Colm & the Ghost's Revenge (14 page)

‘It's worse than I thought then. We need to plan our next move carefully.'

‘I hope you have some ideas,' Colm said.

‘No. I don't. Not yet. But we'll come up with something. We're young. We're smart.'

Colm stared at her with a blank face, while The Brute, who was still daydreaming about how he would share his feelings with Lauryn, was looking particularly dopey in the torchlight.

Lauryn revised her opinion. ‘Well, we're young anyway,' she said. ‘I think the first thing we need to do is figure out where they're keeping your parents. Of course all my cool slayer-type emergency stuff is hidden back near Colm's place. I left it there when I followed the thuggy triplets into your house. Guess I didn't think that through. Anyway, sitting around here is only going to drive me crazy. I hate staying still. We need a lead. A clue. Or just somebody whose butt I can kick.'

The Brute, who had dragged himself back to reality, slowly raised his hand in the air. It hadn't been easy to work up the courage to say something; after all, every time he did it seemed to upset Lauryn and he didn't want to do that again. Not if he could help it. He cleared his throat.

‘Ahm, can I … ahm …'

‘We're not in school, Mikey. You don't need to ask permission.'

‘I just, y'know, want to make this all clear in my head,' The Brute said. ‘We think this Ghost fella hired the rat-faced man to get the Lazarus Key which was buried in the woods near the hotel?'

‘Yeah,' Lauryn said.

‘And we stopped Ratters and destroyed the key?'

‘So far, so good.'

‘And now we think The Ghost is getting his revenge on us for stopping his plans?'

Colm and Lauryn both nodded.

‘Right,' he said. ‘I might have a lead. I think,' he continued, waving his mobile phone in their direction.

The others looked at him expectantly.

‘That guy who turned up at the house, the same guy who was at the hotel that night. Remember we saw the name on the car-rental form – Cedric Murphy. Well, I just Googled him and it turns out he's a private detective. The woman who was with him the last time – at the hotel I mean – her name is Kate Finkle.'

They seemed surprised. Or was it more than that? Was it respect in their eyes? It was hard to tell; he didn't know what respect looked like.

‘That's great work–' Lauryn began.

The Brute cut her off, his confidence growing by the millisecond as his thumbs worked furiously on the mobile's keypad. ‘I've just found Kate's address. I think we should pay her a visit.'

‘Definitely,' Lauryn said. She jumped to her feet, a spring in her step, even though she was exhausted. ‘Let's go, guys.'

‘Are we driving again?' Colm asked.

‘How far away is this Finkle woman's home?'

‘About ten miles,' The Brute said.

‘Then we're driving,' Lauryn said.

Colm's heart sank. He had hoped he wouldn't have to face imminent death again for some time, but thinking about Lauryn's dangerous driving raised an important question.

‘One thing: why is The Ghost going to all this trouble? He's this all-powerful criminal. Wouldn't it have been easier for him just to have us killed?'

‘True,' Lauryn said, ‘but maybe he has something worse planned.'

‘Worse? What could be worse than death?'

‘I don't know, but I've got a feeling that we're going to find out,' she replied.

‘You're absolutely right,' said a voice through the open window.

C
edric awoke in the dark with the smell of damp in his nostrils and severe cramp in his calves. He tried stretching his legs in an attempt to ease out the pain, but his way was blocked by something solid and immovable. He waited a few moments, letting his eyes adjust to the blackness and his nose to the musty odour. Where was he? The last thing he could remember was Pretty Boy rushing towards him, a toaster in one hand, a kettle in the other, his face twisted in rage. No need to speculate as to who had won that particular battle. He'd been so stupid. He'd sacrificed himself to save some kids. Again.

What was wrong with him? ‘I'm an idiot,' he said aloud.

‘Cedric?' said a woman's voice.

‘Mum?'

‘No, you self-absorbed gorilla. It's me. Kate.' ‘Where are you?'

‘I'm right beside you, Mr I Detect Things for a Living. Here, put out your hand.'

Cedric reached out into the darkness. His hand encountered something soft and more than a little gooey.

‘Take your fingers out of my nose,' Kate said, her voice sounding more nasal than usual.

‘Sorry,' said Cedric. He hastily withdrew his hand and wiped it on his shirt.

‘I know we're close, but that's taking it a bit too far,' Kate continued. ‘Friends shake hands, maybe even give each other a peck on the cheek …'

‘I said I was sorry,' Cedric said sulkily. Then the oddness of their predicament hit him. ‘What are you doing here?' he asked.

‘Oh, y'know, just some shopping, wondering whether I should go and get my hair done or maybe just relax and go for a cup of coffee … what do you think I'm doing here? I was kidnapped.'

‘Kidnapped,' Cedric repeated, letting the word swirl around in his confused mind for a moment.

‘Yes, my genius detective. Wait, why are you acting like it's a surprise? Why else would you be here if you didn't know I was kidnapped? I presume you found out where I was, got overpowered by my captors and then they stuffed you into this box with me.'

‘Ah … I … well … funny story …' he began, before trailing off lamely.

‘You
didn't know
I was missing?' Kate said, her voice sounding deeper, more booming and more unpleasant than it usually did. And let's be honest, it didn't sound melodic, not even on a good day. Birds wept when they realised their wonderful songs existed in the same universe as Kate's voice.

‘Of course I knew you were missing. How could I not?' Cedric blustered, then decided to go with the truth. She was a big girl and he didn't want her to stay angry with him, especially when they were in a confined space and he had nowhere to run and hide. ‘No, I didn't know.'

‘But how did you find me then?'

‘Ahm …'

Cedric waited while Kate's brain caught up with the way the conversation was going.

‘I don't believe it,' she gasped.

‘Kate …'

‘Just tell me what happened, Cedric Murphy,' she snapped.

Cedric was glad that the darkness prevented her from seeing how embarrassed he was. ‘Do I have to?' he replied in a small voice. He could sense her rising anger even in the suffocating silence. ‘I got beaten up. Just a stroke of luck that I woke up here with you.'

‘A stroke of
bad
luck. So, both of us have been kidnapped,' Kate sighed. ‘Wow. That's depressing. And it makes our detective agency look really useless.'

Cedric decided now wasn't the right time to let her know she was no longer a part of the agency. ‘I do know why we're here, if that's any consolation,' he said.

‘Good, I was hoping you'd say something about that. Because that's what's really important right now. Explanations.'

Cedric got what she was saying. Better to escape first, then they could worry about why they'd been taken hostage. Yeah, she has a good head on her shoulders, has old Kate. Let's hope it stays there, he thought with a shudder. If it was The Ghost who was after them, then he was certain that something unpleasant lay in their future. Wasn't that always the way with these evil villain types? Not once did they say, ‘You know what, I think I've gone a little bit over the top there with all that killing and maiming stuff. Of all the paths I could have chosen in life, I don't know why I picked that one. My mum wanted me to become an accountant, but you know what it's like: you kill one person, then another, and before you know it, it's become a habit. A bad one admittedly, but a habit nonetheless. It seems cruel to torture you now, so for a change of pace I'm going to let you go free. Off you go, you little scamps.' That never happened, did it? No, there was nothing else for it. They were going to have to get out of there by themselves. And fast. He decided to be upbeat for Kate's sake even though he was a cynical pessimist by nature.

‘Don't worry, Kate. I'm going to get us out of here,' Cedric said.

‘Thanks, I was terrified there for a minute, but now that I know you're on the case all my worries have magically disappeared. It hardly matters that you didn't even notice your own assistant was missing, or that you got captured quicker than a particularly stupid mouse being pursued by a clever cat in a well-lit room. Why would that be a concern? You'll sort everything out. Why, my poor little female heart is all aflutter with gratitude. Whatever would I do without you, Cedric Murphy?'

Ah, he thought, almost dreamily. One hundred percent pure sarcasm. He'd missed it.

‘It's good to be with you again, Kate,' he said.

Kate punched him in the ear. ‘Stop being such a wimp.'

As Cedric checked for signs of blood he was sure she muttered: ‘Good to be with you again too, Ced.'

He smiled briefly.

‘Do you have any idea where we are?' he asked.

‘A wooden box. That's as much as I've been able to determine,' she said.

‘Like a coffin?'

‘It'd want to be a pretty big coffin to take two lumps like us,' she said with a chuckle.

There was a sudden silence and when she spoke again there was a note of panic in her voice. ‘What if it is a coffin? Oh, Ced, what if they've buried us alive?'

‘No, look. Just above your head. I can see little chinks of light. And we're breathing freely, so there must be fresh air getting in here somehow.'

‘You're right,' she said, a little calmer. ‘Sorry, I haven't smoked a cigar in at least a day. You know how my nerves get at me when I haven't had my smoke.'

‘Yeah, you're a barrel of laughs.'

‘I remember what you were like when you were on that diet. A psychotic hippopotamus would have been better company,' Kate said.

‘OK, we're both horrible when things aren't going our way, but can we stop arguing and get out of here so we can be horrible to the people who really deserve it?'

‘Agreed. Now that there's two of us here, maybe we can try kicking our way out.'

‘Subtle plan,' said Cedric.

‘You got a better one?'

He racked his brain. Nuts. Nothing.

‘Yeah, I thought so,' Kate said. ‘We start kicking on three.'

Cedric drew his aching knees up to his chest.

‘One,' she said.

Kwwwakkk. A scraping sound coming from somewhere outside their wooden prison. As if someone was moving something out there. Cedric tried to put it out of his mind. Focus, he told himself. We might only get one shot at this.

‘Two.'

The sound was growing louder now and Cedric heard a voice and a low moaning.

‘Three.'

Colm had expected his journey in the boot of the car to be very uncomfortable and he wasn't disappointed. He'd been thrown into all four corners of the dark and dank space as the car had turned left and right, sped up and slowed down. He'd given up counting the amount of bruises he'd received once he'd reached seven. He felt every bump in the road, but he knew that now wasn't the time to feel sorry for himself. If he was going to get everyone out of this situation he would have to do something. And quickly. But short of leaping out of the boot of a moving car, he didn't know what that something could be.

It had only taken McGrue a couple of minutes to overpower Colm and his friends. It was embarrassing to have been subdued so quickly, but then McGrue had moved swiftly, and his punches had been quite persuasive. Lauryn and The Brute were now sitting in the back seat of the car being held in place by Pretty Boy and Uggo, who had been happy to accept the bounty hunter's authority once they'd seen what he could do, while Colm had for some reason been given different accommodation. From the brief snippets of conversation he'd heard before he'd been bundled into the boot, Colm reckoned that Boris, the wiry man, had paid for his mistake in letting them get away at Colm's house. Paid with his life. Still, he wasn't worried about Boris. He had plenty of other things to worry about.

His brain was in overdrive, trying to figure out what to do next. He wondered where they were going – the logical assumption was that they were being taken to The Ghost, but he wasn't sure how logical The Ghost's plans were. If they
were
being taken to The Ghost then presumably he was going to kill them, and how could a twelve-year-old boy stop him? Plus it was pretty clear at this point that The Ghost had Colm's parents and Colm knew that if the criminal mastermind threatened them he would do whatever he was told. The same went for The Brute and Lauryn. From what he could figure out it looked like The Ghost held all the cards and Colm couldn't see a way of getting himself and everyone else safely out of this mess.

He was so frustrated that he let out a roar. Just for the sake of roaring. To try and get rid of some of the anger and the stress in order to calm down and think clearly. The pressure was really getting to him. People often moaned that the teenage years were the most difficult, but if Colm's life was anything to go by, being twelve wasn't exactly a stroll by the seaside either.

The car hit a pothole and Colm's head thumped against the floor of the boot. He tried to blank out the jolts of pain, the car sickness that threatened to overcome him and the feeling of misery and terror that wanted to wrap itself round him like a cashmere cloak and smother his thoughts. He took a couple of deep breaths. He had to focus. He may not have prepared himself physically like Lauryn, but he'd spent a long time obsessing about the Lazarus Key, The Ghost and
The Book of Dread
. It had taken up too much of his life, but he'd done it for a moment just like this. He had to prove to himself that he hadn't wasted all that time in the library. He needed to sift through all the information and pick out the bits that were useful.

What had he learned? That there were three keys and he'd destroyed one. If he was in The Ghost's position and he was planning a revenge worse than death for his enemies, he'd find the other keys and use them. Most of the stories claimed they were buried in hidden tombs thousands of miles away, with only a sketchy record of their location. However, he guessed that a super-rich criminal wouldn't have any problem using all his resources to have them located and then fund an expedition to retrieve them.

What was the next logical step? Gather up all the people who were involved that night and make them pay. His parents had been there and although they had spent their time locked in a room for the whole thing, The Ghost wouldn't care about that. They had been captured. At least he had to assume so. The Brute, Lauryn, Lauryn's mum and the Prof had met the same fate. But then why had The Brute's mum and stepfather been taken – they hadn't been involved at all. And that detective – what was his part in all of this? He'd helped them twice now. Why? He didn't come across as the helpful sort. What reason would he have otherwise? Private detectives didn't detect for the fun of it, they did it for money. So, who was paying him to investigate and how had he avoided being captured up to that point? Presumably The Ghost wanted revenge against him too. It was a real brain mangler.

The car must have zoomed over a hill because suddenly Colm was thrown in the air. His upward trajectory was only halted by the collision between his nose and the boot's steel sheeting. He landed on his back with a pain in his shoulder and a brand new idea in his head.

Maybe Cedric Murphy had been paid to help the rat-faced man find the key! That would explain how he'd got involved first time around. That's why he had arrived at the hotel in the middle of the night. He'd found out the key's location for Ratters and given him directions. But when he had seen that the man was willing to hurt children, he must have felt guilty and decided to swap sides. It was the only explanation. The only one Colm could think of anyway. Did that make Cedric Murphy good or bad? It was hard to tell, but it didn't really matter either way now. He'd risked his own life to help them back at the house, so clearly he was on their side this time. Which could be handy later, if he was still alive.