Into the Thinnest of Air

  I stepped carefully forward into the kitchen, gesturing for Penny to stay in the doorway. I heard Jimmy and Valerie moving forward, despite everything I’d said, and when I glanced back they were peering fascinated over Penny’s shoulders. They had the grace to look a little embarrassed. I turned my attention back to the kitchen.

  ‘Well?’ Penny asked impatiently. ‘What do you see?’

  ‘Something about the mess on the floor looks different,’ I said.

  Penny took a step forward, into the kitchen. Jimmy and Valerie didn’t.

  ‘How can you tell, Ishmael? When you decide to wreck a place, you don’t hold back.’

  ‘Something walked through this mess,’ I said. ‘Someone has been in the kitchen since we left.’

  Penny moved quickly forward to stand beside me. ‘Wouldn’t we have heard a demon walking about in here?’

  ‘How much noise does a demon make when it goes walking in the world?’ I said.

  ‘Or an alien?’

  ‘Precisely. But it does make a mark. Some of this mess has been moved.’

  ‘Jimmy, you stay right where you are!’ Valerie said loudly, behind us. ‘I’m not going in there to join them and neither should you.’

  ‘I’m just taking a quick look,’ said Jimmy, contrary as always. ‘Come with me and see for yourself.’

  ‘I don’t want to see,’ said Valerie. ‘I don’t think I even want to know. Is there a trail of slime on the floor, Ishmael? Or maybe the smell of brimstone?’

  ‘No and no,’ I said. ‘You really are a traditionalist, aren’t you …? Jimmy, why are you standing behind me peering over my shoulder?’

  ‘It really is gloomy in here,’ said Jimmy. ‘How do you see anything?’

  ‘Training,’ I said, ‘and lots of carrots. There’s a definite trail, from just inside the door to the right-hand wall.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Ishmael,’ said Penny. ‘But I’m not seeing it.’

  ‘Maybe you’re just seeing what you want to see,’ said Jimmy.

  ‘The path is there,’ I said.

  ‘Come and take a look at this, Val,’ said Jimmy. ‘See if you can spot what he’s talking about.’

  ‘Val?’

  Something in his voice made me turn round. The kitchen doorway was empty. I pushed past a shocked and trembling Jimmy and looked through the doorway into the dining room. There was no sign of Valerie anywhere. She’d been taken, softly and silently, while we weren’t looking. Penny came forward and grabbed hold of my arm with both hands. Jimmy made a low, lost sound and ran through the doorway, back to our table, as though he half expected to find Valerie still sitting there, waiting for him. He looked wildly about him, and then threw the table over on its side. He stared down at the bare floor, breathing hard.

  ‘It should have been me!’ he said. ‘I was ready to go … The demon must have heard me, so why did it take her? She had so much to live for, and I don’t. She had a future, but I don’t. Why did it take her?’

  ‘Because she was on her own,’ I said. ‘And none of us were looking.’

  Jimmy glared around the room with wild eyes. ‘Give her back!’ he screamed at the walls. ‘You can have me, if you’ll just give Valerie back!’

  There was no response. Jimmy suddenly collapsed, sat down hard on the floor like a toddler who’s lost all the strength in his legs. He hugged himself tightly, rocking back and forth.

  ‘What’s the point?’ he said. ‘What’s the point of anything …? I was ready to go with her. I wouldn’t have put up a fight, I would have just gone … Why didn’t the demon take you and Penny?’ He looked at me sullenly. ‘It was supposed to take you and leave Val and me alone. That was the plan.’

  ‘It seems the demon isn’t interested in volunteers,’ I said.

  Jimmy surged up on to his feet again. ‘This is all your fault! Bastard! If you hadn’t lured me into the kitchen, I’d never have let go of Valerie’s hand. Never taken my eyes off her to look for your damned evidence. If you hadn’t made me turn my back on Valerie, she’d still be here.’

  He ran straight at me and lashed out with his fist, catching me by surprise. But I was still able to pull back my head so he only caught me a glancing blow on the nose. Jimmy drew back his fist for another blow … and then stopped, his arm dropping limply to his side. He looked at me with wide, horrified eyes.

  ‘You …!’ he said. ‘It’s you!’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ I said.

  ‘Ishmael,’ said Penny. ‘Your nose …’

  I put my fingertips to my nostrils, and when I brought them away they were wet with blood. My golden blood. The last trace of my alien heritage.

  ‘Demon!’ said Jimmy, his voice was full of betrayal. ‘It was you all along! Watching and listening, pretending to be one of us so you could prey on us unsuspected … You took my friends!’

  ‘Jimmy, no …’ I said.

  I moved towards him, and he turned and ran. He got to the front door, hauled the coat stand out of the way, pulled the door open, and ran out into the night. I was already racing after him, with Penny close behind, but the door swung shut before I could get to it. I grabbed hold of the door handle, half expecting the door to be locked again and ready to rip the whole thing off its hinges if need be, but it opened easily.

  I stepped outside and looked around. The car park was empty. No sign of Jimmy anywhere, and nowhere he could have gone.

  Penny moved in beside me and put a comforting hand on my arm. ‘He didn’t understand.’

  ‘He ran from me,’ I said. ‘When all I wanted to do was protect him. He ran from me, straight into the demon’s arms.’

  ‘It must have been waiting out here,’ said Penny. ‘But how could it have known …’

  ‘Why didn’t it come after us in the kitchen?’ I said.

  ‘Because it knew a trap when it saw one,’ said Penny. ‘At least Jimmy is with Valerie now.’

  ‘You think that’s a good thing?’

  ‘Let’s hope so.’ Penny put her hand in mine. ‘Hold on to me, Ishmael. Never let me go.’

  ‘Never,’ I said.

  We went back into the Castle, and I closed the door on the night.

  SEVEN

  If These Walls Could Speak

  Penny and I stood back to back in the middle of the dining room. I could feel her shoulder blades pressing up against mine, so we could be sure of each other’s presence as we watched the room between us. It was all very quiet and very still. The candle flames burned steadily, untroubled by even a breath of air. Their yellow glow filled the long room from one end to the other and there was nothing, nothing at all, to see.

  ‘No one else is in here with us,’ I said. ‘I’d know. I’m sure I’d know.’

  ‘Why are we still here?’ said Penny. ‘We should leave, right now. Just run to the door and not stop running till we hit the town.’

  ‘That would be the logical thing to do,’ I said. ‘But I’m too angry to be logical. I promised I’d protect the others but they were still taken, one by one. There have been cases where I couldn’t save everyone, but this is the first time I couldn’t save anyone.’

  ‘You’ve still got me,’ said Penny.

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘And I don’t want to risk losing you too. You can go, if you want. I’ll do something to hold the inn’s attention.’

  ‘Leave you here on your own?’ said Penny. She grabbed me by the arm and spun me round forcibly, so she could glare into my face. ‘You wouldn’t last five minutes without me, and you know it. Besides, I can be just as heroic and insufferably self-righteous as you, if I put my mind to it.’

  ‘I’ve always thought so,’ I said. ‘But, Penny, I can’t leave here until I find out what’s happened to all the missing people. I just can’t. I have to try to save some of them. Or if that turns out not to be possible, at least avenge them.’

  ‘Of course you do, sweetie,’ said Penny. ‘So, what’s the plan? Tell me you have a plan.’

  ‘Yo
u’d think I would have one by now, wouldn’t you?’ I said. ‘But even after everything that’s happened I still haven’t got a clue as to what it is we’re dealing with. I don’t know whether it’s a demon or an alien. Or something else entirely.’

  ‘I think it all comes down to the inn,’ said Penny. ‘Nothing started happening here until the Calverts began their renovations and made major changes to the physical structure of the place. Maybe that altered something … or woke something up. What if we just tear the whole place apart and undo all the changes? Maybe that will put everything back to normal again.’

  ‘The structure …’ I said. And just like that, I got it. The one clue I needed, and everything fell into place. ‘That’s it, Penny! The missing people have to be somewhere. If they aren’t inside the inn and aren’t outside, where does that leave? Remember what Albert said about rats in the walls!’

  ‘Slow down, Ishmael!’ said Penny. ‘I don’t understand. What have the rats got to do with anything?’

  ‘Not the rats,’ I said. ‘The walls. What’s the one thing we always search for when impossible things start happening in an old building? Hidden doors and secret passageways. Concealed ways for people to come and go and move around unseen.’

  ‘But the Calverts told us there weren’t any,’ said Penny. ‘The builders didn’t uncover anything like that …’

  ‘And I think I know why,’ I said. ‘Look at the outer walls, Penny. Look at the thickness of the walls! Albert and Olivia told us they were at least two feet thick, but when I checked the upstairs windows earlier I could see how deeply inset they were. I’d say these walls are more like three feet thick. And why would an inn need walls that solid?’

  ‘To protect the smugglers from attack?’ said Penny.

  ‘All the Revenue Men would have to do is surround the inn and starve them out,’ I said. ‘The smugglers would be trapped in here. No, these walls were very carefully constructed, for another purpose entirely.’

  I moved over to the outer wall on the other side of the bar and studied the old stone carefully. Then I punched the wall, putting all my strength into the blow. I hit the wall again and again, alternating my fists, getting a rhythm going. The old stone pulverized and flew apart under the relentless pounding, and jagged cracks opened up in the wall. Because the wall before me wasn’t nearly as thick as it appeared.

  Golden blood flew from my knuckles, but I didn’t stop. I grimaced fiercely as the old stone shattered under my fists. It felt good to be taking out my frustrations on something solid. Pain jarred through my hands and up my arms, but I wouldn’t even let myself slow down until I’d opened up a big enough gap. Nothing was going to stop me now I was getting close to the truth at last. Close to all the answers to everything that was going on in the Castle. I finally stopped and stepped back, and just stood there for a moment breathing hard. The opening I’d made was more than big enough to reveal the tunnel hidden inside the wall, stretching from one end of the inn to the other. I took a deep breath to settle myself, and then nodded to Penny.

  ‘There has to be a hidden door here somewhere, but I needed to do that.’

  ‘Oh Ishmael,’ Penny said quietly. ‘What have you done to your hands?’

  ‘It was worth it,’ I said. Though the smile I showed her probably wasn’t very reassuring. I glanced down at the golden blood dripping from my clenched fists.

  The tunnel consisted of two very thin walls forming a long narrow passageway, lit by a series of candles carefully set in niches at intervals along it. While I examined the tunnel, Penny found some napkins behind the bar and insisted on wrapping them round my damaged hands. I let her do it. I was still thinking hard, putting all the clues together. Penny finally finished and moved in beside me, and peered disgustedly down the hidden tunnel.

  ‘We should have known,’ she said. ‘No demon did this. And no alien, either. The inn must have been built this way by the original smugglers. All the exterior walls must be hollow!’

  ‘And all those old stories, about ghosts and monsters and general weird shit, were nothing more than simple misdirection,’ I said. ‘Designed to keep us from realizing it was just people behind the disappearances.’

  ‘But who could it be?’ said Penny. ‘We’re the only ones left! Everyone else has been taken. Could someone else have been hiding in these walls all along, unknown to everyone, all through the evening?’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘This could only have been planned by someone who knew the structure of the Castle inside and out. It has to be Olivia and Albert. They must have discovered evidence of the tunnels’ existence during the renovations and kept it to themselves. The builders were concentrating on the interior, so it wouldn’t have been difficult. And having found the tunnels, it would only have been a matter of time and persistence for Albert and Olivia to search out all the hidden entrances in the walls. Which provided them with all the ways they needed to appear and disappear at will.

  ‘Olivia disappeared first, using a hidden door in the kitchen. One of its walls is an outer wall, just like this one. That set up the idea of someone vanishing from a room without any explanation. After that she just moved back and forth through the tunnels, from wall to wall, listening to us.’

  ‘And Albert was in on it the whole time?’ said Penny.

  ‘He had to be,’ I said.

  ‘But he seemed so upset after his wife disappeared!’

  ‘Acting,’ I said. ‘Remember, Albert told us that one of his occupations in London was running murder mysteries. So he was used to improvising and thinking on his feet, under pressure, to keep the story going. His reactions to the situation helped keep us scared and confused. And he could always sink into his shocked daze when he didn’t want to answer questions.’

  ‘He did seem to snap in and out of that a bit too easily,’ said Penny.

  ‘Olivia overheard everything from inside the tunnels,’ I said. ‘And produced whatever off-stage noises or actions were needed to maintain an atmosphere of panic and terror that would keep everyone from thinking too clearly. And when we sensibly decided to leave the inn, Albert was the one who announced that he had seen the hanging tree out in the car park and frightened people so much they refused to go. Then, when he finally thought he might be starting to look a little suspicious, he suddenly remembered something important in the kitchen and disappeared through the same hidden door his wife had used.’

  ‘It was Olivia’s face at the window!’ said Penny.

  ‘Probably wearing a cheap fright mask,’ I said. ‘No doubt there are exterior doors in the walls as well, which allowed them to move around outside. Olivia was able to lock the front door because she had all the keys to the Castle.’

  ‘All right,’ said Penny. ‘Since you’re on a roll, what happened to everyone’s car keys and phones?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ I said. ‘Once I knew it had to be Albert and Olivia, the answer was obvious. They were our hosts for the evening, so what could be more natural than for them to take our coats as we arrived and hang them on the coat stand? Which provided plenty of time for one of them to search through the pockets and take what they needed, while the other kept the coats’ owners distracted with hospitable talk. And they must have picked a few trouser pockets as well, where necessary. Which makes me wonder what else they got up to in London that they didn’t like to talk about.’

  ‘What about the landline?’ said Penny. ‘Did Olivia cut the wires?’

  ‘Probably simpler than that. Albert just said the phone was dead, and we believed him. He did it so convincingly none of us ever thought to check for ourselves.’

  ‘Did Olivia put out the lights?’

  ‘Of course,’ I said. ‘She knew where the fuses are. And it was Olivia who produced all the spooky noises during the seance, from inside the walls. Helped along by some cueing from Albert, no doubt.’

  ‘OK,’ said Penny. ‘I’ll bite. But why are the walls so hollow?’

  ‘Think of the inn’s
name,’ I said. ‘The Castle. Everyone thought the walls were built especially strong and thick in order to keep enemies out. But castles are places you fight back from, which is not the smugglers’ way. They were thieves, not fighters, more used to disappearing when threatened. So the smugglers designed and built an inn with hollow walls that they could disappear into when necessary and not be found. I’ll bet you good money the tunnels connect to a hidden way down through the cliff to the beach below. So smuggled goods could be transported up to the inn in secret.’

  ‘All those old stories about people who went missing inside the Castle,’ said Penny, ‘were started by the smugglers to scare people off!’

  ‘And possibly to explain the sudden disappearance of people who knew too much about the smugglers’ business,’ I said.

  Penny peered down the long tunnel again. ‘Do you think the missing people are in the walls somewhere?’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘That’s where they must have been taken at first, but they would then have been moved somewhere else. To a cellar, perhaps.’

  ‘Which is why people only disappeared when no one was watching,’ said Penny. ‘Because otherwise we would have seen it was Olivia or Albert. They just stepped out of a hidden door, grabbed their victims, and dragged them into the nearest hollow wall … But why did none of their victims put up a fight? Thomas was bigger and stronger than both the Calverts put together. And what was the point of all this, anyway?’

  ‘I say we go into this tunnel and find out where it leads,’ I said. ‘Then find the Calverts and ask them.’

  Penny looked at me sharply. ‘What if they’ve been listening to us all this time?’

  ‘They don’t appear to be in this wall,’ I said. ‘Hopefully they’re somewhere else, dealing with their last few victims.’

  Penny gave me a steady look. ‘Do you think any of the missing people could still be alive?’

  ‘It seems unlikely,’ I said. ‘But I have to believe there’s still a chance to save someone.’

  ‘Of course you do,’ said Penny. ‘How are your hands?’