Eximere (The River Book 4) (14 page)

Let’s all shy away from doing anything with them in the
River,
Roy
suggested.
But keep thinking about what the ‘DA’ might mean.

They exited the river. Steven felt the stab of pain in his
neck, more pronounced than normal. Roy noticed the look on Steven’s face.

“Her attacks have weakened you,” Roy said. “Your natural
defenses aren’t as strong as normal.”

“All I want for dinner,” Steven said, rubbing the back of his
head, “is warm soup.”

“I saw some in the pantry,” Eliza said. “I’ll go down and get
some started for you.”

◊

At dinner the group discussed various theories people formed
about Percival, the device, and Anita. Russell’s theories were the wackiest,
and Roy wanted badly to shoot them down, but since it was in his best interest
to have the other three consumed with their own ideas, he indulged Russell and
let him talk. He even encouraged him at one point, for which Steven kicked him
under the table.

“I’m telling you, Percival is the key to this,” Russell said.
“The next time he shows up, we need to physically pin him down and make him
talk.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Roy said.

“Percival is a misguided zealot,” Myrna said. “Anita is the
key. We’ve got to figure out her role in all this.”

“Count me out,” Steven said. “I’ve had enough of her.”

“Perhaps we should all just turn in for the night,” Jonathan
said. “We’re not really getting anywhere with all this.”

Steven once again looked at Eliza. She met his gaze and then
looked away. He looked at Roy, who closed his eyes and nodded.

“That’s right, stop trying,” Roy said. “That’s always your
suggestion.”

“What do you mean?” Jonathan asked.

“I mean,” Roy said, “whenever anyone comes up with an idea,
you always opt for not doing anything. Are you the rat, Jonathan?”

“I can’t believe you’d suggest that,” he said, pulling back.

Myrna turned to Jonathan. “It’s true what Roy says about you
recommending inaction.”

“I only suggested we turn in for the night,” Jonathan said.

“It’s 7:30,” Roy said. “I think you’d rather we just stopped
working on it.”

“And you were the person who got us all involved,” Russell
added.

“I’m as upset about this as any of you,” Jonathan said. “I
want it solved.”

“You don’t seem to do much to solve it,” Roy said. “Quite the
opposite.”

“You can’t prove any of this,” Jonathan said. “You’re
stabbing in the dark. I’m going to bed.”

Eliza sat quietly through the entire exchange, and now she
watched Jonathan as he turned and walked out of the room. Once Jonathan was far
enough away, Russell moved over to Roy.

“You think it’s him, don’t you?”

“Like he said, can’t prove it,” Roy answered. “But it’s a
hunch.”

“He’s the one who set this all up with Percival,” Myrna said.
“He’s the most likely one.”

“I’ve known him for over thirty years,” Eliza said. “I just
can’t believe it was him.”

“He’s very good at masking his intentions,” Russell said,
pacing the room. “I think he’s known about the entire plan from the beginning.”

“Why would he go along with such a thing?” Eliza asked.

“Money,” Russell said.

“I don’t think Kent Percival has much to offer,” Eliza said.

“Maybe not,” Russell said, “but the estate has plenty of
money. It could be a conspiracy.”

“The estate?” Eliza said. “What, you mean the lawyers?”

“We only know what he’s told us,” Russell said. “The real
situation might be completely different than what Percival said. They might be
behind it all. The story about James might be bullshit too.”

“What, some big conspiracy to drain us of our powers?” Myrna
asked.

“For what purpose?” Eliza asked.

“Perhaps they’ve found a way to transfer them to others,”
Russell said. “Make themselves more powerful. Perhaps that’s what they offered
Jonathan. More power.”

“This is all just wild speculation,” Eliza said. “I’m tired,
and I think I’ll turn in for the night.”

“I’m done too,” Steven said. “I’ve had a rough day.”

Russell continued his theorizing as the group left the dining
room and migrated upstairs. Soon enough they were all segregated into their
individual bedrooms. Roy stepped in to check on Steven.

“A good night’s sleep and you’ll feel better,” Roy said.

“Couldn’t resist dropping the hammer on Jonathan down there?”
Steven asked.

“Russell got me so worked up it all popped out on Jonathan,”
Roy said. “Bunch of whiners.”

“We need to keep our energy focused on solving the ‘DA’,”
Steven said, “not on bullying the others.”

“That wasn’t bullying,” Roy said, “it was just leveling things
a little.”

“It served no purpose,” Steven said. “Don’t let that famous
anger of yours get us into more trouble than we’re already in. Just stay cool.”

“‘Famous anger?’ What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know what it means,” Steven said. “I’ve seen you go from
zero to ninety in two seconds. And Russell and Jonathan are just the types that
set you off – a blowhard and a liar. So keep the comments to yourself until we
can get the rest figured out, or something will go wrong. Now they know what
we’re thinking – that’s not the poker you taught me to play.”

Roy sputtered a little, but he knew Steven was right. There
was no point in accusing Jonathan, even if they believed him to be the rat. He
just couldn’t stand Jonathan’s smug silence.

“You warm enough?” Roy said, changing the subject.

“I’m fine,” Steven said. “Go get some sleep. And think about
D and A.”

Roy was back in Steven’s room the next morning right after
sunrise.

“Get up,” Roy said, shaking Steven awake.

“What?” Steven said groggily. “What time is it?”

“You know how sometimes things just hit you first thing in
the morning? As through sleep allowed you to see more clearly?”

“Yeah,” Steven said. “So?”

“You remember when you said that Eliza was writing
erratically? Yesterday, when you told us what happened during the séance?”

“Yes,” Steven said, propping himself up in bed with one
elbow.

“What if it wasn’t a ‘DA’ she wrote?” Roy said. “It was dark,
you were looking with a flashlight, you were being attacked, and she was
writing without any self-control. What if it looked like a ‘DA’ to you, but it
was something else, or she meant it to be something else?”

“What else?” Steven asked, sitting up.

“Well,” Roy asked. “I can see how a ‘D’ might have really
been an ‘O’ with an accidental flat side, or a “P” with the bottom not
connected at the right place. An ‘A’ could be an ‘R’ if it isn’t drawn
correctly. That gives us new combinations to work with.”

“Right,” Steven said, wiping the sleep from his eyes and
yawning. “So ‘DR,’ ‘OA,’ ‘OR,’ ‘PA,’ and ‘PR.’”

“Right. The River, please.”

They both jumped into the flow.

PA - pantry
, Roy thought.
The kitchen has a couple of pantries. We
could try there.

That could be it,
Steven thought.
Is Eliza up yet?

I’ll check
, Roy thought, and abruptly left the River and the room. Steven
fell back in bed, remaining in the River for a moment. Sometimes the River was
a nice place to be, especially when waking up. Also, he didn’t want to feel the
pain of the exit just yet. He let himself float through the house a bit, and up
above the house.
I wonder where the tunnel is from this vantage point?
he thought. He heard Roy come back into his room, and he slipped out of the
River.

“She’s coming,” Roy said. “No one’s up yet, now would be a
good time to explore. Come on, get up!”

“All right,” Steven said, throwing off the bedcovers and
searching for clothes. “I’ll meet you downstairs in five minutes.”

“OK,” Roy said, heading for the door.

“And Dad?”

“Yes?” Roy said, turning.

“Coffee first, please.”

“I’m on it.”

◊

Steven, Roy, and Eliza met in the kitchen ten minutes later.

“So what are we looking for?” Eliza said, studying a wooden
panel in a corner of the kitchen.

“If it’s like the other one,” Steven said, “the panel will
recede when pushed straight back, then slide to the left or right.”

“There are two pantries that I’ve seen,” Roy said, examining
one of them. It was filled with canned food and bags of flour and sugar in
plastic containers. “I can’t see anything in here that would do it.”

“Where’s the other one?” Eliza asked.

“Back through to the room that has the outside door,” Roy
answered.

Eliza and Roy made their way to the other room, with Steven
following. There were two doors in the room with the large butcher block, aside
from the door outside and the way into the larger kitchen.  Steven opened one
of them, finding a small bathroom. He examined the walls of it while Eliza and
Roy tried the other door. After a few minutes he heard Eliza calling for him.

He joined them. The pantry was large, and the shelves were
bare. A second door was open at the back of the pantry that Roy stood next to.

“At first I thought this pantry was it,” Roy said. “But it’s
actually inside this closet. Look!” he said, pointing inside.

Steven stepped into the closet, which was large enough to
hold four or five people comfortably. There were a couple of mops and rolling
buckets, and chemical cleaners on shelves. In the back of the room Steven
noticed an open space near the floor behind a metal rack.

“The entire section of wainscoting fell in when I pushed hard
enough,” Roy said.

“We’ll have to rearrange this closet,” Steven said. “Move
this rack out of the way.”

“Let’s do it without making too much noise,” Eliza said.

“If we move it over to here,” Roy said, “it’ll still look
normal. If the others come snooping, there’ll be no reason to suspect
anything.”

“We’ll just have to make sure that wainscoting goes back into
place,” Steven said, grabbing the side of the rack and waiting for Roy to grab
the other. After a few minutes of lifting while trying to be as quiet as
possible, they had access to the empty space Roy created, which was about three
feet square. Light from the room didn’t shine well enough into the space to be
able to see anything. Steven turned on his flashlight and poked his head into
the space.

“Ladder, going down,” he said, his head inside the hole.

“Great,” Eliza said, a little sarcastically. “But at least
we’re on to something, finally.”

“I say we do it now,” Roy said. “Leave a note telling the
others we’ve gone back into town.”

Steven pulled his head back out of the hole and looked at
Eliza. She nodded.

“Agreed,” Steven said.

“I’ll take care of the note,” Eliza said, leaving the room
and returning to the dining room.

“I’ll start down,” Steven said, “and see what we’re dealing
with in here.”

“Look for that section of wainscoting,” Roy said. “We’ll need
to get it back into place behind us.”

Steven turned and crawled into the open space backwards,
searching for the first rung of the ladder. He eventually found it, then
slipped more of his body down into the hole. He stopped just after he had completely
entered the space, shining his flashlight around.

“This is a small space,” he said. “I don’t see the wainscoting.
It must have fallen below. Did you hear it crash when you pushed it in?”

“No,” Roy said. “I didn’t.”

“That’s a little unsettling,” Steven said.

Eliza returned and saw Steven’s head in the hole. “Oh, I
don’t relish climbing into that,” she said.

“It’s not too bad,” Steven said, “but we don’t know about the
wainscoting. We don’t know how far down this goes. So let’s just take this slow
and steady.”

Steven began to descend, slowly repositioning his foot. “This
is a wooden ladder,” he said, his head disappearing from the hole. “Who knows
how old it is.”

“Why don’t you go next,” Roy said to Eliza, “and I’ll make
sure everything looks normal up here before I follow you down.”

Eliza gave Roy a weak smile. “I’m sorry I got you both
involved in this,” she said.

“Now, now,” Roy said, smiling back at her. “It could have
easily been the other way around. You were pretty quick to help me and Steven
when we needed your help in Oregon. We’ll get this sorted.”

She looked at the hole. “How do I…?” she said.

“Get down on your hands and knees,” Roy said, “and go in feet
first. Don’t get too close to Steven, and I’ll maintain several feet from you.”

Eliza did as Roy instructed and soon found herself standing
on the first rung of the ladder. She looked up at Roy, concerned. “Just go one
step at a time, and take your time,” Roy said. She smiled back at him and
lowered herself to the next rung.

Roy looked around the closet. He went back into the pantry,
shut the door and turned off the lights. Then he went into the closet and did
the same. He could just see the opening to the ladder.
We’re going to have
to get that wainscoting back in place
, he thought.
Anyone who walks in
here is going to notice the hole.

He moved a rolling mop bucket into place by the hole, and as
he slipped into it, he pulled the bucket towards the hole.
At least it’ll
obscure it a little
, he thought.
But not enough to stop someone who’s
searching.
Then he descended after Eliza.

Steven began counting rungs after the first dozen. He could
feel little bits of debris falling on him from Eliza and Roy above.  After
another ten rungs he stopped and shined his flashlight around him and down the
hole. The walls of the shaft were covered with pine planks, and went down as
far as his light would illuminate.

He continued down, not wanting Eliza to run into him. Each
step was driving him crazy, not knowing what was coming, if the ladder would
just suddenly be gone. He counted another twenty rungs, and stopped to shine
the light down below him once again. Now he could see a platform below, and he
exhaled with relief, as though he’d been holding his breath the whole time.

Once he reached the platform he shone the light back up the
shaft. Eliza was still ten or fifteen rungs above him.  “I’ve reached a
platform,” he shouted up.

“Oh, good!” Eliza replied.

The platform was made of the same pine planks that lined the
walls. It was about three feet square. Steven saw the piece of wainscoting
lying on the ground. It was broken on one corner. There was a small wooden door
leading out of the platform – he assumed that’s where they’d head next. He
tried the handle – it opened, a welcome change.

Eliza soon landed on the platform with him. “Not too bad, was
it?” Steven asked.

“My claustrophobia needle is in the red,” Eliza said.

“Look, the wainscoting is damaged,” Steven said, showing it
to her.

“We should still try to replace it,” Eliza said.

Roy emerged from the hole above and stepped onto the
platform. He saw the wood in Steven’s hand.

“You found it!” he exclaimed. “Ah, but it’s broken.”

“Should we put it back in place?” Steven said. “With this
damage, what’s the difference between the open hole and this? They’ll both give
it away.”

“Let’s take it back up when we return,” Roy said, “and see
what we can do with it. I pulled a mop bucket in front of the hole before I
came down. Won’t camouflage much, but at least it was something.  I think we’re
fine for a little while so long as no one gets a hair up their ass to go
exploring.”

“OK, we’ll leave it here for now,” Steven said, propping the
chunk of wood on its side against the walls of the platform. “The door opens, I
checked it already.”

“Good, let’s see what we’re dealing with,” Eliza said.

Steven opened the door, finding himself in another
passageway, not unlike the one they’d discovered behind the trophy room.

“I hope this doesn’t just lead to that welded door,” Roy
said.

“We’re well below that level,” Eliza said. “I think we’re
below the point where the protection was blocking our ability to see.”

After several turns and a couple of stairs, Steven came to
another door. He tried the handle, and this one opened as easily as the first.
They all stepped into a wooden room, about twelve feet square. The room
contained nothing but doors.

“Christ,” Roy said. “What is this?”

Steven tried one of the doors, seeing a stairwell leading up.
Another contained a passageway that turned after ten feet. Still another
contained a stairwell leading down.

“That’s the one we’re after,” Eliza said. “The one that leads
down.”

“What about these other routes?” Steven asked.

“I suspect the stairwell up will take us to the welded door,”
she said. “And one of these others will take us to the large metal doors in the
tunnel.”

“All the secret ways down converge at this spot,” Roy said.

“Yes,” Eliza said. “The liquor runners would bring the booze
in through here and back up the stairwell to the rooms with the peepholes,
where they could store them. They could go back out this way, or out through
the trophy room.”

“And the ladder we just came down?” Steven asked.

“A backup way in, if there was a problem with the other
routes,” Eliza said.  She stepped over to the door that opened to the stairwell
leading down. “I suspect this door was off limits to all of them,” she said.
“This is the real prize. What we’re after is down there.” They all looked down
the stairwell. It went down about twenty steps, then turned out of sight.

“Keep going?” Steven asked.

“Hell yeah, let’s go,” Roy said, heading down the stairwell
with the other two right behind him. Steven held his flashlight over his head
so it would illuminate the way for the other two, then he looked down at the
wall. There was a light switch. He turned it on, and the stairwell lit up. Roy
and Eliza stopped on the stairwell ahead, and turned to look back up at him.

“It works,” Steven said. “I wasn’t sure it would.”

“Let’s hope it didn’t light up more than we wanted,” Roy
said.

At the base of the stairs Roy turned right and found himself
at another door. This door was different from the others; it had a large golden
oval painted on the surface. The handle was locked.