The Death Chamber (43 page)

It had not been until they actually reached the execution chamber that Georgina felt Calvary’s atmosphere close down on her. Thick waves of fear and despair seemed to
fasten around her throat, and there was a moment when she thought she was not going to be able to do this.

Then Jude’s voice said coolly, ‘I suppose you’ve given us the same penthouse suite, have you, Professor? Yes, I thought I recognized the ambience. Well, Georgina? As a trysting
place I don’t suppose it’s the best, but the company might be entertaining.’

It’s all right, thought Georgina gratefully. I’m not going to make a scene. I’m going to carry this thing through with perfect panache – well, not perfect, perhaps, but
pretty damn close to that.

She said, ‘By entertaining company, d’you mean you or the spooks?’

‘Oh, the spooks, every time,’ said Jude at once. ‘Now listen, what I want to do is go down into the gallows pit while Georgina stays in the room up here.’

‘The more I think about that, the less I like it,’ said Chad, frowning. ‘I certainly don’t like the idea of you leaving Georgina here on her own. But I suppose if I ask
you not to do it that way, you’ll do it anyway as soon as I’m out of earshot.’

‘The very second you’ve gone,’ agreed Jude. ‘The whole point is for me to see what the atmosphere’s like down there. We’ve got a mobile phone each,
haven’t we? I know we can’t get a signal in here, but if Georgina stays up in the room she can go outside to call you if we need to.’

‘That’s true. Georgina, you’d better have a key to the main entrance. There was a second one on the keyring.’

‘Thanks.’ Georgina took the key and slid it into the pocket of her jeans. ‘What about the door to these rooms? Wasn’t there a lock on that?’

‘Yes, and the key was in it,’ said Chad. ‘But obviously we won’t lock that door, so if you do need to summon us you can get straight outside.’

‘I shall probably regret asking this,’ said Georgina, ‘but why might I need to summon you?’

‘Half a dozen reasons,’ said Jude promptly. ‘I might break my ankle exploring. Or I might have a heart attack or succumb to a bout of drunken ravings—’

‘Or become possessed by the ghost of Tommy the Turnkey?’

‘Or a combination of all those things. What’s the present situation on the trapdoor? Did I actually break it or just disable the mechanism?’

Chad was examining the lever. ‘There are the two doors,’ he said. ‘They would both have dropped inwards, of course – but only one opened when you grabbed the
lever.’

‘It looks as if the hinges of the other one have rusted into place,’ said Phin, shining his torch.

‘Yes, and I don’t think we’d better try closing the half that Jude opened,’ said Chad. ‘In case it causes any damage or in case it sticks. Jude, if you really do
intend to spend the night down there you’d better make sure to stay directly under the door that’s already dropped.’

‘OK.’

‘What’s the other trapdoor over there?’ asked Georgina, indicating the far corner.

‘We think it’s stairs leading down to the vault,’ said Chad. ‘But we haven’t been able to open it. It’s either stuck or locked, so you’d better
disregard it altogether, I think. Dru, is the camcorder set?’

‘It is and we’ve put it in the same place,’ said Drusilla, pointing. ‘And I’ve shown Georgina how it works.’

‘I’m going to check it every twenty minutes to make sure it’s running,’ said Georgina.

‘Jude’s got the dictaphone again and Phin’s taken a new set of stills,’ said Drusilla. ‘You’ve each got a flask of coffee, haven’t you? Oh, and
Georgina’s got a notebook to make her own record.’

‘Sounds all right.’ Chad walked across to the partly open gallows trap. ‘Jude, can you spring down into the vault if we guide you?’

‘I can spring as nimbly as a mountain goat if I have to,’ said Jude. ‘Show me the way.’ He paused and in a completely different voice, said, ‘Georgina, are you sure
about this? No one’s going to think any the worse of you if you back out.’

‘I don’t want to back out,’ said Georgina, who did want to back out but was not going to admit it.

‘On a practical note, how deep is this bloody drop?’

‘About eight feet from the look of it,’ said Chad. ‘If you sit on the edge, you should be able to sort of lower yourself down.’

‘It’s here,’ said Phin, taking Jude’s arm and leading him forward. ‘About six steps forward. ‘OK, we’re there.’

‘Thanks, Phin, I’ve got it.’ Jude sat down, his feet over the trap. ‘I’m on the edge, aren’t I? No rude comments, please. Oh listen, you’ll throw the
walking stick down after me, won’t you?’

‘Yes. Get on with it,’ said Chad, and Jude grinned.

‘Here I go. Down, down, to hell, and say I sent thee thither. I bet I’m the only person ever to have quoted Shakespeare on the edge of the gallows.’

‘I bet you’re not,’ said Chad.

‘If you prefer it, I can do Sydney Carton. “It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done;—”’

‘If Sydney Carton’s the anti-hero in Tale of Two Cities, he died on the guillotine not at the end of a rope.’

‘Messier but more heroic,’ said Jude, and half jumped, half slithered down. He seemed to land reasonably easily, although he let out a curse as he hit the ground below.

‘All right?’ said Chad anxiously.

‘Never better.’ His voice came up a bit muffled. ‘It was a bit more of a drop than I expected, that’s all. My God, this is an appalling place.’

‘Your idea,’ said Chad a bit shortly.

‘Yes, but I hadn’t realized it would feel quite so . . . No, it’s fine. Had we better check that I can get back up under my own steam before you all leave?’

‘Go ahead.’

They were all crouching on the edge of the gallows vault; Georgina saw that it was a brick-lined cellar-like place, roughly five feet square.

‘I can’t do it,’ said Jude, having made several attempts to reach the edge. ‘Hell and damnation. I certainly won’t be able to pull myself back up.’

‘There’s a length of rope in the car,’ said Drusilla. ‘Would that be any good?’

‘I don’t know, but we’ll try. Phin, would you and Dru get it?’

They set off, Phin galloping eagerly along, and were back very quickly.

‘You’ve got it?’ said Chad.

‘Yes, and Tommy the Turnkey says hello.’

‘I’ll bet. Try the rope, would you?’

But the rope was of no help at all in enabling Jude to climb out.

‘There’s nothing to secure it to,’ said Chad. ‘Only the lever, and we daren’t use that. And Georgina wouldn’t be able to pull you out just using her own
strength.’

‘I’d try if necessary though,’ said Georgina.

‘It shouldn’t be necessary. Jude, you’ll have to stay put until we get back, then Phin and I can pull you out.’

‘That’ll be something to look forward to,’ said Jude expressionlessly.

‘We’ll see you at two,’ said Chad, and glanced at Georgina. ‘You’ve got my phone number on your mobile, haven’t you?’

‘I have. We’ll be fine, truly. But I’ll summon you for help if anything unexpected happens.’

‘We can be here within fifteen minutes,’ said Chad. His voice was reassuring, but Georgina had to repress a shiver as they closed the door. She listened to their footsteps going away
along the deserted corridors, then checked the camcorder which was whirring quietly to itself in the corner.

Jude’s voice said, ‘I’m going to kick off by having some of Drusilla’s coffee. You have some too, Georgina. It’s going to be a long night.’

Vincent waited until he was absolutely sure Dr Ingram and the other two had driven away back to Thornbeck, then he locked his car, and made his way up the slope. It was a wild
night – the rain was still falling and gusts of wind drove it into his face. He did not mind any of this; there was an odd satisfaction in enduring the savagery of the weather, almost as if
he were saying, You see what I’m prepared to suffer for your sake, mother?

He kept a weather eye open for anyone who might be lurking around, but there was no one – he had not expected there would be, but he was not taking any chances. He went around the side of
Calvary’s main walls, and let himself in through the old scullery door, closing and locking it behind him, careful to pocket the key. Calvary’s darkness closed around him like a cloak,
and he felt very close to Mother as he went through the dim corridors, past the workshops and the cells and on to the execution suite. I’m keeping the secrets, he said to her memory. Just as
this place has kept them. No one shall ever know all those things you did, because no one would understand in the way that I understand. You did all those things in order to survive. I know
that.

Ahead of him was the condemned wing. Had they locked the interconnecting door? No, they had not; the key was still there, on the outside. He had not needed to bring his own key after all,
although it was better not to make assumptions. Vincent removed the key from the door and pocketed it, doing so gently and slowly so as not to make any noise, then pushed the door open carefully
and stepped into the short passageway beyond, his heart racing with excitement and nervous tension.

He was fairly sure Georgina and the blind man would be in the execution chamber – it was the heart of Calvary – but he tiptoed along to listen. Yes, that was Georgina’s voice.
Vincent waited for the man’s reply, but when it came, he was puzzled, because his voice was muffled, distant, almost as if it was not coming from within the room at all but from somewhere
outside it.

Understanding flooded his mind. The man’s voice was coming from beneath it! He was in the gallows vault! That must be the experiment they were conducting for the television programme
– that must have been what Drusilla meant when she said Calvary at two a.m. ought to be memorable. He was actually spending the night in the vault. Vincent could not think why Georgina would
be here with him rather than Dr Ingram, but her presence fitted so well into his plan that he did not care. He reviewed his plan quickly, and saw it was going to work – they were playing
straight into his hands.

The first thing to do was separate them. In a moment he would make them aware of his presence, and with luck Georgina would come out to investigate. First he went stealthily back to the oak door
and turned the key in the lock. The lock was old and it protested a bit, but Vincent did not think the sound could be heard at the other end of the corridor through the closed door of the execution
chamber. He pocketed the key, making a mental note to return it later so that nothing appeared to have been tampered with.

After this, he came back along the passage as far as the rather grim shower room next to the condemned cell. Could he hide in there? Yes, he could stand behind the door and anyone looking in,
even shining a torch around, would be unlikely to see him.

It gave him a deep and satisfying pleasure to think that these two were locked in here with him.

‘Why did you agree to tonight?’ asked Jude. His voice, coming from the gallows pit, still sounded peculiar but Georgina was getting used to it. ‘Is it about
your great-grandfather? Are you laying his ghost? Sorry, I sound as if I’m prying, don’t I? But after so many years in journalism it’s an incurable habit to ask questions.
Dreadfully antisocial, of course.’

‘It’s not prying and it’s not really antisocial,’ said Georgina. ‘And yes, it is all mixed up with Walter, although I’m not entirely sure why. He intrigues
me.’

‘He intrigues me, as well. Did he really leave a lot of money to the Caradoc Society?’

‘Yes, he did, and I don’t know why. I don’t know why he ignored the existence of his wife and daughter, and I can’t square that with someone who worked with convicted
killers and who fought in the war. It’s a bit unnerving to keep uncovering fragments of information about him but not get to the end of anything.’

‘Yes, one wants the full picture,’ said Jude. He was silent for a moment, then he said, ‘Had you seen Calvary before this?’

‘I drove up here earlier in the week and had a look round the outside. It’s a bleak old place, Jude. It’s smaller than I was expecting, but I suppose that’s because it
was originally designed as a place of execution rather than a House of Correction. But I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the atmosphere in here. How about down
there?’

‘Dreadful,’ said Jude’s voice. ‘If you weren’t up there to talk to, I’d begin to wonder if I’d fallen into one of the Old Testament equivalents of hell,
although it’s a lot colder than I’d have expected hell to be. Isn’t there a line from something about hell being a soundless pit with no beam of comfort peeping in? Whoever wrote
it must have been in a place like this.’

‘I do wonder—’ began Georgina, then stopped.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I thought I heard something. Out in the passageway.’

‘Tommy the Turnkey?’

‘Oh God, I hope not. It was a kind of scuffling.’

‘Mice?’

‘It might be. As long as it’s not rats.’

‘Can you still hear it?’ asked Jude after a moment.

‘I think it’s gone. You didn’t hear it?’

‘No, but half a dozen people could be doing a clog dance and I wouldn’t hear a thing down here. Has it stopped?’

‘Yes.’

And for a moment Georgina did think that whatever she had heard had gone – whether it was rats or mice or ghosts, or even just the rain outside. Then she thought the sound of rainfall
would not penetrate into this room. But probably it had only been Calvary’s old timbers contracting against the night cold.

She was about to call down to Jude that it must have been her imagination, when she heard the sounds again and this time there was no doubt about them. They were not being made by mice or rats
or by anything four-legged or spiritual or architectural. They were footsteps, clear and recognizable.

Someone was walking along the corridor outside.

Georgina was not aware of having moved, but she discovered she was kneeling on the edge of the gallows trap and calling softly down to Jude.

‘It’s most likely just Chad or one of the others,’ she said. ‘But . . .’

‘But they’d call out – let us know that they were back.’