Body Parts (Rye & Claire 1) (19 page)

Chapter Thirty

Her ears were ringing
and her head throbbed. She moved just the fingers of her right hand,
then her wrist. There was no feeling in her right leg, and her left leg
felt like it was hanging in space. As she came fully conscious, she
opened her eyes to total darkness but was afraid to move her head. The
vision of Jan’s body, and all the others, came flooding in. She closed
her eyes.

She didn’t know how much time
had passed when she opened her eyes again. Her right breast ached clear
up into her shoulder. There was still only darkness, and in that void
Crystal remembered how Claire’s little penlight illuminated stacks of
bodies, how they were everywhere and seemed to come alive in the light.
Claire. Where was Claire? She opened her mouth to call out, and realized
it was already open. She tasted dirt.

* * *

Claire walked bent over holding the penlight in an attempt
to
track Crystal down the tunnel. Her footprints seemed staggered; first,
close together, then far apart. Was she running? Claire crawled on her
hands and knees, getting the last of the illumination the little light
had to offer. Then the prints stopped. Claire backed up, maybe Crystal
had turned, but the last set of prints pointed straight ahead.

The little light glowed a dim
yellow, Claire turned it off. She didn’t move, not wanting to erase one
of the prints. When she turned the light on, shining it ahead, she
gasped and fell back onto her haunches at what she saw. She was less
than a foot from a vertical shaft.

She calmed herself, turned
the light off and crawled on her stomach to the edge. Extending her arm
to its full length, she again turned on the penlight. Nothing. Claire
rolled onto her back placing the flashlight back in her pocket and
pulled out her lighter. Spinning the wheel on the lighter Claire leaned
into the tunnel, “Crystal can you hear me?” To her total amazement, the
flame caught and flared. “Can you make a noise?” She slowly waved the
lighter back and forth praying the flame wouldn’t go out.

From deep within the abyss came a clicking sound.

“Crystal! Hang on. I’m coming to get you.”

Claire held the lighter out
in front of her until she got her bearings then snapped it shut. Making
her way to the tunnel wall, she stumbled back to the room with the
bodies and found the floor switch. Stepping down on it the room came to
life with light from the four floodlights mounted in the ceiling. Once
she found the heavy electrical cable that supplied power, she followed
it down the wall, then along where the wall descended to the floor, out
of the room and down the tunnel. When she came to what looked like an
electrical box she began to twist the cable where it attached until it
came loose and once again she was cast into darkness. Then came the task
of pulling the cable up as she went, following it back to the room.

Madly pulling she managed to
wrest it loose from the floodlights. Extracting the lighter, again she
spun the wheel praying for a flame. For less than a minute, her prayers
were answered; that was all she needed. When she figured she was within a
couple yards of the vertical shaft, she dropped to her hands and knees,
running her hands back and forth searching for the lip of the tunnel.

How would she secure the
cable? She took out her lighter once again hoping for one more light, no
luck. Then she remembered the matches.

She didn’t look at the flame
as the match flared to life, she didn’t want to waste the time waiting
for her eyes to adjust. Holding the match at arm’s length and moving it
from side to side, she noticed a pile of debris against the wall across
from her. Support timbers, an old iron wheel and spikes.

“Ouch,” she dropped the match, waved her hand up and down and stuck her finger in her mouth.

The wheel was the size of a truck tire. Once she got it uprigh
t,
it was easy to roll to the edge of the shaft. The timbers were twelve
feet long and solid redwood. Moving the one she needed took all her
strength and ingenuity. She ended up sliding it, first one end then the
other, until it was next to the wheel. Lifting one end of the timber
just enough, Claire secured the electrical cable around it, making a
loop on the other end. After lowering the looped end of the cable over
the edge and calling out to Crystal, who did not respond, she pulled up
on the cable only to meet resistance.

“Do you have the loop?”

A faint tremor of Crystal’s voice echoed up the shaft. “Yes.”

“Can you climb up?”

“No.”

“Just hold tight, I’m coming down.”

The cable was wrapped around
the beam and she’d managed to flop the iron wheel on top to help hold it
in place. Claire pulled on the cable one last time for assurance then
slid on her belly over the lip of the shaft. Planting her feet on the
wall, she pushed out and began walking down, just like she’d done a
hundred times before. She and Rye had made hundreds of mountainside
rescues, but they were in daylight. The wall of the shaft was smooth
against her feet, but the cable felt secure in her hands. She paused to
steady her breathing and thought she felt a tiny slip. First an inch,
then a foot. In a panic, Claire imagined the steel wheel sliding towards
the rim. She was half right; the wheel had already gone over the edge.

Claire dropped several feet,
her hands burning as they slipped when the cable suddenly pulled tight.
Gripping it until her knuckles turned white, she slammed against the
wall, her feet frantically winding around the cable.

She never saw the wheel as it careened off the wall, but the impact off the back of her head nearly pulled her loose.

Chapter Thirty-one

Simms walked from the scrub area
into the hall of the tiny clinic, where he joined Nurse Clouse.

“Good evening, Bonnie, have you seen Derrick? He was supposed to meet me in scrub.”

“Not since I sent him to finish the prep.”

The phone began to ring in the little office across from the scrub room.

“Excuse me, I’d better get that,” Simms said

With a look of resignation, he picked up the handset. “This had better be important, I just scrubbed.”

It was Hubble and he was all business, as usual. “We’ve had a private investigator asking about the Dodge.”

“Christ, you didn’t let him in did you? And why wasn’t I informed?”

The moment of silence that followed Simms’s question was typical of Hubble, but it still pissed him off.

“The PI was a woman, and you were locked away in your private office.”

Simms couldn’t stand Hubble
and would have fired the man except he was a damn good attorney. He was
on the verge of blasting him for not interrupting him in his office when
Clouse poked her head in.

“Doctor, I just found Derrick, you’d better come quick.”

He hung up the phone, then dashed into the hall where he was met by a limping Derrick. Clouse was at his side offering him ice.

“C’mon, I got kicked in the balls not hit over the head,” Derrick said, grimacing in pain.

“Jesus Christ, what happened?” Simms said.

“I was coming down the hall
to prep Crystal when I saw her with another woman heading for the exit.
When I asked the woman who she was, well, she kicked me.”

“Did she say who she was?” Simms said.

Derrick looked embarrassed. “Yeah, she said she was Doctor Pain.”

Simms spun around, ducked back into the small office and snatching up the phone, punched the speed dial for Hubble’s office.

“Hubble, here.”

“Your PI kidnapped our patient. Get your fat ass to the clinic, stat!” Simms slammed the handset down.

“Derrick, how sedated was she?”

“Just a heavy local, enough to keep her from walking away. She couldn’t have gotten off the exam table on her own.”

“How long will it last?”

“At least an hour. She’ll be moving at a crawl if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Exactly. You and Bonnie head into the woods. I’ll wait for Hubble.”

The security camera had
captured Claire and her Austin-Healey on tape. On a hunch, Hubble had
gone out through the gate after Simms’s call, and found the little
sports car less than a quarter mile down the road. Moving around the
car, he let the air out of all four tires and pulled the registration.

By the time Hubble entered the clinic, Simms was livid.

“Where in the hell have you
been? I’ve sent Bonnie and Derrick into the woods looking for your
fucking PI. Shit, by now she and Crystal could be half way to
California.”

With his usual understatement and aplomb, Hubble sat on the edge of the desk and waited for Simms to finish his rant.

“Actually, Mr. Simms, she’s
not. I found her car parked on the shoulder of the road just down from
the gate. They’re still in the woods, or may have found their way to the
mine.”

“Shit, shit, shit! We can’t
let them get to the mine and if they’re already there they can’t be
allowed to leave. Get a flashlight and go to the mine; I’ll hike through
the woods and see if I can find them.”

Simms was in the scrub room changing when the wall phone rang. It was the line used only by Rosie Rehnquist to confirm a sale.

“Rosie, we’ve got a real problem…”

“Thanks for asking,
everything went fine,” Rosie said, and paused to let the fact that she
was insulted sink in. “What’s the big problem?”

“A private investigator broke
into the clinic and helped Crystal escape. I’ve got Hubble headed for
the mine; Derrick and Bonnie are in the woods looking for them.”

Rosie nearly drove off the road as she listened to Simms and heard the fear in his voice.

“If they see what’s in the mine and get away, it’ll shut us down. We may have to leave the country,” Simms said.

Rosie let his words sink in.
They couldn’t be allowed to escape, even without seeing the contents of
the mine. Surely the PI had figured out what was ahead for Crystal. No,
they couldn’t be allowed to leave. But, if they did, the film company,
mansion, clinic—all would have to be shut down and the mine destroyed.

“Peter, are you there?” she said.

“Yeah, I’m here. I want you to shut down Lewd and Lascivious and get up here as soon as possible. I’m going to need your help.”

“There’s got to be another way!”

“Listen to me, Rosie…there is no other way. Whatever you have to do—do it and get up here on the double.”

“What if they never find the mine, couldn’t we just silence the PI?”

“Can’t take the chance. She’s
not like your girls. Someone might come looking. Plus. we’ve got to
deal with Derrick, Bonnie and Hubble.”

Chapter Thirty Two

When he saw the sign “
Welcome
to Denton by the Sea,” Rye cut the sirens and lights, and brought his
speed down to the limit. Now he had to find Pericolo Lane. Prodded by an
extreme sense of urgency he wasted no time and drove the ambulance into
the first gas station he came to, and parked in front of the little
store.

The place looked deserted. He quickly scanned the isles of chips, cookies and other snacks, but couldn’t find anyone.

“Hello, I need some assistance.”

A man suddenly popped up from behind the counter.

“Sorry, just looking for something.” The man glanced out the window. “That your ambulance?”

“Sure is. Can you direct me to Pericolo Lane?”

“Keep going north, two more
blocks, then right just after the Book Nook. You won’t see a sign for a
mile or so, but that’s Pericolo.”

Rye spun on his heel and headed for the door. “Thanks.”

The gas station store clerk stood watching until the ambulance pulled onto Main Street, and disappeared from sight.

Stepping in front of the
register, he opened the till and began pulling out twenties, tens and
fives leaving just sixty dollars in the drawer. It had been a busy
morning. He knelt to his hands and knees setting the cash on the floor
and began dialing the combination of the floor safe when the door buzzer
went off. When he stood up, three men were half way to the register.

Two of them hung back while the third man limped up to the counter.

“Good afternoon, I’m trying to find Pericolo Lane.”

“Sure, north two blocks, hang a right just past the Book Nook. Stay on that road until you see the sign.”

“Thanks a lot.”

The two men were out the door as soon as they heard the directions, with the third one limping right behind.

The clerk watched them drive
away giving little thought to the coincidence of two people asking for
the same road within fifteen minutes. He knelt down behind the counter,
opened the safe, pulled out a heavy cloth bag and put in the cash.

“Oh shit, forgot the damn receipt.”

When he stood up he was staring into the chest of a man in a blue tailored suit.

He looked up at the man’s
chiseled features, partly obscured by sunglasses. “I didn’t hear you
come in.” He became suddenly aware that he was still holding the cash
deposit in his hand. “Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for 20415 Pericolo Lane.”

The clerk smiled, this had to be one for the books.

“20415 is way up there. You know, you’re the third person, like in minutes, looking for Pericolo Lane.”

The man in the blue suit turned to look at his two companions, also wearing sunglasses and blue suits.

“One of them drove an ambulance. Anyway, go north two blocks and take a right just after the Book Nook, that’s Pericolo.”

The clerk watched as the three men climbed into a big silver car and pulled out of the station, headed north.

Rye was driving the top-heavy
ambulance as fast as he dare on the curvy road, watching every mailbox
and gate for 20415. Glancing ahead as he approached a curve, he noticed a
giant metal gate set between two stone pillars. He knew he’d found the
address even before he saw the numbers. He drove for another quarter
mile before he spotted an unchained driveway where he could turn around.