The Demon of Devilgate Drive (Skeleton Cove Horror Book 1) Read online

  The kitchen was a long room that took up the whole of that side of the house. Mrs Brick had her back to us, staring out the back window. She was still wearing that shabby bathrobe, though it looked like she'd removed the slime from her face. I pulled at Suzi's arm and told her to have a look.

  'What d'you think?' I whispered.

  'Smoking and drinking. Tch. Well, he's not in there. Could be in bed?'

  I shook my head. 'Doubt it. Not if his ma's still awake.'

  'We should check though, eh?'

  There'd be no point traipsing over to the pool hall if Jimmy was in his bed, so the smart thing to do would be to make sure he wasn't.

  'Okay. Come on.' I led the way round to the back of the house until we were directly underneath Jimmy's bedroom window. 'Grab some pebbles.'

  Scrambling around on the ground, we selected half a dozen small stones. Standing back from the house, we proceeded to throw them as softly as possible at the sash window above our heads.

  The first few missed completely but Suzi had a good aim and managed to get five direct hits. The pinging noise against the glass would've been plenty loud enough to wake Jimmy if he was there.

  We stood for a minute gazing upwards, but there were no signs of life.

  'That's it, then,' I said. 'Nightmare Alley here we come.'

  'Wait,' said Suzi. 'You're right. We should make sure.'

  'Didn't we just do that?'

  'No - he might be in another room. Or maybe his mother killed him and stuffed him in the freezer.'

  'Of course, that'll be it,' I said, making no effort to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

  Suzi made a huffing noise. 'You're the one who didn't want to go to the pool hall, not me.'

  I coughed. 'Yeah. Fine.' I stood for a moment pondering what to do, but Suzi wasn't waiting around.

  'In here,' she hissed, pushing the back door open.

  'Jeez, Suz, what you doing?'

  'Quick, while the wifie's in the kitchen.'

  I had no choice but to follow her. If we got caught, I could always plead insanity.

  Suzi held up a hand, warning me to stay still. Then, she waved me on and I followed her through into the gloomy hallway. The kitchen door was partially open, a sliver of light creeping along the floor towards us.

  Suzi turned round and held a finger to her lips, as if I needed telling. Moving forward, she placed one hand on the banister and swung slowly round onto the first step. There was a creak. We stopped dead and stared at the kitchen door, expecting it to fly open at any moment.

  But it didn't.

  Suzi was moving again, taking care to test each step before putting her full weight on it. It seemed to take an absolute age to reach the top of the stairs, but eventually we were there, standing on the landing in the moonlight.

  Wait a minute - moonlight?

  I turned to look out of the window next to me. Across the back garden, I could see over the hedge and the railway line rising up behind it. Beyond that, were the workmen. They were busy on the tracks, replacing the old rusty fence that ran right across from here to the railway bridge half a mile further down. But the point was, they couldn't do that sort of work in the dark, so they'd brought a massive pair of floodlights with them and it was these that were now lighting up not only the track, but Mrs Brick's entire back garden, and more to the point, beaming straight into her kitchen.

  'Cripes.' The look of horror on Suzi's face told me she thought we'd definitely made an error of judgement. A door crashing open a second later confirmed it, when Mrs Brick stumbled into the hallway downstairs.

  'What the bleedin hell is that?'

  Me and Suzi stood stock still, aware that any movement on our part would alert the drunken woman to the fact we were standing on her landing, only a few feet above her head.

  'Bleedin sods...' The thump of her feet on the bare floorboards told us Mrs Brick was heading for the back door. A second later, it squeaked open and a barrage of abuse erupted from her mouth.

  Pushing Suzi away from the window, I peered through, making sure we couldn't be seen from outside. Across the gardens, one of the men on the railway was making rude signs at Mrs Brick.

  More verbal abuse followed, then a loud bang and a thud, as the back door slammed shut.

  We could do nothing but wait, and listen.

  'She'll probably go back to the kitchen in a minute,' whispered Suzi in my ear. I nodded, but our hopes of salvation slipped away as the thump of Mrs Brick's feet started up the stairs.

  Across the hallway, I could see straight into the main bedroom. It was empty. Next door was the bathroom. That door too stood wide open. Clearly, Jimmy wasn't occupying either one. Grabbing Suzi's hand, I walked as fast as I dared towards the only other door - Jimmy's bedroom. Luckily, it was unlocked and we slipped inside seconds before the Brick-Mother reached the top of the stairs.

  'What now?' hissed Suzi.

  My heart was banging like a drum and my legs shook so much I thought I might fall over. Leaning against the wall for support, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then as my eyes adjusted to the dark, I noticed Jimmy's bed - his empty bed. At least now we knew he wasn't in the house.

  'There!' Suzi pointed to the window. Piled beneath it was what looked like bed sheets tied together. Hurrying across the room, I pulled at the sheets and confirmed they were secure, with one end knotted around the leg of a particularly sturdy wooden chest.

  'Give me a hand,' I said, pushing up the lower pane. 'It's our only chance.'

  As the window squeaked upwards, I heard a toilet flush. 'Quick.' Throwing the end of the makeshift rope outside, I helped Suzi over the sill.

  'You sure about this, Jeffy?'

  'Course not,' I muttered, pushing her through the open window.

  Suzi yelped and a second later, a shout came from the landing followed by Mrs Brick's thumping footsteps.

  As I slithered out the window, I caught a glimpse of the bedroom door opening. Releasing my grip on the sheets, I slid down the wall to the ground.

  By the time Mrs Brick poked her head out the window to scream abuse at us, we were already round the corner of the house.

  'Let's not do that again,' I said, as we retraced our steps to Crucifixion Close. Making our way to the path that ran between the two gable ends, we hurried into the field leading to the market garden where I worked the occasional Saturday morning during summer. Now closed for the winter, the long lines of glasshouses shimmered eerily in the gloom.

  Crossing to the edge of the field, I led Suzi to the top end of Wampire Way and down to the second opening on the right. This was Nightmare Alley, so called due to a long-standing electrical fault affecting the streetlights in this part of town. As a result, the Alley was almost in total darkness, only the pool hall's flashing sign, pumping out a dull green glow, gave any indication of where the entrance was.

  I pulled out my torch and lit the way down the narrow lane til we reached the door.

  'It's still lit up,' said Suzi, gazing at the neon lamp.

  'That doesn't mean anything,' I said. 'Harry often leaves it on all night, so's the drunks can find their way past in the dark.'

  I tried the handle, but of course it was locked. 'Have to go in the side door.' Backing up, I peered along the narrow passage on the left side of the building. It was even darker than the Alley. I began to wish Suzi was one of those girls who'd be happy watching telly on a Friday night.

  Keeping tight hold of her hand, I started down the cobbled path towards what I hoped would be an unlocked door. Me and Jimmy had used the side entrance loads of times in the days when we were still running errands for Harry McSpawn. That was before Harry got into trouble with the police and all the sensible parents banned their kids from coming anywhere near the place. Needless to say, Jimmy's parents weren't amongst them.

  The batteries in my torch were running low so the beam didn't help much. Feeling the way by running my fingers along the cold wall, I eventually came to the wooden fra
me that marked the edge of the door.

  'Here,' I said, handing Suzi the torch. 'Hold this.' Grasping the doorknob, I gave it a twist. 'Tch, locked.'

  'What now?' Suzi sounded less sure of herself and kept glancing over her shoulder, but I knew it'd do no good to suggest turning round and going home. Sliding my fingers around the doorframe along the top edge, I found what I was looking for - the spare key.

  Fitting it into the lock, I turned it and the door creaked open.

  Stepping inside, I felt around for the light switch. Finding the cold metallic box, I flicked the switch. Nothing happened.

  'Bulb must've gone,' I said.

  'Great.' Suzi's breath was warm against my neck and her free hand gripped my jacket. 'Here.' Holding up the torch, there was enough light to see the double doors in front of us. I tried the handle and it opened into the main hall.

  I knew there were twelve pool tables in the hall and each one had a rectangular shaded lamp dangling above it, throwing an orangey blush over each individual table. Tonight though, only one lamp glowed, providing adequate illumination for the particular table that stood directly underneath. Unfortunately, the contents of the green baize was something other than a selection of pool balls.

  'Oh, cripes,' muttered Suzi.

  It was Harry. And he was looking a bit dead.

  Three

  Suzi grabbed my arm. 'D'you think he's...?'

  I stepped forward and crossed the short distance between us and the pool table. Harry was on his back, staring upwards with wide eyes and an expression that could have been surprise. His mouth hung open like he'd been about to say something important.

  'Take his pulse,' said Suzi, coming up behind me.

  Swallowing hard, I moved sideways to where Harry's left arm hung limply over the edge of the table. I looked at his hand. The skin was dark red, as if all the blood had drained to that part of his body. Holding my breath, I took Harry's wrist between my thumb and forefinger and lifted his arm onto the table. The limb was cold and heavier than I expected. What you might call a dead weight.

  'Don't think there's any point.'

  Suzi's hand went to her mouth. 'Oh God. What'll we do?'

  'There's a phone in the office over there.' I nodded towards a door in the far corner of the hall. 'Better call the police.'

  She hesitated, bit her lip, then held out her hand for the torch. 'What're you going to do?'

  'What all good detectives do - check his pockets.' I waited til Suzi had disappeared into the office, then gingerly patted Harry's trouser pockets. They were empty, as were the ones in the tartan-patterned waistcoat that didn't quite cover his huge belly.

  Then I noticed Harry's other hand - it was clenched into a fist, as if he was holding onto something. I could see what looked like a piece of paper peeking out from between his fingers. Walking around to the other side of the table, I lifted his cold hand and prised the fingers open. A crumpled white card fell out onto the table. It was about the size of one of the business cards my dad used to keep pinned to a corkboard in the kitchen at home.

  Picking it up, I turned it over. One side was blank, but the other showed a chilling image - the silhouette of a skull, with the words Blood and Bone, Then You're Gone printed underneath. There was something familiar about the design, but my head was too full of other stuff to work out where I'd seen it before. I slipped the card into Harry's waistcoat pocket, then walking round to see if Suzi was still in the office, I bumped Harry's arm, causing it to drop back over the edge of the table. And that's when I heard it:

  'L-e-a-v-e...'

  Slowly, I swivelled my head towards Harry's face. His mouth still hung open like before, but something had changed. Then I realised his head had flopped to one side - Harry was no longer staring at the ceiling - he was staring at me.

  'Arrghh!'

  Sergeant Bill Potter sniffed and rubbed a hand across his mouth. 'Aye, well. Probably just one of those whasnames. You know? Last breath sort of thing. Bit of a nudge and...' He gave Harry's torso a tentative poke with his finger and sure enough, a low 'Pffuufff' came from the dead man's still-open mouth.

  I was sitting on one of the pool tables several yards away - a position I'd occupied for the last ten minutes while we waited for one half of the Skeleton Cove police force to arrive. 'Thought he'd come back to life or summat,' I said, glancing at Suzi who was holding my hand.

  'In my experience,' said the sergeant, 'once they're dead, they're dead. Anyway,' he continued, patting me on the shoulder, 'We'd better be getting you two reprobates back home.' He looked at his watch. 'Soon as the whasname team turn up.'

  'You going to tell my mum?'

  'Course I'm going to bleedin tell her.' He gave me a stern look, but quickly turned it into a grin. 'Don't worry - I'll keep it light. Don't want your ma having nightmares - or you two, for that matter.'

  'So is this a murder investigation, then?' I said.

  He glanced at Harry and whistled through his teeth. 'Nah, probably his heart. But I'll tell ye's summat - I hope I die in my bed, not like this with my eyes wide open.' He glanced around the room. 'You've not been upstairs?'

  'No.'

  He nodded. 'Good. Stay here. And don't kill anyone.'

  Potter trudged off to the stairs at the bottom of the hall. When he'd gone, I turned to Suzi. 'Harry said something.'

  She gave me what I interpreted as a 'kindly' smile. 'No, it was just like Sergeant Potter explained - a last breath sort of thing.'

  I shook my head. 'He definitely spoke.'

  'I think you're just –'

  'Suzi! He spoke to me, alright?'

  She moved back as if I'd offended her. 'Okay, don't lose your rag.' She coughed and folded her arms. 'Come on then - what exactly did he say?'

  'He told me to leave.'

  Suzi studied the floor. 'I think we should talk about this tomorrow.'

  'Yeah, I suppose,' I muttered. Then, 'Cripes - we forgot about Jimmy.'

  'Should we tell Sergeant Potter?'

  I could hear the policeman's heavy tread descending the stairs. 'No. He thinks we were here to see Harry. Anyway, it'll only get Jimmy in trouble if we drag him into it.'

  'But what if he's already in trouble?'

  I sighed. 'No, you're right - we should talk about this tomorrow.'

  Leaning over the banister, I could hear Sergeant Potter telling mum for the second time that we definitely weren't in any bother and in fact we'd both been very sensible to call the police when we did.

  Mum said she wished Dad were here cos he'd know what to do, and how being a single parent was hard enough without things like this happening. Potter said that was nonsense and that Suzi's parents had made a right fuss about it and it all got a bit heated and in the end he'd had to tell them to calm down because after all me and Suzi hadn't actually done anything wrong. His voice went quieter then and I imagined him leaning across the kitchen table and resting his big hand on Mum's arm. He said Mum was a strong, confident woman and that half the mothers in town couldn't have dealt with a situation like this with even an ounce of the self-control and strength of will that she had.

  It sounded like he was laying it on a bit thick, but I could tell Mum was embarrassed because I heard her push her chair back and start clearing their coffee cups away. She said he should get off home to his wife cos she'd be wondering where he'd got to.

  After the back door closed, I listened to see if Mum would come upstairs, but it all went quiet. She must've stood by the door for a few minutes, maybe thinking about things. It was a long time before I heard her footsteps go back into the kitchen.

  I went back to bed and lay down, gazing up at the silvery stars me and Dad had painted on the ceiling. I wondered what Harry had been looking at when he died. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been pleasant.

  I turned off my bedside light and snuggled under the duvet, but it was a long time before I closed my eyes.

  A noise.

  No, not an actual sound, more of a...
what?

  It was a long few seconds before it occurred to me that this wasn't a dream and that I'd woken up again. I blinked. The room was dark. I couldn't make out the stars shimmering on the ceiling so the streetlight outside must have gone off. That meant it had to be after two o'clock in the morning.

  There it was again. An almost imperceptible groan. No, that wasn't it, more like a... No, that's stupid.

  I shook myself properly awake, but the room was too dark to see anything. Even the usually faint outline around the window where the curtains didn't quite block out the light, had merged into the gloom.

  Again - that sound. But this time I didn't just hear it - I felt it. A cold, foul-smelling out-breath, as if someone, or something, was lying next to me, wafting its fetid breath against my face.

  Forcing my eyes wide open, I tried to turn my head, but it wouldn't move, as if some weird energy had enveloped me, pinning me to the bed. Swallowing hard, I pushed down with my left arm, compelling my head and shoulders to work. In excruciating slow motion, like some rusted cog in a worn-out machine, my eyes turned towards the thing next to me.

  I don't remember screaming, but whatever noise I made brought Mum into my bedroom in a state of panic. Suddenly all the lights were on and I was wrapped up in her arms, her soothing voice calming me with assurances that it was 'just a nightmare'.

  But I wasn't convinced and wouldn't let Mum go to bed until she agreed to let me spend the rest of the night downstairs on the sofa.

  The next morning, I had breakfast before going back up to my bedroom. Opening the curtains, I took a moment to look around. The room appeared (and felt), the same as it always did - bright and airy. There were no signs that anything had been disturbed. Stretching out on my bed, I jiggled round into the position I'd last been in when I turned to face the...well, the whatever-it-was that had invaded my sleep.

  Directly opposite me, and right in my line of sight, was one of my favourite movie posters - Nosferatu, starring Max Schreck as the vampire. Admittedly, the actor's face wasn't exactly a skull, but maybe in my befuddled brain I'd caught a glimpse of the poster and thought it was real?