The Montague Portrait

by Matt Drabble

  ‘Is everyone all right?’ a voice called from the doorway.

  Travis turned to see the man that had twice helped save them all. ‘Who the hell are you?’ he asked.

  ‘Jeremy Rasche,’ the man said, brushing his suit with delicate hands. ‘I am … was for many years Mr Vargas’s private secretary.’

  ‘So why exactly would you help us to stop him?’ Charlotte asked shakily.

  Rasche straightened his tie and smoothed his suit jacket as best he could. ‘Well, all this mess and madness,’ he answered primly. ‘It’s really not on, is it? I mean this is supposed to be a manor house of great standing. Not some Wild West rodeo shootout with devil worship and black magic,’ he said stuffily. ‘We need a little decorum. After all, this is England.’

  ‘Yeah, Rule Britannia,’ Travis said, his voice oozing sarcasm as Charlotte pulled him up to a standing position.

  ‘What about the painting?’ she said, looking up above the fireplace.

  ‘Bring it down here,’ Travis said as he leaned against the mantelpiece for support.

  ‘It really is quite safe, you know,’ Rasche said. ‘And, I’d imagine … quite priceless.’

  ‘That’s as maybe, but we’re not taking any chances,’ Charlotte said firmly as she lifted the frame down.

  Travis broke open the frame and took the canvas out. He felt the portrait carefully beneath his fingers and all semblance of power was gone. It was now just brush strokes and paint. ‘Check the hallway, both of you,’ he ordered. ‘We never know who might still be lurking about out there.’

  As Charlotte and Rasche ducked into the corridor, Travis opened his shirt to reveal the package Lochay had procured for him at short notice – The Montague Portrait copy from Florence that was wrapped around his waist. He’d had a feeling that it might come in useful at some point in the evening, and like Rasche had said, the original was after all … priceless.

  ‘All clear,’ Charlotte said as she came back into the room.

  Travis rearranged his shirt, hiding the original. Taking a deep breath, he threw the copy into the roaring flames of the fireplace.

  ‘Now it’s finished,’ he said as the flames ate the canvas.

  EPILOGUE

  The party at Vargas’s country estate had contained enough famous and infamous names with enough power and influence to make sure that nothing ever leaked to the press. Memories were spotty over the events and most were happy to discover that Telfer Vargas disappeared that night. Travis had left the cleaning up in the hands of Rasche and a groundsman called Wadleigh who assured him that no-one would ever find any remains at the house.

  After his rehabilitation, Travis arranged for the private and discreet sale of the last ever Benedict Worthington painting entitled “The Montague Portrait”. Charlotte was a little less angry than he thought she would be – she only broke his nose. The painting was purchased by a private collector and placed in his underground gallery. Travis used a chunk of the money to ensure the continuation of Amy’s gallery, keeping the promise that in the first place had set the whole ball rolling.

  With enough money to secure them for the rest of their lives, Travis Parker and Charlotte Goode vanished from sight.

  ----------

  Six months later, the quiet Irish village of Ballytona welcomed its newest residents. The couple had passed through a while before on holiday and the locals remembered them warmly.

  The man now walked with a pronounced limp and seemed a little older than before, but happier. The woman seemed softer and more open and when she arrived she was heavily pregnant. It was to be a girl and they had already chosen the name – Amy.

  The couple bought the plot in the village and built a new home, keeping their word to use all local labour. It was a move which endeared them further to the villagers who were quite happy to use different names for two people they remembered dearly.

  MORE BOOKS BY MATT DRABBLE

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  Winner of a prestigious Indie Book of the Day Award

  Tommy, Dixon, McEwen, PJ, and Alison were always a close knit group until Tommy's 12th birthday party. Tragedy strikes when a magic trick goes horribly wrong and a woman lays dead.

  A local magician Albert Trotter is railroaded during a rigged trial and locked away. Forever protesting his innocence and after a vicious assault in prison, he is eventually sent to a mental institution in a catatonic state.

  Now Tommy is 36 and heading home for the first time in over two decades, but he's not alone. Someone is slaughtering the residents of Denver Mills with magic trick themed murders and holding those involved with the Trotter trial in a steely grip of fear.

  Tommy will have to find the strength to bring his old friends together as secrets and lies are exposed throughout the small

  town of Denver Mills.

  Something evil is coming home, and they're bringing a whole new bag of tricks.

  "The perfect slasher novel, someone make the movie! 10/10" SCARYMINDS.COM

  "This will serve to excite and thrill gore fans"

  THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY

  "A suspenseful, on the edge of your sit, thrill ride. A great read that will leave you sleeping with the light one!"

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  GATED

  A UK & US Horror Chart Top 10 Best Seller

  Full Moon Awards 2014 Horror Book of the Year

  Michael and Emily are a happy and contented English couple, a writer and a school teacher. Their lives are complete when Emily falls pregnant, however their dreams are shattered one cold winter night by a car accident that robs them of their happiness.

  To overcome their loss they up stick and move to Eden Gardens, a US gated community that offers "Heaven on Earth and Twice as Nice". The people are warm and friendly and welcome them with open arms. The town is a beautiful throwback to a bygone age, where the sun always shines and the sky's always blue.

  As they settle into their new perfect lives, the circle is complete when Emily falls pregnant. The town is perfect, the weather is perfect and their lives are perfect. But are the stares from their neighbours a little too intense, is the town a little too interested in their happy news,

  and is Eden all that it seems.

  They are about to find out that paradise comes at a cost, and when you sign a lease, you should always check the fine print.

  "This book is a page turner. An absolute thriller that keeps the reader engaged to the very last page." - I READ A BOOK ONCE.COM

  "I cannot praise this book enough. It is one of those books that stays with you long after you have read it the imagery is that powerful." SOOZY'S HORROR PAGE

  "The description in this book is amazing, it's like he has pulled it out of his head and right into the book. I'd definitely recommend reading it." REBBIE REVIEWS

  "An eerie and sinister plot that draws you in from the start. A book I can recommend to all readers for the love of Horror and thrillers." LYNELLE CLARK

  "Surprises are in store, and good ones. Think along the sadistic lines of John Saul and VC Andrews. Not everyone is getting out of this story alive." - EXAMINER.COM

  GATED II: Ravenhill Academy

  It has been 10 years since the events in the small picturesque town of Eden. Lives were forever altered as two newcomers found the courage to peek behind the curtain and bring Tolan Christian's reign to a violent end as the town burned around them.

  No-one was more
affected than Sarah-Jane Mears. The once bubbly ball of good nature is now a shadow of the former woman she used to be. After travelling to try and find a new home she has eventually settled in Northern England. She has taken a teaching position at Ravenhill Academy, an exclusive private school.

  But now there is a new student who has just transferred. A young American boy who is strangely familiar and oddly charismatic. As the school breaks for the Christmas holidays the harsh winter weather has cut them off from the outside world. Sarah is starting to learn that Ravenhill is an old building seemingly with a life and an energy of its own, one that is slowly stirring.

  She is going to realise that not all lessons are learnt in the classroom and that some secrets won't stay buried.

  "Gated II: Ravenhill Academy is as good a suspense thriller as any written by the big name authors. Indeed, it could serve as the Indie Publishing Poster Child" READERS' FAVORITE

  "If you read Gated & loved it, then I know you will enjoy this book. The ending leaves us with an opening for a third book which I'm sure is what you want!" HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS

  ASYLUM – 13 TALES OF TERROR

  A US Horror Chart #5 Best Seller

  Voted #5 on The Horror Novel Review’s Top 10 Books of 2013

  & a 2014 Readers Favorite Gold Medal Winner

  Blackwater Heights is a building with a long dark history, some of it is well known but more is shrouded in myth and legend. None more so than that of its founding father Horace Whisker.

  Martin Parcell is an ex-journalist with shattered dreams of an author's career. Sidelined through a car crash's injuries, he finds himself forced through governmental austerity measures having to take a custodians position at a private mental health hospital. A writer with undoubted talent, but an author without a story.

  He begins his new job deep in depression and drowning under waves of his lost dreams. On his first night he meets Jimmy, his elderly supervisor who has spent most of his life within the hospital walls. Jimmy is nearing retirement age and desperate to rest his weary bones. Jimmy offers Martin a way out for both of them, access to the background histories and stories of the hospital's patients.

  A collection of 13 tales from the darkly disturbed minds of the residents of Blackwater Heights.

  As the long night unwinds, Martin finds himself deeply troubled as the tales unfold before him and threaten to drag him down into their insanity.

  "Matt Drabble is nothing short of a genius when it comes to painting a picture of his characters. This novel was sensational! I started reading and couldn't stop" LITTLE BLOG OF HORROR

  "Consistently very, very strong like Stephen King, or Clive Barker, there's simply no telling what the man will deliver in a package of this nature" HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS

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  "Turn down the lights, turn off the TV and cuddle up with these stories tonight - talk about being afraid of the dark!" BOOK FIDELITY

  THE TRAVELLING MAN

  The small desert town of Granton is a typical slow boiling pot of unfulfilled hopes and dreams. Every hard working day is much like any other here where little ever changes.

  Sheriff Cassie Wheeler runs a tight ship in the tradition of her late father. There is little serious crime to trouble her department, save for the local miners' occasional rowdiness after payday.

  But Granton has its share of secrets hiding behind twitching curtains and small town folks often have the biggest of ambitions.

  Now the long dusty road into town has brought with it a stranger. A man of elegance calling himself Gilbert Grange has arrived. He brings with him a bag full of dreams and a silver tongue of promise.

  He can give you whatever you desire, all you have to do is sign

  on the dotted line.

  The residents of Granton are about to discover that dreams can come at a terrible price, and you should always be careful what you wish for.

  "If you are looking for a classic tale of horror then you'll never ever be disappointed in Matt Drabble's writing. He knows creepy and he writes it very well." SAGE ADDERLEY

  "Its dark subject matter, creepy terrain, a highly developed and complex cast of characters, and a thundering crescendo all make for a spectacular novel of horror and suspense" HOGWASH

  "If you're a fan of Stephen King's Needful Things then you have to get this book" Zombie Girl Shambling Blog

  AFTER DARKNESS FALLS

  VARIOUS VOLUMES

  10 tales of terror & the macabre

  A new horror anthology collection,

  look out for future volumes

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  VOLUME ONE

  VOLUME TWO