What Happened In Paradise?

First Visit: Is this Murder?

“I didn’t…” Besides his mouth moving over words he can’t seem to form, Adam’s body remains still. Frozen.

“What the hell did you do?” Maxwell hangs over the rail. Arms, legs, at odd angles; the caretaker has to be dead. “What the hell did you do?”

Adam examines his hands, fingers still curved as they were around the caretaker’s neck. “I didn’t mean to. She was threatening us.”

“She wasn’t!” Maxwell shakes his head in disbelief. The caretaker wasn’t making any sense, but her words weren’t threats. She must have meant that if Maxwell and the others didn’t heed her warning, they too would disappear.

Jess’ mouth hangs open; she shakes her head as tears roll down her cheek.

Maxwell leaps to the bottom of the first flight of stairs; then the other. Why is he eager to prove what he knows for sure? The caretaker is dead and they’re all going to be locked up in some foreign jail cell. They may even tap them with Brian’s and Stephanie’s missing cases too.

He crashes to his knees and checks the old woman’s pulse. One...two...nothing. What are they going to do?

Jess is next to him, muttering, “No, no, no.” Adam is still looking at his hands.

“Mhmm.” The caretaker struggles to straighten her hands and legs; her eyes are still closed.

Jess exhales loudly. “She’s not dead.” She grips her chest and begins to heave.

The caretaker coughs and tries to sit up.

“You shouldn't move.” Maxwell places a hand on her shoulder, trying to keep her in place. “We need to call an ambulance.”

The caretaker shakes him off. “I am fine.” She sits up, back straight, limbs unbroken. She pushes off the ground, stands up, and topples towards Maxwell. He rises to his feet and helps to steady her. Maxwell takes one of the caretaker’s arms; Jess takes the other. When they reach the first floor, Adam is there.

“She was dead,” he says, fingers still curled. “She was dead. She should be dead.”

“Get out of the way,” Maxwell demands.

“She was dead,” Adam says again - louder.

“Clearly she isn’t dead, Adam.” Maxwell pushes him out of the way.

“She is...she was dead. Why isn’t she dead?”

Maxwell turns on him, leaving most of the woman’s weight on Jess’ shoulders. “Are you sorry she isn’t dead? Do you want to finish the job?”

“No. Maxwell. Something is wrong. I killed her.”

“Something is wrong with you. Maybe you’re angry about what happened to our friends. I am too. We can’t make it worse. We can’t end up in some strange jail.”

Adam steps closer, his voice a whisper. “Maxwell, I killed her.”

“Be glad you didn’t.” Maxwell wraps his arms tight around the old woman’s thin waist, she feels as if she would break. “I’ve got it.” He motions for Jess to release the woman. “Go help Adam.”

The old woman wiggles from Maxwell’s arms. “I am not a cripple. I will carry myself.” She walks ahead of them along the corridor. She stops, turns to face them, and points at Adam. “I want you out of my villa before nightfall.”

“We should stay to help you.”

She shakes her head. “I want him out.”

“I’ll stay then.”

“No. You must go too. That is their only chance.”

“Their only chance of what?”

“Of surviving this place.” The caretaker slips into a room and shuts the door behind her.