Story Time (23 page)

Dr. Austin clenched his fists and hissed, "Bring me my blue shower curtain! I need it! Now!"

Cornelia stomped away just as Pogo emerged from the service elevator. She circled carefully around the prostrate Mrs. Hodges, as if looking for something.

Kate startled her with an urgent whisper in her ear. "Pogo! You promised me! You said you wouldn't do this again!"

Pogo's body stiffened, but her eyes continued to search.

"You promised that you would let me fight my own battles. Do you remember that?"

Pogo's eyes shifted to Kate. She shook her head, bewildered. "Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie." Then she pointed over Kate's shoulder.

Kate turned and saw that she was pointing at George. Her uncle was standing five feet away from them and looking down at Mrs. Hodges's body. His lower lip was quivering. Kate didn't understand, and then she did. "Oh my god. Uncle George! You did this for Uncle George?"

Pogo nodded and bared a set of large and slightly crooked teeth.

Kate stared deeply into Pogo's brown eyes, trying to choose the right words. "Listen to me, Pogo. Uncle George is in total agreement with me on this." Kate had a moment of doubt, but she continued. "I'm sure he is. He doesn't want you to do things like this for him." She glanced at George and back again. "I know you meant well, Pogo, but there's a dead person over there. You didn't want to kill Mrs. Hodges. Did you?"

Pogo shook her head vehemently no.

Kate exhaled, relieved. "But that's what happened. Once you set this ... thing in motion, you can't control what it will do."

Kate took Pogo's elbow and turned her toward George. "My uncle doesn't need to hear that you did this for him. Okay? Ever. He can be very sensitive about these things."

Pogo nodded slowly in agreement. Then she broke free and wandered over to the sawed-off piece of railing. She picked it up and turned it over and over, looking from its serrated edges to the broken body of Mrs. Hodges and back again. As she did, a deeply troubled look spread across her face—clenching her jaw, narrowing her eyes, and furrowing her brow.

Cornelia stormed back through the lobby holding the blue shower curtain. She snarled at Dr. Austin. "Here's your precious shower curtain. Now may I take your naked son to the emergency room?"

Dr. Austin gripped the shower curtain tightly. "Yes! Do what you want. Go."

He looked past his wife to the glass entrance doors. Bud Wright, Sheriff Wright, and Dr. Cavendar were walking in together. He shouted, "Dr. Cavendar! Thank god. Mrs. Hodges has fallen, Doctor. You have to help her."

Dr. Austin then told everyone else, "Clear this lobby! All of you! Go home. Can't you see that this woman needs air?" He jumped up and herded people toward the entranceway. As Kate moved to the exit, she noticed an oval of red oozing from beneath Mrs. Hodges.

Kate found June at the end of the
Andrew Carnegie in Hell
mosaic. However, despite a careful search among the fleeing library patrons, she was unable to find her uncle.

George Melvil had not evacuated the building as ordered. He was lying flat on the second-floor carpet, with his face pressed against the rail, at the exact spot where he had connected the wires and pulleys of the flying machine.

One floor beneath him, in the lobby, Bud Wright asked Dr. Austin, "Okay, Doc. You're the boss. What do we gotta do first?"

"Let's get Hodges downstairs. Then we need to think of a story. We need to find a perpetrator for this crime. And fast."

Bud stooped over and strained to get a grip on Mrs. Hodges.

"I agree," Dr. Cavendar said. "And look over there, Doctor. It seems that the lobby is not completely empty."

George froze in place, fearing he had been discovered. But he quickly realized that they were not talking about him. George leaned forward and saw another figure. The can man was still in the lobby, and he was still asleep.

"I am thinking, Dr. Austin, that this one might prove to be useful," Dr. Cavendar said.

"Yes, he might, indeed. But Pogo is still our safest bet. She is, after all, mute."

Bud grunted. "Give me a hand here, Doc." He pointed out the can man to his brother. "You watch him, Bubba."

Dr. Austin helped Bud drag Mrs. Hodges across to the service elevator and down to the basement.

George shifted his position. He watched Dr. Cavendar wander over to the bloodstained area of the lobby. He saw him pick up two objects, with some difficulty, and lug them to the elevator doors.

As soon as Dr. Austin and Bud returned, Dr. Cavendar confronted them with the first of the objects. "Look what I found. This is conclusive evidence. This piece of railing has been cut, right here, with an electric power saw, probably old Mr. Pogorzelski's."

"Pogo!" Dr. Austin shouted. "I knew it." He glanced at the bloodstains. "Mrs. Hodges knew it, too. She warned me that Pogo's been using those power tools at night."

Dr. Cavendar set down the railing and held up the second object. It was an antique book, now stained red with blood—
Perraulfs Mother Goose.

"Look at this. I found it on the floor where the body landed. I found this same book on the roof the day the unfortunate worker had the coronary occlusion and dragged the others to their deaths. How curious that it reappears today."

Dr. Austin's eyes filled with the light of revelation. "Yes! Walter Barnes, Bud, Heidi, Whit ... What did they all do? They all picked up a book."

Dr. Austin seized the book from the old doctor. He held it high. "This book will now be in my possession twenty-four hours a day. This is the break we needed! This is how we'll trap the demon!" His eyes darted across the lobby. "Now let's find, arrest, and lock up our perpetrator."

George shifted again. He watched Drs. Austin and Cavendar hurry into the lobby office and sit at a terminal while Bud and his brother shook the can man awake.

The sheriff forced the can man to his feet and handcuffed him as Drs. Austin and Cavendar emerged carrying a single sheet of paper.

In his darkest and most menacing voice, Dr. Austin informed the can man, "First of all, may I remind you that you are on probation for assaulting my wife. Secondly, may I remind you that you are homeless, out of work, and probably mentally ill. We are going to send you to jail for the rest of your life. We may even send you to the electric chair in Milton if you do not sign this statement."

Dr. Austin held the paper up before the hapless man's eyes and ordered: "Read it aloud, so we can all hear!"

The can man focused and read, as best he could. "'Miss Pogorzelski has been trying to kill Mrs. Hodges by sawing through parts of the railings with power tools at night. She has also been trying to kill Mrs. Cornelia Whittaker-Austin by getting me to ram my supermarket cart into her Hummer H2. She also tried, and succeeded, in killing Mr. Walter Barnes by inducing a heart attack in the old gentleman. She is clearly a homicidal maniac. Sincerely, your name.'"

Dr. Austin indicated that the sheriff should unlock the handcuffs. He then produced a pen and pressed it into the can man's hand. He was in the process of guiding the pen to the paper when the can man ripped his hand away, stared hard at the pen, and tossed it far across the lobby.

Dr. Austin shouted at him. "You
are
mentally ill!"

The can man then surprised them all by speaking in a voice that was strong and fall of conviction. "I betrayed somebody once, and I've never forgiven myself. I won't do it again."

Dr. Austin said, "Then
you
will be found guilty of the crimes enumerated on this statement. Is that what you want?"

"If it's that or my honor? Yes, that is what I want."

Dr. Austin concluded, "He's as crazy as Hodges. Sheriff Wright, take him away."

The sheriff handcuffed the can man again and force-marched him through the entranceway.

Dr. Austin turned to the two others. "Never mind him. We'll sort this all out later. For now, let us focus on our main objective—destroying the demon!" He looked at them with his eyes shining. "Mrs. Hodges did half the job for us. She got us the book! The question is, gentlemen, who is going to do the other half of the job?"

Dr. Cavendar demurred. "That would not fall under my duties as county coroner."

Bud protested, too. "Don't look at me, Doc. That demon busted me up good already."

Dr. Austin assured them both, "No, no, gentlemen. You have both done your parts. I was thinking of someone else. Someone who always gets the most difficult jobs done, and in the most spectacular fashion."

Bud smiled. "I think I know where you're going here, Doc."

George strained forward to hear Dr. Austin's final words. "Yes, gentlemen. I think it's time we called in Ashley-Nicole."

Molly got dropped off in front of Kate's house on Saturday night. She was again carrying her flute and her grandmother's scrapbook; Kate was again carrying Cornell Whittaker Number Two's diary.

The two girls walked around to the back porch hoping they could talk privately. If they were hoping to avoid George, however, they were soon disappointed. He joined them ten minutes into their conversation, shortly after Molly had delivered a Lincoln Middle School update that had depressed Kate greatly. Molly reported that Derek Arroyo had been spotted, by Lisette herself, holding hands with LoriBeth Sommers.

At the exact moment of George's arrival, Kate was simulating hanging herself from one of the porch rails, while Molly was playing a half-tempo rendition of "Captain Hook" on her flute. Rather than disturb the girls with chatter, George had opted to drift across the back porch toward them, in a graceful, rhythmic way that very much resembled dancing.

At the end of the song, Kate straightened out her bent neck, closed her flapping jaw, and asked him, "What was that?"

George looked to his left, and then to his right. "What?"

"That ... locomotion you were doing there. Was that dancing?"

"No. I can't dance."

Molly set down her flute and told Kate, "He's right. He can't."

Kate persisted. "Come on, Uncle George. That was pretty good. Where did you learn to do that?"

"I didn't learn it. I was just faking. I really can't dance."

Molly started disassembling her flute. "He really can't."

But Kate was not convinced, and she continued to regard him curiously.

As Molly bent to pick up her case, she spotted a figure by the back gate. Her lips pulled back in distaste. "You are not going to believe this."

Kate looked up and saw William Anderson. He waved happily. "Hi, Kate! I was just checking to see which house was yours."

"What do you mean, William?"

"I mean, I was trying to figure: If your house was, like, the fourth from the corner from the front? Then which one would it be from the back?"

"Do you mean, like, this was some kind of scientific thesis that you were testing?" George asked.

William answered happily, "Yeah!"

George grinned. "If it's the fourth one from the front, then it's the fourth one from the back, too, William."

William admitted, "Yeah, I can see that now."

"QED."

"Huh?"

George explained, "QED. It's Latin. You write it after you prove a thesis, after you demonstrate the one true answer.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
It means 'Which was demonstrated.'"

"It does?"

Molly suggested, "Could you two do this somewhere else?"

But William continued. "Hey, do you guys remember
our
Latin motto?"

They did, but they did not respond. William finally answered himself. "
Semper Paratus.
Do you guys remember that?"

"He's not going to go away, you know," George muttered to Kate. "You may as well invite him up."

Kate couldn't bear to look at Molly when she said, "Come on up, William, and join us."

After a few failed attempts, William managed to unlock the gate and walk up to the porch. When he spotted Molly's flute case, he asked her, "Hey, Molly, are you in the big show for the First Lady?"

Molly looked askance at him. "Yeah. Why? Are you?"

William told all three of them, "Yeah, I am. Dr. Austin and Mrs. Whittaker-Austin found a part for me."

Molly faked a smile. "Lucky you."

"Yeah! I know. I really wanted to get into the show."

George asked him, "What part did the Austins give you?"

William extended his long arms. "Mrs. Whittaker-Austin asked me if I could hold a pole, for a long time, without dropping it and messing everything up, and ruining all the hard work everybody had done."

George looked at Kate. "That sounds like the invitation she gave us."

"You're holding a flag," Kate said, "like we are, in the patriotic tableau."

"That's fine with me. I just want to be there to see what happens."

Kate had to smile at his open enthusiasm. Then she sat back on her haunches, held up the diary, and said, "I have to put this book back on its shelf tomorrow. The Austins are going to miss it, and they're going to blame Pogo. So this is it, you guys. This is our last chance."

After a tense pause, George asked, "Have you read every word in the diary?"

"Yes. I have. Several times." She opened to the last page. "Here. I found this at the end. See if it makes any sense to you." Kate cleared her throat and read, "'Despite all my expenses and all my efforts, I have not been able to join them. They will never let me join them. So be it.'" Kate closed the book and turned to her uncle, hopefully.

George grimaced. "Okay, I'm going to try an experiment here. I'm going to try thinking out loud, just brainstorming. Okay? Here goes."

George clenched his eyelids together. "There were guys in this London Spiritualism Society. They succeeded in reaching another plane. They did it by escaping into a book. It was the book that Cornell paid way too much for and brought back here." George opened his eyes.

Kate said, "One book?"

"Yes. Just the one.
Perraulfs Mother Goose.
They were in it, and Cornell knew it. He tried to join them, but he failed. So he said the heck with them. He let his favorite student inventor, Ashley-Nicole Singer-Wright, plaster holographic stickers on his books, including the, uh,
occupied
one." He looked at Kate. "And they all escaped."