And Then They Were Doomed

by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

  “Okay, okay,” Tony said again and again as he caught the whole story. “So, you don’t know exactly what’s going on.”

  Lisa said, “I just … just know Zoe needs us.”

  “It’s late.” Tony took Jenny’s hand. He looked at his watch. “Or early. I don’t know which one to hope for. Should we try the local police?”

  She squeezed his rough fingers—so good and tough. A workman’s hand. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to take in the fact of Tony and what it meant to have him with her.

  “Let’s go find a cop,” he said. “I think that’s the best place to start. You drive, okay, Lisa? You know your way around here, I imagine. At least better than the rest of us.”

  “And tell us about the flood. How bad is it? I wish I had stopped her from coming up here.” Dora was angry and sad at once. “And anything you’re suspicious about. Just supposed to be an academic meeting, wasn’t it? How’d Zoe get into so much trouble?”

  * * *

  At the red brick police station, Tony ran up the steps and wrote down some numbers.

  Back in the car, he called out an address on Tenth Street to Lisa. “The deputy’s at home.”

  “You call him?” she asked.

  “Nope. We’ll just show up. Can’t see him refusing to take this seriously at nearly four o’clock in the morning.”

  * * *

  The house on Tenth Street was large and white and square, like the others in town, only not made of red stone. They all got out to climb the steep front steps and stand in a group, waiting as Tony knocked at the door.

  It took awhile.

  “Should’ve called,” Dora said, leaning toward Jenny.

  When the door opened, a man’s shaggy black head came around the inside door and looked at them one by one. Then back to Tony. “What the hell you want, this time o’ the morning?”

  “We’ve got to talk to you,” Lisa said.

  Tony pulled out his old badge and held it up for the man to see.

  “That Detroit?” the man asked.

  Tony nodded. “Something’s going on out at Netherworld lodge. We’ve got to get there. Maybe a boat. Don’t care how we do it. Just have to get there. A friend of ours is in trouble.”

  The man opened the door and stepped out to the porch, closing the inside door behind him.

  He stood in front of them, sighed, and scratched at the back of his head.

  “You see now, I can’t do a thing about that. In the morning, I’ll get right over there, see what’s going on, but until then …” He looked directly at Tony. “Doesn’t matter what department you’re with, nor what city—I can’t do a thing until it gets light.”

  “How about a boat?”

  “You don’t know floods, do you?” he said.

  “I know what a cop is supposed to do.”

  “Really?” He looked over the end of his nose at Tony. “Then suppose you go and do that thing a cop’s supposed to do when he’s got a flood going on, and he’s got no men left to do anything, and the real chief of police is out a town. Rescues are first. Sick people who have to get to a hospital are second. Somewhere after that come friends stuck in a big, safe building with people around her. Sorry.”

  He went back in the house and closed the door behind him.

  Chapter 56

  During the night, with the window open, Zoe heard their voices calling his name out in the woods. The sounds were lyrical, one bird calling to another and then to another. “Aaron. Aaron.”

  It went on until shortly after three o’clock. And then the voices stopped.

  There was nothing but the sound of wind in the trees, a few night birds calling, the howl of a wolf or coyote not far off.

  She sat at the window for hours, hoping not to hear something worse—a scream, yells of discovery.

  There was nothing she could do. This was her family.

  Witness!

  She didn’t believe it.

  And Aaron Kennedy, out in the woods? Or back in his room, laughing at her with the others.

  There was time to fill until morning. No place to go in the dark. No one to talk to.

  She got her papers from the drawer and looked again at the lineup of names she’d been playing with—back and forth. Lines of letters, then rows of names.

  Emily Brent (or Susan Jokela)

  E B

  Anna Tow

  A T

  Louise Joiner

  L J

  Aaron Kennedy

  A K

  Leon Armstrong

  L A

  Nigel Pileser

  N P

  Gewel Sharp

  G S

  Anthony Gliese

  A G

  Mary Reid

  M R

  Betty Bertram

  B B

  Bella Webb

  B W

  She wrote down the first initals—E A L A L N G A M B B—and reworked them over and over. She knew the names were all false, but maybe there was a message.

  Her mother, Evelyn, had loved her sister Susan. Susan Jokela Winton was Zoe’s aunt. Zoe thought hard. Had her mom mentioned another name? There had to be a connection. Or why was she brought here? To witness what?

  She bent so close to her computer, her nose was almost on the screen. The word GAMBLE leaped out. Nothing. Only Lamb.

  Angela Lamb. The dead Angela. There all the time.

  And Mary Lamb.

  And Harvey Lamb

  And the others?

  “Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey.” A mixed-up mess, nothing sounding as it should sound, but all the little Lambs were gathering.

  Chapter 57

  “Plan B,” Tony growled, skipping down the porch steps.

  “What’s plan B, Tony?” Dora didn’t sound as if she believed in a plan B.

  “What now?” Jenny asked.

  “We’ve got to get out there,” Lisa said. “We don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know if she’s in danger from a flood or people.”

  “Only thing is to keep trying to call, Jenny.”

  “Sure,” she said, though she knew there was no use. Zoe’s cell phone and the lodge phone were both dead.

  “You mind driving?” Tony asked Lisa. “You’ve been there. I’ll be making wrong turn after wrong turn.”

  “I’m just worried about the water. If it’s higher than before,” Lisa said.

  “Not raining,” Tony said. “Now, tell me everything you know. Why’re you this worried? What’s happened?

  Lisa drove down and out the same highway they’d taken before. She could see buildings she thought she recognized—hazy lights in front. It was that first back road that was hard to find.

  In places the dirt road was flooded, but not so bad Lisa couldn’t drive straight through.

  It was the next turn they couldn’t find.

  One road, and then another, and then back to the first turn they’d taken. The GPS directed them to turn around. On the way back to where they’d been, Tony suddenly yelled, “Stop!”

  He threw his door open and leaped out, turning to ask Lisa if she had a hitch.

  After her quick “Sure,” Tony was gone, running up the lawn of a house set back so far they could only see outlines of a building.

  When he came back, he was dragging something big behind him, gesturing to Lisa to back up the driveway. When Jenny jumped out to see what was happening, he motioned her to get in the car.

  “What are you doing?” she called to him.

  “Stealing a boat!” he yelled back.

  Back in the car, Jenny could feel the car move as Lisa and Tony got the boat hitched to the back. Dora kept turning around, asking Jenny what was going on as she held Fida so close that she yipped now and then. All Jenny could do was keep herself together and look over at Tony from time to time. Now they could all end up in jail for stealing a boat, but she wasn’t afraid of anything.

  Looking behind them, she saw lights come on in the house and then the o
utline of a figure standing in the doorway. She vaguely heard someone yelling.

  Dora turned and rolled her eyes at Tony, who frowned at her.

  “Can’t get through a flood without something,” he said.

  “Looks like a pretty good motorboat,” Lisa said. “I could use one. They had it for sale. Might have to buy it after this, but it’s for a good cause.”

  “How do you know it’s got gas in it?’ Lisa looked through the rearview mirror at Tony.

  “How was he going to sell the thing if he couldn’t turn on the motor?”

  The GPS told them again to take the next road. It was the right one. Jenny recognized the large swamp they’d passed before.

  “Right here?” she called when Lisa, going very slow to try to keep out of the worst of the puddles and actual lakes of water rushing over the road, came even with the crooked sign on the fence announcing “Netherworld Lodge.”

  Chapter 58

  When it was a gray first light; she could hear people still calling his name. When there was a knock on her door, Zoe was ready.

  Gewel came in, dressed in jeans and a black sweatshirt, a black bandana wrapped over her hair. No makeup this morning. And nothing cute about her—not a smile, not cheerful eyes.

  She stood at the bottom of the bed, her head bowed, hands folded in front of her.

  “You have to come, you know.”

  “My ankle’s killing me. I don’t think I can walk.”

  Gewel took an arm and pulled her out of bed, Zoe fighting all the way, then fighting Gewel dressing her in a pair of jeans she found, and two sweatshirts, one with a hood.

  “There,” Gewel said. “You should be warm enough.”

  Zoe wrapped her arms around herself, shivering, and said nothing. June. She’d opened the window an hour ago. The air was close to icy.

  As she pushed her feet into sneakers, tying them very slowly, she looked up at Gewel.

  “You’re Angela Lamb’s sister, aren’t you?” she asked, wanting to peel away the layers.

  Gewel nodded, her bare face without expression.

  “We’ve got to get going.” She was irritated, motioning for Zoe to hurry.

  “How many will die today?” Zoe stood and reached out for a sweater she’d packed at the last minute, then wrapped it around her neck.

  “Come on, Zoe.” Gewel was impatient.

  “Did they find him?”

  Gewel nodded. “He’s being herded. He won’t get away.”

  She followed Gewel downstairs to an empty reception room. It was as if no one had ever taken a breath in this room. Nothing but chairs and sofas, lamps and tables, and rugs and dust. Dust she hadn’t noticed before. A staged room already neglected.

  Gewel waited for her in the doorway, frowning, breathing fast. “Please …”

  “Why me?” Zoe asked.

  There were quick tears in Gewel’s eyes. She put a hand out toward Zoe but abruptly turned and ran off the porch.

  Zoe closed the door quietly behind her. Sometimes it seemed sinful to make noise. She felt that now: sinful, about to take part in something she didn’t want to see or hear or be near. There hadn’t been many times in her life in the last few years when she’d felt helpless and fought it. Now, here she was. To watch. To witness? What was she supposed to see?

  Gewel didn’t take the road back toward the entrance. She took the other one, the wet path that would lead by the cottage.

  She put up a hand, standing very still to listen.

  It came.

  “Aaron!” a voice called and then an echoing voice came from the other side of the path, down a ravine.

  “Aaron?” another voice called, off in front of them.

  And then farther off, toward the river: “Aaron!”

  The voices stopped.

  They got to the cabin clearing. Leon, Mary, and Louise stood on the porch, waiting. Their faces were fixed, not friendly or unfriendly. They glanced at Zoe but concentrated on Gewel. They fell into step behind her.

  Again, from a place ahead in the woods, someone called, “Aaron!”

  Another voice called, farther away: “Aaron!”

  Voices echoed from other parts of the woods, moving closer together each time they called.

  Zoe covered her ears and kept walking.

  A little farther along the path, two people she didn’t know joined their march toward the river.

  Betty and Anna joined the group next. They ignored her, walking side by side.

  Zoe could hear the river.

  There were more calls to Aaron. The sounds were narrowing. Anthony and Nigel stepped out of the woods and joined them. The walk was slow; large drops of water dripped from the trees. The cries among the firs and the wild call of the river kept getting closer.

  Chapter 59

  When Tony and the women got to the bridge, there was nothing but water flowing peacefully across what had been the road and a few boards floating where the bridge had been. And then the road on the other side, rising straight and dry.

  “We’ll take the boat.” Tony was brisk, turning to the boat and trailer, then standing in water that lapped at his shoes. Together he and Lisa got the trailer down into the creek with Jenny’s help.

  Dora got in the boat, with Fida tucked under her arm. Lisa crawled in, over the side. Jenny and Tony got in last, with Tony getting her leg over the side, then dumping her into the bottom of the boat and climbing in after her.

  She didn’t say anything as she wiped blood off her face. Didn’t even think about it. She took a seat across the middle and held on. Tony was praying—or swearing—out loud.

  It wasn’t a small boat, and the creek water wasn’t wild, but they would run over new dark places they could hardly see until Jenny pulled out her cell phone and shone the light at the water ahead of them, all the way to the other bank.

  The boat bounced. Jenny held on, riding the occasional wave until Tony pulled the rope on the motor.

  He smiled as the motor caught on the second pull. “I was afraid it wouldn’t work because I stole it,” he said, grinning around at the others.

  He revved the motor, then knocked it down and turned without incident toward the other side.

  The creek fought them more than expected. It splashed over the side and into the boat. Tony kept the rudder straight. The opposite side was better though they were soaking wet by the time they dragged the boat up on shore and started along the road toward the lodge, Fida running beside them.

  They hadn’t gone far when Jenny stopped, tapping her ear, warning them to listen.

  Far off, the sound weak, they heard people in the woods calling to one another.

  “Someone’s lost,” she said, listening harder. “They weren’t calling ‘Zoe’ were they?”

  “Don’t think so. Sounded more like Alan, or maybe Aaron. Like that. Zoe’s more distinctive, I think.” Dora listened harder.

  Jenny put a finger in the air. “There it is again. Should we head that way?”

  Tony didn’t think long. “First the lodge. You said that’s where they all stay. More likely to be there.”

  “But listen to those voices.”

  “Lodge first. We’ll hunt those people down after we get Zoe.”

  He started up the road, Fida barking at his side.

  For some reason, it didn’t seem right to Jenny. The sounds came from the woods. Different voices at different times. Why would anyone be at the lodge?

  They turned at the top of the road. Netherworld Lodge lay directly in front of them.

  The long building was the same as it had been when Jenny had last been there. Nobody around now. Porch empty. Front door closed. The porch light was on, but in the growing dawn it hardly shone at all.

  Jenny didn’t bother knocking. She opened the door, leading the others straight in and across the reception room to the stairs. They stood at the bottom, looking up and hollering for Zoe. No one answered.

  “Hey! Anybody here?” Tony called from behind them. “
I’m coming up.”

  Tony took the stairs two at a time, noisy on the bare steps. Jenny heard him knock on door after door, the sound fading and then stronger as he checked the rooms along the front of the house.

  “Nobody.” He called to them. “Not one damned person anywhere.”

  He ran down the stairs.

  “Any signs the people are still here? I mean suitcases, clothes, books?” Lisa asked.

  He nodded. “Like everybody got up and left together.”

  “Maybe the voices in the woods,” Dora said as she scooped Fida up into her arms.

  “That’s all we’ve got,” he said.

  Outside they heard the calling voices and started down a path going straight into the woods.

  Running, stopping to listen, then running again; it was when they came on an empty cabin that the voices stopped. Almost magically.

  The dark trees moved a little but barely made a sound.

  Silence. No rustlings. No voices.

  “Which way?” He looked into the woods.

  Dora pointed ahead, leading beyond the cabin. “Just stick with the path. At least we’ll be able to find our way out again.”

  Chapter 60

  Aaron Kennedy stood on the high edge of the old pier jutting out above the water. Zoe could see him only from time to time, when the people blocking him parted. His arms were out straight at his sides, balancing himself. He was trying to stand at the edge as others—men and women—walked toward him one step at a time, testing the structure to see how many it would hold before crashing down to the river. The crowd of silent people watched Aaron as he tried to push beyond the group in front of him, then cried out for them to make way. “I’m leaving this place. And to think I came to add luster to your Agatha Christie event.”

  The pier moved a little, pilings creaking beneath. All the people held their breath until the pier settled into place.