The Death Collector Read online

  ‘Please,’ she said softly, ‘we need your help, Eddie.’

  Eddie crept towards Lorimore’s men. The problem was, that if he was close enough to see them clearly, then they could see him. He edged as close as he dared – until their voices were audible through the fog. Then he dropped to the ground and crawled slowly forwards.

  There were four men. He could already tell that one of them was Blade. He was talking to a tall, spindly figure who seemed to be directing them – Lorimore himself, Eddie guessed. The other two were further off, standing by the shed. The door, Eddie saw, was open. With the figures outside to show how big it really was, the building looked more like a coach house.

  ‘It’s gone down the tunnel,’ one of them said. ‘But it’s on its way back now.’

  ‘It comes when I call,’ Lorimore said in his high-pitched whine. He sounded smug and self-important.

  ‘Expecting to be fed, probably,’ Blade replied. ‘It’ll be a bit agitated after all the excitement.’ Something was draped over his arm, but Eddie could not make out what it was. ‘You sure this will work, sir?’ Blade asked.

  ‘Your incompetence has left us few options, Mr Blade,’ Lorimore replied caustically. ‘But the olfactory systems remain preserved and should function, at least well enough for our purposes. The idiot’s brain I put in it should manage that. You say yourself that you believe the boy was in the street outside, possibly even in the grounds when you retrieved Wilkes. Find the boy and we find his friends. Find his friends and we find what remains of Glick’s last diary. Or at the very least someone who can apprise us of its contents.’

  Blade nodded, but if he spoke the sound of his voice was drowned out by the roar from the open shed behind him. It was a sound that Eddie had heard several times before. The fog round the shed door swirled and thickened as smoke or perhaps steam billowed out. Slowly, terrifyingly, the grotesque shape of the creature’s head appeared as if from the ground inside the shed. The monster was hauling itself out of a huge pit that was hidden inside the building.

  Eddie could see now that two men were standing either side, holding heavy chains that reached up and round the creature’s neck as it emerged into the open. Its head swung to and fro as if it was sniffing the air, as if it was searching for food.

  ‘Gently now,’ Lorimore said. His voice was soft as if he was talking to a child. ‘There’s nothing to worry about, my beauty. Mr Blade has a small task for you to perform.’ He turned to the big man. ‘Mr Blade?’

  Blade handed him the thing that had been draped over his arm. As Lorimore took it and opened it, Eddie could see through the gusting smoke that it was a jacket. Lorimore held it out at arm’s length.

  After a moment, the monster’s head dipped down. Steam erupted from its nostrils. It nudged the jacket with its nose, teeth glinting in the suffuse light.

  ‘Fetch,’ Blade said, and laughed. His men laughed too, until Lorimore turned on them.

  ‘That’s enough,’ he said. ‘It has the scent. Lead it to the gates and let it pick up the trail there.’

  ‘What if it’s seen?’ Blade wondered.

  ‘There won’t be many people out in this. And those who are won’t be certain. They will just see shapes and shadows, unless they get very close. And if they do …’ Lorimore laughed now – a nasal whine of amusement.

  But Eddie hardly heard. He was staring at the jacket, now lying discarded on the ground at Lorimore’s feet as the smoke and steam swirled round it. The jacket that the monster had sniffed at to get the scent of its prey.

  Eddie’s jacket.

  In front of him, the monster was lowering its head to sniff at it again. Eddie shuddered as he remembered the creature’s own oily, acrid smell. He sniffed, expecting to catch a whiff of it again. But there was nothing. Just the bitter, smut-filled smell of the smog.

  The creature slowly raised its head and swung round. Towards Eddie. Towards the scent it was picking up on the breeze. It looked like an enormous skeleton, papered over with thin metal plates. Metal and bone glinted through the mist that shrouded it.

  With a colossal roar and the sudden snap of teeth, the creature lunged. One of the men was swept off his feet as the chain went tight. The other fell backwards, the chain wrenched from his grasp. Blade leapt back, pulling Lorimore with him.

  But Lorimore seemed elated. ‘It has the scent!’ he shouted with delight. ‘Already. Just think how much more efficient my next prototype will be.’

  ‘Prototypes again,’ Eddie mumbled, bracing himself ready to run.

  ‘That vermin must have been here that night, in the grounds,’ Lorimore was saying to Blade. ‘Wait until I see Higgins again – he was supposed to be keeping guard. When I catch up with him …’

  Eddie did not wait to hear what would happen to Higgins. He was already scrambling to his feet and running for all he was worth back towards the wood and his friends.

  Behind him, claws slashed through the foggy air as the monster roared in triumph. The ground shook as it stamped its way towards Eddie.

  Chapter 15

  Eddie’s only thought was to get away. His only hope was that the huge creature lumbering after him would be unable to follow into the trees. He looked back once – a quick glance over his shoulder. The thing must be twenty feet tall, but as it ran, its head was down almost level with Eddie’s. Steam snorted out of its nostrils and mouth and even the fog shrank away from it.

  He dived into the trees, stumbling, falling. Strong hands pulled him to his feet.

  ‘This way,’ George said. ‘Quick!’

  Liz and George ran with him into the deepest part of the wood. As he risked another look back, Eddie saw Sir William standing at the edge of the wood watching the foggy shape of the monster with interest. He turned slowly, and made his way unhurriedly towards them. Amazingly, the monster did not seem to be following, but had crunched off down the driveway.

  ‘Hurry up,’ Liz hissed. ‘It’ll be after us in a moment.’

  ‘Oh I don’t think there’s any rush just now,’ Sir William said. He was smiling thinly. ‘What an extraordinary creature. I should like to take a closer look at it. Examine it properly.’

  ‘You will if you hang about here,’ Eddie told him. ‘It’s sniffing me out. They gave it my coat to smell.’

  ‘And you have been here before,’ Sir William said, nodding. ‘It isn’t you it’s after Eddie. Or rather it is, but at the moment it is following the trail you left on your last visit.’

  As if to confirm the point, a distant roar split through the foggy wood.

  Sir William smiled, and patted Eddie on the shoulder. ‘You know, it may not have fancied struggling through these trees, but actually I don’t think its sense of smell is quite what it should be, my boy. Now why is that, eh? I should very much like to find out.’

  ‘Let’s hope it keeps going along the old scent for a while,’ Liz said.

  ‘Giving us time to get away,’ George agreed.

  ‘Good gracious me, no.’ Sir William seemed astonished at the suggestion. ‘Giving us time to take a look at this shed where it lives.’

  ‘There’s a tunnel,’ Eddie said. ‘I heard them mention it.’

  ‘A tunnel.’ Sir William clapped his hands together in delight. ‘Then perhaps that is how they transport it from place to place without being seen. Right then, we’ll give them another minute to get clear with their pet monster, then we’ll take a look shall we?’

  Sir William treated the short walk across the lawn like an afternoon stroll. He looked round with interest, peering into the fog, and all the while swinging his cane.

  ‘Is it a dinosaur?’ Liz asked him as they paused for Eddie to get his bearings.

  ‘Possibly, possibly. But I think it’s rather more unusual than that. Something more than just dinosaur, if you take my meaning.’

  Eddie didn’t, but he could now see the dark shape of the shed. Before he could point it out, another hideous roar wrenched through the night.

  ‘Th
at was closer,’ George said in alarm.

  ‘It’s coming back this way,’ Liz realised.

  ‘You said it was heading out, following where I went the other night.’

  ‘Yes,’ Sir William admitted. ‘And so it was. But I fear it may now have picked up your rather fresher trail coming in this evening.’

  Eddie could feel the ground thumping under his feet. ‘What do we do?’

  ‘Run,’ George suggested.

  ‘Too late!’ Liz shrieked. Over her shoulder, Eddie could see the fog swirling away from the monster as it charged towards them out of the night.

  ‘This way!’ Sir William was running – surprisingly fast for such an old man, Eddie thought. But then he was, like the rest of them, running for his life.

  ‘Not that way!’ George cried after them. ‘Head back to the trees.’

  But Sir William either did not hear or ignored him. He was leading them across the lawn. Had he seen the open shed? Eddie raced to catch him up, hoping to reach him before he fell into the pit just inside the shed. Just as it seemed Sir William would fall into the dark opening, he skidded to a halt at its edge. He looked down into the blackness, nodding with satisfaction. There was no sign of Lorimore, and Eddie guessed he and Blade had either followed the creature or returned to the house.

  ‘Yes this should do,’ Sir William announced. He grabbed Eddie’s hand. ‘Come on.’ He jumped, pulling Eddie with him.

  Moments later, Liz and George fell after them. They all landed in a crumpled heap in the blackness.

  ‘Good grief!’ Liz exclaimed. ‘It stinks!’

  ‘I was right,’ Sir William said. ‘See, where it is even darker, there is a tunnel leading off. That and the smell would suggest that this pit connects in some way to the main sewers. Now, let’s see what we can discover about this creature. What it eats, if it sleeps – everything.’

  Eddie tried to make out the patch of blackness that Sir William had mentioned. But he could see nothing except the grey square above him that was the open shed outside the pit. The grey darkened as a shape closed over it. At first he thought someone was closing the shed door. But then the darkness was shattered by the roar of the creature. Its silhouetted head swung back and forth as it struggled to find them in the blackness, snuffling and snorting as it caught Eddie’s scent.

  ‘I don’t think we should stay here,’ George said. ‘Or we may find out first hand what it eats.’

  ‘But we can’t see where we’re going,’ Liz pointed out.

  Sir William was unperturbed. ‘Hold hands,’ he said. ‘I’ll lead the way. This is fascinating, absolutely fascinating.’

  Eddie felt a hand close on his. He didn’t know if it was George or Liz, but he allowed himself to be pulled towards the back of the pit. The darkness deepened, and he felt the damp brick-lined walls of the tunnel with his free hand as they picked their way through. The sound of the monster’s snufflings slowly died away.

  ‘Right hold on a moment, let’s see where we are.’ There was the scrape of a match on sandpaper, and a tiny flame flared into life further along the tunnel. ‘That’s good,’ Sir William said.

  The tunnel stretched away beyond the reach of the flickering light. ‘What’s good?’ Eddie wondered. ‘We’re trapped down here now. And that monster will be after us soon.’

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid he will. But there is a lot of methane in the air down here – hence the smell. I was just grateful it didn’t ignite.’

  Eddie could see now that it was Liz holding his hand. Her grip tightened as she thought about what Sir William had said. But before any of them could reply, the whole tunnel began to shake. Dust fell from the arched roof and the match went out.

  ‘The creature,’ George said quietly in the darkness. ‘It’s coming after us.’

  ‘Then let’s keep moving,’ Sir William said. Another match flared into life and he led the way along the tunnel. ‘We may have to postpone a detailed investigation for the moment.’

  ‘Where’re we going?’ Eddie wondered.

  ‘Wherever it leads. But ideally I should like to find a narrower side tunnel.’ Sir William paused as another bellowing roar echoed round the tunnel. ‘And soon.’

  They went as fast as they dared, hoping they could stay ahead of the monster. The tunnel was narrow – maybe it wouldn’t want to follow too far in case it got stuck. But each time Eddie thought they had gone far enough and it might have given up, another roar rang off the brickwork and brought dust down into their hair and mouths and eyes.

  At one point they reached an intersection of tunnels. Their tunnel was joined by two more – a choice of directions. Sir William led them down one of the side tunnels, perhaps hoping that Eddie’s scent would be lost in the smell of the sewers and the monster would instinctively go straight on.

  ‘You think it can hear us?’ George asked.

  ‘Probably. But remembering how weak its smell was, let’s hope all its other senses are equally dulled.’

  ‘Some chance,’ Eddie muttered.

  ‘You know I really think we must be making good progress,’ Sir William announced after several more minutes.

  ‘You think we’ve come far enough to be safe?’ Liz asked.

  ‘Oh I shouldn’t think so for a moment. No, no – I mean if Lorimore is desperate enough to risk sending this animal or whatever it is through London to find us, then he must consider us to be a real threat of some sort.’

  ‘And that’s a good thing?’ George asked, his voice strained.

  Another match flared, illuminating Sir William’s craggy face and deepening the lines across his forehead. ‘Oh I think so. What is he worried about, hmm? Something he is afraid we can do or discover or work out.’

  ‘The only clue we have is the fragment of Glick’s diary,’ George told him. ‘It’s meaningless.’ He had to shout to be heard above the almost continuous roar of the approaching creature. ‘We have to get out of here.’

  ‘No it isn’t meaningless,’ Sir William went on calmly. ‘That’s his mistake, do you see? If Lorimore had ignored us, we might well have come to that conclusion. But as it is, by his actions, he is telling us that the diary fragment is a vital clue. He is afraid that from that clue we can make some fundamental discovery. Presumably the same discovery as he himself is hoping to make. The difference is that he knows what he is looking for while we are working in the dark. In more ways than one,’ he added as the match sputtered and went out. ‘I do think someone should invent an everlasting match,’ he grumbled, striking another. ‘However, Lorimore is evidently afraid that we might deduce what he is after from that fragment.’

  ‘Which means,’ Liz said, glancing apprehensively back down the tunnel, ‘that we can do just that.’

  More dust and ancient mortar fell from the ceiling. The tunnel was shaking in time with the creature’s thumping steps. Eddie could hear the rhythmic thud of its feet and the rasping of its breath. It had not taken the obvious route where the tunnels joined, and now it was almost upon them. ‘If we live long enough,’ he said nervously.

  ‘Let’s try through here, shall we?’ Sir William said, and disappeared into the tunnel wall.

  Eddie could see it now – the huge creature was bent almost double. It filled the tunnel as it charged towards them. The match-light faded as Sir William disappeared, and Eddie was left with the impression of huge teeth snapping at him in the darkness. He could smell the monster’s oily breath as he scrabbled at the wall, desperately trying to find where the others had gone. Jaws clamped shut close to his face, as he finally found the opening and fell shrieking into it.

  There was a narrow gap – a short passageway leading into another parallel tunnel. Eddie was barely through when another roar echoed after him, followed by a frantic scrabbling and scraping. He could imagine the monster slashing at the entrance of the passage with its knife-like claws – gouging out chunks of brick as it widened the passage so it could follow them.

  ‘Let’s hope it isn’t clever enough
to realise that these tunnels probably join up further on,’ Sir William said.

  ‘I think it’s time we found a way out of here,’ George said.

  ‘Indeed it is. I’m down to my last couple of matches.’

  ‘Perhaps there isn’t a way out,’ Liz said quietly.

  ‘There must be an inspection hatch or something somewhere,’ George told her. ‘Probably up that way. The tunnel slopes slightly, and a hatch is likely to be at a higher point.’

  ‘Good thinking,’ Sir William said. ‘Let’s take a look shall we?’ He led them up the tunnel in the direction George had indicated. To their relief, the sound of the monster’s frantic scraping and scratching gradually faded into the distance.

  ‘So let’s recap on what we know,’ Sir William suggested. They were walking slowly in darkness now, their feet splashing through the thin stream of foul-smelling water that was washing down the tunnel. ‘Lorimore wants the final volume of Glick’s diary. Presumably for some entry he believes is in it. An entry that means nothing in itself, but provides a clue to what Lorimore is really after. Some clue that no one else has yet managed to decipher.’

  ‘He approached Albert Wilkes to get hold of it,’ George said. ‘Maybe he murdered Albert when he refused to help.’

  ‘Or maybe he died of natural causes,’ Sir William said.

  ‘What about Wilkes’s body?’ Liz asked.

  ‘Yes, a rum do,’ Sir William told them. ‘It sounds fantastic, but I believe that Lorimore somehow reanimated Wilkes in the hope he would retrieve the diary, or at least show them where it was kept. Instead of which poor old Wilkes surprised them by settling back into his usual routine. They thought he’d gone to his house to get the diary, and instead he went home for tea.’

  ‘That’s why Blade was trying to get him back,’ Eddie realised.

  ‘So they somehow switched him off, as it were, when that didn’t work. And then they replaced the body, rather hastily, when there was a possibility it might be dug up again,’ Liz said. ‘When Mrs Wilkes told people her husband was walking.’