Dead Man Walking

by Simon R. Green

  So this was a carefully planned murder, by someone in the Lodge … Unless that was what the killer wanted us to think. Unless everything here had been carefully staged, by a professional, to make it look like an inside job.

  I looked Parker’s body over carefully. I didn’t bother to check his pockets. Security would have emptied them before he was put in the cell. I was more interested in the clothes; but the killer hadn’t left any trace on them. Nothing I could see or smell. Up close, all the changes Parker had made to his face leapt out at me, reminding me there was always the chance this wasn’t Parker. Could he perhaps have been killed because Hayley and Doyle were getting too close to the truth, and discovering this wasn’t Parker after all? I finally straightened up again, and sighed heavily.

  There was nothing in the cell or on the body to help me understand who had killed Parker, or why. I’d have to wait for someone to send in a forensics team with the proper equipment. See if they could find something I’d missed.

  The only thing I could be sure of was that whatever Parker knew, whatever information he hoped to trade, it must have been really important. Something worth going to all this trouble to silence him. Because whoever did this had to have been a professional.

  I’d barely stepped back into the corridor before Martin locked the cell again from his security room. MacKay and Penny looked at me expectantly, but I just shook my head. I had nothing to say, for the moment. I was thinking. I headed back to the stairs, and Penny and MacKay followed after me. I didn’t need to look back to know they were exchanging glances.

  There was no sign of Baxter and Redd in the entrance hall, so I went to the lounge. Where Hayley was doing her best to comfort an almost hysterical Doyle. He was sitting right on the edge of the sofa, rocking back and forth, wringing his hands. Hayley sat beside him, patting his arm and talking brightly. He didn’t seem to hear her. Neither of them so much as glanced up as we entered the lounge.

  ‘Our careers are over!’ Doyle said tearfully. ‘We’re ruined! Getting answers out of Parker would have made our reputations, but this … Why did the bastard have to go and die on us? What are we going to do?’

  ‘Hush, Robbie,’ said Hayley. ‘Everything’s going to be all right.’

  ‘No it isn’t!’ said Doyle. ‘They’ll blame us for this, you know they will.’

  Hayley shot a glare at me. ‘I won’t let that happen.’

  ‘What’s wrong with him?’ said Penny. ‘Mister Big Tough Interrogator.’

  ‘He’s in shock,’ Hayley said shortly. ‘We’ve never had a patient die on us before.’

  Penny raised an eyebrow. ‘He’s a patient now, not a prisoner!’

  ‘It was our job to keep him alive,’ said Hayley. ‘He’s no use to any of us dead.’

  Baxter and Redd finally showed up to join us. MacKay gave them both a hard look, and they shook their heads quickly.

  ‘The grounds are clear and the Lodge is empty apart from us,’ said Redd. ‘Nothing to suggest anyone got in.’

  Baxter took in the state of the two doctors, sniffed loudly and, ignoring Penny and me, addressed himself directly to MacKay. ‘This place is a fortress. Which means the murder has to be an inside job. Someone in this room is the killer.’

  ‘I notice you’re glowering at me in particular,’ I said.

  ‘Everything was fine here until you turned up!’ said Baxter.

  ‘Yes …’ I said. ‘I noticed that too. Maybe someone decided Parker needed to be silenced before he could open up to me.’

  ‘What makes you think he’d talk to you, rather than us?’ said Hayley.

  ‘Because I’ve walked in his shoes,’ I said.

  MacKay raised his voice. ‘Mr Martin, put the Lodge on full lockdown. Do it now!’

  The whole house shook to the sounds of straining machinery, as heavy steel shutters ratcheted down to cover all the windows and the outer doors locked themselves. Doyle chuckled suddenly. A lost, joyless sound.

  ‘Like nails being hammered into a coffin lid. Burying us alive …’

  ‘Somebody shut him up,’ said Baxter.

  The last shutter slammed into place, the machinery ground to a halt, and suddenly it was extremely quiet. We all looked at each other.

  ‘I certainly feel so much safer now,’ I said. ‘Locked in here with an unknown killer. Who may or may not have unfinished business.’

  Baxter scowled at MacKay. ‘You should have given us some warning!’

  ‘Why?’ said MacKay. ‘So you could leave? I don’t think so. You said it yourself, Mr Baxter. This had to have been an inside job. Therefore all of us are suspects.’

  ‘Does this situation remind you of anything, Ishmael?’ said Penny.

  ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Let’s hope for a better outcome this time.’

  ‘What’s he talking about?’ said Redd.

  ‘Belcourt Manor,’ said Hayley. ‘One of his cases. A massacre.’

  ‘Another group of suspects, trapped together in one place,’ I said. ‘I caught the murderer eventually, but not before they killed everyone except Penny and me. Not one of my finest hours.’

  ‘Stop it!’ Penny said firmly. ‘You did all you could. More than anyone else could have managed against that monster.’

  ‘We’re locked in for the night,’ said Doyle, in the same sad, lost voice. ‘Rats in a trap. We’re all going to die.’

  Hayley was already pouring him a large brandy from the cut-glass decanter on the coffee table. It didn’t look like Doyle’s first. She forced the glass into his hand and made him drink some.

  ‘Mr Martin!’ MacKay said loudly. ‘A message should have gone out automatically once we entered lockdown, but just to be on the safe side contact Headquarters yourself. Make sure they know what’s happening here.’

  ‘Isn’t that a bit like bolting the stable door after the horse has been stabbed?’ said Penny.

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘We need backup here as soon as possible. Before our killer finds a way out.’

  ‘Not possible,’ said MacKay. ‘Not while lockdown is in place.’

  ‘He’s already managed several impossible things,’ I said.

  ‘I thought that was your line of business,’ said Hayley.

  ‘How could anyone kill Parker, not be seen, and not leave any trace behind?’ said Penny. ‘It’s just not possible!’

  ‘Unless it was the ghosties,’ said MacKay. He only half sounded like he was joking. And from the way the others were looking, I had to wonder if they preferred that idea to one of them being the killer.

  ‘I think we could all use something to eat and drink,’ I said. ‘Help settle our nerves.’

  ‘The kitchen is open,’ said MacKay. ‘I will prepare something.’ He raised his voice. ‘You too, Mr Martin. This is no time for anyone to be on their own.’

  ‘I’m not leaving the security centre!’ said Martin. His voice didn’t seem to come from anywhere in particular. It was just suddenly there in the room, with us. I looked around, but couldn’t see a hidden speaker anywhere. And I’m usually pretty good at spotting such things.

  ‘You’ll be much safer with us, you miserable specimen,’ said MacKay.

  ‘I’m not going anywhere while my computer scans are still running,’ said Martin. ‘And I’m perfectly safe where I am, behind this solid-steel door. No one’s going to get to me without using heavy-duty explosives or a bazooka. And I think I’d spot that on my cameras.’

  ‘Then stay where you are,’ I said. ‘When I want you, I’ll come and get you.’

  Penny leaned in close, to murmur in my ear. ‘I knew he could hear everything, but I didn’t know he could talk to us as well.’

  ‘I get the feeling there’s a lot he can do that he doesn’t like to reveal.’

  ‘Who do you think is the killer?’ said Penny.

  ‘Not me,’ I said. ‘And probably not you.’

  ‘Well,’ said Penny. ‘That’s a start.’

  We hurried through the empty corridors of the Lodg
e with MacKay leading the way. We all stuck close together, like sheep who’d just been alerted to the presence of a wolf. Baxter and Redd kept a watchful eye on every door we approached, braced for any sudden appearance, but they hadn’t drawn their guns yet. I wondered why.

  ‘Why haven’t you drawn your guns?’ I said.

  ‘Because we’re professionals,’ said Baxter, not even glancing in my direction. ‘We don’t go blasting off at every shadow.’

  ‘And because we’re short on ammunition,’ said Redd. ‘All we have is what’s in our guns at the moment. No reloads. I wouldn’t want to waste a bullet on something that wasn’t worthy of it.’

  ‘They are also under my orders not to use their weapons unless they absolutely have to,’ said MacKay. ‘Ringstone Lodge is a listed building, with a great many important and expensive antiques.’

  ‘Really?’ said Hayley. ‘Protecting our lives isn’t considered as important as protecting the fixtures and fittings? To hell with that! You go ahead and fire at anything you like, boys. They can bill me.’

  ‘I haven’t seen anything worth shooting at yet,’ said Redd. ‘How about you, Bax?’

  ‘Not a damned thing,’ said Baxter. ‘How about you, Mister Big Secret Agent Man?’

  ‘We’re safe enough for the moment,’ I said. ‘There’s no one else on the ground floor.’

  MacKay glanced back at me. ‘How can you be sure?’

  ‘Because that’s my job,’ I said.

  Baxter rolled his eyes, and Redd looked like he wanted to. Penny dropped me a wink. Hayley looked worriedly at Doyle, whose gaze seemed further away than ever.

  ‘How much further to the kitchen?’ she said.

  ‘Almost there, Doctor Hayley,’ said MacKay.

  The kitchen turned out to be a small but spotlessly clean affair on the far side of the Lodge. MacKay bustled around, organizing hot coffee and sandwiches for all and making a cheerful clatter. He seemed relieved now he had something practical to do. Everyone grabbed chairs and settled down around the single long table. Fortunately there were enough chairs to go round. Because no one wanted to go off on their own to find an extra one, if only because they didn’t want everyone else talking about them while they were gone. Baxter and Redd sat together; and Hayley sat with Doyle, who was still holding on to his empty brandy glass. Penny sat with me. And for a while we all just sat and looked at each other, thinking our own thoughts, trying to spot a murderer in a familiar face.

  Baxter was scowling so hard he was probably hurting his forehead. Redd sat stiffly with his arms folded, hard to read as always. Doyle had an almost fey look to him, as though all the things he’d thought he could depend on to make his world make sense had been taken away. Hayley studied us all carefully, trying to crack open our facades with her professionally trained mind. Penny just looked terribly interested in everyone. She was probably the only one there who didn’t feel threatened. Partly because she trusted me to protect her; but mainly because after the slaughter she’d witnessed at Belcourt Manor it would take a lot more than a dead man in a locked room to throw her.

  MacKay finally set three plates of roughly cut sandwiches down on the table before us. He stepped back and looked at us expectantly, but nobody made a move.

  ‘What more do you want me to do?’ said MacKay. ‘Cut off the crusts for you? Get stuck in, there’s a fine selection. I even managed a few vegetarian ones for you, Mr Redd.’

  ‘Not really hungry, right now,’ said Redd. ‘But thanks for remembering.’

  There were a few murmurs from around the table, indicating that no one had much of an appetite. I shrugged, and grabbed the nearest sandwich. MacKay nodded to me approvingly.

  ‘Every good soldier knows it’s wisest to eat when you can, because it might be some time before you get another chance.’

  ‘I thought that was sleep,’ I said.

  ‘That too,’ said MacKay.

  He took a sandwich and sat down at the end of the table, so he could watch all of us at once; giving the impression of a man who had done all that could reasonably be asked of him, and it would be a brave soul who asked for anything more.

  Penny watched me eating. ‘Any good?’

  ‘Not bad. You want a bit?’

  ‘Really not hungry, just at the moment.’ Penny wrinkled her nose. ‘How can you eat, at a time like this?’

  ‘You heard the old soldier. Got to keep the energy levels up when you’re chasing the bad guys.’

  ‘You’re just sitting there?’

  ‘My thoughts are racing.’

  ‘You’re a field agent,’ Hayley said to me, thoughtfully. ‘I suppose you’re used to sudden death.’

  ‘It’s part of the job,’ I said. ‘Coping with it, and causing it.’

  ‘Do you want to go down to the cell and examine Parker’s body, Doctor Hayley?’ said Penny.

  ‘No,’ said Hayley. ‘Robbie and I aren’t used to bodies. I never saw a dead man before.’

  ‘I thought you were both doctors?’ said Penny.

  ‘Of the mind, not the body,’ said Hayley. ‘We’re both academics. Robbie was perfectly happy in his ivory tower until I met him and dragged him out into the real world. Perhaps I should have left him there. He’s not made for situations like this.’

  Doyle raised the brandy glass to his mouth and, finding it was empty, put it down again. He didn’t seem to know what to do with the glass, so Hayley took it away from him and poured out some coffee from the pot MacKay had prepared. She put the cup in front of Doyle, but he didn’t even look at it.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ he said plaintively.

  ‘I’ll think of something,’ said Hayley. ‘You know me, Robbie. I always think of something. Now drink your nice coffee.’

  ‘I don’t want it.’

  ‘Drink it anyway.’

  ‘Don’t shout at me!’

  ‘Sorry! I’m sorry, Robbie. It’s just …’

  ‘I want to go home,’ said Doyle.

  ‘So do I,’ said Hayley. She looked round the table. ‘It’s just shock. We’ll both be fine. In a while.’

  Baxter and Redd looked like they might be ready to say something about that, but MacKay shut them up with a look. Then he turned his attention to me.

  ‘I was given to understand,’ he said steadily, ‘that Mr Parker was unkillable. And yet he died so easily …’

  ‘Just goes to show,’ I said. ‘You don’t want to believe everything you hear about field agents.’

  ‘Even though there are all kinds of strange stories,’ Hayley said pointedly, ‘about the kind of people it takes to go out into the darker places in the world and wrestle with monsters?’

  ‘Right,’ said Redd, fixing me with a cold contemplative gaze. ‘I’ve heard stories about the mysterious and enigmatic Ishmael Jones. I can’t believe half of the things you’re supposed to have done.’

  ‘Then don’t,’ I said. ‘You’ll sleep better that way.’

  ‘You’d have to be more than human to do everything I’ve heard,’ said Redd. ‘So what are you, really?’

  ‘Very good at my job,’ I said.

  ‘But will you be able to identify the murderer?’ said MacKay.

  ‘Eventually,’ I said. ‘It’s what I do.’

  ‘Don’t think you’re going to pin any of this on me!’ Baxter said loudly. ‘Nothing that’s happened here has been my fault.’

  ‘But it was your job to protect Parker,’ I said, in my most infuriatingly reasonable tone. ‘To keep him safe, from all his many enemies.’

  ‘Our job was to protect the Lodge from outside attack,’ said Baxter, leaning forward aggressively. ‘This was an inside job.’

  ‘Had to be,’ said Redd. ‘Inside information, all the way. Our killer knew where to find the victim, and how to avoid the surveillance. Which means it has to be one of us. Sitting right here at this table.’

  ‘Why would any of us want to kill him?’ said Hayley.

  ‘Perhaps someone here knew him fro
m before,’ said MacKay. ‘Someone with a grudge.’

  ‘More likely one of us is in the pay of the opposition,’ I said.

  ‘Who are the opposition?’ said Penny, trying to keep up.

  ‘Right now, any of the people Parker used to work for,’ I said. ‘He must have known something that someone couldn’t afford us to know. Unless … the killer is working for one of the traitors inside the Organization, who’s desperate to keep his identity from being revealed.’

  ‘Either way, it’s still not my fault,’ said Baxter. ‘Or Redd’s.’

  ‘Thanks for remembering me,’ said Redd. ‘Now cool it, Bax. No one’s pointing the finger at either of us.’

  ‘He is,’ said Baxter, settling reluctantly back in his chair. ‘Mister High-and-Mighty Field Agent.’

  ‘I’m not blaming anyone, just yet,’ I said. ‘We’re all under suspicion simply because we’re here.’

  ‘And all of you are outsiders,’ MacKay said slowly. ‘Only Mr Martin and I are regular Ministry of Defence personnel assigned to the Lodge. Everyone else was brought in specially, just for this operation.’

  ‘So only you and Martin could really be capable of an inside job,’ said Redd. ‘Because only you know the layout and workings of the Lodge well enough.’

  ‘All the other Lodge personnel are in the wind at the moment,’ I said. ‘The opposition could have got to any of them and forced or bribed the necessary information out of them. The first rule of any professional agent is to muddy the waters and confuse the situation. To distract the inquiring gaze away from what’s really going on. Just because this looks like an inside job, doesn’t necessarily mean it is.’

  ‘So there could still be an intruder at large somewhere in the Lodge?’ said Penny. ‘Just waiting for a chance to kill us all, one by one?’

  ‘There is no one else in the Lodge,’ Martin’s voice said loudly. ‘If there was, I’d be seeing them on my screens.’

  ‘Good to know you’re still with us,’ I said. ‘Can you speak to us from any room in the Lodge?’

  ‘Pretty much,’ said Martin. ‘Why?’

  ‘Just thinking,’ I said.

  ‘About what?’ said Baxter.

  ‘Motive,’ I said. ‘I believe this murder was personal. That Parker was killed for who he was, not what he was doing here.’