Ghastly Glass

by Joyce; Jim Lavene

  I stepped forward. “My name is Jessie Morton.”

  “Ms. Morton, maybe we should have a talk in the cruiser.” Blackman nodded at me, and his partner moved in closer.

  My temper got the better of me. “That’s it? We got you out here so you could question me? We’re going to sit in your nice little police car while someone might be doing something terrible to Chase?”

  “I think it would be better if you come along quietly.” Blackman put away his radio. “We don’t want any trouble.”

  I didn’t want any trouble either. It just seemed to find me. Without really thinking about what I was doing, I slid the sword from the scabbard. I heard a general indrawn breath from the gathered villagers. Bart was beside me. I jumped behind him and acted as though I might use the sword on him. A ludicrous sight, I’m sure, but the police seemed to buy it.

  “We’re not going to any police car.” I laid down the law. “We’re going to call in more police, maybe a few dogs, and organize the Village to go out and look for Chase.”

  “That’s a very good idea,” Bart said. “I wish I would’ve thought of it.”

  “We can talk about all of that,” Blackman said, “as soon as you let that man go.”

  Bart glanced around the group. “What man?”

  I nudged him and showed him the sword. “You’re my hostage.”

  He smiled. “I’ve never been a hostage before. Sweet!”

  “That’s enough!” Roger interrupted our moment. “I was with the police for many years and so was Grigg. We’ll vouch for Jessie. She didn’t have anything to do with this. And she’s right. Everyone needs to look for Chase. The Village is a big place, but with some help, we can figure out what happened before it’s too late.”

  I could tell Blackman didn’t like that idea. He wanted to arrest me right then and there. But he looked at the crowd again and backed off. “All right. But she has to give us that sword.”

  I pushed the tip of it into the dirt and the whole sword bent, then flexed back into shape. “Welcome to Renaissance Village. Nothing is what it seems here, gentlemen. Shall we get started looking for Chase?”

  Blackman actually did call in a few more police officers. The Great Hall at the castle became the staging area for the biggest manhunt in Village history. The police went out in pairs with their radios and advised everyone else to do the same.

  I handed out every two-way radio I could find, then told each pair of searchers to take at least one cell phone with them. Harry and Livy actually took part in the exercise. Dressed in street clothes, they took a cell phone and prepared to search the castle. Two fools also went on castle patrol. Princess Isabel was unable to participate because she had a headache.

  “We’ve made maps of each part of the Village.” Rafe showed each group the part they were expected to search as Bart stoked up the computer and printer to make more copies. “Roughly, we’re dividing into pirate space at this end, animal space at the far end, craft space and eating space in between. Robin, obviously you and the Merry Men will search Sherwood. Can you let the Sheriff of Nottingham go long enough for him to help out?”

  Robin considered the question, hand to chin. “Of course. Anything to help the bailiff.”

  “Now we’ll have Craft Guild search all craft shops. Food Guild search all food shops. And so on. Everybody report in every ten minutes, even if you don’t find anything,” Rafe told them. “We don’t want to have to worry about anyone else.”

  “But why is this end pirate space?” Adora asked him. “There are as many mystical creatures and shopkeepers down here as there are pirates.”

  “Lighten up, Adora,” Crystal said. “Let’s focus. Chase could be in serious trouble. Who cares who has which end?”

  No more was said about the division of the Village. With the efficiency of a well-oiled machine, the teams went out, one after the other, into the predawn to search for Chase.

  Bart finished printing out the last of the maps, handing one to Rafe and Grigg. “Are we going out to look for Chase, too?”

  Roger answered, “I think it might be better if this group stays here. We might need a small force to be able to go out quickly in case of an emergency.”

  “Has anyone seen Lonnie?” I looked around, half expecting him to appear suddenly. He had a habit of doing that. “I can’t believe he didn’t come out to look for Chase.”

  “I didn’t see him,” Grigg said. “But he’s kind of small. Maybe we just overlooked him.”

  No one could disagree; with all the other residents crammed into the Great Hall, one or two could easily have been overlooked. Roger looked at maps of the Village while Rafe and Grigg plotted strategy. I wasn’t sure when my quest had been taken over by the pirates, but I didn’t care as long as Chase came back safe.

  About five A.M., Crystal went back to the Queen’s Revenge to feed her baby, promising to return when she was done. I had already paced the entire sawdust floor in the hall. I’m not much of a waiter.

  “I’m going to get some coffee,” Bart said. “Anyone else want some?”

  “I could use some, too.” Rafe yawned. “I’ll walk over to the bakery with you. Jessie, you want to come?”

  “No, thanks. I’ll wait here, but I’ll take the biggest mocha they have. Triple shot.”

  “It won’t bring him back any faster if you drive yourself nuts with it,” Roger said without looking up from his map.

  “I don’t care.” I smiled at Rafe and Bart. “Thanks, guys.”

  Rafe shrugged and the two of them walked outside. Grigg continued looking at the map with Roger. I sat down at the computer where Bart had been. I started scrolling through the list of past and present employees that Adventure Land had sent him. Maybe if we’d kept going with that project, Chase would be safe now.

  I knew a lot of the names on the list. Joe Worlsey. I remembered him well. He was the Black Knight for a summer. He kept breaking his lances when he lost. They finally had to fire him. Too bad, too. He was a very good-looking guy.

  David Murphy. Oh yeah. He was King Arthur for a summer. I thought he looked a little too old. Apparently I was right because he had a heart attack when he forgot the code for taking the sword out of the stone.

  Jeff Porter. Chase’s assistant who’d disappeared in August. He was in the column of looked-for-employment-elsewhere rather than fired-by-Adventure-Land. His sister, Jennifer, might find that interesting. It wouldn’t necessarily help her find him, but maybe some word was better than none.

  I continued scrolling through the names, hundreds of them through the last ten years since the Village opened. Chase’s name was in there as full-time. He had a permanent character now so that was listed as well. Most people changed characters from time to time.

  My name was in there, too. Still employed, part-time. I was followed by Tony, of course, who was full-time but not a permanent character (as evidenced by his Devil persona).

  “That’s odd,” I muttered to myself. “Lonnie Murdock was listed as fired by the company in late August. Maybe it’s not the same Lonnie.”

  But when I searched the employment records, there was the same little rat face. It even showed him working at Sir Latte’s, which was where he’d been until coming to work for Chase. “Maybe it’s nothing, Roger, but did you know Adventure Land had fired Lonnie?”

  “Who?” Roger sounded annoyed.

  “Isn’t that the little guy who hangs out with Chase?” Grigg asked.

  “Yeah. He’s been working for Chase since I got here this month. But it says here he was fired in August. Actually around the same time Jeff disappeared.”

  “Who?” Roger asked again.

  “Jeff.” Grigg nodded. “Medium height, brown hair. Always smelled like vegetables. He was working here over the summer when I started.”

  “That’s right,” I agreed. “Jeff’s sister was here looking for him. I met her in the Honey and Herb Shoppe right after you were attached. She said he never came home.”

  Roger
frowned. “Does that have anything at all to do with what’s happened to Chase?”

  “It could, I suppose.” Really, I had no idea.

  “I don’t see how.” Grigg smiled at me in a sympathetic way. “That little guy didn’t take on Chase. I just can’t see that happening.”

  “What about the big-gun theory?” I reminded him. “Maybe Lonnie had a gun.”

  “Even if it were possible,” Roger said, “what reason could Lonnie have to kidnap Chase?”

  “I don’t know.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a minute. “But no one saw Lonnie when we were sending people out. Maybe I’ll just go over and check on him.”

  Roger glanced at Grigg, who said, “Why don’t you do that, Jessie. Take a cell phone or radio with you. Report back in every ten like everyone else.”

  I took out my cell phone (I’d given my radio away). “All right. At least it’ll give me something to do.” I could tell that’s all they were trying to do.

  I passed Rafe and Bart on the way out of the Great Hall and took my mocha from them.

  “Where are you going?” Rafe asked. “Has something happened?”

  “No. Probably not. I’m going to see if I can find Lonnie.” I explained the situation. He kind of grunted and kept walking.

  “I’d like to come with you,” Bart said. “I’m tired of sitting around.”

  “Great. I wouldn’t mind having the company.” I’d feel a lot safer with Death beside me.

  The sun was starting to creep up over the east side of the beach. The sky was lightening and the birds were singing. It looked as though it was going to be a nice day, at least weatherwise.

  “How could Lonnie do anything to Chase?” Bart asked as we walked toward the housing area behind the tree swing; Lonnie’s employee file indicated he had lived there for the past two years.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he couldn’t. It just seems odd, doesn’t it? I mean, he said Adventure Land wanted him to be Chase’s assistant. Jeff seems to have disappeared so there was an opening. Now Chase has disappeared, too.”

  Bart shook his head. “I don’t know. I think if it was me, I’d just squish him.”

  “Even if he had a gun?”

  “Especially if he had a gun. I don’t like guns.”

  I recognized the older building Lonnie was living in. I’d stayed there one summer with a few other girls. It was big by resident standards. Much of the housing in the Village is more closetlike, which is why Adventure Land had felt comfortable shoving five of us into this one. Lonnie had been lucky to get it all to himself.

  “What do we do now?” Bart asked as I stared at the door.

  “I guess we knock.” I followed my words with the appropriate action. There was no response.

  “Now what?”

  Light mist was forming in the streets, between the houses. It hung like wet wraiths from the chimneys and the doorways, and brought a creepy, clammy quality to the air that smelled like the ocean. I could feel it tangle in my hair as we stood there.

  “I don’t know. I guess we could find someone with a master key. Merlin has one.”

  Bart stepped up to the door and pushed at it. The portal swung in at first, then fell completely off its hinges. “Oops.”

  I grinned. “Oops is right. Don’t worry. I won’t tell. Let’s go inside and look for Lonnie.”

  But there was no sign of Lonnie, Chase, or anyone else. The two-room structure was completely empty. Only the remains of beer and pizza showed that anyone had been there recently.

  “So much for that. I guess he’ll be surprised when he comes in from looking for Chase. I’m sure we just missed him at the castle.”

  “Too bad. I guess I’ll put the door back up as we go. It’s the least I can do.” Bart shrugged.

  We started back out of the house when I noticed a red smear on the floor near the door. I didn’t say anything to Bart, afraid he’d give it away. Maybe we were wrong about Lonnie not being here. And maybe Chase was here with him.

  We looked around again, more carefully this time. We were the only ones there. “Did you see that red smear near the door?” I asked him.

  “No. What red smear?”

  I pointed to the floor. “What if Lonnie dragged Chase in here?”

  “What do you mean? Chase is too big for that.”

  “No! I mean, what if Lonnie accidentally had some red paint or blood or whatever it was on the wall in the dungeon on his shoe and walked it in here.”

  Bart scratched his head. “I don’t understand.”

  I got down on my knees to examine the red smear. It started at the doorway and ended abruptly within a few feet of the threshold. “Most blood or paint stains wouldn’t end with a flat edge like that, right? Something else must be here.”

  I could tell Bart had no idea what I was talking about. I ignored him and followed what I hoped was telepathic messages from Chase guiding me in the right direction. I pulled back the pathetic excuse for a throw rug from the front door area, then got down close to the floor again to look at the red smear mark.

  “Do you see anything?”

  “Not yet. But you can see that edge of the red stuff near the door is like a spill. This end is flat like someone laid a ruler against it. There has to be a reason for that.” I stuck my fingernail into the floor (ouch), then moved it over a little. It disappeared into a deep crack.

  “It looks like a trap door,” Bart said. “Sweet!”

  “Help me get it up. Look for something we could stick in there and pull at it.” I searched through the room for anything that would fit in the crack.

  Bart looked at the spot then brought one foot up and cracked the board with a sharp retort. “How’s this?”

  “Great!” I took my flashlight out and shined it down into the darkness while Bart cleaned away the fractured wood until there was a perfect square opening. “I’ll have to go down there. I don’t think your shoulders will fit.”

  “I think you’re right. When you get down there, call me. No, wait a minute. Go ahead and call me now.”

  I did as he requested, wondering if my cell phone would work as I descended into the hole. “It’s like a tunnel,” I told him. It was so dark my flashlight beam seemed as bright as a street lamp. “And it’s yucky and slimy. I don’t want to think about what’s down here.”

  “Just keep talking,” he urged. “Where are you now?”

  “Still the tunnel thing. You know there are huge spiders down here. Probably some kind of subterranean slugs or something, too. I can’t believe I love Chase enough to do this.”

  The tunnel continued for another twenty yards or so (but who’s counting?), then it started climbing upward. “I think this may be going somewhere,” I told Bart. “I’m going to be quiet now in case someone might hear me.”

  Bart didn’t respond. Probably staying quiet, too, so I wouldn’t get caught. With every step forward, I could feel the tunnel getting wetter and more slippery. I saw a light from above and moved toward it, hoping it wasn’t certain doom. But I could only stand so much slime. “I’m going in,” I whispered into the cell phone. “Stand by.”

  Twenty-four

  I was afraid the other side of the tunnel might be as hard to get out of as it was to get into. But there was only a plastic piece over this end. I pushed it off easily, then pulled myself out of the tunnel.

  The flashlight picked out a bunkerlike setting with low ceilings, rusted bars, and standing pools of water on the cement floor. The smell was awful. Something like a garbage truck and a sewer backup. “We aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

  I’d never been here before. I couldn’t imagine where in the Village the tunnel had led. It looked almost like an old prison of some kind. Weird, since I’d calculated I was crawling toward the dungeon.

  I could hear water dripping, possibly from the ceiling. Hopefully I hadn’t tunneled under the lake and this, whatever it was, would eventually collapse in on me. Chase? Where are you? I called out to him as telep
athically as I could.

  Nothing. Either I wasn’t much of a telepath (probably true) or I had a wrong number.

  “Hello?” I broke my vow of silence just to hear a voice in the eerie place. I looked at my cell phone. There were no bars. Not surprising. Bart probably hadn’t answered me back in the tunnel because he hadn’t heard me. Great! Where were those network guys when you really needed them?

  I couldn’t see an exit out, and I was afraid of going too far and not being able to find my way back. I was about to go back to the tunnel when I heard a sound, like another person. At least I hoped it was another person. As long as it wasn’t Lonnie.

  I shined the light around the area again. Something rattled, like chains against the floor.

  “Hello? Is someone there?” A pitiful voice called out of the darkness. “For the love of God, someone help me.”

  It wasn’t Chase. But evidently someone had heard my telepathic outcry. I followed the sound of that voice for a few yards. I still didn’t see anyone. “Say something else,” I encouraged. “I can’t find you.”

  “I’m here!” Chains rattled and the voice sounded a little more hopeful. “Come this way. I’m chained to a wall over here.”

  “Keep talking. I have a flashlight. Let me know when you can see the beam.”

  He (at least it sounded like a man) started singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It’s amazing what we revert to when we’re stressed. He probably hadn’t sung it in years, because he couldn’t remember most of the words and had to just hum in some spots.

  I kept walking and looking around. This place had to be an old jail or a torture chamber. There were overturned, rusted metal bed frames and broken, dirty toilets. I half expected to see skeletons hanging from the walls and ceiling.

  “I see it! I see it! You’re close!”

  Everything was damp and covered with moss. Water dripped everywhere. I tried to dry my hands on my jeans but they were too wet and muddy. The flashlight was slippery in my grip. I couldn’t believe someone was down here. I hoped Chase wasn’t here.