Notes: For any newcomers, Snakes is a character from The Wild Wild West who became one of Duke's closest friends, as depicted in Close Your Eyes, Clear Your Heart. Angelique, meanwhile, is a descendant of a character from another episode of The Wild Wild West.

Chapter Four

A thorough search of the house didn't turn up any intruders, but despite the fact that Oreo was not apparently agitated, no one was very relieved. It was a huge house and Oreo had been confined to one room. She might have no knowledge of the trespasser. What was more, since there were secret passages whose locations Lector and Evangeline were unaware of, there was the very real possibility that whoever had broken in was still there, waiting for the perfect time to slip out again.

Johnson sank down on the bed he was using. "Maybe whoever broke in is the person who called me," he worried.

Nesbitt grunted. "I guess anything's possible. Do you want to talk about it now?" Last night, Nesbitt had awkwardly tried to engage Johnson in conversation but Johnson had balked, preferring to try to go to sleep. Nesbitt, who really wasn't very comfortable with trying to be comforting, had let it go.

Johnson sighed. "What is there really to say?" he said morosely. "I'm being stalked by someone who claims to know my past. Maybe it's a witness I paid off or even someone who went to prison or got fined because of me and now they want revenge. I no doubt deserve it, but no one else here does." He looked up at Nesbitt. "I don't even recognize myself half the time lately! I was always the smooth one, the obnoxious one, and these last few months I've felt more like a broken toy!"

"You think I don't feel strange too?" Nesbitt grunted. "I was supposed to be the logical one. But Lector always knew I was impulsive and reckless, and lately I've also been the most emotional one. The last time we were here, I pretended to be an android because I couldn't deal with the grief of thinking we'd lost Lector! It takes a pretty pathetic person to do something like that." He gestured wildly with his hands before defeatedly sitting down next to Johnson.

"I went catatonic," Johnson said, "which isn't much better. Grief apparently brings out completely new sides of people. But I never thought you were pathetic, Nesbitt. You love Lector. There's no shame in that."

"Well . . ." Nesbitt flushed. "Then you shouldn't find any shame in not being able to stay obnoxious. Some people would consider that a good thing. All it does is show how much you love all of us. You're hurting too much to keep up that front."

". . . That's a good point," Johnson conceded.

Nesbitt shifted on the edge of the mattress. "I don't think I ever really knew the real you until recently. You always tried to hide that person behind your masks and only allowed us small glimpses, such as when we realized you really wanted to be with us when you kept asking us out to your cabin on weekends. I . . . well, it meant a lot to realize how important we were to you."

"So who is the real me?" Johnson wondered. "Someone who breaks down at every little thing that goes wrong?"

"Considering that what's been happening in the last several months is a succession of near-death experiences and things like Lector being kidnapped by a sadistic nutcase, I'd hardly call it 'every little thing,'" Nesbitt shot back. "If things like that aren't times to break down, what is?"

Johnson gave a weak shrug. "I don't know, I guess. . . ."

"The real you loves us so much it hurts. You're not smooth or obnoxious at all, but thoughtful and caring. And you worry a lot about your past and who you might have hurt there. You want to make good and fix what you did wrong. Unfortunately, a lot of what all of us have done can't be fixed. The best we can do is to move forward, like Gansley told you. You'll fix what you can as you go along."

"I've felt like I should be the one getting targeted," Johnson said bitterly. "But now even though I am, that phone call made it clear that everyone else is in danger too. I can't even be the target without everyone else getting hurt!"

"You think we wouldn't be getting hurt if you were the only one in danger?!" Nesbitt got up. "We're all so close-knit that what happens to one of us affects all of us! Why else would none of us have been able to deal with thinking Lector was dead?! We'd feel just as horrible if it was you!"

"I know . . ." Johnson stammered.

"Well, act like it," Nesbitt growled. He walked over to the window.

Johnson awkwardly looked away, pushing up his glasses.

xxxx

Lector was uneasy too. He walked all around the room he was sharing with Crump, checking for secret panels.

Crump helped. "You know, I'm kind of worried about Gansley," he said. "I mean, most of us paired up, but there wasn't anyone to share a room with Gansley. If there is some creep around, maybe they'll come out in his room and hurt him!"

"Or maybe he'll strike them down with his cane if they try," Lector said. He sighed and straightened. "I can't find anything in here."

"Probably everybody's checking their rooms," Crump said. "Man, what if whoever busted in really is still here?! And what the heck do they want?!"

"It could be whoever threatened Johnson," Lector said. "On the other hand, it could be a completely different plot. Someone may be after this 'family treasure,' or maybe someone is trying to intimidate a lot of us regarding the court cases."

"There's too much going on," Crump complained. ". . . And I know how hard it is for you to be back here at all, Buddy. . . ."

Lector sighed and shook his head. "My problems aren't important. Intruders and threatening telephone calls . . . that's what we should be focusing on.

"I enjoyed our outing today. I'm hoping I can feel better about New Orleans instead of associating it with everything that's gone wrong for me."

"I hope you can too," Crump said, "but I know the hurt's never gonna go away completely. Maybe you should . . . I don't know, try talking to your mom and your other siblings when we're not in court? Maybe they'd be nicer in a different setting. Being in court to testify about a family member's garbage has gotta be stressful."

"I've considered that," Lector admitted. "But you'd think if they really felt good towards me they'd make the next move themselves."

"Yeah, I know." Crump frowned. "I just don't get why they're all on the rocks with you, Buddy. You didn't do anything to them!"

"I don't understand any of what's happened," Lector retorted. "It really is like a nightmare I can't escape."

"Maybe you should talk to that Snakes guy?" Crump suggested. "Well, I mean, it wouldn't help this mess in the present, but maybe you'd learn some good stuff about your ancestors and that might kind of help. . . ."

"I haven't even thought about him," Lector said. "It sounds a little more outlandish today about him being alive and in this day and age. But if it's really true . . . yes, I think I'd like to talk to him. My great-great-grandfather must have been a kinder person than my father."

"And more tolerant and caring," Crump said. "Even naming that hotel after Snakes because he was so grateful to get a chance to break into the business world. . . . Your whole family really owes a lot to Snakes, when you think about it!"

"That's true," Lector acknowledged. "My father wouldn't even have the position of power he enjoyed so much if it wasn't for Snakes. Who knows what the family would be doing, really."

"What was your family doing before Snakes showed up?" Crump wondered.

". . . To be honest, I don't know," Lector realized in chagrin. "Father never wanted to talk about that, if he knew himself. The only thing I know is that there were people who practiced vodun."

"Oh right, to clash with Dr. Raven's ancestors," Crump remembered. "That crazy rivalry thing."

Lector nodded. "Of course, Father found anything to do with vodun completely shameful. He was horrified that any of our ancestors had practiced it."

"But it's really big in Haiti," Crump said.

"I know," Lector said. "It's no surprise to me that my Haitian ancestors brought it to New Orleans and kept practicing it, and that it continued after they married into the European side of the family. But it's also not a surprise to me that eventually a stop was put to it. I believe it was my great-grandfather who wanted it stopped."

"How do you keep track of all the greats?" Crump quipped.

"It's not always easy," Lector said. He walked to the doorway. "We should probably see if anyone else has found anything. . . ."

Crump hopped up to follow. "You're on!"

xxxx

Duke had definitely not found anything, so at last he retreated to his and David's room and called Snakes in Los Angeles. It was never a sure thing as to whether he would actually reach his poker-playing friend, but this time he was in luck, as the telephone was quickly picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Snakes." Duke stood at the window to talk. ". . . Look, I don't like to bother you about things and times you'd probably rather forget or not think about, but there's some kind of a family treasure mentioned in an old diary here. You don't happen to know what that treasure might be, do you? Or where we might find it?"

"I'm afraid not," Snakes said. "It was probably put together after my . . . er . . . departure."

"I don't think so," Duke said. "You were talked about in the diary too, and apparently around the same timeframe as the treasure was mentioned."

"Then you've got the advantage over me, Pal," Snakes drawled. "I have no idea what they were cooking up." He hesitated. "What's it like there? In that house, I mean."

"It still looks a lot like it must have back then," Duke said. "The family really went all-out preserving the furniture and everything. It's pretty impressive. The bad news is, it looks like someone else is hanging around."

"What do you mean?"

"Somebody mysteriously unscrewed a statue in the family cemetery sometime in the last 72 hours, and today somebody was in the house while we were gone," Duke said. "They left the drapes in the upstairs study out of order. . . . Oh hey, do you know about any secret passages in the house?"

"I sure do. Maybe they've been boarded up by now, but there was one in the downstairs study," Snakes reported. "Ismael—my old business partner—showed it to me and laughingly told me he'd use it whenever he wanted to escape from too many people in the house. You had to press something on the fireplace mantle to get it to open. I think it was a . . . sunflower?"

"That's a great help, Snakes," Duke said in relief. "Anything else you can think of?"

". . . I believe there's one in the kitchen. It activated by arranging the silverware on display in a particular way, but now I don't remember how."

"We'll tinker with it," Duke said.

"Just be careful." An edge had creeped into Snakes' voice. "You don't know who's hanging around there, but you know how the thoughts of money and wealth make people go a little crazy."

"I sure do," Duke said darkly.

"Ask him about the siren," David whispered from the other bed.

Duke rolled his eyes a bit but said, "Did you ever hear about weird stuff on the property, like . . . ghosts or . . . other supernatural things?"

"New Orleans is big on ghosts," Snakes said. "Yeah, there was a ghost walking around even back then. White dress, long, dark hair. . . . Nobody knew who she was. And Ismael did tell me some story about a siren in the pool out back. Not that either of us believed it." He paused. "But after everything we've been through, it wouldn't hurt to be careful."

"Yeah, I guess," Duke frowned. "And that ghost is still around; she freaked Joey out last night. She was digging in a trunk at the end of the hall."

"I guess the trunk requires more investigating then," Snakes said.

"Probably. Evangeline looked through some of it last night and . . . well, she found a picture with you in it and now everyone here knows you're from the past. Sorry."

"Eh. Oh well. It's not like any of that information can really be used to hurt me." Snakes hesitated. "What do Ismael's descendants think, though?"

"I think they were both too worried about the court case to really focus much on it," Duke said. "But if they start thinking about it more later, would you mind talking to them about their ancestors sometime? They might like to hear what you'd have to say."

"Sure. I'll tell them what I can."

"Thanks. Okay, I'll talk to you later. Serenity and David say Hello, by the way."

"Glad they're alright. You be careful now." Snakes sounded genuinely worried. "If I think you're getting in over your head, I'll come out here."

"We'd love to see you," Duke said. "It's been too long. Although hopefully we won't have to meet under grim circumstances."

David was very perked up as Duke ended the call. "He told you something juicy, I can tell," he observed.

"You're right." Duke got up and headed for the door. "He knew of two secret passageways. Let's go tell everyone else." He paused, his hand on the doorknob. "Oh, and that ghost has been around since at least the 1860s."

"Ooh." David winced. "Should we tell Joey?"

"Good question," Duke deadpanned. "We'll think about it on the way."

xxxx

Evangeline was both delighted and apprehensive to learn of the secret passages. After all, for all they knew, their intruder could be hiding in one of them. Angelique thought the one in the kitchen sounded harder to activate, so by mutual agreement everyone went downstairs to the study to try to open the other one.

"I guess this is the sunflower?" Joey poked a design on the end of the mantle. As he did, the wall groaned and the entire fireplace moved outward. He yelped, jumping back.

Yami Bakura approached the open passage with mild interest. "Well, there's certainly a lot of space to hide back there." The area beyond was wide enough for four people to walk across the floor next to each other. Oil lamps were placed at various locations up and down the corridor, none of them lit.

Evangeline stepped inside in determination. "Let's see where this leads." She took out her flashlight and immediately started walking. Lector hurried after her, and the Big Four hurried after him.

"So, who all's going?" Joey wondered.

"Someone should probably stay back, just in case the panel swings shut and we can't get back out," Yugi said.

"We'll do that," Duke interjected, indicating himself and David. But as he tried to point out Serenity too, she headed for the passageway instead.

"I'd like to see what's down there," she said.

Duke sighed. "Then we're going too."

Eventually, Ishizu and Rishid opted to stay back while the others investigated. Marik didn't look terribly keen on exploring a dark passageway either, but since Mokuba was curious he decided to try it.

"Nobody's probably been down here in ages," Joey frowned as they advanced into the space. "It's all airtight."

"Except look at that!" Téa pointed to a spiderweb up in a corner. "There has to be an opening somewhere for that to happen. Maybe people have even been using this place for a while."

"Well, we're going to find out," Evangeline declared.

The tunnel went straight for a while, then turned to the right and slanted down.

"We must be underneath the house now," Angelique said.

Eventually the tunnel sloped upward again. The group walked up several steps to another wall.

"So that's it?!" Joey frowned.

"There must be a way to open this somehow," Lector said.

Everyone began feeling across the wall and pressing it in various spots. At last something clicked and a panel swung outward, revealing a dark and musty room.

". . . What is this?" Joey asked.

Yami Bakura walked in. "Ah, this brings back memories," he mused. He walked up to a statue of the Madonna and then turned back to Joey with a smirk. "I robbed so many places like this back in the day."

Joey went sheet-white. "We're in a tomb?!" he screamed, his voice echoing off every wall.

Mai facepalmed. "Oh, way to wake up all the ghosts, Joey. Maybe they wouldn't have noticed otherwise."

Evangeline ran past them, excited. "So this is the way into the cemetery! It didn't start in the basement after all!" She looked around, studying each tomb chamber and the name on each one to orient herself.

"I have a question," Tristan said. "How do we get out? Aren't these things locked from the outside?"

"They're supposed to be." Lector walked to the doors and rattled them. To his astonishment, they creaked open.

". . . Okay. That's . . . not a good thing, right?" Crump gulped.

"It means someone else unlocked this tomb for some reason, at some point," Lector said. He looked to Evangeline. "Do you have the only keys?"

"Yes," she said slowly. "Well, unless someone else in the family made a set for themselves without my knowledge. . . ." She took them out, carefully studying them.

Seto came over to look. "There could be traces of wax on them, if someone made impressions from your set." He frowned at the key for this tomb. "I definitely see flecks of what might be wax."

"Who had access to your keys, Evangeline?" Gansley asked.

"Oh . . . everyone in the old house," Evangeline stammered. "The keys were kept in Mother's room until I asked for them. Any of the servants could have made a set, or anyone in the family. Adele and Michel and Phillipe visited sometimes, even though they moved to their own houses in the city." Worried, she slipped the keys into her pocket. "We can't go asking if anyone made their own set of keys from this set. . . ."

"Well, why not?" Seto grunted. "Your family has given you plenty of reasons not to trust them. It's not like you'd be backstabbing them by asking if any of them did that."

". . . That's true," Evangeline said slowly. "Maybe we should then."

"But then you run the risk of tipping the crook off that you're on to him," Crump said.

"It's not like they wouldn't know we'd be on to them," Seto retorted. "We'd have to be stupid not to notice all these different things they've done."

". . . You know, they are pretty sloppy," Crump said. "What if they want us to notice?"

"Why would they?" Lector frowned.

"That's something I've gotta think about some more," Crump said.

". . . It could be whoever threatened me," Johnson said weakly. "They could want us to know they're around stalking us."

Unfortunately, no one could deny that possibility. All of the strange happenings could be part of that plot against Johnson, instead of there being two separate plots.

"Well . . ." Evangeline looked worried and awkward. "How do we want to return to the house? Should we go back the way we came or walk around the outside?"

"We should walk around the outside, just in case there's any more clues," Duke said.

That was agreed upon and the group trouped out of the mausoleum, Evangeline pausing to lock it again once they were all out. But nothing strange was spotted on the way back, and by the time they returned to the house it seemed that all was well.

"What happened?" Ishizu asked in bewilderment when they appeared at the study doorway.

"It's a long and bewildering story, Sister," Marik replied. He and the others started to explain as they headed back upstairs. They hadn't finished telling it when Johnson went into his room and suddenly stiffened in the doorway.

"What is it?" Nesbitt demanded. He came up behind Johnson to look over his shoulder.

A piece of paper had been laid on Johnson's pillow. On it was a drawing of a skull and crossbones.