"Just about ready, it looks like," Marti remarked, noting Sophie talking with a somewhat agitated Carla the maid around the corner by a service door.
"This is a mistake, I just know it," Emily griped, "She's going to figure out it's a trick in a heartbeat, and we're all going to be in big trouble."
"Well, looks like it's working," Melanie remarked, noticing the maid tramping down the hall with a disgusted expression. Sophie bustled over to where the other girls were standing. "OK, you've probably got about ten minutes," she told them with a nervous expression, "So make it quick down there, Melanie," she turned to her, "And try not to let anyone else see you. Her office is left at the bottom of the stairs, third door on the right."
"I'll be as quick as I can," Melanie told her. "The rest of you watch the door; give me a heads-up if she comes back," she told her friends.
"We've got your back, don't worry," Sydney promised.
"All right," Melanie took a deep breath and bustled over to the door to the hotel basement. She cautiously opened the door and looked down the stairs. No one was visible coming up. In a flash, she slipped through and zipped down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom and flattened herself worriedly against the wall, hearing a cart being pushed by, but to her relief, the staff member kept going down the hall past the stairs. Sighing in relief, she waited until the sound of clanking had died away before leaped down to the basement floor. She looked both ways and saw no one. Her eyes zeroed in on the door Sophie had mentioned. She rushed for it and slipped inside.
The room was thankfully deserted. A few shelves of cleaning items were along the walls, and a closet where civilian clothing could be hung up while at work, where all that kept it from being a cold concrete closet. Melanie cautiously approached the closet and scanned for anything that might seem out of the ordinary. And then she noticed it hanging out of the pocket of a coat in the middle of the rack: a metal box with the name CARLA ANTHONY-which Sophie had said was the maid's full name-emblazoned on the top. Melanie hesitantly reached for it, but stopped. Was it really right to do this, she wondered to herself? This would be very much intruding in someone's private affairs...
"I know, but more people could be attacked if I don't," she reasoned. With a nod, she pulled the box out of the pocket, sending a key clattering to the floor. Grabbing it, she turned it in the box's lock and thrust it open. "Let's see," she mused, digging out several newspaper clippings. Several teenagers were shown in photographs on all them. SERIAL KILLER CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM blared the biggest headline atop the largest clipping. Melanie stared grimly at the article, about a young pair who were snatched off the street and tortured before being killed. A chill went up her spine. For the maid to apparently be interested in this sort of news...
She laid the clippings aside and dug out the paper underneath. She could tell it was a drawing of the hotel-she recognized its dimensions. Several rooms had Xs on them-and one of the seemed to be the room Carol and Roxanne had been staying in. "What are you doing here?" she mused softly, lifting up another stack of newspapers-and gasping to see a gun underneath. "Oh boy," she mumbled softly, "This looks..."
"Hey!" an angry shout from the door made her heart freeze. And indeed, Carla the maid stood in the doorway, a scowl on her face and her hands on her hips. She must have found out she'd been led away quicker than expected, Melanie realized with a rush of horror.
"What do you think you're doing!?" the maid declared, "And what are you doing down here!?"
"I, uh, well, got lost, and I thought, uh..." Melanie stammered for an alibi, trying to cover up the papers.
"Put my things back in there right now, or else!" Carla started towards her, her hands reaching out for Melanie, "Snoopers who try and...!"
"Stay back!" in a flash, Melanie grabbed the gun and aimed it at the maid, bringing her to a stop in her tracks, "You touch me and I'll shoot!"
"I don't think so," the maid seemed calm, "I don't think you're going to do that."
"Don't think I won't!" Melanie shouted more bravely than she actually felt, her fingers gripping the trigger, "If you attacked Carol and Roxanne last night, don't think I won't hesitate to...!"
"Oh, so you were the girl that saved those two?" Carla inquired.
"Yes, I am, and...what are you doing!?" Melanie demanded as Carla walked backwards and closed the door, "I'm warning you, if...keep your hands out of your pocket there, I...what's...what's that you've...?"
Carla had reached into her pocket and was pulling out something large and felt. "Detective Patricia Walton, Shadyside Police, Undercover," she opened it up, revealing a glittering gold badge, "And please stop shouting; my cover could be blown if you keep screaming like that."
"The police...let me see that," Melanie approached and stared at the badge. Sure enough, it looked real. "So you are a cop," she conceded, lowering the gun, "I see, I saw all that," she gestured at the open box, "And I guess I thought...I'm sorry, I could have...I almost shot you..."
"I don't think so. You don't seem like the girl to do so. And besides," Walton took the gun off Melanie, aimed at the floor, and pulled the trigger, getting only a loud click. "My cover works better with no bullets in the gun. Now who are you and what are you doing snooping around in here!?" she gave Melanie a stern glare.
"My name's Melanie Haddix, and I'm trying to find out who attacked my friends Carol and Roxanne Parker last night, like you said. They said you'd come into the room earlier in the night..."
"I see. Well, if you promise to keep a secret," Walton walked to the door and listened in for a moment before explaining, "I was checking to see if there was anything suspicious in the room. I didn't see anything then, but I guess I was wrong."
"Have...Have people been attacked here before?" Melanie asked with a shudder. Walton let out a low sigh of resignation. "I've been working on a very important case here, Melanie," she told the girl slowly, "If you promise not to share with anyone other than your friends, and to let me take care of business, I'll tell you what I know."
"OK, I promise." Melanie nodded.
"And that you won't try and interfere with my investigation!?" the detective gave her a sharper glare.
"OK, promise."
"All right. Please, sit down," Walton waved Melanie into a chair. "For a year and a half, I was part of a team assigned to chase down the serial killer Ernest Bishop," she began, "There've been lots of killers in Shadyside in the eight years I've been on the force, but he was the most vicious of all, with a particular bent for attractive young women. He'd snatch them off the street, torture them, then murder them horrifically.
"I saw," Melanie gestured at the newspaper clippings on the floor, "I can never understand why some people would do that; my father's a minister, and he raised me to respect life..."
"I see. You seem like a sweet girl deep down," Walton gave her a small smile, "Bishop stayed one step ahead of us no matter what we did to try and bring him in, and his victim list kept getting larger and larger. We suspected he'd attracted a following, and disciples were helping him kill. And then it got personal for me..." tears welling up her eyes, she dug a small photo out of her other pocket and stared grimly at it. "Is that your son?" Melanie asked, glancing over her shoulder at the boy in the picture. Walton let out a loud sniff of grief to confirm this. I'm so sorry," Melanie told her, putting her hand on top of the detective's, "I can't imagine how horrible it must feel to lose a child."
"It was," Walton wiped at her eyes, "It was a clear message at me to back off. I almost went over the edge hunting him down; the captain pulled me off the case for a while until I got my head back together. Anyway, we finally did catch Bishop, and he was convicted and sentenced to death. And he got it last week when the prison wagon transporting him to death row crashed and burned; they just finished the autopsy and confirmed him dead. But a lot of his followers were still at large, and there've been similar style murders all along the highways near the resort. I've been assigned to investigate whether any are hiding out here, and it looks from what happened last night that there is."
"Do you have any leads who it is?" Melanie asked.
"I'm sorry, but that's classified police information; I'm not putting any innocents in harm's way," Walton's stern glare returned, "And I want you to promise not to investigate anything here, Melanie; I don't want you or any innocents endangered here. Do you swear it!?"
"Well..."
"Melanie, this is not a book or movie; being a detective here is very dangerous. I want you to promise to leave this to me."
"Um...OK, I promise again," Melanie nodded softly. There came a knock on the door. "Hey Carla, what's going on in here?" a porter stuck his head in the door, "Ed wants to see you about...what's she doing in here!?" he noticed Melanie seated in the room.
"Uh...she got lost in here, and wanted to know the way to the dining room; I was going to show her the way out," Walton explained quickly.
"Oh. This is a restricted area for a reason, young lady," the porter gave Melanie a frown, but withdrew his head and walked away. Walton quickly bent down and locked her personal possessions back in her box, then stuffed it back in her coat pocket and zipped it shut. "Remember your promise, Melanie," she warned the girl again.
"Don't worry, I know the value of a promise," Melanie stressed. "But, also, if you need someone to talk to, about your son, I'd be glad to listen, when we're alone, of course. I've gone with my father on grief counseling sessions, and I'm pretty good at it."
"I appreciate the offer, Melanie; you really are a very caring girl," Walton managed a larger smile now, "Come on, let's get you out of here."
"Ernest Bishop, huh?" Marti shivered on the ski lift, "I remember him well. I breathed a big sigh of relief when they announced he was dead. He took the lives of a couple of girls I knew: Janie, for instance. He grabbed her off the street after a pep rally and drove off with her before anyone could react. I can't even begin to guess what he did to her, but when they found what was left...it had to be a closed casket funeral in the end."
Melanie shuddered at the thought. "Don't forget poor Ellie either," Sydney remarked grimly on her other side, "She might have survived by leaving a trail for the cops to come right to Bishop's hideout, but it's clear she's traumatized for life from what he did her before they got there. She still hardly says a word anymore, and I can't blame her."
"Yeah, I know, Sydney. And if any of his cohorts are hiding out here, we all could be in big trouble," Marti agreed, "So we've got to stay real vigilant going forward."
"But nothing says we still can't investigate. Just because you promised the cop you wouldn't mess with her investigation doesn't mean we can't look around separately," Sydney goaded Melanie.
"A promise is a promise, Sydney, I have to stay out of her way," Melanie insisted.
"Come on, where's your sense of adventure? And if the police are here, we're halfway safe already!" Sydney insisted, "We'll play it safe, we won't endanger ourselves or anyone, I promise."
"Well...I don't know, I really don't," Melanie put her hands in her face. A promise WAS a promise, but deep down she didn't want to just stand aside and risk any lives. What was the right thing to do...?
"Heads up, here we are," Marti alerted her to the fact they were approaching the top of the hill. Emily, having taken the chair ahead of them, was already at the summit. "I still want to do it easy," the brunette insisted to the other girls once they'd stepped off the lift.
"No way; it's double black diamond time. Time to go for broke," Sydney countered.
"Syd, I'm not ready for that yet, and Melanie's not ready yet..."
"Well we're be there; come on, say we can try and extreme run," Sydney pressed Melanie.
"Uh..." Melanie glanced around...and saw Rick Lewis and apparently some of his friends preparing to go down one of the moderate trails to their left, "I'd like to go down that one next."
"Well, I'm not surprised," Marti grinned at the boys disappearing down the slope, "OK, we'll try that one next...and see if we can catch up to them," she turned the grin towards Melanie, "Maybe if you're face to face with him, you can tell him how you feel..."
"Oh, no, Marti, I couldn't..." Melanie blushed nervously.
"Come on, let's go," the redhead led her to the top of the slope. "Race to the bottom again, guys," she told the other girls.
"All right, but the next one we take is a double black diamond course," Sydney insisted, taking her place at the starting point, "Ready, set, go!"
All four girls pushed off at once. Melanie pumped her wrists hard, trying to get enough speed. Rick and his friends were in sight ahead-and Rick seemed to be dropping a little behind the other boys. "You can do it, Melanie, you can talk to him," she told herself.
"There you go," Marti encouraged her, "This is going to be..."
Suddenly, a sound like thunder roared behind them. "What was that!?" Melanie spun around in shock.
"I'll give you a hint: AVALANCHE!" Emily screamed, pointing up at the sudden wave of heavy snow barreling down the slope. "Get off the trail everyone!" she shrieked to her friends, diving for safety behind the nearest tree alongside the trail, which was out of the path of the snow. "Everyone off the trail!" she screamed down the path. Screaming themselves at the sight of the oncoming snow, the other skiers in sight frantically jumped out of its path to safety. All, that is, except...
"Rick!" Melanie cried out to the boy, who she now could see had headphones over his ears, music likely blocking out the rushing snow behind him. In a flash she pushed off down the trail, oblivious to Emily's, "Melanie, no, get off the trail!" Pushing her arms hard, she managed to cover the distance to Rick in about ten seconds, even with the thunder of the racing snow getting louder and louder behind her. "Rick, look out!" she cried again, finally pulling alongside him as he started to finally turn and see the oncoming avalanche. Melanie shoved him hard into a ditch off the trail, safely out of harm's way. Before she could do anything else, however, the wave of snow caught up to her and bowled her off her feet, and in a flash she was covered completely with it, plunged into a silent white cocoon...