How to Get Ahead Without Murdering your Boss (6 page)

11

Lou peered down to the bottom of the cliff, trying to shield her eyes from the horizontal rain. "Can you tell who it is?"

"No, too hard to tell from here."

"Jeepers, this is all we need." Lou suddenly looked ashamed at what she had said. "Sorry, it's just that with the Edge just getting off the ground, the death of a guest isn't exactly going to help things."

"It's okay," said Clara, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I just can't understand how someone could have fallen down there. There are signs and a railing," Lou said.

They both looked again to the bottom of the cliff.

"Well no matter how he got there, he's not going to explain to us now," said Clara with a wry grin.

"Okay," said Lou, "Can you get breakfast ready while I call the police? Well, I'll try to call the police. I doubt if they are going to want to rush out here with a cyclone offshore."

As they turned and hurried back to the lodge the rain returned with its full fury and the wind blew them indoors.

Lou strode towards the office and went straight to the phone. There was silence as she placed the receiver to her ear.

"Damn."

"Hey, you okay?" Paul suddenly appeared in the doorway.

Lou pulled him through the door and shut it behind him.

"Hey don't rush this baby, there's enough of me to go around," Paul smiled and reached for Lou.

"Don't joke around."

"Who's joking?"

Lou held him off with a hand on his chest and said, "Hold on there sunshine." She took a deep breath. "There's a body at the bottom of the cliff. I'm trying to phone the police and the line is dead."

"Well that's a mood breaker if ever I heard one." Paul stood back and crossed his arms.

"This is not a time for joking." Lou scooted back to the other side of the desk. "I'll use the two-way."

"Who is it? At the bottom of the cliff?"

"What? Oh I don't know, I guess I should check and see who is missing."

Lou clutched the two-way handset in one hand biting her lips.

Paul sighed. "You ring the cops, I'll do a head count. Okay?"

"Thank you."

"No worries. It's just what I feel like — a brisk morning walk in the middle of a cyclone." Paul disappeared out the door before she had the chance to reply.

"So who is it?" asked Lou in a low voice as she met Paul at the lodge entrance.

Paul waited until they were back to the office before replying. "Well from what I can tell it looks like Strong. I recognized the jacket he was wearing last night. His cabin is unlocked and empty. And as I was walking back I spotted the other four heading in for breakfast." Paul collapsed on the top of her desk.

Lou stood at the window and peered out into the gloom. "What will it take to get him up?"

"More good will than I have towards him that's for sure."

Lou turned around. "That's not funny… Sorry," Lou said. "I just got off the blower from Cairns Police and they said that there isn't anything they can do for the next 24 hours or so until the cyclone blows over. Too dangerous for them to try and attempt to get through the road and they're all needed in town."

"They said not to move the body."

"Did you…" Paul started.

"Yes I told them it's at the bottom of a cliff and if we didn't move it it would be washed away in the storm.

"So…"

"So they said, in that case, we had their permission to bring it up to the lodge and try not to 'interfere' with it too much."

"They think we're a bunch of weirdos?"

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah. Well I'd better round up a couple of people to help us."

Lou was grateful for the "us". Paul had assumed she needed him and for the moment she was grateful for his help. He started to get up from the table.

"There's just one thing," Lou placed a hand on his arm. "The police said it was okay to move him because it was an accident."

Paul sat back down and looked at her carefully. "And you don't think it was?"

Lou lowered her voice and leaned closer in. "I don't know. It just seems like too much of a coincidence. All his staff hated him, it was a clearly marked path and it seems strange for him to have gone for a walk in the middle of the night when a cyclone is coming. What if it wasn't an accident?"

A knock at the half-open door startled them both. It opened slowly to reveal the distraught face of Yasmin Perfect. She looked from Lou to Paul and back. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Is Arnold dead?"

"How did you…"Lou began, walking over to the door.

Yasmin's voice cracked. "I overheard you talking. Is it true?"

Lou tried to be as gentle as she could. "Yes, it looks that way."

The perfectly composed Ms Perfect suddenly seemed to collapse from within. Lou helped her to a seat and Paul got her a glass of water from the jug on the desk.

"Thank you," said Yasmin, taking the glass. "I just don't believe it. How did it happen?"

"It seems that Mr Strong may have wandered too close to the edge and fallen over the cliff."

"Oh he wouldn't have done that."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well he's scared of heights."

"How do you know that?" Paul was intrigued.

Yasmin began to study her nails and kept her face low. "I just know."

Paul looked as if he was going to persist but Lou cut him off.

"I'm sorry Yasmin but we really need to get going. We'll round up the others and let them know what's happening."

Lou led her towards the door and spotted Clara down the corridor.

"Clara can you get Ms Perfect a hot drink please and show her to the lounge?"

Lou shut the door behind her and leaned against it.

"So what do you think of that lot?" Paul nodded to the door.

"Are you asking me if I think she's hiding something?"

"Yes Miss Marple," he smiled. "You were rather good by the way — tea and sympathy and all that."

"I studied psychology at Uni. It just takes a bit of listening."

Paul stood up. "Well it's all very interesting but we've still got a grisly job ahead of us. Let's round up Clearview, who's probably heard by now and see if we can somehow manage to get Mr Strong back up the cliff.

"I've got an emergency stretcher which should make it easier."

Paul peered out into the weather. "Hauling a dead man up a cliff in the middle of a cyclone? I don't think anything is going to make this easy."

12

Later, standing at the top of the cliff, Lou wondered about whether what they were doing made any sense at all. She was nearly getting blown away and Paul, Nathan and Ed were obviously struggling down the bottom. The waves were bigger than she had ever seen them and they were crashing around the men's feet as they clambered along the edge of the rock face. She wondered what was going through each of their minds as they risked their own lives for a man that none of them had any respect for.

She had been surprised by Clearview's reaction when they had told him the news just half an hour before. She and Paul entered the lounge just after Yasmin, who had obviously told all the Medivalue staff. Kylie, Ed and Nathan were clustered around her, trying to make sense of what she was saying between sobs.

"Is this true?" Nathan saw them enter and came charging over towards them. "Is Arnold dead?"

Lou nodded. "We were just coming to tell you. I've spoken to the police on the mainland but with the cyclone coming they can't reach us by boat and the road's out and even so they have enough to do in town at present." Lou looked at each of their faces, trying to gauge whether any of them would be capable of murder. They all looked shocked and upset but their concern seemed out-of-place considering what they all thought of Arnold.

"But how could this have happened? I mean, what was he doing out there at the cliff?" Nathan looked wildly from Paul to Lou. "What's going on?"

"I wish I knew Mr Clearview but…," Lou started.

"You mean one of your guests has died and you don't have a clue about how it happened or what's going on?" Nathan's face was white and Lou could see a vein throbbing at the side of his forehead.

Kylie, comforting a sobbing Yasmin, stepped in. "I hardly think that's going to help things now, Nathan." She placed a hand on his shoulder and he nodded and bowed his head, taking a few deep breaths.

"Sorry." He looked at Lou. "It's just a shock that's all."

"Forget it. I'm very sorry for your loss." Lou looked at all of them in turn.

Kylie recovered first and broke the silence. "So what do we do?"

"When I explained to the police about the body's location and that I thought it might get washed away they suggested that we retrieve it."

"So we've come looking for volunteers," Paul said.

"Retrieve it?" said Yasmin, standing up. "You're going to climb down and carry up… Arnold's body?"

"Yes unless anyone's got any better ideas?" Lou looked at each of her guests. "No? Well let's get going then before the cyclone gets so bad we can't do anything."

"Yes, yes of course," Nathan pinched his lips with his fingers. "I'll come."

"I will too of course," said Ed stepping forward. "I might not be as fit as I once was but I learnt how to handle myself in the army."

"What can we do?" Kylie looked calm and prepared for anything.

"You and I will wait at the top of the cliff just in case we are needed," said Lou. "Yasmin, perhaps you might like to help Clara in the kitchen make us some sandwiches and strong coffee?" Lou added, more to give Yasmin something to do than for any assistance she could probably offer. Clara would kill her for inflicting the weeping Yasmin on her, but she'd deal with that later.

"Okay guys lets get cracking," Paul rubbed his hands together and headed out the door.

Now Lou wondered whether they'd been too gung-ho and sure of themselves in the circumstances. The wind was making every flying branch a potential lethal weapon and she and Kylie were in danger of getting swept off the top of the cliff. But the men had reached the body, just as the waves started to crash over the top of it. Paul and Nathan were carrying the stretcher between them and placed it near the body, while Ed held a blanket ready.

Lou noticed that they had stopped and Nathan and Paul seemed to be arguing about something. She could hardly see. The raindrops felt like bullets.

"What's going on do you think?" Kylie had appeared at her side and leaned over the edge. Lou pulled her back and yelled, "Don't get too close."

"I can take care of myself." Kylie adjusted her cap and jacket.

"Yes well that's what your boss thought too."

"I don't think he would have gone over the edge without some encouragement." Kylie's words were hard to make out.

"What did you say?" Lou shouted into the wind.

"Look there's something going on down there," Kylie ignored her question and pointed to the bottom.

Paul had turned the body over and it flopped like a rag doll against the rocks. The three men stood and looked down at the body and then Paul looked up at Lou shaking his head slowly. Nathan seemed to be shouting at Paul and Ed and gesturing towards the ocean as it crashed against their legs. But Ed placed a hand on his shoulder and he seemed to calm down. He nodded at Paul and, with what seemed like little effort, they placed the body on the stretcher, covered it with a blanket, strapped it in and turned slowly to retrace their steps.

Lou hoped they would hurry as the path was quickly disappearing under the rising water. She saw Paul shout something at Ed who moved ahead of them, parleying out the ropes that were attached to the sides of the stretcher. Ed made his way up the cliff path. He had reached the handrail at the bottom of the stone steps and started to make some ground.

"He's stronger than he looks," thought Lou as she and Kylie moved to the top of the steps. Ed was panting hard by the time he reached them but he efficiently handed them the ropes which they tied to the top of the rail. There was no point in speaking with the howl of the wind and so with hand gestures they positioned themselves on the ropes and started to haul.

Paul and Nathan had reached the base of the steps and, as the ropes tightened, they started to ascend. It seemed like hours before they reached the top but in reality within forty-five minutes they had all reached the doors of the lodge. Paul and Nathan continued to carry the stretcher down the main corridor to the kitchen and then out the rear door to the lean-to cold-room. Lou unlocked the padlock and, exhausted and grateful, they placed their burden on the clean tiled floor.

They each stood for a moment in silence staring at the bundle wrapped in an old grey blanket before Yasmin burst through the door and threw herself at the body. Nathan reached down and roughly hauled her to her feet.

"You can stop pretending to be upset Yasmin," Nathan snarled. "He doesn't deserve your tears. Or anyone else's for that matter."

"Nathan there's no need for that," Kylie held the sobbing Yasmin. "There's no need to be so cruel."

"Oh I'm not the cruel one here. I'm just one of the poor suckers who just risked his life walking up and down a cliff face in a freaking cyclone. Arnold's still the biggest bastard here."

Kylie looked at Nathan and then turned to Paul. "What's going on?"

Paul knelt at the side of the stretcher. "It seems that your boss has a sense of humour." All eyes focused on the blanket. Paul untied the rope and pulled the blanket aside.

"No!" Yasmin gasped as Kylie staggered against her weight. Lou's hands went to her mouth and she looked at Paul, who shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know what the hell your boss thinks he's up to, but I'd like to have a word with him."

"Get in line," Nathan snarled. "I can't believe you insisted on bringing it back up here. I wanted to throw it into the ocean and be done with it."