Chapter 9: Less Then Subtle
Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider.
A/N: I need to clear one thing up. I made a mistake with time. The prologue is in the fall, when the sun only comes up a few hours everyday, but in the time frame now it is full blown winter, a few months after the prologue.
Max sat down at the table and looked around at everyone. She stared at each person for a moment before moving her gaze.
"What do you mean there's a murderer in our midst?" asked Sam.
"We are stuck in an ice flow in the Antarctic and someone has been murdered," Max said, "The murderer is one of us."
The whole group looked at one another cautiously.
"Let me take a look at the body," said Max.
Everyone looked at her.
"What if you're the murderer? Couldn't you be trying to conceal evidence?" asked Sam.
"That's why all of those who can take seeing the body one more time can come in and witness. Just so there are no tricks," answered Max, her tone was cold.
They all thought about it then nodded. She stood and walked down the hall to the closed door. Taking a deep breathe she went in. Audrey was lying on her bed and it looked just like she was sleeping peacefully, except that she wasn't breathing and her face was unnaturally pale. Max went over to the body and started to look for any sign as too how she was murdered. She took her time and went over every inch of exposed skin. When she was done she looked around the room.
"Is everything how it should be?" she asked the group.
They all looked around and nodded.
"So there was no struggle at all. That narrows it down to poisoning. But what type is something all together," Max explained, "There are no lines on her nails so it was one dose poison."
"How can you be sure she wasn't strangled?" asked Sam.
"There is no sign of a struggle, even if it is someone you know, your body needs air and will fight to get it. Besides there are no lacerations on her neck and no bruising. She was killed suddenly. There are only a few poisons that can kill instantly in the right dose."
"What are they?" asked Alex.
"Arsenic, hemlock, and cyanide are the main ones that I'm worried about," Max answered.
"Why is that?" asked Alan.
"Arsenic could be in the wood and burning just a small amount and slipping into someone's food could kill them in the course of an hour without any sign they were poisoned. Cyanide could be in the medical kits, for an emergency. In the right dose it'll stop the heart. And hemlock looks like a plant or vegetable. It could be in the refrigerator right now," Max explained.
The whole group looked a little scared and apprehensive.
"What do we do?" asked Sam.
"Make your own food. All the food that is here comes in big servings. To keep from poisoning themselves the murderer couldn't have put it in one of the big containers. Anything that comes in a single serving is sealed. If the seal is broken don't eat it," Max instructed.
She walked out of the room and outside onto the freezing deck. She wanted to take yet another look at the tent but that would me going out alone, and she didn't want to do that.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Alex as he came and stood beside her.
"There is something extremely weird here," she answered.
"Like what?"
"When you were asleep one night I went to see the tent again. There's a computer missing. It's strange because why would someone want to take the computer?"
"I don't know but we have to find the murderer, and fast."
Max agreed and went to her bunk. She dressed into her nightgown and checked the surrounding area to make sure there was nothing dangerous lying around that the killer might use. Alex came in.
"Lock the door," she said.
He nodded and she heard a click as the door locked. She settled down for a little sleep.
In the morning the atmosphere was tense and heavy. No one talked to anyone else and everyone avoided each other. Max could feel people watch her as she passed by. She wondered if they could get through this ordeal. Max went to the galley and went through all the packaging and found something was unopened; she looked at what it was. It was instant spaghetti. She sighed and popped in the microwave they had on board. She looked around the kitchen and decided to inspect it. She went over every inch of the galley and found nothing. Sighing she went back to her spaghetti that was done. When she went to the door she saw that something wasn't right. The microwave usually flashed words that told if the food was ready. But there was a clock. Being cautious as she was, Max took out the noodles and walked for her room. Alex was sitting on his bed when she came in with the food. He jumped up.
"Yes, thanks for bringing breakfast," he said going for the food.
"Don't touch it," she said.
"Oh, I guess I'll go get my own then," Alex said.
"Someone tried to poison me. They forgot that the microwave tells you when food is ready and goes back to the clock if you open the door."
Alex froze.
"What are you going to do?" he whispered.
She threw the food in the trash bin that was lying beside the bed.
"We need to be careful," she said, "The murderer is getting desperate. We're getting to close to the answer and he or she is panicking."
Alex nodded. Max sighed as she resigned herself for a late lunch. Standing she went onto the deck and looked at the ice. There was a sudden sound from down below but ignoring it Max turned back to the ice. Stepping down onto it she noticed that it gave a little, the stuff underneath her was not solid. Her heart leapt into her throat. She climbed back onto the boat and walked around on the deck. She poked at the ice with a pole and found that the ice all around was not solid. She ran down below and gathered everyone to tell of her findings.
"The ice isn't solid, we can get out of here," she said.
"We can't go back now," said Alan.
"Why not?" asked Alex.
"Because even though the ice is able to crack and break even a small chunk of ice can rip into the hull and cause it to sink. We need to stay here until all of it melts," answered the scientist.
That was when Jacklyn spoke up.
"Where's Sam?" she asked, looking around.
There was a sudden thump and everyone ran to where the sound was. The sound had come from Sam's room. Alex slowly opened the door and went pale when he peeked inside.
"What?" asked Carrie.
"You might not want to look in there," he said.
But the others didn't listen and looked inside. Blood covered the walls of the cabin. Sam lay on his bed curled up in the fetal position. Blood soaked and ran down his back, the remaining scraps of his shirts hanging off his body. There had been a struggle. The evidence that every thing was either knocked down or broken. The murder weapon was being displayed in the sheets next to Sam's body, its shiny blade gleaming in the little light that had found its way into the room.
The whole group including Max immediately left and shut the door.
"How come no one heard the struggle?" asked Alan.
"Maybe we were too preoccupied with other things to notice a few bumps," said Alex.
"The mess in there was huge there is no way no one heard it," said Jacklyn.
"The fact is, no one did hear it," said Max.
She looked at the people around her and observed their clothes and hands. No one seemed suspicious. It was going to be a long night.