Black as Night: A Fairy Tale Retold (19 page)

Matt was looking at his watch as they got onto the expressway. “It’s almost two o’clock now.”

“If we hurry we might make it,” Leon persisted as the dogs continued to bark themselves hoarse in the back.

Not ten minutes later, there was a shout from the boy in the back. “Brother Leon,
get di daag a chrow up!
”

“No,” prayed Leon, but distinctive croaking noises from the crate in the back confirmed that the boy was correct. Leon pulled over to the side of the road.

The friars opened the back, and surveyed the mess, Matt holding his nose. The human passengers all tumbled out of the van, unable to stand the smell.

“He must have eaten something really gross,” Matt said.

“
Kiss mi neck back
!” the boy said in awe.

“You got that right,” Leon said grimly, rolling up his habit’s sleeves. “Okay—guess we better unload, Matt.”

By the side of the expressway, the friars unloaded the two dog crates and some of the luggage that had gotten thrown up on. Nora and the grandmother rummaged through the front luggage and managed to find towels and newspapers to clean up the mess. Not surprisingly, no one on the road stopped to help them.

Eventually they were on the road again. Matt muttered something about the time, but Leon was just praying that there would be another flight to Jamaica.

When they reached the airport, there was the difficulty in unloading the luggage and the dogs and parking the van. They had to pay for parking, and find a spot in one of the massive cement spiral parking garages. After much trouble, they made it to Terminal Four, where the grandmother’s flight to Jamaica was departing.

They discovered that the grandmother was not alone in her luggage. Bundles of similarly-wrapped packages and garbage bags were piled around the terminal, and chickens squawked in crates. Even a billy goat was tethered to one side. Aroused by the new smells and sights, the two dogs rattled around in their rickety crates barking again.

Much to Leon’s relief, there was another flight leaving for Jamaica, and, miracle of miracles, there was one seat left. Grandmother had her ticket transferred, and Leon helped her through the process, translating where necessary. Meanwhile, Matt tried to calm the dogs down, and Nora kept watch on the kids.

An airport attendant walked around the melee, roaring, “
Two undred pounds a di maximum luggage fuh dis flight!
”

“Two hundred pounds luggage?” Leon said to Matt. “This is never going to work.”

When the grandmother’s turn came, her luggage weighed over five hundred pounds. “Let
mi
pack it again,” she urged.

“I don’t think repacking is going to help much,” Leon said, but obliged.

They ended up taking over half the luggage back to the van. “But at least the dogs are going,” Leon thought to himself, and was looking forward to a considerably quieter ride home.

But the attendant shook his head when the friars pushed the crates up in the luggage cart. “
We cyaan tek di dog dem
,” the man said decisively. “
Win uh allow daag pan dis plane
. Too small.”

“But they told her she could have the dogs on the plane before!” Leon objected, having checked this out with Marisol.

“That was for the last flight—this flight is a smaller plane. They won’t take the dogs. There’s just no room,” another attendant explained.

Leon and the grandmother argued fruitlessly, and Matt ran his fingers over his rosary beads imploringly, but the official was unmoved. “No dogs,” he said.

At last the grandmother turned, weeping, to the kids. “
Unnu can keep dem as a present,
” she said to them.

“I don’t think Marisol will appreciate that kind of present,” Leon said faintly, but was drowned out by the kids. “Yaaah!” they cheered. “
We get fi keep di dog dem
!”

“Right,” Leon said mechanically as the grandmother tearfully made her way onto the plane. “Matt, well, we’re loading the dogs back onto the van.”

Matt closed his eyes. “Of course,” he said. “I knew it. I knew it. I knew this was one of those days that was going to get me out of purgatory when I die.”

“And put me in there for ten times longer,” Leon said grimly. He knew he was never going to be able to explain this to Marisol adequately.

Glumly the friars pushed the luggage cart that had the dog crates on it back to the parking lot. This was a tricky business because if your hands were too close to the crate, the dogs would start snapping at them. Not wanting to lose a finger, Leon and Matt maneuvered the cart through the airport while Nora walked with the children, holding their hands.

They were trying to maneuver the luggage cart over the curbside. “Let’s not risk tipping it,” Matt urged. “Keep going until we find a ramp down.”

“Fine,” Leon said tonelessly. He was tired, and hungry, and not paying attention.

He glanced at Nora, who seemed to be a bit tense as well as tired. Suddenly he saw her startle and turn her head suddenly so that her hair and kerchief screened her face. Almost imperceptibly she moved to the far side of the baggage cart as though she were trying to hide. If he hadn’t seen her flinch, he might never have noticed it.

Leon looked in the direction she had turned away from to see what was amiss. His eyes roved over the passing waves of people being dropped off or picked up. A bevy of Asian children, three male tourists with cameras, a couple of teenage girls yelling to their friends, a tall burly man in a dark jacket striding across the parking lot—

The man.
There was a sudden bump and Leon’s foot slipped and he stumbled off the side of the curb. Not wanting to fall, he unconsciously grabbed at the luggage cart and—

“No!” Matt yelled as the crates smashed to the ground. He pounced on one, and managed to hold it together, while its occupant yelped, but the other crate landed on its side, and two boards cracked. Leon grabbed for the dog’s red collar but it was too late—

A howling Rottweiler took off across the parking lot like a fired torpedo and sprinted into the parking garage across the street.

Forgetting the man, Leon dashed after the dog up the ramp. “Nora, help me!” he shouted, leaving Matt to hold the other dog down.

“Stay with Brother Matt!” Nora ordered the kids. “I’m coming!” she yelled back, hurrying after Leon.

“Holy Mother St. Clare, you got to get that dog to stop,” Leon moaned, trying to keep the dog in sight as he pounded up the cement ramp.

“What do you want me to do?” Nora panted, following him into the garage.

“I’ll try—to head him off—and he’ll run from me. How about—you take the elevator up—and see if you can—come down from the top and catch him?” Leon puffed.

“I’ll give it my best shot,” Nora called, and hurried into the elevator, which was providentially open.

The dog dove around the curve and vanished. There was a screech as an exiting car pulled to a stop. Leon pounded to a halt and let the car pass.

Gritting his teeth, Leon sprinted onwards to find the errant canine. He was not feeling the least bit of sympathy towards that creature at the moment.
If I’m lucky, he’ll get run over and that’ll be the end of him
, he thought to himself.

III

“Wretched mess,” Fish opined as they waited at the airport.

Bear was inclined to agree. His stomach was in knots.

“Can’t believe this is happening,” he murmured, staring out through the windows at the landscape of the airport terminal, a strange country inhabited by fleets of white planes on one side and miles of ramps and spiral parking garages on the other side. “It’s scarcely the way I’d hoped to see the Briers again. It’s still not real to me.”

“Well, I always told you not to get involved with the Briers, but you wouldn’t listen,” Fish said lightly.

“That’s not funny,” Bear said a bit sharply, and groaned.

But when the two familiar figures appeared at the gate, Bear found he could smile, despite the strain as he went up to meet Blanche’s mother and younger sister.

Rose flew to him like a multi-colored bird. “Bear!” she cried.

He embraced her, and she held onto him a little longer than normal. The pause brought his apprehension to the forefront, and he found himself tearing up quickly.

“It’s all right,” Rose said in his ear. “We’ll find her. I just know she’s okay.”

That was like Rose. She had faith. “Thanks,” he said, in a quieter voice than he meant to use.

When he released Rose, he saw that her mother, Jean, was scanning the airport, as though hoping her oldest daughter would appear out of the crowd. He had done the same thing.

“How was your trip?” he asked, taking Jean’s hand.

“Too long. Bear, I’m glad you’re back. We’ve missed you,” she said, hugging him. She was a tall woman with a tanned face, Blanche’s blue eyes, and long brown-and-gray hair pinned back in a long braid. Right now her eyes were cloudy with tension, and she looked older than he remembered. Her eyes fell on Fish, and his brother smiled in greeting.

“Good to see you again, Mrs. Brier—Jean,” he said.

“Thank you, Fish—it’s good to see you too,” she murmured. She didn’t know him as well as she knew Bear, and Bear had always thought she was a bit uncomfortable with him. Then again, his brother was a difficult person to get to know. For everyone, maybe, except for the youngest member of the Brier family.

Rose had brightened right up at the sight of Fish. She had worn her red hair in a silky ponytail, and was sporting a new blue, green, and violet tie-dyed dress worn with a fluttering purple chiffon scarf.

“Fishy!” she said exuberantly, giving him an enthusiastic hug. Fish winced as he accepted the embrace with politeness.

“It’s good to see you again, Rose,” he said, unconsciously straightening his trench coat. Retreating slightly, he said to Bear in a low tone, “‘Fishy?’”

“So—how are we going to find her?” Rose said, folding her arms in a suddenly business-like manner. She looked at the brothers expectantly, and Bear was touched by her confidence in them.

“We’ve got a lot to do,” Bear said, recalling the new bad news he had to tell them. Not wanting to make a scene, he turned to his brother. “Fish,” he said, “why don’t you and Rose go get the luggage? I want to talk to Jean.”

“Good, then Fish can fill me in on the details,” Rose said, taking his brother’s arm. “Tell me everything, Fish.”

“Sure,” Fish said, with only the barest trace of annoyance. With Rose on his arm, he stalked down the corridor towards the security checkpoint before the baggage claim.

“Shall we sit down?” Bear asked, but the older woman shook her head.

“I’ve been sitting down,” Jean said, “this whole plane ride back. Is there any news?”

“Yes,” Bear said soberly. He told her, as briefly as possible, what he and Mrs. Foster had found in the Brier house that morning.

Jean was bewildered. “What does this mean?”

“It’s proof that someone went to great lengths to implicate her,” Bear said with determination.

Jean had started pacing towards the windows overlooking the parking lot. She halted in the shadow cast by the nearby parking garage. “But who would have done such a thing to Blanche?” she asked. “Is this something that you were involved with, Bear? It almost sounds a bit like one of your undercover operations.” She laughed shortly, but her eyes were despondent.

“I’m not sure how it’s connected to me,” Bear said heavily. “We’ve found drugs in three places where Blanche has been frequenting—my apartment, her workplace, and your home. I’m forced to conclude that someone is after her as well.”

For a moment they stood in silence, watching a car on the third level pull out of a parking spot in the parking garage just across the street from them.

“Do we have any sign at this point that she’s even still alive?” Jean whispered. “I haven’t brought it up to Rose, but my mind is flying immediately to the worst possibilities. Kidnapping, or murder, or—now I’m wondering if she was actually seriously depressed after all. What if we find out that she’s committed suicide?”

Again, Bear fought off the thoughts that crowded into his mind. “No,” he said at last. “She wouldn’t do that, no matter how depressed she was. Blanche might be fearful, and she might doubt, but at the bottom of her soul, she wouldn’t despair.”

“You sound very certain,” Jean attempted to smile through her tears. “But you haven’t seen her these past few months.”

“But I know her,” Bear said, and took a deep breath. “And I believe in her.”

For a moment, Jean looked at him as though she were recognizing him for the first time. Then she wiped her eyes. “All right, Bear,” she said. “I’ll try to believe that we’ll find her. That she’s still out there, somewhere, and we can—”

Suddenly she pointed, her voice changed. “My God. Is that her?”

Bear looked out the window. Directly across from them was the fourth level of a parking garage. And inside the parking garage, a girl in a red kerchief was running after a dog. It was Blanche.