Wicked Weaves

by Lavene, Joyce

  “I don’t think anyone’s been here,” he said finally. “If Abraham was hiding up here, he didn’t leave anything behind.”

  “Yeah.” I searched for other words, but they wouldn’t come. I’d given him my heart on a platter, and he’d sent it back to the kitchen. I guessed this was why I’d always kept myself apart from making this kind of commitment. “I guess we might as well call it a night and start over again tomorrow.”

  “That makes sense.”

  I couldn’t make out his face in the dark loft. I could hear the edge in his voice. I wanted to shine my flashlight on him to see if the nuances I heard matched the reality in his eyes. I stood there, looking down at the floor, wondering what I should do next. I supposed I’d have to move out of the dungeon. Maybe housing would let me stay in the shed where Tony was. I didn’t want to go up and down these stairs every day.

  “Jessie, if you’ve met someone else ...”

  “What are you talking about?” Had he lost his mind? “Who else would I have met?”

  “You said you met someone this summer you could finally care about.”

  I grabbed his arm and shook it. “I was talking about you, you big idiot! I was saying I could commit to you.”

  “Really? For how long?”

  “I don’t know. Does it have to have a time frame, Chase? Can’t we take it a day at a time? I’m willing to commit to that.”

  He slid his arms around me, and we kissed. Our faces were wet from the rain. We were standing beside the bed in the loft. It was dry and warm. One thing seemed to lead to another, and we were suddenly on the bed with our wet clothes on the floor.

  “I wish I could do more than one day at a time,” I promised feverishly against his wide, smooth chest.

  “I won’t ask for something you can’t give.” He kissed me, and I didn’t argue with him. Outside the window that overlooked the street, lightning flickered in the dark sky and thunder rumbled around us. Words weren’t necessary for what we felt, and any awkwardness melted away as we pressed closer to each other.

  I wanted to tell him more than ever how I felt, but I knew it might be wrong. I didn’t know how he felt about me yet. Then I forgot to think about anything but being there with him. He had the gentlest touch of any man I’d ever known. I suspected Chase had a soft heart and someday would make some woman a wonderful husband.

  A sound penetrated the foggy darkness of my brain. Chase must’ve heard it, too. Both of us held still, listening.

  “Did you hear that?” His question was barely out when the door to the loft opened.

  Twenty

  A bright flashlight beam shone on us from the doorway. “What’s going on in here?”

  I pulled on my tank top standing behind Chase as he scrambled into his shorts. I hadn’t been caught in a situation like this since I was a sophomore in high school making out in my grandmother’s basement with Tommy Weller.

  It was different now. I wasn’t a kid anymore, and I had nothing to feel guilty about or defend. But it felt the same with the flashlight shining on us.

  “Is that you, Chase?” Officer Grigg lowered the flashlight. “The power is off all over the Village.”

  “It’s me. And yes, the power goes off here after storms.” Chase pulled his shirt down over his shoulders and glanced back at me. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll survive.” I stuffed my feet into my sandals. I didn’t want to think about what happened to my underwear.

  “Are you two investigating up here?” Grigg obviously was farsighted and stupid at the same time. If I’d seen us getting dressed like the house was on fire, I’d know what was going on.

  “Yeah. We thought we’d look around up here, since we knew it was empty. Have you seen anything unusual?” Chase asked him.

  “Not much. It’s been quiet. Probably because of the rain. I had a conversation with that Trent guy earlier. He doesn’t have an alibi for his whereabouts at the approximate time of Mr. Shift’s death.”

  “That’s interesting.” I took up the slack for Chase, who was looking for one of his shoes. “He confronted us at the pub and was angry that I’d mentioned his name.”

  “He’s suspicious, that’s for sure,” Grigg agreed. “I’ve checked out the whole Village and can’t find any place that Abraham fella could be staying. He’s like a ghost.”

  “He’s here somewhere.” Chase finally found his shoe under the bed. “We’re just not looking in the right places.”

  “I’m going over to check out the forest area,” Grigg said. “If you’d like to come with me, that would suit me. This place is bigger than it looks on the outside.”

  “I don’t think Abraham would hide out in Sherwood Forest for long,” Chase said. “Robin Hood is tough on trespassers.”

  “I’ve heard that name before. Wasn’t there an actor named Robin Hood back in the fifties?”

  “Actually it was a real person who lived during the real Renaissance,” I explained. “This Robin Hood is our personal Robin Hood.”

  “What’s his real name?” Grigg asked.

  “Robin Hood.” I shrugged. “He had it changed.”

  “This is a weird place. I wouldn’t like to live here all the time. I don’t know how people put up with all the craziness.”

  “It’s not that crazy when you understand how it works.” Chase straightened the mattress that was falling off the side of the bed. “I’ll come with you to the forest. It’s the only way you won’t end up hog-tied on my steps in the morning. I’m not kidding about Robin and his men disliking trespassers.”

  Grigg laughed. “I worked the bad streets of Atlanta before coming here. I’m not worried about a bunch of sissies in tights. But I’d be glad of the company.”

  “Okay.” Chase looked at me. “Are you okay with that, Jessie?”

  “You know, I’m kind of tired. I think I’ll just go back to the dungeon and get some sleep.”

  “This shouldn’t take long,” he whispered near my ear so Grigg wouldn’t hear. “I’ll be back to wake you up.”

  I shivered, not from the damp clothes, and kissed him. “I’ll be waiting.”

  The rain had completely moved off to the south where I could still see forked lightning in the dark sky. The mist and haze cocooned the Village around us as we left the Beanery and skirted across the Village Square together. At this time of night, with the mist swirling around the cobblestone streets, anything seemed possible. All the fairytale creatures might be asleep in their beds, but this was the time you could really feel the magic spell the Village wove.

  It was my favorite time. I didn’t mind the crowds since they were the lifeblood of the Village. But when it was quiet and kind of spooky like this, it seemed more real than ever. It was easy to forget that past the walls that surrounded us were tall hotels on Ocean Boulevard and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Myrtle Beach was certainly the most commercialized beach from here to Coney Island, but in the Village, it was quiet and otherworldly.

  “Are you okay to go back from here by yourself in the dark?” Chase asked when we reached the big fountain in the middle of the square. The four large fish squirted water from their mouths in the fountain, the splashing water even louder in the cool night air.

  “I’ll be fine.” I was touched by his concern, but the dungeon wasn’t that far away, and I’d walked these streets at night a few hundred times alone since I’d been coming here.

  “I’ll see you as soon as I can,” he promised with a kiss.

  “Okay. If not, I’ll bring a knife down to cut both of you free in the morning.”

  Chase laughed. “It’s been at least two years since that happened to me. Robin wouldn’t do that now.”

  We said our temporary good-byes and walked in opposite directions. As Chase and Grigg disappeared into the mist down Squire’s Lane, I heard Grigg say, “You two have a thing going on, don’t you?”

  I didn’t hear Chase’s reply, but I was amazed at the man’s ability to state the obvious. If it took hi
m that long with us, what possible chance did we have of catching the killer?

  I was walking between the Hands of Time clock shop and DaVinci’s Drawings, when I saw a man in a hooded robe walking quickly between the privies that separated the two shops.

  The first thing I thought was one of the monks had kept his robe anyway. But I’d counted the robes, and Chase had counted the monks. We had twenty-five robes and the same number monks.

  Then I thought about Roger. Of course, there could be other robes, like the one Jah had found in the hole in the wall. It could be Abraham as well. Either way, it might be a good idea to follow and see what was going on.

  With the lights out and the mist covering the ground, it was easy to go from place to place, keeping the solitary hooded figure in my line of sight. I leapfrogged from the privies to Da Vinci’s, then hid behind the Little Mermaid Fountain and the Lovely Washer Women’s Well. The figure continued up between Fabulous Funnels and the Beanery, glancing back occasionally.

  If I hadn’t known the area so well, I might’ve gotten lost. The only illumination came from shop windows where someone had left a lantern or candle burning. It would be easy to get turned around in the square or behind the privies and buildings.

  The robed figure seemed to glide over the foggy cobblestones as it headed toward the glass shop. It had to be Roger. What had he been up to? He seemed to be headed back home. Had he followed me, Chase, and Grigg from the Beanery toward the forest to find out what we were doing?

  A hand snaked out from behind a statue of William Shakespeare where the bard sat and quoted his verse from ten until four each day. I almost screamed as it took me by surprise. Thank goodness my hand reached my mouth before it could come out. I would’ve sounded like some bimbo in a cheap movie.

  “Shh!” I recognized Brother Carl’s voice, if not his outfit.

  The dim light from a lantern in a window behind me picked out what the monks must’ve chosen as replacement garments until their robes were returned. The black and silver domino was eye-catching and evil looking at the same time. “What are you doing out here, and where did you get that costume?”

  “I think we’re doing the same thing,” he replied, “following whoever that is in one of our robes. Let’s not talk about the costume. It was the only thing Portia had enough of so we all looked the same. The thing’s a menace to bake in. Keeps getting in the way.”

  I held back my laughter, only indulging in a small smile I didn’t think he could see. “I think it might be Roger.” I explained about the robe I’d seen.

  “The glass blower?” Carl’s voice was full of surprise. “I guess anything’s possible.”

  “Were you planning on taking the robe from him?”

  “No. Someone’s trying to make the Brotherhood look bad. We won’t stand for that. Whoever is behind these late-night visits has to be stopped and identified as not being one of us.”

  I agreed with him, and we had an unspoken decision between us to help each other at least until we knew what was going on. The monks never helped anyone outside the group, but I supposed even they could be goaded into a partnership.

  Carl and I stayed together until we reached the Glass Gryphon. We split up to survey each side of the street to make sure the hooded figure hadn’t gone somewhere else.

  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do at that point. I didn’t see anyone besides Carl on the street. Should I burst into the glass shop and confront Roger? If he was guilty, he’d still be wearing the robe. He could also have a gun and shoot me. I could think of ten different places he could hide my body. Chase wouldn’t miss me for a while. By that time, I could be inside a privy or buried outside the wall.

  If Carl and I were together, it would be better. It seemed like it would be harder to shoot both of us. Whoever wasn’t shot could attack Roger and take the gun away. I liked that plan better. If we didn’t do something out of the ordinary, we might never know what was happening in the Village. This seemed as good a time as any to confront Roger.

  Carl came back to the side of the glass shop. “I didn’t see anyone else. It has to be Trent. Should we go get Chase?”

  “No. It would take too long. He’s in the forest with Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son.”

  “Oh. I thought you and Chase were a couple.”

  “We are. He’s helping Tom with something that has to do with Robin.” I didn’t want to give away Grigg’s secret identity. “We’ll have to take care of this ourselves, Carl. Are you ready?”

  “Let’s do it, Jessie.”

  He produced a key from his pocket as I was debating how best to open the back door to the glass shop. “How did you get that?” I recognized the master key Chase carried, the same key Tony had. Did everyone have one except me?

  “The monks have been around since the birth of this Village. We have many secrets.”

  I didn’t push him for a better answer, but I planned to tell Chase about it. I stepped aside to let Carl open the door. The lock opened silently, but the heavy wooden door squeaked as it slipped back.

  We stopped moving, huddled together in the doorway despite Carl’s sense of righteousness that had allowed him to possess a master key. Nothing happened. It was possible Roger was asleep upstairs.

  “Where did you see the monk’s robe?” Carl whispered.

  “I’ll show you.” I took the lead, and he followed me into the workroom and show area in the front of the shop. All of the tools I’d hoped to use in the future as an apprentice glass blower were laid out alongside Roger’s elegant creations. The best I could hope for was that another glass blower would come to the Village. After this summer, it was doubtful Roger would let me apprentice with him.

  I carefully maneuvered past the showcases and opened the closet door where I’d seen the monk’s robe. Carl shined his flashlight into the storage space, but there was no sign of any robe. “It was here yesterday.”

  “I don’t see it now,” Carl said. “We better get out of here. Residents can be expelled from the Village permanently for breaking and entering.

  It was the wrong time to mention that rule, but I agreed. We had violated enough rules for one night. The robe was gone. I hoped Roger was still out roaming the Village in it.

  At that moment, the lights came back on. Apparently, Roger had left his lights on when the power went off. The bright lights were blinding after being in the darkness. Carl dropped his flashlight as he ran for the back door.

  “Who’s down there?” Roger demanded from the stairs.

  Lucky for Carl, who was already outside. Not so lucky for me.

  I spun around, deciding the front door was my best avenue of escape since the stairway led down closer to the back door. I thought Roger was still on the stairs as I bolted past the showcases toward the front of the shop.

  Roger was spry for an older man. He managed to get down the stairs and between me and the front door before I could reach that destination. I wished I had Carl’s domino costume. At least I could’ve pretended to be someone else.

  “What are you doing in here, Jessie?” Roger held a large shotgun in his grip. It was aimed directly at me while he scanned the room around us.

  It occurred to me that I could lie, tell him I wanted to see him about something. I just couldn’t think of what I wanted to see him about. I opened my mouth, and something came out, but it was only gibberish.

  “Are you alone?” He finally focused back on me, content that he didn’t see anyone else.

  “I guess.” I wished it wasn’t true. At least if Carl were there, we could make something up together. Or Carl’s staunch Brotherhood code would make him look worse than I looked at that moment.

  “Did you come to steal from me while the lights were off?” Roger shook his head. “I can’t believe it. You’ve always seemed a little scatterbrained, but I thought you were honest.”

  I latched on to the least of the charges. “Scatterbrained? What made you think that? I’m not at all unsure of what to do. I’m ver
y organized and thorough in everything. I don’t think anyone has ever called me that before.”

  “Where’s Chase?”

  “The last time I saw him he was headed for Sherwood Forest. I was on my way home, and I ended up here. It’s strange what darkness can do to your sense of direction. I guess your back door was open. And here I am.”

  Would he buy it? I looked at his face and not below his chin where he was shirtless. I wasn’t sure if he was wearing his usual tights or not. I tried my best to only look in his eyes.

  “There’s been some strange stuff going on this summer.” Trent gestured with the shotgun. “I think we better go find Chase and then have a little talk with Officer Grigg.”

  “I didn’t touch anything, Roger,” I protested. “Look around. I was lost.”