One Way Ticket (16 page)

After all that, they refused to give any
information on her treatment without a warrant, and would only confirm the date
she’d arrived.

Darkness was falling by the time Addi had
finished venting his annoyance at them and I succeeded in dragging him away.
The monastery took on an extra sinister feel in the gloom and I felt chills run
down my spine as we dashed back across the courtyard to the main building. It
was very disconcerting because I’m not usually easily spooked, but there was
something about this place that felt wrong and I couldn’t wait to get out of
there.

To my horror, the Vincent Price monk was
standing at the door to the monastery. As we approached, it was clear he was
there to talk to us.

“Bad news,” he began in the voice that had
disturbed me before, as soon as we got inside. “Part of the road has been
washed away in the downpour. It’s on a dangerous bend, the police have closed
the road totally.” He didn’t sound particularly sad when he said it.

“There’s another way out, isn’t there?” I
whispered feebly to Addi.

“I’m afraid not,” my mad monk answered.
“There is only the one road. Do not worry, you are welcome to spend the night
here.”

I don’t know how I managed to stay
upright. Sleep here? In Dracula’s castle? It was all I could do to turn and
stare at Addi, another look of horror plastered on my face.

“Thank you, father,” Addi told him. “You
are most kind.”

“I will go make the arrangements,” my mad
monk told us, smiling, and left.

I found a convenient bench nearby and
collapsed on it. It was a few moments before I realised I was actually
hyperventilating.

“Jennifer, calm down,” Addi told me.
“There isn’t anything we can do. There’ll probably be a way out in the morning,
in daylight.”

“Doesn’t the police force have a
helicopter?” I managed to gasp out between heaves.

“For emergencies only.”

“This is an emergency! I can’t spend a
night here.” I dropped my voice a little. “We’ve only got his word for it the
road’s been closed, what if it’s a lie? What if they’re trying to keep us
here?”

“Why?”

“Who knows what foul deeds go on here?
They could be up to anything – human trafficking, ritual sacrifice, tupperware
parties. We should go check out the road ourselves.”

“And if it is closed?”

“We can sleep in the car.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This sort of thing
happens when there’s a lot of rain after a drought, there’s nothing sinister
going on. Besides, it’s far too cold here at night to sleep in the car.”

“Cold? People in Swindon walk home from
nightclubs in vests and miniskirts in weather worse than this.” (And I’m not
necessarily just talking about the women.) “This isn’t cold.”

“You liked the retreat part. We’ll see if
we can sleep in there. It’ll be alright.”

I wrapped my arms around myself to try and
curtail a sudden bout of shivering. “I have a bad feeling about this place.”

Addi pulled his phone out of his pocket
and frowned at it. “It’s a monastery, a place of peace and harmony… Have you
got your phone on you?”

I rooted in my bag, found it in the
depths, and handed it over. “What’s the matter?”

“I can’t get a signal on mine. I really
need to phone my mother and tell her I won’t be home tonight.”

“Don’t tell her you’re with me. She may
not understand.”

He handed me my phone back. “I won’t be
telling her anything, your phone’s got no signal either.”

A shudder ran through me as the
realisation that we were stranded here with no means of communication hit me.
“You mean we can’t tell anyone we’re trapped here?”

“Don’t be silly, Jennifer,” Addi told me
sharply. We sat quietly, looking miserable.

“Have you ever watched ‘Masque of the Red
Death’?” I asked after a few moments.

“No, what’s that, a film?”

I nodded. “Vincent Price plays this evil
bloke who lives in a castle. He throws a party when everyone outside is dying
from the plague.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“That monk reminds me of him, and this
place is a bit like the castle.”

“Jennifer−”

“I’m just saying, that’s all. We’re living
in a horror film.”

“We’re not. You’re living in your
imagination.”

We waited quietly for a few moments more.

 “During the party, Death arrives and
starts infecting the guests with the plague,” I told him.

“I don’t think you should watch that
stuff−”

“And Vincent Price enjoys it, wants to
join in.”

“They’re not having a party here, they
don’t do parties here, there’s no comparison.”

“Hello!” a voice behind us chimed, making
both of us jump. A young monk was standing in the corridor, beaming at us. “I
hear you’re going to be our guests?”

Addi and I nodded as we got up.

“Wonderful, because we’re having a party
tonight.”

Addi caught me as my knees buckled.

20 Before The Dawn

The young man went to get me a
cup of tea and to show Addi where their landline telephone was. That left me
sitting there all alone on the wooden bench, listening to the rain on the
windows mixing with the strange noises and creaks the old building produced. I
tried whistling but it echoed horribly around the bare stone walls and I
quickly gave up.

After a short while, I heard sharp
footsteps on stone in the distance echoing around the walls, steadily getting
louder and louder. Each step seemed to correspond with the beat of my heart
which thudded harder and harder each time. Straining in the half-light, I
looked up and down the long corridor but the ends disappeared into darkness and
I couldn’t see anyone there. I couldn’t even tell, because of the echoes, which
direction the footsteps were coming from. The steps just carried on, getting
louder and louder, the unknown being getting closer and closer with each moment.
I peered both ways again but still no one was in sight. My heart was racing as
I struggled to see in the darkness what creature was bearing down on me.

The footsteps were booming now, whatever
it was must be only a few feet away. Just when I thought my nerves could take
no more, Addi sailed round a concealed corner brandishing a cup and saucer.

“Here you go,” he announced and plonked
the cup down in my trembling hands, not seeming to notice the look of terror on
my face. “I got through to my mother. She wasn’t happy.”

“I hope you didn’t tell her I was here,” I
said when I’d recovered enough to get my mouth working again.

“No, but she still didn’t sound happy. I
wish she was more like your aunt, I rang her too, she was fine about it.”

Probably because my aunt would by now be
on the phone inviting her boyfriend over to take advantage of the empty house.

“They’re going to come to take us to
dinner in a minute,” Addi told me as I tried to raise the cup to my lips with
shaking hands.

“It may not be a bad thing, having to stay
here,” he continued. “We can try having another word with that Allen woman in
the morning. See if we can get her to tell the truth this time. We could solve
this murder yet.”

I groaned. Work was the last thing on my
mind.

“What about this party?” I managed at
last.

“That monk didn’t say any more. He seems
very nice though, his name’s Nikos.”

“If they’re wearing masks, I’m telling you
now, I’m leaving, even if I have to walk all night.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s probably just a
little birthday party for someone. This is a religious place, remember? What
can possibly happen?”

“You haven’t seen ‘The Wicker Man’, have
you?”

Addi groaned. “Not another film?”

“They’re all religious in that and the
stranger in their midst comes off very badly.”

“What religion’s that?”

“Well, it’s one they’ve sort of made up.”

“Will you stop it,” Addi hissed as our
young monk, Brother Nikos, returned.

“All ready?” Brother Nikos asked. “I’m so
excited about this, I love a party don’t you?”

“Sometimes,” I mumbled as I put my cup
down.

He led us through a maze of corridors that
felt as if we were being taken into the very bowels of the building.

“It’s very kind of you to let us come,”
Addi told him, looking pointedly at me. I was too busy to respond, trying to
keep note of all the turns we were taking, wishing I had a pocket full of
breadcrumbs to drop.

“It’s our pleasure, the more the merrier!”

“I’m a bit surprised you’re allowed
parties here,” Addi remarked.

“Oh, it’s only recently they’ve let us
have them. They’re trying to be more modern. We love this kind of party.”

“What kind of party is that?” I forced
myself to ask as we came to a halt outside a plain wooden door from which a
loud hum was emanating.

“It’s brilliant,” Brother Nikos cried,
throwing the door open. The singing hit us first, a very bad rendition of
‘Climb Every Mountain’, before I spotted the elderly man in the corner with a
microphone. “Karaoke!”

“I love karaoke!” Addi exclaimed.

I began to feel my will to live ebbing
away.

What was it with this island and karaoke?
What was the never ending appeal of tone deaf people singing in public? It’s
certainly an icebreaker. And a glass breaker. And an eardrum breaker. Fortunately,
someone prevented the elderly man from going through the whole ‘Sound of Music’
songbook by wrestling the microphone from his hands. I gave that a round of
applause.

“See?” Addi said, nodding his head to
someone’s wavering version of ‘My Way’. “No masks, no mad monks, no evil people
running around.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” I answered as the
singer hit a particularly bum note. “Let’s see about where we’re going to sleep
tonight.”

We tracked down our friendly monk standing
by the table that held the remnants of the salad we’d eaten for dinner.

“There’s no room in the retreat building,
I’m afraid,” Brother Nikos answered Addi’s query. “But Father Manousakis has
arranged for you to sleep in the tower. Don’t worry, it’s not really haunted.”

Laugh? I could have cried.

Brother Nikos led us to the base
of the tower where a staircase nearby wound up and up, disappearing eventually
into gloomy darkness at the top.

“We have a cell for you here, Detective,”
he told Addi, showing us a small, narrow room, bare apart from a bed and a
wooden chair. When they said cell, they really meant it. “Yours, Miss Giles, is
the up in the tower.”

“What! Don’t you have anything down here?”

“Oh no,” the monk said, going a little
pink, “that wouldn’t be appropriate, this being a male sleeping area.”

“I don’t mind, really.”

“I’m afraid not. I’ll show you where your
cell is.”

We left Addi behind and went up the
staircase, winding round and round into the darkness until we’d reached a
particularly forbidding and badly lit corridor.

“When you say haunted…?” I began.

“Oh no,” he rushed to reassure me, “that’s
just a silly rumour.”

It didn’t look that silly from where I was
standing, with ominous shadows all around and floorboards creaking madly
underfoot.

“You won’t be disturbed here. Men aren’t
allowed in this part of the building. I shouldn’t even be standing here,” he
joked.

“Uh, thanks,” I stuttered, moving
awkwardly to the doorway of my cell, its bare lightbulb casting frightening
shapes on the walls.

“Breakfast is at 7.30 down in the
refectory. Good night.”

With that he was gone and I was left alone
with my increasingly disturbing imagination. The door squealed horribly as I
closed it.

First things first, I shoved the chair
under the door handle. Just as I had it nicely wedged, I realised I’d need the
loo before going to bed and had to unhook it again. The basic facilities
provided down the hall where just far enough away to make me run there and
back. Another ominous squeal from the door later and, chair secured, I laid
down on the bed, fully dressed, ready for my imagination to do its worst.

It was going to be hard enough to sleep in
this nightmare generator they called a tower without the hunger pangs starting
in my stomach. Who has a plain garden salad for dinner? No chicken, no ham, not
even a crumb of cheese, to go with it. If only Addi hadn’t snatched back his
biscuits at lunchtime, I wouldn’t be so hungry now. I could almost taste their
buttery sweetness on my tongue. It would be ages before I’d be able to fall
asleep.

The next thing I knew, I was being woken
up by a bell sounding loudly. Fire! was my first, groggy thought and, after
wrestling the chair from the door handle, raced out expecting to see the tower
engulfed in flames. It wasn’t, I couldn’t even smell any smoke.

At the bottom of the stairs I found an
equally puzzled Addi looking around.

Two monks were casually strolling along
the corridor. “It’s just the call to prayer,” one of them explained, giving me
a funny look, “the Divine Liturgy.”

“At one o’clock in the morning?”

“It only lasts two hours. Please, return
to your sleep.”

Two hours of prayer in the middle of the
night? No wonder the karaoke had looked so good to them.

A sleepy-eyed Addi bade me goodnight once
more and stepped back into his cell. I couldn’t face the tower again. Standing
alone in the hallway I decided to do something I should have done earlier.

Sneaking across the courtyard wasn’t easy
in the dark with no torch, but somehow I managed it without tripping over.
Please don’t let this door be locked, I almost prayed, leaning against the
entrance to the retreat. They had decent rooms and other women in here,
brightly coloured walls and good lighting. This is where I belonged, even if
I’d have to sleep under the reception desk. Giving it a hefty push, I felt a
thrill as the door opened.

I was in!

An incredibly intrusive alarm sound went
off a second later. Oh dear. Had I done that? My first instinct was to run but
I had my position to consider, I was here with the police force.

I considered it and then ran.

I only got out the door before bumping
head on into a monk coming the other way.

“Who’s there?” the guy screamed at me,
grabbing hold of my arm in a vice-like grip.

“It’s just Miss Giles, from the Kythios
Police Department.”

Thankfully someone snapped the lights on
at that point.

“I’m sorry, I wanted to stay in this part
instead of the old tower, it’s much nicer in here.”

He still hadn’t let go of my arm and now
loads more people were piling in, monks and guests, all looking scared. One of
them was Louise Allen. I noticed another woman joined her and touched the back
of Louise’s neck in a very intimate way when she thought no one was looking.

“Miss Allen knows me,” I cried desperately,
nodding in her direction.

The monk swivelled round and for a
horrible moment, by the way she shrank back, I thought Louise Allen was going
to deny all knowledge of me.

“Do you know this woman?” my captor asked
her.

Louise hesitated for a moment. “Yes, she’s
with the police.”

I automatically rubbed my arm when he let
it go. Someone had managed to switch off the alarm which helped calm the
general mayhem. People began muttering and I hoped they would start drifting
away soon.

“Thanks,” I called to Louise Allen and she
came to stand awkwardly by me, the monk hovering nearby. “Sorry, I didn’t mean
to wake everyone up.” Miss Allen’s friend came over as well. “Are you room
mates?” I asked.

“Kind of,” she answered. I caught a look
that passed between them and saw her friend reach for Louise Allen’s hand and
caress it. It was no longer much of a mystery what was going on.

“Why didn’t you say something earlier when
we spoke to you?” I asked Louise quietly. She motioned me to one side.

“It’s still frowned on by a lot of people.
I didn’t want it known that I’m… gay.” The word came out as little more than a
whisper. “It would probably kill my mother.”

“It’s not something we would broadcast if
you didn’t want us to.”

“I’m still working on it in my therapy.
I’m not ready to come out yet.”

“Is this the cause of your stress?”

“Yes, I’m trying to work through who I am.
I suppose you’ll tell everyone?”

“No, of course not.” That included Aunt
June this time.

She turned away, not looking convinced,
and was led off by her companion.

“Could I just stay here?” I asked the monk
in my most pleading voice.

“I’m sorry, it’s clients only.”

He took me back to the main building and
made me climb the tower.

“Isn’t this is normally where they hold
people before they execute them?” I asked no one in particular as I wedged the
chair under the door handle again. “I’m never going to be able to sleep up
here,” I announced as I led down on the bed again and fell immediately asleep.

It must have been the mountain air, I
figured the next morning when I awoke to the breakfast bell. Addi looked as if
he had slept well and insisted on eating before we left. (It’s a sign of how
much I wanted to leave that I was willing to forego breakfast.)

“Apparently there was some kerfuffle in
the night, someone tried to break into the retreat. They may want me to take a
look,” he told me in a smugly important-sounding voice. “And we need to speak
to Louise Allen again.”

“Ah. I don’t think we do.” I took a deep
breath and explained my nocturnal mishap as he ate a lump of what he
optimistically called porridge.

“I can’t believe you did that!” he
exclaimed, spraying my top with bits of oatmeal. “Oh, sorry.”

I debated wiping them off but my clothes
looked bad enough after being slept in, it didn’t seem worth it.

“You weren’t shoved up nightmare tower. I
was expecting to bump into Quasimodo any moment,” I defended myself.

“Why were you in such a state about this
place? There’s nothing going on here but healing and religious worship.”

With the sunshine streaming in the refectory
windows and the monks around us chatting with good humour, it was hard to see
what I’d been thinking as well.

“So Louise Allen being here really doesn’t
have anything to do with Tina?” Addi asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“She isn’t a suspect?”

“I suppose Tina might have found out her
secret and was threatening to tell? Doesn’t seem like something she would do
from what we know of her, and it can’t have been blackmail, there wasn’t any
money changing hands, not according to Tina’s bank account.”

“Not according to Louise Allen’s either, I
checked her recent transactions last week.”

“There we are, then.”

“What? Back to square one?” He crossed his
arms in an unhappy manner.