The Shadow of the Bear: A Fairy Tale Retold (29 page)

BOOK: The Shadow of the Bear: A Fairy Tale Retold
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“I’m not hiding anything,” Fish said in an insistent voice.

“Now, that was easy, wasn’t it, Benedict?  There was no need for you to go through these three days of beatings and starvation.  All I had to do was drag a pretty girl in here and threaten to suffocate her with a plastic bag. Thus we see that those who have morals are eventually defeated by those who have none.” Mr. Freet came forward, still twisting the plastic bag in his hands. “Now answer the next question quickly: where can I find your brother?”

“I don’t know,” Fish said guardedly. “Don’t you touch her again, Freet. I mean it. Bear probably took off when he discovered I was missing. I haven’t the least idea where you can find him.”

“I’m afraid that’s not good enough,” Mr. Freet said softly.

“Try St. Lawrence Church. He has the keys for it, just like I do. Or the old warehouse on Inwood Avenue. But more than likely, he’s wandering around checking out all the drug hideouts to see if I’m there. That’s probably where you’d find him,” Fish said, his voice filled with disgust but his face exposing his anguish.

He’s betrayed Bear to save me
, Rose thought, and tears suddenly came to her eyes. “Fish, I’m so sorry!” she wailed.

“It doesn’t matter,” Fish said evenly.

“Oh, he’s not telling me anything I don’t already know,” Mr. Freet sneered. “The keys to St. Lawrence are in my possession now, and I’ve used them well. What you may not know is that I also have the keys to the tunnel connecting the church with the school. That came in handy a long time ago, when Fr. Raymond was polishing his treasures in the sacristy one night. It might come in handy for trapping your older brother as well.”

The silence was broken by a faint beeping sound. Rose turned her head and saw Mr. Freet kneel down beside a suitcase in the corner and open it. He took out a radio device and showed it to Fish, smiling.

“You see, I’ve recently done to St. Lawrence what Fr. Raymond should have done a long time ago—set an alarm system on all the doors. Apparently Bear has gotten the message I’ve been passing along through my various drug channels to meet me in St. Lawrence tonight.”

Before Blanche realized it, the cab had halted in front of her house. She paid the driver. Getting out of the cab, her knees felt shaky. She stumbled up the front steps and opened the door with difficulty. Laughing numbly, she thought,
at least I’ll have a story to tell Rose.

But when she opened the door and called, there was no answer. The rooms echoed strangely, and suddenly a wave of fear swept over her. She ran upstairs, downstairs. No one was there.

There were no messages on the machine, no notes. Feeling more and more doubtful, she grabbed the phone and dialed the number at the hospital. She asked for the emergency room and stood, twisting her fingers in the cord anxiously.

“Is Jean Brier there?” she asked the nurse who answered.

“Sorry, ma’am—she just left. Not more than a minute ago.”

“Oh,” Blanche trembled. She wanted to ask the nurse to run out in the parking lot and find her, to make sure that Mother came straight home instead of going out to do her usual errands. But—

“Sorry, ma’am,” the nurse said again.

“That’s okay,” Blanche said. Maybe it was something silly—Rose had run out to the store and had forgotten to leave a note. She hung up the phone and collapsed onto the couch.

Her eyes fell on the package Bear had given her, which she had left carelessly on the table, a package wrapped in duct tape. She seized it and held it, for fear it would vanish in thin air.
What was it?

Bear hadn’t said she couldn’t open it. Shaking, she picked at the duct tape. It had been wrapped a long time ago, and she had a hard time getting the tape off. She ripped off piece after piece. Eventually, she heard the sound of paper tearing, and peeled faster. There was brown paper under the tape, and then plastic bags—

She dug her way through the grey plastic mass and at last her fingers touched metal. Then, quite easily, a heavy, round, golden plate slid into her fingers.

She blinked and rolled it from hand to hand. It was incredibly magnificent, glistening and sparkling, engraved all over with the most intricate designs. In the center of its bowl was a lamb, inlaid with ivory and silver, with blue stones for eyes, and a halo of tiny rubies around its head.

She continued to roll it from one hand to another, marveling at how it caught the light and threw it back on her face with holy laughter. She found herself smiling in strange amusement as she turned it over and around, feeling its heavy, splendid weight, drinking in its beauty. One of Father Raymond’s treasures.

Now she held it still, gleaming and responsively warm in her hands. This must have been the treasure that Father Raymond was killed for.

All at once, the fears she had temporarily forgotten in her childish play came rolling back over her. Bear.
Oh dear God, what horrible errand did he have at St. Lawrence’s?

Rose couldn’t move. She felt sweat crawling along her bare arms down towards the ropes on her wrists. Fish sagged against the pillar, looking drained, sucked dry. Apparently he had lost hope for Bear now. More than anything, she wanted to cry.

Mr. Freet rose. “Well, while it would be useful to keep both of you alive in case I need to do more interrogation, I’m afraid two prisoners are simply more than I can handle.”

He looked from one to the other, musing. Her throat going dry, Rose guessed what he was going to do.

“If you have to kill one of us, kill me,” Fish said, with an edge to his voice.

“Naturally, that’s how you’d feel, Benedict,” Mr. Freet said mildly. He pulled out a pair of leather gloves and began to put them on.

Rose said nothing, afraid of influencing Mr. Freet the wrong way. She moistened her lips, and waited.

“Freet, you’d better not touch her,” Fish said wildly as Mr. Freet took a step towards Rose.

“It’s all right,” Rose said softly. If she hadn’t been there, it would have been Fish whom Mr. Freet would have killed. Mr. Freet picked up a roll of duct tape and began to toy with it musingly.

“Come on, Freet, I know you’ve been dying to get rid of me. Think how happy it’ll make you. You hate me so much,” Fish said coaxingly, but Rose could see the sweat standing out on his forehead.

Mr. Freet ripped off a piece of duct tape and advanced on Fish with a grim smile. “Exactly,” he whispered as he pressed it over the boy’s mouth.

Then he turned, picked up the plastic bag, and walked over to Rose.

Fish yelled something incomprehensible through the tape. Rose looked into Mr. Freet’s eyes once more, and saw that he seemed strangely agitated by her gaze. For a moment, there was the barest pause. She was conscious that she was not afraid, and that because she wasn’t, Mr. Freet was. Feeling his hesitation and not wanting him to change his mind, she bowed her head. She heard the rip of duct tape being torn from the roll. His leather-covered fingers pressed the tape over her mouth fiercely, and she yielded, taking a deep breath. There was a pause, then he pulled the plastic bag over her head and began to tape it around her neck.

But the men signed of the cross of Christ go gaily in the dark…

She dimly heard Fish screaming against his gag and tearing at his bonds as Mr. Freet left the room and pounded up the stairs.

Chapter 19

 

BLANCHE SAT on the couch, staring blankly at the white light of the living room window, unable to think or pray. Bear must be at St. Lawrence by now. What could be happening to him?

If only Mother would come home.
She was strong.
If only Rose would come home.
Her sister was full of fire and courage. She would know what to do. She was the active one. All Blanche could do was sit still, and fear.

 She had no idea how long she sat there, her body poised in the act of waiting—for someone to come. For anyone to come.

The jangle of the phone shocked her body into leaping to its feet. Her brain was still murky. She realized she had been in a stupor almost like sleep for at least a half hour.

Shaking, she reached for the phone on the coffee table.

“Hello?” she said cautiously.

“Is this Blanche Brier?” a man’s strange voice said.

“Who is this?” She was instantly terrified.

“Your friend Bear and I are at St. Lawrence. Bear’s decided it would be better for all of us if you brought the package he gave you over here.”

Blanche could not mistake the threat behind the words. All the breath was knocked out of her.

“By the way, he made this decision when he realized that I have your sister in a safe place. I think you’d better bring the package over here right away. Oh, incidentally, don’t try calling the police. If anyone else but you comes to the church, things could become very unpleasant for your sister.”

Blanche struggled to say something, but no sound came out.

“I’ll expect you to leave it in the church vestibule within the next fifteen minutes. If there’s any conflict—well, remember what happened to Father Raymond.”

A dial tone rang loudly in her ear. Blanche sank to the floor, holding onto the coffee table with both hands. She mustn’t faint now, she musn’t!

When at last her head cleared, she looked at the face of the grandfather clock. Her mother wasn’t yet home. Who knew when she would be back?

There wasn’t time. There simply wasn’t time. With shaking hands, Blanche picked up the paten and pushed it back inside its torn wrappings. There was no time. She felt as though she had dropped out of that whole continuum as she mechanically went to the door, opened it, and shut it tightly behind her.

Mr. Freet was no sooner out of the house when Fish had begun kicking at his untied shoes. In a few seconds he had one off, and began wriggling his foot loose of the ankle bonds. With his free foot, he clawed at the other shoe, kicked it off, and tried to yank his second foot free. He glanced at Rose. She was very still, and seemed to be doing her best to hold her breath, but he knew she would run out of air soon.

At last Fish had both feet out of the ropes. He braced himself against the pillar and kicked at the stool until he succeeded in shoving it out from beneath him. He stood up, and as he had hoped, the ropes around his chest were looser. Apparently, they had been coming loose from all of his struggling. Breathing hard, he began to saw up and down on the ropes, yanking them tightly as he dared. At last, to his relief, he felt them slipping down his arms. One knot must have come loose! Thanking all the saints and angels, he shrugged his shoulders, trying to force one arm free.

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