Part 9 (1/2)
Labeck began, ”We're here to fix-,” but a frenzied yapping set up in the hallway behind Purvis and suddenly a tide of snarling fur balls engulfed us, growling, snapping, and clearly stating in dog language: We're going to tear you to kibble and gnaw your ears like they're dried apricots These were the fiends from hell-Vanessa's venomous shi+h tzu-bi+chon frises Their names were muffin, Tufty, and Snookums, kittenish names for creatures with the volatility of land s into s!” Purvis, as hard of hearing, apparently hadn't picked up on my voice She aie, Purvis would have been sacked on the spot, forty years of service or not ”Go lay don!” She scooped up Tufty and Snookums, who squirmed around and tried to bite her, but she was too wise to theainst her water the creature's vicious little snout in a hand vise
”I apologize,” Purvis said ”Those dogs never got trained They're like ani Whisperer”
I'd have whispered to theht Go play fetch on the freeway, you little furry turds! Go pick a fight with a pit bull
”The missus hoo Didn't say when she'd be back”
Purvis was not exactly the loyal old fa war over the kitchen, Purvis believing the room was her sacred turf, while Vanessa, who cooked as a hobby and baked as a religion, trespassed in the kitchen whenever she felt like it, probably to whip up new varieties of poisoned pastries She left her dirty dishes for Purvis to wash, ed spices, and put the utensils away in the wrong drawers, offenses that sent Purvis intoI wouldn't have been surprised if Vanessa ended up facedown on the kitchen tiles one day, the duck boning knife sticking out of her back with Purvis's fingerprints all over it
”Glad you're here We haven't been getting any cable at all lately,” Purvis said Labeck shotlook ”Since Saturday, if I recollect It stopped just like that You think you can get it fixed today? I don't like to rams”
”Ho-kay Just point me toward the nearest TV set and I'll take it fro onna behave?”
muffin spiked out his fur, bared his teeth, and snarled Purvis peeled hi bundles in her arh she intended to toss theuys swaggered into the living room The roo s that provided a stunning view of Lake Michigan The decor didn't live up to the view, though; the furnishi+ngs looked as though they'd been lacquered in place during the Eisenhower era and neverchairs perched atop vine-patterned carpets Prissy vases, figurines, and silk floere arranged on end tables like museum exhibits Frankly,
Labeck found the massive cabinet that housed the television set, squatted down and startedaround with a screwdriver He actually looked like he knehat he was doing He was even displaying the repair guy's butt crack
”Fifteenheart, dryout behind me, I scuttled up the stairs I eased cautiously into Vanessa's bedroom The dill pickle color motif lived on here in the bedspread and curtains Hands shaking, I ru to find a secret side to Vanessa-orilla-sized dildo, a cat-o'-nine-tailsactually, the asn't all that far-fetched Vanessa's lily of the valley scent hung heavily over the rooo all squishy with fear I'd been scared of Vanessa when she washer house, I was nearly gibbering in terror
Convinced that the video wasn't here, I tiptoed down the hall to Kip's boyhood bedrooivenme onto his boyhood bed for a reenactment of an adolescent fantasy Kip had the finish line all to hi into his roo us naked cast an icy wet blanket over rowing up an only child in this house His dad had died when he was ten, leaving hi how she alternately bullied and spoiled hi that he hadn't turned out to bearound at the model airplanes, the sports trophies, the bed with its plaid spread, everything preserved as it had been when Kip was a teenager, I realized that Vanessa would never have left the videotape of her son's murder in this room
I was about to let lazed ceramic pot whose base screwed on and off over a hollow interior Kip had showed it to me that day we'd er, he'd stashed his dope and e eyes
Maybe his stash was still there! Even fifty bucks would keep a desperate fugitive alive for a couple of days The screws holding the laers I pulled aside the base and groped inside A baggie of graying hash fell out and-yes!-a baggie of bills! I was about to rip open the bag and count the ed up my spine and my nape hair stood on end
Vanessa was here There was no way I could have known it, but I did My heart began to thued beats Every system in my body went on red alert Had I just heard raised voices, a shout, fro up a storm Maybe they'd treed Labeck atop the television cabinet But I didn't really believe that She was here, and she was hunting ie into my pants, I blazed for the door, ran out into the hall, and hurtled toward the stairway Too late Footsteps on the stairs So fast It wasn't Labeck; he would have called out Frantically I looked for a place to hide The linen closet! After Vanessa walked past, I'd sneak out of the closet and streak down the stairs Inside, the closet was dark and stuffy It smelled like rubber vacuum hose and had shelves that jutted into my spine
The footsteps reached the top of the stairs A pause, then a heavy tread down the hall Whoever it was knew this house well The person halted in front of the closet door The scent of lilies of the valley wafted to ht flooded the closet
Vanessa Vonnerjohn stood there, wearing a triuun She raised it until it was pointing directly at my heart, and I saw my own death in the barrel's small, round hole
”I knew you'd come back,” she crowed ”I haven't slept a wink since you escaped I left the doors unlocked at night, I turned off the burglar alar you'd sneak in And you did! You fell right into littered and her hands shook Vanessa is tall, ide shoulders, flat boobs, and the long, s of a tennis player She has an outthrust jaw, vodka on the rocks eyes, and a sht mouth Her hair is shoe polish black, teased and sprayed into a bullet-deflecting helht harbor poisonous spiders Her taste in clothes fossilized forty years ago Today she earing a shi+n-length corduroy skirt, a puffy-sleeved blouse, a frilly apron, and orthopedic running shoes She accessorized with said gun
”Walk,” she ordered, gesturing with the gun barrel toward the stairs leading to the third floor
She wouldn't shoot me while Purvis was in the house, I told s; if she heard shooting, she'd call the police
”Don't think that old fool Purvis is going to save you,” Vanessa sneered My bowels turned to icythat roceries While she was gone, you broke into my house You attacked me I shot you in self-defense”
”nobody will-”
”Hush, Jezebel!” She lunged at ainst the wall, then yanking h she worked out with anvils
”Do you recognize this gun?” she crooned in un, the one you used to take hiun snugged against htest er, I allowed her to bump and bully me up the narrow, uncarpeted stairway that led to the servants' quarters on the third floor The ribbed corduroy of her skirt s
No fancy carpets or hand-carved ork up here Worn linoleuh for the servants who'd once lived here Iron beds stood in empty, dormitory-like rooms The air was stale, underlaid with mildew
”Get in there” Vanessa thrust me into the servants' bathroom A bathtub was filled ater and a space heater was set out on the floor, plugged in and turned on
Uh-oh
”You should have gone to the electric chair,” Vanessa hissed ”But those bleeding heart legislators outlawed the death penalty Whilewith your three , your stinking rights!” Her lips curled back from her teeth
”Vanessa, listen to me! I didn't-”
”Oh, I kno cushy you scum have it in prison these days with your pedicures, your poetry readings, your self-esteem therapy sessions-”
”That's completely-”
”And of course the prison psychiatrists tell you that your crime wasn't your fault No, it was society's fault, boo-hoo-hoo Well, guess what? I, for one, a to you”
”If you'd give me a chance to-”
”Get In The Godda into the icicle eyes, I knew she would do it I earing the shoes Labeck had lentwith three pairs of athletic socks to achieve a semi-fit I put one jumbo foot in the bathwater Vanessa impatiently waved at me and I lifted the other foot in Water sloshed over onto the tile floor Did she intend to drown me?
I opened my mouth to yell for Labeck
Vanessa sneered ”Don't think that repair to rush in to save you He's locked in the basement I'll decide what to do with hiid I had to set
”Take a bath, you dirty pig-all the way in!”
When I just stood there, Vanessa aier Instinctively I dived into the tub, creating a small tidal wave A chunk of tile aboveI clappedears as shards of tile rained into the tub On the first floor, the dogs went insane, barking and yowling
”When I tell you to do so, do it!” Spit flecked Vanessa's lips She looked down atprotectively over htened?”
”Y-yes”
”Good You ought to be”
She pulled out the St Christopher medal she wore on a chain around her neck Vanessa was an old-style Catholic ent in for novenas, scapulars, prayer books, and lighted candles If she'd lived five centuries ago she'd have been an enthusiastic rack-turner for the Inquisition The Christopher ht it to her lips and kissed it ”When Kip was killed, I lostGod to forgive me I should have known that in His all-beneficial ed that tornado to deliver you to un at me, Vanessa backed up, reached for the space heater, and hoisted it off the floor It was an old-fashi+oned , its bars glowing fiery orange, its frayed cord plugged into an ungrounded outlet Clutching it by the handle, she advanced toward the tub