Floodlight

by Reba Birmingham

  Alex jotted that in her PDA. “Okay, so just your average homophobe. I like the connection with Gary Smithers, though. That might be our link.” Alex looked thoughtful. “Still no phone call?”

  Valerie drew the cat up on her lap and shook her head. “Alex, I have to be in Germany like, now. What would happen if I just left?”

  Alex gave her a shocked look. “You don’t want to know.” She looked sternly at Valerie. “I’m not kidding. Don’t even think about it. Besides, you don’t have your passport, remember?”

  “I’ll go some other way. There are consequences if I don’t go.”

  Alex stood up. “Consequences? How does Federal Prison sound? What aren’t you telling me, Valerie? Never mind, it’s better if I don’t know.” She left her card on the table with the neighborhood map. “Call me if anything happens. Any calls, any visits, any anything, okay?”

  “Will do.”

  Once the door closed, Valerie heard a noise from the back of the house. Before she could react, Ekk and a little female elf walked in holding hands. “We came to keep you company.” He nodded at his companion, who smiled shyly. “This is Elsa.” Impulsively, Valerie scooped them both up and laughed and cried at the same time. How she could be so happy to see elves she had no idea. It definitely reminded her that all this was real, and that she was either not going crazy or she was so crazy it didn’t matter.

  “Thank you. I was feeling so alone. Are Juniper and Panda safe? And Mitzi, did they find Mitzi?”

  “Yes, safe for the moment, but I won’t lie. They’re still in dangerous territory.”

  “I have to go to Germany now. I don’t care what the lawyer says.” Valerie flew to the keyboard.

  “Valerie, stop.”

  She turned to look at Ekk who said, “We’ve come a long way to tell you that’s no longer necessary. If all goes well, they’ll come to us.”

  “What? How?” She resumed her position on the couch and was filled in on the amazing and magical news of her wife and Panda’s Black Forest adventure. After a while, the elves needed feeding, and they all became busy in the kitchen, still awaiting Juniper’s phone call.

  MEANWHILE, DETECTIVE POTTS was cruising back to the Fowlers’ neighborhood after receiving another message their neighbor had called in. Upon arriving at the neighbor’s house, which was directly across from Panda Fowler’s house, Charlie Potts lifted his hand to knock, but the door opened seemingly of its own accord. Gail, the neighbor, had a narrow face and stuck her long neck out, peering left and right furtively before speaking.

  Startled, he pulled his own neck back like a turtle. “I believe you called for a detective?”

  The older woman looked him up and down, before saying, “With Mitzi Fowler missing, I just wanted to let you know, the Gooden woman’s “wife” (she did air quotes) is over at her house alone.”

  “And?” He was growing impatient.

  “She doesn’t live there. Isn’t that illegal? Isn’t that trespassing?”

  He chewed on his pen thoughtfully, studying her. “Maybe, maybe not. Thanks for letting me know. Anything else?”

  “Yes. That horrible woman who’s always defending scumbags was over here knocking on my door.”

  He was liking his witness less and less. “Alexandra Stephanovsky?” After Gail nodded, he grunted and asked, “What did she say?”

  Gail rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t about to answer my door. She left just a few minutes ago.” Potts looked at her hawk-like face, with her bright eyes and felt the woman’s venom toward her neighbors. It didn’t matter, however, because they were focused on the same house. For the moment, their interests coincided.

  “Okay, ma’am. Just keep your doors locked. You did the right thing.”

  It was getting dark, and he was getting very curious. Why was Valerie Gooden there? What if this Valerie tried to get away using someone else’s passport? Maybe she went back to get something in the Fowler house? He moved the car around the corner and walked back. God, he wanted a cigarette, but he couldn’t risk anyone in Panda Fowler’s house smelling the smoke when he got under the window. He had just as much right to be there as Valerie Gooden did, and the house was still technically a crime scene, right? What if she was trying to destroy evidence? He still needed something more to get a warrant and made the decision to spy into the back of the house through the windows.

  Potts looked over the backyard fence and saw evidence of recent digging. His heart started beating faster. Walking to the living room window, all he could see was a big, spotted cat draped over the sofa like a cheap scarf, licking himself. What is it with women and cats? He shook his head and moved down a room. Dark, it held only a dining room table and hutch. Light came from the middle of the house that he guessed to be the kitchen. With a bay window, the kitchen portal was too high up for him to peek in while just standing.

  He looked around and found a bamboo bench by the trash on the side of the house. He picked it up and moved it under the window. He stepped on it and heard a crack, but it seemed like it would hold. His eyes just reached over the sill, where he could see Valerie Gooden turning from the sink with a couple of glasses of water. He only got a quick glimpse before the bench completely gave way, but he would swear she was serving sandwiches to dolls at the kitchen table. What a crazy bitch. He bet Mitzi Fowler and Juniper Gooden never left at all. They were probably all buried in the backyard. He walked swiftly down the street to his car and immediately called the D.A. while lighting a cigarette.

  MITZI AND HER mother had just finished talking when a key turned and the door opened without a knock. Wolfrum and Odilia entered. “Susan, you can leave now,” Odilia said without warmth.

  “I’m staying with Mitzi.” Susan put her arm around Mitzi’s shoulders. Mitzi looked surprised but pleased.

  “I see,” Wolfrum said softly. His face was devoid of compassion or any other wholesome thing. “I was concerned about this happening.” He glanced at Odilia. “Put them both in the dungeon.”

  “No retraining?” Odilia asked maliciously.

  Susan winced and shouted at Odilia. “The ritual date hasn’t even passed yet. How could you?”

  Mitzi didn’t speak, but her eyes were large as she again looked at her mother, thinking “retraining?”

  Odilia had ceased dealing with either Susan or Mitzi and turned to leave.

  Susan tried again. “You said you cared about my soul. Mitzi’s soul.”

  The old woman spoke calmly. “When Wolfrum and I were young, someone left kittens on our porch.” Odilia gave a broad smile. “We drowned them because they were out of order with no parents. God will take you and do with you as he sees fit.”

  Susan looked at the hooded man and shouted, “I believed in you, Wolfrum. I believed.” A moan came from Susan’s throat as she was emotionally torn to the core.

  Wolfrum glanced at his sister. “Silence her,” he said. “You know I hate mewling. Besides, after tomorrow night, it won’t matter.” He turned to leave the room.

  Odilia swished her hand and Susan’s lips were sealed. Susan’s eyes desperately searched out Mitzi’s.

  Mitzi hadn’t spoken, so the unholy brother and sister didn’t know she’d broken the sealing spell Odilia put on her. Her blood was boiling.

  “What then, brother?”

  He turned back to Odilia “We’re going to destroy the encampment of rescuers and get to her later.” With a subtle motion of his wrist, the guards came forward and seized both Susan and Mitzi, who resisted futilely. “Put them in the same cell so mother and daughter can have a nice silent reunion before we put them to death.” His laugh was mirthless and followed him down the hall.

  DIETER FOUND BRUNO lifting weights in the torture chamber. “Wolfrum needs you,” he croaked out in heavily accented English. “I also think there may be someone hiding in the garden.”

  The weights crashed to the stone floor, and Bruno flexed his huge hands. “Who? How many?”

  “I don’t know. I heard them.” />
  Bruno stomped to Master Wolfrum’s tower, seeking orders. “Master, Dieter sensed intruders in the garden.”

  Wolfrum’s expression hardened, and his gaze set on the two men as if surprised they were still there. He clapped. “Secure the garden. Throw any interlopers into the dungeon. We are about to march. Hurry. Dieter, sound the alarm.”

  The bells in the tower began pealing after Dieter ran down the hall and leaped on a thick rope. Bruno blew a whistle in three short blasts and was joined by three rough-looking monks. He barked, “To the garden of the keep!” When one of them looked confused, he added in German, “Der Garten des Bergfrieds!” Swords and daggers were unsheathed under their monk’s robes as the men tromped like rhinos into the overgrown garden of streams, trees, and bushes.

  After a few moments, “Bruno!” called a swarthy creature who was neither dwarf nor human. “Garr is dead! And Pardo is barely breathing and cut bad.”

  Brother Bruno’s face went dark, and he looked overhead for guidance. “Wolf-Ravens! Wolf-Ravens, lead us to our enemy.”

  AS SOON AS she heard the voices and crashing sounds, Juniper struggled to climb the nearest tree. She hadn’t climbed a tree at all in years, and this was her second today. She had barely reached the first low branches when a flock of ravens surrounded her and started cawing wildly. She held the slender trunk of the tree with one hand and batted at the birds fruitlessly with the other. In seconds, strong hands grabbed both sides of her waist and pulled her back to the ground.

  “Werfe sie in das verlies!” Bruno shouted. One monk started moving, then he said to the other two the same thing in English “Throw her in the dungeon!”

  One of the guards put a meaty hand on Juniper’s upper arm and held her there while their fellow soldiers removed the dead and dying dwarves. As the dead dwarf went by, the guard squeezed her arm so hard she cried out. This was getting worse by the minute, and to be truthful, she felt bad someone had died, even the enemy. War is so different in the abstract.

  To get to the dungeon, Juniper was marched through the main castle area. Teeming with leather- and metal-clad monks lined up in rows, the scene reminded her of the terra cotta warriors of China. As she watched, row after row of Wolfrum’s men marched out the front castle gate, presumably to attack the Hercynian Garden.

  She looked up and saw a white-faced specter in his tower, who could only be Wolfrum. He watched his men leave with a sick twist of his thin lips she supposed was his smile. She hung her head in frustration and despair. Powerless against such brute force, she hoped Valerie wouldn’t be drawn into this.

  As she was being walked down the corridor, one soldier monk said to the other, “Put her in chains?”

  The other monk sneered. “No, she’s just a woman.”

  While glad she got the English speakers, they were clearly misogynistic assholes.

  Apparently eager to get back to the action, her captors opened a heavy wooden cell door and literally threw her in the cell.

  With shock and gladness, she saw Mitzi and her mother. The metal key turned in the lock and secured the door against escape.

  MITZI AND SUSAN huddled together for warmth. When the cell door was suddenly thrown open, Juniper and Mitzi said each other’s names in unison. Words flooded out from both women as they hugged.

  “Oh my God!”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Where’s Panda? What’s happening?”

  “Did you know I was kidnapped? It was that awful woman from grad school!”

  “How did you get here?”

  Juniper realized Susan was silent. “Are you okay?”

  “She can’t speak,” Mitzi said. “It’s this thing that both Wolfrum and his sister, Odilia, can do. They wave their hand, and your lips are literally sealed.” She looked thoughtful, “Only I was able to undo mine.” She turned to her mother. “It might just wear off, Mom.”

  Susan looked pissed.

  Juniper suddenly remembered. “Do you know who your father is?”

  Mitzi nodded. “Allegedly. This whole thing is so surreal.”

  “Do you think—” Juniper started to say.

  They heard the jangle of keys and quieted. Soon they heard a whisper. “Mitzi? Are you in here?”

  Thinking it might be a trick, Juniper said, “Who wants to know?”

  “Juniper?” the voice on the other side of the door said.

  Juniper looked at Mitzi and mouthed, “Oh my God,” then quietly said aloud, “Yes, who is this?”

  “Lily. I’ve come to save you.” A key turned in the lock, and the heavy door swung open. “Hurry, I think we need to go save Panda and Heloisa now,” she said, giggling.

  Chapter Eight

  AFTER THE ELVES were fed, Valerie tried Juniper’s cell phone again to no avail. The house phone rang while she was staring at it, and this time it was Babs. “Panda?”

  “No, Valerie Gooden. I’m house sitting.”

  “Oh, I know you. When does she get home?” Babs sounded panicky.

  “Hopefully, soon. Are you okay?”

  “It’s my dad. He’s not breathing right.”

  “Give me your address. I’m a nurse. I’ll be right over. I just need to find Mitzi’s car keys.”

  POTTS HIT END on his cell phone harder than he needed in order to disconnect after talking to Debra, his D.A. It hadn’t gone well.

  “Potts, have you been drinking?”

  “I tell ya, she’s ‘Cuckoo for Coco Puffs’ crazy, having a tea party for dolls. Can’t we arrest her again for trespassing?”

  “I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole. Stephanovsky would come up with something showing permission, then cry harassment.”

  “Look, my gut tells me there’s a lot more to this. I need a warrant to get into that backyard. It looked like graves.”

  “We’ve charged her for obstruction of an investigation, if there’s even been a crime. Call me back when you have something I can use.”

  Potts lit another cigarette, thinking about how he was going to get into that backyard when he saw Valerie leave the Fowler house and jump into a car. This might be the break he was looking for.

  After Valerie left, Potts called a buddy of his who worked for Gary Smithers’ office. “Let Councilman Smithers know I’m at the, ah, scene of the crime and need to go in. He’ll know what I mean.”

  “What do you want him to do?”

  “One phone call to a friendly judge and we can have a CSI team crawling all over the yard. Might be a good backdrop to a press conference. Just saying.”

  “I’ll pass that along, Detective.”

  I ENTERED A room that seemed to be there for the sole purpose of bathing. It smelled faintly of lavender. My steps echoed in the tiled chamber. Suddenly, Heloisa appeared in front of me.

  “Panda, you make noise like an elephant,” she said. “I could have killed you.”

  “Well, thanks for not killing me.”

  She looked worried. “I went up to the room where they were keeping Mitzi, and she’s gone.”

  “Just admit it, you have no idea where Mitzi is, do you?” Where was this boldness coming from?

  The look I got back shriveled me. “I was just waiting for you. She has to be in the prison. Now follow me and try to walk like a dancer.”

  I made a face at her when she turned around, but I did try to be quieter as we crept down some stairs.

  She dowsed our light. “Someone’s coming.”

  Soon, a light came up from the darkness. It illuminated Lily’s beautiful face. “Panda?” I heard from somewhere behind her. “Mitzi?” I exclaimed, beyond happy. She rushed up and held me tight.

  I started saying breathlessly, “We need to get Juniper, she’s—”

  “Present,” Juniper said, moving into the light.

  “And my mom is here, too,” Mitzi said.

  I was stunned. “What?”

  “Later,” Mitzi said.

  “All right, let’s go.” Heloisa was all business again.
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  Heloisa let Lily, who was far more familiar with the castle, lead. Since most of the men had marched off to deal with their fellow magical creatures, the guards were few and far between. Heloisa and I dealt knockout blows as we encountered them, and the others kept Lily out of sight. Having Mitzi with me as well as the pendant around my neck made me feel I could tackle anything. Even Heloisa gave me a high five.

  Lily deposited us outside, near the scene of our recent battle. “Be careful,” she whispered to Heloisa, kissing her on the ear before scampering back to her duties.

  “I remember her from the cleansing,” Mitzi said. “I think she winked at me.”

  “Lily is able to hear most thoughts,” Heloisa said. “It’s what keeps her safe. No time for chat now, let’s go.”

  The boat was crowded with Heloisa, Susan, Juniper, Mitzi, and me. It dipped so low, the water came dangerously close to flooding into it. We paddled with our hands and soon made it back to the tunnel. This time, we ran ahead while Heloisa worked to close up the tunnel end. At the base of the ladder was the first time I felt safe to speak. “Susan, how did you get here?” The last time I heard, she was living in Stockton, California. Susan said nothing but looked a tad hostile.

  She kept trying to speak, but couldn’t. Frankly, I kind of liked it.

  Juniper, always fascinated by magic, said, “Apparently Madame Dresser just flicked her wrist and made her shut up.”

  “Long story,” Mitzi said, as she petted Susan’s hair. “Mom’s been holding back a bit.” She and Juniper had a laugh at that.

  Heloisa joined us. “Climb. No time to waste.”

  We climbed. When I lifted the trap on the top, there was no wagon, just open forest. You could see ruts in the mud where the big wooden wheels had been, as well as ashes from the cold campfire.

  Our guardian looked into the distance as if she could see through the trees. “The tent camp is going to be attacked. We must warn them, if it’s not too late already.”