Read The Dark Stairs R/I Online
Authors: Betsy Byars
The Dark Stairs R/I (6 page)
Meat's mother had a frying pan in one handâher weapon of choice. Meat held a baseball bat that had never swatted a ball.
Herculeah called, “I'm all right.” She ran to join them.
“What happened?” Meat asked, walking forward to meet her.
“He nailed the door shut. I was inside that basement with the door nailed shut. Then,
then
you knocked over the garbage can.”
then
you knocked over the garbage can.”
“I didn't see him when he went in,” Meat admitted truthfully. “He nailed you in there?”
“Right.”
“How did you get out?”
“I just put my shoulder to the door and pushed.”
“You broke out?”
Herculeah nodded. “The door was rotten. You saw how easy it was for me to get in.”
“Then what?”
“Then I started for home, and here I am.”
“The Moloch wasn't there when you got out?”
She shook her head.
Meat's mother said, “I do not like having to come out with my frying pan after you kids. I want you kids to behave yourselves.”
“But thank you for doing it,” Herculeah said.
Meat's mother turned and walked away. Over her shoulder she said, “Albert, you come home now. Herculeah's gotten you in enough trouble for one night.”
“I'm coming.”
“What we've got to do next timeâ” Herculeah began when his mother was in the house and out of earshot, but Meat interrupted.
“Next time? Next time? Are you crazy? Have you gone absolutely mad?”
“No, I am not mad.”
“Well, you look like it.”
She put her hands to her hair and tried to smooth it into place. She probably did look wild. But then she had every reason to. She looked coolly at Meat.
Meat looked back. He was weak with fright and tension. This had been the most terrifying night of his life. It had been far, far worse than that terrible Halloween two years ago.
He kept looking into Herculeah's gray eyes and spoke with unusual sarcasm. “Why don't you go in the house and put on those glasses. You really do need something to make you think!”
And he went up the stairs to his house and closed the door.
12
ABOUT DEAD OAKS
Herculeah looked in the hall mirror. She smiled at herself.
She looked much better now. She had showered and washed her hair and combed it back into a ponytail.
When she had first come into the house and caught sight of her face in the hall mirror she had been startled. Meat had been right. She did look slightly mad.
Her hair stood out from her head and was coated with cobwebs. Her face was smeared with dirt. Her breathing hadn't gotten back to normal. And excitement always brought a certain wild gleam to her eyes.
She was glad that her mother hadn't been there to see her. She also hoped that Meat's mom would not come over in the morning and say, “I had to go out with my frying pan after that daughter of yours last night.”
Herculeah had put on a Chinese robe she had bought at Goodwill. She didn't like to shop in the stores at the mallâThe Gap and The Limited. She liked different clothes.
She took one last glance in the mirror. She was pleased with the way she looked, and she went downstairs to wait for her mother.
Herculeah was sitting on the sofa, thinking back over the evening, when she remembered Meat's last words.
“Why don't you go in the house and put on those glasses. You really do need something to make you think!” he had said.
Meat was being sarcastic, but it wasn't a bad idea. She went to the hall closet and took her eyeglasses from her jacket pocket.
As she walked back to the sofa, she fastened the slender hooks behind her ears.
She sat down and stared into the thick, pale glass circles. The world disappeared in a kind of pleasant haze, and Herculeah waited for the magicâfor the thoughts to burst into her brain the way they had earlier in Hidden Treasures.
She was just beginning to feel the first stirrings of thought when she heard her mother's car out front, and the process was interrupted.
“Mom, I'm in here,” she called.
Her mother appeared in the doorway. “I thought you'd be in bed.”
“I wasn't sleepy. I wanted to wait up for you.”
“Well, I am sleepy. Turn out the lights when you come up.” She looked at Herculeah more closely. “Are those the glasses you bought today?”
“Yes.”
“You can't see out of them. I know you can't. Why on earth would you spend good money to be blind?”
“You've missed the whole point, Mom.”
“Obviously.”
“They don't make me blind, they allow me to think. I fog out.”
“Then the money was certainly well spent.” Now her mother was being sarcastic.
Herculeah took off the glasses and followed her mother to the stairs. “Can I ask you something?”
“I'm tired, Herculeah.”
“This is not a tiring sort of questionâjust something sort of historical I want to know.”
“What?”
“I'm curious about Dead Oaks.”
“Oh?”
“That's the old house Dad was at today.”
“I'm aware of that.”
“It used to be called Twin Oaks, but now everybody calls itâ”
Her mother looked at Herculeah. Her tired eyes were suddenly sharp. “Why are you so interested in that house all of a sudden?”
“It's not all of a sudden,” Herculeah said defensively. “I've always been curious about that house. Meat was talking about it tonight. He said that some boys told him the old man disappeared.”
“I wouldn't know.”
“Meat said that some boys told him that the police went in the house and didn't find anything. There was food on the table and money in his wallet, but the man wasn't there.”
“It was in the newspaper. I don't remember all the details.” Her mother turned and continued up the stairs.
Herculeah followed. “I remember there was some sort of legal documentâyou're bound to know something about that. You're into legal documents.”
“Oh, all right,” her mother said, relenting a little. “Let's see. There was a will, and it stated that the house could not be sold or disposed of until after his funeral. And since there has been no funeralâthere couldn't be, there has been no dead bodyâthe house remains. ”
“Meat said that when the police went in, he wasn't there. Do you think he could have been hiding?”
“I imagine if that old man did not want to be found, he wouldn't be found.”
“Then he could still be in there.”
“Theoretically. The power is still on. The water's still on.”
“How do you know that?”
“I did some checking.”
“Tonight?”
“How could I check tonight? Everything's closed.”
“You have your ways.”
Her mother gave a noncommittal shrug.
“This afternoon Dad said that people had seen someone around the house. Maybe the old man is still there.”
“Oh, Herculeah, the man's probably a hundred years oldâif he's still alive. Now, let's go to bed, please?”
“All right, but Mom, can I ask you just one more thing?”
“What now?”
“Did he have a family?”
“He was married, yes. His wife's dead. She did have a funeral.”
“Did he have children?”
“Good night, Herculeah.”
“Butâ”
“Good night!”
“Oh, all right. Good night, Mom,” Herculeah answered.
Herculeah remained outside her mother's door for a moment until she heard the sound of the bedsprings creaking and knew her mother was in bed.
“Just one more thing. What date was itâwhen the police went in Dead Oaks?”
“September 1983,” her mother called back.
From the way her mother answered, Herculeah knew that whatever date it was, it was not September 1983.
“Thanks.”
Herculeah went into her bedroom. She sat on the window seat for a moment, looking across the street at Meat's darkened house.
“Yes, Meat, there is going to have to be a next time. And,” she added, “if you won't go with me, I'll go alone.”
13
OLD MAN CREWELL
“My mom almost didn't allow me to come over to your house,” Meat said.
Meat and Herculeah were in the Joneses' kitchen, sitting across from each other at the table. Herculeah held the phone in one hand. She was preparing to dial.
She gave him a disgusted look. “Meat, that's like in second grade when she wouldn't allow me to play with you because of my mud bomb factory.”
“No, this is different,” Meat said. “My mom really thinks there is something dangerous about Dead Oaks.”
“She's just mad because the old man wouldn't buy any of her Girl Scout cookies.”
“I'm not so sure she isn't right.”
“She thought there was something dangerous about mud bombs too.”
“And there was.”
“Not unless I was throwing them. You had terrible aim.”
Meat paused, considering whether to defend his aim or to continue with what his mother said. Finally he decided.
“She says that everybody in that family has disappeared mysteriously: the old man, the son, the wifeâwell, the wife died, but there was something mysterious about the way that happened as well.”
“So there was a child,” Herculeah said to herself. “A son.”
“Yes, but there was something funny aboutâ”
Herculeah interrupted, “Oh, be quiet, Meat. The phone's ringing.”
“Zone Three Police Precinct,” the voice on the other end of the line said, “Captain Morrison speaking.”
“Hi, Captain Morrison, this is Herculeah Jones. Is my dad, Chico, busy?”
“I'll check, Herculeah.”
To Meat, she said, “He's checking. My dad must be there orâ”
“Herculeah,” it was her father's voice, and she leaned forward. “What's up?”
“Oh, nothing, Dad. I just wanted to ask you a quick question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you remember yesterday when I caught you over at Dead Oaks?”
“I wouldn't say you caught me there.”
“Well, I was just wondering what was the name of the people who lived there.”
Meat said, “The name's Crewell.”
To Meat, Herculeah mouthed the words, “I know.”
“Crewell,” her father said. “The old man was sort of a legend in his time.”
“Didn't the police go in there once? I think somebody thought he might be dead.”
“I believe so.”
“Did you go?”
“No.”
“Oh, I wish you had. Then you could fill me in on things.”
“It is not my job to fill you in on things.”
“I know, but will you do me one favor?”
“What?”
“Would you check and find out when that happened?”
“And I suppose you want me to drop what I'm doing and check on it right this minute?”
“Yes.”
“Actually I pulled that file up yesterday. It's here somewhere.”
There was a pause while her father put down the phone, and Herculeah turned to Meat. “He's going to find out. And then we'll goâ”
Meat stood up so fast his chair tipped over backward. “No,” he said. “No.”
“Meat ...”
He began to back up. “No,” he said again, shaking his head this time.
“Oh, Meat, sit down. We're not going back to Dead Oaks, if that's what you're thinking. Sit down!”
Meat stayed in the doorway, ready to leave for home at any minute.
“I promise we're not going to the house. We're going toâOh, hi, Dad.”
“I got it,” her father said. “It was October 4, 1990.”
“Any details?”
“No. It just says they obtained a court order to search the premises. This was in response to an anonymous letter.”
“What did the letter say?”
“Let's see. It's right here. âThere is somebody dead in Twin Oaks. Look down the dark stairs.' That's it.”
Herculeah repeated, “âThere is somebody dead in Twin Oaks. Look down the dark stairs.'”
In the doorway, Meat shivered.
“Yes. Big printing, like it was written by a child.”
“But you don't think it was a child?”
“No.” It
“So they checked and didn't find anything?”
“Yes. There was a broken window upstairs. I believe someone was going to have it repaired.”
“And there was no body?”
“That's right.”
“But, Dad, if there was a bodyâI mean, wouldn't there have been a terrible smell?”
“Depends. There was a case out in Marietta where this woman died in her kitchen. Her neighbors thought she had gone to a nursing home and they cut her grass and kept the place up. Four years later somebody went inside and found her on the kitchen floor.”
“Dead?”
“Yes. The phone was in her hand. I guess she was trying to call for help. Why are you so interested in this, Herculeah?”
“It's too complicated to explain.”
“I'm used to complicated things. Go ahead.”
“Oh, I'll tell you about it later. Meat's here and we're going out. I've got to run now.”
“How about the basketball game next weekend? You interested?”
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