A Catered Halloween (23 page)

B
ernie fought her way through the crowd of people waiting to go into the Haunted House. It used to be that only kids dressed up at Halloween, but that wasn’t true anymore. Today everyone did.

Bernie looked around the hallway. It was like being at a masked ball. There were witches and goblins and ogres, X-Men, Pillsbury Doughboys, Harry Potters, and Voldemorts. There were people in rhinestone and feathered masks, people with bright purple wigs and false noses, and people who had dressed up like Bush, not to mention all the women in bustiers.

Bernie looked down at what she was wearing. It was really pretty lame. Some people wouldn’t even think it was a costume. It wasn’t sexy or ironic or clever or cute. She wasn’t a superhero or a famous person, although why anyone would want to be Paris Hilton for an evening totally eluded Bernie. In fact, she was pretty sure no one would know who she was supposed to be except her target, and she wasn’t too sure about that. Maybe she wouldn’t get the big response she was
hoping for, after all. Oh well. She guessed she’d find out soon enough.

Bernie had modeled her clothes on the picture of Bessie hanging on the wall in Amethyst’s apartment. She was wearing penny loafers, kneesocks, a pleated skirt, a white oxford shirt, and a cardigan, all of which she’d managed to find in the vintage clothes shop three blocks down from A Little Taste of Heaven. She’d gotten the tortoiseshell frames she was wearing from a costume store, ditto the brown, straight-haired wig.

She stood off to one side and scanned the crowd. She could see Konrad and Curtis fiddling with their tape deck near the restrooms. She gave them a slight nod, and they waved back. She sighed. Obviously, they weren’t totally clear on the concept of being inconspicuous, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Going over and talking to them would only make matters worse.

After shaking her head at them, she started studying the crowd in earnest. She knew the person she was looking for had to be here somewhere. She looked around the room. Nope, wasn’t here. Maybe he was in costume. She scanned everyone’s face again. Still nothing. And then, a few minutes later, she saw her target. No. She locked on her target. She liked that phrase better. Much more military. He’d just come in from the dining room and was standing in front of one of the doors that led to the back portion of the house, the portion that hid the scary stuff.

Bernie reflexively patted her shirt pocket. The mini tape recorder she’d bought this morning was in there. That was the nice thing about cardigans and oxford shirts. They hid stuff, unlike her Dolce & Gabbana black Lycra shirt. She figured that as soon as she got close to her target, she’d turn the tape recorder on.

Hopefully, it would work better than that huge thing Konrad and Curtis were using, and she’d get an admission of some kind that she could hear. The guy at the shop had said that the model she’d bought would pick up anything, and it had seemed to work pretty well when she tried it out in the shop. But you never knew with this kind of stuff. Just when you needed them the most, things like this tended to poop out.

Not that a tape recording was admissible evidence. In fact, it was illegal to tape-record someone without their knowledge; you could get arrested for it. Bernie wasn’t worried about that. All she wanted to get was some sort of admission that she could hand over to Bob’s court-appointed lawyer. Hopefully, he would then get the ball rolling on this stuff.

She clicked on the machine, plastered her best smile on her face, and started walking toward him. He was watching a couple dressed as Humpty Dumpty and All the King’s Men, so he didn’t see or hear Bernie approach.

Here we go,
she said to herself. Then she took a deep breath and tapped Mark Kane on the shoulder. He jumped and spun around.

“Hi, Ken,” she said. “How’s life treating you these days?”

All the color drained from his face. He opened his mouth and closed it again.

Bernie motioned to her clothes with a nod of her chin. “Like what I’m wearing? I think Bessie would be pleased, don’t you? I modeled myself after the picture of her that Amethyst had in her bedroom. Curious that, don’t you think? I don’t know what to make of it. Do you?”

Kane didn’t answer. He was still gulping air. Finally,
after another moment had passed, he got hold of himself and spoke.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “My name is Mark Kane.”

Bernie’s smiled widened. “That’s your current name, but before that, your name was Ken Marak. You’re the headmaster’s son and Bessie Osgood’s first true love.”

“I’ve always been Mark Kane.”

Later, Bernie would tell Brandon that it was the way he looked at her when he said his name and the emphasis he put on the two words that made her realize what they really meant.

She put her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God.” It had been in front of her all the time, and she hadn’t seen it. “Mark Kane. Of course. It’s an anagram for Ken Marak, isn’t it?”

Kane bit his lip.

Bernie realized something else. “Mark Kane. Mark of Cain. They’re homophones. You feel that guilty about having taken up with Amethyst all those years ago?” Bernie scrutinized his face. “You do, don’t you? No. It’s more than that. You were involved in her death, weren’t you?”

Kane shook his head.

“Yes, you were. I can see it on your face. Did you tell Amethyst that Bessie was going to go to your dad? Or did you see Amethyst push Bessie out of the window?” For a moment, Bernie thought Kane was going to faint. “You did, didn’t you? And you didn’t do anything.”

“Get out of here,” Kane growled. “You’re nuts.”

“I don’t think so,” Bernie replied.

“People told me you were crazy, and they’re right. You are.”

Bernie watched as he turned and tried the door. It didn’t open. He pulled harder. It didn’t budge.

“Looks as if it’s locked from the inside,” Bernie observed pleasantly.

Kane ignored her and started walking down the hall. Bernie kept by his side. When she looked around, she could see that Curtis and Konrad were following her.

“Why did you kill Amethyst?” she asked Kane. “Was it revenge because she killed Bessie?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kane snarled as he shoved his way between a couple dressed in look-alike Cowardly Lion costumes.

“Hey, fella,” the guy cried. “Watch where you’re going, will you?”

Kane didn’t respond. People shouted, “Hey!” and “You can’t do that!” and “Get in line like everyone else!” as Bernie followed Kane through the crowd milling around in front of the entrance to the Haunted House rooms.

“We found Bessie’s diary, you know,” said Bernie.

“I don’t care,” Kane hissed.

“You were her first love.”

By now they were in the Chain-Saw Massacre Room, with about five other people. The sound of the woman screaming was joined by the sounds of the people in the room going, “Oh my God, that’s terrible.”

“You shared her first kiss with her,” Bernie said as a girl grabbed on to her boyfriend and shrieked.

Another woman glared at Bernie. “Will you shut up and let us enjoy ourselves!” she hissed.

Bernie was just about to tell her to get a life when Kane spun around. Even in the dark Bernie could see that his normal affable expression had been replaced by fear and anguish.

“If I knew who this Bessie Osgood was, I might care,” Kane said.

“Oh, you know all right. You gave her a book on Celtic mythology. You introduced her to old fairy tales.”

Kane hurried across the room and opened the next door. The skeleton in the casket was cackling and pointing his finger at people. Kane pushed through the crowd to get to the door after that. A woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty told him to watch where he was going.

“I’ll get the manager and have you thrown out,” she threatened.

“You do that. I am the manager. In fact, I’m the owner of this place,” Kane yelled. He turned to open the next door. Bernie watched his hand freeze on the handle as he realized what was on the other side.

“Are you sure you want to go in there?” she asked. “Amethyst’s ghost might be waiting for you.”

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Kane told her. But his hand wavered on the knob, and after a few seconds, he turned and went back the way he had come. By now he was practically running. “Get out of the way,” he cried as he plowed through the crowd coming in the opposite direction.

Bernie followed him out the door and into the hallway. He looked around for a second and headed outside. As she followed, she tried not to think about the promise she’d made Libby about staying where the people were. Given the circumstances, what other option did she have? The temperature had fallen, and she could see her breath in the air. Bernie rubbed her arms as she followed Kane across to the other house. Her four-ply cashmere sweater was warm, but it wasn’t warm enough. She looked back. Konrad and Curtis
were nowhere to be seen. She should go back, but she knew she wasn’t going to.

“How did you get Amethyst to marry you?” she asked Kane.

He froze for a second, then turned to face Bernie.

“I know you did,” she told him. “We can prove it.”

“How?” Kane asked. His voice was hoarse.

“Amethyst told somebody, and she told my dad,” Bernie lied.

“Who told you? I don’t believe it.”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Because there is nobody,” Kane hissed.

“No. I’m not telling you, because I don’t want you killing them the way you killed Ed Banks.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Kane protested.

“You most certainly did. I talked to Amber, and she remembers you buying some ginger pumpkin bars that day. You made a big deal of it by telling her you were taking them to a friend and you wanted the best ones possible.”

Kane turned and took a step toward her. “So if I did everything that you say, how come you’re here talking to me? Aren’t you afraid I’m going to kill you, too?”

“Not really.”

“And why is that? Could it possibly be because I’m not a killer?”

“Oh no. You are,” Bernie told him. “There’s no doubt about that. I might not be able to prove it, but it’s true.” And suddenly Bernie knew. She knew that what Kane wanted was a sympathetic ear. Someone to tell him he’d done the right thing. Someone to “get him,” as the expression went. “And she deserved it,” Bernie continued. “She deserved everything she got.”

Kane didn’t say anything.

Bernie went on. “She did. She was an awful person.
She brought a lot of pain and misery to a lot of people. She wrecked lives. She certainly destroyed yours. Your dad killing himself, your mom having that accident.”

Kane turned his face so Bernie couldn’t see the expression on it. Then he spoke. “Running a school was his dream. He’d borrowed all this money from my mom and her family, and from his family, and their friends. Then, when that thing with Bessie happened and everyone started taking their children out of the school, Dad, well, Dad couldn’t stand it. He was so ashamed. He couldn’t face everyone. And he…I found him, you know.”

“No, I didn’t know that.”

“We’d just turned the corner, too. We were starting to make money. And then Amethyst pushed…” Kane stopped abruptly. “Are you recording this?” he said.

Something told Bernie not to lie. She took the mini tape recorder out of her pocket and handed it to him. “I was, but I’m not anymore.”

Kane’s hand closed over the tape recorder.

Bernie brushed away a snowflake that had fallen on her sleeve. “You must have been planning this for a long time. You changed your name. You got plastic surgery in case Amethyst recognized you. Did she?”

“Not at first. But I think she might have later. But she would have liked that. She was a game player.”

“Only this time she lost,” Bernie said.

Kane gave a stiff little bow. “So it would appear.”

Bernie waved her hand in the direction of the Peabody School. “And, of course, you spent all this money fixing the place up, but you have it, don’t you? I looked you up on the Web. You were one of the partners in the J and K Hedge Fund. You guys made—”

“Billions,” Kane said.

“So I guess you figured you could do pretty much what you wanted.”

“I never said that. You did.”

Bernie nodded her head in assent. “Where did you go after your mother died?” she asked.

“I went out to Dallas to live with some relatives there.”

“That must have been very hard.”

“No. They were nice.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know what you meant.” Kane looked at the mini tape recorder in his hand. “They were nice. But all the time I was there, I just wanted to go home.”

“And you finally did.”

Kane nodded. “I’m sorry about Banks. I never meant for that to happen. I didn’t even know Amethyst had asked him about using his garden.” Kane shrugged. “And when I heard…I don’t know. Something just came over me.”

“And you did what you thought had to be done.”

“I suppose you could put it that way.”

By now they were near the Foundation.

“Damn,” Kane said. “The idiot twins.”

Bernie turned and followed his gaze. Konrad and Curtis were running toward them.

“Stop,” Konrad screamed. “Stay where you are. We’ve got a gun.”

Bernie cursed as she saw the rifle Konrad was carrying. Kane hesitated for two seconds before he took off and ran toward the Foundation. A couple of seconds after that, he opened the front door and entered the building.

“What are you doing?” Bernie yelled at Konrad and Curtis as they rushed by her.

“We’re making sure the son of a bitch doesn’t get away,” Konrad cried.

Bernie ran after them. “He won’t.”

“Damn right, he won’t,” Konrad said.

Bernie grabbed on to the back of Konrad’s jacket and pulled. Konrad spun around.

“I want you to stay here and guard the front door while I go up and bring him down,” Bernie said.

“We can’t—”

Bernie cut him off. “You most certainly can.” She ran off before Konrad could say anything else. She made it to the front door before Konrad and Curtis could and locked it.

A second later Konrad was pounding on the door. “Hey,” he yelled. “Let us in.”