Knowles had waited up for him, listening equipment set up in a suitcase in front of him. They had decided to use the suitcase as it could be quickly hidden if any neighbour came knocking. The others were all asleep.
“Well?”
Carruthers didn’t say anything. He went to the fridge and took out a beer bottle.
“What are you doing? It’s two thirty!”
Carruthers popped the top of the lager and sat down heavily. He took a long swig and finally met his sergeant’s eyes.
“I saw Jack Stadler.”
“What? You fucking what?”
“I put the bug in the living room. When I came out he was at the top of the stairs.”
“Jesus Christ, Sam.”
“I swear, Knowles, that I did not make a sound in that house.”
Knowles trusted his men: it was, after all, why he had chosen these four. “So what the fuck happened then?”
“I don’t know. He was there staring at me, but it was weird, mate.”
“Explain weird.” Knowles opened a beer of his own. Fuck it. It’s late and I’ve got a seriously worried man here.
“It was clockwork. I put the dog out, put the bugs in place, nothing, not a sound. No creaking doors, floorboards, nothing. But there he was. He must have ears like a bat.”
Carruthers took a big gulp which emptied his beer. “Then he set his dog on me.” Except that wasn’t a dog. And you know it. It was something else. Something just wrong.
“I thought you said you put the dog to sleep.”
“I did. They must have another one, and this was a big dog.” He sighed. “Don’t look at me like that, it was dark and it was a really big dog.”
“Did anyone see you come in here?”
Carruthers shook his head. “I went into the fields and along. Nobody came out of the house after me.”
“Good. Then we can continue. We’re not compromised on our first fucking night.”
“Stadler, Knowles, he’s-”
“What?”
“He’s crazy. The way he looked at me.”
Knowles waited. He knew the big man was trying to find the words.
“Do you remember in Afghan? Those children in the mountains after the shooting?”
Knowles remembered all too clearly. He wished he didn’t. After the ambush, families had come out and laughed at them. The children were almost feral and they had wild eyes: it was more than being high on the adrenaline rush; the children looked crazy.
“That’s exactly what he looked like. It scared me Knowles, really scared me. Made me wonder what exactly the brass are not telling us.”
3
“What do you mean there are no available units?” Katie said exasperated. “My husband has just scared a burglar off – what if he is still around?”
“I understand your frustration Mrs Stadler, but all our available units are dealing with other incidents,” the dispatcher said, her voice deliberately calm, but nevertheless doing a great job of winding Katie up.
“So what are we supposed to do now?”
“Lock all your doors, check your windows and go to bed. A unit will be with you first thing.”
“We have a two day old baby here,” she hissed.
“There are no available units right now. I can send one as soon as they become available, but I can’t guarantee a time.”
“So we wait up and hope that someone turns up?”
“Not hope, Mrs Stadler, someone will be there, I just can’t guarantee a time. I’m very sorry, but there is nothing I can do.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“I will pass your comments to my watch commander, Mrs Stadler. All I can do is apologise.”
“Send a squad car in the morning,” Katie said and hung up. At that moment she would have given anything to have a handset that you could actually slam down. Pressing a button firmly in anger just doesn’t give the same feel.
“Calm down,” Jack said. “You’ll wake Josh.”
True to form, Josh was now asleep on Jack’s shoulder. Jack stroked his back and kissed the soft hair on his head. Jack focused on him so he didn’t have to think about what exactly had happened earlier.
Katie took one look at Josh and all the anger left her face. “You’re right. If I take him up, will you check all the windows and doors?”
“Of course,” Jack said handing him over. She went upstairs and Jack locked the back door, engaging the double lock that they had not used since moving to Huntleigh two years ago. A hand on Ginny’s side confirmed she was still breathing and then he checked every downstairs window.
He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the glazing of the front door and stared at himself for a moment. What did happen? More memories were coming back, but they made no sense.
Running downstairs on all fours? How the hell did I do that?
He climbed the stairs on two shaky legs and got into bed. Sleep was a long time coming.
4
Knowles listened to Katie’s phone call to the police. He heard her describe how a tall man in black had come into the house and poisoned the dog. Interesting that she only mentioned ‘the dog’, like there was only one. He smirked as the dispatch officer told her that no units would be available until morning. If Carruthers had left any footprints in the Stadlers’ garden, they would be covered by morning. The rain had turned into a downpour.
He was now alone in the kitchen. A lamp lit the room softly and he held a paperback novel in one hand. If anyone looked through a window they would see a man with headphones reading a book. Of course, no one in their right mind would be up at this time, but you never knew who was watching in a small community.
He kept thinking about Carruthers’ tale of Jack Stadler looking at him with pure hatred. Carruthers had been right: exactly what did brass know about this? What had they got themselves into?
He’d double checked the file. The Stadlers were listed as having one dog, a Labrador and Spaniel cross. He’d thought that meant it was a small dog and Google confirmed it. At best, it was a medium size dog, something much smaller than an Alsatian. Also, Carruthers had said that he’d sprayed the dog and that this was something else. What did that mean? Something else: like what exactly?
The Stadlers’ file had been updated on line twelve hours ago to include their baby son, called Josh. How could the brass know that information but not that the Stadlers had bought themselves a huge dog?
They also now had pictures of Katie Stadler and more of Jack. They had information on their friends: a small but tight knit group. It seemed that the Stadlers had taken some time to settle here following their move from London. They were well liked without being popular and none of their friends were ‘proper Devon folk’.
Knowles had some recognition of that. Growing up English in a small village in Wales meant he’d never felt part of the community. His parents, when they were alive, saw the same group of friends every week. The routine of it all had numbed him completely.
Whatever you said about the army - once you survived basic - routine, it was not.
Chapter 9
1
Jack woke with the same sick feeling in his stomach that he had gone to sleep with. He got out of bed, disappointed that his legs were still shaking, and went down to the kitchen. Ginny looked up at him, tail wagging furiously, eyes bright. No lasting ill affects there then. He ate a bowl of cereal and drank a cup of tea, scalding his mouth as he did so. Next, toast which he demolished in a couple of bites. He was rattling through a cupboard when Katie came into the room.
“You going to say morning?”
“Sorry, felt a bit sick, food has sorted me right out though.” He smiled at her. “Josh asleep?”
“Yeah, I just put him down when I heard you get up. He’s an angel really. I’m sure the sleepless nights will kick in, but he only woke once last night after-” She didn’t need to finish the sentence.
“So, he’s asleep, we’re alone, you fancy-”
“No chance.” Katie said, and winced herself at how harsh it sounded. “Sorry. I’m still a little fragile down there.” She unnecessarily pointed as she said that, making Jack smile. He hugged her and made them both fresh coffee.
“We got a plan for today?” he asked when they were sitting in the living room.
“Wait for the police, then see what time it is. I’m going to take Gins to the vets too.”
“Ok. Fancy a trip to the pub? Get some food, show him off a bit?”
She looked worried for a second, but then nodded. “It’d be good to take him out for a bit. I’d like some fresh air too.”
“Great. We should make the most of this week, I’m back in work on Monday.” They had discussed how long his paternity leave should be. He was entitled to two weeks, but the second week was statutory pay and it wasn’t worth it. It would be half term in another two weeks, so it didn’t really matter anyway.
“You could take a couple of sick days as well you know. You did have a big fall.”
“Yeah but I’m fine.” Apart from whatever the hell happened last night. “That Doctor Baxter said so.”
“You don’t know what damage you might have done to yourself. Do you have flashbacks?” She paused. “To the cave, I mean.”
He shook his head. “No. Weird dreams more than anything.” She looked at him quizzically. “I kept dreaming I was running around on all fours.”
She laughed. “That’s not weird Jack. Turning into a fish and cycling to the moon is weird.”
He grinned too. Out loud it seemed absurd that he was worried. Except you saw the burglar run away scared.
-and holding a sheep in his powerful jaws, feeling the warm blood squirt into his mouth as he bit its head off-
Jack ran for the stairs and just made it to the toilet as his breakfast splattered into the pan. He heaved until nothing came out and, just for good measure, he heaved again.
2
Meyers felt his stomach churn as he heard Stadler throw up. He lifted the headphones away from his ears and took several quick deep breaths. There were no mics upstairs, so Stadler was clearly being very vocal in his illness. Meyers hated sick more than anything in the world: he hated vomiting himself and he hated clearing it up. His son had been sick for the first two years of his life. An illness that he eventually recovered from, but Meyers’ marriage had not.
Right now, he had every sympathy for Katie Stadler.
He’d been listening to their conversation, wondering if he and Sally had been so dull when they’d been together. Probably. He wasn’t sure what had caused Stadler to be sick, but it could be one of the things that was important, so he kept listening.
Everything could be important.
3
Katie stroked Jack’s back and made soothing noises. Even though the retches were almost biblical in their volume, Josh had stayed blissfully asleep. She was relieved to see that most of the sick had landed in the bowl, but on closer inspection she saw that the floor was pebble dashed.
Jack collapsed to the floor, tears in his eyes. “Damn it,” was all he managed to say, his voice cracked and weak. There was no colour in his face at all.
“Feel better for that?”
“Better out than in,” he mumbled. “Sorry hun.”
“Can I get you anything? Water?”
“Water would be great. Thank you.” He tried to get up and succeeded on the second attempt. He staggered through to the hallway, paused outside their bedroom door, changed his mind and flopped onto the spare bed instead. Katie brought him water moments later and then he heard her cleaning up the mess. He pulled the duvet over his head and hoped that sleep would give him respite from the thoughts reeling through his mind.
He was wrong.
4
Sheep running terrified as he sprinted towards them.
A man with horns on his head pointing at him.
A bone sticking out of his chest.
A lone sheep falling behind its flock.
Pathetic bleating falling on deaf and unsympathetic ears.
The man with horns raising an enormous sword above his head.
The sheep stumbling as he hit it side on.
A dark shadow cast in the moonlight: a wolf in amongst the sheep.
The sword coming down, hitting his neck and the world going dark.
5
Jack sat up gasping for breath. What the hell was that all about? But he knew. Deep inside, he knew. Something had happened in that cave, and it wasn’t a good thing. He had changed.
On the verge of hyperventilating, Jack picked a spot on the ceiling and stared at it, concentrating on his breathing only. He felt his heart slow and his breathing came back under control. He felt his neck to reassure himself that his head was still attached and breathed a sigh of relief despite himself.
Jesus, that was one dream. Something in there had felt real and he didn’t know what to do about it. The man did not have horns on his head, he had been wearing a headdress. Other people had been in the cave, all kneeling, all wearing skins and furs of various animals. Despite the kneeling, they were all looking at him, terror clear in their eyes. He had laughed as the sword fell.
Jack closed his eyes, trying to get a grip on the images. What had he seen? The execution of the creature he had fallen on? So, what? Now he was possessed by the spirit of the dead animal? He chuckled to himself. Nonsense, just nonsense. Except-
Had he eaten one – or two – of Frank’s sheep? The very thought almost sent him running to the toilet again, but he forced the bile back down. He almost relished the taste of the bile compared to the imagined taste of the sheep’s raw flesh. Almost.
He got out of bed cautiously and went downstairs. He sat on a sofa with a heavy thump. Katie was feeding Josh. She had her top off and held Josh with one hand and a trashy chick-lit book with the other.
“How you feeling?”
“Better,” he said, truthfully. He clicked the remote, waking the TV from standby, and clicked a digital radio station.
“No fish biking to the moon this time?” She closed the book and scowled at the TV. “You have to listen to that even when you’re sick?” Josh suckled away, oblivious to the world.
“No. It was really bad.” He started trembling. “The dream, not the music.”
She threw a nursing blanket at him, causing Josh to come away. He looked agitated for a minute until she soothed him. Jack wrapped himself in the blanket.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked. He paused for so long that she thought he didn’t.
“I was a wolf. I ate some sheep, but a man dressed as the Devil cut off my head.” He hadn’t been sure he was going to tell her until the words came out. Dressed like the figure on the plinth. Not an altar: a sacrificial table. The wolf had been sacrificed to the Devil.
She looked at him, expecting more, then they both burst out laughing. “You weren’t even asleep that long. Maybe your mind is making links to Frank’s sheep.”
Oh, it’s linking alright. That connection has well and truly been made.
“Yeah, maybe.”
6
On a pad next to the suitcase of listening equipment, Meyers wrote ‘Sheep? WTF?’
This really is a bizarre assignment. He continued to listen.
7
“Did I tell you he came round?”
“Who, Frank?”
“Yeah. After his first sheep had been killed, he came round and accused me of letting Ginny out to do it. Said he’d shoot her if she came on his land.”
Katie’s mouth dropped open. “He said what?”
Jack nodded grimly. “I told him that if he threatened my dog again I’d rip his head off.”
Katie stared at her husband with utter shock on her face. He had never threatened to hurt anyone in the five years they’d been together. “Jack!”
“I know. Crazy huh? He really pissed me off though. As if I’d let Ginny get one of his sheep. What a prick.”
“Jack!”
/>
“Well.”
They were silent for a moment, then Katie started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“You. I don’t think you’ve even hit a wall in anger and you go threatening a man who is twice as big as you!”
“He’s not twice as big as me,” Jack said, smiling despite how he felt. “Maybe one and a half times.”
She stopped laughing almost as quickly as she started. “Oh my God, Jack, do you think it was him in here last night? Do you think he poisoned Ginny?”
“I thought that this morning, but I’m not sure.” No last night was something else. Something bad.
“Yeah, but if he’s lost animals-”
“True, but Ginny’s ok isn’t she? If it had been him, I think,” he said, “if it had been him, she’d be dead.”
8
Meyers wrote “Frank – farmer? Psycho?” on the pad. At least Carruthers would be relieved that they were already blaming someone for the break-in. They’d all given him some stick for getting caught, and Carruthers had laughed it off. It had all seemed a little false to Meyers though - he could tell that something was really bothering Carruthers.
He’d eventually told them about the big dog, so they were all at least fore-warned. Knowles had made Carruthers go with Jonesey and Scarlet to help him take his mind off things. They were all on Dartmoor, blasting a trail on hired mountain bikes. Knowles had gone to a nearby town to get supplies, leaving Meyers to do the listening. Things had got a lot more interesting since they’d started talking about psycho farmers and threats.
It was his kind of conversation.
9
Katie laid Josh on his bouncy chair and let his head loll gently to one side. His eyes glazed over as she watched and then he was fast asleep.
The Original's Return (Book 1) Page 6