Page 97 of Without a Clue

For that matter, why hasn’t she thrown it overboard? That’s the first thing I’d do if I were a killer. The great wide sea, and nobody would ever see it again.

I feel the distinct crunch of a Frito chip underfoot.

Maybe that’s one clue.

This is Crystal we’re talking about.

I move toward the glow of the television screen.

Something near wires.

My eyes land on the curling iron resting among the other hair appliances.

Bingo.

Flipping the iron to high, I hold the candle over one of her books. Flames begin to grow.

Perfect.

I wait as the fire gathers, swivel round, then push Nash out the door.

Once in the hall with the door wide open, revealing the smoke and orange glow of the flames, I look at Nash. “Ready?” I whisper.

“For what now?” he whispers back.

I stride next door to Gordon’s room and bang on it twice.

“Fire!” I cry in a low, mangled voice through my elbow. It sounds like someone else entirely. “Call someone! Fire!”

I run and do the same at two more doors, yelling the same thing in the low voice.

Ten seconds later Nash and I have made it back to our room and shut the door.

“You sounded like Elmo,” Nash murmurs behind my shoulder as we both look through the peephole.

I lift my chin up. Our eyes inches apart. The tips of our noses touch.

“A very cute . . . Elmo,” he whispers, and for a moment we say nothing.

Then the first scream comes.

“Oh my—fire!” Neena cries out.

I look through the peephole and see her in her bathrobe, barefoot as she runs in front of Crystal’s room, looks in, and wheels around. “Call security!” she cries, her voice trembling. “Fire!”

It doesn’t take much longer for everyone to emerge from their rooms, wide-eyed in their pajamas.

And frankly, for as quick as the waitstaff is about delivering cheesecake at 2 a.m., they sure take their sweet time over a legitimate emergency.

Probably because of all the guests who were calling out for cheesecake.

Ultimately, it’s Jackie who puts out the fire.

After a “What in the—” cry, she elbows her way between the useless group with a fire extinguisher and flings herself into the smoky abyss. In silence everyone watches, no one saying a word. At this point Nash and I are both in the group watching, taking pains to look tired and in panic at the scene before us like the rest.

All of us in a fair bit of Jackie awe.

Through the smoke Jackie emerges, triumphant, a frown on her face. The fire extinguisher hangs limply at her side.