by Colin Garrow
Suzi found a garden seat and heaved it across the lawn to where I was standing. 'There you go,' she said, with a flourish.
Climbing on top, I squeezed through the gap and down onto the workbench that stood under the window. It was a very dark room and it took me a minute for my eyes to adjust. Suzi followed, clambering in after me. One either side of the pantry were shelves laden with food. A few feet away was the way out.
I tried the handle. It turned easily and I gave the door a gentle push. The pantry opened into the kitchen, where several bottles of wine and a few empty glasses stood on a table. Unwashed plates and dishes were piled up in the sink and a silver platter lay on the draining board next to them. There must have been a party here recently, I thought, gazing around.
Suzi touched my arm and pointed to the door at the other side of the kitchen. From its location, I reckoned it would open out into a main passage that ran from the front door to the back, giving us two possible escape routes.
Easing the door open, I peeked out. Sure enough, we were in a darkened corridor, with a door directly opposite and another one further along. The one straight across must be where the Taylor Twins were. I paused and listened. I could hear Mr Taylor's voice clearly, saying something about the necessary tools for the job. A deeper voice, that reminded me of the creature we'd seen earlier, grumbled a reply but I couldn't make out what he was saying.
Creeping across the hall, I signalled for Suzi to follow. When we were both stood next to the door, I moved a little closer, resting my ear against the cold wood. For a moment, I couldn't hear anything, then an uncomfortably recurrent feeling began to wash over me. I felt my legs stiffen and my chest tighten. My head refused to move and with a growing sense of dread, I swivelled my eyes towards Suzi. If my intention had been to warn her, I wasted my time - she already knew. Her eyes were wide and I could hear her breathing coming in short, sharp rasps.
As the living room door swung open, Suzi took in a lungful of air. She was standing in a position that gave her a clear view of the inside of the room. I swivelled my gaze back and met the eyes of Mr Taylor.
'The proverbial bad penny, Mr Starkey,' he said, giving me a hard stare.
Over his shoulder, I could see the other Mr Taylor - the one with the monk's robe and the deep gravelly voice. But he wasn't the only one in the room. Sitting at either side of the window were two more people - Mr Dangerfield the old taxi driver and our favourite police officer - Sergeant Potter.
Nineteen
Taylor stepped to one side as the man in the robe moved forward. Raising one hand, he paused as if waiting for something. It was more than a little disturbing to be staring into the face of my teacher knowing he couldn't possibly be my teacher. As I watched, his face fell away like a layer of rotten skin and dropped to the floor. At the same moment, his outstretched hand distorted into claw-like fingers, reaching out towards me. But it was his face that commanded my attention. The red eyes shone and his skull glowed white as his mouth opened and a deep growl filled the air.
The claw hand twitched and I sensed my chest relaxing. I could move again. But my feet had a mind of their own and I felt myself gliding through the open door. I could feel, rather than hear, Suzi moving in close behind me. When the pair of us were in the centre of the room, two chairs were placed behind us and we found ourselves sitting down meekly like a couple of radio-controlled automatons.
Able to move my head, I glanced at Mr Dangerfield. Tied to his chair with a length of clothesline, he looked like he'd seen a ghost - his face was ashen and his false teeth jiggled around in his mouth as if they might fall out in fright at any moment.
Sergeant Potter on the other hand, appeared calm and thoughtful. It was obvious he wasn't being held against his will. He was one of them.
It was Potter who spoke first.
'Couldn't leave it alone, could you? I gave you every opportunity to stay out of it - even went to the trouble of hiring two goons to pretend to kidnap you, but no. You had to keep at it. How the heck you managed to avoid being buried alive, I'll never know.' He laughed cruelly. 'But you won't avoid it next time. And it'll be me that has to come up with an explanation for your poor mother, and her barely a year without your dad. How's she going to cope when we tell her the awful news about her only son? Aye, should've left it alone.'
I looked at Taylor (the one without the skull-face). 'So you are a demon, then?'
He waved a hand at Potter and Skull Man. 'We're all demons in one way or another, Jeff.' He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked back and forth in front of us. 'I asked you to do one simple thing - to find Jimmy Brick. And what'd you do? The pair of you take yourselves down to Nightmare Alley and find a body.'
He was right in front of me now. Leaning forward so our noses were almost touching, he hissed, 'Harry McSpawn poked his nose in and got what he deserved. If you two heroes hadn't turned up he'd have been discovered by Constable Stewart when she did her rounds the next morning. Heart attack, case closed, end of story.' He closed his eyes for a moment, then, 'That, my dear boy, is what should have happened.'
I felt a surge of anger course through me. 'Then why the bleedin heck did you send us to look for Jimmy?'
'He's got a point,' muttered Sergeant Potter. 'Would've saved us a lot of clarting about if you'd kept your trap shut.'
Taylor glared at him. 'You were the one who thought Jimmy Brick would drop us all in it. If Jeff had found him, we could've got the tee-shirt back and nobody would've been any the wiser.'
I glanced at Suzi, then looked at Taylor. 'What have the tee-shirts got to do with it?'
Taylor turned towards Mr Dangerfield. 'Tell him, Reggie.'
Mr Dangerfield was shaking so much he could hardly speak. His lips moved but no sound came out. He coughed and tried again. 'It was just a little side-line, that's all. Selling a few cheap shirts. We didn't know they was knocked-off, did we?' He stared at me, his lower lip trembling. 'Me an the wife, we're pensioners. Just tryin to make ends meet, that's all. An it was young Jimmy that told us about that convention thingy - he saw the shirts when he was helping me with the garden. Said they'd go down a treat with horror fans.' He looked up at Taylor. 'That's why I gave him one of the shirts for nothing.'
Taylor walked over to the window and leaned against the sill. 'Yes, well it's all academic now, isn't it?'
'Enough!' The voice was so loud I felt the floor shake.
The demon moved across the room and stood in front of Mr Dangerfield. Lifting his claw hand, he pointed a long sinewy finger at the man's face. Immediately, Mr Dangerfield began to quiver uncontrollably, his chair jiggling around, the legs banging on the floor. A second later, his head fell forward and he was silent.
Lifting both hands as if he were about to conduct a rousing symphony, the demon shuddered and grew several inches, the top of his head almost touching the ceiling.
'Wait,' shouted Mr Taylor. 'Not here, we'll take them to Haggerty's Park.'
The hooded one whirled round, his eyes on fire. 'Haaargh...'
The finger was pointing at Mr Taylor. The teacher's face began to shake and he stumbled backwards against the wall. A second later, his whole body seemed to glow as if a fire was raging inside his chest. There was a gurgling noise and Mr Taylor dropped to the ground. Or rather, what was left of him did.
Suzi screamed. I gulped and Sergeant Potter jumped up.
'What the bleedin hell you doing?' He strode forward but the demon lashed out, throwing him against the wall.
'Finish it. Now.' The voice was so loud I thought my eardrums would shatter. Clamping my eyes shut, I waited for whatever vile terror was about to be unleashed upon us.
But nothing happened.
I opened my eyes. Suzi was staring at Potter, who was clinging to the wall like his life depended on it. The demon was nowhere to be seen.
A squelching sound was coming from the squidgy mess on the floor that had recently been Mr Taylor. I blinked. The mess was moving. A second later, the whole lo
t flew into the air and the teacher appeared in front of us as good as new.
He gave himself a shake and brushed a hand down his jacket. 'You know,' he said, matter-of-factly, 'I really wish he wouldn't do that.'
At which point, I fainted.
When I came to, we were in the back of the lorry again. Thankfully, we weren't tied up this time but I soon realised why - my arms and legs were numb, as if I'd been given some sort of anaesthetic. I glanced at Suzi who was sitting next to me.
'Here's another fine mess,' she muttered.
'Shut your face.' I looked up. The old man from the cottage was sitting opposite us, filling his pipe with tobacco. 'We've had about enough trouble from yous two.' Lighting his pipe, he took a few puffs then got up and stumbled to the little hatch in the back of the driver's cab. I couldn't hear what he was saying but I was pretty sure he wasn't singing our praises.
I leaned closer to Suzi. 'Why are the tee-shirts so important?'
She shivered. 'I don't think we're going to find out now.'
The old man was still talking to the driver. I looked around the truck. There was nothing nearby of any use, though as we couldn't move our arms or legs, it hardly mattered.
A few minutes later, the truck slowed and came to a juddering halt. The old man came over and grabbed my shoulders, hoisting me up. The two men who'd been in the truck the last time appeared at the tailgate and manhandled me onto the ground. Then they got Suzi and sat us together, leaning against one of the tyres.
'Let's not muck it up this time, eh?' said one of them. Kneeling down the two men slid a hand under each of Suzi's armpits, then lifting her up, dragged her towards the cemetery wall.
The old man with the beard stared down at me. 'Bet youn wish yous had kept your noses out now, eh?' He chuckled and stuck his pipe in his mouth. 'Kids. Tch.'
I ignored him and concentrated on my legs. I might have been imagining it, but it felt as though there were some feeling coming back into them. If we could get ourselves moving before they threw us in the grave, we might have a chance, though I had to admit, we'd probably used up all our good luck already.
The other two men came back and picked me up. They carried me to the wall and pushed me over roughly, then picked me up again on the other side and dragged me towards the place where the open grave was.
The feeling in my legs was definitely returning, but would it be soon enough to do me any good? Somehow I doubted it.
When we got to the graveside, Suzi was lying on her back. She gazed up at me as the men sat me down and leant me against a tree trunk. I looked up at the man nearest me. His face was creased up, like he was worried. I wondered if he was having second thoughts.
'Going to kill us, now, are you?' I said in the bravest voice I could muster. 'Throw a load of soil over us and leave us to suffocate, is that it?'
'Shut your face,' said the man, but I could see he was thinking about it. The other one gave him a thump and told him to stop fraternizing with the prisoners.
'Come on then, get it over with, then we can all go home.' The man stared down at me. 'Well, not you two, obviously.'
Picking Suzi up, they lowered her down into the hole, then grabbed hold of me and pushed me in after her. We were lying side by side on the cold earth, the narrow muddy walls of the grave pushing us together. I reached out for her hand. 'Don't worry, Suz, something'll turn up.' I tried to smile but could only manage a grimace.
Suzi was crying now and I shuffled towards her. There was enough feeling in my arms and legs to move around but not enough to climb out of the hole. And anyway, the villains would only push us back down.
A clod of earth dropped onto my legs. Then another. Within a few minutes, both our legs were covered. A shovelful landed on my chest, the dirt going into my mouth. This was it - we really were going to be buried alive.
Then it stopped.
Someone shouted and I could hear people running around above us. I looked at Suzi. 'The cavalry?'
'Not before time,' she said. She blinked rapidly, tears streamed down her face.
Twenty
Maggie Stewart leaned against the reception desk, her arms folded. 'Want another cup?'
I shook my head. Never had hot chocolate taste so good. I glanced at Suzi. Her face was muddy from clambering out of the grave, but she smiled nevertheless.
The two young police officers who'd helped rescue us came back into the room.
'The van's coming from Northfield to pick that lot up, so we'll hang around til that's done.'
'Thanks Bob,' she said. 'Couldn't have done it without you.'
The other man laughed. 'We don't mind - never see any action over there. Nice to get to grips with the bad guys for a change.'
Maggie nodded. 'Well, some of them, anyway.'
The two officers went out the front to wait for the police van.
Maggie leaned forward. 'Questions?'
I drained my cup and pushed it onto the table. 'What about the demon?'
She gave me a sceptical look. 'I doubt he's an actual demon, Jeff...'
'He flippin well is!'
Suzi nodded. 'He made Mr Dangerfield go to sleep and did something to Mr Taylor that sort of killed him then brought him back to life.'
Maggie coughed. 'Well, I'll admit there's a few things we don't understand about this case, but it's in the hands of the Ministry of Protection now, so...'
I sat up straight. 'You mean Mr Beaumont?'
'Yes. It was Mr Beaumont who answered the phone when you called earlier. It seems he and Mrs Hunter have been working undercover at the school for a few years, trying to infiltrate the demon hoard. But as I say, I don't really believe in all that. More likely it's just a gang of villains.'
'But it happened, Maggie,' I said. 'Just like we told you.'
'Perhaps.'
'And Jimmy Brick, what about him?' said Suzi.
'We found Jimmy a few days ago. He'd admitted himself to hospital on Saturday under a false name. Seems he'd been wearing the Devilgate Drive tee-shirt and it had infected him.'
'But he didn't have his tee-shirt,' I said. 'We did.'
'It was a different one - the chemicals hadn't been added when Mr Dangerfield gave him the first one. Jimmy found where Taylor and the others had hidden the rest of the shirts and thought he'd help himself. You didn't look upstairs in the pool hall, did you?'
'No. Potter did.'
'Ah. I imagine he found Jimmy lying on the floor, wearing one of the infected shirts. Jimmy must have realised Mr Dangerfield had stolen some of them. Maybe he thought one more going missing wouldn't be noticed. Anyway, Potter left him there to die, but Jimmy managed to get himself to hospital. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be alive now.'
'But what did they want the tee-shirts for?' said Suzi.
Maggie gave me one of her serious looks. 'They were laced with some sort of chemical that renders the wearer incapable of movement, and eventually, kills them. Presumably, Nathaniel Darke's great, great, grandson, or George Taylor as we now know him, wanted revenge on the town for what they did to his ancestor.'
'But how would he do that?' I said.
Maggie took a breath. 'By killing all the children. There's a horror movie convention this Saturday at the Town Hall. It's my guess they intended to distribute the shirts there.'
'Crumbs,' I muttered.
'The other thing,' added Maggie, staring at the floor, 'is Neville Mole.'
'Is he alright?' I said.
She inclined her head to one side. 'He'll be undergoing psychiatric assessment. Hopefully he'll be back to normal soon.'
'But why didn't they bury him too?' said Suzi.
Maggie licked her lips. 'He's Mr Taylor's son.' She half smiled. 'A chip off the old block, perhaps.'
Suzi took my hand. 'Lucky escape, eh?'
I nodded.
'Right,' said Maggie. 'Time to go home.'
It was weird being at school the next day. It was like everyone suddenly wanted to be our friends. Mr Beaumont took o
ver Mr Taylor's classes and kept giving me and Suzi sly winks. I was dying to ask him about the Ministry of Protection, but I reckoned it would all be top secret.
Jimmy Brick wouldn't return to school for a couple of weeks, by which time it'd be his turn to get all the attention, so me and Suzi made the most of being 'famous' while it lasted. It seemed as if we'd been away for ages, but nothing much had changed - we still got a load of homework to do and we'd still be walking home past Haggerty's Park. The only difference was now we wouldn't be taking short-cuts across the cemetery, though we did stop and watch as the Council diggers filled in the chimneys. If anyone were still alive inside Devilgate Drive, they wouldn't be coming out again.
All in all, it was just another day in Skeleton Cove.
###
I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please take a few moments to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads - it doesn't have to be much, just a few lines about why you liked (or didn't like) the book.
Book #2 in ‘The Skeleton Cove Horror’ series will be available in summer 2017. Also, if you sign up for my mailing list, you'll get access to free stories, new chapters and information about my other writing activities. You'll also be one of the first to be notified when new books are published (details below).
Sincerely,
Colin Garrow
Books by this Author
Books for Children
The Demon of Devilgate Drive
The Architect’s Apprentice
Mortlake
The Devil’s Porridge Gang
The Hounds of Hellerby Hall
The House That Wasn't There
Books for Adults
Death on a Dirty Afternoon
How the World Turns (and Other Stories)
Girlfriend Interrupted (and Other Fictions)