Merciless Legacy: Merciless Murder - A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series

by Tikiri Herath

  I nodded.

  “He told me that’s the way to make an entrance.”

  She looked up at me.

  “That way they’d know I’m not a scared little girl anymore. They can’t get rid of me again.”

  Chapter Fifty-six

  “How did you two hike through the mountains in the middle of a storm?” I asked.

  Victoria shook her head.

  “We didn’t. We came through the back road. It’s an old road I used to play on when I was little.”

  “The one along the dried riverbed?” asked Tetyana.

  Victoria wiped her eyes and nodded.

  “I thought if we pretended to be lost hikers, they’d let us in and we’d have time to figure something out once we were inside.”

  “Barry said that back road was barricaded,” I said.

  “The dam went up the year I left. I used to play around that place. Uncle Barry got so mad at the city about the construction, he threatened to blow everything up. So the city said if he ever came near the dam, they were going to arrest him and put him in jail.”

  She took a deep breath.

  “But I hung around and saw them make the temporary road to bring the heavy equipment. That goes down to the valley below and to town.”

  “You were the only one who knew about it?”

  “I think so. The construction company never needed to use it again. It’s overgrown now and you need a good truck to come up it.”

  “Where’s the truck you came in?”

  “I asked Doctor Fulton to bring us here in his SUV. He didn’t want to, but I begged and pleaded and cried. I told him I wanted to reunite with my family. But he came back a day later to tell me to leave. He said I was playing a dangerous game. That’s why you saw us arguing in the clearing.”

  “Did you stay in the cabin for the first few nights?” asked Tetyana.

  Victoria nodded. “Mrs. Robinson knew I’d come. She even brought us food.”

  “How did you know about this place?”

  “I used to come here when things got really bad at home,” she said, looking down at the floor. “Uncle Barry made this cabin for me. He told everyone it was for lost hikers, but he told me it was my sanctuary.”

  “Didn’t you worry someone would see the light and ask questions?” I asked.

  Victoria shrugged.

  “We had to take a chance. We only lit the candles for a short time at night.”

  I took a deep breath in to clear my head.

  “So, who sent Mrs. Robinson those death threats? It wasn’t you, I gather?”

  “She was my friend!” Victoria wailed. “She was there for me from the beginning. If it hadn’t been for her, I’d have killed myself. I wouldn’t have survived this house.”

  She looked at me through her tears.

  “Someone wanted to get rid of her. She knew everyone’s secrets. She knew who....”

  She glanced at her diary lying open on the bed. Jim had taken it from me and had flipped through it. It now lay on the comforter, opened to the middle page with the macabre childish drawings. My eyes fell on the image of the bleeding knife over the stick girl’s or woman’s body.

  “Victoria?” I asked softly. “Who hurt you in this house?”

  In response, she burst into tears again.

  I turned to Tetyana, who was looking impatient by the door.

  “Katy?” she said. “She could be anywhere, maybe even in the woods.”

  “Could have been any of them,” I said, “Charles, Barry, Lisa, Nancy—”

  Jim turned to me in shock.

  “Nancy wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’s moody, but she’s harmed nobody in her life. Please believe me. I’d take a bullet for her. She’s the only sane person I’ve had in my life. She’d never do anything like this.”

  I said nothing.

  Though Nancy was an emotional basket case, I was also beginning to think she was incapable of carrying out a kidnapping or murder.

  “It couldn’t have been Graham,” I said. “He was dead.”

  Victoria looked up in shock.

  “The pastor’s dead?”

  I turned to her.

  “Where were you an hour ago? You weren’t in your room, were you?”

  “I went down to Mrs. Robinson’s room.”

  “What for?”

  “I was sure someone killed her, so I went to check and see if I could find anything.” She choked back a sob. “When I came down the stairs, I heard strange noises in the kitchen. I sneaked in to see what was going on but the kitchen was empty.”

  I pointed at her book on the bed.

  “Where did you find the diary? Katy had it with her in our bedroom.”

  “It was on the floor in the kitchen. Next to the counter.”

  “Was it you who knocked the glasses over?”

  “I might have. I heard a crash, but all I saw was my secret book and I ran to pick it up.”

  “Where did you go from there?” asked Tetyana.

  “I couldn’t stay in the house any longer. It was suffocating me, so I ran out. I ran and ran through the woods till I came here.”

  I shot her a frustrated look. We were learning a lot more about this strange family, but none of this was helping us locate Katy.

  I looked at Victoria and Jim. They both looked beaten up, crushed.

  “Do either of you have any idea where Katy is?” I asked.

  Victoria stared at me for a moment, then her face cleared.

  “I think your friend is still in the house.”

  “Oh, really?” I said, straightening up.

  “I think I know where she is.”

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  “We searched everywhere,” I said, “all the rooms on all floors. We even found the hidden closet in the dining room.”

  Victoria looked up with a gasp.

  “You found the secret room?”

  “What do you know about it?” asked Tetyana.

  “It goes down to the basement.”

  “What basement?” said Jim. “There’s no basement in this house. Even the wine cellar is on the first floor.”

  “It’s under the staff quarters. That’s where...” Victoria looked away, a mixture of fear and shame on her face.

  Tetyana’s face turned dark.

  “I checked that hidden closet. I couldn’t find a damn thing. No secret handles or knobs or latches. Are you telling me I missed it?”

  “Barry boarded it up,” said Victoria. “After—”

  “Are you sure you’re remembering things right?” asked Jim. “I’d know if there’s a basement in this house.”

  “It’s an empty room. An underground cellar with stone walls and a cold stone floor.” Victoria shivered and hugged herself. “Maybe no one remembers it anymore, so no one told you about it.”

  I heard the cabin door open. Tetyana was already on her way out.

  “Coming?” she called out.

  “Do you know how to get to this basement?” I asked Victoria.

  She stared at me.

  “Please, help us. Maybe that’s where Katy is.”

  With a start, she stepped away from the counter, a strange look on her face. Without saying a word, she rushed out the door, past Tetyana.

  Tetyana and I leaped down the steps to follow her. From behind me, I vaguely heard Jim shut the cabin door.

  Victoria was already on the trail, power walking ahead of us, as if in a trance. Something was pulling her back to the house.

  I was about to run and catch up to her when I saw Tetyana grab Jim by the elbow.

  “Wait,” she said to him.

  I stopped in my tracks.

  What’s going on now?

  “Get your truck,” she said to him. “We need more lumber from the barn. Haul some to the end of the driveway for the footbridge.”

  “The footbridge?”

  “I set up a skeleton frame this afternoon. You just need to reinforce it. You’ll need a few strong spotlights and a
pulley. The oak tree next to the bridge is strong enough to handle the weight. When Officer Jensen comes, ask him to help you from the other side.” She paused. “Try not to fall into the river, will you?”

  Jim stared at her.

  “Just do as I say,” said Tetyana.

  “And... and you?” he said, finding his voice.

  “I’ll join you soon,” said Tetyana. “Go! Now!”

  He turned and fled down the path, taking a sharp right in the direction of the barn.

  “Do you trust him?” I asked.

  Tetyana shrugged. “We’ll have to risk it.”

  Victoria was almost at the end of the trail now.

  We raced to catch up with her.

  From there, it took us five minutes to get to the house. When we reached the side door, Tetyana yanked it open, and the three of us stumbled into the kitchen.

  The last person I had expected to find inside was Barry.

  He was sitting on the counter, hugging a decanter of whiskey with one hand and holding a tumbler with the other. His bruised eye was now swollen and turning a purple hue.

  He looked up and peered at us as we walked in.

  “What in tarnation are you people doing here?” he asked in a slurry voice.

  “How the hell did you get out?” asked Tetyana, walking up to the counter.

  “You think you can hold me a prisoner in my house!” he roared.

  With no warning, he picked up the jar of beans on the counter and hurled it at Tetyana. She ducked just in time. It crashed against the wall, breaking into pieces and spilling the beans all over the kitchen floor.

  “Oi!” yelled Tetyana angrily. “What the hell are you playing at?”

  But Barry was just starting.

  He picked up an empty tumbler and threw it at Victoria, who had been staring at him from the doorway. Then he lobbed another my way. I stepped aside just as it crashed against the window.

  “Stop this right now!” shouted Tetyana.

  But Barry seemed to have remarkable stamina despite his drunken state. He grabbed an armful of wine goblets and pelted them her way like they were hand grenades.

  Ducking this way and that, Tetyana advanced on him, her face contorted in fury.

  I grabbed Victoria’s arm, but she struggled and pushed me away.

  “Uncle Barry!” she screamed. “It’s me!”

  Barry had just raised his hand to throw another glass at Tetyana when he stopped and turned toward her.

  “Don’t you remember me?” asked Victoria.

  Barry snorted.

  “Why am I supposed to remember any of you tramping, intruding, backwater miscreants!”

  His niece stepped closer to the counter.

  “Uncle Barry, it’s me, Victoria. Remember? You taught me to ride my pink bike. You taught me to rescue baby birds. It’s me. I’m back.”

  I didn’t know what I’d expected to happen, but it wasn’t this.

  With an ugly yell, Barry picked up the nearest stool and threw it at Victoria.

  I pulled her down, but not before it grazed her shoulder. She fell to the floor with a thud.

  “You’re not her!” he bellowed. “They told me she’s dead!”

  “I’m not dead, Uncle Barry!” screeched Victoria, struggling to get away from me. “It’s really me!”

  I held on to her with a firm hand and hissed at her. “You’ll get yourself killed.”

  “Let me go!” she said, slapping my hand away and getting up.

  That was when I saw Barry pull out a kitchen knife from the counter block.

  “Get down!” yelled Tetyana as she slammed on the floor behind the counter.

  I dove to the floor, bringing Victoria crashing down with me. The knife hit the wall, two inches from her head.

  “Get out now!” I heard Tetyana holler. “I’ll handle him! Get out of the kitchen!”

  “This way,” I said, army crawling toward our nearest exit, pulling a shocked Victoria by the arm. “Come!”

  A crash came from behind us, followed by an angry roar.

  “Frigging hell!” I heard Tetyana yell behind me.

  A quick glance back told me she finally had Barry in a handcuff hold and was struggling to control him.

  “Let’s go!” I shouted, as I kicked the door and rolled into the corridor that led to the staff quarters.

  I jumped up to my feet and pulled Victoria up.

  “We need to get to that closet now.”

  She gave me a wild look.

  I pulled her in by the shoulders and shook her.

  “Katy’s probably in this dungeon right now. Was it Barry who took her down? I swear if he did anything—”

  Wordlessly, Victoria pulled away from me and dashed down the corridor.

  “Wait!” I shouted, running after her. “Get back here!”

  But she was running straight toward Mrs. Robinson's room.

  “The other way!” I shouted. “We need to go up to the dining room!”

  She slammed open Mrs. Robinson’s door and vanished inside. I rushed in after her, to see her pulling the frayed bedside rug off the floor.

  “What are you doing?”

  “This,” she said, pointing at the opening she’d just uncovered.

  I stared at the gaping hole in the floor.

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  Victoria and I stood shoulder to shoulder, staring at the hole.

  “Mrs. Robinson came to rescue me, one day,” she said, “that’s how I found out there was another way down.”

  “Is this why she took this room? To watch over the entrance?”

  She nodded.

  Next to the bed was a round steel slab with a handle on top. That had probably covered the hole. Barry must have removed it when he took Katy down.

  I peered inside. A narrow concrete stairwell wound down into a dark subterranean part of this house.

  Back in the kitchen, it sounded like Tetyana was wrestling a herd of bison. Part of me wanted to run back and back her up, but if she could fight the Russian militia, she could surely subdue a raging Barry. I’d only be in the way.

  I pulled my Glock out of my vest and turned to Victoria.

  “Follow me,” I said.

  I turned around and stepped into the hole.

  It was dark in the underground stairwell.

  I felt my way down a few steps before remembering the flashlight Jim had given me in the kitchen. I had stashed it in my back pocket.

  I pulled it out and turned it on. From behind me, I heard a sigh of relief from Victoria.

  Shining my torch in front with one hand and training my Glock forward with the other, I climbed down, one step at a time.

  The stairwell seemed to go on forever, constricting as it wound its way down. I imagined the walls closing in and forced myself to keep breathing.

  I suppressed the urge to run down, but the stairway was slippery, which meant water was leaking in from somewhere. The last thing I needed now was to fall and sprain an ankle.

  This wasn’t a basement we were climbing down to. It felt like we were descending into hell.

  If I hadn’t suspected Katy was alone somewhere down there, I’d have felt sick to my stomach. But I didn’t have time to think of anything but her.

  “How far does it go?” I asked, cringing as the echo boomeranged back. I hadn’t expected an enclosed space like this to have an echo, but that partly answered my question. It was a long way down.

  “I don’t remember,” whispered Victoria from behind me. I could hear the subdued panic in her voice.

  I didn’t know what had happened to her down in the basement. I could only imagine that experience had haunted her so much, it had compelled her to draw those disturbing images in her diary.

  But this was not the time to ask. I had no idea how she’d react to me digging up more about her past, and right now, I needed to find my friend.

  Please be okay, I prayed as I climbed down, gritting my teeth as I thought of all the ways I wo
uld make Barry pay.

  That man is mad. Completely and utterly mad.

  I thought of poor Katy being dragged down here with her foot injury and swore. I was going to throttle Barry when we got back up. I was going to have that man’s alcohol-soaked head on a platter.

  I kept pushing onward.

  “We’re almost there,” said Victoria from behind me.

  I slowed down and shone my flashlight around. The torch light fell on a small steel door at the bottom of the stairwell, about fifteen steps down.

  With my heart in my mouth, I climbed down and yanked the door open.

  Katy was sitting in a small wooden chair in the far corner of the room.

  Her hands were tied behind her and her legs were bound to the feet of the chair. Around her mouth was a gag made of a yellowed cloth.

  “Katy!” I shouted as I ran up to her, my heart pounding.

  Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She looked relieved to see me, but I could see the desperation in her eyes.

  That was when I noticed her hair.

  Someone had taken shears to it. It was now sticking out haphazardly in rough, pointy ends. Scattered around her feet were her gorgeous red curls.

  Barry slashed her beautiful hair. That sick, sick man.

  Next I saw the deep cut on her forearm. It was a knife wound.

  “Oh, my god, did that bastard do this to you?” I said in shock.

  Katy struggled in her chair.

  “Hmmm...”

  I fell to the floor, placed my gun down and started to untie the rope to her left foot.

  “You’re going to be okay,” I said, as my shaking fingers fumbled to untie the knots. “I’m going to get you out of here. If he has hurt you, Katy, I swear, I’m going to cut his head off myself.”

  “Hmmm...”

  “That’s one leg free,” I said, pulling the rope away.

  Katy nudged me hard with her freed foot.

  I looked up in surprise.

  She kicked me again.

  I suddenly realized she was trying to signal something.

  “What is it, Katy?”

  In my panicked state, I’d forgotten to take off her gag first. Cursing myself, I leaned over to remove it. That was when I noticed she wasn’t looking at me.

  I sprang up.

  She was staring at something behind me, her eyes filled with terror.