Astrid pushed the door open. Grace’s hand rested on her gun as they went inside. It was the smell that hit them first as the stench of bleach hung in the air. The only illumination was from the open door and the flickering fire in the far corner.
‘Where is he?’ Astrid waited for the howl to come again, relieved when it didn’t.
‘I can’t find a light switch,’ Grace said in a half-whisper.
‘I don’t think there’s any electricity in here.’
Astrid removed the phone from her pocket and turned on the torch. She swept it in front of her, catching glimpses of tattered furniture, bunches of newspapers and a pile of crumbling bricks on the carpet. Jam jars brimming with nuts, bolts and screws sat stacked on top of each other on a bench in the corner.
A large shadow moved on Astrid’s right. She stepped back from it as it growled. The growl grew into stereo, two pairs of red eyes flashing into life, porcelain-white teeth baring their fangs.
‘You shouldn’t have come here, Gracie.’ The voice came from the space in front of them, drifting between the dogs. ‘Now, they’ll get you as well.’
Astrid heard the striking of a match as he lit candles at his side. His long elephant-grey hair cascaded on to his shoulders, the shaky light shadowing his aquiline features: Manny Burns wearing mismatched hunting clothes and patterned slippers at least a size too big. Two bored-looking Alsatians flanked him. He stood with the help of a giant silver cane gripped in his hand. The dogs took a step forward with him. His face was so grim it could haunt a house; the blue of his eyes piercing Astrid’s gaze. Grace gave him that warm smile that had so enchanted Astrid.
‘You’re not in trouble, Manny.’
‘Your friend won’t be able to help you, Gracie.’ One wave of his fingers and the dogs slipped into the background. He reached down and flicked a switch, a cluster of small light bulbs springing into life through the room like fireflies dancing on the wind. ‘Please, take a seat.’ He sat in a large chair.
Grace strode over and threw her arms around him. Astrid stiffened her back, expecting the dogs to charge out of the dark, happy when they didn’t. She took the seat closest to her. When Grace pulled from Manny, Astrid scrutinised him some more. The flesh hung off his face like snake skin, while the remains of his teeth were as yellow as rotten mustard. Grace gazed at him as if he was a long-lost friend.
Which, I suppose he is. He’d saved her life, and she’d never had the chance to thank him until now.
But they weren’t there for reminisces or Grace’s childhood; they were there for Alex and Katie, and who knew how many others? She kept her eyes on the dogs and inched forward. ‘Who do you think is coming for you, Mr Burns?’
‘Call me Manny, Ms...?’
She smiled at him. ‘Astrid.’
‘Someone is always coming for me, Astrid. When I was a kid, it was my father and his belt. Then it was the other kids at school, followed by the older teenagers where I lived. The Viet Cong came for me next, not that I blamed them; I shouldn’t have been there. When I returned home, the government came for me, then forgot about me, and then came for me again. Now, it’s those who don’t want me here anymore, who don’t want me in this town.’
‘Is that anyone specific, Manny?’
He shuffled in his chair. ‘It’s those who don’t want me watching them.’
Grace placed her hand on his arm. ‘Did you see what happened to the girl who drowned in the river?’
His eyes shrank a little, and Astrid noticed the added tremble in his fingers. ‘She came up out of the earth, and she ran, ran as if the Devil chased her. That’s why she didn’t watch the ground properly and fell into the water. By the time I got there, the current had taken her downstream.’ He stared at Grace, a lifetime of struggle and sadness flowing from his gaze.
She let go of him. ‘What did they say to you at the station?’
He stroked the head of the closer dog. ‘They had nothing but claimed they did, saying my DNA was on the girl. I just sat there and let them ramble on. They were trying to tire me out; too stupid to know I haven’t had more than two hours of sleep a night for more than forty years. They threatened me, and then released me.’
Grace dug her nails into her palms. ‘What did they threaten you with?’
He sputtered out a throaty laugh. ‘Something vague and unknowing.’
Astrid pulled Grace to her. ‘Why would Cope and Wylie try and force a confession out of him if it was an accidental death?’
Grace shrugged. ‘Perhaps it hadn’t been confirmed by Dr Jones when they spoke to Manny.’
‘Do those Detectives have reputations for framing people?’
‘I don’t know. There were problems with some officers before I joined the police, but I haven’t heard anything since then.’
Astrid turned to Manny. ‘What do you mean when you say Katie came up from the ground?’
He peered at her. ‘There are tunnels all over this place, some of which are hundreds of years old. Most have connections to the mines. Kids are always going down them, messing about and causing trouble. I’ve heard the noises; sometimes they mess around too much and bring parts of the walls down.’
‘Can you show us where this was?’
He nodded. ‘I can, but don’t you want to hear about the other girl as well, the one those fanatics hurt?’
Astrid glanced at Grace. ‘Do you mean Alex Sanchez?’
His hands trembled as both dogs whimpered. With more light now, Astrid checked the rest of the room as he reached for a bottle of clear liquid she assumed wasn’t water. Debris cluttered the cabin: broken boxes crammed with dusty photographs, rusted tools, yellowing newspapers, moth-eaten clothes, orphaned single shoes, and cracked crockery.
‘The girl wandered into here, looking for a phone. I don’t have one, but I gave her something to eat. I also told her the quickest way from the woods and into town.’
‘Did Alex say anything to you about what had happened to her or where she was going?’ Grace said.
‘She explained what those bastards did to her.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘I always knew they were up to no good inside Brady’s little cult. She still had bits of feathers stuck to her. I asked if she wanted me to go to the police with her, but she refused. She’s a brave girl, stronger than I could ever be, but after she got cleaned up and I gave her a drink, I think the shock finally hit her.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Just before she left, she went into a bit of a daze and kept on repeating the same thing.’
Astrid stepped towards him. ‘What was that?’
‘She kept saying she was going to make him pay.’
‘Who was she going to make pay? Was it Senator Brady?’
Before he could reply, the dogs stepped forward and growled. He held on to them. ‘There are people outside.’
Tension rippled through Astrid. ‘Do the cameras work?’
He shook his head. ‘Not for years.’
Someone howled in pain as she went to the window, taking a quick scan of the area. Grace was moving towards the door when Astrid stopped her.
‘There are at least four of them, including whoever stepped into one of the traps. You keep an eye on them while I check the back of the house, but don’t go outside.’
The dogs stared at her with glowing eyes. There was enough light for her to see where she was going, avoiding the tray of dog food and water on the floor. Old newspapers and records lay scattered everywhere, and she picked her way through them.
When she got to the back, an unusual sight waited outside: rows of electrical equipment were piled together like a wall. Rusted refrigerators bumped shoulders with washing machines, big-screen TVs, freezers, tumble dryers and cookers. She wondered if they’d make a good defence against the four men approaching the cabin, carrying rifles. She returned to the living room, wishing she had a weapon and immediately seeing that wish come true.
‘Do you know how to use one of these?’ Manny held a shotgun towards her. The dogs were panting as if expecting to be fed.
She took the firearm from him. ‘Point, aim and pull the trigger.’
Grace held a revolver. ‘How do we know these are hostiles?’
‘Why else would they be here?’ Astrid said.
They both looked at Manny, who shrugged. Grace moved closer to the window.
‘I can show them my police badge.’
A bullet smashed through the glass and into the wall before Astrid replied. She pulled Grace to the floor as the dogs barked. Manny stood there grinning as if he’d been waiting for this all his life. Astrid examined the escape maps unfolding inside her head as more bullets crashed through the cabin. There were only two ways inside, and they had a clear sight of both those approaches. Then she glanced up.
Unless they come through the roof.
‘Grace, take Manny and the dogs to the back. Get your line of fire through the windows on either side of the door. Shoot anyone who tries to come in uninvited. I’ll cover the front.’
Astrid moved towards the window. She pushed her shoulder against the wall and slithered up to peer through the glass as Grace helped Manny into the back. The bloke who’d stood in the trap was gone, with no sign of anybody amongst the trees.
When gunfire erupted at the rear, she lifted the shotgun as the dogs howled. She knew she shouldn’t leave her post, but Grace’s scream drew her from the window.
In that instant, the front door burst open, and a man swivelled towards her. He pointed the gun at her face as she brought the shotgun up and smacked the weapon away. She dropped her hand and blasted him through the foot. He shrieked as he crumbled, just as two others rushed inside
Astrid crouched as the bullets whizzed through the spot where she’d been; then more bounced off the chair as she ducked behind it. She rolled into the skirting board, gun pointed up in anticipation, but all that came was the sound of snarling and frenzied animals pouncing. The screams followed from two different sets of lungs as one of them managed to get a shot away. The dogs barked as she imagined those sharp white teeth biting through human flesh.
As the noise grew, something crashed into the back wall before everything spun around her. A shot was fired, a man screamed, and bones were crushed and broken. The stink of fresh blood swallowed the space above her as she peered over the sofa: one of the dogs was bending over an intruder and ripping out his throat. The bloke she’d blasted in the foot was missing, a trail of blood leading out of the front door. The other dog and attacker were also absent.
Astrid pushed herself up, the ringing continuing in her ears as she reached for her face. Red dripped from her forehead, and she placed her fingers on the wound. She wasn’t sure what had happened, perhaps a stray bullet had grazed her before she found cover, but the pain wouldn’t stop her.
Her feet were unsteady, her body unable to stand correctly before the attacker hit her in the side.
They tumbled over and rolled through dust and dirt. A steam train bowled through her head as he punched her hard in the ribs; the agony was great, but she was used to it. A tall bloke loomed over her, a lopsided grin on his face not distracting her from his right ear flapping away from his head. He was going to kick her in the stomach when she moved to the side and swung her hand around. The trousers he wore were light enough for her to dig her nails into his leg and tear at his flesh. He howled in unison with the dog.
Astrid reached up to punch him in the groin, but he brought the pistol down and cracked it across her cheek. Her jaw twisted into an unnatural angle as she stumbled into the wall. The runaway train of pain in her skull had split into a hundred different carriages, and every one of them sped through her blood and bones. She watched him raise the gun and aim it between her eyes. She waited for the aching to end and thought of all the people she’d let down, focusing on an image of Olivia as he grinned with his finger on the trigger.
Then the dog leapt at his throat.
Man and beast crashed to the floor next to her as she rolled away, unable to do anything but watch the hound chew through his flesh.
When he stopped moving, she pushed herself up. She left the dog chewing on fresh meat in an increasing pool of gore and moved to the window. The trail of blood led outside and into the distance, but there was no sign of life.
Grace’s howl of anguish forced her towards the rear of the house.
She stumbled beyond the feeding dog and into the back room, where she found the other hound, with Grace cradling Manny’s head in her arms. The large hole in his chest was hard to miss. She moved past them and checked outside, which was as empty as the front. There wasn’t one part of her which didn’t throb, but she ignored it all.
Grace held on to Manny and wiped away her tears. ‘I’ve called for an ambulance.’
Astrid could tell from the look on their faces that it was a forlorn hope. She left them and returned to the living room, where the dog sat on its hind legs and looked pleased with itself. She went to the front porch as the roar of an aeroplane shattered the silence. She stepped down onto the path and followed the drip of red from the cabin. She tracked it back to their car, where it disappeared into dust and a set of tyre tracks.
Then she returned to the house and waited. It was forty-five minutes before the ambulance and the police arrived.
Five minutes later, Manny Burns died in Grace’s arms.