IN THE DARK, page 4
Jane nodded. She liked Brace’s interpretation of the note. It agreed with her own view of it.
“To encourage your participation, he writes ‘You’ll be glad you did.’ That’s a hint that there’s more money waiting for you up ahead. The guy keeps his promises, doesn’t he?”
“He came through with the money. I’m not sure how glad I am about it, though.”
“Glad enough to continue playing.”
“I guess so.”
“Okay, the second note congratulates you. ‘You’ve taken your first, minor step on the road to fun and riches. More is waiting.’”
“So there’s a lot more money ahead.”
“But to get it, you may need to take some major steps.”
“I can quit any time I want to, right?”
“That’s sure how it looks.”
She laughed softly, and without any humor. “It’s crazy. Why’s he doing it? And why me?”
“He doesn’t say.”
This time, she had humor in her laugh. “I know that, dingus.”
“Why do you think he’s doing it?”
“Who knows?” she said. “He’s probably just a harmless twit with nothing better to do.”
“Might be.”
“I guess just about anything is possible. But I’ll never find out what’s going on if I quit now. And I’ll miss out on all those riches. You, too.”
“The riches are for you,” Brace said.
“I’ll share.” She smiled and shrugged. “I’d probably quit right now if I had to go it alone. How about this: whatever we find tonight at midnight, we’ll split fifty-fifty?”
“The money doesn’t matter to me.”
“Really? What are you, already rich?”
“Oh, not hardly. It doesn’t concern me, though.”
“What does concern you?”
“You.”
That one knocked most of Jane’s breath out. Her face felt crimson. “What do you mean?” she asked. Her voice sounded strange to her, muted and husky.
A corner of Brace’s mouth tilted upward. “I’d rather be your friend than your business associate.”
“You won’t take anything?”
The other side of his mouth tilted up. “Your undying gratitude will be sufficient recompense, my dear.”
She broke into laughter.
Brace grinned and drank his coffee.
After Jane had settled down, he said, “The thing now is to decipher the clue. ‘At midnight, horse around.’”
“I don’t suppose he means the obvious.”
“The obvious?” Brace asked.
“You know, horse around. Like monkey around, goof around, mess around, screw around.”
“We might try it and see if an envelope turns up.”
Jane knew she was blushing. She tried to laugh. “Hey, come on.”
“I’m sorry. Forget I said that, okay? Anyway, I think you’re right. The sort of horsing around that you’re referring to is an activity, and he’s probably trying to give you a location.”
“Someplace where there’s a horse,” Jane said.
“I don’t imagine he’s trying to send you into the countryside to hunt out stables or a farm. This horse is probably here in town someplace.”
“And not necessarily a real horse,” Jane added. “Maybe just a place with ‘horse’ in its name, like the White Horse Inn, or… we could check the telephone directory and see what we can find.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to hit the reference sources just yet. I think I might know where he wants you to go.”
CHAPTER FOUR
After leaving Ezra’s, they walked back to the library parking lot. “Why don’t we take my car?” Brace said. “No point in both of us driving.”
“Fine,” Jane said, and followed him toward an old Ford near the end of the lot.
She felt jittery. Climbing into a car with Brace might be a big mistake. She’d decided to risk it, however, even before he had made the suggestion.
Because she agreed with his theory that the campus statue was probably where they would find the envelope. The campus was two miles from Ezra’s, a fairly long walk but a quick drive, and she could think of no good reason to insist that they go in separate cars.
Only one reason existed: climbing into Brace’s car would amount to surrendering control to him. If he turned out not to be the good guy he seemed, Jane could be letting herself in for a world of pain.
She wanted to trust him, though. She liked him, and hated the idea that he might be a threat.
Also, she figured there was at least one logical reason to trust him: if he had evil intentions, he could’ve nailed her earlier, when they were upstairs together in the library’s stacks. A perfect place for an assault, but he’d behaved just fine.
There’s no reason not to trust him, she reminded herself as she waited for Brace to unlock the passenger door.
Except for the fact that he’s a guy.
He opened the door, then ducked in and began to clear the seat of books, magazines, file folders, and loose papers. “We could take my car,” Jane suggested.
“No, that’s all right. This’ll just take a minute.”
“You aren’t used to passengers, huh?”
“Sort of a loner.”
Oh, that’s a wonderful sign.
She surprised herself by saying, “Oh, great. I’m about to get in the car with a loner.”
“Don’t be afraid, my pretty.”
“Very funny.”
“Sorry.” He stepped backward with the materials clutched to his chest. “Could you open that?” he asked, nodding at the rear door.
She opened it. Brace leaned in and dumped his collection onto the back seat. “All set,” he said. He gestured for her to sit in the passenger seat.
Jane climbed in, and he shut the door for her. While he walked around the front, she leaned over and unlocked the driver’s door. He pulled it open and climbed in.
“Excited?” he asked.
“A little, maybe. Mostly just nervous.”
He started the car, put on the headlights, and began backing out of the parking space. Jane pulled the safety harness down across her chest and lap. She latched its buckle into place by her hip, then wondered if she might be safer without it. If she needed to make a quick getaway…
Hey, cut it out. I’m trusting him, remember?
“I hope it’s where it’s supposed to be,” Brace said.
“What do you mean?”
“The statue. I haven’t actually seen it since the thing was banished from the quad. I know where they originally put it, but who knows?” The headlights swept across the rear of Jane’s parked car, then left it in darkness. She turned her head. Her little Dodge Dart looked dreary sitting all by itself in the lot.
“How long ago did they get rid of it?” she asked.
“Ah… three years ago? Right, three. I was one year away from tenure, so the administration threatened to give me the bounce if I didn’t shut up about it.” He checked the street, then pulled out, turning right. “I didn’t shut up about it. They kept me, anyway. They kept the statue, too, but safely tucked out of sight so it wouldn’t offend anyone.”
“If they found it so offensive, why didn’t they melt it down, or something?”
“They almost did. There were suggestions that it should be destroyed and recast into a giant peace symbol, for one thing. Fortunately, the sculptor was an alumnus. Also, there were a few of us who argued that history might be unkind to those who went around destroying works of art because a ludicrous political trend happened to make the subject matter unpopular. They finally compromised and hid it. Just hope it’s still there. It’s possible that the statue was moved or destroyed or something after the controversy finally died down.”
“If that’s the case,” Jane said, “it obviously isn’t the horse we’re looking for.”
“It’s the most obvious one, though.”
“Not if it’s gone.”
Brace looked at her and nodded. “It’d better be the Crazy Horse statue. The only other horse I know about is in front of the Safeway market and goes up and down when a kid drops a quarter in its slot.”
“We might have to give that one a try.”
“Let’s hope we get lucky with the statue,” he said.
Brace parked on the street in front of Jefferson Hall, the humanities building. “This is about as close as we can get in the car,” he explained.
They climbed out.
“Where is it?” Jane asked.
“The other side of campus,” Brace said as they started walking. “Just this side of Mill Creek. There’s a fenced-in area where the maintenance crews keep equipment and things. That’s where it’s supposed to be. More than likely, it hasn’t gone anyplace. The thing’s a monster—took a construction crew with a giant crane to move it there in the first place.”
On their way through the campus, they encountered several students. Some were alone, while others walked with friends. All of them recognized Brace and spoke to him. Some even stopped and chatted.
“You’re pretty popular around here,” Jane said as they reached the far side of the quad.
“It’s you they’re curious about.”
“So I noticed.”
“Hope you’ll forgive the fellows who drooled.”
She laughed. “Nobody drooled. A couple of those gals looked ready to kill me, though.”
“You’ll be okay. Just don’t turn your back on them.”
She looked behind her. The students who’d stopped and talked were no longer in sight. Nobody seemed to be nearby, or approaching, or watching from a distance. “I wonder where he is,” she said.
Brace turned around. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the walkways and trees and shadows.
“He must be watching,” Jane said. “He must be. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
“I don’t know.”
“He must be watching.”
“He wasn’t in the stacks,” Brace reminded her.
“He might’ve been. You know? Just because we didn’t find him doesn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t there. Maybe he had a good hiding place.”
“It’s possible, I guess.”
“You’re not him, right?”
Smiling, Brace raised his right hand. “Honest Injun.”
“Oooo. I heard that.”
“Sorry. I’m evil—the demon who thought it wasn’t a sin to call our team the Warchiefs.”
“I don’t think that’s so bad. Warchiefs. It’s not like calling them the Redskins, you know? But I’m not so sure about Crazy Horse as a mascot.”
“He was great. You should’ve seen him, galloping down the sidelines at the football games. And the statue… it’s magnificent. You’ll see.”
“Hope so.”
“We’re almost there,” Brace said. He left the walkway and walked on the grass, leading Jane toward the side of a low building.
Though Jane had been on campus a few times, she had never done much serious exploring of the university grounds. She was aware of the wooded area behind the buildings on the western side of the quad, but she’d never ventured into it.
You’re about to do it now, she told herself.
She didn’t much care for the idea.
Mill Creek was back there someplace.
She had probably noticed a few things from the park on the other side of the creek. Storage sheds? A greenhouse? She couldn’t really be sure what she’d seen. Mostly, she remembered seeing thickets and trees. She clearly remembered that the area had seemed desolate and gloomy.
“This is where the statue is?” she whispered, nodding toward the darkness ahead.
“Back behind the science building. Can’t see it from here.”
“Terrific.”
“Don’t worry.”
“You know what?” she whispered. “I’m not so sure we oughta keep going. I mean, it’s pretty stupid. We don’t know what this guy wants.”
Brace halted and turned to face her. She wished she could see his face. In the darkness, it looked like a gray smudge. He took hold of both her hands. “You don’t really want to quit, do you?”
“No, but… it’s getting scary again. We really should quit. It’s stupid not to.”
“I tell you what. Suppose I go on ahead and check out the statue?”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Go back to where the lights are and wait for me. You should be safe there.”
“And let you do the dirty work?”
“My pleasure, ma’am.”
“No way. What if it’s some sort of a trap?”
“All the more reason…”
“Oh, sure. I can’t let you get hurt, or something, on account of me.”
“Should we give it all up?”
“No, but…”
Brace squeezed her hands. “Let’s go ahead, then. Money or not, it’d be a shame to come all the way out here and not get to see Crazy Horse. Especially since I risked my job to save him from oblivion.”
“Okay.”
He let go of one hand, but held on to the other as he turned around and led Jane deeper into the trees behind the building. Her heart was pounding very hard.
Nothing’s going to happen, she told herself. We’ll find the envelope or we won’t, and that’ll be it. Nobody’s going to ambush us.
In a loud voice that trembled only slightly, Jane announced, “If any shit does go down, the game is over. I’ll quit. End of his fun with me. So he’d better think twice before he pulls anything cute.”
“That’s telling him,” Brace said.
“I meant every word of it.”
“Do you think he’s near enough to hear what you said?”
She felt a tremor slide up her spine. “Jeez, I sure hope not.”
Brace laughed softly.
“I’m glad you find me amusing. Maybe I should hire out for parties.”
“If you want to know the truth,” he said, “I think this whole business is great. It’s like you and I have teamed up for a treasure-hunting adventure. There’s mystery, suspense, excitement, untold riches in the offing, the possibility of danger and romance… It’s wonderful, in a way.”
Possibility of romance?
With me?
Who do you think he means?
Jane blushed. She was glad that Brace couldn’t see it in the darkness.
“If he murders us under the statue of Crazy Horse tonight,” she said, “we can die happy in the knowledge that he gave us a few such precious moments.”
She heard Brace laugh again.
Then he halted. Jane stepped closer to his side. She felt his arm brush against her. “The light’s off,” he whispered.
“What?”
“There’s supposed to be a spotlight on the gate. For security.”
“Where?”
He pointed straight ahead. Squinting through the darkness, Jane found a vague shape that she supposed might be a high, chainlink fence beyond the trunks of several trees. She couldn’t see through the fence. Nor could she see a gate.
“That’s where the statue is?” she asked. “In there?”
“That’s where they put it.”
“Are you sure there’s supposed to be a light?”
“It’s always on at night. I mean, I don’t keep track of it, but I’ve seen it often enough when I’ve been around campus after dark. You can see it from the quad when you walk past the science building.”
“And tonight it’s out.”
“I don’t see a light, do you?”
“No.”
“I’d say our friend has been here,” Brace said.
“Yeah,” Jane muttered. “And added a little darkness to the game.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“How are we going to get in?” Jane asked as they approached the fence.
It reminded her of fences she had sometimes seen around tennis courts: as high as a one-story building and draped on the inside with tarps.
“I can’t climb over that,” she said.
“Sure you can.”
“Well, I’m not going to.”
He laughed. “Me neither. But there might be another way to get in.”
They passed a corner of the enclosure, and walked along the front. Here, moonlight found its way through breaks in the trees. It showed broad, double gates at the center of the fence, and a lane of asphalt that led away toward the quad. Fixed high on the fence was the spotlight Brace had mentioned. It was apparently aimed down at the asphalt directly in front of the gates. A curve of its fixture glowed with moonlight, but its bulb was dark.
“Might’ve just burnt out,” Brace said as they walked closer to the gates.
“I bet he climbed up there and unscrewed it a little.”
“Whatever, it’s just as well. I wouldn’t want to be fooling around back here with that light shining on us.”
Jane had hoped the gates would give her a view inside the fenced area, but now she saw that they, too, were hung with tarps. “Somebody sure doesn’t want people looking in,” she muttered.
“It’s probably to avoid tempting the students.” Brace stepped toward the padlocked chain that was wrapped around the center posts of the gates, binding them together. He crouched slightly and lifted the padlock. Then he began studying the chain. “The last thing the college needs is for some guys to break in and boost a tractor mower or some Porta-potties, or… all right!” He moved his hands together, and the chain parted.
“How…?”
“Someone clipped one of the links.”
“I wonder who.”
Unwinding the chain, Brace said, “Maybe he figured you’d give up if you had to climb over the fence.”
“He was right.”
Brace let the chain and padlock fall to the ground. He pulled at the gate on the right, and it swung toward him. “Just slip in,” he whispered.
Jane hesitated. “Could we go to jail for this?”
“Only if we’re caught.”
“I mean it.”
“We’ll be all right. For one thing, we aren’t the ones who cut the chain. For another, I’m on the faculty. I’d have some explaining to do, that’s all. Probably.”
