by Lynn Bohart
Our pace slowed considerably, and I cringed every time Doe took a step and emitted a small moan or cry of pain. But as the path curved to the right, it finally leveled out.
A few minutes later, we emerged from the trees into the front drive next to Mansfield’s BMW.
“Okay, back inside,” he said.
The sound of a high-powered engine caught my attention, and I turned to glance through the trees to my right. Headlights flashed through breaks in the branches about a half mile away.
“That’s a Porsche,” I said under my breath to Doe, thinking of Blair.
“No it’s not, Julia,” she whispered. “No one’s coming for us. We’re on our own.”
As the car roared past the property, a tear slid down my cheek.
With a feeling of profound defeat, we stepped up to the front door and I pushed it open, only to be re-assaulted by the sour smells trapped inside. We shuffled back into that house of horrors, but it was quiet. I wondered where Emily was.
We crossed into the foyer and stopped just to the side of the staircase. Doe reached out and grasped the bannister for support.
“What now?” I asked, turning to our captor.
“Now we start all over again,” he said. “I’ve already turned the elevator back on. We’ll take a little trip downstairs again, but this time you won’t be leaving. Not in one piece, anyway.”
“Why can’t we let them go, Mansfield?” a voice said quietly. “They won fair and square.”
It was Emily. She was on the staircase above us, twisting a lock of hair around her index finger. While I knew she probably still had the knife in the pocket of her jumper, she no longer had the gun. Mansfield had that.
“Shut up! If you hadn’t let them go, we’d be done with this.”
I glanced in Emily’s direction. The side of her face sported a fresh red welt.
“You beat up your own sister. What a man,” I said.
“Shut up!” He swung the gun and clipped me in the forehead, knocking me up against the wall. “You’ll see in a minute just what kind of man I am.”
I hung on the wall, my hand to my brow. The dampness under my fingers told me I was bleeding. “How do you intend to get away with all of this?” I said through gritted teeth. “Blair will go directly to the police.”
He laughed. “She never saw me. I had on a ski mask.”
I turned to look at him. In the light, I realized he had his own bruise above his left eye and a bite wound on his forearm, just north of his expensive watch.
Despite our situation, I smiled. “Looks like she did a number on you.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll take care of that bitch soon enough. Now, let’s all head back to the elevator.”
“Wait,” I said. “How did you know where we were?”
He smirked. “Technology. Go ahead, open those doors behind you.”
I turned to find a pair of closet doors that led to a space under the staircase. I pulled them open and was surprised to find a couple of computers and four monitors, all lit up and clicking away. The monitor screens were focused on various places on the property, including the backyard, the front driveway, and the tunnel.
“You see? Even if you’d gotten away, all paths circle back to the house, so it was only a matter of time,” he said.
I glanced back at the monitor, feeling so tired. We’d never really had a chance.
While I stared mutely at the screen, a breeze rustled the bushes closest to the house. Something blue flashed past the monitor, making me suck in a quick gulp of air. I quickly closed the doors again, my heart racing.
“You’re a monster, you know that?” I said loudly, turning toward him.
“Save it. Let’s go.”
He pointed down the hallway to the back of the house. I stared that way, feeling unable to move. I had to stall.
“Emily said you killed Rose. Is that true?”
He shot a hateful glance toward his sister above us. “It doesn’t matter,” he growled. “Now, move! Or I’ll put a bullet in your friend’s head.” He pointed the gun at Doe, who was leaning against the stairs.
“No, not mother!” Emily screamed.
“Don’t shoot,” I shouted, holding my hand up. “We’ll go.”
I helped Doe stand up again, and we turned and began to shuffle in the opposite direction. I glanced up at Emily, hoping against hope that this time she would defy her brother.
She turned away again, toward the open door behind us. This time however, her eyes grew wide, just as her brother demanded, “Hurry up!”
But another voice responded. “They’re not going anywhere!”
I whipped around to find Blair standing right behind Mansfield with a gun of her own pointed at his back. Rudy was by her side with a tire iron in her hands.
Full blown tears sprouted this time, and my hand flew to my mouth. “Oh, my God!”
Mansfield remained facing me, his face expressionless. He was thinking. Processing his situation.
The sound of sirens made him move.
In one fluid motion, he spun around with his gun hand outstretched, ready to shoot. But his wrist connected with Blair’s. Her arm flew up, and her gun went off. The bullet went wide.
She was thrown off balance and fell sideways. I let go of Doe, grabbed the branch from her and slammed it into the back of Mansfield’s knees; his legs buckled, and he nearly collapsed. That gave Rudy time to jump forward and swing the tire iron down on his gun hand, making him cry out.
As his gun skidded across the floor, he back-handed Rudy, spinning her away. Blair stumbled to her feet, while I scrambled for Mansfield’s gun.
But by the time I had the gun in hand, he had fled out the open front door as sirens and flashing lights filled the front yard.
“Are you guys okay?” Blair rushed forward to throw her arms around me.
Rudy picked herself up and went to Doe, who was leaning weakly against the wall.
“Yes,” I said, “but how in the world…”
“Never mind. We’re here. We’re all here.”
The sound of barking dogs made me turn. “What’s that?”
“I told David to bring a police dog,” Blair said, running for the open front door. “I was afraid we’d be looking for you out in that forest.”
“Stop! Police!” a deep voice shouted outside.
Blair and I made it to the front porch just as Mansfield spun away from his car and took off running into the trees, with Mickey and Minnie in hot pursuit. I watched the little dogs streak past his car thinking, Really? David brought the Dachshunds?
Two squad cars blocked Mansfield’s BMW, and David had just emerged from his big SUV.
“Go!” he yelled to two officers, pointing after Mansfield.
The officers drew their guns and gave chase into the woods, while David turned toward me. In a few strides, he was beside me, grabbing me into a bear hug. “God, Julia! Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes,” I said, as he squeezed me. I pushed myself away from him. “But…you brought the Dachshunds?”
“I was at the Inn, looking for you when Blair called. So I just grabbed them. No time to get a police dog.” He shrugged. “I thought they might help.”
A smile slid across my face. “Okay, but now go get that bastard. And save my dogs.”
“Is he armed?”
“No, I have his gun,” I replied, holding it up.
“Okay, hang onto it and lock yourself in.”
He gave me a quick kiss and then jumped off the steps, ordered one of the officers to stay with us and followed the other officers into the dense foliage. The dogs were still barking, but the sound had diminished. I looked in their direction, hoping they’d come back safe and sound.
“Julia!” Rudy called from behind me. “We need an ambulance. It’s Emily.”
We hurried back inside and found Emily where she’d fallen on the stairs. Blood was spattered on the wall behind her.
“Oh my God. She’s been shot.”
“Help is on the way,” I said, grabbing her hand.
She gave me a wan smile. “I’m glad you’re okay, Julia,” she said with a weak voice. “You won the game fair and square. Just like Dorothy. You and your friends.”
I tried to shush her. “Don’t talk. They’re going to get you to a hospital.”
“I’m sorry I had to be the Wicked Witch, Julia.”
“No, Emily,” I said, patting her arm. “If anything, you were Glinda. You helped us escape.”
“But, remember? I don’t like Glinda,” she said. She tried to chuckle, but winced instead. And then her muscles spasmed, and she moaned.
“Take it easy. Just breathe.”
“Glinda did help, though, didn’t she?” Emily said weakly.
“Yes, she did. She was a good soul. Just like you, Emily.”
“I’m glad,” she said. “I never wanted to be bad.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
We stayed with Emily until the ambulance arrived. When they had her safely loaded on a gurney into the back, we encouraged them to take Doe as well. Not only because of her sprained ankle, but because of the drugs that had been poured into her system.
Rudy rode with them, while Blair and I stayed behind to wait for David. We did as he said and locked ourselves in the house and sat on a bench up against the staircase. I had a wet cloth to my forehead, while a young police officer stood guard outside.
“What happened, Blair?” I asked, reaching out and grabbing her hand. “We were so worried about you the whole time Mansfield was gone.”
“He tried to get me, Julia.” She shook her head, and I could see tears in her eyes. “Rudy and I had dinner downtown and then went for drinks. I was taking Rudy back home when I got a text from Doe asking me to come to her house.”
“He had her phone. That’s how he got me, too,” I said. “Did he know you were with Rudy?”
“No. Since I was driving, Rudy took my phone and texted back and just said, ‘Okay, heading up to your place now.’”
“So he thought you were alone?”
She shrugged. “I guess. When we got to Doe’s, Rudy got a call from Rush Dooley about Jake. So I went into the house alone.”
There was a familiar noise at the front door. The dogs were scratching to get in. I ran to the door and opened it. They scrambled inside and began to jump around my feet, tails wagging and tongues lolling. They were happy and excited by their adventure. It had all been a game to them. Wish I could have thought so, too. But I crouched down to pet them, anyway.
“Good police dogs,” I said, giving them each a hug. I glanced out into the surrounding trees. “I wonder what’s taking so long out there.” I sighed and closed the door. I returned to the bench, allowing the dogs to jump into my lap. “Go ahead, Blair. Finish your story,” I said, hoping to override my fears that David was out in that underbrush with a mad man. “What happened when you got inside Doe’s house?”
“Mansfield came at me from behind. He tried to put a rag filled with chloroform on my face, but I bit him.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “God, I wish I’d thought of that.”
“Well, I had an advantage. I had on my heels.”
My eyes opened in surprise, and I glanced at her feet. They were encased in tennis shoes.
“As we struggled in the hallway, I lifted my leg and stomped on his foot so hard, the heel broke off.” She started to laugh. “He screamed like a baby and let go of me. I whirled around and punched him in the face, just as Rudy came up behind him and sucker-punched him in the kidneys.”
I clapped my hands. “Oh, God, I wish I’d seen that.”
Blair smiled. “And then he took off.”
“But how did you know it was Mansfield? He told me he wore a ski mask.”
“He did. But I recognized that expensive Italian cologne he wore the day we were in his office. Remember? Plus…I noticed his car when we drove in.”
“What? He parked where you could see it?”
“He parked in the driveway next door. I glanced that way as we pulled in and noticed the car. But at the time, I only thought it belonged to the neighbors. When he roared away, though, then I knew.”
I glanced off in the direction of the trees again. “Damn! I saw a car in the neighbors’ driveway, too, but didn’t think anything of it. So you followed him,” I said, still distracted by what I imagined was going on in the woods.
“Not right away. We didn’t know where he was going. We looked around the house for you guys and found Doe’s phone. He must have dropped it. Then we found the texts he’d sent to us…and to you.” She gave me a grim look.
“And yet neither one of us was there.”
“But your car was. And then we found a picture on the floor in the living room under the coffee table. It was of Emily and Mansfield when they were young, up here on Camano Island. Well, that’s when we figured he’d taken you to the compound. So, I called David to let him know and found Doe’s gun in that big satchel she carries around.”
“David would have called the Stanwood Police. I wonder why they didn’t get here sooner.”
Blair got up and opened the front door where the young Stanwood Police officer stood. “Officer, do you know why you guys didn’t get here any earlier?”
He had his thumbs looped through his thick belt. “Somebody threw a firebomb into the Rockaway Bar & Grill. Everybody on duty responded.”
“Shit, I wonder if that was Mansfield,” Blair said, looking back to me.
The sound of voices brought us both to the front porch. David emerged from the darkness. His shirt was dirty and he looked tired as he trudged over to us.
“What happened?” I asked, squeezing Blair’s hand.
His expression was tense. Whatever had happened hadn’t been good.
He made it up onto the porch before he replied. “The dogs chased him to the tunnel, but he closed them off with the metal door. We followed him in, but…”
He paused.
“What? What happened?” I asked.
“He was dead when we got into the basement. It looks like he used a syringe to inject something into a vein in his neck. Frankly, I think it was an air bubble, because I didn’t see anything in the syringe. Anyway, he died almost instantly.”
“I wonder why he didn’t just take the elevator back up here,” I said, realizing that Blair and I might have still been in danger. “And I thought the tunnel was blocked,” I said, not wanting to mention the ghosts.
“No, it was open. But, that’s not the weird part,” David said, running his fingers through his hair. “He was lying by a counter, but we checked the basement, just to be sure no one else was there, and we found the elevator. I think he tried to use it. But it looked like when he pushed the button to call it back, the wires fused. There were black smoke marks running up the wall, and you could still smell the burnt wires in the air. So I guess he was stuck.” He noticed my quick grin. “What?”
I tried to erase the sly smile on my face. “Oh, nothing. I’m just glad he got caught in his own torture chamber.”
Thanks, Mom, I thought to myself. As always, your timing was perfect.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
It’s true that adversity can make you stronger. It may be why I felt a new sense of empowerment over the next few days as a result of our near-death experience. Though each of us was in our sixties and probably written off by the millennial generation, we’d shown strength, ingenuity and courage and saved our own lives. I had no desire to repeat the experience, but I felt a greater sense of confidence that at least I could navigate my way through a dangerous situation with a clear head when I had to.
Doe recovered quickly, and a few days later, the four of us decided to make a trip to British Columbia, where we met with Lollie Gates’ grandniece, Luanne, to report what we knew and
to return Lollie’s diary. It was an emotional moment for all of us, but also one that felt good.
I tried to return the delicate gold necklace we’d found in Miller’s jewelry box, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She said Lollie would have wanted us to have it, and so I decided to mount it in a shadow box along with Marigold’s small pewter necklace, to be hung in a place of honor in the new reception hall.
Caroline stopped by after we returned to borrow the book on haunted hotels. She said she thought her husband might be ready for a conversation. Hallelujah!
By the end of the week, we were all gathered on the back deck, sharing margaritas and April’s tasty raspberry bars. April and I had invited everyone over to discuss our plans for the new reception hall. In the background, the demolition crew was busy removing the final barn debris. They had left a stack of lumber from the old barn we planned to use for the floor of the new reception hall as a way to maintain the legacy of all that had happened. But it was strange to look out and see right across the lake. I sighed, feeling a wave of sadness roll over me. Not only was the charming old barn gone, but I thought I was going to actually miss Lollie.
We had just pulled out our sketches when David and Sean appeared with Angela. The dogs barreled over to them, barking and wagging tails. Angela bent down to pet them, while the two detectives stood awkwardly behind her.
“Are we interrupting?” David asked.
“No, come and sit down,” I said. “We were just going to go over our plans for the reception hall. You must have news.”
The two men pulled chairs over and sat down while Angela came to give me a hug.
“Let me guess,” Blair said. “You’re here to tell us that Mansfield Foster was the serial killer everyone’s been looking for.”
Sean sat forward, his feet separated and his elbows resting on his knees. “Yes. Obviously, some things you already know.”
“Emily said something to me about Mansfield being in love with his sister, Rose,” I said. “He had quite a temper, and apparently when she rejected him, he killed her. Emily said she thought that he liked it. So he went looking for women that reminded him of Rose.”