Everyone's Dead But Us

by Zubro, Mark Richard

  He nodded.

  The four of us glanced at each other. Scott stood up first. Craveté and Seymour followed his lead. The three of them backed off.

  Thasos motioned me closer. He rested both hands on my arm. The grip was actually less than before but the feelings of revulsion and concern were no less intense. Everything he said was in a smoke-choked whisper wrapped around gasps for breath. The first thing he said was, “Trust no one.” I nodded. “Three years. Suspicious of everyone. Double-crosses within double-crosses.”

  He shut his eyes and breathed for several moments. When he opened them again, he nodded toward the water. I held him up and helped him sip. When he was comfortable again, he said, “Hired by art museums. Bunch of them. Someone suspicious. No proof. Rumors about this island. Rich murder people.”

  “Did someone try to kill you?”

  “Maybe. Explosion.”

  “Why were you trying to save the paintings?”

  “Wasn’t. At first. Love art. Worked at Louvre for years. Investigator. Art fraud. Theft.”

  “Had you found out anything?”

  “Suspicion. More suspicion. Tudor suspected me.”

  I helped him to more water.

  “Maybe this should wait,” I said after he was resettled once more.

  “No! Now!” He was fiercely insistent. He glanced at the others murmuring in the background.

  “Why were you in the castle?”

  “Meet with Tudor. He didn’t show. Probably dead already.”

  “We found some things that don’t make a lot of sense.”

  More blinking and gasping.

  “Safe ...” Thasos said.

  I leaned closer. He smelled like burned roast pork.

  “What’s safe?” I asked.

  “Room…safe.”

  “What room?”

  “Find it,” he rasped. “Clues. Almost. Almost. So close.” Dimitri shut his eyes. I looked back at Scott. He shrugged. I waited until Thasos opened his eyes again. I said, “Maybe we should go away.”

  Thasos shook his head violently.

  “You want us to stay?”

  “Solve. Murder. More death. Murder.”

  “Do you know who is doing all this?”

  He shook his head.

  “What room?”

  “Castle…save…room.” He shut his eyes for a moment. When he reopened them he looked more pained than ever. His eyebrows had been singed off. Not the most demented Halloween mask could approach the wreck that had been the skin on his face. “Pocket,” he rasped. He touched his left index finger to his pants pocket. “Take,” he said.

  I reached in his pocket. It was a set of keys.

  “Mine,” he said. “Look.”

  Seymour approached us. He said, “Maybe you should leave him alone.”

  Thasos opened his eyes. His hand grasped my arm. I stifled the urge to move away from the touch of the violated flesh. “Stay…danger.”

  “Are you afraid if we leave you, someone will try to kill you?”

  He nodded.

  “Why?”

  He looked genuinely confused as he shrugged.

  “We need to go investigate,” I said. “We’ll leave some more people here.”

  Thasos shook his head violently. Then he gave a violent start, raised his head and shoulders off the couch, and pointed in the direction of the door. I looked. Oser stood in the doorway. Peeping in from behind him was Pietro. Just behind him I saw Alice Gavin and Joe Martikovic. Thasos gasped, gulped, gurgled, and passed out.

  Okay, this didn’t take a rocket scientist. A guy connected to the evil cabal walks in. Wounded person points and passes out.

  Oser approached us, “What is going on?”

  I said, “Thasos saw you, pointed, and passed out. He was warning me of danger just before you walked in.”

  Oser didn’t bother to protest. He said, “I don’t know how to handle what is going on. I’m getting very afraid. I’m not one of the rich. They’re huddled together. I don’t trust you, either.”

  “Why would Thasos be frightened of you?”

  “Perhaps because I was watching him more closely than usual lately. I knew he was up to something. Mostly I thought he was a reporter from some sleazy publication although they don’t usually stay on the job for three years.”

  “What made you suspicious?”

  “He hung around too much, was just a little too curious.”

  “Are you here now to spy for the rich?”

  “That’s why they sent me, yes. I’m trying to save my job, and this island’s reputation, and not be accused of murder. Between you guys and the rich, whichever side I could help that would make all three of those things happen for me, would make me happy. I want to keep out of trouble. Some of the others are gathered in Mr. Movado’s villa. They want you stopped.”

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  I said, “Dimitri Thasos told me about some secret room somewhere on the island. Do you know anything about that?”

  “Not really.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I’ve had suspicions, but I don’t know anything for certain.”

  “How long have you worked here?”

  “Ten years.”

  Pietro said, “I’ve been here since the seventies. Yeah, there’s probably a secret room, but none of us knew anything in particular.”

  I said, “As owner, Tudor most certainly must have known about such a room. Did Harris, his lover?”

  Oser said, “I believe Mr. Harris did not plan to be a permanent resident. It is unlikely that anyone but the most trusted would be let in on the secrets of this place.”

  I looked at Seymour. “Do you know anything about a room?”

  “No.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was lying.

  “There were other secrets?” Scott asked.

  Oser said, “As you know, the tower of the castle was rented out. The rest of that structure was off limits to everyone else.”

  “No one went in and cooked and cleaned?” I asked. “The rich did that for themselves?”

  Oser said, “They served themselves in the Great Hall. Certainly there were secrets. It was the most exclusive spot on an exclusive island. While in there, they were not to be disturbed for any reason, ever, and as far as I know, they never were. Servants, employees, and security guards were forbidden to enter. If there was a secret room, I don’t know about it. Even the rich who came here weren’t lightly invited to the forbidden precincts of the castle. No one had keys unless they were given by Mr. Tudor. If you used the library, there was always one of the help on hand. None of the doors from the library to the rest of the castle were ever unlocked. The only door that opened led to the hall and then outside. I certainly never heard of one of the less permanent guests being invited there, much less sneaking in there. No one ever reported an intrusion. This place is small. The help would be aware of anyone going into the castle. Through the stained glass windows, sometimes we saw figures moving about. Mostly they seemed to be sitting and reading. We knew nothing of any secret room.”

  I wanted to use Thasos’s keys to examine his room in this complex of old homes. Obviously there was something there he thought was important for me to find. I wasn’t sure I trusted Rufus Seymour, and I knew I didn’t trust Oser. I thought I trusted Craveté, but I wasn’t about to repose unconditional faith in any of them. Alice Gavin and Martikovic were also present. To the assemblage, I said, “Scott and I need to check things out.”

  Gavin said, “What about staying together?”

  “We’ve got to look into some things. Scott and I will protect each other. I suggest the rest of you stay here together. I think Thasos knew something. He needs protecting.”

  “What did he know?” Seymour asked.

  “You should tell us everything so we can help,” Craveté said.

  I was uneasy with the two of them asking for specifics. I knew I wanted to exami
ne Thasos’s room. I supposed the rich on the island could get into any room they wanted. Frankly any of us could go merrily about looting anything we so wished. I said, “When we find out something substantive, we’ll let you know.”

  Gavin snarled, “Bullshit. If you know something, we all need to know that same something.”

  I was annoyed, fed up, and ready to bust a few people in the chops. I also couldn’t figure a sane reason to keep the secret. Those who knew about it already would now know we knew about it. And they would do what? Try to kill us? They could kill this many people? For that matter, how much should we trust Thasos? Perhaps his veracity and need to talk had been enhanced by his injuries, or twisted, or he was wrong. He said trust no one. Was I to include him? For now, no one meant everyone, but secrets at this point were stupid. I had no need to keep their secrets. I said, “Fine. Here’s the deal. Thasos is an investigator. From what I could tell from what he told me, a consortium of art museums and maybe collectors hired him. Supposedly there’s some hidden treasure on the island.”

  Seymour said, “There are all kinds of silly rumors about this island. Pirates! Crusaders! Terrorists! Balderdash! None of them are true.”

  “Wouldn’t it be fabulous,” Craveté said, “even if only a tiny part of it were true?”

  I said, “He gave me the key to check out his room. I want to go there with only Scott.”

  “We’ll follow you,” Oser said.

  Scott said, “For now we’re going in alone. Brute force may not be the best way to enforce the rule of law, but there’s danger. Tom says there’s probably some information that might be important. We’ll share it with you when necessary.” Oser said, “Obviously, you don’t want me left alone with Thasos. I’ll leave. You can set a guard.”

  Seymour, Oser, and Gavin didn’t look ready to fight us. Martikovic, her helper, was sitting next to Thasos who at intervals would babble in his semiconscious state.

  Oser headed for the outer door. Where exactly his loyalties lay, I wasn’t sure. He was most likely on his way to tattle to Movado and company, but then why had he come to Apritzi House at this time? His worry about his job and not being accused of murder made sense. He was probably on his way to bring the whole lot of the rest of them down on us. I just knew we had to get to Thasos’s room.

  Martikovic and Gavin agreed to stay with Thasos. Seymour seemed torn.

  I said, “Let’s go.” None of them made to follow.

  I was glad I’d pocketed a weapon from the arsenal in Tudor’s villa. Of course, security guards were probably always armed and the rest of them could pay a visit to Tudor’s villa and arm themselves. For that matter, so could the killer. We should probably have pitched all the other weapons and ammunition into the sea.

  In the foyer Scott said, “I don’t know if I could have done that.”

  “What?”

  “Let him clutch my hand.” He shuddered, ducked his head, then took my hand, raised his head again, and kissed my hand. “I love you,” he said. I gave him a brief hug.

  We hurried up the stairs to Thasos’s room. His suite was on the third floor. In this renovated block of old homes and businesses the top floors were reserved for the employees who lived on the island year round. The second floor was reserved for the more transient employees, a locker, a shower room, all pleasantly renovated. Nothing shoddy there. The help would enjoy amenities the envy of even the richest pro sports team in America.

  I inserted the key into the lock. We entered Thasos’s room. It was late morning. Through his window that looked out on the harbor, I saw the rain still driven by the wind and falling in sheets. The thunder and lightning continued unabated.

  His suite was neat and clean. He had a bedroom, bathroom, and a living room with an alcove off it, in which sat a computer and a two-drawer filing cabinet. It was locked, but I had the keys. It was a treasure trove. He was a meticulous file keeper. One section was labeled Suspicions, another Suspects, a third Rumors, a final one Provable. This last was very empty.

  Scott said, “This means he wasn’t ready to go to court?”

  “Or,” I said, “that there was nothing on the island except rich people, rumors, and old tales.” I paused. “Or that someone got here ahead of us.”

  “Are we going to have a lot of time to go through all this?” Scott asked. “Oser must have gone to get the evil cabal.”

  “We’ve got to get this crap out of here and hide somewhere with it.” I shoved a pile of files into his arms and grabbed the rest. I pulled my poncho around them as he did with his. We hurried out of the room. I left it locked. I heard angry voices in the foyer.

  “The back way,” I said. I hurried in the opposite direction from the voices.

  “Is there a back way?” Scott asked, rushing after me.

  I had a vision of us leaping from a third-story window, papers flying in the wind and rain, as we landed unpleasantly hard on the mud-infested earth or puddle-strewn concrete.

  I said, “I sure as hell hope so.” We plummeted pell-mell down the next set of stairs. An emergency exit on the second floor led out to a set of stairs that climbed up to the roof.

  We raced across the rooftop. Near the center, connecting the building to the cliff, was a steep set of stairs. We rushed toward them—dashed up. Halfway up I slipped and almost dropped all the papers. The wind and rain would have made a soggy mush of them in seconds. Scott grabbed me, steadied me. We hurried on.

  The steps led to the parapet that stretched the length of the cliff above the harbor. Some of the villas connected to this Great-Wall-of-China-like walkway. We sloshed through puddles. Because we were burdened with the files, we weren’t able to make top speed but hurried along as fast as we could. From the highest point of the headland, I paused and looked back. I saw several people among the remnants of the Port Atrium. I thought I saw one of them point up at us. I leapt back from the edge.

  As we reached the meeting of the parapet with the west road from the harbor, I said, “Let’s break into one of the villas. To find us, they’d have to search all of them. It will take a while.”

  “I’m sure they’ve picked up weapons.”

  “We’re armed.”

  “And one of them has got to be a killer. Maybe more than one.”

  “I’m open to suggestions.” We puffed along at moderate speed next to each other.

  “The cavern?”

  “They’d look there eventually.”

  “Between now and eventually might or might not be enough time to look at all this.”

  “We’ve got to assume someone is going to blab that we went to his room. A killer will assume we have the files. If the killer tried to murder Thasos, then, unless the killer was there before us, and cleaned out anything incriminating, we are now in more danger.”

  “Then we’d better read the files as quickly as we can. Where to?”

  “The castle library? Or if not that, then the Great Hall. Thasos used his keys to get me into the library once. We’ve got the keys. We can see people coming from up there while being pretty well concealed.”

  We’d have to avoid the path from which we could be seen from numerous points. If the killer was sitting on top of the roof of Henry Tudor’s villa, he might see us anyway. Was it likely the killer was there? No. Was it possible there was more than one person in on the murder? Yes. Could they have numerous watchers? Possible. We had to conceal ourselves as best we could. We’d have to avoid the inland path that led to the castle. We would have to come on the castle from over the rough-hewn ground, which would offer more cover. I doubted if it would be a pleasant jog through bramble and gully. Was there another choice? I didn’t think so.

  It turned out the brambles and gullies were not the worst thing about cutting across the island. The relentless rain was indeed a pain in the ass. The thunder and lightning were almost continuous. I’m from the Midwest where thunderstorms are part of life, but I’d never felt before as if I were inside one. Twice on our desperate ramble lightni
ng struck within twenty feet of us. The second time I stumbled to the ground and wasn’t sure my ears would ever stop ringing.

  But the actual corker was the mud. In fifteen minutes we were a mess from stumbling on the irregular ground, slipping in the clinging muck, and wading through the rivulets and tiny waterfalls that the storm had generated. Clinging to the files and trying to keep them mud-free hampered our efforts at dexterity. The rain would sluice off some of the mess on us, but then we’d slip down into puddles or on mounds of mud and we’d be a mess again. And the rain wasn’t as good as your Kenmore in the basement for cleaning in the first place.

  When we arrived at the castle, we looked like little kids who’d found the perfect mud puddle with no parent to supervise or call them in. As we neared the castle, the smell of burning struck my nostrils. I had to try several of Thasos’s keys before I found the correct one. We eased inside the small portal at the base of the spiral staircase. We shook the rain off our ponchos. We scraped off as much mud as we could. We’d seen the valet, who’d been told to stay to watch for flare-ups, at Tudor’s villa.

  We examined each other in the dim light. Mud people from the planet Zordan had nothing on us. Through the windows, we had seen that all the paintings in the Great Hall were gone. The staircase up to the library was on the far side of the Great Hall from the tower. You couldn’t actually get into the hall from the library. The staircase was encircled in brick to match its own shape. Another small door led from it to the Great Hall. Below the library was the kitchen. From the library windows you could see both the harbor and the landward approaches to the castle.

  Behind the library doors the smell of wet and burning wasn’t as strong. The books were undisturbed. It looked like any other rich person’s library in a movie, built-in bookcases, everything stunningly neat. An enormous globe sat under a gorgeous stained-glass window. We moved the globe, then placed two mahogany desks together so we could take advantage of the gray lurking through the windows. We made sure every window shutter was almost completely closed. We left them open an inch or so to provide us a view of anyone approaching. We sat ourselves so we could observe the landscape through narrow openings. It was the best we could do for now. Shelves of books stacked to the ceiling concealed us east and west. We put several large volumes around the flashlight and huddled near a small opening we created.