As soon as Claire had unpacked her lovely weekend wear into the tiny closet, she checked her mobile phone. What a nuisance! There was no signal. She had an important message to send out. Her first impressions were imperative.
She swept open the door to the small balcony, a rush of hot air suddenly invading the cool interior, so she quickly stepped out and secured the door behind her, before holding her phone high.
“Bit more to the left and you might be in luck!” came a voice from below, and Claire looked down to find Simon standing on the walkway, straw hat on his head.
He swept the hat off and gave her a wave. “Sorry, I was just exploring the place and saw you up there on your Juliet balcony.”
“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Wi-Fi?” she called back, laughing. Then she shook her glossy black locks. “You would think I could survive without it, right?”
“Can anyone these days?”
Claire placed her elbows on the balustrade and leaned down. “Oh, I think Flo and Ronnie would be perfectly fine without it.”
“I’m not fine at all!” came a croaky voice to her left, and now Claire was grimacing. Ronnie was also on her balcony, waving her smart new iPhone about. “Not all oldies are Luddites, you know! My lovely nephews have got me up to speed, although I can’t seem to reach them…”
“Sorry, Ronnie!” Claire called back. “That was meant as a compliment!”
She swapped a mortified look with Simon, who was swallowing back a chuckle as he continued on his way.
~
From her own balcony on the other side of Ronnie, Flo was chuckling, too, but mostly to herself. She liked that the coverage was poor. She wanted to be far away, in the middle of nowhere. Uncontactable. She liked the heat up here too, even though it was more humid than she was used to.
Still, it reminded her of the farm. Of the good old days. When life was so much simpler…
Sighing, she reached across her bed and into her small suitcase, pulling out a floral bath bag that rattled as it went. Then she put it aside and picked up a photo of a handsome man in uniform, brushing some dust from the frame. She placed it by her bedside, then turned her eyes outwards to the extraordinary green vista beyond the balcony.
“Not long now, my love,” she whispered. Not long now.
~
Alicia heard the rat-tat-tat on her door and pulled it open to find Lynette standing there, walking boots on her feet, a wicked glint in her eyes.
“He’s bloody gorgeous!” the young blonde said, sweeping into the room.
“I’m guessing we’re not talking about Vale,” Alicia replied as Lynette glanced around.
“Yeah, right. Hey, your room’s bigger than mine!” She fell onto the bed and scowled. “And your bed’s queen size. I’m sure mine’s just a double.”
Alicia groaned like it was a bad thing. She felt guilty enough for not inviting her boyfriend Liam Jackson along. She recalled how keen he was to come; how hard she had put him off. But this was her book club, not his, and it was important to keep the two things separate.
If the past had taught her anything, it was that.
“Don’t worry, you’ll survive the weekend without each other,” Lynette said, reading her mind as she often did.
The two sisters had lived together for years, and while there was a six-year age difference, they often behaved like identical twins—finishing each other’s sentences, ribbing each other regularly, having each other’s backs.
“I’m glad you two have lasted,” Lynette added, and Alicia feigned offence.
“You didn’t think we’d last?”
“Did you?”
Alicia laughed. Nah, of course she didn’t. As she returned to hanging her clothes up, Alicia thought about Jackson and all they had been through, and she wasn’t thinking now of the cruise ship murders where they first met. After a positive start, their relationship had quickly unravelled—in her mind at least. She had begun to imagine the many weird and woeful ways the Detective Inspector would let her down, including an affair with his no-nonsense, but irritatingly attractive, colleague Indira Singh.
Yet here they were, many months (and several murders) later, happier than ever.
Lynette watched her sister unpack and wondered why she bothered. They were only here for a few days, and she was happy enough living out of an exploded suitcase. Unlike most chefs she knew, Lynette wasn’t the least bit fastidious.
“So what’s the verdict? Are you pleased with our new acquisitions?”
Lynette was referring to the new book club members and Alicia knew it.
“Early days, but I think so. It’s a better balance I suppose. We have the two older ladies, Flo and Ronnie. They seem like good fun.”
Lynette said nothing. She wasn’t so sure about that. Ronnie seemed a bit scatty—how could she possibly forget this place? And Flo? Well, she looked better suited to an aged-care home.
“And then we have the two new men,” Alicia was saying. “One a little older and stiffer, one slightly younger and…”
“Hotter?’ said Lynette, eyebrows nudging high.
“More gregarious I was going to say. And off-limits, I’m afraid.”
Lynette’s eyebrows dropped. “Why?”
“Have you learned nothing from Anders and me? Mixing book club members does not work.”
“Hang on a minute!” Lynette sat up straight. “Just because you two locked horns doesn’t mean the rest of us have to bear the scars. Besides, a brief holiday fling can’t hurt.”
“It can if you have to face each other at book club every fortnight after that. Take it from me, Lynette, it won’t be worth it. Club will become very awkward very fast. Then we’ll have to advertise for new members again and be back where we started.”
Lynette groaned. Her sister was right. She was always right, but she wasn’t yet ready to give up on the gorgeous newcomer, and she had a feeling this one would last the distance.
“He looks like he’d be up for a mystery if one dropped in his lap,” Lynette said. “And a massive fan of the big AC, hey?” She laughed. “Not your typical cosy mystery fan.”
“Yeah, about that,” Alicia said. “Didn’t you think it strange that he said her books gave him nightmares? Freaked him out?”
“So?”
“So, they’re not called cosy mysteries for nothing. They’re hardly scary. Even my impressionable brain doesn’t blink.”
“He did read them as a kid, remember? Besides, he was just making small talk. Come on, let’s go for a you-know-whatie before I go out of my skull with boredom!”
Alicia laughed. “We’ve been here all of five minutes! And I think you can use the word ‘walk’ now. Max can’t hear you.”
Max was their beloved black Labrador, named after Christie’s faithful second husband Max Mallowan, and he adored their daily walks. They could never casually mention the word without him dancing in circles, then galloping for the nearest leash, walking shoe or sock.
Lynette jumped back to her feet. “Come on then, grab your hat and sunscreen and I’ll meet you at the start of the track in five. Might see if anyone else wants to join us.”
“By anyone you mean our new hottie, right?”
Lynette looked indignant as she showed herself out and headed straight for Blake’s door.
~
Ten minutes later, four members of the club were waiting at the start of the walking tracks, down the road from the lodge’s main entrance. There was Alicia, Lynette, Blake and Flo, who had a collapsible aluminium trekking pole and was glancing worriedly at the setting sun. The heat was still aggressive, but its bite would not last long and nor would its light.
“I do hope we don’t get caught out in this,” she said.
“We can always turn back after twenty minutes or so,” Lynette replied, but Blake assured them there was no need.
“This track splits into several different walks, so we just have to take the shorter one when we get to it. It’ll get us back in under an hour.”
“A good thing you’re so informed,” said Flo, giving him a curious look.
“Let’s get cracking,” said Lynette, pulling her cap lower, but Alicia was squinting in the opposite direction, up the driveway that swept past the lodge, to the ancient Antarctic beech trees that clung to the top of the ridge.
Unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, she swore she’d seen someone walking that way, and so she glanced back at the wooden signpost.
“This is the only track, right?”
Blake nodded. “They all start here and break off after about two hundred metres.”
Alicia raised her eyebrows. “Somebody’s being naughty and going off-piste then. Vale won’t be happy.”
Then they chuckled as they walked towards the forest.
~
Simon knew he was heading in the wrong direction, but that was the point entirely. Nothing was going to avert him from his mission. He had an important deadline and, everything depended on it.
As he pushed through the thick foliage, the smell of lemon myrtle thick in the air, he found himself on the edge of a rocky escarpment with little more than a rotting handrail to stop him from tumbling downwards. Hugging the mountainside closer, he edged his way along, then peered down at the steep slope and the dusty vines and palm trees clinging to it, and what looked like the official walking track below.
This must be the spot.
Pulling out his mobile phone, he took a few photos, then glanced down and then back up again, waiting. After another minute or so, he could feel his patience waning. Maybe he had it wrong? Maybe if he moved a little further out…
Hang on a minute, what is that?
Squinting, Simon could just make out what looked like some kind of shed at the other end of the escarpment, right out on the point. No, not a shed, a hut, a wooden cabin, in fact, with a small chimney and an outhouse tacked onto the side.
Now that’s interesting…
As he watched, someone appeared from inside, and Simon stepped back quickly, the stones crunching under his feet. He frowned and watched for a few more minutes as his blood began to simmer.
So that’s what he’s been hiding, hey? How very, very disturbing…
Although now it was starting to make sense. Now he knew exactly what he had to do.
Checking his phone one final time, Simon slipped it back into his pocket and carefully retraced his steps.
~
The first sign of danger was so subtle Flo didn’t notice it. She was too busy thinking how impatient young people were.
Wouldn’t kill them to wait for us, she thought as she watched Lynette and Blake stride ahead on the track, which had meandered under a dark canopy of rich, remnant rainforest and was now winding its way along a sun-drenched ridge, fern-shrouded rock face at one side, sheer drop on the other, the smell of eucalyptus around them and the sound of a barely trickling waterfall close by.
At least Alicia had waited for her, and apart from some comments on how dry it all was, they had lapsed into a lovely silence, which suited her just fine. Who needs idle chatter? Really, silence was so underrated.
For her part, Alicia’s mind was anything but silent. Part of it was wondering whether Lynette would heed her words and keep away from handsome Blake (she too had noticed how quickly they’d scurried off), and part of it was assessing the many dangers that lay ahead.
It was a habit she had nurtured since childhood, borne of an anxious mind and a lifetime’s devotion to murder mysteries, although she wasn’t sure which came first.
Snakes were Alicia’s current concern, and she wondered whether the lodge had any antivenom on the premises or if they would have to rush back down the mountain should one of them get bitten. She was just imagining the hair-raising drive when something else made her hair stand on end. It started with a heavy crunch and then a soft sprinkling of dust.
What on earth is that?
Alicia glanced up to see some rocks toppling down the slope towards them, followed by what looked like a sizeable boulder. Before she knew what she was doing, she was hurling herself into Flo, who was so startled by Alicia’s attack she had no time to react. Instead, the two women went flying forwards, the rocks missing them by inches. A second later the boulder came crashing down on the path they had just trodden before it continued on its journey, smashing down the steep incline, sending dust and foliage flying.
The women stared after it, gasping.
“Goodness me!” Flo said eventually, still clutching her pole as Alicia took deep steadying breaths. “Whatever was that?”
“A landslide, I think,” Alicia replied, brushing herself off, then helping Flo to her feet as Lynette and Blake came running back towards them.
“Are you guys okay?” Lynette cried out.
“We’re fine!” Flo called back, thanking her mother’s good genes for the fact that her bones were still intact. All she had to show for the fall were a few grazes.
They took another minute to catch their breaths as Blake and Lynette stared up and then down the slope where the boulder had now settled between overhanging trees.
“Thank you, Alicia,” Flo said. “If you hadn’t pushed me out of the way, I would have been pummelled!”
“It may not be the last of the falling rocks. I think we better get off the track,” said Blake. “Seems dangerous.”
“It’s deadly!” Lynette concurred. “You could have been killed!”
Yes, Alicia thought as her brain began exploding. Was it an innocent accident or had someone set that boulder flying?
As they turned around and made their way off the sunny track and back into the darkened canopy, venomous snakes now forgotten, Flo started to feel woozy, so they found the nearest tree trunk and stopped to let her catch her breath.
While waiting, Alicia squinted back through the trees to the ridge above, where the rocks had come from. She felt a chill run down her back. There was someone standing up there. She was sure of it. She squinted and could just make out a figure, hat on head, arms on hips.
“Hey guys!” she hissed. “Look!”
By the time Lynette and Blake glanced up, the figure had vanished. Alicia tried to explain what she had seen, but they both looked at her like she was hallucinating.
“The shape of the trees is messing with your head,” said Lynette. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Alicia ignored that and turned to Blake. “What’s up there anyway?”
He had clearly swatted up on the tracks earlier, but he looked confused now, even a little flustered. “No bloody idea,” he said, his tone verging on cranky. “Come on, let’s head back.” Then he went to assist Flo, but she waved him off.
“I’m perfectly capable, young man!”
Her mood had also darkened, and who could blame her? If Alicia hadn’t glanced up when she did, their lovely walk might have turned out very differently.
~
From the top of the ridge, someone was watching the walkers and frowning. That should not have happened, not at all. Nothing was going as planned.
There was a sigh of weariness, then a sense that life had come full circle. The future had been written, and the ending was but the flick of a page.
Or the roll of a crunching boulder.