Beauty and the Beast (11 page)

Joe was on the phone. “I need two of your officers at Gabriel’s mansion tomorrow morning, not next week! Call me as soon as you can tell me who you are sending. They will be escorting Unit 210 Investigator, Diana Bennett, and don’t give me any excuses!”

Even when he was annoyed Joe Maxwell was strikingly handsome. He was tall and very well-built with dark hair and eyes. Right now those eyes were shooting fire. Diana raised her eyebrows as he hung up the phone. “Which side of the bed did you get up on this morning?” She asked him.

Joe responded, “The grumpy side! We are just about to clean all of Gabriel’s dirty cops out of our system, and now the police force is dragging its feet giving me the extra help we need to finish this up.”

Diana nodded her head and did her best not to look as enthusiastic as she felt about the chance to get back into Gabriel’s mansion again. “I guess that was why you summoned me here this morning? What exactly would you like for me to do at the mansion?”

Joe explained. “Dirty cops are like cockroaches. We clean out a nest of them, and there always seem to be more to take their places. We have been through that place with a fine-tooth comb, but I wanted you to take a look for yourself. You always see things no one else does.

I want to make sure we haven’t overlooked anything pertaining to Gabriel’s organization. I don’t want any nasty surprises later. Ill call your loft this afternoon and let you know who your police escorts will be.”

Diana frowned at him. “You know, you could have called me to tell me this.”

Joe opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a large envelope. “Then I couldn’t have given you this.” He handed it to her.

Diana took it from him. “What’s this?”

Joe answered, “That has everything you need to get into the mansion, the key-code for the gated driveway entry and the keys.”

“That sounds like a plan to me.” Diana turned to go, and then she turned back around and said, “Congratulations on winning the election, Joe. You are definitely the best person for the job. The city is lucky to have you cleaning it up.”

Joe smiled, “Thanks, Diana.”

Diana did some shopping while she was out and then took a cab back to her loft. When she stepped off the elevator into her living room, she dumped her packages on the floor and took her coat off, hanging it on the rack by the elevator. She picked up her watering can and watered all of her plants. Then she settled down on the sofa by Catherine’s rosebush. She fingered one of the white blooms and started talking to it. “Well, Cathy, now I just have to figure out whether to let Vincent know I’m going back into Gabriel’s Staten Island mansion again. My feeling is that he needs to know. Keeping him in the loop on this will save time later explaining any danger that might become evident. Besides, if he has his mind on that problem, he won’t notice the strategic game of chess we are playing with him to give him time for his connection to you to be healed. I guess I need to go see Father and him, and tell them what I’m doing.”

At that point the phone rang, and Joe was on the other end. “Your police escorts will be Steve Palmer and Ron Myers. They will be at the mansion at 9:00 tomorrow morning.” She thanked Joe and hung up the phone.

Then she put her purchases away and dressed in comfortable clothes to go walking through the tunnels to talk to Father and Vincent.

When Diana arrived in Father’s chambers, she found him playing chess with Vincent. Diana looked over Father’s shoulder, and as he started to make a move, she put her hand over his and moved the piece with him.

Then she whispered into his ear, “Checkmate in five moves.”

Father chuckled, “So it is!”

Vincent looked up at her with a grin, and exclaimed, “You little Brat! You never said you played chess.”

Diana retorted, “You never asked, you big Monster!” She pointed at her head, “Annoying mind, remember? I’m sorry to spoil your game, but I wanted to let you both know that Joe Maxwell is sending me back into Gabriel’s mansion to see if there is any more information there on his crime organization.”

Vincent’s expression suddenly became serious.

“Maybe I should go with you, Diana. Gabriel had very dangerous associates, and they may still be around there.” Diana reassured him. “That isn’t necessary, Vincent. Joe is sending me in with an armed police escort. I won’t be in any danger, I promise. I just wanted to let you know I was going, and 111 come and tell you about whatever I find. Hopefully his empire has crashed and burned.

We’ve managed to uncover many of the dirty cops he had on his payroll. Joe just wants me to go through the mansion, and see if there is anything in there that has been overlooked by the other investigators.”

Father and Vincent still looked worried, and Vincent was very firm. “Diana, please be careful. Promise us you won’t take any unnecessary chances.”

Diana smiled at them. “I promise! Now stop worrying, both of you! I’m heading home now to get some paperwork done and to get a good night’s sleep before going in the morning. The police officers are meeting me there at 9:00 a.m.”

When she arrived by cab at Gabriel’s mansion a few minutes ahead of time the next morning, Steve Palmer and Ron Myers were already there waiting for her in their

squad car. She greeted them and then used the key-code Joe had given her to open the gate. She climbed into the back seat of their car, and they drove her up the long driveway to the front door.

“Gentlemen, I need to work by myself on this so I’m not distracted. Steve, please stay outside here and keep watch. Ron, please stay just inside so you can hear me if I call you. I just want to walk through the house alone, and see if I notice anything that needs further investigation.” They didn’t argue with her and posted themselves where she had instructed them to be after she unlocked the house.

Diana’s attention to detail was what had led to her discovery of Gabriel’s Staten Island mansion in the first place. When Gabriel had her abducted by his henchmen, blindfolded, and then taken there to show her Vincent’s sick baby, she had noticed the unique pattern of the tiles on the floor. She gave a drawing she had made of that pattern to Father to take to Joe, so he could find out where the mansion was located. It had turned out to be an imported Italian-style tile used in only a few very expensive homes in the New York area. It wasn’t difficult to narrow it down to the one on Staten Island after that.

Diana began to walk through the mansion now, noticing every detail. She not only wanted to find any pertinent clues Joe needed to make sure Gabriel’s empire had been permanently taken down, but she also wanted to see if there were any clues that would help her to

understand Gabriel’s obsession with Vincent and his child. She walked into every room on every floor of the huge house and found absolutely nothing.

Then Diana went into the basement where the electrified cage that Gabriel had held Vincent in was located. It was there that she found what she was looking for. Under the stairway leading to the basement she found a door hidden in the shadows. When she opened it, she stepped into an huge beautiful wood-paneled office with wooden beams overhead. She studied the room for a minute and then smiled. Diana turned around, left the room, shut the door behind her, and then she went upstairs to the front door.

“Ron, there isn’t anything here that will help Mr. Maxwell with his investigation. We might as well go,” Diana said to the officer.

Ron looked happy to be leaving, “All right Ms.

Bennett.” He escorted her out, and they got into the squad car.

Steve asked, “Did you find anything?”

Diana answered, “Nothing that will help Joe Maxwell with his investigation. I didn’t eat any breakfast this morning. Would you guys drop me off at the diner I passed a few blocks over when I was coming this morning? Ill catch a cab from there back home.”

They dropped her off at the diner, and she went in and watched them drive away. As soon as they were out of sight, she left the diner and went around the corner into the alley. She found the manhole where Chuck Johnson had dropped her and Father off when they went underground to save Vincent and Little Jacob. Diana lifted the cover and climbed down, replacing the cover above her. She took a small flashlight out of her coat pocket and then climbed down to the tunnel to go back to the mansion. Diana went through the hidden basement tunnel entrance she had used to rescue Vincent, and then she headed for the office under the stairs. She walked into it and turned the light on. She was thankful that the city had left the electricity on to continue the investigation.

The huge room was shaped very much like a ship, and the ceiling beams came to a point to her right. She noted that the lighting left the point of the beams in shadow. “A couple of people could hide in that corner on top of that platform on the beams,” she thought.

What had drawn her attention earlier was the fact that the room was not symmetrical. It was apparent that the wall behind the large desk in front of her was closer to her than it should be, and she knew there had to be an hidden room behind it. She just needed to find the door and figure out how to open it. The walls of the office were lined with bookshelves full of books everywhere except behind the desk. The only thing on that wall was a picture of Alice with the white rabbit. She looked at the hundreds of books on the shelves and thought to herself, “I sure hope the trip-lever for the secret panel is not hidden in a book!”

Diana went behind the desk, sat down in the plush leather chair, and studied everything on the desk. There was a pair of gold bookends with a single book between them along with a desk pad and a pen holder containing some pens and pencils. She started to open one of the drawers and then suddenly swung her attention back to the book between the gold bookends. It was Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. She shook her head and smiled. The original title of Lewis Carroll’s book was Through the Looking Glass. Modern adaptations were entitled Alice in Wonderland. “Is that a remote clue?” She thought. She took the book out from between the bookends and opened it. Inside the false book she found an electronic remote control, and she laughed, “Remote clue, indeed!”

Diana pointed the remote control at every spot on the wall behind the desk with no results. She grimaced, “I guess it was too much to hope for that the batteries wouldn’t be dead.” She opened the back of it and took out the two dead AAA batteries. She began hunting through the desk drawers for more batteries without success.

Then she recalled that she had bought a package of four AAA batteries for her television remote and had put the package in her coat pocket and forgotten about them.

“Oh, please be there!” She dug through her pocket and found the package. After putting the false book back between its bookends and replacing the batteries in the

remote control, it occurred to her that if Lewis Carroll’s book held the remote control, perhaps the picture of Alice had the remote sensor. Still seated, she pointed the remote control at the picture, pushed the button, and the panel swung open toward her. She scooted the chair quickly toward the desk to avoid being struck by it.

A light inside the room automatically turned on, and she was amazed by what she saw. Alice in Wonderland hadn’t really seemed like a clue an evil crime lord would use to hide a secret room. Now, she was sure it wasn’t. What appeared before her was an huge missing piece of the puzzle—or was it? She got up from the desk and stepped into the room. If she shut the panel, there was only room for herself. She looked around and quickly found the light switch and the button to open and shut the panel from inside the secret room. Then she left the light on in there and went to the light switch for the office and turned it off. She went back into the secret room and shut the panel, keeping the remote control in her coat pocket. Diana didn’t want anyone else finding it as she had done. When the panel closed, a quiet fan overhead began circulating fresh air into the room. “Someone thought of everything!” She thought.

Diana now turned her attention to what she had discovered. This was the secret office of a very meticulous person. It was a treasure trove of scientific magazines, books on biology, genetics, and medicine, and personal journals. Everything was in order by subject and dates.

This person was obviously a scientist and was uncomfortable with technology for recording findings. All of the journals were handwritten. She picked up one of the journals on the desk. Inside the cover were the date it had been started and the name, Dr. Dominik Vlas. She laid the book back down, sat in the cushioned desk chair, and began opening the desk drawers. She found an impressive collection of degrees in medicine and genetics from both the United States and Romania. There was also a large vase on the floor between the desk and the inner wall which contained several document rolls. When she unrolled one, she realized it was a set of blueprints for this mansion.

“What on earth did this obviously good man have to do with Gabriel, and where is he? How does this tie in with Gabriel’s obsession with Vincent and his child?” She thought to herself. “Maybe this is completely unrelated.”

She began opening and flipping through the journals on the desk, because they were apparently the last ones Dr. Vlas had either been reviewing or had made entries in. Her quick perusal didn’t uncover anything extraordinary in the first two she went through. Then in the third one, she came across an entry that nearly made her heart stop. The name, “Vincent,” leaped off the page at her. On the same page were the names, “Adrian,” which she didn’t recognize, and “Gabriel.” She flipped back to the front cover. This journal was started thirty-five years earlier. Diana made a very careful search of this one until she

found the entries she needed to make sense of everything that had happened and was still happening. Then she began to read.

Dr. Dominik Vlas’journal entries: