Chapter Seven: Mountain Villa Murder

"Man, when there's no work to do around here it's so boring!" Taina complained. The phone started ringing and Rachel picked it up.

"Hello Moore Detective Agency." Rachel said into the phone. "Oh hey Serina."

"Who's Serina?" Taina asked.

"Friend unfortunately." Conan replied with a big sigh. To him Serina was just a brat but he knew that Rachel and Serina were friends so he just went along with her and didn't say anything.

"That bad huh?" Taina said.

"Yep." Conan said.

Rachel hung up the phone and walked over to Taina and Conan.

"Get packed guys. My friend Serina invited me to her family's villa up in the mountains. I've decided to bring you guys along with me." Rachel told the pair.

"Alright a vacation." Taina said and dragged Conan to their room to pack.

"Oh man I don't want to go to the mountains. Serina's just a big pain in the butt." Conan said putting things in his suitcase.

"Oh come on Conan you have to go to keep Rachel away from any guys." Taina teased.

"Oh what do you mean? It's not like I care who Rachel chooses to date." Conan said and blushed.

"Don't even try and hide it. It's plain to see you love her Jimmy Kudo." Taina said.

"Is it really that obvious?" Conan asked.

"Yeah. To somebody who knows how to read the clues anyway." Taina said.

Richard drove the 3 to the mountains. (complaining all the way I might add.) Rachel, armed with a map, led Conan and Taina deep into the woods.

"Now let's see. I know the villa was around here somewhere." Rachel said looking at the map.

"Rachel are we lost?" Conan asked.

"Uhh... of course not. You've got me here." Rachel replied.

"We're lost." Taina and Conan said together.

"No we're not. See there it is." Rachel said pointing to a mansion across the canyon. The trio walked up to the villa. Before they had a chance to knock on the door Serina opened it.

"Oh hey I get a mansion and fill it with good looking batchers and you just show up whenever. I see you brought the kids along. How are you supposed to have a romantic love affair with those brats around?" she asked.

"Love affair?" Rachel questioned.

"Well duh. I wouldn't get my parent's villa and come out to the stinking middle of nowhere if we weren't going to have a love affair." Serina said.

"Anyway what do I do with my stuff?" Rachel asked trying to change the subject. She didn't want to have a love affair. She was loyal to Jimmy only.

"Just take it and the runts upstairs." That's where your room is." Serina said. Rachel, Taina, and Conan went upstairs.

"There must be a cagillion rooms up here." Rachel said walking to the first door. "Well I guess this one's as good as any." She opened the door and quickly shut it. There was a guy getting dressed. She did this twice more with 2 other rooms. She opened the last door and smiled. "What do ya know, last one." She said.

"Yeah good job Rachel. Hey here's an idea. Why don't we just try knocking next time." Conan said as he followed Rachel and Taina into the room. After everybody was downstairs Serina introduced everyone.

"Well as we all know I'm Serina. This's Jessica Star the famous movie writer." Serina introduced referring to a woman with brown hair, blue eyes, and dressed with a purple shirt and skirt with a purple chocker.

"Ah don't tell me you're the same Jessica Star who wrote the script for the movie Blue Kingdom who's in the theaters right now." Rachel said while Jessica nodded.

"This is Michel. He's an actor." Serina said pointing to a man with long brown hair and green hair band and shirt, white jacket and pants.

"This is Randal. If you haven't guessed their cameraman." Serina said pointing to a tall man with brown hair and coat and pants who was holding up a camera.

"This is Phelix their set designer." Serina said quickly to a fat man wearing a gray sweatshirt and black pants. He had brown hair and wore glasses.

"And now a person who needs no introduction my beloved older sister Angie." Serina said pointing to a girl with brown hair and a pink dress. She had a pink ribbon in her hair. The same style as Taina's. "Boys she's currently available."

"Serina!" Angie said embarrassed by Serina's last comment.

"I just love having everyone back together." Angie said.

"So you guys were all a film team together in school?" Rachel asked.

"That's right. Having everyone here brings back so many memories. Good and bad. I just still feel so sorry for poor Emily." Angie said sadly. Immediately Jessi reacted.

"No Angie! I came here to relax. Not to talk about somebody who's been dead for the past 2 years. Not again!" She said angrily.

"Forgive me." Angie said. Conan, Taina as well as Rachel were wondering about this Emily girl. It started to rain a little later on.

"I'm going for a walk." Jessi announced.

"But Jessi it's raining!" Randal said following her out of the house."

"Then why are you coming?" she asked.

"Hey do you want to go for a walk too?" Michel asked.

"Yeah sure." Serina replied thinking he was talking to her. But Michel walked up to Rachel.

"You're not scared of are you?" Michel asked leaning on the wall by Rachel so she couldn't really get past him. Conan took an immediate disliking to him.

"No but it is raining." Rachel replied.

"Yeah and walks in the rain can be an unforgettable experience. Come on it will be fun." Michel said grabbing Rachel's hand and leading her out the door and into the woods. They started talking about Rachel's life at home. "So you already have a boyfriend? He just hasn't been around in weeks."

"Yeah that pretty much sums it up." Rachel replied.

"A girl like you shouldn't have to put up with that." Michel said. Unknown to the pair Taina, Conan, and Serina were following them.

"How can she act this way when she's supposed to like Jimmy?" Serina asked.

"Exactly." Conan thought.

"I know I'll just steal Jimmy from her." Serina said.

"Not exactly." Conan thought.

"Let me show you how a real boyfriend is supposed to act." Michel said inching closer to Rachel's face. A sudden burst of lighting flashed over them.

"Ahh lighting!" Rachel screamed using the excuse to run away into the woods. "Oh man. I can't find my way back now. Everything looks the same. Where am I?" she asked herself. She turned to look at the rustling bushes. "Michel are you there."

Suddenly a guy in a black cloak and bandages jumped out of the bushes. He was carrying a battle ax. Rachel remembered seeing him when they'd first arrived.

Flashback

"Hey look there on the bridge. I think that might be one of Serina's friends." Rachel said. The man turned and faced him.

"Or the Grim Reaper." Conan said. Then the man ran off.

End Flashback

Rachel screamed as the bandage man swung at her. She jumped out of the way just in time.

"Please don't kill me." She pleaded. Conan and Taina jumped out of the bushes and the man ran off just as Serina got on the scene.

"Rachel what happened? We heard you scream." Serina said.

After Rachel told Serina what happened they all went back to the house. Serina gathered everybody by the front door and told them about the attack on Rachel.

"Serina please tell me you're kidding." Angie said in disbelief.

"No Angie I'm not. This big battle ax carrying freak in a cloak attacked Rachel in the woods. You guys were all out in the woods didn't you see anything?" Serina asked.

"Randal ran off when it started raining." Jessi said.

"Hey I told you that I was getting an umbrella." Randal protested.

"Admit it you were scared." Jessi said.

"Phelix that creep took off toward the villa. While you where patching the roof did you see anyone like that?" Serina asked.

"Well yeah but I just thought that he was a hired hand that had been in an accident or something." Phelix replied.

"Angie you should call the police." Serina said.

"Right." Angie said and went to the phone. "That's strange there's no dial tone."

"The line's been cut." Rachel said bending down to look at the line.

"It's the guy with the ax. He's going to pick us off one by one." Phelix said running out the door. Randal and Michel followed. Phelix stopped at the bridge.

"Phelix, what's wrong?" Randal asked.

"It's the bridge. Look." Phelix replied.

"Good thong it didn't collapse while anybody was on it." Randal said.

"It didn't collapse on it's own." Conan said from out of nowhere. He was pointing to the wooden posts that held the bridge. Each of the posts were badly scared. "Someone cut the bridge."

"But who would even do that?" Michel asked.

"It's the guy with the ax. He cut the bridge so we couldn't get away." Phelix said panicking. Everybody went inside and informed the others about the bridge.

"Do you have anyone else living out here that might have flown off the handle?" Michel asked.

"No. There's only 2 other villas in the area and we know both of the families that own them." Angie said. Taina pulled Conan into the dining room.

"Jimmy I have this strong feeling that he isn't going after all of us." Taina said.

"What do you mean?" Conan asked.

"Why did that creep only attack Rachel? Serina said that he ran towards the villa. So why didn't he attack anybody here?" Taina asked.

"You've got a point. Why didn't he attack any of us in the woods?" Conan asked. "Do you think he's just after Rachel?"

"I don't see why he would be. But that's the only possible explanation there could be." Taina said. They both went back to the others.

"You've got to be kidding." Jessi yelled. "This is just some idiot looking for his kicks. Well I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of watching me squirm like a worm. I'm just going to bed." With the Jessi headed upstairs with Angie following.

"I'm sorry if I made a scene Angie. It's just that the men are supposed to have backbone and they don't." Jessi said. She picked up a note that was under her door. She read it and she became very nervous. "Well I think I'll skip dessert. Good night Angie." Jessi said and walked into her room.

"Good night Jessi." Angie said and went back downstairs.

Hey guys sorry for taking so long!

Mandi-Solo- Thanks for the advice. I'll try that. Please review soon.

Silver Sky Magician- Hey yes about the song. That really did happen to Tim McGraw. He's actually a real country singer. He really did write that song.

See you next crime scene!