The moment she pulled out the drawer, she knew these wads weren’t for a gun. She wasn’t sure what her father had used them for, but they looked disgusting. Her father’s handwriting was difficult to read and Grace decided it would be quicker to pull the drawers out one by one. She found a lot of interesting things that way, but none of them looked helpful. There was even a drawer of glass eyes that she promptly slammed shut again, but she finally found some shells in a drawer labeled “snap caps.” As she stuffed them into her tote bag, she noticed a long, narrow drawer under the others. There was something that looked like a giant ice pick inside with a funny piece of metal sticking out where the handle should be. She picked it up, wrapped it in a piece of fur so it wouldn’t stick her, and put it into her bag. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it certainly looked nasty.
Grace flicked off the flashlight and headed for the door. Done! She was about to turn the knob when she heard footsteps outside.
The Caretaker had decided to start with Grace and Moira and work his way up to the top floor while everyone was sleeping. If someone got wise, he’d be able to trap them on the stairwell. Naturally, he’d fixed the elevator. It had been a simple matter to replace the cable he’d loosened and there was no way he wanted to tire himself out by climbing up and down all those stairs.
When morning came, he’d blow up the building. That part would be simple. The plate glass windows on the north and east sides of the building were double-sealed, designed to make the huge furnace in the garage run more efficiently and to reduce drafts. The only windows that could be opened were the bedroom and bathroom windows on the west side and the patio doors on the south, and it wouldn’t take long to secure them. Then he’d turn up the gas and wait. Once the highly combustible mixture had built up to a concentrated level, he’d fire a shot from the outside to create a spark. Even though the Old Man had been grief-stricken about his daughter’s death, he’d pulled himself together enough to agree that it was a solid plan.
He walked silently through Grace and Moira’s living room and opened their bedroom door. Grace was smaller and it would be easier to snuff out her life without waking Moira. Then he’d finish off Moira.
The bed had been slept in, but it was empty now. He should have gone up to Betty’s first and used the camera to track everyone. He was making mistakes already, and he hadn’t even started. He’d check out the rest of the rooms, and if he couldn’t find them, he’d run up to Betty’s and let the closed-circuit system do his hunting for him.
Grace flicked off her flashlight. Why hadn’t they called on the intercom? Had he found them and killed them all? She was paralyzed with fear as she realized her worst nightmare was coming true. She was trapped in her father’s stuffed menagerie with no escape!
Suddenly Grace remembered the pile of animal skins behind the Kodiak bear and forced herself to move. The room was pitch-black and she had to orient herself by touch. Grace shuddered as her fingertips grazed the black panther’s smooth fangs. It seemed to take hours, but at last her hand touched the bear’s huge claws and she felt her way around the back. She’d just pulled a large water buffalo skin over herself, its musty animal scent still strong, when the door opened.
There was a small opening where the skin was slightly torn and Grace could see his feet as he flicked on the bright overhead lights. He was wearing green and white designer tennis shoes she’d seen before. If Moira were here, she’d quip that it was probably what well-dressed killers wore when they stalked terrified middle-aged women in rooms full of stuffed animals.
Grace bit her lip to silence the terrified scream that threatened to tear from her throat as he stopped right next to her. She held her breath and shut her eyes. Moira had shown him around the menagerie when he’d first come to work for Ellen, and she prayed he wouldn’t notice there was anything out of place. Then the lights went out and the door shut her in with the darkness and the Kodiak bear that suddenly seemed like a very dear friend. She stayed there, hardly daring to breathe, until she heard the front door close. Then she hoisted herself up on trembling knees and grabbed the rifle and her tote bag.
She rushed to the front door and peeked through the fisheye peephole to observe the newly repaired elevator. The green arrow flickered six times. He was going up to Betty’s floor and that meant they were still alive!
Grace’s fingers were trembling as she fumbled in the tote bag and slipped a round into the chamber. Then she ran to the stairwell and took the stairs as fast as she could, blessing her dancer’s legs. There was no way she could get there first, but they were barricaded in Betty’s bedroom. And she was coming with the gun that would save them.
“Oh, God! I was right!” Ellen’s voice was shaking. Since she was good at puzzles, Jayne had given her the notebook and she was frantically working to divide the letters from Johnny’s message into words.
“What does it say?”
Moira didn’t take her eyes from the screen as she changed cameras and locations, desperately trying to locate Walker. They’d buzzed Grace on the intercom to tell her that he was up and moving, but there had been no answer.
“The words are, Jayne If You Get This I Am Dead Cocaine In Dolls Watch Out Marc. And then it stops. Johnny must have discovered that Walker was putting cocaine in my mannequins and he was killed before he could tell anyone. And the last part is a warning for Marc. Oh, I hope he’s all right!”
“There he is!” Moira pointed to the screen where Marc had appeared.
“He’s coming down the hallway. Thank God!”
Ellen jumped to her feet. “I’ll get him. You keep on trying to find Walker.”
TWENTY-ONE
Marc was approaching the door when Ellen opened it, pulled him inside, and threw her arms around him. “Thank God it’s you! We thought Walker had killed you!”
“What?”
“Come on.” Ellen tugged him toward Betty’s room. “We’re all holed up in here.”
Marc still looked dazed and Ellen realized that she hadn’t explained the situation. “Sorry, I forgot that you don’t know what happened. Johnny left a warning for you on Jayne’s piano and Betty’s all right now, but Walker killed her nurse. Grace went down to get one of her father’s guns and we think she’s okay, but we lost Walker when we tried to track him on Betty’s television and now we don’t know where he is.”
“There’s Grace and she’s got the gun.” Moira pointed at the screen where Grace was just reaching their landing. “Go let her in, Ellen. I’ll keep trying to find Walker.”
Grace came in and rushed over to hug Marc, who was sitting in a chair by the door. “You’re alive! We thought . . . it doesn’t matter now, but Walker came down to the menagerie while I was there and I had to hide behind the Kodiak bear and thank God he didn’t spot me! I rushed right up here as soon as he’d left, and I managed to load this thing, but I hope to God you know how to shoot it!”
“Uh . . . sure, I do. No problem.”
Marc’s voice sounded strange. Ellen hoped he’d recover enough to do them some good. She patted him on the shoulder and handed him the notebook with Johnny’s message. “Here, read this. Johnny left a coded message warning you that Walker was using my mannequins to transport drugs, but he . . . he was murdered before he could write the rest.”