Raven_s Gate pof-1 Page 10

  “Of course.” Miss Ashwood glided her hand to a glass in front of her and took a sip of water. “Seven months have passed since we last met,” she began. “At that time I told you that I was aware of a growing danger, a sense that something was very wrong. We agreed that we would continue to monitor the situation, as we have always done. We are the eyes of the world. Although I, of course, have other ways of seeing.”

  She paused.

  “The danger has become more acute,” she continued. “For weeks now I’ve been thinking I should call you and I’ve spoken several times with Professor Dravid. Well, I can’t leave it any longer. I am certain, in my heart, that our worst fears are to be realized. Raven’s Gate is about to open.”

  There was a stir around the table. But several of them were looking doubtful.

  “What evidence do you have, Miss Ashwood?” one of the men asked. He was tall and olive-skinned. He had travelled from South America to be here.

  “You know my evidence very well, Mr Fabian. You know why I was invited to join the Nexus.”

  “Even so… What have you been told?”

  “I haven’t been told anything. I wish it were as simple as that. I can only tell you what I feel. And right now, it’s as if there’s poison in the air. I’m aware of it all the time and it’s getting worse. The darkness is coming. It’s taking shape. You have to trust me.”

  “I hope that isn’t why you’ve brought us all here tonight.” An elderly man had spoken. He was a bishop, dressed in a clerical collar with a gold cross around his neck. He took off his spectacles and cleaned them as he continued. “I’m very well aware of your abilities, Miss Ashwood, and I have great respect for them. But can you really ask us to accept that something is the case just because you believe it to be so?”

  “I thought that was what faith was all about,” Miss Ashwood retorted.

  “The Christian faith is written down. Nobody has ever written a history of the Old Ones.”

  “That’s not true,” Dravid muttered. He raised a single finger. “You’re forgetting the Spanish monk.”

  “St Joseph of Cordoba? His book has been lost and he himself was discredited centuries ago.” The bishop sighed. “This is very difficult for me,” he said. “You have to remember that, officially, the Church does not believe in your Old Ones any more than we believe in demons or devils or all the rest of it. If it was known that I was part of the Nexus, I would have to resign. I am here only because you and I have the same aims. We are all afraid of the same thing, no matter what we choose to call it. But I cannot accept – will not accept – guesswork and superstition. I’m sorry, Miss Ashwood. You have to give us more evidence.”

  “Maybe I can be of assistance,” another man said. He was a policeman, an assistant commissioner based at Scotland Yard. “I did notice something very recently that might be of interest. It was very minor, so I didn’t report it to you, but in the light of what you are saying now…”

  “Go on,” Professor Dravid said.

  “Well, it concerns a petty criminal, a drug addict by the name of Will Scott. He was last seen following a woman into an alleyway not very far from here, in Holborn. Presumably she would have been his next victim. He had a knife. And a record of armed violence.”

  “What happened?”

  “It wasn’t the woman who ended up as the victim. She disappeared. It was Scott who was found dead. He killed himself. He pushed the knife into his own heart.”

  “What’s so strange about that?” one of the women asked.

  “He did it in broad daylight in the middle of London. But it wasn’t just that. I saw his face…” The policeman paused. “I knew at once that this was something completely abnormal. The look of terror. It was as if he had tried to fight it. As if he didn’t want to die. It was horrible.”

  “The power of the Old Ones,” Miss Ashwood whispered.

  “Why should one death in Holborn have anything to do with the Nexus?” the bishop insisted.

  “I agree with you,” Dravid said. “One isolated incident. A possible suicide. But there is something else, and it happened only this morning. That in itself is rather strange, because of course I knew I was coming here tonight. But I was at my office, in the museum, and I was online. This was around lunchtime. And my computer picked up an enquiry into Raven’s Gate.” He hesitated. “I have a program,” he explained. “Whenever anybody, anywhere, puts those words into a search engine, I get to hear about it. It’s only happened twice in the last year – both times academics. But this was different. I managed to instant-mail the person at the other end. And I have a feeling it was a teenager or maybe even a child.”

  “Did he say so?” the policeman asked.

  “No. But he used the letters r and u instead of writing ‘are you’. That’s very much the sign of a young person. He called himself Matt.”

  “Just Matt?”

  “He gave no surname. But here’s something else that’s interesting. The enquiry came from a computer in the library at Greater Malling.”

  The statement caused another stir around the table. This time, even the bishop looked concerned.

  “Shouldn’t you have contacted us straight away, Professor?” the South American asked.

  “I hardly had time, Mr Fabian. As I told you, this only happened today and I knew we would all meet this evening anyway. On its own, it might not have been significant. A schoolboy might have stumbled across Raven’s Gate and made enquiries about it for no particular reason. But given Miss Ashwood’s feelings and what we’ve just heard…” He let the sentence hang in the air. “Maybe we should try to find this ‘Matt’ and discover how much he knows.”

  “And how are we meant to do that?” a silver-haired man with a French accent asked. His name was Danton and he was connected in some way to military intelligence. “Give me a full name and we could find him in seconds. But Matt? Short for Matthew? Or he could be from my country… Matthieu. Or he could even be a girl… Matilda.”

  “He’ll find us,” Miss Ashwood said.

  “You think he’ll just walk in here?” the bishop asked. He shook his head. “It seems obvious to me. If you really think something is happening in Yorkshire, we should go there and try to prevent it. We should be there now.”

  “We can’t,” Dravid said. “It would be far too dangerous. We don’t know what we’re looking for. And anyway, we agreed from the start that we cannot become personally involved. That’s not our role. We exist to watch, to share information and – when the time comes – to fight back. That’s when we’ll be needed. We cannot do anything that will put us at risk.”

  “So we sit back and do nothing?”

  “He will find his way to us,” Miss Ashwood said. “You have to remember. It is meant to happen. Everything in the history of the world has been preparing itself for this moment, for the return of the Five and the final struggle. There is no coincidence. Everything is planned. If we don’t see that, we lose one of our greatest weapons.”

  “Matt.” The Frenchman spoke the single word. He didn’t sound too impressed.

  Miss Ashwood nodded slowly. “Let’s just pray he finds us soon.”

  A VISITOR

  Matt was chopping wood again. There were blisters on his hands and the sweat was running down his back, but the pile never seemed to get any smaller. Noah was sitting a few paces away, watching him. Matt split another log apart and threw down the axe. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

  “How long have you been here, Noah?” he asked.

  Noah shrugged.

  “Where did Mrs Deverill find you? Were you born here or did you escape from the local lunatic asylum?”

  Noah glared at him. Matt knew he had difficulty understanding sentences with more than four or five words. “You shouldn’t make fun of me,” Noah replied at last, scowling.

  “Why not? It’s the only fun I have.” Matt picked up a handful of wood and dumped it in the wheelbarrow. “Why don’t you go anywhere?” he aske
d. “You’re always hanging around. Don’t you have a girlfriend or anything?”

  Noah sniffed. “I don’t like girls.”

  “Do you prefer pigs? I think one or two of them fancy you.”

  Matt leant forward to take the axe and as he did so Noah’s hand shot out, grabbing hold of him. “You don’t know,” he rasped. He was so close that Matt could smell the rotten food on his breath. His fat lips twisted in an unpleasant smile. “Sometimes Mrs Deverill lets me kill one,” he said. “A pig. I put the knife in and I listen to it squeal. We’ll do the same to you…”

  “Let me go!” Matt tried to pull away but Noah was incredibly strong and his fingers were clamped on to Matt’s arm in a vice-like grip.

  “You laugh at Noah. But when the end comes, it’ll be Noah who laughs at you…”

  “Get off me!” Matt was afraid his bone was going to break.

  Just then a car pulled into the yard. Noah released his hold and Matt fell back, cradling his arm. There were four welts where the fingers had held him. The car was a Honda Estate. The door opened and a man got out, dressed in a suit and white shirt but no tie. Matt recognized him at once. It was Stephen Mallory, the detective who had interrogated him after the Ipswich break-in.

  Noah had seen him too. As Mallory looked around him, the farmhand scurried away, disappearing behind the barn. Matt walked over to the detective. He could feel a sense of excitement stirring inside him but tried not to show it. Although Mallory was partly responsible for sending him here, he was exactly the man Matt most wanted to see.

  “Matthew!” The detective nodded. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look it. You’ve lost a lot of weight.”

  “What are you doing here?” Matt was in no mood to talk.

  “I’ve been to a conference in Harrogate. It’s not that far away so I thought I’d look in and see how you were getting on.” Mallory stretched. “I have to say, it wasn’t an easy place to find.”

  “If you think it’s hard getting in, you should try getting out.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” Matt glanced over Mallory’s shoulder. Mrs Deverill was somewhere inside the house. He knew she’d come into the yard at any moment and he wanted to talk before she arrived. “I was going to phone you,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want to stay here. You told me that the LEAF Project is voluntary. Well, I’m volunteering myself out. I don’t care where you send me. You can lock me up in Alcatraz if you want to. But this place sucks and I want to go.”

  The detective looked at him curiously. “What were you doing when I arrived?” he asked.

  “What does it look like?” Matt spread his hands, showing the red calluses and blisters. “I was chopping wood.”

  “Have you started school yet?”

  “No.”

  Mallory shook his head. “This is all wrong,” he said. “This shouldn’t be happening.”

  “Then do something about it. Get me out of here.”

  There was a movement in the doorway behind them. Mrs Deverill had appeared and Noah along with her. She had put on a brightly coloured apron and was holding a basket of apples. Matt wondered if they were for Mallory’s benefit, just like the suit she had worn when she went down to London.

  “Don’t say anything,” Mallory muttered quietly. “Leave this to me.”

  Mrs Deverill came over. She seemed surprised to see someone there. “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “You don’t remember me? Detective Superintendent Mallory. We met in London. I’m with the LEAF Project.”

  Mrs Deverill nodded. “Of course I remember you, Mr Mallory,” she said. “And it’s a great pleasure to see you, although it might have been a courtesy to let me know you were coming. If I recall correctly, you were supposed to give me twenty-four hours’ notice of any official visit.”

  “Do you have something to hide, Mrs Deverill?”

  “Of course not.” The hard eyes blinked. “You’re welcome any time.”

  “The fact is that I picked up a report from the local police,” Mallory said. “Something about a false alarm at a place called Glendale Farm. Matthew was involved.”

  “Oh yes.” Mrs Deverill rearranged her features into a look of concern. “Matthew and I have already spoken about that. I was very sorry that he wasted the policemen’s time. Still, in the end there was no harm done. I think we’ve both put it behind us.”

  Matt wanted to speak but Mallory warned him with his eyes.

  “Why isn’t Matthew at school?” he asked.

  “It’s my feeling that it’s too early,” Mrs Deverill replied. “I have discussed the matter with my sister. She happens to be the head teacher. We both agree that he would be a disruptive influence. We’ll send him to school as soon as he’s ready.” Mrs Deverill smiled. She was doing her best to appear friendly. “Why don’t you come inside, Detective Superintendent? I’m not sure we should be discussing this in front of the boy. Perhaps I could offer you a cup of tea?”

  “No, thank you, Mrs Deverill.” Mallory looked around him a second time. “I haven’t seen very much,” he went on, “but it seems obvious to me that living conditions on this farm are entirely inadequate for Matthew’s needs-”

  “We were examined before he came,” Mrs Deverill interrupted.

  “And frankly I’m appalled by Matthew’s physical condition. He looks as if he’s been worked to the bone. You’ve actually broken the law by keeping him out of school.”

  “The boy’s been perfectly happy here. Haven’t you, Matthew!”

  “No.” Matt was glad he’d been given a chance to speak. “I hate it here. I hate this farm. I hate you, most of all.”

  “Well, that’s gratitude!” Mrs Deverill snapped.

  “I’m going back to London,” Mallory said. “And I want you to know that I’ll be contacting the LEAF committee the moment I arrive. I’ll be recommending that Matthew is removed from your care with immediate effect.”

  Mrs Deverill’s face darkened. Her eyes were like razors. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  “Are you threatening me, Mrs Deverill?”

  There was a long pause.

  “No. Why would I want to do that? I’m a law-abiding person. And if you really think that Matthew would be better off locked up in some sort of juvenile institution, that’s your business. Nevertheless you aren’t meant to be here, Mr Mallory. You weren’t invited, and this visit of yours is a violation of our agreement. You make your report, if you want to. But you’ll be the one who ends up with the red face.”

  She turned on her heels and walked back into the farmhouse. Matt watched her go with a sense of elation. Mallory had defeated her. For the first time, he could see an end to his ordeal.

  Mallory leant towards him. “Listen to me, Matt,” he said. “I’d put you in the car and take you with me if I could-”

  “I wish you would,” Matt said.

  “But I can’t. I don’t have any right and technically I’d be breaking the law. Mrs Deverill could even say I’d abducted you and in the long run I might be doing more harm than good. But give me twenty-four hours and I’ll be back. And then we’ll get you out of this dump. OK?”

  “Sure.” Matt nodded. “Thanks.”

  Mallory sighed. “If you want the honest truth, I was always against the LEAF Project,” he said. “It’s just a gimmick… another bit of government spin. They don’t really want to help kids like you. They’re only interested in massaging the figures, reducing the number of children behind bars.” He walked over to his car and opened the door. “Well, as soon as I’ve put in my report, they’ll have to listen to what I say. And whatever happens, I promise you Mrs Deverill will never get custody of anyone ever again.”

  Matt watched him go. Then he turned and looked at the farmhouse. Mrs Deverill was standing in the doorway. She had taken off the apron and was now dressed all in black. She too had seen the detective leave, b
ut said nothing. She stepped back, disappearing into the house. The door slammed shut behind her.

  It was dark by the time Stephen Mallory reached the motorway and the fast route back to Ipswich. He was deep in thought as he steered his Honda Estate into the outside lane.

  He hadn’t told Matt the whole truth. There never had been any conference in Harrogate.

  Stephen Mallory specialized in juvenile crime. He had met many young delinquents, some only ten or eleven years old, and, like so many of them, it seemed to him that Matt wasn’t so much a criminal as a victim. He had already spoken to Kelvin, who was in a remand centre awaiting trial. He had met with Gwenda Davis and her partner Brian. He had read all the reports. But even so, he felt that there was something missing. The boy he had met was nothing like the one he’d been reading about.

  And so, immediately after he had handed Matt over to Mrs Deverill, he had decided to see if he could fill in the missing pieces. He was in London anyway. Nobody would know, or care, how he spent the afternoon.

  He had taken a taxi to a police records office in south London. Everything he needed was there in a cardboard box, one of about a hundred, filed away with a reference number and a name: FREEMAN M.J. There were articles cut out of the local newspaper in Ipswich, reports from both the local and the metropolitan police, a post-mortem report and a psychiatric assessment from a doctor who had been attached to the case. The story was exactly as he had been told. A road accident. The parents killed. An eight-year-old boy left behind. Adoption by an aunt in Ipswich. Mallory had read all of it before. But then, at the very bottom of the box, he had stumbled on a witness report that he hadn’t seen. It changed everything.

  It was a signed statement by the woman who had been living next door to Matthew at the time of the accident; she had in fact been looking after him when it happened. Her name was Rosemary Green. Mallory read it twice, then ordered a taxi to take him to Dulwich. It was four o’clock in the afternoon. He doubted she would be in.

  But he had been in luck. Rosemary Green was a teacher and arrived home just as he stepped out of the cab. He talked to her outside her small Victorian house with pink and white honeysuckle trailing all the way up the front wall. It was strange to think that Matthew Freeman had once played in the garden next door. It couldn’t have been a more different world from the one he would later inhabit in Ipswich.