The Grotto's Secret: A Historical Conspiracy Mystery Thriller (25 page)

104

Barker followed Willow back into his gloomy windowless office.

‘This is getting too much for me.’

Only now Barker noticed a sour tang of stale alcohol coming from Willow.

‘Take it easy. I said I’d handle things from here.’

‘I’m not happy about another doctor delving into this.’

‘Don’t panic. It’s Kelby’s stupid doctor friend sticking his nose into Annie’s condition.’

‘He’s not a stupid doctor. Doctor Robson’s a private consultant.’

‘No big deal.’ Barker didn’t get intimidated by people’s titles or status.

‘I’m sorry Barker, but this is a big deal. The last time I saw Doctor Robson he was asking lots of questions about Annie Wade.’ He flapped the note in the air. ‘And if he connects me to the rizado tests, he can get me struck off the register.’

‘Stop, Willow. You’re hyperventilating.’ Barker’s upper lip curled.

‘And what about my research downstairs?’ If the Medical Council find —’

‘They won’t.’

Barker got the creeps talking to this man. For some reason, every agitated flex of Willow’s skeletal fingers made Barker think of a hand reaching out of a grave. He tried to disguise the shiver that screamed down his spine. Ambling to the other side of the dingy room, he said, ‘There’ll be no evidence.’

‘But there is. My lab is full of, um, test results.’ Willow’s hands fiddled with the buttons on his suit, opening and closing them. Through the gloom, the doctor’s eyes gleamed like cat’s eyes at midnight.

‘Easy to remove.’

Willow stopped fiddling with the buttons. ‘I don’t want to be accused of unethical conduct or malpractice, or have my medical licence revoked.’ Willow started panting. ‘It’ll ruin me.’

‘Calm down! Robson knows none of this.’

‘I don’t want him snooping around here.’

Barker patted Willow on the back to reassure him. ‘He won’t be. Leave Robson to me.’ His immediate goal was to separate Kelby and Robson. Together they were too powerful. He had to get her alone again.

‘Will it be Olaf?’

Barker nodded. ‘You lead the doctor to him. Olaf will take over from there.’

Willow’s bony index finger lifted in a ghost-like manner as he pointed down a dark tunnel leading into the depths of the mansion. ‘I’ll take him to our dungeon.’

105

Kelby sat tensed and upright as Hawk sped along the drive through the dense woodlands near the North Hampshire village of Homerton Grange.

They had argued all the way. In a strange way it was just as well because it took her mind off the gross image of Stacie’s ear dangling in the breeze. The shock numbed her senses.

Hawk kept insisting he take her somewhere safe, but she dug her heels in. ‘I have to do this. Please, I know you have your job to do, but stick with me on this one last thing. Please.’’

‘I’m not happy about it, Kelby. Do me a favour; call Roy and see what he thinks.’

To pacify him, she called Roy, but the call failed. She tried again. Immediately, Roy answered. ‘Kelby! Good God, I have been desperate to get hold of you.’ His voice sounded so clear and so close by.

‘I tried to get you, but no signal.’

‘Are you o—’ His voice disappeared.

‘Roy? Roy? Can you hear me?’

‘Kelby, I’m …’ the connection ended.

Kelby tried again. But it went straight to a dead signal. She squinted at the signal bars on her phone and huffed, ‘No bars. Not even one.’

She waited a minute and tried again. This time Roy’s phone went straight to voicemail. Kelby pocketed her phone and clung to the army boot. Her gaze kept wandering back to the symbol scratched into the leather. She glanced around. ‘Look!’ Kelby pointed to a rambling manor house which now appeared to be a clinic for alternative medicine.

Hawk tried again to argue with her. ‘Kelby, I’m not happy with this. Let me take you somewhere safe and we’ll get someone else to handle this.’

‘Stop it, Hawk. You’ll soon find out that when I make up my mind to do something, nothing can change it.’ From the corner of her eye she saw his jaw tighten and lock.

With Gary’s scrawl imprinted on her mind, she said, ‘We have to follow Gary’s instructions and go around the back.’

As Hawk continued along the dirt track, they noticed numerous signs saying
Do not enter
and
Private Grounds
. Another sign rattled Kelby. The blood-red triangle with bold black letters stating:
Warning Keep Out!

Nowhere did Kelby see a signpost saying
42A
.

106

As Olaf kept a steady pace behind the giant’s car, his phone vibrated on the dashboard. Without taking his eyes off the road, he answered in a gruff voice, ‘Ja?’

‘Where are you?’

‘On the road to the clinic.’

‘I thought you were tailing Wade?’

‘I am.’

‘Ah, so she is sniffing out the trail.’

Olaf kept silent.

‘Perfect. Before you deal with her, pull in here. We have a man causing trouble.’

‘Tall. Fair. Bushy hair. Tanned.’

‘Yes.’

‘It’s the boyfriend. I saw him with her earlier. He left and I followed her to her brother’s place.’

‘What happened?’

‘Nothing. She came out with an army boot. And now they’re headed here.’

‘She must have found something there to bring her to the clinic.’

‘I will find out soon.’

‘Okay, but first get over here and deal with him. I’ll meet you downstairs. Willow said to tell you we’re heading into the tunnel.’

Olaf cut the call. Strange how things had turned around, from tagging Barker to now working with him. No bother, he liked his style. One thing about rich men like Barker, they didn’t like getting their hands dirty.

Pick-ee.

107

Beyond the clinic, Hawk and Kelby passed a walled garden and drove through more woods. Near the thicket, Kelby spotted a graveyard. Even though most manor houses had their own burial grounds, the sight still sent a shiver through her.

Dread swelled into her chest as Kelby edged closer to Hawk while he steered past a clump of dead, twisted trees that looked like gnarled claws. She imagined they wanted to reach out of the ground to grab her.

Then, a foreboding monster loomed ahead of them.

The abandoned mansion looked more like a small castle than a manor home. The winged flanks of the building spread towards trees on either side where a thickly wooded copse separated the two properties. Although someone had painstakingly restored the main clinic, this part of the property looked like it had crawled out of a horror movie.

Hawk parked and they stared at the once beautiful decaying mansion. Its peeling paintwork and overgrown courtyards told the story of a dramatic decline of a country house estate. Deteriorating buildings were connected by a web of overgrown patios. Some parts looked in danger of collapse.

‘You stay here. I’ll check it out.’ Hawk opened the door.

‘No way! I’m not staying here alone with that horrible building glaring at me. Besides, I want to see what 42A is about.’

Hawk grabbed her hand on the door handle to stop her opening it. ‘First, let me have a quick recce. I don’t like the look of this. I’ll check it out to make sure it’s safe and we’ll go in together.’

‘But —’

‘In the meantime, why don’t you try Doctor Robson again?’

Kelby hesitated, then sighed and nodded.

Talking to Roy would be better than sitting here alone.

108

After several minutes of chatting and laughing amongst themselves the leather jerkin reached into the fire with a thickly gloved hand. María’s jaw dropped in horror as he lifted the red-hot claws of their metal spider and clasped them at the sides of her mother’s exposed breasts.

Madre screamed in pain.

María’s lunged at him. ‘
No!
’

The cloaked soldier jumped forward and kicked her in the stomach. María doubled over. Her stomach groaned in agony, and her eyes glazed as she watched the unbooted soldier lean over and lift her mother’s sagging body.

Earlier, she hadn’t understood why her mother wasn’t fighting back, but now María saw why. Madre’s naked body was covered in dark bruises and bloody scratch marks. It looked like a wild cat had torn off her clothes and shredded her belly. Her thighs, once a golden honey colour, now glowed with ominous purple welts.

The
bastardos
had beaten Mama!

After pinning her mother down with his boot in the crook of her neck, the cloaked soldier glared at María. His eyes defied her to try anything.

The gloved leather jerkin inserted the spikes into each side of her mother’s breasts, penetrating them with a powerful grasp.

Again, her mother screamed in pain.

And fainted.

109

Watching Hawk’s lofty torso striding to the old derelict building, Kelby’s hand dug into the sling bag crossing her body. Taking her eyes off Hawk for a moment, she tapped Roy’s number into her phone.

He answered on the first ring, ‘Kelby! At last.’

Kelby exhaled with relief.

‘Did you —’ His voice faded.

‘Roy? Can you hear me?’

‘Listen Kelby …’ the connection dropped again, but suddenly she could hear him, ‘ … my messages.’

‘Sorry, I didn’t hear that.’

‘Annie —’ His voice dipped. Then, a moment later, it came back. ‘Where ar—’

The line cut out.

Kelby’s pulse raced. What was he saying about Annie? Did he know where she was?

Another five minutes and Kelby started to panic. Hawk had been away too long. Maybe he’d gone inside the mansion on his own, but he said he would come back for her. It must be safe if he’d done that. He probably thought he could find something without involving her.

A few more minutes passed.

Kelby couldn’t stand it any longer. Her hand white-knuckled Gary’s note. She turned it over in her hand for the third time to check if she could glean any more about what to do.

Forcing herself to open the door, Kelby stepped out of the car and peered around. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. A breeze gusted up to her and lifted her fringe. A long drawn out squeak came from behind her.

Kelby spun around. A sign, swinging from a rusting lamp post, squealed its protest to the breeze. She looked closer and read the sign.

Homerton Hall Laboratory.

110

Olaf watched the giant and the devil taking the split in the road that led to Homerton Lab. Not many people knew about the place, so the devil must have found something.

Accelerating around the back of the clinic, he parked and entered the newly painted building through the side staff entrance. Knowing his way around the corridors came in handy.

He heard voices echoing through the maze of tunnels running beneath the house. For a moment, his imagination ran wild. He thought of the days when servants would have marched along here, to-ing and fro-ing between the two wealthy homes above. Before the old string of lights was installed, they probably used candles.

His breath caught in his throat. Lots of dragons would have roamed in the tunnels in those days.

The thought made him forget why he had come here. For a moment, he lost himself in
animaal
urges.

Then, just as suddenly, voices pierced the wild images raging through his head. Still lost, he thought it was that voice. The voice he had never forgotten.

But it wasn’t.

It was Willow. His chest deflated as he exhaled hard. It disappointed him. The dragon had started firing up for revenge.

Willow, still talking to someone, drew closer.

‘What’s down here?’ a strange voice asked.

‘You said you wanted to know my connection to rizado. First, I’ll show you toxicology research I have been doing.’

‘What’s that got to do with MG and the rizado?’

‘Startling results.’

The voices were almost upon Olaf. He peered down the tunnel, making out Willow’s skeletal figure with another tall one beside him.

The lover.

111

Although his body was raging with a fire wheel of burning memories, Olaf remained still. He had learnt to contain his smouldering urges.

He preferred to harness them. Keep them dangling in the air, just out of his reach. And when he needed them the most, he could reach out and snatch it. And use the strength it gave him to execute a Tag One.

At that moment, Willow looked up and caught Olaf’s eye.

‘I’ll show you how my toxicology connects to rizado,’ Willow stepped aside and indicated for the lover to move in front of him. ‘Go ahead.’

Olaf pulled back into the shadows and into a junction in the tunnel. A tarnished light bulb near his head nearly gave the game away. His hand shot out and grabbed the bulb. He unscrewed it, despite the burning pain biting into his palm.

The pain was
niks
. The dragon had fired up.

As the footsteps were upon him, the lover said, ‘I don’t see what your toxicology research —’

Olaf swung his fist. It crashed into the lover’s jaw, knocking him unconscious before he could finish his sentence.

‘Thank God!’ Willow whined, ‘I was starting to think you weren’t down here.’

Olaf knelt and took a closer look. ‘What do you want me to do with pretty boy?’

‘Whatever you like. I don’t care. Let him rot in one of the downstairs rooms forever.’ Willow fled.

Olaf dragged the leaden body along the tunnel. He better be quick. He had to finish off the giant and devil.

And the lover.

So much was happening so quickly. The excited pace set his pulse racing again.

The damp smell of the musty tunnel hit him high in the nostrils. Taking him instantly back to the dragon’s forest.

And setting his
animaal
alight.