by M.D. James
Chapter 9
As Bartzen stood at the door of Aspen Estates, Bruce just stared at him. Finally he answered, “Master Jonas is not here. He ran away several days ago and has not been found.
As Bartzen tried to argue and tell Bruce that he knows Jonas is there, the door is slammed in his face. “I’m not going away!” he yelled as he banged on the door.
When there was no answer, he walked the property to see what he could find out.
“What are you so happy about?” Charles asked Elias as he found him grinning from ear to ear in the kitchen.
“If you must know,” Elias answered, “Maddie and I are going steady.”
“And, how are you going to date when you’re losing your job?” Charles asked with the purpose of wiping the smile from his nemesis’ lips.
“What are you talking about?”
“With the kid locked up, you’re no longer needed as his footman,” Charles snickered.
Elias jumped up from the table and pushed Charles out of the way so he could find out what happened to Jonas. “If you hurt him…,” he began to threaten but Charles had picked up a cast iron skilled and hit him in the head.
After Elias slumped to the ground, Charles quickly drug him outside and placed him in the cellar with Jonas.
“Elias! Wake up!” Jonas just kept repeating the same words. It was pitch black inside the cellar but he was able to see it was Elias when Charles brought him in. He sat with his footman’s head in his lap trying to wake him up.
Just as he was beginning to think Elias was dead, he felt movement. “Where am I?” Elias said, though his head was pounding.
Jonas told him that he was in the old storage cellar that seemed to go unused since nothing was inside of it but them.
“How did you get back here?”
Jonas told Elias everything…how he hid out at the orphanage and finally agreed to come back when his Uncle and Cousin called in the police.
As Bartzen was looking around the grounds, being careful not to be seen, he saw his way inside. Bruce had come out to see Charles, who was polishing the car. The back door was left open a sliver and the two men were far enough away for him to sneak inside.
He carefully made his way through the servant’s quarters, hiding quickly when he heard voices or footsteps. He only came across one set of stairs leading up and figured it had to be the way into the main house.
As he crept past the living room, he marveled at the grandness of the palatial estate. He heard voices, but it turned out just to be the housekeepers heading back to the servant’s quarters.
He heard voices again, but this time they were male voices. He crept closer to see if he could hear more clearly what was being said.
“He’s not going to sign,” Martin told his Cousin. “I’m just going to have to forge his signature!”
“And what happens later when he tells the courts that it’s not his signature?” Cousin James asked. “What then?”
“That won’t be a problem,” Martin assured him. “Once everything is finalized, I’ll have him taken from the cellar and buried next to his dear mother.”
Bartzen almost knocked over the large vase he was hiding behind when he heard the two men discussing his friend’s demise.
He quickly made his way back downstairs so he could search for the cellar Jonas’ Uncle had mentioned.
The servant’s quarters seemed to be empty, so he had no trouble searching for the entrance to the cellar. He didn’t have any luck, though, and figured it must be on the outside of the building.
After making sure he was in the clear, he exited and followed the building around whispering for Jonas. “Jonas! Jonas!” he called, hoping his friend would be somewhere he could hear his name being called at just over a whisper.
As he reached the very back side of the building, he heard voices yelling.
“We’re in here! Help!”
“Jonas, is that you?” he asked as he approached the cellar door.
“Yes, Bartzen. It’s me and Elias! Can you get us out of here?”
He answered that he would need to find something to break the locks from the door. “Hold on, I’ll be right back!”
“Be careful,” Jonas answered.
He found an axe, and lucky for him Jonas’ Uncle chose a cellar so far for any other part of the house. They probably did that so that no one would hear if Jonas was screaming for help. It also meant that no one would hear Bartzen breaking the locks off the door with the axe.
Once they were freed, Jonas hugged Bartzen tighter than he ever had before. “Come on,” Elias interrupted, “We need to get out of here quickly!”