Amaz'n Murder

by William Maltese

  Carolyne thought: He’s not the only one.

  “Dad didn’t want me to go into medical research, did you know that?”

  Carolyne, caught up in conflicting emotions, shook her head.

  “‘To be good in science, really good,’ dad told me, ‘you have to devote a portion of your life only to your work, and that makes the people closest to you think you’re keeping something from them; it can lead to a great deal of unhappiness.’”

  “Was Margaret unhappy?” God, yes! Please, God, yes!

  Melanie repeated Carolyne’s question, like a student in a spelling bee not only following instructions but taking the extra time to let her thoughts jell. “My mother came from a family of scientists, didn’t she? She was a scientist, and she married a scientist. It was the only way of life she knew. I think she was happy only in that she didn’t realize there was another definition of happiness that didn’t entail some holding back, in even the most intimate moments.”

  It wasn’t exactly what Carolyne wanted to hear. Deprived of complete satisfaction, she asked, “And you? Are you and Teddy happy?” Melanie had flirted with Gordon. Teddy had been the first to state Melanie’s motive for murder. “You’re a scientist; he’s a scientist. Another match made in heaven?”

  Melanie gave another of her laughs that attractively crinkled the corners of her eyes and made her seem more suited to cotillion gossip than to jungle machinations. “Definitely not a match made in heaven!” Her next laugh was at Carolyne’s startled expression. “Oh, come on,” she challenged, “are you seriously going to tell me you thought I’d say differently?”

  Quite frankly, that was exactly what Carolyne had figured.

  “I do like Teddy,” Melanie admitted. “Did you like either or both of your husbands?”

  “At what points in those relationships do you refer?” Carolyne parried.

  “Exactly!” Melanie agreed. She smiled without vocalizing the laugh her twinkling brown eyes mimed for her. “I think he likes my celebrity. I think he likes liking Melanie Ditherson, daughter of Cornelius and Margaret, niece of Charles, granddaughter of the Cecilia and Geoffrey Crystin of Crystin Companies, et al., ad infinitum. I can live with that, for the moment. Whether it will be good enough for the long haul—well, I’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll be interested in how he handles this setback, because he sincerely looked forward to the celebrity of our success here and from his projected part in the verification of my initial research. He’s from a poor family, needed a full scholarship, had to maintain a high grade-point average, has this desperate compulsion to climb high socially and professionally; all of that kind of stuff. Why I latched onto him? Maybe, it’s part of that old chestnut about the haves feeling guilty about all of the have-nots.” She shrugged.

  Carolyne was giddy from Melanie’s candidness. Over and over, she forgot this pretty package’s outside wrapping wasn’t any real indicator of the real substance inside. How many times did she have to be hit over the head with that fact to remember it? “I really didn’t mean to pry.”

  There was Melanie’s smile again. “Of course, you meant to pry.” Carolyne felt like a little girl, cookie in hand, denying a raid on the cookie jar, little consoled by Melanie’s, “I don’t mind. If I did, I’d tell you so, or don’t you think I would?”

  “I don’t know what I think,” Carolyne admitted. “Frankly, I find you something of a dichotomy.”

  “Really?” She wasn’t displeased. “I’d always welcome your input, you know. On whatever. I admire the way you assessed your situation with my father, cut your losses, and moved on with your life without bitterness.” Her next smile accompanied, “Outward bitterness, at least. I only hope I can handle any eventual separation from Teddy with equal aplomb.”

  Roy sat up suddenly, and it wasn’t missed by either woman.

  “Something, Roy?” Carolyne was apprehensive.

  There was as minute of pregnant silence wherein everyone listened.

  Roy said finally, “I thought I heard something.”

  Uncountable goose bumps suddenly pimpled Carolyne’s flesh. She rubbed her arms vigorously to counteract her inner chill.

  “It was probably nothing,” Roy decided finally.

  There was a universal sigh of, “Thank God!”

  They’d divvied the night between them, Melanie to lead off the watch, Carolyne to follow. Carolyne was sure she couldn’t sleep, in the interim, but she made the effort. She didn’t want to face tomorrow dead on her feet.

  The next she knew, she was aware of Melanie shaking her awake. She sat up so fast it left her slightly dizzy and decidedly disoriented.

  “Sorry,” Melanie apologized. “It’s just your turn at watch. I hated to wake you, you were sleeping so soundly.”

  “Anything worth reporting?”

  “A few sounds that Roy might have made heads or tails out of; not I. The jaguar eyes I spotted about an hour back turned out to be two moths committing hara-kiri in the campfire flames.”

  Carolyne got up and stretched; the prospect of more sleep was mighty inviting.

  She threw a couple chunks of rotting wood on the fire. Sparks danced for a minute and highlighted her sleeping, or about to be asleep companions. She was tempted to rouse Felix, just out of curmudgeonness, but she controlled herself. She only had a few more days, and she’d be rid of the little monster. If the expedition got a new lease on life, she’d do her best to make sure the worm wasn’t along for the ride; Charles would back her up, even if he wasn’t as angry at Felix as Carolyne would have preferred him to be.

  She squatted at the edge of the fire and welcomed the heat. The natural sauna of the day had deteriorated into a decided chill once the sun went down. Of course, the desert was even worse; after days of near sunstroke temperatures, Gobi nights had threatened her with frostbite. “Count your blessings, Carolyne,” she mumbled and threw another stick on the fire.

  Time stretched endlessly, eaten away slow second by slow second. Carolyne assumed an uncomfortable squat as a distraction against the continuing temptation of renewed sleep.

  Sounds, like rodents scampering, began; they were like a breeze rustling dead leaves, without the breeze. Would Teddy’s big as a house jaguar make as much noise? Carolyne’s experience with big cats was limited. She’d spent time in their territories, but they’d always obliged by keeping out of sight and leaving her alone. Was her luck about to run out?

  She tried less gruesome and disturbing thoughts, but conjuring the luxury of a lengthy tub bath, the delectability of a really good meal, and a complete make over in a beauty salon, were all too relaxing and made her more tired. Imagining her as the main course for a jaguar, or the victim of a madman, were more conducive to keeping her on her toes.

  Roy stirred before schedule, but Carolyne was prepared to see her assigned time through. “I’ve at least a good half an hour more to go.”

  “I’m having trouble sleeping, anyway,” Roy gave her leave.

  She was gracious enough to believe him. “Nothing to report but the usual fantasies conjured by an overactive mind confronted by deep jungle darkness.”

  She checked her bedroll for whatever life-forms had proclaimed squatters rights in her absence, then scooted in. It was unbelievable how comfortable that bit of padding was.

  All too soon, Melanie woke her again. This time it was indirectly. “I tell you, I know how I packed it!” Melanie was saying loudly to Felix.

  Carolyne was pleased to see Felix didn’t look happy, and she kicked herself out of her bed. “Something wrong?”

  “I’m sorry if I woke you,” Melanie apologized. “I wanted some toilet paper and found my bag rifled, Felix on duty.”

  “You don’t know I was on duty when it happened,” Felix defended. “When was the last time you checked?”

  “Well, somebody scrounged through it,” Melanie amended, “and I discovered that fact on your watch.”

  Carolyne wondered if she could be as certain of someone rifling her
own disorganized possessions. “Anything missing?”

  “My first thought was the pictures I took of Gordon’s body, but the digital chip is still there.”

  “I would have seen anyone,” Felix insisted with renewed confidence.

  “Unless you were sleeping on watch,” Melanie challenged.

  Felix’s already florid face turned almost purple; little blue veins highlighted his cheeks. “I was not asleep!”

  “My first thought would have been for my emerald,” Carolyne confessed. Maybe prerogatives were different for someone who already had additional emeralds, plus a few diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and pearls, in the family vault back home.

  Melanie rummaged through her bedroll and retrieved the gemstone.

  “Problem?” Roy’s adaptation to his surroundings had managed to get him to them before anyone even knew he was awake, let alone on the move.

  “Melanie says someone has been going through her things.” For the pure pleasure, Carolyne added, “She made that discovery on Felix’s watch.”

  “There was nobody!” Felix responded on cue.

  “Not even you?” Carolyne was grabbing at straws. Had Melanie narrowed it down to Felix, she would have said so. Nevertheless, it gave Carolyne pleasure to see the little maggot squirm.

  “I was nowhere near her or her bag!”

  “Scooted away before she came completely awake, did you?”

  “Anything taken?” Roy kept out of the bickering. “Emerald? Photographs?” His order of prerogatives clearly matched those of Carolyne.

  “Nothing that I can tell,” Melanie admitted.

  “Then, no harm done,” Roy judged. “You might think seriously about sleeping with emerald and the digital chip.”

  Melanie was pleased he didn’t suggest either would be safer if handed over to him. Teddy wouldn’t have been as equal opportunity, or as diplomatic.

  “Time to move out?” Charles had finally been aroused by their conversation; Teddy was the only one still out.

  “Might as well,” Roy conceded. “We should have enough light by breakfast.”

  He was right, although it was more a case of eyes adjusted to darkness than to actual sunlight released into the gloom.

  Carolyne ate raisins and walnuts and washed them down with water. She hooked her canteen to her webbed belt and decamped with the others.

  Charles and Teddy’s disappearance occurred at midday. Noon was the hour Carolyne assigned it, although Charles could have gone as early as 11:30; that’s when he was last heard from. As usual, travel had been accomplished not by visual contact, always difficult to maintain, but by an intuitive sense of stepping where the guy in front had stepped a few seconds before. Everyone was supposed to keep regular verbal contact with the person in front and behind, but exhaustion often made small talk a genuine effort.

  “Charles!” Carolyne couldn’t believe they’d lost him. His well-toned sixth sense should have kept him in line. If not, a few exchanged shouts, even now, should have returned him to the fold.

  As for Teddy, who knew how long he’d been gone? There was the chance he’d merely followed after Charles, a case of the blind leading the blind, but positioned as he was at the end of the line, he might well have wandered off even before Charles cut loose.

  It was frustrating they’d both been so quiet about it. None of the remaining four had heard anything that resembled a cry of disorientation.

  “Teddy! Charles!” Roy fired two shots that received no reply.

  Carolyne’s acute dismay wasn’t helped by her having been the weak link in the chain, from which both men had disengaged.

  “We’ll eat,” Roy decided, “during which we’ll shoot off a few more rounds. If Teddy and Charles haven’t showed, or checked in, by then, we’ll have to consider alternatives.”

  They had to consider alternatives.

  The resulting vote gave Carolyne a sense of déjà vu: She was against a search party, because there were too many unknowns and too much jungle; Melanie was of the opinion, “We can’t simply sit around and do nothing!” Roy volunteered to take a look-see; Felix sided with Carolyne, although it wasn’t as any favor to her.

  Two against two was normally a vote for the status quo, but Roy worked independently of the expedition’s rules and regulations. He was used to making his own decisions, and he did so now. All the same, Carolyne blamed Melanie for Roy’s rebellion, and, in a pique, imagined his macho response was more in reaction to the coquettish bats of Melanie’s thick eyelashes than to common sense. “And when you don’t come back, I’ll see Melanie goes looking!” she called after him.

  Lunch over, there was little to do but sit and wait. Sit and wait they did, then sat and waited some more.

  Melanie was particularly concerned as it got later. She genuinely liked the handsomely rugged prospector; if she’d sent him into fatal danger, she would be no more pleased about it than Carolyne. She waited for the older woman to say, “I told you so!”

  Carolyne would have said just that, too, except Roy hadn’t exactly been led out of camp by a nose ring. He wasn’t a novice at survival, and if he wanted to risk his neck to impress Melanie, that was his business.

  “Let’s get in a wood supply for tonight!” Carolyne ordered. Melanie was the expedition leader, but Carolyne, the more experienced and older, had launched a palace coup. “The last thing we need is a jaguar come to make the last of us its evening meal.”

  Wood-gathering kept their hands and minds occupied but only until they had every retrievable stick of burnable wood within safe foraging distance; it was a stockpile big enough to fuel a small city for the night.

  The group’s diminished number called for each to have more than one go at guard duty. “If it’s something in any way suspicious, call out!” Carolyne was pure Sergeant-Major. “It’s not likely a friendly will be walking around in the dark. Roy may be the possible exception. If so, we’ll all want to be up for his report, anyway.”

  Darkness dropped with its usual absence of subtlety. Their isolated pocket of light seemed mighty small to those encapsulated within it. Theirs was a shared four down three to go mentality that begged for camaraderie, but Carolyne was still peeved at Melanie, and she couldn’t abide Felix; Melanie was resentful of any blame Carolyne put on her for Roy’s failure to reappear, and she still suspected Felix of having rifled her backpack; Felix was teed off at Melanie for her accusation of snooping, and his opinion of Carolyne hadn’t changed since he’d accused her of Gordon’s murder.

  Things deteriorated farther when, halfway into the night, Melanie screamed everyone awake with, “There’s something out there!” That something didn’t respond to catcalls, cajoles, or threats. “I tell you, it was there!”

  “Green, was it, with antennae?” Felix was tired and irritable. He was furious that he’d waited so long to get into the field, only to have the should be great experience end up like this. “Was the sound it made its request of you to take it to your leader?”

  “Funny!” Melanie wasn’t laughing. “Next time, I’ll keep my mouth shut while it clops onto your fat head and hauls you off for din-din.”

  “Spare me the baby-talk!”

  “Shut up, all of us,” Carolyne insisted, “unless we have something constructive to say. All right? None of us will get back to civilization if we’re continually pulling against each other.”

  “Well, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?” was Felix’s opinion.

  “If you’d take the wax out of your ears, you’d recall that I included myself in that statement.” She added to herself: “Felix, you are a pain in the ass.”

  The rest of the night passed without incident, everyone saved another rude awakening when Carolyne realized, on her own, that the ogre spotted in the bushes was nothing but a new set of shadows conjured by the last stick of wood added to the fire.

  No one needed to be called at first light. Independently, each had decided the best plan was to get out as quickly as possible. If Roy
hadn’t found Teddy and Charles, they weren’t likely to be found. If Roy hadn’t saved himself, he wasn’t likely to be saved. Experts were needed and wouldn’t be forthcoming until apprised of the situation.

  Carolyne was so convinced she wouldn’t see Charles, Teddy, or Roy again, she took Roy’s sudden reappearance as she would have any heart-stopping trauma.

  “Sorry, I thought you heard me,” Roy apologized.

  Carolyne was still speechless when Felix and Melanie joined them.

  “I found these.” Roy extended his right hand.

  “Arrows,” Carolyne found her voice.

  “Meaning what?” Felix made no move to touch them. All the South American arrows of his imagination came dipped in curare.

  “It means nothing if they’re artifacts jettisoned when the owner left the area.” Carolyne wanted to make sure her voice was still with her.

  “I’ve good news and bad news.” All that got Roy was groans.

  “I don’t know about anyone else, but I could use the good news first,” Carolyne decided.

  Melanie and Felix provided Carolyne with a hearty, “Amen!”

  “I didn’t pull any of these out of any dead bodies.”

  “The bad news?” Carolyne really didn’t want to hear it.

  “No sign of Charles or Teddy, and these aren’t artifacts.”

  Carolyne didn’t need head-hunting Indians added to this already disastrous roster.

  “Doesn’t take an expert to tell they’re not artifacts, either.” He handed Carolyne two arrows and kept the third. He put the feathered end of his to his right thigh, gripped the shaft just below its sharp arrow point, and exerted enough downward pressure to bend the wood into a neat bow. “Green wood cut within the last few days.”