by John Mathews
***
Tammy suddenly snapped out of the migraine spell, with her heart pounding. Her face was dripping with sweat. She took some deep breaths to try and calm down. She wanted to stay right where she was, curled into a ball, and go to sleep. But she knew that she had to move on and get out of the darkness. All other priorities seemed small in comparison. Nervously, she got up on all fours and started to crawl forward so as not to bump against the rock hard walls or ceiling. She had to be careful not to put any weight on her broken hand and inadvertently dropped the flail behind her.
She moved very slowly through the darkness. She paused after crawling a bit to feel in back of her and along the walls. The certainty that someone else was lurking in one of these tunnels terrified her. After an interminable period of time the tunnel floor started to feel moister. Tammy kept crawling along on the now warmer, softer earth, until finally she saw a bit of light flicker in the distance.
She squinted as the light made her eyes burn. She crawled faster now, until the flicker started getting brighter. Excited, she jumped up and moved more quickly towards the light until she finally stopped at a point where the layout of the tunnel changed. The clay walls ended at three nesting stone arches with pointed tops. Set one inside the other, these archways were made from a hard grey and white limestone. The air was really moist here, and light came into the tunnel through the arches. Tammy touched the limestone and it felt rather slippery.
She stepped slowly through the archways and entered a huge wide-open room. Torches were burning on each of the surrounding walls. To the immediate left and right side of the arches, just inside the room, was a stone pedestal. Secured on top of each pedestal was a skull, which appeared to be that of a human, with the teeth missing. Looking straight ahead, Tammy noticed that the back of the room was partially sectioned off with a metal cage-like apparatus with a small opening. Inside the cage there appeared to be a coffin standing upright against the wall, and there were more bones, skulls, and what looked like other human remains on the floor.
Tammy stood stone still in awe as she surveyed the surroundings. Her heart beat quickly but yet she was numb from the thought of what had happened here. So this must just be one big torture dungeon. But is this a dead end? There’s no other damn way out of here? She stepped very carefully as small stones and other fragments littered the ground.
On the right side of the room some heat was emanating from what looked like a fire pit. Tammy crept closer and saw the still smoldering hot coals piled on top of each other. Next to the pit was an iron poker with a glowing red tip that must have been scalding hot. There was a bit of a breeze blowing across the fire pit. Bewildered, Tammy walked around the pit and examined the back wall. A few baseball-sized tunnels had been dug into the walls, the ends of which could not be seen, with some air passing through them. The air came out slowly from the holes, until every minute or so, a firm gust of wind blew into the room, causing the flaming torches to dance wildly.
She passed back across the center of the room and over to the other side. To her surprise, there was an old wooden table there. On top of the table was a neatly folded piece of paper next to one of Tammy’s red lipstick tubes. She opened the paper and discovered that it was a printed map of the series of tunnels and rooms beneath the cabin. Then she looked up and noticed the wall behind the table. It was made entirely of brick and had written on it with the red lipstick the words “Happy Anniversary My Love”.
Confused, Tammy sat down on the ground in front of the table. So he came down here, left me anniversary messages, and is waiting for me to arrive. Well here I fucking am – now where in the hell is he? She took the jade dagger from her pocket and started to carve into the hard ground. The mental and emotional turmoil of everything was starting to take its toll on Tammy.
She closed her eyes, sat in silence, and tried to tune out the voices that screamed inside her head. A sense of failure had brought a deep feeling of melancholy. Taking a few moments to relax, she focused on listening to the sound of her own breathing. This was like one big lucid dream, she thought, and wished that it would end. Then she was able hear something that she hadn’t heard before – a faint dripping sound. She listened again and it sounded as if water was slowly falling onto the floor, one small drop at a time. She waited a couple of minutes, finding a bit of comfort from the noise that each drop made. Then she got up and followed the sound towards the back of the room where the metal caging was.
As she approached the caging, Tammy could not help but stare at the floor inside it. Beautiful ceramic Encaustic tiles formed an exquisite hand-laid floor. This floor space was five feet deep by ten feet wide, with the caging wrapped around the edge of the tiles. Different shades of clay had been inlaid into the tiles before a shiny glaze was put over them. The tiles were perfectly square and about nine inches long on each side. Tammy stepped inside and kicked some of the bones and soot out of the way. Right in front of her leaning against the wall was a closed iron coffin with the head of a mummy on top. At the base of the coffin was a pool of blood that continued to drip from the inside.
Tammy looked down at the blood and then noticed the tiles forming the last two rows near the back wall. Alternating with the tiles made from colored clay patterns were ones that had faces carved into the ceramic. She counted the special tiles and found that there were sixteen of them, eight in each of the last two rows. Then she knelt down to examine them more closely. The facial carvings were those of the first sixteen U.S. Presidents.
Tammy stood back up and gazed out from the caged-in area into the rest of the room. Goddam, what is all this? Is there someone in that coffin or is it some kind of trap? And the Presidents – there must be a way to use the clue from the mural. But how?
Fighting her apprehension, Tammy slowly reached out with her good hand and grabbed the end of the coffin which was attached to small hinges. She tried to open it but it seemed stuck or locked from the inside. She took the dagger and wedged it in between the coffin door and the frame. Then with all her might, she yanked at the lid until finally it swung open.
The inside of the coffin lid door was filled with razor-sharp spikes dripping with fresh blood. Lying inside the coffin was Stephen, completely naked, and stone-dead. The spikes had pierced him in dozens of places and he would have certainly died from loss of blood. Burn marks were all over his flesh where someone must have tortured him with the iron poker. A Heretic’s fork, just like the one that Maria saw in the wine cellar, had been placed around Stephen’s neck with a leather strap. The sharp prongs had pierced his throat and upper chest area. Tammy stood in disbelief barely able to think or move. She stumbled back away from the iron coffin leaving the hinged lid open and Stephen’s lifeless body visible.
Tammy felt dizzy, a bit nauseous, and sat down on the dirt floor with her legs stretched out in front of her. She cupped her hands around her mouth and started to scream. “Who are you and what the hell do you want with me? Show yourself! You’ve done got Stephen and Maria, now what do you need with me?” She was exhausted mentally and physically and just wanted the madness to end. Her head was pounding so she leaned it against the side of the metal cage and closed her eyes.
After a few minutes of silence, Tammy sat up and opened her eyes. Wait a minute – whoever killed Stephen and Maria must need me for something. Of course – the clue from the puzzle. Only I know what that is. She cupped her hands over her mouth and bellowed at the top of her lungs. “The treasure is real, and I know how to find it. Do you fucking hear me? If you want to know where it is, then show your damn self! Or I’m gonna take it all for myself and get the hell out of here. I ain’t scared so you might as well come out and talk with me.”
She waited and waited but there was no sign of sound or movement. Then Tammy looked again at the tiles with the carvings of the Presidents in them. She was relieved to see that below the facial carvings were the last names of each man. She found the one with the name “Adams” on it. She tried to push on it and
pull it out from the floor, but it was firmly cemented against the other tiles. Tammy grabbed the dagger and, using it as a hammering device, starting hitting the tile as hard as she could. After some firm strikes, a piece of the ceramic broke and fell into a small space beneath the tile. She kept smashing it until the entire tile broke away from the floor.
Beneath where the tile has been there was a space with a small lever at the bottom. Tammy reached inside and pulled on the lever until it moved several inches. Then she was startled by a loud grinding noise. A forged steel grate door came down inside the entrance that led back into the narrow tunnel. Sharp spikes jutted out from the crisscross pattern of the metal rods sealing off the only exit from the room.
Tammy stepped outside of the enclosed area and glanced around the room again. She saw that a small door had swung open in the brick wall behind the wooden table. She ran over to the brick wall hoping that this might be another exit from the room. Her mouth hung open in utter astonishment at what she saw. Twenty 50-pound gold bars, neatly stacked on top of each other, had been hidden in a small space behind the brick wall. What looked like an old iron prison cell window prevented anyone from taking the bars of gold. The horizontal and vertical iron bars were close together, barely leaving space enough between them for Tammy to put her hand through.
Tammy was suddenly light-headed from the rush of adrenaline and had to kneel down to keep from passing out. My God, the treasure is real! It’s REAL! I don’t fucking believe it! I’m gonna be rich! She grabbed onto one of the iron bars and pulled with all her might. The prison cell window didn’t budge.
Shit, how in the hell do I get this to open? She yanked on the iron window bars once more, and then was convinced that there had to be a mechanism to open it. She examined the walls and ceiling around her, looking for some kind of lever or switch. She found nothing. Then she went back to where the carved tiles were.
Tammy looked inside the opening in the floor where the Adams tile had been and pulled on the lever again. This time it didn’t move. She looked down at the floor around her, and noticed that there was some writing on the inside of the tile that she had broken. She carefully collected the fragments of the broken tile and assembled them together again like a puzzle, only this time with the opposite side up. On the inside of the tile there was a drawing of a man with one arm who was lying on his back as though asleep. Written on the tile below the drawing was the following message: Take a nap with your eyes open, and you shall see the answer.
Tammy leaned her good hand against her forehead. Not another fucking riddle. What in the hell does that mean? Take a nap with my eyes open? Where am I supposed to take a fucking nap? She examined the tile once more. The man in the drawing was lying very straight, with one arm tucked against his side, and a bloody stub where the other arm would have been.
Tammy went back over to where the iron barrier was. She lay down next to it, keeping her arms to her side, with her good arm against the wall. Then she looked up at the ceiling in hopes that this might reveal something hidden. Not noticing anything special, she turned her head to peer through the iron bars. Tammy suddenly noticed that the space between the bars in the bottom right-hand corner was larger.
She reached her hand into this space. She was just able to touch the gold bars with her fingertips and had a moment of euphoria. On the ground in front of the gold there was an iron rod that was L-shaped. Tammy pressed down on the rod with her fingertips and pulled it back out through the space between the iron bars.
She reached through the opening again. Then she moved her arm back so that she could feel along the inside of the wall in the enclosed space. Stretching as far back as she could, she felt a lever on the inside of the wall. She was about to push it, but then remembered the image of the man with one arm. She carefully took her hand back out. She used the L-shaped rod to reach inside the opening. Fidgeting around for a few minutes, she finally felt it butt up against the lever. Tammy pushed with the rod and the lever moved. The iron window went flying upwards like a bullet, slamming into the brick wall above.
She gently put her hand on one of the stunning bars, brimming over with joy at her newfound riches. Goddam, I did it! This just goes to show you that everything happens for a reason. She suddenly felt light-headed and woozy, as if she was in a dream state. She laid down on her back, arms to her side, and started laughing. A giggle at first and then hysterically. This is just so fucking amazing – it’s all part of my destiny. I was obviously meant to find this gold. This treasure is rightfully mine!
She rolled on the floor laughing so hard her stomach hurt. Then she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. “It’s mine – ALL MINE! And there ain’t nothing that anyone can do to stop me from taking it! I’m getting the fuck outta here and I’m filthy rich.” Any fears that she had of not knowing who might be down in the tunnels seemed to be gone.
Then she sat up and smacked herself on the forehead. Get a hold of yourself and stay calm, Tammy. I need to find a way to get the hell out of here. I need to leave the gold here for now, find out if someone else is down here with me, and deal with him first.
She went over to where the only exit to the room was blocked by the steel door. She grabbed the edge of the door and yanked on it. There has to be a way for this thing to open. Then she examined the door more closely, hoping to find a keyhole that either the skeleton key or brass key might fit into. She found nothing.
She went back to the caged in area and sat down to think about what to do next. Then she felt several strong gusts of wind blow through her hair coming from behind the fire pit. Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes slipped one at a time out of the baseball-sized holes into the room. Around two dozen of the deadly snakes entered the chamber, each at least four feet long, with white, gray, and brown skin. The hissing noise that all of them made together with the rattling of their tails was deafening.
Tammy sprang to her feet. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she prepared to defend herself. She had seen rattlesnakes like this before in the woods of North Carolina. She also knew that these snakes must have been deprived of food and would eat anything they could strike. Clutching the dagger tightly in her sweaty palm, she stayed just inside the entrance to the cage. At least she couldn’t be surrounded by them on all sides, she thought. The snakes hissed and slithered along the floor. They formed a kind of wall and made their way closer and closer to Tammy. She tried to tune out the constant mind-numbing noise they made with their shaking tails. Then she bent down at the knees, keeping her bandaged hand against the inside of the cage. She leaned forward, preparing herself to fend off an attack with the dagger.
Some of the snakes coiled their bodies and raised their heads well above the ground, poised and ready to strike. They surrounded the caged area. Tammy’s eyes darted back and forth trying to keep a close watch on the serpents nearest to her. She waved the dagger frantically in front of her hoping that it would scare the snakes into backing off. The serpents slid closer to Tammy, and then moved back away from her thrusting weapon. Her heart was pounding and she couldn’t even hear herself scream from the deafening noise the snakes made.
She thought that it was best to try and lure the snakes closer to her one at a time so that she could kill them. She stayed still with the dagger in her hand and waited. Her body was turned sideways, giving less of a target to attack, but still blocking the entrance inside the cage. Two of the snakes came at her, and Tammy thrust the dagger at them. She missed. The weapon was too short to kill one of the snakes without getting bit, she thought. Then she eyed the hot iron poker on the other side of the room. That would be ideal since it was long with a sharp, pointed end. But could she get across the room without being attacked? Taking this risk meant life or death, that she felt certain of.
Tammy decided to go for it. Waving the dagger in front of her, she darted out from the security of the cage, and across the room to where the poker was. As she grabbed the poker, one of the snakes bit her on the leg. She roared
in pain and fear, but kept her wits about her to defend herself.
Tammy launched the hot poker at the snakes, one at a time, and then pulled it back again. She landed a hit on two of the snakes, wounding them, and rendering their attacks useless. But there were just too many serpents. Three more of the rattlesnakes suddenly struck at Tammy from all sides. The attack happened in the blink of an eye and she was unable to protect herself from the lightning-quick reptiles. She had been bitten on the sides of her body multiple times.
Then more of the serpents attacked, their heads darting at her, their fangs sinking into her flesh. Tammy waved the iron poker frantically as her mind began to lose its grip on reality. She was bitten over and over again and soon collapsed helplessly to the floor. Then her body started to swell, her blue eyes bulged out like balloons, and her muscles began to go into involuntary spasms. A few moments later Tammy was vomiting uncontrollably, unable to move her limbs, and having trouble breathing. By the end of the hour Tammy Worthington let out her last breath of air.
TWENTY-ONE
The administrative secretary picked up the company phone. “Gerald, Police Chief David Halloway is here to see you.”
“Wow, that was quick. Thank you, Sarah, you can send him in.” Gerald Benson laid two manila folders full of papers next to each other on his desk.
David Halloway entered the office, adjusting his thick spectacles on his aging face framed by combed-over grey hair, and had a seat at the desk across from Officer Benson.
“It has been a good while since we’ve spoken about a crime case, Gerry, hasn’t it?”
“Ya, it sure has. A really long while. Heck, it’s been three years since we investigated that big burglary case. Coffee?”
“No thanks. Yes, I remember that case. The break-in at the White Falls Bed and Breakfast. Some dumb kids trying to play a prank.”