Little Eden

by KT King

  Marcus knew Alice was no fool and that she would not talk to him if he approached her as a strange man in the street. He came up with a plan. He would pretend to be a temporary librarian to gain her confidence. Marcus had only a few minutes before Alice was due to arrive. He sneaked into the disabled toilet and waited. Finally, Alice came in and cheerfully greeted Iris Sprott as she handed back her books. She then wandered off to browse amongst the stacks. Iris stamped the books and put them on the trolley. She looked at the clock, and seeing it was indeed four o’clock, she went to make her usual cup of tea.

  Marcus snuck out of the toilet and crept up to the front desk. He was about to go around it to attack Iris in the kitchenette, when she turned around and came back out to the desk, carrying her cup of tea. Marcus was sure she must have seen him as he ducked behind the trolley of books, but to his relief she had not. A few moments later, she wandered back into the kitchenette in search of the old Quality Street tin in which she kept some secret chocolate digestives. Marcus took the opportunity to sneak back into the toilet. He started thinking it was going to be harder than he had thought to kidnap Alice! He sat on the toilet seat for a few moments and prayed for guidance from Jesus. A few seconds later a smile crossed his lips as he found his divine inspiration. He put his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out his wallet. From inside one of the folds he produced a small clear plastic bag containing a white powder. It was ketamine, which he carried at all times, just in case a woman was not being as obliging as he wanted her to be.

  He peered through the toilet door and waited for Iris Sprott to leave her cup of tea unattended. He didn’t have to wait long, as Iris, having taken only one biscuit from the tin (due to her New Year’s resolution of losing three stone), went back into the kitchenette to fetch another. Marcus darted out of the toilet and surreptitiously poured the whole packet of ketamine into her cup of tea. He needed it to act fast. She returned before he could get back into his hiding place, so he quickly bent down in front of the desk, hoping that she would not look over it. He glanced anxiously at the door, because from there, sprawled out on his belly on the floor, he was fully visible, and he prayed that no one would come in. Watching the minutes tick by on the library clock, he grew more and more impatient. Luck was on his side however, and within a few minutes Iris Sprott was wobbling about! She felt extremely tired and dizzy, and a few seconds later she slumped over a pile of books and fell fast asleep.

  Marcus quickly removed Iris from her recumbent position. He had a little trouble laying such a bountiful lady down on the floor, and even more trouble pushing her cumbersome form under the counter where she could not be seen. Iris was not the quietest of sleepers and she made a few low grunting noises and let out the occasional snort, which made Marcus anxious that Alice might hear her, so he covered her guttural sounds with his own, pretending he had sinus trouble, reaching for a tissue and blowing his nose every time Iris murmured or groaned.

  Marcus willed Alice to come to the desk as soon as possible, but Alice was snuggled on her window seat. Marcus was getting angry with her dawdling and was anxious that someone else might come into the library and uncover his disguise. Eventually, Alice brought two books with her and laid them on the counter. Marcus smiled and picked them up to stamp them. “You look like a clever girl to me. I bet you can read anything!” he said.

  Alice smiled at the strange man who was complimenting her ability to read (a skill she was very proud of). “Yes,” Alice replied, happily. Where’s Mrs Sprott?”

  Marcus coughed, “Mrs Sprott had to go early for a dentist appointment. I’m just covering until closing!”

  They chatted for a while about Alice’s favourite stories, and although Marcus had to disguise a few of Iris’ snores from time to time and had to kick her arm back under the counter at one point when it flopped out of its own accord, he had Alice completely beguiled and focused on him.

  Alice finally picked up her books and was about to leave, which forced Marcus to say something to keep her with him. “Do you know, you seem very familiar to me - have I met you before?” he asked her.

  Alice smiled. “I was thinking the same thing. You look very familiar to me too!”

  “Do you go to St Mary’s School on Bloomsbury Road?” he asked her.

  “Yes!” Alice said.

  “Then you will know my son! James Mc...McGovern.”

  “I don’t think I know him,” Alice said, a little disappointed not to be able to say she did.

  “Perhaps he is a little older than you?” Marcus replied jovially. “But, aren’t you the girl who won the Music Prize last year?”

  “Yes, that’s me!” Alice beamed.

  “I knew I had seen you before! Well done you!” He watched with pleasure as Alice warmed to him even more, and he smiled to himself. “I’m meeting James at the sports centre,” he told her and then paused and looked at the clock. “Just now, as luck would have it! Why don’t you walk me over there and you can tell me all about your music.”

  “Don’t you need to lock up or something?” Alice asked him as they walked out. Marcus thought for a moment and hoped he would be able to find the keys easily. They were by the sink in the kitchenette and as he grabbed them he thanked the Lord for his help.

  Near the end of the lane they passed the life-size, bronze statue of an air raid warden blowing his whistle, wearing his metal helmet and carrying a gas mask box slung over his shoulder. Marcus drew Alice’s attention to the statue and asked her about it. They stopped to look at it. “It makes me feel sad,” she replied. “So many people died in the war, in so many cities around the world. It was called the Blitz here in London. We did about it in school last year.”

  Marcus smiled. “Look, what is that?” he said, pointing to the ground just behind the statue.

  Alice looked down on the grass to where he was indicating, but all she could see were some snowdrops that were poking through the grass, surrounded by small piles of greyish sludge that had not completely melted away. As she peered more intently she could see the outline of a large rusty pair of doors in the ground. Only one was visible, the other was completely hidden by some copper beach hedging which seemed to blend into the colour of the metal plate. “I don’t know!” Alice replied, surprised. “I’ve never seen that before!”

  Marcus went to take a closer look and beckoned her over to him. He looked around to check that no one could see them. “Look!” Marcus said again. “I bet it’s the entrance to the old air raid shelter.” He opened the uncovered door (a little too easily, if you ask me!) and looked down into the pitch-black hole. He encouraged Alice to come and take a look on the pretext of it being of historical interest. As Alice peered over the edge of the opening, she could just make out a short metal ladder and she gasped in delight. She was about to look up at Marcus to exclaim, but before she could, Marcus pushed her over the edge and she tumbled down into the darkness. She screamed, but her sounds of distress were muffled as she fell into the dark hole. She was saved from crashing too hard, onto the cold concrete floor by the old metal ladder which broke her fall. Marcus quickly climbed down after her, pulling the door back over his head.

  It was pitch black in the concrete shelter and impossible to see your hand in front of your face. Alice lay on the hard floor, bruised and shaken from her crash landing. Luckily nothing was broken, but she couldn’t help crying, from the sheer terror of the fall, more than from the pain. To see where Alice was, Marcus lit his cigarette lighter and she saw his face looming over her like a macabre and dreadful ghoul peering out of the charcoal chasm. “You went with a bang!” he said, holding out his hand to help her up. “You fell in! You worried me for a moment. But, you are okay? Nothing broken, I hope.”

  Alice looked at him in anger, as well as in fear, but she took his hand all the same. She felt bruised and her leg hurt where she had hit the ladder, but the adrenalin from her fear numbed it a little for now. She was
about to say that she had not fallen and that he had pushed her, but looking at his sinister expression, which quivered in and out of the half-light, she was too afraid to say anything, especially anything to contradict him. He is not the same man from the library. Alice thought to herself. Who is he?

  “I’ll see if there is another way out!” Marcus told her. “The door came down after me and I don’t think I’ll be able to lift it back up.”

  He told Alice to stay where she was, and as he walked away from her, she was plunged back into the all-consuming darkness. She was too frightened to move! She wished she could see the ladder, or even the wall, but she was in the middle of an open space with nothing to protect her.

  A few moments passed, then she heard Marcus before she could see him. “Come with me!” Marcus told her in a kindly way, as the flame he was holding came into view. He took her hand and she reluctantly followed him. “I have something to show you and something very important to tell you.”

  Alice was trembling, and she wanted to scream but she couldn’t seem to find her voice. She tried to resist Marcus when he pulled her down a grey concrete corridor, but as she struggled a little whisper of an idea came into her head which said…Play along ‘til you get a chance to escape. Stay calm, play along, play along. She was a little puzzled by the clarity of this unexpected thought but decided to follow its advice as she had no other idea what to do. So, she let Marcus lead her deeper into the oppressive chamber without struggling anymore.

  Marcus had found an old oil lamp hanging on the wall (which seemed a little too full of oil for a place that no one was supposed to have been in for decades!), and the sight of a light emanating somewhere ahead made Alice’s heart leap. They suddenly turned a sharp corner and Alice gasped in surprise. Laid out before her was a scene which was quite unexpected!

  Alice found herself in a shallow, small room. On the back wall stood a row of life-size wooden statues which formed a screen. Each statue was highly painted and was of a saint. A statue of Mother Mary stood in the very centre of the holy line up, with her arms outstretched, releasing the gift of a pure white dove. Mother Mary had a serene and very beautiful face, yet Alice saw sadness in it and wanted to cry. The other saints looked wretched at first with their faces masked by the deep shadows, but as Marcus lit another oil lamp, which was standing on the altar cloth, the faces of the saints seemed to brighten and glow, bringing some solace to the engulfing gloom. Alice was transfixed by the delicately carved wooden dove in Mother Mary’s hands, which began to shine with such angelic softness, it seemed to her that it could almost be real. She felt comforted for a moment but it did not last long. Marcus roughly pushed her towards the altar which stood before the screen and down onto her knees. “Don’t be afraid,” he told Alice. “I am going to help you. Do you know who I am?”

  Alice had guessed that he probably was neither a librarian nor the father of James McGovern, but she did not reply. She didn’t really care who he was anymore; she just wanted to get away from him. An oozing presence of evil seemed to exude from his whole body and his words were sharp, like knife blades, in the air. Alice tried to pull away from him. She could sense his insanity thicken into a palpable caress, which began to smoother her body and mind, like a glutinous inky tarmac.

  “Pray with me Alice!” Marcus ordered her. Kneeling on the frayed, musty, prayer cushions, he began to pray in earnest. Alice looked at him in total confusion and shock. Praying is something good, kind, loving people do, isn’t it? Not people who push you down holes and lie to you? she thought to herself. She looked at Mother Mary and she knew, in her pure little heart, that whoever this man was praying to, it was not to Mother Mary. Alice figured that he must believe in some other god. A god that was not compassionate and kind but the total opposite.

  Marcus took her cold little hand in his and held it tightly so that she couldn’t pull away. On some level he knew her inner light might be stronger than he had bargained for, and he felt the urge to kill her right there and then, but he wanted to possess her as much as he wanted to kill her. He wanted to have control over Alice for longer than Linnet had had. “You have the Devil in you, Alice!” Marcus suddenly said. “Your mother put the Devil in you because she has the Devil in her too. I am here to save you Alice! It isn’t too late for you. Jesus will cleanse your soul and you will be free. You are too little and frail to save yourself, but I will save you Alice. I will protect you. I am your father and I love you.”

  Chapter 21

  ~ * ~

  When Mrs B had untied Peony from the barber’s chair and let Vincent out of the wardrobe, she could get very little sense out of either of them for a good ten minutes. They were, both of them, mildly hysterical.

  Mrs B had called Johnathon Grail immediately for assistance. It wasn’t until Peony had been cleaned up that the whole story of why Marcus had tied her to the chair in the first place was revealed.

  Peony confessed to harbouring Marcus, for the past few days, and she told them of his plan to kidnap Alice. “He went crazy!” Peony told Johnathon.

  “Crazy doesn’t begin to cover it!” Vincent rejoined. “Crazy mother f*cker! Mr Marcus Finch is a sheep in wolf’s clothing and no mistake!”

  “I think you mean a wolf in sheep’s clothing?” Johnathon replied and nodded. “And I think most of us were aware of that from the beginning.” He couldn’t help but look at Peony with derision for having trusted Marcus. “Now, I need to know where he might have gone.”

  “I don’t know for sure,” Peony said, shaking her head as she sipped her mug of sugary tea. “I didn’t realise what he was like! I thought…well I thought…”

  “Now, now, my love,” Mrs B said kindly. “Don’t worry yourself. You are not the first person to be taken in by Mr Marcus Finch and you probably won’t be the last. I know the type. They have a charm about them and you get easily confused. You hope and hope their nice side is the real them but…”

  “Once a nasty bastard, always a nasty bastard,” Vincent interrupted.

  Johnathon radioed to Cubby and Shooter to stay alert and to road block the gates but then got a call from Lucy and he quickly sped off down Quaker Lane to find Tambo outside the Quaker House. It was then that they found Iris Sprott laid out on the parquet flooring.

  After finding Iris but not Alice, Johnathon set up search parties, which grew in number until nearly every Little Eden resident was looking for Alice. Lucy began a sort of unofficial headquarters at the Café. Tosha and Tonbee were providing everyone with copious amounts of hot tea and toasted tea cakes. Outside it was bitterly cold and pouring down with rain. Sludge now filled the gullies, soaking everyone’s trousers and shoes. As the residents came and went from the Café, none of them had good news. They hunted everywhere, in every nook and cranny, every alleyway, every attic, every basement. Soon, they were running out of options. Everyone was getting more and more anxious.

  “Can’t you ask Aunt Lilly to show you were Alice is?” Lucy asked Sophie in desperation. “You could use your remote viewing!”

  Sophie sighed. “I’m trying already! All I can see is darkness. I think I’m too close to Alice to see clearly. I’m too worried about finding her - it’s clouding my psychic sight. Besides, most evil bastards cloak themselves and make it hard for even the best psychics in the world to locate them. Some people can be kept hostage for years, right under the noses of their neighbours, and are never discovered. I am trying!”

  “I’ll call Jimmy!” Lucy said. “He’s not so close to Alice. He may be able to stay calmer and see more? I bet she is still close by. We have to find her!”

  Jimmy Pratt was immediately telephoned and asked to use his psychic investigator abilities to find Alice. He called Lucy back within five minutes, and she almost dropped the phone in her rush to hear the news, but all Jimmy could report was seeing darkness and a statue of Mother Mary. “This Marcus bloke is very well cloaked.” Jimmy told her. “Your si
ster’s not wrong! He’s a master deceiver. He’s pure evil.”

  “What did he say?” Sophie asked, as Lucy put down the phone. She had a terrified look on her face.

  “He only saw darkness and a statue of Mother Mary,” Lucy repeated. “He agreed with you, he said Marcus is cloaked and is pure…”

  Just then, Jack and Johnathon rushed back into the Café. “There’s no sign of her in the Bluebell Woods,” they reported.

  Lucy told them of Jimmy’s vision.

  “The church!” Jack exclaimed, on hearing that a statue of Mother Mary had been seen.

  “Minnie, Adela and Elijah have already checked the church. Ginger and some of the choir have already checked the Chappelle and the Abbey but they are going through the whole place again now,” Lucy told them. “They have even been down to the crypt but there was no sign,” Lucy said, looking at the white board; she had put red crosses anywhere that had been searched, so that they didn’t double up.

  Jack scanned the map. “The Russian Chapel! No one has been there yet! It must be there! Quick!”

  “What about the Old French House?” Mrs B suggested. “There’s a statue of Mother Mary in the secret chapel there.”

  “You take the Russian Chapel and I’ll take the French House!” Jack told Johnathon, and they both rushed out again.