The Dark: A Collection (Point Horror) (16 page)

She'd heard that
Harry and his mother were staying in the parking lot at the pier.
There was an ice cream store on the corner that was open twenty-four
hours, Island Ice Cream Delights. The owners lived in a little
apartment above the shop. She dialed the number.

"Hello?" Mr.
Pigsley, the proprietor, answered.

Mr. Pigsley was a
pleasant man, nice, round and pink-cheeked. He had a long, pointed,
red nose and was always smiling. He'd gone to all the grade schools
doing demonstrations about how to make ice cream and giving out free
samples. Bianca hoped that he was in a good mood tonight, despite the
hour.

"Please let me talk
to Harry. He's outside in the parking lot with his mother. Wake him
up if you have to. This is important."

"Is this Bianca?"
Mr. Pigsley asked in surprise. "You know you're not supposed to
talk to that Fellini boy! He does
nothing except cause trouble."

"Mr. Pigsley,
please!"

She had a lot to do
to convince the old man to cooperate. Finally he went grumbling out
to the parking lot to look for an old Rambler.

"Bianca, what is
it?" Harry asked a few moments later, over the protests of Mr.
Pigsley. Harry didn't sound sleepy, as if he'd expected her to
call. Their minds were in sync. She had noticed that before.

"Meet me in the
graveyard behind the Shipleys' house right away."

"The graveyard?"

"I'll explain
when you get there."

"OK." He knew
enough not to question her.

"Bring your toolbox
if you have one."

"Anything else?"

"Hurry! We don't
have time to lose."

She heard a click.
Then there was a strange sound on the phone as she hung up. She
didn't have time to worry about it. It was probably her imagination
anyway.

Bianca nerved herself
to open the front door to her own house. A solid wall of darkness
confronted her. Somehow she had to make her way through the night to
reach her goal. The thought that Harry would be there waiting for her
in the graveyard gave her courage. He'd told her that she could do
anything. She was beginning to believe it.

Bianca was in the
graveyard in five minutes. With a flashlight she climbed through a
break in the cemetery fence, the break they'd discovered in the
rear of the Shipleys' backyard.

There wasn't as
much mist or fog tonight. Still, it was so dark out that it preyed on
Bianca's imagination as she stood there under a live oak tree with
twisted, gnarled branches. Each branch was draped with prickly,
gray-green Spanish moss. She couldn't blot out of her mind those
ghostly shapes and forms that had loomed up at her out of the
darkness the last time — the crosses, church steeples and
mausoleums with stone ladies covered with green moss.

Bianca hoped Harry
wouldn't keep her waiting long. He didn't. He came hurrying along
with a toolbox.

"Borrowed ten
dollars from Mr. Pigsley to call a cab." Harry was all out of
breath from running through the cemetery. "Told him I'd pay it
back with interest. Couldn't bring the old clunker. Would never
make it in time, though Mom said she was willing to sit outside in
the dark on the road waiting for me all night if necessary. She'd
do anything for you after what you did for us."

Bianca kissed him on
the lips.

"What did you
remember?" he pressed, anxious.

She didn't have to
ask how Harry knew that she'd remembered something important. The
two of them seemed to be able to sense what the other was thinking.

"We've got to go
through the back door of the Shipleys' house," she explained. "I
don't want anybody to see us. That's why I asked you to meet me
in the cemetery instead of at the front door. I'll tell you what's
going on as soon as we get inside."

The key let them in
through the back door and didn't trigger the burglar alarm. They
climbed the stairs in the dark, holding hands, and turned on the
hallway light when they got to the second level. She explained how
she'd remembered something that the killer had dropped.

"It was very hard,
so hard that it wouldn't break or smash when I was stepping on it
with my full weight," Bianca explained.

"The killer could
have dropped anything. But if he was fighting so hard to protect it,
it must be important." Harry was on the same wavelength.

"What could be so
hard and so valuable except jewelry?" Bianca told Harry what was in
her mind as she led him to the Shipleys' bedroom. Their room was
the one closest to where she had encountered the killer in the
upstairs hallway.

"Mrs. Shipley's
jewelry box, of course! "Harry exclaimed when he saw it sitting
there on her large vanity table. "That's why you asked me to
bring the tools? It's locked up."

"We've got to
break into the jewelry box. If I hold the jewels in my hands, I might
remember something more. The Shipleys won't mind. I'll tell them
everything when they get back."

Harry agreed. The
Shipleys would never suspect her of any wrongdoing — not the girl
who had saved Little Katie twice!

Harry banged on the
lock to the jewelry box with his hammer. When that didn't do the
trick, he tried a hacksaw. He sawed away at the metal lock on the
ornate jewelry chest that was so large and heavy it wouldn't be
easy to pick up or carry. The lock soon fell off. Bianca opened the
box. Her hands lighted on jewelry, and lots of it. She brought it out
and looked at it. She handed some to Harry.

Most of this jewelry
was heavy and made of solid gold. There were necklaces, pendants with
rubies, earrings and brooches. The diamonds were especially big. That
was probably what had landed under her tennis shoe. She dropped a
diamond ring to the floor and stepped on it to make sure.

"A king's
ransom!" Harry gasped. "The killer must have heard about these
jewels stashed here. Maybe he saw Mrs. Shipley wearing them in
public. That must have been his motive for breaking into the house."

Just as Bianca
pressed her foot down on the diamond ring, the face of the killer
came to mind as clearly as if he were standing in front of her.

"Harry!" She put
her hand to her throat. "I — I just remembered him."

"The killer?"

She nodded. "But
— but this person can't be the killer."

She suddenly
remembered those words that the killer had spoken to her that night
two years ago. He'd hissed, Don't you dare scream. I won't have
my reputation ruined.

"I told you it
would happen. I was right." A familiar voice from behind startled
Bianca.

She and Harry dropped
the jewels.

"I told you that
someday you'd come across something that would make you remember
the night of the killing." The killer advanced on them. "Everything
would become clear. Well, all you had to do was to step on the same
jewel that you'd almost tripped over in the hallway that night
exactly two years ago."

"Doc, I — I don't
understand!" Bianca stared down the barrel of a gun.

Chapter 12

As he held the gun on
them, Doc explained himself, "I was as quiet as possible cutting
the power to the house from outside and sneaking through the sliding
glass door into the Shipleys' bedroom two years ago. Cutting the
power was a precaution so that I wouldn't be seen from across the
street. I thought no one was home when I stole the jewels out of Mrs.
Shipley's jewelry chest. It had no lock then. I was creeping out
into the hallway to case out the other bedrooms, when that busybody
maid screamed. You appeared with the baby. You ran into me and
knocked that diamond ring out of my hand."

Doc stared at the
diamond ring beside Bianca's foot.

"I pushed the maid
away. She was losing her balance and was about to fall downstairs. I
lost my cool. The gun fired. In a panic I thought about snatching the
baby and taking her with me to make my getaway. But you defended her
like a hellion."

He again looked at
Bianca.

"I thought I heard
a car coming out front, so I didn't follow you. I quickly stashed
the jewels in the jewelry box. I had to escape from the bedroom
balcony before the police got there. You were screaming, waking up
the whole neighborhood. I thought up some excuse about hearing a
commotion and coming next door to investigate in case the police saw
me. I promised myself I'd return for the jewels later. Now that
you've remembered everything, I can't wait any longer."

"I told you he was
a crook!" Harry exclaimed. "I can smell a skunk a mile away."

"Doc, why would you
break into a house looking for jewels? You've got plenty of money
and — and you're a respected doctor. You've got a brilliant
career ahead of you as a psychiatrist and—"

"I've only got
one million to my own name from my grandparents. Mrs. Shipley's
jewels are priceless."

Tears streamed down
Bianca's face for Doc himself. Her heart felt for him as it would
for Little Katie. He was somebody that she would have died to save.
She had trusted him as she trusted no one else.

"These aren't
just any jewels, sweetheart!" A rapt look appeared on Doc's face.
"These are jewels that belong to one of the richest women in
America. You can't buy them in a store."

Bianca couldn't
believe her ears. The jewels flashed and scintillated in the light
coming from the hallway. Bianca gazed into Doc's eyes. "Doc,
please tell me this is all a joke. Tell me that none of this is
really happening, that you're still my best friend. Please!"

"Can't you see
that he would have thrown you down the stairs after Mrs. Ingersoll
except that you escaped him?" Harry exclaimed.

"You would have
killed me, Doc?" Bianca croaked. "In this very house?"

"Those are his
words, not mine!" Doc glared at Harry.

"You weren't
really concerned about my medical condition, then?"

"I spent the whole
night cramming in the medical school library, reading up on
psychiatry. I found out that when you woke up you might not remember
anything, and you might develop a phobia about the dark."

"Would you have
killed me as soon as I remembered something, any time during these
past two years?" She'd always thought of Doc as someone who would
save her life, not take it.

"I was prepared to
convince you it wasn't me if you'd started to remember something.
Besides, the more I played your medical adviser, the more likely
you'd be to censor any such memories yourself. You thought too much
of me, to be quite frank."

"Why did you start
. . . well . . . trying to make me your girlfriend?" She blushed
and glanced at Harry. It was hard to carry on such a discussion
around him.

Harry glowered at
Doc.

Doc made a wild,
theatrical gesture. "Think of it as double insurance. You'd never
suspect somebody who was both your medical adviser and your lover!"

"What a creep!"
Harry exclaimed.

"The Shipleys were
about to leave for a big trip to take care of their investments. I
felt sure you weren't going to remember anything before then. I was
getting ready to make the big break and rob the house when nobody was
at home. Then I planned a one-way ticket to Rio. In short, I was
preparing to clear out and cash in."

"Why did you tell
me I ought to meet other guys? Why did you start dating that nurse
from the hospital?"

"Remember, the
senior doctors at the hospital thought it wasn't professional for
me to be so close to you. I didn't want anybody to get suspicious
or pry into my business while I was planning my final moves prior to
leaving the country for good."

"So that's why
you got furious when I started to date Harry, even though you told me
to?" Bianca felt a glimmer of understanding.

"I'd
miscalculated. I didn't think you'd follow my advice. You seemed
such a shy, withdrawn little thing. I was surprised you had the nerve
to go out with Rick Roscoe, let alone one of the Fellini brothers."

"McCollough knew I
spelled trouble big time," Harry boasted.

"When I observed
what a violent attraction you and Harry seemed to have for each
other, I decided that Harry was bad for you — or rather bad for my
plans." Doc glared at Harry as if he despised him.

"You bet I am!"
Harry proclaimed. "I'm the one thing you didn't calculate on."

"Not only had you
started to remember something at the movie theater (I kept a close
watch on you from my seat), Harry was starting to draw you away from
my influence. I had to stop him before it ended in disaster."

"Were you the one
in the rest room, threatening me?" Bianca felt those cold fingers
on her neck.

"Who else, Bianca
dear, would know how to play on your fear of the dark?" He ran his
fingers up and down her neck to demonstrate.

"But I didn't see
you in the lobby!" Harry objected.

"Your brother
disarmed one of the fire exits near the screen. I took advantage of
it as soon as I saw Bianca run out of the theater. I stood outside
the ladies' bathroom window, where I figured she'd end up. I
watched Bianca at the sink. When she started to wash her face, I knew
she wouldn't be able to hear me. I crept quietly past her and hid
myself on the other side of the door in the ladies' lounge. When
she got ready to leave, I turned out the lights."

Big tears coursed
down her cheeks. "But — but you were so kind to me! You helped me
overcome my fear of the dark."

"That's what I
wanted you to think."

Harry nodded. "After
Marianna was nearly killed in the cemetery, you sent Bianca back to
the hospital. She was showing signs of recovery, too."

"She was
remembering that night two years ago!" Doc hissed. "That's why
I told her senior doctors how grave I thought her condition was. I
advised them she was having a relapse."

"I bet you tried to
make advances to her in the hospital, didn't you, you shameless
bastard!" Harry scoffed. "That's why you wouldn't let me in
to see her."