Reprisal

NINE

Will was on his third cruise through the Parkview complex now. He'd passed Rafe Losmara's condo on each circuit, but each time had been unable to stop and go in. He felt like an awkward teenager, driving past the home of the prettiest girl in school, endlessly circling the block because he was too shy to knock on her door.

No doubt about where the party was. Will could have found it without the address. The gallimaufry of cars cluttering the curbs in front of Losmara's unit told the story.

Finally he forced himself to pull his Chevy into the curb, but he kept the engine running.

"Okay," he muttered. "Decision time."

Was it worth it? That was the question. He was already an hour late. The smart thing would be to turn around and head for home and forget about Christmas parties.

He could see them standing in the windows, drinks in hand, laughing, talking, posing. He didn't belong in there. They were faculty and he was maintenance. And he hadn't been in a social situation for so long he was sure he'd commit some gaffe within the first ten minutes.

But these were all minor excuses. The telephone—that was the obstacle that really counted. What was he going to do about the damn telephone? Telephones. There had to be more than one in Losmara's three-story unit.

And within minutes of entering a room with one it would ring, that long, eerie ring, and then they'd hear that voice, and if Will was close enough he'd hear it too, and even after all these years he couldn't bear to hear that voice again.

But he had a plan. And it was time to act. Time to take a chance.

Will turned off the engine and got out of the car. At the front door to the townhouse he paused, fighting the urge to flee. He could beat this. He could.

Now or never.

Without knocking, he stepped inside and grabbed the arm of the nearest person—a tweed arm with a suede patch over the elbow. A bearded face turned toward him.

"Hi," Will said with all the confidence he could muster. "I've got to check in with my service. Where's the phone?"

"I believe I saw one over on the table next to the sofa in the front room there."

"Thanks."

Immediately Will began to worm his way through the guests, focusing straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with anybody, aiming for the sofa. A white sofa. A white rug. White walls. Everything white. The guests looked out of place, obtrusive. They wore every color but white.

There it was. To the left of the sofa. The phone. White, of course.

Will's plan was simple: He'd locate the phones one at a time, make a beeline for them, and disable them.

The first one was right in front of him. He reached for it but a tubby figure suddenly blocked his way.

"Why, Will Ryerson!" said a familiar voice. "Is that you? Praise the Lord, I almost didn't recognize you in that jacket and tie!"

It was Adele Connors, Lisl's secretary friend from the math department.

"Hello, Adele. Look, I've got to—"

"Oh, Lisl was so hoping you'd show up." She glanced around. "Isn't it strange here? Doesn't it make you feel funny! I mean, look at those paintings," she said, lowering her voice and pointing at the abstracts. "There's something unholy about them. But not to worry. The Lord is with me. And Lisl will be so glad you're here."

"Uh-huh."

He tried to slip around her but there was no room to get by. My God, the phone!

"She wanted you here so bad but didn't think you'd show up. So last night I prayed to the Lord that you'd be here today, and see? Here you are!"

He could feel the sweat breaking out all over his body. Any second now, that phone was going to ring. Any second…

"I've got to make a call, Adele."

"You know," she said, "not enough people at Darnell appreciate the power of prayer. Why, just the other day—"

Will pushed past her and lunged for the phone. He yanked up the receiver.

Safe! At least for the moment. It couldn't ring while it was off the hook.

That had been his original plan: Find a phone, lift the receiver, and leave it off the hook. But then it would begin to howl, or someone would see it off the hook and replace it on its cradle. His new plan was better.

Positioning his body between the phone and the rest of the room, Will reached around to the rear of the base and undipped the jack. This phone was now cut off from the rest of the world. No wire, no calls. Simple but effective.

He hung up the receiver and turned back to Adele. She was looking at him strangely.

"What was so important that you had to almost knock me over to get to the phone?"

"Sorry. Had to check on something. But there's no answer." He looked around the room. "Where's our hostess? I'd like to say hello."

"In the kitchen, I think."

The kitchen. Most likely there'd be a phone there as well.

"Thanks, Adele," he said. "I'll see you later."

Will wove through the living room, went right around a corner, then left toward the back, and there was the kitchen. There was Lisl as well. She was placing canapes on a cookie sheet, spacing them evenly and sliding them into the oven.

Will had to stop and look at her. She wore white, the same white as the rest of the condo, a dress of some soft fabric that clung in all the right places, its whiteness broken only by the red and green splash of holly above her left breast. He had always found her attractive, but she looked beautiful today. Radiant.

Whoever had said white wasn't a good color for blondes obviously had never seen Lisl.

She glanced up and saw him. Her eyes widened.

"Will!" She wiped her hands on a dish towel and hugged him. "You're here! I can't believe it. You said you weren't coming!"

"Your little note changed my mind."

"I'm so glad!" She hugged him again. "This is great!"

As pleasant as the contact was, Will couldn't enjoy it right now.

He glanced left and right over the top of her head, searching the kitchen for the telephone. He spotted it next to the refrigerator—a wall phone.

How was he going to disconnect that?

Gently he pushed Lisl back to arm's length.

"Let me look at you," he said while his mind raced. A wall phone—it hadn't occurred to him. "You look great!"

Her eyes were bright, her cheeks flushed. She looked excited. And happy. So good to see her happy like this. But he had to do something about that phone. And now.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she said. She reached up and straightened his tie. "But I can tell you're not used to one of these."

"Can I use your phone?" he said.

Her brow furrowed. "I thought you didn't like phones."

"I never said that. I said I just don't have one." He reached over and lifted the receiver. "That's why I'd like to use yours."

"Actually it's Rafe's."

"Just a local call."

"I didn't mean that. Go right ahead. He won't mind."

She turned back to the oven. While Lisl inspected the progress of her canapes, Will pressed the heel of his free hand under the base of the wall phone and pushed up. It resisted so he leaned his body into it. If he could get it free he could—

Suddenly the base came loose and popped off the wall with a clatter. He glanced around and found Lisl staring at him.

"What on earth—?"

He smiled sheepishly. He didn't have to fake embarrassment—he wished he could have been a little more subtle about this.

"It's okay. I'm just not used to these things. Don't worry. I'll get it back on its plate."

He saw that the base was connected to the wall by a three-inch coil of jack wire. He quickly unplugged the wall end, then reset the base back onto the wall plate. He listened to the receiver. Dead.

"The line's busy," he told Lisl as he hung up the receiver. "Can I try again feiter?"

"Sure."'

"How many phones does he have?"

"Three. There's one out in the living room and one upstairs in the…" Her voice trailed off. "Did you meet Rafe yet?"

"No. I just got here."

"As soon as these are done I'll introduce you." Her smile was bright with anticipation. "I can't wait for you to meet him."

"Great. Uh, where's the men's room?"

"Right around the comer."

"Be right back."

Will ducked around the corner, spotted the stairs, and ran up to the second story. He glanced in an open door, a bedroom, all in white, the double bed littered with coats, and spotted the phone on a nightstand. Seconds later he was on his way back down to the first floor, light of step, light of heart. All three phones were disabled. Now he could relax a little and try to enjoy himself.

"There you are!" Lisl said, catching him in the hallway as he approached the kitchen. She had her arm crooked around the elbow of a slim young man. "Here's the person I've wanted you to meet for months now."

Lisl introduced Rafe Losmara. Black hair and mustache, fine features, piercing eyes. His open-collared white shirt and white slacks—the same white as Lisl's dress—emphasized his dark complexion. Will realized then that these two were a real couple. And they were letting everybody know.

As he shook Rafe's hand, Will experienced a powerful sensation of deja vu. The feeling had tickled him before when he had seen Rafe at long distance, but here, close up, it was almost overwhelming.

"Have we ever met before?" Will said.

Rafe smiled. It was dazzling, charming.

"No. I don't think so. Do I look familiar?"

"Very. I just can't place you."

"Maybe we've seen each other around campus."

"No. It's not that. I get the feeling it was years ago."

"I grew up in the Southwest. Ever been there?"

"No."

Rafe's smile broadened. "Perhaps it was in another life."

Will nodded slowly, searching his memory.

"Perhaps."

Another life…

Before coming to N.C., Will had spent over a year on New Providence and the surrounding islands; most of that time was lost to him. That had been another life of sorts. v

"Have you ever been to the Bahamas?" he asked Rafe.

"Not yet, but I'd like to."

Will shrugged and said, "I guess we'll just have to leave it as a mystery for now. But I'm glad to meet you. Lisl's told me a lot about you."

"All of it good, I hope," Rafe said. N

"All of it very good."

Rafe slipped his arm around Lisl's waist and hugged her against his side.

"She's told me a lot about you too. Why don't you stick around after this is over and we'll sit down and get to know each other. Right now I've got to make sure everyone is fed and watered." He gave Lisl a peck on the cheek. "See you later."

Will watched Rafe disappear into the crowded living room. He seemed engaging enough. But what was so familiar about him? It was unlikely he'd met Rafe before—probably just someone very much like him. The answer swam tantalizingly close beneath the surface of his subconscious. Will would have been more than willing to wait for it to reveal itself except that he sensed his subconscious might be warning him about Rafe.

He turned to Lisl.

"Well?" she said. "What do you think?"

Her eyes were so bright, her smile so fiercely proud, Will was powerless to feel anything but happiness for her.

"I don't exactly know him yet, but he seems very nice."

"Oh, he is. But he's very much his own man too. He has his own slant on everything."

"Is his slant much off beam from your slant?"

He thought he saw Lisl's eyes cloud over for a minute, but then they cleared. She laughed.

"Sometimes he surprises me. There's never a dull moment with Rafe. Never!"

Wondering how he should take that, Will followed Lisl back into the kitchen.

Will was working through the living room with his second tray of canapes. Lisl had tried to talk him out of helping but he'd insisted, telling her that he knew no one here and that this was a great way to meet her guests.

And it was.

Besides, he preferred to keep busy. He'd never been one for cocktail parties.

He had to admit though that he was enjoying himself this afternoon. He was nursing a Scotch on the rocks as he wove through the crowd with his tray of pigs in blankets. Everyone was friendly. A few had had a little too much to drink and were getting loud, but no one was out of line.

Then the phone rang.

Will froze and almost dropped the tray. Someone must have plugged it back in. He prayed for the ring to pause and

then go on in the stop-and-go pattern of a normal phone call. But it didn't. The ring went on and on, steadily, relentlessly.

And people noticed. One by one they fell silent under the pressure of that endless ring. The conversation noise level dropped quickly by half, then dwindled down to a single slurred voice. And soon even he fell silent. Leaving only the ringing, that damned, incessant, infernal ringing.

Will felt as if he'd been turned to stone. Movement to his left caught his eye and he saw Lisl step into the living room from the hallway.

That ringing! Lisl thought as she entered the room.

Good Lord, what was wrong with the phone? Why did it go on like that? Whatever it was it had brought the party to a screeching halt. The living room looked like a tableau—everyone silent, frozen in position, staring at the phone.

Something unsettling, unnatural about that ring. She had to stop it.

Lisl crossed the room and lifted the receiver. An audible sigh whispered though the room as the ringing stopped. Silence, blessed silence. She put the receiver to her ear… and heard the voice.

A child's voice, a little boy's, sobbing, frightened. No… more than frightened—nearly incoherent with fear, crying for his father to come get him, that he didn't like it there, that he was afraid, that he wanted to come home.

"Hello!" she said into the receiver. "Hello! This isn't your father. Who are you?"

The child cried on.

"Tell me who your father is and I'll get hold of him."

The child continued to plead.

"Where are you? Tell me where you are and I'll get you help. I'll come get you myself. Just tell me where you are!"

But the child didn't seem to hear her. Lisl tried talking to him again but to no effect. Without pausing for breath he continued crying for his father, his voice slowly rising in volume to a wail. Suddenly he began .to scream out his fear.

"Father, please come and get me! Pleeeeease! Father, Father, Father—"

Lisl snatched the receiver away from her ear. So loud. She couldn't bear the sound of such naked fear in a child. She looked around. All the strained faces in the room were looking her way, staring at the phone, listening to that small voice. They could hear it too.

"—don't let him kill me! I don't want to die!"

"What do I do?" she said. "What do I—?"

Suddenly the voice cut off and the abrupt, deathly silence of the room struck her like a blow.

"Hello?" Lisl said into the receiver. "Hello? Are you still .there? Are you all right?"

No answer.

She jiggled the plunger on the base but the line remained dead. Not even a dial tone.

She wanted to cry. A frightened child needed help somewhere and she could do nothing. And without a dial tone, she couldn't even call the police.

As she jiggled the plunger again she spotted the mounting cord coiled on the carpet behind the table. A chill ran over her skin as she lifted the base of the phone. The jack notch at its rear was empty. The phone had been disconnected.

My God! How…?

Lisl turned slowly and stared at her guests. Their pale faces and strained expressions reflected exactly what she felt.

Where was Will?

She didn't see him. She remembered him standing in the center of the room holding a tray when she answered the phone. She remembered the wild look in his eyes as he listened to that insane ring. Like a cornered animal. Where was he now? She glanced down. A tray of cooling pigs in blankets lay on the coffee table.

She heard tires screech outside on the street. Through the picture window she saw Will's old Chevy roar away down the road.