Climate Change: A Nina Bannister Mystery (The Nina Bannister Mysteries Book 7) (15 page)

BOOK: Climate Change: A Nina Bannister Mystery (The Nina Bannister Mysteries Book 7)
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“Dangerous to whom?”

“Any human! They are Satanic Beings. Once they choose a victim—well, they might well tear him, or her, to pieces!”

Nina knew very little to say to that, except, finally:

“I don’t really know what to say to that.”

“Well, there is, we should think, only one thing to say. Or do.”

“And that would be?”

“Go to your lovely friend, Ms. Gavin, and tell her of the threat. Tell her that the conference must be cancelled, moved to more hallowed ground!”

“All right, I see your point.”

“No, that’s just the problem:
 
you can’t
see it! And by the time you do see it, it will be too late!”

“The problem is, Ms. Smathers and Ms. Smathers, that a great deal of money has been invested here. Very complicated plans have been made. The representative from HBO is flying in tomorrow morning. The Candles will make as much in the next three days as it normally might make in a year. And one cozy writer will become the recipient of a very rich, very lucrative, television contract.”

The two women appeared horrified:

“You don’t understand us, do you?”

“Well, I can see that you’re worried––”

“You don’t believe us at all!”

“I do believe you! At least, I believe in your sincerity.”

Some hope seemed to creep back into their expressions.

“So––will you at least try to warn your friend? Make her aware of the dangers?”

Nina thought about this for a time and finally nodded:

“Of course. Of course, I will.”

“Tonight? Now?”

“Yes. Right now.”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you ever so much! Lives are depending on the two of you!”

“Yes, I see that; but, one thing I need to ask.”

“Go ahead! Ask!”

“Why did this monstrous demon-like thing choose Candles?”

Two looks of astonishment:

“Why, the OPEN DOOR of course!”

“What door?”

“The psychic door, the spiritual opening, the cosmic crack as it were!”

“Opening? Crack?”

“Of course! It was opened by the benign soul of Sarah more than a century ago when her spirit took possession here; but it remained in place for all supernatural entities to use, despite what may have been her own wishes to the contrary.”

“And so this demon…”

“Simply followed her inside, like a thief in the night.”

“And why haven’t any other ghastly crimes been reported? Why has this horrible thing been—well, inactive?”

Two shakes of two heads:

“And how do you know that it has been inactive? How do you know there have been no previous ghastly crimes? Given the demon’s power and the intensity of its hatred…any body found would have been a horrible sight indeed. How do you know there were no unspeakable murders, that were simply covered up?”

“Well, I guess that’s a point.”

“So, do we have your promise?”

“Yes, you have it.”

“You will go to Ms. Gavin now, and tell her of the dangers?”

“Yes.”

“Wonderful! We shall go to our room and pack. It’s our feeling that everyone may be safe for one night at least. If we can all leave by tomorrow morning, why––”

“Like I say, I’ll do what I can.”

“We can ask for nothing more! Good bye then!”

“Good bye!”

And the Smathers sisters disappeared down the corridor.

Nina waited inside her own room for at least five minutes, giving the women enough time to get out of the hallways and back to their own rooms.

Then she put on a robe and slippers, opened her door, entered the corridor, walked down it, and located Margot’s room.

A sliver of light seeped into the hall from the base of the doorway.

Good
, she thought.

Margot must be reading.

She knocked.

“Yes?”

“Margot?”

“Nina?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“What is it?”

‘Can I come in?”

“Of course. The door’s unlocked. Just push it open.”

Nina did so, and spoke to the figure lying in bed before her.

“I thought I needed to come and tell you something.”

“What? What did you need to tell me?”

“The Smathers sisters are insane.”

Margot answered immediately:

“I knew that.”

“How did you know it?”

“Because all these people are insane.”

“Oh.”

“Anything else?”

“No.”

“Well. Good night then.”

“Good night.”

So saying, Nina returned to her own room and went to sleep.

At precisely midnight—she knew this because of the chiming of a large gold clock on the dresser in her room—she was awakened by the sound of screams.

Horrible, piercing screams.

Coming from down the corridor where she had stood not two hours before, conversing with the Smathers sisters.

Aaaaggh! Aaaghh!

The screams were growing louder and were now being punctuated with the sounds of crashing furniture.

Terrible, piercing shouts as though someone were being ripped to pieces.

She lay for a while in the near darkness, aware only of the early fall moonlight seeping through the window opposite her bed—and of the awful carnage going on not more than three or four rooms away from her.

She was paralyzed.

“Aaaghhhh!”

Then:

“My God! My God!”

“Aaagh!”

“No! No!”

Crash! Crash!

There was a terrible urge to simply stay where she was.

Especially when she recalled the Smathers sisters’ warnings:

Demonic Creatures.

Horrible deaths, bodies too mangled to behold.

She could stay where she was.

Why hadn’t she taken the warnings seriously?

She had laughed the women off, called them insane.

And now?

More screams, screams growing louder, pitiable screams, screams of horror unimaginable.

Despite herself, she crawled out of bed.

Despite herself, she put on the same robe and slippers that she had worn to see Margot.

With whom she had laughed about demonic presences.

And now there were screams, unmentionably terrible screams, coming from––

––from where?

From which room?

Who was being victimized?

And by what?

She opened the door and stepped out into the corridor.

“What is happening?” she found herself saying.

There were other people in the corridor.

Other writers, most of whom she had not met.

They were all emerging from their rooms and staring:

At one door.

Room 216.

Two doors down and to Nina’s right.

The screams intensified and now she thought she could hear cursing.

Guttural, vile curses.

They brought to her mind
The Exorcist
.

Everyone stood in the doorways, no one having the courage to take a step forward.

Only, of course, one person did have that courage.

Margot Gavin.

She had exited her room and was making her way down the corridor, a long white candle in her hand.

She glanced at Nina as she passed, whispering:

“The Smathers sisters?”

Nina nodded as she stepped out into the corridor and began to follow Margot:

“Maybe they weren’t crazy after all.”

“Maybe not.”

“Whose room is 216, Margot?”

Margot was approaching the room now, and said over her shoulder:

“The Hersheys.”

Oh God
, thought Nina.

But that would be somehow demonically appropriate.

The best couple; the most loving; the most symbiotically unified.

That would be the first couple that a truly Satanic presence would wish to seek out and destroy.

Margot and Nina now stood before the door, others in the hallway a respectful—and somewhat safe—distance behind them.

“Margot––”

“I have to open it.”

“Oh my God––”

“You don’t have to look, Nina.”

“No. I’ll help. Whatever’s going on in there, I’ll help if I can.”

“All right then.”

The door was unlocked.

So Margot pushed it open.

The scene before them was ghastly.

Jim and Pat Hershey were in disarray, clad in torn underwear, their hair completely disheveled, their eyes wide with rage. They stood on opposite sides of the room, glaring at each other, their fists balled, their arms waving.

A small orange and white cat sat hunched in the corner of the room, terrified.

Both of the writers were screaming and cursing at each other, every other second grabbing whatever small object happened to be available at their arm’s length and hurling it at the opposite wall.

The screams could be made out now:

“ARE YOU AN IDIOT! YOU IMBECILE! THAT COULD NEVER HAPPEN! NEVER IN A THOUSAND YEARS COULD THAT HAPPEN! WHAT IN……..NAME IS THE MATTER WITH YOU, YOU, YOU,
 
YOU—YOU!”

BOOK: Climate Change: A Nina Bannister Mystery (The Nina Bannister Mysteries Book 7)
2.41Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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