by Joel Arcanjo
“Oi, what are you doing in there?” His English accent was fairly strong.
“Sorry,” Dante stuttered, startled by his tone. He walked the last few steps to the door and down to the waiting driver.
“Sorry for snapping at you, kid, it’s been a pretty awful day for all of us.”
Dante nodded in agreement.
“Now go on inside and eat something, it’s time you…” But Dante was already halfway back to the door. The driver didn’t seem to take it as dismissal. He didn’t even acknowledge his rejection at all. He just locked up the bus and made a beeline straight for the side entrance. Dante carried on to the lobby. There was a smiling girl at the reception who looked like she wanted to say something. He would’ve stopped to make small talk but he wasn’t even slightly in the mood. Instead he tiredly trudged back to his room where he knew an angry Asmir would be waiting. It wasn’t a particularly exciting prospect but he decided not to put it off. He felt for the handle. It was open, so he went it.
He was greeted by Asmir rushing at him. “OK, I get it. I won’t say anything.”
“I thought you were pissed about this?” said Dante still in the doorway.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like this at all, but I see your point now. Saying something to the police isn’t the right thing to do.” He paused, a grin breaking out across his face. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t do a little investigation of our own.”
Dante shook his head as he shut the door behind him. “See, for a second I thought you were going to say something smart…”
“No, hear me out,” Asmir interrupted, “I’m not saying we spend the trip looking for clues and acting like Sherland Holmes. I’m just saying that if there’s a killer on our bus and we know about it, it’s our duty to at least observe the situation.”
Dante added to the head shaking by slapping his forehead with his palm. “Oh dear. So much stupidity in one sentence. Firstly, it’s Sherlock Holmes. If you don’t know that then I’m pretty sure you have no business mentioning an investigation in the first place. Secondly, if there is a killer on our bus, and that’s a huge ‘if’, then we should stay well clear.”
Dante thought that would be the end of it. He clambered over Asmir’s clothes which littered his side of the room and made his way to the bathroom. The most pressing matter was getting off the wetsuit and having a hot shower. But Asmir was unrelenting.
“OK, so here’s what we do,” he said, completely ignoring everything Dante had just said. “We need to share our information. You know, pool our knowledge.”
Dante reached the door, but made a point of looking back at Asmir.
“Az, not now. Please.” He was exhausted and the memories of Viktor’s pale white face bobbing up and down in the water were haunting him.
Asmir got serious fast. He nodded ever so slightly, indicating he had understood Dante’s request.
“I’ll have a quick shower,” Dante said before closing the door.
After two minutes in the shower he heard a knock at the door. Asmir answered it. He heard voices, but nothing he could make out.
Then a knock on the bathroom door. He turned the water off and opened the shower door.
“Hello?”
It was Asmir’s voice that replied to him. “D, it’s the police.”
Chapter 19
“Dante Darion?” said a tall police officer with a thick Kiwi accent as Dante peered through the bathroom door with just a towel around his midsection.
“Err, yes?” Dante replied.
“I believe your tour guide Mel has informed you that we need a statement from all those in the second group with the deceased right away.”
“Yes, she did,” Dante acknowledged. But the man just stood there staring at Dante.
“Oh, you mean right now?” Dante finally said.
The officer looked him up and down. “Well, when you’re dressed of course, yes. We will be starting in ten minutes.” With that he swiveled on the spot and walked out of sight.
“Short, sweet and to the point. I like it,” Asmir said dragging Dante out of the bathroom, closing the door and turning the shower on.
Within ten minutes he was dressed and Asmir was out of the shower. Dante left Asmir in the room while he went downstairs. He figured that if he was there early or at least right on time he would be seen first. He was right. There were three officers waiting for him as he entered the dining area. Two males and one female. All looked stern and it was clear that they were unhappy to be working at this time of night. Dante looked around. No one else was in the hall. He was the first to go.
“Mr. Darion, I believe? Please sit down.” said the same officer that had come to his room a few minutes ago. Dante followed his instruction. He sat down with a thump. The chair was digging uncomfortably into the base of his spine almost immediately. From the moment he sat down he was praying that this questioning wouldn’t last too long. It wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was downright painful. His constant shifting might have made him look nervous, which of course he was. Keeping the truth from the police is a serious offense.
Luckily for Dante, the questioning did not last more than five minutes. In fact, it was just him talking the whole time. Telling them in detail what he recalled. He took it slower in the areas that he was worried about letting the wrong word slip out. But his nervousness had all been for nothing. They weren’t there for a witch hunt, because only he and Asmir knew there was a witch to hunt.
He left their small corner table and moved into the larger dining area where the hostel had laid on a buffet for them. Being first, he had the pick of the food and he really made the most of that, piling his plate high with all of his favorites. Normally he was a healthy eater, but after the calories he had just burned off in that freezing water, he deserved it. He sat for a few minutes alone eating his pizza and fries and thought back to that morning. He was in a very different space now than he had been earlier. He was on a major come-down. The mixture of adrenaline, the harsh conditions and the raw emotion of the situation were catching up with him. Here he was warm, safe and being fed while Viktor probably wouldn’t even leave this country. Nobody cared for him enough at home to request his body be sent back. Dante had no idea what would happen to him, but he was appreciating his food just a little more that night.
One by one the passengers filtered through to the corner table where the officers were waiting for them. All those that were in the first group into the cave came and sat down to eat next to Dante. There was small talk, but it seemed most were feeling the same way as him. It was hard to know what to talk about that wouldn’t lead to Viktor’s death. People were treading carefully. So carefully the conversation remained around the topic of the food they were eating. Some people were upset that there wasn’t enough variety, others wanted healthier options, but most were pretty content. Dante didn’t really have an opinion so he kept quiet. He still didn’t know some of their names so he didn’t want to embarrass himself and this really didn’t feel like the right time to start asking.
“Mate, that sucked,” Asmir said as he approached the table.
“Why?” Dante asked.
Asmir lowered his voice and spoke only to Dante. “Lying like that is usually OK with me. But each lie got stuck in my throat. It was almost painful.”
“But you got it out, right?” Dante asked, concerned.
Asmir lowered his head, seemingly disgusted with himself, “Yeah, D, I did, don’t worry, you’re little secret’s safe!”
“Shhhh…” Asmir had become a bit animated and others had started to pay attention.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just remember, we’re going all Starsby and Hutch from now on.”
Dante let his head fall into his hands. “Oh God, Az. It’s Starsky and Hutch. How do you even get Hutch right and Starsky wrong? Just…stop with the crime references, you have no idea what you are talking about.”
“All right, all right, chill out. You know what I mean. We’re going underco
ver, bro!” he said excitedly.
“We can’t go undercover because we are already in plain sight, mate. We can just keep a look out.”
“In plain sight is the best place to hide,” Asmir winked.
Dante laughed properly for the first time that day. “Az, you’re an idiot. But keeping an eye out is a decent idea, I’ll give you that.”
The rest of the night went by in a strange blur of forced conversation and comfort food. No one mentioned Viktor and no one wanted to speak about their experience being interviewed by the police. Understandably, the night ended early with everybody deciding to head to their own rooms. Dante and Asmir were only too happy to get back upstairs. They were exhausted and wanted nothing more than to get clear of the police officers.
Once safely back to their room they began discussing events. They didn’t agree on anything. Dante thought they should just sit back and observe, while Asmir thought they should start being proactive and start asking questions.
“If we start going around asking questions about Viktor, then people are going to get uncomfortable and almost definitely suspicious. What we need to do is just start talking to people normally, finding out where they’re from, what they like to do. You know, small talk. Then we start to check people’s interactions, see how they react to each other.”
“Is this what they taught you to do on your Uni course?” Asmir asked crossing his arms, entirely unimpressed.
“No, I was ill for the ‘Psychopathic killer on the bus’ class.”
Asmir uncrossed his arms and pointed at himself. “Well I wasn’t. First step: ask questions. Second step: put together the answers. Third step: find the bastard!”
“Oh that easy, huh? Well, let’s do this then. Why don’t you try your way and I will stick with mine. Sound good?”
Asmir smiled. Dante knew he liked a challenge. “Hell yeah!”
Dante clapped his hands together and wrung them. “I’m looking forward to this, Az. But one more rule; each night we have to get together and share information, OK?”
Asmir pulled a face. “So what’s the point in the challenge then if we are just gonna share the spoils?”
“There are no spoils. Don’t forget that we are trying to get information about someone that was possibly killed. This isn’t a game, remember that. At the end of all of this could be a killer that is clearly very dangerous. If Viktor’s death was a murder…”
“Which it probably was,” Asmir interrupted.
“Right, but if it was, it was intricately planned and methodically carried out. Someone had gone to the trouble of making sure that Viktor was first through the hole. They had to fall back from the first group and hold him underwater for a long period of time which means they had to be pretty strong. Also, they had to know that there was a gap underwater big enough to fit a human foot but not big enough for it to come free easily. Az, this took planning. That means whoever this is wanted Victor dead really bad and the fact they made it look like an accident also means that they have no intention of getting caught. So we have to tread carefully.”
Asmir stood there looking awestruck. “Um, you’re a little bit ahead of me, I’ll give you that.”
“The worst part is, it may not be over.”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Asmir said looking worried.
“If there is a killer aboard, he may not be done.”
Chapter 20
“What the hell makes you say that?”
To explain this Dante grabbed the itinerary from his backpack. “We’re three days into our trip. There are still over two weeks left and look at this. White water rafting, luging, skydiving, bungy jumping. Dangerous activities, all of them. Not to mention trekking over glaciers and volcanos. Why would anyone pick those caves as a place to kill someone and make it look like an accident when they have all these other activities to choose from?”
“I dunno,” Asmir said, still staring at the map.
“Well, I think it’s because it might not be over.”
“Jesus…”
“Yeah, but right now it’s just a bad theory.”
“You think they might kill again?”
“I don’t know, mate, but if it was me I wouldn’t have taken the chance of being caught drowning Viktor down there. It’s too risky. I’m not saying there will be another murder, I’m just saying with all the deadly activities left to come, it’s possible.”
“Just because the caves aren’t the best place to kill someone?”
“Actually, put simply, yes.”
“Umm, so at this point I dunno what to say…”
“Look, you don’t have to believe me, Az, but I’m telling you in the spirit of sharing information.”
“Yeah, all right, all right. Well, so far I don’t have anything for you, but I think that’s just as useful as the knowledge you just dropped, mate.”
Dante grunted. “Fair enough. You asked though.”
“True, but just so you know, I regret that now.”
Dante clenched his jaw. “You’re a real bastard, you know that?”
“Is that a question? Because I’m pretty sure it was meant as rhetorical but it was unclear and…”
Dante interrupted him mid-flow. “Yes it was rhetorical. It was more just a statement of how much of an ass-clown you are.”
Asmir tilted his head to one side and pursed his lips. “Should’ve just said it then shouldn’t you? Your tone was all wrong to convey what you were trying.”
“Oh just shut up. You piss me off so much, Az. But you know what, it’s cool. Know why?”
“Why?”
“Because it’s on now.”
“Oh it’s on. I’m pretty sure I’ve got it, if all you got is crazy theories like that.”
“We’ll see, Az, we’ll see.”
There was a pause, then instantly the conversation was forgotten and turned to sports and the activities later in the tour. That often happened. They often had disagreements but instantly it was forgotten. They talked for the next twenty minutes then gradually the conversation began to slow and then out of nowhere Asmir stopped replying. Dante stayed up for a while thinking through all his issues but almost instantly reminded himself of where he was and the promise he had made to himself to let it go while he was away. Plus, right now, he had bigger issues.
James, Viktor’s friend, was sat at a corner table by himself in the dining room the next morning. He was rhythmically spooning cereal into his mouth while staring at the wall. Dante was sat at a table with Asmir on the other side of the dining room. He watched this scenario play out for nearly five minutes. He badly wanted to go over to James and make him feel a little better but he had been trying to craft a speech that didn’t sound completely patronizing or insincere. But he hadn’t come up with anything. The truth was, Dante was a little bit wary of him. People in his current state of mind were usually unpredictable and sometimes violent. While it didn’t seem like he was heading that way, all that pent-up rage had to go somewhere. At the moment he was intent on targeting it at the wall across from him. At least there it wasn’t doing any harm to anyone. But at some point it would change. It was inevitable.
“Yo, stop staring. Why you being so creepy?” Asmir said, his brow furrowed.
“I feel sorry for him, man,” Dante said, his stare unwavering.
“So do I, but I choose not to stare at him like a weirdo.”
This got Dante to snap out of it. “Hey, I’m just trying to figure out a way of getting him out of his funk.”
“Get him out of his funk… D, do you even hear what you’re saying? The guy’s brother died yesterday, you really think he wants to talk to anyone? Do you think he even wants to be here on this stupid bus tour with us for company? Of course not, he wanted to be here with his best friend. The guy’s so in shock he can’t even understand what’s happening, right? He’s on cloud nine… No wait, that’s the good one right? What’s the bad one?”
“How can you say something so insightful and the
n revert back to being an idiot so quickly? There are no sad clouds, Az.”
“Yeah, well, the clouds thing doesn’t have to undermine what I said before that.”
“It kinda does, Az,” Dante said in a high-pitched, mocking tone.
“OK, well you do what you want to, mate, but I’m not going anywhere near him. That guy is seriously pissed and he doesn’t even know it yet. Look how big he is, he can do some serious damage.”
“Yeah, you may be an idiot, but you do actually have a point. It’ll be like poking a bear. At least for now, it’s probably a bad idea.”
“Thank God you see reason. I kinda want to have you around for the rest of the trip. I mean, I could replace you in a heartbeat but it would take work. You know, have to listen to their boring stories and giving my opinion. I figure I’ve already spent way too many man-hours on you. Might as well stick with you for now.”
“Oh thanks, man, means a lot,” Dante said, sarcastically. He got up and went to clear his tray. The morning’s food had been much healthier, at least for him. Asmir had had pancakes and a thick layer of syrup while Dante had had gone for half of a grapefruit and a few melon slices. Not exactly filling, but after his gorge the night before he didn’t have much of an appetite. The fact that they didn’t have any idea whether they were moving on this morning or not didn’t help the situation. Mel had been flitting around all morning looking worried. Same went for Ben. It seemed they didn’t have any idea what was going on either.
An hour later there still wasn’t any news. Then, a cellphone stopped the chatter dead. It was Mel’s and she didn’t even know it. Ben, who was sat at the same table, had to point it out to her. When she realized she seemed distressed. She picked it up with most of the room still watching.
“Hello?”
There was a pause while she listened to what was almost certainly the police.
“Are you sure? Do you have everything you need?” she asked.
