I awoke to the sound of screaming. For a moment I thought I was reliving yesterday’s events, then realized this was real and not a playback. Johnny sat up beside me.
“What the hell?”
“It’s Veronika. Sounds like it’s coming from the kitchen. Let’s haul.”
He stood, then tossed a jacket to me. The fire had burned down to ashes only and it was now chilly in the sitting room. Especially since I was now separated from the nice hot Gerard body that had been snuggled up against mine. We’d stayed wrapped in each other’s arms for the few hours of night that had been left by the time Aura Lee had traipsed off into the blizzard. Oh, nothing I couldn’t tell Sister Mary Matrimony at my old high school. No high-impact aerobic activities. Unfortunately. Just sharing warmth and comfort and a badly needed feeling of safety. Very nice indeed. I’d missed him more than I cared to admit those rotten few months he’d been out of the country.
Johnny and I raced through the ballroom and on into the kitchen. No one was there. The screams morphed into keening. The sound was coming from the back staircase; the same set of stairs that we’d taken yesterday when Johnny had shown me the mural. We quickly headed that way.
Veronika knelt on the floor, rocking and sobbing and moaning as she stared at the body of her sister, Marta, who lay in a crumpled heap at the very bottom of the stairs.
We heard voices and fast footsteps. The rest of the group who’d spent the night in the castle had followed the sounds of Veronika’s distress and were now crowding in just behind me. Johnny immediately turned around and held up his hand in a classic “Halt” pose.”
“Don’t anyone touch her. Just stay back there for a second.”
Everyone obeyed. The tone of his voice would allow for nothing else. He walked over to Veronika and Marta and knelt on the floor, reaching his hand out and placing it on Marta’s neck. He released his breath in one big ‘Whew.’
“Sweet Jesus. She’s alive. I’ve got a pulse here. It’s not terrific and she’s definitely not conscious, but she’s alive.”
Utterances of “Oh, thank God!” were heard from Jozef and Fritz. Lily continued to stare in silence while Franz and Mitchell and Shay stepped forward toward Johnny. Corbin turned and walked back into the kitchen yelling, “Are the phones back up? I’ll try the one in here.”
Fritz leaned over and helped Veronika to her feet. Her face was set in horror and her eyes were glassy. He murmured, “Veronika. Marta’s alive. Do you understand that? We’ve got to get help but she’s not dead. Do you hear me? She is not dead. Not like Trina. Not like my brother.”
“Help,” Veronika whispered. “Yes. There must be help.” She looked at me. “Is polici still here?”
Then the import of Fritz’s words hit. “Brother?” Veronika began to cry again. “Iss brother the piano tuner? Ach, no.”
Fritz nodded while every last man and woman gathered in the hall stared at him.
“Yes. Gustav. He was the brother closest to me in age. And he came to Kouzlo Noc and he died.”
Veronika buried her face in her hands. “I am so, so very sorry. He should not have died. He worked good and he wass in north tower to look for a book for me. I now am of belief he did not fall. He was pushed. Like Trina was pushed into moat. Like Marta pushed down stairs.”
For a moment no one knew what to say. The only thought spining through my brain was “someone here is a killer.” It was vital to discover who. It was also vital to get help for Marta.
I turned my focus back to Veronika’s question about the police. “Madam D, the police left early last night. Um. You had already gone upstairs and you didn’t hear them leave.” With Trina’s body carried out in a bag, my mind screamed, but I didn’t say those words. “Corbin has gone to see if any of the landline phones work. Everybody? We need to focus here and figure out how to get Marta to a hospital. We can deal with the who, how and whys later.”
Johnny nodded with me, then added, in a tone of pure steel, “And we will.”
I turned to Shay, who began to gently lead Veronika away from her sister’s pale frame. “Shay? Were you able to recharge your cell last night? I wonder if we can call out if the regular phones aren’t back on line?”
She shook her head. “There was a major power outage. Lasted from about one in morning on. I was going to plug the cell in after Auraliah Lee left but I forgot and then when I remembered there was no power for the adaptor.”
I glanced around. No power was still the rule of the day. I’d thought the blizzard had stopped and assumed we now had electricity, but but I’d been wrong on both counts. The short break we’d experienced in the snow last night had only served to recharge the strength of the blizzard this morning. No cheery lights blazed in Kouzlo Noc.
Corbin came back inside the stairwell. “Kitchen power is out, too, so the kitchen phone is not on.”
“Let’s check the rest of the house… I mean, castle.” I suggested. “Even if none of the phones work, there could be one power source to plug in a cell.” My mind suddenly flashed on Jozef’s arrival early yesterday. “Wait! Duh. There are cars outside. One of them’s bound to have a charger somewhere.”
Franz, Mitchell and Corbin all headed back through the kitchen toward the door that led closest to what passed for a garage. The boathouse. Johnny was still kneeling next to Marta, cautiously feeling for broken bones while trying not to move her. He looked up at me.
“She needs a blanket, Abby. Or two or more. She’s really cold and I’m sure she‘s in shock.”
Shay and I raced back toward the sitting room and gathered up the bedding I’d used last night. Lily stayed in the kitchen with Veronika, asking her where the cups were for tea and coffee, since it was apparent we were all going to need something hot soon. Bless gas stoves.
We’d barely made it back to the stairwell when the guys who’d gone to check the cars joined us.
Franz looked disgusted. “I cannot believe this. The cars are dead. The batteries are too. In Corbin’ s Jeep. In the car that Lily’s friends loaned to her. She and I were in that one. But even in the motorcycle that Fritz was riding there is no power.”
Shay brightened. “Fritz drives a cycle? Cool.”
“Hush.” I told her quietly. “You can drool later. And remember, this is a man who lost his brother a few days ago. Not to mention there’s a certain baseball player back in Manhattan who may be acting like an ass but as far as I know has been nothing less than faithful.”
She nodded serenely and ignored my less-than-subtle chiding. She addressed Franz. “So you’re saying the car chargers not only are too dead for a cell phone charge but the cars themselves won’t start? Did I get that right?”
“Yes.”
I stood. “Wait. How did Jozef get here yesterday? Didn’t he have a car? Johnny, what about you?”
“I came out on the tram, then walked although it was getting pretty nasty. I’m pretty sure that’s how Jozef got here. He doesn’t own a car. So that’s a bust. Damn. Marta’s got to get some help. I’m no doctor but I’m scared she could have internal injuries. We can’t just wait around for the power to come back on or for the roads to clear.”
For just a second I had to force back a rising fit of hysterical giggles. Johnny had stated, “Not a doctor.” Someone had once made the comment that everyone on a soap is either a cop or a doctor. Johnny had dived into more occupations as cop Gregory Noble than a reincarnation trainee but the one we needed hadn’t been written into his scripts.
I was wrong. Johnny glanced up and caught my eye. “However, that character you love so well did do a stint as a medic in the Navy and I did do my research. So I’m not totally useless.”
I nearly rolled my eyes in sheer disbelief over the myriad of junk Johnny’d learned doing Endless Time. But this was good. Any kind of medical training should help.
Franz added, “I can ski. Downhill, not cross-country, but that should make no difference. If Veronika has skis?”
Veronika had entered the now crowded stairwell to hear Franz question. “No. No skis.”
She surveyed the people who were helpless to aid her sister. And her eye fell on me. A curious gleam of hope appeared. “Abb-ee?”
I crossed to her and put my arms around her. “What can I do?”
“You can ride. Horses.”
“What?”
“Yes. You are from Texas, no? I overhear you talk last night about El Paso when you try and cheer everyone up so no one cries too much.”
“Uh—yeah, I’m from Texas but not everyone from Texas rides.” I pursed my lips. “I did learn a bit during my short stint on the soap opera and ages ago one summer. But I mean ‘a bit.’ Nothing like—well—Johnny. (Who needed to stay with Marta.) I haven’t noticed any horses around here, though. Not to mention there’s a major blizzard going out there which is not great for visibility for rider nor horse.”
“But there iss horse at neighbor down the hill. He iss gone for months and Marta and Trina,” her voice paused then she continued with a definite catch in her throat, “my sisters and I—we take care of horse for him. Did you pass by barn on way up here yesterday?”
I tried to recall seeing anything resembling a barn. My brain wouldn’t focus. Veronika took my hand. “No matter. I tell you how to reach barn and you find it and you ride to Prague and you bring back help for Marta, yes?”
The fact that snow was still falling at a furious pace didn’t seem to bother Veronika. The fact that Prague was a good forty-minute trip in nice weather in a great car didn’t seem to have penetrated her thoughts. The fact that I’d never ridden a horse through a snowstorm didn’t faze her belief that I could do it. Abby the Super Equestrian. I could see it in her eyes. Naturally, I agreed to try.
At least six different voices—all from real human sources—began bitching at me not to even consider attempting such a crazy stunt. I’d never make it. The horse would bolt in the storm and the two of us would be lost. Even if I did manage to find my way to Prague, it would be too late to help Marta. And on and on.
They were all doubtless right. It was insane, foolhardy, and probably just damn stupid. I looked at Veronika’s face. Faith shown through her eyes as though she’d just witnessed St. Agnes personally conduct the beginning of the Velvet Revolution. I looked at Shay, who gave me a thumbs up. And I looked at Johnny who could do everything, including ride a horse far better than I could even imagine, but had to stay here for many reasons, not the least being he had some medical training and could help Marta—and guard her. It was up to me and for once in my life I was going to do something brave.
It was funny. Once I’d made that decision, the fear that had been smothering me for the last two days or more disappeared. It could well come back in a day, an hour, or a heartbeat, but for now that fear had been replaced by a tense excitement that told me, ‘yes,’ I needed to stay cautious, but I also needed to get on that horse and ride.