Read Online 5 Murder at Volcano House by Chip Hughes - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Chip Hughes
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this woman on the trail appear to be one in the same.
Can’t be
. I scratch my head. Is she why the old man insisted on walking alone? Was the call from her? Or has she merely bumped into him by chance?
Now my own phone rings. It’s Donnie.
“Kai!”
She sounds hysterical.
“I’m so afraid!”
“What’s wrong?” I say. “Where are you?”
“I’m running toward you on the trail.” She’s breathless. “Now I can just barely see you through the mist.”
I turn around and see the vague outline of a person, motioning rapidly toward herself.
“I’m so afraid!”
Her voice is lower now, but still on the verge of hysteria.
“Wait there.” I run to her. I don’t like leaving Ransom behind, but he’s not so far away that I can’t return to him quickly. I keep glancing back as I move further from him and the woman.
When I reach Donnie she’s clutching a piece a paper in her trembling hands. She grabs my arm and pulls me a few steps off the trail into the tree ferns, out of sight of her husband.
“What’s wrong?”
“This.” She hands the paper to me. The words on it are cut and pasted from a newspaper.
----
as you value your health and your life keep away from Pele
Deadly
----
“Where did you get this?”
“It was slipped under my door just after Rex left,” Donnie says, still trembling. “What does it mean?”
“You tell me. You know your husband and his enemies better than I do.” I step back onto the trail to catch another glimpse of Ransom. The air is thick and I can barely see the shadowy outlines of two people.
“Maybe it’s Rex’s ex-wife?” She shrugs.
“What motive would his ex have to produce a note like this? Just to make him, or you, uncomfortable?”
“I don’t know.” Donnie shakes her head. “I’m so scared, I can’t think straight.”
I believe her.
Donnie tries again. “Maybe the insane woman who escaped from the mental hospital?”
“No matter who delivered the note,” I say, “we can’t do anything about it now. I better get back to your husband.” I fold and put the note in the pocket of my aloha shirt and start with a quick stride toward Ransom. Donnie’s next words stop me.
“I warned Rex already,” she says.
“That was you who called him?”
There goes my theory about the woman
.
“He told me I was worrying about nothing. Then he hung up.”
From the direction of The Steaming Bluff I hear what sounds like a thud and a groan. Donnie seems too out of it to notice.
“Why don’t you go back to your room now and let me handle this?” I say. But I’m not waiting for an answer. I’m already moving through the mist.
I start running. I race through the fern grove. I can hardly see my own feet. But I keep going.
I hear my shoes pounding the trail. Soon I reach The Steaming Bluff. But I don’t see him or the woman in red. The vapor is so thick now I can’t even make out the caldera below. I approach the vent where I left Ransom. The closer I get, the hotter and more rotten-smelling the steam rising from the cavernous hole. Pele’s at it again.
“Mr. Ransom?” I call his name, abandoning my cover.
I doubt the old man could have made it much beyond the vent in the short time I’ve been gone. But he’s nowhere in sight.
I lean against the guardrail, like he did, and peer in. The smell of sulfur suddenly combines with a more noxious odor. The stench of burning flesh.
My eyes follow my nose down into the abyss, blinking to avoid the reeking steam. About a dozen feet down, lodged on an outcropping, lies a man. His skin is lobster pink. His lips are puffy. His eyeballs bulge like poached eggs.
He isn’t climbing out on his own. He’s been boiled alive.
thirteen
It’s him. The man I was hired to protect.
No doubt about it. His cane, already discolored by the searing steam, is wedged in a crack just a few feet below his body.
The woman in red—a dead ringer for Pele—has vanished.
Unreal
. My brain rebels. But I have to admit
Can’t be
. I scratch my head. Is she why the old man insisted on walking alone? Was the call from her? Or has she merely bumped into him by chance?
Now my own phone rings. It’s Donnie.
“Kai!”
She sounds hysterical.
“I’m so afraid!”
“What’s wrong?” I say. “Where are you?”
“I’m running toward you on the trail.” She’s breathless. “Now I can just barely see you through the mist.”
I turn around and see the vague outline of a person, motioning rapidly toward herself.
“I’m so afraid!”
Her voice is lower now, but still on the verge of hysteria.
“Wait there.” I run to her. I don’t like leaving Ransom behind, but he’s not so far away that I can’t return to him quickly. I keep glancing back as I move further from him and the woman.
When I reach Donnie she’s clutching a piece a paper in her trembling hands. She grabs my arm and pulls me a few steps off the trail into the tree ferns, out of sight of her husband.
“What’s wrong?”
“This.” She hands the paper to me. The words on it are cut and pasted from a newspaper.
----
as you value your health and your life keep away from Pele
Deadly
----
“Where did you get this?”
“It was slipped under my door just after Rex left,” Donnie says, still trembling. “What does it mean?”
“You tell me. You know your husband and his enemies better than I do.” I step back onto the trail to catch another glimpse of Ransom. The air is thick and I can barely see the shadowy outlines of two people.
“Maybe it’s Rex’s ex-wife?” She shrugs.
“What motive would his ex have to produce a note like this? Just to make him, or you, uncomfortable?”
“I don’t know.” Donnie shakes her head. “I’m so scared, I can’t think straight.”
I believe her.
Donnie tries again. “Maybe the insane woman who escaped from the mental hospital?”
“No matter who delivered the note,” I say, “we can’t do anything about it now. I better get back to your husband.” I fold and put the note in the pocket of my aloha shirt and start with a quick stride toward Ransom. Donnie’s next words stop me.
“I warned Rex already,” she says.
“That was you who called him?”
There goes my theory about the woman
.
“He told me I was worrying about nothing. Then he hung up.”
From the direction of The Steaming Bluff I hear what sounds like a thud and a groan. Donnie seems too out of it to notice.
“Why don’t you go back to your room now and let me handle this?” I say. But I’m not waiting for an answer. I’m already moving through the mist.
I start running. I race through the fern grove. I can hardly see my own feet. But I keep going.
I hear my shoes pounding the trail. Soon I reach The Steaming Bluff. But I don’t see him or the woman in red. The vapor is so thick now I can’t even make out the caldera below. I approach the vent where I left Ransom. The closer I get, the hotter and more rotten-smelling the steam rising from the cavernous hole. Pele’s at it again.
“Mr. Ransom?” I call his name, abandoning my cover.
I doubt the old man could have made it much beyond the vent in the short time I’ve been gone. But he’s nowhere in sight.
I lean against the guardrail, like he did, and peer in. The smell of sulfur suddenly combines with a more noxious odor. The stench of burning flesh.
My eyes follow my nose down into the abyss, blinking to avoid the reeking steam. About a dozen feet down, lodged on an outcropping, lies a man. His skin is lobster pink. His lips are puffy. His eyeballs bulge like poached eggs.
He isn’t climbing out on his own. He’s been boiled alive.
thirteen
It’s him. The man I was hired to protect.
No doubt about it. His cane, already discolored by the searing steam, is wedged in a crack just a few feet below his body.
The woman in red—a dead ringer for Pele—has vanished.
Unreal
. My brain rebels. But I have to admit
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