He checked his watch. Violetta would be sending up the first one soon. He was anxious to get on with it. Since the sisters had access to everywhere in the castle and grounds, he needed to get them out of the way next, otherwise they would notice his activities. It had been fortunate that they were such old fashioned ladies and didn’t ever go into the dungeon, the stables or the Professor’s workshops, all of which they considered masculine preserves, so his activities thus far had escaped their notice.
Sure enough, there came a knock on the door. Sergio flicked his lighter on, set fire to the slip of paper reading “Boudica Amelie Desmarais,” and dropped it into the mirrored iron box. He brushed a small gap in the iron filings at the door, and then opened it. “I brought the towels you asked for, I’ll leave them outside the door…” Boudica began, but then her eyes widened and she began to lose control over her body, beginning at her feet. Her essence was sucked through the gap in the iron filings, into the bedroom, and into the box, extinguishing the flaming paper. Sergio slammed the lid down and fastened the lock.
“Gotcha!” he said. One down, two to go.
#
How vain men could be, thought Callie. Her travel agents were perfectly happy to be seen in front of each other wearing green facemasks, or having their legs waxed, or any number of other undignified things. But this Ken Trepid fellow had insisted he be the only client in her studio that morning, and so she had agreed, putting off other bookings to the afternoon. I bet he has his hair dyed, Callie thought, and he doesn’t want anyone to know. He’ll want his roots tinted, that’ll be what the big deal is. How conceited!
Sure enough, when Ken arrived, he was wearing mirrored sunglasses and a stylish leather jacket. What a poser, thought Callie. Who wears sunglasses inside? “So,” she smiled, once the door was closed behind him. “What will it be today? Some blonde highlights? A treatment, perhaps?”
“Sorry, Ma’am, but you’re the one getting the treatment,” he replied, pulling a gun on her. She blinked and stared down the barrel, finding this impossible to believe. At once, memories of Big Jim came rushing into her mind. Was this guy connected to that thug? It seemed likely. Well, she wouldn’t be caught out this time. Under the turban, her snakes were writhing, feeding on her emotions, ready to go to work. And this time they weren’t wearing those stupid beads.
“Take it easy,” she said. “I’m just going to put my hands up, see?” She began to slowly raise her hands, then suddenly yanked off the turban and glared at the man. Her snakes sprang out to full extension, hissing and glowering.
But something was wrong. The man was not turning to stone. In fact, he yawned, and said sarcastically, “Nice hairdo. Now put the turban back on.”
“B…but…” Callie protested. Sergio tapped the mirrored sunglasses, and suddenly she understood. She saw the dismay on her face reflected in their lenses, as she slowly did what he asked. Soon, she was bound hand, foot and mouth in duct tape, with several strips also over the top of her turbaned head to keep the snakes under control. Sergio pushed her into a chair, taped her legs to the frame, threw a hairdressing cape over her, stuck an open magazine on her lap and lowered the hood of a hairdryer over her head. He stood back and admired his handiwork. Anyone looking in would just see a client having her hair done.
Now Sergio slipped next door to the doctor’s waiting room. A sign instructed him to knock on the door to the office to let Dr. Ehl Bone know he was there, so he did so. Almost at once, the door opened, Ankh popped his head out, and exclaimed, “Oh! Another patient?” He seemed surprisingly eager.
“That’s right, doc,” Sergio replied.
“Excellent, excellent. I’ll be right with you.” After a few minutes, the door opened again and the doctor ushered Penny Fisher out. The woman was clutching an assortment of bottles.
She grimaced peevishly at Sergio, then turned back to the doctor. “I’ll check in with you tomorrow, then, Doctor, to let you know whether the medicines have worked.”
Ankh sighed. “Yes, yes. Now, Mr. Trepid, do come in. How can I help you? Not a case of traveller’s belly I hope? Or a tropical disease as yet un-diagnosed?”
Sergio smiled and sat down. “No, nothing like that. It’s not so much a case of how you can help me, as how I can help you. You see, as a travel writer I move around a great deal, see many interesting and mysterious things, and meet some wonderful people. Well, last year, I was in Egypt, and I met a truly remarkable man. He claimed to have lived some 3000 years ago…” At this, Ankh gasped, and sat up straighter. Sergio went on. “He died all those millennia ago, was mummified, and then, only ten years ago, was brought back to life. Fully brought back to life, Doctor, his skin as healthy as mine, eyes bright, no bandages required.” Ankh now picked up his pipe and began to turn it over and over in his hands, agitated. “This man told me that he knew the secret of eternal life. I scoffed, of course. Who wouldn’t? But he took me to the market, and let me buy a mummified cat – any cat I chose – let me inspect it, and then he worked his magic, right in front of me. For a whole day, I watched that cat, as it transformed, filling out and gaining life. And then we took off the bandages. Well, it had fur, and skin, and green eyes – and claws! It scratched my hands and took off into the night – but it was a real, live cat.”
Ankh found it hard to speak, he was so choked up. “Why are you telling me this?” he managed to ask.
“Well, Doctor, I think you know that. As I say, I’ve travelled, I’ve seen things. And I know what you are. Oh, don’t worry – your secret’s safe with me. I won’t tell your employers here at the resort. But tell me – don’t you feel your talents are wasted here? Wouldn’t it be better to work in a hospital? Wouldn’t you like to be cured?”
Ankh nodded dumbly. He was so grateful, he didn’t even think to ask why Ken Trepid was offering to help him. Ken explained the process. It all seemed ridiculously simple, and so Ankh readily agreed. Soon, he was lying on his examination table, a bunch of herbs stuffed into his mouth and coins over his eyes, being wrapped in a second set of bandages, in order to completely remove his senses, as well as bind his hands to his sides and his legs together. The magic, Ken had explained, would only work if he was completely helpless – unable even to mutter a curse. So it was that Ankh was left on the table, blind and deaf – unable to hear Sergio’s final word to him: “Sucker!”
As he left the room, securing a “Do not disturb” sign on the door, Sergio checked his watch. It was nearly time for lunch. The band members who helped out with food preparation would have finished by now, so he had time to deal with them and the zombie chanteuse before he ate. Excellent. Then, immediately after lunch, the skeleton chef would be for the chop. Sergio whistled as he returned to his room to collect a fresh roll of duct tape, and a pair of wire-cutters.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I said I was sorry,” Lisa hissed to the others as she sat down at their table at lunchtime. “And I promised I would ask if you could meet him. So get over it already.” Craig and Hayden had been ignoring her all morning, going out for a walk around the island without inviting her, and then sitting by themselves in the dining hall, punishing her for having kept Skully a secret. “People will start to wonder what’s going on if you won’t talk to me,” Lisa pointed out.
Craig snorted. “People are too busy talking about a crazy story Peaches is telling.”
“Oh?” said Lisa, as Harriet laid a plate of food in front of her. “What’s the story?”
“She’s back to her usual grumpy self, and now she’s talking about a snake biting her, and being tied to a chair and hypnotised. She won’t stop complaining and she wants to leave, and her mum’s really cross with her.”
Lisa noticed that Harriet stiffened, and was pretty sure she knew why. “Peaches is just an attention-seeker,” she said, loud enough for Harriet to hear as she moved away. Lisa wondered why Harriet was serving along with Swizelsticks and Violetta, instead of Edgar.
“So, when can we meet him?” Cr
aig asked.
Lisa thought for a moment, then got out a notebook and pen out of her bag. She tore out a page and wrote a note, then waved down Swizelsticks. “Can you give this to the chef, please? It’s just a note to say how great the food is.” Swizelsticks beamed at her and took the note, heading straight for the kitchen.
“There,” said Lisa. “Satisfied?”
#
Harriet bustled from table to table, mind churning. Why had the thrall worn off Peaches? And where were all her staff members? She didn’t actually require them to come to lunch, but it would be nice if some of them had put in an appearance. Especially Edgar, since waiting tables was his job. Violetta had said that he was unwell, but he had seemed fine when Harriet had seen him earlier that morning. “Here you go,” she said, setting down Peaches, Doreen and Della’s meals. “Oh, is Beryl not with you?”
“No,” Della said. “She’s having a lie down. This morning she suddenly started going on and on about dead arms in the shower. I reckon she’s had a nightmare that’s just come back to her. It happens sometimes, doesn’t it?”
Harriet nodded weakly. Another thrall undone – what was going on? She hastened over to Dan and Mike’s table, and quizzed the two men. “I was just wondering – as our bartender is new – how’s he doing? Have your drinks been satisfactory?”
Dan nodded. “Oh, yes, they’ve been great.”
“Good, good,” Harriet murmured, moving away. So, Violetta’s thrall was holding, but not Viktor’s. She’d have to ask him what the problem was, once the lunch rush was over. Come to think of it, where was Viktor?
Violetta came through the door at that moment, carrying two plates for the old ladies, so Harriet asked her. “Oh yes,” Violetta said. “I forgot! He asked me to tell you he would be working on the finances all day. He’ll catch up with you this evening.”
“Oh,” said Harriet. “Is that the last of the meals?”
Violetta nodded. “The kitchen is clear,” she said loudly, “and chef’s gone to his room for a break before the dinner rush.”
Ken Trepid suddenly stood up and pushed away his half-eaten meal. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said as he passed them. “Lunch was superb as always. My compliments to the chef.”
Harriet breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t much care for waiting tables. At least she hadn’t had to serve the staff too. She supposed she should be grateful to all of them for working so hard. Especially Norm and Blake down in the dungeon. Violetta had said they didn’t want to be disturbed, but it wouldn’t hurt to just pop down and give them a word of encouragement. Humming to herself, Harriet unlocked the door to the spiral staircase and descended, calling out to the boys. There was no reply, and when she reached the gymnasium, she saw the weights equipment covered by a tarpaulin. But where were Norm and Blake? Frowning, she started to turn away, when a horrible moan froze her in her tracks and caused hairs to sprout on her neck and forearms. The moan was coming from under the tarpaulin. Harriet whipped it away, and was confused at what she saw. Somehow, Norm had caused the weights to fall, entangling himself in their cables. “Norm!” she exclaimed. “What happened?”
Again, he moaned, and she realised that there was cloth in his mouth. She pulled it out and he spluttered, “It was a man. He’s trapped me!”
“Oh, dear Lord!” Harriet exclaimed, thinking at once of Big Jim and Hugo Dixon. “Did you recognise him?”
“Sort of,” Norm said, thinking again of Ken Trepid… but he didn’t mention this to Harriet. The guy who trapped him didn’t have the right hair to be Ken, and besides, it was wrong to say anything bad about a guest.
Harriet tried to pull up the weights, but it was no use. “Boo, Sue, Lou!” she called out. “Emergency! I need two of you in the dungeon to help Norm, and one to find Viktor and tell him there’s an intruder in the castle!” There was no reply. “Boo, Sue, Lou!” she tried again. Still nothing. “Maybe they aren’t monitoring the dungeon,” Harriet said to Norm. “Although they should be. I’ll be back in a minute with help.”
“Da…” said Norm. “I won’t go anywhere.”
Harriet raced up the stairs and burst into the reception area. “Boo, Sue, Lou!” she called out again.
“What on Earth’s the matter?” Violetta asked her, concern etched on her beautiful pale face.
“There’s an intruder, I think. Norm’s been trapped, and Boo, Sue and Lou aren’t answering their calls.”
“Oh!” Violetta exclaimed. “That’s terrible. Listen, I’ll find Viktor, and you check to make sure Barbara and the others are okay.”
Harriet nodded and sped up the stairs. She raced along the corridor and burst into the nursery. Barbara and the child, Amy, were finger-painting on the walls, and looked up in surprise at her. “Oh, uh, is everything alright here?” Harriet asked them. They looked at each other, smiled, and nodded. Was it Harriet’s imagination, or was Barbara looking younger? She shook her head – no time to wonder about irrelevancies. “Well, keep an eye out, please Barbara. Our old friends may be back. You know? Jim and Hugo?” Barbara frowned, and said that she understood and would prepare a ‘special treat’ for them. Harriet thanked her and moved onto the doctor’s surgery. Here, there was a ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the office door. She bit her lip. What if he was with a patient? She decided to check on Callie first and then come back. She ducked her head into the beauty salon, but saw only a client having her hair done. Where was Callie? She marched across the salon and checked the back office, but the gorgon wasn’t there. Then she remembered the tarpaulin in the dungeon gymnasium. “Oh no,” she moaned as she pulled the hairdressing cape off the client, to reveal Callie, bound to the chair. Harriet pulled off the hairdryer, ripped the duct tape off Callie’s mouth, and began to work at her bonds, explaining all the while that there was an intruder, that Jim and Hugo were probably back, that Norm was trapped and the sisters were missing…
“No, but…” Callie was saying. “Harriet, stop, listen to me, it was Ken…” Harriet was still talking, still working at the bonds. “Harriet!” Callie roared. “I’m trying to tell you something!”
Harriet stopped and looked her in the face. “Tell me what?”
“I think she’s trying to tell you that it was Ken Trepid,” said Sergio, appearing in the doorway in his mirrored shades. He held a gun in each hand, one a pistol, trained on Callie, the other an unusual-looking modified rifle, pointed at Harriet. Harriet wondered briefly if the gun contained silver bullets, but then felt herself begin to transform. She dropped onto all fours.
“Nice doggie,” said Sergio, pulling the trigger as Harriet leapt. At once, a net sprang from the strange wide barrel of the rifle, entangling the werewolf. Harriet crashed to the ground. Where the fine silver filaments of the net made contact with her skin – on her paw-pads, and her tender nose – it burned. She felt the silver sapping her strength. It was all she could do to flop on her side, and whimper. Then – worse luck, she felt the reverse transformation begin. Soon she was a woman again, with even more exposed skin to feel the burn of the silver. Sergio stepped over her, and re-secured the duct-tape over Callie’s mouth, slapped some on Harriet too, then smiled at them both and left the room, closing and locking the door behind him.
Harriet’s brain was on overload. Although the silver was taking a lot out of her, she was still able to reason, and she could have kicked herself for being so stupid. Who had told her that Norm and Blake were working on the broken weights machine? Violetta. And who had told her that Edgar was sick and that Viktor was busy working? Again – Violetta. As she worked it through, Harriet was forced to conclude that Viktor, Edgar and the three sisters must have already been trapped earlier that morning. And probably Ankh too… maybe Skully and the band? Would Barbara and Swizelsticks be next? Why was Violetta doing this, and what did she hope to achieve? What… but the castle.
#
Violetta looked up sharply as Sergio swaggered into the reception area. “Alright?” she asked.
�
�Of course,” he replied. “Bagged them all, just as I said I would. Now, my associate will be here in a few hours in my boat with all the necessary packing equipment, as arranged, and then we’ll be out of your way, and you can enjoy your castle… and its human guests… at your leisure.”
“And soon you can enjoy your money,” Violetta rejoined.
“True. From half a million for the aquaman, through to two and a half mill for a female werewolf… yeah, I’m looking at a pretty good haul.”
“Don’t forget my cut,” Violetta reminded him.
“You’ve got your castle…”
“And the price for Viktor – two million U.S. dollars,” she added.
“But of course,” Sergio said, smiling.
“Although why a collector would want him…” Violetta said, shaking her head.
“Anyway. Just a few hours now,” Sergio said. “I’m expecting a call from my colleague to say he’s on his way. I imagine you will have your hands full until then, dealing with complaints – given that the gym, the stables, the doctor’s office and the salon are all closed.”
“Mm,” Violetta agreed. “And I’ve only got that failure of a wizard to help me. Oh well, it hardly matters if the guests have a bad time now, does it?”
“Just keep up the pretence of normality ‘til I’ve gone with my cargo, okay? It’ll help everything run more smoothly.”
“Yeah, okay,” Violetta agreed.
“In the meantime, I’m just going to do the rounds, checking that everyone is still where they ought to be.”
#
“He’s not where he ought to be,” Lisa explained. She was standing in Skully’s bedroom along with Craig and Hayden. “We made an arrangement last night to meet up here at two o’clock. I said in the note I sent at lunch that I’d be bringing you guys to meet him, but to let me know if that was a problem. Now he’s not here. I wonder if he got scared because you were coming.”
“Or maybe he doesn’t exist,” Hayden mumbled.
“Oh, yeah, like I’d make up…” Lisa began, but Craig silenced her with a raised hand.
The Last Resort Page 21
