Simon Green - The Dark Side of the Road

‘Hasn’t he?’ said Khan.

‘How long?’ Penny said fiercely. ‘How long has Daddy been gone?’

They all just looked at each other, not knowing what to say, surprised they hadn’t noticed Walter was gone and confused they hadn’t noticed before.

‘It’s been some time now,’ said Khan. ‘Hasn’t it?’

‘He promised me he’d only be a minute,’ said Melanie, looking around her for reassurance and not finding any. ‘He didn’t even take his walking stick.’

She gestured at it, still leaning against the wall. There was something very significant, and very sad, about the abandoned wooden stick.

‘The client,’ said Jeeves. ‘We have to check on the client, Leilah.’

But I was already out the door.

Only to come crashing to a halt, as I realized I wasn’t sure which room belonged to Walter and Melanie. I sniffed at the air, ready to follow my nose.

Penny was quickly at my side, staring at me anxiously. ‘Are you smelling blood again, Ishmael?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘And a lot more than before.’

‘Does this mean Daddy’s dead?’ Penny said steadily.

I was ready to say yes, but I held it back. As long as there was a chance …’Let’s find out,’ I said. ‘Which is your parents’ room?’

By now Jeeves and Leilah had caught up with us. They both had guns in their hands again.

‘Everyone please stay put in the drawing room, while Leilah and I investigate,’ he said firmly.

‘Yeah, right,’ said Penny.

‘Where are they?’ I said.

She gestured at her parents’ door, and immediately we were both off and moving again. Jeeves and Leilah hurried after us, Leilah growling and swearing under her breath. I could hear the others bringing up the rear. They wanted to know what was happening, and none of them wanted to be left behind. And then Melanie went right past me. Running to the room she shared with her husband.

She called out loudly: ‘Walter! Walter! Are you all right? Answer me, Walter!’

‘Please, Mrs Belcourt!’ said Jeeves immediately. ‘We don’t want to alert anyone we’re coming!’

She ignored him, calling out her husband’s name again and again, until she came to the door to her room and stopped abruptly, because it was open. Just like Roger’s. Melanie stood very still, staring into the darkness before her. She started shaking and whimpering. Jeeves and Leilah quickly took her by the arms and moved her gently but firmly to one side. Melanie was stiff as a board, staring into the dark with the wide eyes of a frightened child. I’d let Jeeves and Leilah get ahead of me, just so they could do that. Partly because I’m not good at comforting hysterical people, and partly because I wanted them all out of the way, so I could be first through the door.

But in the end I hesitated, because Penny was with me. I could have asked her to stay back, but I didn’t see the point. I knew what she would have said. Jeeves glared at me as I stood before the open door, staring into the darkness beyond.

‘I should go in first!’ said Jeeves.

And I nodded, in agreement. This close, I didn’t need to enter the room to know what had happened. The thick coppery smell of spilled blood was heavy on the air. Jeeves and Leilah handed an unresisting Melanie on to Khan and moved forward, holding their guns out before them. They each took one side of the open door, peered into the gloom, and scowled at each other when they couldn’t make anything out. Inside, there was only an ominous quiet. I stepped forward, reached round the door and turned the light on.

And there was Walter Belcourt, pinned to the far wall of his bedroom with one of his own family weapons. A bear-hunting spear had been rammed right through his chest, leaving him hanging high up on the wall. Like some ancient butterfly on display. He hung limply, like a rag doll. His face was entirely colourless, drained of blood. No effort had been made to hide the true cause of death, this time. The savage teeth marks stood out clearly, against the torn and ragged flesh. Blood had spilled all down the front of him and was still dripping slowly from his dangling feet. The vampire had made a real mess of him. A feeding frenzy? Or just a sign that the killer didn’t care any more? That it wanted us to know what it was …?

I stood very still, looking around the empty room. There was a gap on one wall, an empty plaque that had once held the boar spear. The killer had come here, done its work, and left, and no one noticed.

Jeeves and Leilah moved quickly round the room, looking at everything … and finally lowered their guns as they realized they weren’t going to find anything useful. Jeeves leaned in close to study the bite mark on Walter’s neck. He looked simply … disbelieving. Leilah looked sullenly angry, as though their client had let them down by going off and getting himself killed.

And then Melanie came forward, to stand before her dead husband. We were all so taken up with what had happened, no one had given a thought to her. She took in what had been done to her husband and cried out, once. A loud, horrified, almost animal sound of grief and loss. She sank to her knees before the impaled figure on the wall, put out a shaking hand to the dangling feet, and then pulled it back again as blood dripped past her fingertips. She shook her head in silent denial, her shoulders rising and falling as she sobbed.

And part of me wondered: Is she overdoing this?

Penny moved slowly forward, to stand beside her mother, staring up at what had been done to her father. Her face was pale, but controlled. ‘Oh, Daddy …’ she said.

She looked back at me, as though she didn’t know what to say. I put out a hand to her, and she grabbed it with both of hers, squeezing it tightly. Like someone drowning, hanging on to the only lifeline.

Penny shook her head, looking at her father. ‘Daddy and I never did get on, but … he had been trying harder, just recently. I should have tried harder too, but … I wasn’t pleased at the thought of James coming home again. I was jealous of him, you see. For getting Daddy’s attention so easily. Even though James was the one who left and I was the one who stayed. Or, at least, I came home at regular intervals. Now, I’ll never know whether Daddy and I might have worked it out. Oh, do keep the noise down, Mummy! All that weeping and wailing isn’t helping anyone! I’m sure you’ll find another meal ticket, soon enough.’

Melanie broke off from her weeping. She lurched to her feet and glared viciously at Penny. ‘You don’t care. You never cared about him! Unnatural child!’

‘Maybe if I’d had more natural parents,’ said Penny.

Melanie wasn’t listening to her any more. She’d already gone back to staring pitifully at the body pinned to the wall.

Jeeves and Leilah exchanged a look, took Melanie by the arms again, and led her kindly but firmly out of the room. She didn’t want to go, and tried to fight them, but Jeeves and Leilah were professionals. They had a job to do and weren’t about to let anyone get in the way. Even the client’s widow. Jeeves spoke sharply to Khan and Sylvia, put Melanie in their care, chased them out of the room, and shut the door firmly on their faces.

As the door closed, I could hear Sylvia saying, very shrilly, ‘I’ve got to get out of here! I’ve got to get out of this house!’

I looked at Penny. ‘We have to work the room. Gather what evidence we can. The vampire must know you and I know. It’s not bothering to hide its tracks any longer.’

‘Give me a moment, Ishmael, please,’ said Penny. ‘I can’t do the detective thing. Not just now.’

I gave her hands one last reassuring squeeze and moved away to join Jeeves and Leilah.

‘Thought it best to close off the crime scene,’ said Jeeves. His gaze was steady enough, but his voice was just a bit shaky. ‘There’s got to be hard evidence here, somewhere.’