The Dark: A Collection (Point Horror) Page 17

He fumbled with his wallet to get out his checkbook. He waved the check register in her face, pointing to the bank balance.

  "There ain't no hundred thousand grand here, hon. You're dreaming," Harry insisted. "I'll take a lie detector test if you don't believe me."

  She burst into tears and ran for her car. "Leave me alone!"

  She'd seen a flash of the old Harry in his eyes. He looked earnest enough. Then how could she deny her own eyes and ears? The whole world had gone crazy.

  Bianca leaped into her car. She locked the doors and flooded the motor. Harry pounded on the window glass and tried to make himself heard over the roar of the engine.

  She was off in a cloud of exhaust. Bianca was too upset to know where she was driving. She retraced the same path aimlessly around the Village in the "downtown" part of St. Simons Island near the harbor. She heard Ronnie talking in her head. He repeated again that she had to learn to "get hold of herself". Then she remembered that she had planned to go home after the library to pick up some dresses of hers to take over to Ronnie's apartment. Ronnie had told her that they were going to be attending a big party.

  "There's a party at the Cloister Hotel on Friday night for the hospital interns. We're supposed to bring dates. It would do you some good to get out. But you don't have anything to wear. For a rich girl you seem to be rather indifferent to your clothing."

  Bianca parked in her driveway and went up to her bedroom. She listened to the messages on the answering machine. Her mother had called to say:

  Your dad and I decided to go on an Alaska Cruise followed by a Cruise Tour to celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary The Maitlands suggested it. They had fun on their cruise a month ago. We just barely got tickets. Somebody else cancelled at the last minute. We'll be gone a few weeks. It should be good for the travel agency to get firsthand cruise experience. We'll send plenty of postcards and gifts. Bon voyage!

  Bianca started to pack her suitcase. The Maitlands were new customers of her parents since they had become "rich". So many people depended on Bianca, including her parents' travel agency and all their new clients. She couldn't afford to let them down. She had to be careful to "get a hold on herself".

  The floorboards creaked behind her. Bianca heard footsteps. She looked up. There stood Marianna in a tight-fitting halter top. Her leather pants hugged every curve of her hips and thighs.

  "Hi! Thought we'd talk since we now share so much in common."

  Bianca gasped. "What — what do you mean?" Her hand spasmed. She dropped her cocktail dress on to the floor.

  How had Marianna gotten in here? Bianca must have been so distracted with worry driving here that she had forgotten to lock the downstairs door.

  Marianna spread photos of herself and Harry all over Bianca's bed. Some showed them at the beach together. Some showed them in his dorm room at the campus. Bianca could even see the room number on the door. Others had been taken in a bubble bath, presumably with nothing on underneath. Marianna's dark hair was floating all around them. She had her arms around Harry from behind. Her chin was resting on his shoulder.

  Bianca picked up one photo. With a trembling hand she held it up to her face. It was unmistakably Harry Fellini. She couldn't deny it. He had the same fine, straight, flyaway black hair and big, dark eyes. He looked wiry and slim. His shoulder muscles looked the same.

  "Rick Roscoe and I broke up." Marianna leaned close to Bianca. "I wanted a richer boyfriend. Harry is much richer since he got that hundred thousand dollars from you."

  How would Marianna have known about the one hundred thousand dollars unless Harry had told her? It hadn't been announced in the newspaper!

  Marianna cackled. She held her leather-clad belly with the belly button exposed. She flung herself down on to Bianca's bed and rocked back and forth with mirth.

  "Don't you get the idea? Guys like you all right. They like your money." Marianna leaned on one elbow. "But you can't compete with me in the sex department."

  Bianca groped blindly inside her dresser drawer for her own photos of Harry. She had not yet had time to put them into an album. As she held them next to Marianna's snapshots, she tried to blink back tears.

  She grabbed a picture of Harry at high-school graduation with his arms around her waist. He was dressed in a black robe. She wasn't, which was why she was attending summer school. She put it next to the one of Harry and Marianna in the bubble bath.

  Bianca thought, Harry, you were the only one I trusted! Big tears coursed down her cheeks.

  Marianna breathed down Bianca's neck.

  "You're always whimpering and crying. People think you're the heroine of St. Simons Island. They don't know you like I do."

  Marianna reached for the lights. She turned them off. "I bet you're still scared of the dark."

  It was totally dark outside now. It was totally dark in her bedroom. The darkness seemed to press in on Bianca. It whispered in her ears, "Coward! Coward! Coward!"

  Bianca freaked. She ran in panicked flight, trying to escape from the room. Marianna had carefully inserted herself between Bianca and the door to the upstairs hallway. Bianca slammed into her. She couldn't get around Marianna's body.

  "Please let me out!" Bianca sobbed.

  "You deserve it, girl. You've got to pay me back for tripping me in that cemetery in May and making me fall into that open grave. You almost killed me."

  Bianca tried the other door through the bathroom. This time Marianna jumped out from behind the shower curtain and shouted, "Boo!" almost scaring Bianca to death.

  "Harry and I play this game of Peek-a-boo all the time. We think of you while we do it. We laugh. You're such a little ninny."

  Bianca ran out on to the balcony attached to her second floor bedroom. Marianna cornered her. She pushed Bianca back up against the railing.

  Bianca peered over her shoulder. It seemed a long way down to the stream below flowing through the woods. Rocks glowed in the moonlight. Bianca thought she saw yellow alligator eyes.

  Her head whirled around. Bianca clutched the railing. She could barely keep her balance. Suddenly she was back on the roof of the lighthouse clinging to Little Katie, screaming for her life.

  Marianna hissed into Bianca's ear. "Life's not worth much when you're scared of your own shadow, is it?"

  Marianna was pressing all her weight against Bianca. She could barely hold on. The ground appeared closer and closer. Bianca seemed to be falling down to meet it.

  Chapter 5

  Honk! Honk! Honk!

  Bianca shook herself. She didn't know how long she'd been here like this. She was still on her balcony slumped against the railing — not in the stream below. She must have imagined falling. Marianna was no longer anywhere around.

  Honk! Honk! Honk!

  She looked toward her driveway and stood up. It was too dark to make out anything except the outlines of a car.

  She put her hand to her head and thought, Oh yes! It must be Ronnie. He'll probably stop for me on his way home from the hospital.

  Bianca raced back inside her bedroom. She grabbed her suitcase and hurriedly ran a comb through her mussed-up hair. She charged downstairs, nervously flicking on the lights as she went. By the time she reached the front door, her house was lighted up like a Christmas tree. She leaped into the front seat of the car.

  "I'm sorry, Ronnie. I — I got held up. I—"

  Automatic door locks clicked. The car started down the road. Rick Roscoe brushed his knotted mass of curly blond hair out of his eyes and stared at her.

  "Rick, what — what are you doing here? There must be some mistake. Marianna's not here any more if you're looking for her. I—"

  "Don't talk to me about that bitch, Marianna. We're history. You and me, gal," he reached over and patted her on the leg, "now that's another story."

  Bianca gaped at him in fright.

  He slid his arm around her waist and forced her against him.

  "Act more friendly, girl. Don't be such a snob. You were once as poor as a ch
urch mouse like me. We got along a lot better back then. Don't you remember our first date at the movies?"

  Their first date back in May had been their last. It had turned into a disaster as Rick and Marianna had pursued her and Harry home from the Island Theater. The goons had chased them through Christ's Church Cemetery. Marianna had fallen into an open grave. They had straggled back to Bianca's house in time for Rick to get arrested and carted off to the police station as Marianna had been taken by ambulance to the hospital.

  Rick pulled over along the side of the road. He forced his lips down on top of hers, crushing her body against his. Bianca could hardly breathe as she pummeled him with her fists. Rick fell on top of her and knocked her down on to the front seat.

  "You're going to be my gal now, you and all your millions, whether you like it or not."

  The darkness swirled around her. Bianca tried to get hold of herself and not panic as Ronnie had told her to. She grabbed the car keys and jabbed them into Rick's arm.

  He sprang back, crying out in pain. He got out a gun and held it to her head as they progressed down the street to the Shipleys' house. They stopped on the other side of the road.

  "Now get out, go in there, and ask for Little Katie. She's gonna be my meal ticket all right. You might be worth two million, but she's worth much, much more."

  "What — what are you talking about?"

  "Tell them you want to take the little girl to a movie. Out to eat with your friends. Anything! You're Miss Perfect as far as they're concerned. You can do no wrong."

  "You mean you want to kidnap Katie? And you want me to do it for you?"

  "You're finally catching on."

  "I'd rather die."

  "Yeah, well try looking down the barrel of a gun and tell me that." He cocked his pistol. "Get out of the car. Take it slow and easy. Ask for Katie at the front door. Don't go inside. If you give me the slip, I'll be waiting for you when you come out."

  Bianca climbed out of the car, hoping she might be able to get away somehow. She paced slowly up to the front door, glancing back over her shoulder.

  The front door burst open. There stood Dr. Rankin, the Shipleys' family physician. Beside him stood Dr. Byron Kingsley. They were saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Shipley. Mrs. Shipley was holding Little Katie in her arms.

  Bianca rushed up to the little girl and hugged her. "Is anything wrong?"

  "Katie's developed some sort of mysterious rash," Mrs. Shipley tried to explain. "Dr. Rankin was making a house call."

  "Let's say bye-bye to Dr. Rankin." Mr. Shipley raised Little Katie's hand and had her wave at the doctor as he hurried to his car parked along the side of the street.

  Bianca looked up and down the street in fright, searching for Rick Roscoe. He had pulled down the street a little so as not to be so obvious from the front door. She could not see his face clearly in the dark. But she could imagine that he was still staring at her. She could picture the glint of the silver pistol. She swallowed hard.

  Ronnie raised his hand and waved at Dr. Rankin himself. He waved and waved, long after the doctor, with a beep of his horn, had disappeared down the street.

  Byron Kingsley escorted Mrs. Shipley and Bianca back into the living room, followed by Mr. Shipley. Bianca kept on thinking about what Rick had threatened. If she went inside the house, he would be waiting for her later.

  Ronnie said, "I was looking for you, Bianca. I happened to come by when Dr. Rankin arrived to examine Little Katie."

  "It's a good thing Dr. Kingsley was here." Mrs. Shipley remarked. "He's very good at explaining to us what's going on."

  To Bianca's horror, she could see that Little Katie's arm was covered with a mean red rash. There was even a blister or two.

  "Dr. Rankin has taken a skin sample, and he's doing some tests," Ronnie told Bianca.

  "I hope it's not serious!" Bianca took out Little Katie's favorite toys. She started to play with TR and Lou, the bears, as she sat on the floor next to the toddler. Katie crawled over to her and played along.

  "It's not skin cancer, if that's what you mean." Mr. Shipley said. "The doctor thinks it might be a severe allergic reaction of some kind."

  "To some kind of poisonous plant or something." Mrs. Shipley shook her head.

  Poison! That word stuck in Bianca's mind. "How did Little Katie come in contact with poison?"

  "It's not that kind of poison. It could be as simple as some sort of plant growing in the backyard," Ronnie explained.

  "What's disturbing is that Dr. Rankin can't identify it," Mrs. Shipley confided to Bianca. "And he's an expert."

  They discussed Katie's condition for some minutes more. Then Ronnie promised that he would drive Bianca back in the morning to visit Katie. They had to go now. They had to get to the party at the Cloister Hotel. They were already late.

  "I do hope you remembered to bring that dress." Ronnie hurried Bianca out the front door. "They won't allow jeans at the Cloister, you know. It's a very formal place."

  Bianca suddenly remembered her suitcase. She had left it in Rick Roscoe's car. She didn't know how to explain that to Ronnie. So she kept her mouth shut.

  She looked around for Rick. Bianca didn't see him anywhere. He had not carried out his threat to get back at her when she came out of the Shipleys' house. That was not like Rick. He usually carried out his threats to the letter.

  "Well, do you have a dress?" Ronnie pressed her.

  "I — I got held up. I — I forgot." Bianca made her excuses awkwardly.

  Ronnie looked troubled. "Lately you disturb me with how easily you seem to forget things. It shows mental confusion. But here —" Ronnie opened the door of his car — "I've got a dress for you. I figured that you might not remember."

  Ronnie handed her a party dress in exactly her size. He even had a matching pair of high heels.

  "You can change in the back seat."

  She marveled at how Ronnie knew her size exactly. After all, they hadn't known each other that long. Then maybe he'd glanced at her clothes' labels. Her clothes were hanging all over his closet back at his apartment.

  They drove in silence over the short bridge that connected St. Simons Island to Sea Island, the location of the Cloister Hotel. The place was illuminated by lights, showing off a drive lined with palms, a manicured green lawn and formal garden beds featuring azaleas, rhododendrons and bulbs. A fountain plashed into a pool nearby. The drive led up to the white-washed stucco main building with a red-tiled roof.

  Just before they reached the front door of the Cloister, Ronnie stopped the car. "Here, you don't have it just right. You're very careless about the little details of your appearance, my dear."

  He unbuttoned her dress all the way down the front. Then he buttoned it back up again slowly, lingering over the buttons right next to her nipples. Her breasts brushed against his fingers.

  She wriggled and fidgeted as the night air, redolent with the scent of magnolias, drifted in the window. There were couples in formal clothes getting out of their cars. She didn't know why Ronnie had to humiliate her like this and make her blush to the roots of her hair.

  "You have to sit still," he admonished Bianca.

  Her cheeks burned and tingled with embarrassment. "Hurry, Ronnie, everybody is looking!"

  "Nonsense! You're imagining that everybody is looking. You have to get over that, you know, being so self-conscious. The truth is that most people are so concerned with themselves that they hardly notice what's going on around them. Then I forget, you're only eighteen."

  Finally he finished buttoning her dress the correct way. "Right now we have other doctors to meet." Ronnie glanced at her in disapproval. "Let's put on a smile."

  He drove up to the front of the hotel. Uniformed doormen opened both the door on the driver's side and the passenger side. A doorman held open the main lobby door for Bianca. Ronnie followed right behind her.

  Bianca hesitated at the edge of the ballroom. It was dark. The only illumination came from overhead chandeliers a
nd the crystal on the banquet tables that caught the light and glistened. There seemed to be enough silver, crystal and china to make up a king's banquet.

  "Come on, Bianca," Ronnie whispered into her ear. "Remember what I told you about mastering your fears? You've got to challenge yourself. If you're still afraid of the dark, the only place to be is in the dark."

  He caught hold of her elbow and propelled her forward into the crowd of interns from the hospital. They were mingling with resident doctors and their wives and girlfriends. Everyone was dressed to the hilt. Bianca could not help but notice that Ronnie had shed his raincoat and was now wearing a tux himself. He looked good in it and moved gracefully, not at all like Harry at the senior prom.

  Ronnie acted as if he had attended formal parties like this before — many times. Then she noticed that he didn't exactly seem to be poor himself. After all, this dress that he had purchased for her looked elegant and expensive.

  Bianca's new gown was a pink-sequin creation with a low V-neck that showed off her cleavage and was all held up by only two thin straps. The dress fitted closely and was decorated with beads. The decorations created a floral design in front. The hem was asymmetrical — shorter in the front and longer in the back like a train. She was carrying a matching evening bag and was wearing pink leather sandals with sequined straps.

  Ronnie acted as if he knew everybody. Many of the interns were from foreign countries — England, France, Italy, Japan and Latin America. Bianca couldn't count all the languages that she heard being spoken. Interns from the United States appeared to be in the minority.

  Even more amazing, Ronnie moved from group to group with surprising ease. He talked a little German, a little French and a lot of Spanish. He even seemed to speak another language fluently, one that sounded a lot like Spanish but wasn't quite it. He was conversing with other interns whose name tags said "Brazil".

  Ronnie poured her a glass of wine and told Bianca to just stand there beside him. If she didn't feel like saying anything, she was to act like a statue.

  "Above all, don't fidget!" Ronnie hissed into her ear right before he launched into a long discussion in Portuguese with three Brazilian interns in tuxes.