Spectre's Rest Read online

  Shit. Might as well head to that cell right now and wait to die, he thought.

  A key rattled in the lock and the door opened. Montano entered, followed as usual by Richie. Any doubts Trev had harboured about the possible effectiveness of the “ranting and raving” strategy were dispelled by the expression on the warden’s face. She looked like she had gone through “pissed off” and was now in that state of dangerous calm that precedes a huge eruption. Her eyes were sunken and narrowed, and the corners of her mouth were pulled down as if someone had taken hold of her chin and was trying to pull the skin off her face.

  She sat down opposite Trev and dropped her radio on the table. The volume was very low but Trev could hear the chatter of voices as the guards went about their work. Trev assumed that they were searching for the shadowy figure Smitty had seen. They won’t find it, he thought. Not until the power goes out again, anyway.

  Montano stared at him without speaking. Trev found it difficult to meet her eyes. He cleared his throat.

  ‘Um, right, look,’ he began.

  Montano held up a hand to silence him. ‘No,’ she said. Her voice was pure ice. ‘You look. Since you arrived here there have been two power-cuts and three deaths. You’ve been found at or near both murder scenes, despite being asked to remain in the staff quarters. You’ve unsettled my staff with stories of shadowy creatures that, conveniently, only you have seen. And on top of it all you’ve shown complete contempt for my authority as head warden.’ She shook her head. ‘You’re involved in all this, don’t try to deny it. I want to know what the hell you think you’re up to, and I want the truth.’

  Trev suppressed a sudden urge to shout ‘YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!’ in his best Jack Nicholson voice and instead kept his tone as measured and earnest as he could.

  ‘Grace, I’ve told you the truth all along. I’m sorry for not staying in the staff quarters, but there’s something very strange happening in this prison and I’m trying to find out what it is.’

  ‘It isn’t your job to be running around playing detective,’ Montano snapped, ‘and you’ll have to do a lot better than that to convince me you’re not involved.’

  Trev fought down his anger, which was having a resurgence. ‘If I was involved, do you really think I’d have let myself be found at both murder scenes?’ he said. ‘Not exactly the work of a master criminal, is it? No, if I was involved I’d be sneaking about in the background while pretending to be on my best behaviour.’

  Montano inclined her head a fraction, which Trev took as her conceding the point. He pressed on. ‘Not to mention how I could possibly have killed three prisoners when I don’t have access to the cell blocks, let alone the cells themselves, and my complete lack of a plausible motive.’

  ‘That remains to be seen,’ Montano said. ‘You haven’t got an obvious motive, that’s true. But that doesn’t mean you haven’t got one at all.’

  ‘Oh come on,’ said Trev. ‘I didn’t want to come here in the first place. Deacon made me come. Ask him.’

  ‘I’ve already spoken to him about you,’ said Montano. Trev expected her to elaborate on that, but she didn’t.

  ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Well, then.’

  ‘And what about your shadow-creatures?’ Montano asked. ‘Are you sticking to your story about them, too?’

  ‘One of your own guards saw one!’ Trev said. He could feel his composure ebbing away and he wasn’t sure that he could hold onto it. The fact that Richie was leaning against the wall and looking pleased with himself wasn’t helping.

  ‘He thought he did,’ Montano said. ‘Probably as a result of your stories.’

  ‘They’re not stories,’ Trev ground out. ‘There’s some kind of presence here in Spectre’s Rest and it isn’t friendly. Haven’t you been wondering how your prisoners keep getting murdered inside locked cells?’

  ‘There’s an explanation for it, I’m sure,’ said Montano, ‘but I think it’ll be something more mundane than killer shadows.’

  Trev sat back in his chair and folded his arms. ‘OK, whatever. I just want you to know that you’ve got the mother of all “I told you so’s” coming your way when I’m proved right.’

  ‘I’m willing to risk it,’ Montano replied. ‘The next question is: what am I supposed to do with you?’

  ‘Is there a list of options?’

  ‘Yes, sort of.’ Montano idly spun the radio on the tabletop, her eyes fixed on Trev. ‘The first option is sending you back to the staff quarters, but I’m pretty sure I can’t trust you to stay there and I don’t want you wandering about the place causing trouble. So the second option is having you locked up until all these other… issues are sorted out.’ She sniffed. ‘Sorry it’s not a longer list.’

  Trev held back from banging his fist on the table, just. He avoided eye contact with either Montano or Richie and spoke quietly.

  ‘There’s a third option.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘Let me help you.’

  Richie snorted. ‘Yeah, we already tried that one. You threw yourself off a walkway and claimed you’d seen a wolf, remember?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Trev. ‘As discussed, you’d have seen it yourself if you hadn’t been hiding in the toilet instead of doing your job.’

  Richie pushed himself off the wall and opened his mouth to reply. Montano stopped him with a glare. ‘I’m not having this argument again,’ she said.

  Good thing too, Trev thought. If Richie had kept up with his crap I’d have had to punch him, and that would have ended badly… because he’s twice my size and I punch like a sickly five year-old. The big guard subsided, making a show of dismissing Trev by staring at the ceiling.

  ‘You were saying,’ said Montano.

  ‘Well, while you’ve got me and Mishti here you might as well make use of us,’ Trev said. ‘The only reason I’m “wandering about causing trouble”, as you put it, is that I’ve got nothing to do.’ He shrugged. ‘And frankly, I’m pretty scared, so I’d rather not be sitting on my own in a cold room in the dark.’

  ‘Hmm,’ said Montano.

  ‘I’m not the enemy here,’ Trev said, pressing on despite the lack of enthusiasm from the warden. ‘All right, so maybe I haven’t been very good at following orders up to now but that doesn’t mean I’m a murderer. I just want this all to be over so I can go home. I don’t want to still be here on Christmas Day.’

  ‘Working over Christmas is something we’re all used to here,’ said Montano. ‘The prisoners need guarding three hundred and sixty-five days of the year.’

  ‘Understood,’ said Trev. ‘Goes with the territory. But I’m not an employee here, and I want out. Tell me how I can help make that happen and I’ll get on it.’

  He knew that he was babbling but he couldn’t help it. He needed to get out of the room before he lost the plot altogether. Something about being confined had set off Bad Trev and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep it under control. Montano, unaware of Trev’s inner turmoil, was taking her time over considering his proposal. He clenched his jaw and waited.

  ‘I spoke to Mishti earlier and she told me the two of you have been looking into the prison’s history,’ Montano said eventually.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Trev. ‘Everyone with the Sight notices the creepy atmosphere in this place. There must be a reason for it, something supernatural. We thought it was worth checking out in case there was a connection to what’s been happening.’

  ‘And why would it start now, after all this time?’

  ‘No idea. Maybe it’s because there are so few people left here now, who knows? There must have been a trigger for it, something that’s set it off.’

  Montano’s frown deepened. ‘You don’t think that Jerry Phelps’ disappearance is a pretty obvious clue as to what – or who – is responsible?’

  ‘Without talking to him, I can’t give an opinion on that.’ Trev’s right leg was bouncing, his thigh bumping the underside of the table. He knew Montano was testing him; she’d be
en reluctant to lay the blame at Phelps’ door. ‘Maybe Phelps was the trigger. All I know is that there has to be more to this than a lone murderer. There’s too much other stuff going on.’

  ‘According to you, at least.’

  The headache was a spike of pain behind Trev’s eyes. ‘It doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not, things are happening. I’m not prone to hallucinations and there’s just no reason for me to make it up, is there? That guard saw a figure in one of the victims’ cells tonight, a dark figure. It disappeared after he shot at it. That doesn’t sound like a human to me.’

  ‘We’ve been through this, Trev. It was dark, he was on edge, he thought he saw something in the shadows.’

  ‘But the prisoner in that cell was dead, with no obvious cause of death,’ Trev argued, ‘and so was the prisoner next door. Something killed them both within moments of each other, in pitch darkness, with armed guards patrolling inside and outside the cell block. If Jerry Phelps did it, then he’s the best assassin since the man behind the grassy knoll.’

  Montano’s face was carefully blank. ‘For all we know, he might be.’

  ‘He might,’ Trev conceded. ‘It seems like a very small basket to put all our eggs in, though.’

  He noticed that Richie had dropped his attitude of indifference and was now following the conversation with a look of faint irritation. Hoping that I was going to be locked up, were you? Trev thought. Well unlucky, chief, because I think I might actually be getting through to your boss on this…

  ‘If I’m honest, my inclination is still to have you locked up,’ said Montano.

  …or then again, maybe not.

  ‘However,’ the warden continued, ‘I’d have to justify that decision to my superiors and looking at the facts objectively, while you’ve undoubtedly been a nuisance there isn’t anything that directly links you to the events here. I’d prefer not to have to explain to Feargal why I put his golden boy in a cell.’

  ‘I’m not his golden boy, believe me,’ said Trev. ‘I doubt I’m even his tinfoil boy.’

  ‘So my decision is this,’ Montano said, ignoring the remark. ‘You and Mishti can carry on investigating the prison’s history, if you’re so convinced there’s something that might explain what’s going on. I just ask that you stay away from the cell blocks and don’t bother the prison staff. I also want you to check in with me so that I know where you are, and I want you two to stick together. No wandering off on your own, Trev. Understood?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Trev. Now please let me out of this room before my head explodes. ‘There’s just one more thing.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Can I have my vapour weapons back, please? I want to be able to protect myself.’

  Montano shook her head. ‘Don’t push your luck.’

  Twenty-Five

  Trev went straight back to the staff quarters, which were deserted. There was no sign of Desai or Oscar, or anyone else for that matter. Trev assumed that the prison staff were all still running around looking for someone to blame for the murders – and best of luck to them, he thought – but he’d been hoping that Desai would be around. There was no reply when he knocked on her door, and after waiting in the common room for a while he gave up and went to bed.

  The headache and feeling that he wanted to punch someone had begun to fade as soon as he was out of the interview room, and they stepped aside to allow Trev’s old friend physical exhaustion to take centre stage. Despite the cold, the hunger, and a broken spring poking him through the mattress, he fell into a dreamless sleep seconds after lying down.

  He didn’t feel significantly refreshed when he woke on Friday morning, but at least he hadn’t woken up dead so he called it a win and dragged himself out of bed. He went to the bathroom and had a desultory wash, and on his return found Desai standing in the common room doorway. She was wearing a jacket and Trev wondered if she’d been outside.

  ‘Morning,’ she said.

  ‘Hi,’ Trev replied. He’d been expecting her to be pissed off with him for wandering about and getting accused of murder again; instead her tone of voice was relaxed.

  ‘I’ve been up to the canteen,’ she said. ‘I got you some breakfast while I was there, but it’s not much. Another couple of days’ lockdown and we’ll be eating the surplus furniture.’

  ‘Well, that desk in the librarian’s office looked like it had some good eating on it,’ Trev said. ‘We’d better stake a claim before someone else does.’

  Desai had brought him a couple of cereal bars and an apple. He thanked her and got himself a drink from the common room vending machine.

  ‘So, I’ve come to a sort of arrangement with Grace,’ he said, sitting down at the table.

  ‘I heard,’ said Desai. ‘I was pretty convinced she was going to lock you up when I spoke to her last night. She was fuming.’

  ‘Yeah, I thought so too,’ said Trev. ‘Another case of wrong place, wrong time. She’s still not having it about the shadows, but at least she’s giving us free rein to look into the prison’s history.’

  ‘Which is what we’ve been doing this morning,’ Desai said. ‘And we’ve found something.’

  That explains her good mood, Trev thought. ‘Who’s “we”?’ he asked.

  ‘Oscar’s been helping me,’ Desai said. ‘It was a risk you sneaking him in here, but he’s got a huge amount of knowledge if you can stop him from being a smartarse for more than ten seconds.’

  Trev winced. ‘Ah. I was going to tell you that he was here, but I couldn’t find you last night.’

  ‘You should have told me that he was coming in the first place,’ Desai said, a frown passing across her face, ‘but it’s a bit late for that. Want to see what we’ve found?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Trev. He washed down the last bite of his cereal bar with a gulp of tea and followed her to the library. On entering the huge room he understood why Desai was wearing a jacket. It was even colder in there than it had been the previous night. The rain had stopped but the temperature outside had fallen, and the grass visible through the dirty windows was patchy with frost.

  ‘Here,’ said Desai. She handed Trev a fleece jacket with the Veil Security logo on it. He gratefully put it on and dug his hands into the pockets. Across the room Oscar was sprawled bonelessly along the top of the ancient radiator next to the computers. He raised his head as Trev approached.

  ‘Morning,’ he said. ‘About time you showed up. Mishti and I have been hard at work for hours already.’

  ‘A couple of hours, anyway,’ Desai said. She pointed at a large reading table under a nearby window. ‘Have a look at this.’

  Spread out on the tabletop were a number of yellowing architectural drawings of the prison. Trev flipped through them. There were floor plans, cross-sections, and front, side and rear elevations.

  ‘Where did you get these?’ he asked.

  ‘They were in that cabinet you found upstairs,’ Desai said. ‘I had to break the lock to get the drawer open, but I don’t think anyone will notice.’

  ‘Or care,’ Oscar chipped in. He dropped off the radiator and walked over to the reading table before jumping up onto it. ‘Show him the weird plans.’

  ‘Here,’ said Desai, pulling a sheet from the pile. It was a floor plan. Trev pulled the sheet towards him and stared at it.

  ‘It’s the ground floor, right?’ he said.

  ‘Yes,’ said Oscar. ‘Have a look at the junction where we saw the darkness flowing up the wall last night.’

  Trev used a finger to trace his way through the corridors until he came to the section Oscar was talking about. At the point where the shadows had emanated from the wall, the architect had marked a small section of brickwork with cross-hatching. A line led from this spot to an annotation at the side of the plan, but someone had obscured the text with thick black ink.

  ‘It’s been censored,’ Trev said. ‘Any idea what the cross-hatched bit of wall signifies?’

  ‘Maybe, maybe not,’ said Oscar. ‘Th
ere are quite a few of them, if you look.’

  He was right. Trev ran his eyes across the plan and quickly noted several other locations where the cross-hatching had been used. They were all marked on walls, both interior and exterior, including one in the common room.

  ‘What’s your theory, then?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, this presence that you’ve both seen appears to be contained within the building,’ Desai said. ‘Those sections of wall could be there to either limit or direct its movement.’

  ‘Are you saying that the prison was built with a sort of… cage inside it to hold this thing?’

  ‘It’s certainly a workable hypothesis,’ said Oscar. ‘The presence might just be another prisoner. A prisoner that’s starting to misbehave.’

  ‘What about the wolf, though?’ Trev said. ‘I saw that outside the building.’

  ‘Hmm. I’d forgotten about that.’ Desai tapped a finger on the floor plan. ‘Maybe it’s found a weak spot in the restraints and is able to project itself outside of the building.’

  ‘Yesterday you didn’t even believe in this thing,’ Trev pointed out, somewhat crossly, ‘and today you’re not only talking about it like you think it exists, you’re speculating about its capabilities. Why the change of opinion?’

  ‘Yesterday the only person who’d seen any of these phenomena was you,’ Desai said, unfazed by Trev’s outburst. ‘But now Oscar and one of the guards have both seen something as well. Three eyewitness accounts is pretty compelling evidence.’

  ‘Great, so you’ll believe the talking cat but not me,’ Trev grumbled. Oscar grinned at him. ‘And anyway, I’m still the only one who’s seen the wolf.’

  ‘True,’ Desai conceded. ‘And I’m sorry I doubted you, but you were apparently seeing things that nobody else was and you’d just suffered a head injury. I think you’d have had your doubts too, if you’d been in my position.’

  Trev narrowed his eyes as he tried to think of a rebuttal. ‘Maybe,’ he said eventually.