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.Laurie had not prayed aloud since childhood. The Love Talker / 321All she could remember at this moment was Now Ilay me down to sleep, and that didn t seem particu-larly appropriate.At least she hoped it would not proveto be appropriate.But she felt like praying.She hadnever seen anything, on or off the screen, thatfrightened her as much as Rachel s face.She continued to pick at the knots but she knew shewasn t making any progress.Jeff lay still, his eyesclosed, a trickle of dark blood puddling out from hisarm.Laurie swallowed, cleared her throat, andscreamed.She did it to relieve her feelings, not because sheexpected a response.When a voice answered, she al-most toppled over in sheer surprise. Laurie! Laurie, where are you? Here! Hurry! Help! Rachel, caught in the hypnotic web of her deadlyintent, appeared not to have heard the exchange, butwhen a heavy body forced itself into the cave she wasjarred out of her reverie.She got to her feet in onesmooth movement.She held the knife in her righthand, and even in her absorption in her own prospectsof survival Laurie was sickened at the sight of the dark,wet blade. He-e-elp! she shrieked. I hear you, I hear you, her rescuer said irritably. Stop yelling.The echoes in this place are fierce. Herose cautiously to his feet. 322 / Elizabeth Peters Hi there, Rachel, he said pleasantly. Give UncleDoug the knife, okay? Rachel backed away.Her foot struck the patheticmakeshift toilet table.The mirror crashed to the floor. Now see what you ve done, Doug said. Sevenyears bad luck.Give me the nasty knife before youhurt yourself. He put out his hand.Rachel slashed at it.Themovement was almost careless the petulant slap ofan angry child, rejecting authority but a dark linesprang up across Doug s palm and blood began todrip from his fingers.He didn t look at it, or lower hishand. Now, now, mustn t do that. Out of the corner ofhis mouth he added, in a lower voice, Am-scray, sis.What are you hanging around here for? I can t walk! Hop, then.Or crawl or wriggle or squirm.Justmove.Don t worry about your clothes, Uncle Ned swaiting.Good thing it s him and not Ida.Wouldn tshe be shocked&. In the same quiet voice he wenton, Okay, Rachel, time to go.Want to ride in my nicepretty car? Maybe you d like to drive.You re a goodlittle driver, aren t you? He had been slowly inching forward, so impercept-ibly that Laurie had not noticed until she realized hestood between her and the girl.No The Love Talker / 323dream lover of her wildest fantasies had ever lookedas good to her as Doug did then, his hair wet withmelting snow, his tall body tense despite its appearanceof relaxed confidence.She knew she was safe now.The way to the exit was open.She started moving to-ward it, but she didn t crawl into the tunnel until shehad seen Rachel drop the knife and collapse, sobbing,into Doug s waiting arms. It does seem unfair, Doug remarked, that youhaven t even caught a cold. Cold! I feel as if I d died and gone to&. Lauriecaught the eye of her eldest aunt and omitted the lastword.She was swathed in blankets clear up to the chin.They weighed her weary body down so she couldn teven wriggle.She was in her own white bed and thelights shone serenely on the familiar furniture theruffled shades, the Beatrix Potter prints, the rows ofbrightly bound fairy tales in the bookcases.Uncle Ned had forgotten to take off his red knit cap.The pom-pom nodded absurdly as he leaned over topat the place where Laurie s hand might have restedif she could have gotten it out from under the blankets. Everything s all right now, he said. You re fine. I m fine, Laurie agreed. 324 / Elizabeth Peters Good.I m going to feed Duchess. He stood up. Get some sleep, he said. Dear. He was almost out of the room before Laurie realizedwhat he had said. Uncle Ned& give Duchess a big fat bone for me,will you? Well, she deserves it, her uncle said calmly. Mightnot have found that hole in time without her. The door closed quietly behind him. You know, Doug said, he is the most uncannycharacter in this whole scenario.Out of this world. Shut up, Laurie said.Uncle Ned had called her dear. In any other man, the emotion that had pro-duced that word would have expressed itself in extra-vagant endearments and embraces. Ned suffered in the war, Ida said. He has neverbeen the same since. I like him the way he is, Laurie said.She added, Ilike all of you the way you are. They sat alongside the bed, all in a row, like spectat-ors at a play.Ida had selected a straight chair.She satbolt upright, her hands folded.Her face was a maskof wrinkles and her eyes were sunken, but they had apeaceful look Laurie had not seen for some time.Aunt Lizzie was still wearing the peasant blouse andembroidered skirt.Fake jewels fes The Love Talker / 325tooned her ample bosom.Her hair was agitated andher eyes avoided Laurie s. Oh, she murmured, don t you think we mighthave a little snack? The stress of the day& And dinnerwill be late, I have not had the opportunity to Not now, Aunt Lizzie, Doug said. We have a fewthings to discuss first. He sat on a footstool, his long legs bent, his kneesabsurdly elevated.Laurie smiled at him. My heroicrescuer, she said.Doug grinned. Don t bother soothing my male ego.You can brag all you like, you re entitled.This is thelast scene and you get to play the detective.Tell us, Ogreat sleuth, how you figured it out and almost gotyourself killed. Just good old feminine intuition, Laurie said. Icouldn t have proved anything.Luckily Rachel didn tknow that.What did you find out from the bookstorein Baltimore? I found out that Jefferson Banes had bought thosefigurines.The proprietor didn t know his name butshe remembered him very well. That was careless of him, Laurie exclaimed. Heshould have known we might trace them to him. Sure he knew.Why do you suppose he was soanxious to get rid of the snapshots? But I doubt thathe had any scheme in mind when he 326 / Elizabeth Petersbought the figures, or even when he took the pictures.It did begin as a joke, just as the kids said. Not the kids, just Rachel, Laurie said. With somehelp from Baby Betsy, who is going to turn out to bea real menace someday.Why is it we can t think of agolden-haired infant as a monster? And I ll never be-lieve Rachel meant it as a joke. You re rambling, Doug said. Start from the begin-ning. At the beginning I suspected you, Laurie said, andhad the mean satisfaction of seeing Doug s jaw dropand his eyes widen. You d be surprised what a solidcase I built up.I even wondered if you were really whoyou said you were.I hadn t seen you for a long time,and I didn t recognize you at the airport, and How absurd, Ida said crisply. Did you supposewe would not know our own nephew? I realized that, eventually, Laurie said. But Don t go on, Doug groaned. I don t want to hearany more about that part of your brilliant deductions. Laurie decided she had better not go on.To justifyher suspicions by explaining that she had never felt forDoug as a sister ought to feel would sound& It mightbe misunderstood. Didn t you suspect me? she asked. The Love Talker / 327 Not for an instant. I think that s an insult
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