LIFERS Chapter Twenty Six

Celia returned to the morning room in a pair of black canvas pants and a blue polo-neck jumper under a three-quarter length white canvas jacket, and her soft white plimsolls had been replaced by a sturdy pair of walking shoes. Larry, after being badgered into it by Brenda, had agreed to Celia’s terms of keeping the police out of the situation, but once they found Gregg, and, with any luck, one or more of the missing girls, all bets were off.

Brenda and Larry were on the back seat of Celia’s silver Bentley with Celia in the front passenger seat, and, after he chauffeured her door closed, Mason also climbed in. At the front gates he pressed a button in the dashboard and the gates swung open.

Celia had already said how long it would take to get to Martinsville, but Larry felt the need to have it confirmed. ‘How long before we get there, Mason?’

‘Two hours, Mister Kessler, give or take a few minutes.’

Give or take a few minutes? Why’s that? The weather? The car? The driver? Or was he thinking of stopping along the way so Larry could have that cigarette he couldn’t get an ashtray for?

Celia turned to her driver. ‘Call at the lake, Mason, I want to check on Marianna.’

‘Certainly, Miss Brontrose.’

When they reached the bottom of the hill and turned right, Larry caught a sign that told him they were on Greenview Lake Road. A minute later the lake in all its glory came in to view, but when they pulled up at the Marianna II’s jetty, they found the forty-footer still at her mooring.

Larry saw Mason and Miss Brontrose exchange a glance just before she climbed out to walk along the gangplank. Larry and Brenda also climbed out, but remained by the car.

Larry looked over the Bentley to see something across the other side of the parking lot, something he never expected to find there. He gave his head an upward nod and nudged Brenda with his elbow.

‘Do you see what I see?’

Brenda turned. ‘Well now, that’s an intriguing twist of fate if ever there was one.’

‘Intriguing, yes,’ Larry said, heading for a blue Ford with a red trunk lid. ‘Though I doubt fate has anything to do with it, Bren.’

Brenda checked her stride to keep up. ‘How do you mean?’

‘Well according to the time and Miss Brontrose, the Marianna II should already be out on the water by now, only it isn’t. And if Marianna was here, then her car would also be here, but it’s not, yet the car that Mister Roccossa said he saw Alicia being bundled into, is.’

‘Which means?’

‘Which means Marianna has been taken along with her car.’

‘But why Marianna? She’s hardly a teenager.’

‘Perhaps it’s revenge for those rotten eggs you mentioned.’

As they reached the blue Ford, Larry pulled out his handkerchief to open the doors but they were locked. He then noticed brass nameplates fastened to a five-foot-high stone wall in front of the car; he pointed them out to Brenda. Each of the first ten parking slots had them. The nameplate before the blue Ford read: “Miss M. Brontrose.”

‘It looks like they parked here and waited for Marianna to turn up,’ said Brenda.

Larry nodded. ‘And when she found this car in her spot, she probably got out and asked very nicely if they could move it, which gave them the perfect opportunity to take her and her car.’

Neither heard Celia arrive behind them. ‘What is it, Mister Kessler?’

Larry gave Brenda a quick look before he spoke. ‘We think Marianna’s been kidnapped.’

Celia inclined her head, raised an eyebrow. ‘Kidnapped?’

‘Yes. This car’s been seen at a number of locations where young girls have gone missing, including the girl we’re looking for.’

‘If that’s so, why is the car still here?’

‘Because they took your daughters car.’

Without hesitation, Celia walked around to the driver’s side and punched out the window with a bare fist. She pushed her head inside and Larry saw how she breathed in the interior’s odour. Then, after pulling out again, she beckoned to Mason who stood beside the Bentley.

‘It seems you’re correct, Mister Kessler,’ she told him.

Larry again took his handkerchief and this time reached in to unlock the door, and as he did, a putrid, decayed smell, filled his nostrils. He then opened out the handkerchief and placed it over his nose and mouth.

First he pulled down both visors but found nothing other than a card for a breakdown/towing company. Next he opened the glove-box, and bingo, just what he was looking for. Inside were a fistful of unpaid parking tickets along with the usual bits people tend to hoard in glove boxes, sunglasses, loose napkins, and the odd sachet of tomato ketchup. But it was another item that caught Larry’s attention. He climbed from the car and passed it to Celia.

‘I found this in the glove-box,’ he said.

When Celia took the photograph of Marianna from him, Larry noticed droplets of blood had seeped from small nicks around her knucklees. He gave her the handkerchief which she thanked him for and used before she scrunched it and slipped it into her pocket. When Larry looked again, he saw no visible sign of trauma. Her skin had simply healed itself in those few seconds.

When Mason pulled up at their rear and climbed out, Celia held up the photograph. ‘They have her, Mason.’

‘Well,’ he said, opening her door. ‘We best be off.’

Celia turned to Larry. ‘Open the trunk, Mister Kessler; I think you’ll find something of interest to you in there.’

Larry leaned in the car to pull a lever and pop the trunk. At the same time, Brenda took the two small steps required to get between Celia and the open door of the Bentley.

‘Not leaving without us are you?’ she said.

‘As you obviously haven’t grasped the severity of this whole situation, Miss Wise, I’ll spell it out for you. My daughter has been taken by people you know very little about and how to handle even less. Again I cannot stress to you how precious Marianna is, not only to me, but to those who now have her. And I intend to get to her as quickly as I possibly can. I have neither the time nor the patience to wait around while you and Mister Kessler decide what it is you are going to do with that,’ she said, and pointed into the open trunk.

Larry stood at the rear of the blue Ford with his right arm raised as though holding the trunk lid open. Brenda looked over to see the body of a young man around seventeen or eighteen with bite marks on both wrists, she turned back to Celia.

‘How did you know to look in the trunk, Miss Brontrose?’

Celia turned. ‘That’s something else the stem cells felt could be of some importance to us, the ability to detect the odour of blood, whether inside or outside the body.’

‘Well how did you know it wasn’t Marianna in there?’

‘Because Ella needs what’s inside Marianna for what she has planned,’ Celia replied, and again moved for the Bentley. And again Brenda stopped her.

Larry said, ‘Are you saying it was Marianna’s grandmother who ordered her abduction?’

‘Yes, Mister Kessler, that’s exactly what I’m saying, because you were correct in your earlier assumption. I did send contaminated blood out to them. I wanted to wipe them out, every last one of them, even Hal, my brother. I saw it as doing them and the rest of humanity a huge favour. But Ella has discovered what I was up to and now she wants to turn things around. And with the help of Marianna’s blood, that’s exactly what will happen.’

‘But what about the cell regeneration stuff?’ Larry said.

Celia gave him an impatient frown. ‘And what about it?’

‘If the journal’s right, wouldn’t the stem cells destroy any contamination they found?’

‘Of course they would, but only if it came from an external contaminant. You see, Mister Kessler, you’re overlooking the very same problem my father overlooked more than seventy years ago. Cancer, it’s already part of our bodies. The immune system doesn’t see it as the enemy which is the reason why it’s allowed to spread freely. In fact, the stem cells he created would increase the speed of the infection even more.’

‘So you contaminated the blood you sent with Leukaemia,’ Brenda said. ‘You literally sent them a Trojan horse?’

‘Correct, Miss Wise, every last drop of the blood I gave them had been contaminated with Acute Myelogenous Leukaemia cells. It’s fast acting and nearly always fatal. Any of them ingesting it would be on a downward spiral to a painful end.’

‘But how would you get hold of such an amount of Leukaemia cells?’ asked Larry. ‘Surely not all the blood you treat comes to you that contaminated?’

‘No, of course it doesn’t, I grew the cells from a single batch, cultivated and nurtured them, and to make sure they received the infected blood, I delivered it to them myself. Now, I’ve wasted enough of my time here, are you coming with me or not?’

‘No one is going anywhere, Miss Brontrose,’ Larry said. ‘In case you’d forgotten, we have a dead boy on our hands here.’

‘No, Mister Kessler,’ insisted Celia, and this time managing to get into the Bentley. ‘You have a dead boy on your hands, but I have a live girl I need to rescue. Go, Mason, now.’ she barked, and slammed the door.

The Bentley sped off in a cloud of blue smoke and dust, but it hadn’t gotten far before Larry took out his gun and fired a shot that punctured the left rear tire. He re-holstered the gun under his jacket and walked over to the car as Celia rolled down her window.

‘That was very foolish of you, Mister Kessler. All you’ve succeeded in is to delay me.’

Mason popped the trunk; he climbed out and gave Larry the evil-eye as he past him. He draped his jacket over the roof of the car and began taking out the spare wheel. That’s when Larry noticed Mason was also armed; like any bodyguard would be.

‘But like you said, Miss Brontrose. Marianna’s safe; it’s only her blood they want.’

‘You really don’t get it do you, Mister Kessler?’ she said.

‘Then tell me what it is I don’t get.’

‘When I wrote in my father’s journal about Marianna not suffering bruises or abrations, I didn’t mean simple bumps, scratches and scrapes, I meant that Marianna’s skin is practically impenetrable, even to the sharpest of knives. And that’s what Martins was trying to create all those years ago, instantaneous regeneration of the cells. So when any of Marianna’s cells thinks about dying, there’s another one already taking its place. Now do I really need to spell out to you what will happen once he replicates what she has? Once he dishes them out to his minions?’

Larry shrugged. ‘They become like Marianna?’

‘Precisely, and when they do, they’ll still crave blood.’

‘And that means?’

‘That means Marianna’s stem cells will make them even more unstoppable than they already are, and I’m talking almost invincible, and they won’t be tied down to only Martinsville. So now do you see why there’s a need for urgency?’

‘Yes, but that doesn’t alter what’s happened here.’

Celia sighed, her patience all but gone. ‘Okay, Mister Kessler, what is it you want from me?’

‘For myself I want nothing, for the boy in that trunk, all I want is to do what’s morally right. Like Marianna, he too has a mother, who, like you, will be just as worried for his safety.’

Celia paused a moment. ‘Very well, I will leave Mason here to report this incident and deal with the police; you and Miss Wise can come with me to Martinsville. Does that classify as what you think is morally right?’

Larry looked sideways at Mason as he jacked up the car then back to Celia. ‘I have a better idea. Mason can remain here if you so choose, but Brenda also stays. Don’t get me wrong, Miss Brontrose, it’s not that I don’t trust Mason, I’m sure he’d be very helpful to the police. It’s just that I don’t trust Mason quite as much as I trust Brenda.’

‘Very well, Mister Kessler, have it your way. They can both stay with the dead boy and we will go to Martinsville.’

Larry nodded then returned to Brenda by the Ford.

‘What’s happening, Larry?’

‘Miss Brontrose and I are going on to Martinsville, I need you to stay with the boy and report it to the police.’

‘And Mason?’

‘He stays too.’

Brenda looked over at Mason as he crouched by the Bentley. ‘Okay, but as soon as you get there you give me a call.’

..

Celia stood behind Mason as he changed the wheel. She looked over at Kessler and Wise who chatted as they in turn looked in her direction. ‘…and after you’ve disposed of both their bodies, Mason, get rid of that fucking blue car and Kessler’s car up at the house. Can I trust you’ll be able to handle that?’

‘Yes, ma’am, it won’t be a problem. Should I contact you when I’m done?’ he said, pushing on the spare.

‘No, Mason. That will not be necessary. Now, how long before I can leave?’

‘Almost done, ma’am,’ he replied.

..

Larry took hold of Brenda’s upper arms. ‘Don’t worry, as soon as we get there you’ll get that call, but are you sure you’re okay with this?’

‘Quite sure, Larry, what do you think Mason’s going to do, tie a rock to my ankles and toss me in the lake?’

Larry looked concerned. ‘Now I do.’

‘Just get going, and bring Gregg back, okay?’

Larry gave Brenda the keys to his car. ‘When you’ve finished here, go home. I’ll call you when we get there and again when we’re on our way back.’

They both looked to see Celia stood over Mason, her lips moved but neither of them could hear what was said.

‘I don’t trust either of them, Bren.’

‘I’ll be okay, Larry, stop worrying. And when you do get back, I’m cooking dinner for two … at your place.’

Larry smiled. ‘I’m already looking forward to it,’ he said, then kissed her cheek and walked away.

‘Larry.’

‘Yes?’

‘Tell me what it is about Gregg you’re keeping from me.’

He came back. ‘How did you know?’

‘I’ve had the feeling since we first left Richmond. But what sealed itwas you targeting the back of Mason’s head for those two seconds before you lowered your aim and took out the tire. And you’d only consider taking that first shot if the situation was desperate. Is Gregg’s situation that desperate?’

‘You know me that well?’ he said.

‘Spill, Larry.’

He looked again at Celia and Mason who still talked in hushed tones. ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘Before I left my apartment to come to yours, I finally got through to Gregg’s phone, but it wasn’t Gregg who answered.’

‘So who was it?’

‘I don’t know. I heard a voice shout for help just before the phone went dead. It was female, young, probably late teens or early twenties. Then on the way to your place I tried him a few more times, and each time it went straight to voicemail.’

‘And you thought if you told me this I’d go all panicky and schitzoid on you?’

He shrugged.

‘Then it’s time you got to know me a little better, isn’t it?’

‘Well I can do that over dinner,’ he said, then walked over to the Bentley.

‘Take care, Larry,’ she called after him.

..

The spare had been fastened on and the damaged wheel locked in the trunk. Mason wet his hands with a small squirt bottle he took from inside the driver’s door and dried them before he removed his jacket from the roof and turned as Larry got to him.

‘Here are the keys, Mister Kessler. Miss Brontrose doesn’t drive so please take care and look after her.’

‘Miss Brontrose will be in very good hands, Mason.’

Mason smiled. ‘I was referring to the car, Mister Kessler; Miss Brontrose is more than capable of looking after herself, that, I can assure you of,’ he said, then walked over to where Brenda waited.

Mason watched as they disappeared down the lake road. Adios, Mister Kessler. He then turned to face the delectable Miss Wise, who’d just dialled the police to report the situation.

‘Yes hello, I need to report the discovery of a young man’s body at Gree─’

Mason snatched the phone from her and threw it over the Ford and the wall in front of it where it landed in thick bush.

‘Sorry, Miss Wise,’ he said, staring down at her. ‘But I’m afraid I can’t allow you to make that call.’