Beauty and the Beast (24 page)

Joe was furious. “That maniac has been under my nose in Manhattan this entire time!”

Diana’s tone was desperate. “Don’t worry about that now! We’ve got to get the records I found, these videotapes, and that notebook, out of here before they come back.”

They both began stuffing journals and tapes into the three backpacks, as Joe said with a worried tone, “Taking journals they aren’t aware of yet won’t alert them. If we take these videotapes and the notebook too, they will figure you did it. Obviously, Adrian suspects that at least you are still investigating their organization in spite of your report I’ve been circulating.”

Diana looked at Joe and frowned. “What’s worse, having them aware we’ve been here and swiped the notebook and videotapes, or having them get their hands on solid proof that Vincent and his people exist? It’s one thing for Adrian to rave like a lunatic about mythical lion-people living under the streets of New York. It’s quite another for him to have documented proof that they do!” Joe was very firm as he answered. “I agree with you, but I heard that personal threat Adrian made against your life. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you heard that the last time you were here, and you just decided to conveniently leave that out of your narrative to Vincent and me! You will have to go and stay with Father’s people until this is all over with. That is the only safe place for you right now.”

Diana didn’t argue with Joe, and she didn’t deny his suspicions about her omission in relating what had happened when she discovered the secret room. She simply said, “All right.”

Joe strode over to Diana, grabbed her by the shoulders, looked down into her eyes, and said, “I’ve already nearly lost one woman who was important to me to these animals. I’m not about to take any chances and lose another one. Promise me you will stay below!”

Diana met Joe’s worried gaze, and she smiled softly at him. “Don’t get so intense! I promise! Now, let’s hurry!”

When Joe and Diana stepped back through the tunnel-access-door, Vincent gave them a very relieved look. “I heard men’s voices in there. What happened?”

He took one of the backpacks from Joe and handed them their coats. Joe and Diana laid their backpacks down, and put their coats back on. Grabbing their treasureladen backpacks, the three began the journey back to Father’s world, as they discussed what had happened in the mansion.

Joe chuckled, “We just took Adrian’s ‘gold mine’ away from him. He is going to be more than a little upset.” Then, in a more serious tone, he said, “Diana, here, failed to mention that Adrian had plans to kill her if he got the chance. I told her that she has to stay below in your world until this is all over with.”

Vincent looked sternly at Diana. “Ill make sure that she does!”

Diana looked from one man to the other and said,

“You bullies! I promise I will be a good little girl. You don’t need to worry about me. I won’t run off! Joe, do you remember that list of high-priced mansions that we found out had the same Italian pattern of tiles as Gabriel’s mansion?”

Joe nodded, “I still have that list in the desk at my office.”

Diana was relieved. “That’s good! Three of those homes were in Manhattan, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult to figure out which one is Adrian’s. Guess what else we took away from Adrian, Vincent!”

Vincent had finally relaxed, and he smiled at her. “What else did you take away from him?”

Diana was almost giddy with joy. “We are now the proud owners of the key to the code in Gabriel’s little-

black-crim e-notebook!”

Joe was sober as he added, “Taken illegally, though. The search warrant has expired.”

Diana looked at Joe in surprise. “Joe, what difference does it make how you break the code? The original notebook was given to you by Patrick Hanlin. There was nothing illegal about that. He was about to turn ‘state’s evidence,’ and he was killed for it. All you have to do is break the code, and you have everything you need to shut Adrian down. No one has to know how you did it! Adrian won’t know what hit him, because he thinks the original notebook was destroyed.”

Joe was smiling as he nodded. “You’re absolutely right! This is the perfect way to take him down without involving your community, Vincent. Oh, and you will be happy to know that we now also have all of Gabriel’s and Dr. Vlas’ videotapes of you and your people.”

Vincent looked at Joe. “You have videotapes of my people?”

Joe smiled at him. “We do. Do you want to view them? We could set that up below, if you want to.”

Vincent shook his head. “Actually, Joe, it would be better if we just destroyed them. I know that we will be meeting my people soon enough. I can wait. We need to just throw them into The Abyss. That way we can be sure they can never be recovered and used to harm my people.” Joe agreed, “That’s probably the wisest thing to do. Diana, I’m going to leave several messages on your answering machine on Monday, and then I’m going to report you missing on Tuesday to Steve Palmer. That should really confuse Adrian and his minions. Meanwhile, why don’t you, Vincent, and Father work on breaking the code in that notebook Vincent has. I’ve had the three detectives that I know I can trust, Greg Hughes, Nick Dunlap, and James Faber, keeping an eye on Steve Palmer and anyone else he contacts within the police force. With the addition of whatever you can decipher in that notebook, we should have Adrian out-of-business in no time!”

Diana declared, “It’s a good thing I’m going to be below. James Faber hates me!”

Joe laughed, “He doesn’t hate you! He’s just annoyed that you’re smarter than he is. He finds your methods incomprehensible. He’s more comfortable with old-fashioned police legwork.”

Vincent chimed in with a smile, “It isn’t very many people who can truly appreciate a brilliant mind like yours in action, Diana. Most of them are satisfied to just go on about their mediocre lives, ridiculing what they don’t understand. We definitely appreciate you and your unique point-of-view.”

Joe laughed, “Amen!”

Vincent chuckled, “That reminds me, if we hurry, we will get back in time for the children’s choir recital in Father’s Council chamber this evening.”

Joe said with enthusiasm, “Let’s do! I was treated to a

preview of that recital when Jamie dragged me out of William’s kitchen chamber a week ago.”

The three continued homeward, carrying on their lighthearted conversation, now that the end of Adrian’s evil empire was clearly in sight. When they arrived back in Father’s Council chamber, the children were just warming up in preparation for their recital. The choir was singing scales, and the orchestra was busy warming up on the instruments. Father’s desk, up on the platform, had been moved back against the book shelves to make room for the choir and orchestra. The music director, Paul Matthews, was giving last minute encouragement to the children. Paul was a tall, big-boned man in his late thirties. He looked very distinguished with his black hair and carefully trimmed beard and mustache.

Vincent, Joe, and Diana laid their backpacks and coats on Father’s table and then looked for places to sit. The Council chamber was completely packed wall-to-wall. Most of the children, who weren’t participating in the recital, were seated on the steps of Father’s circular staircase with their legs dangling over the sides. Diana found an unoccupied easy chair, and Joe took a seat in a chair near hers. Vincent observed that Little Jacob was comfortably settled on Brooke’s lap, and then he went up the staircase into Father’s library and found a seat there. Diana soon had two little children, Luke and Darla, on her lap.

Paul turned around and faced the audience, and an hush fell over the chamber. He announced the pieces the children were going to perform, and then the recital began. The music was breathtaking in its beauty, and it was obvious that the children loved what they had been able to accomplish with their hard work.

Vincent was enjoying listening to the music, but it was Joe and Diana he was watching. They were glancing now and again at each other, when they each thought the other wasn’t looking. Vincent smiled, as he realized what he had suspected as he had walked back with them from Gabriel’s mansion. Something had happened between them and, neither one of them was aware that the other one had felt it too.

When the recital was over, everyone applauded, and then all the adults began gathering up children and exiting the Council chamber to go to bed. Vincent and Joe found Diana and the children on her lap sound asleep. Angela collected Darla, and Vincent picked up Luke and handed him to Olivia. When he turned back around to gather up Diana, Joe already had her in his arms.

“I guess you had better show me where to deposit Sleeping Beauty, here.” Joe smiled at Vincent.

Vincent smiled back at him. “Come on, we’ll take her to the chamber she slept in the last time she stayed with us.” He spoke to Father first, though, as he picked up Joe’s and Diana’s coats. “Father, can you keep these backpacks and my cloak in your bedroom chamber until I

return? I want to show you what Diana and Joe collected from Gabriel’s mansion.”

Father replied chuckling, “Of course, Vincent. It looks like you two wore poor Diana completely out!”

Vincent smiled at him. “Yes, it has been a long, eventful day, but a very productive one.”

Rebecca joined Vincent and Joe as they headed for Diana’s guest chamber. When they arrived there, Vincent laid the coats on the chair by the door. Rebecca turned back the covers on the bed, and Joe laid Diana on it. Rebecca took her shoes off and put them under the chair. Vincent then covered Diana up and tucked her in.

When Vincent stood up, Joe chuckled. “When she’s asleep, she looks like a little kid. I wish we could keep her that way for a couple of weeks until this is all over with.” Vincent laughed softly. “Well, I suppose we could have Father sedate her.”

Joe tried to keep a straight face. “That’s really tempting, isn’t it? I think, though, that she would probably clobber both of us when she did wake up!” Vincent chuckled, “Oh, I’m sure of it! Don’t worry about her, Joe. Well keep her safe here. She has more sense than to go running off. Besides, breaking that code in Gabriel’s notebook will keep her mind occupied for awhile.”

Joe was very serious as he replied. “I hope so,

Vincent. Adrian meant business when he talked about his determination to kill Diana.”

Vincent nodded his head. “Well, as soon as we do break that code, you can put Adrian where he belongs, and he won’t be able to follow through with that threat.” Rebecca looked at the two men and smiled. “Go ahead and take Joe home, Vincent. Ill sleep in the next chamber tonight and keep an eye on Diana.”

Joe smiled at Rebecca as he picked up his coat.

“Thank you, Rebecca. When she wakes up, tell her 111 check back here in a few days to see how she is coming with breaking the code.”

Rebecca nodded and smiled. “I’ll be sure to tell her, Joe.”

Vincent then accompanied Joe back through the tunnels to Joe’s apartment building. In spite of all of their precautions, both men still found themselves worrying about Diana’s safety in light of the ominous threat from Adrian.

Chapter VII

Unfinished Symphony

Dianna walked into Vincent’s chamber with a bottle of breast milk for Little Jacob and found Vincent rocking him. He looked up and smiled at Diana. She smiled back at Vincent and sat on the edge of his bed. Diana was dressed like a tunnel-dweller, wearing a pretty patchwork jumper and blouse. The community members with clothing designer skills enjoyed seeing what they could create from fabrics and clothing thrown away by topsiders. What they made was not only attractive but practical.

Vincent grinned as he spoke to her. “You look just like one of us!”

Diana stood up and modeled for him with a giggle.

“Do you really think so? I’ve got two suitcases full of clothes from Chuck’s cab and from what I had left at the

Walkers’ place, but these are a lot more comfortable. Almost every morning when I wake up, my wardrobe has expanded because of what everyone keeps bringing to me.” Vincent chuckled, “They are having fun taking care of you. Did you get a chance to ask Peter about who is donating this milk to Little Jacob?”

Diana answered, “I told Peter that you wanted to know.”

Vincent looked at her. “What did he say?”

Diana answered smoothly, “Peter told me that she needs to remain anonymous.”

Vincent gave her a probing look, “Hmm, ‘needs’ rather than “wants,’ interesting choice of words!”

A nervous laugh escaped Diana, but she recovered quickly with, “You Monster! Are you actually going to argue semantics with me? What can I say? I’m a crime investigator! Delivering breast milk from anonymous sources is just a side-gig!”

Vincent chuckled, “Well, little Brat, wherever Peter is getting it from, Little Jacob is thriving on it. If you see Peter again, will you please ask him to pass along my thanks to the woman?”

Diana smiled at Vincent. “Ill be sure to do that, Vincent. I’m going to go back to Father’s chamber now. We’re making really good progress using that code to translate Gabriel’s notebook. We’ve nearly got it licked.” Diana put the bottle on the table beside Vincent and headed out the door. When she was down the tunnel and out of earshot of Vincent, she whispered, “And I will pass along your thanks as soon as humanly possible!”

Vincent looked at the bottle of breast milk on the table. He had finally realized that every time he picked up one of Little Jacob’s bottles of milk, he would experience a vision about Catherine. He assumed that such phenomenon must be a manifestation of his sorrow that it wasn’t Catherine’s breast milk that was feeding their son. He would have looked forward to visions about her, if she wasn’t always so distressed in them, or if he could only manage to save her from whatever terror she was facing in those visions. Instead, she always slipped out of his grasp or evaporated from sight before he could. He wondered what he would see this time as he picked the bottle up.