by Tim O'Rourke
“Can I help you?” Mrs. Payne’s voice came from behind me.
Surprised at her sudden appearance, I nearly dropped the picture, sending it crashing to the floor. Placing it back onto the marble shelf, I turned to face her.
“What are you doing in here?” she asked, her beady eyes fixed on mine.
“Why? This isn’t another area of the house that is forbidden is it?” I smiled.
“This is the family’s private sitting room,” she said. “Now if you would kindly -”
“I was looking for a T.V. set,” I told her glancing about the room. Then, spying one of those big flat-screen T.V.’s sitting in the far corner, I crossed the room towards it.
“What do you want the T.V. for?” she asked, and I could hear her coming after me, her plain black shoes clacking against the tiled floor.
“To watch, of course,” I said over my shoulder.
“It doesn’t work!” she almost shouted at me.
“How come?” I asked, leaning forward and switching it on.
“The builders took the satellite dish down while they were repairing the house,” she explained. “You won’t be able to get a picture, I’ve tried.”
Ignoring her, I pressed the ‘ON’ button. The screen flickered momentarily, then hissed with white snow.
“See, I told you so,” the housekeeper said, snatching the T.V. controls from my hand and turning it off.
“What about a newspaper?” I snapped, placing my hands on my hips and staring at her. “Surely you must have a newspaper?”
“Never read them,” she smiled. “Full of doom and gloom and a pack of lies, usually.”
“A telephone?” I asked, doing everything in my power to control my ever increasing frustration. “This place must have a telephone?”
“We have several in fact,” Mrs. Payne said.
“There’s a ‘but’ coming though, isn’t there?” I said.
“It’s the builders you see,” she started. “They cut through the telephone cables -”
“And the electric cables and removed the satellite dish,” I cut over her. “How convenient!” I shouted, storming from the room.
Mrs. Payne followed me, and quickly closed the living room door behind us.
Kayla appeared at the foot of the stairs and although she was dressed, she still looked half asleep. I wasn’t surprised after her flying practice and secret meetings during the middle of the night. Crossing the hall towards her, I said, “Kayla, you must have a mobile phone that I can borrow?”
“Sure,” she blinked at me and rubbed sleep from her eyes. “What’s all the shouting about?”
“Ah, it’s not important,” I said, holding out my hand.
Kayla reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a mobile. “There you go,” she smiled.
Snatching hold of the phone, I glanced at the housekeeper who had that knowing smile on her face. I looked at the screen and to my relief there was a full signal bar across the top of it.
Now that I had the phone in my hands, I couldn’t think of one person to call. I couldn’t remember Sparky’s number and I didn’t know his home number. He was my only contact with the outside world.
Come on Kiera – think of something! I screamed at myself inside. You have your hands on a telephone now – make good use of it. Then coming to my senses, I telephoned directory enquiries. I gave the operator Sparky’s address.
Please don’t be ex-directory! I prayed.
To my relief, the operator came back with Sparky’s number. With my hands trembling, I entered his number into the phone and pressed the dial button. Holding it against my ear, I looked at Mrs. Payne as she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off me. Kayla was now sitting on the bottom stair, yawning.
“Hello?” Sparky said from the other end of the line. To hear his voice made me want to jump in the air and start cheering. “Sparky, it’s me, Kiera,” I said. “Kiera!” he almost shouted down the phone. “Where in the hell are you?” I’ve been receiving your texts -” “Sparky, I don’t know how long I’ve got, I’m in a really remote place here so I don’t know how long the signal will last,” I gabbled down the phone at him. “What happened to my flat?”
“It’s been badly trashed,” he said. “Whoever did it has made a right mess, Kiera. I got scenes of crime to come round and -”
“Don’t worry about that,” I cut over him. “What I want to know is, have there been any problems on the London Underground?”
“What, with delays you mean?” he said, sounding confused. “I don’t know, I mean London is like six hundred miles from Havensfield. Why would I know if there has been any disruption to the service -”
“I’m not talking about the bloody timetable!” I snapped, remembering why he was called Sparky. “Has there been, like, any major incidents? You know, like loads of unexplained deaths, rioting…”
“No, nothing like that,” he said and his voice began to crackle on the other end of the line.
What I really wanted to ask him was had there been any sightings of vampires, but I didn’t want to ask such a thing in front of Kayla and Mrs. Payne. So instead I said, “So there hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary happening? You know, anything weird that can’t be explained?”
“Well, there has been something,” he said, his voice fading in and out. With my heart starting to race, I said, “What is it, Sparky? What’s happened?” “Well, apart from the burglary at your flat – which really wasn’t a burglary because I don’t think anything was -” “Just tell me, Sparky!” I shouted at him. “Well, remember that old lady you helped?” he asked. “You know, the one who had her ring stolen?” “Mrs. Lovelace?” I said, my heart getting quicker. “What about her?” “Well her house got ransacked, too,” he told me. “But worse than that, she’s gone missing – like just disappeared off the face of the earth.”
“But how…?” I mumbled, my confused mind trying to conjure up the right words. “But it gets weirder, Kiera,” Sparky continued. “Remember the guy who stole her ring – Evans?” “Yes,” I whispered. “Well, he’s gone missing too,” he explained. “Not only that, remember the guy who owned the pawnbrokers? Well, he’s gone missing and that doctor you used to see…”
“Keats,” I said, filling in the blanks for him.
“Yeah, well she’s gone – just vanished,” he said, sounding bemused. “It’s like anyone that you’ve come into contact with since returning from that creepy place you told me about has disappeared. Now you’ve gone missing and the police are wondering if you’re not in some way involved. Kiera, they’re looking for you – they’ve seen your flat and all the cuttings and newspapers. They found traces of blood in your bathroom and they think you’ve gone mad – they think you’ve…I don’t know how to tell you this…but they think you’ve murdered them all. CID is even re-opening your mother’s case, because she went missing too, didn’t she?”
My brain felt as if it had been scrambled and I couldn’t make sense of what he had told me. Then as if I’d been struck, I shouted down the phone at him, “Sparky, you’re not safe – you’ve got to -”
“What do you mean I’m not safe?” he half-laughed down the phone at me.
“Don’t you see, Sparky?” I said, my voice brimming with fear for him. “They’re taking everyone that I’ve been in contact with since coming back from the Ragged -”
“Hang on a moment,” he said, sounding far away. “There’s someone at my door.”
“No Sparky!” I screamed so loud down the phone that Kayla jumped up off the bottom stair and Mrs. Payne flinched. “Don’t open the door!”
But the sound of the receiver clunking down onto the table in his hallway back in Havensfield told me that I was too late. Pressing the phone to the side of my head, I listened, but the line was so fussy and broken I couldn’t hear what was happening. Then I had an idea. Turning on the speakerphone function, I held the phone towards Kayla.
“What can you hear?” I asked her, my
voice and hand trembling. “What?” she asked looking startled. “Just Listen!” I hissed at her. “Tell me what you can hear!” Kayla came towards me and lent her head towards the phone. She closed her eyes, and her face seemed to take on a calm and tranquil expression.
“Your friend is opening the door,” she said. “There is a bolt and a lock with a key. He is turning it. His breathing is calm, but there are another two on the other side of the door. They are excited. I can hear their hearts – they’re racing.”
“Kayla, stop this at once!” Mrs. Payne shouted coming towards us. Looking at her, I whispered, “Don’t even think about it, lady!” Seeing the grim expression on my face, the housekeeper skulked away. “Your friend is opening the door, and he’s saying ‘Hello’,” Kayla continued. “ ‘Are you John Miles?’ one of them is asking. ‘Yes’ he says.” Then Kayla stopped. Her eyes flickered open and she stared at me. I didn’t need her to tell me that Sparky was screaming – I could hear it for myself. Then the phone line went dead.
Chapter Seventeen
I handed Kayla her phone, and slumped onto the bottom stair. What was I to do? For the first time that I could remember, I had no plan – I couldn’t see a way forward. I couldn’t see what to do. Pushing the mobile back into her pocket, Kayla came to sit next to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Kiera,” she whispered.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” I told her.
“I’m sorry for your friend.”
“Me too.”
“How about a nice cup of tea?” Mrs. Payne chipped in.
Glancing up at her, I could see that she felt as dumbfounded as we all did. I don’t think any of us knew what to do or say after hearing Sparky scream like that. I guess we all felt helpless.
“A cuppa would be great,” I smiled weakly at her.
“I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready,” she said walking away, leaving Kayla and me on the stair alone.
“What’s going on?” I said aloud, I don’t know if I really meant for Kayla to have all the answers.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
I looked at Kayla and wanted to tell her I’d been watching her last night with that man. I wanted her to know what I’d heard them discussing together. But I couldn’t, because it might cause her to distrust me, to become more secretive than she already was. But worse than that, she might warn her secret friend – tell him not to come back and then I might never know his identity. But there was other stuff, too. I wanted to know if Kayla was as suspicious of Marshal and James as I was. She had told her friend last night that she didn’t like Marshal and I couldn’t disagree with her about that. The guy was a creep – perhaps he spied on her too?
The whole set-up at the manor was wrong. But was Kayla a part of it? Did she know more than she was letting on? I didn’t know who to trust or believe anymore. I’d made that mistake before – I’d put my trust in my friend Sergeant Phillips and it had nearly got me killed. For now, I would have to keep my suspicions to myself and unravel what was really going on at the manor in my own way.
“Do you know what?” I said, looking at Kayla.
“What?”
“Tell Mrs. Payne to put a hold on the tea, I’m going for a walk,” I told her.
“Can I come?” she asked.
“I’m sorry Kayla, I just need some time on my own,” I said heading for the door.
“Okay see you later alligator,” she smiled at me.
Hearing those words, I froze. “What did you say?”
“I said, see you later, alligator,” she said. “Is there a problem?”
“No. No problem,” I half-smiled. “It’s just that’s the last thing I ever said to my mother before she disappeared.” Then closing the door, I left the manor house.
It was cold, I tucked my hands into the pockets of my jeans and headed towards the tree line in the distance. I thought I would take the opportunity to go and have a look at the summerhouse in the daylight. It might give me a chance to clear my head and see what I could see there.
I followed the route that Kayla had taken the night before. Again, it was dark beneath the trees, and the air felt clammy and damp. It was so quiet and still that not even the branches or leaves stirred in the trees that towered above me. What was I to do about Sparky? What had happened to him and to the others that I’d had contact with. Had they gone missing or had…? I couldn’t bring myself to think of the other possibility, but Sparky’s screams sounded like his last. Shuddering at the thought, my skin turned cold. Should I contact the Police and give them what little information I had? But what information did I have?
I suspected that it was Phillips and Taylor who were behind what had happened to my friend and the others. But I was solely basing that on a series of nightmares that I’d had. Nightmares that I thought might perhaps be premonitions, but Sparky said that none of that other stuff had happened. Vampires hadn’t gone berserk on the London Underground, feeding on everyone they came across. London didn’t look like an apocalyptic wasteland with thousands of Vampyrus soaring through the sky and blocking out the sun. None of that had happened. But my flat had been turned over. I dreamt about that and Phillips had been responsible. But what did that prove? My superiors already thought I was nuts – they’d cart me straight off to the loony bin if I bowled straight into the nearest police station and started telling them about my nightmares. And besides, Sparky said that my colleagues suspected me of being involved with the disappearances of those people and possibly murder. If I showed my face at any police station I was bound to be arrested. What good would that do? No – I had more chance of finding out the truth of what was going on from the manor, not from a prison cell.
I knew that Luke, Potter, and Murphy had connections to the manor. Kayla had told me that her father had sent them in search of her when she’d gone missing in the past. Her father had known them. Perhaps that was what Lady Hunt was really doing – looking for the three of them? After all, she said that she already had enlisted help in search of her missing husband. Perhaps it was they who were helping her, and if so she might well return with them. The thought of seeing Luke again after all this time made my stomach flutter with anticipation and nerves. Would he feel the same way about me? Would my feelings be the same for him? There had definitely been a connection between us – but had those feelings been real? Had we not just been thrown together by circumstance? I knew deep down that I still had feelings for him – but what, I wasn’t sure. I guessed I wouldn’t really know until I saw him again and fell under his spell.
Reaching the clearing, I stepped out onto the grass and headed towards the summerhouse. In the light of the silver sun that hung above, it still looked magical. The small structure was white in colour and looked like somewhere a princess would live in a Disney film. Climbing the steps, I crossed the tiny porch to the door. Taking hold of the brass door handle and twisting it, I wasn’t surprised to find it locked. Cupping my hands against the window, I peered inside. Just like it had been the night before, the room was in semi-darkness. The small wooden table sat in the centre of the room with two chairs placed on either side. The lamp was on the table. But then I noticed something I hadn’t seen as I’d peered through the window the previous night. I wouldn’t have because it was directly above the window I’d been peeking through. On the wall, just above the window, was the faded outline of where a crucifix had once been. It had left a mark against the wall similar to that when taking a painting down from where it had previously hung for many years. A clean patch had been left on the wall in the shape of a cross. But why had it been removed and by who?
I could see that it had only been taken down recently by the light colour of the wood left behind. Stepping away from the window, I made my way back down the steps and headed around the rear of the summerhouse. Leaning against the wall were three large cans and a pair of stepladders. Lifting one of the cans off the grass, I pulled open the lid with my fingernail
s. Looking inside I could see the traces of white paint in the bottom. Tucked behind the empty cans of paint, I found a large brush, its bristles stiff with dried paint.
Guessing that Marshal had probably recently given the summerhouse a new coat of paint, I placed the cans back where I’d found them and made my way back around the front of the summerhouse. Standing with my back to it, I looked left, then right. Heading right, I made my way from the summerhouse and headed in the direction that I’d seen Kayla’s friend take the night before.
I made my way through the trees, leaving the summerhouse behind me. I’d been careful to enter the woods at the exact same point that I’d seen the male disappear the night before. Hunkering down, I scanned the ground for any tracks that he might have left behind. To my surprise I found several, and all of them different. I identified Kayla’s friend’s prints straightaway. It was easy to do so as it was only his that had ever ventured out from beneath the shadows of the trees, the other tracks stopped before leaving the clearing. Whoever these people were, on one occasion they had tiptoed away from the edge of the clearing and back into the dark. Then after inspecting the footprints left in the soil again, I slapped my forehead.