Murder in the Mountains?
Chapter 4
"Here we are!" Lindsay declared as the group reached a place where the trail split into four. "Take the path second to the right, then take a left at the next fork. It will take you in a circle- a total of only a few miles of hiking. Now I have to get back to the activity center. Bye!"
With that, the tour guide turned sharply, then skipped back down the trail, towards the lodge. She was happy this time. Sloan and the rest were stuck in her territory.
When she neared the campsite, Lindsay made her way over to a tool shed instead of the activity center. The other guests had poor directions; they wouldn't be back anytime soon.
The group of four stood in the same spot Lindsay had left them at for some time. After a few minutes, Steve broke the indecisive silence.
"Well, are we going to take the trail?" he prompted.
"Steve, she could have done anything to sabotage the path," Mark pointed out, and Steve was sure his father was extremely worried.
"I'll be extra careful to watch for traps," Steve said, then took a breath and started treading down the path Lindsay told him to take. "We need to catch her in whatever she's planning to do. The sooner we can prove something, the sooner I can arrest her."
Jesse followed Steve after a brief hesitation; Mark and Amanda sighed and caught up to them before they got out of sight.
"Uh, Steve?" Jesse asked after awhile. "How long do you think it would take to get to a main road if we started right now?"
Steve stopped walking abruptly, nearly causing Amanda to crash into him. "What? Are you suggesting we let an attempted murderer to go free? Right now, we only have circumstantial evidence. We need real proof if we want to get her convicted."
"I guess you're right," Jesse admitted after a pause. "Though I'm really glad that the killer isn't very intellectual."
They continued in silence, pulling themselves up the increasingly steep trail. On a flat part of the path, the group took sight of a suspiciously placed pile of leaves in the middle of the trail.
"Ah, here's the trap," Jesse pointed out the obvious, inspecting the ground.
"Is that all you can do, Lindsay?" Steve asked under his breath as he walked way around the hole.
Steve yelped in surprise as he plummeted to the ground. He had been so concerned with avoiding the inevitable hole that he had been clumsy enough to trip on a dead log.
Instantly after the lieutenant's cry, explosions sounded from under the leaves. Birds in surrounding trees flew away, and the foursome covered their ears as they backed away.
After all the explosives had gone off, Mark went to the hole to investigate. He brushed away the charred plant remains with his foot, then found firecrackers planted inside. Red and black wires ran from the firecrackers and into the woods.
"She probably thought your scream was from you falling into the trap and triggered the explosives," Jesse said as he came up behind Mark to examine the hole also.
"I did not scream, I shouted. There's a difference," Steve retorted.
"It sounded like a scream to me," Jesse said.
Steve glowered at the young doctor, then surreptitiously sneaked off into the woods. He drew his gun and scanned the foliage to look for the tour guide. He eventually found the detonator and a small 12 volt battery, but nobody was anywhere to be seen. She had probably fled instantly after she pressed the button.
Steve grinned as he pulled a pair of latex gloves out of his pocket and put them on. Carefully he picked up the detonator and battery and placed it in one of the evidence bags he had so brilliantly brought along. Then he peeled off his gloves and pocked them along with the bag.
When he returned to his father and friends, Steve held up the evidence bag.
"Lindsay was long gone when I got there, but hopefully her prints are on this," Steve told them. "So, Jess, do you now agree that it was a good idea to bring evidence bags with me?"
"Well, you were lucky, but it really is bizarre to carry that wherever you go, especially on vacation," Jesse said.
"Come on," Amanda suggested, "the sooner we get out of these woods, the less chance we have of being maimed on this trail."
The path became even steeper, like a ramp, and the group was growing increasingly weary.
"Ugh, how much longer is this trail going to be?" Amanda asked, her voice sounding almost like a whine.
"Well, Amanda, we haven't walked all that far. It's taking us a long time because of the incline," Steve said.
Up ahead on the trail lay old grown up train tracks that were seemingly paralleling the trail. Upon closer inspection, they saw that this small area had been recently cleared, with a new bench over the tracks.
"Wow, at least this campsite has resting spots on the trail," Amanda spoke with relief.
"Why would someone bother to clear this area over these train tracks?
And why would a bench be over them?" Mark responded after thinking for a bit.
"I don't care. I want to rest for a minute," Amanda said as she dragged herself over to the bench and plopped down.
Steve and Jesse followed the pathologist's lead and sat down on either side of her; Mark reluctantly joined the three.
Laying next to Jesse was a a flat remote control, face down, with a large button on it. Jesse picked it up and started playing with it.
"I wonder what this is," he told no one in particular.
"Jesse, be careful!" Steve scolded, though it was too late; Jesse had accidentally pressed the button.
"Oops," the young doctor said sheepishly.
Immediately they found out they had perfect seats to an explosive show. Red, green, blue, and white fireworks apparently launched from the valley shot into the sky. While the noise was deafening, they had to admit that the phenomenon was beautiful yet, very, very strange.
Far into the woods, a female voice sweetly sang through the trees, "Blood on the tracks, blood in the mine! Brothers and sisters, what a terrible time! Old 97 went in the wrong hole..."
Her song was wasted, as nobody was around to hear it, but that didn't matter as she released the old train car.
"Jesse, what did you do!" Steve demanded as he snatched the device from Jesse's hands.
"I... I don't know," he admitted.
Not long after the fireworks began, a loud thudding and clicking could be heard from up the mountain.
"What's that sound?" Mark asked, rising and looking around.
"It's just the fireworks, Dad," Steve assured him. "It's pretty stupid, even for Lindsay, to think she can kill us with those."
The sound got increasingly loud as the train car picked up speed. Mark and the others looked back in the direction of the tracks and eventually caught sight of the train barreling towards them.
"Look out!" Steve shouted as he jumped away from the bench.
Jesse, Amanda, and Mark also sprinted away from the train tracks just seconds before the car tore through the bench like it was made of paper. Pieces of wood flew to the right and left of the tracks, and the car kept speeding along. Not more than thirty seconds later, a boisterous crash echoed through the forest.
"For some reason, I'm not really tired anymore," Amanda told the others in a shaky voice.
Steve ripped out his gun and darted up the tracks, to finally arrest the attempted murderer once and for all. The tracks went up at a steep angle, and Steve was making horrible time. When he finally reached the end of the tracks and a dilapidated building, nobody was in sight.
Extremely frustrated at constantly letting Lindsay get away, Steve sighed and walked back down the tracks to the three doctors.
"She got away again," Steve grumbled as he reached them.
Still scared and stunned, the others just shook their heads and continued their way down what might be a deadly trail.
After walking for about an hour in silence, a loud thwacking sound could be heard in the distance.
"What's that?" Amanda asked, stopping and surveying the forest.
"I don't know," Mark replied thoughtfully.
"At any rate, let's keep moving. We have a lot more trail to cover," Steve said confidently.
While skeptical, the others followed. As they walked, the group noticed a steep drop off to one side and another forest at about the same altitude across a valley.
"Wow!" Amanda breathed as she walked, "It's beautiful! What a great view!"
Not five minutes later, an earsplitting crack exploded through the forest on one side of them, and a fairly large tree plummeted to the ground. It landed right in front of Mark and Amanda, and right behind Steve and Jesse. The branches nearly reached the drop off.
"What the-" Steve let his sentence trail as he whirled around to see the tree trunk lying horizontally on the trail.
"Well, Steve," Mark started, still shocked at having the tree nearly crush him, "here's another attempted murder."
Steve sighed and shook his head. Of all the ways to kill someone in the wilderness, this one had never even crossed his mind. How could someone kill four moving people with one falling tree? Or firecrackers, or even a train car for that matter. Lindsay was getting pretty desperate and way too cocky.
Steve pulled out his concealed gun, gave the others orders not to move, then sprinted into the woods to catch the would-be murderer. He would not let her get away again.
"Lindsay!" Steve called. "I know you're here! Come out or I may be forced to shoot!"
"Shoot?" Lindsay feigned innocent terror as she stepped out from behind a tree. "Why? I was just getting some firewood."
"Yeah," Steve retorted sarcastically. "What about staying at the activity center to make lunch?"
"Like I said, I was getting firewood to cook!"
"Don't you have an electric oven and stove?"
"Well..." she made an attempt to answer, before coming up with an excuse. "Yeah, but I like cooking outdoors over flame so much better!"
Steve rolled his eyes, then walked back towards the trail. To his surprise Lindsay followed him to the others.
"So, you admit that you cut down this tree," Steve stated more than asked.
"Yes," she answered curtly.
"And it was just one big coincidence that the tree fell on a path far away from the campsite, right as we were walking by?"
"Yes" Lindsay repeated, feeling ingenuous for marking a few trees with spray paint beforehand and having created a convincing story. "I only cut down certain, marked trees in denser parts of the woods. This tree is marked, as are others on this trail. Distance is no problem, as I have my truck parked farther up the trail. Besides, I assumed you would have already passed this point by now."
The tour guide pointed to the white X on the now fallen tree and on a few others. Steve, Jesse, and Amanda looked mildly stunned, but Mark showed no emotion.
"And what about the hole with firecrackers we stumbled upon and the train car that nearly rammed into us?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she declared, flipping her hair.
"Well," Steve finally said, "then I suppose you wouldn't mind letting us help you with the firewood."
"Not at all," she replied, forcing a cheerful tone and smile. "I need to get something from my truck first."
With that, the tour guide jogged down the trail and disappeared out of sight.
Mark immediately took the time to search around for clues. Behind the tree that had fallen, he found two sharp axes. Why would one person need two axes? How could one person her size fall a tree by herself?
Dr. Sloan was brought out of his musings when he thought he heard what sounded like an engine starting. Just when he expected to see Lindsay's truck speeding down the trail to barrel into them, Mark caught sight of Lindsay slowly making her way towards the fallen tree.
Right as she reached the group, shots rang out from the other mountain. The tour guide ducked and dropped to her knees, covering her head.
"Get down!" Steve shouted, tackling his father to the dirt path.
Jesse and Amanda followed the others' example and wasted no time falling to the ground.
Bullets splintered the trees behind the trail, coming fast and furious towards the them.
After a minute, the firing ceased altogether. It took nine more for everyone to build up enough courage to stand.
"What," Steve started after he regained his composure, "was that?"
"Gunshots," Mark replied gravely.
Steve scowled. He knew that much.
Mark took a minute to survey the damage. He looked up and noticed that the bullets only hit the upper part of the trees.
Just then, Lindsay burst into a fit of tears, sobbing hysterically. Mark frowned at the action, then took on a surprised, analyzing look. His eyes were searching, empty.
"Johnny doesn't love me anymore!" the tour guide wailed.
Having no idea what she was talking about, the four turned to look at her.
"He..." she began before a wave of crying overtook her, "he told me to kill you. He was set free from jail and wanted revenge. Johnny told me that he would love me if I killed you, but if I refused, he would kill me! I didn't want to! He told me to!"
Stunned, Steve, Jesse, and Amanda just gaped at her; Mark kept his blank stare fixed on Lindsay.
"Why," Lindsay continued, "why would he want to kill me after all I've done to help him! Why would he shoot at me! He probably wanted to kill all of us at once and get rid of me too. I thought he loved me!"
"Who is this 'Johnny' guy?" Steve finally asked.
"Johnny Tabura," she sniffed.
"Oh, yes, we sent him up for murdering his wife. I recently heard that new evidence came out, and he was acquitted," Steve explained mostly to himself.
Mark remained silent as he watched the scene. He remembered John Tabura, but he couldn't place Lindsay with him. Then, his eyes lit up and recognition streamed across his face. Still, he refrained from speaking a word. It was better to wait and let this play out first.
"So you're saying that your boyfriend forced you into trying to kill us?" Jesse asked, leaping into the conversation.
The tour guide meekly nodded her head, tears still streaming down her face.
"Why did he want all of us dead?" Amanda inquired, beginning to feel sorry for the young woman in front of her.
"He said that anyone in association with Sloan also needed to be killed. That's why he wanted me to send a free vacation for four," she explained.
Steve hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Well, is there any way you could help us catch him?"
Lindsay looked hopeful and dried her tears. "You believe me?"
"I always thought there was more to it than just you wanting revenge. I suspected someone else might be involved."
"It's going to take awhile to figure this out," Amanda said. "Let's meet back in one of the cabins."
"Steve, you don't actually believe her story, do you?" Mark asked in a whisper just outside of Lindsay's cabin.
"Whether she was threatened with her life, I don't know," Steve answered, "but I am confident that someone else is the one who planned this. She may be an innocent dupe, or she may just go along with whatever her boyfriend says. I want to nail the other person involved!"
"I did find two axes near the tree. Someone else is in on this, but..."
"Exactly. And if we don't have her help, we may never catch him."
Mark sighed. "Maybe you're right," he said.
Steve and Mark entered the cabin, to find the tour guide, Jesse, and Amanda sitting around talking.
"Alright," Steve said, "how are we going to get this guy to admit he's trying to kill us?"
Lindsay smiled and whipped out a silver cell phone from her pocket. She turned it on and pressed a speed dial button. A few seconds passed, then the tour guide chucked her phone at her bed across the room.
"I pay $40 a month for this kind of service!" she complained.
"Well, how are we going to get in contact with John now?" Amanda inquired, raising her eyebrows at the probably damaged phone now lying beside her on the bed.
"We'll just have to go into the nearest town tomorrow and call from there. We'll arrange a 'sting' there to catch John," Steve answered. "Lindsay, just to make sure you don't make a run for it, I need your keys."
The tour guide frowned at him, reached into her backpack, and flung her car keys at Steve's head. Steve caught them before they hit him and gave Lindsay an exasperated look.
While Steve was working out the details of the meeting, Mark got up from his perch on the end of a bed and left the cabin. Jesse rose and followed him out the exit.
"What's wrong, Mark?" Jesse asked worriedly when after he closed the cabin door. "Usually you dive head first into sting operations. Why are you so quiet about this?"
"Something isn't right about this, but I don't have any proof. It's just a nagging feeling," Mark said, walking farther away from the cabins.
Jesse flanked the older doctor, still not sure what was going on. "What do you mean something isn't right? Don't you want to catch whoever else is behind this?"
Mark sighed and faced his friend. "It doesn't seem like we have a choice, but I do not trust her."
"You think she was the one who planned this?" Jesse questioned, digging a circle in the dirt with his foot.
"Maybe, but I know for sure that she is not alone up here."
Author's Note: Firecrackers, explosives, a train car, machine gun- sounds a little strange, doesn't it? Can Mark put all the clues together to figure out the answer?