Cruel Comfort (Evan Buckley Thrillers Book 1) (21 page)

He went down the steps into the best
kept basement workshop he'd ever seen. Two of the walls were lined with metal
shelving full of every imaginable kind of tool, dozens of tins of paint, boxes
of screws and nails and just about every other kind of household item you could
imagine. There were bays along the third wall with lumber neatly stacked in
them. Workbenches lined the other wall with peg boards fixed to the wall above,
more tools hanging from the pegs. There were a number of large woodworking
machines in the middle of the room - a table saw he recognized and some others
he didn't. Ryder was sitting on one of the workbenches swinging his legs and
Guillory was poking around the contents on the shelves. The only thing missing
was Hendricks and his buddy. 

Evan looked around in amazement. 'I
heard them come down here.' he said.

'Are you sure you weren't taking a
nap on the bed instead of hiding under it?' Ryder said. 'And you dreamed the
whole thing.'

'Of course I'm sure.' Evan still had
the smell of the decaying rodent in his nostrils. He knew for sure he'd been
under the bed.

'So where are they? Hiding under
this bench?’ He looked down between his legs.

'I don't know.'
But you’d get a
whole football team up your fat ass.

'Are you sure you didn't make all
this up to try to distract us away from the fact that we caught you breaking
and entering?' His tone had lost all its mocking quality.

'Why would I do that if it could be
disproved so easily?'

'Beats me, but you meet some pretty
stupid people...'

‘If we’re talking of stupid, the
only reason you
caught me
is because I let you in. If I hadn’t, you’d
have just gone away empty handed again. I assume you weren’t going to break in
yourselves.’

‘No, we leave that to people like
you.’ He smiled unpleasantly. ‘You don’t keep a dog and bark yourself.’

‘Tell us again exactly what
happened,’ Guillory said over his shoulder, in an attempt to stop the bickering
and get back on track.

'They were in the kitchen fighting
when you drove up. Hendricks’ buddy was threatening him with the kitchen knife.
I heard them stop and then run down the hallway and down here. I heard that
door slam.' Evan jabbed his finger at the door at the top of the stairs.

'All I know is they're not here now.
And you've been wasting even more of our time.' Ryder said.

'This is where they came from.'

Ryder slid down from the workbench
he was sitting on. 'What?'

'They were down here all the time I
was here. Then they came up and were about to go out when you turned up.'

'What were they doing down here? A
spot of woodworking.' He kicked the workbench. 'Perhaps they've got plans to
remodel the house.'

'I know what I heard.'

'And I know what I'm hearing. I'm
hearing a crock of shit.' Ryder was starting to get angry. 'I think I'm going
to book you for B&E and wasting police time.'

'Give him a break, Easy.' Guillory
said, turning away from the shelves.

'Easy?' Evan said, confused. Then it
clicked and he smiled. 'Please, not Easy Ryder. More like Up-tight Ryder, if
you ask me.'

'Actually nobody did ask you.
Although that doesn’t normally stop you poking your nose in.'

'Actually it's E-Z for Edward
Zachary,' Guillory said, also smiling. 'And since I'm Ed, he can't be Ed too,
so he's Easy.' He grinned some more. 'His parents weren't to know they were
going to make that film.'

'That's got to win some kind of
award for the most off base nickname,' Evan said

'I've had enough,' Ryder said. 'You
two jokers can stay down here, but I'm going to check out the rest of the
house.'

'There's nothing there,' Evan said,
immediately regretting it. He'd given Ryder an easy shot.

'Really? After the accuracy of your
most recent information,' he threw his arm wide to take in the whole of the
Hendricks-free basement, 'you'll forgive me if I check it out for myself. Maybe
use my eyes, not my ears.’

He turned and headed up the stairs,
then stopped again. ‘By the way, you seem to have lost part of one of yours.
Maybe it’s under the bed.' He carried on up the stairs, laughing to himself as
he went. Evan gave him the finger to help him on his way.

'This wasn't a very clever idea,'
Guillory said, after Ryder had gone. They could hear him banging around
upstairs.

'I suppose you're right.' Evan said.
He was quiet for a moment. 'Do you believe me?'

'I'd like to, but I have to admit
I'm struggling.'

'There's something else,' Evan said,
'but you're probably not going to believe that either.'

'Try me.'

Evan told him about the light he'd
seen under the doors to the smaller, locked barn.

'Maybe there's another door. We
didn't look round the back. We can take a look now.'

They went back upstairs and out
through the kitchen door to Guillory's car. He got a flashlight out of the
trunk and they walked over to the smaller barn. There was no light showing now.
He played the beam over the padlock. It was new and top of the range.

'I can see why Ryder couldn't get
past that,' Evan said.

'You know, I had this funny feeling
someone was watching us. Who'd have thought it was you.'

They walked all around the barn. It
was bigger than it looked at first. It wasn't as wide as the other one, but it
went back a long way. There were no other doors, not even any windows you could
climb through. The front doors were the only way in.

'Maybe I was mistaken,' Evan
admitted. 'I'd just got out from under the bed. It must have been a trick of
the light.'

'Don't let Ryder hear you make an
admission like that. He'll never believe another word you say.'

'Is he like that with everybody, or
is it just me?' Evan kicked at a small rock.

'I think it's just you.' Evan looked
across at Guillory and saw he was smiling.

'Seriously though, he just doesn't
like P.I.’s. Especially if they make extra work for him. Extra chickenshit
work.'

‘I thought most of what you do is
chickenshit.’

Guillory gave him a hurt look. ‘It’s
not just chickenshit, there’s other stuff too, like paperwork…’

‘Right.’ Evan nodded
enthusiastically, ‘I’m definitely getting a feel for the job now. Do some
chickenshit and then write it up.’

‘You got it. And don’t forget to
make copies.’

‘All of which encroaches on his
donut time.'

Guillory’s grin widened. 'No, you
got that wrong. He can multi-task. He can do chickenshit, write it up, make
copies
and
eat donuts all at the same time.'

‘Wow! Try telling that to the women;
they think they’re the only ones who can do it.’

Ryder had just come into the kitchen
when they got back to the house. Evan had to admit he had a new respect for the
man after what Guillory said.

'The place is clean,' he said. 'I
didn't find anything apart from this.' He held out Faulkner's gun. ‘Pinocchio
here must have missed it. Looks like our jobs are safe for a while.’
Chickenshit,
paperwork and copies. You can keep ‘em.

Guillory took it from him and
inspected it. 'We'll get it checked out to see if it's what he hit Faulkner
with. Check to see if he's got a permit too.'

Evan would have liked to explain
that they didn't need to bother on either count because Hendricks had never
been near the gun in his life. However, he certainly wasn't going to admit what
he'd done to Ryder. Guillory wouldn't have been able to help him out of that
one.

'Must be an idiot if it is what he
used,' Ryder said, 'seeing as it was just sitting there in the nightstand
drawer.'

Where even an idiot like you could
find it
Evan
thought. If it hadn't been for the fact that Guillory was getting drawn into
the charade as well, Evan would have enjoyed watching Ryder go barking up the
wrong tree.

'I also found out who the other guy
is,' Ryder continued. 'His name's Jack Adamson. There was some work ID in his
blazer pocket. We can check him out, see what he's driving and maybe pick them
up in his car.'

Evan made a mental note of the name
even though it meant nothing to him.

'Okay Mr Peeper, time we all got out
of here,' Guillory said. 'Where's your car? We'll give you a ride back to it
and then show you the way back to town. We wouldn't want you to get lost. You
might go round in a circle and end up back here.'

'And next time we won't be so
understanding,' Ryder said.

Evan knew he wasn't going to get any
sleep that night. He played through it all over and over in his mind. He could
remember their argument word for word, particularly the part about braining him
as well. He wasn’t about to forget that in a hurry. He distinctly remembered
the sound of them running along the hallway and down into the basement, the
door slamming behind them. He knew he wasn't mistaken and he knew he wouldn't
be able to let it drop. It didn't matter how many times he went through it all;
everything pointed to the same conclusion - he was going to have to go back
again. He was pleased he'd kept the key. His subconscious must have known he'd
need it. Guillory had taken the other one with him after locking the back door.
He wished he'd been able to keep the gun. As it turned out he could have had it
in his pocket the whole time he was with Guillory and Ryder, but at the time it
had seemed like too big a risk. Hindsight's a wonderful thing.

He found a flashlight that actually
had some working batteries in it and decided that was another good omen; more
divine support for his decision. Then he watched the hands on the clock crawl
round until just after two in the morning before driving back to Hendricks'
place.

He knew Hendricks and Adamson had
been about to go out when the police interrupted them, but he had no idea
whether they had or not, and if they had, whether they'd come back. He knew
there was a chance they were still hiding somewhere on the property and he might
need to make a quick escape, so he slowly backed his car up the driveway and
left the key in the ignition. Then he let himself into the house, but didn't
lock the door behind him this time. Every second might count. He stood still
and listened. The house seemed even quieter than before if that was possible.
He crossed the kitchen in the dark and crept down the hallway to the door at
the top of the basement stairs. He put his ear to it and listened. Absolutely
nothing. He pushed the door open carefully and stepped through, then closed it
behind him before flicking on the light.

Everything looked exactly the same
as it had the last time. He went down the stairs and stood in the middle of the
basement and looked all around the room.

There was nowhere to hide that was
for sure. He did a slow lap of the room. It was just as he remembered it.
Shelving on two sides, workbenches on another and bays filled with lumber on
the fourth wall. There were no other doors apart from the one at the top of the
stairs. No other
visible
doors. But he knew there had to be another one;
it was just a question of finding it. He ruled out the wall with the lumber;
nobody would want to move all that every time. Similarly the wall with the
workbenches; they only came up to waist height so you'd see the top half of a
door. That left the two walls of shelving as the most likely candidates.

It didn't take long to find it, once
you were looking for it. The middle section of shelves on one of the walls
hinged outwards revealing a door behind it. The shelves themselves were stacked
with tins of paint. Evan picked one up, then another and another - they were
all empty, so the whole unit swung back and forth smoothly without any effort.
The hinges were cleverly concealed at the back of the metal uprights but you
could see them if you knew what you were looking for.

Why on earth hadn't he thought of
this before, when he was with Guillory and Ryder? He knew perfectly well why
not. For one, he'd been so shocked to find that they weren't there, his mind
had gone blank. Secondly, he'd already been feeling foolish enough as a result
of Ryder's scepticism and mocking -  he wasn't about to make it worse by saying
there must be a secret door, even if he'd thought of it in the first place.
Ryder would have crucified him. But now he'd found it, he knew he ought to call
them and wait for them before going any further.

That's what he ought to do. Instead
Evan pulled the shelves all the way open and tried the door. It was locked.
Damn. Talk about belt and suspenders, Evan thought. Then he remembered the ring
of spare keys in the kitchen drawer upstairs.

He went back upstairs into the
kitchen. He located the drawer where he'd found them earlier, but they weren't
in it. He knew Guillory had taken the spare back door key with him, but he was
sure he hadn't taken the whole ring. Where the hell had he put them? There was
almost no light coming in from outside and Evan could hardly see a thing. He
flicked on the flashlight and played the beam around the room. He knew it was
risky but he didn't have any option unless he wanted to feel around blindly all
night. He found them on the kitchen table, switched off the flashlight and went
back into the basement.

He was feeling vulnerable without
the gun and decided he needed to arm himself in some way. He examined the tools
on the pegboard and selected a couple of extremely sharp-looking chisels and a
heavy claw hammer. He saw a workman's tool belt with lots of loops and pouches
and strapped it on, then dropped his new found weapons into place. He was as
ready as he was ever going to be.

He went back to the hidden door and
found the right key after a couple of attempts, then dropped the key ring into
one of the pouches. Pushing the door open he saw a narrow tunnel leading away
into the darkness. It was about three feet wide and six feet high with a bare
earth floor and was shored up by two-by-fours and plywood. He'd never been in
one, but he thought it was what a mining shaft would look like. Electrical
cords ran along the side wall looping in between bare bulbs in metal cages.
Evan saw the switch but decided not to turn the lights on. He could see
footprints in the dry dust on the floor disappearing out of sight. He went back
to the stacks of lumber and found a small wedge shaped piece which he tapped
gently under the door jamming it open.

He hesitated. His mouth was dry and
he had that empty feeling in the pit of his stomach again. It was just like in
all those films he'd watched. Some stupid woman who's lost one of her shoes and
half of the rest of her clothing is just about to go down into the creepy
basement where the lights don't work and you ask yourself
Why would you
?
Now here he was, in real life, about to do the same thing, although he hadn't
lost his shoes yet. Why? Pride more than anything. He didn't just want to tell
Guillory and Ryder about the hidden escape route. He wanted to...to what,
exactly? He didn't really know but he'd be damned if he backed out now. He
could imagine Ryder's taunts;
So, the big, tough detective had to call in
the real detectives when the going got tough
.

He switched on his flashlight and
started down the tunnel, his ears straining for any sounds ahead. It wasn't a
long tunnel but it curved round to the left so he couldn't see what was at the
far end. He had a pretty good idea where he was going to end up, anyway. He
crept forward shielding the flashlight as much as possible. He needn’t have
bothered. He rounded the curve and saw another door a few yards further on.
This one was locked too. Hendricks and whoever else used the tunnel was
certainly cautious.

He put his ear to the door and
listened but couldn't hear anything on the other side. On a hunch, he tried the
same key as he had for the door at the other end and it worked. You might be
cautious, but it doesn't mean you want a pocket full of keys. He pushed open
the door and stepped through into another basement room.

He played the flashlight beam around
the walls. The room was like the one at the other end, apart from the fact that
this one was completely empty and there'd been no attempt to conceal the doors.
As well as the one he'd just come through there was a second one on his left.
Next to that there was a six foot sheet of plywood that looked like it was
nailed to the wall. He tried the door and it was locked. He didn't bother
trying to find the right key because he was more interested in the staircase
leading up to a third door. He'd bet dollars to donuts that on the other side
of that door he would find himself inside the small barn. He'd travelled about
the right distance underground. It all made sense too.

He started up a couple of steps and
then stopped again in the semi-darkness.
What was he doing here?
He'd
found the answer he was looking for. He now knew how Hendricks and Adamson had
disappeared. That was why he'd come back. What would he do if they were asleep
on the other side of the door? More to the point, what would he do if they were
wide awake waiting for him on the other side?

'Something I can help you with?' a
voice behind him said, as the ceiling light suddenly came on.