She clicked on the machine, plastered her best smile on her face, and started walking toward him. He was watching a couple dressed as Humpty Dumpty and All the King’s Men, so he didn’t see or hear Bernie approach.
Here we go, she said to herself. Then she took a deep breath and tapped Mark Kane on the shoulder. He jumped and spun around.
“Hi, Ken,” she said. “How’s life treating you these days?”
All the color drained from his face. He opened his mouth and closed it again.
Bernie motioned to her clothes with a nod of her chin. “Like what I’m wearing? I think Bessie would be pleased, don’t you? I modeled myself after the picture of her that Amethyst had in her bedroom. Curious that, don’t you think? I don’t know what to make of it. Do you?”
Kane didn’t answer. He was still gulping air. Finally, after another moment had passed, he got hold of himself and spoke.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “My name is Mark Kane.”
Bernie’s smiled widened. “That’s your current name, but before that, your name was Ken Marak. You’re the headmaster’s son and Bessie Osgood’s first true love.”
“I’ve always been Mark Kane.”
Later, Bernie would tell Brandon that it was the way he looked at her when he said his name and the emphasis he put on the two words that made her realize what they really meant.
She put her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God.” It had been in front of her all the time, and she hadn’t seen it. “Mark Kane. Of course. It’s an anagram for Ken Marak, isn’t it?”
Kane bit his lip.
Bernie realized something else. “Mark Kane. Mark of Cain. They’re homophones. You feel that guilty about having taken up with Amethyst all those years ago?” Bernie scrutinized his face. “You do, don’t you? No. It’s more than that. You were involved in her death, weren’t you?”
Kane shook his head.
“Yes, you were. I can see it on your face. Did you tell Amethyst that Bessie was going to go to your dad? Or did you see Amethyst push Bessie out of the window?” For a moment, Bernie thought Kane was going to faint. “You did, didn’t you? And you didn’t do anything.”
“Get out of here,” Kane growled. “You’re nuts.”
“I don’t think so,” Bernie replied.
“People told me you were crazy, and they’re right. You are.”
Bernie watched as he turned and tried the door. It didn’t open. He pulled harder. It didn’t budge.
“Looks as if it’s locked from the inside,” Bernie observed pleasantly.
Kane ignored her and started walking down the hall. Bernie kept by his side. When she looked around, she could see that Curtis and Konrad were following her.
“Why did you kill Amethyst?” she asked Kane. “Was it revenge because she killed Bessie?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kane snarled as he shoved his way between a couple dressed in look-alike Cowardly Lion costumes.
“Hey, fella,” the guy cried. “Watch where you’re going, will you?”
Kane didn’t respond. People shouted, “Hey!” and “You can’t do that!” and “Get in line like everyone else!” as Bernie followed Kane through the crowd milling around in front of the entrance to the Haunted House rooms.
“We found Bessie’s diary, you know,” said Bernie.
“I don’t care,” Kane hissed.
“You were her first love.”
By now they were in the Chain-Saw Massacre Room, with about five other people. The sound of the woman screaming was joined by the sounds of the people in the room going, “Oh my God, that’s terrible.”
“You shared her first kiss with her,” Bernie said as a girl grabbed on to her boyfriend and shrieked.
Another woman glared at Bernie. “Will you shut up and let us enjoy ourselves!” she hissed.
Bernie was just about to tell her to get a life when Kane spun around. Even in the dark Bernie could see that his normal affable expression had been replaced by fear and anguish.
“If I knew who this Bessie Osgood was, I might care,” Kane said.
“Oh, you know all right. You gave her a book on Celtic mythology. You introduced her to old fairy tales.”
Kane hurried across the room and opened the next door. The skeleton in the casket was cackling and pointing his finger at people. Kane pushed through the crowd to get to the door after that. A woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty told him to watch where he was going.
“I’ll get the manager and have you thrown out,” she threatened.
“You do that. I am the manager. In fact, I’m the owner of this place,” Kane yelled. He turned to open the next door. Bernie watched his hand freeze on the handle as he realized what was on the other side.
“Are you sure you want to go in there?” she asked. “Amethyst’s ghost might be waiting for you.”
“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Kane told her. But his hand wavered on the knob, and after a few seconds, he turned and went back the way he had come. By now he was practically running. “Get out of the way,” he cried as he plowed through the crowd coming in the opposite direction.
Bernie followed him out the door and into the hallway. He looked around for a second and headed outside. As she followed, she tried not to think about the promise she’d made Libby about staying where the people were. Given the circumstances, what other option did she have? The temperature had fallen, and she could see her breath in the air. Bernie rubbed her arms as she followed Kane across to the other house. Her four-ply cashmere sweater was warm, but it wasn’t warm enough. She looked back. Konrad and Curtis were nowhere to be seen. She should go back, but she knew she wasn’t going to.
“How did you get Amethyst to marry you?” she asked Kane.
He froze for a second, then turned to face Bernie.
“I know you did,” she told him. “We can prove it.”
“How?” Kane asked. His voice was hoarse.
“Amethyst told somebody, and she told my dad,” Bernie lied.
“Who told you? I don’t believe it.”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Because there is nobody,” Kane hissed.
“No. I’m not telling you, because I don’t want you killing them the way you killed Ed Banks.”
“I didn’t kill him,” Kane protested.
“You most certainly did. I talked to Amber, and she remembers you buying some ginger pumpkin bars that day. You made a big deal of it by telling her you were taking them to a friend and you wanted the best ones possible.”
Kane turned and took a step toward her. “So if I did everything that you say, how come you’re here talking to me? Aren’t you afraid I’m going to kill you, too?”
“Not really.”
“And why is that? Could it possibly be because I’m not a killer?”
“Oh no. You are,” Bernie told him. “There’s no doubt about that. I might not be able to prove it, but it’s true.” And suddenly Bernie knew. She knew that what Kane wanted was a sympathetic ear. Someone to tell him he’d done the right thing. Someone to “get him,” as the expression went. “And she deserved it,” Bernie continued. “She deserved everything she got.”
Kane didn’t say anything.
Bernie went on. “She did. She was an awful person. She brought a lot of pain and misery to a lot of people. She wrecked lives. She certainly destroyed yours. Your dad killing himself, your mom having that accident.”
Kane turned his face so Bernie couldn’t see the expression on it. Then he spoke. “Running a school was his dream. He’d borrowed all this money from my mom and her family, and from his family, and their friends. Then, when that thing with Bessie happened and everyone started taking their children out of the school, Dad, well, Dad couldn’t stand it. He was so ashamed. He couldn’t face everyone. And he…I found him, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“We’d just turned the corner, too. We were startin
g to make money. And then Amethyst pushed…” Kane stopped abruptly. “Are you recording this?” he said.
Something told Bernie not to lie. She took the mini tape recorder out of her pocket and handed it to him. “I was, but I’m not anymore.”
Kane’s hand closed over the tape recorder.
Bernie brushed away a snowflake that had fallen on her sleeve. “You must have been planning this for a long time. You changed your name. You got plastic surgery in case Amethyst recognized you. Did she?”
“Not at first. But I think she might have later. But she would have liked that. She was a game player.”
“Only this time she lost,” Bernie said.
Kane gave a stiff little bow. “So it would appear.”
Bernie waved her hand in the direction of the Peabody School. “And, of course, you spent all this money fixing the place up, but you have it, don’t you? I looked you up on the Web. You were one of the partners in the J and K Hedge Fund. You guys made—”
“Billions,” Kane said.
“So I guess you figured you could do pretty much what you wanted.”
“I never said that. You did.”
Bernie nodded her head in assent. “Where did you go after your mother died?” she asked.
“I went out to Dallas to live with some relatives there.”
“That must have been very hard.”
“No. They were nice.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant.” Kane looked at the mini tape recorder in his hand. “They were nice. But all the time I was there, I just wanted to go home.”
“And you finally did.”
Kane nodded. “I’m sorry about Banks. I never meant for that to happen. I didn’t even know Amethyst had asked him about using his garden.” Kane shrugged. “And when I heard…I don’t know. Something just came over me.”
“And you did what you thought had to be done.”
“I suppose you could put it that way.”
By now they were near the Foundation.
“Damn,” Kane said. “The idiot twins.”
Bernie turned and followed his gaze. Konrad and Curtis were running toward them.
“Stop,” Konrad screamed. “Stay where you are. We’ve got a gun.”
Bernie cursed as she saw the rifle Konrad was carrying. Kane hesitated for two seconds before he took off and ran toward the Foundation. A couple of seconds after that, he opened the front door and entered the building.
“What are you doing?” Bernie yelled at Konrad and Curtis as they rushed by her.
“We’re making sure the son of a bitch doesn’t get away,” Konrad cried.
Bernie ran after them. “He won’t.”
“Damn right, he won’t,” Konrad said.
Bernie grabbed on to the back of Konrad’s jacket and pulled. Konrad spun around.
“I want you to stay here and guard the front door while I go up and bring him down,” Bernie said.
“We can’t—”
Bernie cut him off. “You most certainly can.” She ran off before Konrad could say anything else. She made it to the front door before Konrad and Curtis could and locked it.
A second later Konrad was pounding on the door. “Hey,” he yelled. “Let us in.”
Bernie didn’t waste time replying.
“Kane,” she called.
There was no reply, but she heard footsteps to the left of her. She took off after them. She was running down a long, dark hallway. The footsteps were fainter now.
“Kane, stop,” she yelled. “We need to talk.”
Now she heard nothing. She came to a standstill. She was sweating now. Damn the twins, she thought as she caught her breath. Then she heard a key in a lock.
“We’re coming to get you, Kane,” Curtis called.
“Great,” Bernie muttered to herself.
She’d forgotten they had keys to this place. Lovely. The way things were going they’d probably shoot her by accident. Friggin’ morons. Then she heard something ahead of her again. She strained to listen. Footsteps. Kane’s. They were coming from up ahead and over to the right. Bernie followed the sound. She could hear the twins behind her. She ran faster. Now she was in the front hallway. She looked up. Kane was running up the stairs.
“Wait,” she cried.
But Kane just ran faster. She took the steps two at a time. They were now on the second floor, on the side where the French doors were. Kane kept on running. Suddenly, Bernie thought she saw something rectangular—a book maybe?—moving across the floor. She knew Kane wouldn’t see it, and he didn’t. He tripped. She watched him try and retain his balance. He teetered, swaying back and forth, frantically trying to regain his balance, and then he crashed through the glass and fell to the ground below.
“Now we’re even-steven,” Bernie could have sworn she heard a voice say. Then she saw Bessie smiling at her. “See you later, alligator,” Bessie said. And she was gone.
Bernie was still staring at where Bessie had been when Konrad and Curtis reached her.
Chapter 33
Bernie looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. It was a little after one in the morning. Halloween was over for another year. Thank goodness. This one had been a little too intense to suit her. Costumes were one thing, but real live ghosts were another. She thought she knew how Libby felt when she had those dreams. They didn’t leave you with a pleasant experience, that was for sure.
She sighed and poured some milk into a copper pan and put it on the stove to warm up. She was thinking that the kitchen always calmed her down when she heard Libby coming down the stairs.
Libby tapped her on the shoulder. “How’s the hot chocolate coming?” she asked.
Bernie got out six mugs and proceeded to spoon one tablespoon of cocoa powder and two tablespoons of sugar into each of them. “It’s coming.”
“Marvin and Clyde want marshmallows in theirs. Brandon and Dad want whipped cream and cinnamon instead, and so do I.”
“Is that why you came down?” asked Bernie.
“No. I was just wondering if you wanted to tell me what really happened,” said Libby.
“I just did up there.”
Libby looked at her.
Bernie hunched up her shoulders. “Well, I did.”
“I told you my dream, remember?”
Bernie sighed and checked the flame under the milk. She didn’t want it to boil over.
“This is just so weird.”
“If you’re saying that, it must be good.”
“And I can’t even be sure. I think I imagined the whole thing.”
“Kane’s tripping and falling?” asked Libby.
“But that’s the thing. I could have sworn I saw something move across the floor. By itself,” said Bernie.
The milk started to bubble. Bernie took it off the flame and poured a tiny bit into each mug. Then she mixed together the ingredients in each mug until they formed a paste, after which she poured the rest of the milk in.
“And?” Libby prompted.
Bernie took out a tray and began to put the mugs on it. “I think Bessie did it.”
“Did what?”
“Moved it. Made it move. I ran up the stairs and looked. Kane had tripped over an old book that was lying on the floor. A book of Celtic mythology.”
“Maybe someone left it there?” Libby suggested.
“Maybe,” Bernie said. “But I don’t think so. It had no business being there. And here’s the clincher. I opened it up. There was an inscription: To Bessie from Ken. I hope you find this as interesting as I do.”
Libby stayed silent.
“Exactly,” Bernie said as she got the whipped cream out of the fridge. She put two big dollops in four of the mugs and added a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” Libby said after a moment had gone by.
“I saw her. I heard her. She told me, ‘Now we’re even-steven.’”
“Even-steven meaning sh
e and Kane?”
“Correct,” Bernie said.
“But I thought Amethyst pushed her.”
“She did, but I think Bessie blamed Ken. After all, if he hadn’t gotten involved with Amethyst…”
Libby finished the sentence for her. “This never would have happened.”
“Exactly,” Bernie said. “And she was smiling. And then she said, ‘See you later, alligator.’”
Libby got out the bag of marshmallows and placed three each in the two remaining mugs. “She said that to me, too.”
“You think I should tell the guys?” Bernie asked.
Libby put the bag of marshmallows back. “I think you should stick to the ‘he tripped and fell out the window” story and leave the rest of it alone.”
“I think so, too.” Bernie put the whipped cream back in the fridge.
“But I believe you,” Libby said.
Bernie grinned. “You do?”
“Yeah. I do. It makes sense in a weird kind of way. But no one else will.” Libby took a Tupperware container full of gingersnaps down from the shelf and began putting them out on a plate.
“I guess Bessie finally got her payback,” Bernie said.
“So it would seem,” Libby agreed as she finished arranging the cookies. “What is it they say about a woman abused?”
“What they say is, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’”
“But she wasn’t a woman,” Libby objected. “She was a teenager.”
“Even worse,” Bernie said, thinking back to when she was that age. Then she picked up the tray, and she and Libby went upstairs to join the guys.
Epilogue
Ken looked at Bessie. “How could you do that?” he demanded.
She blinked. “Do what?”
“Kill me of course.”
He didn’t know how he knew he was dead. He just did.
“Oh that.” Bessie shrugged. “You were going to die anyway. At least this way you’re here with me.”
“But you made me fall.”
“You deserved it. You hurt my feelings.”
Ken looked around. He was standing a little way from where he’d gone out the window. He glanced down at himself. He was now wearing the same clothes he had worn at the school. What was that line from one of the Grateful Dead’s songs? What a long strange trip it’s been? Then a horrible idea occurred to him.
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