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Drakeland was packed with excited tourists, ranging from young children to retired couples. Maddock and his friends walked along, enjoying the cheery atmosphere. Shops and snack bars built in a style reminiscent of 1950s American architecture lined First Street. Here and there, costumed characters from Drake’s expansive media properties signed autographs and posed for photos.
“Can you do this without me?” Bones gazed off to his right in the direction of Futureland.
“Why?” Spenser asked.
“Hot women having a bachelorette party. I got some good eye contact from a few of them.” Bones glanced at Kendra, who pretended not to notice. He seemed to have no idea how to respond to her indifference and had been trying to get her attention all morning. It wasn’t working.
“Let’s get a photo in front of Penelope’s Palace.” Spenser took Maddock’s hand and steered him to a spot in front of the picturesque miniature palace. Maddock didn’t love having his picture taken, but he was learning to compromise. It wasn’t Spenser’s fault he was old school.
“Smile!” Kendra snapped a few photos with Spenser’s phone.
“Look at those blue-eyed blondes,” Bones said. “You’re a regular Ken and Barbie.”
“It’s not too late to leave him in the car,” Kendra said. “We can crack the window and give him a bowl of water.”
“Are we going to ride any rides or check out other attractions?” Bones winked at a pair of young women who were openly admiring him.
“That would be fitting,” Kendra said. “When I think of rides that are over in a matter of minutes, you always spring to mind.”
“Let’s scout out the area first,” Maddock said loudly before Bones could retort.
The Ghostly Manor sat across from a lake where a steamboat plied the waters. Park visitors were queued up in a long line outside the imposing manor house. The imposing mansion boasted the columns, gabled roof, and ornate ironwork common to Southern neoclassical homes.
“I thought the hearse was supposed to be right out in front,” Bones said.
“They must have moved it.” Maddock looked around for a park employee to ask. A bored-looking young man stood at the entry gate, gazing across the lake in the direction of Swashbuckler’s Bay, with its renowned pirate-themed attractions.
“Let me,” Spenser said. She was all smiles as she approached the young man, who immediately recognized her from social media, and was all too happy to help her out. They chatted briefly, then she returned, looking unhappy.
“The hearse has been moved inside the mansion,” she said. “They added a skeleton coach driver and incorporated it into the cemetery section of the ride.”
“That’s why Daniel had the floor plan and schematics,” Maddock said. “He was trying to find a way to get to the coach undiscovered. I guess he failed.”
“Why carry the clue in the cryptex around if he already knew where to look?” Kendra asked.
“Treasure hunting can make you paranoid,” Maddock said. “In his case, he was right to be worried.”
Spenser turned to Maddock. “What’s our next move?”
“Let’s have a look, see what we’re up against.”
“You mean we’re going on the ride?” Spenser asked.
“I get scared easily,” Bones said to Kendra. “Be ready in case I decide to jump into your lap.”
“Not happening,” she said.
“I suppose we had better get in line,” Maddock said. “It’s going to take a while.”
“No need. We’ve got fast passes.” Spenser took Maddock’s hand and led him to a second entrance where a short line of visitors waited. Five minutes later, they piled into one of the four-seater carriages that carried them into the depths of the manor house.
Inside the old house, ghosts, ghouls, and skeletons danced, dined, and cavorted. Their carriage occasionally stopped and spun them around to face a zombie, werewolf, or vampire that reached out to grab them. After passing through several rooms, they rumbled through a large chamber where they could look down on the graveyard.
“There’s the hearse.” Maddock pointed to a shiny white carriage. A skeleton in a tuxedo, tails, and a top hat held the reins of a ghost horse.
“There are cameras everywhere,” Spenser said. “We won’t be able to jump off the ride without getting caught.”
“We’ll have to find another way in,” Maddock said.
When the ride ended, they purchased frozen pineapple drinks, took seats in the shade of a tiki hut, and examined the floor plan of the mansion.
“These plans are thirty years old,” Bones said. “Wonder if anything has changed?”
“They periodically update or even change the various sections of the ride,” Spenser said. “But the guts of the building should be the same.”
Upon closer examination, they found what appeared to be a behind-the-scenes way of accessing the old hearse. But how to do it without drawing the attention of park employees?
Kendra leaned across the table, lowered her voice. “I think that dude is spying on us.”
A burly man lurked in the shadows near the tiki huts. When he saw them looking in his direction, he turned away.
“Was he checking out the hot chicks or is he keeping an eye on all of us?” Bones asked.
“I don’t know.” Maddock cast a sideways glance at the man. “He’s looking again.”
“Let’s make a move and see if he follows,” Bones suggested.
They strolled along the lakeside, taking in the sights. The steamboat churned through the water. Children stood on the top level, waving to park guests. The name emblazoned on the bow was SS Tom Sawyer.
“The steamship has a fascinating history,” Spenser said. “It was built in New Orleans and traveled the Mississippi River until a wealthy Egyptian purchased it in the late 1800s. He brought it to Egypt and converted it into a floating gambling hall on the Nile River, complete with a fighting pit on the bottom level. It stayed there for decades until Drake bought it for the park.”
“Sounds like my kind of place,” Bones said.
“How do you know all that?” Kendra asked.
“I did a web series on the history of the park and learned a lot of interesting tidbits.”
“That dude is following behind us,” Bones said. “And it looks like he’s picked up a friend.”
Maddock glanced over his shoulder. Their shadow had a buddy. Maddock and his friends passed through Magicland and circled back to the main plaza. The men still followed.
“We need a way to turn the tables on them,” Maddock said. Up ahead loomed the gateway to Jungleland. Dense stands of bamboo lined the walkways. A pathway off to the right led to a maintenance shed. Maddock had an idea. He quickly and quietly outlined his plan. “You two keep walking,” he said to Spenser and Kendra. “Take it slow and make sure they can see you.”
“It won’t hurt to shake your tail feathers if you catch my drift,” Bones said.
Spenser rolled her eyes. “Trust me. You couldn’t handle it.”
Bones and Maddock blended into the crowd. That was an easier task for Maddock than the towering Cherokee. Once they were out of the view of their stalkers, they quickened their pace until they came to a side path marked by a sign that read Maintenance Area-Off Limits. They turned and moved a short distance down the pathway, blended into the bamboo, and waited.
Ten seconds later, Spenser and Kendra came walking along the path and glided past their hiding places. Their two shadows broke from the crowd of tourists and followed them.
“Here we go,” Bones whispered.
The men had their eyes and attention focused on the two women. Maddock and Bones took them completely by surprise. It wasn’t much of a fight. The men were large, but unskilled at hand-to-hand combat, and the former SEALs subdued them in short order.
They bound their dazed stalkers with their own shoelaces and dragged them behind the maintenance shed where Kendra and Spenser waited. Their captives were a mismatched pair—one man was a stocky Latino, the other a hulking redhead with a flat top haircut.
“Who are you and why are you following us?” Maddock demanded.
“We’re not saying a word,” the red-haired man said with a slight Irish accent.
“You will talk voluntarily, or my buddy will make you talk.” Maddock tilted his head toward Bones, who cracked his knuckles.
“Should use the neck pinch that paralyzes them, or just pop their eyeballs out of their sockets?”
“Hey, man, I’m only the hired help,” the Latino said. “I work for a security company. Leave me out of this.”
“Shut your bloody mouth,” barked the redhead.
“Who are you working for?” Maddock said.
The redhead clammed up, but his partner was more than willing to talk. “This guy is a private investigator.” He inclined his head toward the Irishman. “We’ve been keeping an eye on you ever since you left blondie’s apartment. I swear that’s all I know.”
Maddock turned to the redhead who glowered, clamped his mouth shut, and shook his head like an angry toddler.
“Pull a few of his teeth out,” he said to Bones. “Make it hurt.”
“All right, I’ll talk, but I don’t know much,” the man said.
“Why are you following us?” Maddock asked.
“We’re supposed to watch you, make note of your movements, and call for help if you did anything unusual.”
“Call for help from whom?” Maddock said.
“Can’t you just say ‘who’?” Bones complained. “You sound like you’ve got a stick up your butt when you talk like that.”
“I know the fellow we’re working for has more people inside the park,” the man said. “Who and where they are, I can’t say. And I don’t know what they want with you.”
“What is the name of the man you work for?” Maddock asked.
The man clammed up again and he looked down at the ground.
“Don’t waste your time,” Bones said. “Look at this.” He pulled up the man’s sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a cross inside a clover. “Recognize this?”
“I’m Irish and a believer. That’s all.”
“Don’t blow smoke up our asses,” Bones said. “You’re Dominion.” The Latino man didn’t react, but his redhead companion flinched at the name. “What do we do with them?” he said to Maddock.
“Gag them, hide them in the bamboo. With any luck, we’ll be finished long before they’re found.”
“I hope you’ve got a plan,” Bones said after they had dealt with their stalkers. “We need to get to the Hearse before the Dominion figures out we’re not just here for the rides.”
“Don’t worry,” Spenser said. “I’ve got an idea.”
