Shaun Hutson - Heathen/Nemesis

Donna dared not settle herself too comfortably into her seat in case she dozed off. She doubted she’d had more than three hours sleep the previous night, and Julie only a little more. It showed, too; despite their make-up, they both looked pale and wan. Donna had managed to disguise the worst of the bruising on her top lip beneath some foundation cream and a little rouge had given at least some artificial colour to her cheeks, but as she pulled down the sun-visor on the driver’s side and peered into the mirror she realized she looked as tired as she felt.

She had no idea how long the drive into Portsmouth would take. Two hours, perhaps less? The road conditions and Julie’s emotional state weren’t going to help. Again Donna asked if she should drive but Julie merely shook her head.

‘This man at the waxworks,’ she said. ‘What’s his name? Paxton? Have you ever met him?’

‘No, but Chris got on well with him. He helped him a lot with research about the history of the building, how the models are made, that sort of thing.’ She sighed. ‘Chris must have trusted him in order to hide the Grimoire there.’

No one is to be trusted.

‘But he didn’t say whereabouts he hid it?’

‘No. I doubt if Paxton knows either,’ Donna said, looking at the piece of paper she’d collected the day before. Beside the address of the waxworks, it also had two phone numbers. One she guessed was the owner’s home number; as it was Sunday, she might well need it. Off season, she doubted if the attraction would be open. It was hardly the weather to attract day-trippers, either.

‘So what do we do when we find it?’ Julie asked.

‘I wish I knew,’ Donna confessed. ‘Read it?’ She smiled thinly.

She glanced at the dashboard clock.

1.56 p.m.

By the time they reached the outskirts of Portsmouth the rain had practically stopped, but the sky was still slate grey and threatening. There wasn’t much traffic on the roads until they approached the city centre, and then roads became a little more clogged. Julie had cold air blowing into the car in an effort to keep them both alert. The crushing weariness was a formidable enemy, though, and she felt her eyelids drooping as if they’d been weighted.

‘I’m going to have to stop for a while, Donna,’ she said finally. ‘I’m practically driving asleep.’

‘I know how you feel,’ her sister said, pointing at something up ahead. ‘There’s a café there. Let’s get a coffee.’

Julie checked the rear-view mirror and prepared to swing the car across the road into a parking space. At the last moment she stopped the manoeuvre and drove on instead.

Donna looked at her in bewilderment.

‘I thought you were stopping,’ she said.

Julie didn’t answer, but drove on towards the traffic lights, glancing again in the rear-view mirror. They were amber as she swung the car round to the right and through them, heading down a side street, taking another right then another until they were back on the street where they’d started.

‘I appreciate the tour of the block,’ said Donna, smiling, ‘but what’s wrong?’

‘We’re being followed,’ Julie said flatly.

Donna’s smile faded immediately. She sat forward so that she could see into the Fiesta’s wing mirror.

‘How can you be sure?’ she wanted to know.

‘Because whoever’s driving went through a red light to keep up with us.’

‘Which car?’

‘The Granada,’ Julie said, and Donna saw the dark blue vehicle behind them.

‘What shall I do?’ Julie asked.

‘Pull in,’ Donna said unhesitatingly. ‘See what he does.’

Julie nodded, indicated again and this time swung the car into a gap in front of the café.

The Granada drove past, disappearing around a corner.

‘They spotted me,’ Brian Kellerman said into the two-way radio.

‘Where are they now?’ Farrell wanted to know.

Kellerman told him.

‘All right, we’ll follow them from here. You keep out the way. I’ll let you know where we’re heading, but keep back. If they spot you again we might lose them.’ Farrell switched the two-way off and jammed it into the seat pocket beside him. He gave Ryker directions, then sat back in his seat.

‘Now we’ll see,’ he murmured.

Seventy-Two

They sat at a window table in the café looking out, watching every car that passed.

Donna warmed her hands round her tea and glanced at her watch again.

4.26 p.m.

They’d been in the café for over thirty minutes now, with only the sound of a fruit machine and the loud chattering of a group of youngsters in their late teens for company. A couple were playing the fruit machine; every so often, a cacophony of bells and buzzers would go off. The place smelt of damp clothes and cigarette smoke. There were a few curled-up sandwiches in a glass-fronted cabinet beneath the counter and a cheese roll that looked like it had been hewn from granite rather than baked with dough. Bottles of Coke, Tizer and Pepsi were lined up, along with a few token bottles of Perrier and Evian. The Formica-topped tables were scarred with cigarette burns and discoloured by spilled coffee. A woman in her forties was busily scrubbing tables at the far end. Donna thought she would need more than hot, soapy water to remove the accumulated grime.

Julie did not take her gaze from the window. Every vehicle that passed she scanned, every passer-by she scrutinised.

The Granada hadn’t been past. But it could be lurking up ahead somewhere, Julie reasoned, waiting to continue its pursuit. Or worse.

‘We can’t sit here forever,’ Donna said finally. ‘Come on.’

‘They could be waiting,’ Julie said warily.

‘We’ll take that chance.’ As she opened her handbag to retrieve her purse, Julie saw the Pathfinder .22 nestling inside.

Donna paid for the teas and the two women walked out to the Fiesta and got in.

Julie’s hand was shaking as she pushed the key into the ignition but she sucked in a deep breath and started the car, checking her rear-view mirror both for approaching traffic and, more particularly, for that Granada.

‘How much further?’ she wanted to know.

Donna consulted the directions on the sheet of paper and realized that they must be pretty close to their destination. She checked street names carefully, peering at a sign indicating an approaching roundabout. She pointed to the turn-off they should take.

‘We’re close now,’ Donna said.

They were still on the outskirts of the city centre itself and Donna wondered what something as strange as a waxworks was doing so far from the city centre, even what it was doing in a place like Portsmouth. She could understand the existence of such an attraction at a seaside resort, but this traditionally nautical stronghold could hardly be classified as such. She wondered how Paxton made it pay.

‘There,’ Donna suddenly shouted, jabbing a finger against the glass.

Julie looked to her left and caught a glimpse of what looked like a large terraced house fronted by a blue and white canvas awning. There was a small paved area in front of it and a low wall. The paved area had several figures on it. A ticket booth was guarded by two of these figures dressed as policemen.

HOUSE OF WAX proclaimed the sign on the awning.

The shutters were firmly closed at the ticket booth, the waxwork policemen staring with sightless eyes at passers-by. The street was more or less deserted.

There were more shutters at the windows of the building, only one of which was open. Leaning out of it the figure of Charlie Chaplin waved to anyone who cared to look up, frozen forever in that pose.

‘Now what?’ Julie asked, seeing that the place was closed.