River Mourn

by Bill Hopkins

  Chapter 40

  Monday Night, continued

  The trio snuffed their flashlights. Rosswell tugged Alessandra and Ollie into a shallow side passage. The cave was darker than the night outside. Rosswell hoped the side passage was deep enough to make them invisible to whoever was entering from Nathaniel's house. A door slammed shut. A noise, a soft scuffing sound, grew stronger then stopped. Someone walking, then halting directly in front of them. Whoever it was had a small flashlight, although its beam shined on the ground, enabling the person to see where he or she was walking.

  The figure coughed, turned off the flashlight, then flicked a lighter and held the flame up to a cigarette. Charlie Heckle. The scarfaced man hadn't caught the night train to Memphis after all.

  Ollie and I were set up. Nathaniel sent Charlie to the alley so he could entice us to come here!

  Charlie exhaled a stream of smoke. When it reached Rosswell, he detected a smell like a skunk burning in an alfalfa hay bale. Charlie was toking a joint. Rosswell hoped Charlie and his blunt weren't keeping company with anyone else.

  As best he could, Rosswell explained by grasping Alessandra and Ollie's hands, then pointing and gesturing, that he wanted Ollie on Charlie's left and Rosswell would take his right. Alessandra would stand in front of Charlie. Rosswell placed Alessandra's hand on his head and he nodded. Then he touched her head. Alessandra nodded. Rosswell and Ollie also exchanged a silent greeting in the darkness.

  Rosswell liked the phrase Ollie had used in the alley. He decided to use it on Charlie.

  "Show time, boys and girls!"

  "What the-"

  Charlie's surprise was complete, allowing Rosswell and Ollie to knock him on the ground, but not allowing Charlie to finish his question.

  Rosswell, risking one light, turned on his flashlight and stuck a gun in Charlie's right ear to whisper, "Where's Tina?"

  "I don't-" Charlie spoke a bit too loudly. Rosswell punched the gun barrel into his ear to silence him.

  "Real quiet. Tell me where Tina is."

  Barely audible, Charlie whimpered, "I don't know no Tina."

  Alessandra stuck her gun in Charlie's left ear as Ollie pulled off Charlie's shoes and began wrapping him with clothesline.

  Rosswell bent over Charlie's face. "I'm not going to shoot you. It would make too much noise." He felt Charlie relax. "Instead, I'm going to stuff cotton balls in your mouth and nose, then duct tape them shut." Charlie stiffened and began shaking. "Charlie, you ever see anyone suffocate?"

  Rosswell knew death threats spoken in a soft, clear voice were more effective. It was a lesson learned from watching gangster movies.

  Charlie's tiny voice quivered. "No. I don't know where nobody is. Don't kill me. Please, don't kill me."

  "Suffocation's worse than drowning. Takes a lot longer. And you don't pass out before you die. You die after a lot of pain. A lot of terror. I've heard it seems like hours."

  Charlie said nothing. Ollie had wrapped all the clothesline around Charlie and was finishing the task of duct taping the man into complete immobility.

  Before Ollie taped Charlie's mouth shut, Rosswell posed his question one more time. "You get to choose whether to tell me or die of suffocation. Where's Tina?"

  "Second door to your left, about hundred feet after you get into the house."

  "That's better. Any guards?"

  "No."

  "Any alarms?"

  "No."

  "Anything dangerous I need to know about?"

  "No."

  "If you're lying, I'll come back and choke you to death with my own hands."

  Charlie nodded.

  "And where's my silver?"

  "Nathaniel."

  When he rose, Rosswell stepped on Charlie's hand, grinding his heel into it for emphasis. "Ollie, finish bundling up the trash."

  Ollie stuffed cotton balls in Charlie's mouth. Charlie whimpered. Tears ran down his cheeks when Ollie taped his mouth shut.

  Rosswell assured Charlie, "I'm not going to suffocate you. For now. This is to keep you quiet."

  Ollie added, "Try not to upchuck before we get back. The vomit won't have any place to go, which means it cuts off all your air. Understand?"

  Charlie nodded again. Rosswell's nose picked up an odor telling him that Charlie had crapped his pants before he peed himself.

  "Ollie's right. Another word of warning." Rosswell made certain Charlie could see his face. "Don't swallow. You could wind up choking yourself. That's suffocation."

  Charlie's eyes grew wide. He lay still. Very still.

  With the promise that no guards or alarms or anything else dangerous awaited, the trio exited the cave through the wooden door that Charlie had come through. When they reached the door of what Rosswell prayed was Tina's room, he admitted to himself that perhaps Charlie hadn't been lying. The glow in the hallway radiated from small night lights plugged into outlets at various intervals. Whenever they had passed one of them, Rosswell yanked it from its socket. At the end of the hallway were two fire doors with push bars. If the map from Mrs. Bolzoni's was correct, the rest of Nathaniel's house waited on the other side of the fire doors.

  The door to Tina's room lay shrouded in darkness.

  Rosswell risked a whisper. "I'm going to try the door. If it's unlocked, I'm going in first. Ollie, if it's locked, kick it open if you can. Then I'll go in. Alessandra, guard the hallway. Ollie, if Tina's drugged, you'll have to help me carry her out. If anyone else is in the room, don't shoot them. Unless they point a gun at you."

  Ollie moved close to Rosswell. "What if she's not in there?"

  Alessandra stood close to Ollie. "Then we go to Plan B."

  "Rosswell never has a Plan B. You'd best give him details."

  "We kick down every door in the place. With our weapons drawn."

  Rosswell said, "Alessandra, I like the way you think."

  Ollie, clearly not satisfied by the answers he'd heard, barged ahead. "What if she's not in this house anywhere?"

  Instead of answering Ollie, Rosswell asked Alessandra, "Have you ever been in this part of the house?"

  "No."

  "Then we leave the way we came in."

  Ollie wanted answers. "If we blunder through every room and don't find Tina, what do we do?"

  Rosswell said, "We leave any way we can."

  Ollie and Alessandra gave Rosswell a thumbs up.

  Riffling through the tote bag until he found a length of plastic rope, Rosswell thrust it in to Ollie's hands. "Wind this through those crash bars on the fire door. It won't stop someone from coming through eventually but it will slow them down."

  Above the metal doorknob of Tina's room, Rosswell's hand hovered for a couple of seconds until crunch time arrived. As soon as his skin made contact, alarms-louder than the ones Rosswell had heard the first time at the house-screeched in a deafening siren whoop. Lights in the ceiling flashed on, giving the hallway the look of high noon in June. Rosswell twisted the knob and shoved the door open, promising himself he'd kill Charlie Heckle.