Chapter 4 - THE ROSARY
“Don’t move,” June whispered, her voice cracking with terror.
The young maid stood in the doorway, her hands shaking violently as she gripped one of the heavy black pistols from Malcolm’s armory. She wasn’t aiming it at Malcolm. She was aiming it directly at my chest.
“June, what are you doing?” I gasped, instinctively stepping in front of Malcolm and the little boy in the shadows.
“I’m sorry, Sarah. I’m so sorry,” June sobbed, tears cutting tracks through the dust on her cheeks. “Tommy told me to guard the basement. He said if I let anyone past, he’d send men to my mother’s house. You know what he does to people! I can’t let him hurt my family.”
Behind me, little Leo stepped forward. He was perhaps six years old, with huge, terrified blue eyes and a shock of messy blonde hair. In his small hands, he was clutching a beautiful, antique silver rosary, the beads clicking softly together as his tiny fingers worked them in panic.
Malcolm slumped heavily against the concrete wall, his strength failing rapidly. “June,” he gasped, his voice barely a rasp. “Tommy is going to kill you anyway. You’re a loose end.”
“Shut up!” June cried, waving the gun frantically.
I kept my eyes on June, but my mind was racing. I noticed something glinting on her wrist. It was a brand new, heavy gold charm bracelet. It looked completely out of place on a maid who struggled to afford bus fare.
“He bought you, didn’t he?” I said, my voice steady despite the adrenaline roaring in my ears. “He didn’t just threaten your mother. He paid you.”
June flinched, looking down at the bracelet as if it had suddenly caught fire. That split second of guilt was all the opening I needed.
“He’s lying to you, June,” I said softly, taking a slow step forward. “If he kills Mr. Rook tonight, the police will tear this house apart. Tommy will need a fall guy. A desperate maid with a sudden influx of cash and a stolen gun? You’re not his guard, June. You’re his scapegoat.”
The color drained from June’s face. She looked at the gun in her hands as if she had never seen it before.
“I… I didn’t know he poisoned him,” she whispered, lowering the weapon slightly. “He just said Mr. Rook was sick, and that you were trying to steal from him.”
“Help us,” I pleaded. “I need to get to the medical supply room for the antidote.”
June shook her head frantically, backing away into the hall. “I can’t. I can’t be a part of this. I’m leaving.”
She dropped the gun on the concrete floor with a heavy thud, turned, and sprinted down the corridor, disappearing into the darkness.
I exhaled a shaky breath and rushed to pick up the weapon. It was terrifyingly heavy. I tucked it into the waistband of my apron, praying I wouldn't have to figure out how to use it.
I turned back to Malcolm. He had slid down the wall and was sitting on the floor, his breathing agonizingly shallow. Little Leo was kneeling beside him, pressing the silver rosary into Malcolm’s trembling hand.
“Mommy said this keeps the monsters away,” Leo whispered.
Malcolm smiled weakly, a heartbreaking expression on his hardened face. “She was right, buddy. Thank you.”
I looked closer at the rosary. The silver cross was slightly bent, the edges scuffed with deep scratches, as if it had been dragged across asphalt.
“Where did you get that, Leo?” I asked gently.
“It was Mommy’s,” the boy said, his lower lip trembling. “She was holding it in the car when the man broke it.”
I froze. “What man, honey?”
Leo looked up at me, his blue eyes hauntingly clear. “The bad man with the gold watch. He bumped our car off the bridge. Mommy gave me this and pushed me out the window into the bushes before the car went into the water.”
My blood ran cold. The hit-and-run that killed Malcolm’s daughter wasn’t an accident. Tommy had murdered her. He had been trying to wipe out Malcolm’s entire bloodline to secure his takeover.
“I’ll kill him,” Malcolm growled, a sudden, terrifying surge of dark energy flooding his voice. “I’ll tear his heart out.”
But the anger was too much for his poisoned system. His eyes rolled back, and he slumped sideways, unconscious.
“Grandpa!” Leo screamed.
“Shh, Leo, it’s okay!” I grabbed the boy’s shoulders. “I’m going to get his medicine. You have to stay here and stay quiet. Don’t make a sound, no matter what you hear. Do you understand?”
Leo nodded bravely, tears spilling over his cheeks.
I grabbed Mrs. Birch’s keys and sprinted down the hallway toward the estate’s private medical wing. The door was locked, but the blue-dotted key turned the deadbolt perfectly.
I pushed the door open. The room was sterile and cold, lined with glass cabinets. I found the small refrigerator labeled Cold Storage in the corner. I ripped it open. Dozens of vials stared back at me.
Universal counteragent.
I frantically scanned the labels until I found a small box marked with a red cross and military lettering. Inside was a pre-loaded auto-injector syringe filled with a clear blue liquid.
“Thank God,” I breathed, snatching the injector.
I turned to run back to Malcolm, but I stopped dead in my tracks.
The heavy steel door to the medical room swung shut with a loud, metallic clang.
Through the small reinforced glass window in the door, I saw Tommy Marlow’s smirking face. He was holding the exterior lock in place.
May you like
He didn’t just lock me in.
He raised a heavy, red steel canister. A gasoline can. And as I watched in absolute horror, Tommy began pouring fuel all over the bottom of the door and the hallway carpet outside.
