The Hellfire Club

her neck, and looked into the lounge.

In a blue nightgown, Lily Melville sat lashed into a chair near the middle of the room. Another length of rope stretched from her ankles to her wrists, which had been pulled behind the back of the chair. Her head was bent nearly to her chest, and her shoulders were trembling. Facing the window, Margaret Nolan, still in the dress she had worn to dinner and similarly bound, was speaking to her, but Lily did not seem to hear what she was saying.

Margaret glanced over her shoulder, and Nora slid away from Jeffrey to be able to see the opening into the front hallway. Just appearing in the entrance was a hysterical Marian Cullinan, propelled from behind by Dick Dart. She looked as if she were trying to do pull-ups on the arm clamped around her neck. Dart held a long knife against her side with his other hand, and his face was alight with joy.100

Marian had put on a low-cut, black, sleeveless dress for her poetic encounter. Dart was naked and completely clean. Only slightly mussed, his freshly washed hair fell over a bloody strip of gauze taped to the side of his head. He dropped Marian into a chair facing Lily Melville, shifted to her side, and bent down. She bolted forward. Without even bothering to look at her. Dart thrust out his left hand, closed it around her throat, and pulled her to the floor. Marian's scream penetrated the window. Nora felt her body clench. Dart put down the knife and reached for something out of sight. Marian shot forward and flailed at him, and Dart pulled her off the floor by the neck, as if she were a kitten.

'What are we going to do?' Nora whispered to Jeffrey.

'I'm thinking about it,' he whispered back.

Shaking his head, Dart raised Marian until her feet were off the floor. Then he dropped her, caught her around the waist, and pinioned her arms. While she thrashed against him, he brought a hand holding a rope back into view. He carried Marian back to the chair and slammed her down.

She screeched again.

Margaret turned her head toward Dart and said something surprisingly measured. Ignoring her, he knelt behind Marian, passed the rope twice around her, and released his hold. She jumped up and tried to sprint away with the chair on her back. He pulled her back and passed the rope over her shoulder, down, under the seat of the chair, then duck-walked to the front of the chair. She kicked at him, and he snatched her ankles, looped the rope around them, and worked it back beneath the chair. He sliced through the rope and knotted it behind her back. Margaret spoke to him again. Whatever he said caused her face to quiver.

'Strong son of a bitch,' Jeffrey whispered.

Marian bucked in her chair, bucked again, then sagged back.

Dart jerked her chair into place and moved frowning past the three women, rubbing his chin. On either side of Margaret and a few feet in front of her, Marian and Lily sat facing each other. Dart came to a halt in front of them and stepped backwards toward the terrace. Considering the women, he gently fingered the gauze pad he had succeeded in taping over the wound in his back. His body winced, and a blotch of red at the center of the pad darkened and grew.

Jeffrey tilted his head toward Nora. 'Isn't there another woman?'

She pointed upward. 'Sick in bed.'

Dart wandered around the women, measuring the effect he had created. They watched him, Marian sullenly and Margaret in thoughtful concentration like Dart's own. Even the back of Lily's head expressed stunned terror. Marian flipped her hair and moved her lips in a sentence Nora could read: You hurt me. Dart went, behind Lily, shifted her a little way toward the window, and patted her head. Margaret clamped her mouth shut as Dart tugged her chair a few inches backwards. Marian spoke again: Norman, why are you doing this?'

Margaret uttered a brief sentence. Marian's body went rigid, and all emotion left her face.

Dart, whose real name had just been uttered, held out his arms and twisted from side to side, acknowledging imaginary applause.

'What are we waiting for?' Nora whispered.

'For him to tell us what to do.'

Dart swayed up to Marian and kissed her cheek. Talking, he went behind her chair and shook her hand. He stroked her arms, her hair, drew a finger along the line of her chin. Margaret watched this procedure without any demonstration of emotion. Marian closed her eyes and trembled. The freckles blazed on her face. Still talking. Dart went around the chair and kissed her. She jerked her head back, and Dart slapped her hard enough for the sound to carry through the window, then kissed her again. When he pulled away, the red mark on Marian's cheek obliterated her freckles.

Raising his hands as if to say, I'm a reasonable guy, Dart backed away from Marian and addressed all three women. He smiled and pointed at Marian. He put a question to the two older women. Margaret gave him an impassive stare, and Lily shook her head. Dart put his hand on his heart, he looked hurt. He bounced up to Lily and lifted her chin. Nora saw his mouth utter the words Lily, my darling, I love you. Then he sauntered over to Margaret and spoke to her. Margaret clearly said, No. He staggered back in mock disbelief. He was having the time of his life. For a time he wandered back and forth, engaged in some hypothetically puzzled debate. He waggled his head sadly. He walked over to the knife on the floor, pretended to be surprised to see it, and in glad astonishment picked it up.

Nora looked at Jeffrey. Jeffrey shook his head.

Dart strolled toward them across the carpet. First his head, then all of his body above his knees, disappeared behind the table. Jeffrey touched her hand: Don't move. She jerked her head toward her side: The gun? Jeffrey barely moved his head, telling her, Not now. Dart's legs spun around, and his feet padded away. When the rest of his body came into view, he was no longer holding the knife. He snapped his fingers and disappeared. Margaret's eyes moved, and Marian twisted her neck to watch him go. The women's faces registered Dart's reappearance, and when he sauntered into view he held the cleaver. He displayed it to the women, chopped the air, and padded toward the table.

Jeffrey somehow managed to flatten himself nearly to the lip of the sill below the French doors. Nora folded her arms over her head and held her breath. When she risked peeking at the window, Dart's hairy legs still bulged out below the table. He was aligning his tools. One of his feet slid sideways as he turned to look back at the women in the chairs. One of them must have asked him a question. 'The little woman?' he said, close enough to the window to be heard through it. 'When last seen, my former companion was charging in full flight through the forest primeval. At the moment, she cowers in a thicket waiting for me to give up the hunt.' He came up to the window. 'Nor-ma! Nor-ma! Come home, honey, the fun's just beginning! Can you hear me, sweetie?' He turned to the women and lowered his voice. 'Maybe she's hiding right outside! Let's see!'

Nora's heart stopped, and her body went cold. She sensed Jeffrey gathering himself to leap.

If Dart came through this window, his foot would land about three inches from Nora's elbow. She lifted her chin, peered in, and her heart started back into life with a massive thump. He was moving away from the table toward the other windows. In seconds, he passed out of view. Down the terrace a handle rattled, and the French door opened.

It was all part of the performance, a show for the ladies. In high good humor. Dart was demonstrating their helplessness. He leaned out and bellowed her name. 'Norma! Norma! Mrs Desmond!'

He must have looked back into the room. 'Hear anything, Marian?'

Softly, Marian said, 'No.'

He was still leaning out through the French door. 'You know who she is, don't you?'

'The woman you kidnapped,' Marian said.

Margaret Nolan said, 'Nora Chancel.'

Dart sighed lightly, mockingly, as if lamenting Nora's treachery.

'You made a serious mistake, Mr Dart,' Margaret said. 'You let her go. Please understand what I'm telling you. Mrs Chancel isn't cowering in the woods. She's on her way to find help. You should get away now. You can go back to Pepper Pot, put on your clothes, and take a car. If you waste a lot of time with us, you will certainly be captured by the police. You see that, don't you?'

'Captured?' Dart said. 'Wonderful word. Suggestion of the jungle beast.'

'We aren't asking to be untied. But if you want to keep your freedom, you have to leave Shorelands now. Mrs Chancel is probably already talking to Tony.'