame by frame.

  There, just before the fall, he spotted a thin flash of blue at the corner of the image, extending from the edge of his waist.

  “He was roped in,” Carter said under his breath, “for all the good it did him.”

  “My brother was many things,” Maria said from behind him. “Careless, though? Never. Not with climbing, anyway.” She sat down beside him, her gaze never leaving Carter’s screen.

  “I’m not sure you should see this.”

  “I used to help film his stunts for his public page, so as an admin, I get a notification every time someone posts a comment. When I have a signal, that is.” Maria pulled out her phone and glanced at its display. “Eighty-seven thousand so far.”

  Carter winced. “If it helps, I don’t think it would have mattered. Rope or no rope, not with that rockfall.” He sighed and put his phone away. “But knowing her, it’s probably not an accident.”

  “Her?” Maria offered him a piece of jerky. When he refused, she ripped off small chunks and popped them in her mouth, chewing noisily.

  “Kea asked me to check the footage,” Carter explained. “She always suspects the worst.”

  “How do you mean, the worst?” Maria asked.

  “‘Foul play’,” Carter said, using air quotes. “In Kea’s mind, the entire world is Cabot Cove to her Jessica Fletcher.” He sighed. “The sad thing is, she’s usually right. Every time I go near that woman, all hell breaks loose. I mean, it was an accident, right? It’s not like anyone would want to kill a kid.” Seeing the troubled expression on Maria’s face, Carter wished he had kept his mouth shut.

  “There’s no signal down there, so you might as well save your batteries and switch those things off.” Jacob approached them, grime and sweat stains evident on matching khaki vest and shorts. He thrust a pair of helmets into their hands. “Who wants to carry the guano sample bags?”

  As Maria took the bags in one hand, Carter took a screenshot of the rope around Emilio’s waist and sent it to Kea in an email before powering down his phone. “These bats we’re after, not the vampire kind, I hope?”

  Jacob shook his head and expertly climbed down the tree roots that extended down into the cavernous mouth of the lava tube. “You’ve nothing to fear. Not unless you’re an insect, or a fruit. You’re not a fruit, are you?”

  With that cheerful homophobic comment, Jacob slipped into the darkness.

  Carter glanced over to Maria who was still anchored to her phone. With a shrug, Carter started to make his way down into the cavern using the intricate root system like a ladder. The tendrils were thick and smooth, reminding him of the jungle gyms of his youth.

  “Oh,” Jacob called from the pit, “Cameron!”

  “Carter.”

  Jacob fluttered his fingers in annoyance. “Carsten, keep to the left side of the roots. You’ll frighten the snake otherwise.”

  Carter froze.

  “Define ‘snake’?” Carter kept his body as still as humanly possible, a tricky task when dangling one-handed from a slippery root.

  “A lyre snake. About four feet long, with a pattern on its face that resembles a lyre. Even the dimmest person can identify it. Don’t worry, they’re only mildly venomous.”

  Carter’s eyes flickered around, trying to spot the serpent among the intricate knots of roots and tendrils. “Does that mean I’ll only be mildly dead?”

  “Don’t be such a maricón.” Jacob tutted. “Get a move on.”

  Still unable to spy the snake, Carter reluctantly descended into the cavity.

  “No, not your left!” Jacob shouted. “My left. Move over to my left!”

  Flustered, but still unable to locate the creature, Carter shuffled quickly down in the opposite direction, before landing on all fours. He scuttled nervously away from the roots.

  Jacob had already started walking up the tunnel, his headlamp receding into the darkness.

  Maria showed no signs of descending yet, so while the adrenaline faded from his system, Carter took a moment to relish the shade the tunnel provided. While relieved to get out of the summer heat, he was less excited at the thought of crawling through dark tunnels coated in bat poo.

  When Maria finally appeared at the clifftop, she picked her way easily down the roots, ignoring Carter’s frantic warnings. Landing deftly on her toes, she paused to shake her head in exasperation before donning her helmet. “Ignore Jacob. He’s screwing with you.”

  “There aren’t any snakes?”

  “Of course there are. They like to nest near the ent
rance and feast on the bats when they fly out of the tunnel at night, but Jacob would never let you come down if there was one nearby.” She frowned, reconsidering. “Probably.”

  “Come along,” Jacob called from further down the tunnel.

  As Carter turned to follow Maria, he saw one of the roots twist and seethe as the snake slithered into a new position. They had both missed it by a matter of inches.

  Carter swore.

  “What was that?” Maria called from the tunnel.

  “Nothing,” Carter said innocently, “I have a suggestion of a new sacrifice for Masaya.”

  THE RAPPEL down from the short ledge that marked the Gamma waypoint landed Kea on a treacherous path less than three feet in breadth. From there, another hundred foot abseil landed them at the head of the rockfall.

  Prior to the collapse, the path leading down to Delta had been a giant fracture littered with boulders, some the size of small houses. Today’s event had redistributed the material, causing several of the giant blocks and a hundred other smaller boulders tumbling down into the crater and spilling out onto Delta’s plaza. Right where the team had been setting up their sensors.

  Where Emilio had fallen to his death, Kea reminded herself.

  And hopefully no one else.

  Looking at the remains of the chaotic pile of debris, Kea was honestly surprised the whole thing had not come down on them earlier.

  She stood behind the others who were stacked single file at the top of the fracture, waiting for the lead rescue climbers to complete the hundred-foot traverse down to the Delta plaza, setting green flares to mark the safe path. Eventually, the signal was given, and they began to make their way slowly down the rubble.

  The glare of the lava bled up from the base of the canyon like a morning sun cresting the horizon. Kea held up her hand to shield her eyes from the red light, bracing herself against the hot winds that raced up the fracture like a chimney. The path was only ‘safe’ in the sense that the rocks shifted slightly underfoot when trodden on. As many of the smaller rocks were hidden in dark recesses and seemed poised to topple her ankles when stepped on, Kea soon devolved to using her hands, elbows, and knees to traverse the unsteady surface. As she crawled her way down the twisting path, rocks the size of tractor trailers loomed out of the darkness on either side. She could feel the weight of them above, threatening to crush her at any moment.