Chapter 41

“The complete silence was impressive. Neither outside nor inside was there a creak or a murmur.”

-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Ring of Thoth

Following the sign, we turned right onto a narrow unkempt road. I used the high beams and turned off cruise control. The GPS wasn’t any use here as we didn’t know what building was what.

The old road twisted through some heavily dense and deserted wooded acreage. I could hear the underbrush bouncing off the undercarriage in some of the worst spots.

“Where’s old Mr. Grange and his equipment when you need it?” I quipped. “We could use some lumbering to clear off the sides of the road.”

“I bet this is probably the road as he built it way back when,” Tom mused.

Without further directional signs, I was guessing that we were advancing toward the estate’s main compound. The only light was from our headlights and the soft glow from the moon and stars.

“It’s getting colder,” Tom observed.

“Want some heat?” I asked him.

“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll do it,” he said and fiddled with the console components.

I had to drive slowly and peer into the darkness as the road took us further into the woods away from the highway and civilization. “I feel like Magellan circumnavigating the globe,” I admitted as I scanned the far reaches of the headlights.

“Good thing Tesla brought electricity to the masses,” Tom quipped.

“You mean Edison.”

“No. Tesla - the real genius. Don’t you know how Edison stiffed him?”

“What?”

“Tesla worked as an assistant to Edison right after Edison invented the electric light bulb. Edison promised Tesla a fifty thousand dollar bonus if Tesla could come up with a good system to distribute electricity to houses. Tesla took the challenge and saved Edison over $100,000. Then Tesla asked for the bonus. Edison said ‘Can’t you take a joke?’ or something like that. So Tesla quit. They feuded for years until finally Tesla cornered the market with Alternating Current. Public utilities owe it all to Tesla.”

“So how come we celebrate Edison and not Tesla?” I asked.

“Because Edison spent the rest of his life and a lot of his fortune trying to discredit Tesla, making sure no one knew his name.”

“That’s changing now though.”

“Changing how? What are you talking about DD?”

“Haven’t you heard of the Tesla Roadster? I thought that’s why you brought up Tesla. It’s the newest hit on the market - an electric sports car with lots of torque and lots of miles before you have to recharge. It’s...”

Suddenly we were rocked in our seats as the van crossed over a rough patch in the road. We bounced up and down a few times and then it was over.

“What the heck was that?” Tom jerked forward. Wolfie shook himself and looked around.

“I saw some bars across the road,” Tom said. “Is that a new type of security?”

“Those are cattle guards,” I explained. “My uncle and aunt had a farm up in Michigan, so I’ve seen them before. Cattle can’t cross them, but cars can. Nothing’s damaged.”

We drove on further until we saw a rustic building with a dilapidated sign that read Caretaker’s Cottage.

“Morgan said there was a nice old guy named Bates who was the caretaker when the Dowager died,” I told Tom.

“No lights are on,” he said. “It doesn’t look inhabited now. And I don’t see Phillip Green’s car either,”

“I’ll go ring the bell to make sure no one’s there.”

I returned in a few minutes. “It’s all boarded up,” I reported. “Let’s keep going.”

We drove further into the woods until we spotted a sign heralding the Main Lodge.

“That’s it,” Tom said, pointing at the sign. “It says Patrolled from Dusk to Dawn.”

We pulled off the road, turned off the engine and extinguished the lights. It was pitch black inside and outside the car. As a city girl, used to the constant backdrop of city lights, I needed to adjust to the uninterrupted dark.

“Why’d you do that, DD? I can’t see a thing.”

“I want my eyes to adapt. You stay here with Wolfie while I reconnoiter.” I reached for the flashlight in the back of the van, opened the door and stepped into the blackness.

It was quiet except for the crickets. A patch of light shone around a bend in the road ahead. That’s what had caught my attention, but I was unwilling to drive up without first checking it out.

I returned to the van in awhile and softly closed the door.

“What did you find?” Tom asked intently.

“The main lodge is down the road around a bend,” I said softly. “It is a big place - log and shingle exterior. There’s a few perimeter lights, but that’s the only security I noticed.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Well, maybe. I walked around one side of the lodge. There’s a car parked in the shadows off the road. It’s a Saab. Dark color.”

“That’s Philip Green’s car,” Tom said excitedly. “Didn’t I tell you he’d come here? I knew it!”

“Okay. If Green got in, we will too. Without any caretaker, what we should do is...”

“What we’re going to do, DD, is drive up behind Green’s car and block it. I want you to position the van so he won’t be able to pull out of there.” Tom was emphatic.

“Tom, I think...”

“Just do it, okay? I know what I’m doing. Let’s go.”

Tom was really uptight. I’d never seen him like this. I started the van and switched on the headlights. When we reached the bend in the road, I turned off the headlights and cruised slowly toward the perimeter lights shining from the building. I pulled off the road near where I’d seen the Saab parked.

“When we see his car, park the van directly behind it,” Tom said.

We both peered into the dark trying to spot it. Finally I caught a glint of moonlight reflecting off the Saab’s window.

“There,” I said and slowly maneuvered the van crosswise behind the Saab and turned off the engine.

“That’s good,” Tom pronounced.

We got out and stood perfectly still, listening. Wolfie sniffed the air several times. His ears were tweaking. I wondered what secrets his primal ties to nature revealed to him. I felt unnerved by the darkness, and was glad Wolfie was with us and on our side.

“Let’s hope that security patrol doesn’t show up for awhile. Stay here. I’ll try the front door. Maybe Green got in that way and left it unlocked for us,” I said optimistically and took off.

I was soon back. “No luck there. It’s locked. I’ll look round the other side of the lodge.”

“If Philip got in, we can too,” Tom insisted. I was glad it was too dark for him to see the face I made.

“Okay. I’ll wave the flashlight in your direction when I find a way in.”

I examined the far side of the building. Everything was quiet and normal. Then the flashlight picked out a broken window. I signaled to Tom. It took him awhile to arrive, and when he did, he was exhausted.

“Must rest a minute,” he whispered as he stared to sink to the ground. I propped him up and led him to a nearby bench I’d bumped into earlier. With his injured leg and collarbone, if he sat on the grass, I wasn’t sure he’d be able to get up again.

He flopped down and stretched out his bad leg. Wolfie stood next to him and flicked his ears, listening for prey. Or danger.

I sat too but couldn’t relax. My adrenaline was pumping. I wondered what would happen if we did run into Philip Green. He could be the murderer. We might be walking into a trap. Hopefully Wolfie’s presence would be a deterrent. How much did Philip Green know? Did he have the diary?

“There’s a broken window over there. Think you can manage to climb in?” I whispered.

“If that’s how Green got in, I’ll do it, too.”

“Okay. Whenever you’re ready.”

The window was low to the ground. There was a window-seat on the inside. I brushed away a few shards of glass, pushed the window up as far as it would go, and easily maneuvered through the opening. Tom sat on the windowsill, as I had, pivoted his body and swung his legs in first. The rest was easy, especially with my help. Wolfie clambered in last.

Once inside, I lowered the window to avoid detection from the security patrol and clicked on the flashlight. We were in a knotty pine room with sofas and chairs and a big fireplace. The interior was in shadows and looked as if it hadn’t been updated since the 50’s. Native American rugs covered a slate floor, and moose-heads, stags and fishing trophies adorned the walls. Stuffed wild turkeys and other game birds were displayed on a table against one wall. Kerosene lamps were on all of the tables. I wondered whether the place had been electrified.

“Let’s find Green,” Tom urged.

We followed the flashlight beam out of the room into a central lobby with a high wood beam ceiling that reminded me of the “parkitecture” at Yellowstone. Lots of doors opened off the lobby, like Lady and the Tiger.

“Hold it,” I whispered and turned off the flashlight to check if light was coming from under the doors of any of the rooms.

“Over there. Two o’clock,” Tom whispered and pointed.

Sporadic flashes of light were visible under one door.

“Let’s go,” Tom whispered.

I pointed the flashlight down as we silently crossed the lobby. Tom wobbled so fast he got ahead of the beam. Wolfie kept pace with him, and I hoped the two of them weren’t going to do anything we were all going to regret. I’d never before been in a situation like this and was revisiting my decision to come. I reached ahead and tugged on Tom’s jacket.

“Slow down,” I entreated softly.

He didn’t, and in a few seconds we were at the door. I put my ear against it, but Tom pushed it open, and he and Wolfie rushed in before I could utter a caution.

I jerked to attention and shined the flashlight into the room. It illuminated Philip Green standing to my left. He turned and shined his flashlight at us.

I blinked.

Tom rushed him shouting, “You tried to kill me!”

“Shhhh,” I cautioned.

Green turned his flashlight on Tom. “What?”

“You pushed me down those stairs,” Tom knocked the flashlight out of Philip Green’s hand. The light beam arced around the room then settled on the floor.

“Hey,” Green yelled.

“You stole the diary. Give it back to me.”

Philip Green backed up two paces. “You’re crazy. What are you doing here?”

“I know you pushed me and took that diary. I want it back. Give it to me.”

Oh, lord, what was I into. “Stop you two,” I ordered.

Tom grabbed Philip Green’s arm. Philip Green shrugged him off. Wolfie watched the scuffle and growled threateningly.

“That’s enough,” I said and stepped between them. It was not the thing to do. Somebody shoved me out of the way and knocked my flashlight gollywumpus. I scrambled to retrieve it while scuffling was going on all around me. When I turned the flashlight back on, Tom had his hands around the Sherlockian’s throat.

Green raised his arms, broke Tom’s hold and pushed him away.

Tom fell backwards. Wolfie lunged at Philip Green.

“No,” I yelled, but Wolfie had already sunk his teeth into Green’s hand.

“Tom, call off Wolfie.” I cried.

Thankfully Tom regained his senses and brought Wolfie to heel or more damage might have been done. As it was, Philip Green sank to the floor and whimpered. Blood spurted out of the wound where Wolfie had taken a bite.

“I’ll find some lights and get some bandages.” I swung the flashlight round the room to see if there were any light switches. We were in a wood-paneled library.

Suddenly, from the hallway, a woman entered carrying one of those kerosene lamps. She was pointing a small 32-caliber automatic at us.

“I’ve got a gun. Stay where you are. All of you.”