Authors: Helen Phifer
‘Do you trust your staff?’
‘Yes I do. Lucy and Mary would no more steal from us than they would their own mother. And what would they do with it? I should think if either of them had seen it they would be too terrified to touch it.’
‘What about the man who picked us up – Davey?’
‘Davey is a good man. He would have no reason to steal it and he saw it the night of Joe’s disappearance, as did my wife. It almost caught her in the cellar, but she managed to escape by the grace of God.’
‘Do you think I can talk to your wife about what she saw that night?’
‘No. You will not mention any of this to Eleanor. She is not well and hasn’t been since that night. I don’t want you to upset her. If I find out that you have tried to discuss it at any point, I will not be responsible for my actions.’
Arthur looked at Martin, who put his head down.
‘Of course not, old chap. I don’t want to upset your good lady. I give you my word I won’t talk about anything but pleasantries with her.’
James felt his shoulders relax. ‘Thank you. I’m sorry, but this has been so very hard on us all.’
Martin smiled at his friend. ‘Why don’t we talk about what we do know and what we can do that might help.’
Arthur pulled a book out of his well-worn leather briefcase and a pair of spectacles from his shirt pocket.
‘You have to understand we are on unprecedented ground here. To my knowledge nothing has ever been documented about it apart from in ancient tribal scripts. I have some notes here that I made while staying with the Cree tribe. The elders described it as a Wih-tih-koh. It is supposed to be a half beast of demonic origin, which could either possess the characteristics of a monster or human, and which liked to eat human flesh.’
Arthur appeared to note James wincing, but there was no nice and fluffy way to describe the fact that these things were cannibals. He had clearly decided it was better to just blurt it out and be done with it.
‘Now, the one in your picture looks to me like it was more human, or tried to appear as a humanoid but didn’t quite carry it off. They were cave dwellers and lived in the dark, damp caves or tunnels of the Great Lakes Region. Once they had had their fill and their bellies were full they would hibernate for a long time. I have no idea how long because no one seemed to know that part, but you have to remember what I’ve heard were tales told around camp fires at night. This is not proven historical fact because, up until now, there was no proof that these things existed. I was under the impression it was all mumbo jumbo.’
‘Did they say if they could be killed?’
‘Yes, the only way to kill them was by fire.’
James thought back to that night he had first encountered the thing. It had smelt of burnt flesh. Had someone tried to burn it before he’d bought it? He thought it likely and he wondered who.’
‘We can’t find it, though. We’ve searched the cellar and the drain that leads to the sewers and out to the lake many times over. Some of the tunnels are too narrow for us to get down, so how does it manage when it’s larger than all three of us?’
‘According to the legends it can change its appearance at will, so it won’t have a problem.’
‘It could be anywhere. What am I to do? I can’t rip the entire sewerage system to shreds searching for it. The authorities would think I had lost my mind and have me locked up.’
‘No, you can’t, and who is to say it is under there? It could have found an underground cave somewhere along the hillside. There are certain Cree symbols that we can paint around the house to create a barrier. Apparently it can’t cross them, so the best thing we can do is to paint them on the inside of the cellar door and then on the walls around the house near to the doors and windows. I don’t know if this will work or whether it’s just superstition, but the native Indians believe it works, so there’s nothing to lose. I’m afraid it might be the only thing we can do. When was the last sighting of the creature?’
‘The early hours of New Year’s Day when my wife heard a noise in the cellar and ventured down there looking for our son. No one has seen it since.’
‘Good. That must mean it’s hibernating, so if we seal the house with these symbols hopefully, when and if it does wake up, it won’t be able to come inside and your family will be safe.’
James nodded. He felt deflated. He had been hoping that Martin or Arthur would have a solution, a way to find it so he could kill it with his own two hands.
‘Yes, that sounds like something we should do. The sooner the better. Come on, let me get you something to eat. You must be starving and I’ve forgotten my manners. I’m sorry, but you have to understand how I want nothing more than to keep my family safe.’
‘Daddy.’
James stood up, horrified to think that Martha might have been listening to their whole conversation. He strode across and scooped her up into his arms.
‘Hello, sweet pea, how long have you been there?’
‘Not long. I’ve just come downstairs. I’m hungry.’
James kissed her soft cheek and rubbed his fingers through her silky, strawberry blonde hair.
‘Me too. I’d like you to meet my friends, Martin and Arthur. They’ve come all the way from London to see us.’
Martha held out her hand towards Martin, who smiled and shook it. She did the same to Arthur, who shook hers then lifted it to his lips and kissed it. Martha giggled and James felt his heart lift. Laughter was such a rare sound in this house now that it made him smile.
‘Have you come to kill the monster?’
James looked at his daughter. She was far too old for her years.
It was Arthur who answered. ‘If we could kill it then we would, but I think it’s gone to sleep now for a very long time, so what we are going to do is make your house safe so that it can’t come back inside. How does that sound?’
‘Good, I suppose, but I would much rather you killed it.’
‘Me too, sweetheart, but sometimes we can only do the best we can. I promise you this: if it ever wakes up and tries to come back, then, yes, we will kill it.’
Martha stared him in the eyes, as if trying to determine whether he meant it or not. She seemed to decide that he did and nodded her head.
‘Thank you. Can I have something to eat now, please?’
James laughed and led them all to the dining room where Lucy had just finished setting the table.
Annie excused herself. She was tired and it felt as if her brain was too big to fit inside her skull. She went upstairs where she looked in on Alice and blew her a kiss, then she went into the guest room, which had become her temporary home. All she wanted was to be back at her own house, soaking in the bath – preferably with her at one end and Will at the other. Then she wanted to put her fresh pyjamas, collapse onto her huge bed and into Will’s arms, and make long, slow, passionate love.
Instead she splashed water on her face, too scared to look at her reflection in the tiny en suite mirror in case she didn’t recognise the woman staring back. She didn’t want to run the shower in case the noise woke Alice. Instead she got into the bed and waited for Will to come up. She knew they had a lot to talk about, which was easier without her sitting there. They didn’t have to worry about upsetting her too much if she wasn’t in the room. Will would fill her in on what the plan of action was when he came up, and if she did fall asleep he could tell her in the morning. Her stomach lurched and she felt queasy again, Henry Smith was not only messing her life up, he was also playing havoc with her digestive system. Her eyes got heavy and before long she was asleep. There were no dreams this time and she welcomed the blackness.
***
Kav drained the last few drops from his lager bottle. ‘I hope we know what we’re doing. This could go very wrong for all of us. I hate to say this, Will, but there’s a very real chance we could fuck it up and Annie could die.’
There were several sharp intakes of breath. Even though everyone had been thinking the same thing, no one had dared to say it out loud. Will nodded. He looked distraught.
‘Well then, we’d better bloody make sure that isn’t an option. We can’t mess it up. I’m not willing to sacrifice Annie just so we can all get on with our lives.’
‘Neither are we. Alex, do you think you could go and check on Alice, please?’ Alex stood up, excusing himself. He obviously realised that Jake didn’t want him to be a part of the burden the others might have to bear. He squeezed Jake’s shoulder and left to go upstairs and read – anything to take his mind off what they were planning.
They waited until they heard Alex check on the baby and then shut the master bedroom door. Jake stood up and shut the kitchen door, just to be sure.
‘I don’t think he’ll be ready to do it tomorrow. He’s normally a planner. He might be thrown off track a little and take some time to think about it, but he won’t waste much time. He’ll probably realise the opportunity is too good to miss and then we’ll swoop in.’
Kav sounded as if he knew what he was talking about so they let him continue. ‘We can start by letting Annie go out of the station on her own but, before she does that, I’ll be parked around the corner in my own car. Then we can let her go to the café and drive around for a while. We can all be in the same area in our own cars to see if we can spot him. Are we going to bring task force in?’
Will nodded. ‘If we decide to do this and put Annie out there, then yes. I would prefer to have some men with guns around. There’s no guarantee they won’t fuck it up either, but it would make me feel a whole lot better.’
Cathy nodded. ‘I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this but, yes, I do totally agree. In fact, I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. The system once again has let us down. It’s let Annie down. She fought him once and won, then had to go to court and fight all over again. I’ll speak to the chief super tomorrow and get him to authorise the boys with guns. In the meantime, if this all goes wrong, I’ve always fancied taking up flower arranging or cake decorating.’
‘I’ve only got twelve months to do and then I’m out of here. If I get my pension – great. If I don’t, I can always come and work for you in your flower shop, Cathy.’ Kav winked at her and reached out to hold her hand. She didn’t pull away and, if it hadn’t been such a solemn occasion, Jake would have clapped.
Will swallowed as if he had a lump in his throat. Clearly he was going to be eternally grateful to his friends who were willing to risk everything to help put a stop to Henry Smith. ‘You know how I feel about him. He tried to kill Annie in front of me once. I won’t let it happen again. Thank you all. I’m for ever in your debt.’
‘You don’t need to thank us, son. We wouldn’t have it any other way. I never imagined at my age I’d be out on the street chasing a killer, but I guess you’re never too old to want to protect the people who mean the most to you. So we’ll let Annie drive to work with Jake as normal. We can’t afford anything to happen when none of us has radios, CS or anything else. Then Cathy and I will follow behind in my car because hers is a pile of shite. Will, you can set off first and park near the station and see if you can spot the creep.’
‘It’s not much, but it’s a start. We can regroup at the station and decide what’s happening next once we all get up there and get kitted out. Now I hope you don’t mind if I go up to bed. I want to spend some time with my wife.’
Will stood up and walked out of the room, his shoulders slumped as if he’d already been defeated.
Cathy stood up too. ‘Come on, Kav, I’ll drive you home to my house. You needn’t think I’m stopping on my own while this is happening.’
Kav stood up and winked at Jake. ‘See, it’s not all bad. At least I’ve had a couple of…’
Before he could finish she dug her elbow in his ribs. ‘Er…I have a reputation to uphold. Don’t you go spilling my dirty secrets to our friend Jake here.’
Jake walked them both to the door. ‘Please be careful. I know he’d have to be an idiot to take you on, Kav, but don’t take anything for granted.’
He watched them walk to Cathy’s car and get inside, the whole time scanning his street to see if there were any silver vans or strange men hanging around watching his house. As they drove away he shut his door, locking it and then putting the safety chains across and turning on the burglar alarm. He wasn’t taking any chances. Then he went around checking all the doors and windows to make sure there was no way in without breaking one down.
When he finally went upstairs to bed he checked on Alice. She was so perfect. Her small chubby hand had a tight hold of the blanket that Annie had bought for her. He bent down and kissed his daughter on the forehead. He would go to any lengths to protect his family and he classed Annie as family. At least Alex would be around to take care of their baby should the worst come to the worst. The pain that shot through his heart at the thought of not being here to watch her grow up almost made him cry out, but he didn’t. He told himself that there was no way Henry would get the better of them. It wasn’t an option.
***
Will undressed, relieved to see that Annie was asleep, although how she’d fallen asleep he had no idea. He’d expected her to be awake, wanting to know what was happening in the morning. When he got into bed he pulled her close. She let out a murmur, but snuggled next to him. He wished sleep would come to him so easily. Instead he lay watching her, reliving the past two years. From the very first moment he’d set eyes on her at her brother’s farmhouse in Abbeywood, to the look of hurt on her face when she’d found him asleep on the sofa with an almost naked Laura next to him. The hours when she’d walked out of his life had seemed like days. Then he thought about their wedding and how the bachelor boy who had been happy to go from relationship to relationship had finally realised he was all grown up and in love. She had looked so beautiful on their wedding day. Hell, she looked so beautiful every day, especially when she was asleep. The warm glow of thinking about her began to thaw the shard of ice that had settled in his heart a little.
He had no idea what the next twenty-four hours would bring, but he knew one thing: whatever happened he would never live with himself if he didn’t catch Henry Smith. He was ready to throw everything away to keep her safe, and if anything did happen to Annie then it would be a double funeral because there was no way he wanted to live the rest of his life without her.