‘What?’
‘The pendant,’ her eyes widened in realization, ‘you caught it with your watch strap and the chain snapped. It was the pendant the Goddess Diana gave to you, which you gave to me when the soul collector was on the loose in Mercy. I’ve never taken it off, I wear it all the time.’
‘Wait a minute,’ he held up his hand, ‘I can hear your thoughts. They’re tumbling over each other but they’re there.’
‘You haven’t been able to hear my thoughts for the past year, not since…’
‘Not since I gave you the pendant,’ Jake realized. ‘That’s why I couldn’t hear you, the pendant was protecting you.’
‘That’s probably why you can’t hear Olivia and Theo, they have a pendant each too. Although Olivia’s a guardian, and a witch so you still might not be able to hear her.’
‘Okay focus Roni,’ he drew her attention back, ‘so how did we end up here? And where exactly is here? It’s obviously something supernatural because, hello - black and white Bogart film?’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Roni mused as she turned to the door and read the name again. ‘Jake, I think we’re inside a book.’
‘What?’
‘Mason Stone, Private Eye,’ she pointed to the black lettering on the glass door. ‘I read some of Della’s book; it’s about a private investigator named Mason Stone. The phone rang and when I answered it, it was a man with a German accent asking if I have the key.’
‘The key?’ Jake replied, ‘what, like the key you found in Della’s room earlier?’
‘I don’t know,’ she shook her head, ‘maybe?’
‘I don’t know what the hell is going on,’ Jake shook his head in frustration.
‘I don’t either,’ Roni frowned, ‘but I think somehow, Della has pulled us inside one of her stories. You said it yourself, her room reeked of magic, so she obviously has some kind of ability. Maybe this is it.’
‘But why would she do that?’
‘What if she’s trying to communicate?’ Roni replied excitedly, ‘what if she’s trying to tell us something? Her body is damaged and she’d trapped inside, so maybe this is the only way she can talk to us?’
‘Okay,’ Jake nodded, ‘as it’s the only theory we’ve got right now, let’s go with it. What do we do now?’
‘Follow the story I guess,’ Roni shrugged.
‘How does the story go?’
‘I’m not exactly sure,’ she frowned. ‘I didn’t read all of it, but I got enough of it to get us started and then we’ll just have to figure out the clues. In the first chapter Mason heads to a club called Ruby’s, a couple of blocks from his office.’
Jake nodded as Roni rounded the desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a carton of bullets. She pulled her gun from the holster and flipped open the barrel, loading in the bullets one at a time.
‘I was real thirsty and not for something to drink, then I saw her, a tall glass of water. She had a gun and it weren’t no bean shooter, it was a real gun and she handled it like a pro…’
Roni looked up and blinked. ‘Seriously?’
‘I can’t help it,’ he shrugged helplessly, ‘it’s like I have Tourette’s, only the 1940s film noir version. I have no control over what comes out of my mouth; it’s like my brain and my mouth aren’t connected.’
Roni considered him thoughtfully.
‘Maybe she’s using you as the narrator.’
‘The what?’
‘She’s trying to tell the story through you.’ She finished loading the gun and tucked it back in her holster, ‘don’t fight it.’
‘Like I have a choice,’ he replied. ‘Come on doll,’ he grinned as he tugged his fedora forward to cover part of his face.
‘That one was you.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because I know you,’ she replied dryly, ‘just like I know you think you look like Indiana Jones in that hat.’
Jake paused for a minute, a small smile curving the corner of his mouth. ‘I do though, don’t I?’
Roni rolled her eyes, shaking her head even as her own smile tugged at the corner of her lips. They closed the office door behind them and headed into the elevator, sliding the metal cage closed with a steely hiss. The rickety old cart seemed to take forever to clatter down to the deserted lobby and when they finally stepped out onto the black and white tiled floor they headed toward the door.
The silence was once again pierced by a shrill ringing, and they stopped abruptly. Roni turned toward the wooden telephone booth, glancing back at Jake as she slid the folding door open and lifted the receiver off the black column shaped telephone.
‘Hello?’
‘Do you have the key?’
‘No,’ she replied, ‘who are you?’
There was a click and the line went dead.
‘What?’ Jake asked.
‘The German asking about the key again.’
‘And you told him no?’
‘It’s not exactly a lie,’ she replied, ‘I don’t have it. It’s still back in the real world and besides I don’t know who the hell he is. I’m not tipping my hand until I know what the hell is going on.’
Jake nodded in approval.
They headed out of the building. Despite the daylight filtering through the blinds in the private eye’s office, outside it was night. The sky was pitch black without a single star and obscured by swathes of grey cloud and low-lying fog. Jake took Roni’s hand as they navigated the uneven streets, passing by street lamps which threw only small halos of light at intervals along the sidewalk. The stupid saxophone started up again and the air was filled with a slow atmospheric jazz riff.
‘Oh my god,’ Roni muttered shaking her head.
The smog swirled and wrapped itself around their ankles. In the distance, a neon sign blinked poppy red.
‘Ruby’s,’ Roni muttered.
‘I saw Ruby’s in the distance, it was a clip joint and all of us knew it, but it wasn’t the cheap booze and the stench of corruption that had us all flocking to it like junkies. It was her, the canary in her pretty gilded cage. Rumor had it our little songbird was about to sing to the cops; no way little Nicky would let her drop a dime. I was behind the eight ball, if I didn’t do nothing it’s likely we’d all end up in the big house or worse, pushing up daisies… but what the hell a man’s gotta go sometime, better to end up in a Chicago overcoat than bracelets.’
Roni stared at Jake.
‘Okay I think I got most of that,’ she frowned. ‘We’re looking for a singer, a woman who belongs to someone called little Nicky.’
‘This is seriously the weirdest shit we’ve done so far,’ Jake shook his head.
‘Just think of the stories we’ll be able to tell our grandchildren,’ Roni headed toward the club.
‘They’ll have us committed.’
‘Then we’ll share a lovely padded room together,’ Roni laughed as she approached the door and knocked.
A small eye hatch slid open and a pair of dark eyes stared out at her.
‘Mason,’ the voice growled, ‘Little Nicky’s expecting you.’
The small hatch slid shut with a clang.
‘If you’re Mason,’ Jake frowned, ‘who does that make me?’
‘Uh, the eye candy?’
Jake cast her a dry look as the door rattled with the hiss of bolts sliding and then it creaked open. They both stepped through the doorway and felt it slam shut behind them with a clang. They moved further into the light and Jake turned to Roni.
‘Whoa,’ his eyes slid down her body scandalously.
She no longer wore her heavy overcoat, pants and shirt with her concealed gun holster. Instead her hair was swept off her long neck into a French chignon with the front section wound up into deep rolls, though her lips were still scarlet. Her dress was strapless and slit to the thigh, made from some sort of dazzling material which caught the light, making it look as if it were compr
ised completely of diamonds. Long white gloves reached past her elbows and a white mink stole hung from her bare shoulders.
Jake had also changed; no longer wearing his fedora, his blonde hair was parted and gelled ruthlessly to the side. He wore an elegant white tux with a black bow tie and pants, a blood red rose was tucked neatly into his lapel.
‘Damn,’ Jake checked her out, ‘it’s a shame we lost the gun, but fuck Roni, you clean up nice.’
‘I didn’t lose the gun,’ she muttered.
‘What?’ Jake’s eyes wandered as he took in the tight gown which fit her body like a second skin and the slit to mid-thigh revealing her long slim legs. ‘Where the hell have you concealed a gun?’
She winked cheekily at him.
‘Come on, we’ve got a songbird to find.’
They moved through the shifting throng of people, past small round tables and chairs, each lit with a small table lamp. Across the main dance floor was a stage.
‘Jake,’ Roni grabbed his arm, ‘look!’
On the stage, flanked by a ten-piece band, was the songbird and it was Adelaide.
‘Come on,’ Jake pulled Roni out onto the dance floor, lifting her arm and spinning her, before smoothly sliding his hand around her back and gliding out onto the floor.
‘Wow?’ Roni blinked, ‘you can dance?’
‘Louisa’s third grade ambition; our grandma used to watch all the old Hollywood movies. Louisa wanted to be able to dance like Ginger Rogers, guess who got suckered into being her dance partner.’
Roni smiled as he twirled her further into the dance floor amongst the glamorous swaying couples.
‘Don’t tell Tommy,’ he whispered in her ear.
They circled and edged their way across the dance floor, closer to the stage and closer to Adelaide.
‘Help me please!’ a sudden shrill female voice caught their attention.
Roni and Jake stopped dancing and turned to look.
‘Please help me,’ the woman was hysterically crying; her blonde hair was a mess and mascara streaked down her pale cheeks. Her feet were bare, and she wore nothing but an over-sized college sweater, which was wildly out of place with the 1940s glamour of the other guests.
‘Jake,’ Roni squeezed his biceps in shock, ‘isn’t she the receptionist from Rowan Oaks?’
Jake swore under his breath and started toward her when gunshots split the air. The music stopped, and the other guests began screaming and running. Several men in SS uniforms burst into the club and surrounded the sobbing girl.
Jake grabbed Roni and pulled her into the shadows.
One of the Nazi’s stepped forward as the girl was pushed to her knees in front of him.
‘You have the key?’ he asked in that coldly familiar voice.
‘Key?’ she sobbed, ‘what key? Mister I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I was at home, now I don’t know where I am.’
He slowly withdrew his service pistol from the holster at his hip and pointed it at her head.
‘Where is the key?’
‘Mister I don’t know,’ her voice rose hysterically.
The shot rang out and Jake clamped his hand over Roni’s mouth to muffle her cry of shock.
‘Search the building,’ the Nazi commanded as the girl’s body crumpled to the ground, a smoking bullet hole in her forehead.
Jake grabbed Roni and yanked her roughly to the side of the stage. They disappeared behind the curtain and then ran backstage. The band had disappeared, along with Adelaide. They ran down a long corridor which opened out into a stairwell.
‘Oh my god Jake,’ Roni breathed heavily as they caught their breath in the deserted stairwell, ‘I didn’t think he’d actually shoot her. I thought this was just a story.’
‘I don’t think it is,’ Jake shook his head, his mind working furiously. ‘I think that’s how those other people from Rowan Oaks died. She pulled them into her story, she was trying to tell them something, but they didn’t understand. But you, you understood she was trying to communicate, you were smart enough to tell the German you didn’t have the key.’
‘But what about the girl?’
‘There’s nothing we can do for her now,’ Jake shoved the guilt and anger back and tried to focus, they’re going to be searching the building. We need to get out of here and find Adelaide.’
‘What happens if they find us?’ Roni asked with wide eyes.
‘We can’t let that happen,’ Jake told her seriously, ‘because if we die in here, we die for real.’
9.
The sound of shouting and stomping boots above them had Jake grabbing Roni’s hand and pulling her to the railings. They leaned over and saw a familiar face staring up at them from two flights below.
Della beckoned them.
A quick glance up above told them the Nazis were flooding the stairwell. They ran, spiraling down the stairs until they reached a door. Della was standing in front of it, holding it open. They headed through and into a parking garage. Surrounded by vintage Fords with gangster leans they stood breathing heavily.
Roni turned to face Della, no longer the tiny, fragile, dying old woman she’d seen at Rowan Oaks, she now stared at a woman who could have been her mirror image.
‘You’re Adelaide, aren’t you?’ Roni asked. ‘You brought us here, didn’t you?’
She didn’t speak, simply stared at Roni, her eyes curious as she studied her intently.
‘What is it you’re trying to tell us?’ Roni tried desperately, ‘how did you know Renata? Were you really a Nazi?’
She stared at her.
‘Please, say something,’ Roni begged, ‘say anything; you brought us here for a reason.’
‘Roni,’ Jake grasped her arm, ‘I don’t think she can say anything.’
‘What?’ she turned to Jake and frowned.
‘While we’re in here we’re still tied to our bodies out there,’ he replied. ‘Her mind is damaged from the dementia and from the stroke. She brought us here but she’s still unable to communicate with us, because the brain damage she’s sustained is preventing her.’
‘Then why are we here?’ Roni shouted at her angrily, ‘so we can die like the others?’
The doors suddenly burst open and the SS men burst in, taking up positions around the room. There was nowhere to run, nothing to do but face them.
The tall thin man in the black uniform, who looked suspiciously like a member of the Gestapo, stepped forward as Jake and Roni were pushed to their knees in front of him.
‘Where is the key?’ he asked coldly.
Roni’s back stiffened.
‘Go to Hell,’ she hissed, her eyes blazing defiantly.
‘I will only ask one more time,’ he unclipped the holster at his hip and slowly drew his pistol, ‘where is the key?’
Roni glanced across at Jake who nodded to her.
‘I said…go to Hell,’ she repeated slowly.
‘Very well,’ the shot reverberated around the parking garage like a crack of lightening.
Roni tensed, freezing momentarily until she realized she felt no pain. She looked down in confusion and could see no blood. Looking up, her eyes widened as Della slowly dropped to the floor in front of her, crimson spreading across her chest, saturating her evening gown.
The Nazis all shimmered and disintegrated like sand caught in the wind, leaving the three of them alone. Roni crawled forward and pulled Della into her arms. She glanced up at Roni, her mouth opened but no sound came out. Roni watched as Della pulled a bracelet from her wrist and pressed it into Roni’s hand with blood stained fingers.
‘The Key…’ her whisper was as faint as a sigh, before her eyes slowly closed as she released her last breath.
Roni looked down at the bracelet she was holding. She turned it over in her hand and saw that underneath the glittering stones were a series of numbers.
‘Now I understand,’ Roni breathed and with that reali
zation everything shifted and blurred.
Roni opened her eyes slowly, everything still feeling as if it were spinning. She pushed herself up shakily and saw that they were once again back in their apartment. Both of them were lying on the floor amidst Renata’s possessions, Jake once again in his uniform and Roni wearing only her skirt and bra.
‘Roni?’ Jake reached for her, ‘are you okay?’
‘I’m okay,’ she breathed heavily as Jake pulled her into his arms, holding onto her tightly.
‘Go to Hell,’ he repeated, ‘go to Hell? Jesus Christ woman, you’ve been hanging around Olivia too long.’
Roni chuckled, shaking her head before fixing him with serious eyes.
‘Do you think she’s gone?’
‘Della?’ Jake replied.
She nodded.
‘There’s only one way to find out,’ he answered as he pulled her to her feet. ‘Get dressed.’
After several phone calls and a drive to Rowan Oaks in the middle of the night, Roni was standing staring down at Della’s still form. Her Iv’s and monitors had been removed and she was laid out in calm repose.
A heart attack the official report would read, but Roni knew the truth.
‘Mac called,’ Jake stepped into the room and spoke quietly. ‘The receptionist was named Jo; they found her dead in her apartment, same as the others.’
‘If only we’d known,’ Roni frowned. ‘If only we’d understood sooner, we might’ve been able to save her.’
‘Don’t do that to yourself Roni,’ Jake told her. ‘I don’t feel good about it either but there is no way we could’ve known.’
‘I guess.’
‘You okay?’ his hand snaked around the back of her neck and massaged gently as she leaned into him, pressing her temple to his.
‘Honestly, I don’t know what I feel right now.’
‘Miss Mason?’
Roni turned to see the manager Ella Vaughan standing behind her, wearing pajamas and a sweat shirt, her eyes red rimmed and tearful.
‘May I have a moment of your time?’
Roni nodded and followed her out into the corridor.
‘Here, this is for you.’
A Little Town Called Mercy Page 24