Jail's Bait: Time Served (Book 5)

Meanwhile, back in the den, the others waited with the lawyers.  Regine now sat in Joe’s chair, underneath the portrait of J. Mayson Hill.  “How long have they been gone...?” she asked with a frown. 

“I don’t know,” Malik answered, glancing at his watch.  “WHOA,” he exclaimed then; “we’ve been in here for hours, huh?” 

“Should I get Stella to bring us something to eat,” Regine asked her son.  “I mean, if anyone really has an appetite after all what we just went through…” 

“We should eat something,” Ranell murmured; she was looking through some old Hill family photo albums.  “It’s been over 6 hours since we’ve been in this room.” 

“I know I could use a sandwich- or five,” Kap said groggily from the couch. 

Everyone laughed.  “I’ll call for Stella,” Regine replied with a chuckle.  “The others may need food when they get back from solving the ‘Case of the Missing Doom’…” 

Regine looked over at her new sister-in-law.  “Ranell, you know you don’t have to sit down here, I’ll let the staff know you’re Joe’s sister and you can take a suite for yourself, go rest up, spend the night, go call your granddaughters, whatever you want.” 

Ranell smiled wearily.  “Thanks, I may take you up on the suite for the night, but I feel like I should sit here with you guys; I am a Hill as well.” 

“Okay, it’s your call,” Regine replied with a smile. 

Lamar looked over to the lawyer’s table.  “Mr. Price- what exactly happens at midnight to the room where my dad’s Doom is located?” 

Mr. Price turned to Lamar.  “Long story short...?  It was reinforced with metal sheaths over the door, and the windows also- all set to permanently close down at midnight.” 

“What’s UP there, Price,” Malik asked.  “You know, don’t you...?” 

Price shok his head.  “All we know is that the room will be sealed for good.  There’s a timer we were to set the moment the will began, which synchronized the timer of the room.  Once begun, it cannot be reversed.” 

Just then the doors opened, and in came a large tray laden with sandwiches and pitchers of juices, a coffee warmer and a tray of fruit sections, all pushed by Lionel Jenkins; two servants followed him into the den.  “The kitchen was ready to bring this in, they actually made these hours ago,” Lionel mentioned. 

Kap smiled.  “No matter. Bring it on…” 

The room laughed, some of the tension broken, and the servants started passing out small plates and filled glasses. 

Lionel passed a plate to Lamar, who thanked him and then grabbed his arm before he could move on.  “Hey Uncle Lionel- you got a minute...?” 

Lionel stopped and smiled at his nephew.  “What’s going on?” 

Lamar explained the situation quickly.  “And so Dad is searching the West Wing with Rah-Rah, Marquis and Ray,” he finished.  “Would you know what this Doom is that my dad has to go find?” 

“’Doom’...?  I have no idea what you mean,” Lionel replied; “it’s not like we were as close as I once thought, you know.” 

Lamar nodded.  “Ok.”  He leaned into Lionel then.  “There’s something else.  After you left out of here, Joe went on a rant to Dad… and among other things, he said that the DNA test that was run three years ago was… well, it might not be true.” 

Lionel frowned.  “What do you mean, it might not be true...?  I remember there were two tests Danny ran; one to prove that we were brothers, and the other was to see which one of us…” and then he faltered, looking guiltily into Lamar’s eyes. 

“…the other was to see which one of you is my father,” Lamar finished for him candidly.  “Joe just told us all tonight.” 

Lionel paled.  “Whoa… Listen, Lamar- you have to know that I had a chip on my shoulder when I confronted your dad about that… I wanted him to pay for having our mother all to himself; I’m over that now.” He sighed then, patting Lamar on the shoulder. “Danny and I may never be close busom buddies, but as brothers we do okay.  I don’t want to come in between your relationship with your dad.” 

“So you’ll do the DNA test then?” Lamar asked; “just to be sure either way...?” 

Lionel smiled wistfully.  “Does it really matter now, Lamar...?  I’m not contesting it, and as far as I’m concerned you are my family, like Danny is my family.  And isn’t that what really matters at the end of the day...?  Danny is your dad, and always will be, no matter what any test says.” 

Lamar considered this, and then held out a hand to shake Lionel’s.  “You know what...?  I like your style, Uncle Lionel,” he added with his own grin. 

Meanwhile, Malik was staring at the grandfather clock in the corner.  “I wonder if Danny is keeping an eye on the time…” 

“What was that?” Lamar asked as Lionel moved to serve someone else a plate. 

“It’s what Price said- the door concealing Danny’s Doom seals forever at midnight of the day this will is read.”  Malik looked into Lamar’s eyes.  “We were in here a long, long time- and the guys that went to the West Wing have been gone almost an hour themselves…  and midnight is their deadline.” 

Lamar glanced at the grandfather clock.  “They only have 20 minutes left...!   That means…” 

“The door will seal itself forever on whatever… or whoever’s in there…” Malik said with foreboding. 

******

Ray, RahRah and Marquis stood behind Danny, all frozen with shock at the figure sitting before them, mirroring their surprise on his own face.  Danny, emotions spinning his mind to the point of dizziness, opened his mouth once again.  “Trey...?  Is it you...?” 

The figure frowned on the bed, and then spoke with a half-grin:  “Yeah, of course, it’s me, partna.  How did you know I was here?” 

But then Rah-Rah was pushing through the group, walking as if in a daze towards the bed.  He slowly stopped before the man, and just as slowly fell to his knees before him.  Tears filled Rah-Rah’s eyes as he stared incredulously at the man. 

“I killed you,” he whispered in a harsh tone.  “I shot you point blank in the heart, and you dropped- right before me,” Rah-Rah went on.  “That same moment, before you fell, you told me you were my father.” 

Officer Atreyu Hill stared back at Rah-Rah, and reached out with his free arm to stroke Rah-Rah’s head.  “And I still am, son,” he breathed, his own eyes bright. 

Rah-Rah leaned in and grabbed Trey around the waist, sobbing into his father’s lap.  “You’re alive,” he kept saying over and over, “you’re alive…” 

Danny and Marquis came forward.  Marquis sat down by his sobbing father and grandfather.  “You’re my granddad,” he said then, eyes wide. 

“Hello, Marquis,” Trey said, grinning through his tears.  “I’d hug you- but I’m kind of chained to the wall here…” his voice still had the same half-confident swagger that Danny remembered… a large lump swelled in his throat. 

“Where’s the key,” Ray spoke up then, his eyes never leaving Trey’s face. 

“Big brother Joey’s got the key, of course,” Trey replied then, a curious smile on his face now as he stared fully at Ray.  “In a minute I’m gonna ask you why you came in here wearing my face… but right now we gotta get my arm free from this wall.”  He turned to Danny.  “Hey partna, you still carrying your service weapon...?” 

“I left it home,” Danny remarked, still dizzy from the reality sitting before him.  It was almost as if he was outside himself, watching the events unfold. 

“Well, if you guys don’t have any crowbars, then go get big brother Joey and shake the key out of him, now that the jig is up,” Trey replied blandly; “I’d really like to hug my son and grandson properly… not ta mention you, partna,” he added with that same grin that (still!!) made Danny’s legs weak… 

At mention of this Rah-Rah lifted his head up, tears streaking his face as he stared at his father.  “Didn’t anyone tell you...?” 

“Tell me what...?  And you can call me Dad if you want to…” Trey added with a smile. 

Rah-Rah’s eyes grew wide.  “Thanks…. Dad.  But don’t you know about Uncle Joe?” 

“What about him?” Trey asked. 

Danny sighed.  “Trey… Joe has died.  They just read his will today.” 

Trey went still, his eyes wide.  “Well, I’ll be damned…” he sighed.  “Ding, dong, the bastard’s dead, huh...?” 

“We have to get you out of here, Dad,” Rah-Rah said, getting up and kneeling by the wall where the chain was bolted down.  “This looks wicked,” he said then, examining it up close.  “Where do they keep the tools here?” 

“In Crimson Crest...?  Proabably in the tool shed, just outside the barn,” Danny replied.  “J. Mayson would have listed tools as inappropriate to keep in the main house.” 

“I can’t believe I’d have to go a quarter-mile just to find a wrench in this 4000 bedroom monstrosity,” Rah-Rah replied, now trying to yank the end of the chain out of the wall. 

“Marquis, can you go down to the den and look in my briefcase,” Danny spoke up then to the young man.  “There will be a small black pouch inside; bring that to me.” 

“No problem.” He turned; “Grand-dad, don’t go anywhere,” he breathed, a wide smile on his face- and before and before anyone could blink he was gone, footfalls pounding back down the dusty hallway. 

“He’ll be back in a moment,” Danny observed, giving an encouraging smile to Trey. 

Rah-Rah stopped trying to jerk the chain from the wall, and sat down on the bed next to Trey.  “While we’re waiting… what happened to you?  How are you still…alive?” 

“I’d like to hear the answer to that one,” Danny added, his eyes on Trey. 

Trey looked over to Danny.  “Hey, partna… why are you so far away...?  Aren’t you glad ta see me...?” 

Danny automatically stepped forward- yet Ray grabbed his arm, holding him back. 

Trey noticed the move, and stared once again at Ray, noting the downward glance Danny made then, his eyebrowns lined with a trace of guilt.  “So, it appears that I’ve got some catching up ta do,” he said then clinically.  “Let’s start with you, mirror-man… how come you got my face?” 

“Before we get into that, Dad,” Rah-Rah interjected, “how come you’re alive...?  Please tell me.” 

“Son, that’s a gripping story,” Trey began.  “I remember you holding that gun to my chest, and me falling after you took the shot. 

“I’m so, so sorry about that, Dad,” Rah-Rah said then, fresh guilt running across his face. 

“Listen, you’ve suffered enough, Rob,” Trey said then, putting his free arm around his son’s shoulders.  “More than you even know yet.  So since I already forgave you for shooting me a long time ago, you forgive yourself now.” 

“Yessir,” Rah-Rah replied automatically; it was as if he had been waiting all his life to address his father like so, in such a normal response. 

Trey went on.  “As I said, I fell after the shot.  The next thing I know, I’m here in this room on this bed, hooked up to fluids and monitors, and I couldn’t move my arms nor my legs.  There was a nurse in here, and she saw my eyes open up… she made a few calls, and before another hour passed Joe came in.  He told me that my heart had been damged beyond repair.  The only thing they could do was keep me in a medical coma until they could find a perfectly matched heart.  They’d finally found one and I didn’t reject it- so they allowed me to naturally come out of the coma.  As for keeping me a secret- why keep the rest of the family in limbo if they never found the right heart, or worse- if I did get the transplant and then reject it, dying anyway...?  Better to let everyone think I was dead until the doctors were sure I would survive.” 

“That was our choice to want to be there for you or not,” Danny glared then. 

“This might be a bit selfish, but it would have been nice if I had known that I didn’t kill my father off after all,” Rah-Rah grumbled. 

“Once he explained it all, I agreed with him, son,” Trey replied seriously.  “I didn’t want any of you spending your life by my veggie-bedside; you would have been in just as much of a coma as I was.  So I backed him up (after the fact) on that one.  I know the alternative was you guys having to go through the pain and loss, but I really believed that this was the less stressful on everyone.” 

Danny and Rah-Rah looked at each other at that point, the same reluctant defiance on each of their faces. 

“Anyway,” Trey went on, “I spent months training with a rehab nurse, trying to get my legs and arms back in working order… I couldn’t think about anything else but getting better; I started seeing real results in a year and ½ since I’d come out of the coma.  The trouble was, once I started getting better and stopped worrying so much about myself, I started noticing that big brother Joe wasn’t being up-front with me on any information about the outside world- he would just change the subject if I asked him anything.  It took me tricking my nurse to find out that by this time almost 12 years had passed since I was shot.  I got up in Joe’s face about it; he ‘explained’ to me that he didn’t want me to freak about how long it had been.  The next in a long line of lies from him, I started to suspect. 

“So he goes on to tell me about what happened to you, son, and how you were facing charges for everything under the sun, including killing me,” Trey went on.  “I’m not stupid… I knew by then that Joe would have burned his nuts if he’d spent all this time and money saving my life just to watch me go back to you anyway, partna,” he indicated to Danny.  “So I made a deal.” 

“What did you sacrifice, Dad,” Rah-Rah asked. 

“Since he was a big-time Governor by now, I made Joe drop all charges against you, son, so that you could leave OakGrove a free man with your whole life still ahead of you.  In return-” 

“In return, you agreed to stay dead,” Danny said then shrewdly. 

“Right in one,” Trey said, staring at Rah-Rah.  “I had to save my boy.  No matter what.” 

******

Everyone was still waiting in the den when Marquis burst in, wild-eyed.  “Marquis, you’re back,” Kap cried out. 

Everyone else rose to their feet as he dashed in, saying “Excuse me, pardon me,” and began a frantic search around the room. 

“Marquis, what’s going on,” Lamar asked in alarm.  “Where’s my dad?” 

“He’s still upstairs,” Marquis said, casting about.  “Where’s his briefcase?” 

“Right there,” Lamar indicated towards an end table. 

Marquis dashed over and flipped it open.  “There you are,” he cried out as he grabbed a small black pouch. 

“Why does my dad need his lock-picks,” Lamar asked; “Marquis! Has the door already shut?” 

Marquis stopped short.  “What do you mean, shut?” 

“The lawyers just confirmed it; the door to Danny’s Doom really does seal itself shut at the stroke of midnight, and its only 5 minutes til then,” Malik explained. 

“WHAT???  They’ll be locked in!!!”  He rushed back to the door, and then spun around to face the loud protests.  “Listen- we found someone chained to a wall inside that room; I gotta get back up there!”  And then he was gone. 

With a second’s hesitation, Lionel also jumped up and ran after Marquis, slamming the den door behind him. 

“What the fuck???” Malik cried, turning to the startled lawyers.  “Mr. Price- WHO’s up there, chained to a wall, whose about to be sealed away for life in the next five minutes??” 

******

“So if you’re up here of your own free will, why the chain?” Danny asked Trey with a frown. 

“Well, partna, the chain is recent.  I went to sleep one night and woke up the next day, groggy- turns out he had a drug slipped into my food so I wouldn’t move when he had the chain installed and shackled to my arm.  I asked ‘ol Joe what the deal was, and he said something about things changing, and to not ask questions about it.  That was about 3 months ago.” 

“Around the time Smithers got sick, huh,” Ray mentioned to Danny. 

Trey frowned.  “Smithers is ill?  He was the one who brought me food daily- then Stella took over his duties about three months ago.” 

Rah-Rah took his father’s hand. “Listen, Dad, Smithers never came back because… because he’s buried in the Hill family plot.  Joe was buried next to him.” 

A fresh stunned look came over Trey’s face.  “Dear god,” he whispered then; “Smithers was a good man; a stand-up fella.  I’m sorry to hear this.”  And he bowed his head. 

“You said Stella took over the duties...?  The kitchen-maid?” Danny asked. 

Trey nodded somberly. “One and the same…” 

“Hey, maybe Stella might have the key to the chain,” Ray said then; “I’ll try to find her, see what she knows.  I’ll be right back...” and he was gone. 

“You did all this for me…?” Rah-Rah asked his father in renewed awe. 

Trey smiled proudly.  “I had to protect you, son, anyway I could…” he turned back to Danny.  “I’m sorry partna; I know the only reason Joe wanted me here was to keep us apart.” 

“I-I understand.  Let’s get you off the wall, okay?” He turned away from Trey, absently looking around.  “Where is Marquis, he should’ve been back by now…” 

“What did he go get?” Rah-Rah asked. 

“My lock-pick pouch; hopefully it’ll work on this thing,” Danny said, kneeling down by the bolt and looking it over. 

“I’ll check on him,” Rah-Rah said, patting his father on the shoulder, and then he stepped into the corridor, looking down the hallway.  But before he could move any further- 

GONG….GONG…GONG…. 

A grandfather clock somewhere nearby resounded the strokes of midnight like the timepiece was wired with sub-woofers. 

“Oh wow, its midnight,” Rah-Rah called back into the room.  “I didn’t know it was that late… that thing is loud… 

GONG…GONG…GONG… 

“I didn’t realize the time either,” called Danny with a frown.  “What was that in the will, what Joe said again...?” 

GONG…GONG…GONG… 

“What do you mean, partna...?” Trey frowned. 

“Something that Joe said about this room… whatever I left in here by midnight would be…”  Suddenly Danny’s frightened eyes met Trey’s own.  “Oh, no,” he breathed, as he started trying to yank the chain free of the wall. 

“OWWW,” Trey cried out, frowning. “Danny-boy… what’s going-” 

Rah-Rah, noticing Danny’s tension, turned back to the door- then he heard footsteps coming down the hallway… 

“DAD,” Marquis cried out, breathless, still halfway down the corridor.  “DAD, the room seals at midnight!” 

“WHAT??” Rah-Rah cried out, turning back to see his father still chained to the wall, Danny frantically pulling at the chain- 

GONG… GONG… GONG...! 

The last stroke of midnight brought a loud, sliding sound- and a metal covering came down over the open doorway, knocking Rah-Rah to the hallway floor with a yelp of surprise- 

…and metal coverings slid over the two windows in the room, all simultaneously hitting the floor with a loud clang, and then there was a weird sort of sealing sound, then silence. 

Inside the room, Danny and Trey looked at one another in abject fear as the candles in the room suddenly went out.