The Death Collector

by Justin Richards

‘I’ll say.’ Eddie turned to look back at the house behind them. It looked so normal in the morning light – a large house set in its own grounds. The only unusual thing was that it was hidden away in the heart of London, cordoned off from the city by a high wall. The smoke rising from the back of the house might be the last of the morning mist burning off as the sun gained strength.

  When he turned back, he saw that Liz was helping a man to his feet, relieving him of the shotgun that had been slung over his shoulder. ‘I don’t think you’ll be needing that,’ she told him.

  ‘I should go for the police, if I were you,’ Sir William told the startled guard. ‘And you’ll probably need to find alternative employment.’

  The man stared at them, but said nothing. Then, abruptly, he turned and ran ahead of them to the gates.

  ‘I dunno what the peelers will do when they find that lot,’ Eddie said.

  ‘Oh, I imagine they’ll do what they always do when they find something so strange and bizarre that it defies explanation,’ Sir William replied. His eyes were twinkling in the cold light.

  ‘And what’s that?’ Eddie stuck his tongue out at the lizard watching from the top of the gatepost as he stepped out into the street. George and Liz were waiting for them a few paces ahead. They were holding hands again.

  Sir William gave a short laugh. ‘They will send for me, of course,’ he said. Then he clapped his hands together, rubbing enthusiastic warmth into them. ‘And for my new assistant, Mr Archer. We shall have some work to do – both here and at Lorimore’s foundries, I imagine.’

  ‘So, what will you tell them?’ Liz asked, looking from George to Sir William. ‘What will I tell my father?’ she added quietly. ‘If he even notices I’ve been gone.’

  ‘Yes,’ George said, ‘what will we say to the police?’

  Sir William frowned. ‘I don’t know about you,’ he said, ‘but I shall tell them …’ His voice tailed off as he considered. ‘Yes, most definitely,’ he decided. ‘I shall tell them that I need breakfast.’ Then he clapped Eddie on the back, laughing with him and leading the way down the road. ‘Let me treat you, my friends,’ he declared. ‘I think you deserve it.’

  ‘Oh no,’ Eddie told him, running to catch up. ‘Let me treat you.’ He pulled a leather wallet from his pocket and opened it to show them the bundle of notes inside.

  ‘Where did you get that?’ Liz demanded.

  ‘Lorimore’s pocket,’ Eddie said. ‘I reckon he owes us breakfast. And,’ he added, ‘I don’t reckon he needs this no more. Just one thing …’

  ‘And what is that?’ Sir William asked.

  ‘Bacon and stuff is fine,’ Eddie said. ‘But no more eggs. All right?’

  Check out Justin Richards’s next thrilling novel, THE CHAOS CODE

  Matt Stribling is dreading another vacation with his scatterbrained archaeologist father. But after he arrives to find his father missing, Matt discovers that his father had been searching for an ancient code, one rumoured to have brought down the Mayans and maybe even Atlantis. Now the code lies in the hands of a madman, and Matt will traverse the globe, battling terrifying sand creatures and mercenaries alike, to stop the chaos code from being fully reactivated. Can he save the modern world from a catastrophe not seen since the days of Atlantis?

  A Note on the Author

  Justin Richards has written dozens of novels as well as audio and television scripts. He now writes and edits full-time and is a creative consultant to the BBC Worldwide’s range of Doctor Who novels and non-fiction books. Justin’s first foray into children’s books culminated in the successful middle-grade Invisible Detective series. He lives in Warwick, England, with his family.

  Books by Justin Richards

  The Death Collector

  The Chaos Code

  Copyright © 2006 by Justin Richards

  All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

  First published in the U.K. by Faber and Faber Ltd. in 2006

  Published in the United States of America in May 2006

  by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers

  Electronic edition published in October 2012

  www.bloomsburyteens.com

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

  Richards, Justin.

  The death collector / by Justin Richards. — 1st U.S. ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Three teens and a curator of unclassified artifacts at the British Museum match

  wits with a madman determined to use unorthodox methods to reanimate the

  dead, both humans and dinosaurs.

  [1. Monsters—Fiction. 2. Zombies—Fiction. 3. London (England)—Fiction.

  4. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title.

  PZ7.R386De 2006 [Fic]—dc22 2005030621

  ISBN 978-1-6196-3017-8 (e-book)