Warren Adler - The War of the Roses

In her mind each isolated sound outlined his little ploys, his booby traps. She was certain she knew exactly what he was doing. Well, she had a few tricks of her own up her sleeve.

She groped on hands and knees through the blazing-hot attic, half lit by daylight filtering through slatted vents. Over one shoulder she carried her shopping bag. She had made a sling for the cleaver and carried it stretched across her chest like a bow.

Once before, she had crawled into this attic space. Years ago, when the men had come to attach the chandelier. An engineer had determined that the main beam had to be reinforced if the chandelier was to be safely attached, and additional wooden beams were superimposed over the original one.

She found the exact spot where the chandelier’s chain was embedded by spikes in the beams. She remembered that the men who had attached it were proud of their handiwork. And, indeed, they should have been. The chandelier was perfectly balanced and safe, considering that it was hanging from a chain three stories high.

She hacked away at the wooden beam with her cleaver. It was hard work. The cleaver was not as effective as an ax. Sweat poured out of her, and she had to rest periodically. Her objective was to weaken the beam and, therefore, the stability of the chandelier. Just in case she needed an ultimate weapon. He, too, she knew, was sparing no energy, concocting ingenious traps.

After hacking away for nearly an hour, she lay exhausted on the insulation pads until her energy returned.

It was dark when she let herself down from the attic hole. She heard him close the door of his room, as always the signal that she could leave the safety of the attic. Her fingers moved ahead of her, like fluttering antennas. The closet door, she noted, was not quite true and she quickly realized that he had removed the hinges. Opening it slowly, with minuscule movement, she slipped through the crack. Did he really believe that the house would hurt her? Not now. Not ever.

Moving on her hands and knees, she reached out her arms, touching everything in front of her, like a mine detector. The floor was slick, with little friction. He had separated and loosened the carpet on the landing. Stretching herself on her back lengthwise, she slid slowly down the steps, landing gendy. By now her eyes were accustomed to the darkness and she saw at once the odd shapes on the stairs to the first floor. Her mind had created a map of everything in the house and the slightest thing awry was enough to trigger a reaction. The lightest touch of her fingers, for example, showed her the banister was loose.

Proud of both her deductive ability and her stealth, she moved toward the back stairs. He had removed the wedge he had placed at the door to make the missing bolts more hazardous, a problem now easy for her to deal with. Using what she thought of as the sled method, she slid down the stairs on her back. The obstacles he had placed on the flat surfaces were easily avoided and she was able to crawl along the corridor to the library and carefully gather up armfuls of the Staffordshire figures both on the library mantel and in the parlor. She put them in her shopping bag and carefully retraced her steps, avoiding all his crude booby traps.

She got up the back stairs by applying a type of rappeling, using her cleaver periodically to dig into the wall, then hoisting herself up by its handle. For every measure there was a countermeasure, she told herself, proud of her resourcefulness, crowing over how badly he had underestimated her ingenuity.

Squatting in front of his room, she selected two Napoleons from her shopping bag and with her cleaver beheaded them and stood the figures on the floor in front of his door.

With her lipstick she wrote on the door: ‘Off with their heads.’ Unable to stifle her giggles, she moved away and, again using the rappeling method, shimmied up the stairs and back to her attic hideaway.

She lay on her makeshift bed of insulation, ignoring the heat, the sweat of her body, and whatever physical discomfort she was supposed to feel. Only one emotion seized her. The joy of having bested him. Her body, too, seemed suffused with a sexual response, an exquisite sensation of unspecific ecstasy, a post-orgasmic after-thrill. Her nipples were erect, her inner parts moist.

She was Barbara, her identity clear, unmistakable. Mistress of herself. Surviving in the jungle.

Ann’s fear immobilized her. She lay on the bed in her room, listening to the sporadic rhythm of the faulty air conditioner. It seemed to be running in tandem to the beating of her heart. Did she have, she asked herself, some obligation to report what was occurring in that house? But what could she report? She could not put any order to her explanation. What was really going on in there? She imagined conversations with detectives in urine-smelling rooms.

‘I think they’re trying to kill each other.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I was inside. The entire inside is unsafe.’

"What were you doing inside?’

She was not afraid of being charged with anything. Or was she? Perhaps if she had talked to Oliver. Touched him. Was that really Oliver she had seen, that ravaged, zombielike figure? Surely not the man she had loved. Loved? The word repelled her now.

Yet even the mute, worn figure of Oliver conveyed less terror than the house itself. It had become alive, a chilling, bloodless monster. The memory of its brutality recalled her body’s punishment. Their mutual hate had breathed life into it. A house? She detested it now. Her revulsion gave her the strength to rise from the bed.

She could not stay another minute in her room. She dressed and went downstairs. At the desk she found a message. It was from Eve. ‘Please call me ASAP.’

It was early in the morning, but she called anyway, reaching the disgruntled camp director, who was unco-operative until Ann insisted it was a matter of the utmost urgency.

‘I haven’t heard from either Mom or Dad in three weeks. I’m scared, Ann.’ There was an unmistakable note of hysteria in her voice. ‘Josh is a nervous wreck. We’re worried sick.’

‘They’re probably still on vacation.’

‘I don’t believe that. Why was the telephone disconnected? I even sent them a telegram. It came back stamped "undeliverable." But my mail doesn’t come back.’

‘There,’ Ann said bravely. ‘They didn’t leave a forwarding address. That means they’re not planning to be away long.’

‘I called both grandmas. They haven’t heard from them, either. They’re worried also.’

‘I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about. They just needed to get away and took separate vacations.’

‘I don’t believe that, Ann. I’m sorry.’

Ann’s words hadn’t carried much conviction and she knew it.

‘I intend to come home and see for myself,’ Eve continued.

‘Now, that is really absurd.’ Ann’s lips could barely form the response.

‘Well, then, why don’t they call? Why haven’t they written? Whatever the differences between them, we’re still their children.’ She began to cry as her voice teetered on the edge of panic. Ann felt her own sob begin in her chest. They mustn’t, she begged.

‘I’ll make a deal,’ she said hurriedly. ‘I’ll find out where they are and tell them that they have got to call because you’re worried. I’ll call at the end of the day. I promise.’ She needed time to think. And she had to keep them away from that monstrous house.

There was a long pause. She heard Eve’s sniffling.

The agony was real, compelling. She wanted to hold the girl in her arms, comfort her.

‘All right,’ Eve replied, the words carrying an implied ultimatum.

‘Just don’t do anything foolish,’ Ann warned, instantly sorry for what she had said, knowing it would put Eve on alert. ‘Please,’ she added.