Dangerous Minds (Knight and Moon #2)(11)

At seven the next morning, Riley finished the tub of ice cream and washed it down with two cups of coffee. By eight she was showered and dressed and had her coffee mug rinsed and in the dish drain. She had a small overnight bag packed with a few essentials in case she decided to spend the night at Mysterioso Manor. Wouldn’t hurt to have this in her car, she thought. She grabbed a sweatshirt, headed downstairs, and walked out the back door to the alley. She pulled up short when she reached her car. A hatchet was sticking out of the Mini Cooper, the blade embedded in the hood.

Her first reaction was to run through her extensive vocabulary of cuss words. Her second reaction was to look around, because if the jerk who vandalized her car was still there she was going to punch him in the face. The face-punching phase was cut short when it occurred to Riley that the vandal might be a psychopathic maniac. At closer inspection she saw that there was writing on the hatchet handle. Curiosity killed the cat.

She took a picture of the car and the hatchet with her smartphone and tried to pull the hatchet out of the hood. It wouldn’t budge, so she got into the car and headed for Mysterioso Manor. She was halfway there when Emerson called.

“Are you on your way?” he asked. “I’ve been working all night and have something very interesting to show you.”

“I’m on the road. I have something interesting to show you too.”





FIVE




VERNON AND EMERSON MET RILEY AS SHE pulled into the circular drive. Both men stood hands on hips, looking at the hatchet. Riley got out of her car and joined them.

“That’s not going to do you any good at trade-in time,” Vernon said.

Emerson glanced at Riley. “I believe it’s safe to assume this isn’t your work.”

“Someone set my car alarm off at two o’clock this morning. When I stepped out of my apartment to come here, I discovered the hatchet. The message on the hatchet handle is Curiosity killed the cat.”

“Ominous,” Vernon said. “Being that you don’t have a cat.”

“I like my Mini,” Riley said. “And now it has a big gash in it.”

“Looks like they sliced a hose,” Vernon said. “You’re leaking vital fluids. You’re lucky you made it this far.”

Riley looked at the liquid trickling out from under her car. “I’m really mad at someone,” she said.

“If you connect the dots between the message on the handle and yesterday’s confrontation at the Park Service office, you might deduct that a hatchet serves as Tin Man’s calling card,” Emerson said.

“Like in The Wizard of Oz,” Vernon said. “The Tin Man always had a hatchet! You know what I’d like to see? One of them flying monkeys from that movie. Boy, they were really something. I loved those monkeys. The Wicked Witch had a whole army of them.”

“I’m going to need a raise if I have to deal with a psycho with a hatchet,” Riley said.

“How about a million-dollar smile?”

Riley accepted the smile and followed Emerson into the house. She thought it was an interesting idea that someone named Tin Man would be running around impaling cars with his hatchet. Sort of funny, right? Unless it was her car. Still, that didn’t mean it was true. Hard to believe she had made herself enough of a nuisance to warrant Tin Man defacing her car in the middle of the night. Surely he had better things to do.

“How’s Wayan Bagus doing?” Riley asked.

“He’s experiencing a period of adjustment. He exploded a bean burrito in the microwave this morning. Aunt Myra won’t be happy when she returns.”

“I thought you had a cleaning service.”

“They quit. Vernon left the door open two days ago, and one of the zebras strolled in and left a package in the kitchen.”

“When your father created his own personal zoo I don’t imagine he envisioned a zebra in the kitchen.”

“My father had a large staff of professionals. I’m working with a skeleton crew of mostly geriatric leftovers.”

“From what I see of your finances I think you could well afford to keep the large staff of professionals.”

“They were annoying. Leaf blowers, power washers, prima donna animal groomers and landscape artists. People underfoot in the house and on the grounds all day long. I prefer to let the animals roam and the weeds take over, and be at one with nature.”

“What about the package in the kitchen?”

“I gave it to the gardener. I believe he needed it for the tomato plants.”

Riley made a mental note not to eat the tomatoes. “You said you found something interesting.”

Emerson led Riley into the library. He pulled an extra chair up to the table he was using as a desk, and they both sat down. The massive book on the table was titled Plumes: A Journey to the Center of the Earth. A bunch of newspaper articles had been stacked up alongside the book.

Emerson opened the book to a world map showing red, green, and yellow dots of differing sizes at various geological locations. Samoa had a big red dot, and there was a circle drawn around it with black marker.

“I suppose this means something?” Riley said, tapping the circle.

“It does, but I want you to see for yourself. Read through the first stack of newspaper articles.”

There were fifty-two different stories, spanning the last couple years. Riley read through some of the headlines. USA Today: “Hikers Disappear Without a Trace in Yellowstone.” Hawaii Tribune-Herald: “Murder in Volcanoes National Park.” The Oregonian: “Brothers Drown in Crater Lake.” The New York Times: “Australian Tourist Boat Vanishes in Galapagos—20 Presumed Dead.”