CHAPTER 2
Nu'uanu Pali Lookout
9:01 AM
Tuesday, October 19
Scully braced herself against the strong wind that blew against
her; it was all she could do to prevent herself from toppling over. *Almost
like being in a hurricane,* she thought. The thirty-five mile-per-hour and over
winds were incredible. She looked to her right, where Mulder was standing,
trying to steady himself; his tie whipped over his shoulder in the breeze.
"I don't know about the wind, but you sure get a great view
up here," Mulder commented, almost yelling in order to be heard above the
roaring wind. With some degree of difficulty, they trudged over to where a long
yellow tape was stretched across the lookout. It read: Police Line: Do Not
Cross. The two agents ducked under the barrier and headed to the edge of the
cliff. Scully noticed a few large spots of dried blood against the concrete
wall. Looking over the wall, she saw the green trees and foliage of the valley
floor far below. She shuddered.
"Must have been a pretty long drop," said Mulder,
cautiously peering over the edge.
"Agent Mulder?" a young police officer jogged up to
them. "You wanted to speak to me?"
"Yeah," Mulder replied, turning to face him. "What
did you find when you examined this area?"
"Not much, besides a lot of blood," the officer told
him. "The victim's car was found in the parking lot, and we also found a
half-empty water bottle. That's about it."
Mulder continued asking the officer a few questions, while Scully
moved to a sign with a picture depicting the battle of the Pali Cliffs, with
King Kamehameha and his army driving Kalanikupule's forces over the edge. *A
pretty gruesome way to die,* she thought grimly to herself.
"Have you ever heard of the Night Marchers, Scully?"
Mulder asked, joining her.
Scully frowned. "The Night Marchers?"
"Yeah. In the Hawaiian language, they're called 'Ka Huakai O
Ka Po', meaning, the 'Marchers of the Night'. It's an old Hawaiian legend. When
King Kamehameha," Mulder pointed him out in the painting, "arrived
here to conquer Oahu, he met these guys." He indicated the people falling
off the cliff. "He and his army chased them up into the mountains to this
very spot, where he drove them off the cliff.
"You told me that already," Scully said, giving him a
bemused look.
"Yeah, I know," replied Mulder as they walked back to
their rental car. "But according to popular belief, the spirits of these
dead warriors are said to roam the mountainside and the valley. They call them
the Night Marchers. That's why almost no one comes up here at night;
supposedly, if the Night Marchers catch you, they'll kill you. If you happen to
get in the way of a march, they say to strip yourself naked and prostrate
yourself upon the ground. That way the Marchers won't see you. And judging from
what happened to him, I guess Roy Tanaka didn't know what to do when he saw
them. Either that, or he didn't believe." Mulder seemed to get more and
more excited as he went on. "The locals also say that if you hear
scratching at your door or window in the dead of night, not to open it, because
those are the Night Marchers. There's more."
"I think I've heard enough," Scully told him, sighing.
"Where'd you get this stuff, anyway?"
They reached the car. Mulder opened the door and got in; Scully
did the same. He picked up a book lying on the dashboard and gave it to her.
"'Hawaii's Night Marchers: Fact or Fiction?'. I like the
title, Mulder," she said dryly as her partner started the
car and pulled away from the parking lot.
~X~
As they were doing so, the agents failed to notice a man sitting
in the front of the only car left in the lot. But he noticed them- he was
watching them, monitoring their every move. The man reached down to touch the
strange object hanging from his neck. The thing was hard and smooth,
obsidian in color. Its shape was round- oval, and in the center,
carved in relief, was the image of a heart pierced by a spear. The man smiled
to himself- it wouldn't be long now.
~X~
Scully rolled down her window. Looking out, she couldn't help but
marvel at the lush, green scenery and the tall, sheer mountains surrounding
them. The Pali Highway was one of the most scenic routes on the whole island. A
small, distant waterfall out Mulder's window cascaded from a high
spot on the cliffs, falling downward and creating a blanket of
mist.
"Pretty nice," Mulder commented.
"Yeah."
A disgusted look came across Mulder's face. "Scully, do you
smell that?" he asked, wrinkling his nose. "It smells like...
like..."
Scully breathed in, and immediately recognized the odor. After
years of being at murder sites and hospital morgues, she had encountered this
scent numerous times; it was the distinct moldy, decaying smell of: "Dead
bodies. It smells like dead bodies." Now it was her turn to be disgusted.
Mulder glanced at Scully. "Well, it says in the book that
people have frequently reported smelling something dead while driving along
this road," he said. "Supposedly, it's the remains of the warriors
forced off the cliff. They've found over 300 human skulls at the bottom."
His partner begged to differ.
"Mulder, it's probably a dead animal." Yet Mulder
refused to give up.
"You said yourself that it smelled like dead bodies."
"But I never said they were *human* bodies," replied
Scully, her voice gaining conviction. "How much faith can you put in these
local legends, Mulder? Do you seriously believe Hawaiian warriors murdered Roy
Tanaka? Warriors who have been dead for over two hundred years?"
"I certainly don't deny the possibility. We've seen this kind
of scenario before, Scully, in numerous cases."
"Yes, I know," she replied, exasperated. "And all
of the suspects in those cases, I might add, and even some of the victims, were
suffering from hallucinations or had some acute psychological disorder. Correct
me if I'm wrong."
"No, I agree with you," Mulder said, nodding.
"You're absolutely right. But I'm not ruling out the occult and the
supernatural as a plausible cause of Tanaka's death. I think you know me better
than that."
Scully sighed, finally yielding, at least for now. But in her
mind, she firmly believed that another human being, not a ghost, had murdered
Tanaka.
~X~
Queen Kapiolani Hotel
Honolulu, Hawaii
12:36 AM
"Nice digs," Mulder said as he flopped onto his
queen-size bed with his suit and shoes still on him. The hotel room was small,
yet it had much to offer: a kitchenette, a bathroom with a very nice bathtub,
not to mention an awesome view of Diamond Head, a seven-hundred foot ancient
volcano. Mulder was glad he and Scully had paid the little extra to stay here,
otherwise they'd now be in a cheap, low-budget motel in downtown Waikiki,
compliments of the FBI.
Kicking off his shoes, Mulder sighed, and closed his eyes in
contentment, thankful to have a few hours to himself. He opened his eyes, and
began to reach for the television remote, then stopped. *Why not go for a
swim?* he thought. He got up from the bed and went into the bathroom to change
into his swim trunks.
When he emerged, he found Scully sitting on the bed, waiting for
him. She indicated to an open door next to the kitchen. "They gave us
adjoining rooms," she said. She took in his towel and swim shorts, and
asked, "You going swimming?"
"Yeah. It was a long flight, and I'm hot."
His partner picked up a folder lying next to her on the bed, and
waggled it in the air.
"What's that?"
"Roy Tanaka's toxicology report. Guess what they found in his
system." Mulder shrugged.
"What?"
"They discovered traces of LSD," said Scully. Mulder
threw up his hands in defense.
"Okay, okay, I know what you're getting at. The guy was
experiencing hallucinations. But how do you explain the puncture wounds on the
body?"
"Let's take things one at a time," Scully said, avoiding
the question. "Most likely Tanaka contracted the drug through the water he
was drinking. The manufacturer of the water is called Big Kahuna Water Company.
I've also arranged for the water found in the bottle to be tested for LSD. We
should know the results within a few hours. But for now, I say we go down to
the Big Kahuna bottling plant and find out what's going on."
Mulder sighed, and headed back into the bathroom to change into
his business suit. "So much for going to the beach."
