*

  The twins finally left him alone and Richard breathed a huge sigh of relief, only to be startled seconds later as Cairo appeared from behind the wardrobe,

  “I thought they’d never leave.” She spoke quietly with a frown.

  “How long have you been hiding there?!” Richard asked indignantly.

  “Long enough, I guess they must like you very much. The way they kept touching you.” Richard felt hot, embarrassed, it was clear to him that the twins wanted to start a physical relationship and he was trying to put them off without losing favour,

  “You shouldn’t spy on people.” He still believed the twins were his best hope of escape. Cairo sat herself on the edge of his bed,

  “I've never heard them talk so much.” Richard nodded, a half smile,

  “You know they're completely barking mad, don't you?” Cairo giggled and nodded,

  “Gosh yes...” She remembered something she'd overheard in the kitchen, “...Madder than a marshmallow, Fidelma says.” Richard laughed, Cairo smiled. He felt the need to try to explain his behaviour,

  “I only put up with them in the hope that they will help me to get out of here.”

  Cairo looked down, her face in shadow and hard to read,

  “So you don't actually like them?”

  “Like them? Ha! That's funny...” He rattled his chain, “...They've got me chained up like a pet dog in an attic somewhere, why the hell wouldn't I like them?”

  Cairo raised her face, looked thoughtful before replying, the image of the dead bird in her mind,

  “I have to go...” She turned and fled behind the wardrobe, “...But I'll be back soon.”

  Susan, Norfolk

  After getting rid of the Vicar Susan pinned a large piece of paper to the front door,

  ‘NO VISITORS'

  She closed the door with a sigh of relief and the old cottage fell very quiet around her.

  “First things first…” She told herself and shoved the cardboard box into the under stairs cupboard, “…Junk the junk-mail…” She fetched a plastic bin-liner and stuffed it full of the flyers, leaflets and local newspapers, “...That’s better already.” the hallway was empty.

  She lumped her suitcase up the stairs and flopped it on her bed, then crossed the landing to her father's study which overlooked the back garden. She hoped to find information about Eve, and even possibly some clues to her whereabouts. At first sight it seemed an impossible task because most of his papers were in a terrible jumble. During the last few months of his life he had written a great deal, unfortunately most of it was written while he was roaring drunk and made little or no sense, and none of it was filed in any kind of logical order.

  She sat herself down with a sigh, but once she’d got started she lost track of time, and so it was several hours later of sorting through the junk before she began to get things in order. Eventually she flicked on the light switch because she could no longer see properly and something at the back of her mind told her that it must be getting dark outside, she realised that she was dead tired and hungry.

  With a yawn she wandered downstairs into the kitchen, with a thick pile of papers clutched in her left hand she pulled open the fridge door, it was completely empty. She had better luck in the food cupboard where she found a packet of chocolate digestive biscuits, only two months past their ‘Best before’ date, and some tins of soup. She settled for a mug of tomato soup which she sipped in front of the television.

  After a few minutes she fell asleep.

  She found herself climbing the stairs, a light was on in her parent’s bedroom, the door was closed and the stairs unlit but enough light escaped from under the door for her to see by.

  Hesitantly, she turned the handle and pushed open the door. The bedside lamps revealed the bodies of her parents laying next to each other in bed, a white sheet drawn up to their necks. Their eyes closed and their skin the colour of moonlight. Without warning they sat up straight, arms limp at their sides, the sheet falling to their waists. With a click their eyes snapped open and they glared accusingly at her. To Susan’s mounting horror her father lifted a skeletal arm and pointed at her face, he shouted in a voice as cold and hard as death,

  “You! What do you want here? You're not welcome here! Get away from us! Get away from us!” Then her mother raised her blotchy arms, covered her eyes with pallid fingers and began to scream, a long mournful wail that brought tears to Susan’s eyes. Her father continued to rant,

  “Get out of our house! And stay out! You're not wanted here. Get out get out get out!” The shouting and screaming continued as Susan backed trembling and sobbing out of the room, their clamouring din loud in her ears as she fled down the stairs.

  She awoke with a wail, shaking, still in the armchair in front of the television. The dream had upset her and she dabbed at the tears blurring her vision, and at first she thought that it was all true, that the ghosts of her parents really did want her out of their house, and that they despised her. Then gradually as the power of the dream faded she began to reason, it was probably just her own guilt complex revealing itself in her dreams.

  It takes a lot of courage to face one’s nightmares; Susan did it immediately, she climbed the stairs, unable to stop the trembling in her fingers as she gripped the banister rail. Pale light showed under her parents’ bedroom door and her hand felt clammy on the door handle. After a deep breath she pushed the door open. Her eyes darted immediately to the bed, it was empty.

  “Sheesh!” She hissed quietly in relief, glancing around the room. The curtains were open and the light that she’d seen had come from the brilliant moon outside. Everything appeared quite normal. She walked into room, briefly glanced out of the window and closed the curtains, sitting on the bed she took stock of what she’d just achieved. She'd faced up to her ghosts, it was probably the bravest thing she'd done in her entire life.

  The house in the Countryside

  At roughly the same time of night, but half the country away, Richard was awoken by Cairo lightly kissing him on the cheek,

  “I've come to help you escape!” She whispered loudly as she held up a small hacksaw in front of his face. He grinned and reached out to take it, noticing in the dim light that she was wearing lipstick and clumsily applied green eye-shadow.

  “You little treasure.” He murmured, but to his surprise she quickly pulled the hacksaw back from him and held it of his reach,

  “Will you ever come back…?” She dropped her gaze and began to saw, “…To see me?” Richard only just caught her words,

  “Yes. I'll be back. You can count on it!” But it was revenge on his mind, not a social call. The chain was cut and she stepped back as he rose and stretched, taking his hand she led him through the little door behind the wardrobe into her dark domain. It was hard to see, so she kept hold of his hand, it was too narrow for them to move two abreast in the tiny corridors and Richard had to stoop many times to avoid bumping his head. After several short corridors she opened a door that turned out to be hidden behind a tapestry leading into a large bedroom vividly illuminated by the moon. The silver light cast deep shadows giving the room a black-and-white appearance. Without pausing, Cairo hopped over the window balcony,

  “Don’t worry, it’s quite safe.” She whispered. Richard peered dubiously over the parapet and gingerly lowered himself to the bough. At the heart of the tree, near to the trunk, Cairo had hollowed out a kind of den; she made Richard sit down on a bum-polished branch then sat facing him.

  “We haven't much time.” He reminded her.

  “I know. I...” She wanted to say something, “...I'll probably never see you again.” Richard suddenly felt desperately sorry for her, realising how bizarre and tragic her short life had been. He thought he had better say something,

  “You will see me again, I promise, I am coming back.” He tried to reassure her but it was clear that she didn't believe him,

  “I'm young and silly but I'm not stupid.”
They were quiet for a few moments before Cairo spoke again,

  “I'll be alone again.” Richard could not think of anything to say, and then in the gloom she leaned forward and took his hand again,

  “It's time for you to go.” She showed him the rest of the way down, near to the bottom Richard pulled her towards him and hugged her tightly,

  “Thank you.” He said and he dropped to the ground. A second later he was running for the trees. Cairo watched with sadness in her big eyes, “Don't step on the shadows!”

  Across the lawn Kelvin Bright stood in his bedroom window, wearing only his camo boxers, he’d had a restless night and decided to smoke a cigarette before trying to get back to sleep, he hadn't bothered to switch on the light opting instead to pull back the curtains. He’d taken only one draw on his roll-up when he saw Richard drop out of the tree,

  “Wha’ tha fuck!” In the space of a heartbeat he whirled around and reached for his shotgun, as always it was loaded. With his cigarette held between his teeth he dashed out of his bedroom, out of the house to where the dogs were kept, they must have smelled him approach because they were awake and alert already, he fumbled with their chains setting three of them free,

  “We got ourselves a prowler…” He hissed excitedly, “…See ‘im off! go on, See 'im off me beauties!” The dogs enjoyed the game and jumped up and down in their excitement, they sensed blood and could smell the sweat from Kelvin, and as soon as the gate was open they leaped forward into the garden eager to bring down their prey.

  Richard had wasted no time after dropping out of the tree, he ran straight in to the nearby woods intent on getting as far away as quickly as possible. He hadn’t heard Cairo call out,

  “I love you!” and neither did he see her drop to the ground a few moments later. She wandered sadly away from the tree, listlessly stepping over the shadows as Kelvin’s dogs bore down on her.

  Cairo was drawn from her melancholy reverie when she heard the dogs' snarling approach, her eyes widening in fear as their black forms raced across the lawn towards her. She knew instantly that there was nowhere to run. She put her hands in front of her face and braced herself to be torn to pieces. From his hideaway in the branches Mr Underhill had seen everything, and at the sight of the dogs he exploded from cover and raced to Cairo, arriving a second before the slavering beasts, pushing Cairo behind him.

  He planted himself in front of her, legs apart, his head jutting forward and roaring at them, weaving his huge balled fists in front of himself. The animals were startled at his sudden appearance, but their confusion didn't last long, they simply changed targets from Cairo to him, and as-one they leapt upon him. Cairo gasped in surprise at the sound of Mr Underhill's roaring, she saw his back, broad and strong, buckle under the weight of the dogs’ ferocious onslaught. His right fist slammed down on the head of the middle dog knocking it down to the ground, but the other two both penetrated his guard, biting him deeply in the thigh and shoulder, the middle hound quickly recovered and launched itself at Mr Underhill's throat. Cairo involuntarily clutched her own throat as she saw Mr Underhill catch the animal by the neck just inches from his face.

  Kelvin was only a few seconds behind his beloved dogs with his shotgun at the ready, his heart nearly stopped when he saw Cairo about to be mauled, and he was equally astonished to see Mr Underhill appear out of nowhere to try to save her,

  “Oh shit! Oh shit! Stop!…” He cried out desperately, “…Heel! Heel!” He was in a panic and could not get the dogs to stop their attack, they had the taste of blood on their tongues and had been trained not to stop until they had killed. Mr Underhill had sunk to his knees under the attack but fought back by swinging the middle hound around in front of him like a giant living club. Wary of him now, the other two began to circle around him, snapping and snarling, looking for a weakness. The commotion had by now woken most of the household and it was Franco who was next on the scene, he strode quickly into the fray and without a seconds hesitation pulled out his small pistol and shot one of the dogs in the head. Kelvin was horrified,

  “No! No! Don't kill 'em!” Kelvin stupidly rushed towards Franco with his shotgun still raised, he didn't have any intention to use it, he simply wasn't thinking clearly, Franco of course didn't know that and so with blinding speed he pushed aside the barrel of the shotgun and smashed Kelvin in the face with the butt of his pistol knocking him out cold. The dogs, seeing their master in danger, turned their attack on to Franco. He shot twice in quick succession, both animals fell immediately. The attack was over.

  Cairo immediately ran to Mr Underhill, feeling his pain like a sweet ache,

  “Oh thank you…” She touched his shoulder gently, “…Oh but you’re hurting so much.” She saw the look of devotion in Mr Underhill's eyes but much more surprisingly to her, she felt it too. She closed her eyes and shuddered as the twin waves of his pain and his love washed through her mind.

  Franco appeared at their side, he took Mr Underhill under the arm saying,

  “Come, we must get you inside.” He helped the limping man towards the kitchen, lights came on as they approached and Fidelma appeared in the doorway,

  “And what in th’ cursed seven bells of hell has gone on here!…” She crossed herself as she saw the awful bites, “…I knew it! Those devil-creatures should’ve been put-down years ago…” She took Mr Underhill’s other arm and helped him towards a chair in the kitchen, “…Let me have a good look at those…” She cursed several more times, then, “…I hope your tet’nus jabs are up to date my man…” He nodded, grimacing as she began to clean out his wounds, “…No doubt those beasts carried more than a deadly dose o' lockjaw!”

  The twins arrived,

  “We heard a commotion...” They announced as they entered the room, then gasped in tandem, “…We’ll fetch our sewing kit…” They wheeled about, “…Back in a moment. Make the patient as comfortable as you can.”

  Eve eventually appeared while the twins were carefully sewing Mr Underhill back together, she joined Franco in the garden, where he held a blubbering Kelvin in an arm lock,

  “I thought ‘e was an intruder, ow!…” Kelvin whined, implying that none of it was his fault, “…How was I to know? A person shouldn’t be hanging around the garden at night, ow…!” Franco gave him another little twist, “…Even if ‘e is a bleedin’ gardener! Ow!”

  Cairo appeared at her mother’s side, stating flatly,

  “He set his dogs on me mother.” Eve’s eyes gave nothing away, Kelvin shrieked in terror,

  “No! Never! No ma’am, not me, it was someone else!-” He was about to say that he’d seen a man drop out of the tree but Franco had heard enough from him, he punched him on the side of the head, and Kelvin was unconscious again. Eve’s face was a mask, but her voice held deadly intent,

  “Get him inside Franco, keep an eye on him…” She turned, took Cairo’s arm, “…Don’t let him leave the house alone…” She called over her shoulder, “… Make him take his dogs down to the pigs…” And led Cairo back towards the house. They were entering the kitchen before she appeared to notice Cairo’s lipstick and eye shadow, she frowned,

  “I‘m not even going to ask.”

  Richard on the Run

  Richard had continued running through the tangled forest all night, having heard the dogs barking and the gunshots in the distance he naturally assumed that they were after him, it never occurred to him that Cairo might have been in danger. Just before dawn he crashed through some bushes and staggered into a road. There was no indication which way to go so he took pot-luck and turned left. A short while later he saw a small house at the end of a short shingle drive. His first instinct was to run up to it and bang on the front door, half way up the drive paused and took stock of his situation. Dawn was just breaking on a cold misty morning, the occupants of the house would almost certainly still be in bed. He looked down at himself, his shirt and jeans were torn and dirty from his flight through the woods, undoubtedly he was a mess. He r
easoned that if he woke the people of the house they probably wouldn’t let him, but instead would call the police. For some strange reason he did not want that to happen. He had been kidnapped and his wife probably murdered but he did not want to tell the police.

  “So what the fuck am I going to do?” He whispered out loud to himself. He had no money and no transport. Without realising it he had turned around and walked past the house. Then he continued walking. Gradually it became lighter, cars and lorries drove past him, and he passed more houses until he reached a town sign, 'Welcome to Shillingham'. Freezing cold and utterly exhausted he stumbled into the small town centre and slumped wearily in a shop doorway resting his head against the glass, within seconds he was asleep in a dead faint.

  Walther, London

  Walther allowed his head to drop back onto the hospital pillow and let out a discontented sigh. He had just been interviewed by the police for the third time in as many days, they wanted to know where Richard was and why Susan was now missing. It was obvious that they did not believe him when he said he had no idea of the whereabouts of either of them, even though he was telling the literal truth. At first he was relieved to find out that Susan had been discharged from hospital with only superficial face wounds (they hadn't told him the exact nature of the lacerations) but he became more worried when the police revealed that she was officially ‘missing’. He became even more agitated when they informed him that Richard and Susan were both wanted ‘in connection’ with the death of someone named Smokey Dick, whose body was found to have traces of both Walther’s and Susan’s blood on it. It was obvious to the police that Smokey Dick was the one who had attacked Susan and Walther at her home, but what they could not work out was why he had done it and “Why did he turn up dead so soon afterwards?”

  After the third interview Walther discharged himself from the hospital, the doctor called him a fool but was unable to stop him leaving. With his head stitched and bandaged and every muscle in his body aching, he walked painfully to the nearest Underground Station. He sat on the train not noticing the curious glances of the other passengers, locked in a world of guilt for allowing Richard and Susan to become involved, “I’ve been so stupid.” He berated himself while becoming more determined than ever to track down that angel of death called Eve.

  He made his way across the city to Susan’s house where he’d left his car, he was relieved that it hadn’t been stolen or vandalised. He approached the front door to the house, the street was quiet and he could hear the phone ringing inside. It remained unanswered. He knocked on the door anyway, as he expected there was no answer so he quietly made his way around to the back of the house. He was astonished to find the back door unlocked. It had remained that way since Eve let herself out on the night of the attack. Cautiously Walther stepped inside, he walked slowly all over the house and could tell by the letters on the mat and the fine dust on places like the kettle and the toilet that no one had used the house for several days. He checked the wardrobes and noted that Susan’s underwear and most of her make-up were gone, he came to the conclusion that Susan had probably left of her own free will,

  “But where are you now?” He asked himself. He stood still and closed his eyes, trying to put himself in her position. He remembered something she had said back on his father’s boat, “I just locked the door and never went back. It still belongs to me, but I don’t know what sort of state it’s in. All their research is still there. But don’t ask me to go and get it. I couldn’t.” He nodded in understanding,

  “You've gone home, haven't you? After all this time you've decided to go back home to your parents house, to get help from mum and dad.” Remembering the conversation they had back on his boat, he knew that it must be very difficult for her to go back, instinctively he also knew that she would want to be left alone. He left the house and drove home to his boat in two minds about whether to try to contact her or not.

  “No, she's far better off out of this horrible business, at least she's safe now.”

  The house in the Countryside

  The twins had discussed their failure to properly seduce Richard and agreed that wearing more make-up would probably do the trick. Painted like dolls they unlocked the door and marched proudly into Richard’s cell carrying his breakfast,

  “You’ll never guess what happened last night.” Their cheerful words ended abruptly, with twin gasps they stopped dead, side by side, gazing at his empty bed. One head turned to the left as the other turned to the right searching the corners of the room, then both heads turned to face each other with identical looks of horror and confusion.

  “He's...” The one started to say,

  “Disappeared!” The other finished. The tray clattered to the floor, forgotten in the awful realisation that Richard had left them, tears streamed down their identical cheeks as they hugged each other for comfort, still stood in the middle of the little room. Some time later they realised that they should tell Eve that he'd gone,

  “She'll kill us!” Pip protested.

  “And put us in the Asylum!” Emm darkly reminded her. Then, together, without saying a word to each other, they crouched down and started to eat the mess of breakfast on the floor, each one taking it in turns to eat a piece of the cold food until it was all gone, then they drank the beer that they always brought for him, passing the bottle wordlessly between each other until it was empty. It was Emm who finally broke the silence,

  “All gone! Richard seems to be getting quite an appetite these days!” She spoke to Pip as if Richard had eaten the breakfast, Pip replied,

  “Yes, we shall have to speak to Cook about a larger portion for him!” The two mad girls collected up the things and left the room making sure that it was locked securely. They made every effort to avoid Eve over the next few days as they carried out their elaborate charade of pretending that Richard was still securely locked in his cell.

 
Timothy Pearsall's Novels