Beauty and the Beast Read online

  Vincent comforted her. “Narcissa, you were in no way responsible for Paracelsus’ actions. Your act of kindness toward Anna brought her great comfort after the loss of her baby. I want to tell you about the source of the telepathic message you received to go find me.” He pulled the journal out of his pocket and read it to Narcissa.

  When he had finished reading, Narcissa shook her head. “This good man’s wicked son is not done yet! He wants to finish what he started! Beware, Vincent! There is more at stake here than you are yet aware of!”

  Vincent reassured her. “Please don’t worry, Narcissa. Thanks to Diana, we are aware of Adrian’s intentions. We have taken steps to stop him, and we will be careful.”

  On the way back up to the community chambers, Vincent puzzled over what it was that Narcissa had seen and didn’t tell him. Her cryptic warning held a deeper meaning, which she apparently didn’t think he was ready to hear yet. He had learned to never ignore anything she said, and decided he had better try to be more vigilant about things going on around him.

  While Vincent was gone to see Narcissa, plans were made to reassign responsibilities in order to free up the members of the Council for the meeting. Jamie had gone to Father and volunteered to sit with Catherine while the Council was in session because Mary, Sarah, and Rebecca were all on the Council. Brooke was thrilled to take Little Jacob to care for while they discussed the solution to this new threat to their world. Fourteen-year-old Zach, with his brown hair and eyes and very serious attitude, showed

  up in the pipe chamber after word of the Council meeting spread like wildfire through the community. He took over on the pipes, so Pascal could attend the meeting. Angela turned the children over to Olivia for the day.

  Then, those six Council members all met informally in William’s kitchen to talk the situation over while they were waiting for Vincent to return. William had bowls of fruit on the tables for anyone who was hungry between meals, and they all took a fruit, started nibbling, and then looked at one another.

  William finally spoke up. “Do any of you really think this decision needs discussing?” Everyone shook their heads. He continued. “If Diana says we need Joe Maxwell then, I say bring him down here. If he balks, 111 just feed him. That should fix him!” They all laughed, and that was the end of their “discussion.”

  When Vincent walked into Father’s chambers upon his return, Father was happy to see that he was much more relaxed than he had seen him since Catherine was taken. “Well, Vincent, did Narcissa confirm what the journal said?” Father asked him.

  Vincent smiled. “She did indeed, Father!” He related to Father the events as Narcissa remembered them.

  Father shook his head with wonder. “If it wasn’t for her spiritual sensitivity and open mind, you probably would have died of exposure or been killed by Adrian and his men. Our world would have been a terrible dark place

  without you. We owe Narcissa a great debt for our continued existence, which she made possible by saving you.”

  The Council members had heard the message on the pipes that Vincent had returned, and they filed into the chamber ready to discuss Diana’s proposal to bring Joe Maxwell to the tunnels as a prospective Helper. The eight members of the complete Council were Father, Vincent, William, Pascal, Mary, Sarah, Rebecca, and Angela. This was more of a formality than a serious Council meeting, because they had already come to an unanimous decision before ever entering Father’s chambers.

  After they were all seated at the table, Father began. “Well, I think we all know why we are here. You have all heard about the new danger to our world, and to Vincent and Little Jacob in particular, which Diana has uncovered. It is well to be forewarned, but we must now come to a decision about whether to add Joe Maxwell to our list of trusted Helpers. Diana says that it is imperative to include him, because he is the only one with the power and resources to help her stop Adrian Vlas.”

  Pascal spoke up. “Father, I think we are all in agreement that Diana should bring him down here. If she trusts him, then I think we can also trust him. You trusted him once too. If it hadn’t been for his help, you and Diana wouldn’t have been able to rescue Vincent and Little Jacob.”

  Father agreed. “That is right, and I do trust him.”

  Sarah then spoke up. “Vincent and Little Jacob would have been killed by Gabriel if Diana hadn’t found and stopped him. Her profiling skills saved your life too, Father. If she thinks we need Joe Maxwell, then we must trust her judgment.”

  Mary agreed. “Sarah is right. If it had not been for Diana, Vincent would not have been able to find you buried alive by Gregory Coil. Diana would never suggest bringing Joe Maxwell down here if she wasn’t sure he could be trusted and that he would help us.”

  Everyone looked at William, and he said emphatically, “You won’t find me disagreeing with anything Diana suggests! We would all be dead or scattered if it wasn’t for her. I say bring Mr. Maxwell down here! We obviously need him if Diana says that she needs him too.”

  Rebecca chimed in. “I’m in complete agreement.

  Diana is our shield in the world above just like Vincent is our shield down here. We need to follow her advice, so she can continue protecting our world.”

  Vincent looked at Angela. “You haven’t said anything yet, Angela. Would you like to add something?”

  Angela smiled at Vincent and then looked around the table at the other members of the Council. “Diana loves all of us, and I have watched how she is with all of the children and with Little Jacob. She is a very smart and a very good woman. I think we would be extremely foolish not to bring Mr. Maxwell into our circle of Helpers.”

  Father finished up the meeting. “Well, then it is

  decided in favor of bringing Mr. Maxwell down here. She will be meeting with him at the District Attorney’s office tomorrow afternoon. William, would you please wrap up two sandwiches to send up to Benny to be delivered to Diana in Mr. Maxwell’s office at 1:00? Ill prepare the note to put into hers. We will have her bring him down here the next day, Saturday morning. He won’t be reporting to his office on the weekend. That should give us time to convince him to help us.”

  William smiled. “We are going to be having meatloaf and homemade bread for supper tonight. Ill make those sandwiches with the leftovers!”

  Vincent chuckled. “If we get Joe Maxwell down here and take him to your kitchen to be fed, William, hell never want to leave!” Everyone laughed.

  Chapter V Tea Party in Wonderland

  Dianna once again found herself picking her way through the main office of the Manhattan District Attorney headed for Joe’s office. Her mind wandered back to a couple of days ago when she had arrived in Chuck’s cab back at her loft from her night in the tunnels. She was really grateful that Chuck had set up that little “getaway” of hers. One of her neighbors, who usually had absolutely nothing to say to her, had suddenly shown an interest in where she had been. She had pulled out the Ocean View Bed and Breakfast brochure with her receipt and had shown them to her “nosy” neighbor. He showed no further interest, and she strongly suspected that he had been slipped some money to get information concerning her previous whereabouts.

  Finally, in the quiet refuge of Joe’s office, she found him just sitting and thinking. She sat down in the chair in front of his desk and waited for him to say something. He looked at her and she smiled at him.

  He spoke to her. “You have the report on Gabriel’s mansion for me?”

  She answered him. “I do. I also have the codes and keys you gave me.” She took the large envelope out of her bag and gave it to him. “The report is in there too.” She thought to herself, “The bogus report!”

  Just then, Bennie came into Joe’s office with a bag in his hand. Bennie spread cheer wherever he went with his bright smile and happy attitude. He was in his early twenties and of average height with a slender build and brown hair and eyes.

  “Hello, gorgeous!” Bennie exclaimed to Diana with his infectious smile. “Here
is your custom sandwich order.” He handed her the bag. “Yours is the one on top.” He winked at her.

  Diana smiled back at him. “Thank you so much, Bennie. Give my compliments to the chef.”

  “Ill be sure to pass them along. Good-bye, Diana.” Bennie headed for the door.

  “Good-bye, Bennie,” she called after him.

  Diana looked at Joe. “I sprang for lunch for us. You need a better meal than I’ve seen you eat in here.” She opened the bag and pulled the two sandwiches out. The top one had her name on it, and the bottom one had Joe’s

  name on it. She handed it to him, and then got up, went to his water cooler, and poured cups of water for both of them. When she came back to the desk, Joe was just staring at his now opened sandwich.

  He said in awe, “Is this really a meatloaf sandwich on homemade bread? Where on earth did you find this?”

  She had to stifle a giggle and thought to herself, “You mean where under the earth did I find it?” However, aloud she said, “It’s a quaint little joint. Ill have to take you there one day and introduce you to the chef.”

  Joe already had his mouth full but talked around it. “I’d like that!”

  Diana opened the wrapper on her sandwich and put the note inside down on her lap before reading it. The note was from Father telling her to bring Joe to the Central Park tunnel secret door on Saturday morning at 10:00.

  As she ate her sandwich, she watched Joe devouring his. He looked up and asked, “What?”

  Diana smiled as she replied, “I was just thinking about how much the chef would enjoy watching your attack on the sandwich he made for you.” After she had taken her last bite and finished her cup of water, she asked Joe,

  “You don’t have any plans for this weekend, do you?” Before he even had time to empty his mouth and answer her, she went on. “Of course you don’t! Dress in comfortable clothes tomorrow morning, and be ready to be picked up by a cab I’m sending for you. Hell be outside

  your building waiting for you at 8:30 sharp.”

  Joe looked at her with amazing calmness. “What is this all about, Diana?”

  Diana got up to leave and said, “It’s about answering every question you ever had about the Cathy Chandler case, Joe.”

  “You’ve been avoiding talking to me about the Cathy Chandler case as if it were the plague! Now, you’re telling me that you want to answer all of my questions? That’s a mighty strange about-face, Diana! OK, 111 be ready, but this had better be good!” Joe warned.

  “I guarantee you won’t be disappointed,” Diana promised.

  As Diana began walking toward the door, Joe called after her, “I could have had plans!”

  Diana tossed over her shoulder, “Uh-huh, later Joe!” Then she walked out the door.

  When Chuck dropped Diana off at her loft, he waited for her while she went up. They had already decided that she should pack a bag and stay overnight at the Ocean View Bed and Breakfast. Chuck was going to show her tonight where she could access the tunnels under the spacious home the next morning, and also provide her with a map to the manhole, where he would pick her up after he picked up Joe. The bottom of his cab trunk had been equipped by Mouse with the same type of trap door as the coroner’s van for covert tunnel access. Chuck had

  shown her the two-way catch in the trunk, so she could climb up from the tunnel into the trunk and then through the fold-down section of the back seat. They wanted to make sure no one was aware that she was meeting with Joe, in case he was also being watched, which was very likely.

  The next morning, Joe left his building a few minutes before 8:30, and the cab was already waiting for him.

  When Joe climbed into the back seat and saw who the driver was, he said. “I might have known Diana would send you, her personal cab driver and bodyguard. At least this time you aren’t kidnapping me! I don’t suppose you would be kind enough to enlighten me about what is going on here?”

  Chuck responded, “I’m sorry, Mr. Maxwell. My job is to drive the cab. Any enlightening will have to be done by Diana.”

  Joe sounded resigned, “This should be interesting at least.”

  Chuck smiled into the rearview mirror at Joe. “I guarantee it will be, Mr. Maxwell!”

  About twenty minutes later, Chuck turned into a fairly busy street in the business-office section of town and paused halfway between intersections. He turned on his left blinker for about two seconds and then the right one. Almost immediately, about a dozen teen and pre-teen kids magically appeared and congregated around the cab and started washing the windows. Chuck opened his window to speak to them. He also pulled three times on a lever on his floorboard. Within seconds Joe felt the cab rock a little, and then Diana’s head popped out of the seat next to him.

  Joe nearly jumped out of his skin, and Diana giggled at him. “Good morning, Joe!”

  Joe’s quick wit returned along with his composure. “What, are you just now getting up? I’ve been awake for hours!”

  Chuck spoke up quickly before Diana was all the way out of the trunk. “Diana, stay down! Mr. Maxwell, don’t turn around. We’ve picked up a tail.”

  Diana wiggled out of the trunk onto the seat and then sat in the floor-well with her back against the door. “Can you lose them, Chuck?”

  Chuck smiled and replied. “We were prepared for this possibility. I’m setting the contingency plan in motion now.” Then he spoke to Zach outside of his window.

  “How is it that you aren’t in the pipe-chamber with Pascal, Zach?”

  Zach answered. “We decided that it would be best if I led the kids on this little expedition. Which car is it?” Chuck told him. “It’s the dark blue sedan three cars back.”

  Zach glanced behind the cab and said, “I see it. Don’t worry; well take care of them!”

  Chuck handed him a twenty dollar bill for show, and Zach started waving it around triumphantly. He and his little band of kids worked their way behind the cab, leaving a kid to wash the windows of each car between the cab and the offending tail. When Zach got to the dark blue sedan that had been following Chuck’s cab, he took the bucket of dirty soapy water he had been holding and threw it on the windshield of the car. The rest of his troop of kids surrounded the vehicle and began furiously washing windows.

  Chuck had been watching in his rearview mirror, and he then flew around the other cars in front of him and made it around the corner before the tailing car’s windshield could be cleared. He ducked into a parking garage and quickly snatched the parking ticket from the automated gate. He drove in and backed into a space where they could watch the entrance. It was Saturday in the business-office section of town, so the garage had very few cars in it. After several minutes they watched the blue sedan drive past the entrance. Chuck waited a few more minutes and then drove out, paid the attendant, and went back the way they had come. He then headed for Central Park.

  At that point Joe couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Diana, what on earth is going on here? Why are we being tailed?”

  Diana stayed on the floor as she answered him. “Joe, that report I gave you was false. Gabriel’s organization is

  alive and well, because he has an older brother who is even worse than he was. You also still have dirty cops who are now working for the brother.”

  Joe looked sternly at Diana. “I don’t suppose you want to explain to me how you know all of this?”

  Diana replied. “I will, I promise, but this case has become a lot more complicated, and there are good people in peril who need our protection. Before I explain everything, I need to ask you something. Joe, can I trust you with a secret, one which you must never reveal to anyone else?”

  Joe looked surprised by the question. “Unless it is illegal, you can tell me anything, Diana, and 111 keep your secret.”

  Diana spoke very seriously. “Joe, I promise you it has nothing to do with anything illegal, in fact, quite the opposite is the case.”

  Joe was just as serious. “Then tell me.”

&n
bsp; Diana watched for Joe’s reaction as she spoke. “I want to take you to meet someone—to meet Vincent.”

  Joe’s mouth dropped open, and then he said, “Is this the same Vincent, the ‘perfect man,’ that you told me Cathy made up to deal with the trauma of her attack when her face was slashed—that Vincent, the one I was convinced had something to do with her murder?”

  Diana raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes as she replied, “The same.”

  Joe exploded. “I knew you were keeping things from me!”

  Diana ignored his outburst. “Yes, well, I’ve already apologized to Cathy’s rosebush for telling you that fib.”

  Joe was unexpectedly disarmed, “Cathy’s rosebush? You mean the one with the red and white roses you found on her balcony—that rosebush?”

  Diana couldn’t help but smile at Joe’s change in demeanor. “That would be the one!”

  Joe snapped back to his previous annoyed tone. “Well, I guess you can apologize to me now!”

  Diana complied. “Joe, I’m sorry, but I know you will understand why I told you that story when you meet Vincent. I made a promise to him then, and I got his permission to bring you to him now.”

  Joe gave Diana a skeptical look. “Are you sure he’s not into anything illegal?”

  Diana was very sober as she replied. “Do you really think I would be protecting him if he was?”

  Joe looked thoughtfully at her. “No, I know you wouldn’t.”

  Diana went on. “Vincent is anything but a criminal.” Joe gave her a wry smile. “Let me guess. He’s a caped crusader whose true identity must be kept a secret.”

  The image of Vincent in his dark hooded cloak, which he wore when he ventured above, passed through Diana’s mind as she said, “Something like that.”