House Of Reckoning Part 24

And Pyewackett, curled up on the hearth, sound asleep.

But where had the fire come from? She hadn't built it-of that she was absolutely certain. And even if she had-even if she a.s.sumed she'd built it this morning before she went to work-how had it lasted all day? And how had it heated the whole house?

And if she hadn't started it, who had? She reached for the phone, about to call Dan West, but hesitated as her fingers closed around the receiver. If someone had broken in, why would they have left a fire burning? It made no sense.

Then her eyes fell on the yellowed ma.n.u.script that had been hidden away in the bottom drawer of the desk, but was now lying in the center of the desk's mahogany surface.

And she remembered the picture Sarah Crane drew two nights ago, the picture that still stood on the easel in the studio, propped up exactly as Sarah had left it.

Or was it?

Pyewackett woke up then, leaped from the hearth onto the desk, sniffed at the ma.n.u.script, then looked up at Bettina, his yellow eyes glowing more brightly than the fading embers on the hearth he'd just left. A second later he was gone, springing to the floor, dashing out the door and turning left.

Toward the studio.

Bettina was about to go after him, but first went to the desk and scooped up the ma.n.u.script. Then, with the ancient pages clutched tightly in her hand, she followed her pet.

By the time she got to the studio, Pyewackett was waiting for her on the chaise.

And the drawing on the easel, like the gates to the estate and even the house itself, had somehow changed.

The flames burned brighter than Bettina remembered, seeming almost to leap from the paper upon which they were limned.

Now Pyewackett was on his feet again, insistently nosing at the ma.n.u.script in Bettina's hand, then lashing out at it with his paw forcefully enough to knock half the pages loose. As Bettina clutched the remaining pages more tightly, her eyes fell on the words on the page that was now exposed: I made a pile of all the papers from the file cabinets and arranged the wooden chairs around it. Beyond the chairs, I piled all the inflammable materials I could find in the office, and soaked the whole of it with kerosene from the maintenance shed. A little while later the whistle blew and I knew the spinners and the looms were in full production, all the workers at their stations.Including Honoria.Especially Honoria.She would be at her loom, with my brother's b.a.s.t.a.r.d in her belly, her fingers weaving a fabric as loose as her own morals. But not for much longer. Already I could see the conflagration that would come once I touched a match to all my kindling. The lint in the air would catch a spark, and the very air would be aflame, engulfing the building and everyone in it.I locked the two big warehouse doors from the outside and- The phone rang.

Bettina jumped at the unexpected sound, dropping the rest of the pages to the floor as Pyewackett leaped off the chaise and skittered underneath it.

She picked up the phone and put the receiver to her ear, but before she could utter even a word, a venomous voice lashed out at her. "Leave them alone," the voice said, soft and dangerous and trembling with fury. "You leave our kids alone."

The warmth of the house was washed away by a sudden flood of terrible cold. Bettina knew that voice, knew it perfectly, even though she'd never heard it over the telephone before.

Knew it from her past.

Knew it from her nightmares.

Her fingers gripped the phone as if frozen to it.

"I'm watching you," the voice said.

Then there was silence.

The terrible cold that had fallen over her a moment ago turned into fear, and she instinctively looked out the enormous conservatory windows. From the brightness inside, she could see nothing at all of the darkness beyond the walls of the house.

But from the blackness outside, anyone at all could be looking in.

Seized by a terror she had experienced only once before in her life, Bettina raced through the house, checking every door and every window to make certain everything was locked.

Locked, and bolted.

Yet still she didn't feel safe, and as if sensing her fear her animals had gathered around her, and when she finally turned off the lights on the lower floor and started up toward her bedroom on the second floor, they stayed close by her feet.

She listened to the house.

The animals listened, too.

Silence.

She led the animals into her bedroom, locked the door and climbed into bed, still fully dressed, still in the grip of the terrible fear the voice on the telephone had brought on. She pulled the covers tight around her neck and left the light on, and prayed that if sleep came it wouldn't bring more terror with it. ...

She could feel the presence before she heard the sound. It felt like danger, and it was nearby, and she should run. But instead of running she stopped completely, waiting in the darkness, in the woods, in the loneliness of the night.

A twig snapped, the sound seeming to come from behind her.

She whirled, then heard it again.

Again from behind her.

When the third twig snapped she finally began to run, but her feet felt so heavy she could hardly move them.

And the presence in the darkness was getting closer.

She could almost see it, almost touch it, but somehow, even though it was very, very close, she couldn't quite find it.

Then something was around her neck, and she could feel it squeezing tighter, and now she could feel breathing on her ear, heavy breathing, and the thing around her neck grew tighter and now she was falling, falling, and falling until the ground rose around her and then the thing around her neck was gone, but now there was something on top of her-some terrible weight-and she wanted to scream but her voice was gone and when she opened her mouth nothing came out she wanted to scream but her voice was gone and when she opened her mouth nothing came out.

Fingers.

Rough fingers, all over her, pulling at her clothes, pulling them off, pushing their way inside her bra ... inside her panties... inside her! her! Now she did scream, but her voice was caught inside her and no matter how hard she tried nothing would come out except a strange grunting noise Now she did scream, but her voice was caught inside her and no matter how hard she tried nothing would come out except a strange grunting noise.

She tried to bite, tried to claw, tried everything to get away, but her attacker was always just outside her reach, just beyond her flailing arms and legs.

The weight on her was even heavier, and she was sinking into the forest floor, and her clothes were being ripped away and now something was pushing inside her, tearing at her, a searing pain slashing up from her groin and- "I'll kill you," a voice whispered in her ear. The voice was low, and hard, and so cold its chill penetrated straight into her soul while at the same time it seared into her memory, never to be forgotten.

The voice penetrated into her memory even more deeply than the man penetrated her body.

She couldn't breathe, couldn't fight, couldn't do anything. But she had to-she had to do something or she would die. Die right here in the dark, in the forest, in the blackness of the night.

Darkness swirled inside the darkness of her vision, and just as she was about to give up, to let herself sink into it forever, she gathered herself for one last effort.

She filled her lungs, sucking her breath in as far as she could, then forced it out again in a scream that combined all the anguish and horror and pain she had just endured.

And sat straight up in her bed.

She wasn't in the woods, in the darkness and the cold.

She was safe in her bed, safe in her house, safe with her animals.

She grabbed Rocky and hugged him close to her pounding heart.

But even with Rocky lapping at her face and the cats and Cooper snuggling close, Bettina knew that she was wrong.

She was not safe.

Something-everything-had changed, and she had to know why. And she had to know now. Steeling herself, she left her bed, unlocked the bedroom door, and started downstairs.

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Sarah was perched on a rickety stool next to the attic window, angling her history text to catch the last of the daylight rather than turning on the attic's single light and risking another accusation of wasting electricity. A car turning the corner at the end of the block caught her eye, and she let the book drop to her lap as she watched it come down the block, slow, then pull to a stop in front of the house. Suddenly her heart raced as she recognized who it was: Kate Williams.

What was she doing here?

Had someone gotten worried when she wasn't in school and called the county? Or was it one of the drop-in visits Kate had told her would happen?

Or had Angie Garvey herself called, telling the county to put her somewhere else?

Even as the questions rose in her mind, she heard Angie Garvey pounding up the stairs, and instantly eliminated the third thought: if Angie had called to have her taken away, she'd have already told her to pack her things.

"That woman from the county is here," Angie said. "I've no idea why, but when I call you, you're to come down and tell her that we've provided you with everything you need." Her eyes bored into Sarah. "You say the wrong thing, and Mitch will take care of you when he gets home. But if you behave yourself, you'll go back to school tomorrow. Understand?" Sarah nodded, but Angie's expression hardened even further. "And you'd do well to remember exactly where Mitch works, and exactly how bad he can make life for your father. Got it?"

Sarah felt her face pale at the threat.

"Do I make myself clear?" Angie demanded.

"Yes, ma'am." Sarah replied, her voice little more than a whisper.

The doorbell rang and Pepper started barking.

"Then try to make yourself look decent," Angie said. "And I'll call you when I'm ready." She started out of the attic, then turned back. "I told the school you've been out sick."

Once again Sarah nodded, and when Angie was finally gone, she left the history book on the makeshift desk and went down to the bathroom on the second floor to wash her face, brush her teeth, and comb her hair. But she wouldn't freshen up too much-if Angie had told the school she was sick, she might as well look the part. As she finished her hair, she heard Angie calling her, and began rehearsing what she would say that would keep Kate Williams from taking her away from Warwick. In just the short time she'd been here, Nick Dunnigan and Bettina Philips had become the two people in the world-besides her father-who mattered most to her, and she wasn't about to be separated from them the way she'd been separated from her father. With a last glance in the mirror, Sarah headed downstairs, doing her best to keep her limp under total control.

"Well, look at you," Kate Williams exclaimed as she came to the bottom of the stairs a moment later. "No crutches!" Then her smile faded. "But you look like you've lost some weight."

"She eats like a bird," Angie said. "And she's been a little under the weather the past few days. But don't you worry. We'll fatten her up."

Sarah smiled at Kate as Angie put her arm around her and gave her a squeeze. "Hi," she said, her voice barely audible. "It's nice to see you."

Bad match, Kate Williams thought as she left the Garvey house half an hour later. Although Sarah Crane had certainly looked wan, she hadn't actually looked sick sick, and more than once she thought the girl had cast a wary glance toward her foster mother, as if wondering whether she was saying the right things. Well, if she hadn't said everything Angie Garvey might have wanted her to, she certainly hadn't said any wrong things, either; certainly nothing that raised any huge alarms in her own mind. And, unfortunately, the sense that the Garveys and Sarah were a bad match wasn't enough to make her start looking for another place for Sarah, at least not yet. Any foster home was hard to come up with, and on the scale of foster parents, so far the Garveys seemed about in the middle: maybe not the best, but certainly far from the worst. And yet, even though Sarah insisted more than once that everything was fine, Kate had the distinct feeling that the girl wasn't telling her the truth.

At least not the whole truth.

As she got into her car and glanced at her schedule-she was going to be five minutes late for a meeting with a couple who were thinking about taking in a group of four children, all under the age of five, whose mother had died and whose father had abandoned them-she made a mental note to check back with Sarah Crane in another week or so. Maybe they'd have a little private time then, and if things looked all right, she might even be able to consider this placement permanent and move on to some of the more difficult ones-like the four children she hoped would, indeed, be taken in by the couple she was about to interview.

Starting the engine and checking the address of her next appointment, Kate put Sarah Crane out of her mind, at least for the moment.

Bettina moved once again through Shutters' downstairs rooms, trying to determine exactly what it was that had changed in the house. Coming home from school this afternoon, she'd paused not only at the worn gates to the estate, but outside the garage as well, trying to see if anything looked different. But it hadn't-not really.

Or at least that was what she told herself. After all, peeling paint and sagging shutters and falling roof slates couldn't just repair themselves. She'd just gotten used to it-that was all. She'd finally become inured to the steadily increasing decrepitude of the place, and it wasn't that it looked any better at all-she'd just stopped seeing all the damage she couldn't afford to repair.

Now, with Cooper and Rocky trotting ahead of her, she spent twenty minutes going through every room in the house one more time.

Nothing, until she came to the studio. And there it was: the yellowed ma.n.u.script still lay exactly where she dropped it when the phone rang a few hours ago and that terrible voice dredged up nightmares she'd hoped never to have again.

Now both dogs were sitting next to the ma.n.u.script like twin sentinels, and both were gazing expectantly up at her.

They know, Bettina thought. Whatever it is, it's in those pages.

Which, of course, she'd known all along. After all, since Sarah was drawing scenes from those pages without ever having read them, how could they not be connected to what was happening? She picked them up, straightened them out, then began going through them, not reading them, but looking for a pattern.

They read almost like case histories of the people who had once been inmates here, but histories written by the patients themselves rather than the doctors.

But her thrice-great-grandfather claimed they were fiction.

Tales from my imagination.

That's what he'd written.

But what if it wasn't true?

If the stories were truly fiction, why had her ancestor hidden the ma.n.u.script? Had he interviewed some of the inmates and then fictionalized their insanity?

But again, why?

The old filing cabinets in the bas.e.m.e.nt-they were filled with old records. If she could match the stories to some of the inmates, then find the common factor among those inmates- She shuddered at the thought of going down into the dank shadowy chambers under the house, but shook the feeling off. She'd never been afraid of anything down there before, so why should she now? But she already knew the answer to that, too. She should be afraid because now everything had changed. Everything about the house was different.

Everything.

But it's still just the bas.e.m.e.nt, she told herself.

She went to the kitchen, found the big flashlight she always kept there, and called out for Cooper and Rocky. They came into the kitchen, but when they saw her opening the door to the bas.e.m.e.nt, Cooper uttered a low growl while Rocky dropped to the floor in the open door to the butler's pantry, refusing to come a step closer.

The smell of mildew drifted into the kitchen, and now Cooper, too, dropped to the floor, pressing close to Rocky.

Bettina flipped the wall switch that turned on the string of ancient yellow lightbulbs. "C'mon, sissies," she said.

Neither of the dogs moved.

She started down the concrete steps, pausing halfway down to listen.

Silence.

Yet something was waiting for her-she could feel it.

She almost turned and fled back up the stairs to the bright lights and warmth of the kitchen, but then hesitated. She'd been down here thousands of times, and there was no reason to be afraid now. Taking a deep breath, Bettina descended the rest of the stairs and began shoving the decaying boxes of G.o.d only knew what from in front of the old file cabinets.

She opened the first drawer. Inmate files. Hundreds of them, all jammed together, and when she tried to pull one out, it crumbled in her fingers.

She closed the drawer again and stood still for a moment, gazing at the row of filing cabinets.