The room was gloomy, despite the windows, and dark shadows lived at the edges and bloomed in the corners. Indigo felt around and found a string hanging from the ceiling. He tugged it and the space filled with light.
It was a single room, a vast, largely unfurnished space. A desk bearing a computer and a couple of monitors was positioned to the right of the door and a work bench and tools sat at the far end. What held his attention, however, was the tableau in the middle of the floor; he couldn’t take his eyes off it. Dazed, he stepped to one side and Monkeyboy and JacktheRiffer followed him in. Too late, Indigo turned and tried to shield JacktheRiffer from the sight.
JacktheRiffer was shaking his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘That can’t be right. It can’t be. Oh, dear Christ, it can’t be.’
Indigo put his hands on JacktheRiffer’s shoulders and turned him away from the scene.
‘Don’t look, mate. Nothing good can come from you seeing that. Let it be.’
JacktheRiffer’s his legs gave way and he crumpled to the floor, too shocked and horrified to cry.
‘Holy fuck,’ said Monkeyboy, gaping in horror at the tableau. ‘How on earth could he do all this without us knowing?’ He took a step forward. ‘Although at least we know where they all are, now.’
‘I wish I didn’t,’ said JacktheRiffer. ‘I could have lived my whole life without ever having seen this and I wouldn’t have minded.’ He shook his head, sickened and yet unable to look away. ‘Look what the fuck he did to them! He played with them, he … he fucking displayed them.’
‘He’s gone for their weaknesses,’ observed Indigo. ‘Technogeek. He spent a lot of time on his computer, so he’s taken his eyes out and replaced them with webcams.’ Technogeek was at the right of the display, seated in an armchair and with webcams inserted into his eye sockets and the end of a skewer sticking out of his ear. The side of his head was caked with blood, and his throat had been mutilated, his windpipe pulled loose.
‘That’s because of him striking that lad in the throat,’ said Monkeyboy, as realisation dawned.
In the centre stood a cross, a big wooden cross, and Reaperman was fixed to it in a parody of the Crucifixion. JunkieScum was at the foot of the cross. She was propped up against it, a needle stuck in her arm and a doll protruding from her ripped-open belly.
‘I’m sure that all means something,’ said Monkeyboy.
‘What he’s done to Technogeek would suggest so,’ said Indigo.
‘Any clues on Reaperman?’ said Monkeyboy.
‘He helped his wife to die; he played God, and he was going to do the same here,’ said Indigo.
‘What about JunkieScum?’ said Monkeyboy. ‘I’m guessing the needle is drug-related, but I don’t know about the doll.’
‘Let’s get the fuck out of here and not come back,’ said Indigo. ‘Agreed?’
‘I just want to scout round before we go,’ said Monkeyboy. He went over to the desk and looked at the computer; the monitors were blank and shaking the mouse didn’t wake anything up. He moved into the shadowy corners of the room. Further back, under a sheet, he found a motorbike. He figured that would be for SpeedKing. There was a guitar, doubtless intended for JacktheRiffer. Then he found a noose, and his mouth went dry. He suspected he knew who that would be for. He hurried back to the others.
‘Seen enough?’ asked Indigo.
Monkeyboy looked like it was taking all his self-control not to bolt out of there at high speed. He nodded, face pale in the harsh glare of the overhead light.
‘What did you see?’ asked JacktheRiffer.
‘Just some shit. Machines, tools, stuff, you know. Nothing, really.’
‘If you say so. Come on, give me a hand here and let’s get the fuck out of this place.’
Indigo and Monkeyboy took an arm each and helped JacktheRiffer to his feet.
‘Will I put the light out?’ asked Monkeyboy.
‘No, leave it. Let the fucker know we’ve found his sick little gallery,’ answered Indigo. They shut the door behind them and moved as quickly as they could down both flights of stairs, then back along the short corridor to JacktheRiffer’s room.
‘Get his stuff together,’ said Indigo. ‘You can’t stay here,’ he said to JacktheRiffer by way of explanation. ‘We’ll put you in with one of the others. No one stays on his or her own again after this.’
‘Caz wasn’t on her own and she still got taken,’ said JacktheRiffer.
‘Even so …’ said Indigo.
‘You can come in with me,’ said Monkeyboy, and they gathered up JacktheRiffer’s things and dropped them off in Monkeyboy’s room before heading back downstairs.
SpeedKing, Mayfly and BlackWidow were waiting for them in the front sitting room. ‘Where’s DeadManWalking?’ asked Indigo.
‘We don’t know. We can’t get an answer and his room’s locked,’ said SpeedKing. ‘We were just waiting for you lot, then we need to find some way of getting in to see what’s up.’
‘They told me about Caz,’ BlackWidow said, touching JacktheRiffer’s arm. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘It gets worse,’ said Indigo. He told them briefly about what they had found upstairs. He didn’t go into too many details. There’d be time enough for that.
‘DeadManWalking wasn’t with them, though?’ asked BlackWidow.
‘No, there was no sign of him,’ said Indigo.
‘Then there’s maybe a chance.’
‘Can anybody pick locks?’ asked Monkeyboy. ‘No? Then I reckon we need to use brute force to get in.’
‘What about kicking the door in?’ said Mayfly. ‘It works on the telly.’
‘Aye, but I’m not sure it would with a real door,’ said Indigo ‘These ones are pretty solid.’
‘Does that trick with a credit card work?’ said SpeedKing. ‘You know, the one where you sweep one down the crack in the door and it swings open.’
‘I doubt it, mate,’ said Indigo. ‘Far too bloody easy.’
‘Did you see any keys in the basement office when you searched it?’ asked Mayfly. ‘There might be spares, or a master key, maybe? They surely don’t put the only ones they possess in the rooms.’
‘Good point,’ said Indigo. ‘I’ll go and look. Who’s coming with me?’
‘I will,’ said SpeedKing.
‘Wait a minute, boys’ said BlackWidow. ‘Remember Occam’s razor.’
‘What’s that?’ said Mayfly.
‘The most straightforward solution to a problem is usually the best. You might find a master key if you go and look, but let’s try a more direct route first.’ She headed out of the sitting room and the others followed. Moments later they were gathered outside of DeadManWalking’s door.
‘Now what?’ said Monkeyboy.
‘Would one of you gentlemen like to put your shoulder to the door?’ said BlackWidow.
Monkeyboy took a few steps away from it, then launched himself at the door. He bounced off it and SpeedKing caught him as he rebounded. The odds had been against him, he was the smallest of the men in the group.
‘My turn,’ SpeedKing said, and he, too, charged the door. It bounced in the frame but didn’t open.
‘Now me,’ said JacktheRiffer. His attempt had the same outcome. ‘I guess we go and try and find that key,’ he said.
‘One more go,’ said BlackWidow. ‘My turn.’ She looked at JacktheRiffer and SpeedKing. ‘Come here, one of you get either side of me. Help me keep my balance.’
She put her arms out to the sides and the men looked at each other, then grabbed hold of her. BlackWidow raised her foot and slammed her boot against the door, just below the handle. There was the sound of wood splintering. She kicked the door a second time, then a third. The screws securing the strike plate to the jamb tore out of the wood, and the door flew open.
‘Man, that was impressive,’ said Monkeyboy.
BlackWidow smiled. ‘Reckon you boys loosened it for me,’ she said.
Inside the room the bed was unmade, but other than that,
nothing seemed out of place; there was no sign of DeadManWalking.
‘Look,’ said Monkeyboy. The bathroom door was closed and an envelope had been taped to it. ‘What’s that?’
‘Oh no,’ said BlackWidow, and she sat down on the bed.
Monkeyboy reached for the envelope and pulled it free. He opened it and took out the letter it contained, then scanned it quickly. ‘It’s a warning,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’ said Mayfly.
Monkeyboy ran a hand over his face. ‘He’s in there, but he wants us to be careful going in.’
‘Is it booby trapped? In case the killer turns up?’ said Indigo.
‘No, mate. DeadManWalking’s killed himself. He wanted to warn us about what we’d find. He says leave him until help arrives if we want, there’s no need for any of us to see him as he is now.’
‘Yes, there is,’ said Indigo.
‘No,’ said Mayfly. ‘We should heed the warning.’
Indigo remembered what had happened when her dad died, how she had ignored his warning not to go into his room, and he hugged her to him.
‘How’s that?’ asked JacktheRiffer. ‘Haven’t you seen enough bodies for one day, mate?’
‘He might be hurt, but not dead,’ said Indigo. ‘We all know how easy it is to get it wrong – let’s face it, that’s why we’re here. We owe it to him to check.’
‘I’ll go,’ said Monkeyboy. ‘I don’t mind.’
The others didn’t argue; no one was in a hurry to see any more gore. Once he was inside the bathroom, Monkeyboy pushed the door closed behind him and took in the scene. DeadManWalking was lying in the bath in his pyjamas, surrounded by pink water. He had rolled up the sleeves of his pyjama jacket and opened a vein, had cut lengthwise rather than across, and had sat in warm water to help the blood to flow. It was obvious that he had been determined to succeed in his attempt. This was no cry for help, this was the work of a man who had decided he had reached the end of his life. There seemed little point, but Monkeyboy checked for a pulse; he wasn’t surprised when there wasn’t one. He backed out of the room and shut the door behind him.
‘He’s dead,’ he said. ‘I’ll keep this safe until some form of authority turns up.’ He pocketed the letter.
BlackWidow moaned softly. ‘I worried that he might do something like this,’ she said, ‘but I didn’t know what to do about it.’
‘You couldn’t have done anything about it,’ said Indigo. He squeezed her shoulder. ‘I know it’s hard, but at least he went on his own terms.’ He grimaced. ‘And let’s face it, if things had gone according to plan, there would be even fewer of us left by now than there currently are.’
They left the room and pulled the door to behind them; there was no way to lock it.
Chapter 30
They went downstairs and gathered in the front sitting room. Indigo was quiet, lost in his own thoughts. The room they had found upstairs had unnerved him more than he cared to say. It wasn’t that anyone could be expected to remain unmoved by such a discovery, just that now was not the time to give in to the fear it induced. They were all still in danger, and despite being watchful, three of them were dead – four, if you counted Reaperman, although he had been killed before any of them knew that fear was an option.
It’s ridiculous, thought Indigo. We all came here to die, and yet now that we’re being picked off in such an arbitrary manner, I want us to survive. He reckoned he wasn’t alone in that thought, either. Then there was Mayfly. He had begun to admit to himself that Mayfly changed everything for him. She gave Indigo’s life hope and purpose. On the anniversary of the deaths of his family, the day he, too, had expected to die, he acknowledged that he wanted to live. He thought of JunkieScum, propped up against that wooden cross with the needle in her arm and the doll baby halfway out of her empty belly, thought of JacktheRiffer, brought to his knees by first, her disappearance and then the discovery of the bodies. What if Mayfly had been taken? What would the killer have done to her? He saw her corpse dressed up, Miss Havisham-like, in a fusty old wedding dress, and he shivered, chilled to the bone. Then he remembered Scaredycat: she hadn’t been there, posed with the others. Was she still in her room? Why is she different? he wondered. Is it because she was the victim in her life? He shook his head to clear the thoughts that were crowding in and tuned back in to what people were saying.
‘I think we should try to get to the nearest town,’ said Monkeyboy. ‘I know it’s only twenty-four hours until help is meant to arrive, but we can’t be sure how many of us will still be alive by then.’ He scratched his head. ‘I know I came here to die, but I don’t want to die like … like they did. I don’t want to end up in that room as part of some horrific display.’
‘None of us wants that, mate,’ said SpeedKing. ‘I haven’t seen it for myself, I know, but I don’t feel I need to. To be honest, I don’t want to.’
‘I might need you to,’ said Monkeyboy. ‘Or at least to come into the room with me. You don’t need to look at it.’
‘Why? Why would we need to go up there at all?’
Monkeyboy sucked in air and blew it out again. ‘Because,’ he said, ‘there’s a motorbike up there and it’s just occurred to me that it might represent a way out of this place. I don’t know enough about them to know if it’s worth trying to get it down the stairs.’
‘But if it works …’
‘Exactly. You and a pillion passenger could ride off and look for help. That would be far better than us all having to walk.’
‘Right,’ said SpeedKing, ‘come on, then.’ He stood up, ready to go.
‘Woah, just a minute there,’ said BlackWidow. ‘What if the killer’s there?’
‘Don’t forget, we left a light on,’ said Indigo. ‘If he has been there, he knows we’ve found it.’
‘Right, well, we’ll have to be very careful, then,’ said Monkeyboy. ‘SpeedKing and I will go into the room. Indigo, you and JacktheRiffer come with us and stand guard where the hidden stairway turns back on itself on the second floor, to make sure no one creeps up on us.’
‘What about us?’ said Mayfly, flicking a glance at BlackWidow.
‘You two stay by the staircase on the first floor and make sure no one comes up from the basement. The door down there was locked, when we were down there yesterday, but we can’t be too careful.’
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Does everyone have a knife?’
‘No, but now I want one,’ said BlackWidow. ‘I want something, anyway.’
‘I’ll come with you while you get a weapon,’ said JacktheRiffer. The two of them headed towards the kitchen and the other four waited in the hall.
BlackWidow walked over to the magnetic knife rack on the wall. ‘I think I’ll take this,’ she said, selecting the poker-like steel. She tried a few jabs with it.
‘That looks effective,’ said JacktheRiffer.
BlackWidow opened a drawer. ‘And this.’ She selected a steak knife and held it in her other hand. ‘That should do.’
They rejoined the others and then they all headed up the stairs together. When they were in JacktheRiffer’s room, Indigo felt around on the wall for the catch that would release the hidden door.
‘Bloody hell,’ said Mayfly, as the panel swung open, ‘that’s unbelievable!’
The six of them moved through the doorway and made their way to the staircase.
‘You two stay here and we’ll go further up,’ said Indigo.
The four men started climbing the stairs. ‘Right,’ Indigo said, as they reached the turning point in the staircase on the second floor, ‘be as quick as you can, you two.’
‘Count on it,’ said SpeedKing. As he followed Monkeyboy up the final flight, his face was grim and there was a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.
Monkeyboy led the way through the door at the top of the stairs. ‘Keep your eyes right,’ he advised SpeedKing as they entered the large room. ‘That way, you shouldn’t have to see it.’
‘Than
ks, I’ll try,’ he said, but he was aware how morbid sights had a way of drawing the eyes, like rubberneckers cruising past the site of a road accident.
‘Well, the light’s still on,’ said Monkeyboy. ‘That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been here, of course.’
‘Or isn’t here right now.’
Monkeyboy took a deep breath then stepped further into the room. He quickly scanned around, looking for the killer, trying not to see the other things that were there, seeing nothing that looked different from the way it had looked the last time he had been in that place.
‘Okay,’ he said to SpeedKing. ‘Come on.’
SpeedKing followed Monkeyboy across the floor to where the bike stood, trying his best to keep his eyes down. Monkeyboy whipped the sheet off and SpeedKing ran his hands over the bike.
‘This is a beauty. I used to have one just like it.’
‘Will it go?’
‘Well, the key’s in the ignition. Let’s see if there’s any juice in her.’ SpeedKing turned the key and waited for the gauges to show information. ‘Tank’s about dry,’ he said, ‘but it might still be worth a try. There are some jerry cans of petrol in the shed; might give us enough to get to civilisation … What do you think?’
‘I think we should hurry up and get out of here,’ said Monkeyboy. ‘The hair on the back of my neck is starting to stand on end.’
‘Okay,’ said SpeedKing. ‘The stairs are likely to be the trickiest, because of the weight of the bike. I’ll squeeze alongside and hold on to the handlebars and you walk behind. Hold on to the sissy bar.’
He kicked the bike off its stand and started to wheel it across the floor towards the door. Distracted by his actions, he forgot not to look at the tableau in the centre of the room and stopped dead at the sight.
‘Jesus Christ, what the fuck?’ he said. ‘That’s … that’s … disturbed.’ The word didn’t do justice to the sight before him. His eyes played across the display as he counted the bodies and reckoned them against the lives of the people he had known.
The Last Weekend Page 15