Saving Tara Goodwin (Mystery Book 1) Page 14

  Frank wondered what would happen if Merlin wasn’t happy.

  Suddenly, the computer screen burst into life and confirmed the registration of each CD, but a large red question mark appeared and the daily password was demanded.

  Tara entered, HeDgehOg and turned to the men, her smile becoming more confident.

  ‘The password changes daily, and the configuration, every twelve hours.’

  Frank looked at Monty and wondered how she managed to remember it all.

  Another instruction appeared on the screen and Tara asked Monty to stand up.

  ‘I’m sorry, Mr Montague, but Merlin wishes an Iris check.’

  Positioning him in front of a small camera, the computer chattered busily.

  ‘And now yourself, Mr Lewis, if you would.’

  The machine worked once more, and without warning it went straight into screen saver, but it was of a man standing naked in front of a firing squad.

  ‘Don’t worry, gentlemen, it’s only Merlin’s little joke, but we are in.’

  Frank stared at the blood splattered man, ‘Well thank god for that.’

  The tiled face began to silently disappear up into the ceiling to reveal hardened steel doors separating left and right as a final steel door raised up, and looking beyond, all Frank could see was a sort of changing room with three cubicles on each side.

  Tara ushered them through, ‘I’m sorry, but it’s Iris checks again.’

  Frank looked at her, ‘What? Not again, surely …?’

  When she gave him the strangest smile, he noticed she looked uncomfortable in here.

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid so. You’re not on the official list, so everything from now on will be covered by Iris checks, but it only takes a moment, and it does keep Merlin happy.’

  Frank thought, ‘She keeps saying that.’

  ‘Miss Goodwin, tell me. So what would happen if Merlin wasn’t happy?’

  She froze, ‘What, in here … My god … Well it’s probably best if you don’t ask.’

  ‘But I am asking.’

  She took a deep breath, ‘But do you really want to know?’

  Monty looked up, ‘Yes, Miss Goodwin, we do.’

  ‘…Oh, very well.’ She looked up to the ceiling, ‘Do you see the sprinklers?’

  Frank nodded.

  ‘Well they aren’t, sprinklers, I mean. Or should I say, not all of them are.’

  Frank felt cold feet walking all over his grave, ‘Go on.’

  She hesitated for a moment, but shrugged her shoulders and pointed to the ceiling.

  ‘Look more closely, do you see that some are like flowers, with their petals open?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Well they are the sprinklers. Now do you see, some have their petals closed?’

  ‘Yep, I see them.’

  Tara swallowed, remembering that some people go into a blind panic, and that poor woman from Northwood, very nearly went out of her mind.

  ‘Gentlemen, they are Sarin nerve gas. Hence we keep Merlin happy. Okay?’

  Frank nearly laughed, but then realised she was totally serious.

  ‘Jesus Christ! So are you saying that some lousy computer can actually decide to activate those bloody things?’

  ‘Yes, but I stress, only if it is seriously unhappy, and it hasn’t happened yet.’

  Frank thought, ‘Well let’s hope like fuck it doesn’t happen today.’

  With the Iris checks made, the doors closed and Tara indicated to the cubicles.

  ‘Please remove all clothing and stand for the camera, front and rear, then you can get dressed in the cotton overalls and slippers and meet me outside when you’re ready.’

  Frank felt unsure, ‘Are you saying the camera wants a full monty?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Oh great, and who gets to see the result?’

  Tara looked away, ‘Only Mr Dudley.’

  ‘Well isn’t that just wonderful.’

  Following the procedure, they were soon ready and Tara led them along the corridor to the final entrance into Leonardo.

  It was airport gate style but with an Iris camera, and designed in such a way, if anything unauthorised passed through it would automatically activate Merlin, but under Tara’s guidance they were quickly through and finally inside Leonardo da Vinci.

  Frank looked around but there wasn’t much to see, just a long panelled corridor with four heavy doors, two on each side.

  They were spaced out at forty paces between each other, and each door had a name.

  White Bow. Red Sword. Black Scales. Pale Death.

  Helping Monty along the corridor, it soon became obvious that without the wheelchair his strength was fading away fast.

  Passing White Bow, Red Sword and Black Scales, Tara dismissed them as low level, which in this place seemed incongruous to both Monty and Frank, but coming to the door named Pale Death, she stopped and smiled knowingly.

  ‘I think you can guess what we have to do now.’

  Frank stepped up to the camera, ‘Oh well, anything to keep good old Merlin happy.’

  Monty and Tara followed, and tapping a code into the digital lock, the door clicked and swung silently open to reveal an air conditioned, sunny room.

  ‘Gentlemen, there you are, Pale Death, the jewel in Leonardo’s crown.’

  Frank wondered what the name, Pale Death, could mean, and helping Monty inside, looked around the room, but soon came to a halt as there was nothing in there.

  Well, nothing except three average filing cabinets standing one to each wall, and a large flat window in the other looking out over the back of the house and estate.

  Wandering aimlessly around, Tara joined Frank to stare idly out of the huge window.

  ‘I know what you must be thinking, it’s something of an anti-climax, isn’t it.’

  ‘It sure is.’

  He looked out of the window, and although the view was impressive, it didn’t have the majesty of the front gardens, and only looked out over the old stables and buildings that now seemed to be used for general maintenance, and looking down over the smooth stone, saw it was a sheer drop to the ugly expanse of the dirty grey concrete yard, so far below.

  Staring out of the window, Frank became aware of Monty, shuffling around the room, and turning, saw that although the cabinets were ordinary, he seemed to be absorbed by them.

  ‘Miss Goodwin, there are no locks on the cabinets, why so?’

  She turned, and following his gaze, looked around at the old, olive green filing cabinets.

  ‘Well actually, I did raise the same question, but it was thought that given the overall level of security, it was not necessary to have locks fitted to the cabinets themselves.’

  ‘Ah. Now there we have it. And which, may I ask, is the Pale 1 cabinet?’

  Tara pointed to the far wall, ‘It’s that one over there.’

  Monty looked around the room, and gazing up to the ceiling, saw there were three cameras all located into the ceiling rose of the lamp holder, and each camera was fixed and dedicated to its own particular cabinet.

  ‘And where, exactly, are the camera monitors located.’

  Looking up, she frowned and wondered why he was so interested in the cameras.

  ‘They’re in the security office, the one outside the chamber where we signed in.’

  ‘And the guard, does he watch the monitors?’

  ‘Yes, well that is one of their duties.’

  ‘And how long is their shift?’

  ‘They work twelve hours.’

  ‘I see, and the DVD recordings of the shift, are they kept and stored forever?’

  ‘No, of course not, they’re verified and reused.’

  ‘Verified? And by whom?’

  ‘Well the guard of course, he was the one on duty.’

  ‘So does the guard, re-watch the recordings of the cabinets in order to verify them?’

  Frank thought, 'Not unless they’ve got big tits, and a nice, soft, round arse.’


  ‘Well no, if the shift has been uneventful, the DVDs are wiped and reused.’

  ‘And would you say the shifts have been uneventful for months, if not years?’

  Tara began to wonder where this old man with the electric blue eyes was taking her.

  ‘Yes, I would say so. Well, until our recent embarrassment.’

  ‘Indeed, and would you agree, that to expect a security guard to look at filing cabinets over a twelve hour shift, was asking just a little too much?’

  Tara winced, ‘I suppose so, but they do have other duties to alleviate the boredom, and they’re only obliged to check the screens every once in a while.’

  ‘But that’s my point, they check once in a while, but they do not watch.’

  Tara felt uncomfortable as Monty stared at her, his bright blue eyes boring into hers.

  ‘And unfortunately, there’s yet another worry. You see, there’s something in this room that makes the situation even worse. So look, don’t you see something odd?’

  Looking around, they saw nothing out of the ordinary, then Monty jerked his thumb up, ‘Look, don’t you see?’

  Studying more closely, Tara suddenly pointed up when she realised.

  ‘The ceiling rose, it isn’t in the centre of the room.’

  Monty smiled and clapped his hands, his tired eyes shining warmly to her.

  ‘Exactly, dear lady, bravo ... The ceiling rose was obviously positioned there in the infancy of electric light, and due to light refraction, don’t you understand?’

  Tara slowly shook her head while Frank looked quizzical.

  ‘You don’t? Well maybe you’re just too young to know. So let me try to explain. You see, in the infancy of electric light, the rules of the day stated, the ceiling rose would be placed where the incoming daylight refracted, or bent down, and in this room, as it is in so many older houses, it would be just a short distance from the window glass, and it’s obviously never been altered, and probably because no-one wanted to interfere with the original integrity of the old manor house.’

  Frank agreed, ‘Yeah. Well I see what you mean, but is it important?’

  ‘Yes, I think it is, and now I’d like to ask Miss Goodwin, two vital questions.’

  They looked at him and wondered what was coming.

  ‘Miss Goodwin, if my memory serves me correctly, I seem to remember from your file that Merlin not only switches on the house lights but uses a central light indicator to determine the time of dusk, so would that be right?’

  Tara nodded, ‘Yes, correct on both counts, but I’m lost, so why is that important?’

  ‘Light refraction. You see, Cabinet No 1 would be standing in semi-darkness long before dusk, and long before Merlin switched on the house lights.’

  Frank began to feel a prickle running up his spine.

  ‘And also, if you look closely, you will see that the dedicated camera for Cabinet No 1 has been sighted with its lens shielded from what light there may have been available, and by the very lamp holder itself.’

  ‘So if you combine a dark and murky monitor screen with the occasional disinterested glances of a very bored and weary security guard, it comes as no surprise to me that the file was indeed successfully violated.’

  Tara inwardly sank, because she had simply not known about the light refraction.

  Monty looked into her eyes and knew she was re-thinking the past events.

  ‘Miss Goodwin. You mentioned in your file that Thornley Manor has its own security cleared maintenance crew, and its very own clerk of works, a Mr Anderton, who would appear to be either a very ignorant engineer, or quite possibly, a very clever one.’

  Tara stared transfixed at the ceiling rose as everything began to make sense.

  The clerk of works would have known of the light refraction, and the sighting of the camera being useless. So through no fault of her own she’d been tricked yet again.

  Shuddering in revulsion, she remembered following her instructions with Anderton. She’d let that foul, disgustingly awful man, take her, she’d let him take her on her hands and knees in that filthy, disgusting maintenance hut, but he hadn’t been helping her at all, he’d only been using her, just like all the others.

  She hadn’t been head of security at all, they’d just given her a fancy title and let her act out the part, playing their games with her, using her like a toy.

  It hadn’t been a proper job after all, she’d only been placed here to give them sex, that’s all she’d ever been, just a doll, a doll for them to use whenever they wanted her.

  Deep in thought, Frank turned to Monty.

  ‘Now look, don’t get me wrong because this light refraction stuff is very interesting, but how does it help? We’re way up here on the top floor, there’s no way out, and that mad computer controls everything, there’s more security in this place than Fort Knox.’

  Monty sagged, ‘I know, but I’m quite sure it’s part of the answer.

  Coming out of the hurt of her darkest thoughts, Tara suddenly remembered something.

  ‘I don’t know if this helps, but that Pale1 file is huge, it’s listed as eighty pages long, and every single page would be automatically ferrous sprayed, so nothing could pass through the gate without Merlin going crazy, and as the file couldn’t have left Leonardo, what could have been the point of the violation? Surely no-one could possibly remember all of that material, but of course, we do know …’

  Watching, wide eyed, she saw Monty crumple down to the floor.

  13

  Sheverill’s Farm was bathed in warm sunshine as Lucinda drank wine from the bottle, and as the aromatic scent of the herb gardens came wafting through the kitchen door, her smile deepened as she gazed fondly to Christiana from across the lunch strewn table.

  ‘Oh Chrissy, isn’t life wonderful.’

  She smiled back, ‘It sure is, honey, and so are you.’

  Gazing at her, Christiana saw Lucinda’s eyes begin to glaze over, and easing up her T shirt, picked up the bottle and began dribbling the deep red wine down over her breasts.

  ‘Lucy, honey, come to me, come and lick my wine.’

  Lucinda twitched as she stared, and taking off her T shirt, slid down under the table, and crawling across, came up between Christiana’s thighs, and sliding her hands around her bottom began to lick the wine as it fell from Christiana’s nipples.

  As Lucinda suckled, Christiana listened to the house, and hearing the muffled sounds of Martha come plodding down the stairs, whispered softly to Lucinda.

  ‘Lucy, let’s have some fun in the summer house. Come on, honey.’

  Pulling her to her feet, Christiana held her close as she watched the hall door.

  Martha came through, and seeing them, stopped abruptly and nodded to Christiana.

  Easing Lucinda away, she gently turned her round and helped her totter outside.

  ‘Lucy, let’s have a party. Now stay right here and I’ll fetch a bottle. Don’t move.’

  Running back to the kitchen, she saw Martha waiting nervously for her.

  ‘Well, Martha, did you have any luck?’

  She nodded, but her eyes were scared, ‘I found this in a trunk. Is it any good?’

  Christiana’s heart leapt, because there in Martha’s hand was a small black diary.

  ‘Oh yes, it sure could be.’

  Slipping it into the pocket of her jeans, she gathered up the wine, tobacco tin and lighter, and with a smile, walked out. ‘Thanks Martha, and please, keep on looking.’

  Arthur sweated at the compost heap, his bushy white hair glistening in the sun, and looking up, his piggy eyes narrowed as the two women walked bare breasted along the path to the summer house, and stabbing the fork into the heap, walked off along a path that ran all the way through the bushes to the summer house.

  Peeping through the window, his breath came hot when the two women stripped off their clothes and let them fall to the floor, and settling themselves on the large soft mattress began to kiss and fondl
e, their bodies entwining while hands searched and soft lips kissed, their lovemaking growing more and more intense.

  Arthur stood perfectly still, his erection straining, but Christiana eased away, and taking the bottle, offered it to Lucinda and helped her to drink, and reaching for the tobacco tin, rolled a cannabis cigarette, and flicking the lighter, gave the cigarette to Lucinda, and as she inhaled deeply, Christiana began to lick and kiss until finally Lucinda fell away into the most incredibly erotic dream.

  Arthur panted uncontrollably as he masturbated, his hand moving faster and faster until suddenly shuddering, spilt his seed like a river into the dirt.

  Martha watched, her cold eyes hating her brother as he eased himself out of the bushes.

  ‘You’ll get caught one day, doing that, and when you do, don’t expect any sympathy.’

  He scowled, ‘I do enough for them, so why shouldn’t they do something for me.’

  As he walked away, fastening his trousers, Martha spat on the ground, ‘Men.’

  Tugging the small diary from her jeans pocket, Christiana felt excited.

  If this was what she was looking for, she could be out of this madhouse before nightfall.

  Smiling, she saw a red S on the cover, but her heart soon fell.

  Although there were entries on some particular dates, everything seemed to be in code, just endless groups of 4 random figures that made no sense.

  Puzzling over the blocks of figures, she sighed and had to face the truth.

  This would take time, which meant she would be trapped here for some while longer yet.

  After Monty had fallen in the room of Pale Death it had been a nightmare getting him out of Leonardo, with Frank holding him up for the iris checks while Tara lifted his eyelid for the cameras, and then stripping him naked to hold him up like a scarecrow, front and rear, while the camera clicked for Ambrose Dudley.

  And Frank had caused a panic going through the blast doors when he dropped Monty’s personally formatted CD and Merlin had threatened an immediate shutdown if it wasn’t inserted in less than a minute, and after a mad dash through the tunnels, the double doors had presented their own problem, with Tara pushing him in the chair while the guard used Monty’s press and swipe cards.