Chapter 7

POV Colonel Mustard

A Revealing Secret Passage

The minute Colonel Mustard left the Lounge he regretted it.

'I should have stayed with her.' He thought.

But it didn't matter now, because now, he was in the Hall which wasn't very appeasing at the moment and he needed to leave that frightening room. He made his way down the corridor, assuming he was headed to the Ballroom. Hoping at least. He entered a room with a big window for one of the walls. The flashes of lightening revealed it to be a Conservatory. Another whip of lightening revealed a gray box on the other side of the room.

'Could that be what I think it is?' He wondered.

He slowly walked forward but stopped when he heard the worst thing he could have heard. A scream. Not just any scream, a scream from the one he cared about most, Scarlet. In a spilt second decision, either to see if Scarlet was alright, or maybe bring light to the mansion, he chose . . . both. He ran forward toward the grey box and fell over something in the middle of the floor. The mysterious thing was soft. He looked over and another flash of lightening revealed a body.

'Who is it this time?' He thought.

He kneeled closer and saw the face of the cook.

'Why would the killer kill the cook? Unless . . . he or she needed to get rid of everyone in the house. But what about the rest of the staff? No matter. Scarlet needs me. And I need light.' The colonel got back up to his feet and walked over to the box on the wall. It was the breaker box. 'I found it!' He happily thought. 'This should help things.'

He flipped the breaker box to the "on" position from the "off". The lights came on and all he could think of was Erica. He took another glance at the cook and observed that she had been strangled with a rope that was still wrapped firmly around her neck. Mustard dashed out of the Conservatory and was turning to go help Scarlet but something in the Ballroom caught his eye. Mrs. White was in the same position they had left her in but Peacock and Green were gone.

'I have to know.' And with that thought he quickly ran into the Ballroom.

"Mrs. White, where is Mr. Green and Mrs. Peacock?" The colonel walked forward and kneeled in front of her.

"I'm not sure." White replied and gasped for a breath of air. "They were here, after Glenn heard two gunshots he thought about leaving and seeing what happened but he couldn't do it." She took in another hefty breath. "He couldn't bring himself to leave Jill. Then the lights went out and all I heard was footsteps, thunder, and a scream. The lights came back on and they were gone."

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave you now. I must go check on Scarlet."

"Alright." She replied.

Mustard ran outside of the ballroom and down into the hall. He took several steps back from what he viewed in that dreaded room.

Blood.

Blood everywhere. On the walls, on the floor.

'Oh my god, Scarlet is she alright?' His thoughts raced around his mind like a runaway train.

There was a trail of blood leading from the Lounge into the Kitchen. But no bodies. No Barney, no Boddy. Mustard walked into the lounge and found Scarlet on the couch with Mr. Boddy in her lap bleeding, he appeared to be unconscious.

"Are you okay?" He came to her and set the candlestick on the floor. She was crying.

"Yes . . . Barney, he's dead."

"I know, Mr. Boddy killed him."

"No listen, he was alive. Someone killed him for sure and dragged his body away. After you left, Mr. Boddy came in here still alive and I applied pressure to his wound, then Barney came and that's when I screamed before I saw it was him. He was alive until someone bashed him on the head again."

"Oh." Was all he could say.

Before either of them could converse any longer, a cabinet in the Lounge began to move. The colonel grabbed the candlestick and moved forward. Slowly the cabinet opened. But who was coming in?

POV Miss Scarlet

Scarlet's look of horror faded to one of concern as a pair of feet emerged from the cabinet. A pair of hideous blue heels followed by a blue-green skirt with white hem lacing that flowed up and covered a pair of knees, slim waist and most of Glenn's forearm.

"Don't whack me!" he shouted out in friendly warning. "I haven't killed anyone, yet. As soon as I found out who hurt Jill..."

Scarlet was lost in trying to control her own quaking as relief steeled over her. She was alive, Kenny was alive, but Boddy was going to die if she didn't fix his wound up. 'Time to pull it together Erica and help out. Stop playing the helpless female or more people are going to die. People you could help save.' After that little pep talk Erica squared her shoulders and sat up straight.

"Well boys, let's get down to business. We must help Boddy or he'll slowly bleed to death."

Both men froze in shock at her sudden yearn to take the lead. Kenny tried to hide a smile but Erica saw it and raised her chin a bit a bright glint in her eye. She turned her head haughtily to Glenn.

"Where does that passage lead to?"

Bewildered Glenn spouted the answer eyes still wide, "Well, the conservatory naturally."

Ms. Scarlet resisted temptation to roll her eyes at the man.

"Why hadn't I thought of that." She ground out instead. "Well anyway, that's not all that helpful."

Scarlet stared intently at Glenn as he laid Jillian down on the second couch in the room. Something was niggling at the back of her brain and she just couldn't put her finger on it.

'How to stop the blood. How to stop the blood,' was the mantra going over inside her mind.

"THAT'S IT!" She screamed.

Kenny, turning around having just served himself a little brandy, dropped the glass as he went for whatever weapon was nearest. His eyes wide in fear but heart filled with courage.

"WHAT? WHAT," he asked standing at the ready.

Scarletgave him an odd look her head tilted to the side in a decidedly cute fashion. "I only want Glenn's tie colonel. No reason to get excited."

Kenny grabbed the fabric of his jacket above his heart as he let out a huge gust of pent up breath. "I thought you'd seen something." He admitted relieved.

Scarlet's mouth formed an adorably kissable little 'o' as she realized what she'd sounded like. She moved her hand up to her mouth to cover it in dismay. "I'm sorry Kenny, I hadn't done it intentionally."

"Quite alright." Was all he seemed to be able to manage.

She smiled warmly at him knowing that he would have done whatever it took to keep her and the others safe. Then her idea hit her full in the face again. "OH! Glenn please allow me to have the use of your tie, and I'm afraid you won't want it back after this."

Glenn relinquished his hold on the tie reluctantly. "Now I wish I'd not worn my best one, but nothing I can do about it now. One man's tie another man's life."

Scarlet used the tie to slow the blood rushing to Boddy's head. "This should slow the bleeding but we need to get him to a hospital." She looked to Mustard for suggestions.

Mustard turned to Glenn.

Glenn turned to Peacock who's head rolled to one side unresponsive. He stood there a moment as if he had hefted the responsibility of an idea onto her shoulders before realizing she was unconscious. "Oh...I guess that means you want to know what I think."

This time Scarlet did roll her eyes. "No we'd rather just wait around for Boddy to die and then join him when the murderer finds us."

Glenn's eyebrows gathered as if he didn't follow her reasoning. "Well now that's not a good idea. I'm afraid I can't motion that."

Scarlet just groaned.

"Now Scarlet lets figure this out. I didn't take notice of it but, did the conservatory have any doors?" Mustard took control of the situation.

"Why yes now that I think about it, it did have a door out into the gardens. I've never been to myself but usually there is an exit to the outside from the gardens also. In fact, there must be! WE CAN LEAVE!" Glenn quickly moved from one conclusion to the next.

Hope glistened in Erica's eyes. 'Maybe I will live to see the next sunrise.'

That's when Kenny dashed her hopes a bit.

"Now now, lets not count our chickens before they hatch. Lets just get to the Conservatory first. By the way Glenn, why'd you come here if you had seen the door to the gardens?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well I heard Scarlet scream and, well frankly I was raised to always come to a lady's rescue." He blushed a bit but then his eyes fell on Jillian Peacock. "And she saved Jillian's life." He looked up at Scarlet with fiercely loyal steely blue eyes. "I won't soon forget that."

It was Scarlet's turn to blush. She shrugged. "I'd never let another human die if I could help it." Erica looked down into her lap unwilling to show any type of bond she might have felt with Peacock merely for being in the same situation she was in. She attempted a callus remark but no one really believed it. "I never be able to live with myself."

Glenn and Kenny smiled fondly at the top of her bent head, casting a knowing glance at one another. Without another word Kenny moved forward and gathered up the small Boddy into his arms and proceeded through the passage way as Glenn allowed Scarlet to move before himself, Peacock in his own arms.

The group moved through the passage without fault and stumbled into the conservatory no worse for the wear save a few cobwebs and stubbed toes. The room was dark and lit with an unearthly green glow. Each leaf reflected that light and gave the whole room an iridescent shimmer as the humidity reapplied itself to the room filled with tropic plants. Scarlet's eyes focused onto one particular drooping bloom. She left the group and quickly walked up to it.

"This...this is a Golden Chain plant...It's severely poisonous. If the bean-like capsules in which the seeds are suspended are missing...THEY ARE! That's why Peacock won't wake, she's in a coma!"

"In a what!" Glenn nearly lost his footing.

"She's in a coma. This flower can be fatal," Erica looked up remorsefully at Glenn. "She'll need to get to the hospital quickly as well."

Suddenly Erica -who had been standing near a long isle of huge leafy plants- was pulled back against a man knife to her throat. Glenn and Kenny gasped and Kenny stepped forward but didn't move any farther than that when the killer spoke his warning.

"Don't move, or the dame gets it." The man -whose face was shaded by the darkness of the plants laughed menacingly. "I've always wanted to say that. Well Scarlet," He inhaled deeply of her scent nose caressing her cheek. She dared not pull away for fear of getting herself sliced open. "You're my ticket out of here after all." And with that he dragged her back with him into the shadowed isle of vegetation. "Time to leave sweetie and don't move boys, or I'll kill her right where she stands."

The moment they heard the bang of a far off door closing Glenn and Kenny both set their loads down. "One of us has to stay here," Kenny said a fire burning in his eyes. Glenn nodded understanding. Kenny moved down the isle Glenn following him. "I'll be back as soon as I can with help...and with Scarlet." By this time they had reached the door and Kenny threw it open knowing that Erica and her kidnapper were far out of the way. Kenny's heart sank as he saw what the garden held in store for him. "Oh no."

Before him stood a huge maze-garden with only one exit and no time for mistakes.