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The Baleful Head by Edward Burne-Jones, @WikiCommons

The Defenestrations
Chapter 5C
by Lord Fernandez

1.

“Mrs. Villa-Real, would you mind if we make a quick stop at our warehouse? I just need to grab something from my office.”

Teepee recognized the gray building as a warehouse. As far as warehouses were concerned, there was nothing special about it—except the absence of security guards.

“This warehouse is fully automated—we don’t need security guards because it’s locked electronically,” Nick explained, as if he’d anticipated Teepee’s question.

Teepee had never liked these buildings. The Villa-Reals had their own warehouses all over the country. These buildings housed the merchandise that the family traded, from goods that were perfectly legal (plastic wares from China) to those for the gray market (knockoff clothes that got sold in Divisoria) to smuggled goods (sacks of rice from Vietnam). Teepee felt that these buildings contained bad karma, so she had always avoided them.

“Mr. Romero, I suggest you tell your driver to drop me off at that cafe we just passed, then you can proceed to your warehouse.”

“I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, Mrs. Villa-Real.” Though Nick was clearly not sorry. “But I have a fully stocked pantry in my office,” he added. In fact his office fridge was stocked with liquor but not food.

Teepee did not like Nick’s invitation. How many times had she received an invitation from a man she did not trust? Every time her gut said she should run away from the situation, her gut was right.

Detail from The Day Dream-face by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, from @WikiCommons

2.

The BMW stopped in front of the looming gray building. “I just remembered that there was a project that Inigo and I were working on before he left for Prague. I’m sure you would like to see it.” Nick stepped out of the car.

Teepee’s curiosity was piqued. She longed for any connection she could find in this world to her beloved Inigo. She ignored her gut. “Alright, Mr. Romero.”

“Excellent!” Nick exclaimed, with an imperceptible sigh of relief.

The driver opened the door for Teepee. She was surprised to see that he had hazel eyes, like those of Inigo and her late husband Claudio.

As Nick approached the door, he spoke to no one in particular. “Open the door. It’s me.”

A click came from behind the door and two double doors of the warehouse slid open.

“Welcome, Mr. Romero,” said a cool female voice.

“As I was saying Mrs. Villa-Real, this warehouse is not like any other warehouse you’ve seen before.”

He was not exaggerating. First of all, the place was fully airconditioned, not like the sweat shops that the Villa-Reals operated. There was not a single body in sight. It was just rows and rows of shelves with boxes that Teepee assumed contained Aaaah! Beverages. The lights in the warehouse were dim, but as they stepped in the lights started to get brighter and brighter, and then she saw it.

Inigo was standing in front of her in green swimming trunks and a yellow tank top, his hazel eyes looking straight at her.

The Nosegay by Ford Madox Brown, from @WikiCommons

3.

“That is what I wanted to show you, Mrs. Villa-Real. We have a dozen variants of those standees. This one is for the Kale-Peppermint Cooler.”

Teepee was not listening to Nick. She stepped closer to the cardboard cutout that bore Inigo’s face and reached out to muss up his hair like she used to. That’s when she heard the voice.

“Mom!”

Teepee’s blood froze in her veins. “Is that Inigo? Is Inigo here?”

Nick had thought Teepee was crazy, and now his suspicion was confirmed. “I’m sorry Mrs. Villa-Real, what do you mean?”

“I just heard his voice. I just heard him call out to me. Is Inigo here?”

“Mom!”

This time, Teepee thought she saw a shadow dart from behind one of the shelves. She started to run towards the moving shadow. Nick stood there and watched a woman wearing five-inch heels run. Teepee was screaming, “Inigo! Where are you, mijo?”

“Aretha,” Nick said, “Make her stop running.”

The voice, cool and uninflected, spoke up. “Running in high heels is unsafe. Please do not run.”

Aretha was the automated system.

Teepee was oblivious to the warnings. Nick’s phone started ringing. “Hello. Yes, I know of the situation in the warehouse! Ignore it! It’s just me. It must be a glitch in the system.” Nick hung up, thankful that the security team bought his story. He wasn’t finished with Teepee and he needed to catch her. He saw Teepee turn right at the end of the hallway. He knew that he had a better chance of catching her if he doubled back and intercepted her at the corner.

“Aretha, that woman is still running.”

“Playing Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush,” replied Aretha, for voice-activated systems will do what they want.

The Martyr of the Solway by John Everett Millais, from @WikiCommons
4.

With both Nick and Teepee running, the safety alarms in the warehouse were raised to the next level. The automated systems triggered a physical barrier to stop the parties from running. As Nick caught up with Teepee, steel bars started to rise from the floor around them. Nick didn’t only trap Teepee, he’d gotten himself trapped.

“What did you do? Why are we in this cage?” Teepee yelled. She was exhausted from grief, hunger, and running.

“It was your fault, you crazy woman! If you hadn’t run, we wouldn’t have been trapped here!” Nick hissed, dropping the fake graciousness.

Teepee looked up. She saw that if she climbed the shelves, she could crawl out of the opening on top. It was an easy climb, maybe 20 feet. She was sure that this was nothing compared to the wall that she had climbed at 15 to escape from the 70-year-old man who had cornered her. She realized that once again, she should have listened to her gut.

Nick saw Teepee climbing the shelves and lunged at her. Teepee was too quick for Nick. She kicked Nick’s face as he tried to grab her leg. She continued climbing.

Aretha’s voice issued from the speakers. “It is unsafe to climb the shelves. Please do not climb the shelves.”

“Stop climbing!” Nick shrieked.

“Playing Climb Every Mountain.”

Teepee ignored the warning and the warehouse came alive with the sound of music. As she reached the seventh level of the shelves, she lost her balance and tried to grab one of the boxes of Aaaah! Beverages. But the box fell with her and she landed on the floor surrounded by shattered bottles of Aaaah! Cranberry Clove Iced Tea.

“Lowering steel barrier,” Aretha announced.

La Belle Iseult 1858 William Morris 1834-1896 Bequeathed by Miss May Morris 1939 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N04999

Nick saw Teepee lying in a pool of blood or Cranberry Clove Iced Tea or both. Whatever it was, he knew he could not be found inside the warehouse when the security team came to check on the commotion. He needed to leave now and come up with a fake alibi in case Teepee was dead.

Nick ran towards the exit and jumped into his car. The driver had gone off somewhere, Nick climbed into the driver’s seat and sped off.

Back in the warehouse, a man in a gray suit approached Teepee’s body. He knelt on the floor and placed two fingers on Teepee’s neck. There was a pulse.

The man lifted Teepee easily, and carried her into the bowels of the warehouse. Teepee’s eyes opened and she saw his face. She knew that face. “Mi amor. Claudio!”

“Sssh. I’ve got you.”

* * * * *
Who is that man???
A. Claudio, long presumed dead
B. A security guard

Tune in next week for the continuation.