Десмонд Бэгли - Landslide

The old man said nothing but just breathed deeper. Lucy looked at me blankly.

I said, ‘All right, Lucy. You’ve asked for it.’ I had to get this over with fast before Gibbons came up. He wouldn’t stand for what I was about to do.

Lucy giggled. It was a soft imbecile giggle that shook her whole body, and developed into a maniacal cackle. ‘All right,’ she yelled at me. ‘We put the sexy bitch in the cellar, and the old fool with her. I wanted to kill them both but Howard wouldn’t let me, the damn’ fool.’

Gibbons heard that. He had opened the door as she began laughing and his face was white. I felt a wave of relief sweep over me and jerked my head at Gibbons. ‘The nurse say anything about this?’

‘She said a little.’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t believe it.’

‘You heard what this one said, though. She’s got Clare Trinavant and old McDougall locked in a dungeon of this mausoleum. You’d better put cuffs on her, but watch it — she’s homicidal.’

I didn’t take the shotgun off her until he had her safely handcuffed and then I tossed it to him. ‘The nurse will fill you in on everything,’ I said. ‘I’m going to find Clare and Mac.’ I paused and looked down at the old man. His eyes were closed and he was apparently sleeping peacefully. I looked at the nurse. ‘Maybe you’d better tend your patient first. I wouldn’t want to lose him now.’

I hurried out and down the staircase. In the hall I found a bewildered-looking man in a dressing-gown. He came over to me at a shuffle, and said in an English accent, ‘What’s all the fuss? Why are the police here?’

‘Who are you?’ I asked.

He drew himself up. ‘I’m Mr Matterson’s butler.’

‘Okay, Jeeves; do you have any spare keys for the cellars?’

‘I don’t know who you are, sir, but—’

‘This is police business,’ I said impatiently. ‘The keys?’

‘I have a complete set of all the house keys in my pantry.’

‘Go get them — and make it fast.’

I followed him and he took a bunch of keys from a cabinet which contained enough to outfit a locksmith’s shop. Then I took him at a run down to the cellars which were of a pattern with the house — too big and mostly unused. I shouted around for a while and at last was rewarded by a faint cry. ‘That’s it,’ I said. ‘Open that door.’

He checked a number stencilled on the door and slowly selected a key from the bunch while I dithered with impatience. The door creaked open and then Clare was in my arms. When we unlatched from each other I saw she was filthily dirty, but probably not more than I was. Her face was streaked with dirt and there were runnels down her cheeks where the tears ran. ‘Thank God!’ I said. ‘Thank God you’re alive.’

She gave a little cry and turned. ‘Mac’s bad,’ she said. ‘They didn’t feed us. Howard came down sometimes but we haven’t seen him for five days.’

I turned to the butler who was standing with his mouth open. ‘Send for a doctor and an ambulance,’ I said. ‘And move, damn you.’

He trotted off and I went in to see how bad Mac was. It figured, of course. Crazy Lucy wouldn’t bother to feed people she already regarded as dead. Clare said, ‘We’ve had no food or water for five days.’

‘We’ll fix that,’ I said, and stooped down to Mac. His breathing was quick and shallow and the pulse was weak. I picked him up in my arms and he seemed to weigh no more than a baby. I carried him upstairs with Clare following and found the butler in the hall. ‘A bedroom,’ I said. ‘And then food for six people — a big pot of coffee and a gallon of water.’

‘Water, sir?’

‘For Christ’s sake, don’t repeat what I say. Yes — water.’

We got Mac settled in bed and by that time the butler had aroused the house. I had to caution Clare not to drink water too fast nor to drink too much, and she fell on cold cuts as though she hadn’t eaten for five weeks instead of five days. I reflected that I hadn’t lived too badly in the Kinoxi Valley, after all.

We left Mac in the care of a doctor and went to find Gibbons who was on the telephone trying to make someone believe the incredible. ‘Yes,’ he was saying. ‘He’s loose in the Kinoxi Valley — got a shotgun with rifled slugs. Yes, I said Howard Matterson. That’s right, Bull Matterson’s son. Of course I’m sure; I got it from Bull himself.’ He looked up at me, then said, ‘I’ve got a guy here who was shot at by Howard.’ He sighed and then brightened as though the news had finally sunk in on the other end of the line. ‘Look, I’m going up to the Kinoxi myself right now, but it’s unlikely that I’ll find him — he could be anywhere. I’ll need a backup force — we might have to cordon off a stretch of the woods.’

I smiled a little sadly at Clare. This was where I came in but this time I was on the other end of a manhunt — not the sharp end. Gibbons spoke a few more words into the mouthpiece, then said, ‘I’ll ring you just before I leave with any more dope I can get.’ He put down the telephone. ‘This is goddam incredible.’

‘You don’t have to tell me,’ I said tiredly, and sat down. ‘Did you really speak to Bull?’

Gibbons nodded and there was a kind of desperate awe in his face. ‘He gave me specific instructions,’ he said. ‘I’m to shoot and kill Howard on sight just as if he were a mad dog.’

‘Bull’s not too far wrong,’ I said. ‘You’ve seen Lucy — she’s crazy enough, isn’t she?’

Gibbons shuddered slightly, then pulled himself together. ‘We don’t do things like that, though,’ he said firmly. ‘I’ll bring him in alive.’

‘Don’t be too much the goddam hero,’ I advised. ‘He’s got a shotgun — a five-shot automatic loaded with 12-gauge rifled slugs. He nearly cut Jimmy Waystrand in two with one shot.’ I shrugged. ‘But you’re the professional. I suppose you know what you’re doing.’

Gibbons fingered some sheets of paper. ‘Is all this true? All this about them killing the Trinavants years ago?’

‘It’s a verbatim report of what old Matterson said. I’m witness to that.’

‘All right,’ he said. ‘I have a map here. Show me where you last saw Howard.’

I bent over as he unfolded the map. ‘Right there,’ I said. ‘He took two shots at the helicopter as we were taking off. If you want to get up to the Kinoxi fast that helicopter is just outside the house, and there might even be a pilot, too. If he objects to going back to the Kinoxi tell him I said he was to go.’

Gibbons looked at me closely. ‘I got a pretty garbled story from that nurse. I gather you’ve been on the run from Howard and a bunch of loggers for three weeks.’

‘An exaggeration,’ I said. ‘Less than two weeks.’

‘Why the hell didn’t you come to me?’ Gibbons demanded.

It was then I started to laugh. I laughed until the tears came to my eyes and my sides ached. I laughed myself into hysteria and they had to bring a doctor to calm me down. I was still chuckling when they put me to bed and I fell asleep.

I woke up fifteen hours later to find Clare at the bedside. I saw her face in profile and I’ve never seen anything so lovely. She became aware I was awake and turned. ‘Hello, Boyd,’ she said.

‘Hi, Trinavant.’ I stretched luxuriously. ‘What time is it?’

‘Just past midday.’ She looked at me critically. ‘You could do with a clean-up. Seen yourself lately?’

I rubbed my jaw. It no longer prickled because the hair had grown too long for that. I said, ‘Maybe I’ll grow a beard.’

‘Just you dare.’ She pointed. ‘There’s a bathroom through there, and I got you a razor.’

‘I trust I won’t offend your maidenly modesty,’ I said as I threw back the sheets. I swung out of bed and walked into the bathroom. The face that stared at me from the big mirror was the face of a stranger — haggard and wild-looking. ‘My God!’ I said. ‘No wonder that pilot was wetting his pants. I bet I could stop cows giving milk.’