PONS Kurzkrimis: Murder in the Moonlight

1. THE ACCIDENT

It was an accident.

He was dead, but it was an accident.

Emily felt her legs go weak1 and she felt like she could not breathe. The tunnels were hot, impossibly hot, and she wanted to take the torch2 and run along the passages3 to the entrance and then out into the humid4 night of the jungle.

But she did not.

Instead she sat down, with her back against the side of the ancient Mayan burial stone5 and began to cry, the noise echoing6 around the small room.

Finally the tears stopped and she dried her eyes with the sleeve of her khaki shirt and pushed her brown hair away from her face.

She was not the type of person to cry for no reason, but she knew that what she had done was going to change her life forever.

Yes, it had been an accident, but even if anyone believed her, her career was over, her six years of study a waste of time7.

And it was all because of him.

She stared8 for a moment at his body in the dim light from the torch.

Professor Mounier.

He looked extremely peaceful. He was not an ugly man, but neither was he handsome. Maybe he had been, twenty years ago, but now he was in his fifties, his stomach was large and his tanned face was covered by his beard.

No, he was not attractive. He was repellent9. A serpent, not a man. With hands that never stopped moving, touching, searching and reaching for her.

But not now. No, now he was still, his hands unmoving.

And next to his left eye there was a bloody hole where she had hit him with the small excavation10 hammer.

For a moment she felt like11 crying again, but she did not let herself. She had to get to the British embassy12 before the body was found, explain what had happened, explain that it had not been her fault13.

Not her fault.

No, it had been his.

For three months she had worked here with him in Belize, excavating a new sequence of tunnels found near to the Caana. It was every young archaeologist's dream. To work with a famous professor like Mounier, to be present at the opening of a new excavation.

But the reality had been different.

She had known that Mounier had been looking for an assistant, and she had gone to see him at his office. At the beginning everything had been pleasant14. Yes, they had been flirting a bit, but nothing more than that. But then he had become insistent15 and talking about his wife was the only way to stop him.

Then tonight he had come to the tunnels where she was working alone and she had smelt the alcohol on his breath16, she had seen the dangerous look in his eyes.

But it was an accident. He had tried to reach for her, and she had told him to stop, but he had not.

So she had stopped him.

She looked at the hammer. Yes, it had not been her fault.

So why should she suffer17?

And suddenly she was not thinking about the British embassy anymore. She was thinking that of all the places to hide a body, surely18 these dark tunnels were the best.

She pushed herself up and looked around.

The body was behind the burial stone, but Mounier's feet could be seen if someone came.

And someone might come19. Yes, one of the other assistants, Claire or Stephen, maybe.

Quickly she reached down and grabbed him under his arms, his sweat on her hands, and she pulled him half a metre until the body was hidden.

Then for a moment she looked at the burial stone and contemplated20 the possibility of placing him beneath it, but no, it was a ridiculous21 idea. At some point it would be moved again, and then it would be obvious that she had placed him there.

"Think!" she told herself, but all she could do was repeat the words it was an accident.

An accident. Yes, that was it. The tunnels were newly excavated and still not completely safe22. She could drag23 the body down one of them and then destroy the supports24 keeping the heavy stone in place. The body would be crushed and the injury from the hammer hidden.

She almost smiled. It was so simple.

Then she heard the sound of footsteps from the entrance and she froze25.

"Emily?" a voice said, and then Claire was there, another torch in her hand, a smile on her face. "Are you still here?"

"Yes, nearly finished."

"I'm walking back to the camp in a moment. I can wait for you."

"Oh, no. You should go. Mounier said he wanted to inspect something."

Claire shook her head. "Yeah, right, he just wants to get you in here alone. I hate that man."

Emily saw the hammer on the floor. She tried to smile. "Look, you go, honestly. I want to speak to him too."

Claire stopped smiling, "Wait, you're not? You know? You and him?"

Emily moved in front of the murder weapon. She vigorously26 shook her head. "God, no!"

Claire laughed. "Good! Okay, well. If he tries to touch you, give him a slap27. See you later."

And then Emily was alone again. She took a deep breath of the warm air and quickly picked up the hammer and put it in her pocket.

She had to be quick now.

Which was the best tunnel to leave the body in? The east passage was easier to get to, but the west passage was less secure28. She could easily break one or two of the supports, and the stone would collapse29.

Yes, the west.

This time she took hold of Mounier by his feet and began to drag him further into the tunnel, the torch in her mouth.

For ten minutes she dragged him, and when, finally, they were at the less secure area, she stopped, sweat covering her entire body, and looked around.

It was perfect.

A few metres in front of her there were two vertical30 supports and next to them was a sign that said no one should enter.

She could move the body there and then weaken31 the supports.

No.

If she did that, the whole structure could collapse on top of her.

"Think!"

Then in the shadow of the tunnel she saw a coil of rope32. Yes, that was it. First she could weaken the supports, then drag the body there, and when she was ready, she could tie33 the rope to a support and from a safe distance pull on it until it collapsed.

She went to the supports, leaving the body there, and began to examine them.

She had to be very careful. She had to weaken the support, but not too much.

She took the hammer from her pocket and began to destroy a little of the stone at the top of one of the supports, while constantly listening to the stone.

For ten minutes she worked, slowly and carefully, and then she moved to the other support. She thought this one already looked weaker and after just two minutes she heard the stones about her move. She froze.

Above her she could imagine the ancient pyramid and the hundreds of thousands of blocks of stone. Suddenly, she felt like she should leave the tunnels and Belize, return to Oxford and never enter this horrible place again.

But no, she could not. She had to finish this now.

She ran back to the rope and picked up one end, leaving the other by the body.

For a second, in the shadows, she thought she saw Mounier's eye move. She stopped and stared, but no, it was just a trick of the light.

He was dead. It was an accident, but he was dead.

She walked back to the support and listened.

Silence.

But that did not mean she was safe. She began to tie the rope to the support and had only just finished when she heard it.

At first she thought that it was the stone moving above...