by J. R. Ellis
ALSO BY J. R. ELLIS
The Body in the Dales
The Quartet Murders
The Murder at Redmire Hall
The Royal Baths Murder
The Nidderdale Murders
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2021 by J. R. Ellis
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Thomas & Mercer, Seattle
www.apub.com
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Thomas & Mercer are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781542017466
ISBN-10: 1542017467
Cover design by @blacksheep-uk.com
To friends and colleagues who worked with me over the years in further education.
Contents
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Did you enjoy . . .
Prologue
Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey . . . It is a most noble ruin of immense size and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows.
From Mina Murray’s journal in Dracula, Bram Stoker 1897
‘Oh my God! You look amazing!’
Louise Oldroyd didn’t smile back at her friend, Maggie Hinton. Instead she glowered chillingly. Her face was white, and she had black eyelashes and eyebrows and thick purple lipstick. She wore black earrings in the shape of small spiders, as well as a black wig with a low fringe and a short black skirt with torn black tights underneath. Her tightly buttoned strappy top and her heavy boots were also black.
Finally, her expression cracked and she giggled, showing blackened teeth and long fangs. ‘What about you?’ she said. ‘Look at that hair!’
Maggie was similarly attired, but her black hair was insanely spiky, and her lipstick was bright red. She wore a long dress, embroidered with spiders, with black petticoats underneath.
The two friends were in a crowded bar in the Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby. It was a Wednesday towards the end of October and the famous Whitby Goth Weekend was steadily building up to its finale. The bar was full of people dressed in the same goth and steampunk fashion: garish blacks, reds, purples and whites; spiders, black capes, top hats, plague doctor beaks, goggles and curly moustaches. Loud music from Bauhaus was rocking the building.
‘Oh look, they’re here!’ Maggie pointed to a group of people making their way through the crowd. Ben, in black leathers and steampunk goggles, laughed when he saw Louise and Maggie’s costumes, but was surprised to see Louise.
‘I thought you weren’t coming to this,’ he said.
‘I managed to get away from work earlier than I thought,’ Louise replied, smiling at him. ‘I just got here and threw my costume on. I’ve contacted the escape room; they’re happy with an extra person.’
‘Fine,’ replied Ben, smiling back. He came closer to her. ‘It’s really good to see you.’
‘I feel the same. I didn’t want to miss it.’
The other two members of the party, Dominic and Andrea, were sullen and quiet. They were in a rather stormy relationship and had had a furious and rather embarrassing row in front of the others the previous night. They had almost pulled out of today’s event but in the end seemed to have entered the spirit.
Andrea was dressed as a bride of Dracula in a ghostly and ragged white wedding dress spattered with blood. She had bright-red lipstick and a cobweb-like shawl, which contained very lifelike black spiders. Dominic was dressed and made up as a magnificent Count Dracula complete with black cape and red make-up round his eyes. They both seemed to warm up when the party was all together. They had a drink and started to join in the banter. The enthusiasm in the bar was infectious, and Dominic offered to get the second round in.
‘No time for another drink! We’re going to be late,’ shouted Ben above the deafening music. He had organised the day’s event. ‘It starts at two.’ He led the way out of the bar into the narrow rain-soaked street.
‘Shit!’ shrieked Andrea. ‘My make-up’s going to run! Quick!’ She started to run down the street, splashing through the puddles in her black Doc Martens.
‘It’ll look even better with streaks in,’ said Dominic. He opened up his cape. ‘Anyway, come under here.’
‘No thanks. I don’t want to be bitten by your fangs,’ Andrea replied, laughing, but Dominic didn’t appear to see the joke.
‘Suit yourself then!’ he shouted aggressively, and hung at the back of the group, apparently in a sulk.
The group of friends were in Whitby for a few nights. Two of them would be arriving later due to work commitments. The group had booked an Airbnb in the town and had come prepared for a weekend of partying, dressing up and general fun. The next thrill was an adventure at an escape room, which, like everything else in the town at the moment, had a gothic theme. It was called Dracula’s Lair.
As the lively group progressed down the street and across the harbour bridge to the older east side of the town, gusts of wind blew the rain at a steep angle over the yachts and boats in the harbour. On a day like this, one glance at the dark sky, the heaving grey sea and the stark ruins of the abbey above the town was enough to explain why Bram Stoker had used Whitby as the setting for Count Dracula’s arrival in England in his famous novel. There had been a similar storm the day that Dracula arrived by boat, albeit one that had been intensified by the vampire’s supernatural powers.
Looking at the sky, you could almost believe that Dracula was about to return, thought Louise as she paused on the bridge and caught sight of a vessel coming into the harbour. The thought gave her a little shudder. When the natural elements showed their power like this, they were awesome and rather frightening. You didn’t quite know what to expect next.
‘It’s atmospheric, isn’t it?’ said Maggie, coming to stand next to her. ‘Jack’s missing all this. He’d have loved it.’
Jack was driving up from London and wasn’t arriving in Whitby until the following day.
‘He should have got himself organised and got here on time,’ said Louise. ‘You know what he’s like. This has been arranged for so long and he still gets the dates confused and has to stay in London for a meeting.’
‘I know,’ laughed Maggie. ‘He’s good company when he’s here, though. Come on; it’s nearly two.’
Louise and her group had completed several escape rooms, usually solving the puzzles and achieving their escape before the time was up, though often with extra clues from the hidden controller. In the narrow streets of the east side of town, the venue took some locating. The entrance, when they found it, was, like many other escape rooms, through a poky little door down to a back yard and up three narrow stone steps. It seemed that finding the place itself was always part of the challenge.
Louise pressed the bell and a buzz indicated that the door had been opened. They pushed through to find a gloomy entrance lobby lit by candles. Everywhere was festooned with cobwebs; strange creaking and faint wailing noises formed a spooky soundtrack in the background.
; ‘Hi,’ said a young woman from behind a black desk. She was tall, powerfully built and dressed like the party of visitors in a gothic outfit with black lipstick and purple eyeshadow. Even outside the context of the game she would have cut a terrifying figure.
‘Morton. Party of five,’ said Ben.
‘Okay. We’re just re-setting everything after previous group. My name is Elaine.’ She had an Eastern European accent. Was that part of the act? Dracula famously came from Transylvania in Romania. ‘While you’re waiting, how about photograph? If someone lends me their camera phone I’ll take picture of you all framed by this.’ She indicated a wall covered in lurid gothic artwork and the words ‘No Escape!’ in dripping blood red.
‘Use mine,’ said Louise. The group formed itself into a tableau of contorted positions and threatening expressions, refraining from laughter for just long enough for Elaine to take the photo.
‘Jack’s going to be devastated that he’s not in the photo,’ said Maggie.
‘That’s his fault; he should have been here, the idiot,’ replied Ben, and he smiled at Louise, who laughed.
‘Okay. I think everything will be ready now,’ said Elaine as she handed the phone back to Louise. ‘So, I just explain a few things. Have you all done escape room before?’ They all had. ‘Okay, so you know idea. You’ll be locked in and you have to follow clues to work out how to access a key which opens the door at the end. I say “at the end” because this escape experience is a bit different. It has more than one room and you have to find the keys to get from one to the other. You have to move from one to the other in a certain time because . . .’ She paused dramatically. ‘. . . Dracula is following you.’
There was a chorus of ‘Oooo!’ and laughter.
‘Yes, for twenty minutes in the first room, you are safe. Dracula cannot enter until that time has gone, though you may hear him outside. Also, while you are in second room, he cannot open the door to reach you until another twenty minutes have gone by. If he catches you, sorry, but game is over, but you can discover things in each room that can delay him. You win if you can find key for the third room and get out before Dracula enters. There are emergency exits in rooms two and three if anything goes wrong and you need to get out quick. If anything happens in the first room just knock on this entrance door, which you can see is just by my desk. I am watching how you’re doing on the monitor; each room has CCTV camera. If you need help I put some extra clues on the screen in each room. Are we all okay?’
They were, and excitement mounted as Elaine opened the door to the first room.
‘As soon as I shut the door the timer starts. You have one hour to escape. Good luck!’ She smiled and then left the room, closing and locking the door behind her.
The room was furnished like a study in a Victorian house. There were church-like windows with pointed arches, a fireplace with a heavy mantelpiece, a large, ornate writing desk and other items of heavy furniture. Gloomy portraits were hung on the dark walls and there was a decayed ‘Miss Havisham’ feel about the room. Thick cobwebs hung from the chandelier and around the paintings. The room was illuminated by medieval-style wall sconces, which held faux candles bearing electric lights. At one side of the room was an old chest and on the other a dusty bookshelf. The chest was locked with a combination padlock.
‘Four numbers, Dracula’s birth,’ mused Louise as she read from a piece of paper lying on the chest.
‘Wasn’t he supposed to have been born hundreds of years ago and been undead for centuries?’ asked Andrea.
Louise was looking around the room. Then she pulled a volume from the bookshelf. ‘Yes, but it could be the date that Dracula was written. That’s when he was created by Bram Stoker.’ She looked for the publication date. ‘1897. Try that number on the combination lock on the chest.’
Ben quickly twisted the dials and the lock opened. ‘Yes! Brilliant!’ He flung the lid open and then jerked back. Inside was a wax model of a female corpse dressed in black lace. It was clearly meant to be a sleeping vampire with the long fangs visible and the eyes sinisterly half closed. The chest was actually a coffin.
‘Bloody hell, that gave me a shock! There’s a box by her head, look!’ He put his hand rather gingerly into the chest and lifted out a wooden box for which they would clearly need to find a key. And so the clues, followed by discoveries, continued, and they were all thinking hard except Dominic and Andrea who kept disagreeing with each other and arguing.
‘Shut up you two and concentrate; you’re being a pain!’ said Maggie. The twenty minutes was nearly up but they were still in the first room. They heard a voice outside.
‘My friends, it is I, the count. I see you are struggling; please let me in so that I may help you and then we can . . . get to know each other.’ They heard the door handle being tried. Like Elaine he spoke in an Eastern European accent. It was hammy, but curiously effective. A frisson of fear and excitement went through the group. It was like being a child when a grown-up pretends to be a monster, and says they’re coming to get you in two minutes so hide!
‘Quick! If he gets in we’ve lost,’ cried Andrea.
‘Okay, don’t panic; we’re on it!’ said Dominic contemptuously.
‘Oh, just fuck off!’ shouted Andrea. ‘I’ve just had enough of you today!’
Embarrassed, the others ignored them, and Louise solved the final puzzle in the first room, which got them the key to open the door into the second room.
‘Lock the door behind us so that Dracula can’t follow!’ giggled Maggie. ‘I feel like a kid again doing this.’ The others laughed as Ben locked the door.
Dominic and Andrea were still arguing fiercely as they entered a room set out like a ruined chapel and graveyard. There was a broken altar and two gravestones lying on the floor. Bats hung from the ceiling. On the altar lay an open book.
‘Right, where do we start in here?’ asked Maggie.
‘Let’s start with that book. I’m sure that will contain a clue. Maybe—’ She was interrupted by Andrea shouting.
‘How dare you say that, you bastard!’ she screamed.
‘Who’s going to stop me, you cow!’ spat Dominic. They were now having a furious row and Andrea struck him across the face.
‘Dom, Andrea, for God’s sake that’s enough!’ shouted Ben, but Dominic wasn’t listening. His face was contorted; he looked out of control with anger and hatred. To everyone’s horror, he produced a knife and lunged at Andrea, who screamed again, with terror this time. She fell onto the gravestone.
‘No! Oh my God!’ cried Dominic. He looked around wildly at the others, his hand on his forehead as he gasped for breath. He ran out of the emergency exit, slamming the door behind him. It was over in seconds. The others, momentarily stunned, now screamed and shouted.
‘Dom!’
‘What the hell? He had a bloody knife. He’s gone mad!’
Ben was next to Andrea when she fell. He knelt down to attend to her. There was already fake blood on her white dress but now there was more blood and it was coming out of her mouth.
‘He’s stabbed her! He’s bloody stabbed her in the chest!’ shouted Ben.
Horror-struck, Maggie and Louise looked at Andrea. Her eyes were closed and she was groaning. Her hand was clutched to her chest where the handle of a knife was visible.
‘Oh my God, Andrea!’ cried Maggie.
‘Quick,’ said Ben, ‘get back to reception, tell them to call an ambulance. She’s still alive, but quick!’
‘I’ll go,’ said Louise, who still had the key. She opened the door back into the first room and dashed through. She met the actor dressed as Dracula who was waiting in there for the next twenty minutes to be up.
‘What’s going on?’ he asked in a Yorkshire accent. Louise realised that the play-acting had stopped and the horror was now real. She explained what had happened and they hurried back to reception.
‘I’ll get the first aid kit,’ said the actor.
Elaine was coming out of the toile
t door as they arrived. She’d been away from the desk when the attack happened and had not seen it on the monitor. She immediately rang for an ambulance.
‘Stay with us! Stay with us!’ Back in the second room, Ben pleaded with the unconscious form of Andrea as he cradled her head. ‘Do you have anything to staunch the blood?’ he said to Maggie.
She ripped off a piece of her petticoat and gave it to Ben. At that moment they heard something through the emergency door. Ben looked up.
‘Is that him? Go and see will you. I’ll stay with her. I’ve done first aid. I’m checking on her breathing.’
Maggie tried to open the emergency exit. It seemed to be blocked by something and she had to push for some time before she got through. There was a heavy packing case behind the door. Dominic must have dragged it there to slow their pursuit. She found herself in another room, which was obviously used as storage. It was full of boxes and props and a big wardrobe. There was a coffin and a rail of costume items. Fixed into the wall vertically was a mummy’s sarcophagus. It was dark, but across the room she could see another door marked ‘Exit’, which presumably led onto the street. The door was open but there was no sign of Dominic. She went through the door and out onto a narrow, dirty alleyway full of wheelie bins and rubbish. She looked up and down but it was deserted so she ran back to help Ben with Andrea. She found him still holding her but crying with his head bowed over. Her body was limp and her eyes closed. There was more blood on her chest. Louise, Elaine and the Dracula actor came into the room, the latter holding the bright-red first aid case.
‘We’ve called the ambulance,’ began Louise. ‘They said—’
‘It’s too late,’ sobbed Ben. ‘I think she’s gone. There’s no pulse.’ He looked up with a face of anguish and incomprehension. ‘Did that just happen? He’s killed her! What the hell is going on?’
The three remaining members of the group huddled together in the cramped reception area of the escape room. They had moved beyond words to a stunned silence. Louise was shivering with the shock and Elaine had given her a coat to put across her shoulders. She looked at her friends; their costumes now appeared forlorn and pathetic. The building was full of people in uniform, radios crackling, talking in ordinary voices. The artificially created sinister atmosphere of the rooms had been destroyed to be replaced by the brutal reality of actual horror.