The Ice House

by Ray Ouellette

  “What are you talking about?” Allison said derisively. Allison defied the odds and shot back an answer which she no doubt thought would be of absolutely no use to Lynn or her client. “Tell your idiot client to dress the Easter bunny like Uncle Sam and have him bring red, white and blue jelly beans to kids on the forth of July. Easy.” Allison laughed at the ridiculous nature of Lynn's client's project and added. Did your client ever hear of fireworks. No wonder he's complaining about his profits. And did he ever hear of advertising agencies instead of bothering an accounting firm about his problems?”

  Lynn had a blank look on her face probably picturing the Easter Bunny scene, wondering if she should maybe suggest it to her client. If he made more money their accounting firm would have more business from him.

  Allison looked at Frank for an explanation of the blank look. Then Lynn came to. “Thank you Allison,” she said triumphantly. “That's a great idea. Thanks.”

  Allison looked crushed, then rebounded. “It's that easy, is it? That's a tough sounding job you have.” She renewed her grip on Frank's arm.

  Frank took the key out of his pocket, gave Lynn an apologetic look and took Allison into the room. Lynn found herself wondering if Allison's makeup included a red hourglass shape on her stomach.

  CHAPTER 25

  The door closed behind Frank and Allison attacked. “What is this? I get a note saying that you're going to Southford, New York with her because she knows about psychic phenomena and I'm not invited because you knew I had a fund raiser.” An expression appeared on her face that didn't need to be accompanied by words, but she said, “Really!. You had a bad dream and want to find out what it's about. What crap! Frank, we all have nightmares. Grow up. This is a bunch of bull!” She moved closer to him and locked gazes. “If you're jeopardizing everything we've had for four years, everything we're going to have, because of one shallow affair, I'm really disappointed. You've always made the wrong decisions. Your stubborn refusal to take a job from my uncle among them. All that rubbish about wanting to make it on your own before we could talk about marriage.” Frank tried to get in a word but Allison continued without missing a beat. “You know that my family has the connections on the precinct level, ward level, city and state levels and has the money to fund a great State Senate campaign. State Senator and Mrs. Frank Tilton. Is she able to get you that?”

  Frank sighed and sat down. Allison pressed her attack. “Well, I'm here to make sure you don't make another wrong decision. I'm here to put an end to whatever is bothering you in this place and bring you back to--”

  Frank interrupted. “Allison, this isn't something that your money or your uncle's money can correct. What's happening to me might be dangerous. I don't want you involved. Please stay out of it. We're learning more and more every day. Working on it. There's more money involved here than your uncle ever dreamed of. Billions.” Then an insistent voice, “You have to go home! It's dangerous!”

  She put on a big smile that she knew was guaranteed to make him melt. She sat on his lap, put her arm around his shoulder and with her lips inches from his whispered, “Tell me all about what's happened so far. I've got time.” Gone was the tear you apart tone to her voice that she had unleashed earlier, replaced by a voice that people had , when they heard it for the first time, described as probably the most pleasant voice they had ever heard. An extremely tranquilizing voice. Hypnotic even. She caressed his face. “I want to know all about it. Then I'll leave you here and return to my hotel. I'll stay out of it and just check with you to see how things are going from time to time.” No one ever knew which was her natural voice, the tranquilizing one or the one that could rival her death stare for its intimidating effect.

  Frank gave her a doubtful look, then gave her a carefully edited account of what had happened to him and Lynn since they had found the name Lawrence Lowell in their research.

  Allison got up while Frank spoke, got a chair, pulled it right over in front of him and sat down on the edge, their knees just touching. She listened to Frank's story in uncharacteristic silence, interrupting a few times to have something clarified or to assure herself that Frank wasn't putting her on.

  When Frank was finished, he leaned forward and said, “That's it.” He was concerned that she would perceive certain gaps in the story, mostly periods of time at night that were left unmentioned

  “You promised,” he said. “Now back to your hotel. I'll keep you posted about the progress.”

  She smiled got up, pushed the chair back and moved to sit on his lap again.

  “My poor Frank. They've given you a terrible time, haven't they?”

  She moved his face with her hand to line up with hers, caught his gaze and locked it in a blue vise, then gave him an intense kiss. She moved back to gauge his reaction.

  The pulse in his neck noticeably quickened, his pupils enlarged and his complexion reddened.

  Allison wondered how much of ESP and psychic phenomena was really extrasensory and how much of knowing what a person is thinking is really just being observant, noticing the slight changes that she observed now in Frank. She knew she had him.

  He could feel himself being turned on as he got one last look into her eyes before she closed her mouth around his again, and the thought crossed his mind for the first time in their four year relationship that he looked at her eyes and not into them. Her eyes didn't contain an opening into the universe, there was no fairyland beyond them, only a blue icy surface that entranced him but didn't allow the spirit to enter. But he was physically excited so he let her think she had achieved another triumph.

  In the past it amused him, letting Allison think that she had gotten her way by over whelming him with her charms. Now it turned him on in a harmless way, he thought, to let her think that her power over him had beaten anything Lynn had to offer and that he belonged to her completely. A harmless fantasy.

  He was sure that it was just a game, one that he could control at will, but Allison pressed what she saw as her advantage, her ever increasing margin of victory. She moved Frank's head against the chair back, her face above his. Her hair the color of a sailor's favorite sunset, touching his face. Frank's zipper slid open and she grabbed the contents. She rubbed it slowly against her leg.

  The buffer between letting her think she had gotten her way and her getting her way was becoming dangerously thin. Frank decided to take the chance of letting it go a bit further. His hand moved up her thigh, along incredibly soft skin, a turn on just to touch. But he knew that no matter how far this went, no matter how much he was aroused right now, that afterward there would be that feeling that it hadn't been quite real. She moved his hand away from her thigh and took him into her and it definitely felt real right now. As real, as intense as any football game he had ever been in, with the home team behind by two points, seconds left, the fourth quarter. fourth down, the thirty yard line, the kicker coming in, lining up, the snap, the kick, the ball sailing high, splitting the uprights, landing in unoccupied seats behind the goal line bouncing off an empty seat, bouncing, bouncing, then coming to a stop expended, the crowd going wild.

  Frank breathed heavily, gradually getting his breath back. He rested his arms on her shoulders, and clasped his hands behind her. She had won. He knew it. He felt weak compared to her power over him, felt like he had absolutely no will when it came to her, and resigned himself to the fact that it was truly she who was in control, that she could do this to him whenever she wanted and he just didn't have the strength to resist her. No game that he played as he had imagined. Like a mythical water spirit in the form of a beautiful woman who, if a man couldn't resist and made love to her made him hers to do with as she pleased forever. She had the same power. He knew there was no deep feeling emotionally for her, but the physical attraction was something he now felt that no man was capable of resisting He unclasped his hands and put them on her shoulders feeling the smooth skin. He felt on the verge of having another orgasm, but she got up, gave him a disdainful look, gentl
y slapped his penis, gave her hair a flick of defiance and then with the harsh voice that she had attacked Lynn with, said, “Get rid of her. I'm going to take care of any problems you've been having here and then we're going back to Boston. We can continue this later when this whole thing is settled. You just send your...friend home. I'll take care of everything. I'll-”

  “Allison, listen.” He stood up and closed his zipper as she headed for the door. “It's dangerous. This isn't one of your uncle's string-pulling things, where he offers to get me a good job or introduces me to the right people. There are dangerous people involved with this.”

  She blew a kiss and walked out. He stood there watching, nothing more that he could say came to mind. He tried to pull himself together, tried to re-convince himself as best as he could that what had happened was all just part of the four year fantasy game he had played with her and that he could end it in a minute if he wanted to. But he knew better. He now knew that the only way he could get out from under her power was to somehow never lay eyes on her again. That would be the only way. He wondered how her mind could have such power over his. He was shaken. He had told himself throughout this trip that when he got home he would tell Allison that it was over, that her idea of the future was not his. But he had caved immediately when she cast her spell over him. He knew it was hopeless. He wondered if he'd spend the rest of his life miserable, steered by her into a job or a political career that was her idea of the way he should be, except for the times when she'd drive him insane in bed.

  He headed for the lobby to get Lynn. He tried to erase the look of guilt that he knew must be showing as plain as the bulge in his pants that was only now subsiding.

  Lynn's thoughts had been varying between what was going on in the room and working on the idea that Allison had come up with for Lynn's client. The rapidity with which Allison had fired off the idea angered Lynn but she also knew it was a good idea that she should present to her client. She dreaded however, seeing the blitz of jelly bean adds that would show up around each forth of July, especially if it turned out to be a reminder that it had been Allison that got Frank.

  Lynn got up when she saw Frank approaching and walked over. “I saw her leave,” she said. “How'd it go?”

  “I should have left and not let her know anything. I thought maybe she'd just stay home, but I should have known. She has some fund raiser she's supposed to be running for a candidate.” Frank fell silent for a while. What might he have done differently. How could he have avoided what had just happened he wondered. “I can't tell her anything 'cause she just does what she wants. Thinks her family's influence and money can take care of anything. This Lowell situation is dangerous and she has no fear of anything.”

  Lynn didn't know what to say. Frank seemed so concerned about Allison. Lynn wondered right there if she shouldn't maybe get on a bus and head back to Boston. Those hopes for the future that she had built up over the last few days were melting away like Spring snowflakes. Allison seemed to have some kind of power over him that he seemed to be incapable of overcoming.

  “I mean I'm afraid she's going to get hurt. She doesn't know the danger. She thinks it was a mix-up that got my car blown up. She said that Mrs. Lowell didn't do it and why should the scientists do it either, but she doesn't know what it's like to be on the verge of being rich.” Frank shook his head slowly, then said, “She's never been without lots of money. We've got to find her, stop her. She's probably on her way to the Ice House now. Okay?” Lynn nodded in resignation.

  “Let's go.” Frank said.

  Lynn wanted to say, Wait a minute. What does this mean? What did that night on the hillside mean? She wanted to but didn't. At this moment she felt like a mistress wondering if her married lover was really going to leave his wife. She felt cheap but also angry. But she knew she had no right to be. Allison was getting herself into something she didn't understand. Her protected, charmed life couldn't have prepared her for what these people seemed capable of. Frank should absolutely be concerned, even if he had just met Allison instead of having dated her for four years. Lynn knew she'd just have to wait until this Lawrence Lowell problem was solved, everyone was safe and she could compete with Allison, knowing that whatever concern Frank showed for Allison then would be out of love and not obligation. She couldn't separate the two right now. She couldn't be angry with Frank either. He might just be doing what he felt he had to do.

  As they headed out to the car, Lynn found herself picturing Allison taking Bostwick apart. The image shifted to a spider web and a female black widow waiting for her victim. She could see Bostwick sitting there getting told off, trying to get a word in edgewise. But then another image pushed this one aside. Lynn had a vision of Allison lying dead on the floor of the Ice House and Bostwick trying to figure out what to do with the body. After the explosion of the car, Lynn thought that this was a possibility.

  The car doors slammed and Frank started it up. Lynn felt trapped, heading for a huge disappointment that she now felt loomed because of Allison and because of Frank's inability to deal with her. But Lynn also knew that she had to help in any way that she could to save Allison. If she did anything less she wouldn't be worthy of Frank or of the memory of her departed cousin Karen, whom she was trying to live a good life in honor of. If Frank and Allison ended up together then Frank wasn't the person she thought he was anyway.

  Frank took his eyes off the road and glanced over at Lynn. She just stared ahead, expressionless, but the lack of her usual enthusiasm made Frank say, “I'm sorry. You know I didn't want Allison here. You must be disappointed that she showed up.”

  Lynn didn't answer Frank's question but asked one of her own. “Are you disappointed?”

  Frank answered slowly, “I am.” In his tone Lynn detected complete sincerity and her mood lightened.

  She smiled. “I'm soooooo disappointed,” she said in an exaggerated parody of concern.

  Frank hesitated for a moment, then joined in the spirit of the parody. “How disappointed are you?” He gestured for her to go ahead and answer.

  “I am sooooo disappointed. I haven't been sooooo disappointed since one morning last week when I put bread in the toaster, pushed the lever, went to do something, came back expecting toast and the damn thing wasn't plugged in.”

  “That disappointed huh?”

  CHAPTER 26

  Allison drove up to the gate of the Ice House. The spider eyed her suspiciously. She reached out to bang on the box and the spider took off behind it. “Hello! Anybody there? Or is this thing just left over from some defunct drive-in?”

  The guard came on in a bored tone. “Identify yourself please and state your business.”

  “Allison Crossfield. I represent Frank Tilton and am here to question you about your intentions regarding him.”

  The spider remained hidden behind the box. A short silence was followed by Bostwick's voice crackling at her, “Is Frank with you? He hasn't shown up for his shift today.”

  “No and I doubt that he will be since somebody blew up his car.”

  “Is he hurt?” Bostwick's voice surprised Allison with what seemed like genuine concern.

  Allison let him suffer for a moment.

  “Is he hurt...please?”

  Allison remained silent, enjoying this. Finally she said, “He's all right but he won't be in again until I speak with you and make sure this place is safe for him.”

  The gate swung open and when Allison drove to the second gate it was open too. The guard waved her through. Bostwick was waiting outside the Ice House. He looked at the Massachusetts license plate and then opened the door for her.

  “Would you like to come inside? We can talk.” He took her into the lounge and they sat down.

  Allison turned her death stare on Bostwick. He looked away. “I've been told all about what's going on here,” said Allison. “I know what your ultimate goal is and it's to take Frank's soul, even if it results in his death, and put that soul in some damn icicle named Lawrence Lowe
ll.”

  Bostwick squirmed in his seat, managed to look back at her, braving her killer stare and said, “I don't know what you've been told, but we're not doing anything illegal here.”

  “Try immoral then. Anyway you may not be doing anything illegal here but you certainly are everywhere else...bombs, kidnapping, police harassing people without reason. Actually also murder too. That chauffeur?”

  “Miss, what is it exactly that you're asking of us. What do you want?”

  “I'm not here to ask anything. I'm not here to reason with you. Or to plead with you. I'm simply here to tell you that you will immediately cease all activity that endangers or even inconveniences Frank. Do you understand?” She stared her death stare at him then added, “I'm on my way to Albany, the State Attorney General's Office to place a complaint about this place. I'm sure they'll be interested in sending a team out here to investigate right away, to see what crawls out when they overturn this rock called Southford that everyone around here is living under.” She stood up, shook his hand, stared bullets at him then turned and walked out. Bostwick watched her from a window. His hand shook as he picked up the phone. He put it down, but picked it up again and made the call that he knew he was required to make. Allison went to her hotel, packed and lied down for a short nap which stretched into a four hour sleep.

  Frank had driven part of the way to the Ice House, had second thoughts about it and pulled out his phone. He called the Ice House to ask if Allison had been there. He didn't really think that they'd tell him but he'd try.

  “She's off to Albany to the State Attorney General's Office to place a complaint,” said Bostwick. “Just left. He waited a moment for Frank to comment but there was silence. “She won't accomplish anything, I think. Just a waste of their time. It will inconvenience us for a while having them snooping around but were legal. There's nothing for them to find.”