Death by Bikini

by Linda Gerber

  “She must still be out gathering the plants,” I yelled. “We should look for her.”

  “Where?”

  “I’m not sure. She’d probably be able to find more variety up there.” I pointed to the jungle behind the property.

  “What are we going to do? Comb the entire hillside? We’d never find her.”

  “We’ve got to try!”

  He shook his head. “Aphra, it’s getting dangerous out here. We can hardly see as it is.”

  “Seth, I need her. For my dad.”

  He nodded without a word and took my hand again. We followed the trail that led to the far south corner of the property. Bits of sand and twigs flew through the air, stinging my skin like needles. A branch of a tree shot out of the darkness like a javelin. It missed Seth’s head by inches. It was stupid being out in that weather, but I didn’t know what else to do.

  As we rounded the corner of the shuttered lounge building I saw a figure sprawled on the ground. Even in the darkness, I could tell it was too big to be Hisako. Stumbling toward the body, I swiped water from my eyes. “Frank!” I dropped into the mud beside him and shook his shoulder. “Are you all right? Frank, talk to me!” I slipped my hand under his head to lift it from the water, and my fingers touched a huge knot at the back of his skull.

  “He’s been hit on the head!”

  “Something in the wind, maybe?”

  “Probably.” Or . . . maybe someone. But who? Watts was dead asleep in his villa. My stomach seemed to fold in on itself. What if Watts wasn’t working alone? If the Mulos had managed to get on the island without Frank, what would’ve stopped someone else from dropping in? That person could be prowling about the resort right now! He could have been the one to kill Bianca. The Mulos could be in more danger than I had thought.

  “Seth! I need you to get Frank back to the office. Have your dad check him for a possible concussion. I’ve got to go see something.”

  “I’m not leaving you out here alone!”

  “I’ll be right behind you. I just need to do this.” I took off before he had a chance to protest and ran as fast as the wind and the mud would allow, all the way to villa ten.

  Just like Hisako’s had been, Watts’s windows were completely dark. A tickle of fear caught in my throat. If Mr. Watts was still sleeping as I’d left him, who had turned off the lights? I crept to the front window and pressed my face against the glass to peer inside. A flash of lightning lit the front room where I had seen Mr. Watts drop onto the couch.

  As I had feared, the couch, the room, and all that I could see was empty.

  CHAPTER 11

  Panic lashed at me like the wind and the rain. How could he have eaten everything I gave him and not have it affect him at all? Maybe he had help. Maybe they knew I had been trying to drug him, which meant that I could have placed us all in more danger. Someone had already attacked Frank. My stomach dropped. Hisako was out there looking for plants. What if they went after her, too? I had to get help.

  I wheeled around and tore back to the Plantation House. Slamming through the doors, I ran smack into Seth. He grabbed me to keep me from falling.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  Everything. I clung to his arms and wished I could die right there so that I wouldn’t have to face him and tell him how I had betrayed his family. I should have told the Mulos the moment I realized Watts had come looking for them. Should have warned them that someone else might be on the island. Now they were trapped. At that point, I didn’t even care who the Mulos really were or what they may have done. All I could go on was the feeling of dread gnawing at my chest.

  “Seth, you and your family are in danger.”

  He tensed and held me from him. “What are you talking about?”

  I looked away, unable to let him see the guilt written on my face. “There’s a man. Here on the island. Looking for you—for your family.”

  Seth’s eyes slid to the office, where his parents were busy attending to the needs of my father. I felt like such slime. “I didn’t tell him anything.” My voice sounded whiny. Pleading. Like I was trying to convince myself as well as him that I had done all I could to protect them. It just wasn’t true. “Seth, he may not be alone. Whoever hurt Frank could be coming after you next.”

  Seth’s grip tightened, pinching the skin on my arms. “Mom! Dad!”

  Elena Mulo was the first to respond. She appeared at the office door, clearly shaken by the urgency in Seth’s voice. “What is it?” Dr. Mulo joined her, his face showing the strain of the past hour.

  “They found us.”

  Dr. Mulo looked stricken. “How can it be possible?”

  Mrs. Mulo didn’t say a word, but shook her head, the color draining from her face.

  “A man came today,” I said. “Asking about you.”

  Darlene came down the stairs at that moment. “Frank is resting comfortably. I gave him the icepack. . . .” Her voice trailed off. “What is it?”

  The lights flickered, and then everything went dark.

  Mrs. Mulo gasped. Darlene tried to reassure her. “The storm.”

  I knew better. The resort’s emergency generator would have kicked in the instant power was interrupted. This was no accident. First the phones and now the power.

  “Lock the doors.” I pulled away from Seth. “Hurry!”

  I have to give Darlene credit. She didn’t even ask why, but rushed to the front doors and drew the bolt. I ran to the back entry and did the same. I even checked the French doors that led out to the lanai, although I knew that, with its flimsy lock, if someone wanted in, all it would take was one well-placed kick and we were done for.

  “Victor . . .” Elena Mulo’s voice cut through the shadows, tight as an overwound piano wire.

  Darlene looked from one to the other. “Someone tell me this instant what is going on!”

  “Everyone just calm down,” ordered Dr. Mulo. “Hysteria will do us no good. Aphra, you will tell us what happened. In the back room. I need to monitor your father.”

  Silently, we filed into the office. The only light came from a battery-operated clock on the wall. It washed the room with an eerie yellow glow.

  Dr. Mulo squatted near the couch next to my dad, and Mrs. Mulo sank onto the rolling chair behind the desk. Dad’s breathing still sounded labored, but not as raspy as earlier. Seth edged into the crowded office beside me. I wanted to draw comfort from his closeness, but my guilt wouldn’t let me.

  “Tell me.” Darlene folded her arms in the tough-girl stance that was supposed to show she wasn’t scared. She didn’t fool me for a minute.

  I repeated what I had told Seth. “Frank’s the one who took Watts to his villa,” I said. “Maybe he was asking too many questions, I don’t know, but I think someone hit Frank over the head and left him out in the storm.”

  “Why would anyone do that?”

  “They’re looking for us.” Mrs. Mulo’s voice was so soft that I could hardly hear her for the wind outside. She held up her hand as Dr. Mulo began to protest. “We may as well tell them the entire truth, Victor. They could be in danger because of us.”

  His shoulders drooped. “We never thought it would come to this. We were certain no one would find us here.”

  “Even the agency does not know where we are,” Mrs. Mulo added.

  “Agency?”

  “The bureaucrats nearly got us killed—although we may not have done much better ourselves.”

  “Why would anyone want to kill you?” From what I could see of Darlene’s face in the dark, she was at once captivated and horrified.

  “It was my fault,” Elena Mulo said. “I crossed the wrong man, and now he’s after us. Our only option, if we wanted to live, was to not exist anymore. Victor arranged the accident to make it appear as if we were dead. We thought we had forgotten nothing—”

  “But it did not take long for Aphra to see through our guise,” said Dr. Mulo. “We apparently did not cover our tracks as well as we thought.”
>
  Darlene frowned at me, no doubt peeved that I had kept this secret from her. I frowned back, just as confused as she was.

  “Seth was our conscientious objector,” Dr. Mulo continued. “He warned us that this would not work. He said that we would only endanger those who tried to help us. I am sorry to say we did not listen. He was right. We should not have come.”

  I stared at Seth’s parents, trying to process what they were saying. If Mrs. Mulo had witnessed a crime or something like that, they had probably been in the Witness Protection Program.

  Dr. Mulo looked at me with sad eyes. “I’m afraid your friend on the beach may have died because of our folly. I had feared as much when I saw her—that her death may be some kind of warning—and if what you say is true . . .” His voice cracked. “I am so very sorry.”

  Seth shifted beside me, and his arm brushed mine. I flinched. There was plenty of blame to go around. I may not have been able to stop Bianca’s killer, but I could have warned Seth’s family—if I hadn’t suspected his dad to be a cold-blooded killer.

  A change in Dad’s breathing brought an end to the self-recrimination. He gasped and gurgled as if he were being strangled.

  Dr. Mulo checked my dad’s throat. “The swelling has gotten worse.” He looked to Darlene. “You have the items I asked for?”

  She nodded, looking unsure. “Do you have to cut him? Isn’t there anything else? The herbs?”

  My stomach sank. In my panic, I had forgotten about Hisako. She was out there alone. “I . . . I didn’t find—”

  “There is no time to wait.” Dr. Mulo rolled up his sleeves. “I will need light.”

  “I’ll get the flashlights!”

  Seth followed me to the registration desk, where I grabbed a halogen flashlight. “Give this to him.” I handed it off. “There’s another big one in the utility closet.”

  The lobby was darker than the caves at midnight, except for the occasional strobe of lightning. I felt my way to the utility closet and fumbled in the blackness for the lantern flashlight. I grasped the handle and turned around just as a tremendous flash bathed the lobby and the surrounding lanai in brilliant white light. In that instant, I thought I saw a figure duck behind one of the pillars. I swallowed a scream, nearly dropping the lantern. Fingers trembling, I switched it on, shining the powerful light along the length of the lanai. Nothing. Still, my heart was doing ninety. There had been someone out there, I was sure of it.

  “Aphra! The light!”

  I ran back to the office. Darlene directed the beam of the smaller flashlight to where Seth was pouring the alcohol over his father’s hands. The excess dribbled into a small metal bowl on the desk. Dad sounded even worse by now. His whole body arched with the strain of drawing each new breath. He was suffocating to death while someone lurked outside to kill the only person on the island who could give my dad a chance at life.

  I handed the flashlight to Darlene. “Here, hold this. I . . . I think there’s another one upstairs.” I rushed out of the office, snagging Mrs. Mulo’s raincoat on my way past the front desk.

  No matter what the Mulos’ story was, one thing I knew for sure: I should have given them a fighting chance. I had placed them in danger with my silence. The only way I could think of to set things right was to protect Seth’s family and ensure that Dr. Mulo had time to perform the procedure on my dad. It was up to me to get that assassin away from the Plantation House.

  In the darkness of my room, I yanked out dresser drawers, dumping them on my bed and pawing through my clothes until I found what I needed—long black pants and a white T-shirt. I wiggled into them and fumbled in my desk drawer for the flashlight and a pair of scissors.

  In the bathroom, I locked the door and set the flashlight on the counter. The yellow beam of light cast weird shadows on the walls and made my face look alien in the mirror. I closed my eyes, lifted a handful of hair, and cut it off. It didn’t matter if it was perfect, just so long as no one saw me up close. If I was lucky, that wouldn’t happen. Before long, dark hair carpeted the sink, the counter, and the bathroom floor. I slipped on Mrs. Mulo’s raincoat and stared at my altered reflection in the mirror.

  It would have to do.

  Lightning strobed through the windows as I tiptoed down the back stairs. A clap of thunder shook the house. I took that opportunity to slip out into the storm.

  I am Elena Mulo. Come and get me.

  The wind whipped her coat around my legs. Rain pelted me like liquid marbles. I ducked my head and ran toward the front of the house, where I had seen the man hiding. My idea was to get his attention and draw him into the jungle, where I had the advantage. I knew every inch of the hillside, and he did not. If I managed to lose him up there, he could wander for hours before finding his way back down—just enough time for Dr. Mulo to perform his magic.

  Only the killer didn’t follow the script.

  Before I had even rounded the corner, a bullet zipped past my ear. I wasn’t sure what it was until it slammed into the pillar next to me, sending splinters of wood flying. I screamed and dropped to the ground. Sodden blades of grass poked my cheek, and water soaked through my clothes.

  This wasn’t exactly what I had planned. I hugged the ground, frozen with fear. A spray of grass and mud jumped up not six inches from my face. I choked back a scream. It wasn’t going to do me any good to lie there like a fish on a platter. He could finish me off, and then what? My dad would die. I had to give Dr. Mulo more time.

  I pushed myself up from the ground and ran in a zigzag to the tree line, hoping he would follow—only not too close.

  Sure enough, his footsteps crashed through the undergrowth behind me. He was coming.

  I climbed harder, but the heavy rain weighted my clothes and stung my eyes. I slipped and stumbled up the hill, decomposing leaves slick and wet beneath my feet. My thighs burned. My chest grew hot and tight. I wanted to stop and catch my breath, but I could hear him behind me.

  Close. So close.

  Inches from my head, a banana leaf jumped and ripped apart. Half a breath later, a bullet splintered the palm trunk beside me. I dropped to the ground once more, the sound of my scream caught in my throat. I swore I could feel the vibration of his footsteps coming nearer.

  I held my breath, wishing and praying. . . . I wished I could tell Seth how sorry I was. I wished I could have protected Bianca. I prayed for the chance to see my mom one more time before I died.

  The footsteps hesitated and then stilled. I squeezed my eyes shut. Please, oh please, oh please.

  He headed off in the other direction.

  I could have cried with relief . . . until I realized that he was heading back down the hill. No! I jumped up. He couldn’t go back to the Plantation House.

  The sound must have drawn his attention, because the course of the footsteps changed once again. I spun and scrambled through the tangle of trees and vines, the crack of branches sharp and clear behind me. Mud sucked at my feet as I struggled up the hill. Mrs. Mulo’s coat kept getting caught on branches, slowing me down. I should just dump it right here, I thought. I should—

  The sleeve of the coat jerked as if someone had tugged on it. Something hot zipped over my skin. I clamped my hand over the burn, and ducked behind a jambu tree. I couldn’t breathe. The earth tilted and my head buzzed as I looked down at the small hole in the fabric of Mrs. Mulo’s coat. The bullet had just barely missed my flesh.

  Adrenaline fueled by cold, raw fear spurred me on. I broke from the tree and raced through the shadows to a stand of bamboo. Wind snaked through the narrow trunks with a haunted, moaning sound that chilled me even more than the rain. I didn’t have to look back to know he was close behind me. My back tingled with the kind of dread you feel when you know someone could jump out and grab you at any second.

  With the weight of the coat and the way it kept snagging on branches, I tired much quicker than I would have otherwise. Still, as much as I wanted to, I didn’t dare take it off. Not yet. I had to preserve the i
llusion a little longer. My thigh muscles burned as I climbed up the hill. My breath came in tearing rasps, and my side ached as if someone had stabbed me with a hot poker. Finally the ground leveled off and I could breathe a little easier, though I didn’t dare slow my steps. I wasn’t going to give the assassin another chance to take aim. Ducking in and out of the trees, I led him farther up the mountain.

  He was gaining on me. I would never lose him. Unless . . . I changed direction and scrambled under low-hanging branches toward my hidden cove.

  The rain began to taper off by the time I reached the ravine. I thanked the gods; the old log was dangerous enough to cross on the best of days. Water in my eyes wouldn’t do much to improve the situation.

  I hesitated at the tree line. Crossing the log, I would be completely exposed with nowhere to go but down. Still, it was my only chance. I took a deep breath and went for it.

  The log shifted after I had taken several steps—the ground beneath it no doubt eroding in the rivulets of water that continued to flow down the hill. I froze. My chest felt like it was clamped in a vise. If the log fell . . . I glanced down and was instantly seized by a grip of vertigo. Only the knowledge that a killer was close on my trail kept me going. I took another tentative step. The log held.

  A shot exploded behind me. I screamed and lost my footing. My arms windmilled in the air before I fell. I reached out for the log and slammed against it with a thud.

  I hugged the log, fingers gripping the rough bark, feet treading empty air. I could hear the killer and twisted around to see a black figure moving among the shadows. Out there on the log I was as good as dead, which wouldn’t do my dad or the Mulos any good. And I’d never get the chance to find my mom. That thought gave me the surge of strength I needed to swing one leg high enough to hook it over the log. Grunting from the effort, I pulled myself up. I shimmied the rest of the way along the log until I reached the muddy ledge on the far side of the ravine. Solid ground! I rolled onto my back. I never wanted to move again.