Part 99 (1/2)

”Furnace room?” he guessed.

”The furnace room is behind the stairs,” she said.

They neared the open doorway. He felt her hand on his shoulder.

”I'll go first if you wish,” she said, motioning with the pistol as if to indicate why. He shook his head. He expected nothing living past the doorway. Nor would he admit fear or hesitation.

'I'll go,” he said.

He stepped through the pa.s.sageway, followed quickly by Leslie.

They found themselves in a mausoleum. There were plaques on the wall, marking births and deaths.

He screwed his face into a perplexed scowl.

”What in h.e.l.l is this?”

he asked breathlessly.

She was more calm. There was a small altar before the plaques on the wall, complete with candles and the dusty remains of flowers which had faded and died innumerable years earlier. They both had the sense of having stepped into some bizarre medieval sacristy, a holy shrine of a small and perverse order. In a way, the sense was a proper one.

”There are names on the plaques,” he said.

At once they stepped forward, examining the names. Each name was the same-only the dates differed on the small tarnished gold plaques.

ANDREW, read the first gold plaque, corroded with age, but still legible. 1932-1939.

And the next, ANDY 1939-1946.

And the next and the next, all the same, at various intervals until the last in 1975.

”The dogs,” said Thomas.

”It's where she interred the dogs' ' Leslie shook her head incredulously The room was a canine mausoleum, complete with a small bronze statue of a poodle on the opposite side from the altar.

”Incredible said Thomas.

”A crazy old woman. A fortune and all the time in the world. And this is what she does with it' He pondered the darkest recesses and warpings of the human mind.

This was Victoria Sandler's other family. Her Andys. It was cold in the room. The lanterns moved from moment to moment and threw changing, disproportionate shadows on the walls. At one point Leslie's lantern shone directly upon the statue of the poodle and a giant shadow of the dog rose in stark black against a side wall. For a moment they could almost feel the presence of Victoria Sandler, of the mind of the recently deceased woman who had consecrated this most sacred part of her world.

The man's voice came suddenly from behind them, loud, casual, and totally unexpected.

”Find anything?” it asked solemnly.

They almost felt their insides explode as they whirled in their tracks, both brandis.h.i.+ng their lanterns and Leslie raising her gun to fire.

A third lantern shone back into their eyes, blinding them.

”Sorry,” said the man, filling much of the doorway.