Three
“... just through here ... a little bit farther ...”
“That’s what you said ten minutes ago,” Caro pointed out.
“Well, we’re getting close.”
Under ordinary conditions—which was to say, when they weren’t looking for a dead body in the steadily deepening dark, worried about the killer up at the mansion and being lashed by torrents of rain—this was probably a pleasant little path to the boathouse.
Not so much right now.
“It’s just down there,” Todd said, pointing. “See?”
They could see a small, squat building with a green roof just at the end of the path, and beyond that, a river gurgled alongside. Caro guessed the river must lead directly to the sea, and they could take the boat around to the back of the mansion, fish the body out, and then ...
What?
She’d worry about that later.
“Is there a reason we aren’t leaving this to the owner of the mansion?” Lynn ventured, stumbling in her pumps.
“He might be the dead guy,” Caro replied. “And it’s a big place. He could be anywhere. Heck, he could have gone back to the mainland after supper for all we know. I don’t want to waste time looking for someone we don’t even know is alive. I’d rather get to the victim.”
“It’s touching, yet a little on the creepy side,” Todd said. “I’m sure it has nothing to do with your obsessive need to be in charge.”
“Here we—ow! Son of a bitch!” Jana cursed and shoved the branches out of her face.
“Jana!” her mother gasped. “Watch your mouth.”
“That probably stings like crazy,” Todd commented, smothering a snicker.
“Does anyone know how to drive a boat?” Lynn asked timidly.
“I can do it,” Caro said. “I used to go fishing with my old man on the Mississippi all the time.”
“Aw, that’s so cute,” Todd said. “And when I say cute, I mean lame. Uh-oh.”
Caro didn’t ask what uh-oh meant. She and the others had reached the door to the boathouse ... and the lock was smashed and hanging open.
“Dana’s smarter than I thought,” Todd said. “And that’s really saying something—didn’t she say she was a teacher?”
“What’s so dumb about that?”
“She teaches modeling.”
“Her evil knows no bounds,” Caro said. “And she knows a few other things, too.” Caro poked at the broken hasp. “Well, let’s go see how bad it is.”
She pushed the door open with tented fingers and walked in. Part of her couldn’t believe this was happening to her, would-be author and pediatric nurse. Tramping around in the dark, in a spooky damp boathouse where she could barely see her hand in front of her face. Followed by the three musketeers: Larry, Moe, and Curly. Oh, Lord, what a day. Next time, she told herself grimly, stay home or stay in bed. Possibly both.
She took a deep breath and went in a little farther, feeling like every stupid horror movie heroine ever conceived. She could practically hear people yelling at the screen, “Don’t go in there, dumb bitch!”
She kept her flashlight trained in front of her, which was why she didn’t see the body at her feet and went sprawling.
“Ouch,” Todd said, looking down at her. “That looked embarrassing.”