Part 4--by Cynthia Brown

      Jennifer stopped and read the letter again.  If this were true, her mother was having an affair!   She just didn't understand it.   Her father had told her time and time again how much in love they were.   Claire looked over at Jennifer and wondered what it was that made her start breathing irregular.
     "Jennifer, you look like you saw your mothers ghost."
     "Worse than that!" Jennifer says exasperated.  She hands Claire the letter and begins to open the others, hoping that was the only one.  She opened the first one in the stack and found that it ended the same way:  with all my love, Conny.  Then she opened the next letter.   Careful to only read the end of each because of how repulsive they were to her.  The ending was the same.
     "Jennifer, I think I need to explain, see-"
     "Jennifer!?   Claire?"   Jonathan yelled from the top of the stairs.   Jonathan was unsure of the new news and exactly where the killer was.  He vowed to the older man he would guard his daughter's life with his own.   He would not live with out Jennifer, not now, not ever.
     "Darling-" as Jennifer ascended the steps with the pack of letters, stepping two steps at a time, she was stopped by her husband who was trying to block her way up the steps to keep her from being seen through the windows.
     "Jennifer, please!" Claire called behind her.
     "Yes, Darling, would you just stop?!"  Jonathan had one thing on his mind and that was saving his wife's life.
     "What is it Jonathan?!"
     "The killer, he's here."
     "What?!"
     "Yeah, Steven called and said he received photos of you and Claire on the balcony.   Right outside-"  Claire gasped!   Jennifer was confused.   Or was she?   Her reporting mind began to take over.
     "If you think that is shocking, get a load of this."   She takes the letter from Claire's hands and gives it to her husband.
      Jonathan reads it and begins to put two and two together.   Conny was having an affair with Suzanne.   That is how the killer knew where to find them.  "Steven told Conny where we would be."
     "Jennifer, Jonathan, I must say-"
     Tucking the letter into his coat pocket, he grabs Jennifer's hand and looks her in the eyes that can still make him melt inside and out.  "I'm sorry Darling- but we've really got to get out of here.  Claire, is there anyother way out of here besides the front door?"
     Forgetting for the moment the contents of the letter, Claire looked at Jonathan with amazement.   She always loved mystery and adventure.  That was one of the reasons she loved Paris.  There was so much mystery in this land.  "I think so, down in the basement.   There was an old door I found yesterday as I was cleaning up the spare bedroom that may lead us out of here unseen."
     "Let's go."

     Jonathan leads his wife and Claire to an old dark and clammy room in the back of the cellar.  It smelled of earth and mold as he opened the door.  It creeked as Jonathan pulled on it.   Unsure of what he would find, Jonathan opened it slowly.  Claire and Jennifer standing by, each holding their breath.   There were old paintings Claire had forgotten had even existed.   Then in the corner he noticed something.  It looked like a person.  They couldn't see.
     "Darling, could you look around for a light of some sort?"   Jennifer and her aunt looked around and found an old kerosene lamp with a pack of old matches.   She was doubtful they would even work.  But it did.  As the light got brighter and they all turned around, there it was.  The mother and child!

     Durengo hadn't seen any movement from the bungalow in the last hour.  Surely they knew he was watching them now.   He had sent the photo's over night as he saw Steven leave the airport.   He would not miss Jennifer Hart this time.   But he had to get closer.  He gets out of the blazer, gets the old bike out of the back.  Takes the neatly rolled newspapers he bought earlier in town and sticks them in the basket of the front of the bike.   He would hit his mark.   This was enough money to set him on easy street for a very long time.   And get away from his fathers world.   He wouldn't let her get away that easy.  He cursed under his breath as a drizzle began to fall and got on the bike.  On foot it was 10 minutes up the road.  Through binocculars, the house looked closer.  He cursed again as he made his way up the road.

     Back in Washington D.C., Steven paced nervously in his apartment.   No answer from the bungalow.  He had to know what was happening.   He started to pour himself another drink when there was a knock at the door.  He hadn't expected anyone.  "Who is it?!" he called perturbed at the thought of some sales man he probably couldn't get rid of.  "Who is it?!" he called again.   No answer.  He was really mad now.   He grabbed the doornob and twisted it with a vengence.
     "Hello old friend. I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by."

     Jonathan and Jennifer pull the mother and child out of the corner of the room.   It too had shown may years of wear and tear and was beginning to grow moss on it from the dampness of the cellar.   From the looks of it.  It had been opened and replastered.  There were bits and pieces broken off.   They were sure it were to fall apart if they moved it again.  Claire didn’t have a word to say.   Has it been there all of these years?   She wasn’t sure.
     "The Mother and Child" Jennifer says in a breath.
      "That explains why they are following us to the ends of the earth.  They think we knew where this was all of the time."
      "And to think daddy never had a clue-"
      "Well, Well, Well."  Durango called from behind them.   Gun in his right hand.  Cigarette in the other.   His voice boomed in the shallowness of the room.  "Look what we have here."  Instinctively Jonathan stands infront of Jennifer.   Knowing if he wanted to kill them, he would have already.  "Put your hands slowly in the air.   Two birds with one bullet." he began to chuckle.
      "How much are they paying you?" Jonathan tries, " I'll double it.   Just walk away and have your people contact my people-"
     "SHUT UP!   What do you take me for?   A fool?!  And as soon as I let you go you will identify me and have me picked up."  Durengo moved closer.  Jonathan again shields his wife's body with his own.   "Tsk-tsk-tsk.  She really means alot to you doesn't she Mr. Hart?" he spats out.
     "Yes, she does."   Jonathan spieing the surroundings.
     It was dark in there, he would have to kill them both to ensure not missing his target.  "Then why don't you just move out of the way slowly and I'll let you hold her before she hits the ground."  Then in a frenzy, he remembers, "Where did the old lady go?!"
     WHAM!  Claire hits him over the head with a vase she painted as hard as her 70 year old strength will allow.  Durengo hits the floor hard.  Before going unconscious, he realizes where she was all of the time and that he failed again at killing Jennifer Hart.  *Darkness*