SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Twenty Six
Gary felt a series of short tingles in his right thigh. He undid his seatbelt and stretched out into a plank so he could retrieve his phone from his jeans pocket. Holding the phone horizontally he slid the two halves of the phone apart to access the keypad. After a few moments of fumbling he closed the phone and returned it to his pocket.
“I hate T9. I always end up sending texts that don’t make any sense. Once I asked Joey if he had remembered to ‘lick the dong’ when I meant ‘lock the door’.” Gary laughed.
“Did he do either of them?”
“He replied ‘Yes.’ I assumed he was talking about the door.”
“I’m guessing that was him?”
“Yeah. The text said to come back and pick them up. DeLeon has had a mood swing, or something, and wants them gone. We’re supposed to follow the driveway to the employee entrance at back of the house.”
“I hope Danny found out something useful.”
“Anything would help at this point.”
Leslie pulled a U-turn at the next break in the median. The van pulled up to the gate shortly thereafter. The gate opened as soon as they pulled onto the apron, as if someone was watching for their arrival. The remains of the original brick driveway forked to the right from the fresh pavement as they neared the house. A small sign stating “Staff Only” assured them they were headed in the right direction.
The brick pavers led to what was once a stable but had been renovated to house DeLeon’s fleet of cars. Leslie steered the van into an arc and slowly turned the vehicle to face the house. The headlights illuminated the back porch and the roadie propped against the stair rail waiting for them. He waved them forward.
“Boss says to show you two inside.”
He stepped away from the rail and swept his arm to the side, guiding them up the steps into the kitchen. He unlocked the door and reached inside to turn on the lights. The kitchen was fairly modest in size when compared to the size of the house. It was loaded with professional quality appliances and equipment, but it was not a commercial kitchen by any means. It could have been used as a set for a gourmet cooking show.
”This is the family’s private quarters. The tourists won’t see this part of the house on the tours.” The roadie ran his hand across the granite countertop. “Sometimes the boss makes us lunch. He loves to cook.”
Gary and Leslie raised eyebrows at each other.
“Ooh, you gotta see this!” The roadie did a quick step and a half to the front of a large stainless steel door. He pulled down on its handle and quickly opened it.” Mr. DeLeon loves his ice cream!”
The two stepped into a walk-in freezer about the size of a guest bedroom. Gleaming chrome-plated wire shelves holding quarts of humorously named frozen treats lined the walls from floor to ceiling.
“Go ahead; help yourself while I go tell the boss you’re here.”
Gary and Leslie perused the flavors around the perimeter of the freezer like greedy school children.
Neither one of them noticed the slowly closing door as they scanned the frosty labels near the back of the room. A loud click and a thud were followed by the absence of light. They felt their way along the shelves back to the door and pushed hard at the handle. The door stood firm.
Leslie banged hard against the door. “Hello? Mr. Roadie? Um, the door closed and we’re stuck inside! Hello?”
He turned and looked in the general direction of where he thought Gary might be. ”I’m sure he’ll be back soon, right?”
“Sure he will. It’s not like he would want to lock us in here on purpose.” Gary thought a moment and realized that was exactly what had happened. “Do you remember when you asked me what the waitress meant when she called us courageous?”
“Yes.”
“I think we’re about to find out.”
“Shit!”
“Well, at least we’ve learned something from this.”
“What? That Mom was right when she said never trust a stranger that offers you ice cream?”
“There’s that. We also know that the light does go off when the door is closed.”
Leslie’s sigh created a cloud of frost that went unseen in the darkness.