Chapter 5
Olaf ran out onto the roof, dragging Justice Strauss and Klaus along.
"For all the trouble you've caused me, you'll be first to inhale the Medusoid Mycelium spores. Ha!" said Olaf.
He stopped when the saw the figurehead. The rubber octopus that had been holding the diving helmet on the carved wooded figure was bitten loose. The helmet was gone.
"AAARGH!" Olaf screamed in rage. "Where is it? What have you done with it?"
Sunny peeked out from behind the spatula where she had been hiding.
"Sea," she said, pointing toward the ocean side of the hotel.
"You've lost again," said Justice Strauss.
"No!" said Olaf. He looked wildly around, then over the side of the hotel. Then he looked back at the Baudelaires and the judge, a wicked gleam in his eye. He pointed the harpoon at them.
"Push that boat from the swimming pool over here to the edge," Olaf commanded. "That was going to be my escape, anyway. I'll go down there in the boat, find the helmet in the shallow water near the hotel, get in through a window, poison everyone, and then escape by sea. Ha!"
"Not the man with a beard and no hair and the woman with hair and no beard," said Klaus. "They have the antidote."
"I'll find a way to settle with them, too," hissed Olaf.
Klaus was actually thinking that Olaf's boat would never survive the fall due to the force of gravity, but he didn't want Olaf to realize that. He, the Justice, and Sunny used the tanning spatulas to push the boat out of the pool and down the sloped roof to the edge.
Olaf jumped into the boat. "One more thing," he said, grabbing Sunny by the collar of her concierge uniform. "You're coming with me, baby. For interfering with my Medusoid Mycelium, you'll be the first to get a whiff of it. Ha! And I'll make sure you don't get any horseradish, either. Ha! Owww!"
The last word was not a new variation of his succinct laugh, but a cry of pain when Sunny bit his hand. Olaf dropped Sunny to the rooftop, and Klaus gave the boat one last shove. It tipped over the edge. They heard Olaf cry out "Mommy!" and then there was a huge crash.
Sunny and Klaus looked over the edge. Carmelita's ballplaying cowboy superhero soldier pirate boat had smashed and was sinking beneath the waves. Count Olaf, unconscious or dead, was sinking with it.
"Nemesis," said Sunny.
Justice Strauss joined them at the roof edge. "Klaus, you knew that would happen, didn't you?"
"How could I, a mere child, expect to warn an intelligent adult about the dangers of gravity?" Klaus asked.
"I'm afraid it was murder," said Justice Strauss. "Come along, we must go to the authorities at once and explain things."
"The authorities may be infiltrated with enemies, like your fellow Justices," said Klaus.
"That's no excuse," said Justice Strauss.
Just then, the elevator opened and one of the managers rushed out. He was not wearing a blindfold.
"Frank, what are you doing bare-eyed?" asked the Justice. "The court is still in session; you'll be held in contempt."
"I'm not Frank, I'm Dewey," said Dewey. "Each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong," he added, quoting from John Godfrey Saxe to confirm his identity to the children.
"I'm trying to convince these children they are in the wrong," Strauss said. "They pushed Olaf off the roof, and I say they should turn themselves over to the authorities."
"I don't think so," said Dewey, "Children. I believed you when you said the other justices were villains. I took a quick peek in the confusion and saw you were right. As soon as I could get out of the lobby I took off my blindfold and went looking for you. I had to help you; it was the least I could do after Violet sacrificed her life for me."
"Violet was worth ten of you," said Klaus coldly.
"I'm sorry. When Olaf pointed that harpoon at me I just froze. But I'll do anything to help you now," said Dewey.
"What about what I said?" asked Justice Strauss plaintively. "They need to go to the authorities."
"I've had enough of you and your authorities," said Dewey. "I trusted you and Jerome Squalor with vital V.F.D. plans. I thought you were helping us. I even got Kit to send you a copy of the telegram about the Baudelaires arriving at Briny Beach. And look what happened!"
"You sent Mr. Poe to intercept us at Briny Beach?" asked Klaus in surprise.
"I would never do that," said Strauss indignantly. "I can't stand that foolish banker. I told no-one except my fellow Justices... Oh."
"Leaker," said Sunny.
"Nevertheless, going to the authorities is the right thing to do," said Justice Strauss. "After I repented of my younger days as a horse-thief I resolved never to break the rules again."
"Sometimes you have to break the rules," said Dewey. With that, he grabbed Justice Strauss and pushed her into the swimming pool. He and the two Baudelaires ran for the elevator.
"Where now?" asked Sunny when they were inside the elevator.
"There's a secret passage in the basement to the underwater catalog," said Dewey. "We'll be safe there."
"Dewey, I can't forgive you yet, but thank you," said Klaus. "With the resources in your catalog we may still save the V.F.D."
"If worth saving," said Sunny gloomily.
As the children continued down in the elevator with Dewey Denouement, they wondered again if they were doing the right thing. They had tried to save a man from being harpooned and it had cost the life of their sister. They had just killed their enemy in revenge, but that didn't make them feel any better. What else might they have to do, and what might they become?
THE END