Death Trance
Page 43
They approached the front door just as four policemen and two medics struggled out of the doorway with a gurney on which a massive shape was covered with a heavily bloodstained sheet.
‘What happened?’ Randolph asked. He lifted the sheet and saw that underneath it lay Orbus Greene, or what was left of Orbus Greene. His white suit was almost black with blood, and huge chunks of raw flesh had been bitten out of the side of his body.
His face was like beaten beef. Randolph’s stomach tightened and he let the sheet fall back.
‘Ah, Mr Clare,’ said a familiar voice. It was Captain Ortega from downtown, a smart young career-detective with a handsome Latin face and a briskly clipped moustache.
‘You came just in time for a terrible tragedy, I regret. I must please ask you to keep this confidential for the moment. We have kept it from the media so far, until we understand it better.’
A police officer came past carrying a dead Doberman in his arms. He threw it noisily into the trunk of his car and then went back into the house.
‘What the hell happened here?’ Randolph asked. He was shaken and tired and bewildered.
Captain Ortega took his arm. ‘Mr Graceworthy kept some very fierce guard dogs on the premises,’ he confided. ‘It seems that last night Mr Orbus Greene and Chief Moyne, as well as several other persons, including two policemen, paid a visit to Mr Graceworthy, perhaps a social call after the Cotton Carnival Ball. Whatever it was, it seems that Mr Graceworthy was not here and the result was that the dogs attacked the guests and killed them. Nine dead people in all, each very seriously savaged. One of them even lost an arm, an arm we cannot find anywhere.’
He took out a small inhaler and squeezed it up each nostril. ‘Of course we have put down the dogs. They were too dangerous to even take back to the city pound. But we are still anxious to trace Mr Graceworthy. You have no notion of his whereabouts?’
Randolph slowly shook his head. ‘If I hear from him, do you want me to let you know?’
'That would be helpful,’ smiled Captain Ortega as another gurney was wheeled past.
Randolph recognized a silver-skull ring on the hand that dangled from underneath the sheet: one of Orbus Greene’s bodyguards.
He asked abruptly, ‘Do you mind if I use the phone? My chauffeur was supposed to meet me here and he seems to be late.’
‘By all means,’ said Captain Ortega.
Herbert said he would pick them up in fifteen minutes. While they waited for him, they spent the time in Waver-ley’s gardens, walking and talking.
‘Leyaks, of course,’ Michael said quietly. ‘No dogs could have done that.’
‘You mean they went through the gate and came back here?’
Michael nodded. ‘Waverley Graceworthy’s living room is not sacred ground, after all.
The leyaks were probably chasing Reece and came bursting into the real world right where all these people were sitting. Nobody had a chance.’
‘And what about the leyaks now?’
‘Well, that’s the danger. They’re loose in the real world, who knows where? And of course they have to kill to survive.’
Randolph asked, ‘You’re not thinking of going leyak-hunting again?’
Michael took out a cigarette. ‘Not me,’ he said, shaking his head.
Randolph was silent for a moment and then said, ‘I have some staff vacancies. The vice-presidency in charge of production just happens to be free. I’m letting Neil Sleaman go.’
Michael shook his head again. ‘Maybe I’ll take up taxi driving,’ he said, half-smiling.
Randolph was thoughtful. ‘I knew a taxi driver once,’ he remarked. ‘In fact, he was the one who put me on to Reece. Do you know what he used to think? He thought that Elvis Presley faked his own death just to get some peace from his fans.’
‘Good theory,’ Michael said, nonchalantly blowing a smoke ring.
Randolph nodded. ‘I wonder what happened to that taxi driver. I never heard from him again.’
Michael said, ‘Usually that’s the best way.’
FOOTNOTE I
On March 27,1985, Richard Stevens Reece was apprehended by police in Gary, Indiana, on charges of assault. His particulars were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who determined that he was also wanted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in connection with a multiple rape-murder at Lac aux Ecorces in the Province of Quebec.
Reece was extradited to Quebec, where he was tried and found guilty of homicide.
The evidence that principally decided the jury was a set of US Army dogtags discovered beneath the floorboards of the cabin where the rape-murders took place.
They were identified as belonging to Richard Reece.
Richard Reece was sentenced to life imprisonment. He hanged himself in his cell on the morning of July 9, 1985, leaving a note that said simply, ‘Fish Hook.’
FOOTNOTE II
On February 18, 1986, a down-and-out was attacked in an alley between 14th and 15th Streets in Joplin, Missouri. The victim had been torn to pieces ‘as if by wolves.’
Pieces of his body were found as far as 65 feet apart.
The only eye-witness to the killing was a partially-blind derelict of 72 years old, who was drunk on turpentine substitute at the time. He told the police that there were two killers, both ‘with faces like ashes and eyes like orange fire.’
His evidence was discounted by investigating officers, and the coroner’s eventual finding was that the down-and-out had been killed ‘by persons or animals unknown.’
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX