Weekend (15 page)

Shani saw everything through dream glasses. The situation was desperately wrong, but she couldn't understand why.

"This can't be," Lena said in useless denial, trembling, her hand going to her throat, her eyes rolling in their sockets. She dropped beside Angie.

Like a melting Gumby, Park staggered to his feet. But his knees buckled, and his height was halved. In dumbfounded amazement, he stared at his right hand as he tried to form it into a fist. Then he toppled forward.

Sol planted his face in his plate.

Kerry rolled out of her chair like a bag of potatoes.

And at last Shani thought she understood. She turned her head slowly towards Flynn. It was all she could move. Her arms were nailed to the table. Her legs were made of cement. The lights swirled like drunken fairies with sparklers. A wave of wrath permitted her a last moment of clarity.

"You," she breathed in loathing, wishing she could spit in his face. He hadn't spoken all night. He had been waiting.

Yet he, too, was fighting to remain erect, and his incredulous expression denied his guilt. "We've been…

drugged," he whispered. The Carlton Castle turned into a ferris wheel.

"Who?" she managed as she slid towards the table linen. But if he answered, she wasn't awake to hear him.

NINE

"Shani! Shani! I think she's coming round. Shani!"

Shani opened her eyes. The room was dark, quivering with candlelit shadows, hissing with the breath of serpents. It must be a nightmare. She closed her eyes. Her head throbbed with pain. She wished she could wake up-

"She's fading out again." That was Angie.

"Shake her." That was Sol.

"I can't reach her." That was Flynn. "This handcuff has me pinned."

Shani ventured another look. Their dinner-table fellowship was now equally spaced around the perimeter of the floor of the recording studio she had wandered into earlier, deep in the bowels of the Carlton Castle. The curtains outside the double-plated glass were drawn. Except for candles in red cups rimming a round Plexiglas container in the centre of the room, there were no lights. Within the clear container, their long tongues flicking with hunger in the bloody glow, were snakes. A continuous rattle filled the muffled air. She was not dreaming.

"Oh, no," she whispered.

"She's awake," Angie said.

"Try to stay calm, Shani," Park said. "We're all together."

Attached to the top of the snake bin was the aluminium pole that had lowered and raised the microphone. If the pole was raised, the covering would be removed, and the rattlers would be set free.

There were at least a dozen snakes, each individually isolated by partitions of glass, equally sized servings of poisonous pie. The temperature was icy. Shani's guts were burning.

"What's going on?" she mumbled. Her right arm was stuck, handcuffed at the wrist to a ring and bolt in the panelling a foot above the floor. She was not alone in this regard. "I feel sick."

"Someone who mustn't like us drugged and dragged us down here," Lena said, pinned opposite the closed entrance door, at six o'clock. Kerry slouched an hour over, head bowed, still unconscious. Shani had Park to her immediate right, Flynn to her left.

"That Robin," Angie cursed, on the far side of the snakes, next to Sol and the door. "She's out for revenge."

"Robin couldn't have picked up a gallon of milk," Park said, "Never mind have dragged us down here."

Shani shuddered from the cold, her intestinal cramps, the snakes. One, she was sure, had its eyes on her.

"She was just pretending to be sick," Angie said bitterly.

"No one's that good an actress," Park said, shifting uncomfortably. "Man, I need to get to a toilet something awful."

"Could this be a practical joke?" Sol asked.

"Those snakes don't look like they've got much of a sense of humour," Park said. "Lena, could your dad have arranged this to get back at us for Robin's illness?"

"He doesn't have the imagination to think up this kind of scene. And even though we don't get along, he's never mentioned wanting to feed me to snakes."

Kerry began to scream. She had just woken up. She wasn't forming intelligible words, but she was making a lot of noise.

"Shut up!" Lena snapped. "This room is soundproof. Even if Robin were awake, she couldn't hear us."

"There must be someone else in the house, then," Shani said, unable to stop trembling. Deep-rooted impressions began to surface: the red light and flames, the darkness, the serpents. She knew it was not so, but she could not totally dismiss the idea that they had all died and gone to hell. She began to hyperventilate but fought for calm.

"What are those snakes for?" Kerry cried.

"For us," Lena said grimly.

"I hate snakes," Park said.

"So who are you, Harrison Ford?" Sol muttered, pulling at his handcuff, his straining muscles visible even in the poor light. "Damn, these are on tight."

"If they were all set loose," Angie wanted to know, "are we all goners?"

"If we get bitten a few times and we don't receive treatment," Park said, "we will die."

"You're doing wonders for our morale," Sol grunted, using his legs now to push against the wall, getting nowhere. "Damn!"

"How many are there?" Angie asked.

Kerry began to panic again. "Help! God, please help me!" She fought with her handcuff, probably scraping the flesh off her wrist. Her screaming was exciting the snakes.

"Someone shut her up!" Lena yelled.

"Kerry," Shani said, with her best imitation of calm, "I am as frightened as you, but we can't panic. We have to find a way to get free." She turned to Flynn, who had blood running from the side of his head. He must have banged it when he blacked out. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live," he said, as cool as ever, alert and watchful.

"Do you have your gun?"

"I'm afraid not."

"They took my knife," Sol said, leaning back against the panelling, giving up on an immediate escape.

"I wonder what they want," Park said.

"I wonder whothey are," Sol said.

As if on cue, a voice answered. It was heavy and thick, slow and laden with unnatural weariness, indistinguishable as either masculine or feminine. Shani had to wonder if it was entirely human, and not from the other side of the grave.

"We must have the truth of that night," it said.

"Whoever you are, you can go to hell!" Lena shouted.

A motor hummed. The pole rose slightly. The lid of the snake bin shook. The rattlers went nuts. They were anxious to get out. Every muscle in Shani's body tightened.

"We'll cooperate!" Park said hastily. The lid was lowered back into place. He added, "I should have guessed. They want to know who poisoned Robin."

"But who are they?" Angie asked, repeating Sol's question.

"Does it matter?" Flynn asked. "I suggest that all of you tell them what you know."

"What can we say that we didn't say to the police?" Shani said, knowing there might be plenty. But even ifthey learned the truth, would that satisfy them?

"The police didn't give us this incentive," Park said.

"That's one hell of a way of putting it," Sol said.

"With the police, we were all trying to downplay our own parts," Park said. "At least, I was. It was your party, Angie; you start."

"Start what? We've got to get free. Whoever's doing this is psycho. They'll kill us all."

"Whoever's doing this can hear everything we're saying," Park said. Shani had to admire his cool.

However, he looked desperately uncomfortable, a shade green. Was the one behind this voice also responsible for their illness? And was it indeed Robin, and had she brought in outside help?

"Angie was the one who said, 'Just one drink, it won't kill you,' " Kerry blurted, addressing their mysterious examiner.

"I did not! Liar!"

"Actually, you did," Shani said. "But—"

"I never did!" Angie said, exasperated, frightened. "You traitorous—"

"We'll get nowhere this way," Park interrupted. "We have to piece the facts together. We should start with what we know. Sol gave her the beer."

"I gave hera beer. How do you know it was the poisonous one?"

"That's the same excuse you gave to the police," Angie said.

"Robin took my beer, sure, but she set it down on the table in between us where there were several beers. Maybe she picked my beer back up, maybe it was another beer. Who knows? I sure don't."

Fear had sharpened her memory. Shani suddenly recalled a vital point. "The beer you gave her had the insecticide in it," she said reluctantly.

Sol stared at her, amazed. "How do you know?"

"I remember when you first gave her the beer, how it was darker. At the time, I thought one of you had put whisky in it."

"Why didn't you tell,the police this?" Park asked, regarding Sol suspiciously.

"I had forgotten." She banged her feet together. They were going numb, like her hands. She wondered what it would be like to die from snake venom. In movies, the victim always screamed horribly. Would the snakes just bite her, or would they chew on her afterwards? She had to stop thinking like this.

"What do you have to say about that?" Park asked Sol.

"Nothing. If Shani remembers that the beer was darker, I believe her. Look, none of this is new. The police jumped all over me on this same point. If I had wanted to poison somebody, I wouldn't have done it out loud in front of everybody."

Park was not convinced. "A subtle way to hide one's guilt is to make oneself so obviously guilty that no one would think that you were dumb enough to have committed the crime."

"That's a bunch of bullshit," Sol said angrily. "What's got into you, Park? You know me. I would never have hurt Robin."

"Yeah, I know you, sure," Park sneered. "I know you're no angel in a leather jacket. What about the drugs you push?"

"What?I get loaded - like you - but I don't deal."

"What about the junk you bought in Tijuana?"

"What about it?"

"Was it, by chance, ether for PCP?"

"What's that?"

"Yeah, you never heard of PCP," Park said sarcastically.

"I know what PCP is. What'sether?"

"A highly explosive chemical to put people asleep,and used in the manufacture of Angel Dust." Park shook his head in disgust. "It's explosive enough to have wasted the garage and Bert. Let me hear you deny that that's what you were carrying!"

"I do!"

"Wait a minute. What's going on here?" Lena asked. "What did you have in your van, Sol?"

"Nothing! Fireworks."

"Fireworks?" Park winced.

"Like sparklers and cones and things like that?" Shani asked.

"Not exactly," Sol admitted reluctantly. "I had… M80s."

"What are those?" Flynn asked.

"You don't know?" Park said. "There isn't a kid who's grown up in Southern California that hasn't lit off at least one M80. They're like a firecracker, except thicker, with dynamite inside instead of gun powder.

How much did you buy, Sol?"

"A lot. I could sell them to this guy in L.A. for three times what I paid for them."

"How much?"

"I bought three hundred."

"That's a lot," Shani said.

"Three hundred pounds," Sol added.

"Three hundredpounds ," Park said, pronouncing each word distinctly. "At least we know now where the garage went. Why didn't you tell us?"

Sol shrugged. "I've been to jail. I figured I couldn't help Bert by going back. And I wasn't the one who lit—"

The snake lid shook. The voice spoke. "Don't stray. We must have the truth of that night."

"Give us more time!" Park called quickly. Sol's revelation had taken him aback. Apparently the belief that Sol was a pusher had greatly prejudiced his point of view. "Sorry, Sol," he said. "I'm in such a hurry to get to the bathroom, I'll accuse anybody."

"You're going to make a crappy lawyer," Sol scowled.

"We're back where we started," Angie said.

"But we have established that the beer Sol gave Robin had the poison in it," Park said. "We've got to trace that beer back. Where did you get it, Sol?"

He was shaking his head."These are the same questions all over. I'll give you the same answer I gave the cops: I don't remember. I was so wasted that night."

"So was I," Park said.

"Why don't you try a different approach?" Flynn said. "Since you've been unable to trace the beer back, why don't you trace itforward . Start at a reasonable point during the party and reconstruct what happened from then on. It doesn't sound like you did that with the police. It might help jar a few memories, and maybe the beer will show up earlier."

"It couldn't hurt," Park said. "But it's probably going to get confusing. Where should we start?"

"After Lena and Robin arrived," Shani suggested. "I was phasing in and out all night, but I remember Kerry and Lena fighting."

A rattlesnake snapped at a candle. The impact of its nose against the Plexiglas spilt the red cup over on to the floor. Fortunately, the flame was drowned in its wax. A portion of the room darkened. Yet, it would be worse, far worse, if the snakes came at them unseen.

"Lena started the fight!" Kerry said.

"You little snot," Lena said. "You were demanding that Sol give you a ride home when he could hardly see."

"But Sol told you to shut up," Kerry protested, as if that made any difference.

Sol nodded. "I remember the three of us arguing."

"Everyone agree that this fight took place?" Park asked, taking up the role of coordinator. "Good, that is one thing we didn't tell the police. We are making progress. What happened next?"

"I offered to give Kerry a ride home when Robin and I left," Lena said. "The fight ended."

"Then we drank more," Sol said.

"Who brought out the beers?" Park said.

"Angie did," Kerry said.

"Of course I did," Angie said. "I was the hostess."

"Where did you get them?" Park asked.

"Hey, what is this? I'm not on trial."

"Yes, you are," Shani said. "We all are."

"We were out of cans," Angie said. "I broke into the keg."