Camping, Concealer and Criminals (A Bekki the Beautician Cozy Mystery Book 12)

by Cindy Bell

  “But you're safe, you are with us,” Morris said soothingly.

  Sammy frowned as Bekki wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “She has a point though,” Bekki said quietly. “We need to stick together. We can't get off this mountain until the roads are clear. No one can get to us. We need to do something.”

  “Well,” Nick rubbed the back of his neck slowly. “We'll just have to catch the killer ourselves.”

  “How?” Sammy asked desperately.

  “We do have a detective and a police officer here,” Morris pointed out.

  “Not to mention Bekki, the amateur sleuth,” Sammy added in a whisper.

  “Exactly,” Nick nodded. “One thing is for sure,” he studied the three faces. “We can't go back to our campsite. Something is definitely very wrong here, and if we're in the campsite, we're going to be sitting ducks. We stick together, and we stick to the woods, understand?”

  All three nodded. Sammy was still holding tightly to Bekki.

  “No splitting up!” Sammy added sternly.

  Chapter Six

  “We need to get back to the body,” Morris said gruffly as they started walking in the direction of the body. “If we can figure out where Penny was actually murdered we might be able to get to the bottom of all of this.”

  “Great,” Sammy whispered to Bekki. “Now we're hunting the murderer.”

  “It's okay, Sammy,” Bekki gave her a light squeeze. “Nick and Morris are excellent at their jobs. We're going to be just fine.”

  “I hope so,” Sammy said as she shuddered. Then she added in an embarrassed whisper. “I really have to pee.”

  “Me too,” Bekki grimaced. She hadn't had a chance to go yet, and she was ready to burst. As they walked back towards Penny’s body, Nick and Morris tossed theories back and forth to one another.

  “We're going to the bathroom,” Bekki told Morris and Nick as they paused in front of the bushes where the body was hidden.

  “Be careful,” Nick warned her.

  “We will be,” Bekki promised him. As she led Sammy into the bathroom she noticed how dark it was. She flipped the switch for the bathroom light, but nothing happened. “We'll take turns,” she told Sammy. “You go first.”

  “Thank you!” Sammy squeaked and ducked into one of the stalls. Bekki kept the flashlight shining towards the stall door so that Sammy would have some light. As she leaned back against the sink she went over her conversation with Penny earlier in the day. Was it possible that she had missed something? Had Penny mentioned anything about an argument with one of the other women? Bekki couldn't remember. She was exhausted, and she really had to go.

  “Sammy, are you done?” she asked impatiently.

  “Done,” Sammy said and rushed to the sink to wash her hands. Then she held the flashlight for Bekki. When the two emerged from the bathroom, they found Nick and Morris standing very still in front of the bushes.

  “Nick?” Bekki asked as she walked up to him. “Did you figure something out?”

  Nick looked over at Bekki. His face was pale as he looked into her eyes. “Were you alone in the bathroom?” he asked in a whisper. “Did you hear anything outside of it?”

  “What? No, I mean, Sammy was with me,” Bekki reminded him. Sammy walked up beside Morris, who looked as ashen as Nick did.

  “No more splitting up,” Morris said roughly as he hugged her. “Not even for bathroom breaks.”

  “What is going on?” Bekki demanded, her stomach flipping with dread.

  “Penny,” Nick said, his voice wavering in a way that she rarely heard. “She's gone.”

  “She's dead, you mean?” Sammy asked with confusion.

  “No,” Morris said. “She's gone,” he reached down and pulled back the low bushes. Bekki and Sammy looked at the spot on the ground where the body had been. But there was no sign of Penny's body.

  “But that means,” Bekki said in a hoarse whisper.

  “In the time it took us to try to drive to the ranger station and check out the other campsite, someone moved the body,” Nick finished for her.

  “Which means the killer is very close,” Bekki continued for him.

  “No, no, no,” Sammy cried out and buried her face in Morris' shirt. “We're all going to die, aren't we?” she asked.

  “Shh, Sammy,” Morris warned her, but he hugged her tightly against him. “We're going to get out of this. We just have to be very cautious.”

  “Extremely,” Nick agreed with a deep frown. “We need to get into the woods, off the trails, the more hidden we are the less chance there is that whoever is walking through these woods is going to see or hear us.”

  “We're going to go off the trail deep into the woods in the dark?” Bekki asked softly. It wasn't a protest, just a slight concern. It was bad enough that they were very likely being hunted by a murderer, now they had to find a way to survive in the woods.

  “Listen,” Nick said calmly, though Bekki knew from the squint of his eyes that he was feeling anything but calm. “Whoever moved the body, moved it because they didn't want to get caught,” he pointed out. “So, I don't think the killer is going to be lurking around in the woods. Do you?” he raised an eyebrow. “They're probably already halfway down the mountain planning their flight to some island somewhere. This is not a situation where we have some random killer running rampant through the woods. From the way Penny was attacked it looked like it was in a fit of rage so it is very likely that Penny was killed for personal reasons. Which means, that we should be safe.”

  “What about her friends?” Sammy reminded him. “Do you think that they are safe?”

  “As of right now, I think we need to assume that they are,” Nick said with a nod. “There was no sign of a struggle at the campsite. There's no evidence to say whether they were or weren't the killers. There is nothing to say whether there is a chance that they have somehow been hurt. We can only go with what we know for now.”

  “I still think we should try to find out where Penny was killed,” Morris interjected.

  “It's our only lead,” Nick agreed with a nod. “It might be where the girls are.”

  “With all of the rain, do you think there will still be a trail?” Bekki asked, concern evident in her voice.

  “The drag marks should still be there,” Nick said. “We can follow them for a little while. Then we'll have to see if we can find any other signs, some broken tree limbs. Moving a body almost always leaves some trace of evidence behind.”

  Sammy took a deep breath and looked over at Bekki. “I guess we're going to find out who the detective is after all,” she murmured to her.

  Bekki managed a small smile.

  “It picks up here,” Nick said as he pushed through the bushes deeper into the trees.

  “You take the lead,” Morris said. “Bekki and Sammy you two stay between us.”

  As they began walking slowly through the woods, every crack of a twig, every rustle of an animal in the brush, set Bekki's nerves on edge. Within a few minutes they were off the larger trail and making their way along a very narrow path.

  “This isn't good,” Nick frowned as he suddenly stopped. Bekki stopped right behind him. She saw the puddle in front of him. There was a dip in the trail where a lot of water had collected.

  “Does it pick up again?” she asked as Nick stepped over the puddle.

  “No,” he said. “Not that I can see anyway.”

  “Let's look for some other sign,” Bekki encouraged him. She swept her flashlight over the ground. Morris and Sammy did as well.

  “There!” Sammy suddenly said. “That looks like a footprint.”

  All four of them shone their flashlights on the same spot.

  “Sammy, you're amazing,” Morris said happily as he looked at the footprint. “Now we know a little more, don't we, Nick?”

  Nick had dropped down into a low crouch to inspect the footprint.

  “Yes, we do,” he replied slowly. “I think we can safely rule out a female as the person
who was moving this body. The shoe size is large and wide.”

  “Some women could fit that description,” Sammy pointed out.

  “But not the two women we saw at the campsite,” Bekki shook her head. “I noticed the boots they were wearing, and they were all very narrow and fairly average size.”

  “So, we can make the assumption that the killer was male,” Morris supplied.

  “Or that whoever committed the crime had some help from a male,” Nick added. “We can't completely rule them out, but now we know there had to be at least a third person involved.”

  “Let's keep moving,” Morris said. “The quicker we find the scene of the actual murder the better idea we'll have of what we're up against.”

  Nick nodded and glanced up at Bekki.

  “Keep your eyes and ears open,” he instructed her. “Nothing's too insignificant to mention. Trust those great instincts of yours.”

  Bekki smiled a little. She didn’t want to tell him that she felt so out of her comfort zone that she couldn’t trust her instincts.

  She had practically tripped over Penny's body, otherwise she might never have found it. Now, she couldn't work out if the two women were involved in the murder, or if they were victims themselves. The only thing she did know for sure was that they had to get off that mountain as soon as possible.

  “The footprints end here,” Nick said as he reached a widening area of the path. “There's grass ahead.”

  “Okay, if there's that much grass, we must be getting close to a clearing,” Morris said. He aimed his flashlight up at the tree branches above them. “The branches are sparser, the trees are further apart.”

  “Let's keep going straight ahead and see if we can find something,” Sammy suggested. As they moved along the path it continued to widen. Then it split in two different directions.

  “Now what?” Nick asked with a frown. He played his flashlight over the low branches and bushes that were sticking out from the path on the left. “I don't see anything broken here.”

  “Here,” Morris said as he grabbed hold of a low branch on the other path. “It looks freshly snapped,” he said.

  “Could have been hikers,” Bekki frowned.

  “I don't think so,” Nick shook his head. “I know these woods well, but I can safely say that I've never been on this path before. It's well hidden, and I don't think too many people would know about it.”

  Bekki glanced over at Sammy whose face had grown pale. She could tell that Sammy was trying not to ask for a break, but that she really needed one.

  “Let's rest for a minute and regroup,” Bekki said. “There's been no sign of anyone following us. If we get too exhausted we might miss something.”

  “Good idea,” Nick nodded. “Morris, can I talk with you for a moment?” he asked. Morris nodded. Sammy took off her jacket and spread it across the moist ground. She sank down on top of it, and sighed with relief. Bekki wandered a little bit further along the path, not far enough to be out of earshot, but far enough to get a glimpse of what might come next.

  In the darkness Bekki noticed something glistening. It sparkled, as if calling out to her to find it. Bekki peered through the blades of grass and found a gold necklace with a small diamond pendant. She picked it up out of the grass and studied the clasp, which had clearly been broken.

  “Nick,” she called out.

  Nick walked over to her and looked at what she had in her hand. “What is it?” he asked.

  “I found it in the grass,” Bekki explained. “Nick,” she hesitated for a moment and then looked into his eyes. “What if the other two women didn't get off the mountain, and weren't killed either.”

  “What do you mean?” Nick asked as he studied the necklace.

  “I mean what if they are still on the mountain and someone took them,” Bekki said. “Look, the clasp was broken. That means that someone must have struggled with the person who was wearing it.”

  Nick immediately looked around at the grass and the leaves surrounding the area where Bekki had found it. “But there's no evidence of blood,” Nick said quietly. “Maybe it belonged to Penny?”

  “No,” Bekki shook her head firmly. “I would have noticed her wearing something like this. I bet you it belongs to one of the other two women.”

  “It could belong to anyone,” Nick suggested.

  “I guess, but what if it belongs to one of Penny’s friends?” Bekki asked.

  “It's odd to find it out here,” Nick agreed.

  “What if they are in danger,” Bekki said.

  “Or maybe it was broken by Penny when they killed her,” Nick offered.

  “Maybe, but what if they're being held hostage?” Bekki suggested.

  “Well, it is a possibility,” Nick agreed. “I can't say that it makes complete sense to me, but then, none of this does.”

  “We need to keep moving,” Bekki said with urgency in her voice. “If those other women are still alive, they might be being held right here on this mountain. But who knows how long they will survive?”

  Nick nodded solemnly. “To be honest I'd like to believe that they are still alive,” Nick admitted. “And you're right, if they are, then we need to find them. But Bekki, if they were taken, then whoever did this is far more organized than we expected. There could be more than one person involved in this, which increases the danger immensely.”

  “Not only for us,” Bekki pointed out. “But for those women who could be being held captive. Nick, there's no way to call for help. We're the only hope for these women.”

  “Bekki,” Nick cringed. “I hate the idea of putting you in danger.”

  “But you're not,” Bekki said, her shoulders straightening with determination. “I'm putting myself in danger. It's my choice, Nick. We'll let it be Morris and Sammy's choice, too. But I will not leave this mountain without knowing if those women are safe.”

  Nick ran his hand across his face and cringed. When his hand fell away he looked back at her. “Bekki, you need to be prepared for the possibility that what you find, might not be what you're hoping for.”

  “I know,” she said softly. “I know that there are many outcomes to all of this. But I am going to hope for the best, until we find out for sure.”

  “All right,” he nodded slowly. “Let’s go tell Morris and Sammy.”

  “Sammy's already so scared,” Bekki said with a frown. “I hate to worry her more.”

  “Well, she has to be informed,” Nick said as he met her eyes.

  “What are you two talking about?” Sammy asked as she looked over at them. Morris had stepped close to them as well.

  “We think that maybe the two women from the campsite might still be on the mountain,” Bekki said as she held up the necklace. “We found this and we think it might belong to one of them. We think that they might have been abducted, and that whoever killed Penny might be holding them hostage,” Bekki explained.

  “You mean, you think they might still be alive?” Sammy asked, her eyes wide.

  “I hope so,” Bekki replied.

  “Then we have to find them,” Sammy snapped quickly.

  Bekki was a little surprised by her reaction. She hadn't expected Sammy to be so eager to help.

  “Are you sure?” Bekki asked. “We could be in a much more dangerous situation than we first expected.”

  “Bekki, no matter what, it's not as dangerous as the situation that those two women might be in. I couldn't live with myself if I thought we could have helped them, and they both ended up like Penny because we didn't.”

  Bekki smiled faintly at her friend. Despite the fact that Sammy was terrified, she was still every ounce the protective person that Bekki knew so well.

  “I'm ready,” Sammy said as she snatched her jacket up off the ground. Morris and Nick exchanged looks once more. Bekki could tell that they had been discussing something that they didn't want Bekki and Sammy to hear. She suspected, from the grave expressions on their faces, that it was the level of danger they were ac
tually in. Nick took the lead once more. Bekki fell into step beside Sammy.

  “Are you doing okay?” she asked her softly.

  “I just can't believe all of this has happened,” Sammy admitted. “It was supposed to be a fun weekend, not this,” she frowned.

  “I know,” Bekki sighed as she glanced over the trees around them, ever watchful. “It's not something anyone could have anticipated.”

  “It's strange but I feel like we have to try save these women,” Sammy murmured.

  “I feel the same,” Bekki replied. “I am also determined to make whoever murdered Penny see justice.”

  Chapter Seven

  As Bekki, Sammy, Nick and Morris continued to walk along the trail, Bekki felt herself growing more and more anxious. She wanted more than anything for Kim and Danielle to be alive and safe.

  “Slow down,” Nick whispered as he glanced over his shoulder at them. “There's a campsite up ahead.”

  “Out here?” Morris asked skeptically. “This isn't even a camping area.”

  “I can smell the campfire,” Sammy uttered quietly.

  “Morris, come with me,” Nick instructed. “Bekki, you and Sammy stay right here.”

  Bekki frowned and looped her arm through Sammy's. Morris stepped forward and matched Nick's pace as he crept towards the campsite. There was a small clearing, where it was obvious that someone had been camping. A fire had recently been extinguished. The grass was flat where a tent had been pitched. A stack of firewood was still present. There were even some paper plates and food wrappers scattered about.

  “Whoever was here, isn't here anymore,” Nick murmured to Morris.

  “Who would camp all the way out here?” Morris pondered as he inspected the items that were left behind.

  Nick was hunched down peering at something intently. He picked up a nearby stick and used it to move the object that was holding his attention.

  “Someone who didn't want to be found,” he said in a labored tone as he stood up. “Look what they left behind.”