Debbie Goes Medieval - Part Two

A link to the first half of this story can be found in the notes below.  And now for the conclusion….


Dalca Castle, outside Vanity City, Maryland.

“What the hell kind of place are you-all running here?”

Fred Smythe jumped to his feet, his face flushed with anger.  “Don’t come in here shouting and using that kind of language in front of my wife!”

“I’ll speak how I like!  Me and the wife got here bright and early.  We were fixing to put decorations for the big picnic tomorrow.  Then she disappeared.  I tried calling her cellphone, but no answer.  I hollered her name.  Still no answer.  I looked everywhere before I finally found her, tied to a tree over there!”

“It’s true,” his wife said.  “Some man and woman in fancy old costumes grabbed me.  Said they didn’t want us around!  Then they tied me up!  Even gagged me so I couldn’t call for help”

“So, why’d you-all do it?” the representative from the Machinists’ Union demanded.  “You-all got a pretty funny way of treating customers here!”

“We didn’t do it!” Fred shouted.

“It wasn’t you-all behind those disguises?”

“Of course not!”

“Yeah, maybe.”  He didn’t sound convinced.  “Even if it was someone else, you-all are still at fault!”

“How do you figure that?” Fred demanded.

“You-all are supposed to provide proper security, right?  I bet you-all don’t even have any security cameras so we can see what happened.”

“We’re planning on putting some up,” Fred mumbled.

“Our Union’s not having its picnic here.  We want our deposit back!”

“All deposits are nonrefundable,” Marge said.

“Oh, so it’s like that, is it?  Let me show you-all something.”  He held up his cellphone, briefly playing a scene of his wife struggling against the ropes and mewing into a cloth gag.  “I took the precaution of getting a bit of evidence.”

Fred swallowed, but kept the thought to himself of someone whose first reaction would be to record his wife tied up rather than to hurry to her assistance.

“Now, either you-all give us our deposit back, and I mean RIGHT NOW or this video gets uploaded to the internet.  It’ll go viral, sure.  Everyone’ll see what happens to folks at Dalca Castle.”

“This is blackmail!” Fred exploded.

“It’s not blackmail, getting money that’s rightfully ours!”

“Fred, please.”  Marge took a pen from her purse.  “If we write you a check, will you erase the footage?”

“Yes, I’ll erase the footage.  We’ll forget the whole incident.  We’ll forget Dalca Castle too, you-all best believe.”

Five minutes later a cloud of dust rose from the long dirt driveway as the minivan rolled away.

………………..
“Hi, Tienne!”  Debbie recounted for her assistant the conversation she’d had with the Guys the day before, omitting the numerous digressions.  “It was like blundering about in a fog, talking with them,” she concluded.  “How are you getting on?”

“I tried calling the corporation that runs the Chesapeake Bay Renaissance Fair,” Tienne said.  “I got passed around from one low-level flunky to another before I finally spoke with the secretary to the personal assistant to a junior vice-president, who promised me the VP would return my call, but so far, hasn’t.  I’ll give another call when we’re finished.”

Debbie held out a sympathetic hand.  “Thanks for trying, Tienne, but don’t bother.  The idea that a rival would sabotage a competing fair with fake ghosts sounds too theatrical for such a big corporation.  Besides, we know the ghosts… I mean, the people pretending to be ghosts have been showing up for a while, presumably long before anyone ever decided to hold a rival fair.  I don’t believe they’re involved.  But, who could it be?”

“Maybe the Smythes themselves,” suggested Tienne.  “They would’ve had time to change out of their costumes after they’d tied me up yesterday.  The way they showed up suddenly, it almost was like on schedule.  We only have their word that Marge was ever tied up.  Also, didn’t the Guys say the ghosts showed up just when the Smythes were buying the castle?  That could have been the nudge to get them to sell!  Then they bought it and this ghostly robber baron conveniently disappeared.  Well, until he recently returned,” she admitted.

“Maybe,” said Debbie.  “But the Guys said the Count didn’t show up until after they decided to sell.”

“Maybe they got their facts muddled.  From what you said of them, they certainly could!  Or maybe the Smythes thought the ghosts would get them a reduced price.  I remember they tried to discourage you from talking to the Guys.”

“But why have the ghosts shown up again now?” asked Debbie.  “If it’s a publicity stunt, it’s completely backfiring.  I got a message that they lost a client today because someone else got tied up!”  She quickly repeated the story she’d heard from Marge Smythe.  “And if they’re deliberately trying to keep people away for some weird reason, why go through all this?  It’s their property!  If they suddenly want privacy, all they have to do is stop accepting bookings!”

“I guess it’s not the Smythes after all,” said Tienne.

“I won’t eliminate them completely.  Let’s mark them as ‘Unlikely’ and consider other suspects.”

“You sound like Nancy Drew, Debbie!  But, how do we know we’ve ever even heard of the person behind this?  Maybe someone thinks the castle is rightfully his?  The Count said something kind-of like that when he tied me up!  Or maybe there is some other old history that would explain things!”

Debbie groaned.  “The Smythes said there wasn’t anything like that, but it won’t hurt to check on the castle’s history.  Who knows what we might uncover?  But I don’t think the solution is someone unknown to us.”

“Oh, no?”

“Have you ever taken a test where there was a question you knew you knew the answer to, only it wouldn’t come?” Debbie asked.  “It’s like that.  I have the funniest feeling that someone said something that I didn’t attach any importance to at the time but that actually would explain everything!  If only I could think what it was!”

“Don’t concentrate too hard,” Tienne advised.  “It’ll come to you.  But if it’s someone we know and it’s not the Smythes, who’s left?”

“Of course!” Debbie almost shouted.  “Terrance Nixon and Kennesaw Duluth!”

“Those two old guys who hired you?”

“It must be them!” Debbie exclaimed.  “I thought at the time that if anyone got tied up that I’d know who to blame!  It’s exactly the sort of thing they’d do.  They’re probably all into horror stuff.”

“Y-e-es, perhaps,” Tienne said slowly, “but not in that way.  They seemed more like Addams Family horror, not Texas Chainsaw Massacre horror.  Perhaps they’d pull an elaborate practical joke but not to the point of ruining someone’s business.”

“You don’t know them like I do,” Debbie insisted.  “You know they hired me years ago, right?”

“To investigate a haunted house, wasn’t it?” Tienne asked.

“It turned out they knew all along it wasn’t haunted,” Debbie said grimly.  “They were planning a Halloween party and they wanted someone with ghosts on the brain to come in so they could see how easy it was to give them a spooky scare.  They tied up a couple of my friends for a bonus, so that shows they’ll happily do that too.  It’s definitely them!”

“But there’s a man and a woman involved, not two men.”

Debbie shook her head.  “It only looks that way.  The woman could really be a man.  By all reports, the Count does most of the talking.  You didn’t recognize the voice, did you?”

“It didn’t sound like them.”

Debbie dismissed her objection.  “They’ve probably taken acting classes or something to disguise their voices.”

“Why would they do it?” asked Tienne

“I don’t know,” said Debbie, “but we’ll find out.  I wish I’d thought to ask the Guys if they’d had any dealings with that pair.  I’m not looking forward to it, but I’ll call them as we drive to the castle.”

“We’re going back?” asked Tienne.

“Yep, right now!  I’m certain the solution to this whole mystery is there, and we’re going to find it!”

………………..
“Duluth and Nixon?  Debbie, tell me you’re not involved with those horrible people!”

Serenity Guy’s voice became a shriek.  “Their auras are wretched, tangled cobwebs choked with dust!  We trusted them and they cheated us.”

“Did you do business with them, Serenity?” Debbie asked.

“Are you doing business with them?” Serenity countered.  “Are you saying they hired you for the fair?”

“Yes,” said Debbie.  “Why does that concern you, Serenity?”

“Stay away from them and stay away from the castle!”

“Tienne’s driving me to the castle right now.  What’s wrong, Serenity?  What do you know about them and the castle?  Hello?  Serenity?  Mrs. Guy, are you there?”

She pressed redial, but received no answer.

“Is she for real or just being dramatic?” Tienne asked.

“It’s hard to know with her,” Debbie admitted.  “I wish she’d pick up, but at least we know our clients have been involved with the castle for some time.  It’s all coming together!”

She pressed her cellphone.  “Hey, babe!” Stan said heartily.  “Great to hear from you.  Gotta be quick, though.  Gotta lead another workout in a minute.”

“Stan, I’m sorry to be so abrupt, but I really need you and Buddy to get away from work again, as soon as possible.”

“No can do, babe,” said Stan.  “We got chewed out over skipping out early yesterday.  We’re supposed to be available to help costumers when we’re not in a session.”

“I know, Stan, and it’s asking a lot, but I really need you.  Tienne and I are heading back out to the castle and there may be trouble.”

“After what happened to her yesterday you’re going back?”

“Stan, I think I’ve got the mystery about solved.  Can you please, please work something out for your princess?”

Stan paused briefly.  “Gotta start this workout session, babe.  I’ll talk to Buddy afterwards and we’ll try to swing something, but stay out of trouble in the meantime, okay?”

“Hope the boys can make it,” Tienne said a minute later after Debbie concluded the call.

Debbie kept quiet, thinking about the knights of old.  When a princess sent one out on a quest, he galloped right off!  They didn’t make excuses about having to work!  From what she’d read, they considered it an honor to slay dragons and giants for a lady fair.

“Debbie, if Kennesaw and Terrance are behind this, where are they parking their car?”

Debbie snapped out of her daydream.  “The Smythes said there was plenty of parking.”

“Maybe they used the parking field the first time, at some far edge, hoping no one would notice.  Maybe at the wedding they mingled in with the guests.  But if they keep showing up then someone’s going to spot their car parked nearby.”

“Maybe it’s not parked nearby.  Maybe they parked at the State Park and hiked over.  Marge said they get of hikers from there.”

Tienne shook her head.  “Those two old guys hiking a couple miles there and back each time?”

“They’re not that frail,” Debbie snapped, remembering her encounter with them years ago.  “And I’m looking at Google Maps now.  There are all kinds of old roads in the area that don’t lead anywhere much.  They could’ve parked at the dead end of a dirt road no one uses and trekked through a thin screen of trees.  That would put them right at the castle and be much shorter than coming from the State Park.”

She continued quickly, before Tienne could raise another objection.  “Speaking of them, though, I’d like some answers about their interest in the castle.  I’m calling them now!”

“You think you can badger them into a confession over the phone?”

“Well, no,” Debbie admitted.  “But I still want… what’s this?”

“The number you have selected has been disconnected.  Please make a note of it.”

“Disconnected?”  Debbie stared at her cellphone.  “How?  They just gave me this number!  They know I need to be able to reach them easily to arrange the Fair.  I’ll send them an email telling them to call me pronto.  Let’s hope this isn’t a throwaway account they’ll never check.   How do they expect me to contact them?”

“Do you have a street address?”

“Only a Post Office Box,” Debbie noted, checking her clients’ information.  “It’s almost as if they don’t want any contact!  Talk about mysterious.  This clinches it.  There’s something very fishy about this whole arrangement.  I wonder if they really planned to hold an Olde English Fair at all?  If I ever see them again I’m going to get answers if I have to throttle some out of them!”

………………..
Marge Smythe’s smile was definitely strained as she greeted Debbie and Tienne.  Still, she played the welcoming hostess graciously.  “Oh, you’re not wearing your costumes today!”

“We’ll wear medieval costumes another day, once we have everything sorted out,” Debbie said, careful not to use the word “if”.  She had never established a dress code for her business, as Tienne was the only employee she’d hired yet.  Once she expanded and had several workers she could think about an office uniform, but her instructions to Tienne had simply been to dress smart and professional, while feeling free to express her individuality.  Both young women wore basic blouses and skirts with dress shoes.  “I really feel I can get this mystery solved.  Could I ask you a few questions, Marge?”

Marge’s answers did not provide Debbie with much information.  She had never heard of Terrance Nixon and Kennesaw Duluth until yesterday.  She knew of no one who had any vendetta against them.  She wasn’t aware of anyone else claiming to be the rightful owner of the castle, not even a preposterous claim no one else would take seriously.  No one had tried, with or without permission, to search the grounds.  “I doubt very much there’s an old treasure hidden here anywhere,” she said, her smile brightening slightly.  “The only treasure is the castle itself.  But, what good is it if we have to shut down?  I wish this had never happened.  Why can’t everything be perfect again?”

“Please don’t talk like that!” Tienne said earnestly.  “Do you have any old records I can search that might provide some answers?”

“There’ve been a few packrats living here before we came,” Marge said.  “They saved up a bunch of old tax invoices, bills, and even a little correspondence.  Apparently, it got started when an old owner got thinking it’d be viewed as something historical one day, and subsequent owners kept up the tradition.  You’re welcome to look through it all, but I doubt you’ll find anything helpful.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Tienne announced, getting directions from Marge to a room used as a study on the ground floor.

“Keep you cellphone close,” Debbie told her before she left.  “Call me often, or at least text!”

“And what are you going to do, Debbie?” Marge asked.

“I’d like to have a look around upstairs,” she answered.  “Especially in the room where you were captured.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?”  Seeing Debbie was determined, Marge continued.  “Please be careful!  I’d go with you, but I simply can’t face going up there again.”

“I’ll be okay,” Debbie said.  She snuck a peek at her cellphone, but there was no message from Stan.  “I’ve taken a couple self-defense classes.  They won’t find me an easy target!”

“Fred is around,” Marge said.  “Give a good scream and he’ll come running.  He’s supposed to be seeing what we need to put in security cameras, although I get the idea he’s really hunting for secret passages.”

“I’d like to find some myself,” Debbie acknowledged.  “Knowing how they connect could be very useful.”

“Well, please be careful,” Marge repeated.

Debbie entered the castle and walked up the stairs.  A few faint thumps reached her.  “I suppose that’s Fred… or intruders roaming the secret passages?  Oh, this must be the door to the room.”

Debbie entered cautiously.  If anyone jumped her, she’d give them a fight!  However, the room was empty, except for a couple chairs, a table, and an old cabinet.  “Well, now to find the secret passage.  How do you do that?”  She banged on a wall.  If one section sounded any different that might tell her something.  “The noises all sound pretty much the same,” she thought glumly.

Her cellphone chimed.  It was Tienne checking in.  “Marge wasn’t exaggerating,” her assistant said.  “There are boxes of old papers, and it’s pretty jumbled up.  I haven’t even looked at any details yet.  I’m concentrating on getting some order out of it.  How are you making out?”

“Not too well,” Debbie admitted.  “I suppose that’s why secret passages are secret, because they’re so hard to find.  I’ll call you if I find anything.”

She stared at her cellphone, willing Stan to call.  She sent him a text to let him know she was looking forward to seeing him soon.  As she finished, the phone chimed, but it was only an advertisement.  She jammed the device in her purse and glared in frustration at a wall, as if it were arguing with her.

“I know you two are here!” she shouted, hoping to draw out Terrance and Kennesaw.  “I know you’re behind this.  Why don’t you come out so we can discuss things?”

The only answer was the sound of wooden creaking.  “Old buildings creak a lot,” Debbie told herself, refusing to get spooked.

An arm grabbed her, pinning her arms against her side!  She tried to scream, but a hand slapped over her mouth.  Debbie reacted swiftly to throw her assailant, but the results were much different than she had with Stan.  He continued to hold her tightly.

“Nice try, princess,” a familiar voice sneered, “but those tricks won’t work on me!”

………………..
“Keep still!” Debbie was ordered gruffly, as, slung over one shoulder, she was carried higher up into the castle.

The ropes dug tightly into Debbie’s skin.  She tried slipping her hands free from the ropes binding them together against her back.  She tried yanking her feet free from their bonds.  She tried screaming into her gag, but only emitted soft, plaintive mews even her captor could barely hear.

They emerged onto a parapet overlooking the ocean.  Gray waves crashed onto the rocks far, far below.  Seagulls cried mournfully.  Her captor removed Debbie from his shoulder, standing her next to him.

Debbie looked at him furiously.  “Not dressed up as the Count today?” she tried to ask.

“It was a mistake having anything to do with you,” he said.  “You’ve caused such trouble.”

The access door opened as Serenity Guy joined her husband.  “We kept all our keys for the old place,” she told Debbie, locking the door.  “We always knew we’d come back one day.”

“As my wife remarked yesterday, it was quite clever of the Smythes to turn this into a moneymaker,” River said, sounding much more self-assured than he had yesterday.  “That showed us what we should have done.  We wanted to buy the place back, but with all the success the Smythes were having, they surely weren’t in the mood to sell, especially at a bargain price, which is all we could afford.  However, there could be a way to change their minds….”

He wasn’t finished, but Debbie’s cellphone interrupted him.  “It’s her assistant, that Asian girl,” Serenity said, looking at the screen.

“Send her a text that everything’s okay,” River ordered.  “Something terse that sounds like it would come from her.  We don’t want her wandering in ‘til we’re ready for her.”

Serenity twiddled her fingers over the device.  “We created Count Unpronounceable and his little woman, of course,” River said.  “When you came yesterday, we told you they’d bothered us so you’d think they’d been around for a while.”

“Unfortunately, somebody said too much at that meeting,” Serenity said, looking sharply at her husband.

“You said too much as well, dearest,” River fired back.  “Letting her know how much we missed the old place.  Admittedly, I shouldn’t have said all that about buying the castle back from the Smythes at the old price.  It’s worth so much more now, of course, with all their improvements.  I got a bit eager, I admit.  Still, I thought my words had passed you by.”

“Then you came here, shouting that you knew everything!” said Serenity.  “We had act fast.  No time for a costume change… not that it matters.”  She walked to the very edge of the parapet and looked down, then smiled coldly at Debbie.  “Who have you told?  Your assistant, certainly.  We’ll have to take care of her as well.”

“Mpfff!” Debbie screamed, shaking her head wildly.

“It’ll be lovely having this old place back,” Serenity said dreamily.  “To reassure everyone that it’s safe to hold events here again, I’ll put on a show.  A public exorcism to rid us of Count Unpronounceable.  Of course, he has to perform one last evil deed first!”

Debbie looked in desperation at the access door.  Although her legs were tightly tied together, she shuffled her feet, inching forward.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Debbie?”  Serenity jangled her key ring.  “No, you’re not going anywhere… except straight down.  Come on, River, get it over with.”

“Yes, with this, the Smythes should be eager to give the place away to us,” River announced.  With both hands, he lifted Debbie up over his head and walked beside his wife.

Debbie screamed again, her whole body writhing as she tried to escape.  She arched her back and swung her legs.  One shoe flew forward, to disappear into the water below.

“Stop wasting time and toss her in!” Serenity hissed, noticing River was wavering.  “We have to do this.  She knows too much!”

River still hesitated.  Debbie continued her struggles.  A wooden crash came from behind her, and then again.  River raised Debbie even higher, straining his arm muscles.  Serenity shrieked.  Debbie was snatched from River’s hands.

She sighed in relief, finding herself in Stan’s strong arms.  “It’s okay, babe,” he told her.  “Everything’s okay.”

Serenity and River raced past them to the broken door, only to find their escape blocked by Buddy and Tienne.  “Oh, no, you’re not going anywhere!” Buddy said, his muscular body filling the doorway.

Fred and Marge Smythe stood behind them.  “You!” Fred exclaimed.  “You were behind the ghostly appearances?  Why?”

River shouted something in answer, but Debbie didn’t absorb much of the firestorm of accusations that followed.  Her attention focused completely on Stan, as he removed her cloth gag and untied her knots.  “Are you okay, babe?” he asked.

“Oh, yes,” she said, snuggling up next to him.  Her knight in shining armor had arrived just in time!

………………..
Debbie really, really hated going to Ginormous Buffet, but it was Stan’s favorite place to eat and he deserved a treat after rescuing her yesterday.  “Well, this looks yummy!” she announced, poking her food with a fork.

“You need to fill that up more, babe!” Stan told her, his own plate a mass of vegetables, beans, potatoes, pasta, and chicken.  “It’s all you can eat!”

“The food all looked very nice,” Tienne said diplomatically.  “I had a hard time choosing.”

“I told you you’d like it here,” Buddy said.

Tienne tried an experimental bite.  “So, we were both wrong, Debbie.  It wasn’t the Smythes like I thought, and it wasn’t your clients, like you thought.”

“I should have known better,” Debbie admitted.  “Why would they invent the Count to bother the Guys, have him disappear when the Smythes bought the place, and bring him back, right when they were planning a big event at the place?  No one up to something wrong would be dense enough to draw that kind of attention to themselves.  I was just so convinced the Guys lived in this fog that I didn’t consider them as suspects.  Which was really a mistake, since they practically explained everything as they talked, just in a very roundabout way.  For example, where were the people behind it parking their car?  The Guys said they were avid horseback riders.  Apparently they’d ride right up to the castle through the trees, and if they saw the coast was clear, leave their horses tied and walk right in.”

“And the Smythes told us they had given them blanket permission to come over whenever they liked,” said Tienne.   “I guess that was so if anyone saw them around, they wouldn’t think anything of it.”

“They had things pretty well thought out,” Debbie said.  “They just talked too much and panicked at the end.”

“So, are we continuing with the Olde English Fair?” Tienne asked.

“No babe!” Stan said.  “Didn’t someone tell you those two old guys were evil?”

“Stan, that was more smokescreen from the Guys,” said Debbie.  “I doubt they’d ever even heard of them.  That’s why Serenity cut the call short.  She didn’t want to say too much and give herself away.”

Stan put an arm around her.  “I’m sorry you got mixed up with people like them, babe.”

“They’re definitely a couple of strange characters,” Debbie continued, “but despite what I said earlier, I don’t believe they’re into anything evil.”  Even though she was relieved Kennesaw and Terrance weren’t behind the ghostly encounters, she wondered about the mysterious pair.  They definitely were up to something.  Why couldn’t she contact them?  Was the fair a genuine project?

Her cellphone rang.  “Hello, Debbie.  We received an urgent message from you.”

“Mr. Duluth, I’m so glad you called!” Debbie exclaimed.  “I tried calling, but your phone had been disconnected!”

“A mistake on our part,” Kennesaw explained.  “We found it necessary to dispense with that telephone somewhat abruptly and carelessly forget we’d given it to you as our contact number.  You may reach us at this number, however.  We don’t anticipate any difficulties with it.”

“You had to get rid of your old telephone?  Why?”

“Now, Debbie, there’s no reason to concern yourself with that.  So, how are the preparations for our fair proceeding, hmm?”

“We encountered an obstacle, but it’s been resolved,” Debbie replied.  “Everything’s going ahead smoothly now.”

“Everything okay, babe?” Stan asked a couple minutes later when Debbie finally finished her call.

“Oh, yes, just a phone meeting with the clients.  Well, everyone, let’s eat up!  I know it’s the weekend, but Tienne and me have lots to do.  We’ve got an Olde English Fair to organize!”