by David Haynes
As he reached the summit, Joe walked purposely to where he’d found the great metal trap doors. He knelt down and waited for the others to appear. The dog appeared first from the opposite direction to the lads. “What do you make of this then?” he asked as they walked over to him.
Both men looked down at where Joe knelt and then looked at each other. Chris was the first to speak. “I don’t know, a door I suppose?” Charlie shrugged.
Joe shook his head. “Tell me, what does get you interested?”
Both spoke in unison. “Lobsters.”
Joe laughed in spite of the turbulent sensations he was feeling in his stomach.
He indicated the outline of the cover and tapped it all the way round with one of the crow bars from the tool bag; the sound reverberated deep down below. “What do you reckon then? Can we lift it?”
“No worries.” Chris took the other crow bar out of the bag and walked to the centre of the metal door. He crouched and ran his finger along its surface. “This looks like the centre line. See if either of you can find one of those hollows they have on manhole covers. If we can find at least one, then we’ll have it open in two minutes. If not, then I’m going to leave you here and go pull our pots.”
Joe crouched and frantically began pushing debris away from the dimpled surface. The centre line ran diagonally from corner to corner, allowing its position to be found easily. “Here we go.” He sat up and smiled at Chris who had already wedged one end of the crow bar into an access hole. Charlie joined him and they both pulled down on the lever. Joe felt a slight shift in the ground below him and a guttural grind of metal on rock but the cover didn’t shift.
“Hold on, let’s do this together, okay?” He sank his index finger into the indentation and flicked dirt and tiny bits of rock out to allow the crowbar to fit inside.
He stood up and copied what Chris had done, wedging the bar into position.
“One, two, three now!” He pulled down with all his strength and felt his already damaged muscles groan with the exertion.
“It’s moving, keep going!” He heard one of the boys shout. Joe kept his eye shut and bounced the bar to give himself a bit more leverage. The movement shifted the gate some more.
“For gods sake don’t let go now, keep going!” His muscles had stopped complaining now and were threatening to simply give up; he felt a strange numbness start spreading up his forearm causing his hand to shake violently. “I can’t keep this up, we’ve got to…” he looked over at the other two. Charlie was grim faced and snarling, with the crow bar still wedged in place and Chris was on his knees with his hands under the lip of the huge metal cover.
Joe roared with effort and pulled down again, he felt sure his eyeballs would force themselves out of his head; even through the purple swelling around the left one. The grinding and creaking sound which accompanied the sudden movement of the metal cover reminded Joe of the old Dracula movies; when Christopher Lee emerged from a forgotten coffin in a deep, dark crypt.
“Let go of the bars you two and give it some of this.” Joe looked and saw Chris standing like an Olympic power lifter with one half of the metal cover pushed above his head. Joe dropped the crow bar, took up position and locked his shoulders in place. “When I say go! Push it away as hard as you can. And Joe, watch your footing, it looks a long way down.”
Joe braced his feet as best he could on the other half of the cover. He didn’t want to look down because he knew, just a few centimetres away from his toes, was the darkest hole he could imagine.
“Go!” Chris shouted and all three men bellowed with determination. A new set of muscles screamed this time but Joe heaved as hard as he could and suddenly the cover moved away from the vertical and started to move away. The temptation to follow it and keep pushing was immense. “Joe! Step back!”
Instantly, Joe stepped away from the edge. The cover slowly dropped through the angles until its sheer size and weight proved too much for gravity and it fell, screeching downwards. It bounced briefly on a rock sitting defiantly in its path but both rock and metal were evenly matched and settled for their new positions.
“Christ that was heavy.” Joe put his hands on his knees and felt a ragged tremble interfere with his shoulder muscles.
“You’re not used to physical work, that’s all.” Chris patted him on the back.
“You better take a look down here.” Charlie was standing on the precipice, shining a torch into the blackness. “I wouldn’t go down there if you paid me a million quid.”
Joe followed the light beam into the blackness. “Not even if there was lobster down there?” He asked. “Shine it over there will you.” He indicated the side of the hole. The torch illuminated a set of shiny metal rungs which had been sunk into the rock.
“Anything wrong with this picture boys?”
“They look new to me.” Chris shook his head.
“And if they’re new then someone intended, or intends to use them.”
“So, who’s leading the way then?” For the first time Chris didn’t sound his usual confident self.
“Don’t worry about that. I don’t want either of you down there with me.”
“You’re kidding right? You don’t even know where it leads.” Charlie raised his eyebrows in disbelief. It was the first time, anything resembling a question had been asked by either of them.
“I’m not kidding. I don’t want anyone else taking the glory for this. Besides, I know exactly where it goes.” He nodded towards the distant icon of Levant wheelhouse. “Now, if it’s okay, can I borrow your torch?” Charlie handed Joe the powerful Maglite. “And I’m taking one of these too.” He knelt and grabbed the nearest crow bar.
Without further conversation, Joe tucked the crow bar down the front of his jeans and lowered himself over the side of the hole. The first metal rung was wide enough for both his feet but not much else and the crow bar dug into his pelvis. He looked up at the two brothers.
“I shan’t be long.”
Charlie knelt down and almost whispered. “Why are you going down there?”
Joe smiled. “Levant took something from my family a long time ago, it’s not taking anything else.” Joe saw the incomprehension flash across Charlie’s face. “Besides, I’m researching my new book, it’s called ‘Dangerous Things to do Alone.’ This is chapter two. Yesterday was the first chapter in case you didn’t realise.”
Charlie nodded. “Shall we wait for you? What about May, shall we call her and let her know?”
Joe lowered himself onto the next rung. “She’s in a meeting today and if I’m coming back up this way, something’s gone wrong. I’ll see you later.”
Joe slowly worked his way down the hole. The temperature dropped quickly and the rock face became slick with trickling water which he recognised as meaning he was now below the ocean. The distant rumble of the waves still provided a monotonous backdrop but it grew fainter and fainter the further he descended. The shaft had obviously been sunk a long time ago but the rungs were the work of a modern manufacturing process. Water coated the rungs making them slick and he was glad they possessed a mottled surface designed to help him grip.
He didn’t really know what to expect when he reached the bottom. It might be flooded for all he knew and then he’d be well and truly stuck. The thought of climbing back up to the surface filled him with dread; how on earth would he get back to dry land? Instead, he kept telling himself that it wouldn’t be flooded and he’d simply walk all the way to Levant.
After what felt like an eternity, he lowered his foot for the next rung and found only solid ground beneath his toes. He sighed deeply and looked upwards from where he’d just come. The opening now looked like a star in a cloudy night sky. He flicked the torch on and withdrew the crowbar. Holding them out in front like a knight with a shield and lance he walked along the passageway towards land and towards Levant.
23
At first May thought she was being held under water. But as she rose slowly from her
unconscious state, she realised the intense pain in her nose was nothing to do with water. It was all to do with blood, and the enormous fist of David Polglaze.
She tried not to move her head too much but quickly looked around. Her eyes took a moment to focus but it didn’t take long before she knew exactly where she was - underground in Levant. Although she couldn’t take in the entire scene, she’d definitely been in this room before. There was no mistaking the great hulking lump of machinery directly in her line of vision; it rose awkwardly in the dim yellow light and out of her view. She could almost picture Alec Prideaux and his comrades hauling the dead men out of the dirty great hole in the centre of the room.
Up until now she had kept her head still on the cold dirt floor. One reason was fear that David might be waiting and the other was the pain stretching across her face. The resistance her eyes had given when she opened them indicated swelling, probably not as much as Joe, but enough.
Anger quickly started to smother the fear; anger at David and fury at her own stupidity. She’d worked with David long enough to know not much got past him, particularly when it came to village issues. He’d obviously known what they were doing for some time and like the shrewd businessman he was, he bided his time until the most opportune moment to strike.
She remained lying on her side and reached down into her pocket. She’d text Joe just before she’d left with David. She doubted it, but there might be enough signal to phone him. Her fingers searched the corners of her pocket until she was left with no alternative other than to roll over onto her back. With dismay, she realised she no longer had her phone. Either it had fallen out, or more likely David had taken it.
She slapped her leg. She’d always considered herself more intelligent and with more common sense than David, yet he’d lulled her into a sense of security all too easily. It had been an edgy, nervous sense but why had she fallen for it? Maybe all the years working in the village had made her more naïve than she thought.
There was one person who had more experience of dealing with the deceit and corruption in humanity than anyone she’d ever met. She hoped with every ounce of naivety that he was coming to find her.
“Lost something May?” David’s voice echoed along the chamber walls.
May felt the involuntary spasm in her body as she jumped at the sound of his voice. She wanted to go straight on the attack and yell at him, but there was one thing she’d learnt from David in this, and that was timing.
He walked into view from the direction of the thin tunnel they had used the previous day. In the half-light May was still able to see a grin smeared across his face. In different circumstances, the grin appeared uncomfortable and insincere, but in this setting, it was maniacal. He held the books in the crook of his outstretched arms on top of which was a small object. Without being able to see it properly May knew it was her phone.
“Ooops!” He shouted theatrically.
May watched as the books and phone plummeted straight down into the blackness.
“Don’t worry I checked your messages. A couple of missed calls and text messages, that’s all. Nothing to get excited about.” He leaned over the metal guard around the hole and peered down. “It’s a very long way down there. I wonder what those men thought about when they were trapped? Did they think about their wives and their children, or did they think about god? Well his representative certainly thought about them, at least until he was offered a bit of cash, didn’t he?”
She remained silent. David had mentioned the missed calls; they had to belong to Joe. That meant he’d read her text and knew exactly where she was.
“That ledger certainly made interesting reading, didn’t it? I must admit I’ve never seen it before. But you know what May? I don’t think anyone will ever see it again now. Besides, I’m not sure anyone would make much of it anyway.”
May couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. “But I see you don’t want to run that risk eh?”
“Immaterial now though isn’t it? Both of them will get mashed into the dirt like everything else down there.” He paused then grinned again. “Bones and all.”
“There’s others, David. Others who know what your family did. You can’t buy everyone’s silence. They won’t be bought.”
“That old woman you mean?”
May gasped. “What?”
“That old woman you and Joe visited last night. I’ve got a feeling she was burgled last night. The bastard throttled her because she had some precious photographs.” David withdrew a crumpled photograph from his coat pocket; the light was too dim to see anything but he held it up for May to see. “My great grandad and her grandad together, just up there.” He pointed towards the surface. “Trouble is, she might’ve thought she could put in some sort of claim when this place starts making serious money. She can’t now.”
May swallowed hard. Thick bile had risen up her throat, burning all the way. She wanted to stand up and rush him, to beat that stupid grin off his face but she stayed still. Her nose, which she suspected was broken, was a reminder of the last effort of surprising him.
David walked around the metal cage towards where she was. He kept his eyes fixed on the machinery. “This really is a serious piece of engineering. Nineteenth century creativity combined with twenty-first century technology.” As he got closer May sat up and shuffled herself against the cold, damp wall; it made her feel less exposed.
“Why didn’t you just throw me down there when you had the chance?”
David opened his mouth to speak then paused. He walked up to her and knelt down so their eyes were on the same level. His grin had disappeared. “Believe it or not, but I actually care for you, and none of what has happened was planned. Things just, things just...” He paused again. “Things just got complicated.”
He stood up and took the two strides back to the man engine. “I don’t think you’ve got any idea how much this all means to me. This is my chance to be a real Polglaze and to put to bed things which have haunted my family. I’m the last Polglaze and it’s my job to do what needs doing.”
He ran his finger around the circular green button but didn’t press it. “But you know what? I never wanted this to be my responsibility. I never wanted to be the one to do it.” He turned sharply and looked at May. “I always wanted to have children, May. I wanted to leave this to them to sort out. Selfish eh? Probably, but then again that’s what my father did and that’s what his father did. They just kept passing the responsibility down the line. They were all too weak to do what needed to be done. Those bastards are down there, in hell, looking up and laughing at me. One day I’ll see them and I’ll be able to look them in the eye and say, I did what you couldn’t, you ineffectual bullies.”
May shook her head. She’d never heard David talking about his family before unless it was with reverence. This sounded like abhorrence. “David, listen to yourself. This isn’t right. Look what you’ve done to me, think about what you’ve done to that poor woman and Hooper. None of us deserved what you’ve done.”
David grimaced. “Stupid fucking bitch. I saw the three of you in that house last night, conspiring against me. I saw you and him in the church digging. Even that swimmer; I didn’t know he was a Hooper until I read his ledger by the way. Even he wanted to go snooping where he had no business being. Each and every one of you have gone looking for something you shouldn’t have.”
May stood up. Whatever David thought she deserved, she wasn’t about to take it sitting down. “So what do I deserve, David? You tell me.” She frantically searched the room with her eyes. There must be something heavy in here somewhere, something she could hit him with.
“I haven’t decided yet.” David pushed the green circular button and the room was filled with the guttural roar of the man engine starting its rhythmic shunt.
Joe worked his way slowly through the tunnel. Minor branches ran off in every direction but he stuck to the main line. It appeared to have been engineered far more than the others. He peered down the
offshoots as he passed. They were rough-hewn and narrow; barely wide enough to fit a man in and they disappeared into an abyss where no person had been for a hundred years. Joe wasn’t prone to claustrophobia, and it was difficult to determine the dimensions of the tunnel, but the all-encompassing black shroud was doing a good job at putting the squeeze on him. In some sections, his footfalls echoed far more. As he diverted the beam of his torch away from his path, he found himself in vast cavernous chambers where the steady, ‘drip drop’ of water matched the echo of his steps.