The Borgia Dagger (11 page)

Tessa's face blanched. She grabbed the edge of the sofa. "No—you wouldn't!"

"Really? Well, I've got news for you. You'll never get that dagger now!"

As Tessa froze in shock, Harley bolted outside.

"Go after him!" Tessa screamed. "He's going to spoil everything!" But Frank didn't move. He stood stock-still, head bowed, clenching and unclenching his fists. Joe stepped into the room, and he and Callie could do nothing but stare at Tessa in confusion and disbelief.

Suddenly Frank wheeled around and faced Tessa. He frowned, the face of a man furiously thinking—or just furious. "You know something about this, don't you?" he growled.

"I — what do you — me?" Tessa stammered., "How dare you accuse me — " But her protest was weak.

"Start talking, Tessa. I want to know everything," Frank demanded.

Tessa's lower lip began to quiver. She let her hair fall in front of her face as she collapsed onto the sofa. "I know who's been causing all of the murder attempts," she said in a thick voice.

"Who?" Joe burst in. "It's Squinder, isn't it?"

Tessa shook her head. "No, it's not Squinder. It's not Ruppenthal, either."

Her voice cracked as she let out a sudden sob. She raised her watery eyes toward Frank, searching for sympathy, understanding.

"Who is it, Tessa? You might as well come out with it," Frank said softly.

All at once, a rush of tears cascaded over her cheeks. She buried her head in her hands and wept. "It was Harley and me!" she blurted out. "We staged the whole thing."

She looked up to see everyone frozen in shock. The secret she'd held back could remain hidden no longer, and the words spilled out.

"Squinder was right. I did spend all the money my parents left me! How could I afford to keep up the house, let alone hired help — I had to fire them all. Even if I sell the mansion, it'll just be enough to pay back my loans and buy me a small house in Bayport—and then I'll have to get a job!

"That's why I took back the art collection," Tessa continued. "To sell it." Dark streaks of mascara smeared across her face as she wiped her eyes.

"Go on," Frank said. "What does this have to do with the Borgia dagger and the murder attempts?"

"The Borgia dagger was all a publicity stunt. Everything was set up by us — the shooting, the wire in the pool, the letter B on my forehead."

"Then why — "

"We thought if we could create a whole news event around the dagger, I'd get a fortune for it at an auction, and I'd never again worry about money. Harley has been my boyfriend since we were kids, and I promised him a cut of the auction money. But ... " She glanced guiltily at Callie. "Then you came along, Frank. Harley could sense I was losing interest in him, that I didn't really love him, and — "

All of a sudden, she sat bolt upright and put her hand to her mouth. "Oh, no!" she gasped.

Frank, Joe, and Callie all rushed forward. "What is it?" Frank said.

"Harley—" she said, her voice catching. "Harley has the dagger. He hid it in the flower garden."

Joe looked at Frank. "Let's find him!" he said.

Immediately the brothers ran for the hallway. But before they got out of the room, they stopped in their tracks.

Silently, as if on cue, the room had been plunged into total darkness.

"Harley! No!" Tessa screamed at the top of her lungs. But she was answered by silence. "He's gone crazy, I know it!" she said. "All he wants is revenge!"

"And with that dagger, there's no telling what he'll do!" Joe added.

"Or where he is," Callie said.

Suddenly a shriek cut through the air. "Aaaaaaah!"

Frank tensed. "What's wrong?"

"Now," Joe's voice answered. "Quiet, Tessa, it's only me! You just stomped on my foot!"

"Oh!" Tessa sighed. "I was looking for the flashlight. It's in—"

Thud. "Here." The eerie silence was broken by the sound of a drawer opening. Then a shaft of light cut through the sitting room.

"There are two flashlights here," Tessa said.

"Great! I'll take one," Joe said.

"Shh! Listen!" Callie whispered. A rhythmic creak, creak, creak. And then it abruptly stopped.

"Where's it coming from?" Tessa asked.

"I don't know," Joe said. "But I think we'd better deal with these lights right now, before we're dead ducks!"

Joe led them out the front and around the mansion to the cellar doors. Pulling one open, he climbed down into the room and flicked the master circuit breaker. That ought to do it, he said to himself, rushing back outside. . But the mansion just stared back at him, pitch-black.

"We're out of luck," Frank said. "He must have cut a power line."

"All right," said Joe. "If we're not going to get him to come out here, we'll just have to go in after him. Come on!"

Their flashlights blazing, all four scurried back in the front door. The hot dampness of the summer night made them feel as if everything were moving in slow motion. Musty smells of old wood and dusty carpets hung in the air as they went from room to room.

Thunk. Frank jerked his head upward at the noise above them. With a sprinter's quickness, he dashed into the hallway and up a stairway, followed close behind by Joe. At the top, he beamed the flashlight down the empty hallway.

"You're doing this all wrong, Harley," Frank called out. "There are four of us, and one of you. It's useless. Come on out."

No response. "The noise was from the room on the right," Frank whispered. He and Joe edged down the hallway toward the room, their backs along the wall. They stopped inches from the room's doorway. It was closed. They froze for a long second.

In a burst of strength, Frank whipped around and kicked the door open. Immediately he ducked back against the wall.

The door rattled on its hinges, but no one came out. Frank held his flashlight into the room, then looked in. A four-poster bed stood neatly made, surrounded by dark wooden furniture. He stepped toward the closet and flung it open. Three lonely winter coats rocked back and forth with the updraft from the door's movement.

"Disappeared," Joe said.

Frank looked out into the hallway. "Where are Callie and Tessa?" he asked.

As if in answer, a piercing scream rang out from the other end of the floor.

Frank and Joe charged down the hallway in the direction of the noise. Out of one of the rooms came gasps of shock. They rushed inside, and Frank shone the light on a figure crumpled on the floor.

"Callie! Are you all right?" Frank asked, kneeling next to her.

"I — I think so," she answered, her left hand covering her ear.

"Let's see." Frank took her hand away and looked at her ear. "It's bleeding a bit, but doesn't look too bad."

"What are you doing here alone?" Joe asked.

"After you guys ran off, Tessa and I thought we'd take the back stairway. She went straight up to the third floor, but when I got to the second, I thought I heard a noise."

"So you came into this room, without a flashlight?" Frank said.

Callie nodded. "Anyway, the minute I walked in here, I heard someone call Tessa's name in a low voice behind me. I turned around and saw Harley's outline — then he nicked me with the dagger. When I screamed, I think he realized who I was, and he tried to pull back. Then he ran out of the room, cursing." She shuddered. "I think he's gone completely crazy."

"You're lucky he didn't get more than the ear," said Joe.

"We can't just stand here," Callie pleaded. "He's vicious! If I had been Tessa he would have killed me."

"We've got to get to Tessa!" Joe said. "She's alone!"

Suddenly from upstairs came another scream. Even as it echoed through the house, Frank, Joe, and Callie were flying up the back stairs. They ran into a large attic room.

There, beneath the sloping wood-beam ceiling, Tessa and Harley stood at opposite ends of an oak table.

"Get away from me, you beast!" Tessa shrieked. Harley stood poised with the Borgia dagger, shaking from side to side, looking for a way to run around the table.

"Drop it, Harley!" Frank called out. Harley looked toward the door, into the glow of Frank's flashlight.

"Yeeeeaaaaaggghh!" Screaming, Harley hurled himself across the table. He caught Frank at stomach level and tackled him to the ground. The light zigzagged crazily around the room as the flashlight clattered to the floor. Frank grabbed for it, but it rolled out of his reach.

"How about a little taste of the Borgia curse?" Harley hissed as he raised the jeweled dagger.

Joe grabbed the flashlight off the floor and pointed it directly at Harley and Frank—in time to see Frank push Harley's arm back. The dagger flew against the corner wall.

All motion in the room followed it. Frank, Harley, Joe, Callie, and Tessa dove into the corner. A tangle of arms and fingers reached out toward the dagger, but only one person's hand closed around it.

"Get back! He's got it!" Frank yelled. He, Joe, and Callie fell away as Harley brandished the dagger over his head.

Then, with a sudden lunge, he pushed Tessa to the ground. The dishes stored in the old break-front behind him rattled as he pulled her in front of him. She let out helpless sputtering sounds as Harley locked his elbow around her neck.

"You're — ch - choking—me!" she was able to say.

Frank and Joe rushed toward her.

"Stand back!" Harley barked, holding the dagger to Tessa's throat. The brothers stopped in their tracks..

"It had to come to this, Tessa, didn't it?" Harley said, his voice rising to a high-pitched frenzy. "We had it planned so perfectly. We both could have been so happy for the rest of our lives. But you destroyed it — you destroyed it with your greed. Admit it!"

"H - Harley, stop it!" Tessa said, struggling to breathe. "You're out of your mind!"

Harley tightened his grip. "Admit how you betrayed me. Admit that you were going to take all the auction money for yourself and leave me with nothing — that you pretended to fall in love with Frank Hardy as an excuse to break up with me!"

"No! Please!" Tessa cried.

With a choked cry, Harley pushed her violently against the cabinet.

Whock! The doors flew open. Harley shot a glance upward, just in time to see the shower of plates and silverware flying toward his head.

Tessa wrenched herself loose and hit the ground. The sound of crashing metal and porcelain was like an explosion.

Joe turned off the flashlight, and pandemonium broke loose.

It was only a matter of seconds that the fight lasted, but it ended with a dull thud.

When Joe shone the flashlight again, he was standing over Harley, who lay rock-still on the floor, the dagger dangling from his right hand.

"Oops. I, uh, I guess his head got in the way of the flashlight," Joe said with a guilty grin. "Hope he's okay, though."

"He'll be all right," Frank said, pulling Tessa away.

"He almost killed me!" she cried between gasps.

"Well, he's not too dangerous now," Frank reassured her. "At least until he wakes up."

From outside came the sound of a car door closing.

"Who could that be?" Callie asked.

"If we're lucky, it's the police, checking out some clue," replied Joe.

Tessa fell against Frank, shaking and trying to swallow breaths. He put his arm around her, and with Joe's help, they sat her down away from the mess.

"Please forgive me, Frank," Tessa said. "Harley was wrong. I did everything out of love for you — a love that was foolish and selfish — "

"Just a minute!" Callie broke in, pointing her flashlight at all three of them. "There's something missing here. Maybe Harley did fire the shot at the country club, and put the wire in the pool, knowing the socket didn't work. But it couldn't have been only Harley who pulled that stunt at the party. How could he have shut off the electricity and pushed the statue down?"

Frank and Joe looked at Tessa. The sound of footsteps on the back stairs were like muffled drumbeats..

"And," Callie went on, "how could Harley have hidden the dagger? Frank was with him the whole time when he found it was missing!"

Instead of answering, Tessa gazed tensely at the door. A dull light illuminated the hallway as the footsteps approached the room and stopped.

Dr. Lansdale snickered. "Just think, for a few brief moments you'll have been the only other people on this earth who knew, about my almost - Don't bother to get up. I'll only be a minute - "perfect plan," a voice said.

Frank, Joe, and Callie swung their heads around as the room was lit in a soft, flickering glow. Holding a kerosene lantern in her left hand. Dr. Lansdale smiled evilly. In her right hand was a gun.

"Here, my friends," she said with a cold glint in her eye, "is your missing link."

"You!" Callie said under her breath. "What's the matter? Didn't think a doddering old lady doctor had any guts?" She shook her head and gave Tessa a disgusted look. "You really blew it, Tessa. Everything had been going like clockwork. I was hoping this wouldn't have to get messy." "You wouldn't kill us," Joe said. "Oh? The three of you—stand together near Harley," Dr. Lansdale ordered. "Tessa, you move away. This will look like Harley shot them and then put a gun to his own head." She chuckled. "I can see the Times now — 'heiress killed, boyfriend in tragic bloodbath over love.'

It'll be just another saga in the long history of the Borgia curse."

Slowly Frank, Joe, and Callie stood up and walked toward Harley.

"Please, Aunt Harriet, I never expected — "

"That's enough, Tessa! Now get over here. Stand right by me!"

As Dr. Lansdale pointed her gun at Frank, Tessa meekly got up. "I — I tried to protect you, Aunt Harriet. I was all set to take the rap and leave you out of it. No one would have gotten in any real trouble — "

"And you'd kiss my money goodbye as Ruppenthal took everything back, right?" Dr. Lansdale shook her head. "Sorry, my naive little girl."

Frank and Joe surveyed the room with their eyes, looking for some distraction, some way of escape. ...

"Hands high and eyes straight at me!" Dr. Lansdale said sharply. "I wasn't born yesterday, you know."