The Masked Butler: The Pit and the Pendulum

Pain from the Past

Nico and Erik went back up the stairs and found Francis out in the hall. Catherine walked out of Nicholas's room at the same moment.

Francis showed her the ring. "It is hers, though, right?"

"Yes, I-I think so," she said.

The doctor walked out. "He will be asleep in a moment."

"Doctor, will you stay please?"

He took her hand and patted it reassuringly. "Yes, of course, my dear, until the morning, at least." He glanced at the ring. "My dear Lord."

"It is hers, isn't it?" asked Catherine.

Dr. Leon nodded as he took the ring from Francis. "Yes, it is."

"But, how is that possible?" asked Catherine. Francis shot a glance at Nico. If Francis was thinking along the same lines as Nico, then both were also wondering how a ring that was interred with its owner could have gotten out.

"I don't think we should talk here." Dr. Leon turned to Francis. "May we use your room?"

"Yes, of course," said Francis. He, Erik, and Nico shared a glance before they followed Dr. Leon and Catherine to Francis's room. Nico happened to glance back and saw the butler, Maximilian, exit Nicholas's room and watch them enter into Francis's. Right before Nico entered the room, Maximilian turned and walked down the hall towards his own room. Nico wondered what that was all about, and if the butler was up to anything. Had he been the one to play the piano?

Erik closed the door once Nico had gone in. Catherine was sitting down in one of the chairs while Francis went to sit down on his bed. Dr. Leon handed her a drink.

"Drink," he told her.

"No," she began.

"No, you need to drink, trust me," said Dr. Leon. She took the glass from him and drank a bit, questions in her eyes. "What I am about to reveal to you must not leave this room. Do I have your word?" They all agreed. "Good, thank you. What I am about to tell you, no one in this world but myself and Nicholas knows. At least, I thought no one else but us knew." Dr. Leon let out a breath. "To put it bluntly, Nichloas believes Elizabeth was interred prematurely."

Francis stood up. "What?"

"Let me hasten to reassure you that is not the case. Elizabeth Medina was quite dead, I would stake my reputation on it." Nico and Erik shared a glance. Would he now.

"Then why . . ." began Francis.

"Does he believe it? Because of what happened to his mother many years ago."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," said Francis.

"Neither do I," said Nico.

"I only told Mr. Barnard what Nicholas saw that day. He thought it best to let Mr. di Angelo sleep and tell him in the morning."

Nico glanced between them. "Tell me what?"

Dr. Leon nodded at him. "Go ahead and tell him. He is the only one here who does not know yet." Erik tilted his head, but said nothing.

Catherine sighed. "As Nicholas mentioned, our father was driven to insanity by his obsession with the torture chamber. But he was well enough to know to prevent us from going down there and forbade us from ever stepping foot down there. But one day, Nicholas was playing in the corridors and the curiosity of youth overpowered the fear of our father's wrath. Nicholas went into the torture chamber. He explored for a bit before he had to hide, he could hear someone coming and he didn't want to get caught. A good thing too, for it was our father, with our mother and our father's brother, Bartolome. Our father had inexplicably wanted to give our mother and our uncle a tour of the torture chamber, showing them the world he had become obsessed with. But Nicholas sensed that something was wrong, very wrong. Our mother and our uncle were visibly uneasy while our father explained some of the horrific tortures people were put through. He grabbed a poker, and hit our uncle again and again, saying the same word with each blow, 'Adulterer! Adulterer!" Nico gulped. Catherine continued her story. "Our father turned on our mother and accused her of adultery. Then, while Nicholas watched in terror, our father tortured our mother to death."