by Lynn Bulock
Using the flashlight as a tool to bang against the trapdoor, she got more and more movement at one edge. Giving the strongest push that she could, she almost fell over when the trap lifted and blessed, sweet cool air poured through.
Greg lay on the grass next to Grandma Ethel’s bench, not sure he could move any farther. Getting Miranda and then himself up and through the trapdoor had used every ounce of strength he had left. It would feel so good just to lie here on the cool grass, looking up at the clouds and thanking God for their rescue. Even in his light-headed joy, he knew they couldn’t do that. Peg was still in the house wreaking havoc.
“Okay. Give me a minute more and then we need to warn the others.”
Miranda, sitting on the grass beside him, tilted her head. “I think it’s too late for some of the warnings.” When he listened he heard what she meant; somewhere a mile or two away, fire sirens wailed. Looking back at the house, dark smoke told him that Peg hadn’t stopped with the fire she’d set down in the cellar entrance to the cave.
He pushed himself up to his knees, trying not to groan. Leaning on each other, they stood and went toward the house as quickly as possible. There was no way in through the back; the hallway and kitchen looked fully engulfed in flame. They went toward the front of the house as quickly as possible.
“Miranda! Greg! You’re safe.” Winnie hurried up to them, putting an arm around Miranda and drawing both of them away from the house and to the far edge of the circular driveway where people milled about.
“Just barely safe, Aunt. We were so wrong about everything. Peg locked us in the cave and set fire to the entrance. And she said she was going to kill Grandfather.” Miranda’s voice sounded ragged, and there was a smudge of soot high on her cheek.
“Peg? But I don’t understand…” Winnie trailed off, looking back at the house.
Greg scanned the knots of people around them. Miranda’s sisters stood together, arms around one another. Several of the servants, including Andre the chef, also stood nearby. “Where’s Ronald, and the rest of the family who would have been at work?”
“On their way over. We called them from one of the cell phones just after dialing nine-one-one. They should be here soon.”
The first fire trucks pulled up, the crews shouting and starting to assemble hoses and equipment while two of the firefighters went into the house, presumably to assess the situation. After a moment in the front hallway, they came back out. “Is everyone accounted for?” one of them asked.
Winnie looked around. “Not everyone. My father and his nurse have rooms on the third floor, and with the fire the elevator to the top of the house won’t work.” The firefighter nodded and went back to the other personnel by the truck. After conferring for a moment, two men in full gear, with oxygen tanks, went in the front door.
As Greg watched them go, he was aware of even more commotion behind him. Turning around, he saw Ronald Blanchard’s car come to a screeching halt behind one of the trucks. Ronald leaped out. “Winnie. It looks worse than you told me on the phone.”
“It is worse, Ronald. Peg and Father are missing.”
“Oh, no. We should have moved his quarters down lower before this.” As he talked Ronald ripped off his tie and tossed aside his jacket. “I’ve got to do something. Those firefighters can’t know where Father is.”
“Wait.” Greg grasped the man’s shoulder. “There’s more to this than you think. Peg probably started this fire, and she nearly killed Miranda and me.”
To his credit, Ronald didn’t argue with Greg’s assessment of the situation. “Then we need to get up there fast. Come on. If the front stairs can be used, we’re going up.”
Greg nodded, and then turned back to Miranda. “I love you. Go over there with your sisters where you’ll be safe. Promise?”
Miranda looked as if she wanted to argue, but biting her lower lip a little, she merely nodded and hugged him briefly. “I promise. I’ll tell them about Mama, show them the locket. Meanwhile you go with Father and tell the firefighters there are probably more people up there than we thought. But come back down quickly. You need looking after.”
He marveled again at the calm she showed then. Dropping a quick but fervent kiss on her cheek, he left her in the safety of her sisters. Looking over at Ronald, Greg motioned toward the house. In a moment they were climbing the second flight of the marble stairs while he found himself telling Ronald all he knew so far about the day’s strange events.
The firefighters were still going from room to room, clearing each section, when Greg and Ronald burst into Howard’s rooms. Here the smoke wasn’t quite as bad yet, although the back stairs still served to suck hot air, smoke and flames up toward the top of the house.
Ronald went into the bedroom first, and Greg heard him shout “No!” He followed him in time to see Ronald pull Peg away from the bed where Howard was stretched out, a pillow in both her hands.
“But aren’t you happy, dearest? I’m doing this for you. For us.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You told me to do it. You said you wished someone would end his suffering. So, I’m ending it. Besides, unless he dies we can’t marry.”
Ronald let go of her and drew back, while Greg stood a few steps from the other two, wondering what fantasy world Peg had constructed for herself. “I have no idea what you mean. Why would I ever want to marry you?”
“Because you love me. That’s so evident in everything you do. And now you love me even more because I’ve gotten rid of all those horrible people who were trying to ruin your life. That private investigator who threatened to bribe you, that awful woman blackmailing you, and Alannah who stood in our way. Aren’t you proud of me?” The gentle seductiveness of Peg’s voice and movements made Greg want to recoil.
“It’s almost all done now, Ronald. Once your father is dead, I’m free to marry again.”
“What on earth do you mean?” Ronald asked her as Greg looked on, as confused as Blanchard. “What does my father’s death have to do with you marrying?”
“I married Howard, of course, just like you told me to,” Peg said, oblivious to Ronald’s noises of choked anger. “When you told me to see that his every need was met, I got him to a justice of the peace. I’ve done what you wanted me to all along, even when it wasn’t easy. Howard was more mobile a few years ago, but he’s sly. Now that sham marriage has served its purpose and I can join you, my real love, once the old fool is gone.”
Greg felt shock go through him. “That’s what he almost told us the other day, wasn’t it? He was talking about Ethel, and then he almost told Miranda about his current wife. That’s when you stopped him.”
Peg turned and glared at him. “What are you doing here? How did you get out of the cave? I’m not talking to you, anyway. I’m talking to my darling Ronald.” She turned back to the stunned businessman, who backed away from her.
“You’re crazy,” he said. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it’s over now.”
“No games, darling. I’ve only done the things you wanted me to do so that we can be together. I even made sure that Trudy won’t bother you again either. It was so delicious, hiding her here in the house under her stupid daughters’ noses. That was the one good idea Genie had in this whole affair.”
“Trudy? Where is she?” Ronald rushed Peg, who tried to struggle out of his grasp. “Tell me what you’ve done with my wife.”
Peg’s expression changed into a grimace, and Greg almost expected her to bite Ronald as they struggled. “Nothing. That lunatic isn’t your wife. Can’t you see how much you need her destroyed once and for all?”
Ronald tightened his grip on the struggling woman. “The only lunatic I know about is you. And if you’ve harmed Trudy so close to home, I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you suffer every penalty you can. Now tell me where she is.”
Greg came closer to Peg and Ronald. The man had lost all sense now, picking Peg up off the floor and shaking her lik
e a rag doll while she hissed like a feral cat. “But what about us?” she rasped.
“Us? Get it through your head that there’s no us. There’s never been any ‘us,’” Ronald told her, still wrestling with her even as Greg tried to break them apart. “You repulse me, you loathsome hag. I can’t even believe there’s any humanity left inside you. Now tell me what you did with Trudy or I’ll snap your neck.”
Peg went limp and Ronald lost his grip. It was the opportunity she’d been waiting for and she slid from his grasp. “You really still love her? How?” she cried. When she stood silently just out of their grasp, Greg realized that the fire was getting closer, and the smoke thicker. He could barely see across the room where Howard still lay motionless on the bed. “You can’t possibly love her,” Peg wailed.
“I do. I always will, and nothing you could do will change that.” Ronald flung himself toward her again, but she backed away from him, her features convulsed in fear and hatred.
“You’re a liar. I know you love me.” She was backed into a corner now, near one of the large windows of Howard’s sitting room. With a shriek she picked up a large, decorative wood-and-iron chest from the end table nearby and threw it through the window. Then, with one parting cry that reminded Greg of a wounded mountain lion, she flung herself after it.
He and Ronald rushed to the window. “No! You can’t,” Ronald cried. “How will we find Trudy now?”
Greg had no time to answer his question as the room filled with firefighters in masks and turnout gear.
Several people scooped Howard off the bed and, after a moment, put him on a stretcher and disappeared into the hall. Others forcibly removed Ronald and Greg from the room, dragging a protesting Ronald down the stairs and into the yard where his family surrounded him. Greg didn’t fight the firefighters any. His shoulder throbbed miserably and he felt even more light-headed than he would have been just with the smoke. When they handed him over to the care of the paramedics he didn’t protest.
FIFTEEN
Everything happened so quickly that Miranda didn’t know how to make sense of it. Over the incredible noise of the fire there was a crash and a shriek and a form came hurtling from the third-story window. Several firefighters ran to where the body landed at the edge of the circular driveway. Mick, who had heard the call on his radio scanner and already shown up, held her and Portia back forcibly. “You are not going over there. There’s nothing we can do in any case.”
Before Miranda could see what was happening with the still figure on the ground, more commotion erupted at the front door of the house. Paramedics with a stretcher rushed to one of the waiting ambulances. “Grandfather,” Portia gasped. “Mick, can we go over there?”
“Sure. But don’t get in their way. It looks like they’ve started oxygen already.” Portia grabbed Miranda’s hand and they watched the paramedics from a few feet away.
“Is he conscious? Can we talk to him?” Miranda divided her attention between listening to the paramedic’s answer and seeing if Gregory would follow the others out of the house. Please, God, she prayed, keep him safe. He’s so precious to me.
“I’m afraid he’s not conscious,” the paramedic told Portia. “Would you have any idea what kind of medication he might have taken in the last several hours?”
“No, but his nurse…” Portia trailed off. “No, I don’t know. And even if you contact his doctor from the hospital, I’m not sure everything in his system will be his prescriptions in the right amount.”
“Please take care of him the best you can,” Miranda said as they loaded her grandfather into the ambulance.
“Of course,” the paramedic answered.
Miranda turned to look at the door and saw what she’d been hoping for. Greg and her father crossed the threshold. Greg looked more willing than her father. One of the firefighters guided Greg toward the other ambulance and a crew member helped him in. In a very short time they were examining Greg’s shoulder.
“It’s a deep graze,” Miranda heard one of them say. “Luckily nobody’s going to have to find a bullet. Start an IV and we’ll get him to the E.R.”
“Can I say goodbye?” Miranda asked.
At first the ambulance crew looked as if they were going to say no, but then the woman on the team, looking down at Gregory and Miranda, relented.
“Five minutes at the most. Then we toss you out of the unit and take him to the hospital,” she admonished.
Miranda climbed up into the ambulance and sat down next to Greg.
“I’m okay,” he said, trying to reassure her. Miranda wasn’t convinced by his statement. His pale face and slight shivering didn’t make him look okay to her and she told him so.
Greg tried to lift his head off the gurney but didn’t have much success. “Have you seen Peg? Did she…was she…”
“She didn’t make it,” Miranda told him, looking over to where the firefighters covered her gently with a sheet. “Did she tell you where Mama was before she jumped?” Miranda had to assume Peg had jumped. If not, it had to have been Ronald that sent her through the window.
“No. I’m sorry, Miranda. I feel we failed you in that respect.”
She brushed the hair from his forehead and kissed him gently there. “You haven’t failed me in any way, Gregory. Now let them take you to the hospital and fix your shoulder. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“All right.” Greg looked as if he wanted to say something more but didn’t have the energy. Miranda obeyed the paramedics and got out of the ambulance, which pulled out while she made her way back to her family.
Ronald stood surrounded by his daughters and his sister, who were all talking at once. He clasped Trudy’s locket in one hand and seemed to be focused on that alone.
“I can’t believe she got this far and we won’t be together. I’ll never get to tell her how much I love her, or ask her to forgive me for all that went wrong.”
Miranda had never seen her father cry before and it shocked her.
Nothing is impossible with God. The words rang in her head as clearly as if someone beside her had spoken them out loud. “We need to pray,” she said firmly.
Winnie nodded, and all of them gathered even tighter and held on to each other. Miranda had one hand on her father’s shoulder, and her other arm around Portia, and she could feel Juliet’s arm around Portia from the other side.
“Dear Lord, help us. Help us trust in You at this dark time, and let us know that You are here with us no matter what happens. We have been searching for our mother for so long, and at every step You’ve reassured us that she is alive and in Your care. Now we hold this hard evidence that she’s here, so close to us, Lord. Your word says that nothing is impossible for You. Please, Lord, help us do the seemingly impossible and find her before she dies in this fire.”
Juliet looked up to the third-story windows where smoke had started pouring out along one side of the house. She opened her mouth to add to the prayer but instead gave a strangled cry. “Someone’s up there. Look.”
They all focused to where she was pointing. “That’s the attic storage room behind Father’s quarters,” Winnie said.
“It opens through Peg’s bedroom. That has to be where they put Trudy.” Ronald shook off their hands. “I’m going up there.”
“No, don’t. Tell the firefighters. They have the right gear,” Bianca insisted. But it was too late. Ronald had already run to the house and fought his way through the doorway past the firefighters.
Bianca and Miranda went to the captain in charge and told him what was happening. He immediately got on a radio and issued orders to those in the house to apprehend Ronald and go to the third floor where they’d seen movement.
Miranda’s sisters all gathered together again, praying feverishly for safety for their parents. It felt so odd to her to mention both her mother and father in the same breath with prayers for deliverance. “How long has it been?” she asked, sure that at least half an hour had gone by since Ronald had plunged int
o the house.
“Ten minutes,” Portia said, her voice flat. Just then a knot of people came out of the house, with three firefighters surrounding Ronald.
The sight of him with a frail figure in his arms, blond hair streaming with water as he cradled the slight woman, finally made Miranda’s knees give way. She sank down on the grass in tears and Bianca hugged her. “Tell me she’s alive” was all she could choke out. Her sister nodded and hurried over to the spot where paramedics had taken Trudy from Ronald’s arms and were administering oxygen to both of them.
The sight of people giving her mother aid made Miranda get up and follow her sisters and Winnie. She was beginning to wonder how many rescue units they had in the county to be able to call upon; two had already picked up patients bound for the hospital, and now there was a third where Trudy was being gently laid on a gurney and treated. She looked paler than the soot-smudged tan blanket someone had wrapped around her in the house, and her eyes were closed. Still, she was alive and that gave Miranda hope.
“I found her,” rasped a voice behind her. Miranda turned to see her father, his dark hair singed even darker, pushing away the oxygen mask an EMT tried to put on him. “I need to talk to my daughters. Leave me alone.”
“We can talk later at the hospital. Right now they need to make sure you’re not badly injured. You should have let the firefighters go in there,” Bianca told him, tears in her eyes.
“No time,” Ronald choked out. The sound of his voice made Miranda’s throat ache. “Besides…I had to tell her…so many things.”
“And you did, Father.” Miranda leaned down to where he sat and gave her father a genuine, loving hug. “We’re so proud of you, and so thankful that you both came out of there alive.”
