by Anita Higman
“So, you like mysteries?” Vlad took the top off his ink pen.
“I do. I’ll have to loan you some of mine. I have plenty.”
“Good. Thank you.” He still made no move toward the door.
“You mean right now?”
“Sure.” Vlad shrugged. “Why not?”
Not good. “Well, I tell you what. I’ll get a batch of novels together, and I’ll bring them over to your house tomorrow. But right now, I need to get a hold of my fiancé. We have a wedding to plan.” I straightened my shoulders and pointed to the front door. “If you don’t mind.”
Vlad didn’t budge. Not an inch. “By the way, Dedra has invited me as her guest to your wedding, but she said you weren’t too happy about me attending.” He leaned toward me as if curious about my reaction. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Dedra could certainly try the patience of her friends. I decided not to reply to his accusation. I took a daring step toward him. “I hate to be rude, but—”
“Bailey?”
“Yes?” What now?
“I have a favorite mystery too.” He held the pen like it was a knife ready to plunge into a side of beef—or a helpless victim.
“You do?”
“Yes, it’s called Cat and Mouse.” Vlad’s smile twisted into a sneer as he snapped the cover back on the pen and slipped it into his pocket.
I needed a new angle—a new approach with this murderous jerk. “Look, Vlad, you’re acting weird, and you’re scaring me. You’ve got to go. Now.”
Vlad held up his hands. “Okay. All right. But can you answer me one question before I go?”
I swallowed the giant pecan in my throat. “What?”
“When I first came in a few minutes ago, you were calm. And then when I came back, you’d changed. In fact, you looked truly frightened. Like a nervous little hummingbird.” Vlad walked right up to me, so close in fact, I had to back away. “Now why is that?” He frowned. “What could have happened to you in those seconds while I was gone?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m having a nervous breakdown.” I raised my chin. “To be honest, it’s none of your business. And your idea of personal space is totally screwed up.” I crossed my arms. “Now get out!”
“But I can’t go.”
“And why not?” I gritted my teeth.
“Because, Bailey, I’ve tried so hard to be nice. And you’ve made it clear that nice just isn’t going to. . .cut it.” He chuckled then, a guttural laugh that could chill the flaming tongues of an inferno.
26 – A Way to Survive
My hand covered my mouth. The gig was up. Should I run? No, not yet. He stood between me and freedom. I rebuked myself again for not taking a self-defense class. Maybe I could play along as I edged toward the door. “What do you want, Vlad?” I tried to sound authoritative without provoking him. But at least I knew where we stood—he wanted the ruby for himself, and he wanted me out of the way. Why hadn’t I locked that door?
His eye twitched. “You know, I have an idea. First, why don’t we read a little from this book of yours and see what it says.” Vlad retrieved the novel from the entry table and cracked it open. “Oh, look, the ending, it’s my favorite part. It’s when the good guy gets the upper hand.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” I knew the ice I was treading on was wafer thin, but the alarm inside me could no longer be contained. I took a single shuffling step toward the front door.
“Oh, but I want you to hear it.” He held the book up with dramatic flair. “The man, who’d forever been like the voiceless lamb, slipped the revolver from his pocket and for the first time in his life he took possession of one thing he’d never known—power.” He snapped the book shut. “Now, that’s good writing.” Then Vlad pulled a snub-nosed revolver from his pocket and aimed it at me.
“What are you doing? Are you crazy?” I yelled without thinking.
Vlad’s face burned red and his eyes glazed with madness. “Don’t you ever say that again. Do you hear me?” The gun shook in his hand. Bits of saliva gathered at the corners of his mouth.
“Okay. I won’t say it again. I’m sorry.” My subtle edging toward the door ceased. I realized Vlad was not only depraved, he was insane. I’d have to stall him while I tried to think of a way to escape. “So, what happens in the book?” Oh, no. Shouldn’t have asked that. Somebody probably gets shot.
“Well, I will tell you, now that you’ve asked.” Vlad’s face softened. “Good wins over evil. As with all great books.”
Did he actually think he was the good guy, and I was the malevolent one? The man was truly deranged. “Okay.”
“But there’s always a struggle first. Those moments when everything hangs in the balance.” Vlad’s eyes flashed. “When anything can happen.”
I shivered, thinking of the meaning of his words. Always a struggle first. If I can’t flee, perhaps I can resist? Mind over muscle. But how? What had been his favorite novel? Cat and Mouse. Mice get trapped. That’s it. My cellar has its own built-in trap. My heart pounded so hard it seemed to shake my whole body. I needed a plan. Now.
“You know why I’m here and what I want,” Vlad said. “Are we clear?”
“Yes.” But I didn’t move or say any more. There was something I had to know first. “That evening you came over to introduce yourself as my new neighbor, you slipped something in my coffee. Didn’t you?”
Vlad nodded. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. Ahh, then the power of suggestion.” He laughed. “There you were only minutes ago, sleepy on the floor. You were probably thinking you really did have narcolepsy. I could barely hold back my mirth.”
Right. Vlad had been such an impostor, and he’d made fools of us all. But he had relaxed a bit and seemed a little less trigger happy. That was something. But I didn’t let my guard down. “I really want to—”
“Please stop.” Vlad straightened his arm, raising the gun to the level of my head. “We’ve had enough talk.”
I nodded.
“Let’s go on a little adventure together. Shall we? Take me to the crimson stone.”
“All right.” I needed to stay steady and positive with no sudden movements.
Vlad’s mouth eased open. “You really did find the jewel then.” His eyes closed briefly as he seemed to swoon with the news.
So, we’d been playing a game of bluff, and Vlad had won. I no longer cared, since I was too busy trying to think of a way to survive. “The ruby is in the cellar. We’ll have to go through the library.”
Vlad stepped toward me. “You don’t know this stone. It’s the Bloodstone Ruby.” His eyes brightened. “You may have been the one to find it, but you were never meant to own it. It is my destiny to possess this stone.”
What could he mean? Since when had thievery become a destiny? I took a few tentative steps toward the library with Vlad in my wake. I needed to keep him talking. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you know about the ruby?” And how could he have come to know the name of it?
Vlad went quiet and then said in a gruff voice, “Let’s just say a conversation was overheard that was never meant to be heard.”
I slowed a bit. “You mean—”
“Keep moving, please.”
“Okay. No problem.” We passed through the library doors. When we’d made it to the wall extension, which held the hidden door, I stopped. “The door is in this wall, and the lock is near the floor. All I have to do is lower myself to the floor and push on the brass coil that’s still in the baseboard. Are you okay with that?”
Vlad bent down for a closer look. “How clever. I wouldn’t have guessed it.”
Oh, you mean the night you drugged me and snooped around my house? I glared at him for a second and then got down on the floor. I noticed the flashlights were still sitting by the door. If only I’d moved them back to the garage, it would have given me another reason to distract Vlad. Or I could have removed the brass coil from the baseboard. Anything to slow us down to give me a chance to esca
pe. Too late now.
After going through the previous door-opening ritual, the door gave way with a groan.
Vlad stood staring into the dark cavity that led into the cellar. “It was all true then. I knew it. I could feel it.” In that quiet moment, he lowered his gun and took on the innocent look of a boy.
I felt compelled to ask, “Why is it. . .you think the ruby is yours to own?”
Vlad turned to me. He cocked the gun and pointed it at my head. “You’re just like B.J. You don’t understand. I was born to own this ruby. It’s fragile and powerless in anyone else’s hands. He wanted to sell it.” Vlad laughed then, throaty and wild-eyed. “Imagine such insolence when I was born to own it.”
What kind of a person would think such thoughts? Vlad was not only a thieving murderer, he was deeply disturbed, and that new information made me shudder. “Okay, Vlad.” I gave my voice a heavy dose of the respect he seemed to demand. “The Bloodstone Ruby is yours.”
He relaxed a little, but the gun was still cocked.
I took a cautious breath.
“Get the flashlights.”
I turned on all three lights and handed him one. “You’re all ready.”
“Oh no.” Vlad shook his head. “Both of us are going, and you’re going down first.”
Well, that was expected. Vlad certainly wouldn’t leave me behind so I could call the police. But now I’d have to step over the tripwire first.
I hung the small flashlight around my neck, picked up the last larger light, and then headed through the doorway. I turned from the landing and shined the beam downward. Of course, no tripwire could be seen, but I was certain it was on the third step. I counted silently as I went down.
I would need a diversion, or he’d wonder why I’d skip a step. To give the impression I’d lost my balance, I clutched at the wall with my hand as I let out a gasp. I carried out this tiny drama as I passed over the third step. Hopefully, his attention had been diverted enough so he wouldn’t suspect anything.
“Be careful, Bailey,” Vlad said.
His voice suddenly had an air of compassion. Why would he care about my well-being while he was pointing a gun at me? I glanced back at him. The weapon had vanished. Perhaps he’d slipped it back in his pocket and was more interested in scaring me than killing me. But that reasoning wouldn’t hold water, since Vlad would assume I’d call the police once he’d left the house. Because he wore no mask, it was only logical that his plan was to kill me.
My only hope was in Vlad falling through the trapdoor, and yet I wasn’t sure if I could go through with the plan. I believed the contraption was set up to kill, not just to imprison. Was I capable of taking someone’s life? Even in self-defense? What if he just needed psychiatric help?
I looked back at Vlad. He was about to put his weight on the third step.“Vlad?”
27 – Eternity Perched Itself Between Us
Vlad halted, his foot poised just inches above the third step. “What is it?”
I could hear his breath—his life. I can’t do this. “There’s a tripwire on the next step that opens a trapdoor. The fall will kill you.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why would you tell me this when you know you have to die?”
I stared up at Vlad through the shadowy light. “Because I thought I heard something human in your voice. Something that told me neither one of us should die. That we both had a reason for being alive.”
Vlad pulled the gun back out of his pocket. “Keep moving down the stairs.” He carefully avoided the third step. “But I do appreciate you sparing my life.”
Unless I could somehow out-talk or outsmart him, my chances of escape were pretty well over. I could live with myself for knowing that I hadn’t ushered a mentally ill man to his death, but I wasn’t sure how long I’d be alive to enjoy that peace.
Perhaps I was the one out of my mind for not defending myself better. Where was all that chutzpa Max said I had? I certainly needed it right this minute, because as soon as Vlad had the ruby in his hands I would no longer be useful to him. Oh, Max, I wish I’d told you everything. I wish so many things now. So many things.
After a few more anxious moments, we had our feet planted on the cellar floor.
Vlad’s flashlight honed in on the ruby. His breathing became raspy. “I could feel the stone in the room.” An unnatural radiance lit his face. “It searched me out. We’ve both waited a long time.”
Who was this man? And how could he have grown to attach such mystical and soulful characteristics to a mere stone?
Vlad motioned for me to go ahead of him toward the pedestal, which held the crimson gemstone in its brass holder.
When we both stood in front of the ruby, Vlad knelt in front of the pedestal, in an attitude of worship. He made a strange claw sign with his hands and murmured something in a foreign tongue.
God help us. What is he doing? His derangement had to be more serious than I imagined. I had no point of reference to understand what was going on inside him. It was a great wonder too that he didn’t seem amazed or curious about the strange room and its furnishings or even the Penumbra’s tapestry with its ominous emblem. Vlad remained consumed by the stone. “I have reached the summit. . .of greatness, and knowledge, and contentment.”
With one hand still on the gun, he reached into his pocket with his other hand and retrieved a black velvet satchel. Vlad eased the ruby inside the bag, synched up the top with the gold ropes, and then backed away from me.
The moment had arrived when Vlad no longer needed me. He had the jewel, and I was a liability. Sweat broke out all over my body, but felt icy cold on my skin. I clinched my teeth to stop them from chattering. The flashlight was still in my hand, but he was too far away for me to use it as a weapon.
A noise alien to such a crypt-like place made us both startle. My cell phone. It was still in my pocket. Max was calling. Why hadn’t I remembered I had the phone? I could have tried to call for help.
“Don’t even make a move to answer it.” Vlad took another step backwards toward the staircase.
He waited for the ringing to stop, and then he said, “Slide the phone over to me.”
I did as he said, but the phone was uncooperative on the rough rug.
He edged over to the phone, bent down, and picked it up. Vlad backed away and then aimed the revolver at my heart. I knew now for certain, the gun was loaded. His face wouldn’t look riddled with fear if the weapon weren’t ready to fire.
“There was a trip wire on the third step,” I said, “but what if there are more booby traps. Ones I haven’t mentioned yet.” The words poured out of my mouth in a panic without even thinking. It was my last hope.
The gun shook in his hand. “You’re lying.”
“How can you tell?” My face trembled so badly I could barely speak.
“Because I think whatever was going to happen would have happened by now. The danger is over.” He grinned. “At least it is for me.”
This is it, God. I’ve run out of ideas. To stop Vlad, I need a miracle. I need You to stop him. I don’t want to die. Not like this. I took in a deep breath and released my will to God. Trusting in Him solely, I let my eyelids drift shut, closing Vlad out of my presence. Then a peace washed over me, and like a tether releasing its hold on a weight, my body let go of its terror. I no longer felt the same wild fear of death. I knew deep inside that the calm was supernaturally given to me—a gift from God. I opened my eyes again.
Vlad and I watched each other while eternity perched itself between us. One waits through the years, wondering about the moment of death. How it would happen. What it would feel like. And here it was before me. In one blink of an eye I would see my Lord and my parents and my Granny and those who’d gone on to heaven before me. It was thrilling to think of, and yet I’d wanted to marry Max. And as crazy as the decision might be, I wanted to be Joby’s mother.
“It’s so simple to let one sin pile on top of another.” I just let the words flow out of me not really kno
wing where they would go. “I’ve done it myself. They stack up easily enough, but the problem is, the precarious mound of sins eventually topples. And that’s when people get hurt.” I wasn’t sure why those particular words had come out of my mouth. They just seemed like something that needed letting loose in the air.
Vlad flinched.
I saw such despair in his expression. The circles under his eyes were dappled with red and his skin looked ghostly pale as if some great distress had consumed him. Pity tugged at me in spite of his evil.
“B.J.,” Vlad suddenly said.
“Yes?”
“I miss him.”
I nodded and reached up to finger my Granny’s necklace. “It is right and good to miss him. And to fully grieve the loss.” Even if the loss was caused by your own hand.
Vlad looked away and then at the floor.
Lord, what can I say to him? What can I do? One simple verse branded itself in my brain. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy,” I whispered.
He looked at me, his body tensing. Vlad’s hand, the one clutching the ruby, contorted as if he were going into a convulsion.
What seemed like an infinite pause ensued. “I have to go,” Vlad finally said in a raspy voice.
Did he mean to walk away, leaving me unharmed? I waited for Vlad and for my fate.
“I have to call someone.” Vlad’s eyes shone with a childlike bewilderment. “Goodbye.” Then as if in a trance, he turned around and marched up the stairs.
Thank you, God. For a while, I heard nothing but the creaking of the stairs. Then the sound of the door going shut. A formidable sound. An absolute silence filled the cellar. Vlad’s mind must have been clear enough for him to remember to pass over the third step. But what had happened to him? Why had he gotten so distressed and distracted with what I’d said? I might never know, but I thanked God again for sparing my life.