Dead Man Walking

  ‘Who do you really work for, Penny?’ said Hayley. ‘Not the Organization. We checked.’

  ‘Why would I want to kill Parker?’ said Penny. ‘Ishmael and I were sent here to keep him alive.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Doyle. ‘Why don’t you tell us?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Hayley. ‘Tell us everything about you and Ishmael Jones.’

  They leaned forward, fixing her with their gaze, their voices suddenly compelling. But Penny just laughed in their faces.

  ‘I don’t intimidate that easily,’ she said dryly. ‘I used to work in publishing.’

  ‘She was with me, in our room, when Parker died,’ I said.

  ‘But then you would say that, wouldn’t you?’ said Hayley. ‘And you’re not above suspicion yourself, Ishmael. As more than one of us has already noted, Parker was perfectly fine until you arrived. You insisted on talking to him privately, against my wishes, and within a few hours he was dead. Coincidence? I don’t think so.’

  There was a long pause, as we all looked at each other.

  ‘You have been very quiet, Mr Martin,’ MacKay said finally. ‘You’ve seen more of what’s happened than all of us put together. What do you believe is going on here?’

  ‘I’m not going to say anything,’ said Martin. ‘You’d only laugh at me.’

  ‘I think I can quite definitely assure you that none of us are in a laughing mood, Mr Martin,’ said MacKay. ‘If you have a theory of your own, I am sure we would all like to hear it.’

  ‘I think Parker’s presence here did something to this house,’ Martin said steadily. ‘Something to wake the sleeping spirits of Ringstone Lodge. Until he came here, the old ghosts were quiet. But within hours of his arrival, all kinds of strange things began happening. I saw things, heard things, even managed to record some of them … I believe there was a power in Parker, something he acquired while operating in the darker corners of the world. I think he found something old and terrible, and made it a part of himself. He couldn’t be killed, they said. What’s a knife in the chest, to a man like that? And now he’s out there, walking the corridors, looking to take his revenge on the people who locked him up and tried to kill him. Dead or alive, he walks … surrounded by spirits of the past, called up again by his power. The dead do not rest easily in Ringstone Lodge. They never have.’

  There was another long pause, and then Penny turned to Hayley.

  ‘Didn’t you say earlier that you had some sedatives on you? I think someone here could use several.’

  ‘Let me see what I’ve got,’ said Hayley.

  Martin scowled at MacKay. ‘See? I told you. No one likes to hear things they don’t want to be true.’

  But as I looked round the room, it seemed to me they were all ready to believe at least some of what Martin was saying. Apparently I was the only one left who wasn’t prepared to believe ghosts had anything to do with what was happening at Ringstone Lodge.

  ‘Oh, Ishmael …’ said Penny. ‘I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I think we’ve all missed something. Look at the bay window.’

  We all turned to take in the massive window at the far end of the lounge. Outside, there was nothing but the night. Just darkness, pressing up against the glass. I looked at Penny.

  ‘What am I missing?’ I said. ‘It’s just night out there.’

  ‘But that’s the point!’ said Penny. ‘We shouldn’t be able to see the darkness. The windows are supposed to be covered by steel shutters!’

  We were all up out of our chairs in a hurry, standing together, staring at the bay window. The night stared back, giving nothing away. How could I have missed something so blatantly obvious? Because so much had been happening? Or because I’d wasted so much of my time and attention on stupid ghost stories? MacKay rounded on Martin.

  ‘Why isn’t that window sealed?’

  ‘I don’t know!’ said Martin. ‘It’s supposed to be. According to my computers, all the shutters came down simultaneously the moment I hit lockdown. What was I supposed to do, go round the house checking every single window? Look, I need to get back to the security centre. Figure out what’s gone wrong.’

  ‘And now someone else wants to go off on their own,’ I said. ‘It’s like being surrounded by lemmings.’

  ‘We have to check,’ said MacKay. ‘Because if the computers were wrong about this, what else might they be wrong about?’

  ‘Then we should all go, as a group,’ I said.

  ‘Can’t be soon enough for me,’ said Penny. ‘I’ll never feel safe in this room again, with that window open to the world. Anyone could get in.’

  ‘Or out,’ I said. ‘Anyone could enter or leave through that window, as often as they pleased …’

  ‘Do we have a clue, at long last?’ said Penny.

  ‘Do you know, I think we do,’ I said.

  ‘I love clues!’ said Penny.

  Hurrying back through the house to the security centre, I allowed MacKay to take the lead again, so I could hang back and keep a watchful eye on our surroundings. I didn’t trust any part of Ringstone Lodge, and I reckoned I’d had enough surprises for one day. But when we got back to the security centre, the heavy steel door was standing wide open, leaving all the equipment unguarded. I thought MacKay was going to have an apoplectic fit, right there on the spot.

  ‘I cannot believe you left the door unlocked, Mr Martin!’

  ‘But I didn’t!’ said Martin, staring at the gaping door with horrified fascination. ‘I always lock the place up when I leave, you know that.’

  We all peered into the dimly lit interior, but none of us took a step forward. In the end, MacKay lifted his chin and strode into the security centre in a way that suggested he was more than ready to kick the crap out of any intruder he encountered. But he was only gone for a moment before he was back out again, shaking his head.

  ‘No one’s there. It’s safe for you to go in.’

  Martin ran past him, and we all followed after. Penny leaned in close beside me to murmur in my ear.

  ‘Shame on you, Ishmael. Letting an old man like that take all the risks.’

  ‘An old soldier like MacKay?’ I said. ‘I’d back him against anyone dumb enough to still be there.’

  ‘If it had been me, I would have left a booby trap or two behind,’ Penny said demurely.

  ‘Same here,’ I said. ‘But if there had been any, MacKay would have seen them.’

  ‘You can be very cold-blooded on occasion, Ishmael.’

  ‘Just practical,’ I said.

  Once inside we all crowded together, partly for mutual support but mostly because the space was so limited and we were all afraid to touch anything in case we broke it. The room seemed entirely undamaged, with nothing obviously missing. Martin had already planted himself on his swivel chair, his fingers flying across the keyboard on his lap as he checked whether the intruder had planted anything nasty in his systems. MacKay carefully studied a screen at the far end of the room.

  ‘Lockdown has not been raised or tampered with,’ he said finally. ‘The Lodge is still secure.’

  ‘Apart from the lounge window,’ I said.

  ‘Mr Martin?’ said Mackay.

  ‘I’m working on it!’ said Martin, scowling fiercely at the screens around him. ‘Otherwise, everything’s working normally.’

  ‘Working normally?’ said Penny. ‘That doesn’t actually impress me much. There are undoubtedly moles out there in the grounds wearing heavy sunglasses who see more of what’s going on than you do.’

  ‘Bit harsh,’ I murmured.

  ‘Well …’ said Penny.

  Martin looked like he wanted to say something harsh in reply, but then he caught my eye and didn’t.

  ‘If you locked the door when you left,’ Hayley said slowly to Martin, ‘who opened it? Who else knows the combination?’

  ‘Only MacKay,’ said Martin. ‘And we were both with you in the lounge.’

  ‘So how did they get in?’ said Penny.

>   ‘Ghosts?’ said Doyle. But even he didn’t sound too convinced.

  ‘This is all just distraction,’ I said firmly. ‘There’s been too much of that already. Check your cameras, Martin. Where is Redd, right now?’

  Martin stabbed a finger at one particular screen, showing Redd standing alone on the top floor right next to the room Penny and I had been given. The door was open, as though he might have been inside and just come out again.

  ‘What’s he doing in our room?’ Penny said loudly.

  ‘He must have some reason to be there,’ said Hayley.

  ‘Is there anything you want to tell us, Mr Jones, Miss Belcourt?’ said MacKay. ‘Is there perhaps something in your room Mr Redd might have discovered that we ought to know about?’

  ‘No,’ I said.

  ‘Then why is Redd there?’ Hayley said accusingly.

  ‘Don’t you snap at me,’ I said.

  ‘Redd claimed he had evidence as to who the killer was,’ said Doyle. ‘He must have got it from somewhere.’

  ‘Well he didn’t get it from our room!’ said Penny. She stopped, and looked at me. ‘Did we lock our room after we left?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘But then locks don’t seem to mean much in this house. So did Redd unlock it? Or did someone else do it for him? And if I hear an answer that in any way contains the word ghosts, I will take a firm hold of that person and show them how to pass through a wall the hard way.’

  ‘I cannot keep Mr Redd waiting much longer,’ said MacKay. ‘He might become impatient and disappear back into the house.’

  ‘I still say talking to him alone is risky,’ I said. ‘Why would he want to talk to you, in particular?’

  ‘Call ahead first,’ said Penny. ‘Tell him you’re on your way, Mr MacKay, so he won’t get twitchy when he hears footsteps coming. And then while you’ve got him, try a few pertinent questions. This whole thing feels like a trap to me.’

  ‘You are of course entirely right, miss,’ said MacKay. ‘But the best way to walk out of a trap is to know you’re walking into one.’

  He got out his phone and called Redd, but the man on the screen didn’t react. MacKay put the phone away.

  ‘Mr Redd must have turned his phone off to avoid having to answer any awkward questions.’

  ‘Hold it,’ I said. ‘Everything in the Lodge is overheard and recorded. And Redd knows that. So why is he insisting on talking to you alone, when he must know we’ll hear every word?’

  ‘I must be sure to ask him that,’ said MacKay. ‘And now, I think it is time for me to be on my way.’

  ‘I’ll be following you every step of the way on my screens,’ said Martin. ‘You won’t be alone for a moment.’

  ‘That is reassuring indeed, Mr Martin,’ MacKay said gravely.

  ‘If it does all go wrong, don’t be afraid to shout,’ I said. ‘Even a trained soldier can be caught off guard. I can be with you in a few moments.’

  ‘I do not believe I have anything to fear from Mr Redd,’ said MacKay.

  ‘Don’t you?’ I said. ‘After you nearly broke his arm to make him behave?’

  MacKay allowed himself one of his small smiles. ‘Mr Redd is just a hired security man. I was a professional soldier in a Scottish Highland Regiment. I believe I can handle Mr Redd, if I have to.’

  He nodded to all of us, and then marched out of the security centre like an old soldier who’d just caught a whiff of cordite in the air. He might have doubts about his job, but not his abilities. We watched MacKay reach the foot of the stairs and then proceed up them slowly and steadily. On another screen, Redd was still standing by the open bedroom door. Penny pressed in close beside me.

  ‘Do you suppose he’s been searching our room?’ she said quietly. ‘Opening our bags, and going through our things?’

  ‘Let him,’ I said. ‘It’s not as if he’d find anything.’

  ‘But he might have been touching my personal things!’

  ‘I doubt whether he’s that interested in female underwear,’ I said. I looked at Redd for a long moment. ‘He’s standing very still, isn’t he? You’d expect him to be more nervous, up there on his own.’

  MacKay appeared on a new screen as he reached the top of the stairs. He stopped there for a moment, staring thoughtfully down the corridor, before starting forward. Then every single screen in the centre went blank. Martin swore harshly, and worked frantically at his keyboard.

  ‘Do something!’ said Hayley. ‘Get him back. We need to know what’s going on. Anything could be happening up there!’

  ‘I know!’ said Martin. ‘I’m trying!’ But nothing he did seemed to work. In the end he grabbed hold of his keyboard with both hands and shook it in sheer frustration. ‘It’s not responding! There’s nothing I can do!’ He looked at the blank screens. ‘I promised I’d watch over him.’

  ‘Go, Ishmael!’ said Penny.

  I raced out of the security centre, followed by Penny and then Hayley and Doyle. I soon left them behind as I sprinted across the entrance hall, reached the stairs and pounded up them two steps at a time. I was at the top before the others had even reached the bottom. I stood there looking down the long corridor, not even breathing hard. There was no sign of Redd anywhere, or MacKay. I strained my ears for the slightest sound, but there was nothing. I called out to MacKay. My voice fell flat in the quiet, and there was no response. I called out to Redd. Still nothing. Where were they? What were they doing? They had to know I was there.

  ‘Martin?’ I said. ‘Can you hear me?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said immediately, his voice coming out of nowhere. ‘I’ve got sound back, but no vision. I’m still working on that. What can you see?’

  ‘Just an empty corridor,’ I said. ‘Tell the others to stay where they are. I don’t want anyone coming up here until I’m sure it’s safe.’

  ‘Got it,’ said Martin. I heard his voice again, at the foot of the stairs, telling the others what I’d just told him. No one argued. I moved over to the nearest door and tried the handle. It was locked. I kicked the door in. The locked shattered and the door flew open, almost tearing itself off its hinges. I stepped inside the room and looked around, but there was nothing to suggest it had seen any recent use. I came back out, walked over to the door opposite and kicked that in. Another empty room. I went back out into the corridor, and considered my options.

  ‘It’s Parker!’ Martin’s voice said suddenly. ‘Some of my screens just started working and I can see Parker. He’s there, with you!’

  ‘Where?’ I said, looking up the corridor and then back at the stairs. ‘I don’t see him anywhere.’

  ‘He just went into your room,’ said Martin. ‘Hurry!’

  I sprinted along the corridor, not caring that Martin could see how fast I was moving. It only took me a few moments to reach the far end. The door to our room was still standing open. I rushed in. The lights were on, but no one was there.

  ‘I’ve got him!’ Martin said excitedly. ‘I can see him again. He’s right at the top of the stairs.’

  ‘What? How is that even possible?’ I said. ‘There’s no way he could have got past me.’

  ‘I don’t know!’ said Martin. ‘But he’s there, I can see him. And he’s starting down the stairs, towards the others.’

  Towards Penny …

  I ran out of the room and raced down the corridor. I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me. I charged down the stairs, but when I finally reached the bottom and lurched to a halt only Penny and Hayley and Doyle were there waiting for me. Looking surprised, and more than a little startled at the speed of my return.

  ‘What happened?’ said Penny. ‘We heard you crashing about upstairs, but Martin said you wanted us to stay here.’

  ‘Didn’t you see him?’ I said.

  ‘See who?’ said Penny.

  ‘Parker!’ I said. ‘Martin caught him on his screens, coming down the stairs ahead of me.’

  They all looked at each other, and then at me.

  ‘No one?
??s come down these stairs since you went up them,’ Doyle said carefully. ‘We haven’t seen anyone.’

  ‘I saw him!’ said Martin’s voice. ‘I did! Or at least, I thought I did. I mean, I saw someone and I think it was Parker. Are you sure you didn’t see anything, Ishmael? You must have been right behind him.’

  ‘Nothing,’ I said.

  ‘He couldn’t have just disappeared between the top of the stairs and the bottom,’ said Penny. ‘Could he?’

  ‘Unless he’s a ghost, now,’ said Doyle.

  ‘First he’s a walking dead man,’ I said. ‘And now he’s a ghost!’

  ‘But he couldn’t have disappeared between the top and bottom of the stairs!’ said Penny. ‘That’s impossible!

  ‘You’re right,’ I said. And I frowned, thinking.

  ‘Ishmael!’ said Hayley. ‘What happened up there?’

  ‘I didn’t see any sign of Redd or MacKay,’ I said. ‘And they couldn’t have come down these stairs without you or me seeing them. So where did they go? All the rooms on that floor are locked, and the stairs are the only way down.’

  ‘If anyone’s got a key to those rooms, it would be MacKay,’ said Penny. ‘Did you check all the doors?’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘I got distracted, chasing after people who weren’t there.’

  ‘He was there,’ Martin said sulkily. ‘Hold it! Some more of my screens just came back. I can see inside all the rooms on the top floor, and there’s no one in any of them.’

  ‘We were talking earlier about hidden passageways,’ said Penny. ‘Concealed doors and sliding panels in the walls. MacKay sent Redd and Baxter up to the top floor to look for them, earlier on. Maybe Redd found one and used it to hustle MacKay away.’

  ‘Why would he want to do that?’ said Doyle.

  ‘If we’re lucky, he just wanted to show MacKay how the murderer could be moving around and avoiding us,’ I said. ‘Hidden passageways would go a long way to explaining how our killer can appear and disappear so easily. And since the secret corridors would be the only place in the Lodge not covered by the surveillance systems, they would be the one place where Redd and MacKay could safely hold a private conversation.’