Carved in Stone: Monochrome Destiny (17 page)

“I
have to go.”

He
nodded solemnly and whistled for the dog.

“No,
you stay,” she realised that he planned to walk her to the car, “Max is
enjoying his game of fetch.”

Impulsive,
definitely; reckless, probably; dangerous, maybe, it didn’t bother Robyn as she
marched straight through the door of the police station.

“Miss
Darrow?” PC Godwin’s questioning smile greeted her at the front desk.

“I
have new evidence.” she placed the phone cover on the desk.

The
young PC picked it up with a puzzled expression and turned it over in his
hand.  He looked up, brows raised.

“It’s
Kat’s mobile phone cover,” Robyn pointing to the jewelled hearts. “I found it
this morning at the abandoned church, yet I know that she had it with her when
she left.”

The
PC sighed and dropped his shoulders.  “Miss Darrow, even if this does
actually belong to Miss Harris, what crime do you think has occurred here and
how is this evidence?”

Robyn
had to try.  “I know, deep in my gut, that this is Kat’s.  And if I’m
right, then Kat must have returned to
Porthmollek
.”

“If
Miss Harris has decided to return, I hardly think that it is a police matter.”

He
was being uncooperative in the extreme and condescending.  Robyn wondered
what had happened to the helpful police officer that had come to her home only
a few weeks ago.

“Look,
PC Godwin, Brian.  I know that I sound dramatic and perhaps a little
unhinged, but please listen to me and understand.  If this mobile phone
case is indeed Kat’s then I need to find her, desperately.  I need to know
why she came back to the town and yet didn’t come to see me, even if only to
collect the rest of her stuff.  I also need to know how this got to where
I found it.”  What she really needed was to find Kat, by any means
necessary and talk to her about Andrew.  Robyn couldn’t see how she could
continue their relationship with this cloud of guilt hanging over her.  If
Kat had indeed returned and had been staking out Andrew’s home, as the mobile
case suggested; then Robyn really needed to talk to her.

“I’m
sorry, but the case is closed.  I have already spent more time and
resources on this than I would normally.  And this,” he pointed to the
cover, “does not give me the evidence I would need to open it again.”

Robyn
sighed.  “Is there anyone else?  Someone I can hire perhaps, someone that
could find her for me?”

PC
Godwin shook his head.  “I don’t know what you’re used to, but this is a
quiet community.  Not only are there no secrets here in the first place
but we certainly don’t have any private investigators.”

“But,”
she tried.

“Goodbye,
Miss Darrow.”

Angry, lost,
desperate for understanding, Robyn marched up the High Street to Ellie’s.

“I
have to know Ellie.”  Ellie was sitting opposite her with her own coffee
after listening to her woes.

“Oh,
Robyn, I thought you’d accepted that Katherine left dear.  You seemed so
much more content in the last couple of weeks.  I thought that you’d
agreed with what the police found.”

“I
did, I thought I did.” Robyn looked into her tea cup as if the answers would
miraculously float to the surface, “I don’t know.  I can’t be certain that
the phone cover is Kat’s but that’s irrelevant now.  That piece of plastic
has shown me that I have to find her, talk to her.  I have to know why she
left.  I have to be certain that it wasn’t because of me.”

“Robyn,
listen to me dear.  Katherine left.  Whatever her reasons, they were
her own.  Now, I think that you have some unresolved issues of your own.”

Robyn
looked up at her.  “What do you mean issues?”

“The
fact that you’re so determined to believe that you’re the reason that Kat left
says more about you than her.  You need to focus on yourself, Robyn and
work out why Katherine’s leaving has made you so empty.”

“Have
you ever made the wrong decision Ellie?”  Robyn’s words were a pained
whisper.

Ellie
looked at her cautiously over her glasses before she answered.  “You don’t
get to my age without making a mistake or two, Robyn.”

Robyn
nodded in agreement.  “Well this time, Ellie, I’m not wrong.”

***

Soon afterwards,
across town, a suited man looked up from his desk and was surprised and a
little pleased to see who had walked through the door.  He knew that the
smirk gave away his glee, but he’d never been one to hide his true feelings,
not from this man, his benevolent benefactor.

“She’s
out of control isn’t she?”

“You
don’t have to look so gleeful about it.”  The shorter man strolled in and
dropped into the chair opposite.  “And you don’t have to tell me that you
told me so.”

He
barely contained his laugh.  Everything was falling quite sweetly into
place.  It was amazing what you could achieve when you put your mind to
it, especially if your mind was as finely tuned and as devoid of conscience as
his.

He
reached into his bottom drawer and pulled out the bottle of Le
Burguet
cognac that he stored there. He was a man of fine
tastes and varied pleasures.  The thousand pound cognac was the one
pleasure that his colleague shared with him.

“You
always know just what I need.” The shorter man sighed as he was given a large
snifter.

“When
you cast off the trappings of conscience and live only in the land of pleasure
you learn to do just as you desire.  Once you have reached enlightenment
of your own inner needs, you learn to read the desires in others.”  It was
a philosophy to live by, one that he lived every day.

“My
desires run much deeper than fine cognac.”

“That
is true my friend, that is true.”

The
shorter man narrowed his eyes.  He fizzled with power. “It was a great day
when I found you, but do not confuse my frankness with friendship.  You
jumped the gun with her friend.  I have no doubt as to your motives and
now you have left all of us in a very precarious position.”

Yes,
he had made a mistake, not in taking Katherine, he was certain of that, but in
letting his barriers down with this viper.  The man did not lead without reason.

“She
had become a danger and I took her out of the equation.”  His voice
remained steady even as his mind replayed those wonderful hours of enjoyment.

“You
took her too soon and you know it.  Now this girl won’t leave it alone and
she is dragging others into it.  We are close to our goal and her meddling
threatens everything.”

“Then
allow me to assist.  I assure you that she will not be meddling for long.”

The
cold look that crossed the room would wilt any other man, but he was one who
worked outside the realms of the norm.  He let the gaze burn into him, but
felt nothing of the fury within it.  You had to care to feel such.

“No,
there are already too many questions being asked.  Another disappearance
will raise too many suspicions.  This needs to be handled much more
carefully.”

The
opportunity that he yearned for was slipping from his grasp and he could not
keep the disappointment from his tone.  “That is a shame.  I was
looking forwards to round two, so to speak.”

“Round
two may well come, but not yet.  I believe that we have a window here to
correct your mistake.  I have already implemented plans.”

One
eyebrow raised in enquiry.  “Then I wish you luck, but at the same time, I
hope your plan fails.  Come and find me if that is the case.”

Robyn sat in her
kitchen thinking about Ellie.  She was right.  Robyn had issues that
perhaps she hadn’t dealt with as thoroughly as she had thought, but that
knowledge wouldn’t change her path.  Robyn knew better than most why it
was important to fix past mistakes.  If she had hurt Kat enough to make
her leave, then Robyn was going to find her and make up for it.

Realising
that the dishes weren’t going to do themselves, Robyn hauled herself up and
walked to the kitchen.

As
the bowl fill with bubbles, she noticed something out of the window above the
sink.

The
cottage had a small back lawn, surrounded by trees.  It didn’t get much
sunlight, shaded as it was by the surrounding foliage, so it was often muddy
and boggy.  Robyn only used the little garden to occasionally dry clothes.

Darkness
had fallen whilst she wondered about Kat, but there was a brilliant moon
illuminating the lawn.  Now, standing on that lawn, still as statues and
facing her, were five dark figures.  Robyn would never have seen them,
with the internal lights reflecting off of the glass, except for the white
masks that they all wore.  Masks, picked out by the moonlight,
glowing.  Featureless, white and ethereal, they had no mouths and no
noses, only black ovals where hidden eyes watched.

A
gasp burst from Robyn’s lips as terror seized her and set her heart
racing.  Five faces, captured in the moon’s glow: supernaturally static,
unnervingly faceless and undeniably real.

Robyn
threw herself to the side seeking cover from the observing eyes.  Ghosts,
spectres, demons, her mind considered the possibilities as she backed into the
corner adjacent to the window and tried to make herself as small as
possible.  Her breathing was ragged.  Blood drained from her system
leaving her extremities cold and shaking, and she could feel her fingers
curling in as shock took over.

Incapacitated
by fear, Robyn’s body was frozen as her mind reeled.  What were
they?  Were they real?  What was she going to do?  What were
they going to do?  One thing was for certain, she couldn’t stay there,
cowering in the corner, alone.

Robyn
closed her eyes.  This couldn’t be real.  Reality was being contorted
from the normal to the grotesque.  Her concern for Katherine had been
built into a hallucination by her psyche.

Clutching
the countertop for strength, Robyn dragged herself forwards and opened her
eyes.  She had to know if they were real and she had to know if they were
still there.

Approaching
the window, Robyn could see that the moon had been obscured by cloud. 
With the total inky blackness of the night complete, she could see nothing but
for the reflection of her own face on the window pane.  Her breath escaped
on a sigh.  It was her, it had to be.  Vivid imagination gone wild,
she must have been imagining things.  Her eyes strained to see into the
darkness but the garden was obscured, until the cloud crossed the moon and
light flooded the scene once again.

Robyn’s
vision was filled with a white face.  Soulless and expressionless, it
stood right in front of the window and moved forwards until it was inches from
the glass.  It mirrored Robyn’s stance in some sick kind of mimicry. 
The bright kitchen lights projected Robyn’s own reflection onto its smooth
featureless mask so that she was staring at herself, her own face,
her
own eyes.

Ice
crystallised up her spine as her heart hiccupped, spluttered and then began to
pound.  She stared at the morphed picture of herself as it stared back
unmoving, unrelenting.

The
spectre tilted its head.  The white oval face tilted to the side and
Robyn’s features no longer fit onto its façade.  Then two black hands
slammed onto the glass and the sound in the still silence jolted her to action.

Robyn
screamed as the bang crashed into her ears and then she turned and ran.

For
the first time since setting her eyes on the cottage, she regretted the
remoteness of it.  Its position, well away from other houses, from anybody
or anything had attracted her to it, yet now it sealed her fate. 
Somewhere, outside in the dark of the night, were five creatures, intent, she
was sure, on doing her harm.  She was locked in this little cottage,
sealed in her own tomb.  The quaint wooden windows, made up of many little
squares of glass, crooked with age, now seemed so easily breakable.  The
wooden door, with its one lock, felt terribly flimsy.  The back door, half
glass and half thin wooden panel, appeared easily accessible.  The house
would provide little safety if someone really wanted to get in.  Robyn
needed to get out.

She
ran straight to the door, grabbing her keys off of the kitchen counter as she
passed.

Yanking
the door open, barely losing any momentum, Robyn tore out into the night and
ran for her car.  It offered little protection, the soft roof could be
easily cut open with a knife and then she would be exposed, but she wasn’t
planning on hanging around long enough for that to happen.

Robyn
ran out into the lane.  She didn’t know or care if the door closed and
locked behind her.  She was totally focused on getting to the car and
getting away.  Her hand shook but she managed to get the key in the lock
and to open the door.

Jumping
in, forgetting all about seat belts, Robyn put her left hand on the wheel depressed
the clutch and went to put the key in the ignition.

Glancing
up, an involuntary action, something she always did, she saw them, all five,
standing inhumanly still by the trees, close to the house.  Shoulder to
shoulder, with the unity of a spectral regiment, they all faced her, watching
through the black soulless sockets of the masks.

Robyn
yelled out, a spontaneous frightened shout, and jumped in her seat.  The
keys fell from her hand and clattered onto the floor.  Panic had her gasp
out a cry as the keys tumbled and she reached down immediately, her shaky hand
sliding across the floor, fingers pawing at the carpet, searching.

Robyn’s
heart pounded against her breastbone, like a fist banging out a beat against
her sternum, she could feel it and hear it.  It beat out time as she
gasped and sobbed, trying desperately to find the keys before the figures came
for her.  Adulthood had been stripped away, her years eroded through fear
to leave only the frightened child within.

An
eternity passed, the feeling of dread becoming ever more apparent, and all the
time Robyn’s heart pounded out the beat.  Strong and violent, the
relentless rhythm began to hurt, but her fingers brushed the leather key fob.
 Grasping, yanking, she pulled the bunch out from under the seat.

Robyn
jabbed the key at the ignition.  Again and again, she tried to get the key
into the hole but she couldn’t get it right as the spectres glided over grit
and dirt and came to the road.  She didn’t want to avert her gaze from the
figures, she needed to know exactly where they were, but she had to glance at
the ignition to get the right angle.

Key
engaged securely, Robyn turned it.  The car roared to a start as she
looked up to see that the spectres were moving onto the road, so close, too
close
.  No!
no
!
no
!
her
internal voice yelled.

Releasing
the handbrake, Robyn floored the accelerator and sharply let up the
clutch.  The rear wheels span on the loose stones and mud that made up the
little parking space in front of the house.  The back end of the car
slithered about, skittish.  Finding no traction, the tyres ripped up the
dirt as the power of the engine rotated them too fast.

The
screeching tyres and screaming engine did nothing to stop the approach of the
spectres.  They drifted into the road and began to spread across it,
trying to block her path.

The
wheels finally found grip, they bit down and the car lurched wildly
forwards.  Twisting the wheel, not quite in full control as the back
snaked, Robyn aimed for the far side of the road.  It was the only gap
large enough to pass through before they closed it and had her trapped.

She
didn’t hit them.  She could have, easily, as they slid across the lane in
front of the speeding car but she swerved around and squeezed past.  She
had the terrifying thought that if she drove at the spectres she would discover
that they were mere ectoplasm, smoke and mist.  She was chilled by the
idea that they would merely stand, statue still, as the car passed through
them.  She had an unsettling and horrifying theory that as she passed
through the entities, they would be able to touch her, invade her.  She
swerved away unwilling to find out the truth.

Stones
and dust flew off the tyre treads in her wake, leaving a cloud of debris behind
the car.  The back end settled as Robyn gunned up the hill, leaving the
house behind.  As her heart raced and her shaky hands gripped the leather
wheel, she peeled off into the night, flicking on the headlamps to light the
way.