Academy of the Dead

by Christopher Wright

  Matt felt sick. "I can't believe Shelley's dead." He gave Stanislav a shove with his elbow. The man was standing too close and trying to listen.

  "Is it bad news?" Stanislav asked.

  Matt just nodded and Stanislav took the hint and backed away.

  "She left a note," Ken added.

  "A suicide note?"

  Ken sounded distressed. "That's what the police think. It was in her hotel room, with her dog. She wants it to be looked after by someone gentle."

  "Not by me."

  "Nor me. Mrs. H would go bananas. They reckon Shelly Carpenter had more than she could take. She lost her job because she was seeing Smith, and of course she had the added shame of being photographed with him."

  "How did they know about Martin Smith?"

  The line stayed silent for a moment. "I filled them in, kiddo. See, I told you Shelley Carpenter was unbalanced."

  "She was uptight, Ken, that's all. Do you really think Shelley would leave her dog?"

  "She might, if she decided to end it all. Who knows how these people think?"

  "Hey, Ken, if it's suicide it's not our fault." He knew his uninvited excuse sounded pathetic, but neither he nor Ken could have foreseen this when they took the job on for Blake. Perhaps he should have let Shelley stay in the house with Zoé. It would have been company while he was away.

  "So are you coming home?"

  "Of course." He couldn't very well elaborate with Stanislav listening.

  "When?" Ken asked. "I've been expecting a call from you to say you're nearly at the airport."

  "It's not a simple as that. The Czech police have found a man's body in the woods, and they think it may have something to do with Martin Smith. They won't let me go until they've finished their inquiries."

  There was a long pause as Ken obviously struggled to take it in. "Martin Smith?" he said at last. "Are you serious?"

  Stanislav seemed to be paying particular interest, and was translating Matt's side of the conversation for the benefit of the two police officers.

  "Listen, Ken, I have to stay here until tomorrow, or perhaps even the next day."

  "You're joking."

  "Yes."

  Another pause from Ken. Then he caught on. "You can't talk freely, I imagine. Do I take it you're returning to England without permission?"

  "Absolutely, Ken."

  "Tonight?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay, I can understand. See you soon -- I hope."

  "I hope so too. If you get any news on Zoé, phone me here. Like I said -- I'm not going anywhere." Like hell he wasn't. He'd already worked out how to disable the Duseks' phone. Now all he had to do was wait for the police car to take Stanislav into Ústí, then drive the Skoda -- all the way to Prague airport.

  The large police officer spoke again and Stanislav did the translation. "There is a change of plan, my friend," he told Matt. "You are to come as well. There may be questions for you to answer in Ústí."

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  1947

  Prague

  Czechoslovakia

  THE WAR is over at last. Hana is walking slowly along Parížská, a street she once knew well. No one recognizes the thin and sickly shadow that once came to these shops with Mama and little Rosa in the bright days, before the Nazi occupation. Soon she sees the church where the woman gave her shelter for the night when she rescued her on Masaryk railway station, six painful years ago while she was still a child.

  She remembers leaving something in the church, but she is seventeen years old now and has no wish to revisit the past. She will find work in one of the hotels near Staroměstské náměstí, the Old Town Square.

  The Communists are getting more powerful since the Soviet army drove the Nazis from the city. Jews are still not welcome. The people here think she is a country girl, but she knows she still sounds like a Jew. She would have stayed at Krkavčí farma in Ústí if Uncle Libek had not died. Poor Aunty Vetka is in an institution, and another family now has the farm. Hana knows that the time has come to make a new life.

  Chapter Thirty

  THE LARGE police officer led Matt out of the kitchen into the farmyard, towards their parked car where his colleague was already waiting. Matt knew he had to find an excuse to stay here. He told Stanislav about Zoé, and Stanislav proceeded to tell to the police officers. He waited for his reply to be translated.

  "You can use the phone at the police station," Stanislav said when the discussion had finished. "The Duseks will remain here."

  Matt pointed to the door into the kitchen. "Let me get my bag before we go."

  The giant of a policeman agreed and waited outside in the unlit farmyard with Stanislav. When he returned to the kitchen Matt got the impression that the Duseks looked embarrassed about something, almost guilty. Lenka said a few words to her husband, but Matt had no idea what she was saying. They seemed to be hatching a plot. Tomas Dusek looked at Matt and put both his hands forward with his fists clenched and moved them backwards and forwards in turn, his arms apart, raising his eyebrows as though to ask Matt if he understood.

  Matt frowned, and shrugged his shoulders. Was this some strange Czech ritual? Then Lenka joined in the play acting with her hands forward, rotating them as though winding a handle. Now he realized. They were going through the motions of riding a bicycle. Of course, Lenka's old bike was in the wooden barn. Perhaps they understood how desperately he wanted to get home to find Zoé. Maybe he'd misjudged them.

  "Bicycle," he said.

  Lenka and Tomas looked each other and shook their heads. Obviously the word meant nothing. He copied their play acting and they both nodded. Using the bicycle to get to the railway station in Ústí was a brilliant idea and it might work. Ken would have phoned if Zoé had turned up. Stanislav and the two policemen might come in at any moment. He nodded his head enthusiastically and rotated his hands as though using them to pedal a bicycle Lenka and Tomas exchanged glances then had a brief discussion. They seemed to be an agreement about something. Tomas went out through the kitchen door into the farmyard while Lenka held Matt by the sleeve with her thin fingers and signaled to him to be quiet.

  Lenka took the old envelope from the mantelpiece, the one that now presumably still contained the original music manuscripts after he'd swapped them back, and passed it to Matt, before fetching his bag from the side of the fireplace. Then she quickly pulled him into the hallway and proceeded to unlock the front door. The old bolts came back with a sharp snap and Lenka paused to listen, but no one had returned from the farmyard. She opened the large front door and Matt follows her out into the darkness.

  After the light in the kitchen he was unable to see anything, but Lenka Dusek seemed to know her way around blindfolded. She hurried over the uneven ground and made her way to the rear of the wooden barn. Matt could hear voices in the farmyard. It wouldn't be long before the police started to look for him.

  He could make out Lenka's hand tugging his sleeve as his eyesight began to recover. Lenka opened an old wooden door in the back of the barn and pulled him inside. The dogs stayed silent. He stumbled across the floor until Lenka guided his hands onto the handlebars of her bicycle. He wheeled it quickly outside into the night. They were out of sight of the farmyard but his troubles were far from over. He could hear Stanislav calling inside the house.

  The farmer's wife pointed towards the left. "Ústí," she said excitedly.

  Was this a trick? They'd come up the hill from the right, both when he and Stanislav arrived in the taxi, and when Tomas Dusek had driven them back from town. So he pointed to the right. "Ústí," he repeated.

  "Ne, ne. Ústí." Again she jabbed her forefinger to the left.

  He understood. Clever Lenka Dusek. The best road to Ústí was to the right, but the road to the left must go there as well. As long as he kept going downhill, all roads probably led to town. With the police car taking the obvious route to the right he'd be safer going left. Much safer. The bicycle didn't have any lights, but that was
just as well. He didn't want to illuminate his escape route all the way to town.

  "Lenka! Lenka!" Tomas Dusek bellowed from the yard.

  To Matt's horror, Lenka replied. He'd not expected her to draw attention to herself. Tomas shouted something and whatever it was, it made Lenka scream. He'd hardly got onto the saddle when he felt the woman grabbing at the bag that was over his shoulder, but her thin fingers failed to get a proper hold.

  He shot down the dusty driveway, the handlebars twitching nervously in his hands as he bounced over the uneven ground. And then, just as he reached the gate onto the main road he heard the sound of an engine revving up, followed by the clatter of gravel under the wheel arches as the car accelerated violently. The police were after him.

  He turned sharp left the way Lenka Dusek had pointed. And then it occurred to him that maybe the Duseks' help had not been so noble after all. Lenka and Stanislav had swapped the contents of the envelopes just so they could carry out this trick, but hadn't seen him swapping them back. They had been encouraging him to escape so they would be left with the originals. Tomas must have now discovered the switch and alerted his wife.

  He could hear the police car scrabbling its way down the gravel drive. He just hoped it would turn right. Open fields meant there was nowhere to hide off the road, and he had to go at a snail's pace in the darkness. The police car turned right.

  He pulled into the side of the steep hill. At least the brakes were good, which was something in his favor. Suddenly the dogs began barking and he heard another car crunching its way down the drive. The Duseks and their dogs were coming, and he knew which way they'd be turning. He got back onto the saddle and resumed his downhill journey, trying without success to search the road ahead for problems. Already he could see the headlights of the old Skoda flashing across the trees. And then he caught sight of a building, smaller than the Duseks' farmhouse, but the place was obviously occupied because he could see a light behind the downstairs curtains.

  He jumped from the bike and turned round to look. The approaching car was only one bend in the road behind him. He only just got out of sight in the front garden of the house, before the car flashed past. A dog barked and he could see the curtains being pushed back. This definitely wasn't the best place to hide.

  He could hear the Dusek's dogs howling. They were much closer now. The dog in the house must have heard them because its frantic barking became louder and more rapid. A man's face appeared at the window and the curtains were hastily drawn shut.

  Matt picked up a stone and threw it at the window, shattering one of the small panes of glass. He just had to hope that the occupant would rather send his dog out than venture into the darkness with a gun.

  The ploy worked. The front door opened slightly. To the sound of an urgent command a large dog rushed out just as the Dusek's dogs bounded in from the road. As the three animals became embroiled in a fight, Matt jumped back onto the old bicycle. It was unlikely the dogs would try to follow him now. They'd got this far because they'd seen the Dusek's Skoda going down the hill. The only scent they'd get now was from Lenka's cycle wheels, which wasn't likely to be of interest to them.

  Matt resumed his ride down the hill, but even more cautiously now. It wouldn't be long before the police and the Duseks met up in Ústí. They'd exchange their findings and know he was still somewhere on the way. Then they'd drive backwards and forwards until they found him, making regular visits to the railway station where the staff would be told to look out for an Englishman. There was no way he could cycle without lights to another town to catch a train, even if he knew which way to go. He'd just have to hole up somewhere until everyone got tired of looking. Somewhere in the distance behind he heard the barking dogs and the raised voice of the householder.

  He could see headlights coming his way, and there was no mistaking the sound of that old Skoda engine. He hadn't reckoned on the Duseks being bright, but it looked like they'd already turned round, knowing that he couldn't have got far. With every minute that passed, his eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and a half moon had now appeared through a gap in the clouds. It wouldn't help the Duseks, but it would help him. Already he could see a gate into one of the few fields with a hedge. He jumped over it and hauled the bicycle after him. And only just in time. The Skoda raced past. He could see the lights going back towards Krkavčí farma, Raven's Farm. Maybe the Duseks were going to check the envelopes again, just to make sure they'd been tricked.

  He looked inside his bag, for he might have been the one to have been tricked after all. But no, the envelope contained old sheets of paper: he could tell by the feel. The modern photocopies had been smooth and the paper uncreased. He pulled his collar up against the cold. The temperature dropped rapidly. He couldn't see himself staying in this field for more than an hour.

  It occurred to him that maybe he was doing all this for nothing. Zoé might have turned up by now, and Ken would be trying to ring him at the farm to pass on the good news. Now that he'd run away, the police were definitely not going to let him catch a train back to Prague. As suspicious actions went, using a bike to escape must be one of the most foolish moves he could have made. Ken was always accusing him of rushing into things without thinking first, and tonight Ken was right.

  A large van drove up the hill, grinding its gears as it reached the steepest part, but it didn't seem to be part of the search team. Then he heard the Duseks' Skoda coming back down the hill, approaching very slowly. He stayed motionless behind the hedge. The slightest movement and he'd surely be seen, for he could imagine Tomas and Lenka looking out sideways hoping to catch a glint from the bicycle. But he'd laid it flat in the field, and was crouching low at the bottom of the hedge.

  The smartest thing to do was to follow the car, using its headlights to show the way. The instant the Skoda had gone past Matt dropped the bike over the gate and began to peddle rapidly down the road. He couldn't feel any gear lever on the handlebars, and he'd not even noticed if the bike had gears. But he found he could keep up with the Skoda easily, though he had to keep well back or the brake lights, which were being applied frequently, would light him up.

  How far would the Duseks go before turning round again? If they did come back, he might be trapped in a part of the road where there was no place to hide. It would be impossible to outrun the Skoda up the steep hill. Anyway, the dogs might be on the lookout for him again.

  He must have got halfway to Ústí before the brakes on the Skoda were applied finally, bringing the car to a slow halt. Down here on the level, small roads led off on both sides. Matt realized he could go down any of these to hide, but the same thought must have occurred to Tomas and Lenka, for they now backed up slowly. He had no choice but to go down the nearest road, which led to some sort of warehouse or factory. If he could get inside the building he could shelter from the cold and remain out of sight. But the building probably had an alarm system, and flashing lights and wailing sirens was not the best way to stay concealed.

  As the Skoda came towards him he squeezed the bicycle between two large storage tanks. But the Duseks' heart didn't seem to be in the search. Quickly the Skoda was driven back out, leaving Matt shivering in the cold, but at least safe for now. What he needed was a phone. Maybe he could hide the large envelope of Vasek Tesar's music somewhere and come back for it later. For a moment he could imagine how Hana Eisler must have felt, pursued by the Nazis, seeking somewhere safe to leave her precious possession.

  The building, definitely a factory, had a small gatehouse by the entrance. The red and white security barrier had been thrown onto the grass, presumably after it had been knocked aside by some careless or impatient driver. But the thing that really caught his attention was the wire running to an overhead pole. It didn't look like an electricity cable, so it must be part of the phone system. The factory would almost certainly be alarmed, but probably not the gatehouse.

  He threw the bicycle on the ground beneath some shrubs and picked up a medium-sized stone, smas
hing the glass panel on the door. He reached through the hole for the catch and entered the small room. He could just make out two chairs in front of the desk that housed the operating system for the now obsolete barrier. And then he saw what he was looking for -- a telephone.

  As he reached to pick it up he wondered if it might need to be connected through a switchboard in the main building, but to his relief he heard a dial tone, but not the one he expected. He wanted to turn the light on to see the pushbutton dial clearly, but couldn't risk attracting attention from the road. He worked out which was the nine button, which usually got through to an outside line, and the sound changed to the Czech Republic tone he now knew well. He could ring his home number without needing to see the buttons. And he could remember the 0044 international dialing code. He waited for the phone to be answered.

  "Matt?" Ken obviously wasn't expecting a call from anyone else.

  "Any news on Zoé?" He knew what the answer was going to be, but he had to ask the question.

  "Afraid not, kiddo. The police know she's missing, but they won't do anything until the morning."

  Matt looked out of the window as a car went past the gatehouse, going towards the hill that went past the farm. It made him jump, but it looked smaller then either the Duseks' Skoda or the police car. "What about Salman? Have the police managed to find him yet?"

  "No one's seen him for hours. Father Alban called here to see if he could help, but he didn't stay. He says Salman's probably out somewhere looking for Olga. She's been gone since mid afternoon. Anyway, he can't believe Salman has anything to do with Zoé's disappearance."

  "Can't he? If he'd seen that Chechen refugee attack Zoé outside the restaurant the other night he might think differently."

  "This is important: do you really think Salman could be responsible?"

  Matt knew he could be making a big deal out of nothing. "It's possible, that's all. Did Father Alban want anything else?" He'd like to think a priest had come to offer comfort at a time like this.

  "He said he'd pray for you and Zoé." Ken sounded embarrassed. "But then I expect all priests say that sort of thing."