The Grotto's Secret: A Historical Conspiracy Mystery Thriller (32 page)

148

Kelby’s heart beat in time with her panting breath. ‘Jon, thank God, you’re here!’

He immediately spotted her burnt hand, ‘My God, Kelby, what happened?’

Two of her fingertips looked like roasted prawns. For a moment, she wanted to shrug it off as nothing. Perhaps seeing someone familiar or the desperate need to share her horrific experience below brought the pent up fear tumbling out, ‘There’s this huge thug downstairs. He’s in the other part of the building. And —’

‘Wait, calm down. What other building?’

‘There’s another place next door where they’re doing terrible tests on animals and maybe even humans. It’s disgusting. There’s body parts in bottles and it stinks.’

‘Your hand, Kelby, how did you get burnt?’

‘I told you, the thug.’

‘You’re not making sense.’

‘He followed me. He’s been stalking me on Twitter for ages. And he killed Fat Cat and put him in a bottle.’

Jon gaped at her.

Kelby suppressed a sob. ‘I know, isn’t it terrible? Who would want to harm a cat? He trapped me in the lab and burnt my hand while he told me how he killed Stacie and Gary.’

‘God, Kelby, I am so sorry.’

Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. ‘I need to find Annie!’

Jon placed an arm around her shoulders, leading her towards a door. ‘Come on, we can talk in private in the office. Then we’ll find Annie.’

149

María entered the thick copse of trees that surrounded the grotto. She waded across a shallow pond where the rizado grew on the rocks.

Before collecting the slimy herb, she had one more task to carry out so she must make haste. María glanced up. High above, a dark black hole scarring the rocky outcrop hid a secret
cueva
.

Normally scaling up, she only reached here and there for support. Today though, she reached out every few steps. The horror of the past day made her weak and helpless. And the pain in her hands sapped the last threads of vigour she had left.

At the
cueva
entrance, María had to rest for a moment to catch her breath. Whenever she came to collect rizado and explore the grotto, she passed the sharp rocks along the walls and ceiling. Yet now, the tunnel leading into the hidden cave looked as though it bared its jagged teeth, forbidding anyone to enter. Normally, the damp sour smell of earth didn’t trouble her, but today it made her retch.

From inside the cave, with a ceiling three times the height of her cottage, she could look out at the rizado pond below. Beyond, the wooded copse kept the grotto hidden. Inside, at one end of the grotto, water plunged into a huge pool. Here, María could dive into water that shone as blue as the sky.

In the middle, the cave’s roof opened up, like clouds parting to let the sun through. On the far side, the pool descended into another lower cave in the depths of the earth.

Climbing deeper into the back of the cave, María searched for her hiding place. On some rocks, skinny figures brandishing spears, chased a group of umber buck across the rocky wall. The yellow ochre buck leapt into the air, escaping from a shower of arrows. María spotted her beloved painting on the rock and went straight to it.

Her usual hiding place for her secrets.

150

Kelby explained everything that had happened to her and Roy. It took only minutes to get the bare facts out. She finished with a plea. ‘Please help me to find Annie.’

‘Of course. Look, there’s no signal in here so I’ll go and call the police. Wait here. I’ll be back in a minute.’ He shut the door on his way out.

Adrenaline raced through Kelby like electricity. She had an odd feeling she’d been trapped on the wrong side of the door. She stood in the office, trying to decide if she should bolt around the clinic to find Annie or wait for Jon to return.

Kelby spotted a tray with a bottle of water and realised how dry her mouth was. Her shoes clomped on the tiled floor as she loped across.
She grabbed the bottle and squeezed the lid. It remained clenched shut. She stuck the bottle cap in her mouth and tried to turn it with her back teeth. It still wouldn’t budge. Looking around for something sharp
to stick under the plastic lid, she spotted a letter opener inside the briefcase lid.

She lifted a decorative emblem of an angel out of the sheath. In its centre a ruby gleamed. Kelby spotted a magnifying glass beside it with the same angelic decoration. Strangely, the magnifying glass bore the same sharp end as the letter opener. Using the blade on the other end to prize off the lid, Kelby grimaced as the blade sliced right through the plastic.

‘Phew, that’s sharp.’ Kelby gulped the water, and replaced the blade, being careful not to cut her finger.

Agitated, Kelby paced the room. She couldn’t wait around for Jon to call the cops. She needed to find Annie. Fast and before Punch-bag’s conspirators found her.

Suddenly her phone beeped a few times. Signal at last. She watched as a rush of messages came flooding in. The last one was from someone called Gabrielle Abelli. The preview read:

I am Teresina Piccoli’s solicitor

Kelby opened the email and scanned it:

I spoke to her before her accident. As her solicitor, I wouldn’t do what I am about to do, but I was also her friend. In the last hours of her life Teresina was afraid. She asked me to send this unsent letter to you if anything happened to her. I am bound by law not to divulge my client’s confidentiality, but maybe you can help me find out what happened to her. Someone killed her. I can stake my life on that! And I think it could be the man in this letter.

Kelby tapped on the attachment and read the letter. It was addressed to Jon Barker Thompson. Kelby flicked on the desk lamp to read the tiny writing on her phone. The fluorescent tube lit the windowless room, casting shadows into the corners.

My name is Gabrielle Abelli. I am Teresina Piccoli’s solicitor. You are named as the father on Majella’s birth certificate.

‘What?!’ Kelby gasped, ‘Majella is Jon’s daughter!’ She tried to recall if Jon had ever mentioned being that close to Teresina. Did Jon know about this?

She thought of Teresina’s call only hours before she died. For the hundredth time, a pang of guilt shot through her, and she regretted not accepting the call. Maybe that could have saved Teresina’s life.

Could Jon have killed Teresina? But why? Kelby swallowed the lump in her throat and read the email again.

Someone killed her. I can stake my life on that! And I think it could be the man in this letter.

Then, another thought struck her like a lightning bolt striking a tree: Jon killed his own daughter. In killing Teresina he had taken his own child’s life. He had known Majella was in the car with Teresina that day. If he could kill his own daughter, he’d kill Annie without flinching.

The door handle turned and Kelby’s eyes flicked up. The man who had killed Teresina was about to enter.

151

The first time she had seen the painting of the huge charging bull, his head down and horns ready to attack, María had stared at it for hours, dreaming up scenarios for her stories. When she had run her fingers along his powerful chest, coloured in a lively burnt brown, and around his twisted horns of white chalk, she had discovered a hollow alcove.

Since then, she had used it as a hiding place for keeping secrets even Madre did not know. ‘Take care of my notes, el Toro.’ she whispered.

With careful movements María squeezed the rizado notes, still curled in the calf skin, into the hole. For now, rizado would be safe beside her Spanish bull. When Queen Isabella had forgotten about her, and the soldiers no longer hunted for Ana-María de Carbonela, she would return to find her notes. Right now, it held too many dangers for her to carry it with her. Turning back, she glanced at the rock wall. The bull stood proud, his head turned slightly as if he watched her every move.

Back beside the grotto’s pond, María slumped and used her burnt fingertips to pluck rizado off the rocks. The only way to crush the curly, mossy herb was between her singed palms. Glancing around, she found a thick twig and lifted it, placing it between her teeth.

With clumps of sticky rizado resting on her palms, she ground the mossy herb between her hands. The rubbing made them bleed again. Biting hard on the twig, María kept crushing the herb into her wounds. Spasms of agony clawed up her arms. Within seconds, her whole body trembled. Her breathing leapt around in her chest like a frog chasing an insect.

When she could take no more, María fell back against the damp grass and shrieked in pain. ‘
Dios
, why, why, why?’

María had always been a good Catholic girl, believing God would do the right thing. God, would never — should never — want to hurt her innocent mother. Something had gone wrong, but now she had no time to question her faith. It had perished along with the use of her hands.

Her hands needed healing so María could rescue Madre before the soldiers returned.

152

Barker had been obsessed with two women for so long. Like Teresina, Kelby was a devil when she was angry or upset. Her constant rejection only made him want her more. Almost the same as when he’d first met the Italian she-devil.

Having Kelby think he was one of the good guys, he loved. Having his plans go awry, he hated.

He couldn’t let anyone know he was linked to rizado; yet he had to warn Willow. If Kelby found the flaky bastard, he would probably panic and reveal all. Not only that, Willow would have to lock down Homerton Hall. If she reported what had happened in Willow’s lab, hell would break loose. MG couldn’t afford to have the cops snooping around. Neither could he.

His throat dried from his rushed breathing. He had to calm down. He had come too far to let a snag get in his way. The evidence could easily disappear and no-one would find out the truth. If matters took a turn for the worst, MG would take a hit, not him. Although, it would take years to pin anything on them; Gordo had covered his tracks better than a bushman hunter. Besides, Kelby thought Olaf was the stalker. Best he leave it that way, especially if the thug was dead.

Barker decided to let Willow sort out the body in the basement. It wasn’t his problem. Gordo would hire another hit man to clean the mess so nobody would be found. Maybe they’d run a smear campaign to make Kelby look like she’d lost it after her brother and his wife had died.

Either way, he’d get Willow and find out everything he could about MG’s project. He wasn’t going to let this setback stop him. Now or in the future.

Adrenaline rushed through his body giving him renewed motivation. He’d find a way to be the global God he dreamed about. The rizado would be his. No matter what happened.

Kelby was in the right place. At the right time.

153

Jon entered Willow’s office and kept his back to the door so Kelby couldn’t bolt. He had never got over the effect her eyes had on him. Every time she looked at him, the impact of those incredibly blue pools caught his breath.

Now, Kelby fired an accusation at him. ‘Did you have an affair with Teresina?’

He flinched. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I’ve had an email to prove it.’

Without meaning to, Jon muttered, ‘An affair? That sounds sordid. No, we didn’t have an affair. Teresina was my first love.’

Kelby gasped.

Jon realised he’d slipped up. He remembered his and Teresina’s wild love making, their wanton desire to try new things. Both of them had treated their relationship in the same way as their daily lives. The continual thirst for expensive toys, such as cars and unobtainable art and exotic properties, brought on a hunger for new sexual experiences. Each new tryst was boring unless they took their erotic adventures to another level.

The female trio didn’t bother her too much, but their fire and passion burnt out with the male threesome.

Normally, he wasn’t into that, but his need to see her sexually fulfilled had led him to agree. Seeing her satisfied by another man had given him intense spikes of jealousy, but he’d cleverly used the situation to dominate the other man and try things he had never dreamed of doing.

Their competitive streaks had created an envy fest, with each of them goading each other into going beyond their level of experience and comfort, gorging on the unsuspecting male until they were sexually satiated.

Yet it had destroyed their union. Teresina believed he wanted the triad more than she had, conveniently forgetting it had been her idea.

‘Teresina plied me with erotic wonders and started blackmailing me.’ He blinked several times as he remembered that night ten years ago. That part of his life would always remain secret, and the pain of his first love lost still haunted him. However, Teresina had threatened to tell the world how the eligible bachelor lived his life so he had waited a long time to get the she-devil back.

Now, he stared at Kelby. Being confronted like this, he hated. Having a plan of attack of his own, he loved.

‘Life is about secrets, Kel.’

Through her blackmail letters, Teresina had promised their secret would die with her. And so it did.

But he wasn’t about to let Kelby’s secrets go to the grave. Her rizado secrets were about to be unlocked.