Graham Masterton - The Doorkeepers

The Hooded Man leaned forward. Nancy could see something moving behind the eyeholes in his hood. She was aware of a strange smell, too, that reminded her of something that had happened to her long ago, when she was a child. Something cold and unpleasant. Something that she had tried to forget.

“You, lady,” the Hooded Man rasped. “You don’t know the meaning of hell.”

Josh and Petty took a taxi from Chancery Lane to West Kensington. Petty was amazed to see London undamaged, and crowded with traffic and people.

“I can’t believe it,” she kept on saying. “Look at that girl’s dress! Look at it! There’s nothing of it, is there?”

The taxi driver’s eyes watched them in the rear-view mirror. They were both filthy and bruised, and they smelled. Their clothes were thick with dust and their hair was matted. Josh saw his reflection in the taxi window and realized that his cheeks were gray and his eyes were rimmed with red, like a zombie.

When they reached Josh’s hotel, he gave the driver a ten-pound tip. “That’s for stopping, and for cleaning up the seats, if you have to. I can tell you that we don’t normally look like this.”

“Doesn’t bother me, mate,” said the taxi driver. “At least you didn’t throw up.”

They walked into hotel reception and headed toward the elevators. Petty’s head went around and around in astonishment. “I’ve never seen nothing like this. This is incredible. And, look, what’s that? Is that a television? It’s huge! And it’s in color, just like a film!”

“Mr Winward?” called one of the receptionists, dubiously.

“That’s me.”

“There’s a message for you, sir.” She reached into one of the pigeonholes behind her and took out a folded slip of yellow paper.

Josh opened it up. It read: Mr Joshua Winward, your lady frend wos cort by the Hoodiz, I no where they are kepin her cum back to Star Yd as soon as U can excuss my riting on a/c of havn no rit han. Yor frend Simon Cutter.

“Josh, I love this place,” said Petty, taking hold of his arm. Her eyes were bright with delight. “It’s de-luxe, isn’t it? Really de-luxe.”

Josh took hold of her arm and propelled her toward the elevators. “Here, steady on,” she protested. “What’s your rush?”

“I have to leave. Something I have to do.”

“But we’ve only just got here!”

“I know. But it’s urgent. I’m going to take a shower, change, and then I’m going to have to go out. I may not be back until tomorrow.”

“So what am I going to do?”

“You can stay here. You can order meals on room service. You can watch color television. You can do whatever you like. I’ll give you some money so you can buy yourself cigarettes or candy or pantyhose or anything else you need. You’ll survive.”

He hurried her into the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. “But I don’t know anybody here!” she protested. “How do I know that you’re going to come back? Supposing you don’t come back?”

He took hold of her hands and squeezed them. “I’ll be back, I promise you.”

When they entered the hotel room Petty dubiously sat on the bed and bounced up and down a few times. Josh went into the bathroom, stripped off and took a shower. He was exhausted, but Simon Cutter’s note had filled him immediately with fresh determination. You have to be strong, he told himself. Nancy needs you, and you have to be strong. He just hoped that he didn’t have to face up to the Hooded Men again. He stood with the water spraying at full blast directly into his face in the hope that he could wash away the image of the Hooded Man’s head. But the tighter he closed his eyes, the clearer the picture came back to him, and in the end he had to open them again, wide.

There are times in your life when you think, oh, Jesus, what have I done? And this was Josh’s moment.

He stepped out of the shower to find the bathroom door wide open and Petty standing naked in the doorway. He wrapped his towel tightly around his waist and gently maneuvered his way past her into the bedroom.

“You don’t have to go, you know,” she told him, reaching out for him. “Not straight away, anyhow.”

“I’m sorry, it’s something I have to do.”

“Couldn’t we have a rest first? You and me? This bed’s ever so comfortable.”

Josh put on a clean blue checkered shirt. “Petty … I like you. Believe me, I really like you a whole lot. But this is a matter of life and death.”

“So where are you going?”

“It’s safer for you if you don’t know. Really.”

“Those geezers in the hoods aren’t coming after you, are they?”

“I don’t know. But whatever happens, you haven’t seen me, and you don’t know where I’ve gone.”

She lay back on the bed, twisting her hair around her finger, and giving him a coquettish look that reminded Josh of a 1940s movie star. “Sure I can’t tempt you?”

It took him only ten minutes to walk to Ella’s flat. A gritty wind blew newspapers across the streets of Earl’s Court. He pressed the doorbell again and again but there was no reply. He clenched his fist and thumped the door frame in frustration. This was a time when he really needed some support. More than that, he desperately needed some insight into what the Hooded Men might be thinking of doing next.

He gave the doorbell one last, long ring, in case Ella had taken one of her own sleeping potions. He still had his thumb on the bellpush when Abraxas came hobbling around the corner.

“Abraxas! What are you doing out here, boy? Where’s your mom?”

Abraxas came up to him and Josh hunkered down on the sidewalk and took hold of his ears and stroked him. He was streaked with dirt and his eyes were dull. He had lost weight, too. Josh reckoned that he hadn’t been properly fed for three or four days.

“Where’s your mom, Abraxas? Where’s Ella? She hasn’t left you, has she? She wouldn’t do that.”

At that moment, the front door to the apartment building opened and a tall middle-aged woman came out, carrying a Harrods shopping bag.

“Oh, that poor dog!” she exclaimed. “He’s been hanging around for three days now. I’ve called the RSPCA twice, but when they arrive he’s never here. I feel so sorry for him.”

“Where’s his mistress?”

“Why, she’s dead. Didn’t you read about it in the papers?”

“Dead?” Josh felt a sensation in the pit of his stomach like dropping fifty feet in an airplane. “When was this? What happened?”

“It was quite awful. She fell out of the window of her flat and landed right on the railings. I’m so glad I wasn’t here when it happened. And a man friend of hers was stabbed right here in the hallway. I almost decided to move out. I still would, if I could find a decent flat around here for the same sort of rent.”

Josh kept on stroking Abraxas’ head and looking directly into his eyes. “You must be grieving, boy. You must be feeling your loss so bad.”

Abraxas came up closer and rested his chin on Josh’s knee and looked up at him with his sad amber eyes. “You certainly have a way with animals,” the woman remarked.

“I’ll take him and get him cleaned up,” said Josh. “He needs some emotional care, too. He’s going to be feeling very confused about Ella disappearing so suddenly.”

“I’ve got the number of the RSPCA if you want it.”

“That’s OK. Right now, the last thing he needs is a kennel, with a whole lot of other distressed dogs. He needs calm. He needs reassurance.”

He walked back toward the hotel with Abraxas gamely limping after him. The woman watched him go, slowly shaking her head.

Petty watched Abraxas wolfing down a bowl of milk and dog biscuits and shook her head. “Looks like you’re picking up all the waifs and strays, doesn’t it?”