D.E.D. Dead by Geoffrey McGeachin

Author:Geoffrey McGeachin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clan Destine Press
Published: 2025-07-23T03:37:14+00:00

We were dirty, wet, scratched and covered in mosquito bites when we climbed out of the river below the Tjampuhan Hotel just on daybreak. There was an arrow marked in yellow chalk on a rock jutting out of the water. That would be Mungo’s work. After making our way carefully over the slippery, moss-covered rocks we climbed up some stone steps, passed a small shrine, went up some more steps and found ourselves in a cave, a very nice-smelling cave. I turned on my Maglite.

‘Ali Baba’s treasure cave?’ Grace asked.

I swung the torch around. ‘I think it’s a day spa.’

‘Thank goodness,’ Grace said, ‘I think I might have chipped a nail.’

A few dozen steps up from the spa was the hotel pool – spring-fed, icy cold and possibly the most beautiful in the world. The local prince had ordered it built for a glamorous Hollywood star in the nineteen thirties. We fell into it fully clothed and looking a lot less than glamorous. When I surfaced Mungo was sitting on a sun lounge reading the Jakarta Post.

Grace and I clambered out of the pool and left a watery track across the terrace to the pile of towels stacked up on a table top.

‘Coffee?’ Mungo asked, holding up a pot.

We both nodded.

‘I’ve ordered breakfast for you up on your balcony,’ he said, handing me a numbered room key along with my coffee. ‘Just pound on the gong when you’re ready. You two look like you could use a good hot shower.’

Mungo gave us each a small bottle of capsules.

‘Antibiotics. Take two now and finish the full course.’

Grace gulped a couple of the pills down with her coffee.

‘And there’s antiseptic in the bathroom for those scratches, young lady,’ Mungo continued. ‘You really need to build up a bit of immunity before you can go splashing about in the local rivers like that.’

‘Any idea who our visitors were?’ I asked.

Mungo shook his head. ‘Not a clue, dear boy, but I’ll see what I can find out. You two stay here and keep your heads down till I get back.’

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