More in hope than expectation, Yvonne turned the handle of the door. Locked.
“Here goes.” Ryan kicked it hard. The door shuddered but held. Again. Again. With each well-aimed kick of Ryan’s, Yvonne’s spirits sank. The bloody thing was impenetrable.
When she had almost given up hope—and without warning—it gave and flew open.
The stench of decay overwhelmed them. They both retched.
Yvonne pulled a tissue from the pocket of her jeans and clamped it over her nose, seeing Ryan do the same. It didn’t help much.
“Let’s get this over with.”
Ryan gasped. “Oh Christ. Now I’ve seen it all. Don’t come in here.”
But she had already seen what he didn’t want her to see.
Chapter 21
The stench of putrefaction was worse than ever. The foulness of the decomposed bodies made Yvonne and Ryan retch.
“We’ve got to call the police,” Ryan said, gagging and reaching into his back pocket for his cell phone. “Damn it to hell. No signal.”
Yvonne wiped a thin trickle of bile from her mouth with the back of her hand. “Oh God, Ryan. What are we going to do now? We can’t stay in this house. Not with these bodies.”
“Let’s get out of here. Don’t touch anything.”
Back up in the kitchen, Ryan called the police. “They’re on their way.”
Yvonne nodded, her heart thumping painfully.
Heidi ran in from outside. “Mum, Dad, come quickly. Something’s wrong in the garden.”
Her parents raced after her. She stopped and pointed under the tree. The grass looked dry, dead. Devoid of color. Surely it hadn’t been like that before? Yvonne remembered the lush turf of a mere few days earlier.
Ryan bent down and touched it. “It shouldn’t be this dry. The rest of the grass is green after the rain. This couldn’t have dried so much so quickly.”
Heidi knelt on the ground and pointed. “Look, can’t you see? The grass is cut in squares there and it can’t grow properly.”
“Squares?” Ryan poked around. “I’m going to find a trowel. There are some garden tools in the shed.”
Yvonne had never ventured into the little shed. She knelt down beside Heidi. “What did you mean when you said the grass can’t grow properly?”
“Something’s stopping it. Someone did something very bad and tried to hide it, under there.” She pointed to the turf. “They covered it over but the grass knows. It can’t grow there.”
Hearing her words delivered with such conviction, Yvonne wondered, not for the first time over these past few days, if she had ever really known her child.
Ryan returned and started to dig. “She’s right. This has been planted recently.” He cut a perfect square, laid down the trowel and pulled. A clump of turf stretched and reluctantly released its tenuous hold on the earth beneath.
Heidi screamed, jumped up and pointed down at the bare soil. “There’s someone under there. I can see them.”
Police sirens squealed, coming nearer. They stopped close by. Yvonne did her best to comfort her daughter while Ryan let them in. He brought them out to the garden, speaking in rapid German to the four male police officers. One of them smiled at Yvonne and Heidi, who was trembling in her mother’s arms. He picked up the trowel and began to dig down. Two of the officers went with Ryan back into the house. No doubt, they would be going down to the basement.
Ryan had just returned to the garden when one of the police officers who was digging hit something metallic. He stopped. They all peered down.
The hole was no more than eighteen inches deep but at the bottom of it, something gleamed. The police officer reached down and pulled up a man’s watch with a broken strap. Yvonne saw the time. The watch was still functioning.
“I’m taking Heidi inside,” Yvonne said. Ryan nodded. Whatever was down there was not for a young girl’s eyes. But then, she had probably already seen the worst. That cursed eyesight.
The other officer made his way back to the patrol car. Yvonne watched from the window as he returned, carrying two spades. He gave one to his colleague and motioned Ryan to return to the house.
Heidi sat at the kitchen table, staring at the floor. Ryan came into the kitchen.
“Heidi,” he said. “Why don’t you go up to your room? Maybe Sekhmet is up there. She was earlier.”
Yvonne gave a startled cry, then realized Ryan was talking about the cat, not the goddess, and shut up. Stupid. Heidi said nothing. She nodded, stood and left the kitchen. When she was confident her daughter was out of earshot, Yvonne spoke. “Ryan, we can’t stay here after this. Let’s go to a hotel until we can find somewhere else to live.”
Ryan hesitated, but only for a second. “Yes, that’s probably for the best. You go and pack. I’ll have a word with the police. I expect they’ll tell us we have to go anyway. It’s a murder scene now.”
A commotion from outside stopped Yvonne in her tracks. One police officer was talking into his radio while the other continued to dig, but more gently now.
“They’ve found something,” Ryan said. “I think it’s a body. They’re coming.”
Yvonne let them in and sat quietly, wishing she could understand what was being said. Finally, Ryan spoke to her.
“They’ve found the body of a man, badly decomposed but until they get the forensic team involved they know little else, except… There’s a wallet lying next to him. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he was put in the ground. The initials P.B. are on it.”
“Phil Bancroft,” Yvonne said.
“Has to be, doesn’t it?”
“So the two women in the cellar must be his wife, Paula, and that medium they brought in.”
“There’s no question now, is there? It’s all hideously real, isn’t it?”
“So did Quintillus murder them all? I suppose it must have been him.”
Ryan shrugged.
A chilling scream tore through the air.
“Heidi!” Yvonne raced up the stairs, pursued by Ryan and the two police officers. In her bedroom Heidi was crying hysterically. There was no sign of the cat but two deep scratches on her neck bled in rivulets down her white T-shirt.
“God, what happened?” Yvonne clutched her, heedless of the blood that now seeped onto her own clothes.
“That bloody cat!” Ryan exclaimed.
“No…” Heidi choked back her sobs. “Not Sekhmet.” She pointed at the doll in black, lying once again on the shelf, but this time with both hands raised above her. Covered in blood.
“Get it out of here,” Yvonne cried.
A police officer carefully placed it in a plastic bag and sealed it. He wrote on the label. More evidence. But of what?
Ryan escorted the police officers out of the room and down the stairs. The doorbell rang and more voices drifted up from the hallway.
Yvonne brought bandages and a bowl of water. She gently cleaned the wounds, which weren’t deep and had mercifully stopped bleeding. Heidi calmed and stopped sobbing.
“What happened, darling?”
“I picked up Selena and she scratched me. I don’t know how she did it. I was only holding her and her arms moved all by themselves.”
“Is the lady still with you?”
Heidi shook her head. “No, she had to go. Dr. Quintillus made her.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Yvonne’s heart lurched. Heidi might not know, but she did.
“Mum?”
“Yes, darling?”
“I don’t want to live here anymore. I’m frightened.”
Yvonne held her close. “I know, love, I know. We’ll pack your suitcase and we’ll stay at a hotel tonight. The police will have a lot of work to do here.”
“Can we take Sekhmet?”
“That co
uld be difficult. A lot of hotels don’t accept animals. She’ll be better off here. She can guard the house.” If only it was that easy. “We can leave her lots of food and water and come back tomorrow to check on her. Where is she, by the way?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since the lady left me.”
* * * *
“I can’t help wondering if the two things are linked,” Yvonne said to Ryan after the police left. “If what Yasmin says is true, and we’ve no reason to doubt her, Sekhmet’s role is as Heidi’s protector. When she’s not around…”
“Bad shit happens.”
“Precisely. I wish that cat would make a reappearance.”
“The police have told me we can stay here if we wish as long as we avoid the basement, and the garden is off limits as well.”
Yvonne shuddered. “Not tonight. Not until they’ve moved the bodies. We’ve been living with corpses. It doesn’t bear thinking about. And I thought I’d dreamt it.” She shook her head.
“Heidi okay now?”
“Not really. She keeps asking for Sekhmet, but I’ve told her we’ll leave food and water for her. I’ve searched the house but there’s no sign of her. All the same, the place is so big…I’ve left plates both inside and out. If she doesn’t eat it, I’ve no doubt the local hedgehog will happily devour it.”
“Where’s Heidi now?”
“In our room. She didn’t want to stay in her own after what happened. What did the police make of that, I wonder?”
“Not much. I think they were taken aback. They’ve kept the doll but I don’t think it will help much with the murder enquiry. Still, at least it gets it out of the house.”
Yvonne took a look around the kitchen. “Let’s go. I can’t stand this place any longer.”
* * * *
The hotel was comfortable, and the family suite was decorated in contemporary style, with the Austrian national colors of red and white being the primary feature. Heidi unpacked her own case and put her clothes away without being asked. Yvonne should have been pleased at this show of good behavior, but all it did was make her worry more at the toll this stress was taking on her daughter.
At bedtime, Heidi didn’t grumble. She meekly got undressed, brushed her teeth, and slipped under the covers of the single bed. Yvonne and Ryan stayed up in the living area.
“I’m going to talk to my boss tomorrow about getting out of the lease. I’m sure under the circumstances, there shouldn’t be a problem. They can’t expect us to live in a murder scene. I won’t even have to mention anything else.”
Yvonne yawned. “I’m going to get ready for bed.”
“See you in a few minutes.”
In the bathroom, Yvonne brushed her teeth and rinsed with mouthwash. She caught sight of her face in the mirror. Worry lines creased her forehead. And I thought coming to Vienna was such a great idea. She shook her head at her reflection and switched off the light above the sink.
A low moan raised the hairs on the back of her neck. She called to Ryan. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Yvonne emerged from the bathroom. “A moaning sound.”
“No. Maybe air in the pipes.”
“Could be. I hope so.” So why couldn’t she believe it?
Yvonne switched off the bathroom light and moved into the bedroom.
The figure bent over Heidi, who still slept. At her entry, it stood straight and faced Yvonne. The gray, mummified face, black holes where eyes should be. Where eyes had been.
Quintillus. The stench of death poured off him. Yvonne opened her mouth but no scream would come out. No sound of any kind. In his hand, the creature held a small gold statuette. He held it up and a scuttling, metallic sound grew louder until Yvonne clapped her hands over her ears to drown out the excruciating noise. A thousand insects crawled over her body, finding their way in through every orifice. And above it all, the infernal Quintillus brandished the statue and stared with unseeing eyes.
Then he had gone. The insects had vanished. The room visibly lightened. She called for Ryan and dashed over to Heidi, who was still soundly asleep.
“Yvonne, whatever—”
She grabbed his arm, trying to draw strength from him. “He was here, Ryan. Quintillus. He came for Heidi. You were right. We’re not safe anywhere.”
Ryan held her to him. They spent the night fully dressed, wrapped in each other’s arms until dawn crept under the curtains and Heidi stirred.
“Mum? I had a horrible dream.”
Yvonne rubbed tired eyes and Ryan sat up. “What was it about, love?”
“Dr. Quintillus. He whispered to me. He said I should get ready because he was coming for me. He said the lady had gone for good. He said I was his greatest prize because I’m young. Then he went away.”
Yvonne exchanged glances with Ryan. She kept her voice calm. “I tell you what, you take your shower and we’ll go and have breakfast in a little while.”
Yvonne waited until she heard the water running. “What Heidi said fits exactly with what I saw. I saw him bent over her and I swear he was whispering to her. What are we going to do, Ryan?”
“I wish I knew. But we need to find that cat. Right now, we need all the protection we can get.”
“But what if Quintillus has sent her away, too? Like he has Paula?”
“We’ll have to hope he hasn’t. It’s all we’ve got. You keep Heidi entertained after breakfast. Take her to the Tiergarten at the Schönbrunn Palace. They’ve got some fabulous animals there. There’s even a baby giant panda.”
“That should keep her mind off things for a couple of hours.”
“I’ll make a call to my boss. Then I’ll phone Anton and tell him everything that’s happened. If I do all this from the house, I can look for Sekhmet at the same time.”
“Bring her here. Smuggle her in if you have to.”
“It won’t be a secret for long. Not with cat litter trays and feeding bowls. Not to mention a cat basket.”
“We’ll explain it’s an emergency and slip them a few extra euros. That should do it.”
Ryan gave her arm a squeeze. “If not, there are other hotels.”
“But we can’t go anywhere without Quintillus following us. He’s made that abundantly clear.”
“We just have to make it up as we go along. It’s all we can do.”
Yvonne nodded. Ryan was right. No perfect solution presented itself. Only a sleek black cat who, right now, could be anywhere.
* * * *
Heidi became almost her old self as she and her mother strolled around the enormous zoo. They watched polar bears frolicking, penguins sliding into the water, sea lions being fed, monkeys getting up to mischief, but far and away the favorite was the panda enclosure where the little bear sat astride a tree branch as his mother looked on protectively, chewing bamboo.
Heidi giggled and insisted on staying “Just five minutes more, please Mum.” Half an hour later, she succumbed to the bribery of koalas and an Almdudler.
* * * *
Back at the hotel, Ryan had mixed news. “No sign of Sekhmet. I went over the whole house again, except the basement, but she couldn’t have got in there. The police sealed it up.”
“Unless they sealed her in.”
Ryan shook his head. “No, they’ve been there again today and they told me she wasn’t down there. They’ve taken the bodies for formal identification and autopsy. On the bright side, my boss reckons that we should be able to get a new place without too much hassle from the powers that be. Probably an apartment but who cares? It gets us away from that place.”
“But not from Quintillus.”
“No, I know. But it’s got to be better.”
“I hope so, Ryan. I really hope so.” If only Yvonne could believe it.
“It’s good to see Heidi laughi
ng again.”
“Yes, I wish it could last. We need to go and get more clothes from the house. I should have told you earlier. I’ll bag some stuff up for the hotel laundry but Heidi needs something for tomorrow. With everything going on, I wasn’t thinking.”
“I’d probably have brought all the wrong stuff anyway,” Ryan said. “I wish we didn’t have to take Heidi back there, though. It’s going to rake everything up again, but I firmly believe we need to stay together. It’s the only strength we have.”
Yvonne pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll go and fetch her. We’ll go now. She can stay in the car while we throw some stuff in a suitcase.”
There was no sign of Sekhmet, and Heidi’s earlier good humor had become a fading memory.
“I want to find her. I miss her.” Tears filled the vivid blue eyes. “She might be there and you keep missing her. She could be hiding in one of her special places.”
Yvonne stopped herself asking where those might be. They had enough to deal with right now. “Heidi, darling,” she said, leaning in through the open rear car door. “If she wants to come back, she’ll do so in her own time. We’ll put out some more fresh food and water for her. Now, you stay there. Promise?”
“But Mum…”
“Heidi.”
Heidi sighed.
“No, I want you to promise me you’ll stay here in the car until we get back. It’s important.”
Heidi blinked. “Okay, I suppose so. But I want Sekhmet. You’ve got to find her. Please, Mum.”
The child’s frightened eyes cut through Yvonne. “I promise we’ll do our very best.” With that, she shut the door, and with Ryan, stepped up to the front door.
Inside, they half ran upstairs into Heidi’s room, where Yvonne opened drawers, extracting underwear, shorts, skirts and tops. She repeated the action in their bedroom while Ryan sorted out some clothes for himself.
“Ready?” Ryan asked as Yvonne zipped up the case.
“Ready,” she said.
“Let’s see if we can find Sekhmet.”
“I promised Heidi we’d leave some more food out for her.”
Damned by the Ancients Page 18
