Chapter 2
Louella was surprise to see how tired she got now. Just by going up the stairs...
Being pregnant had changed her so much...
She touched her expanded belly. It was getting bigger and bigger by the day... Bigger and more cumbersome.
She felt guilty thinking those things about the tiny baby growing inside her. She shouldn't...
She was becoming more and more irritable too. She tried not to, but she could not help it. And Willie's fussing did not help...
Pregnant women were supposed to be calm and happy about their condition. Glowing...
She did not feel like glowing. She felt... frightened...
And she had to go to the bathroom... again...
Buffy counted the bills before giving them to Derek.
"That should be enough" she said "for now".
"You have to keep going. You have to establish yourself as a regular at the racetracks. And you got to loses a few times too."
"Lose?"
"I have a plant, to get good money for both of us."
"An illegal way?" Buffy's hair stood on end... she did not want to be arrested.
"Not illegal, not." Derek lied. Well, at least there was no law against it, yet.
Buffy sighed. "I do not want to get arrested." she said.
She should not have gotten involved with a compulsive gambler. They had warned her. And now he was trying for the big score, with her as an accomplice.
"I don't want to. The sheriff knows that I place bets. So does Barnabas. They don't know yet who is my partner. But they'll find out... and.. we are going to get caught."
Derek saw that she meant it. That she wanted to pull out.;
He could not replace her so easily. And his plan would come to nothing. He felt angry. How dare she pull out? What was the matter with her? Didn't she know a sure thing?
Buffy rose. "I am sorry, but I don't want any more of this."
He caught her arm "Wait!"
She tried to shake him off, but he held her firmly.
"You have to listen" he insisted.
She tried to pry his fingers loose by using her free hand, but could not. "Let me go!" she protested.
He caught her other hand and made her face him. Suddenly Buffy's anger turned to fear. His face... he looked so much like Barnabas did in the few occasions when she had seen him angry... Derek's voice had the same sibilant quality.
Derek knew what should happen next. A quick nip at the throat, bending her to his will. He pulled his lips not caring for the kicks that Buffy was aiming to his shins.
He was halfway to her throat when he regained his sanity.
...He had never done anything like that. He had tried with Sabrina and failed miserably. No, he could talk people into a lot of things, but forcing them was another matter.
The only time he had been able to,, had been when Nicholas had him in his power.
He released Buffy, ashamed of himself.
"I am sorry" he admitted to her "I shouldn't have lost my head like that. But this is important to me. Can I confide in you, Miss Harrington?"
Fear had given way to amazement in her, and then curiosity. She didn't speak, but the nod of her head was encouragement enough.
He told her about the boat, about the Russian émigrés turning rum runners and how their boat had been sunk in a battle with a rival gang. How they had Crown jewels on them when that happened...
"They are still there, Miss Harrington." he said with fervor. "Nobody believes me when I say there are Russian Crown Jewels at the bottom of the sea. But they are there, waiting to be picked up."
"But..."
"I know. You don't believe they are there. Well, I am not asking you to put money in it. I only want you to help me make enough money to go look for them myself."
"Help you make that kind of money" At the racetrack?""
"That's where my scheme comes along. I have it all planned."
"And what is this plan you talk about? Does in involve doping the horses?"
"It does not. They can run all the tests on the horses they want, and they will find no foreign substances there."
"So how you plan to do it?"
"You have to keep silent about it. Secrecy is imperative"
"Well, you tell me and if it makes sense, I will go along, and say nothing of it."
"Fair enough."
There was singing going on outside, but David would not go out to look what it was. He sat in front of the fireplace, watching the flames with fascination.
He hadn't seen an open fire like this ever since he had moved to the dorm. Central heating was the norm here and having lived for a while in the Old House, he had decided he had had his fill of fireplaces.
Only now, on this party, her realized how beautiful fireplaces were.
Fireplaces used to be beautiful when he was a boy. Collinwood was a gloomy place. Not dark, gloomy. The Old House was cold, damp, and dark, but it was cheerful now. Collinwood had never been that to him.
For a long time, the only good memories of Collinwood that he had were of him by the fireplace, in his mother's arms.
...His mother. How long had it been? He had not thought. of her in ages. And now the memories came to him.
...His mother... The way she would hold him in her arms, sign to him, tell him stories. And he would fall asleep, cuddled in her arms.
"My baby, my sweet baby. Isn't the fire beautiful? Don't you like watching it?"
He shook himself... For a moment it was as if he had heard her voice...
But she was dead. She had burned in that fire as Vicky pulled him to safety.
He looked at the flames again. And he could not rid himself of the feeling that the flames were looking back at him.
It was time to start planning for the annual costume party, Barnabas thought, the one he gave around this time of the year. But this time he wanted something special.
Well, since it was an election year, he might give a costume party with a political theme. There should be enough material, like Bonzo looking for his former co-star. Or the Ayatollah. Or Brother Billy (He figured that Willie would be a natural for that one). Not to mention ABSCAM. All it would take would be sheets and some phony badges.
As for him, he would just put on a Nixon mask and give everyone some blessed relief from his Unknown Comic routines.
So was he, making plants when Zeb's arrival pulled him back to reality.
"I am sorry to call in this late." Zeb said ":but I had to see you."
"Well, I keep odd hours myself, so no harm was done."
The resemblance jumped at him. How come he had not seen it the first time? "What is bothering you?"
"Julia, Dr. Hoffman, I mean." Zeb rubbed his chilled fingers moving closer to the fireplace, which caused Barnabas to stoke the fire.
"What is it that worries you about her?"
"Am I imagining things or is she reacting strangely to me?"
"Well, Julia strikes people as eccentric, specially those who do not know her well." it was a lame excuse, all right.
"I think that it is more than eccentricity. I am the only one to whom she reacts that way. She does not react the same way to Jessica. With her, there is no problem."
"And what would you say the problem is?"
"She makes excuses not to have to see me. She always manages to be too busy."
"Well, she is a busy woman..."
"It is more than that. When we finally get together, she avoids talking to me, and then, at the first excuse, tries to get away.
Barnabas closed his eyes in pain. For all practical purposes, Julia was shouting a confession to Zeb. How long would it be before Zeb put two and two together?
He looked at Zeb again. What could he do? He could not bring himself to harm Zeb, even without his promise to Dave... but still there was Julia to consider.
Bitterly he realized that it is easy to be self-sacrificing when you are the only one being sacrificed. Involve someone else and it become impossible.
He realized that he had closed his fists, that some part of him wanted to strangle Zeb.
He made his hand s relax and beat down the irrational urge in him.
"I can't understand why it should be so...unless... did you say anything to her to get her upset?" He did not know if he was throwing Zeb off the track or giving him new clues.
"No. I don't think so." Zeb's brow furrowed as he tried to remember.
"Sometimes it is difficult to tell these things. And offhand remark by you might be all it took."
"I can't imagine what that could be. Unless it had to do with my uncle. I said that I didn't know why she and Uncle Dave never married. I don't see why that should bother her, but evidently it did."
"Well, Julia was close to your uncle. And then, when he died,, it was very sudden.."
"Yes. It was sudden. A heart attack."
Barnabas ground his teeth and went on with his lie. "She had had an argument with him, just before he died. I understand that it was quite bitter. They said things to each other that they should not have said. So, when he died, she blamed herself." he sighed "the problem with heart attacks is that you don't know how much an argument can bring it about., so Julia has been blaming herself for his death ever since."
"I see... And my showing up brought it all back to her?"
"Yes. it probably did."