Chapter 26: Breaking In
Tall casuarinas cast eerie shadows across the street and Roxy hoped Max couldn’t hear her heart pounding beneath her thick sweater as they sat cocooned in her blue VW two houses down from Heather Jackson’s. In one hand she held a small Magnalite flashlight, and in the other a map of Heather’s sprawling mansion.
‘Now let me see if I’ve got this straight,’ Max said in a hushed tone. ‘You think Heather’s disabled sister is the one who’s got all the painting talent, and that Heather is passing her work off as her own?’
‘Absolutely. Don’t you see it makes perfect sense? It explains everything: why Heather’s so desperate to hide her past. If anyone finds out that it was Lilly who was the artist in the family, not her, then she’s sprung. There goes her credibility, her raison d’être.’
‘But maybe Heather was also into painting; maybe the disabled sister copied her stuff and the busy-body neighbor never noticed. I don’t mean to sound disparaging but she is well, you know, disabled.’
‘Doesn’t mean she can’t paint! Besides, the work is pretty crude, perhaps she has some use of at least one hand. It’s beautiful but it’s not fine brush strokes. Look, I know there are still questions which is exactly why we have to get in there and see for ourselves.’
‘But why do you think she’s in there? If she is being held, she could be almost anywhere.’
‘It’s just a hunch, but I sensed her when I was here earlier. I caught sight of what could be her wheelchair in one of the rooms. Trust me on this.’
‘Okay, but you seriously want to break into Heather Jackson’s house? Now? Why don’t you just call the cops?’
‘Oh, and tell them what? That I think Heather’s got her poor sister tied up in a dungeon and is forcing her to paint against her will?’
‘How do you even know Lilly’s doing it against her will? Maybe she’s all for it. Lilly paints, Heather’s the front woman.’
‘Fine, then why all the dead bodies? Somebody’s been killing people to shut them up and my guess is, it’s Heather.’
He sighed. ‘So, what’s your plan then?’
Roxy shone the flashlight on the map and pointed to a corner of the house where a greenhouse stood. ‘We have to make our way to the west wall of the house. There’s a gardener’s shed here.’ She indicated it on the map. ‘If we’re lucky the security won’t be as tight as the front or side gates.’
‘But you don’t know for sure?’
‘Fraid not. But it’s worth a try.’
‘Where did you get the map anyway?’
‘A fan’s home page, but it seems to be correct.’ She could almost feel him rolling his eyes in the darkness beside her.
Eventually he said, ‘And what if you’re wrong about all of this?’
‘Then I’m wrong. Big deal. I’ll look elsewhere for answers. Look, all I’m asking is that you stay handy with the car in case I need a quick getaway. I don’t expect you to come in with me.’
Max glared at her for several seconds and then reached for his camera bag. ‘No way, Parker. If you’re going in, then I’m going in with you.’
The moon was just a thin, broken fingernail in the sky ensuring a welcome cover of darkness as the duo scurried quietly past the front gate to the west side of the property.
‘It’s a big place,’ Max said in hushed tones beside her, but Roxy was deep in thought. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was hoping to do once she got inside the place, but she hoped that instinct would lead her in the right direction, towards the wing of the house where the door had mysteriously opened and shut the first time she had visited.
Following a tall, rock wall, Roxy and Max walked for what seemed an eternity before they came across a side gate covered in vines.
‘Is this the gate you were talking about?’ Max asked.
‘Hope not,’ she replied, tugging at the chains that were holding it securely in place. ‘We’re not going to get through this.’
‘What about scaling the wall?’
‘With what? No, it’s too tall.’ Roxy peered through the darkness down the rock wall beyond. ‘There’s got to be another entrance. This one looks like it hasn’t been used in ages.’
They continued walking until they reached the north-west corner of the property, and then tried the back wall but it, too, seemed rock solid.
‘The map’s obviously wrong, Parker.’
‘There has to be another gate,’ she insisted, turning back to retrace their steps along the west wall. ‘I can’t imagine the gardener fronting up to the main gate every day. It doesn’t make sense.’
‘Perhaps he uses the delivery gate on the other side?’
‘There are no gardens that side. No, he has to have his own entrance. Keep looking.’
About a metre from the side gate, Roxy suddenly stopped. ‘Hang on a minute.’ She backtracked a few steps and reached into what appeared to be a mass of vines. Her hand was rewarded with a small brass knob. She turned it and gasped as the hidden gate swung inwards with a giant creak. ‘I knew it!’ she gushed.
‘How the bloody hell did you spot that?’
‘Women’s intuition,’ she replied with a wink. ‘Come on.’
Reluctantly, Max followed her through, leaving the gate slightly ajar for a quick getaway. Once their eyes had adjusted to the darkness, Roxy could make out a mass of bushes in front of them and beyond that, small glimpses of the lights that shone on the garden immediately fronting the house.
‘If we follow this wall around to the back of the house we won’t be so conspicuous,’ she suggested and began leading the way. Halfway along, she halted. ‘What was that?!’
‘I didn’t hear anything.’
‘Hmm, keep an eye out. There could be guards for all I know.’
‘Brilliant.’
‘Come on, we’ll be okay.’
Heather’s house loomed large, like a giant fortress in the dark and, apart from a few lights at the front, the back half was pitch-black and lifeless. Roxy shone her torch quickly on her watch. ‘1:05 a.m.,’ she hissed, ‘they should be asleep now.’
‘Either that or they’re watching us on a monitor inside, evilly sniggering as they stroke a fluffy white cat.’
‘Huh?’
‘Never mind,’ Max said. ‘Too many James Bond movies.’
When they were directly behind the house, Roxy suggested they make their way to it through the bushes, rather than using the path and Max agreed. Anything to remain out of sight.
‘Once we get to the house, keep your head down and just follow me. I think I know where I’m going.’
‘Your confidence is comforting,’ he replied drolly and did as instructed.
There were several doors along the back of the house and Roxy chose the one closest to the corner, it had several pipes leading out from it and the window beside it was not curtained. It turned out to be what she thought it would be, the laundry. Another door, which obviously led into the main house, was closed. She checked her map. They were just a corridor away from what the online article called ‘the secret wing’. She tried the handle and smiled when it turned easily. She opened the door and peered through. A low light at one end revealed a long corridor, just as the map had said, and Roxy could just make out the words ‘No Entry’ on a door along one side.
‘That has to be where Lilly is. We’ve got to get in there,’ she whispered to Max who was breathing short, nervous breaths behind her.
‘What if it’s locked?’ he managed to say.
‘Then we’ll try the one to the right. But we’ve got to try.’
Timidly, they edged out of the laundry and down the corridor. A quarter of the way along they heard a door slam in another part of the house. They stood rock still, listening. Suddenly Max grabbed Roxy’s hand, ‘Quick!’ he pulled her back down the hall and into the laundry again, closing the door as quietly as he could.
‘What are you doing?’ she whispered.
‘Shh! Listen. I heard voices.’
> They stood deadly still and waited. There was only silence. Roxy pulled the door forward just an inch and peeped through. Still nothing, and then out of the quiet they heard a muffled laugh. She jumped back, treading on Max’s toe and causing him to moan.
‘Shhh! Sorry, but you’re right. Listen.’ They pricked their ears and could vaguely make out a conversation but it was too muffled, too far away. They heard a door open somewhere down the corridor and Roxy peeked out again. There was somebody down there but she couldn’t make out who it was. In any case, they were standing directly in front of the prohibited door, the one near the front entrance where Roxy had seen a flash of silver inside. It could very well have been Lilly’s wheelchair, which means it could also lead them to Heather’s sister, and the answers to all of Roxy’s questions. She had to get in there and find out.
‘Get some sleep, you need it!’ a woman’s voice said and still Roxy could not see who was speaking but the prickle that was now running like electricity down her spine told her she had heard that voice before, but not at this house. It was followed by the same laugh they had heard earlier. It was a strange, stifled laugh; more nervous than joyful. Then the figure shut the door and turned towards them.
Roxy nearly jumped out of her skin and fell back against the laundry wall, her eyes wide with shock.
‘What?!’ Max hissed. ‘Who is it?’
‘It’s Sally!’ she hissed back. ‘Sally Duffy, from Macksland!’