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18
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Mort took a taxi over to Bernie's place. He looked at the building across the street. It looked dark.
He leaned into the window of the taxi. "Give me a minute. I won't be long. You can take me onto Kennedy."
The Arabic taxi driver looked up at him. "No problem, sir."
Mort nodded and walked across the street to the building. He approached the door. The place seemed to be dark. But he was not about to give up. He needed the book back.
Mort cupped his hands over the door and looked through. He saw a faint glow from a light that was on in the store. That was something, at least.
He tried the door handle. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. Mort entered the dark building and looked around. Only Bernie's desk light was on. There was no sign of Bernie himself.
Mort listened intently, looked up at the top of the spiral staircase in the store, which was in shadow, and called in a low voice, "Bernie?"
There was no response. He listened some more, but there was nothing but the sound of a passing car. "Bernie?" He repeated. He made his way cautiously along the bookcases and rounded a corner, then stopped short with a look of horror on his face.
Bernie had been lashed upside down to the handrail of the spiral staircase. His mouth and eyes were open, and his battered face was streaked with blood.
Oh, no. Mort had seen this somewhere before. The book. Yes. There was an engraving in 'The Nine Gates' which portrayed this exact scene. Things were starting to get freaky now.
"Oh! Jesus!" Mort cried in horror at the sight of his poor dead friend.
Mort extended a hand toward Bernie, but the man was so obviously dead that he withdrew it. He looked around in an involuntary, apprehensive way, wondering if the killer had stuck around. But after seeing no one, he was satisfied that he was alone.
He started to climb the spiral staircase. Uh oh. He had to pass around Bernie's corpse. He didn't want to touch it.
Mort, with great effort, managed to slip around hanging Bernie, and he climbed faster. The staircase creaked and swayed.
He reached the third layer of bookshelves and stopped. Mort carefully grasped a hanging picture on the wall and pulled it away to reveal a hidden compartment in the wall, filled with priceless books. As he laid his eyes upon 'The Nine Gates', he let out a long breath of relief. There it was, safe and sound.
Mort walked out of the shop, across the street and back to the taxi. The taxi driver looked at him and saw the sad look Mort had upon his face. He offered a small smile to Mort. "No problem?" He asked. Mort slowly got into the taxi without saying anything and they were off.