Cheryl reached out to him. “Monty, are you—”
He staggered forward into her arms, trying to reach around to his own back. He was too heavy to hold up, and as he tumbled onto his knees, Cheryl saw a metal spike sticking out of his back. A pathetic moan escaped his lips and he slumped heavily onto his stomach. Blood stained the back of his white shirt around a sharp metal spike.
Cheryl screamed.
Above her, the conduit clunked, and inside the cell the noose rose back to its original position. The fans whirled to a halt once more, then started back up again in the opposite direction. Attached to a metal arm that had swung down from the ceiling and planted a spike in Monty’s back was a sign. It read: LIFE DEMANDS A LIFE.
“We tried to cheat,” said Alfie, “and this is the punishment.”
Leo put a hand to his forehead. “One of us is going to have to hang.”
Cheryl pressed her hands into the deep stab wound in Monty’s back. It didn’t bleed as badly as John’s wrist had done, but it was still grim. He was breathing, but unconscious. Cheryl didn’t have a clue what to do, or even if there was anything she could do. She desperately wanted to keep him alive. “We need to plug the wound. Help me stop this bleeding.”
Leo didn’t move, except to shake his head. “Cher, there’s nothing we can do.”
“That’s bullshit. We can help him, we can…” She looked at her hands, covered in Monty’s blood. He was totally still, completely unmoving. Even if he wasn’t dead, he would be soon.
“We have to focus on ourselves,” said Leo. “Our air is running out.”
Alfie knelt next to Cheryl and placed a hand on Monty’s shoulder. Then, he looked up at Leo. “He’s still breathing, man. Are you saying we just let him die?”
Leo sighed. “I’m saying we have no choice. He’s been stabbed in the back. Are any of us doctors? Surgeons? We try to help him and we’ll only end up wasting time better spent trying to save ourselves. We need to get those fans running the other way or find a way out of here before our air runs out.”
Alfie stood, wincing as he put weight on his burnt feet. “You already told me I’d get a pass if I climbed inside that bloody kettle. I ain’t hanging myself.”
“Well, one of us has to do something.”
“And I say it’s your turn, Leo. Why don’t you hang yourself and save us?”
Cheryl was in no mood to deal with an argument, so she stood up and grabbed Alfie’s arm then looked him in the eye. “No one is hanging themselves, Alfie, but we are going to solve this together.”
He nodded, taken aback by the force in her voice. “Yeah, okay.”
“I agree,” said Leo. “I’m not going to stand here and watch one of you die, but we do need to come up with a plan or else we’re all dead. I would do anything I could to help Monty if there were a way, but there isn’t.”
Cheryl knew it was true. They couldn’t help Monty. “We find a way out of here,” she said, “and then we get help. Maybe Monty will last long enough for it to arrive.”
Alfie nodded, but it didn’t seem like he believed her. “Okay, how are we going to get the fans back on?”
“Maybe I can just go and pull on it,” said Leo, “like Monty did.”
Alfie shook his head. “It won’t work. The reason the fans reversed again is because the noose went back up into the ceiling after Monty let go. It’s what triggered the spike to swing down and stab him.”
Leo folded his arms. “So to keep the fans running the right way, we need to keep the noose weighted down permanently?”
“With a body,” said Cheryl. She stared at the opposite end of the steel tunnel. “We have bodies to spare.”
Leo curled his lip in disgust. “Are you serious?”
“Horrifically, yes I am. The noose needs to be weighted down by a body. A body that isn’t going to go anywhere.”
Alfie started limping away. “I’ll get John’s legs. Somebody want to help me with his head?”
“I will,” said Cheryl, but Leo squeezed her arm gently to keep her from rushing off.
“I’ll do it. John is going to be heavy.”
“Okay, well, I’m sure we’ll manage between the three of us.”
In a grim procession, they walked over to John’s cooling corpse. Leo let out a yawn that infected the others, and soon they were all covering their mouths like they were stuck at church. The thinning air was sapping the life out of them. They had to move quickly.
Alfie knelt in front of his uncle and placed a hand around his ankle. “I’m sorry, Uncle John. I guess you had it coming though, huh?”
Leo put one of his hands on John’s shoulders. He looked at Alfie. “You ready, dude?”
Alfie nodded, and together they hoisted John upwards. The gristly strands holding his severed hand to his wrist finally snapped and the appendage splatted against the ground. Leo used the side of his shoe to kick it to one side. Somehow, it didn’t disturb them. It had become normal.
Cheryl didn’t lift John, but she walked between Alfie and Leo, ready to help if needed. She detected a musky odour and realised John had wet himself at some point, maybe even after he died. The flesh of his face seemed to sag, making him look older and greyer. It didn’t seem like John at all.
They all moved to the other end of the tunnel, then slowed in front of the cell with the noose.
“How we going to get him up?” Leo asked.
“We might all have to lift him together,” said Alfie.
Leo moved into the cell first, taking John’s head end with him. Alfie hooked his uncle’s feet beneath his armpits and tottered after him. Cheryl felt weak. Tired.
“Help me get him up,” said Leo, starting to lift John’s body. Alfie wrapped an arm around his uncle’s waist and hoisted. Cheryl placed a hand on John’s sweaty, dead back to keep him steady. Leo groaned. “Push. I’m dropping him, I’m dropping—”
John’s body began to tilt, but Cheryl switched her grip and managed to shove him the other way. At the same time, Alfie hoisted John around the middle. There was a thickening crunch as the noose caught around John’s neck and crunched the fragile bones inside. The flesh beneath his chin bulged, making him look bloated.
“Okay,” said Leo. “Step back.”
Alfie hobbled away, hissing with every step.
John’s sagging corpse swung from its neck. The sight was horrifying. Lynching even a dead body was sickening, and it disturbed her that people used to gather in public to watch people hang.
The noose began to lower, inch-by-inch. They waited for the sound of the fan blades changing direction. Clunk, clunk, whir.
Cheryl staggered out of the cell and called to Monty, hoping he would answer her and tell her that he was fine, but he didn’t. Suddenly tired, she eased herself down to the ground to rest. It might have been in her head, but after a few minutes, her sluggish, dazed feeling went away.
“I think we did it,” said Leo, joining her on the ground. He placed a hand on her back and she shifted away, more forcefully than she’d intended. Clearly, he noticed it. “Hey, what’s up, Cher-bear? Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just, um, feeling a bit jumpy.” Especially around liars. What did you do Leo? If you never blackmailed John, what did you do?
Did you rape Polly?
Alfie stood outside the cell, staring in at his dead Uncle. Cheryl could only imagine what was going through his head right now. Poor kid. His uncle had really dragged him into a nightmare. The last two years must have been horrible, constantly waiting for someone to find Polly’s body and for the police to tie everything together. Now, even if he got out of here, Alfie’s life was over.
Leo reached out and put his hand on Cheryl’s back again. This time she forced herself to endure it. “We’re almost there,” he said. “We’re nearly out of this hole, Cher, I know it.”
She smiled and hoped she didn’t look too nervous. “I hope you’re right.”
“Maybe there’s still a chance I’ll get to take you
out for a night on the town. Surviving a torture chamber brings people closer together, right?”
She tittered, wondering how he could joke so easily. Monty, Happy, John, and Maggie were all dead, and he was still focusing on getting her out on a date. With her best effort, she tried to chuckle. “Ha, yeah, so um, we should start looking for a way out of here now that we’re not in imminent danger of suffocating.”
Leo frowned as she once again slipped out of his grasp. She hopped up and brushed herself down, before going and standing next to Alfie who was still staring through the bars at his uncle. “Alfie, I’m really sorry. You must be in pain.” Physically and emotionally.
“Not as much as I deserve,” he told her, and didn’t seem upset. He seemed defiant. “I’m ready for the last cell.”
“The last—” Cheryl turned and realised what he was referring to. There was one cell remaining. One cell with a magnetic bolt that had now slid aside. It was unlocked.
The final game had begun.
9
Cheryl’s curiosity lit a fire beneath her, making her arrive in front of the cell before Leo and Alfie had a chance to get there. As soon as she touched the gate, the interior lit up. The last thing she’d expected to find was a sofa and television. The cell almost resembled a lounge, only with steel walls, floor, and ceiling.
“Looks like it’s movie time,” said Leo.
Alfie moved slowly inside and sat down on the right side of the sofa, tucking the steel rung Leo had given him down the side of the cushion. Cheryl wished he’d sat in the middle so that she could avoid sitting next to Leo, but as it was, Leo sat on the left, leaving Cheryl no option but to plonk herself down in the middle. There was no evidence Leo had even done anything, but the seed of doubt had been planted in her mind and was beginning to sprout. The fact he sat right next to her with a bloody cleaver laying across his lap didn’t help matters.
Cheryl felt something click underneath the cushion as she settled back. The television flashed to life. Their old friend appeared, the man with no eyes. He was smiling.
“The road through perdition is at an end. Will you now pass into the light of atonement, or sink forever into the Abyss? One crime still lies uncovered in the reeking undergrowth. See it uncovered.”
The screen went black momentarily before a new scene played. It looked like footage from a hidden camera, the view partially obscured by something blocking the lens. Cheryl recognised the location almost immediately. It was John’s office. The camera was filming from the bookshelf behind the desk.
“It’s a spy camera,” said Leo. “In John’s office.”
Alfie leant forward on the sofa. “Who put it there?”
Cheryl shushed them both. On screen, John and Maggie were walking into the office.
“You still on for tonight?” Maggie asked John.
John moved behind his desk, almost like he was trying to put a barrier between them. “Maybe it’s not such a good idea, Mag. We had our fun, but let’s not get our fingers burned. You want Andrew finding out?”
“I don’t care. I didn’t think you did either. You were the one that popped round to share a beer with him.”
“That was before…”
“Before what? Before I helped you cover up a murder?”
“It was an accident,” said John. “And will you keep your voice down? I just think that with all that has happened, we should let things cool off. I’ve had enough excitement to last me a lifetime. Haven’t you?”
Maggie slunk around his desk and cornered him. She used her fingertips to ride up her skirt and pressed herself against John. “Oh, come on! The thing you need most right now is a little,” she grabbed his cock, “stress-relief. All the bad stuff is behind us. The police have stopped asking questions. Polly McIntyre will remain an unsolved mystery thanks to your nephew.”
“We should never have dragged Alfie into this.”
She kept rubbing at his cock, getting a rise out of him. He didn’t try to stop her. “You were the one who got him involved, John. It can’t be helped now.” She dropped to her knees, only the top of her head now visible on camera.
On the sofa, Alfie groaned. “Seriously, I don’t need to see this.”
John grabbed Maggie’s shoulders and yanked her back to her feet. “I don’t want this, Maggie. We’ve fucked up enough people’s lives without ruining our marriages as well. Just back off.”
Maggie snarled like a feral cat. She glared at John, her face only inches from his. “You think you can fuck me when it suits you, then toss me aside once you’re bored? Is that it? I tried to break it off with you, and you weren’t having it. Now you decide you’re done and I’m just supposed to accept it, huh?”
“No, that’s not it. I care about you, Maggie, but I need space right now. Perhaps you should go work some place else.”
Maggie lunged at John, poking him right in the centre of the chest. “Try and get rid of me, I dare you. I’m not going anywhere, John. You owe me.”
John perched back on his desk and sighed. “I know I do, Mag. I’m just all over the place. I don’t want anybody else getting hurt.”
Maggie’s mood changed back to sultry. She slid a hand inside his shirt. “Then stop making drama where there is none. It’s okay to be happy, John — even after what happened.”
“What we did.”
“What you did, John. You were driving the car. The only reason I covered for you is because I love you.”
He sighed. “I love you too. I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess.”
“It’s all behind us now. Stop worrying.”
They kissed.
The screen went blank.
Alfie snorted derisively. “I knew Maggie was a few crackers short of a hamper, but I didn’t know she was a full on lunatic.”
“They both seemed as bad as each other to me,” said Leo.
“And they’re both dead,” said Cheryl, deciding she didn’t want to insult the departed, if only because it was a waste of breath. “Who placed a camera in John’s office?”
“Beats me,” said Alfie. “He couldn’t have known it was there.”
“Maybe he was making sex tapes of Maggie,” said Leo. “Wouldn’t put it past him.”
Cheryl didn’t think so somehow. “It didn’t seem like John had any idea he was being filmed. The camera was hidden in his bookcase.”
“And he never touched the books,” said Leo. “They were all there for show.”
Alfie chuckled. “Yeah, he bought a load of old Dickens novels on eBay and told people he had spent years collecting them. He was such a flash git.”
I need you to come get me. I need help.
Everyone looked around. It was Polly’s voice again, the same recording they’d heard earlier. It was coming from above them, and maybe even from out in the tunnel too.
Please come. Where are you? Pause. He-he-he… He raped me. He raped me! Please, come. Come now. Crackling, like a phone breaking up. Hello! Are you still there? Please come. He left me in the woods. I’m… I’m going to try and find the road. I think I can hear a car. Please come.
This time the recording didn’t stop. A man’s voice replied to Polly’s, but it was electronically distorted to hide its identity. Who raped you?
Leo! It was Leo!
Alfie leapt up off the sofa. He stared at Leo, stunned. “What the fuck, man?”
Cheryl scooted along the sofa to get distance between her and Leo. She dared not get up in case he grabbed her. “I knew it! God, I knew it.”
Leo stood up. He raised his eyebrows at them, a bemused blend of panic and confusion on his face. “Come on, guys, what the hell? I didn’t rape Polly. It’s fucking ridiculous. I’m being set up.”
Alfie backed up against the bars and pointed a finger at Leo. “You went after her that night, man. She had a blazing row with Monty in the hotel bar, then went outside looking for John. She said she had something to tell him.”
“Yeah, I went after her,” said Leo, shruggi
ng like it was no great admission. “She was in a right state. Monty really let her have it.”
Cheryl tried to consolidate the Leo she knew with a rapist and found it difficult. As much as she had suspected something, this was a shock. “What was Polly upset about?”
Leo shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Bullshit,” said Alfie. “You set off right after she did. No way you wouldn’t have caught up to her. What did she tell you?”
“Okay, fine! She said Monty stole the council deal from her. It was her lead, one she had been working on for months. The order finally came through, but Monty said he had closed it himself because she would have lost it if he hadn’t.”
Alfie cursed. “That piece of shit. He’s been stealing sales for years. He must have logged into the system and stolen the contact details Polly had set up. That’s why they had a blazing row at the bar. She must have confronted him.”
“No wonder they thought Monty had something to do with her disappearance,” said Cheryl. “He must have seemed guilty as hell after arguing with her in the bar.”
“But it had nothing to do with him,” said Alfie. “John killed her and I buried her.”
“Actually,” said Cheryl. “It was Maggie who killed her. She admitted it to me right before she died. Polly was still alive after John hit her.”
Alfie looked like he was going to be sick. He covered his mouth with both hands. “We’re all monsters.”
“Speak for yourselves,” said Cheryl.
“I haven’t done anything either,” Leo protested. He looked so utterly mortified that she began to wonder if he might be innocent. But Polly herself had named him.
Cheryl turned to Alfie, got up and moved over to him. “How long was there between Leo chasing after Polly and John texting you to meet him at the pond?”
“I suppose about forty-minutes. Definitely less than an hour. The walk to where she got hit was about ten minutes.”
Cheryl turned her stare on Leo as she did the math. “That leaves thirty minutes unaccounted for. What happened to cause Polly to take forty minutes making a ten minute walk?”
Gripping Thrillers Page 68
