Murder in the Dark Read online

  ‘Because you identify with the hunted, and not the hunter?’

  ‘Perhaps,’ I said. ‘But whether we find ourselves facing a legendary Beast, a human killer, or just a hole with an appetite … Let’s try to save at least one of the people involved, this time.’

  ‘You’re not still brooding over our last case, are you?’ said Penny. ‘It wasn’t your fault everybody died. It was a very tricky case. What matters is you solved the mystery and caught the killers.’

  ‘But not in time to save anyone,’ I said. ‘I’m getting really tired of watching good people die on my watch because I couldn’t solve the mystery fast enough.’

  ‘It’s in the nature of the cases they give us,’ Penny said carefully. ‘They’re always going to be the difficult ones. And it’s a tribute to you that they know they can rely on you to get to the truth of what’s happening.’

  ‘But not always in time to save everyone who needs saving.’

  ‘You can only do what you can do,’ Penny said firmly.

  ‘I can try harder,’ I said.

  ‘You always do, darling.’

  We drove on. It was getting late, and the warmth was going out of the day. Heavy trees lined the road on both sides now. It was like driving through a shadowy green tunnel, and sometimes the longer branches would dip down and trail along the roof and sides of the car, as if checking out what we were. The sky became a much darker blue, with heavy cloud moving slowly but remorselessly in from the east. The turning on to Brassknocker Hill was signposted well in advance, but Penny still waited till the very last moment to send the car screeching round the sharp corner. She slammed down through the gears, put her foot down hard, and the engine roared as we hammered up a steep incline. At least one in three. Penny grinned broadly as she threw the car into the first of many bends, not giving a damn whether there might be anything coming the other way. I sighed resignedly as I was pressed back into my seat by the acceleration.

  ‘It feels like we’re taking off for Mars,’ I said.

  ‘You should know, space boy,’ said Penny. ‘Now guess whether I give a damn. I’m spy girl, off on another secret mission, and I can’t wait to get stuck in!’

  The car’s engine complained loudly as it struggled with the steep climb. The whole chassis shook with the strain; or possibly with outrage at how it was being treated. I was starting to wonder if the car would hold together long enough to get us where we were going. For reasons best known to herself, Penny had chosen to drive one of the more modern models in her collection; a navy-blue Rover 25. Basically just a box on wheels, conspicuously lacking in style, charm or character. But it didn’t half go when Penny put her foot down. Possibly because it was afraid not to.

  ‘What is this fascination of yours for more … mature vehicles?’ I said. If only to take my mind off the prospect of sudden death in an unanticipated collision, and quite possibly a raging fireball.

  ‘Older cars don’t have computers,’ said Penny. ‘Every time a friend of mine tells me their vehicle is in for repairs, it’s never anything mechanical. It’s always the computers. Time was if you had a breakdown you just called the AA, and a nice man in uniform would turn up and fix the problem right there at the side of the road. These days, all they can do is shake their heads and tow you to the nearest garage. Oh, you little shit!’

  She slammed on the brakes. I was thrown forward against my seat belt, and then slammed back in my seat again. We’d just caught up with a much slower-moving car straining to get up the hill. In the wrong gear, from the sound of it. Penny said something very rude, involving a taboo sexual practice that isn’t nearly as much fun as it sounds, and glared venomously at the car in front.

  ‘I hate cars that do thirty miles an hour in a forty limit! And always when there isn’t enough room to overtake!’

  ‘You’ve got that ramming-speed look in your eyes again,’ I said carefully. ‘Do I really need to remind you that spy girls are not supposed to do anything that might get them noticed?’

  ‘And as for people who only do thirty in a fifty zone – It’s clearly marked, you unspeakable moron! – you should be legally entitled to drive them off the road, drag the driver out of the wreckage, and then beat them about the head with a tyre iron until their brains start working. In fact, you should be legally obliged to do it, to help clear out the murkier depths of the gene pool.’

  ‘Breathe, Penny, breathe,’ I said kindly.

  Clearly picking up on the mood of the driver behind him, the car ahead found a different gear and speeded up. Penny stuck close behind it, just to make sure it didn’t suffer a relapse, and we roared up the long winding road together as though the Beast itself was in hot pursuit. Penny was so intent on the driver in front she missed the sign we’d been told to look for, and I had to point it out to her. She stamped on the brakes again, spun the wheel round, and sent the Rover hurtling through the open wooden gate without slowing. The car bumped and skidded across a grassy slope, the rear wheels throwing up heavy divots of earth as the brakes kicked in, until we finally slammed to a halt.

  ‘Next time, I’ll drive,’ I said.

  ‘Over my dead body.’

  ‘That’s what’s worrying me.’

  ‘We’re here, aren’t we?’ Penny peered through the windscreen. ‘There doesn’t seem to be a designated parking area. Or any other vehicles.’

  ‘Let’s just leave the car here,’ I said. ‘Give it a chance to get its breath back. We can walk the rest of the way.’

  Penny shut down the engine with something of a flourish, and a blessed quiet prevailed. The car’s chassis made loud ticking noises as it settled, as if in protest at such brutal treatment, but Penny ignored it. She expected her cars to be able to look after themselves. We got out of the Rover and looked around. The long grassy slope of Brassknocker Hill stretched endlessly down to a valley below, entirely untouched by civilization or even grazing animals, and finally a series of open fields and a deserted railway line. It all seemed very peaceful. Penny moved in close beside me and slipped an arm through mine as we enjoyed the scenery.

  I’ve always liked the countryside. It’s big enough for anyone to get lost in.

  ‘You’d better lock the car,’ I said.

  Penny already had the key fob in her hand, but now she looked at me suspiciously.

  ‘Why? We’re halfway up a hill in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘Just in case,’ I said.

  ‘You think the Beast is going to get in and drive it away?’

  ‘I’ve seen stranger things,’ I said. ‘And so have you.’

  Penny hit the remote on the fob, and all the locks slammed down.

  Then we both looked round sharply, as a loud and hearty voice called out to us. A short, sturdy middle-aged woman was striding down the hill, waving a hand to catch our attention, as though there was a chance we might miss the only moving thing on the landscape. By the time she reached us, she was moving so quickly that she had to dig both heels in hard to stop herself, and then she smiled at both of us in a somewhat overbearing way. She had a broad, determined face under a crop of greying blonde hair, and was wearing a sensible tweed suit and muddy wellington boots. She had the look of a woman who got things done, whether other people liked it or not. She insisted on shaking both of us by the hand, with a frankly masculine handshake.

  ‘Hello, hello!’ she said vigorously, looking back and forth between us as though trying to decide which of us most needed impressing. ‘Ishmael Jones and Penny Belcourt? Correct? Thought so! I’m Professor Bellman. I’ve been put in charge of this mess, for my sins. Call me Professor, it helps keep the others in line. No problem getting here? Good, good … So, you’re the Organization people?’

  Which was not a question I was used to getting from apparent civilians.

  ‘Who told you that?’ I said.

  ‘The Colonel, of course,’ said the Professor.

  I felt I had to raise an eyebrow. ‘You know the Colonel? Not many do.’

>   ‘Just as well,’ said the Professor. ‘Of course, I don’t know the current fellow. He was just a voice on the phone in the middle of the night. All my dealings were with the previous chap. I did some research for the Organization, back in the day.’

  ‘What kind of research?’ said Penny.

  ‘The kind I’m still not allowed to talk about,’ said the Professor.

  ‘That’s the Organization for you,’ I said.

  ‘I thought they’d forgotten all about me,’ said the Professor. ‘But apparently once an asset, always an asset.’

  ‘Not necessarily,’ I said.

  There must have been something in my voice, because Penny quickly decided to cut in.

  ‘Why did the Colonel want you for this job, Professor?’

  ‘I made my reputation doing theoretical work on dimensional doorways,’ said the Professor. ‘Cutting-edge stuff at the time. But, of course, that was years and years ago.’

  I looked at her thoughtfully. The situation had just taken a turn I hadn’t expected.

  ‘And that’s what you think we have here?’

  ‘Could be, could be,’ said the Professor. ‘I’m glad you’ve finally turned up. We could use a fresh pair of eyes, and some new ideas. We’ve been working at this for … Damn me … fourteen hours straight, with absolutely nothing useful to show for it. Come with me and I’ll introduce you to the team. They’re all dying to meet you.’

  She turned abruptly and strode away, back up the hill. She leaned right over into the incline, grunting with the effort, and didn’t look back once to make sure we were following. So I stayed put, and looked at Penny.

  ‘Is it just me, or did she not sound entirely convincing about her team wanting to meet us?’

  ‘It’s not just you,’ said Penny. ‘And … the hole is now a door between dimensions? That’s a whole other step up from a possible cave-in that someone might have fallen into.’

  ‘Maybe it’s nothing to do with the Beast, after all,’ I said. ‘Though I suppose it could involve a white rabbit …’

  ‘Don’t even go there!’ said Penny.

  We moved off after the Professor, deliberately not hurrying. Never jump to obey when people start barking orders, they’ll only take advantage. The Professor had already disappeared over a sharp rise in the ground, and when Penny and I climbed over it we found her waiting for us beside the original archaeological dig. Some distance further up the hill, five young people were working at a variety of scientific equipment, arranged and racked together under a very basic structure that did little more than provide a flat roof, four clear-plastic walls, and some protection from the elements. None of the scientists even glanced up from what they were doing, though they must have heard us approaching. The Professor waited impatiently for us to join her, then lowered her voice to what she apparently considered a confidential level. But she had the kind of voice that travelled, and her team would have had to be deaf as well as really dumb not to have heard every word.

  ‘They’re all good people,’ she said. ‘First-class minds. Though it would probably have helped if they’d been volunteers, instead of being pressed.’

  I nodded understandingly. ‘The Colonel twisted some arms to get you and your people here?’

  ‘He put the fear of God into me,’ said the Professor. ‘I told him I was far too old for fieldwork, and he told me he didn’t care. Either I got my arse in gear or he would tell the University about a few things I might have done back when I was a student and a little too political. I really do feel there should be a statute of limitations on how long you can be expected to pay for the crimes of your youth. I wasn’t even that bad, just … enthusiastic.’ She sniffed loudly. ‘He even had a car bring me straight here, to make sure I wouldn’t get lost along the way.’

  ‘Your team doesn’t look old enough to have that many sins of youth to worry about,’ I said.

  The Professor scowled. ‘You’re never too young to make mistakes you’d rather the world never finds out about. Especially in the academic world. And before you ask … No, I don’t know why any of them agreed to join our merry band. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Isn’t that what they say?’

  I realized Penny was looking at me.

  ‘Has the Colonel ever pressured you into doing something you didn’t want to do, Ishmael?’ she asked carefully.

  ‘That was never part of our agreement,’ I said. ‘And besides, he wouldn’t dare. I’d punch him through a wall if he crossed the line, and he knows it.’

  ‘So,’ said the Professor, in her open and hearty way that might or might not have been genuine. ‘Do you have any idea why it’s so damned necessary we come up with answers to this particular mystery?’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘Though I will say, the Colonel isn’t one to panic easily. If he thinks this is important, it probably is.’

  ‘Tell us about this unusual hole,’ Penny said to the Professor. ‘Does it really eat people?’

  The Professor looked at her coolly. ‘As far as I know, the missing archaeologist simply got a little too close and fell in. But we’re still treating the hole with the greatest of respect, and even more caution. And when you’ve seen it, you’ll understand why. In fact, I think you need to see it before you meet the team. It’ll help you put all of this in the proper context.’

  She set off up the hill again, carefully choosing a path that would give her people a wide berth, and we followed after her. The young scientists remained determinedly intent on their work.

  ‘The Colonel said there was something unnatural about the hole,’ I said.

  ‘Good word,’ said the Professor. ‘Another good word would be pants-wettingly disturbing.’

  ‘How deep does it go?’ said Penny.

  ‘No idea,’ said the Professor. ‘Just one of the many things we don’t know about it, including how it’s able to defy so many laws of physics simultaneously without even apologizing.’

  ‘What kind of hole are we talking about?’ I said.

  ‘I’m not even convinced it is a hole,’ said the Professor. And then she increased her pace, so she wouldn’t have to answer any more questions.

  We made our way through the original archaeological dig. Disturbed earth, shallow trenches, and marked-off areas showing sections of revealed stone wall. Plus a glimpse of what might have been a floor mosaic. The Professor barely glanced at any of it.

  ‘An important and significant historical find, or so I’m told. Not my line of expertise. Try not to trip over any of it.’

  ‘It looks like they left in a hurry,’ said Penny.

  ‘Wouldn’t you if you’d just lost one of your own to an unexplained phenomenon?’ said the Professor. ‘Besides, I don’t suppose the Organization gave them much choice in the matter. For their own good, of course.’

  ‘Of course,’ I said.

  The Professor shot a quick look at her people, as we drew nearer.

  ‘The equipment’s a bit basic. It was all set up and waiting for us when we got here. I’ve been assured better stuff is on the way, but my feeling is they didn’t want to risk anything too expensive this close to the hole. It’s expendable, just like us.’

  ‘Speak for yourself,’ I said.

  ‘Hear! Hear!’ said Penny. ‘Just how dangerous is this hole, which we are currently moving towards perhaps a little more quickly than necessary?’

  ‘You’ll be safe enough,’ said the Professor. ‘As long as you keep your distance. And your guard up.’

  ‘And don’t fall in,’ I said.

  ‘Exactly!’ said the Professor.

  We passed half a dozen small tents, huddled together on the side of the hill as though for comfort.

  ‘They’re a bit rough and ready,’ said the Professor. ‘I thought we’d be booked into some nice little hotel at a nearby town, but no … I can only suppose someone decided keeping us isolated here would prevent us from getting too loose-lipped with the locals.’

  ‘What kind of equipment are you using to stud
y the hole?’ asked Penny.

  ‘Oh, sensory devices,’ said the Professor. ‘For measuring all kinds of things.’

  Penny glared at her coldly. ‘Could you be any more condescending?’

  ‘If you like,’ said the Professor.

  I stopped as we finally drew level with the scientists in their improvised equipment centre, and Penny stopped with me. The Professor kept going, hoping to carry us along with her, but when Penny and I made it clear we weren’t budging she had no choice but to stop as well. I studied the scientists carefully. Four men, one woman. So young the ink was probably still wet on their diplomas. I couldn’t help noticing they were all sticking to their own particular pieces of equipment, as though guarding their territory. Concentrating on their own work, and showing no interest in sharing their findings. Ambitious and driven. A dangerous combination.

  They were all wearing heavy anoraks. I looked at Penny.

  ‘I told you to wear something heavier, because it was bound to be cold out in the open.’

  ‘Oh, shut up!’ said Penny. ‘Just because you don’t feel the cold. Why have we stopped?’

  ‘Because the Professor is right. They should have better equipment to work with than that.’

  ‘You really think the Organization sees this hole as so dangerous that they’re prepared to write us all off as expendable?’

  ‘That’s always a possibility in our line of work, but I’m getting a really bad feeling about this one …’

  ‘We could always walk away,’ Penny said quietly. ‘Hell! We could run back to the car and then drive away at great speed. Or do you think someone would turn up to stop us?’

  ‘Let’s take a look at the hole first,’ I said. ‘See if it’s worth all this paranoia.’

  ‘If you’ve quite finished gawping at my little group of enfants terribles, the hole is waiting,’ said the Professor.

  ‘I thought they were looking forward to meeting us?’ Penny said innocently. ‘So far, they haven’t even waved.’

  ‘They’re very busy,’ said the Professor. ‘We’re all operating under a lot of pressure. I will introduce you properly, once you’ve taken a look at the hole. Because then you’ll understand just how much trouble we’re in.’