STUFF LITTLE STEPHANIE IN THE INCINERATOR

BY SPYTH

[ part 1 ]

They were a motley group.

Gregg looked around at the four other people in mansion’s salon: Across the room was his Aunt Maude, a 60ish something lush that had once been a pretty society woman till she ran out of money. Between them on his left sat her daughter, his cousin Susan, a chain-smoking, nurse who must have come from a hospital in hell. On his right was Susan’s brother, Ted, a giant of a man with a vague resemblance to the Frankenstein monster. Ted, who had been in and out of jail so many times that Gregg had lost count, was currently working as a bouncer at a strip club. What a family! Gregg was a high-school teacher and the only sane one in the lot.

Of course the man whose last will and testament they had come to hear today was even crazier. Gregg’s great uncle, Victor Von Munch, had a reputation as a modern Marquis de Sade. He had earned a fortune as an engineer, and then gone off his rocker, by most accounts. He’d built this incredible house they sat in: A fantastic, rambling mansion – actually more like a castle - with hundreds of rooms. The west wing, the living quarters, were normal enough, but the rest of the mansion was out of a nightmare. Strange statuary and carved figures of dragons, demons, satyrs and the like filled the dark halls. The rooms in the upper floors were even stranger. Each contained one beautiful looking, but diabolically conceived torture machine designed to bring pleasure or pain or both. It was clear from their shape that they had all been designed to accommodate the fairer sex. What was really shocking about them was their scale – at the largest setting they might be able to fit a small woman, but they had clearly been created to be used with girls. Very young girls.

This, to all accounts, this had not made Victor popular with his neighbors who blamed him for every female child that when missing in the area. Though the law visited the mansion frequently, no evidence of the girls were ever found. The neighbors attributed this firstly to the incinerator in the basement. A unit so powerful that even the slightest trace of what was put into it was vaporized. Secondly they blamed the police, who had a chummy relationship with Victor as he always contributed heavily to the cop’s retirement fund.

Well, if Gregg’s family had its way, the contents of the house would be stripped, the building flatted and the land sold. They’d had time enough to think it out. Victor’s estate had been in legal limbo for the last five years since he died and was only now being probated.

Gregg looked up as the lawyer, Mr. Howell, entered the room. Howell did a quick count of the people present, then let out a sigh.

“I know everybody has come for the reading today, but I’m afraid it will have to be delayed 24 hours,” he said apologetically.

“What!” declared Aunt Maude. “Why is there a delay? We’ve waited long enough! We know the estate is to be split up evenly among us four. We are the only living relatives Victor had. Let’s get on with it!”

“There is a clause you are unfamiliar with,” stated Howell. “It requires Victor’s granddaughter be present for the reading.”

“Granddaughter? Victor’s son died in a traffic accident before he was married!”

“Apparently before he died he had a….how can a put it? An affair with a lady of the evening. It produced a girl named Stephanie. Victor was sending payments to the mother, but then she died of a drug overdose. We don’t seem to know what happened to the child. In any case, according to the will I am required to suspend the reading for 24 hours to search for little Stephanie. I don’t hold much hope of finding her in such a short period of time. I realize this in an inconvenience, but I’ve had the west wing cleaned and the kitchen stocked with food. I invite you to stay overnight here and we will get on with it tomorrow,” the lawyer closed his briefcase and turned to leave.

“What happens,” demanded Maude, “if you do find this little brat? Do we have to split the money five ways?”

Howell turned back to face her. “No. If Stephanie is found, under the auspices of a court appointed guardian, she will get everything…”

***

This, of course, left the group in a foul mood. They had just taken their suitcases to their rooms then returned to the salon to discuss the situation further when the door bell, sounding more like a mournful foghorn, rang. Gregg went to get the door.

When he opened it he was surprised to see nobody there. Then he looked down. Looking up at him was a little girl dressed in a school uniform. It consisted of white stockings that ended just above the knees with little white bows. She must have been even shorter than she appeared because she was wearing the highest heels he ever seen on a child, at least four inches tall in gleaming white. The short, pleated skirt in pink plaid she had on was low on her tiny hips and high on her thighs. Above there was a long expanse of creamy, white skin showing perfect navel and then above her ribs, a short white button down blouse. Over the blouse she wore a short vest the same pattern as the skirt. Her long dark hair was in pigtails tied with white ribbons like those on her stockings.

Gregg was taking in this vision when the child looked up at him, blinked her large, deep, brown eyes, and opened her sweet mouth to say, “Hello. My name is Stephanie!”