Tanya popped a stick of gum in her mouth, tipping her gambler’s hat up. The slow clicking of her gum made Holly feel uneasy. The elevator dinged at the floor and they began down a hallway with a curved archway, lit by low hanging lights that mimicked the look of branches. The entire hallway did its best to seem as if you were walking down a burrowed tunnel, carved by a large rabbit who popped out the other side of the mountain. Holly slowly passed the key from one hand to the other. Tanya shot her a glance with a slow pop of the bubble gum.

“You seem on edge?” She asked, with a snap of the bubble.

“Last time I walked into a hotel room on a case, there was a series of bloody instrument all of the room. I just hope I am not walking into something like that again.”

“I can imagine. That was the case in Vail? Dying Star’s protégé?”

“Yes…did… did Westly tell you about it?”

“Nah, Ollieoxenfree is my lawyer too. He likes to let me know when he’ll be busy with Westly. Thank God I don’t need him much.”

“I am sorry. With what you went through with Star-”

“Holls forget about it, he’s dead. This poser wannabe can’t possibly live up to the horror. Cover band ain’t as good as the original, am I right?”

Holly nodded as they arrived at the room. She slowly tapped the key against her hand. Tanya extended her fingers in the shape of a crab claw.

“Ya want me to do it?”

“Please.”

Tanya swiped the card against the reader. The green light flashed, and the familiar click was heard. Before Holly had a chance to prepare herself, Tanya pushed open the door, striking open a dark black baton. Holly quickly followed behind her, letting the door close on its own from the force. The room was empty, spotless, not even suitcase. Tanya moved to the bathroom, pulling the shower curtain back with the tip of her baton. Nothing. Holly checked the rest of the room. Standard suite: bed, dresser, desk, tv, and basic kitchen. No upstairs, not even a balcony, just a large window facing the waterfall as it cascaded down to the pools below. Tanya retracted her baton, fastening it back on her hip. She shrugged and popped another bubble.

“Westly use his credit card on this room ya think?” She said, running her fingers across the mirror.

Holly nodded.

“Then either you guys are pulling in wicked dough and I want a cut or you’re hemorrhaging money and I got renegotiate my REI contract,” she said jokingly.

Holly sighed, slowly scratching the back of her head at the base of her hair tie.

“What the hell Westly.”

“Get used to sayin that.”

Holly walked to the bed and sat on the edge. As her hand ran over the back of the bedspread, she felt a solid square object graze against her fingers. She turned and looked back on the bed finding under the blanket was something hard and square. She pulled back the bedspread to reveal a silver laptop. Motioning to Tanya, she set the laptop on the counter, lifting the lid. The black screen turned to blue with a series of white dots slowly circling up and down before opening to a main gray screen with only one icon. The icon simple stated “CLICK” under it. Holly bit her lip and nervously clicked the icon. The screen was populated with three videos. They were layered with two at the top of the screen and one at the bottom. Each video roughly showing the same thing. A person stripped of their clothes, hanging in a cabin by a black chain. Each one squirmed, bending and twisting like a fish caught on a hook. The slow trails of blood and urine dripping down their bodies as a barrage of arrows begins to the litter the wall behind them. The more arrows flew, the more each person shook and screamed against the chains, the more blood began to stream from their back. The dark red liquid sprayed like a clogged shower head spitting out water before fully bursting through the clog. The arrows sliced deep into the skin grazing against arms, legs, head, neck, and torso, opening deep cuts as the blade zinged by. The screams were soon muddled with the layered sobs of each man begging for mercy. Holly was about to shut the lid when Tanya caught her wrist.

“This is some sick shit but guarantee there a clue in all this.”

Holly nodded and they continued. As the barrage came to a halt one of the men shifted back, sending the long black gambrel prongs through his chest. The blood spurted from his body and he slumped over, dead. The other two men cried and screamed tugging on the chains with their wrist and ankles, hanging on for dear life. The videos stopped. A group of pale white letters populated over each video.

“One is Death,” over the first.

“One is Life,” over the second.

“Two is Correct,” over the third.

“Pick a hill and let’s climb it,” populated in between the videos.

The letters vanished and another series of them appeared on the screen each over one of the videos.

Alexander Piercy

39.200750, - 106.65058

Daniel Hornbrook

39.217567, - 106.690754

Steven McArthur

39.205863, -106676341

Tanya produced her phone and snapped a picture of the screen.

“Alexander Piercy your guy?”

“Yes,” Holly said, glaring at the screen with both intense focus and disgust.

Tanya snapped another bubble.

“May I?”

Holly nodded as Tanya took the laptop. Minimizing the videos, she pulled up a search engine and began typing.

“So Hornbrook also works for an investment bank, the Park Group. Same with Mr. MacArthur. Different one as well, Baron Securities. All based out of LA. Maybe this Elk King joker has a beef with bankers? Screwed over sap with an arrow to grind?”

“Maybe,” Holly said, ringing her hands “What do you think the first letters meant? One is Death the other is Life the third is correct or some variation of that.”

“Grrr, I hate head games,” Tanya growled.

Holly took back the laptop and brought the videos back to the screen.

“Can you do a coordinate search for the longitude and latitude under Alexander Piercy’s name?”

Tanya typed in the numbers circulating through on her phone. Once populated, she handed it to Holly.

“That the place?”

“Yes…damn, this doesn’t make sense.”

“What?”

“The way Piercy was killed was that he was shot from above; there was a hatch in the ceiling,” Holly said, pointing to the cabin’s ceiling, “do you see a hatch?”

“Hard to tell cause the video is so dark but no, it looks like the ceiling is intact. You think this Elk King character is screwing with us?”

“Maybe.”

Holly set the laptop down and started pacing.

“Okay, lets break it apart. Three investment bankers, all from Los Angeles. Westly said he was going to California but now he is here being held captive by this psycho who calls himself the Elk King. One is Death, the other life, and the extra is correct? Goddamn it Westly!”

She grabbed a pillow and threw it off the bed. It sailed through the air before landing on an end table near the front door, knocking the phone, paper and assorted stationery to the floor. She clutched the back of her head and slumped into one of the armchairs, looking up at the ceiling. Tanya snapped another bubble and slowly made her way over to the desk, gracefully picking up the stationery and phone. She tossed them back on the desk and walked back to Holly. Fishing into her pocket, she produced a stick of gum offering it to her. Holly shook her head and Tanya returned the gum to her pocket. She flopped into the chair across from Holly and sat there in silence, occasionally snapping a bubble. She took off her gambler’s hat and dug her nails into her scalp.

“I once was tracking this mother who kidnapped her son from his dad. Whole wicked bullshit divorce. When I tried talking to the father about his ex, all he could say was ‘That bitch! That bitch! That bitch!’ Which in his defense, the amount of heroin she pumped in her veins and the meth heads she railed in front of the kid gave her that title, but it sure didn’t help me find her and the kid. Took me twice as long to find her and when I did, she already had a needle in her arm. You brought me here cause you felt you couldn’t find Westly. Right? So, let’s focus on finding him instead of these damn head games. You and I both know he’s likely figured it out by now.”

Holly sat up in her chair, pursing her lips together.

“I agree, the only problem is he being held captive by a guy who likes to use people as targets. Every minute I am not in that guy’s head, the more I’m not finding Westly.”

Tanya snapped another bubble.

“Westly had this room waiting for us with that laptop, which means he knew we’d be here. You know the man, tell me what he would do if he was here.”

“Roll a blunt.”

“Besides that. If you and he were here right now going over this mystery what would he say?”

Holly rubbed her head.

“I don’t know something stupid like ‘Maybe this guy is trying to prove a point’ then he’d point at the arrows or maybe he would…he would examine the video but for what…grrr if he were here instead of going off with no back up I wouldn’t have to think like him!”

“He’s a bitch. We’ve established that. Let’s not find a needle in him.”

Holly nodded.

“Okay. If he were here, he would watch the video again and again looking for…for…for who was still alive.”

Holly stood up out of the chair and started pacing.

“Westly would want to save as many people as possible.”

She went back to the laptop and replayed the video, holding back her horror as the arrows flew and the captives squirmed. Tanya stood up, snapping another bubble while rolling the gum around her teeth. The video ended and the letters reappeared. Holly snapped a photo of the riddle and relooked it over. Piercy was covered by the word “Death”. Hornbrook was covered by “Life” and McArthur was covered by “Correct.” Holly looked over the photo.

“So, if Piercy is death or dead, then Hornbrook is alive, and McArthur would be correct? And since I know that the man in the Death video isn’t Piercy, but I know Piercy is dead, then maybe two of these men are dead and the other is alive.”

She replayed the video four more times and watched while Tanya looked up the other longitude and latitude coordinates on her phone.

“Alight both those quadrants are in Lake County. Looks like two miles apart from each other. My guess is that Westly is somewhere around there, so if you had pick one, which one do you think is the one he picked?” Tanya said, tapping Holly on the shoulder.

Holly played the video again.

“Hornbrook’s cabin seems to have the hatch in the ceiling. See the faint glow of sunlight.”

Tanya leaned over to the screen.

“That could be a glare from the video.”

“It could be, but given what I know, this is my best option which leaves me with McArthur being correct?”

“Told you not the best with head games.”

Holly let the video run through again staring.

“Wait, if the man on the left is supposed to be Piercy but we know the video on the left is the cabin where Piercy is than the coordinates must connect with the man’s name but not the video. So, the man on the right must be Alexander Piercy and the man on the left, who is dead, must be another one of the coordinates, same with the man on the bottom who is still alive. So, I have to figure out if Daniel Hornbrook is dead or Steven McArthur. Cause if one these men is still alive than the Elk King is likely with them?”

“Sound logic,” Tanya said hopefully.

“Can I see your phone?” Holly asked.

Tanya handed her phone. Holly pointed at the shape of the coordinates.

“They form a triangle. If Piercy was the first corner. Then whoever is in the far right is the man who is dead and the top one is the man who is alive. So, we should travel to coordinates 39.217567, - 106.690754

“You sure?”

Holly scratched her head and sighed.

“Yes…no... Maybe I read it wrong…I could use drink.”

She pulled herself away and opened the mini bar.

“Ollie sign off on that?” Tanya asked playfully.

“He’s about to.”

She opened the mini bar and pulled a small bottle of whisky out. As she did a small folded note fell from behind it. She picked it up and opened it.

“Holly,

I can’t say much as I am sure I am being watched but I knew this the first place you would look.”

Holly pulled her eyes and sighed.

“He’s not even here and yet still manages to be the biggest asshole in the room,” she muttered to herself and continued to read.

“If you are here than I am guessing you came from the cabin with Robert. There is a laptop under the covers. Take it and watch the video, it will give the rest of the information. Once you watch the video, you’ll understand why I don’t want to anger this man. In case this note is lost I hid the rest of the information on the whisky shot itself. Enjoy, see you see you soon.”

She handed the note to Tanya and checked the bottle. Written on the bottom of the bottle in tiny print were two words.

“across hall”

Tanya handed the note back to her.

“You been hitting the sauce more than usual?”

“No, he’s just a dick. First the cryptic note, then the shot at my drinking, now he wants us to go across the hall. Why the hell does he have to make everything so damn difficult?”

Tanya sighed and picket up her fedora, fixing it back on her head.

“Let’s find out.”

Holly shut the laptop and the two of them made their way out of the room. As Tanya closed the door, Holly stopped and stared at the door across from them. She grabbed the handle, but it wouldn’t open.

“Would help if we had a key…,” she said, beginning to fish into her pocket.

She pulled out the key they took from Piercy’s cabin. She slid it against the reader and the door clicked open. As she pushed the door open, they were met with nothing but a dark room with one light over a round wooden table. Placed on the center of the table was a manila envelope and nothing else. Holly leaned over to the light switch and clicked it, but nothing came on. She froze in the doorway, afraid to go in.

“Tanya, does that look like a bomb to you?”

Tanya peered over Holly’s shoulder. She took her gum out her mouth and tossed it. As she did, she snatched the door and pulled it partially closed. They both saw the gum hit the table, bounce off, and roll to back of the room. Tanya shrugged.

“Are you insane?” Holly snapped.

“My guess is this is where Westly found the laptop. This Elk King has been giving off the vibe like he got a flair for the dramatic.”

Holly sighed and the two went in. Tanya unsheathed her baton and wedged it under the door to keep it open. Both women approached the manila envelope. Holly reluctantly picked it up and shook it, dropping out a white dried poppy flower and a small little note. She picked up the note up and read it.

“Holly,

“Find the Lady. Beware the snares.”

She turned the note over but there was nothing there.

“That’s it? Westly, I swear to God you are the most frustrating hostage in the history…”

Her voice trailed off as she noticed Tanya staring blankly at the flower.

“What?”

“I know why Westly didn’t want you to come out here.”

“Why?”

“Albuquerque.”