Tanglewood Grotto

by Susan Finlay

  MAX ROLLED OVER on the hard floor, trying to get comfortable. Impossible. His shoulder ached, his head ached, and it felt like something was tugging on or nibbling on his shoe. Nibbling. Yikes! He sprang up and kicked his foot around, hoping he was scaring off whatever it was. Tobias had warned him about critters in here, but what choice did he have? He couldn’t sit on those empty crates. He was too heavy. Tobias was half his size or less.

  Poor kid. He may have been in here for days, alone and terrified. Max had sat on the floor with Tobias for a long time, each of them hugging the other, Max rocking Tobias sometimes, and both taking what little comfort they could after Max had searched in the darkness for something to stand on to reach the window, but to no avail. He’d even tried lifting Tobias up, and it might have worked except that, being injured, he couldn’t quite lift him high enough.

  Tobias had finally fallen asleep, and Max had managed to lift his limp form up onto the crates and laid him down.

  Sighing and trying to forget his pain, Max hefted himself up to a standing position and paced across the rough floor. Couldn’t see much of anything in the darkness. Well, if he stepped on a mouse or a rat in the process, mores the luck.

  But where the hell was this place? Was he still at the farm—in a storage building, maybe? Or had whoever knocked him out taken him somewhere else? Was he back in Riesen? That’s where Tobias said he had been kidnapped.

  He placed his hands on either side of his head and fought against the urge to pull his own hair. Gnashing his teeth, he let go of his head, swung around, and walked toward the high window that let in dim light.

  Think. Why would someone grab us and hide us down here? Tobias had told him no one had brought him food or water. Did that mean the kidnapper wasn’t around much?

  What was the common denominator here? Tobias had gone to see Karl in Riesen. Max had gone to see Karl at the farm. Maybe Karl. But Karl wouldn’t hurt a kid, would he? He wouldn’t hurt his own grandson, certainly. It had to be someone else. Vikktor could have been watching them all. He might have orchestrated everything.

  Max turned around. What about Raimund? How was he involved in all of this?

  Ignoring his headache the best he could, he strained to remember what had happened—the order of the events just prior to getting hit over the head.

  Okay, he’d left the barn with Raimund raging, giving him the evil eye. Went over to a grassy spot near the house and tried to relax; closed eyes, dozed awhile. Heard a voice that sounded like . . . like someone begging for help. Then heard screams from inside the house. Got up. Started to run. Wham!

  How long had he dozed? Was it a few minutes or an hour? Had Raimund come out of the barn? What did the voice sound like? What kind of scream was it? Was it a man or a woman? Damn! Why was his memory so fuzzy?

  Okay. Maybe he should try to sleep and give his brain a chance to rest. Maybe then his memory would clear. Only, how the hell was he going to sleep in this disgusting place with his arm and shoulder killing him, not to forget a horrible headache?

  He walked over to the wall that had the window, leaned his back against the wall, bent his legs, and slid down until he was sitting on the floor, feet firmly planted.

  Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep, but his mind kept swirling with thoughts. He’d been so worried about Tobias that he hadn’t thought about Sofie. By now she was probably back home and worried sick. Good God, it was bad enough finding out that her husband and son were missing, but she would have had to deal with Jenny and Lisa, as well. Knowing Jenny, she would be causing problems, unless Ryan could somehow rein her in.

  Sofie. How sweet and gentle she was. Back when he’d first met her and they were walking along the road to find his grandmother’s house, he’d enjoyed the way the sunlight glittered off her hair like a halo, making her silky blonde hair look like glossy spun gold. He’d also appreciated those form-fitting blue jeans accentuating her slender, shapely figure.

  Remembering that, he smiled for the first time in hours, savoring the visual memory. He remembered Sofie had worn a silky lilac sleeveless blouse covered with small white flowers. It had looked cool and refreshing, went perfectly with her copper summer tan, and stretched nicely across a not insignificant chest when she walked. Max remembered he could hardly take his eyes off her, though he’d had to be careful not to make his appreciation too apparent; he had received death daggers from Lotte several times when she caught him looking at Sofie. But ultimately it had been Sofie’s voice, soft and whispery, that had appealed to him most. Her slight German accent when she spoke nearly perfect English added a delightful charm.

  He sighed, a vision of Sofie and Jenny facing off coming to mind. Sofie would no doubt want to tell Jenny off before long but would try her best to stay civil. Unlike him. He would let her have it if she tried to cause problems between him and Sofie. If he ever got home, that is. Things weren’t looking too good on that front at the moment.

  Tobias let out a loud murmur and twitched, causing the crates to rattle for a moment, but he didn’t wake up.

  Max’s thoughts drifted again, landing on the day when he, Sofie, and Tobias had gone to a lake near Max’s mother’s house. Tobias had been throwing pebbles into the large swimming pond, oblivious to the serious decision the adults were thinking over, regarding whether to stay in this century or try to find a way back to their own time. Tobias had spent his time trying, unsuccessfully, to get the pebbles to skip across the water while Valkyrie lay sprawled out in the sun-soaked grass nearby.

  “Here let me show you how,” Ryan had said.

  He threw one and it skip perfectly.

  “Do it again.”

  He did, and then showed Tobias how to hold the stone and throw it. Tobias jumped and laughed, a huge smile on his face when he finally made a good skip, making Sofie smile.

  Max picked up a flat-ish rock, tossed it into the water without looking, and it skipped several times before sinking.

  “You did it, Max.”

  Max turned and saw Tobias laugh.

  Ryan said, “Show off!” but laughed and tossed another rock that surpassed Max’s.

  Max decided that it was probably then that Tobias and Ryan had become brothers. Although they were nine years apart, they’d been good for each other.

  The conversation that had followed between Max and Sofie also came flooding back. Max had said, “I’ve been thinking a lot. Maybe if we get the house built in the right spot, we’ll be able to work the time portal, and be able to control access to it.” He had voiced his greatest fear, that someone would get sucked through the portal by accident, like they had and like Gramps and Mom had.

  She had nodded and Max had responded, “I don’t know what we’d do if Tobias, or maybe a child that we have together, disappeared while playing in the cellar.”

  Max felt a sob trying to come out, and he fought to suppress it because he didn’t want to wake Tobias and upset him. Somehow, he had to find a way out of here. He stood up, worked his way around the room to the door and tried to find a way to open it, as he’d already tried before. This time, as he pushed with his whole body, he thought he felt the door move a bit, but he couldn’t be sure. Maybe it was just his imagination. He and Tobias had pounded on the door earlier and screamed at the top of their lungs, hoping someone was around who could rescue them. He pushed again, harder this time. Nothing happened. His shoulder and head throbbed from the effort and it took all his willpower not to collapse there on the floor and sob. Some father he was, letting his little boy wander off and suffer at the hands of some lunatic for days. And then, when he finally found him he couldn’t even rescue the little angel.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  NIGHT CAME, FINALLY, and Sofie laid down in Johanna’s bed, staring at the ceiling, watching moonlight shadows from the uncovered window flickering on the walls and ceiling, not daring to close her eyes for fear of falling asleep and missing her talk with Vikktor. How would she feel when she actually saw the man she’d known as he
r grandfather, after all these years? For ten years he’d led her to believe he was dead. Why? He could have come to see her. He could have sent word to her. Lotte had known he was alive and did not tell her. She wanted to hate him for all the lies, but he’d raised her and he’d treated her well. He’d seen that she grew up and got a good education. Could she really dismiss him from her life? She hadn’t been able to dismiss Lotte. But then Lotte didn’t kill people or smuggle them in and out of centuries. She didn’t use people. She actually tried to help people whenever possible. Sofie rolled onto her side. Yes, maybe she could hate Vikktor. Especially if he was the one who’d kidnapped Tobias.

  She didn’t hear Helmut and Werner snoring yet, which told her they might not be asleep, either. Through the open bedroom doors she had heard them the night before. She and Ryan had decided they would wait until they were asleep at least half an hour before sneaking outside.

  Earlier in the day, the two men had told them about their own search efforts, which unfortunately had proved unproductive. They had stopped at numerous shops and businesses, and apparently enjoyed a couple beers at the tavern while Sofie and Ryan were doing their own search. According to Helmut, he’d talked to his friends and acquaintances. No one had seen any strangers in town, other than Werner, Sofie, and Ryan. That meant Vikktor was staying well hidden. Wait, or did it? Maybe he hadn’t stayed hidden, and the locals didn’t consider him a stranger. But wouldn’t Helmut have seen him around, if that was the case.

  As planned, Sofie and Ryan hadn’t told the men that they’d found the note and knew that Vikktor was in town. All they’d said was that they’d talked with neighbors and explored along the dirt path and inside Johan’s shop. Helmut had been surprised by the latter. Sofie had explained that she’d wondered if the Feldgendarms had missed something during their investigation and by going in there had hoped to uncover clues as to what happened to Johan.

  “I guess that makes sense,” Helmut had said. “They do not seem to be doing much to find the killer. Did you find anything?”

  “Not yet. I am still working on it.” She hated keeping the note secret from him but figured that if he knew, he would get agitated and want to go with her to the meeting so he could kill Vikktor.

  “I am sure it was Vikktor who killed him and Vikktor who took your son,” Helmut said. “The problem is how to prove it.”

  Everyone had agreed.

  Vikktor. Everything always came back to him, Sofie mused.

  But what if it wasn’t him? Who else would kill Johan? Did he have any enemies? Helmut didn’t seem to think he did. And the other question was, were Johan’s murder and Tobias’s disappearance connected, or just a coincidence?

  That thought brought up yet another question she hadn’t considered until now. What if Vikktor didn’t write the note? What if it was some kind of set-up or trap by the real killer?

  No, that wouldn’t make sense, especially since she was pretty sure the man from last night was Vikktor. She’d felt it before, but hadn’t trusted herself.

  Rolling over to her other side, Sofie groaned. What had befallen her Max? Where was he? He could be injured or lost or kidnapped. He could be dying somewhere. Sofie forcefully purged the last thought. He cannot be dying! He had been in the Riesen area, last they’d heard. If Vikktor was here in Dinkelsbühl, that might rule him out in Max’s disappearance. Or maybe not. Vikktor could be working with someone else.

  She closed her eyes and tried to meditate, tried to clear her mind, but thinking there was a slim chance she could do it in her current frame of mind. After several deep, cleansing breaths and self-guided imagery, she finally calmed herself, at least somewhat.

  Several minutes later, she heard snoring. Yes! She waited, and listened closely. More snores, and they weren’t in sync. Both men were asleep. Rushing to get out of bed, she almost fell off the bed but caught herself in time.

  Still dressed, all she had to do was tiptoe down the hall to the front door. She held her breath as she entered the hallway and listened. Snoring louder. Okay. Keep moving. She inched her way along because some floorboards squeaked when stepped on. She had taken only a four or five steps when she bumped into someone in the dark and put her hand over her mouth to squelch a shriek. She held her breath a moment. Then, as her eyes adjusted, she sighed in relief and whispered, “Oh, thank goodness it’s you, Ryan.”

  “Are you ready to go?” he whispered back.

  “Yes.”

  The two tiptoed into the parlor and then to the front door. Ryan carefully opened the door and motioned for Sofie to go first. He followed and closed the door without a sound.

  The night sky was dotted with stars and a bright moon. Current circumstances aside, it was a beautiful night outside, and as luck would have it, the bright moonlight allowed them to easily see where they were going.

  Sofie checked all around for the man she’d seen the night before. Nothing. She sighed, then turned and walked toward the dirt path. Along the dirt path, she kept expecting to see Vikktor—or whoever had written the note, if not him—slink from cover. There was no one. Then she remembered Ryan. Ryan was walking alongside her. If Vikktor saw him, he might not come out of hiding. “Can you find yourself a hiding place, Ryan, like we discussed? I’ll stand on the path near Johan’s shop and wait for Vikktor.”

  Ryan nodded.

  Once he was out of sight, Sofie continued on the path and stopped near the sign outside Johan’s business, since the note had not been specific regarding where she was supposed to meet ‘V’, she had little choice but to assume it meant near the business.

  She stood there for what must have been half an hour, gazing up and down the path, her hopes dwindling as the minutes passed by without any sign of him. Maybe she was in the wrong place or maybe he wasn’t coming. Maybe he had seen Ryan and got spooked, or maybe it was a trick of some kind. Then another thought struck her. The note might have been left there days earlier, before they’d left here and gone to visit Werner in Riesen.

  She was almost ready to give up and go back inside the house when she heard a rustling sound. After a few moments the same little dog scampered toward her, followed by the cloaked man.

  Sofie held her breath.

  When he was within ten feet of her, he stopped and looked around. Was Ryan well hidden? God, she hoped so.

  After a few moments, he said, “You and your family are in danger. You must leave here.” The voice was Vikktor’s.

  “Why should I believe anything you tell me? You lied to me my whole life, pretending we were family when we aren’t related.”

  “We are family. I raised you. We shared twenty years together.”

  “But you aren’t my grandfather. And you pretended you died in a plane crash. Why? Did you want to get away from me that much?”

  “The plane crash was faked to keep other people from looking for me. I’m involved in a dangerous business and I didn’t want anyone trying to use you to get to me.”

  She didn’t say anything as she digested this new information.

  He moved a few steps closer, then hesitated. “Sofie, we are still family.”

  She looked away, not answering.

  “You must listen. Please. You are in danger and I’m trying to help you.”

  “Fine. Who am I in danger from?”

  “My brother, Werner, and Karl Kimmel. One of those two has your son, I am sure of it.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “It is a long story.” He rubbed his long gray beard, and seemed to be debating how much to tell her. “Do you know what kind of business we are in?”

  “Yes. Wait, we?”

  “Werner, Karl, and me. Johan worked with me, too, sometimes.”

  Whoa! That explained why Vikktor visited Johan on occasion. “Go on.”

  “Karl’s father, Mathias, learned about the portals from his mother, and he decided he could help people by using the portals to help them escape persecution or prosecution, as the case may be. Some wanted to
escape from debt collectors or from enemies. All kinds of reasons for needing to disappear.”

  “And you were one of those people—when you faked your death.”

  “No, you’re getting ahead of me. Some of the people were wealthy and could pay good money for Mathias’s services. Others not so much. In those cases, they would refer others to Mathias, and then he could get paid, or they would work for him on some assignment as payment.”

  “I see.”

  “Don’t sound so judgmental. He actually did help a lot of people out of the kindness of his heart. It wasn’t all for profit.”

  Sofie snickered under her breath. Yeah, right, the man didn’t sound like a saint from what she knew about him. It was all about money. Why did people have to be so greedy?

  “Anyway, back in 1949, when I was a young man, I got stuck here in the past.” He stopped a moment and studied her face. “I guess you know much of the story by now. Karl and I time traveled together, by accident. We didn’t know anything about the portals back then. We got separated, and he somehow got the portal to work and got home—with Margrit, I’m sure you know.”

  Sofie nodded. “Go on.”

  “I was stuck here alone. Sometime later, I don’t remember how long it was, Mathias found me trying to work the portal. He brought me into his home and put me to work in the business.”

  “And then what? You took over.”

  “We worked together for twenty-five years, until Mathias died. He left me his house, and I took over the business.”

  Sofie sighed. “Okay, what does this have to do with Werner?”

  “Mathias brought Werner here, during the war, because my brother didn’t want to fight for the Nazi’s.”

  “I know,” Sofie said. “He told us. Lotte and me.”

  “Did he, now? Did he also tell you that he worked with Mathias from the time he arrived here for six years, and that Mathias taught him all about how to work the portals?”