Ramblings from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

It can't be all bad as I got three votes (Thanks Grover, Boots, Sprinks!) I'd like other opinions

Pendragon

Thirteen Stairs

“What are you doing, Edward! Let go of me! That hurts! You were choking me!” Fiona Travis accused. “My God, you could have killed me!”

“I am going to kill you, Fiona. That was a sample. In three days at midnight exactly, I intend to rid myself of you. I have done it before, you know. Another murder won’t weigh on my conscience.”

“You’ve—you’ve done it before? Who did you murder? You’re insane! You could never get away with it!”

“Oh, but I already have. Four times, as a matter of fact. To get away with murder is merely a series of steps. You follow those steps, and the murder is assured.”

“You try anything with me, Edward, and you will hang!”

“Possibly. Did you ever count the stairs to the second floor? There are thirteen; just the same as there are to a scaffold.

"You might say I advance to the noose every time I go up those stairs. And I will get away with it, Fiona. No one will ever believe you.”

*****

Fiona locked herself in her bedroom that night. The next morning, she went down to the police station.
Lieutenant Cosby took her case.

“You say Edward tried to choke you, Mrs. Travis? I am afraid there are no marks on your throat. No evidence of a choking. Perhaps he was just playing around?”

“He said he would kill me at midnight in three days. I only have two more days to live!” Fiona exclaimed.

“Well, Mrs. Travis, I must tell you that your husband has been here. He said you would come and accuse him.

"You haven’t been feeling well lately, have you? You’ve been very nervous and depressed, as a matter of fact. You husband mentioned that he had called St. Martin’s Hospital.

"Really, you ought to listen to him and have yourself checked over. They can do wonders for mental health these days.”

“I am not crazy, Lieutenant! Edward plans to kill me. You didn’t see the look in his eyes! He said he has already killed four times!”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Travis. Without evidence, you don’t have a chance. Good day!”

Fiona spent a lonely day, and returned home late. Edward was waiting. “I told you they would never believe you! You have to take the right steps, and murder is assured! Four other ladies await your coming.”

“Where did you bury them?”

“Oh. They never left this house, Fiona. Nor will you. Sleep well!”

*****

Fiona left early and hurried to the address she had noticed the day before. Vic Noir, private investigator. She entered the office. A slender man with a slight French accent stood up from a desk.

“May I help you, Madam. por favor?”

“Are you Vic Noir?”

“Oui! Now, tell me everything, and start at the beginning.”

Fiona repeated her story. Noir sat with his eyes closed, listening.

“You say he claims to have the bodies inside the house? A search would then be your best bet.”

“And you may do the search, Mr. Noir. I have absolutely nothing to hide. “ Edward Travis stepped in the door.

“Edward! What are you doing here?” Fiona gasped.

“Well, I had your note telling me to meet you at 34 West Cherry Street. That’s Mr. Noir’s office number.”

“I wrote no such note!”

“Here it is. That’s your handwriting, my dear. Your depression seems to be getting worse.

“Mr. Noir, how much would you charge to search my home? It would set my poor wife’s mind at ease.”

*****

“Hah! I told you that your efforts were useless! Mr. Noir searched the whole house, top to bottom! And he even measured for hidden rooms and places. He found nothing, but they are here, nevertheless. And tonight, at midnight, you will join them!” Edward snarled in his wife’s face. “I’ll just lock you in the den. You see, Fiona, every step is a means to making murder possible!”

****

Vic Noir went to see Lieutenant Cosby.

“Yes, Edward Travis was involved with a young woman before Fiona Travis. A girl named Tiffany Upchurch. They had planned a wedding, I believe.”

“Why didn’t they marry?”

“Oh, she ran off with some foreigner, a British Count. She sent Edward a note at the wedding ceremony by another girl, Emily Watson. The note was in her handwriting, on British Airways paper.”

“Where could I find this Emily Watson?”

“Oh, she is dead, the poor girl. She died in a fire almost six months later. True, all we found was a skull cap, some ribs, and her left hand. But it was Emily Watson, all right.

"Her fingerprints were on file as she worked for the Post Office. The hand is still in the evidence room, in a jar of alcohol, as I recall, if you’d like to see it.”

“I think I would.”

Noir looked up from his observance of the hand. “Did your office trim off the burned bone?”

“No. Why?”

“I think I’d better go see Mr. Edward Travis. And you need to come as well. The man is a murderer!”

“Oh, come on. You searched his home, he said, and found nothing. We have steps and procedures…”

“Steps and procedures! Of course! Come, Lieutenant, we are wasting time. Fiona Travis has less than four hours to live!”

*****

A knock sounded on the door. “Be quiet woman, while I answer. Nothing is going to stop me now!”

“Mr. Noir! What are you doing here? And Lieutenant Crosby as well. ”

“I remembered something that you kept telling your wife, Edward.”

“What? That she is losing her mind? She is, she has become dangerous!”

Vic Noir looked grim. “Non. What you really have been telling her, Edward, of murder and steps to take to ensure that murder. I know what I missed, before. Are you going to open your crypts, or shall I, you murderer?”

Edward Travis sneered. “I had you search the place before, Noir, to prove my poor wife is just babbling. There is nowhere else.”

“I’ve already reminded Mr. Noir of that fact.” Lieutenant Crosby sighed.

“Au contraire. I know exactly where the bodies are and where you planned to put your wife. Here!”

Vic Noir turned the newel post on the staircase. The entire side of the staircase slid down and thirteen small openings were revealed. In four of them sat small stone jars.

“The ashes of your former victims, Edward. Grab him, Crosby! Where is Fiona?“

“I’m here! Let me out of this den!”
Fiona banged on the door.

“How did you figure it out, Noir?” Lieutenant Crosby asked.

“Steps and procedures, Lieutenant. “ Noir smiled as he released Fiona Travis. “Steps and procedures!”


The End.
Inspired by an old TV Show, Sherlock Holmes