"Nice and easy, nice and easy," the resort's head of security told his men, gently wrenching the body out of the snow bank. "Captain, any ID on the guy?" he turned to the approaching police captain from the squad car parked nearby.
"We got the name Lloyd Bartow, he was a drifter," the captain told him, "Must have been killed somewhere else and dumped here, then covered up with snow; the killer must have figured by the time he'd be uncovered, he would have been decomposed enough to not be identified. Who found the body?"
"Those girls," the security chief pointed to Melanie and her friends, standing amid the large crowd that had gathered to watch the body being removed. "OK, girls, what happened?" he asked them.
"We were skiing, and I tripped over him," Melanie confessed in a halting voice. She turned her head away, unable to look at the body being carried towards an ambulance, "I didn't know he would be here..."
She choked up. "It's OK, missy, you did nothing wrong," the captain assured her, "Thanks for helping us find him. OK, lock and load," he shouted to the medical crew loading the body into the ambulance, "Let Norm at the morgue know he's got a fresh guy coming in to examine."
He trudged away. Its sirens blaring, the ambulance pulled away down the slope. Most of the bystanders started skiing away, but Melanie remained rooted in place. "I wish this were a bad dream," she moaned, lowering her head and shaking it.
"You and me both," Emily also looked pale and nauseated. "Sophie, how tight's security here at the resort!?" she demanded to the owner's daughter.
"Mr. Hunt leads a staff of about eight; they are fully trained in stopping armed intruders," Sophie pointed to the departing security chief.
"Are they authorized to take them out!? Anyone attacks somebody, can they...!"
"Emily, Emily, relax," Sydney put an arm around her friend and neighbor, "This was a random drifter that was dumped here; this might have just been drugs or a money deal gone bad. So why should we get worried?"
"It always starts with the peripheral people and gets closer and closer to you with each victim, Syd; you've seen it every time!" Emily wasn't placated. "You have a hotline to the cops that can bring them here in a heartbeat, right!?" she pressed Sophie hard.
"Of course, Emily, but Sydney's right, why should be worry about a random drifter without proof something else is going to happen? Now come on, last one still pays," Sophie turned and started back down the slope.
"No you don't!" Carol jerked forward after her, followed by the other girls, "You're not getting the edge on us, Sophie Chase...!"
Melanie couldn't sleep. The image of the man's dead body flashed before her eyes over and over again as she lay wide awake in bed, even though the clock on the nightstand read quarter to one in the morning. The wide eyes, the horrified expression, the frozen blood on his body; all ran wildly through her mind like a freight train running in a loop.
"How safe are we here!?" she thought worriedly, "What if Emily's right that there's a greater danger to us all? What if there's a murderer afoot...?"
She crawled out of bed quietly, trying not to wake the sound asleep Marti in the bed next to her, and trudged over to the window, pushing the blind aside. The mountain snow glowed white in the light of the ski trails' lights, and no one could be seen in their glow. And yet, Melanie couldn't shake the feeling someone was out there, watching. Shivering, she pushed the blind back shut again, trudged into the bathroom, flicked on the light, and slumped to the floor, burying her face in her hands. She would give anything to get the image of the dead man out of her head for good...
There came a creaking of the door behind her, making her turn. "Hey, you OK?" Marti was standing in the doorway behind her, looking concerned.
"Yeah, Marti, it's just..."
"The dead body, I know," Marti walked over and sat down next to her. "Want to talk about it?" she asked sympathetically, "You'll probably feel better."
"I guess so," Melanie took a deep breath, "My whole life, I've been taught to respect life, to value life," she began haltingly, "Maybe growing up in the church made me an extreme pacifist, I don't know, but...seeing somebody stabbed like that, it makes my stomach churn. Knowing somebody would be capable of that sort of violence, it worries me, it unnerves me..."
"I understand, Melanie," Marti put an arm around her, "Even with all the death and violence I've seen since moving to Shadyside, these things still make me a little queasy too."
"How can one town be that violent, especially among young people?" Melanie had to know, "I can't believe..."
"I've heard theories, but I'll save you the details. Hey, Melanie," Marti looked her right in the eye, "Like Sydney said earlier, this might have been just a one time murder, and we won't need to worry; if it's not, just know that I've got your back, Sydney and Emily have got your back, the other girls have our backs. We stick together, we should be fine, and I'm sticking with you, I promise. We're the M & M's, and we stick together."
"M & M's...oh, I get it," Melanie laughed, "Thanks, Marti. Oh, and I've said it before, but I have to say it again, thank you so much for taking me in as a friend this week," she told the redhead, tears of gratitude flowing down her cheeks, "I can't tell you how much I appreciate that you've wanted to be there for me so much, how much you've gone above and beyond to make me feel welcome here..."
"Hey, come here," breaking into a warm smile, Marti pulled Melanie into a warm hug, "Didn't I say I was the new girl once, so I know how you feel? Whatever I can do to help you adjust, I'm glad to do. Besides, I really like you, Melanie Haddix. My whole life, I've wanted a sister so bad, and you're exactly what I wanted her to be...not to mention you're one of the kindest and most caring girls I've ever met. If everyone in Shadyside wasn't so scared of newcomers, I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be friends with you."
She held the hug for a good two minutes before releasing Melanie. "Feel better now?" she asked.
"Yeah, thanks, Marti," Melanie wiped her eyes dry.
"You need to talk about anything at all, any time, I'm right here," the redhead assured her, rubbing her shoulder, "Ready for bed now?"
"Wish I were, but I'm still wide, Marti," Melanie admitted.
"Well, let's work on our newspaper article then," Marti waved her out of the bathroom, "More we get done now, the less we have to worry about later."
She flicked on the overhead light, opened up her laptop on the desk, and turned it on. "What do you think we should begin with, 'There are six well-regarded ski areas within a fifty mile radius of Shadyside, but the newest one surpasses them all,' or 'There is a new heavenly ski resort within easy driving distance of Shadyside, and its name is Devil Mountain?" she asked the blonde.
"Hmm...I'd have to go with the latter one," Melanie offered, grabbing her robe off the table and slipping it on, "It has a more amusing effect."
"OK, we'll run with that," Marti activated her typing program on the laptop and sat down at the desk, "There is a new heavenly ski resort within easy driving..."
Suddenly, they heard it: a loud crashing sound directly across the hall, followed by an ear-splitting scream. Both girls exchanged a horrified gaze. "Carol and Roxanne...!" the redhead exclaimed in terror.
"What are we waiting for!?" Melanie burst out the door in a flash, Marti right on her heels. "Carol, Roxanne, are you all right!?" she cried, grabbed the knob to the Parker sisters' room directly across the hall from theirs and yanked it hard. It refused to move, and it was then two screams rang out at once inside the room. "Carol, Roxanne, open up, please!" she begged, throwing her shoulder into the door.
"Let go of me!" Carol screamed inside, her footsteps rushing for the door. The knob jiggled hard, right as Carol started making gasping sounds, as if she was being choked. But the door had been opened. Melanie threw it opened. "Let go of her!" she shouted at the dark mass that was dragging Carol away from the door, its hands around her throat. Without thinking, she rushed the person and rammed whoever it was in their chest. The person released Carol and retreated, leaving her gasping wildly for air. Marti rushed past her, a chair in hand, towards another figure that was standing the nearest bed and swishing something downward towards a screaming Roxanne. Marti swung the chair at the figure's back, making them back off. She swung again, but was pushed to the ground by the first figure, who jumped threw the room's window with a loud shattering of glass. The other figure did the same. rapidly disappearing into the darkness; indeed, Melanie lost sight of them when she approached the window. "You all right!?" she rushed to Carol, still gasping in the corner.
"I...I think so...!" Carol whimpered in a terrified voice, "I don't know how...!"
"CARROLLLL!" came Roxanne's petrified shriek from her bed. "I'm here, Rox, I'm here!" Carol rushed to her sister and hugged her hard, "You all right!?"
"I was so scared, Carol! How'd they get in here!?" Roxanne wailed. The light blazed on. "Oh God!" Marti gasped from the switch, and Melanie had to grimace herself to see both of Roxanne's cheeks bleeding. "What happened, you two!?" she rushed towards the sisters.
"I don't know! I was sound asleep one moment, and the next, my face was being smothered with a pillow!" Carol howled miserably, "I rolled away and saw the other guy attacking Rox, and tried to get to her, but he cut me off and started choking me out...bless you so much!" she flung her arms around Melanie, "If you and Marti hadn't heard us, I don't know what would happened...!"
"Did you recognize either of them!?" Melanie asked.
"No! It was pitch dark, and I couldn't make out any of their faces; Rox?"
"No!" Roxanne buried her face in her hands and sobbed, "Oh God, I was sure I was dead, Carol...!"
"So did I, Rox, so did I," Carol broke away and hugged Roxanne hard again, "Let's get to the hospital wing; I can tell you need it; call security," she informed Melanie and Marti, "See what they can find. Can we stay with the two of you tonight afterwards?"
"Sure, Carol, our door's open for the two of you," Melanie agreed. She watched the Parker sisters limp out of the room, disappearing through a crowd of hotel residents that had gathered outside at the sound of the struggle. She turned to Marti with a worried expression. "I don't think it was an isolated killing we saw earlier, Marti..."
"What do you mean they just disappeared!?" Emily incredulously asked Sophie the next morning inside the hotel's restaurant. "They jumped through a plate glass window; they had to be bleeding everywhere! Security should have been led right to them!"
"There was a trail of blood, Emily, and they followed it, but it vanished into thin air halfway to the road," Sophie told her grimly, "It's like they just disappeared right then and there."
"Well if they were bleeding that much, they probably fell down dead eventually," Marti reasoned, taking a bite of her cinnamon roll, "So maybe we don't need to worry."
"Just next time, wake us up too," Sydney asked her with raised eyebrows, "I'm glad you and Melanie saved the day, but I want to help out if there's excitement."
"Are you nuts, Syd!? You actually would have wanted to take on murderers one on one!? You're crazier than I thought!" Emily threw up her arms in disgust, "To think I...!"
"Guys, guys," Melanie held up her hand to stop them. She turned to Carol and Roxanne next to her, slumped forward in their seats with numb expressions. "Any idea how they got in?" she asked them.
"How should we know!?" Carol howled, putting her face in her hands, "It was pitch dark...!"
"Well the only way in and out of any rooms at the hotel would be the air ducts," Sophie pointed out, "But I heard Mr. Hunt saying the one in Carol and Roxanne's room wasn't bent down. So I have no clue how they got in."
"I did hear a pair of thumps that woke me up," Roxanne spoke up, "I was going to examine it, but the guy started attacking me before I could," her hands went to her taped-up cheeks.
"Did anyone come into the room beforehand? Anyone who could have given made their way in easier?" Melanie pressed.
"Uh...wait, about a half hour before we turned in, one of the maids came in," Carol remembered, "She said she wanted to give the room another look over to make she didn't miss anything from earlier. She asked if we could step outside while she worked, but was only in about five minutes before she got a call and had to leave."
"What did she look like?"
"Brown hair, glasses..."
"Sounds like Carla," Sophie mused out loud, "We just hired her last week, but she never seemed dangerous to me."
"Well, it sounds like she could be a suspect either way," Marti nodded softly, "What's her schedule?" she asked Sophie.
"I don't know it offhand, but I might be able to get it to you. So you know, it would have to be under the table," Sophie told her with a firm look, "I don't want to do anything that would get Dad mad at me, or anyone else in trouble..."
"Well, just do whatever you can that's legal; I don't want you or anyone in trouble either," Melanie assured her. She took a deep breath, "And how did they just disappear when they were bleeding all over?" she mused out loud, "We'll have to go out there and take a look ourselves."
"Wait, wait, no, I am not tempting fate with this!" Emily waved her arms wildly, "You may just not know any better, Melanie, but investigating these things always gets more people killed, no matter how well-intentioned the searcher is!"
"But Emily, if people's lives are at stake, it's wrong to just stand aside and not do anything," Melanie told her, "I have some doubts too, but God's word is to help those in need, and..."
"Please don't drag God into this! The last thing...oh God!" Emily's eyes had turned to the nearby TV screen. Melanie turned to it as well, to see a commentator saying, "...victim, seventeen year old Deborah Yanowsky, was found in a ditch by the side of the road, having been slashed and stabbed repeatedly. Police have not found any fingerprints on the body, and refuse to comment on what the motive might have been..."
"Debbie..." the brunette moaned, sliding down in her chair, "That's why she never showed up! I should have known...please, I'm begging you, Melanie, don't do this!" she begged her, "This is going to get closer and closer to us, and I want to live a full life!"
Melanie closed her eyes and thought it over good. "I'm sorry, Emily, but the greater good's at stake here, especially if those guys come back to attack more people," she said firmly, making Emily howl in grief, "Sophie," she turned to the other blonde, "See if you can find Carla the maid's schedule. I'd like to take a look inside her room or office."