Thief (5 page)

Chapter 9.

- Very nice, without being too smutty.

- Thanks.

- Although some scenes were sailing a little close to the wind.

- Prude.

- Well,
someone
has to uphold the decency standards around here.

Things were hopefully settling down a little. I still had a few problems with Bella, although, true to her word, she didn’t try any more weird stunts. But it was still an uphill battle to convince her that she was really a worthwhile human being, deserving of love. We still hadn’t been to bed yet because I didn’t want to rush anything, but I could tell that my slow approach was confusing her no end. Martina was a lot more cheerful. She recommenced eating and the dark rings had disappeared from under her eyes. No, everything was under control. More or less. But what worried me was
Francine
. She was moody and uncommunicative. Her drug problem didn’t seem to have become any worse, but
something
was definitely up with her. But we couldn’t do anything to help her if she refused to talk about it.

We went out for the night, all of us that is, except Francine, who said she was feeling a little under the weather. It was a fun occasion and we all enjoyed ourselves. I danced with Bella and she told me, to my delight, that she'd never had a more pleasurable evening. We arrived back at the flat, happy and animated. All that changed however, when we arrived. For one thing, the front door was open, and that was
never
allowed to happen. Kim shushed us all with a wave of her hand and noiselessly slid inside the flat. We tiptoed after her, glancing nervously left and right. Everything seemed normal until we came into the kitchenette and found Francine lying on the floor, blood pooling around her body.

Kim dropped to her knees beside her and gently lifted her head. Francine's eyes opened and blearily focused on us. With a gasping effort, she whispered something to Kim and then fainted. It was obvious she was dying from the horrific multiple stab wounds we could see on her upper body. Martina ran to the phone and called for an ambulance although we all knew it would be a wasted exercise. To prove us right, Francine inhaled a few ragged breaths and then stopped breathing altogether, leaving us all in shock. It was so unbelievable and gruesome. The ambulance arrived on the doorstep and took Francine's body away. The police arrived soon after and we all gave our statements, although there was precious little to say. We sat on the couch, huddled together in mutual disbelief. Nobody said anything but the question ‘
why
?’ was uppermost in everyone's mind.

Finally, by common consent, we all went to the kitchenette and began to clean Francine’s blood from the floor. When we had finished, Bella made us all some coffee and we adjourned back to the couch. Kim put her arm around Martina and drew her close for emotional support. Bella leaned towards me in mute appeal, so I gently tipped her head until it rested on my shoulder. We comforted each other for the next hour or so until I remembered something and asked, “What did Francine
say
to you, Kim, just before she……. you know….. passed away?”

Kim shook her head and came back to earth. “I could barely hear her. She might have been delirious or something. I think what she was trying to say was ‘Bedtime nap. Don't let them… knave.’ I honestly have no idea what she
meant
.”

I pondered Francine’s baffling last words. What could it mean? It must have been important for her to have used up her last moments of life on it. I glanced around at the others who looked as perplexed as I felt.

It was clever little Martina who unravelled the first clue.

“
Bedtime nap
?” she mused to herself. “Bedtime…….. nap? Now what did Francine mean by
that
? Bedtime……
bed
?......” She looked up at us with a quizzical expression on her face. “Is there something
hidden
in her bed or bedroom? A
map
, perhaps? Is
that
what she was trying to say?”

Bella shrugged. “Who knows?” she said. “But we owe it to her to try and find out. She wanted us to know something or to
find
something. Let’s search.”

We went into Francine's bedroom. The place was a mess. She never had been the tidiest of people. Bella and I checked the cupboards while Kim and Martina went through all the drawers, but we all drew a blank. The last place left was the actual bed itself. We took off the sheets and looked under the mattress to no avail. The last area to search was
under
the bed but it was so close to the floor that the only person who could fit there was Martina.

She crouched down, lay flat on the floor and carefully eased herself under the bed.

“All I can see is dust,” she complained. “Wait a minute, I think I see some syringes as well.”

“Don't
touch
them!” I told her, sharply.

“I won't,” she promised. “Well, I can't see anything else but……. hold on a moment….. someone get me a
torch
.”

Bella went into her bedroom and returned with a torch which she pushed under the bed.

“What did you see?” Kim questioned, impatiently.

“I'm not sure yet,” Martina replied. “There’s a sort of a floor board here with one end sticking up. It looks a bit loose……. I might be able to prise it up. There, nearly got it…… There's something
here
! It feels like a plastic bag of some sort. Wait a minute, I'm coming out.”

Martina wriggled backwards and emerged from under the bed, dishevelled and covered with dust, but grinning triumphantly. In her hand she had something that looked like a piece of paper, inside of a plastic bag. She gave it to Kim who carefully unwrapped the plastic and took out the sheet of paper as we all crowded around her. The paper was torn in places and a bit grubby but it was quite legible. It was, indeed, a map. But a map of
what
? I didn't recognise any of the features or the names. However, luckily, Bella did.

“I
know
this area!” she excitedly exclaimed. “I grew
up
there. It's an isolated area near the coast, about three hours drive from here. That bit there,” she said, pointing at the ‘X’ on the map, “is an old, abandoned castle. It’s supposed to be haunted, but we used to play there when we were kids. Whatever Francine wanted us to find, it'll be in there.”

Kim carefully folded up the map and looked around at us. “Who's up for an adventure?” she asked, enquiringly.

“I
am
!” Martina said, almost jumping up and down in eagerness. “Just think, a real-life treasure map! What do you think we’ll
find
?”

We all smiled at her enthusiasm. “
I’m
in,” declared Bella. “I owe it to Francine.”

Everybody looked at me with speculative expressions. “Okay, okay,” I agreed in resignation. “Count
me
in as well.”

Chapter 10.

We left early the next morning and found ourselves looking at the designated ruined castle a few hours later. It was certainly rundown and it was quite obvious that nobody lived there. We drove up the rutted gravel road leading to where the portcullis used to be and parked in the open courtyard.

“What a
mess
!” Martina remarked, as we climbed out of the car. “This place is a real dump!” She looked around at the crumbling structure. “Where do we start?” she asked. “This castle is
huge
.”

“Let's just look around inside,” Kim suggested. “If you wanted to hide something, you certainly wouldn't want it to be sitting out in the open.”

We all followed her as she made her way into the ruined building.

“Do we split up?” I asked. “We could probably cover more area that way.”

Kim hesitated. “No, I’d rather not. This place is enormous and don't want anyone getting lost. Anyway, we don't even know what we're looking for.”

“Lovely,” I said, sardonically. “That should make it easy then.”

“Don't be such a sourpuss,” Kim chided. “Look upon it as a treasure hunt. Don't you have any
romance
in your soul at all?”

Bella sidled up to me and took her hand in mine. “
You'll
look after me, won't you,” she said with false coyness, batting her eyelashes, “just in case we meet any ghosts?”

“All right,” I conceded, laughing. “I know when I’m beaten. Bring on the treasure hunt.”

We traipsed around the ruined castle for a couple of hours but didn't find anything of much interest. The place had obviously been looted centuries ago and there was very little remaining apart from blocks of stone that had fallen from the walls. However, we did find
one
interesting thing. Or rather, it found
us
. This interesting thing was in the shape of two large thugs, each brandishing a gun.

We’d been progressing along a ruined corridor which dead-ended into a small room. Inside this room were the two aforementioned gentlemen, waiting for us with the said armaments in their hands.

“What the hell!” I exclaimed in shock. “Where the devil did
you
two spring from?”

“We could ask you the same question,” one of them said. “What do you think
you're
doing here?”

“We’re just
tourists
,” Kim glibly explained. “We were told this castle was a must-see. If you don't mind my asking,
why
do you have guns?”

“Tourists, eh?” the second man commented, sourly. “This castle is a bit
off
the beaten track for tourists, I would have thought. Nobody
ever
comes here. I find your story just a little bit suspicious.” He glanced at his companion and said, “We’d better keep them on ice for a while until we decide what to do with them. Take them down to the dungeon.”

“
Dungeon
?” Bella asked, nervously. “How
long
are you going to keep us there?”

The man gestured with his gun for us to start walking. “For as long as we
want
to, girly,” he declared with an evil grin. “Now, shut up and start walking.”

I peeked at Kim to see if she had any plan in mind. She shook her head imperceptibly, obviously believing that the risk to one of us was too great to take any action at
this
stage. We shuffled along in silence until we came to a set of descending stone stairs. The gunman waved us down and we walked a little further until we arrived at a cell, complete with the mandatory iron and clammy interior. Our captor herded us into a far corner while he took out a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the dungeon. Then he stepped back. “In
there
,” he insisted, signalling towards the dank insides of the cell. Under the gun’s menacing stare, we shambled into the room, all except Martina. The gunman motioned at her. “You
too
,” he growled, adamantly.

“
No
!” Martina suddenly screamed. “Not in
there
! I can't
stand
the dark!
Please
don't make me go in there! I'll do anything you want!
Anything
!” She started to cry and flung herself at the man, grabbing him around the waist. “I didn't want to come here in the
first
place! They
made
me!” she sobbed hysterically. “Please don't
hurt
me.” She clawed at the gangster’s chest. “I'll do
anything
you want me to! Just don't put me in with
them
!”

The man looked down at her in disgust and backhanded her across the face. Martina’s head was jolted to one side and she cried out in pain but continued to hang grimly onto the man’s body.

“Get
off
me, you crazy bitch!” he snarled. He yanked her arms free and flung her into the cell where she collapsed face down onto the stone floor and continued weeping. He slammed the door shut and stormed off.

Kim rushed to Martina’s side and knelt beside her. “Are you
okay
, sweetie?” she asked anxiously.

“Has he
gone
?” Martina whispered, still motionless on the floor.

Kim looked down the corridor. “Yes,” she answered.

“Great,” Martina said, getting to her feet and dusting herself down, her tears miraculously disappearing. “What an stupid
oaf
!”

“What was
that
performance all about?” I asked her in puzzlement.

Martina smirked and exhibited the set of dungeon keys. “I thought
these
may come in handy,” she asserted.

“You
clever
little minx,” Kim congratulated, giving her a grateful hug. “I should have known you were up to something. But you were so
convincing
out there!”

“I nicked
this
from him as well,” Martina told us, holding up a wallet in her other hand. “That'll teach him to smack me around.”

We all laughed and gathered around to shower her with well-deserved praise.

Kim took the keys and unlocked the cell. We had an impromptu discussion as to what to do next. I wanted to hightail it out of there, but Bella and Martina wanted to continue the search. Kim’s vote was to find the two gunmen and beat the living daylights out of them – I knew she burned to avenge the humiliation of her capture - and so, to prevent the possibility of her getting
shot
, I changed my vote to going on with the search. With a three to one majority, Kim was forced to side with the rest of us. We carefully walked back up the stairs and went in the opposite direction to the room where we’d found our captors. As I’ve already said, the castle was
huge
. We walked along numerous corridors, avoiding the fallen stones, until we were exhausted. Discouraged, we sat down to think about our next move.

Once again it was Martina who discovered what to do. She really was a
bright
little spark. I suppose that her lifestyle had forced her to sharpen her wits.

“What was it that Francine said?” she mused. “Don’t let them…
knave
, I think. Hmmm….‘Don’t let them’ is straight forward enough……Knave……knave. It doesn’t mean anything……unless she meant something else. Could she have meant to say ‘cave’? Bella, are there any
caves
around here?”

“Why,
yes
,” Bella confirmed. “There’s one called the ‘Smuggler’s Cave’ at the base of the castle. We used to play at
pirates
there when I was a little girl.”

“Don’t
tell
me,” I said in frustration, “that we’ve been searching in the
wrong
place all this time? Are you saying that whatever we’re looking for is in a cave and
not
the castle after all?”

“Maybe,” Kim shrugged. “Who knows? Let’s go see. We’ll die of old age before we find anything up here, that’s for sure.”