Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #3: Books 9-12 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [reading in the dark TXT] 📗

shaking as though she were in the throes of an epileptic fit. Don extended his arm, his face drawn and haggard, his eyes staring. “Look!”

There, a quarter of a mile away, a vast column of red light beamed down from the empty sky in among the trees.

I heard Dehan breathe, “Holy shit…!”

Then we were both running, scrambling down the stairs and across the cavernous room. She got there first and wrenched open the door. Then we were running across the clearing.

The colonel was behind us, shouting, “Wait! Don is coming! He knows the way!”

I glanced back. The colonel was waiting for Don, who was running toward us, calling over his shoulder, “Stuart! May! Come! Come!” And beyond him was Jasmine’s silhouette in the glowing doorway, pushing May, gesturing her to go. Then we were all running behind Don, who was gasping for breath, tall, lanky, and almost comical in his pajamas. He led us deep into the darkness of the forest. None of the brilliant moonlight penetrated the deep canopy of the trees. The only light came from a small flashlight which he held in his hand and waved erratically across the path as he ran, stumbling over the uneven ground.

It took us maybe four minutes in the dark, following Don’s staggering, gasping lead, but we finally came to a clearing, the meeting point of three paths through the woods. It was bathed in the eerie, translucent light of the moon. You could see it was about fifteen feet across and roughly circular. Two more paths, besides the one we were on, wound away from it, one to the right and down hill, the other up and to the left. There was nothing there. No body, no column of red light. I scanned the sky, walking around the clearing, gazing up. There was no trace of the pillar of fire from heaven. Nothing.

“Stone…”

I looked. It was Dehan.

“What diameter would you say that column of light had?”

I thought about it. “Three, four feet?”

I glanced at Hait. He nodded and we both looked at Dehan.

“That’s what I thought. What diameter would you say that has?” She pointed at the center of the clearing, where it was mainly dark moss and grass.

I frowned, trying to make out what she had seen.

She said, “Don’t get abducted. I’ll be right back,” and I heard her boots running back down the path.

Don started after her. “No! Detective! Where are you going?”

I said, “Relax. She’s gone to get a decent flashlight from the car. Give me yours a minute, will you?”

He handed me his thin pen-torch and I got on my knees. There was an area of singed grass which looked roughly circular. It was hard to make out in the poor light, but it seemed to be about four feet across, and everything inside it was burnt. It was not smoldering and it was not hot to the touch. I looked up at the four faces looking back at me. “Did any of you see smoke at any time since you’ve been here, rising from this area?”

They all shook their heads. Behind them, I saw the powerful glow of the flashlight I kept in the car. It made a bright halo around their four figures, turning them into smoky, looming silhouettes. Then I heard Dehan’s boots, pounding back up the path. She came past them and flooded the clearing with light. I stood. Now it was clear. A perfect four-foot circle burnt into the center of the clearing.

She looked over at me. “So where’s Paul?”

I nodded and looked over at Don. He, the colonel, May, and Stuart were all gazing up at the sky. I said, “Colonel, take these people back to the cabin and make sure Jasmine is OK, will you? We’ll join you in a minute.” I handed him the small flashlight.

He looked startled for a moment, then took it and nodded. “Yeah, sure…”

Don, Stuart, and May started back down the path. I said quietly, “Colonel?”

He stopped. “Yes, Stone?”

“Are you armed?”

“Why, yes. I have a license, obviously…”

“I have no doubt. Just keep your weapon with you at all times, will you?”

He looked uncomfortable, then nodded again. “Yes, of course.” He turned and hurried to catch up with the others.

I watched the small, dancing speck of light recede, thinking of the powerful glow of Dehan’s flashlight as she had approached, thinking of the powerful beam of light we had seen from the terrace, perfectly straight, not fanning, not spreading, not a cone, more like a giant laser.

Dehan brought me back from my thoughts. “Is he dead?”

“There are two possibilities. He has either done a runner, or he’s dead.”

She shook her head. She looked exasperated. “But he is the only person with a motive! What the hell was that thing? It just beamed down out of the sky! There was nothing there and suddenly, zap!”

Nearby an owl hooted and a small predator rustled in the underbrush. I nodded at Dehan and started pacing around the clearing, chewing my lip and going over the sequence of events as I remembered them. “I came out of the kitchen. I felt the cool air from the terrace. I had not felt it twenty seconds before when I went in. Don called me up, said I had to see something. I ran up. The terrace door was open and he and Jasmine were out, looking over this way, like they knew. I stepped out. He was telling me to look over where we were about to see the lights. He had obviously called everybody else because they all came out at the same time. Jasmine had her eyes closed throughout the whole thing. Then she started trembling. Next thing, she made that weird noise in her throat and fell. In that moment the light appeared… And we ran.”