Irving Wallace - The Golden Room

Outside the Castle, Bruce and Alan stood on the sidewalk before Minna's car.

'What now?' Bruce said. 'Where do we go from here?'

'Nowhere else,' said Alan enigmatically.

Beckoning Bruce closer, Alan held a clenched fist in front of him. Slowly unclenching his fingers, he revealed a ring of keys in the palm of his hand.

Puzzled, Bruce asked, 'What's that?'

'Dr Holmes's keys, I hope. They were dangling from a hook under the edge of his desk. While we were talking, my knee bumped against them. When he turned his head, I slipped my hand under his desk and pocketed them. My guess is that his front door key is among them.'

'Front door key?' said Bruce, bewildered.

'To get us back in the house for a thorough look around.'

'But what for?'

Alan lowered his voice. 'Bruce, I don't like it. I don't believe that Cathleen and Karen left to go somewhere else. It makes no sense. They had no place to go, neither of them. They didn't know the Everleigh Club was open again. Karen had rented out her rooms. No hotel rooms were available last night. They had no idea where Minna and Aida might be staying. Why would they leave with no destination?'

'What are you trying to say?'

Alan came even closer to Bruce. 'I think they're still here.'

'Why wouldn't the doctor tell us so?'

'Maybe he wants to keep them here against their will for some reason like -'

'Like what?'

'Sex, white slavery, I don't know what. I only know I don't like him and I don't trust him. I say we go back into his house for another look.'

'What if he catches us?'

Alan jiggled the keys in his palm. 'I could say the ring got caught in my pocket and I just found it and wanted to return it.'

'He'll never accept that.'

'Then he can accuse us of trespassing and call the police.'

'I doubt he'd do that,' said Bruce.

Alan gazed at Bruce. 'Want to come along with me?'

Bruce smiled, took the keys out of Alan's hand, and started for Holmes's front door. Alan fell in beside him.

'This will have to be a very quiet operation,' whispered Bruce.

He began sorting the keys and pushed the first one into the front door keyhole. It didn't turn. He tried the second key. Same result.

The third key worked.

Gently, Bruce eased the front door open, praying it wouldn't make a noise. Well oiled, the massive door yielded without a sound.

As they squeezed inside, Alan's head tilted forward, indicating something ahead.

Dr Herman Holmes was visible in the hall, his back to them, as if meditating.

Silently, Bruce and Alan entered the shadowy foyer and closed the door. Bruce signalled Alan to duck behind the dark corner of a pillar with him and hide there.

After a brief interval, although desperate to keep out of sight, Bruce risked peeking out from behind the pillar.

He saw Dr Holmes still standing in contemplation where he had been when they re-entered. But now, Holmes was no longer looking towards his office. Instead, he was staring at the blank wall.

Now that he had rid himself of the intruders, and was in complete control once more, Dr Holmes had come to a different decision about what he would do next.

He had been about to lift the gas lever that would exterminate the two imprisoned women. However, with the visit of those two meddling young men, a delay had occurred. Dr Holmes could imagine how that passage of time had affected Cathleen and Karen. They had expected to die at once. Certainly, this waiting, trapped, had tortured them, weakened their resolve to resist him. Perhaps they were less ready to die. Likely, they'd had time to reconsider Holmes's demand, and probably now saw it as the lesser of two evils.

Fantasizing what it was like to have Karen naked beneath him, that soft, fresh body, to be followed by Cathleen's body, Holmes changed the direction of his next step.

He would give them another chance.

Slowly, Holmes walked to the blank wall, reached behind the broad-leafed rubber plant to the button opening the sliding door. As the wall began to slide open, Holmes reached into his pocket for the Colt.45. He pointed it into the room.

He observed Karen off to his left, on her hands and knees exploring the floor of the room, as if seeking a means of escape. He saw Cathleen seated on the examination table, crying quietly.

Both women sprang upright at the sound of the opening door and, as they realized that Holmes had returned, looked at him with dread and disgust.

'Karen!' Holmes shouted. 'Get over to the examination table where you belong, next to Cathleen!'

Obediently, Karen straightened and marched back to the table and stood beside Cathleen.

'All right, listen to me,' announced Holmes. 'I'm giving both of you a second chance. It's your last chance, and you'd be wise to take it. You, Cathleen, I want you to come up to my bedroom with me.'

There was a long interval of silence before Cathleen began sobbing loudly. 'No – no, I can't -I can't do that.'

Holmes spoke again. 'All right, that was Cathleen's death sentence. What about you, Karen? Do you want a reprieve?'

'Get out of my sight, you lousy scum, and let me die in peace!' Karen shouted.

Holmes grunted. 'You will now have your wish, each of you. I'm locking you in. I'm going to turn on the poison gas and leave it on until you choke to death. Goodbye, you fools!'

With that, Holmes stepped outside the room and pressed the button, waiting while the wall slid shut on his victims.

Pleased, he pocketed the gun, and in measured strides made for his office.

Bruce pulled back into the shadows behind the pillar.

'You heard that,' he whispered. 'We've got to act fast, right now.'

'He's got a gun,' Alan whispered back. 'If he hears us, he'll shoot us dead and kill the girls too.'

Bruce was already removing his boots. 'Take off your shoes, Alan. He's not going to hear us.'

In seconds they were both in their stocking feet.

'Let's go,' Bruce whispered urgently.

They stepped out into the foyer and crept quietly down the central hallway.

They paused.

In the dim light off to their left, they could see that Dr Holmes had entered his office. He was rubbing his hands together as he headed towards what Bruce guessed was a control panel.

Without another word, Bruce signalled Alan to follow him as he hurried on padded feet across the hall into Holmes's office.

Dr Holmes was reaching up for a lever.

Abruptly, Bruce gestured for Alan to circle around to Holmes's other side. Alan did so as Bruce closed in on Holmes directly from behind.

Holmes's finger was already on the lever.

Bruce cocked his head towards Alan.

With a shriek, Alan leaped at Holmes, hammering one fist against the doctor's arm, knocking his hand away from the lever.

Startled, wild-eyed, Holmes lunged at Alan with a fist as his free hand snaked into his jacket for the Colt.45.

Behind him, Bruce saw the gun in Holmes's hand. Instantly, Bruce grabbed for Holmes's wrist, wrenching hard. The Colt.45 wobbled in Holmes's grip, then flew to the floor.

Holmes whirled about to confront Bruce, slipped beneath a blow, and hooked out with a right and left to Bruce's jaw. The power of the punches rocked Bruce, momentarily paralysing him as he went down heavily on his back.

In a flash, Holmes kneeled, swept up the Colt.45 once more, gripped it, and spun around to fire at Alan, who was coming at him.

Bruce staggered to his feet, in a frenzy scanned the room for any heavy object – he saw the solid-looking Venus de Milo vase with its dried flowers on the mantelpiece. With both hands Bruce reached up for it and turned in time to see Holmes taking aim at the retreating Alan.

Bruce lifted the vase high above him, and with all his strength brought it down with a loud thud on the top of the doctor's skull.