Tutu Deadly

by Natalie M. Roberts

  “My feet are asleep. Can’t you untie them, please?”

  “No, sorry. You might get away. You’re pretty agile, and I’m not stupid. I can stand you up for a minute, though, and let you hop around.”

  Great.

  She hefted me up, and I tottered, and then stood, trying not to cry out as my feet came back to life.

  “These knots are too tight. Can’t you just loosen them?”

  “Sheesh, you are too damn much trouble. If I didn’t need you, I’d just end it all right now.”

  She needed me? Why? A surge of relief shot through me. I wasn’t going to die—yet. She let go of my arm, which caused me to teeter a bit, as she bent down to loosen the binds on my feet.

  At this point, I had to make a decision. I could knock her over and try to render her helpless, but then my feet would still be bound, and since my hands were tied, too, I’d be stuck there with her until she woke up.

  “Krystal, why did you bring me here?” I asked again. She was down at my feet, the flashlight on the floor, illuminating the ropes that bound me. She struggled to get them free, and I could see the sharp outlines of her face as she looked up at me.

  “Stop asking questions. And by the way, I wouldn’t try anything if I were you. I have a gun.”

  She pulled a small handgun out of her jacket pocket, and waved it at me. In the dim light I couldn’t tell what kind it was—like I even knew the different kinds of guns—but I figured it was real.

  She shoved it back into her pocket and went back to work on the ropes. “And also, you should consider that since you are bound, if you hit me or try to disable me, you’re going to be in a world of hurt, because you won’t get away.” I didn’t bother to tell her I’d already figured that out.

  Just then, we both heard a noise coming from behind us. Krystal stood and turned in that direction, whipping the flashlight up and flashing it up the long, dark tunnel, trying to illuminate whatever had made the noise.

  “I think there are rats in here,” I said.

  “If that was a rat, it’s a big one.”

  Kinda like you, I thought, but I didn’t say it aloud. I had no desire to make my situation worse.

  Dismissing the noise, Krystal turned back to me and bent back down to the ropes. “I tied these too good. I can’t get them loosened.” She struggled with them for a few more minutes, then gave a disgusted sigh, picked up the flashlight, and stood.

  “Sorry, no can do. Now back down on the ground. And I need to put this gag in your mouth.” She pulled a bandana out of her pocket and waved it around. She pushed me back down to the ground.

  “Wait! Don’t do that, please. I won’t scream. Where are we anyway?” I was desperate to keep her from putting that gag in my mouth.

  “We’re in the tunnels under 25th Street,” she answered, without hesitation. Just as I’d thought. “This particular one runs between Marco’s store and mine. They are supposed to be closed off, but I needed a place to hide a body, so I cleared mine out a while back. It’s not like the city inspects them on a regular basis. I figured I could just hide the body, and then close mine back off, and no one would be the wiser.”

  “Why would you want to kill me? I know I didn’t give Marilyn a great part in The Nutcracker, but to kill for that . . .”

  “Not you, you simpering idiot. Although this has ended up to be a great place for you. I meant Sandra Epstein.”

  “So you did kill her.”

  “Damn straight. She was sleeping with my husband. Can you believe it? That ugly cow thought she could take what was mine. First her daughter gets all the dancing roles that Marilyn should have, and then she just walks in and takes my husband.”

  I found it a little hard to comprehend. Krystal’s mild-mannered husband sleeping with the harsh, strange, possibly chemically dependant Sandra Epstein? “Are you sure? I mean Sandra was hardly a femme fatale or anything like that.” Was this what Sandra had been up to all those times she left Taylee unsupervised? I’d assumed she was drugged or drinking, but an affair . . . It was possible. Maybe when Taylee said her mother was sleeping a lot, she didn’t mean alone.

  “Marvin is weak. She tempted him, and he gave in. Marilyn is just like him. If it weren’t for me, those two would collapse and never get anywhere in life.”

  “But you didn’t bring Sandra’s body here.”

  “Well, things didn’t go exactly as I’d planned. I figured out I could use arsenic and then bring her here. If by some strange chance she was found, down the road, and an autopsy done, they’d probably discover the arsenic, and since you had a beef with her, they’d look at you first. The cookie-dough poisoning was a perfect idea. Sandra never even suspected it. And everybody eats frozen cookie dough. It’s too hard to resist. And I have easy access to arsenic, and nobody else does anymore. I use it with my crystal designs. No reason anyone would even question me buying it, because I’ve been doing it for years.”

  It occurred to me at this point that things were playing out here just like they did on television. She was telling me all the details of the crime, tying up the loose ends, because shortly after that she intended to kill me. Kill me. Ulp. Maybe this was information I did not need to know. It didn’t matter. She kept talking.

  “But it didn’t go exactly right. I let myself into her house, and was about to haul her out when I heard a noise. I turned to see Taylee watching me. Then she ran. She ran fast. And I can’t find her. I figured you would lead me to her. And I had to set you up to look guilty so no one would come looking at me. Or at least somewhat guilty. That one back-fired, though. After I snuck the cookie dough into your house, I figured the police would focus on you. But you have way too many enemies! I mean, after you got attacked in front of your house, it looked like you were the victim. You really need to be nicer to people, Jenny. Of course, now it doesn’t matter. But you do seem to have a lot of people out to get you. That’s going to work out good for me.”

  “How did you get the cookie dough into my house?”

  “Piece of cake. My brother Jake is a locksmith—when he works, which isn’t often, but he’s been useful for me. I fund his little business, and he turns the other way when I need to use the equipment. And your building just isn’t all that secure.”

  “So now, you’re just going to kill me?”

  “No, of course not! Well, I mean not yet. I need to find Taylee. She can put me away. And the best way to find her is through you. That child is addicted to dance. She can’t not perform. Sooner or later, she’s going to find you.”

  “This isn’t going to work, Krystal. What makes you think Taylee will find me? Where could you put me to make that happen? This plan has some pretty major flaws . . .” I stopped talking as I realized I was trying to talk her into killing me right now. Best to keep my mouth shut.

  “I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I’ll figure it out. Now, let’s get this gag on you.” She reached out toward me and then I heard a scuttling noise to my right and I turned to look. Krystal heard the same thing, and she turned, just as someone rushed her and knocked the flashlight out of her hands. She screamed, fear, rage, and frustration all rolled into one primal yell, and I heard her fall heavily onto the floor. Then there was quiet, and I pushed myself against the wall, knowing I was trapped, my feet and hands tied. The flashlight had survived the fall, and I could see two small shapes hovering over Krystal, and then they stood and headed toward me, and I fought back a scream.

  “Jenny, it’s me. It’s Taylee.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  “TAYLEE? Is it really you?”

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “Who is with you, Taylee?” I asked.

  “It’s me,” said a familiar voice, and then Marilyn, Krystal’s daughter, stepped forward.

  “Marilyn? What are you two doing here?”

  Marilyn flipped on a bright flashlight and I blinked at the sudden harsh light. I could see Krystal’s still form on the floor behind us. She wasn’t moving, but I wasn’t going
to take my eyes off her for long.

  “I’ve been staying here,” Taylee said. “Some of the time, anyway. The rest of the time I was at Marilyn’s. She came to give me some food, and we had to hide when Krystal showed up with you. We saw it all. We heard what she said, too.”

  “I found the tunnel a while back, and knew my mom was not up to any good,” Marilyn said harshly, anger filling her voice. “When Taylee told me what happened, and how she saw my mom at her house, I was determined to keep her safe.”

  “Why didn’t you go to the police, Marilyn? I understand she’s your mother, but the cops . . . Well, they would have arrested her, and they would have kept Taylee safe.”

  “No. No, they wouldn’t, Jenny,” Taylee said. “I know what they’ll do. They’ll move me. I’ll have to go somewhere else, and this time I’ll be all alone. I won’t even have my mom. So Marilyn was trying to help me stay here, and out of sight. Because I wanted to stay here—with you. But I couldn’t even get close to you. The cops were always there. I even sent you e-mails, but you didn’t answer them. I didn’t dare give too much information, but I thought you’d know it was me.” She was giving me too much credit. But she was just a little girl, and I could hear the fear and concern in her voice, and knew that even though Sandra Epstein hadn’t been much of a mother, she had been the only one that Taylee had. Once she was gone, I became her only hope.

  This whole thing was mind-boggling. The killer’s daughter was helping the victim’s daughter. And I didn’t even know they were friends.

  “Nobody should have to do what they don’t want to do,” Marilyn said, determination filling her voice. “Nobody should have to move, or run away, or even dance if they don’t want to.”

  “I don’t want to leave, Jenny,” Taylee said. “I want to stay here with you. And I want to dance here.”

  “But Krystal killed your mother, Taylee. She told me that. All you had to do was tell the police that you saw her there, and then . . .”

  My voice trailed off. All she had to do was tell the police what she saw. She’d done that before. And then everything she knew in life had been taken from her, and she’d been whisked away to a new location, given a new name, told to forget the person she was before had even ever existed, except when they needed her to testify against her father.

  Why would this be any different for her?

  “Oh, what a mess this is,” I said. “Can you guys please untie me so we can get out of here?”

  “Okay,” Marilyn said, and she bent down and had the ropes off my hands and feet in less than a minute.

  “How did you do that? I mean, that was quick. Your mom tied them, and she couldn’t even get them off.”

  “I’m good with my hands. I like hanging out with my dad. We hunt and shoot and tie knots and do that kind of stuff. I’m not a dancer. I hate dance. But she won’t listen.” As if in response, Krystal groaned heavily. Marilyn didn’t seem too concerned that her mother was lying there unconscious on the floor of the cold, dark tunnel. In fact, she was pretty much ignoring her.

  “We need to get out of here before she wakes up,” I said, urgency filling me. “We need to go to the police with this, Taylee. They’ll arrest Krystal, and you won’t have to hide from her, I promise.”

  Taylee shook her head sadly. “No, Jenny, I need you to fix this. I need you to make it so I can stay here. I know what’s going to happen. Marshal Fallon will make me leave. They will whisk me away somewhere. I want to stay here. I want to dance with you. I want to be the Sugar Plum Fairy, like we planned. I want that.”

  I did, too. “I’ll make it work, Taylee. I promise I’ll make it work.”

  I hoped I could keep that promise.

  The girls stood on both sides of me and helped me to my feet. Krystal groaned again and urgency filled me. “We have to go, girls. Fast. Marilyn, I know she’s your mother, but we’ll send help down. We’ll send someone for her.”

  “I don’t care. She’s a murderer. When things didn’t go her way, she killed someone else’s mom. How can someone do that?” There was a catch in Marilyn’s voice, and I wondered how I had not seen the real child inside the sullen, unhappy girl that stood in my dance studio and refused to jeté. “But they’ll put her away, and then Dad and I will be able to camp and hunt and fish in peace.”

  We turned toward the small light that I knew was the opening to Krystal’s shop, when she suddenly shot bolt upright and jumped to her feet, catching all of us by surprise.

  Leveling the gun at the three of us, she ordered us to move back into the tunnels.

  “I’ve heard enough. Betrayed by my own daughter. Betrayed. I can’t believe it.” I wondered if she had been faking unconsciousness, but she touched her head gingerly and then shook it gently. She probably hadn’t been unconscious, but had needed time to regroup, so she faked it, so she could take us by surprise. “Move.”

  She gestured back in the direction we had just come from.

  “I’ve done everything for you, Marilyn. Everything. And this is the thanks I get? You helping them to put me away for good? I did everything for you. Give me that damn flashlight.”

  “No,” Marilyn said. “I hate you! You’ve ruined my life, and you’re a killer, and now you’re going to . . . what are you going to do? Would you kill me? Would you kill your own daughter, too?”

  “Just walk. And give me the flashlight.” She reached out her hand, and then Marilyn flipped off the light and threw it as far as she could into the tunnel. We heard a thump as it landed, and a tinkling crash. I’d heard the indecision in Krystal’s voice, and guessed that Marilyn had, too. Could she really kill her own daughter?

  It was totally dark, except for the faint beam of light coming from the opening into Krystal’s store, and I could see nothing else in the utter darkness in front of us. Taylee had grabbed my hand tightly when Krystal first ordered us back into the blackness of the tunnel.

  I heard a shuffling noise and realized that Krystal was headed back to her building and out of the tunnel. “Now I will just have to close up the tunnel and no one will be the wiser. See, Jenny? You were wrong. My plan did work. I did get Taylee here, and no one will ever know. Since you’ve disappeared, I’ll just write a note saying you couldn’t live with the guilt, and you kidnapped my daughter and Taylee, and ran off. They’ll look for you forever, and no one will ever find you.”

  I heard Marilyn gasp and then begin to cry, as she realized how willingly her mother would abandon her, mostly because she didn’t live up to Krystal’s ideals. “Oh, stuff it, Marilyn. You never really loved me anyway. You preferred your father, and his stupid idea of fun.”

  This was one harsh woman. And totally insane. More so than any psycho mom I had ever encountered.

  Marilyn continued to cry and Krystal continued to berate her, her voice fading as she neared the opening of the tunnel. “Don’t move, or I’ll shoot and end it all fast.” She was going to willingly let us die of starvation, dehydration, and exposure in the cold temperatures of the dank tunnel.

  We heard her closing off the tunnel and then it was completely black. “I don’t want to die,” Marilyn cried. Taylee just clutched my hand tightly.

  “We aren’t going to,” I assured them both.

  “You’re right, Jenny,” Taylee said. “Because I’ve been staying here. And we can get out on your side.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  SOMEONE had set off a bomb in my building, but it had apparently not been Krystal. Had it been her, she would have known that the entrance to my building was now opened, and we were not exactly stuck in here.

  No psycho dance mom was going to do me in. I felt determination fill me, and I began to grope my way along the tunnel wall, pulling Taylee with me. “Grab Marilyn’s hand and follow me.” I shivered, and realized my head was aching and I felt as though I was inside a tunnel . . . eh, well, I was inside a tunnel, but it felt that way in my head. The shivering also made me realize I had been fairly unaware of the frigid temperatures during
the time all of these crazy events had been happening. The headache was probably a result of the chloroform, but the shivering . . . It was very, very cold in here, and if I could see anything at all, I knew I would see my breath. As it was, I couldn’t even see my fingers in front of my face, but I could feel my way forward, and I kept moving, edging us in the direction away from Krystal’s shop and toward my building.

  Marilyn sobbed softly as we moved, and Taylee clasped my hand tightly. A sudden softness under my foot, and a nasty squeal, made me step back and scream, and the two girls echoed my sounds. I waited a moment for my heart to calm down, and then told the girls, “Just a mouse. I stepped on a mouse.” A big mouse. Possibly three or four feet long. Maybe eight. Stop it, Jenny. Get in control!

  I started moving again, stepping forward gingerly, not wanting to step on another rodent. We made our way slowly through the tunnel, until I found an opening, jagged and small, but big enough that one of the girls could get through it. It wouldn’t work for me, of course.

  “You’re going to have to go through,” I told Taylee. Marilyn was still sobbing, and her emotional condition let me know she would be unable to help herself or us at all.

  “But I can’t see, Jenny,” Taylee protested. “What is in there?”

  “It’s the opening to the basement of the studio, Taylee. You know, right below Jack’s store? It’s where the furnace is.”

  I stuck my head through the opening and could make out the faint, small blue and yellow glow of the pilot light of the furnace. Thank God it hadn’t gone out again.

  “See that light? That’s the pilot light of the furnace. Immediately to the left of that is a light switch, on the wall. All you have to do is find that switch and turn on the light.”

  “I’m afraid of the dark,” Taylee whispered.

  “Me, too,” Marilyn said, through guttural, phlegm-clogged sobs.

  “You’re afraid of the dark, and you were staying down here?”