Captives (Nightmare Hall)

by Diane Hoh

  She knew they should be hurrying, racing downstairs to see if a telephone might be working now, or frantically trying to figure out what to do. But their steps on the stairs were small, hesitant, their eyes constantly scanning the darkness around them. And although Daisy wasn’t actually clutching the back of Molloy’s yellowed blouse, because Daisy wasn’t that kind of person, it almost felt as if she were.

  We are going to have to separate at some point, Molloy thought in despair. One of us will have to go for help if we can’t use the phone. Lynne has to have medical attention.

  The thought of running out into that stormy darkness where Lynne had been attacked, the possibility of ending up lying on the ground with her own skull cracked open, made Molloy’s heart stop.

  But someone had to go for help.

  As they passed each room on the third and second floors, they opened the doors and Molloy swept the rooms with the flashlight. She had no idea what they would do if someone actually jumped out from behind a piece of furniture, maybe brandishing a weapon of some kind in their faces. But checking seemed better than just walking by the rooms as if everything were perfectly normal.

  They found no sign of anything unusual in any of the rooms. No wet footprints, no open windows with the curtains blowing and the rain coming in.

  When they reached the entry hall, and tried the phone, it was still dead.

  To their relief, the front door was still locked, with no sign of forced entry.

  “He’s not in here,” Daisy whispered in Molloy’s ears as they moved cautiously along the hallway, “I know he’s not. He’s gone.”

  When they had checked the library and the parlor and the dining room and found nothing, and then moved on into the kitchen and found the frying pan still fastened firmly over the broken windowpane, Molloy’s heart leaped with hope. Maybe Daisy was right. Maybe he had taken just a few minutes to come back into the house and, using a back entrance or staircase, hidden Lynne in the trunk to give himself more time to get away, and then had left by the same back entrance.

  And maybe the hammering sound they’d heard really had been a shutter.

  But they still had to figure out how to get help.

  When they saw no sign of an intruder, Daisy said, “You said we’re close to Salem. Somebody has to hike out of this mausoleum and get a doctor for Lynnie. I’ll go.” She forced a grin. “I’m the one wearing the coat, right?”

  “Daisy … he could still be out there. Waiting for us to leave so he can have his place back.”

  “Oh, he’s long gone by now. Probably terrified of the cops. If he wasn’t scared of being caught, he wouldn’t have gone to all that trouble to hide Lynne, He’d have left her lying there on the ground in the rain. He was buying himself some time, to get away.”

  It sounded so logical, made so much sense. And Daisy sounded so much like she knew what she was talking about.

  “Well, at least go out the front way. Ernie said this house was on a hill overlooking a highway. Maybe you can flag down a car right away.” Molloy hadn’t forgotten that the highway had been closed due to flooding. She remembered the detour that had begun this nightmare. But she was trying desperately to sound optimistic before Daisy started out. And there was always a chance that the highway had been opened by now, although it didn’t sound like the weather had improved much.

  “Right,” Daisy agreed. “If not, I’ll hike up the highway on foot.”

  Daisy marched to the door and reached out to turn the doorknob. Turned, twisted it, shook it, felt all around the doorframe for another key, found none, yanked on the doorknob again, and, finally, gave the heavy wooden door a kick and turned around in defeat. “Without a key,” she said flatly, “this door is not going to open.”

  “Well, let’s look for one. Maybe there’s an extra set somewhere.”

  They searched all around the doorframe and then went back into the kitchen to look. There was a key rack hanging near the back door, but it was empty.

  “Well, I guess it’s the back door, then,” Daisy said, giving up on the search. “At least we know that one’s open, since we couldn’t lock it without a key.”

  Molloy knew Daisy didn’t want to go out back, didn’t want to have to pass the woodbox. She didn’t blame her. But what choice did they have?

  Daisy, her face pale, shrugged and went straight to the back door. Saying, “Here goes nothing!” she released the chain and turned the doorknob.

  Although Daisy tugged on the door, it didn’t open.

  “What’s going on?” Molloy said, moving forward to stand at Daisy’s side,

  Daisy went through the same ritual she’d performed on the front door, to no avail. The door was immovable.

  Without even turning around, Daisy sagged against the door and said, “It’s not going to open. It’s either locked from the outside or nailed shut.”

  “Nailed shut? On the outside?”

  Daisy turned around, her face red from her efforts. “That’s what it feels like. There were a lot of old, deserted buildings in my neighborhood. When the absentee owners got tired of us kids hanging around their property, they came over and nailed all of the doors and windows shut.” She added grimly as she walked to the sink to stare at the wall of windows behind it, “If someone had been inside those buildings when the boards went up over the doors and the nails went in,” turning again to direct a level gaze at Molloy, “they would have been trapped.”

  “Trapped?” Molloy stared at Daisy. “But …”

  “It’s probably not nailed shut,” Daisy said quickly. “But it sure is locked. And it wasn’t when we came back in from the woodbox. I’ll have to go out a window.” But the look on her face was not optimistic as her eyes returned to the windows.

  “Check them,” Molloy urged, guessing what Daisy was thinking. “At least check them.”

  Daisy hauled a wooden chair over to the sink and stood on it to examine the windows. Her shoulders slumped. She turned her head toward Molloy who was standing behind her aiming the flashlight forward. “Well,” Daisy said, her voice bleak, “now we know what all that hammering was.”

  Disbelieving, Molloy rushed to join Daisy at the sink, climbed up on the chair beside her, leaned forward anxiously to see for herself.

  Every window had been nailed shut.

  Daisy jumped down, hurried to the door, removed the tape holding the frying pan, peered out through the hole. “It’s not barred,” she said as she taped the pan back into place. “There wasn’t time to nail a board across the door. But it is locked, which means someone has a key. Someone who doesn’t want us leaving,”

  Then she turned around to face Molloy. Leaning against the door, her face drained of color and looking pinched, Daisy said wearily, “We can’t leave. We’re trapped in here.”

  Chapter 13

  I’M IN CHARGE NOW.

  Don’t worry, you’re not alone here in this dismal place. I’m here. I’m right here, listening, even watching sometimes. Like now.

  The girl with the frizzy blonde hair all wet and curly around her face looks mad. The other girl, the pretty one in the long skirt, looks like a trapped animal.

  They can’t believe the windows are nailed shut.

  They’ll start looking for another way out now, but they won’t find one. This is my territory, and I know my way around. Wherever they are, I’ll be somewhere else. Except, of course, when I’m picking them off, one by one, like apples from a tree.

  This might be fun, after all. Hadn’t planned on it, of course. But now it feels kind of like a game. Entertainment for a rainy night. If they hadn’t come along, what would I be doing? Hanging around this place waiting for the roads to open.

  I know exactly which one to get rid of first. It’ll be as easy as stealing grapes at the supermarket.

  Watch out girls, here I co-ome!

  Chapter 14

  ERNIE NEEDED TO TALK to Tanner Leo. He knew it was a really crass thing to want, when her father had just been murdered, but
he was going to try, anyway. Tanner might know something about the killer. She might be able to say to him, “Yes, I’ve already told the police who it is, but I have to tell you, Ernie, I know this guy and I promise you, he’s long gone. He isn’t the type to hang around waiting to get arrested.”

  That was what Ernie Dodd needed to hear. That the creep was long gone, and therefore no threat to Molloy.

  Of course, Tanner would already have shared any information she had with the police. He should go to them instead of to the bereaved daughter. But as someone who had sought the services of Dr. Leo, Ernie Dodd was on that list of suspects, so he wasn’t about to present himself to the police. It had to be Tanner he talked to.

  Tanner played second base on the baseball team, and Ernie liked her. She was friendly and seemed helpful. Would she help him out now? Could she?

  Ian Banion had said on the radio that “Dr. Leo’s only survivor, his daughter, Tanner, is recovering from the news at the campus infirmary.”

  Ernie made his way across campus, sloshing through deep puddles as if they weren’t even there.

  Tanner, a tall, thin, dark-haired girl who reminded Ernie a little of Molloy, was sitting in the infirmary waiting room with Charlie Cochran, her boyfriend. He had an arm around her shoulders and was talking to her quietly, comforting her.

  They looked up in surprise when Ernie walked in. He declared his condolences, which Tanner accepted with quiet gratitude, and then, sitting down, said, “Tanner, I really hate bothering you like this. I know you must be really upset.”

  “They gave me something,” she said, gesturing toward a nurse standing behind the counter. “They tell me it’ll help me sleep. I’m staying with Jodie for a few days.” Jodie Lawson was Tanner’s best friend. Tanner shuddered. “I couldn’t go back to that house even if the police let me.”

  Ernie felt terrible. He shouldn’t be here, bothering her like this. Then he saw a police officer in a small room off the hall, talking to a doctor. Already asking questions. They’d be coming to Ernie Dodd sooner or later to get his answers. Might even keep him from looking for Molloy.

  He couldn’t give up on Tanner. “Look, I’m sorry, Tanner. I know you must be wrecked, but I have to ask you something. I’m worried about Molloy.”

  Tanner knew who he meant. He had talked to everyone on the team about Molloy. “Your girlfriend? Why?”

  Ernie explained. “And with that guy out there …”

  Tanner paled.

  “I thought maybe you might have some idea about who it is, and then you might also know where he might be hiding out or, better yet, where he might have escaped to,” Ernie asked desperately. He knew he was grabbing at straws, but he didn’t know what else to do.

  “Oh, Ernie,” Tanner said softly, “if I knew who it was, don’t you think I’d tell? My father and I didn’t get along very well, I guess, but …” She bit her lower lip.

  Charlie patted her shoulder and squeezed her hand,

  “Think, Tanner, okay? Isn’t there anything that you can think of that would help the police find this guy? I mean, he’s out there, and for all I know, so is Molloy.”

  “It might not be a guy,” Tanner said slowly. The sedative was beginning to hit her. “My father had female patients, too, Ernie, and some of them didn’t like him very much. But I’ll tell you what I told the police. If I were going to look for a fugitive, I know the first place I’d look. Nightmare Hall.”

  Ernie stared at her. “Nightmare Hall?” That old, gloomy brick place out on the highway, sitting up on a hill under huge, black trees. “Why there?”

  “Because it’s off-campus, it’s out of the way, and it’s empty right now. I know the housemother has gone on vacation, and so has the handyman.” She leaned closer to Charlie, and he tightened his grip around her shoulders.

  “Did you tell the police to go check it out?” Ernie asked, hating himself for not leaving her alone.

  Tanner nodded. “But they said right now they’re busy checking every dorm, and that it would take a while. Twin Falls doesn’t have a very large police force, Ernie.” Her eyes began to dull from the sedative and the arm that had been resting on the chair dropped into her lap.

  It was time to go. “Thanks, Tanner. Thanks for your help. And I really am sorry about what happened.”

  Tanner’s eyes were fighting to stay open.

  “I’ve got to get her over to Jodie’s,” Charlie said. He helped her upright. “I hope you find Molloy, Ernie. I’m sure she’s okay.”

  Watching them leave, Ernie saw the way Charlie was careful to open Tanner’s umbrella and shield her with it, and felt a stab of pain in his chest because he wasn’t doing exactly the same thing for Molloy. He was supposed to be. But Molloy wasn’t here.

  Nightmare Hall? Was Tanner right? It would be the perfect place to hide out. Isolated, deserted.

  It was worth a try. Even a long trek in foul weather would be worth it if Molloy opened the door to Nightmare Hall when he knocked and cried, “Ernie! You found me!”

  Ernie stood up, would have bolted from the infirmary, but an authoritative voice behind him said, “Excuse me. You want to tell me your name and what you were doing talking to Dr. Leo’s daughter?”

  Ernie turned around to face a middle-aged, ruddy-faced policeman in uniform.

  “I’m a friend of hers,” he said, deliberately not giving his name. Maybe this policeman didn’t know or wouldn’t remember that the name ‘Ernest Dodd’ was on that list of suspects, probably in capital letters, but he couldn’t afford to risk it. “I just came to offer my condolences.”

  “Nice of you.” The policeman’s eyes narrowed. “Coming out on a bad night like this, I mean. Could have waited till morning, right? What’d you say your name was again?”

  Oh, man.

  A younger officer, looking not much older than Ernie, came out of another room just then. “What’s going on, Sloane?” he asked, glancing over at Ernie. “Problem?”

  “Nah, no problem, Reardon. This guy was talking to the Leo girl, and now he seems to be having trouble remembering his own name.”

  “You want to give us your name?” the officer named Reardon asked Ernie politely. “I mean, there isn’t any reason why you wouldn’t want to, is there?”

  Ernie gave up. Sometimes you could fight City Hall, and sometimes you couldn’t. This was one of those times. “Ernie Dodd,” he said reluctantly.

  Reardon nodded. “He’s on the list,” he told his partner. “Maybe that’s why he wanted to keep his name to himself.” To Ernie, he said, “You want to come along with us? We just have a few routine questions.” He pointed into the small room. “Right in here, if you don’t mind. Nothing to worry about.”

  Easy for you to say, Ernie thought as his earlier hope of finding Molloy soon shriveled up and died. Your girlfriend isn’t missing, is she?

  But he moved into the room without further argument, knowing that he wasn’t going to be leaving the infirmary any time soon. If Molloy was at Nightmare Hall, she’d have to wait a little longer for Ernie Dodd to find her.

  He could only hope that she was there with no one but Lynne, Toni, and Daisy. No one else.

  Not a killer looking for a place to hide.

  Chapter 15

  DAISY AND MOLLOY CLIMBED down from the chair and stood facing each other in the kitchen. The flashlight lay on the edge of the sink, its wide yellow beam casting an eerie glow across the room,

  Molloy was the first to speak. “Maybe,” she proposed halfheartedly, “the nails are old. Maybe the handyman did this a long time ago, to keep intruders out.”

  “Oh, right,” Daisy said, glaring. “And he also locked the doors from the inside and pocketed the keys so we couldn’t open them. And then, with the house locked up tighter than a penitentiary, he was magically transported out of here.”

  Molloy sagged against the sink. “Sorry. I was just trying …”

  “You were just trying to deny the truth.” Daisy’s tone softened. “I don’
t blame you. I was doing the same thing when I insisted that no one was in here but us.” She glanced around the long, narrow, dim kitchen again, her eyes revealing raw fear now. “But someone is, Molloy! And for some crazy reason, he’s trapped us in here with him!”

  They were too bewildered to think straight. They stumbled to the round, wooden kitchen table at one end of the room and sank into chairs.

  “What are we going to do?” Molloy said. She wasn’t asking a question, and didn’t really expect an answer. She knew Daisy was as stunned as she was. First Lynne, with that horrible wound on the side of her head, curled up inside the trunk as if she were already dead, and now this! Trapped in a horrible old house with no way out.

  No, that wasn’t right. That couldn’t be right. Of course there was a way out. There had to be. “We’ll just have to find another way out, that’s all. He couldn’t have nailed all of the windows shut. He didn’t have time.”

  Daisy disagreed. “One big, fat nail, one hammer, one blow, presto, the bottom of the window frame is nailed to the windowsill and won’t open. How long could it take? It’s not like he had to do the upstairs windows. Who’s going to jump out of a second-story window?”

  But Molloy insisted they quickly check all of the first-floor windows. “If you’re right, and they’re all nailed shut, we’ll just have to break one,” she said. They had taken to talking in whispers. It seemed safer. “Then one of us has to go for help, and the other one has to get back upstairs to Lynne and Toni.”

  They were checking the last room, the bedroom off the kitchen, when each of them found something.

  The room had no windows, and they would have turned and left quickly. But Molloy decided a coat or jacket would be helpful when one of them went out into the rain, and she opened what she thought was a closet door. Instead she found a staircase.

  Daisy had her back turned, in the process of finding another pair of dry socks. She heard Molloy’s gasp of discovery and whirled around, her face suffused with fear. “What? What’s wrong?” Then, taking a step forward, “What is that?”