After a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs (and pancakes and sausages), I was ready to find out more. Charlotte was ready for me to go away.
Based on the crime scene, whoever was responsible would not have been able to flee the suite without taking some of the scene with him (or her). So then what? What would they do with the soiled clothes? It was extremely difficult to get blood out of clothing. If I was right, and Dr. Higgins’ throat was slashed, there would have been a lot of blood. Arterial flow or something like that, Charlotte had said.
So what would he—or she—do?
Would they throw the items of clothing out? And where? In their room? I’d be worried housekeeping would find it. Would they throw it out in a receptacle in one of the common areas? What would happen if someone saw you?
Would they hide it in their luggage? I’d be worried Customs would find it. That’d be difficult to explain, wouldn’t it?
Would they attempt to clean it? Did people travel with detergent? I didn’t but maybe others do. Maybe you could buy it at the gift shop? I’d have to check.
I headed toward the gift shop to find out. A small sign hung from the front door. “Be back in thirty minutes.” Not knowing when the thirty minutes started, I didn’t want to hang around. I continued on and proceeded to the front desk. A few feet away from the front desk, I heard a raised voice coming from within. I leaned against the doorframe and listened.
“I told you I’d take care of it,” Leticia said. I heard no one else until she continued. “Yes, I know that.” She must be on the phone. “Yes, I’m well aware of the importance of positive reviews.” I looked around and was glad this area of the lodge was quiet. No one could see me huddled against the wall, eavesdropping. “You’ve made it quite clear.” Another pause. “I told you I’d take care of it.” She slammed down the phone.
I waited a beat and walked into the reception area. Leticia was walking out and almost walked into me.
“Oh, Miss Naomi, I had no idea you were there!” She collected herself and added, “How nice to see you again.”
Based on her tone, there was nothing nice about seeing me.
“How are you today, Leticia?”
She ignored me and asked, “What can I help you with?” I hesitated, wanting to ask who she was arguing with on the phone. My hesitation frustrated her further. She sighed loudly. “Yes, the internet is still out. It’s temporary. They’re working on it. It’ll be fixed shortly.”
She walked away before I could say anything else. I returned to the gift shop to wait for its reopening.
The housekeeper was headed toward me. I greeted her, thankful the staff wore name tags. “How are you today, Coral?”
“Fine, thank you,” she answered before proceeding down the path.
“You know anything about when we might get the internet back?”
“It’s temporary. They’re working on it. It’ll be fixed shortly.”
Same party line as every other lodge employee had told me. They must have had a meeting to get everyone on the same page. And who was this “they”? I hadn’t seen anyone working on it.
“Hmmm…if I had to do some wash, what would I do?”
“We have a service. The information is hanging in your room’s closet.”
I nodded. “No way I could just take it somewhere and do it myself?”
She shook her head no. “No, we’ll do it for you.”
At quite a cost, I was sure. I ran after her as she tried to retreat. “This must be a hard job, Coral.”
“It’s good work. The family is good to us.”
“But cleaning stranger’s rooms, it must be difficult.” She shrugged. “What do you do if you find something…unusual?
“I don’t go through guests’ items.”
“I know. I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply…” I had lost my way and had insulted her. “I meant in the garbage.”
She made a face. “I don’t go through the guests’ garbage, miss.”
“But have you ever come across something really dirty. Something bloody?” The more I continued, the more panicked she looked. I couldn’t blame her. She slowly stepped away from the guest asking the weird questions.
“Bloody?” she repeated. “That’s very dangerous. That’s why we wear gloves.” She pulled out a disposable pair of gloves in her pocket.
“Smart.” We stood in an awkward silence, while I struggled to find my next question. I made a note to further increase her tip. If I were her, I would have run away from me by now. “I’m sorry. That whole thing the other day.” I paused and whispered, “The body.” She nodded understanding. “I was just thinking how that’s not really the job you signed up for. Am I right?”
Her body and face eased. “Oh, yes. That was quite a shock. For all of us.”
I had found my way in—shared shock. I pointed to the bench a few feet away. Relieved, she sat down.
“How’s everyone handling it?” I asked.
“We’ve never had such a thing happen.” She shook her head. “What a terrible thing.”
I would hope not but was glad she had confirmed I could rule out a serial killer among the staff.
“They found a space in the fence. They think that’s how the hyenas got in.” She leaned in. “They’re securing the fencing now. That’s probably why the internet is down.”
Finally, a more concrete answer about the internet. “Oh…Do you think it was deliberate?”
“What?”
“Do you think someone cut the fence? Did something that made the hyenas come into the compound?”
Her dark eyes widened. “Oh no. No one wants hyenas around. Just time destroys the fencing. They check it regularly but somehow some animals get in. Another lodge had a small lion sneak through a break in the fencing a couple years ago. Fortunately, no one was killed.”
“Thank goodness.” I waited what I hoped was a reasonable amount of time before resuming my questioning. “When you’re done with work today, what do you do?”
“Go back home.”
“Home?” I asked.
“The staff area,” she clarified.
“Where is that?” She pointed to the left. “Is it a long walk?”
“No, about a mile.”
“But what about at night?” If the lodge didn’t want guests to walk the short distance to their rooms, I hoped they provided the workers with escorts to their rooms as well.
“One of the drivers can take us if we want. Or we go together.” She paused. “Really, miss. I don’t want you to be worried. It’s very safe here.”
Fortunately, she thought I was just a nervous woman, and not a nosy guest asking too many questions.
“I must get back to work now.”
“Thank you, Coral.”
She got up and walked away.
I returned to my room and headed to the wardrobe. I pulled out the hanger that had the laundry bag and pricing list attached. The pricing wasn’t as offensive as I had thought and I considered it. I did mathematical gymnastics in my head and decided I could afford to put my clothes in the bag. But I’d have to sit by the door and wait for its pickup and then follow housekeeping, which would be difficult. It didn’t seem like a good use of my limited funds.
I headed to the gift shop, again, to check out their supply of blood-removing detergents. I searched my brain to find an innocent way to ask “Does this get blood out?”
I passed Geri and Jack’s room; a laundry bag hung from their doorknob. I looked up and down the path. No one was coming. I ran up to their door and opened the laundry bag.
I was horrified by what I saw.
Jack’s underwear.
There was no unseeing this. They were black but in the style of tighty whities, as my father would say.
There were other items in the bag too—two pairs of pants and three white undershirts. Jack was obviously someone who perspired heavily, based on the underarm stains.
But no blood.
I’d say I was relieved—I really didn’t want Jack to be the killer. He was growing on me. It was probably the alcohol. But I hoped the next time I saw him I wouldn’t just picture him in the underwear.
I scurried away from the door, unsure of what I was more afraid of—Geri or Jack finding me going through their laundry or someone thinking I was leaving the couple’s room. I thought Geri might be into that.
It was midday, the hottest part of the day, and like the animals, the humans were resting. Except me.
Standing on the path would just seem odd. I wanted to follow Coral when she collected the laundry. But where could I hide?
I could hide in the bushes by the side of the building but I didn’t want to think what else was hiding in there.
Yes, Charlotte was the one with the fear of insects but, really, who liked them?
I dismissed the idea of hiding and went to the common area, to hide in plain sight. I sat on the couch. I could see the path and would see Coral pick up the bag. I glanced at the gift shop but feared if I ran in to look at detergent I could miss her.
So I waited, flipping through a magazine. Leticia walked by. She walked with purpose and took no note of me. Part of me wanted to follow her but I already was on a mission.
Finally, Coral walked down the path, noticed the laundry bag, and retrieved it. Nonchalantly, I put the magazine down and leisurely headed toward the path, keeping Coral in my sights.
She walked down the path, passed our room, and finally passed the empty room. She continued on pass the gym, on the right. Really, what crazy person uses that place on vacation?
I looked in, expecting to see rows of empty equipment. I waved at Charlotte, running on the far treadmill, too focused on her fitness to notice me.
Coral walked past a turnoff. I looked down it but couldn’t decipher what was down there. I put it on my list to check out. I now knew why detectives carried little notepads. At least the TV ones did. Maybe they had one in the gift shop.
Coral passed the turnoff for the pool. I could hear Zonah and Zaden playing in the pool.
A wood door was at the end of the path. Coral inputted a code and opened it. I wasn’t close enough to see the numbers and couldn’t fathom a guess, except my work’s bathroom code, 1234. It didn’t work. I needed to act quick before I lost Coral.
The door wasn’t too high. I could see over it, so surely I could climb over it. I could not do so gracefully and landed hard, on my bottom, on the other side.
I got up and wiped myself off. I ran on tiptoes to catch up to Coral. The path ended at a small building on the left. It was the only place Coral could have gone.
I heard a humming from inside. I crouched down and walked against the perimeter of the building to its door and peeked in. Coral was humming a tune I’d never heard as she placed items in the washer. She checked off items on the Wallace’s laundry form as she placed each item in. I looked away when she handled Jack’s black undergarments. One only needs to see that once.
She placed detergent in the machine, closed its lid, and made for the door. I scurried around the building’s wall and slid down. Coral left the building and walked down the path, to return to the lodge’s main area. She held the laundry list in her hand.
When I couldn’t hear her humming anymore, I got up and ran into the building. I figured I had at least ten minutes before she returned. If I was lucky, I’d have thirty minutes until the washer was done and the items had to be placed in the dryer. If I wasn’t lucky, she was going to walk to reception, drop off the laundry list to bill the Wallaces, and return. That would take at least ten minutes.
The building was just one room. It had one washer and dryer against the wall. Another wall had racks of supplies—clean linens, toiletries, cleaning supplies. Everything Coral needed to clean and restock the five suites was in this room.
There were two bins in the far corner. I ran over and peeked in. One was dirty laundry. The other was garbage. Either could contain evidence. I cringed at the thought of going through either bin. I had come this far. There was no turning back. I grabbed a pair of gloves out of a box on the rack. I dug into the laundry bin. All the lodge’s bed linens and towels were white. I searched through them and found nothing red. Nothing bloody.
I stopped for a moment to listen for any sounds of Coral’s approach. I heard nothing but the whirl of the washing machine. The garbage bin was only half full. I held my breath as I searched through it. I found nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing bloody.
I threw the soiled gloves in the bin and made one more look around the room. I’d searched all of it and was no closer to finding the killer.
I returned to the path and jogged down it, wanting to make a quick exit. I hesitated when I arrived at the door. I needed a code to get out of here too? I didn’t bother trying to garner a guess and started to climb over the door again when I heard Coral’s humming.
I looked around desperately for a hiding spot. I didn’t have enough time to run back to the laundry room and there was nowhere to hide off the side of the path. The grasses were all low. I’d be easy to spot in my khaki safari clothing.
I crouched down against the wooden fencing and hoped she’d have no reason to look back once through the door. I held my breath as she inputted the code and the door unlocked. Afraid to move, I watched it close behind her. She proceeded down the path, having no idea she was not alone in the staff-only area.
I waited until she was out of sight before leaving my hiding spot. Covered in dirt, I hopped the fence again, just as gracefully as I did the first time.
I landed hard on the other side. Covered in dirt and sweat, I postponed my foray to the lodge’s boutique for a small notebook and to check their detergent supply. I passed Sabrina on the walkway, giving a leisurely wave.
She looked me up and down. “Were you at the gym?”
“Nothing like a good sweat,” I answered.