Free The Murder Suite: Book One - The Audrey Murders by Leonie Mateer Page A

flowing water.
    Shit! Thought Audrey. The guests are not going to be happy.   At least the guests had hot tubs, cable TV and hundreds of DVD and CDs to choose from.  The power would often go out in bad storms.  The last time she was without power for four days. 
    Audrey knew she couldn’t do anything about the creek overflowing but she could make sure the spouting was clear of debris so the rainwater would run into the lower water tanks.  She had two, five thousand gallon, concrete tanks below the chalets that captured all the rain water so that the guests had a good water supply.  Being in the country the owners were responsible for their own sewage tanks and water tanks. There was no city service for either.
    She heard a car driving up to Suite A.  She grabbed an umbrella and ran up the steps to greet them.   They all looked tired and travel weary, especially the kids - two little girls, as cute as buttons.  She had already set out the toys in the suite and placed soft toys on their beds in preparation for their stay.   Mum and Dad looked pleased to be there and even more pleased to see a welcoming bottle of wine in the fridge.  The girls jumped with glee when they saw the hot tub. 
    “Can we get in?  Pleeease Mummy?” they squealed.
    “OK. Go inside and get your togs out of the suitcase,” said their Mother obviously relieved the girls had found something to occupy them.  Audrey left them to settle in and returned to her lower suite pleased to be out of the rain.
    The honeymoon couple pulled up in their rental car to Suite C as soon as Audrey opened up a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. She grabbed the umbrella again and welcomed them. They were very young, very happy and very excited when they saw the room and discovered the hot tub. Audrey showed them around and left them to enjoy their privacy.
    The rain was not stopping.  Even the spouting could not hold the deluge. The water was running in streams down the colored concrete courtyard and down the gravel driveway making long bald streaks in the gravel.   She looked out over the grass flats of the farm across the road.  They were almost under water already.   This was not good. She checked the weather online and it looked as though it was going to last at least through the night and tomorrow morning.  A lot of damage could be done in that time.
    Then Audrey had a horrible thought. She was going to go down to the pigpen tonight just to check all the bones had indeed been consumed. 
    She didn’t want any bones lying around where the floodwaters could carry them down the fast flowing creek and out into the bay.  That is, if she was lucky.  They might end up on the road.   There was nothing she could do but keep an eye on things.   She decided to get in her Rav4 and check the storm water pipe under the road.  If it needed clearing out she needed to get to it now.   She put on her rain gear and tall gumboots, grabbed some tools from the shed and headed down the drive. The water was gushing down both sides of the road. The gutters were overflowing and couldn’t keep up with the heavy flow coming from the hills up the road.   Already the valley floor was underwater leaving her no choice but to park the car on the gravel roundabout and head on foot through the rapidly rising water.  It was impossible - there was no way she could reach the pen site.  Having no choice she headed back to her car and drove down the road to the storm water drain. The rain was torrential She headed down the bank on foot. The gushing water was almost to the top of the huge storm water drain.  Tree branches, leaves and logs were trapped in the storm’s fury.  The water appeared to be moving through the debris, under the road and through the farm ditches towards the bay.  She returned to her car and headed back to the chalets.  There was nothing she could do but just hope.  Hope that any evidence got washed out to sea.    Maybe the pigpen was