Caretakers (Tyler Cunningham)

by Sheffield, Jamie

  “Barry, I appreciate your input, but life is not black and white, pussy and balls, kill or be killed (I hope) … I live in the middle, and I think I have a middle-esque solution to this, so bear with me.”

  “Whatever, you heard the old man at the hippie farm (John, at Helgafell). When push comes to shove you wanna live, everyone does, and if they don’t kill you, you’ll end up killing them … just like you did me and Justin.” He sounded like he had proven something, and also as though he didn’t care which way it went.

  I could see lights and movement in the main lodge and in the caretakers’ house. I walked over to the latter and peaked in, trying to walk both discreetly and as if I wasn’t trying to be discreet (it felt awkward and as if I was blowing it, but nobody saw me, so it probably was wasted effort, lots of life is like that … performing for an audience that isn’t there, or doesn’t care). I watched from close in for two minutes, and heard no voices (except for the oddly lifeless sound of TV) and saw nobody except for a woman in her forties shuffling around from room to room in comfies, with a general air of useless worry about her. I knocked on the door and waited … thinking of possible problems and contingency plans to address them as she walked to her front door and opened it.

  “Ma’am, I need to use your phone if I may, to help organize the response,” I said. She bought it, and gestured me in and past her, pointing towards the kitchen, as I had hoped she would.

  “How’s it going down there? Are they going to lose the boathouse?” she asked. I didn’t answer as we walked further into the house, looking around for other people (and seeing none); I had gotten in the door, but had no faith in my ability to fake fireman-talk, so I just tried to present the image of a man intent on finding the phone in a hurry.

  I grabbed the cordless phone off its cradle, pulled a chair out from the kitchen table, and pointed to it, “Ma’am, you’re going to need to sit down for this.” It had the desired effect, she sat down quickly and worriedly, mind already racing towards unpleasant imaginings about her husband and son and the fire down by the water.

  “Robert and Bobby have had an accident,” I said, reaching into my backpack for the first strap as she took in this news, and tried to extrapolate meaning from the meaningless.

  I turned and dropped the large loop of car-topping nylon webbing over her and the chair. She was still stunned at the news, and the unexpected action took her even more by surprise, which gave me more than the second and a half that I needed to tighten the strap around her sternum and the sturdy kitchen chair. Once she was partly immobilized, I took out another strap and wrapped it around her legs and the seat of the chair, before threading the nylon through the buckle, and tightening it. She looked to be getting ready to shout, so I cut her off.

  “Please don’t scream, Ma’am (the politeness seemed to surprise, and thankfully, silence her); if you do, I’ll only have to gag you, which might be uncomfortable. Nobody is going to get hurt, I give you my word, but I need to speak with Robert and Bobby, and this will help. I’ll be gone in half an hour, and you can continue with your evening, forget you ever opened your door to me, nobody the worse for wear.”

  She started to speak, not scream, which I took as a good sign.

  “What’s this all about? Why are you doing this? What do you want?”

  “All good questions,” I said, getting out a handful of cable ties, “but I just want to go through this once, so I’ll wait until your husband and son are here. By the way, does the grandfather live with you?”

  “Robert Senior? No, he lives in Tupper, in the old folks’ home on Park,” she said, and I nodded as if I had suspected it all along.

  “I told you that you wouldn’t be hurt, Ma’am, and I meant it, and I could see you looking me in the eye when I said it … do you believe me?”

  “I guess, but why ….” she began.

  “I need to get your husband and son’s attention, so they’ll listen to me when we all talk about what happens out in the workshop.” Her eyes clouded momentarily. I am horrible at reading people, but it occurred to me that she knew something, or felt something, or sensed something about what the men in her family did out in the workshop. There’s no such thing as a secret among more people than one, and over time (especially decades), even if she didn’t know the whole story, she knew that there was a story. She straightened and sat very still.

  “What’s this about? What do you want?” she asked, her tone different now … perhaps not scared of me so much as what was coming, what she was going to hear when her husband and son came back from the fire.

  “It’s about a secret. A secret that Edelmans and Reinegers have been keeping for more than fifty years. Please put your hand straight down for me, Ma’am,” I said.

  She did, and I ran a cable-tie around each hand and the chair leg that it was next to, then repeated the process with her feet. She seemed in shock, which given the kind of evening she was having was probably understandable, but she was compliant.

  “Thank you Ma’am.”

  “Sophie,” she murmured.

  “Sophie,” I agreed. “Do you have a shoebox somewhere?” This was off-base enough that she perked up a bit, and looked around wildly for a second before replying.

  “Front hall closet, up on the shelf. Why?”

  I went out and found one, picking a New Balance box from about six that were up on the shelf above the coats and boots. The closet smelled homey, and I briefly felt badly for this woman, Sophie, whose life I was ruining tonight. I got over it quickly enough … her life was already ruined, had been for years, she just hadn’t known it. Evil like what existed at Juniper Bay poisoned everything and everyone it touched, even indirectly.

  “Sophie, I’m going to put this box under your chair, but I want you to see inside it before I do.” I said, opening the box, and showing her a mixed assortment of batteries and string and three old cell phones, before closing it and sliding it under her chair.

  “What … ?” she began.

  “I’m going to get their attention, and hopefully keep it long enough for us to talk, by telling them that I’ve put a bomb under you … but I wanted you to see that I hadn’t. It’s a bluff, a lie … a necessary one because they’ve already tried three times, quite hard, to stop me from finding out the secret,” I said. “And now, I’m sorry to say that I am going to have to gag you ... earlier I told you that I wouldn’t, but I need to. To stop you telling them about the bomb that isn’t a bomb, and also from shouting for help when I head out to the workshop with them.” I grabbed a bandana from inside my backpack, and showed it to her, both sides, like a magician might before a trick.

  “It’s clean, and I won’t tie it too tight, okay?” I said as I moved in closer. This was the time that she would lose her cool, but I think her half-knowledge of what went on out in the workshop had her in its thrall, and she let me loop the cloth around her head, opened her mouth to position it, and let me secure it in back without any trouble at all.

  “And now … we wait,” I said … and we did.

  Six minutes later the two Reineger men walked in through the front door, mid-conversation, and the house filled with both sound and the smell of the fire in an instant. I heard them kick off heavy boots by the front closet (I wondered briefly if I had remembered to tug the pullstring to turn off the light in the closet after grabbing the box, and was sure that I had … just nerves). Sophie and I sat waiting for them in the kitchen, and 17 seconds after entering the house, they came.

  “Please stop where you are and don’t do anything stupid until after you’ve heard what I have to say … actually, just don’t do anything stupid, period (again … nerves),” I said, and they noticed Sophie, tied to the chair. They didn’t do anything, stupid or otherwise, waiting for me to speak/act/move.

  “There’s a bomb under Sophie’s chair. If you move it, it blows up. If I don’t send the correct code every two minutes, it blows up. If you do everything I say, and don’t do anything stupid, I’m gone i
n ten minutes, and as soon as I’m out the door I send a code to disarm the bomb. Nod if you understand, both of you,” I said. They both nodded.

  “Good. Bobby, go and lock the front door, and turn off the lights at that end of the house. Be back in 30 seconds, and remember my ‘don’t do anything stupid rule,’ okay? Please nod if you understand.” He nodded again, and I gestured him away. He went, and I noodled with my cell-phone for a few seconds to placate a worried-looking Robert.

  Bobby came back in 27 seconds later, and started to speak. I cut him off.

  “Ah,” I said, “only when I tell you to talk, okay?” He nodded.

  “Good. This next part is going to be tricky for everyone, but remember that I’m doing this so that nobody gets hurt. Everyone get it?” Nods all around.

  “Bobby, go to the backpack on the table and get out the tubes of crazy glue.” He did. “Now take them out of the packaging … yes, all of them. Now, Robert, take off your shirt, grab that empty kitchen chair, go over by the fridge, and get down on your knees … doesn’t have to be in that order, but I need those four things done in the next eight seconds … good.” Compliance all around (I felt a bit bad about scaring them with bomb-talk, but much less bad than I would if I had to kill them all to make this work, so I was still in the ‘win’ column).

  “Okay, great so far, now listen up, it gets a bit complicated here, but it’s all about me feeling safe from people who tried to stomp me flat multiple times in the last few days, without my having to hurt anyone. The prison you and the Edelmans have been running for the last 55 years (now was no time for my ordinary level of precision, so I rounded up) is finished … as of tonight it’s done. Once I release whoever you have down there, I’m leaving and as far as I’m concerned, you can too (this was a lie, but I have a pretty good poker face, and I wanted to give them a sliver of hope to focus on, in the hopes of preventing something stupid and dangerous … to all of us, last ditch effort to escape or overpower me). Bobby, when this is all done, and I leave with the people out in the oubliette, I’ll let you go. I bet that your mom has some nail polish remover in the bathroom. That is all you’ll need to set your daddy free from the glue that we’re going to use to immobilize him. Do you understand?” Three sets of nods, although I’d only been talking to Bobby. I fiddled with the cell again for a few seconds. I had anticipated some cursing and threats, but they just seemed tired and stressed; I think that they knew it was all falling apart, and maybe there was even some relief as the pressure of a decades old secret was lifted.

  “Bobby, squeeze out the whole first tube onto the front of your dad’s left hand … fingers and palm. Good, now Robert push that hand against the clean surface of the fridge door and move it around gently until the glue sets. Good, now pull to show me how it set. Good. Now put your right arm through the gap in the backrest of the chair, and hold it out to Bobby, like last time.” He did, but I could see his back muscles tense as he thought about doing something stupid.

  “Robert … don’t. Good, stay relaxed. This will all be over in ten minutes, and once I’m gone you can all leave too for all I care.”

  “Bobby, squish out all of the next tube on your dad’s right hand, same as last time. Good. now keeping that arm looped through the chair, press his hand again his side … just there, right. Looks like he’s a little teapot now (I thought this might break the tension a bit, but I am a horrible judge of emotions and tense situations, so my little joke fell flat).”

  “Almost done now, Bobby, you’ve done a great job, and this is helping you keep your family safe (I felt like a monster as these words came out of my mouth, but it was true, and I think it was helping Bobby focus and keep his cool). Get the blue bandana out of the backpacks, and tie it like the one on your mother. Good, tie a square knot, nothing fancy needed.”

  “Last bit, Bobby, and then we’ll head out to the workshop. I know this isn’t what any of you want, but you’ve all been trapped in this thing your whole lives, and it’s sick … a sickness that has to end … and it will, tonight. Take off your shirt Bobby. Good, now squeeze the next tube out on the inside of your upper arm … just like that, right. Now press it down against your side and hold it ...perfect. This last one is gonna be a bit awkward, but do the same with your other arm … and press it down.” I breathed a literal sigh of relief now.

  “I’m sorry for all of this, but you guys are big and strong, and if I hadn’t hobbled you, first with your mom, and then with the glue, you might have done something stupid for no reason. This,” I said, gesturing out towards the garage/workshop, but also all around the camp and the caretakers’ cottage, “is over and done with. I know. The secret’s out, and it all ends tonight. I’m taking your prisoners with me, and as soon as we’re gone, you’re free to go … that’s my deal.” I made a show of looking at my watch, and then fiddled with the cell again (to keep up the bomb charade, although I was no longer sure that I needed it).

  “It’s now 8:21 p.m., assuming we’re done in forty minutes, which is generous, I will give you until 9:01 a.m. tomorrow morning before I call the police … sound fair?” Nods all around.

  “Bobby and I are going out to the workshop now, but I’ll come back to check on you Robert, and if you’re trying to escape or alert anyone, I’ll come back in and seal your mouth and nostrils with the remaining tubes of crazy glue … is that clear?” I got an emphatic nod from Robert on this point, and once again was grateful for my lack of affect, which makes me convincing at times like this (it also, happily, helped me avoid the pangs of guilt I might otherwise feel for terrifying this family, who had simply been brought/married/born into this evil cabal by poor luck).

  “I’m going to turn out the rest of the lights, now, but that’s all that’s happening. Bobby will be back to release you within fifteen minutes,” I said, grabbing my backpack, then Bobby and I turned off the rest of the lights in the house, and exited through the back door, into the cool and dark night.

  I could hear noises of fire and water battling for primacy down by the lake still, but less loudly than before, so the fire was dying, one way or another (I didn’t care much, it had done its job, and the darkened house and restrained Reinegers would be enough to get me through the rest). Edelman, if he and/or his son was here, wouldn’t come back to check on the prisoners in the oubliette while the firefighters were here, and I’d be gone before they were.

  Bobby and I went in through a side door, and I told him not to bother with the lights. I clicked on my headlamp at its dimmest setting, and walked with him in front of me across the clean/clear concrete floor.

  “We’re almost done. Bobby, are you okay?” I asked. “You can speak, as long as you keep your voice down.”

  “I’m okay, scared, I guess. Worried about my mom … and Dad. I’m sorry about before. We wouldna’ hurt you, we were just gonna scare you,” he said.

  “Bobby, you were doing so well up until now. You’re not sorry about before … you’re sorry that I beat you, and that you got caught … and yes, you would have hurt me plenty (which, to be fair, likely would have scared me as well).”

  “Where is the door down to the oubliette, the cells?” I asked.

  He kept walking over to a grated pit that looked designed for cars to park over, so mechanically minded individuals could work on them from underneath.

  “I don’t know if I can get down the ladder like this,” Bobby said, waving his dramatically shortened arms around.

  “How do you get down to the cells from there? Is there a lock or booby-trap or something?” I asked.

  “Nah, you just slide the metal plate at the far end towards you, and there’s a steep set of stairs, almost a ladder, down about eight more feet. There are two insulated doors, you know, for sound, and then a hallway and the cells are on either side. Light switch is at the bottom of the stairs.” Bobby related all of this with a bit of excitement in his voice, as if he was sharing a cool secret with a friend for the first time, after years of wanting to … maybe he w
as (except for the friend part … I don’t have friends, as such, and if I did, he wouldn’t be one of them).

  “Okay, then … change of plans (it wasn’t really, but this made for a convenient transition without scaring him into doing something dumb, like trying to jump me). Sit down on the floor by that column over there, put one leg on either side of it, and bring your ankles together.” I had brought two tubes of crazy glue with me, along with a handful of cable ties. I looped a pair of the ties around his ankles and tightened them down. Next, I squished out the glue onto his palms and fingers, one tube on each hand, and had him press them both onto his belly. I didn’t have another bandana handy, so I scavenged a roll of duct tape and ran it around his mouth and head a few times.

  “Bobby, can you breathe okay?” Nod. “Good. This doesn’t change the original plan by much. When I’m done, I’ll let your mom go, and she can release you and your dad, okay?” He nodded, looking relieved, and trusting … sitting there on the floor.

  I went down the ladder carefully (falling now would really suck), and then pulled the metal plate towards me, revealing the stairway down to the cells. The stairs had grooves worn in the middle of each tread, which gave me pause momentarily … thinking of generations of Reinegers (and sometimes Edelmans) walking up and down thousands, tens of thousands, of times. I clicked on the light at the bottom of the stairs and went through the double set of doors.

  On the other side of the doors was a hallway maybe eight feet by twenty feet, with a water heater and furnace in the middle, and pumps and pipes going everywhere. There was a small locked cabinet door partway down the hall, on each side and a plain steel panel door with a lock on it at the end of the hallway. I could see keys hanging on the wall by each cabinet door and each of the panel doors. I walked down and unlocked the door on the left.