Chapter 82

CHARNEL HOUSE

Faultless swung sideways, holding on to the ladder with one hand. “Hurry up, Tash, get past me,” he called up, and she descended quickly.

When she got level with him, she stopped. She looked into his eyes. He stared right back. He wanted to leap at her, kiss her. She wanted the same, he could tell. But instead he said, “Get moving.”

She did, heading down.

He looked up and hurried Hanbury along.

He could hear the lift. He craned his neck as Hanbury went past. Up in the shaft, he could make out the elevators shape coming down. Its hum grew louder. He glanced below him and started to descend again.

He was sweating. His heart raced. There was an ache in his ribs where the copper had truncheoned him. He was exhausted, his vision swimming.

But he had to go on. He had to survive. He had to find out.

“Move,” he told them below him. “Move.”

“Where are we going?” said Hanbury.

“Ask your daughter, mate. She’s the psychic.”

“You’ve called me mate twice in the last few minutes. You’d have done that fifteen years ago, I’d have cut your tongue out.”

“You did worse than that, Roy. You threatened to kill me.”

“You what?” said Tash. “Dad, you did what?”

“Didn’t you know?” said Faultless. “Thought you were psychic.”

“Shut up, Charlie,” she said. “Dad, were you going to kill him?”

“Save your breath, darlin’,” said her father. “Save your breath and keep going. It’s all in the past now.”

Fucking past, thought Faultless. You can say “it’s all in the past” and try to forget it, but not when the past made you. Not when it left you lost. Not when it had stolen everything you thought you were.

He looked up. His legs grew weak. The elevator was coming closer. He could see it now.

“The ladder’s out,” said Tash.

“Jump, then,” said Faultless. “You’re nearly there.”

“Nearly where?”

He said, “Leap, Tash.”

“She ain’t leaping into the dark like that,” said Hanbury.

“She’s here somewhere,” said Tash. “I . . . I can see him . . . his eyes, his face—he’s here.”

“Jump,” said Faultless.

“No,” said Hanbury.

Faultless leapt off the ladder. He plunged, sweeping past Hanbury, past Tash. He fell and was thinking, Please let there be—

He hit the ground and rolled into what felt like branches. They cracked and crunched as he flailed around in them.

“It’s okay,” he said. Before he could get up and check out his surroundings, Tash landed on him. Then Hanbury fell in a heap to the side.

“You okay?” he said to Tash. He was holding her. Everything was calm for a second. Everything was right. She nodded. He was looking into her sapphire eyes. They glittered, even in the gloom. He nearly kissed her.

“Jesus Christ, save us,” said Hanbury.

“W . . . what?” said Faultless, the moment between him and Tash gone. He got up, scrabbling through the stuff that covered the ground.

Branches, he thought. Trees. White—

Tash gasped.

“They’re bones,” said Hanbury.

The elevator screeched. Faultless looked up. He held his breath, thinking they were going to get crushed. But it stopped about ten feet above them, sparks flying. And the light they made lit up the room. The few seconds of illumination showed Faultless what Hanbury had seen.

Bones. Human bones.

Hanbury said, “It’s a fucking charnel house.”