Chapter Four
When the rest of the Big Five and Duke's group left for the docks, Crump stayed behind. He lingered around the outside of the voodoo shop, shifting his weight and wondering exactly how to handle this venture. Should he go back in and try to talk to Angelique alone? Should he wait and see if she might come out? It was almost lunchtime; she might go on break.
In a moment the problem was solved when she did indeed walk through the door. She smiled at him and went over. "I thought you might stick around," she said, putting a sultry tone into her voice. "I could tell you were interested."
"Oh yeah," Crump exclaimed. "I thought maybe you'd like to have lunch or something."
"Sure." Angelique stepped closer to him and reached up, touching his cheek. "And then maybe after that . . . who knows."
Crump's heart raced. He loved this. He had always dreamed of a girl actually being interested in him. Still, the cautious accountant part of his brain knew that something wasn't right here. Angelique had been reserved and frightened in the shop. Dr. Raven had probably put her up to this.
"Hey," he said, and reached up to take her hand away. "Just be yourself, though, okay? You don't have to play femme fatale for me. I like it better when girls don't anyway."
Some relief flickered in Angelique's eyes. "Okay." She started up the sidewalk. "We can eat at Angelique's."
Crump walked alongside her. "Your . . . house?"
"My family's restaurant," Angelique explained. "It was named for my great-great-grandmother. So was I." She smiled a bit. "She was a singer who wanted to own her own establishment. She had a lot of adventures. Once she helped the Secret Service out on a weird case."
"Oh yeah?" Crump was intrigued.
Angelique nodded. "All these opera singers were disappearing from the opera house whenever they performed a certain role. The Secret Service had to find out why." She sighed and stared off into the distance as they walked. "I always wanted to have adventures like that. Instead I've ended up working part-time for my uncle, and his ideas of adventures aren't exactly what I had in mind."
"So he does all the hocus-pocus voodoo stuff?" Crump asked.
Angelique looked a bit afraid again. "Yes. . . ."
"What do you do for him?" Crump wondered. "Go find frogs' legs and newts' eyes or whatever he uses in his potions?"
Angelique smirked a bit. "Mostly I run the shop. He's got this older, batty lady who helps him with the spells."
"And you're not gonna tell me what kinds of spells he actually does, huh?" Crump deduced.
Angelique shrugged and looked away. "I don't know a whole lot. I don't really want to know. I'd rather just keep seeing it as a tourist attraction and nothing else."
"Works for me," Crump said. It definitely looked like she knew more than she was saying, but she wasn't about to yield. He would have to get her more at ease and then try again.
"He really believes in it, though," Angelique said.
"I guess a lot of people down here do?" Crump mused.
She nodded. "A lot of my ancestors were from Haiti. They brought their vodun and their superstitions with them when they moved up here."
"Lector's part-Haitian and his father doesn't believe in it," Crump said.
"Mr. Leichter is a man of the logical, cynical present-day," Angelique said. "What does your friend believe?"
". . . You know, I have no idea," Crump realized. "He never mentioned it. It's kind of hard picturing him buying all that stuff about mojo bags and the dolls, though. But he was talking about how Hollywood gives voodoo a bum rap."
"That much I'll give it," Angelique agreed. "It's a very misunderstood religion. But people in the know can acknowledge that without actually believing in vodun themselves."
"So, about your uncle. . . . Is he really just mad about the disappearing packages in the mail, or is there more to it?" Crump persisted. "I mean, the guy seems awfully extreme for just some missing packages."
"He always takes things to heart," Angelique said.
Crump sighed. She wasn't going to be fooled by his attempt to steer things back to Dr. Raven. He had just thought they were getting somewhere.
Sensing Crump's disappointment, Angelique gave a small smile and linked arms with him. He started, looking to her in surprise.
"So," she said, "Dr. Raven looked up a little about you. He said you're kind of a character."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Crump said.
"Me, I'm not much of a character at all," Angelique said. "Ever since I graduated high school several years ago, I've just been working towards getting into college."
"Good for you," Crump said. "What are you hoping to do?"
Angelique looked thoughtful. "I'm hoping I'll have figured that out by the time I have enough money. Go into law enforcement, maybe, or the legal profession, since I like the thought of solving mysteries."
"I'd be happy not to have any mysteries more complicated than a long math problem," Crump said.
"And I'm guessing that wouldn't be very complicated for you," Angelique said.
"Not too much," Crump agreed. "Math was always my best subject."
By now they had traveled several blocks. They came to a small diner and Angelique led him through the door. The last thing he was expecting to see was Seto waiting at another table, studying his phone and looking impatient.
"Kaiba?!" Crump exclaimed.
Seto started and looked up. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"Having lunch," Crump replied. Smirking, he added, "With a beautiful girl."
Seto grunted and looked to Angelique. "I hope you know what you're getting into by showing him some attention."
"I'll be fine," Angelique answered, her voice soft.
They went past and settled into a corner booth. Annoyed, Seto checked his phone again, then looked out the window. Evangeline was late. Had she really intended to talk to him here, or had it just been a trick to get him out of the hotel? After reading about Lector's father and knowing how none of the other family members had so much as checked on Lector before, he wasn't terribly willing to trust any of them. But he had wanted to give Evangeline the benefit of a doubt, since no one knew more than he that just because one member of a family was a sleazeball, it didn't mean all of them were. Mokuba was worlds apart from Gozaburo, and even from him, but there were always a few people who judged him just on the basis of his last name. It always infuriated Seto.
At last the door opened again and a young woman hurried inside and over to Seto's table. "I'm sorry I'm late," she said breathlessly. "It's always hard to get away without Daddy noticing and asking questions."
Seto grunted and put his phone away. Or he pretended to; while holding it under the table, he turned on its recording feature. He wanted a copy of this conversation. "Alright. Now tell me how you knew to come to me."
"After Démas and his friends left the house, Daddy did some checking and found out about the huge group that registered at the hotel today. He knew that you were Démas's former boss, so he figured out that you're all here together and I took a chance on calling you." Evangeline slid into a chair across from Seto.
"You say you're worried he's going to get your brother killed," Seto said. "You honestly think he's capable of that?"
Evangeline looked down at the table. "Before he sent the telegram to Démas, he called us all for a family meeting. He told about the danger we're in from Dr. Raven and said that he felt the only solution left was to call Démas. He thought maybe Démas could pacify Dr. Raven, or at the very least, help us if we got put in a life-size video game."
"Why did he think your brother would have any effect on that lunatic?" Seto asked. "Why would he?"
Evangeline started fumbling with her purse. "H-He said it was because Démas is a good businessman and he's been involved with a lot of shady people and . . . even become one himself. . . . He thought
Démas might relate better to Dr. Raven than he could, and vice versa. Mama accused him of just trying to get Dr. Raven to turn his attention to somebody else and put Démas in danger instead of the rest of us. And he said . . ." She choked on a sob and had to pause to get herself under control before continuing. "He said Démas isn't our son and brother anymore and it didn't matter if that happened!" She covered her mouth with her hand and started to cry.
Seto stared at her. "You don't think he was just speaking out of desperation and anger and he didn't really mean it?"
"I don't know!" Evangeline wailed. "I wanted to believe that. But then he sent the telegram and Démas came. . . . I wasn't allowed to see him; I was locked in my room. But my room's right above Daddy's study and I could hear through the heat vent. He didn't tell Démas everything. When he lied, I . . . I was really afraid again that he meant what he said and he's deliberately set Démas up as a target!"
"How did he lie?" Seto demanded. "What was it he left out?"
"He owns the building where Dr. Raven has his shop," Evangeline explained. "He's been threatening to evict Dr. Raven for a long time, saying he's been scaring people away because the vodun he practices isn't just harmless parlor tricks."
"I'd probably want to evict him myself," Seto grunted. "But so Dr. Raven thinks the packages are being stolen by your father to force his hand?"
"Exactly," Evangeline nodded. "And I can't honestly say whether he's right or not."
"In any case, by leaving key information out, he made Lector believe he's the victim instead of part of the problem," Seto mused. "He wanted to make himself look as sympathetic as possible, maybe because he didn't trust that Lector would agree to help if he didn't."
"I'm afraid so," Evangeline agreed. She leaned forward. "Oh, Mr. Kaiba, isn't there anything we can do?!"
"I can call Lector and try to arrange a meeting with the two of you," Seto said. "You should tell these things to him. Right now he's investigating down at your father's warehouses on the docks." He paused. "But I should tell you, before that he went to talk to Dr. Raven, and Dr. Raven didn't mention anything about the eviction either."
Evangeline went sheet-white. "Oh no," she whispered. "Maybe he's also afraid Démas will leave if he realizes he was deceived, and he doesn't want that because he wants to use Démas as an example."
"I'm calling him right now." Still leaving the recording app running, Seto dialed Lector's phone number and silently prayed for an answer. Instead, the phone didn't even start ringing. Seto pulled it back from his ear, staring at it.
"There's no signal?" Evangeline said in distress.
"No." Seto shook the phone and tried dialing again.
"Mine doesn't have one either." Evangeline took hers out and looked at it. "What are we going to do?!"
"The only thing we can do is to go out there and talk to him in person," Seto said, getting up from the table.
Evangeline nodded. "I'll take you there."
It was only as Seto started walking that he began to feel seriously dizzy. He stumbled, holding a hand to his head. "What . . ."
Evangeline turned to look, her eyes wide. It sounded like she was trying to ask what was wrong, but her voice sounded impossibly far away. She reached out for Seto, but he fell backwards to the floor, unable to stand any longer.
The last thing he remembered before passing out was a bizarre woman with curly hair who came out of a back room, cackling and cackling.
xxxx
Crump had still been trying and failing to get Angelique to open up to him about Dr. Raven's plans when Evangeline's screaming brought his attention up. "What's going on over there?!" He got out of the booth, starting over to a very disoriented Seto. "Kaiba, what's wrong with you?"
When Seto collapsed and the crazy woman came out, Crump just stood and gawked. "Who are you?" he demanded. He looked around for Angelique and Evangeline, but they had somehow vanished. "What's going on?!"
The woman leered at him. "You want to know, Adrian Randolph?"
"Hey, how do you know my name?" Crump snapped.
Instead of responding, she blew a strange, unscented powder right at his face. He gasped, dizziness overwhelming him. He crashed to the floor next to Seto.
The woman giggled, coming out from around the counter to lumber over to them. As she did, Dr. Raven also appeared, tightly clutching Angelique and Evangeline by the wrists.
"So, you two tried to escape and call for help, did you?" Dr. Raven growled.
Angelique struggled against him. "Uncle, please! Don't do this!" she screamed.
Evangeline was furious. "You let me go!" she yelled, desperately kicking at Dr. Raven. "And leave those people and my brother alone!"
Dr. Raven only held on tighter. "You've got spunk, girl. But while I appreciate that, don't think it will save you or any of these poor fools."
He looked to the woman. "We're putting Mr. Crump and Mr. Kaiba in the back. Make sure that they don't have a way to escape. And make sure the thermostat is set as low as possible."
The woman nodded with a wild, sadistic grin. "It will be done."
"And what are you going to do with us, Uncle?" Angelique spat.
"Evangeline is going to come with me," Dr. Raven said. "As for you, I'll give you one more chance to obey me. You know this restaurant and I are all you've got, and it wouldn't take much to burn this old building to the ground. Then you'd be forced to work for me full-time, and you don't want that, now, do you?"
Angelique gave him an angry yet fearful look. "What do you want me to do?"
He nodded to where the woman had taken hold of Crump's wrists and was dragging him across the floor. "Don't try to let them out. And when someone shows up looking for them, as someone no doubt will . . ." He leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Poison that person."
Angelique's eyes widened, stricken.
Evangeline cried out in outrage. "You're insane! All of this to get at my father?! How many people are you going to hurt or kill before this is all over?!"
"As many as I have to." Laughing, Dr. Raven threw Angelique to the floor and dragged Evangeline out the side door into an alley.
xxxx
Mai had decided that she and Téa needed a girls' shopping day, especially in a city like New Orleans, so they had been traveling to several little boutiques and shops. Téa, however, was having a hard time not thinking about the case, and Mai had to admit, she had been pondering too, especially after the last call from Yugi.
"You know, Téa," she mused, "I still can't buy that this Dr. Raven guy is so bent out of shape just over some missing crates. I think we should try to find out what was in those crates."
Téa's eyes widened. "You mean, maybe it was more than just voodoo knick-knacks."
"Exactly," Mai nodded. "He could be a smuggler of some kind. Or . . . well, if you want to believe that voodoo is real, maybe one of the 'knick-knacks' is some magical item that he wants his hands on."
Téa cringed. "Oh gosh, that might be exactly it!"
"That could definitely be more than enough to set him off and make him come after Mr. Leichter like he is," Mai said. "How about we go down to the docks and see what's happening there? Maybe we can give the boys a tip." She winked.
"Let's do that," Téa declared, quickly hanging up the flowered skirt she had been looking at.
xxxx
Lector and Duke had been having similar thoughts. Their exploration of the docks had so far been largely unsuccessful. The workers were willing to talk to Lector, but had no knowledge of what had happened to the packages (they said) and were certain that none of them had taken any (they said). They were also insistent that Mr. Leichter would never have ordered them to do so. Lector wanted to believe them, but amid all the chaos and him still smarting from past betrayals, it was difficult.
While he had been talking to the workers, the Big Three and the kids had spread out, searching all the warehouses for anything strange or suspicious. That was also going nowhere.
"I don't know what's left to try," Duke said in frustration as he twirled a piece of hair around his finger. "We couldn't find anything that wasn't supposed to be there."
"Well, there was that one weird crate on the balcony that we couldn't get to," Serenity said slowly.
Lector looked to her. "Why couldn't you get to it?"
"Some workers came in right then and started moving stuff right under the stairs," Duke said in frustration.
"We can get to it later," Gansley said. "Meanwhile, Crump has been gone a long time and he hasn't even checked in."
"Is that really unusual, considering he was trying to get a date?" Johnson smirked a bit.
Gansley shot him a Look. "He's only rarely succeeded before. Something may have gone wrong." He took out his phone and dialed. ". . . He's not answering."
Fear crossed Johnson's face. "Maybe we'd better get back."
"Maybe we had," Gansley shot back. "But if they're not at the shop or the suite, we won't even know where to look!"
"Oh no," Serenity gasped.
Duke's phone rang and he answered. "Yeah?"
"Duke!" It was Mokuba. "Do you know where Seto is?! We came back to the hotel and he's not here and he's not answering the phone!"
Duke stiffened. "I don't know. Crump's not answering either. He was going to try to get Dr. Raven's niece to open up about what's going on."
"What are we going to do?!" Mokuba cried. "Seto called and said he was meeting Lector's sister at some diner, but when I called the diner, they said he'd left over an hour ago!"
"We're coming back to town," Duke said. "All I know to do is to go back to the knick-knack shop and try to find that girl. I don't know what to do about Kaiba, though. Maybe we need to find Lector's sister and see what they talked about."
Lector looked over with a jerk. "What's that about my sister?!"
Duke took the phone away from his ear. "She went to see Kaiba about something."
Lector frowned. "I wonder why he didn't call me about that."
"Well, he told Mokuba," Duke said, "but now no one has any idea where he is!" Getting back on the phone, he said, "We'll be back soon, Mokuba. Just stay strong."
"I'll try," Mokuba said quietly. "Maybe I can try tracking Seto's location through his phone. . . ."
"It's worth a shot," Duke said. He hung up, looking overwhelmed. "Oh man. What's going to go wrong next?"
"I wonder which sister contacted Mr. Kaiba," Lector said, "and if she's alright."
"We'll be sure to find that out," Gansley assured him.
"She probably went to talk to Mr. Kaiba without my father knowing about it," Lector said. "I doubt he would have let her go."
Worry filled his eyes as they got back into their respective vehicles and drove away from the docks. Crump might be hurt, and Seto, and who knew about his sister. . . .
What have I gotten everyone into, coming down here?
"Lector?"
He looked over as Nesbitt spoke. "What is it?"
"Are you alright?"
Lector sighed. Nesbitt didn't usually instigate such conversations. In fact, he wasn't sure he ever remembered him doing so before. Maybe he was trying to fill in for Crump. Or to reach out to Lector after Lector had been concerned about him many a time since Yami Marik had mind-controlled him several weeks ago. In any case, Lector was sure he was genuinely concerned.
"I don't know," he said at last. "But it's Crump we should really be worrying about. I don't know if my sister is alright either. Or Mr. Kaiba. . . ." He passed a hand over his forehead. How strange it was, to be worried about Seto. . . .
"I shouldn't have encouraged Crump to try to talk to that girl," Gansley muttered.
"I'm sure he would have come up with the idea on his own," Johnson remarked. "Anyway, it was a logical course of action to take. And maybe Crump is just fine. Maybe he was just too occupied to answer the phone."
"And Mr. Kaiba was too, I suppose," Lector grunted.
"Well, who knows." Johnson shrugged.
Lector sighed. "I shouldn't have come here. I've plunged everybody into who knows what."
"We all made our own decisions to come with you," Gansley said. "It's not your fault. Naturally you felt you needed to see what was going on when your father suddenly contacted you again."
"He just wanted me to fix his mess," Lector muttered. "I'm still disowned, but he can call on me whenever he feels like it. I just can't do likewise."
Gansley hesitated, then laid a hand on Lector's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I know you were hoping for a reconciliation."
"I'm a fool," Lector said.
"No," Gansley said. "You're a son who wanted his father back."
Lector closed his eyes and nodded in agreement. "Yes, I did."
"Well . . . you'll probably never have that, unfortunately. But we will never do to you what he did."
Lector opened his eyes again. Gansley, Nesbitt, and Johnson were all looking at him with sincerity. His friends . . . his family. . . .
"I know," Lector said. But he felt his voice choke up. "I know. . . ." And he steeled himself in determination. "Let's go find Crump and my sister and Mr. Kaiba."
"Let's," Gansley agreed.
xxxx
It was the cold against his cheek that finally revived him. He grunted, slowly opening his eyes. The cold wasn't just against his cheek; it was everywhere. Shakily he pushed himself to his knees. "Oh brother. . . . Wow, that voodoo powder really knocked me for a loop. . . ."
He soon caught sight of a blue coat and brown hair. "What? Kaiba? . . . Oh, that's right." He frowned. "You went down first and I went to see what happened. Who'd have thought, huh?" He reached over, shaking Seto on the shoulder. "Hey! Wake up!"
At first there was no response. But then Seto jerked, his eyes snapping open. "Crump?!" He rolled over and sat up immediately. "What's going on?!" A hand went to his head as he stared at their new surroundings.
"Well, as you can see, we've got a little problem here." Crump got up and walked over to the door. As he had really known, it was locked.
"A little problem?!" Seto boomed. "We've been locked in a freezer!"
"And it . . . uh, it gets worse," Crump said. "The temperature's been set as low as it goes. And our phones aren't getting a signal. Or mine isn't." He took it out and stared at the lack of bars.
Seto growled, but examined his as well. "At least they didn't find the recording I made," he remarked. "Maybe that will serve to convict our enemies." He looked to Crump with dark and angry eyes. "You know about the cold. How long have we got?"
"All things considered, I would say we can expect the onset of hypothermia within one to two hours," Crump replied. "By four hours we'll likely go into stage 3, and I doubt we'll last much past six hours."
Seto got up with a jerk. "We have to get out of here!" he cried. "I can't die like this! What will happen to Mokuba?!"
"Hey, hey, calm down," Crump said. "We'll get out. Somehow." He looked around. There was absolutely nothing they could use to ram the door. And while there was a grate up near the ceiling, there was no way to reach it. Not to mention Crump wasn't sure it was big enough for even Seto to get through. He knew he wouldn't.
"I told Mokuba I was coming here, but I doubt the staff will let him find us," Seto said. "They probably lied and said I'd left if he called."
"And I didn't get anybody called about me being here," Crump realized in chagrin. "And what happened to those girls? They're not here."
"They're probably being held somewhere else," Seto said. "There's no way they would be allowed to go free."
"Well . . ." Crump sighed. "There's not much we can do except hope someone will find us and try to conserve the heat as best as we can."
Seto scowled. "Then we'd better be found quickly, because there's no way I'm cuddling up with you to stay warm longer."
Crump smirked. "Don't think I don't feel the same. There are very few guys I'm willing to cozy up with, and even then, it would only happen as a last resort in a case like this."
Seto grunted. "I suppose your favorite friends all feel the same."
"Pretty much," Crump said. "Although Nesbitt doesn't like cozying up to guys or girls. But he'd be happy to hug a submarine."
"Heh," said Seto.
Crump quickly sobered. "There's one other thing to keep in mind: since we were both knocked out, some of our time is already gone. And who can say how much?"
Seto's expression darkened. "It'll still be enough," he vowed. "I'm not dying in here."
"I sure don't want to either," Crump said.
But would they have a choice?