The Calling of the Grave

Chapter 24

I hurried after him. The torch beam made the landing and stairs unfamiliar in the darkness.

'What do you mean?'

'He's on his way.' Miller didn't slow. 'Grab your coat but don't turn on any lights. We're leaving in two minutes.'

As he went to the window at the end of the landing the door to Sophie's room opened and Cross emerged. 'She's getting dressed,' she told him. Miller gave a nod, easing back the curtain to peer out of the window as she went downstairs.

I was struggling to take it all in. 'How do you know he's coming?'

He spoke without turning, eyes scanning the fog-thick darkness. 'He called again.'

'I didn't hear the phone.'

'We unplugged the upstairs extension so if he rang we could answer it ourselves.' Miller let the curtain drop. 'We're trying to get a location but it'll take time. So we're getting you both out.'

'Just because he phoned again?'

'No, because he thought Steph was Sophie. He told her he was in Padbury and said he was on his way.'

'Why would he warn her?'

'No idea. Could be a bluff but we aren't going to stick around to find out.' He handed me the torch. 'Go and get Sophie. Thirty seconds and we're out of here whether she's dressed or not.'

My mind still felt sluggish. Come on, wake up! I hurried into the bedroom, expecting to find Sophie dressed and ready. But in the light of the torch I found her sitting on the edge of the bed, the duvet draped loosely around her as she held her head in her hands.

'Come on, Sophie, we've got to go.'

'I don't want to.' Her voice was sleepy and muffled. 'I don't feel so good.'

I began searching round for her clothes. 'You can rest later. Monk could be here any second.'

She shielded her eyes from the torch. 'God, how much wine did I have?'

'Sophie, we need to leave.' I handed her the clothes I'd snatched up. 'I know you don't want to but we don't have any choice.'

I half expected her to refuse, that we would get into the safe house argument again. But she meekly took her clothes and stood up, letting the duvet fall. She was wearing a T-shirt but I looked away as she began to get dressed.

Cross appeared in the doorway. 'Ready?'

'Nearly.'

She waited for us as Sophie finished pulling on her clothes. Miller was waiting by the front door when we went downstairs, the hallway still in darkness. I gave him back the torch.

'We're just going to walk out to our car, nice and quiet,' he said as I pulled on my boots and fastened my coat, then helped Sophie fumble into hers. 'I'll go first, then you two. Nice and fast but don't run. Steph'll be right behind you. Get in the back of the car and lock the doors. OK?'

Sophie gave an uncertain nod, leaning against me. Miller tried to slide back the bolts quietly, but they still sounded like gunshots in the quiet. Drawing his gun, he opened the door in one smooth movement.

Cold, damp air rolled into the hallway. Outside it was pitch black. The beam from Miller's torch bounced back from the thick fog that had closed in around the house. I felt Sophie's hand tighten on mine.

'Stay close,' Miller said, and started down the path.

Mist blanketed everything. Even Miller was just a dark shape, silhouetted against the glow from the torch as he led us towards the gate. The fog seemed to soak up noise as well as light. Only the deadened scuff of our footsteps told me we were still on the path. When I glanced back at Sophie I could barely make out her face, even though she was right behind me.

The gate creaked as Miller held it open, and then we were on the lane. The hazy outline of their car took shape in front of us, its lights flashing with an electronic squawk as he unlocked it.

'OK, get in.'

The car's interior was cold as I slid into the back seat beside Sophie. Cross shut the door behind me and climbed into the front as Miller started the engine. There was a thunk as the locks engaged and then we were accelerating away, the headlights showing a wall of grey fog.

No one spoke. Cross murmured briefly into her radio, then fell silent again. Miller sat forward in his seat, trying to make out the road. Padbury lay behind us, but it was impossible to get any sense of where we were. It was like driving on the sea bed. The fog swirled like plankton in the headlights, half-seen shapes emerging briefly before disappearing again.

For all that, Miller kept up a good speed, shoulders hunched with concentration. After a few miles the sense of tension in the car began to ease.

'Well, that was fun,' Miller said. 'You OK back there?'

'Where are we going?' Sophie asked. She sounded exhausted.

'We're going to take you to a safe house for the time being. Only temporary, but we can sort out what's happening after that tomorrow.'

They'd obviously had a contingency plan worked out. I waited for Sophie to object, but she seemed past caring. In the darkness of the car I could just see her rubbing her head.

'Sophie? Are you all right?' I asked.

'I don't-' she began, and then Miller yelled, 'Shit!' as a figure materialized from the fog in front of us.

There was a glimpse of outstretched arms and flapping coat, then Sophie was flung against me as Miller braked and swerved. But not in time. We hit the figure full on, but instead of the expected thud of impact it disintegrated in a blizzard of fragments and cloth. The car slewed, throwing me hard against the side window as Miller fought for control.

He almost made it. Fragments of glass peppered us as he punched a hole through the windscreen, letting in a cold blast of air. The car briefly seemed to level out, and I had time to think, Thank God. Then there was a crunching jolt and everything tipped sideways. The car seemed to hang weightless, then something slammed into me. The world became a tumbling confusion of darkness and noise. I was flung around without any sense of up or down.

Then there was stillness.

Gradually, sounds and sensations began to reassert themselves. A faint ticking, the steady drip-drip of rain. I could feel it against my face, along with cold air, but it was too dark to see. I was sitting upright but at an angle. Something was constricting my chest, making it hard to breathe. I groped at it with hands that felt leaden and clumsy. I was coated with a fine powder: residue from the airbags. They'd deflated now, draped out like pale tongues. But the seatbelt still held me in place, stretched taut across me like an iron band. I fumbled to unfasten it, shedding pebble-like pieces of broken glass, and slid down the seat as it slithered free.

'Sophie?' I tried to make her out in the darkness. Relief flowed through me as she stirred. 'Are you hurt?'

'I… I feel sick…' She sounded dazed.

'Hang on.'

There was movement in front of us as I struggled with Sophie's seatbelt. I heard Cross groan.

'You two all right?' she asked.

'I think so.' I tugged at the catch to Sophie's seatbelt. 'What did we hit?'

But Cross gave a cry and began scrambling over to Miller. 'Nick? Nick?'

He was slumped in his seat, not moving. I hurriedly freed Sophie's seatbelt. 'Can you get out now?'

'I – I think so…'

The door on my side was jammed. The hinges screeched in protest as I kicked it open. My legs almost gave way when I climbed out of the car. I leaned on to it for support, light-headed and aching all over. The car had come to rest at the bottom of a shallow embankment. It was upright but canted on one side, the bodywork scraped and mangled. One headlight was smashed and the other gave only a sickly glow, shining sadly into the ground like a blinded eye. The fog was tainted with the smell of petrol, but there was no sign of fire.

Crystalline pieces of shattered glass crunched underfoot as I limped around to the driver's side, slipping on the torn earth and grass. The car was more badly damaged here. The roof had crumpled, buckling the door shut. I tried forcing it open but it was useless: it would have to be cut away before anyone could get to Miller.

Cross was still inside the car next to him, talking urgently on the radio. She'd propped a torch on what was left of the dashboard, and I could see Miller hanging limply in his seat, held in place by the belt. Blood smeared his face and matted his hair, black and shiny in the torchlight.

I reached through the jagged hole where the window had been and felt for the carotid artery in his neck. There was a pulse but it was weak.

'Is he all right?'

Sophie had climbed out of the car and was gingerly making her way towards me.

'We need to call the paramedics,' I said. Even if we could have got him out of the car, moving him ourselves could do more harm than good. 'How about you?'

I could feel her shivering as I put my arm round her. She leaned against me. 'Bit dizzy, and my head's splitting.'

I would have asked more, but at that moment the car creaked as Cross forced her way out.

'Help's on its way,' she said, facing us across the car roof. She'd regained some of her calm. There was blood on her face, either her own or Miller's. 'They're going to try to send an air ambulance but I don't think it'll be able to get to us in this.'

Neither did I. The fog was as thick as ever, and even if there was somewhere for a helicopter to land I doubted it would attempt it.

'What happened?' Sophie asked. She still sounded dazed. 'God, did we hit someone?'

In the turmoil of the crash I'd forgotten about that. 'I'll go and look.'

'No.' Cross was firm. 'No one's wandering off. We'll wait for help to arrive.'

I saw with surprise that she'd taken her gun from its holster. But I was already replaying the snatched images of the figure caught in the headlights, recalling how it had come apart when we hit it. Not like there'd been flesh and bone inside the coat, more like… branches.

A scarecrow.

'She's right,' I said. 'We should stay here.'

'We can't just leave them there!' Sophie protested.

Cross was staring into the darkness, but now she turned to face Sophie across the car. 'Yes, we can. If you want to do something, there's a blanket-' she began, and then a shadow charged at her out of the fog.

Miller hadn't lied about how fast she was. The torch beam spiralled as she flung herself backwards. The figure was almost on top of her but she lashed out with a side kick at the same time as she swung the gun up. I heard a thump as the kick landed but her attacker swung a savage backhanded blow that caught Cross in the face. There was a meaty, bone-on-bone impact, and the policewoman pitched to the ground like a broken toy.

Sophie's scream freed me from my shock. 'Run!' I yelled, scrambling around the car, and throwing myself at the figure.

It was like hitting a brick wall. An arm swung, batting me against the car. The breath burst from me but before I could cry out a hand clamped around my throat. Calloused fingers dug into my neck, pinning me against the bonnet as stars burst in my vision.

In the light from the fallen torch I found myself looking into the Halloween mask features of Jerome Monk.

He stared down at me with eyes that were dead and black. I flailed at him, but the arm beneath the greasy jacket was as solid as a tree trunk. His hand was jammed like a vice under my jaw. I could taste the stink of him, foul and feral as an animal's cage. My head felt about to burst. My sight was going now, the fog seeming to thicken around me. Through it I saw him look over his shoulder, heard the clumsy snap of branches as Sophie stumbled away.

God, no! I tried to shout out but I couldn't breathe. Monk jerked the arm holding me, slamming me back against the car. The air burst from my lungs as something rammed into my stomach. Abruptly the pressure was gone from my throat and I felt myself falling.

Then I hit the ground and the fog closed in completely.