by Kin Platt
“Sinbad really loves you, Sheriff.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” he said looking down at that frightening, lovable monster.
“Well, you know what a one-track mind he’s got, Sheriff. He must have found a clue in there. He’s not leaving until you investigate it.”
“Oh, is that it?” The Sheriff’s eyes looked warmer and pleased. “Well, why didn’t you say so?” he told Sinbad. He waved his hand toward the back room. “Well, come on. Show me.” He could have added that he was the Sheriff of the County and didn’t need any help from bulldogs. But he didn’t. Which proves what a nice guy he really is.
We followed Sinbad. Inside the little room he was sitting in front of the chest of drawers, his black muzzle pointing straight up at it. He growled, a deep rumbling growl.
Sheriff Landry caught on fast. “Something in there? Okay. I’ll take a look.”
He pulled the top drawer out of the chest, placed it on the table, and rummaged through it. But nothing caught his attention so he threw it all back. He looked at me and shrugged. He looked down at Sinbad.
“Maybe you’re right,” he told him. “Maybe there is something in here. But I sure don’t know what it is.”
He started to put the drawer back and Sinbad growled again, this time at the drawer.
“It’s not you, Sheriff. It’s something about the drawer. Can I take a look?”
“Be my guest,” he said. “I guess you two speak the same language.”
I looked through the drawer carefully. “We got Sinbad’s message all wrong. It’s not something that’s in the drawer. It’s something that’s not in the drawer. Not anymore anyway.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Then I told him about the picture, the one with the pretty girl and the man with his arm around her, Big Nick Murdock. I told him about the boat, too, and the lettering I saw. The R and Q.
“Mrs. Teska told me she was the girl in the picture. But she covered up the part with Murdock. Later I saw another picture down in the newspaper morgue, showing the same girl. Only it said her name was Anna Myszka. So later, when I met Mrs. Teska at the cemetery by accident, I asked her if she was Anna Myszka.”
“What did she say?”
“She admitted it but it made her mad.”
The Sheriff’s eyes were far away and thoughtful.
“I shouldn’t wonder,” he said.
“Then she told me she was Big Nick Murdock’s wife.”
“She told you that?”
I nodded. “Just before she got real mad and beat me.”
Sheriff Landry gripped my arm hard. The same arm, as a matter of fact. I told him that too. “I can’t believe it,” he said slowly. “Mrs. Teska beating you.”
“It wasn’t over that,” I said. I was beginning to remember all the other things. “She was afraid of something. Her kum.”
The Sheriff stared. “Her what?”
Then I had a sudden wild thought.
“I think I know where we can find Mrs. Teska, Sheriff,” I said.
He didn’t hesitate a second. “Let’s go.”
He headed for his squad car while I put out the lights and locked up. He had the big Pontiac motor going when Sinbad and me stepped in.
“Okay,” he said. “Where?”
I told him. “Back to Captain Billy’s castle.”
CHAPTER 43
The Castle And The Curse
I’ve had a few lifts before in my life, with Sheriff Landry. And every time it was like another lesson in driving: Stopping at the stop streets. Signaling at the turns. Slowing down at the orange and not waiting for the panic stop at the red. Obeying the speed limit at all times.
You know how it might be.
This time was different. He couldn’t see the stop street signs and the lights were all the same color to him. Green. He kept his foot jammed all the way down on that big souped-up Pontiac and gunned it through the deserted streets of our town like he was trying out for Indianapolis.
When the passing street lights hit his face I could tell there wouldn’t be any point to making any cracks about his driving. He looked big and mean and tough. He wasn’t smiling. He looked more like a hungry wolf than ever.
He didn’t ask me any more questions on the way out, either. Like how come I suddenly had this marvelous hunch about where Mrs. Teska might be. It was just as well, too, because that’s all it was. A hunch. I was hoping I was right. With somebody like Sheriff Landry, even though he’s a decent guy, you don’t get too many chances if you’re wrong. I guess in his line that’s the way it works, if you want to stay alive.
So he tore through the streets and screeched around turns, making that big Pontiac prove it deserved to be a police patrol car.
Meanwhile I was thinking like mad, trying to put two and two together. Why wasn’t Mrs. Teska home? Who knew she lived alone? Who knew what she knew about the Murdock house and the secret treasure? And did she really know about it herself? Had she been Mrs. Nick Murdock at one time, like she said? Or was she just a poor old lady indulging herself in a pleasant dream?
And who turned the pro-footballers’ cars around, released the brake, and let it roll down the hill into Jonah’s Bay? And why?
Also, there was that last ABA code in the portrait of Captain Billy. And something that bothered me about that imported wallpaper.
The Federal door had bothered me and I found an awful lot of money. I still wasn’t sure whose that was. I just knew it wasn’t Captain Billy’s because he was dead before that 1804 silver dollar came out.
What did that last riddle mean, the one the red-headed girl from that Mints and Marks realty office chanted in that singsong way?
I took a chance on it with Sheriff Landry. “I don’t know if you got the patience for riddles right now but if you can guess the answer you might be able to solve this case.”
“What case?” he snapped.
“Oh, come on,” I said. “Mrs. Teska doesn’t have a car. And she can’t drive. How do you think she got here?”
“Listen,” he said. “You’ve got to be sure of the facts. Otherwise you’ll wind up with egg on your face. For one thing, we still don’t know for sure that Mrs. Teska is where you said she was. Right?”
I admitted it. We were screeching around the last turn.
“Okay. And you say you saw her at the cemetery. How did she get there?”
I never had seen the car she came in. Only heard it. It could have been a taxi. All she had to do was pick up her phone and get one. So that took care of that fact.
“That’s what I mean,” Sheriff Landry said. “You jump to conclusions. Guesswork is for amateurs.”
He brought his car to a gravel-spitting stop at the dead end in front of Captain Billy’s castle. There wasn’t any other car there. He grimaced at his watch.
“Twelve midnight, on the nose. Your old man won’t be happy when he hears about the late hours I’m allowing you.”
“Good thing I held on to this,” he said, taking the big black iron key out of his pocket. The next second he whistled. He put the key back in his pocket. I could see why he didn’t need it. The padlock on the gate was open.
“Thought I locked it,” he said. Then, “Let’s have that riddle. And make it fast.”
I told it to him.
“Not in the Ground,
Not in the Air,
The secret is Found
Inside the White Square.”
He shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
Then he pushed the gate open. I looked up at the sky. It was a full moon and the wind was picking up and pushing threatening clouds across the sky. As we came to the doorway our shadows were over ten feet tall.
The black Federal door was closed but not locked either. Sheriff Landry pushed it open cautiously. There wasn’t any light inside and he looked down at Sinbad and me. Maybe he thought it would be dangerous or something. So he hesitated.
Sinbad made up his mind for him. He whined with exc
itement and hit the door like a battering ram with his big hard head. His bulky shoulders banged into Sheriff Landry’s legs. He’s like a tank when he wants to move. Nothing stops him. Before the Sheriff was able to recover his balance, Sinbad was clattering across the big entry hall. The Sheriff got his flashlight flicked on and there was Sinbad streaking up the stairs.
“I guess it’s his turn again,” the Sheriff muttered. He closed the door quietly. Then we went up after Sinbad.
At the second floor landing Sinbad skidded as if trying to suddenly change his mind. But that’s hard for him to do so he kept going and ducked inside the first room he came to. Naturally we followed.
I heard Sheriff Landry exclaim: “Where’d he go to?”
He flashed his light around. It was a bedroom, just the kind I imagined a sea captain might have. But I didn’t have a chance to admire it because I heard Sinbad’s big feet. They seemed to be running inside the walls. Over my head!
I grabbed the Sheriff’s hand and pointed the light. The beam picked out what appeared to be an open closet. He seemed puzzled.
“Funny place for an attic,” he said.
“It leads to the captain’s walk, Sheriff. I guess that’s where Mrs. Teska is.”
We went through and up a short flight of narrow wooden steps. There was just a simple railing here. Nothing fancy. The door at the top was closed. Sinbad was heartbroken that he couldn’t get it open. The Sheriff had his big hand on the latch when I stopped him. I had to.
“About this kum thing of Mrs. Teska’s,” I whispered. “I never explained it to you but it’s important. I got to talk to her first.”
He took his hand off the black latch and waited.
“At first I thought she was kidnapped and brought here. So she could tell somebody the secret. I guess I was wrong. But that makes it even worse.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because it means she’s decided to settle her kum’s curse by killing herself.”
He killed the light on my face and asked me why. I made it fast.
He told her five would die. There’s been four, so far. The fifth is supposed to be me, she thinks.”
“Why you?”
“The curse was on everybody she liked.” He knew how close Mrs. Teska and I had been so he didn’t question that. “So I guess now she’s decided to take my place. But I think I know how to stop her. Then if I can’t, you try.”
He said, “I’ll buy that. What about your assistant down here?”
“He can’t come yet.” I put Sinbad back on the leash and gave it to the Sheriff to hold. “Not now, Sinbad. Maybe later.”
It was too dark for me to see his face but I heard him.
The Sheriff opened the door slowly to the roof deck. The captain’s walk was bright in the moonlight and we could make out the dark shape of Mrs. Teska, near the railing at the far end. I was standing close enough to the Sheriff to feel him jump and quiver a little, too, at her wail:
“Oh, Great Kum! This sinner is ready.”
The Sheriff’s voice was low and hoarse when he pushed me out through the narrow door opening.
“Get going.”
Then it was closing behind me and I was slowly crossing the deck of Captain Billy’s walk, my knees shaking and my heart in my throat. I still didn’t know how I was going to stop her.
The wind blew harder and dark clouds raced like in a Ryder painting. The old lady still hadn’t noticed me. The clouds covered the moon and I took two more steps. Then there was the jagged flash and sudden crack of a streak of heat lightning. I jerked to a stop.
Mrs. Teska was looking out toward the water. Far below I could see the dark sweep of it and the curling whitecaps of Jonah’s Bay. Directly below the cliff was Dead Man’s Cove.
The dark clouds passed and the moonlight shone full on her again, glistening on her silvery hair and the rims of her glasses. Her hands twitched on the white railing of the balustrade. Her whole body tightened up in one great spasm and she suddenly leaned forward.
“Don’t do it, Mrs. Teska,” I said. “Captain Billy wouldn’t like it.”
She turned her head slowly, as if she was listening to some spirit voice.
“You told me yourself that Captain Billy’s was the only spirit strong enough not to be afraid of your kum,” I said.
Now she faced me. Her eyes flashed and her lips twisted. She gritted her teeth and I could hear her harsh breathing. She lifted her heavy silver-headed cane threateningly.
“Go away. Kum want me now. Kum very angry.”
“Your kum is a phony, Mrs. Teska,” I said. “It’s all a lie!”
“What you say?” Her voice was almost a shriek.
“That’s right,” I said. “He never killed anybody you liked. And, what’s more, you know it!”
She shuddered and for a second I thought she was going to fall over the railing. Then she recovered and her voice was lower. Almost a whisper.
“What you know, little boy?”
“I can prove it,” I said. The thing that had bothered me about the wallpaper downstairs suddenly exploded in my head. “For one thing, Big Nick Murdock isn’t dead!”
She reeled back and I took a step forward. I was almost close enough to touch her now. Also vice versa, I thought, seeing her cane and remembering how she could use it. But she let her arm fall limply to her side.
“What?” she said. “How you know that?”
“I know it and you know it,” I said. “And if you want any more proof, ask Mr. Pickering. I think he knows it too.”
She started to moan and sway back and forth. “Not dead, not dead!” She said it over and over again.
“What about that other man?” The one you said was the nice man. I bet your kum never killed him either.”
Her answer surprised me. “Kum never kill mayor.”
The mayor, I remembered, was Mr. Bagler’s father.
“Kum no kill mayor,” she said. “Big Nick, my husband, do that.”
Part Five
CHAPTER 44
The Return Of Captain Billy
I don’t know how that Perry Mason does it. He gets surprises like that all the time and they never seem to bother him. This one nearly knocked me off my feet.
I remember hearing myself ask her: “Did you see him do it?” But it didn’t sound like my own voice.
She pounded the railing with her hand and she was crying. “Him kill best friend. Mayor was only real friend here. Not partner.”
“Who was that?” I asked. She didn’t answer. “Who was his partner, Mrs. Teska?” She ignored that, too. “How do you know Nick Murdock killed the mayor?”
She stopped crying, shook her head and blinked at me. “How I know? I be there. I be there in house at same time.”
“It’s a long time ago,” I said. “Maybe you forgot the facts. The mayor was supposed to have killed himself.”
She was shaking her head and muttering. “Is another lie,” she said.
I remembered my talk with my friend, Mr. Bagler, down at the newspaper. “It wasn’t suicide?”
She started to answer me but suddenly her mouth hung open and her eyes bulged behind the glasses. Then her head jerked back and she started to raise her hand, as if trying to point.
“No,” she said hoarsely. “No come. Is all true, I swear.”
I saw then she was staring over my shoulder. “It’s okay, Mrs. Teska. Don’t worry. It’s only the Sheriff.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head and staring. “Not Sheriff. Is ghost.” She looked ready to drop.
I whipped around and nearly dropped, too.
It was a ghost, all right. Captain Billy!
He looked just the way he looked in that big portrait downstairs, except that he was wearing the big three-cornered cocked hat, and his eyes were almost white in the moonlight.
Then he raised an arm slowly. It wavered up and down as if he couldn’t keep his balance. Then it straightened and his finger pointed at Mrs. Teska while he spok
e in a deep but not hollow voice raised to be heard over that wind.
“Where is my white square?” he said.
“What?” she said trembling. “What?”
“The white square,” he repeated. “Where have you put it?”
“Don’t tell him, Mrs. Teska,” I said.
She took a step backward, leaning on her cane for support. She shook her head, unable to speak. The figure of Captain Billy took a step forward. Moonlight glinted on his silver buckles. But nothing filtered through him. He wasn’t transparent! Mrs. Teska moaned and sank to the deck.
“Captain Billy,” I said, “you forgot something.”
His great shoulders hunched and his hands shook. He extended his fingers and I wondered what kind of grip they would have around my throat. He took another step forward and I had to slow him down somehow.
“You forgot your cane,” I told him.
His eyes flashed and his great hooked nose quivered. He took another step forward. I backed away slowly.
“Okay, Sheriff,” I said weakly. “You can shoot him now.”
“Thanks,” Sheriff Landry said. “I thought you’d never ask.”
The tall bearded man whirled. He let out a great exhalation of air when he saw the Sheriff and his pointed gun. The Sheriff was having a lot of trouble holding Sinbad on leash.
“Step right this way, Captain, with your hands up,” he said.
The tall man’s shoulders sagged and he took a slow step forward. Then Sinbad saw Mrs. Teska huddled on the deck. He made a terrible strangling sound with his throat and lunged forward, jerking Sheriff Landry off balance and tearing the leash right out of his hands. Then he thundered across the roof deck.
The tall man with the black beard moved like lightning. In almost the same motion that the Sheriff lost his balance he was beside him. He whipped off that great cocked hat and threw it in the Sheriff’s face. In a split second he was at the door but I caught a glimpse of light hair as he went through. He slammed the door shut behind him and I heard him hurtling down the steps.