CHAPTER 29
FRIC FELT THAT BY SOME MAGICAL INFLUENCE of the brick floor under his feet and the brick walls around him and the low brick vaults overhead, he had been transformed into brick himself as he listened to the soft voice of this stranger.
?The secret room concealed behind your closet isn?t as secret as you think, Aelfric. You won?t be safe there when Robin Goodfellow pays a visit.?
?Who??
?Previously I called him the Beast in Yellow. He styles himself Robin Goodfellow, but he?s darker than that. In truth, he?s Moloch, with the splintered bones of babies stuck between his teeth.?
?That?ll take some heavy-duty dental floss,? said Fric, though a tremor in his voice belied the flippancy of his words. He hurried on, hoping that Mysterious Caller had failed to detect his fear. ?Robin Goodfellow, Moloch, baby bones-you aren?t making any sense.?
?You have a great library in your house, don?t you, Aelfric??
?Yeah.?
?And you must have a good dictionary in that library.?
?We have a whole shelf of dictionaries,? said Fric, ?just to prove how scholarly we are.?
[197] ?Then look it all up. Know your enemy, prepare yourself for what is coming, Aelfric.?
?Why don?t you tell me what?s coming? I mean just plain, simple, easy to understand.?
?That?s not within my power. I?m not licensed to take any direct action.?
?So you aren?t James Bond.?
?I?m authorized to work only by indirection. Encourage, inspire, terrify, cajole, advise. I influence events by every means that is sly, slippery, and seductive.?
?What?re you-an attorney or something??
?You?re an interesting young man, Aelfric. I?ll genuinely be sorry if you?re disemboweled and nailed to the front door of Palazzo Rospo.?
Fric almost hung up.
Wrapped around the handset of the phone, his palm became greasy with perspiration.
He would not have been surprised if the man on the far end of the line had smelled this sweat and had commented on the salty scent.
Returning to the subject of a deep and special secret place, Fric mustered a steady voice. ?We have a panic room in the house,? he said, referring to a hidden high-security haven armored to keep out even the most determined kidnappers or terrorists.
?Because the house is so large, you actually have two panic rooms,? Mysterious Caller said, which was true. ?Both are known, and neither will keep you safe on the night.?
?And when is the night??
Enigmatically, the man said, ?It?s a fur vault, you know.?
?A what??
?Long ago, your nice suite of rooms was occupied by the original owner?s mother.?
?How do you know which rooms are mine??
?She had a collection of expensive fur coats. Several minks, sable, white fox, black fox, chinchilla.?
[198] ?Did you know her??
?That steel-lined room was meant to keep the fur coats safe from burglars, moths, and rodents.?
?Have you been in our house??
?The fur vault is a bad place to have an asthma attack-?
Stunned, Fric said, ?How could you know about that??
?-but it?ll be an even worse place to be trapped by Moloch when he comes. Time is running out, Aelfric.?
The line went dead, and Fric stood alone in the wine room, surely alone, but feeling watched.