Monster (13 page)

The wind whipped up around us, filtering through all my layers to my skin. Brody strained at the leash. ‘Okay, well, let’s keep looking.’

‘I just froze. Couldn’t even bring myself to call out.’ She stared into the distance. ‘In seconds, it had gone, but I never forgot it. I knew I wasn’t dreaming or seeing things.’

‘I believe you,’ I said. ‘Come on, let’s try the Chapel.’

Matron stopped at the end of the path, leaving me to walk up to the building and try the door handle. It was locked. I turned to her and shone the torch down the path.

‘She won’t be in there,’ said Matron, completely without hope.

‘We should try it, at least,’ I said, gesturing for her to give me the key.

Inside the building, the usual smell of must and sweet wood hit me and I shone the torch over the pews and altar. It felt colder than it was outside. Everything was still. I walked down the aisle, shining it down both wings and calling for her again.

Nothing. As with every other folly, the place was empty and silent. I looked back at Matron. ‘I think we should call the police now, Matron.’

She looked at me and nodded.

‘Let’s go back to Main House. It’s even chillier in here.’

Suddenly a bell rang inside my head. I grasped Matron’s arm. ‘I know where she is,’ I said.

‘Where?’

‘The Chiller. I mean, the laundry room. We didn’t look in the basement at all. It’s the only place we haven’t tried. Oh God, why didn’t we think?’

‘But why would she go down there?’

‘I don’t know. What if Clarice locked her down there? Come on.’

‘No,’ said Matron, fumbling with her key bunch for the basement key, ‘you run on, you’re faster.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Should I take the torch with me or leave it for you?’

‘Just take it and run. I’ll be behind you. I’ve got the dog—I’ll be okay,’ said Matron.

I bolted down the valley path and back along the pond until I got to the side of the school and the steps down to the basement where the window with the broken catch was—the quickest way in and down to the laundry room. It opened easily and I shone the torch inside. Back up in the woods, I could hear the dog barking constantly.

‘Tabby?’ I called out. The torchlight was fading. I shook it to get the beam back and shone it along the unpainted stone corridors of the basement. Jumping down onto the concrete, I ran along the corridor to the main room where the junk was stored.

‘Tabb-eee?’ I called out, the scents of clean laundry and mouldy stone in my nostrils.

Nothing.

I climbed over broken chairs and old gym equipment stuffed down there after inspections, pianos with flat keys, towards the archway beyond which was a narrow passageway and the Chiller itself.

There was a light coming beyond the archway. The light bulb outside the Chiller door was on. Someone had been down here.

‘Tabb-eeee?’ I called again.

And, this time, a little voice answered. ‘Nash?’

I barged through the rest of the chairs and sprinted down the passageway towards the room. The door was locked, but I could see her through the little round window, bundled in a ball, tears streaking her dusty little face.

‘Oh thank God, thank you God, thank you God.’ I exhaled, almost crying myself by the time I’d pushed hard enough on the door to get it unwedged where it had become
stuck on a little rock. ‘You’re okay now, it’s okay.’ I didn’t know if I was saying it to Tabby or myself.

The door released and Tabby flew into my arms like a ball into a baseball mitt. I cuddled her into me. ‘Oh, thank goodness you’re safe. We were so worried about you. What happened? Did Clarice lock you in?’

‘I was looking for Babbitt,’ she huffed. ‘And the door shut and I got locked in.’

‘Tabby, are you sure Clarice didn’t lock you down here?’ She shook her head. ‘You’re sure?’ She nodded. ‘It’s all right, you’re safe now, okay?’ I hugged her again, a sob stuck in my throat, and tried not to think about the apology I would now have to make to Clarice.

I switched the light off outside the Chiller and carried Tabby down the passageway and across the junk to ground level, wrapping her inside my warm coat when we got outside.

‘Found her!’ I called out into the night air and, within moments, quick footsteps came running up the path. ‘I’ve found her!’ I blew my fire whistle and we waited on the path by Edward’s Pond until we heard more footsteps coming from behind us.

It was Regan. She’d run all the way from the tennis courts. And she was by herself.

‘Oh, thank goodness!’ she cried, wheezing for air but smiling with relief. She looked quite pretty when she smiled.

‘Where’s Dianna?’ I asked her.

Regan guppied her mouth open and shut. ‘I don’t know … She went to the toilet. That was about twenty minutes ago now though.’

Maggie came running up from the direction of the barns,
followed by Clarice, who wasn’t running but walking, her arms folded and looking smug about something.

‘Thank God for that!’ heaved Maggie. ‘Where was the little squirt?’

‘The Chiller,’ I said. ‘The door got wedged and she couldn’t get out. It wasn’t anybody’s fault.’ I couldn’t look at Clarice. ‘I’m sorry I accused you.’ Tabby cuddled into Babbitt on my chest. ‘I was wrong.’

‘I should think so too,’ she huffed. ‘I’m not as bad as you seem to think.’

I wanted to say,
Oh but you so are,
but I held it in.

‘Where’s Matron?’ asked Maggie.

‘She was up at the Chapel,’ I said. ‘She said she was right behind me.’

We all looked up into the dark, featureless valley. Maggie called out for Matron.

‘We’ve foooooooounnd herrrrrrrrrr,’ she yelled again. But nothing came back. We could see the Chapel. I put Tabby down and shone my torch beam up towards it, sweeping it over the scene. There was a shape in the darkness. A shape and a tinkling sound. It was coming along the path, towards the pond. A big, black, loping shape.

Maggie stepped back, right into me, then stepped aside. Clarice got behind me too. Tabby cuddled into my leg. Regan stayed where she was.

I shone the torch directly on the thing.

It was the dog, Brody. He was on his own, his lead dragging on the path, paws leaving dirty paw prints as he walked.

‘Oh my God, Brody!’ Regan cried.

I shone my torchlight onto the Newfie as he came to a stop in front of us.

‘Brody! What’s happened? Where’s Matron, eh, boy?’ cried Regan as she skittered over and crouched down beside him.

‘Is he all right?’ said Maggie, going over to inspect him too.

I shone my torch over the paw prints he’d left all along the path. They were red.

‘I
think Brody’s injured,’ said Clarice.

‘Dianna hasn’t come back yet,’ said Regan. ‘And Matron’s still out here.’

‘We need to go inside. Now.’ I picked up the dog’s lead and lifted Tabby up again, taking the path back towards Main House. They followed me with no protest.

Maggie caught up with me as we came down the flint steps near the front entrance.

‘What’s happened, Nash?’

‘I’ll explain when we get inside, okay? Just move.’

‘What about Dianna?’

‘She’s got some serious explaining to do,’ I said. ‘Come on.’

We ran down the rest of the steps and across the turning
circle to the front door. Once we were all safely inside, I put Tabby down and deadbolted the front door, top and bottom.

Regan stared at me. ‘What are you doing? We can’t lock Matron out.’

‘I don’t think Matron’s coming back.’

‘What do you mean? Where’s she gone?’

I walked over to Brody, who was panting, but otherwise fine. I gently lifted up one front paw, then the other, inspecting all over his face and ears and down his legs and back. His black fur was slick and glistening on his back, but there were no other signs of injury. When my hands came away from him, they were red.

Clarice screamed a scream that could have broken crystal.

‘Jesus Mothering Christ,’ breathed Maggie, as Tabby jumped up into her arms and hid her face in her neck.

Regan put her hand to her mouth like she was going to vomit.

At that moment, the door to the Refectory corridor opened, and in breezed Dianna like she’d just come through the airport arrivals gate. Her sudden appearance caused Clarice to scream again.

‘What are you all doing?’ Then she saw Tabby. ‘You’ve found her! Where was she?’ She took in my red hands. ‘What on earth …’

‘Where the hell have you been?’ Maggie yelled.

‘I was looking for Tabby. I’m so pleased you’re safe!’

‘You were supposed to be in the formal gardens with Regan!’

‘Yes, I was. I’ll thank you to lower your voice, Margaret. It might be the end of term but I am still Head Girl, you know.’

‘Oh, like anyone cares,’ Maggie spat. ‘Where were you?’

‘I just told you!’ Dianna shouted.

‘You said you were going to the toilet,’ Regan interrupted.

‘I did. Then I thought I heard something in the woods, so I went up to investigate. What’s that on your hands, Natasha?’

‘You weren’t anywhere near the woods.’ Clarice scowled. ‘How could you hear something from the toilet?’

Dianna had no answer. ‘Why are you all looking at me like that? What’s happened?’

Nobody else had anything constructive to say, so I stuck my oar in. ‘Matron is missing. And Brody has come back from the woods covered in … this. It’s all over the paths out there too.’

‘My God,’ said Dianna.

‘Dianna, if you’re hiding something in those woods, you’d better start talking.’

‘What?’

‘Is it the Beast?’ said Regan. ‘Have you seen it too? Do you know where his lair is?’

‘Oh, Regan, have a day off, will you?’ sighed Maggie. ‘You’re starting to get right on my greatest hits.’

I tried to breathe out the poison air in my lungs. ‘I don’t think this has anything to do with the Beast at all. Regan, I need you to go and give Brody a wash in the dog shower.’

She seemed disappointed. ‘Where’s the dog shower?’

‘In the first utility room next to the kitchens. It’s just a shower tray and a hose. There’s dog shampoo in the second cupboard along and towels on top of the tumble dryer. And, Tabby, go with Regan and find the Chief some food and some water, okay? He needs his dinner. Can you do that job for me?’

Tabby reluctantly slid down Maggie’s hip and took Regan’s
hand. They led Brody out of the hall and down the corridor towards the kitchen.

I waited for the door to close behind them before I turned to Dianna. She laughed, a nervous giggle that didn’t ring true, and looked from Maggie, to Clarice, and back to me.

I took a breath. ‘I know what your secret in the woods is, Dianna. I know why you’ve been going up there.’

‘Natasha, I don’t—’

‘Stop lying,’ I said. ‘Someone is dead tonight because of your lying.’

‘Don’t say that!’

‘Tell her the truth then!’ yelled Maggie.

‘What’s Dianna got to do with this?’ said Clarice. ‘D’you think …
she
killed Matron?’

I reached into my coat pocket and took out the colour-printed page I’d taken from the internet café in Bathory. I unfolded it and read it aloud:

‘“Hunt for killer Leon Pfaff sparks airport alert”,’ I read. ‘“Ports and airports have been put on alert by police hunting an escaped murderer”.’

‘Oh my God,’ Maggie mumbled.

‘Oh my God,’ said Clarice.

‘“Convicted killer, Pfaff, twenty-two, had been serving a life sentence for the robbery and murder of a man during a raid on an apartment block. He was in the hospital wing at maximum security HMP Pickton when he overpowered two officers and made his escape”.’ I held up the page with the picture of Leon Pfaff’s mug shot. He had the same brown eyes as Dianna, but jet-black hair and a razor-sharp jaw. I noticed he was the same age as Seb, but I tried hard not to think about it.

‘No way,’ said Maggie. ‘He’s up there? You’ve hidden a murderer in the woods?’

I nodded. ‘She’s been keeping him up there, in the Tree House, I’m betting, since he escaped. Haven’t you?’

Dianna said nothing, but a single tear began its path down her right cheek.

‘Nice and warm in the Tree House, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘Warm and safe and hidden out of the way of anyone in the winter months. How long did you intend on keeping him there?’

She didn’t answer me. I looked at the piece of paper again. ‘“Anyone with information on his whereabouts has been urged to contact police or Crimestoppers. This man is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous. Do not approach under any circumstances”. And you’ve let him into a girls’ boarding school! I think you’ve got a phone call to make.’

‘No, please—I can’t …’

‘How are you even going to justify this, Princess?’ said Maggie. ‘Look at Nash’s hands! That dog was covered in blood.’

Dianna was breathless. She kept clinging to my forearm, but I pulled away. ‘It can’t have been him. Why would he do something like that?’

‘Because he’s done it before,’ I said, coldly.

‘Yes, but it was in self-defence.’

‘He killed a man, Dianna.’

‘No, it wasn’t like that. It was two years ago. He was defending himself. He got into some drug stuff and he was trying to get away from it. The man was a known drug-dealer. A pimp. A bad man.’

‘Oh, he did the world a favour then, is that what you’re saying?’

‘I’m saying he didn’t go there to kill him. But he didn’t have a choice. You have to believe me.’

‘Why did they put him away for a life sentence, then, Dianna?’ Maggie asked.

‘Well … he used a knife. But he hasn’t done anything while he’s been here, I promise. I’ve been watching him like a hawk. Why would he kill Matron?’

I shrugged. ‘What if she came across him in the woods tonight? What if she recognised him from the newspapers? Oh, hang on a minute, you cancelled the daily papers, didn’t you? While we were at the shop the other day.’

Dianna said nothing.

‘I wondered about that at the time, but I didn’t pay much attention—you said Matron told you to do it. That’s why all the papers were face down on the shelf as well, isn’t it? So we wouldn’t see his face all over them. His name. I thought some kids had been messing about with them or something.’

‘I knew what you’d say,’ said Dianna. ‘I knew you’d put two and two together.’

‘Well, I can’t,’ said Clarice. ‘What are you saying here, Nash? What’s Dianna done?’

‘Oh for God’s sake, draw her a picture, Nash,’ huffed Maggie. ‘Dianna’s been hiding her brother, her
sadistic, murderer
brother, in the Tree House.
Comprendre
?’

Clarice was silent, shell-shocked. Her face turned robotically back towards Dianna, eyes brimming over with tears.

Dianna gripped my forearm again, and again, I shook her away. ‘Nash, listen to me, I know Leon didn’t do anything bad tonight. I know it for a fact, because I was with him. I went up to see him the moment we all split up. I told Regan I was going to the loo—’

‘Yeah, we knew you were lying about that,’ said Maggie.

‘I was with him the whole time,’ Dianna continued. ‘We even saw you running back down towards the school. He hasn’t left the Tree House all night. He’s too scared to. I’ve been telling him about the Beast of Bathory and …’

‘What, he’s too scared of the big pussycat, is he?’ said Maggie. ‘A convicted killer and he’s afraid of an urban legend? Do me a favour.’

‘How can you be sure he didn’t go anywhere after you left him?’ I asked.

‘He wouldn’t have. I told him to stay in there. He doesn’t want to cause any trouble, really he doesn’t. He just wants to get out of the country. He won’t come near the school.’

‘What do you mean, “near”?’ I said. ‘He’s on the premises already.’

‘Has he got black hair?’ said a small voice. We all looked around. It was Clarice’s voice. ‘I think I’ve seen him. Well, I think I’ve met him. In fact I think … I’ve kind of been … seeing him.’

Another dark penny dropped. ‘What?’

‘He said he was homeless,’ she said, sitting down on the bottom stair. ‘He said his name was Eddie. Eddie Dantès. I wouldn’t have gone up there if I’d known he was really … oh my God, he tricked me!’

‘You’ve been seeing him?’ cried Dianna.

Maggie guffawed with laughter, folding her arms. ‘Oh, this just gets better.’

‘Eddie Dantès?’ I said. ‘Didn’t his name ring any bells?’

‘Well, no, it’s a fake name,’ she blubbed, hiding her eyes with her hands.

‘Edmond Dantès is the escaped convict in
The Count of Monte Cristo
,’ I cried. ‘You’d have known that if you’d ever paid attention in an English lesson.’

‘I didn’t know who he really was, did I?’ she sobbed. ‘I brought him food and … we talked and I got to know him. He said he loved me!’

‘Uh, I think he was lying?’ Maggie suggested. ‘Is this the amazing boyfriend you wanted your phone for?’

‘No. That’s a different one. Back home.’

Maggie threw Clarice a look, but said no more.

‘I thought I was the only one who knew he was there,’ said Dianna softly. ‘I can’t believe he kept this from me.’

‘What, your sweet, innocent pimp-murderer brother?’

‘I could have been killed too,’ cried Clarice.

‘More’s the pity you weren’t,’ said Maggie, folding her arms. ‘How stupid can you get?’ She looked at Dianna and Clarice in turn. ‘You hide a killer in the woodshed and bake him cakes and bring him magazines while
you
clean his pipes out for him on a daily basis. He’s living the life of Riley up there. You’re
un
believable.’

‘Oh, don’t give me that,’ said Clarice, wiping her nose. ‘I just found him up there.’

‘Up where?’ said Maggie with a smirk.

‘In the Tree House. I saw him and I, just, like, befriended him. We were friends first. We talked. He’s lovely once you get to know him. If you’d known there was a boy hiding in the Tree House you’d have been up there like a shot.’

Maggie tilted her head in thought. ‘Probably. But I
didn’t
know he was up there, did I?’

Clarice hid her face in her hands. ‘What if I’ve got some prison disease?’

‘You could be up the duff. Murderer babies!’

‘Shut up! You can’t talk. You’re always getting into trouble.’

Maggie laughed. ‘I put custard in the minibus and super-glued
our French teacher to her chair. You’ve banged a convicted killer. That’s, like, number one on the list of school rules thou shalt not break, Clarice.’

‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’

‘But why bring him here, Dianna?’ I asked, through Clarice’s squealing.

Dianna wrung her hands. ‘The first place the police would look for him is home. It was all a bit last minute. He had to go into hospital for an appendix operation. He saw a chance and he took it. Mum told me to hide him in the school somewhere and look after him until she got back from Spain. We knew the Saul-Hudsons were going away for Christmas, so it seemed ideal. She’s getting him some fake documents, visas and passports and things. She said she’ll be here on the twenty-third—she’ll have all he needs, and he can go abroad and—’

‘Kill people there?’ I finished. ‘You’re an accessory now, you know that?’

‘I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t love him.’

‘I thought you hated him.’

‘I hate him for making me do this, of course I do. I haven’t been sleeping, I’ve been physically sick every day since he got here.’

‘Bless,’ spat Maggie.

‘That’s why the police came here last week, isn’t it?’ I said, a piece of jigsaw knitting into my brain at last. ‘That’s why Saul-Hudson asked for you to be in the office when she talked to them. It wasn’t about the dead man in the village, it was about Leon, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Dianna admitted. ‘But I managed to throw them off the scent. I told them he’d been thinking about going to stay with a friend in Scotland. I have to help him, Nash.
You must understand. Someone needs to have faith in him, give him a second chance. If they lock him up again, it’ll finish him.’

Maggie growled. ‘If he was an animal, you’d have him put down.’

‘Don’t say that.’ Dianna looked genuinely hurt.

But Maggie was just getting started. ‘He’s a dangerous creature, Princess. He shouldn’t be on the streets, let alone in the grounds of a boarding school. Don’t you know killing gets easier after the first one? Some people get a real taste for it.’

‘Do they?’ said Clarice, chewing the strap on her thick pink watch.

‘Uh, yeah? He’s got seven people stuck here for the winter, all to himself. He could spree it if he wanted to, take us all out in one go.’

Dianna turned to me. ‘He wouldn’t, he’s my
brother.
Nash, you of all people should understand that.’

There was a hot violent mist in my peripheral vision. ‘Don’t you dare bring my brother into this!’ I snarled. ‘Seb’s worth twenty of him.’