by Jay Mason
Alex had a good torch with her. With the batteries in, it was heavy enough to give any naughty animal a good whack on the snout if it tried to attack. She also had a pocketful of dog treats in case what Cat had seen was someone’s lost pet. She walked cautiously, keeping to the shadows and watching the night sky for unusual lights. She had no wish to have to crawl on her hands and knees away from another helicopter or drone.
The ground crunched slightly beneath her feet. A frost had started to form. The corn left standing did not look good. It sagged. Alex wondered if this field would be harvested at all before it was burnt. Had someone paid the farmer to leave his crop to rot, so they could use the field somehow? The fields ran up to the Center, but Alex thought it was unlikely they would do anything as obvious as deal with a local.
Her breath hung before her in little clouds. Except for the corn there appeared to be nothing in the field. Alex didn’t feel wary. Instead she was feeling colder and colder. The temperature was really dropping tonight. She made a decision and headed back towards her home.
Alex scanned the night automatically. She heard the flutter of the owl’s wings in the nearby forest. She spotted the vixen that often hung around her lane at night. She suspected it of rooting through their rubbish. The air had a faint tang of ozone. When she breathed in the cold nipped the inside of her nose and she had lost much of the feeling in her ears. Beautiful and crisp the fall promised a stark winter. She would need to buy a better coat.
Her parents car stood at the end of the drive. When one of her parents had to leave early in the morning they always parked further away from the house, so the starting engine would not wake the rest of the family.
Alex’s parents were unaware she had a spare key. Although she had passed her driving test in Britain, she had never driven since they had moved to the US. Alex opened the car door and got in. She started the engine and turned the heating on full. Her bedroom wouldn’t be cold, but it couldn’t compare to the blast of heat the car would give out. She levered the seat back, closed her eyes and relaxed.
She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d told Rusty it was harder to prove something didn’t exist. What could convince Cat that she hadn’t seen a beast from hell? Alex’s spine tingled. She disliked coincidences and the fact that she had come across Nellie Hill’s grave during The Clique’s Case disturbed her. Alex sighed. She should start at the beginning. She put the car into gear. Everything was on the wrong side, but going very slowly she eased the car out of the drive and onto the lane. She passed no other vehicles. She drove through the town’s main street and out into the countryside. The twin beams of her headlights punched through the kind of thick darkness that is only found in the countryside. Alex didn’t turn on the radio. It had the annoying habit of cutting out or retuning itself and considering the last time she had been out this way was to attend Bethany’s funeral, she thought it might spook her. Not that Alex spoked easily, but tonight something was tugging at the edges of her imagination.
Forty five minutes later with only the whir of the fan heater for company, Alex drew up outside the graveyard. The car’s lights swept across a small corpse of trees to an iron railing with an old gate that was all too familiar. Only I would not only remember how to get to a country graveyard, but willing go there in the middle of the night, she thought with a wry smile. She cut the lights and waited a few moments for her eyes to adjust.
She climbed out of the car. Her feet slipped and she staggered for a moment before catching her balance. Ice covered the ground. Alex picked her way carefully over to the gate. After that it would be gravel paths. She didn’t want to turn on her torch as it would ruin her night sight, but she took it with her.
The iron gate creaked open. “So Hammer Horror,” Alex told it. Her boots sounded abnormally loud as she crunched her way through the graveyard. Like I’m stepping on bones, she thought and shivered. Being alone in a graveyard didn’t bother her — much. What did disturb her was the absence of the sound of any wildlife.
Her eyes were fully adjusted by now and the moon’s creamy light more than adequate to guide her. Alex decided to step off and walk along the side of the path on the lawns. Usually she avoided stepping on graves out of respect, but she had a strong premonition that she didn’t want to be making any sound.
Nellie Hill’s grave lay beyond the others, and as Alex recalled, just past a large oak tree. She spotted the tree. The gravel path petered out. Alex rounded the tree and saw the grave exactly where she remembered it. Only last time she had been here there hadn’t been a large mound of earth beside it, nor had there been a man. The man, no more than a dark shadow, was leaning over and peering into the black maw opened in front of the tombstone. Alex let out an involuntary gasp. The man spun on his heel and looked straight at her.
It happened very quickly. One minute the stranger seemed about to leap towards her and the next he was cartwheeling his arms in the air. Then he was gone. “Shit,” said a disembodied male voice.
It took Alex a moment to realise that rather than vanishing in a mystical manner the man had fallen into the grave. She turned on her torch and advanced cautiously. She had no idea if the man might spring out at any moment or if he was stuck.
“Shit. Shit. Shit,” said a familiar sounding voice.
Alex shone her torch down into the darkness. “Joe?” she said.
A mud smeared Joe stared back up at her. He was dressed in a track suit. His normally perfect hair clung in sweaty clumps. He shielded his eyes with his hand. “Alex is that you?” he asked in a stunned voice.
“Why are you in a grave in the middle of the night?” said Alex.
“Oh, just checking it out for size,” said Joe snarkily. “C’mon Alex, you saw me fall in. You startled me. Why are you out here? And could you please turn that torch off. It’s blinding me.”
“How do I know you’re not a creature of the night who is afraid of light,” said Alex, who was beginning to enjoy herself. “I turn off this light and you’ll spring out of there and eat my soul.”
“Don’t be stupid. It’s me, Joe.”
“But is it?” said Alex. “The Joe Trend I know is always smart and his hair is never anything other than perfect.”
“I was running,” said Joe. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a run.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“I’m a star, Alex. People recognise me!”
“A star who likes running round graveyards and climbing in witch’s graves.”
Joe swore. “Am I in Nellie Hill’s grave? Get me out of here Alex, please.”
“Okay,” said Alex relenting. “I’ll have to go back to the car. There’s a tow rope in the boot.”
“You keep ropes in your boots?” asked Joe, but Alex was already jogging away. She returned a few minutes later and tied the rope to a tree. Joe shimmed up it with alacrity.
“Thanks hon,” said Joe. He shook himself and pulled his fingers through his hair dislodging dirt. “I don’t ever want to be in a grave again.”
“Did you notice anything down there?” asked Alex.
“No coffin and I didn’t see any bones, but then I wasn’t going to go digging around for them.”
Alex shone her torch into the grave. “The earth’s been disturbed recently,” she said. “There’s an imprint where the coffin was. That’s odd.”
“Why?” asked Joe.
“Well, if anything about the local legend is to be believed the coffin would have been placed in the earth a few hundred years ago …”
“You mean it would have rotted away?” said Joe. “But wouldn’t it still have left a mark? Like it once was.”
“Nah,” said Alex. “Once decomposition really gets going then everything goes all mulchy.”
Joe held up his hand, “Please. No more details.”
“So anyway,” said Alex, “that would mean someone deliberately made the outline of a coffin.”
“Unless it’s something supernatural,” said Joe with
a shiver of excitement in his voice.
“Oh, I think that’s what whoever did this wants us to think,” said Alex.
“You’re investigating, aren’t you?” said Joe. “I’m having this feeling this isn’t your first rodeo.”
“What?”
“You know what you’re doing,” explained Joe.
“Maybe,” said Alex cautiously.
“We could team up,” said Joe.
“I don’t …”
“I can pay,” said Joe.
Alex sighed. “I don’t want your money, Joe.”
“Really?” said Joe. “Most girls want me to buy them stuff.”
“Look if we were to investigate this together we’d need to keep it secret,” said Alex. “Whoever is doing this has decent resources. We have no idea who we can trust.”
“True,” said Joe. “But the movie is the perfect cover. You can visit me on set and we can discuss stuff in my trailer and if we ever need to go off somewhere I can say I’m getting into character or you’re helping me with my lines or something.”
Alex was pretty sure she knew what people would be saying if she kept disappearing off with Joe, but at least this way she’d be able to keep an eye on him. It’s not that I fancy him or anything, she told herself. This is business.
“I think it could work,” said Alex out loud.
“Great,” said Joe. “Did you say you had a car out here. Could you give me a lift back? I’ve chilled down too much to run.”
“Sure,” said Alex. “Try not to get mud in the car.”
“I can send someone over to valet it for you tomorrow,” said Joe.
“Stop it,” said Alex. “I don’t want anything from you. I’ll sweep it out myself when I get back.”
“Okay,” said Joe in a puzzled voice.
Alex turned up the heating in the car and she hadn’t driven far before she heard a snore from the seat next to her. It seemed tonight’s excitement had all been too much for Joe. She glanced over at him. By the light of the dash she could see that sleeping he’d looked less like a chic film star and more like a normal person. He had ridiculously long eyelashes resting on his cheek and with his messy hair, the two somehow made him seem much younger to Alex and even vulnerable. She quelled an impulse to reach and move his hair away from his eyes — just in time to avoid going off the road and hitting a tree. She had to swerve slightly. Joe muttered something, but didn’t wake up.
When they reached the set Alex parked the car a little way from the trailers, so Joe could make it look like he was coming back from his run. He didn’t wake when she pulled on the handbrake. Alex looked at him helplessly. Joe snored lightly. She tried calling his name a few times, but got no response. Eventually, she poked him, rather hard, on the shoulder.
Joe shot up with a “er-who-what-where” kind of expression and an incoherent exclamation.
“We’re back,” said Alex.
Joe rubbed his eyes. “Oh yeah, right. I had the weirdest dream about falling into a grave.”
“You did,” said Alex.
Joe shook his head and earth flew across the car. “Oh shit,” he said. “Sorry. I’m still getting my head together.”
“Do that in your trailer,” said Alex. “I need to get home.”
“Yeah, of course,” said Joe. He opened the door to get out, but at the last minute turned back and kissed Alex on the cheek. “Thanks hon,” he said and got out. He closed the door heavily. Alex immediately drove off. She didn’t even wave. But all the way home her skin tingled where Joe had kissed her.
****
When Alex next visited Joe in his trailer the next day she found he had had a top of the line computer installed. “I thought we could do some internet searches here,” he said. “I’ve also had my research notes couriered over from home. They should be here in a day or so.”
“Okay,” said Alex sitting down at the computer, “let’s start by comparing the different legends of the Howardsfield Horror. Then we can look up sightings of beasts and animal attacks in the area as far back as we can go.”
“Do you mind if I put Alien Mushroom Attack on in the background while we do this?” asked Joe. “I could make some popcorn too.”
Alex sighed and accepted the inevitable. “Sure,” she said. A half hour later Joe was sitting in front of the DVD munching popcorn while Alex was still working on the machine.
This became a fairly common routine. It wasn’t that Joe was lazy, but more that he didn’t have a great attention span. He was always very apologetic when he realised Alex had been doing all the research. He started keeping her supplied with drinks and snacks. Alex didn’t mind. The computer was excellent and Joe’s records when they turned up were very thorough. “Did you do all this?” she asked.
Joe hung his head like a little boy. “No,” he admitted, “I told the researcher what I wanted her to look into though. I sort of directed her — like a director does with a film.”
Alex suppressed a smile. “Sure. Did you use anyone local?”
Joe shook his head. “No, I’m very careful about not using people from the area or who might have some kind of involvement.” He picked up a sheaf of papers. “This was Cheri. She was a postdoctoral research chemist at — at — I forget where. A long way from here anyway. She needed cash and I needed someone who knew how to do research.”
“A chemist?”
Joe shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth. “Hmm,” he said. “I’ve had English literature students, biologists, even a zoologist once, doing research for me. I have my PA look for senior students who are advertising on university boards for summer work or extra income. Some get into it more than others, but none of them ever work more than eight weeks that way no one but me gets to build the overall picture.”
“How’s that picture going?” asked Alex, genuinely curious.
“Oh, it’s coming on,” said Joe vaguely. “Having lines to learn can interrupt the process.”
“Of course,” said Alex.
“I make them all sign non-disclosure agreements too.”
“Do I need to do that?”
Joe looked shocked. “Of course not, you’re … you’re my Alex.”
Which, thought Alex, as she made her way home that night, didn’t tell her anything about where their relationship was going.
Joe often put his arm round her when they were watching a movie together in his trailer. But then all the actors seemed very touchy-feely. She saw a lot of them wandering around the set and they were nearly always kissing each other on the cheek or embracing. When Joe leant over her working at the computer to look at the screen he put his face so close to hers she could feel the heat from his cheek. Occasionally he touched her lightly with seeming affection, but more often than not this was a precursor to him asking her to help him run lines.
****
The next day Alex had a series of classes that she had to attend. The college might be giving her extra credit for being involved with the film, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have to complete her other coursework. With two other papers outstanding, Alex had reluctantly decided that she had to attend Mr Zybslaw’s chemistry lab. She knew that he would not be pleased to see her.
After she had completed a long, complicated experiment, for which Alex could not see an actual point, she finally made her way across to the set. She spotted Joe dressed in his ridiculous bright red and gold skin tight space suit first. He stood near his trailer. She came up behind him with the intent of surprising him, when two hands appeared around the side of his neck. Alex stopped, stunned. Joe moved his head slightly to one side and she caught a glimpse of the girl in his embrace. His co-star, Leonda Reed, had closed her eyes, clearing enjoying the experience. For no good reason Alex’s stomach spasmed in pain, causing her to hold her arm across it and bend forward. She gasped.
Joe turned. He let Leonda go. “Alex!” He said and smiled.
Alex stared at him with disbelief. Then as if she had been pushed hard she found he
rself twisting and running as fast as she could. She heard Joe call out to her, but she didn’t turn round. She didn’t want to see his face. Alex darted between actors and the various leads, lights, bits of scenery and various detritus of the movie. People scattered as she pelted through. She gave no thought to where she headed. Alex simply ran. That is until she met a large lighting rig that didn’t dodge. She landed in an undignified and painful heap. A few moments later Joe’s hand reached down to help her up. Alex pushed it away.
“What’s got into you?” asked Joe.
“I’m fine,” said Alex. To her horror she felt tears running down her face. “Go away Joe. Go back to Leonda.”
Joe laughed. Alex stumbled to her feet. Joe tried to take her arm again. “It’s okay, Alex,” he said. “It’s good to know you care. I’ve been trying to work you out for ages.”
“Let me go.”
“I was practising a scene, Alex. The one on the Omega base? You helped me learn it. Leonda is nice enough, but she’s not my type.”
“What do you mean trying to work me out?”
“C’mon Alex. You hang out with me in my trailer. You let me investigate with you. Hell, you even have me round to your parents for dinner. But I have no idea how you feel about me. You’re much younger than …”
He got no further. Alex threw her arms round his neck intending to hug him, but Joe’s lips found hers and he kissed her.
Alex was far from unwilling, but she hadn’t expected this. Joe’s tongue felt odd in her mouth. It darted around her, touching, caressing hers. Alex found herself mentally imagining what was happening in their mouths and trying to move her own tongue to fit. It all felt a bit slimy. Then Joe broke away and smiled. Alex smiled back, but she felt a sense of relief. Around them the crew cheered. Alex blushed and grinned. Joe put his arm around her shoulder. Alex relaxed. “My little drama queen,” he whispered in her ear. She giggled.
