Quarter Square

by David Bridger

  “We have to leave here. You do realise that, don’t you? I’ll sing tonight because they owe me for three nights and we need cash to get us started, but by tomorrow morning we need to have disappeared.”

  “You don’t have to work tonight. I have money.”

  “I suppose you mean bank accounts and plastic. Forget them. You may as well carry a big Here I Am sign around with you. We need to get off the grid, and quickly.”

  I frowned and gestured around at the theatre. “What about this place?”

  “Nothing else matters. Whatever we do in our lives that brings us together, we’re only doing those things in order to find each other. Once we do, everything else falls away. There is only you and me.”

  “I told the insiders they could perform here. I promised I’d get it ready. They’re relying on me.”

  “Trust me. They’ll be fine. You’ve promised this place to them, and they will use it, even though you won’t be here. I know these people. I love them. You’re not letting them down, and even if you were, they’d get by okay without you.”

  This new start wasn’t going the way I’d expected. Not at all. I flopped back onto the pillow.

  “What?”

  I shook my head.

  “Talk to me. What are you thinking?”

  I spoke slowly, opening my soul and saying the words as they surfaced. “All my life people have told me what to do. Everyone in my life always knew better than I did. Everyone manoeuvred me into whichever position they thought I should be in and told me what I should be doing. I played their game for as long as I could, but last year I broke free, or tried to anyway. Carole and Tony were still pulling my strings. I just didn’t know the whole story until last week.”

  I closed my eyes and saw them again in that hotel room.

  “When I found Quarter Square—when I found you—my life turned around overnight. I’m free here. I make my own decisions and live the way I want.”

  Min sighed.

  I stroked her cheek. “I love it here, with you. It’s heaven.”

  “It won’t be heaven when Tyac turns up.” She gripped my upper arms. “He’s hunting you. I guarantee he killed Carole and Tony to flush you out. Somehow he’ll be involved in the murder investigation. Please believe me. If we don’t run, he will find you.”

  She shook me, her eyes glinting with tears as she shouted, “And he will kill you! Again! He fucking will, Joe, and I’m not going to let that happen.”

  It was my turn to sigh. I hated this, but I knew when I was beaten. “Okay.”

  “Tonight, as soon as I get back, we run. Okay?” Her voice was muffled as she pulled the T-shirt over her head.

  “I brought my van back from London.”

  “And a police tail.” She paused with her jeans hauled up to her thighs. “We’ll use the van to get away from here, but we’ll need to dump it before morning.” Her jeans were buttoned rapidly and her socks pulled on.

  “I’ll come with you now.”

  Right boot stamped in and laced. “You’re tired. If we’re going to drive through the night, you should sleep for a couple of hours.” Left boot stamped in and laced.

  I couldn’t deny it. I needed sleep.

  “See you in three hours. Sweet dreams. I love you.” And with a quick kiss and a smile she was gone.

  I took a long, hot shower, shampooing my hair and beard twice, grinning because I hadn’t taken this much care with personal grooming since I was a teenager—certainly not while I’d been with Carole.

  I’d grown the beard in the past year, and Carole hated it. For me it symbolised freedom from the constraints of commercial life. For her it probably symbolised rebellion or something.

  In any case I was glad Min liked it.

  While I showered, I sang an old favourite. “You’ve got a friend.”

  I’d always sung this one when I felt sad, as if promising myself I would find a friend. I’d been sad all my life without even realising it. I supposed this was the condition Min called the loneliness deep inside. It was the sense of missing someone I hadn’t even known I was missing. Now I sang with joy, because the ache was gone, and I stepped out of the shower still humming happily.

  There were two men in my bedroom.

  My heart jumped into my mouth, and I almost fell back into the shower cubicle.

  Sebastian Merritt was sitting on my bed, leafing through my sketches for the theatre renovation, and he looked up at me innocently. On the other side of the room, blocking the doorway—blocking my exit—stood a stranger I assumed was Merritt’s driver. A strong, silent type with a dark crew cut and a heavy five-o’clock shadow, he filled the space.

  “Hello,” Merritt said, as if we’d just met by chance in the street.

  “What the fuck are you doing in here? Get out.”

  “Calm down.” Merritt smiled with an air of comfortable authority that dominated the room.

  Naked, wet and vulnerable, I resisted the temptation to hide behind the towel as I dried myself. “What do you want?”

  “I want you, Joe. I want you to come and work for me.”

  I squinted at him. What the hell was he on about?

  He nodded towards his sidekick without taking his eyes from me. “Fisher and I work for a government department. We investigate magic—magical people and creatures. Yes, they exist. I think you know they do.”

  I concentrated on getting dressed.

  “The murders of your wife and her lover show all the signs of a werewolf attack.” He leaned forward to study my face. “And you don’t seem surprised about that.”

  “You’re mad. I’m wondering how long you plan to sit around in here before you piss off and let me get on with my life.”

  “Very good. Whatever you say, though, I know you are involved with magic. I’ve been around it long enough. I can smell it.” He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply, a showman with perfect command of his audience. “I smell it on you.”

  “You need therapy.”

  He talked over me. “Magical activity is on the increase in the West Country, around Plymouth in particular. My department has been monitoring it for months.”

  “What do you mean by magical activity?”

  He chuckled. “Come on board and you’ll find out.”

  “You’re barking.”

  “What do you plan to do for money, Joe? It’s been a long time since you had a regular salary, and now you’re down here and you’ve got this…place…to sort out. No business contacts or friends or family. What will you live on?”

  “I’ll manage.”

  “I’m offering you a full-time, paid position, a good salary plus benefits.”

  “Stuff it. And get out. You’re boring me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. You really should be my friend. You wouldn’t want to be my enemy.”

  “You’re full of shit. You don’t believe in bloody magic any more than I do. This is just some bullshit to keep me under observation. It’s about the murder investigation. This way you don’t have to honour my legal rights. If you think I don’t know what you’re up to, you’re even more stupid than you look.”

  Merritt shot to his feet, and Fisher tensed, ready to spring if I made a wrong move.

  “Be careful how you talk to me, young man,” warned Merritt. “I know you’ve had an upset, but I don’t take crap like that from anyone.”

  “How’s this, then? Leave my property now, or I will call the police.” I glared at him with my forehead thrust forward and my fists clenched at my sides. My aggression was more about fear than anything else, but I hoped they wouldn’t pick up on that. Might Merritt be Tyac? Could werewolves sense fear?

  Merritt shared an amused glance with Fisher. “Do you want to know who the highest authority in your life is, Joe? Me. The police will do whatever I tell them to do. There’s only one organisation that will protect you. Mine. Don’t go fooling yourself by grasping at false security, will you?”

  He and Fisher left without another word
, and I followed them to the main door. Fisher disappeared round the corner. Then an engine started, and the black car eased out of the shadows.

  “See you soon,” Merritt said.

  I closed the door firmly.

  Sprawled across the marble floor of the Golden Temple with my head in Min’s lap, blinded by the poison, and with all my other senses dimming rapidly, I hear Tyac’s hated voice receding into the distance as the guards bustle him from the building. From above, a tear splashes on my cheek, and Min shakes with grief.

  Suddenly awake on my camp bed, reliving random nightmares despite my best efforts, I knew they were real memories. While I lay there sweating, trying to get my heart rate under control, more memories arrived. I didn’t want them, but they came anyway.

  Focus on the silence. You’re here now, and you’re safe. You’re back with Min, and you have a chance of happiness together. Focus on the safety. Focus on the silence.

  I closed my eyes and breathed steadily. I recalled my first night in the theatre and my fears about the noises in the roof space and grinned. If I’d known then what I knew now, a few rats scratching about wouldn’t have worried me.

  There were no noises. For the first time since I moved in, there were no rodents scuttling or pigeons cooing. There was total silence. Uneasy, I held my breath and listened, trying to detect the slightest sound. It felt as if the theatre was waiting for something.

  There it was: a scrape, a rustle, a pause and another scrape somewhere high above. Then came a new sound, the quiet but easily identifiable crack of a seized window being forced open and a thick membrane of old paint layers breaking as the wooden surround parted from its frame.

  Someone had opened one of the windows set high in the wall just below the roof space.

  A dark shape climbed through the window, its movements smooth and fluid and powerful.

  My stomach dropped into my bowels.

  The monster was coming to get me.

  It rocked its huge head slowly from side to side, then sprang across a ten-foot stretch of bare brick wall to the iron ladder that ran up to the roof space. It landed on all fours with its snout pointing towards the ground, and without a pause it ran down the ladder in mere seconds.

  Fear paralysed me.

  The monster launched itself from the ladder, sprang over the top of the partition wall and landed squarely in the middle of the room.

  Galvanised by terror, shaking violently and tasting bitter stomach acid, I scrambled back on the bed as far as I could go and cowered in the corner.

  The werewolf glared at me with insane intensity, its bloodshot eyes like hot lava in the gloom. Its stink filled my nostrils, a heavy mix of damp earth and raw flesh that made me gag. It was bigger than I remembered from my dreams. It filled my vision.

  Its belly jerked repeatedly beneath its shaggy fur. It was laughing at me—mocking me.

  I was going to die.

  In a split second, it picked me up as if I were a rag doll, pinned me against the wall with a hammering force that knocked the wind out of me, and drew back one of its massive clawed paws, ready to strike.

  I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t make a sound. I couldn’t even think. I waited for the fatal blow.

  Which never came. Instead I heard Min’s beautiful voice. She stood in my open doorway and sang a song of power and enchantment.

  The werewolf dropped me onto the bed and stepped back with a frustrated snarl that made me cringe.

  Min continued to sing, drawing the monster’s attention. It moved like a sleepwalker, swivelling its head towards her first and its body following suit, but remaining in the same place until a new tone in her song commanded it to walk towards the partition wall.

  When Min paused to take a deep breath, it paused too and turned its head back towards me. Then she sang a high note, and they continued their strange dance of enchantment. Her song forced it to leap high and grab hold of the ladder. Its ascent was ponderous, almost thoughtful, as if it was dazed.

  Again, she paused for a breath as it reached the top of the ladder, and again, it paused in its retreat and glared back down at me. Min’s song came stronger than ever, forcing the monster to lift the window, climb through and disappear from view, and the window slammed closed behind it.

  I tried to thank Min, but she held up a hand to silence me while continuing to sing, her voice powerful even as her body sagged under the strain.

  I grabbed my bedside chair and guided her into it without interrupting her song. She leaned on me, and I placed my arm lightly around her back, giving her shoulder a squeeze of support.

  Eventually she fell silent and slumped against me.

  I listened carefully. It seemed as if the theatre was listening with me. I heard no normal sounds of the night and nothing to suggest the monster was returning. Then, clearly through the night air, came a long, distant howl of rage.

  Min collapsed.

  I caught her before she hit the floor, carried her to my bed and rushed to fetch a glass of water.

  She took a couple of sips and tried to focus her glazed eyes on me.

  “We must leave.”

  “You can’t even walk.”

  “Doesn’t matter. He knows how weak I am right now, and he’ll be back as soon as the charm wears off. We have two days maybe, three at the most. He’s killed you before when I’d weakened myself too much to stop him a second time.”

  Where the hell could we hide?

  “Carry me. Take me into the Wild while I recover. It’s our only chance.” She closed her eyes and held up her arms for me to lift her.

  Chapter Nine

  I grabbed my van keys, but Min shook her head.

  “We have to run into the Wild.”

  “But we were going to drive out of Plymouth and ditch the van. We agreed.”

  “That was before. It’s too late now. If we stay on the outside, Tyac will use the police network to keep tabs on us while he gets over tonight. In the Wild he’ll have to track us on his own. It’ll give us a couple of days to get clear while he recovers.”

  That didn’t feel right at all.

  Min must have read my face. “Believe me. We have no choice, and we don’t have time to argue. You have to trust me.”

  She held her arms up again for me to lift her. “Anyway, the forest is your natural home. We’ll be safer there than anywhere else.”

  The forest was my natural home? That was the first I knew of it.

  Tyac’s howl had woken the insiders, who were crowded together in the garden when I carried Min towards them. Will and Danny had just arrived home and were telling everybody they thought the howl had come from the far side of the harbour.

  “That’s good,” Min murmured. “That means he didn’t run into the Wild. He’ll go to ground somewhere on the outside.”

  Conversation ceased when the insiders noticed Min and me.

  Tara rushed to us. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  “Put me down somewhere, love.” Min trembled.

  I laid her beside the fire and sat close. I felt totally useless and shook with anger as well as shock. Everything was wrong. I should have been able to protect her, especially after she’d saved my life, but I didn’t know what to do.

  Kill Tyac. That was the only way to stop this nightmare. Kill the monster.

  Yeah, right. I wondered where the nearest antitank missile might be found, because I doubted anything short of that would stop the bastard.

  Tara held Min’s hands. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  Min murmured to me, “We have to tell them. They need to know about the danger.”

  She scanned the concerned faces. “A werewolf attacked us.”

  Over the immediate uproar she continued to explain. “He’ll be back. We’re running into the Wild to escape him. If he comes through here, you stay away from him. It’s us he wants—Joe and me. Don’t try to stop him. He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way.”

  The commotion would have been comical if it
hadn’t been for the terrible situation in which we found ourselves, and the noise of complaint and astonishment continued until Andrew shouted for quiet.

  “Whatever has happened,” he told us, “you can’t go into the Wild. Whatever dangers you think will find you here, they’re nothing compared to what’s out there.”

  “Stay,” Big Luke said. “We’ll protect you.”

  There was a chorus of agreement and encouragement.

  Except Will. Throughout all the fuss he stood at the back, taking everything in, not missing a trick.

  Min accepted Tara’s concerned ministrations and answered the insiders’ questions. She tried to do so without revealing too much of our story, but these people were canny, and they probed until she had no option but to tell them the whole truth.

  Will watched and listened in silence, and I could see him putting the picture together. All along he’d been jealous of Min’s affection for me. From his reactions to her story and the sympathetic looks she gave him from time to time, it was obvious he was in love with her.

  Now I understood his behaviour from the moment we’d met. Scared of losing his love, he’d fought to keep her the only way he knew how.

  Min gave them a brief version of what she’d told me earlier, enough for them to understand our situation and the danger our continued presence in the square would bring.

  There were still a few grumbles of resistance, but they were more distressed complaint than reasoned argument.

  When she finished, Will and I exchanged a knowing look. It wasn’t warmth, but it was a cease-fire and maybe an understanding.

  Min had recovered sufficiently to stand, although she was weak and wobbly. We were ready to leave, and everyone hugged her. A few of them even hugged me, and Linda thrust a haversack packed with food into my hands.

  Will hugged Min for a long time and held on to her hand when he fronted up to me. “Keep her safe.”